Rainbow Chard (and what to do with it)

Rainbow Chard is beautiful. If you cant find it you can use Swiss Chard. After the recipe I have listed a few ideas of ways to use the chard once it is cooked...

1 Bunch Rainbow or Swiss Chard, rinsed
2 TBS olive oil
3 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced thin
(3 or so TBS toasted nuts of your choice I am using Hazelnuts but you can skip the nuts if you wish)
2 TBS water
pinch of salt and pepper

First you will want to remove the stalk just below the leaf part. (** Please note the stalks can be chopped up into bite size pieces and simmered in water until tender this takes some extra time - others choose to just throw it out)

So after the stalk is removed place the leaves, the olive oil and the garlic in a deep saute pan, ideally a pan with a lid, turn your heat to medium and cook covered for 6-10 minutes. I turned the leaves several times to make sure the garlic was not burning. You can add a splash of water if the pan seems too dry. After cooking add nuts (optional)and salt and pepper to taste.

Serving suggestions:
1.Simply serve with crumbled cheese or cherry tomatoes
2.Stuff chopped mixture into baked potatoes
3.Stuff into calzones or serve on top of flatbread
4. Serve with cooked couscous, pasta or rice

Green Cauliflower for St. Patrick's day (or any day)

This is a healthy option for a side dish to go with my Slow Cooker corned beef (March 18 2008)

All of the colored varieties of Cauliflower can be cooked in the same manner - some unusual colors are a golden color, a beautiful shade of purple, and great for today green... Steaming helps retain the beautiful colors

1 Head of Green cauliflower ( if you can find it in you store by all means use regular white)
you must trim the leaves and cut it into florets.

1 cup water

2-3 tablespoons toasted nuts- pine nuts are great also hazelnuts and almonds would work well, just be sure to roughly chop the larger nuts to the size of pine nuts
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
pinch of salt
cheese to crumble on top optional such as Parm or goat cheese

Place the florets and water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on High for 8-10 minutes or until tender- I stopped the oven once during cooking and mixed the veg around.
Remove from oven and drain. Drizzle the lemon juice and olive oil over the top and sprinkle with salt nuts and cheese- serve- it cant get any easier than that right?

I just wanted to mention that if you search up at the top in the search box you will find my recipe from Tuesday March 18 2008 for Slow Cooker Corned Beef.

As a vegetarian option today I am also making cheese stuffed baked potatoes.
Hope you enjoy the day!

This week on the garden page I have mentioned some of my favorite seeds to buy for a kitchen garden - I hope this inspires you, the end of winter can be a bit gloomy, planning ahead for the kitchen garden bursting with basil and tomatoes is always a nice pick me up...