EAT IT — IT’S good for you,” I said.

Phil looked at the pile of leafy green kale in the serving bowl and blinked.

I have tried to feed my husband kale before, and he’s never been thrilled about it.

“It’s one of the most nutritious things you can eat outside of short grain brown rice,” I said. “You don’t have to eat the stems — just the leafy part.”

Always eager to please, my husband reached over, and instead of using the tongs lying there for that purpose, plucked a large handful of the steaming vegetable from the bowl and started eating it like it was corn on the cob, avoiding the stems and devouring it as fast as he could.

Naturally, I began to giggle, and the faster he chewed, the harder I laughed.

He wanted to get it over with and fast, like a little kid who is told to eat his lima beans.

But seriously, this has been a rotten winter all around, and let’s face it, many of us took to consuming fatty, sugary, salty treats as a distraction while the snow blew against the windows for days on end and filled our lawns and driveways to unprecedented heights.

Aside from reading, watching television and cleaning the house, there wasn’t a heck of a lot to do during those long, cold days of being housebound and trying to keep sane.

So now that spring is at hand and we feel uncomfortable in our expanded girths, tight-fitting attire and popping buttons, all focus is on eating good food — and less of it.

Kale has always been a tricky one for me. I’ve tried to cook it various ways according to what people suggest, including sauteing it in olive oil and garlic, dropping it in soups, steaming it, frying it and baking it into chips.

But all methods failed. No matter what I tried, I always ended up with this tough, chewy, prickly pile of green matter that went down the gullet like a bucket of holly leaves.

It wasn’t until our friend, Dave, told me how he cooks it that I finally found success.

“Put the kale in a big pot with a half inch of water and boil the hell out of it until it’s tender,” he said.

Voila! May I say I am now the proud producer of a platter of kale that is not only palatable, but tasty?

Sometimes the simpler the cooking method the better, and in this case, it is true.

I asked my sister’s stepdaughter, who is a personal trainer and feeds her family only the best and most nutritious foods, to name a food item that is really good for you and that people should eat.

“Avocado,” she said. I replied that I love avocado and buy it intermittently, but had always thought it was fattening.

“It does have fat, but it is good fat,” she replied.

So I have been buying more avocados of late, a practice my husband could do without. He doesn’t care for avocado, but I put it in salads anyway and often just slice it and serve it on its own.

Phil purses his lips when he sees it on the table, but believing it’s good for him, he’ll acquiesce.

Actually, I can’t complain. There’s not much he doesn’t like, and sometimes he actually acquires a taste for these foods I push.

Yet I haven’t had much luck feeding him parsnips or sweet potato, no matter how creatively I bake, fry or broil them.

And if I mention kasha varnishkes, a buckwheat-onion-bowtie-pasta dish that I absolutely love?

Oy vey!

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 27 years. Her column appears here Mondays. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com

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