While some fast-maturing summer crops can still be planted--I'm thinking beans and basil, summer squash and cukes--you'll want to start thinking about what you want to have quantities of for winter use.  Of course you already planted your winter squash, leeks, and onions, but there's so much more to be done!

My fall garden line-up includes some big yellow beets, storage types of carrots (Chantenay types that do best in our heavy soil are also the best keepers), rutabagas, daikon radishes, and mustard greens mixes.  I've already got in the kale (some people plant this in spring--I don't have room at that point), and I sowed a little bulb fennel the other day as well.

I've also started soaking flats for fall cabbages--one for a red ballhead and another for a green arrowhead.  I'd thought I had seed for a big keeper variety like "Late Flat Dutch," but that must've been my imagination.

My cue for starting fall crops is when we start getting a little rain again after our early-July drought (we're getting a lovely soaking as I type this).  That makes it a little easier to keep things moist.

Carrots take quite awhile to germinate, too, so I usually strew my fall carrot beds with a very light covering of straw to keep in a little moisture.  Cover all the radishes and brassicas with row cover to discourage the cabbage moths and flea beetles that so like to munch on those crops.

We'll likely still have some "dog days" in August, but September comes quick, and then the frosts.  Get on that fall garden planning!

 Last  harvest of peas and more beets!

 Pearl cucumber looking cool

Corn tassles and corn silk ..... first one of the year!

  The spinach seed dried on the stalk - I left all the stalks in the ground after the final harvest of spinach so I could save the seed. 

Before I left I spent 2 days drying with the Excalibur dehydrator - the chives were from the garden and the blueberries and mushrooms were on sale so I bought an overload and dried them for future use.  The beef jerky I dried to take along on the trip for snacks...

  Excalibur loaded with fruit

  Dried chives, beef jerky, blueberries and mushrooms

Friends in warmer climates are telling me about their home-grown tomatoes. I put my fingers in my ears and console myself with the thought that our tomatoes will be along in their own good time - and that, meanwhile, there's plenty of other flavorful produce showing up at the market.

This week I steered clear of the berries (well, almost. One pint of blueberries doesn't count, does it?) in favor of vegetables: Carrots, shelling peas, cucumber, zucchini and a big bunch of mixed beets, red and golden and a pretty stripey red-and-white stripe variety.

I love root vegetables, and beets and carrots are never better than when they're young and tender, full of sweet, earthy flavor. I love to roast them together, and just a little extra effort can make the difference between a nice mess of roasted vegetables and a terrific dish that highlights the subtle differences in the two vegetables flavors.

Beets, even young ones, take longer to roast than carrots. So why not take advantage of that fact and treat each vegetable a little differently, even when you roast them in the same pan?

Roasted beets and carrots with herbs

Ingredients:

• A mixture of red and golden beets (I used six medium-sized beets), scribbed, trimmed and cut in half
• 1 Tbsp Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Fresh thyme, finely minced
• 4-5 medium-sized carrots, scrubbed, trimmed and cut in roughly equal-sized pieces
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a bowl, toss beets with olive oil. Spoon them out, leaving excess oil in the bowl. Place in one layer at one end of a roasting pan and sprinkle lightly with salt; scatter a few sprigs of thyme among them. Place roasting pan in oven. 15 minutes into cooking, use a slotted spoon to turn the beets.

Meanwhile, add carrots, vinegar, maple syrup and cumin to the bowl and toss well.

When the beets have been in the oven 30 minutes, add the carrots at the other end of the pan. Continue roasting for 15-20 minutes more, stirring once to turn, until tender and lightly caramelized.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly so you can slip the skins off the beets without burning yourself. Serve warm as a side dish, or, as I did, allow the vegetables to cool to room temperature, slice them into bite-sized pieces and serve them on a bed of lettuce with a little blue cheese, some toasted hazlenuts and a light vinaigrette incorporating a touch more thyme.

If you don't have the time or energy to bother with roasting them, young beets and carrots are also splendid raw, grated or sliced paper-thin, and added to a salad or slaw - or just tossed with a little Meyer lemon juice, sprinkled lightly with salt and heaped on a plate as a crunchy, vivid savory.

