Thinking Green

So, I went to my Nanny's house the other day so JW could spend some time with her, and as usual, she loaded me up with goodies from her garden and freezer. Came home with collards, cabbage, deer sausage and ground up deer meat. On the way back to the Island, I stopped by Greers and picked up some ham hocks and took a few pictures of some of the stuff they sell there. They have anything from chocolate flavored red wine to chicken feet and pork brains. Kind of cool, if you ask me. I like going in the Vietnamese grocery store too. Talk about some funky stuff in there!! Wooooo!! LOL

Alright, enough chit chat....Let's get to cooking!

In a large stock pot, place the ham hocks on the bottom and fill with water until they are covered by about 5 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for a hour.

Start by washing and separating the collards into single leaves.

Remove the vein and stack the leaves.

Cut down the length once and then the width a few times.

Coarsely chop up 4-5 cloves of garlic.

Remove the ham hocks from the water and let cool then remove the skin and cut the meat off the bone and chop. (I gave the skin and bones to my dogs and they loved it!)

Add the seasonings to the pot. I used salt, Tony's and red pepper flakes.

Add the greens, meat and garlic.

I love how green they turn when you first put them in!

Let boil for 45 mins.

Load your bowl up and dig in!!

Note: It's a little spicy and there is really no reason to add pepper sauce, unless you just want to. Let me just say that that was some gooooooooood stuff right there!!