Chard. Meet Eggs ‘n Beans.

I’ll start this off by saying…that Mike and Chard are not friends. They are dire, for-a-lifetime, sworn adversaries. Mike refuses to like chard in any sort of mashup, even if it’s covered in cheese or hidden in a pile of spinach (I kid you not, I slipped one LEAF of chard into a wilted spinach side, and Mike said, “does this have CHARD in it!?!?!?!). But the issue is, our CSA has started and chard has come back into our life. Dunh…dunh…duuuuuuunnnnh…

It’s funny too, because I don’t think kale and chard are THAT far apart, and Mike is quite fond of kale. Go figure.

Anyhow. Have you heard of The Food Matters Project? It’s sort of an online book/cooking club mashup, based around Mark Bittman’s book, The Food Matters Cookbook.

Each Monday, a different blogger chooses a recipe out of this awesome, awesome cookbook and then we all post our interpretations. This week is our first go-round, and as such, we’re a little late (whoops, it’s not Wednesday ALREADY is it?!). But I do believe it’s going to be quite a fun group to join, and I’m in love with the Bittman book already. Talk about being chock full of the way we want to cook these days. Lots of veggies, meat where it matters.

But I digress. Mike and Chard. That’s right. It’s gets a capital “C” in this context.

This week’s chosen recipe was “Beans ‘n Greens” — check out the full recipe on this absolutely beautiful blog (seriously, seriously jealous of her design & photography skills!) – Good Things Grow.

In the spirit of this cookbook, I used what we had. Dried pinto beans, soaked and simmered till soft the day before. Store bought corn tortillas, broiled till crispy. Some crushed tomato sauce, for added acid. And…gulp. Chard.

I also might have used disgusting, horrible American cheese…oh.man…I think I have to hand in my local, healthy food card now.

American cheese isn’t even CHEESE…but, after our month of visitors, I found some in the fridge door (because you know, it never goes bad) and I had a slight hankering for the smooth, creamy, I-won’t-take-over-a-dish-ness that American cheese brings to the table (unlike the shouty, HELLO-I’M-HEEERE-NESS of our extra sharp cheddar).

Sigh.

I promise. I won’t buy any more to replace that bright yellow, plastic wrapped atrocity…….but I did google how to make my own. Curious?

(And, don’t even BEGIN to tell me that that isn’t the sexiest grilled cheese you’ve ever seen) How to Make American Cheese

OH! So, the chard in the tacos? Went over swimmingly with Mike, and our dinner guest (shockingly well in fact). And then this afternoon, when we realized it was far, far past lunchtime and we were starving….I reheated the bean/chard leftovers with some soft scrambled eggs, more crispy corn tortillas and…ahem, the last of the “cheese”. Yum.

Bring it on Food Matters Project Mondays, we’re ready.

PS. Baby chick update tomorrow!