Stuffed Rainbow Chard Rolls with a Simple Garden Veggie & Tomato Sauce ((with a BONUS extra meal))

One of my favorite things is to use my garden harvest in meal-making for the family. My rainbow chard has been growing like CRAZY this year… causing me to have daydreams of chard recipes. This recipe is a result of one of those daydreams!

These pictures were taken about a month ago & the rainbow chard has since doubled in size. I have 4 more rainbow chard plants, all spaced throughout my flowerbeds, doing equally wonderfully great!

Before I start sharing my recipe tips and instructions, let me take a minute and let you in on one of my favorite gardening ideas. Don’t reserve your flowerbeds for ornamental plants – use edible plants for your ornamental spots. This rainbow chard is absolutely gorgeous! Striking greens, orange, white, golden and magenta ribs. It is one of my favorite things to stick around my gardens. It reaches a height of 24″-30″ and is a real show stopper.

Other edible ornamental ideas that I love:

sorrel
chard
kale
radicchio
lemongrass
thyme
beets
chives
rosemary
curly spinach
strawberries

These are just a few ideas – there are hundreds!

Okay, back to the recipe. I used the classic 4 ((celery, onion, bell pepper & carrots)) some garden-fresh thyme & parsley, garlic & lemon zest.

Give the chard a rinse (if you don’t have chard in your garden, most grocery stores are selling chard now), bring a pot of water to boil & give each leaf a 3 sec dip in the boiling bath. Be sure not to go longer than 5 seconds, we want to keep this gorgeous chard bright and fresh looking.

Lay out the parboiled chard on a bed of paper towels. Cut the rib out of each leaf, if the leaves are huge, cut them in half lengthwise.

Now, pause here and prepare the chard roll filling.

Mix it up by hand or with a spatula (get ready to work your arms – feel the burn!)

This is a party for the eyes!

Once the meat mixture is prepped, time to make the sauce. I saved 2-3 T of each: celery, bell pepper & onion, sautéed them for 3-5 minutes. Then poured a carton of tomato sauce over the veggies, seasoned, brought to a simmer & pour one cup of sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. Set the sauce aside to pour over the rolls.

Rolling them up is the fun part – aren’t they cute??

I made 14 rolls & baked 4 more in another small dish for David’s lunch – he was a happy boy! One very important tip – DO NOT squeeze these babies in the baking dish, give each roll a little space to breathe. Notice in the picture below, I offset the rolls. The ensures even cooking.

Top with the remaining sauce, cover with foil & bake for 30 minutes.

Now for the bonus meal!! I really only needed 1½ lbs of ground meat to make this dish BUT I used 3 lbs of meat and enough veggies, binder & seasoning for the extra meat and guess what? I had enough prepped & seasoned meat leftover from assembling the chard rolls to make meatballs!! ((I also had about 2 cups of extra sauce)). It took the same amount of time, both in prep and in baking, as if I were just making one meal of chard rolls. But, because I planned ahead – I was able to make 2 meals at once. ((YAY!!))

Twenty to be exact!

I baked them at the same time I baked the chard rolls, cooled them, bagged them up & refrigerated them. Last night, I placed them in a baking dish, poured the extra sauce over them, covered them with foil and reheated them in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes. I served them over spaghetti and the kids larded it up. What a simple, healthy & tasty meal for a busy weeknight.