Dad's House » food recipes

Recipes for Cooking Swiss Chard and Beet Greens

dadshouse — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:00:41 +0000

You gotta eat your leafy greens! They’re great sources of vitamins and energy. Some kids don’t like them, but rest assured, with the right recipes for cooking beet greens and Swiss chard, your kids will gobble them up. Mine do, and so do their friends who visit for dinner.

The secret to cooking beet greens and Swiss chard? Add a bit of flavor. We like garlic and olive oil, but lemon can do in a pinch.

Here’s my recipe for how to cook Swiss chard and beet greens. I learned the basics from my Italian mother-in-law back when I was married, and added some techniques from a chef I know.

How to Cook Beet Greens and Swiss Chard

The basic recipe involves steaming the greens with olive oil and garlic infused water adding flavor.

Cutting and cleaning the greens:

Take a bunch of Swiss chard or beet green leaves, and cut off and discard the stalk ends.

Cut the stalk into two-inch pieces.
Clean in a pot of water, making sure to rub any dirt off.
Put them in a steamer.

Cut and wash the beet greens or Swiss chard leaves in a similar fashion. Just hold the bunch of leaves and cut across two inches at a time.

Once all the Swiss chard or beet green leaves are cut, rinsed, and in the steamer:

Cooking the greens:

Put about an inch of water in the steamer pot.
Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the water.
Drop in 2 or 3 garlic cloves (without the skin) .
Put the beet-green or Swiss-chard filled steamer on top of the pot.
Cover. Heat. Steam until done.

How do you know when beet greens and Swiss chard are done cooking? Stab a stalk with a fork. If the stalk pierces easily and has a texture you would enjoy eating, then it’s done. Swiss chard and beet greens have thicker stalks, so they take longer to cook than just the leaves.

Serving the greens:

Dump the cooked Swiss chard or beet greens in a serving bowl.

Fish out the garlic cloves from the water and add them to the bowl with greens. You can stir around the leaves to pick up added flavor from the garlic. Plus, my kids love popping these soft garlic cloves in their mouths and eating them with dinner. (They actually fight for them, they’re that good.)

You can cook Swiss chard or beet greens ahead of the other courses, and let them sit in the serving bowl while the rest of dinner cooks. This frees up a burner for whatever else you’re preparing. It’s totally fine to serve these vegetables cold.

What to do with leftovers:

Refrigerate any leftover beet greens and Swiss chard. They’ll taste great the next day.

If you want to skip the garlic, you can still put olive oil in the water. If you’re adding lemon, add it after the greens are cooked, just before serving.

Enjoy!

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Labor Day BBQ

dadshouse — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:00:58 +0000

It’s labor day here in the States, which means a blogger vacation for me! BBQ is the word of the day. (Or barbecue, barbeque, bar-b-q, whatever!)

Feast yourself with one of these tastey meals from the grill.

Happy labor day!

Happy labor day! Enjoy these BBQ recipes from the grill:

And a cocktail recipe:

Why I Cook

dadshouse — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:03:17 +0000

I love to cook. I enjoy sharing recipes. No, this doesn’t make me unmanly. Many of the world’s best chefs are men. Plus, some women find it sexy when a man knows his way around the kitchen.

Partly, I cook out of necessity – I’m a single dad. Who the hell else will cook for me?

Still, some don’t understand my infatuation with preparing food.

Head on over to the Hot Dads blog, and discover

Why I Cook

You might even learn a recipe or two.

Happy eating!

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How to Cook Beets

dadshouse — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:11:49 +0000

I have no idea why beets are healthy, or what nutritional value they have. But I do know what they’re good for – let’s just say, they keep the plumbing unclogged. I eat them regularly. And you should too!

I learned how to cook beets from my Italian mother in law (she also taught me how to cook Italian style carrots), back when I was married. With this simple recipe, you’ll never eat canned beets again.

How to Cook Beets

Cut off the stalk. You can cook the stalk like chard, if you like. I’ll explain how in another post. (My local vegetable grocer at the independent market says that chard was developed from beet greens.)

Cut off the pointy tip.

Rinse the beets.

Place the beets in a pot and submerge with water

Boil for 45 minutes, or until you can pierce the beets with a fork, all the way to the middle of the beet.

Remove beets from the water. Let cool until you can handle the beets. Skin them with a butter knife.

That’s how to cook beets! They are super good cooked this way. Even my kids like them. I always serve beets with steak, and often with a hearty pasta. After all, like I already said, beets keep your plumbing clear.

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Grilled Chicken Marinade Recipe – Jamaican Jerk Seasoning

dadshouse — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:02:06 +0000

When my friends and I sailed a catamaran around the British Virgin Islands for a week, we fell in love with jerk chicken. It’s made with a spicy tasty grilled chicken marinade that goes great with a Bushwacker cocktail or a Dark and Stormy (Gosling’s rum, ginger beer and lime).

It’s easy to make your own Jamaican jerk seasoning. We found this recipe on a Caribbean site a few years back, right after our sailing trip. Don’t be intimidated by the insane number of ingredients. This grilled chicken marinade recipe is really easy to make. We’ve served Jamaican jerk chicken for friends and family at backyard BBQs, and for soccer team potlucks, and believe me – everyone raves it’s the best barbeque chicken recipe they ever tasted.

Marinade the chicken for at least an hour before grilling – longer is better, of course, to capture the flavors and ensure juicy chicken when it’s done.

Grilled Chicken Marinade Recipe – Jamaican Jerk Seasoning

Combine in a large bowl:

1 Tbsp ground allspice
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground sage
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
big pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar

Whisk the following liquids in with the spices:

3/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice
juice of one lime

Add the following to the grilled chicken marinade:

1 habanero pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup chopped white onion
3 green onions finely chopped

Add 2 lbs. chicken to the grilled chicken marinade (more if you’re hungry!):

4 chicken breasts (8 oz. each). I like to cut pieces into 2” or 3” chunks
Stir to coat the chicken
Cover with seran wrap
Let marinade for at least 1 hour

Best Way to Grill Chicken

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill
Pull chicken pieces from marinade and place on grill
Grill each side until chicken is fully cooked (white inside when cut into – about 20 min.)
That’s it for the Jamaican jerk chicken marinade

This grilled chicken marinade recipe, Jamaican jerk style, is great! Enjoy!!

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Quaker Oatmeal is Good for You and Easy to Make

dadshouse — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:30:26 +0000

What do you eat for breakfast? A piece of toast? A bowl of Wheaties? A muffin from some coffee place? I have a suggestion – start eating Quaker Oatmeal every morning for breakfast. It will do wonders for your body and your day.

(To get straight to the recipe, scroll down)

No, I wasn’t asked by Quaker Oatmeal or anyone else to write this post. I simply like helping people eat right.

Here’s the thing – before my Quaker Oatmeal eating spree, I used to down a bowl of cold cereal for breakfast every day. By midmorning, I’d be hungry again. I’d do a lunchtime workout – a 10-mile run or a 25-mile bike ride – and be exhausted. After lunch, I’d reach for a Snickers to get me going again.

The toll on my body without Quaker Oatmeal? I felt heavy. Dragging. Lacking spark. And downright hungry all the time.

The thing about oatmeal is – it sticks to your ribs. (Mr. Breakfast gives 10 reasons to eat oatmeal, and explains how soluble fiber absorbs water, slowing down your digestive process. My thought, exactly!)

Why is oatmeal good for you? Besides slowing down your digestive process, it lowers your cholesterol, and it’s all-natural with no additives. Suffice to say, Quaker Oatmeal is way better for you than a Pop Tart.

But oatmeal doesn’t taste great… or does it? This recipe rocks!

How to make Quaker Oatmeal

Combine 1/3 cup Rice Dream with 1 1/3 cup water and a pinch of salt in a pot on the stove
Bring to a boil
Add just under 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal
Stir and reduce heat to a simmer
Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add a dash of milk for flavor, if you like
The oatmeal is done when it’s a consistency you enjoy!

I top my Quaker oatmeal with half an apple, raisins, and cinnamon. Or sometimes peaches, or blueberries (a super food!)

When I eat Quaker Oatmeal for breakfast, I don’t get hungry mid-morning, and I have plenty of fuel for my midday workout. Plus enough energy to chase after my kids.

Give it a try!

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Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

dadshouse — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:00:42 +0000

This chicken and dumplings recipe is a family favorite. My mom gave me the initial recipe, and I improvised to make it my own. Feel free to add your own twist. But the basics here are solid – my kids love this healthy meal.

Chicken and dumplings is easy to make – just start heating the broth and water, and add ingredients as you cut them up. By the time you spoon dumplings on top, everything else is pretty much cooked.

I tend to make a big pot of chicken and dumplings so that we have leftovers. As a single parent, I love having extra to save. You can heat leftovers up for lunch the next day, or have a pre-made dinner ready to heat up later in the week.

Here’s the recipe:

Chicken and Dumplings

Use a tall sauce pan, or a big pot
Heat a 32oz carton of chicken broth with about as much water (32oz) – it’s totally fine to dilute the broth, because you’ll be adding chicken pieces

Cut up 1.5 lbs or so of chicken breast (or whatever part of the chicken you like) into bite-sized pieces, and add it to the broth and water

Dice half a white onion (or a whole one, if you’re bold) and drop it in the pot

Chop up 3-4 carrots, and add to the pot

Add one can of corn
Add one can of green beans
Maybe 2-3 pieces of celery chopped up, if you have it
(If I don’t have corn or green beans, I sometimes add peas)

Drop in a bay leaf if you have one. Whoever gets it in their bowl will have good luck for a week! (I tell my kids that, anyways) Feel free to add other spices. Just experiment. It always turns out great. Don’t stress!

While the chicken soup is simmering, prepare the dumplings…

Dumplings

Mix in a metal bowl:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt (or a little less)
4 Tbsp chopped parsley – I never measure this. I just chop up a good handful.
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk (I use whole milk)
4 Tbsp oil (I use olive oil, but canola or whatever should work)

Barely stir together for soft dough!

Drop in 12-16 spoonfuls onto chicken stew. They’ll probably sink a little, but no worries. Just spread them around the pot.

Put lid on pot and DO NOT REMOVE for 15 minutes.

Serve in bowls. Mrs. Dash is a good topping.

Your kids will love this chicken and dumplings recipe, I promise.

Bock-bock-bokaw!

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