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Gluten-free – Page 28 – surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

Tag: Gluten-free

Contains no wheat or gluten.

  • End-of-Summer Garbanzo Chili

    End of Summer Chili
    End of Summer Chili

    Yes, I know, it’s about a week late for the end of summer, but then, the zucchini is still around, isn’t it? The zucchini lasts through the end of summer, garbanzo beans always remind me of summer salads and hummus, and the adobo seasoning and fire-roasted tomatoes taste of grilling season. This quick hot meal has some of the great flavors of summer, but is warm and filling (and made indoors).

    Adobo seasoning is one of my recent favorites, as there is a ton of flavor in it, but it’s not really spicy. There are varieties of adobo, but the one I’m referring to appears to be Puerto Rican in origin — a dry spice mix, often used to rub on meats, that consists of onion, garlic, Tellicherry black pepper, Mexican oregano, cumin, and cayenne pepper. My version is from Penzey’s Spices, but I have seen it at the grocery store, so I’m assuming it’s not too hard to find in the US. It makes almost everything better.

    End-of-Summer Garbanzo Chili

    Makes 3-4 servings, depending on how hungry you are.

    • 2 teaspoons oil
    • 3 Tablespoons chopped onion
    • 2 small zucchini, grated (“small” being about 6 inches long, 1 inch diameter — the most common size found in your average US grocery store. Honestly, a little more or less won’t hurt here.)
    • 2 oz. (1/2 half a small can) of diced jalapeños OR one fresh, diced jalapeño pepper OR a small can of green chiles (or if you’re Denise, all of the above, possibly)
    • 1 can (15 oz.) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, fire-roasted if you wish
    • 1 Tablespoon adobo seasoning
    • 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons millet
    • 3 Tablespoons water
    • salt to taste
    Zucchini and Beans
    Zucchini and Beans

    In a pan heated over medium-low heat, add your oil to the warmed pan. When it shimmers, add the onions. I always chop whole onions, even when I need only half for a recipe, and the rest goes into a bag in the freezer just for meals like this. Add it straight from the freezer to the hot oil, but be careful of the splatters.

    Cook onion until translucent, then add the zucchini and stir until fully coated with oil and integrated with onions, a minute or two. Then add the beans, tomatoes, and adobo, stirring each into the dish. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes uncovered.

    Add the millet and water, and cover, simmering another 20 minutes, covered. Check the millet to see if it’s done, and if needed, add a bit more water (go 1 Tablespoon at a time) and time (say, 5 minutes at a go). Millet should be firm, but not crunchy, when done.

    This is also good with a sprinkle of shredded Daiya mozarella on top, if you have it, but you don’t need it.

    End of Summer Chili
    End of Summer Chili

  • Meatball Sub Meatballs

    Meatball Sub Meatballs in Marinara Sauce over Penne

    Meatball Sub Meatballs in Marinara Sauce over Penne

    As I stated a week ago in my Quick-ish Marinara Sauce post, I really miss meatball subs. Although I don’t have a safe bread or cheese, this meatball recipe gets me at least part way there.

    Meatball Sub Meatballs

    Makes about 24 large meatballs, about the size of golf balls or ping pong balls.

    • 1 pound of 80/20 ground pork
    • 1 pound of ground beef (I prefer a higher fat content for the beef as well, but that’s up to you)
    • 1 Tablespoon of ground chia seed
    • 3 Tablespoons of water
    • 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
    • 1 medium onion minced very finely
    • 1 teaspoon of salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
    • 1/2 teaspoon of oregano
    • 1/2 teaspoon of basil
    • 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
    • 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
    • 3/4 cup of gluten-free bread crumbs
    • a small amount of olive oil for greasing the baking sheet.

    Preheat oven to 375°F.

    Take ground pork and ground beef and crumble it into a large mixing bowl.

    In a small bowl, mix chia seed, water, and olive oil together to make a chia egg.  Set it aside.

    Mince onion and add it to the bowl with the ground pork and ground beef.

    Add the salt, ground black pepper, oregano, basil, thyme, and garlic power to the bowl, sprinkling them evenly over the beef and pork (it’ll be easier to mix it in).

    Add your bread crumbs and the chia egg, and use your hands to knead the mixture until it is thoroughly combined.

    Meatball mix after all ingredients combined
    Meatball mix after all ingredients combined

    Grease your baking sheet. Form meatballs about the size golf balls. I used a large scoop from Pampered Chef to form my meatballs, but you can use your hands instead. Place them on the baking sheet, spaced out evenly, and put them in the oven.

    Meatballs before cooking
    Meatballs before cooking

    Bake them for 30 minutes.  Once they are done (internal temp of 161°F) you can add them to sauce, or you can freeze some of them to use later.

    Meatballs after cooking
    Meatballs after cooking

    Enjoy, and if you’ve got ideas for dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, corn-free bread recipes, I want to hear about them!

    Meatball Sub Meatballs
    Meatball Sub Meatballs

  • Quick-ish Marinara Sauce

    Quick-ish Marinara with Meatballs and Gluten Free Penne
    Quick-ish Marinara with Meatballs and Gluten Free Penne

    One of the things I really miss is a great meatball sub with gobs of cheese.  Since I’m allergic to dairy, wheat, and eggs (in addition to what feels like 50 million other things) that’s a little hard.  I haven’t totally figured it out yet, because there isn’t a vegan cheese that works for me because of my coconut, almond, and corn allergies.  I’m also missing a sub roll, as I’m still trying to figure out gluten-free, corn-free, dairy-free, and egg-free bread, but I’ve gotten two steps on the way. This week I’ll be posting a marinara sauce you can use for meatball subs, pasta, or for anything else that you need tomato sauce. In two weeks, I’ll be posting a recipe for meatballs.  For those of you that have a safe bread and a safe cheese you can use, you’ll have everything you need for a meatball sub.  I’m totally jealous of all of you, and while I’m working on it, I’m just going to eat the meatballs and sauce over pasta, which isn’t bad either.

    The reason that this is a quick-ish marinara sauce is that I’m using crushed canned tomatoes and canned tomato paste (Cento brand – no citric acid in crushed, tomato puree or paste, but watch out as other Cento canned tomato varieties do have citric acid, which can be corn derived), rather than starting from tomatoes. It still takes some time to simmer, making it a weekend dish, but you can freeze the leftovers and use it for a meal or two during the week with little to no prep.

    Quick-ish Marinara Sauce

    • 1 large onion, diced very finely
    • 3 stalks of celery, diced finely
    • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
    • 1 carrot (use a vegetable peeler or a micro planer to peel or zest until the carrot’s just a pile of peels or zest)
    • 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
    • 1 – 8 ounce can of tomato paste
    • 2 – 28 cans of crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
    • 1 cup of vegetable stock or water
    • 1/2 cup of white or red wine (your preference, I used white becuse my tomatoes needed brightening) or use additional vegetable stock or water
    • 1/4 teaspoon of oregano
    • 1/4 teaspoon of marjoram
    • 1/4 teaspoon of thyme
    • 1/4 teaspoon of dried basil (if not using fresh basil below, double the amount)
    • 1/4 teaspoon of rosemary
    • 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
    • 10 fresh leaves of basil, chopped
    • salt to taste (I used about a teaspoon this time to get it where I like it)

    Dice your onions and celery, mince your garlic, and zest or peel your carrot.

    Diced Onions
    Diced Onions
    Diced Celery
    Diced Celery

    In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add your onions, celery, garlic and carrots.  Saute them until the onions and celery are somewhat translucent.  

    Onions, celery, garlic, and carrots being sauted
    Onions, celery, garlic, and carrots being sauted

    Add the contents of the can of tomato paste and stir it into the vegetables so it is equally distributed throughout.  Then add your cans of crushed tomatoes, the vegetable stock, and the white wine.  Stir thoroughly.  Reduce the heat to medium low (about 3-4 on my burner dial).

    Add your oregano, marjoram, thyme, dried basil, rosemary and black pepper to the sauce and stir to incorporate the spices into the sauce.  Chop your basil if you have not already, and add it to the sauce, again stirring thoroughly.

    Marinara simmering
    Marinara simmering

    Continue to simmer your sauce on medium low until the carrot has dissolved completely into the sauce and the sauce is the consistency you prefer (for me, this is about an hour or so).  Once you have reached that point, taste your sauce to see if it needs any salt and add it at that time.  I found that I needed about 1/2 of a teaspoon.  If you find that your sauce is too acidic, sometimes I will add about a teaspoon of brown sugar and that helps.

    Stay tuned for the meatball recipe to be posted in two weeks!

    Yummy Quick-ish Marinara
    Yummy Quick-ish Marinara

  • Pasta e Fagioli

    pasta e fagioli
    pasta e fagioli, photo by j.andrews

    Growing up, we didn’t eat a lot of pasta. Every few months, there was spaghetti and meatballs, but mostly, we had potatoes. It turns out, the rest of my cohort were eating a lot more pasta than I was, and it seems to be something of a comfort food for many people. Personally, I like it because it’s easy.

    We served a pasta e fagioli soup at a sandwich restaurant I worked at, but years ago, someone gave me a recipe for a pasta dish, not soup, that was mostly a can each of beans and tomatoes. It was easy, but kind of boring, and it seemed like something that could take on a ton more vegetables, both for health and nutrition and for color. So I started tinkering. I’ve put off putting this up on the blog since last fall, primarily because I’m still tinkering. Because of that, I’m going to give you some options and ranges on amounts of ingredients. But as we move into cooler weather (well, in New England — I guess it was 90-something in Bismarck on Friday), I am thinking of heartier meals that are still quick and make enough for leftovers.

    So here you go. If you have dried pasta, a can of beans, and a can of tomatoes, and garlic, you can make a version of this happen in about 40 minutes. The longer cooking time is because the beans begin to break down and make the sauce creamy. If you make the sauce a day or so ahead, you have an even quicker meal with a creamier sauce. If you come up with a variation you like, please share it in the comments!

    simmering bean sauce photo by j.andrews
    simmering bean sauce, photo by j.andrews

    Pasta e fagioli

    • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, cooking grade (generally not extra virgin)
    • 1 teaspoon (2 cloves) minced garlic
    • 2 Tablespoons chopped sweet onion (optional)
    • 2-4 stalks celery, chopped
    • 1/4-1/2 of a bell pepper chopped finely (optional)
    • 1 8 oz. package of white button mushrooms, washed and broken (optional, I guess)
    • 1 8 oz can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 1/2 cups of canned tomatoes, diced or roughly chopped, and their juice
    • 5-8 oz. baby spinach, roughly chopped (optional, but really good in this)
    • 1-3 Tablespoons good quality olive oil (the fancier kind you’d use for salad dressing, if you have it)
    • salt and pepper to taste
    • Pasta of your choice (I used Ancient Harvest quinoa and corn shells)

    In a large skillet, heat up your first 2 T of olive oil over medium heat. When it is shimmering hot, add the garlic and the onion (if using). Stir frequently.

    As those aromatics become translucent, add the celery and bell pepper. Stir to completely coat with oil, then add the mushrooms. You’ve broken instead of chopping the mushrooms because they hold their shape and shrink less, and this gives them more texture. Yes, I suppose these are optional, too, if you really hate mushrooms. I just find that hard to imagine (sorry, Denise).

    When the mushrooms are thoroughly wilted (that’s what they will look like), add the beans and the tomatoes, but reserve most of the tomato juice. I just scoop the tomatoes out with a slotted spoon. Stir these in will, and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook this for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the tomato juice, and cook another 15-20 minutes. The beans will start to break down, and this gives the “sauce” a great texture — it is very thick and chunky at this stage.

    Assuming your pasta takes about 10 minutes, start it now. Cook according to package directions, making sure to reserve some of the water when you drain it for the step below.

    At this point, add the spinach to the bean mixture, and cook until all the spinach is wilted. Decide if you want your sauce a bit thinner at this stage. If so, add from 1T to 1/4 cup of your pasta water, adding slowly and stirring until you get the desired consistency. If not, go directly to adding another 1-3 Tablespoons of good quality olive oil (the more you add, the richer it gets, just like hummus), stirring it in thoroughly. Taste your sauce and add salt (if needed) and a bit of fresh ground pepper.

