The sale items in the produce departments of our local supermarkets for the last few weeks have included kale, Vidalia onions (at half the typical onion price–must be a bumper crop!), mushrooms, and sweet potatoes.  We have favorite recipes using all of these ingredients, but I came up with a new one on the spur of the moment that was so good that when I saw the leftovers in the refrigerator the next morning, I just could not convince myself to eat anything other than that!

It’s one of these dishes that is more like “an idea for food” than “a recipe”–the quantities are very approximate, so you can adjust it depending on what you have handy.  I have made this before using frozen shredded vegetables (start at low heat and keep scraping off the thawed parts until the veggies are spread out, then turn up the heat) so you can make it at other times of year if you freeze these veggies while they’re on sale!  It’s also something you can make in a small batch when you have these ingredients left over.

I have made this with sweet potato or carrot OR with mushrooms.  Half a cup of each would work, too.

To make 4 main-dish servings, you will need approximately

• 1 cup sliced onion
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cups shredded kale, spinach, or other dark green leafy vegetable
• 1/2 to 1 cup shredded sweet potato or carrot
• 1/2 to 1 cup sliced mushrooms (crimini mushrooms are my favorite, but white button or portobello mushrooms are good too)
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup cooked garbanzo, cannellini, or other mild beans
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes (optional)

Cook onion in oil in a large skillet until it begins to brown.  Meanwhile, drain and rinse beans.

Add kale.  Stir frequently until it shrinks down to about half the size.

Add all other ingredients except yeast flakes.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sweet potato/carrot/mushrooms are lightly browned.

Mix yeast flakes into the whole thing or into each person’s serving, as desired.

Eat by itself or over a starchy food–we like this best with couscous.

I will admit, our six-year-old son is not a big fan of this stuff.  He’ll eat a few bites (more if he helped make it!) or just pick out the beans, then ask for something else.  But Daniel and I love it!  We both think we would have eaten much more healthfully in college if they’d just put concoctions like this in the steam tables instead of all that bacon-cheese-gravy stuff!

UPDATE: Two years later, as these vegetables are on sale again, I’m linking to the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.