Warm Beet and Apple Salad:

3-4 Beets trimmed and peeled (save the greens! they are great cooked)

1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar

A good handful of chopped red onion

3 tbs olive oil

1.5 tbs honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Salad greens of your choosing

Red delicious apple cored and sliced

Feta cheese

Chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400

Wisk together balsamic vinegar, honey, olive oil, onion and S&P in a bowl. Cut beets into sixths (or bite size pieces). Toss beets in dressing mixture and wrap in foil, place on baking sheet and cook for 40 mins. (or until you can put a knife easily into the beets). Open tin foil and cook for another 30 mins. Let beets cool down to room temp or a little warmer.

Arrange salad greens onto plate and spoon as much of the remaining dressing over them. Top with beets, apple, feta cheese and spoon some more dressing over all of that. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top. Enjoy.

My camera died as I was taking pics, so I apologize for the lack of picture quality. But I hope it looks appetizing to you all.

One more...

Over the past month I've been a bit lax in the kitchen, but I did take a few photos with the intention of posting about what I was cooking.  Since I've fallen behind I'll just throw them all in this one post.

First, about a month ago we visited the new Harmon's grocery store in Draper near the point of the mountain.  Wow.  They have everything.  We got gelato from their gelato bar (good not great) and I bought a variety of olives from their olive bar.  The produce was varied and abundant.  I decided to try some organic golden beets.  I roasted them in the crock pot and then sliced them and dressed them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and chopped pecans.

Sorry the photo is a bit out of focus.  I need a tripod (and a better camera).  The beets were great.  Some good feta cheese would have made them better.

We also had some fun with bacon recently.

These make for great BLTs.  I had to stick all kinds of toothpicks to hold them together.  A better way to do this would have been to leave the slices at full length instead of cutting them in half and weaving a 6 x 6 sheet of bacon.  The short pieces really wanted to come apart.  I also recommend baking the bacon on a rack set in a sheet pan since this will keep the bacon flat and will not require flipping (tempting the weave to fall apart).  The big sheet can then be cut into 4 sandwich size squares.

Yes, they did taste as good as they look.  I put a little blue cheese on mine.  You can't beat the combo of blue cheese and bacon!

With this same meal I made some agua de limón, a.k.a. limeade.  For each serving combine a cup of water, juice and zest of one lime, about 5-10 mint leaves, and 2 tablespoons of sugar in the blender.  Blend it all up and then pour it through a fine-mesh strainer.  Serve over ice and garnish with mint.

Beet Salad
(from Moosewood Restaurant “Simple Suppers”

This salad is wonderful with regular beets but absolutely beautiful with the pinkish “bullseye” beets that came in this week’s box.

3 to 4 raw beets
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil
2 t. Dijon mustard
1/4 t. salt
2 scallions, minced
2 T minced fresh parsley

Peel the beets and cut them in half. Place the beets in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times until they are reduced to little chunks, or shred them with the food processor or by hand using the largest holes of a grater. (You’ll need 2 1/2 cups to 3 cups.)

In a serving bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, mustard, and salt. Add the beets, scallions, and parsley and toss well. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

_7160242

Originally uploaded by oldredsneakers

toss

shredded raw beets (3 medium sized beets)
blanched beet greens
candied pecans

with

olive oil
white balsalmic vinegar
crushed raspberries from your backyard (optional)
salt and pepper

top with
crumbled goat cheese

another yum summer salad, which we ate with the fava bean scramble, but this also didn't yield great pictures... I made the mistake of adding goat cheese prior to tossing the salad and although it was delicious, it was a disconcerting magenta. So, lesson learned, add goat cheese last.

This morning I stumbled to the bathroom to take my first urine of the day. I was half asleep and halfway through before I noticed...a red substance in the toilet. It kinda freaked me out. I questioned Lisa if she had noticed anything strange, since she had gone before me. To my dismay, she said "no." I was pretty worried and scared to go again. Lots of scenarios were going through my head as I was driving to work, when Lisa called me and said, "maybe it's because we had beets last night." So, the first thing I did when I got to work was google beets and if they cause red urine. Evidently there is something called, "Beeturia". I don't know much about it, but evidently about 14% of people are affected by it. I was very relieved, literally, that it was just beeturia and not something worse. Two sidenotes: the beets were excellent, here is the recipe; beeturia also affects #2.

 . . . by the way . . . in case anyone was wondering . . . the toliet picture was recreated for shock value from leftover beet pieces that were in the sink drain . . . that was Lisa's idea.

