Collards

I'm as Southern as Southern can be. But I never cared for collards. Shhh...don't tell anybody! They might take my Southern membership card away! But weight loss surgery can be a funny thing; you don't like what you liked before and you like what you didn't like before. Sometimes I feel like John Travolta on Welcome Back Kotter..."I'm so confused!" LOL!!! One day I wanted some collards. But I had tasted some after my surgery and still didn't care for them. I decided to fix them like German Red Cabbage. Oh my goodness...they were so good! I cook them all the time now. So here's the recipe. Try them out even if you like Southern collards. You might like these too!

Collards

4-5 ounces cubed ham
1-16 ounce bag frozen, cut collards
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 apple, cored, diced large
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons red cooking wine
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons Splenda brown sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a Dutch oven, saute the ham until it has a light sear. Add the onion, collards, and apple to the pot. Saute, uncovered, until the collards start to defrost a bit. Add the remaining ingredients and cover. Cook, over medium to medium-low heat, stirring now and then, until all is tender, about 1/2 an hour or so.

Notes:
1. The original recipe calls for bacon, sauteed until clear. We don't like bacon so I use ham.
2. If you use fresh collards, you'll need to cook for about an hour.