Creamed Swiss Chard/Beet Leaves

Hello tender friends!

Anthony has been saying, “I just don’t like cooked greens!” for long as I have known him. I can eat green swamp water for health benefits, so my opinion isn’t probably worth much.

But you know that this recipe is good, because even Anthony said so! As usual, this left me elated. So if you have someone who hates cooked greens, I recommend this recipe to try to convert them.

Another benefit of this recipe is that you can use any proportion of Swiss chard to beet leaves that you want depending on what you have available. While I love both Swiss chard and beet greens raw, this is excellent for using up a large quantity since cooking them down reduces the volume so much. I made this because Anthony told me I needed to thin the beet leaves out, so mission accomplished!

The recipe as I made it is neither keto nor paleo, but could easily enough be adapted to be both. But because I loved it so much the way I made it at first, I continue to make it that way because I didn’t want to fix something that wasn’t broken.

First I’ll tell you exactly what I did, then we’ll talk substitutions at the bottom.

Here goes:

Chop and sauté one onion and one garlic bulb in olive oil on medium heat. I did this until the onion and garlic were lightly browned, which took about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I heavily salt everything because I don’t eat processed food, and I highly recommend heavier salt if you don’t think cooked veggies taste good. Undersalting made me think many cooked veggies weren’t good for years).

Add one teaspoon of cassava flour and stir it around to coat the onion and garlic for about one minute. Note: while a cup of cassava flour is high carbohydrate at 110 g, you only need a teaspoon of this ingredient to get the desired thickening effect, similar to a roux. When using just a teaspoon, the carb count should stay under 20 g.

Add in one to two cups of full fat milk, depending on how many greens you are trying to use up. (Please note that I only use raw grass-fed dairy from a local farm where each cow has its own pasture to graze on. This is too much to talk about in just this post, but I cannot tolerate conventionally raised dairy).

Add in chopped beet leaves and swiss chard. Both greens will start to cook down quickly enough to add more very quickly. Add in the additional greens as soon as they fit. You should have all greens in within a 2-3 minute span to keep cooking levels pretty even.

Add more salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Once the greens have cooked down enough to cover, cover with a lid and turn heat down to low for about 15 minutes. I stirred this every 5 minutes or so and tested it until my desired texture was reached.

Experience the delight! The milk and the small amount of cassava flour thicken to create a satisfying broth. The broth is pink because of the beet leaves, but don’t let that throw you off.

The broth is delicious! If you had told me that a beat and swiss chard leaf broth would taste good before I made this, I would have been a little bit skeptical. Even Anthony said, “How did you get this broth to be so creamy?”

I had planned on adding cheese when I was done, but the dish was so satisfying as is that it wasn’t necessary. I have made this multiple times since then, and it was all I ate for breakfast and lunch on multiple days.

Additional proof of how satisfying this was is that I ate only one half of a chicken thigh with the mixture on top for dinner after snacking on just the greens. I typically eat 1-2 chicken thighs in a sitting, so that is proof of the satiety provided by this dish.

Also, something about creamed greens on top of protein feels fancy and high-end every time. Embrace this feeling, because while I don’t have any lab studies to prove it, I believe it helps you heal.

Ok, so let’s consider substitutions. You could substitute the cow’s milk for a nut milk and substitute the cassava flour for almond flour or coconut flour. Cassava flour is Paleo. Because you’re using such a small amount of it with such a large quantity of vegetables, that I believe that you could make it work on keto also.

The cow’s milk is more complicated, as it’s neither paleo nor keto. I have to admit, I really think part of the reason Anthony and I enjoyed it so much is because the cow’s milk gives it that classic creamy flavor that you look forward to when eating cooked greens. I don’t buy nut milk, but if you do and substitute out the milk for cashew or almond or coconut milk, please let me know how it is!

Okay, that’s all for today, tender friends! Thank you for stopping by!

Thank you to the new friends here! To plan your readership, I’ll be posting an update on decluttering progress and how it has helped me rediscover my love of apoptogenic herbs on Monday. Next Thursday I’ll share my update on teaching VBS. If you’re looking to add to your prayer list, please pray that I’ll be able to provide what the kids need from me next week. I’ll be there from 8:30-12:00 teaching kindergarten next week! YESHUA, PLEASE STAY WITH ME ALL DAY!

Thank you for sharing!

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