Make Chard Taste Amazing in 10 Minutes

Cat

My very dear friend, Cat, who will hopefully be guest blogging soon, is an excellent cook.  She is a fellow omnitard, meaning she is not only gluten sensitive (a glutard) or dairy intolerant (a lactard),  but that she has so many food sensitivities that she is an omnitard.  She must avoid almost all pre-packaged or prepared foods.  In other words, like me, she buys, prepares and cooks 95% of her food in her own kitchen.  Unlike me, though, she is creative in her kitchen.  In the midst of enjoying some of her creations, she'll sometimes text me entire recipes.  Here's one:  "hv I ever given u recipe for rainbow chard??? Saute in coc oil. Add coc milk. Add salt add lemon.  Omg delic"  She's really good at text speak.  Sometimes I wonder how I even understand what she writes, but I always do.  Even if at first I say out loud, "Why the hell is she using cock milk?" Ohhh, coconut milk - got it.  

My second thought on that email was, 'Chard?  Delicious?  She's so f#@king weird.'  She told me about the amazing chard recipe a couple more times, and each time I nodded and smiled at her outlandish claim that it was truly amazing.  How delicious could chard, lemon and coconut be?

And then she made it for me.  The fact that I've dedicated an entire post to this recipe speaks volumes about its flavor and satiety factor.  It's hard for me to feel full without meat.  As many of you know, I like my meat and it belongs on my plate, but when I ate this chard deliciousness, I was full and needed nothing else.  For at least an hour.

What I've realized lately is that you don't necessarily want to hear me blather on about the reasons to eat or not eat certain foods.  You just want me to say, "Eat this, buy it here, do this with it and eat it at this time of day."  I will try to do more of that in these posts in the future.  I may even devote an entire post per week to recipes and cooking tips if you all would like that (comments are appreciated).

Before I give you the recipe, though, why should you eat chard?  I bet you've walked past it a thousand times in the grocery store, not daring to buy it because you didn't know what to do with it, right?  Well, for that reason alone you should try this recipe.  It is a dark green, leafy vegetable, and that alone is enough to deduce that it contains a LOT of nutritional value.  All of those colors that make up the dark greens, reds, pinks, and yellows in rainbow chard all signify different nutrients.  About three dozen antioxidant phytonutrients have been found in chard, including betalains and epoxyxanthophylls.  These antioxidants decrease inflammation, and therefore help keep us safe from atherosclerosis, diabetes, and cancer.  Besides that, though, chard is an excellent source of bone building vitamins and minerals like vitamin K and calcium; it has a lot of fiber to help with blood sugar regulation; and it contains B vitamins that increase energy and help keep us happy.  Chard.  It's good for you.  Read more about it here.

Chard Delicious 

(total prep/cook time: 10 min, serves 2 vegetable lovers)

http://www.greenchicafe.com/risotto-with-swiss-chard

1 bunch organic chard

1/3 can organic coconut milk (preferably Native Forest - it has no BPA's in the can liner)

1 tbs organic coconut oil

1/2 organic lemon

salt to taste (5 shakes)

(optional protein - shrimp, scallops, chicken, salmon...)

-Start melting the coconut oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat.
-In the meantime, rinse the chard well and chop it roughly, stalk included (good fiber in there).
-Drop the chard into the pan and cover it up.  Let it cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  
-Add coconut milk, lemon and salt and stir in evenly.
-Let cook for a couple more minutes and serve.
-Optionally, cook protein option beforehand and add in to chard mix.

Next time I'll get the camera out and take gorgeous, appetizing shots of what I (or Cat) make, but for now, you'll just have to trust me.  Eat this as part of a balanced meal (with a protein source) - in the morning, noon or night.  It will keep you warm, fill you up, and tantalize the taste buds.  At least, that's what it did for me.

Until next time.