While we're all a bit nervous about eating fresh spinach, try a worthy substitute: Swiss chard.

"If vegetables got grades for traditional nutrients alone, Swiss chard would be the vegetable valedictorian," reports whfoods.com, a nonprofit organization that provides scientific information on foods that promote health.

One cup of Swiss chard is loaded with vitamin K to promote bone health. It's also an excellent source of vitamins A, C and E; iron; calcium; potassium; magnesium; manganese; and dietary fiber.

Chop the leaves of chard, a member of the spinach family, and add them to the usual suspects, including pasta, omelets or lasagna. The tender greens can be prepared like spinach, while the crisp stalks should be chopped, steamed and cooked like asparagus.

Or try this recipe for slow cooker risotto with Swiss chard.

If you've made risotto from scratch, it is easy to understand why restaurants charge big bucks for a dish made from inexpensive ingredients. The constant stirring required for the grains of rice to absorb liquid is truly labor-intensive.

To get around the labor, dust off your slow cooker and let it cook the rice and greens together into a creamy, one-pot meal.

Arborio rice is an Italian-grown, high-starch, short-grain rice that is traditionally used in making risotto because it easily absorbs liquid to give it a creamy texture.

SLOW COOKER RISOTTO WITH SWISS CHARD