Last night I made a whole roasted chicken, tossed some cubed butternut squash in coconut oil and roasted that as well, and cooked some greens fresh from our CSA to make an amazingly easy and tasty side dish. Here’s how I prepared the greens:

Good Greens
Ingredients
- 1 pound of bacon diced
- 1 small red onion sliced
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup green beans diced
- 2 bunches greens of your choice finely diced (I used a huge bag of braising greens from my CSA which was a combo of kale, collards, and I think some turnip greens)
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
-
In a large pan cook the bacon pieces and onion until the bacon starts to crisp. Add the mushrooms and green beans and saute until the mushrooms are tender. Add the diced greens, sage and pepper and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the greens are tender.
Enjoy!
Mmm, this might go on the menu for tonight! My grandma used to make something similar, but I really like this take on it. Add bacon to almost anything and you have me on board.
Not to be “strict” or anything, but I thought green beans (legumes) were a no go for Paleo. I did a quick search on line and some, like Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson occasionally eat them now. Something about having a lower lectin content as opposed to the other legumes. I try to follow the basics of Paleo, meat, fish, poultry, veggies (except green beans, peas, white potatoes, corn) fruits and nuts, and then I get “surprised” when legumes, dairy and other things are incorporated after a while! I suppose we can do the best we can do and not fret! By the way, I have your book and I love it! It’s been very helpful. Thank you!
Hi Janis,
Green beans seem to not be problematic for folks and when we find some fresh from our CSA, we do eat them! Anyone who wants to leave them out from this dish, it will still be delicious. : )
Hi Sarah,
That’s great! Because my husband loves to grow them in our garden. Crazy lectins…….Thanks for all of your yummy recipes.
Janis
Yay! Beans are allowed!
Green beans are not as high in lectins as other beans that need to be soaked for hours and must be cooked to be edible. Green beans now and then do not tend to be problematic but we do not eat the standard pinto, black bean, as a staple food item. I don’t feel all that great when I do eat those kinds of beans but green beans are fine.
This looks divine!! Your book should be waiting for me when I get home today….so excited!
Hi Sarah! Quick question, a little off topic – I am looking for a good pressure cooker for squash, sweet potatoes, etc. – what brand/size do you use or could you recommend? Thanks!
This looks so good! I cant wait to try it.
I always am intimidated buy greens becuase I feel like I don’t know how to clean them properly. Sarah, can you help?
Do you have a salad spinner? If not, go get one. I still have an old one from an Asian restaurant supply company I got for $4 13 years ago. 🙂
Just chop up your greens, put ’em in, rinse under cold water, and spin. All the excess water and dirt spin out.
Another tip on washing greens is adding a bit (1 tbsp) of white vinegar to the water your washing your greens in. I don’t know how it works, but Momma always said it helped the dirty and sand fall right off the leaves.
Thanks, I do!
I rinse my greens in running water, put them in a garment/lingerie bag (found in laundry section of store), and run them in washing machine on “spin” cycle. Works wonderfully! (Make sure washing machine is clean, of course)
That’s a kewl idea, but why waste all that power? Just put them in a bag with a clean towel at the bottom and swing the bag in circles, greens get bone dry and it’s powered by you and not your utility company. =)
Made this last night as a side with coconut chicken and it was so easy and delicious! I will be making this again, thank you for sharing!
How does pickling affect the levels of lectins in green beans? Because my grandmother has an amazing spicy pickled green beans recipe, and I would love to eat them without feeling guilty 🙂
This was delicious! Thank you for another great recipe!
It is my understanding that the SEED part of the green bean is the lectin containing part and since they are very tiny and underdeveloped (the main part you eat is the pod) they are safe. This recipe looks wonderful as I do love green beans with bacon!
Another winner! I made this last night and took the liberty of throwing in some additional zucchini that I had in the fridge and it was delish! Loved it so much I ate it again this morning as a side to my two beautiful eggs. Thank you!
Hi Sarah. I, too, love to toss a bunch of greens together and just go for it! If I am running short on time, or I don’t have any bacon in the house, I just saute the veggies in some bacon fat (from the ol’ fridge) and it has a similar effect as the actual bacon pieces.
I’ve been wanting to try to cook greens but have been intimidated by them. We just got fresh greens in our CSA yesterday so I will be trying out your recipe. If it is like any of your other recipes it will be amazing. Thanks!
OMG!This looks so good!
I think my insulin levels just spiked just by looking at this photo!
Would love to make recipes like this but I am having the hardest time finding grassfed pork whether it’s bacon or pork chops.(I can order it online but it’s really expensive.) I and my family love bacon but I am weary about using pork from grain fed pigs because of the type of fat. Any recommendation? What about canadian bacon as an alternative?
I just made this dish. Soooooo delicious! I’m in heaven! Thank you!
Hi, Sarah! I made this last night using turnip greens and it was to die for!! Please keep up the recipes, you ROCK!
SMACK YOU MAMA GOOD!!!!!!
I have never had greens that I enjoyed as much as these. I had to stop myself from eating all of it and forgoing the rest of my meal. Thank you, thank you.