Brats with pineapple salasa and burgers on the grill with CSA goodies...

So this first recipe is another Relish recipe that as I was making it I said  to myself, really, you want me to put that in it? But knowing it was a relish recipe, and often they do this to me, I have learned to follow the recipe regardless of how weird I might think it is. I pre-cooked the brats in some beer and water on the stove and then Brian finished them off on the grill. The sweet potato fries were cut with my mandolin but they were in the oven a bit too long, about 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes is a more appropriate time. The sweet potato fries had some thyme and salt & pepper on them.

Pineapple Salsa
1/2 fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks
1 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
Juice of half a lime
1/2 jalapeno seeded and minced (I didn't have this so I added a few dashes of Tabasco)
1/2 tsp cumin (this is what I questioned)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving

Now my husband didn't want to try this pineapple salsa at all and instead slathered his brat with ketchup, but as soon as I tried mine I was swooning. Somehow the tangy salsa cut the richness of the brat, and added a freshness that was much needed. I convinced Brian to try a bite and then he was bummed that he ruined his brat with the ketchup instead of trusting me with the salsa (by the way it was just the brats on a bun with the salsa no other condiments) it was really good and I will probably make it again.

CSA Booty (booty like a treasure not the other kind -cheeky cheeky!)

 From one end of the counter to another, we have five ears of sweet corn, five apples - this is one of the reasons I love the CSA so much, they tell you stories about the family and farm and you really feel like you know them, these apples for instance probably 50 years ago won the great grandma of the farm first price in the local county fair for her apple pie, which is sweet to know that history- a bag of tomatillos and 3 heirloom tomatoes, 2 yellow onions, a big bag of green beans and basil thrown in, another bag of beans - which I need to go back to the CSA e-mails and figure out what the heck these beans are because they aren't familiar- pickling cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 4 yellow summer squash, a bowl of cherry tomatoes that by the time I took this picture my daughter had decimated! Carrots, a bunch of garbanzo beans (these are a pain in the butt to shell) a bunch of red new potatoes. 

3 huge cucumbers, a bunch of little leeks, and patty pans (this is the first time we have gotten this squash I know that they grow this squash every year but they usually sell it at the farmer's markets instead of putting it in our bag so I am excited to use these) 

This was an impromptu dinner (I often revert to burgers when I don't really want to cook) I was looking at all of this food that I had from my CSA bag - the above is two weeks worth too so don't think I get an obscene amount, we were just camping and I haven't had a chance to get to all of it. You can see why though that I don't really have to go to the grocery store except for some meat and basic staples like milk and butter!

So we had grilled potatoes and carrots, look at how my hunny has perfected this on the grill! Again, we use a cast iron grill pan on our grill so that these little beauties don't fall through and they get extra seasoning from the pan! We also had sweet corn from the CSA bag, and I was able to use a tomato and onion from the CSA bag too, so I was able to put a small dent in the produce with just this one meal!

Linked to Boost My Blog Friday, New Friend Friday,