Hi All,

If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
you teach?

Many thanks,
-T

On 2/21/2013 7:01 PM, Todd wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
> you teach?
>
> Many thanks,
> -T
><

To be used like greens, or celery.
Can be very colorfulas well.

Unless................................
Chards are a group of uniformed Swiss militia. ;-)

On 02/21/2013 07:19 PM, High Miles wrote:
>
> To be used like greens, or celery.

I do not understand.

"Todd" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All,
>
> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
> you teach?
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

I have only ever made them one way. It was a recipe I saw online for Quick
Swiss Chard Supper. I only made it because we were getting CSA baskets in
those days and the chard was in there. I could tell by looking at it that
none of us would eat it on its own.

Basically if you have the larger leaves, you need to cut out the ribs and
either discard them or cook separately. If you are going to cook them, they
need to be finely chopped and they will take longer to cook than your
leaves. Then for this recipe, the leaves were finely minced. I did use
both pieces and didn't exactly follow the recipe because it had you cook the
chard first and then add ground beef to it. I didn't find that the chard
needed that much cooking.

So... First I added the chopped ribs and cooked them in a little olive oil
for a couple of minutes. Then I added the minced leaves, a chopped pepper
and maybe some chopped celery if I had it. Then a pound of ground beef.
Salt and pepper. Cook through, stirring and chopping at the meat to break
it up until the meat is browned.

Then... And you might not like this step... Add enough sweet rice flour to
coat the meat. Recipe called for regular flour but we were gluten free in
those days. Cook for another minute, mixing well to get the flour cooked
through. Then slowly add some beef broth, milk or cream to make a gravy.
The liquid must be added slowly and stirred through as it cooks. As soon as
it is mostly absorbed, you add a little more. And keep doing this until a
nice gravy forms.

This gravy would then be served over mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, or even
toast. All of which are things you would be unlikely to do. But I will
sometimes use green or wax beans (well cooked) as a substitute for pasta.
So you could either do this or make the end result pretty thick and serve as
a soup. You could even leave out the thickening if you are going to do
this.

The whole idea behind this recipe is to disguise the chard so that hopefully
your family will eat it. And this did work for the first few times I served
it. But then they began to wonder. What are those little red flecks in my
food? And then they saw the chard. And then they freaked. And then it was
all over. And this is why I no longer bother to serve Swiss Chard.

When Angela was young, we used to get salads at McDonalds and they had in
them what I may have mistakenly labeled as baby Swiss Chard. They were tiny
green leaves that looked like spinach but had a red rib to them. But in
looking up spinach for you I see that they may in fact have been a variety
of spinach. Someone else suggested beet leaves. But more and more I am
thinking they were spinach. If I could get a huge bag of that, she'd be
happy as a clam! But I have only ever seen it mixed with other stuff that
she doesn't like.

I do believe that chard can be used in a salad but I've never tried it. And
raw foodists will use it in lieu of bread or a taco shell to make wraps,
tacos, etc. Again, never tried that either. But all you do there is wash
it well and wrap your filling in it. They would use a faux tuna salad made
of walnuts or some sort of vegetable thing maybe with sprouted lentils,
sprouted garbanzo beans or corn.

"Todd" > wrote in message
...
> On 02/21/2013 07:19 PM, High Miles wrote:
>>
>> To be used like greens, or celery.
>
> I do not understand.

Chard is a green. Can be cooked like dandelion greens, spinach, etc. Can
add to soup, use in a salad. Wouldn't be in my mind the same as celery
though.

