Cooks' Books: Go green — again and again

"Wild About Greens: 125 Delectable Vegan Recipes for Kale, Collards, Arugula, Bok Choy and Other Leafy Veggies Everyone Loves" by Nava Atlas (Sterling, $24.95)

Many people think of greens as a side dish or a salad — and many don't think of them at all. Seth Meyers, the new NBC late-night talk show host and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member and writer, for instance, recently joked about a woman who found a very disturbing object in her restaurant kale salad.

"A kale salad?" he mocked, finding that ingredient much more unusual than the odd visitor in the salad. "Kale? Really?"

As those in trendy spots all over the country know, however, ancient kale is an upcoming superstar in the go-green-for-flavor-and-nutrition movement. Author Nava Atlas ("Vegan Holiday Kitchen" and "The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet," as well as many other vegan and vegetarian titles) knows the virtual rainbow of greens as versatile ingredients in almost every part of the meal, as well as a tasty, even tricky, gateway to introduce reluctant others to a vegan style of eating (no animal products whatsoever).

"It won't be terrible if all you ever do with a big bunch of kale, collard greens, or chard is to saute or braise it in olive oil. Your health and well-being will certainly be enhanced if you do little more than toss tender raw spinach, arugula and watercress into salad ... . But why stop there when there's an abundance of easy ways to prepare and enjoy these supremely nourishing, plentiful, and delicious leafy veggies?" writes the enthusiast.

Atlas then goes over everything from basic to gourmet preparations to freezing if you find yourself with an abundance of crops that are now available everywhere from farmers' markets to co-ops to neighborhood cafes and major supermarkets to perhaps your own simple garden. Through greens, her husband found he had a major green thumb, as crops began to overtake their backyard.

This might mean a first course of a Spring Greens and Berries Salad with Fresh Berries Dressing, or main courses as varied as a Sweet Potato and Corn Stew with Hardy Greens to Collard-Wrapped Yellow Rice and Black Bean Enchiladas to Eggplant Curry, Roasted with Greens and Tomatoes.

While compiling your menus, be sure not to skip green fresh juices or smoothies as breakfasts, snacks or desserts. For those who have started gulping such fruit and vegetable powerhouses in expensive fresh juice bars as well as for the uninitiated, Atlas' beverage chapter will probably be eye-opening, helping you to see the easy concoctions you can whip up at home, like a Spinach Pina Colada.

The book is nothing less than taking a vegan cooking class with a master, whose natural talent and acquired skill leave no leaf unturned in how to get the most creative and correct results from ingredients you may have never before even heard of or handled.

SPRING GREENS AND BERRIES SALAD

Fresh berry dressing:

• 1/2 cup hulled strawberries

• 2 T lemon juice

• 1 T extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:

• 6 ounces tender greens (use a combination of baby spinach, arugula, dandelion greens, watercress and baby bok choy)

• 1 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced

• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries or raspberries

• 1/3 cup chopped and lightly toasted walnuts or pecans, or 2 to 3 T toasted pine nuts

Yields 6 servings.

To prepare dressing: Combine the 1/2 cup strawberries, lemon juice and oil in a food processor and pulse until the strawberries are pureed.

To prepare salad: Combine the greens, 1 cup sliced strawberries and blueberries or raspberries in a serving bowl and toss together.

To serve: Pour the dressing on the salad and toss together. Scatter the nuts over the top of the salad and serve.

NUTTY CHOCOLATE-BANANA AND SPINACH SMOOTHIE

• 1 medium banana, peeled and cut into chunks (frozen, if desired)

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate nondairy milk

• 1 to 2 handfuls spinach leaves

• 2 T peanut, cashew or almond butter

• 2 T hemp, flax or chia seeds (optional)

Yields 2 (12-ounce) servings.

Combine all the ingredients in a regular blender — or a high-speed blender if you want to include the seeds — and process until smoothly pureed. Divide between two tumblers and serve immediately.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook."