I don’t know how you feel but for me first two weeks of 2011 passed so quickly that residues of New Year joy faded away in a few days like a deflating balloon after a party. It’s quite common to have hectic times in the office but this time ours is a bit head spinning, making me grateful to weekend holidays. While thinking about all this stuff a question hit to my head “who decided to work for five days and rest in the remaining two on behalf of everyone on earth?”

After some research I found out that New England Cotton Mill instituted the first five-day work week and famous entrepreneur Henry Ford applied the same in his factory. I was about to put all the blame on them before I learned the fact there was no weekend holiday at all before, so maybe I should thank them instead. As for me, I am pretty sure that we would be better and much more positive people if everyone could work four days a week and rest in the remaining tree.

Anyway, you might also be passing through the same point of the circle and could not find enough personal time to realize what you had planned at the end of 2010. No worries, I am here to help you. The recipe I am about to share soon is a life saver. Since it is quite easy and tasty as well you will have more time to do whatever you like after a long and exhausting day in the office.

All you need is some easily obtained vegetables like onion, potato and some chard or spinach leaves you found in your refrigerator. I prefer to use chard since had a chance to find incredibly fresh ones at the grocery. Chard is an excellent source of A,C, and K vitamins coming with magnesium, potassium and iron in the same package. Chard is also quite beneficial to cure ulcer which is quite common among stressed out office people. Chard juice (I must admit you should be really in love with chard to do that, otherwise just keep that mind to use some other day) is a good decongestant and leaves are also helpful to neutralize stomach acidity.

A recipe that is delicious, easy and healthy. No need to ask for more, right. You may even keep the fried potato pancakes in the fridge for a few days to use afterwards and reheat them in the oven to make them gain their crispiness again.

Ingredients (for 4 serving)

For potato pancakes

• 4 mid-sized potatoes (around 450 grams -1 pound-)
• 1 mid-sized onion
• 35g (1.2 oz) all purpose flour
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ¼  teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1tablespoon liquid vegetable oil for frying

For sautéed chard

• 450 g (1 pound) Fresh chard leaves -washed and drained –
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground white pepper and sea salt to taste
• 1 ½ cup sour cream
• Fresh mint leaves for garnishing

Instructions

Another hectic week is over and please forgive me for not making a new post due to lack of energy and motivation since the last one. I can honestly blame it all to the complicated situations taking place in the office environment and it is really difficult to keep your head up when one of your best friends at work is leaving for good. Is it enough? Of course not. Once the door of misfortune is opened, bad things will come after another like drizzling rain drops out of clear sky. Guess, where is the shelter? Did you say “Kitchen”? Absolutely right! Despite the fact that I could not write a new post, I was still working on new recipes and trying different combinations to share with you in the coming days.

One of these is asparagus frittata, a perfect stress-free recipe with a few ingredients and requiring a short time to prepare. A frittata is basically an unstirred and not-folded omelet cooked in the oven or in a skillet allowing you to flip both sides easily. Even though I preferred to use pickled green asparagus and pour it into silicon mold to give it a bit more sophisticated look, you may use your imagination to change the ingredients and use a mid-sized skillet. Personally I like the taste of asparagus in most of the dishes like a Cantonese style stir fried asparagus with beef or a French style steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise.

As opposed to popular belief white asparagus is not a variety, it is the same green asparagus grown in the absence of sunlight which is necessary to develop chlorophyll in the plant. White asparagus, being preferred in some parts of the Europe like Germany and Netherlands has a sweeter taste and less fiber than the green one. Only different version is the purple one but I had no chance to try it up till now since it is scarcely produced. Asparagus is high in folic acid, potassium and fiber, without containing any fat or cholesterol, and is low in sodium. All these features makes me like this odd shaped vegetable even more and keep a jar of asparagus in my refrigerator all the time.

Ingredients (makes 6 servings)

• 5 eggs
• 50 ml. milk
• 6-7 stalks of canned and drained green asparagus (you may use fresh ones after boiling till the stalks are tender, pay attention not to immerse the tip of the asparagus since these parts get soft very easily)
• 1 midsized potato
• 35-40 g. mozzarella cheese (half of one stick)
• 5-6 sprigs of chive
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil (for frying)
• Freshly ground pepper
• Sea salt

Instructions