On 02/21/2013 08:53 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
> "Todd" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hi All,
>>
>> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
>> you teach?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> -T
>
> I have only ever made them one way. It was a recipe I saw online for Quick
> Swiss Chard Supper. I only made it because we were getting CSA baskets in
> those days and the chard was in there. I could tell by looking at it that
> none of us would eat it on its own.
>
> Basically if you have the larger leaves, you need to cut out the ribs and
> either discard them or cook separately. If you are going to cook them, they
> need to be finely chopped and they will take longer to cook than your
> leaves. Then for this recipe, the leaves were finely minced. I did use
> both pieces and didn't exactly follow the recipe because it had you cook the
> chard first and then add ground beef to it. I didn't find that the chard
> needed that much cooking.
>
> So... First I added the chopped ribs and cooked them in a little olive oil
> for a couple of minutes. Then I added the minced leaves, a chopped pepper
> and maybe some chopped celery if I had it. Then a pound of ground beef.
> Salt and pepper. Cook through, stirring and chopping at the meat to break
> it up until the meat is browned.
>
> Then... And you might not like this step... Add enough sweet rice flour to
> coat the meat. Recipe called for regular flour but we were gluten free in
> those days. Cook for another minute, mixing well to get the flour cooked
> through. Then slowly add some beef broth, milk or cream to make a gravy.
> The liquid must be added slowly and stirred through as it cooks. As soon as
> it is mostly absorbed, you add a little more. And keep doing this until a
> nice gravy forms.
>
> This gravy would then be served over mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, or even
> toast. All of which are things you would be unlikely to do. But I will
> sometimes use green or wax beans (well cooked) as a substitute for pasta.
> So you could either do this or make the end result pretty thick and serve as
> a soup. You could even leave out the thickening if you are going to do
> this.
>
> The whole idea behind this recipe is to disguise the chard so that hopefully
> your family will eat it. And this did work for the first few times I served
> it. But then they began to wonder. What are those little red flecks in my
> food? And then they saw the chard. And then they freaked. And then it was
> all over. And this is why I no longer bother to serve Swiss Chard.
>
> When Angela was young, we used to get salads at McDonalds and they had in
> them what I may have mistakenly labeled as baby Swiss Chard. They were tiny
> green leaves that looked like spinach but had a red rib to them. But in
> looking up spinach for you I see that they may in fact have been a variety
> of spinach. Someone else suggested beet leaves. But more and more I am
> thinking they were spinach. If I could get a huge bag of that, she'd be
> happy as a clam! But I have only ever seen it mixed with other stuff that
> she doesn't like.
>
> I do believe that chard can be used in a salad but I've never tried it. And
> raw foodists will use it in lieu of bread or a taco shell to make wraps,
> tacos, etc. Again, never tried that either. But all you do there is wash
> it well and wrap your filling in it. They would use a faux tuna salad made
> of walnuts or some sort of vegetable thing maybe with sprouted lentils,
> sprouted garbanzo beans or corn.
>
>

Wow! Thank you!

-T

Todd > wrote:
: On 02/21/2013 08:53 PM, Julie Bove wrote:

: Wow! Thank you!

: -T

I simply remove the tough ribs and cut ot short lengths, and saute in
olive oil and garlic(finely chopped or put through a garlic press) , sS&P
start with teh ribs to give them a longer time to soften and follow with
the wet chard leaves stir , then coverfor a FEW minutes and serve. You
can f=do the same with spiach and beet greens.

Wendy

In article >, Todd >
wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
> you teach?
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

Wash well. Cut out the thickest stems. Cut into pieces about 2-3
inches on a side or so. Don't obsess over size of pieces. Toss into a
saucepan with a tight lid. Pour in a little boiling water (1/4 - 1/2
cup) MAX and cook on medium-high for just a few minutes, tossing the
contents of the pan while holding the lid on. Open to check the
contents every 2 mins or so and use a utensil to turn over the contents
if necessary. Once it's wilted down, it's done. Just like spinach.
Season to taste.

OR

Wash a bunch and cut into 2-3 inch pieces. Set aside. Sliver up some
pork (equivalent to one small chop per person or two chops per bunch of
chard -- do not take the fat off) into pieces about 1/2 inch by 1 inch
by 1/4 inch and set it to marinate in 1-2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 1-2 T
water, 1 T corn starch (or the equivalent of whatever thickener you
like), 1 big clove of garlic, minced, and a splash of dry sherry.

Get your wok really hot. Stir fry the chard for about 1-2 mins in hot
peanut oil. Remove and set aside. Get the wok hot again and pour in
some more peanut oil. Stir the marinated pork with its marinade and
pour the whole thing into the hot oil, scraping out any garlic bits or
thickener into the wok. Stir fry for about 2 mins or until the pork is
cooked. Add back the chard and stir fry for another minute. Enjoy it
without rice but let any non-diabetic guests have rice.

PP
--
"What you fail to understand is that criticising established authority by means
of argument and evidence is a crucial aspect of how science works."
- Chris Malcolm

On 02/22/2013 06:23 AM, W. Baker wrote:
> Todd > wrote:
> : On 02/21/2013 08:53 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
>
> : Wow! Thank you!
>
> : -T
>
> I simply remove the tough ribs and cut ot short lengths, and saute in
> olive oil and garlic(finely chopped or put through a garlic press) , sS&P
> start with teh ribs to give them a longer time to soften and follow with
> the wet chard leaves stir , then coverfor a FEW minutes and serve. You
> can f=do the same with spiach and beet greens.
>
> Wendy
>

Sounds very yummy. Thank you!

