Peggy Lampman's Monday dinnerFeed: Quinoa and '3'

From my experience, the protein is generally a thick, fried pork chop and the vegetables, often enough, are fried okra, butter beans and tomatoes. You'd better believe the pork chop and okra are the first items to disappear from my plate! (I've a serious, serious weakness for fried foods.)

Backyard tomatoes

Hubby Richard begged that I return the Crisco to the pantry and come up with something a bit more healthy for tonight's menu. Quinoa is packed with protein and contains all of the amino acids, so he was delighted with my substituting quinoa for the pork.

I picked turnip greens, turnips and tomatoes from the backyard, and simmered the greens with a smoked turkey leg. The corn was purchased at the farmers market. Could summer get much healthier than this? Perhaps with the addition of steamed squash, which could be substituted for the turnip greens.

Time to prepare turnip greens: 4-6 hours (mostly unattended) Active time: 20 minutes Yield: 2-3 servings

Ingredients

1 recipe for turnip greens 1/2 cup dry quinoa 2-4 ears Michigan sweet corn 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, optional 1-2 large Michigan tomatoes Basil leaves

Directions

1. Prepare quinoa in salted water according to package instructions; bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. 2. Boil corn until just tender, about 3 minutes; drain. Melt butter over corn, if using, and season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. 3. Slice tomatoes and season with kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and torn basil leaves. 4. Arrange 2-4 plates with turnip greens, corn, quinoa and tomatoes.