    Serve sauce over pasta.

    pasta e fagioli photo by j.andrews
    pasta e fagioli, photo by j.andrews

  • DIY Spice Mix Day – Montreal Steak, Creamy Peppercorn, Singapore, and Full of Flavor Herb Mix

    So one of the more recent traumatic events (okay, not really traumatic, but annoying certainly) was the purging of my spice cabinet of things I can’t use any more as a result of the corn and wheat allergies.  If you know me in real life, I’m a tad obsessive about my spices.  I have a four-shelf stand-alone cabinet in the kitchen that contains nothing but spices, spice mixes, and vinegar and oils.  There may or may not be an inventory spreadsheet on my Google drive with 157 items on it so that I can get to it on my phone while I am grocery shopping. I’m also frankly surprised and disappointed that I haven’t made it on some platinum frequent order program with Penzey’s spices, given my order volume (tongue firmly in cheek, I love them). But in any case, I had to get rid of a few of my favorite mixes, Penzey’s or otherwise, mostly because they contained citric acid or other problematic ingredients for me.  So I played around, did some Google-fu, and experimented and came up with the following mixes that make me happy.

    DIY Montreal Steak Seasoning

    • 4 Tablespoons of Kosher Salt
    • 1 Tablespoon of black peppercorns
    • 1 Tablespoon of dried minced onion
    • 1 Tablespoon of dried thyme
    • 1 Tablespoon of dried rosemary
    • ½ Tablespoon of dried minced garlic
    • ½ Tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes
    • 2 teaspoons of fennel seed
    • 1 teaspoon of dill seed
    • 1 teaspoon of paprika

    Put this in a blender or spice/coffee grinder, or use my trick where you take a pint mason canning jar, put all the spices in the jar and screw the blender blade assembly to the jar and put it on blender.  Using any and all methods, blend until fairly well ground as shown below and put in a spice jar and store.  I use this as a rub for beef, pork and chicken.

    Montreal Steak Seasoning
    DIY Montreal Steak Seasoning

    DIY Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Mix

    • ¼ cup of black peppercorns ground coarsely (in a blender or spice/coffee grinder, or use my trick where you take a pint mason canning jar, put the spices in the jar and screw the blender blade assembly to the jar and put it on blender)
    • ⅛ cup of sugar
    • ⅛ cup of dried minced garlic
    • ⅛ cup of dried thyme
    • ⅛ cup of dried parsley.
    • 2 ½ Tablespoons of salt
    Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Mix
    DIY Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Mix

    Put all ingredients in a bowl spices in a bowl and whisk together thoroughly.  Put in a spice jar to store.  To use, mix 1 Tablespoon of Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Mix in 2 Tablespoons of water and let stand five minutes.  Mix in ½ cup Earth Balance Mindful Mayo and enjoy.  If you can have dairy and eggs, use 1/4 cup of mayo and 1/4 cup of sour cream 🙂

    Creamy Peppercorn Dressing using Earth Balance Mindful Mayo
    Creamy Peppercorn Dressing using Earth Balance Mindful Mayo

    DIY Singapore Seasoning

    • 2 Tablespoons of lemon peel powder (you can get this from Penzey’s or grind up dried lemon peel in your spice/coffee grinder)
    • ½ Tablespoon of black pepper
    • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
    • 1 teaspoon of onion powder
    • 1 teaspoon of tumeric
    • ½ teaspoon of ground coriander
    • ½ teaspoon of ground cumin
    • ½ teaspoon of ground ginger
    • ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
    • ¼ teaspoon of ground fennel
    • ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
    • ⅛  teaspoon of ground fenugreek
    • ⅛  teaspoon of ground white pepper
    • ⅛  teaspoon of ground cardamom
    • ⅛  teaspoon of ground cloves
    • ⅛  teaspoon of ground cayenne red pepper

    Put all ingredients in a bowl spices in a bowl and whisk together thoroughly.  Put in a spice jar to store.  You can use this as a spice rub for chicken or pork or to flavor rice noodles.

    Singapore Seasoning
    DIY Singapore Seasoning

    Full of Flavor Herb Mix

    Penzey’s has a Mural of Flavor spice mix that I love, but it has citric acid (corn) in it, so it’s out for me now.  I came up with the following mix to replace it.