CIPPOLINO ONIONS - 1 bunch
CARROTS | Qty: 1 bunch
apparently, in the end, boxes had either carrots or golden beets.
BEETS | Qty: 1 bunch
I got two bunches of beets: golden and regular, both with nice greens
CABBAGE | Qty: 1 head
this is a cute little head, about 5 inches in diameter.
BASIL | Qty: 1 bunch
GARLIC | Qty: 2 heads
ZUCCHINI -- I got about 5 zucchini
CUCUMBERS -- I got about 4 small but healthy looking cucumbers

HAPPY NOTE: I found where they were craftily hiding the discard/exchange bin, and, rummaging through it, I scored 2 bunches of carrots, 2 heads of garlic, 1 cabbage, and 1 bunch of basil, a radicchio, and another bunch of onions.

Oh! THE FRUIT SHARE!!!!!

I got a big bag of peaches and a pint of blueberries!

Where is all this going? Duh! the refrigerator!!! Seriously... i have recipes! Do I ever have recipes! I am prepared. Stay tuned for my next post, wherein I will divulge all!!!!

I'm the youngest of seven, three boys and four girls - Bill, Geryl, Dee, Jo, Mike, Tim and then me (I broke the tie), by far with 22 years separating me and my oldest brother, so by the time I came around, Bill was out of the house serving in the air force, and my sisters were getting married and moving out soon after that. That left me, Mike and Tim at home with Mom and Dad for the most part. 

Most of the time I ate dinner in front of the television, with my plate and glass on my Cabbage Patch tray, watching Little House on the Prairie and People's Court with Judge Wapner.  "The boys" were usually not home, they were busy with lacrosse practice or band or friends.  My Dad worked the graveyard shift at the General Motors plant, so he was always sleeping at that time, and my mom would sit in the kitchen eating alone.  I always regret not eating with her or having had more traditional family meals.

By the time I was in college, my Dad was retired, and when I came home for breaks the three of us would sit down together as a family.  And even just between us we went through more than just one can/bag/etc. when it came to vegetables.  As a matter of fact my Dad and I would always fight over the last bite of spinach - we loved our spinach!  Must have been all those Popeye cartoons.

During the summer in between my freshman and sophomore year, I was going through a phase of being extremely health and weight conscious, which meant even more vegetables - yum! In fact, during that summer we ate very little meat.  I remember one night, out of nowhere, my Dad saying "where the hell's the meat?"  Actually, it was probably out of the frustration of being forced along into my new eating habits.  But ya know, the kicker of it all is that he ended up losing more weight than I did more quickly!  He'd show off how loose his pant were, meanwhile I was eating the same things and working out all the time and the pounds just weren't melting away like they were for dear 'ol Dad.  So not fair - losing weight by association!

My latest kick is beets.  That's right - beets.  Odd, isn't it?  I actually think I'm a borderline beet addict.  My brother and sister cooked some on the grill a couple of months ago, and ever since I crave beets!  I pop 'em like candy ... they come off the grill, and they're just so perfect, I can't resist. 

I tried beets in my salad for the first time at lunch today.  They weren't grilled, but a beet's a beet - right?  If you're addicted to one kind you're addicted to them all!  Before tearing into my salad and devouring the generous portion of burgundy beauty, I did, for the record, offer to share my beloved beets with the lunch crew.  After all, I'm not a greedy addict.  I'm a happy beet addict.  They make me want to share they're deliciousness with everyone.  I guess that kind of makes me a beet pusher ...  "C'mon eat some beets, everybody's doing it."  Anyway ... there weren't any takers, and just before I sunk my teeth into that first bite of beet heaven I gave fair warning that it was the last chance ... "Speak now or forever hold your beet!"

I peeked out at our garden today and saw a head of lettuce starting to bolt.  So, I realized it was time to go out and see what needed to be harvested.

I got some lettuce:

And our first carrots! (along side a whole bunch of beets)

Here was a little friend that came in along with the veggies, hidden i the dirt:

The beets will likely become either pickled beets (a sweetish recipe) or canned soup.

