Swiss Chard, Green Bean and Potato Stew

This is the ultimate healthy stew. And super easy to make. Preparation time is about 1 hour but it can sit on the stove for longer and it's great reheated the next day.

Ingredients:
A couple of bunches of Swiss Chard from the market, or as much as is ready to pick in the garden
A couple of pounds of green beans from the market, or as much as is ready to pick in the garden.
Four or five medium sized potatoes
Several cloves of garlic, more is better than less
Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil

Wash and strip the veins from the chard. Cut the stems of the chard into inch long pieces and throw those in a large pot with a quarter cup or so of olive oil and turn the heat to medium high. Peel the garlic, roughly chop it and throw it into the pot. Roughly cut up the leaves of the chard and throw them into the pot and then put on the lid. While the chard is steaming down break the ends off the green beans, wash them, cut them into pieces a couple of inches long and throw them on top of the chard in the pot. Add a level teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of pepper. Stir the pot up a bit and put the top back on. Peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks and throw them into the pot. Stir the pot up a bit and reduce the heat to low. Cook til the potatoes are done.

Eaten with good italian bread this is as good a stew as you can make despite the fact that it's healthy and low calorie. It's not quite so healthy if you butter the bread but buttered bread tastes awfully good.

Aunt Mary Raimo and mom once observed me cooking the three vegetables together like this in the same pot and told me Grandmon Luzi always cooked them in separate pots and then combined them just before serving. I've always been too lazy to do that and I think it's prefectly good cooked the way I've described, especially if you're the one who has to wash the two extra pots.