ArcaMax

If you’re trying to eat healthy, (aka clean eating) you’re likely to have an opinion about bacon. I have a very dear friend from Iowa. The land of pork.

He’s the kind of guy who gets his pork products directly from the farm. He was raised on a farm so he still has lots of friends in the farming business and he chooses his purveyors carefully.

He’s really picky about his bacon. He wants his with no nitrates, no nitrites and he wants it uncured. Those things all sort of go together as we are about to find out.

For this column I am going to do something I don’t usually do. I am going to fully source an article I found written by the fine folks at Prevention magazine. I am going to interrupt their findings with comments of my own, but I think they did the best job of laying out the controversy surrounding bacon. They also do a great job of defining the elements involved; namely nitrates, nitrites and curing.

So...Are nitrates and nitrites good or bad?...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Swiss Chard with Bacon

Related Recipes at PlanZDiet.com:
Fluffy, Cheesy Scrambled Eggs
Baked Kale or Swiss Chard Chips

This is a ZReboot recipe. Everything goes better with bacon…as the saying goes. So this side dish will be a hit. Of all the greens, swiss chard is my favorite. I don’t like a deep flavor to my greens. I like them lighter in flavor and this hits the spot. Make this when the rest of the dinner is just about ready to go on the table. You can even assign the making of this dish to a guest if you’re busy doing other things.

Serving Size: Serves 4. Can be doubled and tripled pretty easily.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Swiss chard. Cut stems into thin strips if they are wide. Chop or slice the rest into strips/chunks. Or you can just discard the stems if you don’t want to eat them.
4 slices of bacon (You choose your flavor. Some like pepper bacon, others might to go hickory or even maple infused.)
2 Tbl of the rendered bacon fat or coconut oil
1 cup of red onion, thinly sliced
4 scallions (green onions) sliced. White and light green parts only.
2 cloves of garlic, minced (jar garlic will work fine)
1 Tbl of vinegar. (You can choose your flavor. Red wine, apple cider or even champagne vinegar.)

Instructions:

Take out a frying pan. Fry your bacon until crisp. Remove and then chop it into bits. Set aside. Don’t toss out all of the bacon fat. Keep two tablespoons of it (or if you don’t want to use bacon fat and want a sweeter flavor to your greens, wipe out the bacon fat and put in two tablespoons of coconut oil and melt that instead. Coconut oil doesn’t taste like sweet coconut but it does have a mild, slightly sweet flavor).

Then add the red onion and your swiss chard stems. Cook until tender. Stir often. I just cook mine a couple of minutes to loosen it up -- four minutes tops depending on how much you have in the pan. If you are doubling the recipe it might take a few more minutes to get it all cooked. Add the scallions and garlic. Cook one or two more minutes just to get the flavors melded. Then add the chard leaves. Mix thoroughly. They will only take a couple of minutes to cook. Stir in your vinegar. Season with grated sea salt and pepper. Transfer to your serving dish and top with the bacon bits.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola