Foraged Greens in My Soup

Tonight's supper was a little last minute...

I was out in the back with the kids this afternoon and they had this desire to weed the yard (and the area right behind our yard leading out to the field). So we pulled up lots of milk thistle, and a bunch of dead branches, and picked some mallow too. The milk thistle got a taste of my scissors as we collected it - so much easier to take the thorns off the leaves BEFORE bringing them into the house...

(While we were out there, we discovered a scraggly looking prickly-pear cactus that had been hidden behind a bunch of dead branches. Time to clear out  that area - maybe we'll be able to nurse that cactus back to health? And enjoy the fruit at some point?)

So, I washed, checked, and chopped those greens, then wilted them in my cast iron skillet. Then I stared at them... Once wilted, a whole bunch of greens doesn't look like so much food...

Here's what I made with them:

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 large potatoes, diced
cook the above in a soup pot, with olive oil, till browning and fragrant.
Add water, soup stock, spices to taste (I only used salt and pepper).
Bring to a boil.
Add wilted greens.
Lower flame, and simmer about 10-15 min.
Serve hot with some croutons!

That was our yummy, if slightly too peppery, soup tonight. A few of the kids EVEN asked for seconds. Sounds like this recipe is a keeper!!