Living Midwest

Everyone has their preconceived notions of what another part of the world is like. For DH this meant that living mid-west meant eating more naturally. To that end, we purchased half a cow. It helped that one of his co-workers has a small farm and raises cows. DH worked a deal with him to get a half a cow. That meant we had to go out and buy a freezer. So this year, it will not be economically advantageous, but in a couple of years, it will start to pay for itself.

This does mean that I have had to move us from extremely lean ground beef to a somewhat more fatty version. I'm learning tricks to get the fat out and learning how to cook many kinds of steak.

We have very little sunny space in our yard. And frankly, I'm too old to build a new veggie garden. So, we have purchased a share in a CSA. We will be getting weekly organic veggie deliveries starting in June. So, as the freezer empties of beef, we will probably be filling it with frozen veg that we can't eat fast enough.

All those Saturday mornings freezing beans from Rudy the farmer are going to pay off. But if someone delivers a giant zucchini, I will probably throw it at the delivery truck. I need to make a sign showing a giant zucchini with a red circle and slash. Where's that zucchini bread recipe again?

The interesting thing I have found here is that grocery prices overall are much higher than back in MA, but the organic prices are lower. So, while this CSA will reduce our overall veg costs, it will not reduce them by as much as it would have been had we been eating organic in MA. We simply couldn't afford most organic in MA. Here, we do eat more organic veg.

While we will have to pass on to the neighbors much of the corn we get, that's not my biggest worry. I'm worried about the beets. Maybe I'll do fine, but I just don't relish the idea of eating lots of beets. They are a once a year kind of thing to me. Anyone have any good beet recipes?