Well, let's see. It was a pretty quiet weekend, all things said. Ventured to a place that I'll bet some of you have already tried. I feel so behind the curve. It's called Grano Pasta Bar, on 36th Street in Hampden....sweet, tiny place...maybe 10 or 15, 20 seats? They do pastas to order....with several sauces that you can try..pesto, bolognese, marinara...all homemade sauces, though not the pasta. BYOB....and a bowl of pasta is 7 bucks, and they'll throw on a couple of meatballs for $2 more.  Can't beat that in tough  economic times, eh?  It's run by Gino Troia, of the well known Cafe Troia in Towson...and when I stopped in for some carryout sauce which they sell, Friday night at 6:30...the place was already packed (keeping in mind it doesn't take too many people to do that). I adored their grassy green pesto, a container of which was $9....not inexpensive, but a little goes a long way, and the taste is fabulous. Used it on some focaccia sandwiches made with fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market and  mozzarella, and it was yum. And Grano also does carryout pastas and salads. Cute...you'll like it. 

Got way too many beets at the Farmer's Market in Waverly on Saturday...so I roasted them (wrap the beet in foil after you cut the tops off, and roast in over at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes). Then you slip their skins off after they cool, slice and use in salads and stuff. Delicious. However, not everyone in my house is a beet lover....I think that comes from the childhood trauma of eating picked beets. That's just so wrong to do to an innocent beet, and let me tell you, they bear no resemblence to a roasted beet...these are just very mild and sweet...great with goat cheese or feta in a salad.

And last but not least, Baby Girl  seems to see things that are not there....or are they?  She will just stare off into the distance...I look too, to see what on earth she finds so fascinating, and....nothing. Like you see here...trust me, nothing is happening on the ceiling. I looked. Maybe she is doing a "sixth sense" thing? If she could speak, perhaps she would whisper,  "I see dead cats."  And there could be quite a few feline spirits around the place....Wild Kitty, where are you?  Something to think about.

Ooooooh-new template..."Dusk" by Becca Wei. 

Flour was a staple of my childhood—huge bags of whole wheat organic bread flour were almost always in the center of the kitchen. It was vital, literally the base of our diet, but also invisible because it was so available and familiar. Unlike the seasonal apples or the labor–intensive black walnuts, flour was a given that required no work and was always there. I didn't even think about it until well into college, when I had one obsessive vegan in my life, which meant that there were fewer titillating topics at 3 am other than flour + fake butter + tofu (organic & local) + peanut butter (organic) + maple syrup (local) = ethical anti-establishment cookies.

What establishment? you ask. Well, to begin with, the industrial food complex, the corporitization of food, agribusiness, consolidation, vertical/horizontal integration, transnational takeovers... To most localvore types, these phrases sound dangerous, cues that our food system has moved far from the place where it was 200, 100, and even 50 years ago. Some of the structural changes have benefited society. More have not. Today I offer a superficial look at a few structural issues seen through my ethical adventures in buying flour.

I have diverse flour options: big organic flour, little organic flour, mainstream flour, regional flour, organic flour.... First: Big organic flour—take Arrowhead Mills—was involved with all those words mentioned in the previous paragraph. It was bought out by Hain Celestial in 1999 (at least in part, I imagine, because the owner wanted to retire). Hain Celestial has been growing by purchasing other organic/natural food companies for years now and has "strategic alliances" with none other than Cargill and Henz. Looking at Hain Celestial, we have:

1. consolidation of independent organic producers;
2. horizontal integration (different food products being consolidated);
3. vertical integration (Cargill is a major producer of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers);
4. transnational takeovers (Hain Celestial has bought out some European brands as well);
5. agribusiness (aka Cargill)

We can safely assume that the above list gives us an industrial food complex. So buying Arrowhead Mills would indirectly support Cargill and the consolidation leading to monopolies and monopsonies [Ed note: In case you were wondering, as I was, a monopsony is the opposite of a monopoly: one buyer, many sellers.] found in our centralized food system. The lack of competition generally harms those of us who sell/buy to/from the dominant players, and marketing structures work to keep smaller (i.e., regional) producers out of the market. Not in my cookies.

Little organic: Bob's Red Mill from Oregon. Decent company, but it's from Oregon. Does my flour really need to cross the entire country? And why is it packaged in plastic?

Mainstream flour: Ditto the bits about integration, centralized food systems with a lack of competition on all levels. And it's not organic. Further up the corporate food chain, there's an encyclopedia of additional issues, from advertising to children and nutritional skulduggery that are problematic but tangential to this post.

