Simple and Fresh Collard Greens

Ingredients

• 1 cup collard greens, chopped
• 1/2 garlic clove, minced (optional)
• nonstick cooking spray or 1 teaspoon oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. 1

   Chop your greens into 1 inch strips that are no longer than 4 or 5 inches long (or you'll be getting a mouthful of stringy greens!). (I like to cut down the middle of the leaf and then put one half on top of the other and chop into strips).

2. 2

   Rinse your greens (This is an important step! The water that stays on helps these cook to perfection).

3. 3

   Heat your skillet to medium and spray or add oil, and garlic if wanted. Then just add your greens (these will shrink down a lot so you can do it in a small pan) and stir just until all greens have just turned bright green, usually not more than 3~ minutes.

4. 4

   Turn up to medium-hot and fry for 30 more seconds or until greens are just tender.

5. 5

   Toss with salt and pepper to taste (for this amount I usually use about 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper). Serve with your favorite entree :)!