Have I mentioned that we are now the proud owners of 50+
pounds of potatoes?
I know I’ve alluded to the fact that we now have a steady
stream of potatoes coming in the door in our weekly veggie boxes from Great Country Farms, but clearly we
are gluttons for spuds – this weekend, we ventured out to the farm to pick our
own potatoes! This is an
annual event for LeeLee and me; beginning the day with fresh pancakes and
then proceeding out to the potato fields (and, later, to the vineyard across
the road for a taste!) is a Labor Day weekend tradition.
But never before have I actually broken the scale when
checking out! LeeLee kept saying that my
bag was too heavy, that I needed to cease and desist, but I paid him no
mind. When we went to check out, his bag
rang in at a jaunty 20ish pounds and mine was … well, my bag caused the little
scale to beep because my haul was over 30 pounds. Yikes!
After putting the potatoes out to dry and cure for a couple
of days, we’ve packed them into big cardboard boxes and lined each layer with
newspapers. With proper protection, they’ll
last us till the new year!
If we quit eating them for every meal, that is. Currently we’re still in the honeymoon phase
with our potato haul – they can do no wrong as of yet. Which brings me to tonight’s dinner: a Labor
Day cookout, naturally.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally got the hang of grilling
potatoes, and now there’s no stopping me!
Years ago, I tried the same feat, but I didn’t factor in the girth and
density of the spuds, and they came out hard and inedible. (We had to bake them in the oven for another
half-hour to render them useful!) That
little experience put me off of grilling them again for quite some time, until
a couple of weeks ago, when I cooked out with my mom and dad, and I got the
nerve to give it another try.
I’m SO glad that I did!
That time, I washed them (as usual) and cut them into a small dice, then
put them in a foil packet with a bit of olive oil. They turned out wonderfully after about 35
minutes on the grill! Tonight, I went a
step further and used butter instead of olive oil, then garnished them with a little
salt, garlic powder, and fresh parsley from our herb garden. Then I put them on the grill and let them go
for about 40 minutes (to be safe!), flipping them every 10.
As they cooked, I also prepared some fresh green beans and
placed them – along with some butter, some diced veggie bacon, and some
chipotle powder – in a foil packet and let them cook for about 35 minutes,
turning every 10. Let me tell you,
friends – the bacon was a welcome addition to this side dish and one that I
shall repeat with gusto as time goes by!
But I haven’t even mentioned the main course yet – the jalapeno
popper burgers I’ve made from time to time!
I found this
recipe over at Tablespoon a long time ago and have used it with great
success since. At first, I took the
writer’s advice and prepared these in my cast-iron skillet on the stovetop, but
these days I’ve thrown all caution to the wind and grilled them outside several
times with no ill effects. I use a tube
of Lightlife Gimme Lean veggie beef as my base and then tonight used Daiya
cream cheese with a diced jalapeno from our garden (and a dash of cumin, just
because) as the filling. After about 12
minutes on the grill, these big, thick burgers were ready to go!
We devoured the meal with much excitement – there wasn’t a
bad dish in the bunch tonight! Paired
with some leftover beers from this weekend’s football game, it was a Labor Day
feast to be reckoned with indeed.
:)
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