Regional flour: King Arthurof Vermont. Local-ish, depending on how strict your definition. More importantly, they are completely employee ownedand despite large growth over the past 20 years, I believe their goals of producing a minimally processed food with a low environmental impact (evidence: no GMO wheat, no bromation, all unbleached). Even better, they are embedded in teh historical American foodscape, and are quite involved in their community. Could I wish for more? Are they organic? Yes, they offer organic flour. Best of the bunch. Or maybe I just like the picture of the horse on the bag.

Ethical bakery is possible—cookies that support regional food systems, fair trade, environmentally and socially responsible production. Right. Now that that's settled, I'm going to go disguise my CSA beets as chocolate cupcakes, using organic, whole wheat King Arthur flour, fair trade chocolate and sugar, orgainic eggs and butter and pureed beets...

groundcherry

[Ed note: We're working on getting groundcherry to reveal the beet/chocolate cupcake recipe. We'll keep you posted.]

I'm finally getting around to posting my 4th of July pictures! I attempted to make a vegan hotdog, based on Susan V's vegan pepperoni recipe. I changed a few things, to try to make it more hotdog-like; I didn't use all of the seasonings in the pepperoni recipe, and instead used a mixture of cayenne pepper powder, garlic powder, paprika, and I can't remember what else. I also mixed ketchup, miso, and water for the liquid ingredients, leaving out the cashew butter, liquid smoke, and agave nectar. I also added pureed firm tofu with the liquid ingredients. My attempt at changing this recipe wasn't quite successful-- I think I didn't get it quite right. It ended up being kind of tough and chewy, although it did taste pretty good.

I also made a red, white and blue salad for the 4th of July! I got my inspiration from this NY Times article about picnics, and this NY Times article about healthy foods. I used white peaches, orange tomatoes, frozen blueberries, sunflower seeds, and grated raw orange beets. For the dressing I mixed together white wine vinegar, lime juice, a little bit of olive oil, and sugar. It was good!

In other happenings, I've discovered spelt! It's a variety of wheat, as I understand, and it is easy to cook-- just boil with water, as you would for rice. It cooks quicker than brown rice does, and it tastes really good-- it has a chewy texture and nutty, sweet flavor. I used it in this garbanzo bean salad: garbanzo beans (cooked from dry), spelt, tomato, cucumber, onion, dill, powdered ginger, and olive oil-apple cider vinegar-lime juice dressing, with salt and pepper.

I also used spelt like rice or pasta, topping it with a stroganoff-like dish (mushrooms and rehydrated soy strips).

Finally, here's my favorite sandwich right now: a mock egg salad sandwich, made by mashing firm tofu with your favorite brand of vegan mayo, dill, and garlic salt.

Yes, I'm on a food roll this week, but hey, why not?

So the story here in part is this -- some months back I posted this beet risotto recipe I'd tried out and according to a friend that post is now somewhere in the top ten or twenty posts on risotto with beets or the like in Google. Won't say no.

Thus inspired I figured why not give another beet recipe a try, since I had some in the basket. As I had a lot of fennel I wondered if there was a combination recipe out there and it turns out there are plenty, but this one took my fancy -- this is the page it's found on. The difference is that I did not have any vermouth, so I simply substituted water and the thing still tasted great.

Which it did -- I was quite pleased and a little surprised at how rich but mellow the dish come out as. With the cooking toning down the fennel a bit while the beets' natural flavoring and the mustard combined nicely, not to mention the chives, I was quite pleased with this one, and it's been a week of good eats. Give it a whirl if you like! Follow the link provided for the recipe, and please note the comments and suggestions as well.

Beets. One of the most underestimated vegetables in modern times. I've only recently begun to appreciate the sweetness and breathtaking hues of beets. Before last year I didn't realize that you can eat beets prepared any way other than pickled, and I'm not crazy about pickled beets. But, a friend of mine recommended roasting or boiling them and serving them plain with goat cheese. I tried it and a whole world revealed itself to me. As I gazed into the scarlet puddles left behind after we'd eaten every morsel I realized I'd been missing out.

