Mustard Greens and Thanksgiving Leftovers

As a defiant response to Sad Desk Lunches, the Food52 team works to keep our midday meals both interesting and pretty. Each week, we'll be sharing our happiest desk lunches -- and we want to see yours, too.

Today: Why you should keep mustard greens on hand for you next week's desk lunches.

If I were a mustard green, I would have a chip on my shoulder.

Bandwagon hoppers and salad masseuses choose kale over mustards probably thousands of times every day. But mustards are spunky when kale is mild; it sits there on the middle of your tongue and yells "hello I am a leafy vegetable that tastes like Grey Poupon!!!" and it's got so much joie de vivre that it doesn't need any hoop-la in its dressing or saucing.

For this reason, you should keep some mustard greens around this week. You're going to have leftovers to eat -- roasted squash (see above), stuffing, a gratin, or some sort of bird. Next to a salad, they'll feel a little more civilized; unlike a sandwich, it's a meal not very likely to put you to sleep. The brightness of the greens will balance out heavy, savory, luscious things. Which means there's more room for pie.