Top Ten Healthy Greens Recipes

January means making resolutions. Usually I make ones that are impossible to keep, but I'm keeping it simple in 2014. I'm going to eat more green vegetables. Cabbage and kale are in season now, while peas, spinach, green beans and broccoli are all easily available frozen. If you're anything like me, though, you're already running out of inspiring ways to cook them. Not for much longer!

Just because you're eating your greens, it doesn't mean you want to forgo the carbs, does it? Make some colcannon, pesto potatoes with broccoli or dirty anchovy pasta and you can have both. If your comfort cravings are more along the cheese lines then cauliflower, broccoli and blue cheese soup or spinach and goat's cheese risotto is probably the dish for you.

We're not suggesting you give up meat if you don't want to. Try stuffing your roast with veg instead of breadcrumbs. Or, if that's too much like hard work for a week-night, try a healthy serving of broccoli with your stir fried beef. Keep it light with Asian chicken salad, or pile on the comfort with lamb saag, it's up to you.

Don't get stuck for a green side dish, gin, ginger and garlic sprouts are the delicious proof that Brussels sprouts are more than just a Christmas trimming. Sauteed cabbage and sugarsnap peas with sticky onions are great with pork or chicken. Whiskied green beans are exciting enough to stand alone, but try them once beside steak.

It's flippin' cold and wet outside so chilli is most definitely the order of the day. Cram your Thai jungle curry with green beans and your oriental hotpot with pak choi (it's a Chinese cabbage, after all) for a fiery, virtuous meal. Coconut chilli greens make a brilliant side dish with Thai green curry, because I don't think green curry paste counts as one of your five-a-day.  

Let's get some green veggies into our lunch, too. Pea and onion frittata and salmon and broccoli tart are brilliant hot or cold, so pop some in your new lunchbox. How about kale chips instead of crisps as a snack? They're surprisingly delicious, we promise. Stock up on frozen broad beans to make sure that broad bean fritters are available any time the desire strikes.

Eating your greens can include some purples, too! Braised red cabbage is an absolute winter must-eat. And, for those days when you crave something crispy and raw, try adding your red cabbage to kohlslaw or colourful coleslaw instead.

Oh, and if you think that eating more greens means you don't get dessert, you're wrong! We've got that covered, too.

For more recipe inspiration, check out more top ten recipe posts.