Long, Hot Days of Summer

We made our third visit to the CSA farm last Friday to claim our veggies, and the smell of fresh "green" living things combined with the thick humid air almost stopped me in my tracks when we got out of the car: this is what our ancestors who settled on the prairie endured day in and day out without modern convenience. You wanted food to eat? You worked in the fields and fed your animals, and complaining wasn't really an option. Powerful people, those settlers!

I was wondering how our take for the week would be since we had about three days of heavy rains prior to the harvest...the big bummer was that the planned u-pick green bean "experience" had to be postponed because of seriously muddy fields. (In our family, fresh green beans might just be the perfect food!) Our baskets were still pretty full, but we had a greater percentage of lower-bulk "normal" items: tomatoes (which made me crazy since I still have not a single red one in my own garden!), carrots, cucumber, yellow squash, hot yellow peppers scallions, green cabbage, more beets (!), and swiss chard. And potatoes. Perfect, round, small new potatoes. Yum....

We made a fresh asian-style slaw of cabbage and carrots the first night: dressed in equal parts soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and oil mixed with sugar, salt, and pepper to taste I loved it, DH was okay with it (he prefers sweeter slaw) and DS was, well, not super pleased. The next adventure was roasted and grilled beets: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grilled-Beets-in-Rosemary-Vinegar/Detail.aspx

Now, I will say that a beet no more wants to be peeled and sliced than it wants to be grated (see my previous entry for the gory details!) but it does take marinade very nicely and the results were super tasty to both of the adults. DS - not a fan of beets. Or of vinegar. So - that should have been a no-brainer, right? We will definitely do this recipe again for the grown-ups!

In the protein department, we thawed and grilled our new york strip steaks this week - absolutely amazing to look at the steaks before cooking!

 DH debated on how much fat to leave on or trim off...and maybe still left too much. While we had enough flare-ups that I didn't take an "after" picture (read: burny-looking char on the top), the insides were still amazingly tasty and juicy. Mmmm...meat that remembers, well, being meat. We still have chickens and more ground beef to experiment with before we meet up with farmer Beth and her cooler-of-protein next Friday...maybe more pictures to be added soon!

Stay cool - eat local - and enjoy the summer!