    • 1 ½ Tablespoons of dried minced shallots
    • 1 teaspoon of thyme
    • 1 teaspoon of rosemary
    • 1 teaspoon of basil
    • 1 teaspoon of chives
    • ½ teaspoon of onion powder
    • ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
    • ½ teaspoon of lemon peel
    • ¼ teaspoon of ground coriander
    • ½ teaspoon of green peppercorns
    • ½ teaspoon of dill weed
    • ¼ teaspoon of lemon peel powder (you can get this from Penzey’s or grind up dried lemon peel in your spice/coffee grinder)
    • ¼ teaspoon of black pepper
    • ¼ teaspoon of orange peel

    Put this in a blender or spice/coffee grinder, or use my trick where you take a pint mason canning jar, put all the spices in the jar and screw the blender blade assembly to the jar and put it on blender.  Using any and all method, blend until it is ground to a coarse consistency (not powder) as shown below and put in a spice jar and store.  I use this on vegetables, in soups, on beef, pork, chicken and fish.  It’s a great all-purpose spice blend.

    Full of Flavor Herb Mix
    Full of Flavor Herb Mix

    Hope you guys enjoy these spice mixes. If you’ve got some of your own, please share!

  • Moveable Feast — the week-long salad

    Salad, weekend iteration
    Salad, weekend iteration

    This summer hasn’t been brilliant for me and cooking. Let’s be honest — it was brutally hot and often humid, and I’ve been busy. But hey, since when is that just a summer thing? Here’s a second “idea” recipe of the summer — the “idea” part being that you can change up almost all of the ingredients and the concept will still work. Actually, that’s also the whole point of this recipe.

    You know those weeks where you have a lot of random leftovers around? Or ingredients you didn’t use quite all of? Last week, that was me — a fridge full of random, and a planned long weekend vacation at the end of the week. So I shopped strategically and left my empty fridge alone over the weekend.

    With half a bag of shredded carrots, most of a cucumber, some broccoli, leftover brown rice pasta, half an avocado, and a packet of tuna, I managed four meals by adding one key ingredient — ranch dressing (check out our cashew-based recipe, but you can also try the Earth Balance mayo version). I know that you likely come here for new and fresh recipes, and this isn’t exactly a recipe. But occasionally, I need a reminder that good, healthy, tasty food is not hard and does not need to take forever to make.

    This kind of salad is one of my favorite things to eat for lunches, but I make a few, get a bit tired of them, and then seem to forget that they exist. Does anyone else do that?

    Meal The First

    4 stalks celery, chopped

    1 cucumber, sliced in half and thinly sliced

    1/2 bag of shredded carrots

    2 cups of broccoli florets, broken into smaller florets

    1/4 cup slivered almonds

    Cashew ranch, to your level of dressing needs

    • Feeds two or makes two meals, with leftovers, so plate and then put the dressing on your servings
    Salad, version 2
    Salad, version 2

    Meal the Second

    To the leftover vegetables, and with the leftover ranch, add:

    1 packet of tuna, drained

    1/2 avocado, cubed

    1 small tomato, sliced

    1 cup of leftover pasta

    • Again, feeds two or makes two meals

    Other Possible Additions

    Leftover chicken/canned chicken

    Canned beans

    Any other vegetables you may have around

    Leftover rice or other grains

    Do you make salads like this? If so, what would you add? Any good ideas for exciting or unexpected ingredients?

  • Not Quite Mom’s Coleslaw

    Reinvention of Mom's Coleslaw
    Not Quite Mom’s Coleslaw

    It’s summer still, although there’s been a fall-like chill in the air lately. So there’s still opportunities for cookouts and potlucks and all sorts of communal eating, and sometimes you need coleslaw. And with a dairy and egg allergy that can be challenging. Especially if one is anti-coleslaw with vinegar and oil dressing. As far as I’m concerned, coleslaw with vinegar and oil dressing is a salad with cabbage, it’s not coleslaw. Am I the only one with deeply held beliefs on coleslaw? (Yeah, probably.) In any case, my mom used to make this coleslaw dressing with Miracle Whip with a bit of milk, orange juice, and sugar that was the right sort of tangy, creamy and sweet all at the same time. And my mom doesn’t really cook, but seriously this dressing was perfect. I could eat buckets of this coleslaw back in the day before food allergies reared their ugly heads.

