Fast, Tasty, Healthy Chard & Pasta
Serves 2

- 1 bunch chard (any kind)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 3 fresh roma tomatoes, peeled & diced OR 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1/4-1/2 cup water
- dry chili flakes, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- olive oil
- penne pasta (whole wheat is fine)
- pecorino romano, to garnish

Get water boiling, and put in 2 servings worth of pasta.

Meanwhile, remove the long stems from end of the chard and discard (or if you like them, you can use them, too). Stack and roughly chop the leaves. They should be in big chunks.

In a hot pan over medium heat, add olive oil. Add the garlic and fry it for a minute or two, to release the garlicky goodness into the oil. Add the dry chili flakes and tomatoes. Stir fry for another couple of minutes. Now add the chard, folding it into the ingredients slowly. Add 1/4 cup of water, you can add up to 1/2 cup if you want it more saucy. Cover and steam the chard down until it’s cooked. When it’s cooked, remove the lid and boil off the excess liquid.

Meanwhile, drain the pasta and put it into a large bowl. It should still be hot when you add the chard mixture. Toss together. Taste and add salt if needed, OR add some pecorino romano to garnish. This is a salty sheepsmilk hard cheese; a little goes a long way. You don’t want to use salt AND this cheese together.

For the dill, you can chop it up and serve it in salads, you can use it to perfume fish (use it and a few slices of lemon and even orange with salmon or any other kind of fish), you can use it in borscht (there’s a great recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Broccoli Forest cookbook)… the possibilities are endless.

Good luck!

Pity we can’t see the “*meh* – it’s only veggies. Never mind” reaction shots once kitty discovers there’s no meat or fish in that big green box.

X D

If you’re up to trying something new, I’d suggest looking into a dehyrdator. We just got one, haven’t tried it yet but – it might extend the life of some of your foods. You’d want to maybe look into what would be good and not so good to try.

Also, if you’re getting to the end of their shelf-life, don’t forget you can just make a big ol’ soup and freeze them into individual servings…. you can probably put them into ziplock bags if you don’t have the room for the stackable ziplock/tupperware containers. You can also give some away to people too, if you find you’re stockpiling too much. Any older people in your area? you could always give them some of your extra left-overs. You’d make an old-persons day and how wonderful it’d be for them to have something home-made that they can take out of the freezer when needed. Also is good for the karma-o’metre :)

… or, share with the roommate??

Also, these guys are great because, unlike the delivery I got in Boston, they never yell at you or FINE you for forgetting to put out last week’s bin. I’ve accidentally horded 3 at a time without negative comment!