It’s been a few weeks since we found out that kale is the new spinach. I’ve come to accept this and have even integrated this new information into my mental-foodencyclopedia. (Kale, [keyl] – noun: (1)  leafy green vegetable; (2) the new spinach; (3) deliciousness.)

But, these sudden world changes beg the question: What is the new kale?

Fortunately, that’s an easy question to answer.  It’s chard.  Chard is the new kale.  The up-and-coming green star.  Now, really, I would like to say that chard is the new spinach.  (Or, spinach is the new spinach and kale is just kale, and chard is the new awesome. But whatever…I’ll roll with this.)  Chard has long been a favorite of mine.  Those tender soft green leaves.  The beautiful multicolored stalks.  There is not much more you could ask for in a leafy vegetable (and believe me, I ask a lot of my leafy greens).

Let’s be honest, how can you not be happy when cooking with neon-lights variety rainbow swiss chard?  The pretty colors!  (Yes, I’m like a toddler…or a mosquito…drawn to bright happy things).

Individual Rainbow Chard Gratin Pot Pies*

Ingredients

• 1 bunch chard, chopped
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 c. cornmeal
• 1/3 c. nutritional yeast
• 1/2 c. and 1/4 c. milk (almond, soy, coconut, or cow)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp and 1/4 c. garbonzo flour
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Sautee garlic and shallot in the evoo over medium heat.  When the shallot starts to brown a bit, add the chard.  Cook until chard softens and turns a bright green.
3. In a separate sauce pan, melt butter.  Once butter is melted, stir in 1/2 c. milk, 1/4 c. garbonzo flour, and nutritional yeast.  Continue to to stir over medium heat until it begins to thicken.
4. Pour butter sauce over chard mixture.
5. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, 2 tbsp garbonzo flour, 1/4 c. milk, egg, and salt and pepper to taste.
6. In greased individual ramekins, split the chard mixture evenly.  Top with cornmeal mixture.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until top begins to brown.

* Originally these were supposed to be individual gratins…but, I’m still getting my dairy-free, gluten-free cooking down and they turned out more like a mini-pot-pie.  Still delish, just not gratin-ey.

Alright, peeps, what’s your fave chard recipe?

Some days when I’m thinking up dinner, I get bored.  I get bored because I eat the same things over and over and over and over.  Yogurt.  Check.  Berries.  Check.  PB&J.  Check.  It’s those nights, that I’m left with either a wonderfully creative dinner…

Or an inedible mess.

Fortunately for me, last night was one of the luckier times.

Collard-Quinoa Wrap-ups

Ingredients:*

• 8-10 large Collard Green leaves (or other harty/strong greens like cabbage)
• 2 cups Tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 2 Zuchini
• 4-5 Spring Onions
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 cups Quinoa (cooked)
• Olive oil
• 3 Tsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 3 oz. Goat Cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

*Note: I used all local produce and cheese.  Now to find local quinoa.

1. Wash collards and trim hard center stalks.

2. Blanche the stalks in bowling hot water until they become a bright green.

3. Lay the collards on a paper towel and allow to dry.

4. Combine tomatoes, garlic, and red wine vinegar in a blender or food processor…

5. …and blend until they look like this.

6. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add chopped zucchini, cooking until zucchini begins to soften.

7. Add chopped spring onions to zucchini and cook for 3 to 4 more minutes.

8. Add half of the tomato mixture, cooking until tomato sauce is reduced to paste consistency.

9. In a large bowl, combine quinoa and zucchini mixture.

10. Spoon zucchini mixture on to collard leaves and wrap up, rolling them as you would egg rolls or a burrito.  Line wraps in an oven safe dish.

11. Top the wrap-ups with the remaining tomato mixture and goat cheese. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

12. Enjoy!

Now, I would be lying if I said I actually ate these for dinner last night.  Because I didn’t.  Instead, while they were cooking, I got hungry and filled up on potato chips and rainbow sherbet.  Yum.  And that, ladies and gents, is why I’m happy to be an adult.  Dinner. of. champions.

Alrighty…I’m now off to test drive some real slick fast beauties.  Details and pictures of my new ride tonight.

Back when I started this blog (waaaaay back, last summer…when I posted twice), my whole purpose was to document my shift into a self-sustaining life.  My goal was to live as sustainably as possible.  And often I’ll note, in passing, when some food is local or from my garden.  But that’s about it.  And honestly, the local eating is about the only major change that I’ve made.

That said, it is a wonderful change, even if the only one.  The next few months, I’m going to be having a goal change each week toward sustainability.  I’ll provide you with the reasons why I am adopting that change, the benefits, the drawbacks, and my experiences.  My blog is going to focus a little more on being internally healthy and environmentally healthy (all the while training my little tuckus off).  It’s what I originally wanted my blog to be.  And it’s what I still want my blog to be.

So, starting now, I figured I would provide the low down on why it is beneficial to eat as locally as possible (my definition of “local” being produced within 150 miles, ideally within 60miles.)

Top 5 Reasons to Eat Locally:

• Yumminess. With local producers (and your own backyard), you get fruit and veggies at the height of freshness and ripeness.  This means the height of yumminess too.  Seriously, have you ever eaten a fresh tomato straight off the vine?  Delish.
• Fewer Carbon Emissions.  Less time and distance to travel from the farm to your plate means less pollutants by trucks/planes etc.  In fact, a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy determined that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic.
• You can really know where your food comes from. How many of you have ever been to a CAFO?  Or know where your eggs come from?  Or know what cage free really means for the chickens producing your eggs? Cage free doesn’t mean humane.  Organic doesn’t mean humane.  One of the few ways that you can really know how your food sources are treated is to visit the source.  I doubt any of you are going to travel to the major pork CAFOs in MO and NC.  Unfortunately, I’ve been.  It’s not pretty.  And, I’m lucky with eggs.  Most of my eggs come from a friend’s chickens.  I know those chickens are treated very well (save the time that Brennan went and visited and ate a couple of feathers and scared one into the pool).  I know that “cage free” doesn’t mean “still way overcrowded, deprived of light, and bred to produce more eggs.”  I know that my eggs come from chickens that have a lovely coop, a lovely yard to roam in, and a lovely family caring for them.  I know that the chickens aren’t abused and treated inhumanely.  But, dairy is not so easy.  I don’t have any friends that have a dairy farm (well, actually, I do.  But not nearby.)  So, I wanted to find a local dairy to get milk and cheese.  So I could check it all out myself.  And I did.  And I can really trust what I see.  And KNOW how my dairy cows are treated.
• It’s safer…to a point. Even when local food is not organic, local farms tend to be smaller operations.  With less area to patrol and protect from pests, there is less of a need to douse your food with pesticides indiscriminately.  So, inorganic food from smaller local farms has, on average, less pesticide residue per food item than the large conventional farms.
• Money in the local economy is good for everyone. Now, I didn’t pay much attention in economics classes in college (they were at 9am…and I was still foggy after 5am practice).  But, fortunately, basic economics is kinda common sense.  Buying local means you are investing money into your local economy (duh).  Which works to create a further robust local economy, which will, come back to benefit you (that’s for those of you out there who are in it only for the benefits to you! ).  Further, according to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy.  When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

Does anyone else try to eat primarily locally produced products?  Why? or why not??

Tomorrow, I’ll give some tips on how to do it.  And just in case you are a little skeptical, take a look at my entirely local lunch: