When we first moved into our house, I was excited, albeit surprised, to find chives growing underneath a pine tree in our front yard. As I was frantically trying to fill up the space that would become my perennial garden, I immediately transplanted them. They have grown happily there now for a number of years...until last year when the growing and spreading of said chives turned into more of an infestation than anything else! I removed several plants and transplanted others, but they are still a prevalent feature in my perennial garden and blooming with their little purple puffball blossoms right now. And so now is the time, friends. Now is the time to prevent further infestations. These beautiful flowers must be removed before they go to seed and threaten to overtake the world (or my backyard).

Fortunately, I recently realized that these flowers are edible. So, rather than simply cutting them off and throwing them away, I've been researching uses and ways to eat chive flowers. I've come up with a few really interesting ideas that I wanted to share!

I'm not sure if it's the old age kicking in or what, but I had a bit of a brain fart at the grocery store yesterday.  I knew I had seen a recipe on Pinterest that I wanted to try that was some sort of Asian / Ramen noodle bowl.  It sounded like a fairly simple weeknight dinner, and had to stop by the grocery store on my way home anyways, so I could pick up whatever other ingredients I needed.  Of course, being in a hurry, I only glanced at the recipe and quick got what I thought I needed.  Upon arriving home and attempting to cook said meal, I suddenly realized that I had saved and confused two separate, though similar recipes (one was actually ramen soup, the other was a linguine noodle bowl) -- and the ingredients I had on hand were a blend of the two.  So, what's a girl to do?  Yep, use what you've got and with the power of two recipes combined...we have: Sriracha Ramen Noodle Bowl!  I think I actually picked out the best parts of each recipe, and I was pleased with the results!  Tom liked it, too -- but beware: it's fairly spicy. Adjust to your own tastes.

I decided to grow Swiss chard in my garden this year.  I'm not exactly sure why, but I think this is what happened: I went to the farmer's market sometime last summer and was lured in by the bright stalks of the multi-colored Swiss chard one of the vendors was selling.  It was so pretty that I just had to buy a bunch of it.  I think I ended up roasting that with some root vegetables, but I don't remember for sure how I prepared it.  I may have had chard one other time.  But the bright colors stuck with me, and I know it's supposed to be a very healthy green, so I decided to grow some.  In the past few weeks it's grown to the point where I could begin to pick it.  Only, I didn't know what to do with it once I did pick it.  The whole roasted root vegetable thing is more of an autumn dish, and definitely not ideal for this heat wave we've been having.  So, I looked up a couple of recipes, and here's what I ended up doing with my first couple pickings of chard.

Swiss Chard Dumplings & Ravioli

I found this recipe from Eating Well for Chard Dumplings in Chive Broth, and thought it sounded interesting. I'd never made dumplings before.  I'm not sure I'd actually eaten dumplings before.  But chard was new, too, so why not try dumplings.  The recipe called for a mix of Swiss chard, onion, garlic, ricotta cheese, etc. and sounded pretty tasty. Somewhere I got the idea (can't for the life of me remember where) that this might also make a good filling for ravioli -- and discovered that I could use won ton wrappers to make both.  So, I made both -- with slightly different filling.  You can read the full Eating Well recipe for detailed instructions and the original recipe, but I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand, so I modified the filling to include the following:

Not quite three cups of leaves

DUMPLINGS

• 1 bunch chard leaves and stems separated -- enough to fill three cups chopped (I just guessed on the amount I picked!)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Wonton wrappers

Making the ravioli!

Chard Dumplings in Chive Broth

1. Cook rice according to package directions.  I like to use brown rice for added nutrition!
2. If you want to make chicken fried rice, cut chicken into very small pieces and fry with a little bit of vegetable oil until fully cooked; set aside.

1. In a large wok, sauté vegetables in butter until tender; season with salt and pepper to taste.

1. Scramble eggs and cook in a frying pan until just done; break eggs into small pieces.
2. Add rice, chicken, eggs, vegetable oil and soy sauce to wok; stir until well combined and stir fry for a few minutes over medium heat.  Add extra salt and pepper if desired.  Sometimes I add a hint of garlic or ginger, too – but go easy: this is the one dish I make that does not taste as good if you add much additional spices or seasonings.