My garden is bursting at the seams! One day we had hardly anything, and now we can’t eat it fast enough. I’ve been so busy keeping up with the incredibly prolific cherry tomatoes and cucumbers that I kind of forgot about my Swiss Chard. Wow, is it ever big! I discovered last summer that chard and balsamic are a match made in heaven. The balsamic tempers the bitterness of the greens, and pulls all the flavors together. If you think you don’t like chard, or have been reluctant to try it, this would be a great place to start! I had a little sample bottle of Wild Blueberry Balsamic that I’d been wanting to try, and it was just perfect for this. If you don’t have access to any, and don’t want to wait for an internet order to arrive, you could use any good-quality regular balsamic vinegar. But do consider buying the wild blueberry one, it’s really yummy! You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound fresh green beans

6 stems Swiss chard

1 Tbsp avocado oil (may substitute olive oil)

3-4 Tbsp blueberry balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

1.) Snap the beans into ~1″ pieces.

2.) To chop the chard, first cut off the thickest parts of the stems. Chop them into ~½” pieces, and set aside. Pile the leaves on top of each other, run your knife lengthwise once or twice down the leaves, then crosswise into about 1-2″ pieces. Set aside separately from the stem pieces.

3.) Heat a skillet on medium-high, add oil. Once oil has heated through, add the chard stem pieces. Sauteé a minute or two, just until the pieces barely soften. Add the leaves, beans, and balsamic. Cover the pan and turn heat to low. Cook another minute or two, until beans have just started to soften but still have a little crunch. Serve hot.