Beets

It is usually not necessary to peel them, just scrub the skins to ensure you won't eat our dirt. Try steaming them. then drizzle them with a little butter and salt. Or you could make a sweet and sour "sauce" to pour over them by combining vinegar and a bit less sugar and maybe some cloves, or allspice. Or you could make a cake...

Beet Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3-4 ouncees unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
1/4 cups oil
3 cups shredded beets
Heat oven to 32 degrees. Grease two 9 inch cake pans. Whisk dry ingredients together. Melt chocolate very slowly over low heat or in a double boiler. Cool chocolate and blend thoroughly with the eggs and oil. Combine dry ingredients and the chocolate mixture alternating with the beets. Pour into pans. Bake until a fork can be remved from te center cleanly, 40-50 minutes.

Fennel bulbs

We have had many people ask us what to do with this. It is related to dill and anise. It can be used in any recipe that calls for celery. Try it in your favorite egg salad recipe. Or marinate thin slices in a dijon salad dressing made with a bit of orange juice, dijon, a dash of wine vinegar (red or white), salt, and olive oil to taste.

Chard: Chef Harants' style

Here is a simple recipe for Chard that takes almost nothing from your pantry...

Wash and chop some chard. Separate the leaf parts from the stem parts, chopping all of it. Peel and chop some onions. Carmelize the onions in some olive oil. Get them pretty dark. Chef Harants said "burn the onions". Remove them from the pan and reduce the heat to about medium . Add the chopped chard stems (they take longer to cook), sprinkle with a bit of salt, and cook for a few mintes. Add the chopped leaves and stir. Saute the whole mess until the stems are soft and the leaves are wilted. Remove the chard to a serving dish and top with caramelized onions. Squeeze the juice of a lemon half over it and you are ready to chow down. Serve it with couscous or quinoa.

Also check out other postings for chard.