Sweet Chard, Carrots, and Onions Over Grains

Summer heat is here. Ugh. While the rest of the garden has done gone and dried up to the winds, the swiss chard is still hanging on. During the heat of the day from 2-5pm when temps reach in the upper 90s and the humidity peeks in the lower 90s, the beautiful leaves wilt over and look dead. But as the suns cools around 6pm, the leaves pick up and are ready for action again. To celebrate their tenacity: Swiss Chard with Sweet Onions and Carrots.

Modifications Made:

A red onion was used in place of a Viadala sweet onion and minced garlic replaced fresh.

Scaled for Likeness: Grood

Chard: Good

Flavor was fantastic with the sweet onion and carrot to offset the slightly bitter tang of the chard and the chard stems offered a great texture balance. The issue lies with the carrots being to soft for the card when cut into slices. Carrots really needed to be in large diced carrot chunks. More like the chard stems seen in the picture.

Grains: Great

A quinoa, millet, and buckwheat mixture was cooked in two cups of chicken broth to serve alongside the chard. This was the first time this grain mixture has been made successfully at home. It was fluffy and flavorful and complimented the chard's tenderness perfectly.

Edit July 20, 2020:

Leftovers did not fare well on the chard. What was soft yesterday was almost mushy when reheated. Grains on the other hand were wonderful even by themselves.

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender. Green be

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add potatoes. Cover and reduc

Eating Waffles

Search This Blog