purple dead nettle

Not enough chard to use for any dish, so I picked a bunch of nettles from around the yard.

After washing and picking the best leaves off the stems, there was about half this left. Made 'green' tortillas with it. Has a very attractive scent when cooking that I can't quite describe, but nobody notices the flavor when they actually eat them. There was some left over, so the next day I sautéed the remainder, added it to my wrap with some leftover rice and smoked cheese. It was surprisingly good. Rest of the family was having noodles and veggies (I figured nobody else would want the day-old tortillas which get a little tough). But my husband and oldest asked for sautéed nettles on their noodles, and they liked it! So I'm glad I picked a lot.

There are a few small patches of purple dead nettle around corners of the garden. It grows much better under the trees on the shady sideyard, where I've just let fallen leaves drift and tossed broken twigs to break down. I will keep encouraging those patches and maybe pull out the faltering ones by the garden beds. Mock strawberry and cuban oregano do better around the garden anyway.