Chard, Banana & Blueberries.

The luck of a vegetable garden.

I was strolling through our garden yesterday and re-noticed our chard section in the vegetable garden. We only planted six little shoots ( given to us by a friend ) and these have developed into a veritable chard colony. Some are orange stemmed, some normal and some red stemmed. As it wasn't even close to lunchtime but I did want to eat a few stalks, I decided to make a smoothie.

How marvelously easy it was to step into the garden and cut several stalks, as well as a few strands of rocket, a handful of herbs from Bob's hanging herb collection and throw it all together into the smoothie mixer. An apple, a banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, a spoonful of flax seed, water and a few ice cubes made the most divine smoothie. Sweet enough not to taste of health although I absolutely love the ' healthy ' taste of vegetables.

The beauty of these types of smoothies is that one can smuggle in the oddest bits of healthy vegetables without it altering the taste too much. Ideal for stubborn kids who refuse to sample from the fruit and vegetables offerings without ever having tasted them. Okay, the green colour might be a clue but even that could be explained away by leaving a bottle of green food colouring next to the smoothie.

Bob explained to me how I should harvest ( cut ) the chard- a stalk or two from each plant - so that it continues to regrow. That it does as despite me robbing it of a few stalks most days, the plant has increased in size. Brilliant and a nice bit of salad and smoothie future ahead...

Biggi