There are many different kinds of beets and if you can get your hands on a variety other than red you should try them; it's fun to mix and match. This time I had one bunch of golden beets that I bought at the farmer's market. It was one of those weak moments when I didn't have a menu planned, I just couldn't resist golden beets. So they've been sitting in my fridge waiting to be cooked. I decided after I bought them that I would cook both the beet greens and the beets themselves, so I snipped off the greens and wrapped them in a paper towel. Separating them from the beets will ensure that both the beets and the greens stay fresh longer. When you are shopping, look for beets with greens that are healthy and green, and roots that have firm, regularly shaped roots.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of these beets. Even if you don't like eating them you have to admit that they are beautiful:

My favorite way to cook beets is explained below. I learned it from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables. You can also boil them, or slice them and then cook the slices. This recipe makes one dinner-sized salad (with some beets left over) or two side salads, and is inspired by my friend Brittany's recipe which includes kale.

Golden Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

One bunch golden beets (I'm not sure how much this is weight-wise, maybe 2 lb.)
1 oz. or so goat cheese
walnuts (toasted if you like)
2 tbsp. olive oil
rice vinegar
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove tops of beets (if you haven't already) leaving about 1/2 inch of stem. Wash beets thoroughly. Put them in a baking dish with a splash of water and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 45 min. to 1 hour, or until they can easily be pierced with a sharp knife. Uncover and let them cool. When they are cool enough to handle, cut off the tops and the tails and slide the skin off; it should come off easily. Cut each beet in quarters (or half if very small). Sprinkle with vinegar and salt and pepper. Let the beets sit for 30 minutes and absorb the vinegar. Alice Waters swears that the beets won't be as good if you don't give them a chance to absorb the vinegar.

While the beets are sitting, cut the stems off of the greens. Wash and dry thoroughly. Saute over medium-high heat with olive oil until greens have wilted nicely. Place on a plate, top with beets, goat cheese, and walnuts. Sprinkle with a little more rice vinegar and a small amount of olive oil (to balance the vinegar).

RED BEETS................................1 bunch
DILL............................................1 bunch
ZUCCHINI................................5 pieces
ZUCCHINI ROUND................1
PARSLEY.........................1 bunch
SWISS CHARD..................1 bunch
RED BATAVIAN LETTUCE...1 head
ROMAINE LETTUCE...........1 head
CUCUMBERS.....................2
BLUEBERRIES....................8 oz.
RASPBERRIES....................8 oz.

I loved the round zucchini I got last week!  Of course, I spiralize any zucchini in sight -- the round one was easier because I did not have to cut it into pieces, and I did not lose as much as I would with a long zucchini. Plus, it's just cute.

The raspberries will go into a smoothie, probably tomorrow morning.

Blueberries are so curious -- they gel up right away -- I may make a dessert with them for my roommate.??? Blueberry pie???? Probably not... maybe just gelled up blueberries, as a "pudding".

The beets had lovely greens - I will probably make up some massaged greens tomorrow night, for my weekend lunches.  I'll juice these beets, just because I still have some left from last week, so I have plenty for my famous ground beet salad.

lettuce lettuce and more lettuce... and chard.  My room-mate has come up with a salad dressing that wilts anything in sight -- I must study that and learn to make something that works like that.

Yum!!! Cucumbers!  I will need to score some tomatoes, to make my easy cucumber tomato salad -- thinly sliced, sprinkle with pepper, soak in apple cider vinegar -- just like Grandmom used to make.

This parsley doesn't look like parsley to me -- it has big leaves. I ate one as I bagged the bunch, just to find out what it was... tastes like parsley.  I told my room-mate she could use some of it, and she thought it was a leaf for salads -- hey!!! it wasn't half bad as  1/3 of a lettuce mix with tomatoes (I gave her a bag of the lettuce mix I got last week)

I asked Random Granddaughter, "When the beets get ripe, should we make Mama eat some?"

"Yes!" said RG, in a very definite manner.

RG's mommies should understand that this is a little girl who keeps track and keeps score and does not forget.

Soon--soon.  A week?  Two?  Gulp--three?  It can't be that long can it?  Well, we're all just as excited for them as you are.

I am going to have the last of the romaine lettuce from my garden for awhile (all three varieties), sugar snap peas (going, going...the powdery mildew is starting to take hold on the lower branches), and a couple cukes (step back, nonbelievers!) and a few sweet peppers, a couple hot wax peppers, too.

But even though I won't have too much (a side effect of my being rather tired out from dismantling and then reconstructing my kitchen after the floor replacement), I am hearing all kinds of tasty rumors from the other vendors.