How hot do you cook them?

-T

Todd > wrote:
: On 02/22/2013 06:23 AM, W. Baker wrote:
: > Todd > wrote:
: > : On 02/21/2013 08:53 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
: >
: > : Wow! Thank you!
: >
: > : -T
: >
: > I simply remove the tough ribs and cut ot short lengths, and saute in
: > olive oil and garlic(finely chopped or put through a garlic press) , sS&P
: > start with teh ribs to give them a longer time to soften and follow with
: > the wet chard leaves stir , then coverfor a FEW minutes and serve. You
: > can f=do the same with spiach and beet greens.
: >
: > Wendy
: >

: Sounds very yummy. Thank you!

: How hot do you cook them?

: -T

Medium heat. You don't want to burn them. don't do it in the pressure
cooker orthey will overcook.

Wendy

On 02/22/2013 01:40 PM, W. Baker wrote:
> Todd > wrote:
> : On 02/22/2013 06:23 AM, W. Baker wrote:
> : > Todd > wrote:
> : > : On 02/21/2013 08:53 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
> : >
> : > : Wow! Thank you!
> : >
> : > : -T
> : >
> : > I simply remove the tough ribs and cut ot short lengths, and saute in
> : > olive oil and garlic(finely chopped or put through a garlic press) , sS&P
> : > start with teh ribs to give them a longer time to soften and follow with
> : > the wet chard leaves stir , then coverfor a FEW minutes and serve. You
> : > can f=do the same with spiach and beet greens.
> : >
> : > Wendy
> : >
>
> : Sounds very yummy. Thank you!
>
> : How hot do you cook them?
>
> : -T
>
> Medium heat. You don't want to burn them. don't do it in the pressure
> cooker orthey will overcook.
>
> Wendy
>

Thank you!

On 02/22/2013 11:53 AM, Peppermint Patootie wrote:
> In article >, Todd >
> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
>> you teach?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> -T
>
> Wash well. Cut out the thickest stems. Cut into pieces about 2-3
> inches on a side or so. Don't obsess over size of pieces. Toss into a
> saucepan with a tight lid. Pour in a little boiling water (1/4 - 1/2
> cup) MAX and cook on medium-high for just a few minutes, tossing the
> contents of the pan while holding the lid on. Open to check the
> contents every 2 mins or so and use a utensil to turn over the contents
> if necessary. Once it's wilted down, it's done. Just like spinach.
> Season to taste.
>
> OR
>
> Wash a bunch and cut into 2-3 inch pieces. Set aside. Sliver up some
> pork (equivalent to one small chop per person or two chops per bunch of
> chard -- do not take the fat off) into pieces about 1/2 inch by 1 inch
> by 1/4 inch and set it to marinate in 1-2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 1-2 T
> water, 1 T corn starch (or the equivalent of whatever thickener you
> like), 1 big clove of garlic, minced, and a splash of dry sherry.
>
> Get your wok really hot. Stir fry the chard for about 1-2 mins in hot
> peanut oil. Remove and set aside. Get the wok hot again and pour in
> some more peanut oil. Stir the marinated pork with its marinade and
> pour the whole thing into the hot oil, scraping out any garlic bits or
> thickener into the wok. Stir fry for about 2 mins or until the pork is
> cooked. Add back the chard and stir fry for another minute. Enjoy it
> without rice but let any non-diabetic guests have rice.
>
> PP
>


Hi PP,

Thank you!

-T

On 02/21/2013 05:01 PM, Todd wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
> you teach?
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

Hi All,

Bought one bunch of green chards. Wife and I ate about
1/4 of it raw.

Cut the stems up separately. Tossed in EVOO and a tiny bit
of powdered org garlic over low hear. Chopped up the leaves
while the stems cooked. Then tossed in the leaves.

Wow what a treat. Thank you all for the help. You guys
are a blessing.

-T

I chop them up & steam them. They are delicious au natural, and it couldn't be easier to prepare.

On 03/12/2013 05:35 PM, regularguy2k wrote:
> Todd;1815845 Wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> If you were teaching beginners 101 swiss chards, what
>> you teach?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> -T
>
> I chop them up & steam them. They are delicious au natural, and it
> couldn't be easier to prepare.

Thank you!

I have been enjoying them immensely. Even made a wrap
sandwich out of them and used them in a salad.

-T