I was buying some fresh spinach the other day and noticed that Swiss [red] chard was on sale, so I decided to try it. Like other leafy greens, chard is chock-full of good stuff like Vitamins A, C & K, not to mention fiber and even some protein.The stalks are a brilliant red that reminds me of rhubarb, and the leaves are deep green.

I’ve seen chard before but never knew what to do with it, so I looked up some recipes. I modified and combined a few tips here and there, based on ingredients I already had on hand, and this was the yummy result:

First, I sauteed about 1/4 white onion, coarsely chopped (one of the recipes suggested red onion, but oh, well) with about 2 Tbsp minced garlic in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.

As the onion and garlic perfumed my kitchen, I added a couple of dashes of salt and a few heavy sprinkles of pepper. One of the recipes I found called for nutmeg, so I threw in a couple of dashes of ground spice, too.

I added 3 leafy stalks of Swiss chard, coarsely chopped, then splashed in about 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar. I sauteed it for 3-4 minutes until the chard was somewhat wilted.

At first, I was just going to eat it straight from the plate, as shown above, but then I decided to wrap it in a warm corn tortilla. Wowza! That’s good stuff! The three younger boys eagerly tried it and wanted second bites. No. 2 said it was “ok” and thought I should add paprika. No. 1 tried it grudgingly (it had green stuff, after all), and he declared it “not terrible, but not great.” Alas, coming from him, that’s a pretty good compliment! 😉  Post-fast, I might add grilled chicken or pulled pork, but I thought it was yummy in veggie version, too.