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Monday, July 29, 2013

Swiss Chard Sauce or Dip

Garden Swiss chard
The Swiss chard in Tom's raised garden bins is prolific and delicious! Our son, Sam, even loves it.  A couple of mornings ago, he asked me to scramble some eggs with Swiss chard, onions, garlic and peppers to put into a wrap for a breakfast burrito of sorts.  I started by sauteing the onions, peppers and garlic and then added the Swiss chard.  As he looked at how much I made, he said he only needed about half of it.  So I saved half of it for me to use in some way.  

That "some way" came today, as I put the Swiss Chard mixture with canned Great Northern Beans into the Magic Bullet to make a dip to spread on crackers.  Then later, I thinned it with some of the reserved liquid from the beans, and warmed it up with a small amount of pasta and topped it with reduced-fat feta cheese.  I savored it both ways. 

Whenever I cook Swiss chard, I am amazed at how the large quantity of it raw shrinks down to the tiny amount in the pan.  When I made it for Sam's burrito, I think it was a bit more than four cups of chopped chard, though I didn't measure it exactly, and then I saved half of the finished product for my creation today.  So the list of ingredients below is more of an approximation than an exact recipe.  Next time, I will cook a large quantity of this to use in a variety of ways.  Have fun making your own Pzazzed version!


Ingredients:
2 cups chopped Swiss Chard
2 Tablespoons chopped red onion
2 Tablespoons diced green pepper
1/2 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1/4 cup cooked, drained Great Northern Beans  (but save some liquid)

Preparation:
Saute the onion, green pepper, and garlic in the coconut oil on medium heat until tender.  Add the Swiss chard with a bit of salt and pepper and saute until tender. You will have about 1/4  - 1/3 cup of the mixture when the chard cooks down.  Put this mixture with the Great Northern Beans in a Magic Bullet or similar device. Puree to desired consistency.  You might need to add just a bit of the reserved liquid from the beans to get the Magic Bullet to do its job and to get the desired consistency.  




Nutrition per serving:
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: About 1/2 cup      
Calories: 121
Total Fat: 5 g
Cholesterol:  0 mg
Sodium: 261 mg
Total Carbs: 15 g
Dietary Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 6 g