Zaya

Zaya is a Croatian recipe that I grew up watching my mom's side of the family enjoying. I can remember being just a little girl in my great great grandma Kathryn's basement, listening to her speak in her strong Croatian accent as she prepared Zaya for everyone to enjoy. Throughout my childhood, I was told "Katie, you wouldn't like it...lots of veggies". So I believed them. I thought it was just an "Adult" meal. Boy was I wrong! I later learned, that my mom and grandma were only telling us kids that, because it meant more Zaya for them. HA! This is one of my FAVORITE comfort foods. A TRUE family recipe. Before you knock it, you must try it. Very healthy but also very tasty! This is a very "un-professional" recipe, since everything about this recipe has just been done by memory, there is no actual recipe card written down. This has just been passed down from the family. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
* 1-2 big bags of spinach, or 4-5 bundles of spinach (depending on where you purchase your spinach)
* 3/4 pound of fresh green beans trimmed and halved
* 10 medium sized red potatoes
* 2 zucchini chopped
* 2 bundles of swiss chard. Stalks cut off
* 7 ounce bag of frozen peas
* Good Olive Oil
* Salt

Directions:
Get a BIG pot of water boiling. You want to start with the ingredients that take the longest time to cook. So start with the potatoes. Boil until poked with a fork and they fall off. Take the potatoes out and put to the side. Now add in the Green Beans and cook for about 10 mins, add in the zucchini and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. Add in the Swiss Chard and let cook down for about 5 minutes, then add in the spinach. Let the spinach cook down and wilt, then go ahead and pour the frozen peas in. Let the peas cook up and get warm. Take the pot over to your sink and drain all the liquid out by putting the lid partially on the pot and tipping over the sink. Make sure you get ALL the liquid out. Bring the pot back to the stove and put the potatoes back in. This is where I break some of the potatoes open, so they can absorb some of the good olive oil your going to drizzle them with. Pour the Olive Oil ALL over the veggies in the pot. You'll probably end up using 1/4 of the bottle. You don't want them "drowning" in Olive Oil, you just want enough for the veggies to just "bathe" it =) Some like to salt while everything is in the pot, other like to make themselves a bowl and THEN salt their bowl. Everyone's preference to saltiness is different, so I'd suggest salting after you make yourself a bowl. Then dont forget a big slice of GOOD bread with butter and ENJOY!!