Chard...Groundhogs...and Tomatoes

The kids are gone camping and I got to fix myself an "adult" lunch today.

The Five-Color Silverbeets(aka Rainbow Chard) in the garden needs to be picked, so I decided that I would incorporate it into my lunch.

I picked about 5 large leaves of chard and washed them. I cut the stems to about 1/2" pieces and the leaves I cut/tore into pieces and set it all aside.

I also had 2 slices of bacon calling my name in the fridge.

I cut the bacon into pieces and cooked it in the cast iron skillet.

I then added 2 garlic cloves, minced and a splash of lemon juice to the skillet, followed by all of the chard. I stirred it up a bit and put a lid on it for 4 minutes.

When the timer beeped, I went in and took the lid off and stirred it and put it into a bowl.

That's all 5 large leaves! It really cooks down!

Yum!



On a side note, as I was going outside to take a pic of my lunch, I met a new *ahem* Friend.

This would probably explain the reason many of my tomatoes have been 'taste-tested' out in the garden! Argh!

Speaking of tomatoes, earlier this week I peeled, cored, seeded, chopped 17 lbs of tomatoes and made them into salsa and put it in the freezer in 2-cup increments, in quart freezer bags. I really did not want to deal with canning once I did all of that other work, especially at the height of allergy season and with a potential food allergen of mine. Just didn't want to push my luck too far. By the time I was finished, my nose was itchy and runny, but I wasn't miserable like the last time I canned tomatoes!

Today I am picking tomatoes, coring them, and putting about 9 or so in a gallon bag and freezing them and stacking them in the freezer. The less I have to deal with tomatoes during this allergy season the better. I fully expect my body to be able to handle making tomato sauce in the winter just fine, but don't want to push it for now. And I feel this method works fine for adding them to soups, making cabbage goulash, and probably even making spaghetti sauce. I take them out of the freezer and run them under warm water and the skins slip right off.
So far I have gotten 9 gallon bags of tomatoes.
Organic, home-grown tomatoes in the dead of winter. Double-Yum!