Chard It Up!

One of the things I love about shopping at the farmers' market is that I can't really predict exactly what produce will be tucked into my reusable shopping bag when I walk out. For example this week, I was struck by how pretty this bunch of swiss chard looked. Love the pink, green, and yellow stems!

These guys have been hiding out in my veggie drawer since Saturday. Ever since, I've been pondering how I should prepare them. This afternoon, Will emailed me about going to the Asian Food-mart after work and I knew exactly how I would be cooking up this lovely chard! On a side note, if you have never been to a little Asian market, you need to go! There are so many unique foods! It's fun to just wander around the aisles and check out all the different foods. We found quite a few fruits and veggies we had never seen before! Plus, this market even had live tilapia, catfish and crabs in tanks in the back! You won't see that at Kroger anytime soon... Haha.
Anyways, back to the chard! I picked up some soy sauce at the market and was super excited to try it on my greens. I love cooking up vegetables in soy sauce - if you haven't tried it, you should! Here's the finished product served up with a cheese-topped black bean and sweet potato saute and green beans. :-)

Asian-Inspired Swiss Chard
Ingredients:
- 1 large bunch swiss chard
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. dark sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
Directions:
1. Rinse chard well. Cut stems away from leaves. Chop leaves and stems separately. Heat oils in stock pot on stove. Add garlic and stems and cook until stems start to soften. Add chopped leaves and cover.
2. Simmer until leaves have wilted. Remove lid and add soy sauce. Simmer until excess water/soy sauce is cooked off. Top with a sprinkle of black pepper.

Yum!! As you enjoy your chard ponder this - a one cup serving of cooked chard contains...
- 716% of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for Vit. K - ie. 7x the recommended daily intake for Vit. K
- 214% of the DRI for Vit. A - ie. 2x the recommended intake
- 52.5% of the DRI for Vit. C
- 22% of the DRI for Iron - this is quite a bit of iron for a non-protein food! (Unfortunately it isn't absorbed as well as from meat...)
- Only ~35 calories a serving!

Now that's something to chew on! :-)

Nutrition data for chard from: NutritionData