    Now that Earth Balance has a vegan mayo that’s really good, I’ve been able to recreate my mom’s coleslaw dressing (see our review here).  And it’s good and pretty close to the original.

    Not Quite Mom’s Coleslaw

    • 6 cups of chopped cabbage
    • 2 grated carrots
    • 1/2 cup of Earth Balance Mindful Mayo Original
    • 3 Tablespoons of orange juice (or lemon or lime if you like your dressing more tart)
    • 1 teaspoon of sugar

    Chop your cabbage however you like cabbage to be in coleslaw, but I like mine to be diced, about a half inch by a half inch.

    Chopped cabbage
    Chopped cabbage

    Once you have six cups of chopped cabbage, peel your carrots and use a large grater to grate them.

    Grated Carrot and Chopped Cabbage
    Grated Carrot and Chopped Cabbage

    Then place your Earth Balance Mindful Mayo Original, the orange juice and the sugar into a small bowl and whisk the ingredients together until smooth.

    Dressing after whisking
    Dressing after whisking

    Combine cabbage, carrots and dressing in a large bowl and mix together well.  The orange color to the dressing doesn’t actually come from the orange juice, it comes from the grated carrots.

    Dressing, Carrots, and Cabbage combined.
    Dressing, Carrots, and Cabbage combined.

    Serve and enjoy!

    Reinvention of Mom's Coleslaw
    Not Quite Mom’s Coleslaw

  • Brown Rice “Couscous” Veggie Bowl

    IMG_0652Generally those of us with multiple food allergies can rely on very little in the way of packaged or convenience foods. Given that both Denise and I also work full-time, sometimes feeding oneself on a serious time budget becomes, well, problematic.  When I still ate wheat, couscous was something I always had on hand because it cooked quickly and was a good neutral base for an easy saute of whatever was in the fridge at the time. I operated on the easy model of “beans, greens, and grain.”

    This is a version of that — using a Lundberg brown rice couscous with roasted garlic flavor as the “grain” base for a nice stir fry of Swiss chard from my friend Mary’s garden. Add in a leftover sweet potato and a caramelized Vidalia onion and I had a good dinner with three lunch portions leftover. Add a can of white beans or some leftover meat for a protein boost, serve this as a side dish, or think up your own variation — this is more of a formula than a recipe, really, and one I honestly repeat over and over throughout the year for easy weeknight meals.

    IMG_0654

    Gluten-free Veggie Couscous Bowl

    Makes 4 servings

    • 1 large Vidalia onion, halved and sliced thin
    • 1 Tablespoon some form of fat
    • I box Lundberg brown rice couscous
    • 1 bunch of Swiss chard, washed, rolled, sliced, and then chopped
    • 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
    • 1-3 cloves garlic, chopped
    • 1 sweet potato, cooked
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Melt shortening/butter/margarine/bacon fat/olive oil in large skillet over medium low heat. When sizzling hot, add onions. Stir thoroughly to coat with oils, and cook low and slow until well-browned, about 45 minutes or so. Stir occasionally.

    If you need to cook the sweet potato, throw it in the oven at 375F after washing it and poking vent holesIMG_0655 in the skin. I’d personally suggest making more than one and use the leftovers in another dish later in the week.

    In a separate stockpot, bring water to a boil as directed on the box of the couscous. When the water is boiling, add the seasonings (if you can have them) and the couscous. Cover, reduce heat, and set the timer — again, basically follow the directions on the box, omitting the seasoning if you cannot have them.

    While these things cook, wash and drain the chard leaves. Chop off the stems. Slice these thinly like celery and set aside. Stack the leaves, and then roll them up tightly to slice thinly to create small ribbons of chard. Cut lengthwise along the leaves next, to make the ribbons shorter.

    When the onions are finished cooking, remove them from the skillet. Add a tiny amount of olive oil to the fat left in the pan, if needed, and then add the garlic and chard in quick succession. Stir thoroughly, and cook until the chard is fully wilted (4-8 minutes).

    In a large serving bowl, mix all ingredients — couscous, chard, sweet potato, and onion. Taste, and then season appropriately with salt and pepper.