Here's what I've been hearing (and seeing with my own eyes, even!):  Vito mentioned digging some nice little red new potatoes and maybe a few beets. He also said he had a few jalapenos.  The illustrious Drs. Schweinle have a plethora of lovely summer squashes in their garden, some of which may find their way to market.  And last week Mrs. Robertson (not to be confused with Mrs. Robinson) did have new potatoes and some nice big beets as well.

I would not be surprised if someone brought some berries of one variety or another--I have seen a few ripe raspberries and black raspberries around town.

See you there!

Vermillion Area Farmers Market

Clay County Fairgrounds--Corner of Cherry & High Streets

Every Thursday, 3-7pm

Get some local GOODNESS!

In honor of the great simplicities in the garden Toree and I have decided to throw are own GardenforLife Party in her glorious garden at the end of July. We are featuring three vegetables that are commonly thought of as either difficult to prepare or limited in their uses: beets, eggplant or cucumbers (depending on how the garden grows, of course) and summer squash. We are excited to bring local, seasonal produce to the forefront of this tasting party, where we will discuss the merits of each from seed to harvest and will provide recipe cards for preparations options and a brief outline of the vegetable itself. We are so excited to invite friends and family into Toree's wonderful garden for an evening of like-minded people, education, and the garden's bounty!

I know it's irrational, and rather juvenile, but I just don't like the look of the things. Also, I was once told that beets turn your pee red, and that's a no go there as far as I'm concerned. Anyway...

The lady friend, who wanted the beets in the first place, fondly remembered an arugula, goat cheese, walnut, and beet salad from our days as bon vivants in New York City.

Mother has a profound and undying affection for the lady friend and seemed excited by the possibility of killing two CSA birds with the stone of a single salad.

It was off to the Stop & Shop we went. I may or may not have muttered quite a few choice words about beets being "gross," and that the cost of the salad was a little exorbitant. The beets and arugula may been paid for when we bought the CSA, but crumbled Gorgonzola, walnuts, and a lemon don't come cheap. I quieted down when Mother offered to make me my own salad with apple slices instead of beets. The brat was appeased.

I failed to photograph my special salad as I dug into it rather rapidly. The dressing my mother made consisted of 2 tbsps olive oil, 2 tbsps lemon juice, 2 tbsps of vinegar, and some sugar.

Mother wondered why I had so much vinegar about the house, and did I have an addiction of some kind. I said I wasn't sure, that it just built up over time.

"I think I use it for cleaning somtimes," I added.

Her eyes widened. "There's not detergent in it, is there?"

Yes, Mom, who I know is reading this, I keep soap in my vinegar.

My mother wasn't totally happy with the way the dressing turned out. I thought it needed a bit more sweetness to offset the strong cheese. Maybe something in the cranberry family...

Other things made during the culinary adventure included a yellow squash and tomato saute, with fresh basil from a plant that I purchased last week, and a potato, kale, and Gruyere bake. Not exactly light eating, but so amazingly good.

And lest you suspect that the lady friend and I did nothing but put the maternal unit to work, have it be known that I provided nourishment in the form of cocktails and sundries.

I didn't get a picture because the carbon footprint on it was probably about a mile wide, but I made my sort of awesome guacamole, famous in my own mind Splenda Mojitos, and for me, Cosmos!

My Mojito Recipe

Muddle 3 or 4 lime wedges, 2 packets of Splenda, and 5 or 6 mint leaves in the bottom of a glass. Add ice and a shot of rum. Fill the rest of the glass with club soda.

I find that this version is quite a bit lighter than a standard sugar Mojito, which my hangover quotient very much appreciates.

So between the avocados, limes, and imported alcohols that I used up for my part of the sundries, I think I negated the CSA.

On the upside, my mother cleaned like a fiend.

This week I searched for more beet recipes. One addition is for roasted beets with sautéed greens.

I was especially interested in finding recipes which did not require roasting since the forecast may call for outdoors to be roasting already! The link to Front Range Living will bring you recipes for a Beet and Carrot Slaw, and Raw Beets Marinated in Orange Juice. Israeli Mixed Salad contains beets, carrots, and avocadoes with Tahini Cream Salad Dressing. The Shredded Beet and Cucumber salad features a mustard viniagrette dressing.

Check the CSA Recipe Spot tab for all the details. Leave a comment to share your own favorite beet recipe!

Also new this week are two turnip recipes: Risotto with Autumn Vegetables and Turnip Pickles.