Whole wheat spaghetti with mustard greens and bacon

I LOVE bacon.
I like greens.
I like spaghetti.
I like garlic.
I like Parmesean cheese.
And, it turns out, I like all of these things together.

1 bunch of mustard greens (collard greens would work too)
1 package of whole wheat, thin spaghetti (Barilla makes a nice one)
1 package of bacon (Thick cut works nicely too.)
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 stick of unsalted butter
1 bowl of Nicole's Greens (see previous recipe)
1/2 cup of grated Parmesean cheese*
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Step 1
Turn your oven on to 350.
On a large cookie sheet, place the bacon in strips vertically.
Place bacon into the oven, and let crisp until golden brown, about 20 minutes. If you burn a couple, no problem, but try not to burn all of them. Once done, remove the bacon from the oven and drain on a paper towel. Reserve a little bit of the pan drippings in a separate bowl.
Once cooled, coarsely chop the bacon and set aside.

Meanwhile, place a pot of lightly salted water on the stovetop. Add a little olive oil.
Once the water's boiling, add the pasta. (I don't break up my pasta, I let the heat wilt it until it's all in the pot.) Give it a couple twirls, 8 minutes or so. Reserve some of the water in a seperate bowl. Let the pasta drain. Toss it with the bacon drippings so it doesn't stick together.

Step 2
In the pot that you jump dumped the water out of, pour some olive oil and let it heat up.
Smash the four garlic cloves and mince lightly. Add to the pot, sauteeing until golden. Do not burn the garlic or you'll have that roasted garlic flavor and while usually good, you don't want that for this dish. Once the garlic is golden, add the butter, stirring until disolved. Then turn the fire off under the pot.

Step 3
Add the spaghetti to the pot, and half a cup of the reserved pasta water to coat the spaghetti.. Transfer the spaghetti to a large mixing bowl. Add the bacon, Nicole's greens, the grated parmesean and toss!

Step 4
Enjoy with some wine. And the satisfaction that this took you almost no time.

*If you have the nice, expensive, flaky, fresh Parmesean, by all means, use it in this recipe. (It really does taste good--airy, sensual...) If you shop at Costco like me, use the Kraft one and call it a day.