The stalks of many Colors

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Have you ever seen rainbow Swiss chard? G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S ! Honestly if you need a showstopper of a vegetable side as we move into this holiday season, I highly suggest you figure out how you can make use of this interesting and beautiful vegetable. The beauty in my opinion comes from the brightly colored stalks. The colors can range from bright flamingo pink, orangy, and sunny yellow. Then sprouting off these pretty stalks is the dark fluttery greens. Both the stalks and the leafy part are both edible. The cooking of this vegetable could not be easier. And trust me on this as I still haven't quite lived up to my name as Suzy Homemaker. The leafy greens are very similar to the richness of spinach and you can sub in the Swiss chard for spinach in most recipes. I do warn you the bright colors will mix into any cooking liquid. Which can be pretty, but to those who don't know what you were cooking could be slightly alarming. For instance tonight for dinner we had PINK tofu scrambled eggs. Interesting and tasted pretty good. I sauteed (look at me using the cooking vocab) up the greens on my second attempt. The first attempt may or may not have included burning the garlic. Let me tell you garlic turns from golden brown to STINKY black in less than three seconds in way too hot olive oil. I am just sayin'. The second attempt yielded a flavorful wilted green with some sweet heat. Then I chopped up the stalks and sweated them in a frying pan before adding the scrambled tofu and eggs. Which wasn't the recipe I had planned, but what are you going to do when the tofu and you enter a battle and the tofu wins? Tofu won the battle, but I won the war :) Tofu entered the battle pale and sinister and left as a pink yummy entree. The stalks could taste a little more bitter than celery but with a little heat and a splash of flavor they become tender and mild. Like most greens ,Swiss Chard (which is a huge family that includes Rainbow Swiss Chard) is a nutritional powerhouse. If someone mentions Vitamin C most of us know to reach for the citrus fruits, but leafy greens also tend to be a great source. Swiss Chard also includes Vitamin K and Vitamin A (according to www.whfoods.com ). Plus to round out the nutritional lowdown the vegetable also includes magnesium, manganese, potassium, iron, copper, calcium, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, and protein. There are even more nutritional benefits to be found, but I don't want to overload you with too much information. May your holiday side dishes be loaded with personality, nutritional benefits, and yumminess. I encourage you to find out where your rainbow leads (and hopefully, not just to a bag of colorful candy that rhymes with vittles) on your HealthFULL Journey. FULL means to Fully Understand Life by Living. 'Til we meet again. . .