Charda-no thank you.

It had to happen.

I was going to offend myself with something I cooked.

Swiss Chard.

The Swiss are known for two delightful foods, fondue and chocolate.

Why they would venture into greens are beyond me. I like greens, really. Kale, spinach, lettuce - it's all good. And chard looked so pretty in the store - pink and green, what could be a nicer combination? Turns out, anything.

Chard, at least the variety I tried, is a bitter green. It looks good sauteed, smells good, tastes awful. At least the way I prepared it. When I started cooking thru this book, I was determined to give any food I didn't like up to three chances to redeem itself to my taste buds. Chard does not get those three chances. Bleh. Onto bigger and better things.....like beans.

Can you believe these yummy looking biscuits are made from cooked white beans? Enter White Bean Cakes. Cakes being a word used loosely here. I was intrigued by making biscuits out of beans - how would they stay together? Would they taste like beans? Turns out they stay together well, and they taste nothing like beans.

Now, beans take a lot of preparation and a lot of work. I soaked white beans overnight, and then cooked them in a very large pot for two hours. Hard work. Hee hee. I know canned beans are much more convenient, but homemade taste so much better.

So, beans, eggs, gluten-free flour, slightly carmelized onions and garlic and rosemary are mixed with the beans, and then a large (very large, because I have man-hands) handful of Parmesan cheese went in. Spooned them onto a baking sheet, and into the oven they went. 30 minutes later, golden-brownish little biscuits came out. If I would have added more baking powder they would have risen higher. If I would have pureed the beans, my husband wouldn't know they are in there. (Just checking to see if he's reading this.)

 My daughter enjoyed a dairy-free version, and I enjoyed several cheesy/beany delights. So good. I was tempted to split them open and slather them with butter. I thought that may be overkill. Maybe next time. You can also serve them over marinara sauce, or maybe slather pesto on them instead. Oh, now I may have to make pesto.....

I can see all kinds of variations - sage, garlic, Italian Seasoning, pumpkin seeds, cheddar, Swiss, not all together mind you! That is what a good base recipe is all about, something you can build off of .....meanwhile, in order to offset the salty, cheesy goodness..............

Enter Carrot Cumin Salad.

Cumin? Isn't that for chili?

Yes, but for this recipe it adds a Northern African flavor to a traditional carrot salad. It sounded really clean and refreshing, and it was.

I love simple recipes as much as I love difficult recipes. Both types of recipes yield so much flavor to any food. I can't stand medium recipes, not interesting - no thank you.

But I digress. I'll do that often.

Shredded carrots, salt, pepper, cumin, juice from an orange and a lemon. That's all the recipe called for. But not knowing when to leave well-enough alone, I dabbled. Throw in some Sucanat - wait, what? -  sucanat stands for "sugar cane natural", pure sugar cane juice, dehydrated like sugar - only not refined in any way - the way sugar starts out and was meant to be eaten. Tastes like a delightful light brown sugar, only way better. Then I added some raisins, cilantro, pumpkin seeds and you have a salad that my mom would like to try. At least I think she would! We'll find out in a few months. Maybe I'll throw some jicama in to also. I'll be making her all kinds of things. She just doesn't know it yet.

So it was an interesting food day. I was bound to find something I didn't like in this book, good thing it was a tiny little thing called chard. Bleh. I can still taste it...........bleh.