Mm good! This was the side dish we had for dinner last night. What a delectable treat.

In prior posts I have mentioned our little garden. It came about several years ago when I decided to take out the grass along the side of our patio and arbor to install a vegetable garden. You see, I firmly believe that anyone who loves to cook needs their own little plot of earth to grow vegetables. Of course, Baby Lady thought I had lost my mind because I love the beautiful grass in the backyard. Nonetheless, she worked out a design we both liked and got out there with me working diligently to accomplish the stated objective, i.e. garden fresh vegetables. First, we conscripted our youngest son (Knothead) and a friend of his to assist us in the endeavor. Next, we got a sod cutter, cut out the beautiful Saint Augustine grass and transplanted it elsewhere. Next, we set the perimeter border using 8 x 16 cinder blocks packed with sand and capped with 4 x 12 sandstone. We then laid down newspaper over our 7 x 19 area, added 2 yards of play sand and 9 yards of a combination of potting soil and compost. Voila! We had ourselves an elevated garden.

The next step in the process was planting things we wanted to eat and watching it grow, i.e. the fun part. When the Fall arrived we tilled everything under and planted our Fall garden. Part of that planting was swiss chard. Despite all of our tender loving care, we didn’t get any Fall swiss chard so (being in Texas in temperate climate) we let it alone through the winter. Lo and behold, it snowed! The little swiss chard, however, flourished and in the Spring we had our first meal of swiss chard. When harvesting, rather than pull the plant out, I clipped the leaves from the base which allowed the plant to continue to grow.  That was 2-1/2 years ago. The swiss chard has now grown and multiplied so we have an abundance of flavorful swiss chard. This side dish is a fabulous way to fix swiss chard that we really enjoy.  Hopefully, you will like it, too.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs swiss chard (red, green or rainbow)
• 1 Tbsp sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp crushed red pepper
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced

Instructions

Clean the swiss chard and remove the stalk from the leaf. Cut the stalk into 1/2 inch pieces.

Heat a large deep pot (I use a wok) on medium high heat with 1 -2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the swiss chard stalks to the pot. The stalks are fibrous and need extra cooking time to tenderize. Add 1 medium onion minced and 1/2 tablespoon of salt. Cook the onions and swiss chard over medium heat for roughly 8 minutes until the stalks are tender.

In the meantime, chop the swiss chard leaves into 1-1/2 inch think slices. Add the leaf and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of salt, and crushed red pepper to the pot.

Toss frequently until the swiss chard begins to wilt.

Now add the minced garlic and juice of 1 lemon. Cook until leaves are completely wilted but still retaining their green color.

Serve and enjoy!