Collard Greens, Grilled 'Sheese' on Olive Bread

As I was beginning to cook dinner tonight, a good friend (my Best Man from my wedding, in fact) called to say that he is flying back from a trip and could use a ride home from the airport. So we had the pleasure of having him over for dinner.

I have never cooked with collard greens, a common ingredient in the southern U.S. In a large stock pan, I quickly sauteed a medium red onion, sliced into thin segments, and thinly sliced red jalapeno pepper. After 5 minutes or so, with the onion still maintaining some pinkish red color, I added some cumin seeds for about 15 seconds before adding the greens. I had prepared the greens by washing each leaf, cutting out the central stem, then hand tearing to (very) approximately one and a half inch rough squares. I sprinkled some salt on the greens and put in a little Consorzio brand roasted garlic marinade, stirred for a few minutes, then added maybe 1/2 cup of water and a vegan bouillon cube, stirred, and, slightly covered, simmered over low heat for about 10 minutes till the leaves were tender and tasted good

I made a grilled "cheese" sandwich on a lovely Weaver Street Market olive bread made fresh today, out of the little bit of Bute Island Foods (Scottish) "cheddar" with chives that I had left, but mostly with their "blue" variety. This was the first time that I had their blue; unlike dairy blue cheese, it isn't veined but is simply white. It has been years since I've had blue cheese, but the Bute Island one is good and does taste like a mild blue to me!

Salad (including micro beet greens) and brown basmati rice cooked in vegan broth rounded out the meal. We all enjoyed it - the collards were good and the grilled "sheese" was quite tasty!