Need simple recipes with Mexican/Hispanic tastes for any of the following ingredients :Swiss Chard, Kale, Persimmons and Apples.

To all of you,

Thanks for the ideas. They're all great! Rapearson, so sweet of you to offer to scan the recipes. I had found a few in Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen book. I have the Authentic Kitchen book, too but because swiss chard wasn't included in the ingredients and I hadn't cooked them myself, I bypassed them. So I'll scan them myself today. I'm going to try that tomato-chile sauce with swiss chard this week. It sounds delish. We're meeting this week to figure out which recipes we'll try as a group, but I'll keep checking here to see what else folks come up with as this is an on-going project. Food 52 people are just the best.

Also -- if you would like me to scan a recipe or two I can do that. I think that is OK considering the non-profit nature of what you are doing.

Rick Bayless has two recipes that are good with Swiss chard in Authentic Mexican. One is with potatoes and tomatoes. The other is originally for zucchini but is good with Swiss Chard. You quick fry slices of garlic (about 5 cloves) in oil, then cook the swiss chard in that garlicky oil till wilted. Squeeze some lime juice on top.

The other recipe is to saute up some onion and fresh hot green peppers (like serrano or jalapeno), then add in a chopped tomato (preferablly roasted), diced potato and a little broth. You cook that until the potatoes are tender and then add in the chopped chard. The recipe notes say you can add 1/2 pound of cubed cooked pork as well.

Something I did last night was make cooked tomato-chile sauce with added swiss chard stems. (Which by the way, are good used like onion or celery -- sliced and sauteed). The tomato chile sauce is basically blender-ed onion, garlic, tomato and chiles, and I added in some red swiss chard stems and no one was the wiser. You then fry this mixture on the stove for about 10 minutes and you have a cooked salsa.

Persimmons are excellent with chiles, cumin, lime, and cilantro! Slice about 2lbs persimmons and sprinkle with fresh cilantro. Whisk together the juice of a lime, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 finely chopped green chile, salt, and 2tbs oil. It is slightly spicy, sweet, and savory all at once. If you have nuts like walnuts or pecans, toast them and sprinkle ontop.

Everybody, including kids these days, is talking about how much they love kale chips. Chop the kale chip-size, toss with a tiny bit of oil, and bake until crisp. Salt as you like. Not my thing, but I offer it to your pantry folks with my good hopes.

Chard is always good cooked with onions and garlic and whatever flavorings or spices you like. For a Latino flavor I would add some cumin powder and some chili flakes or fresh chilies to the saute of onions and garlic, toss in the chard, add some liquid, and cook until soft enough to digest. The liquid could be some prepared salsa, in which case you could skip the chilis if you wanted to. Or it could be a little water, wine, juice, or vinegar.

I myself have trouble finding uses for the persimmons in my CSA box! I made some persimmon soup once that was pretty good. And Latinos eat apples raw, sliced, with a seasoned salt on them. I forget what the salt is called, but it is salt, chili powder, and lemon flavor. They sell it at every Latino market here in Southern California and most regular markets, too. I had a Latino boyfriend who taught me to eat apples this way.