Grow Your Own #18 Round-Up

Check out the wonderful food still being grown by food bloggers at the Grow Your Own #18 Round-Up over at A Scientist In The Kitchen. Gay, thanks for hosting!

Grow Your Own One Year Anniversary Round-Up

Happy Anniversary to Andrea's Grow Your Own! Check-out the round-up of homegrown delights.

Swiss Chard Cakes for Grow Your Own One Year Anniversary

Swiss chard is a nutritional powerhouse. In one cup your daily recommended value (DRV) of Vitamin K is off the charts. A cup of swiss chard will also provide you with more than 100% of your DRV of Vitamin A, over 50% of your DRV of Vitamin C, and over 20% of your DRV of magnesium, manganese, potassium, and iron. Need I say more? Aside from the nutritional vlue, swiss chard just tastes good. Such a fresh, green, mild flavor. Both the leaves and the stalks are edible, although really huge stalks can become tough. However, if picked or purchased at a reasonable size, just dice the stalks as you would celery or carrot or onion.Swiss chard can simply be sauteed with garlic in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and eaten immediately. You can also use the leaves and stalks in soups and stews, in omelettes, in a stir-fry, or, as in this recipe, in pancakes (or fritters). I'm using swiss chard from our garden. I've got plenty and I've just planted home grown starts so more is on the way. This is my entry for the One Year Anniversary of Grow Your Own, hosted by the event's founder, Andrea, of Andrea's Recipes. What you will need:

4.5 ounces self-rising flour
4 large stalks swiss chard, stalks and leaves separated and diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus more for frying
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tbsp fresh herb of choice, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

In a large skillet heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Once hot, add onions and swiss chard stalks and cook for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for several minutes until a bit of color comes to the onions. Add your fresh herbs and swiss chard leaves and combine. Cook the swiss chard leaves about five minutes max. You want to retain that rich green color.

Once this mixture is complete, let it cool for a bit so when you add the egg you don't cook the egg. Once cool, add the milk to the vegetable mix then add to the flour and combine. At this point you can taste the mixture for salt. Self-rising flour is salted so that is why I don't add it until this point, if at all. Lastly, add the beaten egg and incorporate all ingredients until just combined.Using the same skillet, heat a thin layer of olive on medium-high heat. Once hot, gently drop serving spoon-sized dollops of batter into the oil and let it be until the edges of the underside have turned golden. Then flip the pancake and cook the other side until golden. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel a couple of minutes and then enjoy. These are certainly great hot from the pan but are really tasty at room temperature.

Bok Choi with Black Bean Sauce and Chili Paste for Grow Your Own #11

This is my entry into June's Grow Your Own monthly blog event started by Andrea at Andrea's Recipes.I harvested quite a bit of baby bok choi today. I washed it right in the yard and the washing water went right back into the garden. I then gave it a spin in the salad spinner, let it dry a bit, then enjoyed it.

Into a large skillet I heated 2 tbsp olive oil on medium-high heat. I added two garlic cloves, minced, one teaspoon of chopped ginger and let this cook for just a moment. I then added all of the bok choi and gave it a good toss with a pair of tongs. Let this cook a few minutes then dribble in about a 1/4 cup of water. Add a heaping half teaspoon of black bean sauce and a teaspoon of your favorite chili paste. Toss the pastes to incorporate them into the mix. Cover and cook about five more minutes. I like a bit of crunch to the bok choi stalks. Serve it right away.

You can remove all of the bok choi from the pan then reduce the sauce to thicken it. I was too hungry and impatient tonight. I barely allowed myself to snap a photo.