beets: they're what's for lunch

today and tomorrow the Chickabiddy crew - including farm mistress Sherry and her adorable handywoman Gisele - is building two new greenhouses from the ground up. in other news, beets are in season. and what else to feed all those hot and hungry workers? beets are hearty, versatile, and beautiful. last night, I headed out to the garden to see what I could find.

golden beets

I didn't have to change a thing about Isa Chandra's Chilled Golden Beet and Ginger Soup recipe for it to be simple, delicious, and vegan.

what a lot of people don't know about beets is that their greens are some of the nicest out there. I vastly prefer them to chard; they have an earthiness to them that's not found in other leafy greens.

while the beets were roasting, I steamed their greens in a bit of soy sauce, whipped up a quick peanut sauce, and juliened some of our own zucchini, scallions, and the last of the snow peas, then stuck it all in the fridge to chill overnight.

this morning before we got to our construction project, we spent a little while in the garden picking the very first tender, sweet green beans of the season.

haricots verts

way too beautiful to spoil with cooking, right? onto the veggie pile they went. next I scrambled a couple of farm eggs, then rolled it all up to make a perfect side for the chilled soup.

my cold rolls didn't look that pretty but they tasted great

lunchtime!

for dessert, more beets! very un-vegan Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I used this recipe but cut the sugar quantities in half, and no one seemed to mind.

eat me

tomorrow we're building all day after harvest in the morning. hello, eight o'clock bedtime! good night.