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,

Bistro Dinner

So I was able to use a ton of fun equipment for this dinner. This dinner contained bistro fries (salt, pepper, garlic, fresh parsley) I was able to use my French mandolin; which I have been using a lot lately for carrot "coins" which is what I call them for Molly's Bento lunches, sweet potato fries, or for regular fries like we had this evening. We also had a nicely flavored steak, and to go with the steak I was supposed to have a blue cheese dipping sauce (We all know how Molly LOVES to dip!) I went to the grocery store on Sunday and thought I had a tub of blue cheese in the fridge so I didn't buy a new one. Well when I went to make the sauce, I opened the tub and I could tell it was slightly off. Really how do you tell when blue cheese goes bad? I mean it is mold, right? The white part of the cheese in this instance was off color and it smelled different. Being the freak that I am about spoiled food I tossed it immediately and then stood in front of my fridge for awhile to try and figure out what the heck I was going to do instead. I knew I had some crumbled feta, so I said what the hey, and I used that instead. Brian said it tasted very similar to a creamy ranch style dressing, I disagree it tasted like feta. I also felt like we needed some veggies so my recent stand by is roasted carrots and onions. It was a very tasty meal, Molly ate everything, which really was that a surprise? She dipped her fries in some ketchup, and she dipped her steak in the cheese sauce (which she really liked and asked for several more helpings of both steak and sauce) and she ate a few carrots to round it all out. She is really testing us right now with her table manners, overall though she understands we eat at the table and we eat as a family. For a two year old she really only leaves the table a few times, and might occasionally play with her food or fork. But she is sitting in her own chair, using really silverware, etc. She is really growing up before our eyes!

Sauteed Chicken with Mustard Sauce and Roasted Carrots

So again for those that know me, you know that I have a passion for cooking, and for serving my food on white dishes. My in-laws came over for dinner a while back and they noticed that I didn't have that many serving plates. My mother-in-law is a fantastic bargain shopper and she proceeded to search out and find all sorts of white serving platters for a birthday present. I know right, I totally scored this birthday! Breadmaker, cookie jar, white platters, and my open shelves from IKEA to help with space in the kitchen.

So I loaded up my new platters on the new open shelves (see picture on the left!) and sort of forgot about them, even though I continue to cook like always. Lo and behold this last week I remembered that I had them and started to use them. I believe the first dish was a side vegetable I can't quite remember and I couldn't get a picture of it because I needed to reload the batteries, and when Molly wants to eat, she wants to eat now! Hmm... must be a Carter famlily trait! :-) But I did make a meal this week that was pretty darn fantastic especially since I used one of my new platters, it was a sauteed chicken with mustard sauce; and I must say a very scrumptious roasted carrot side vegetable. When I was growing up I couldn't eat a cooked carrot to save my life. My mom loves cook carrots but my dad and I would have nothing to do with them. As an adult I love them, and it is a nice easy way to get some color onto the plate. I must admit however I had not tried a simple recipe like this before. I have made roasted root vegetables that included carrots as one of the "root vegetables" but I had never thought about putting it together on its own. This was just simple baby carrots, onions, olive oil, salt & pepper, and the recipe called for rosemary (although I am not a big fan of this herb, too woodsy and perfumey -if that is a word) so I used thyme instead. They were fantastic.