This year, we committed ourselves a few steps further to becoming a suburban farming family. Yes, I am so proud of it and it's been such a satisfying experience, especially for the kids. After all, we bought a house in a suburb with a big yard - instead of renting a place with a smaller one in the city - so that our future kids could run around and grow their own food. I've had my doubts but now I can say that this year our vision/dream finally came true.
We grew several kinds of vegetables of our own this year: kale, long beans, swiss chard, carrots, tomatoes, snap peas, peppers, blueberries, strawberries and several kinds of herbs. All the vegetables are organic. I also wanted to grow rainbow/heirloom veggies because, yes, they look more interesting in photos!
I believe that the best way to cook fresh ingredients is not to mess around with them too much and eat them fresh.
I wanted something meaty to go with these great tasting veggies and decided on this grilled pork loin. It's so delicious and easy to make that it has become a popular dish at our dinner table. Highly highly recommended!
So here it is. Our dinner with the first decent harvest of the year from our own garden. The whole deal was pretty fun especially when the veggies taste so sweet- like candies!- by grilling them.
Last but not least, we even got a few chickens for the yard! Luckily for us our neighbor happens to be a building Master by nature. His awesomeness created a beautiful house that any chicken would love to live in. I'll make a post about our chicken coop and eggs in the near future. This is Max in the photo, the kids' favorite chick.
Recipe:
Grilled Vegetables: serves 2-3 people
3 medium beats
2 big carrots
a handful of beans
olive oil
sea salt
pepper
lemon
Heat the grill up to 450°F. Wrap each bunch of veggies in aluminum foil and drizzle olive oil over, season with sea salt and pepper. Place the wrapped veggies on the grill and cover the top and cook them for 15 minutes. Squeeze some lemon juice over and serve.
(Optional: I put one tsp of butter and drizzled a little soy sauce over the beans before serving. My son's favorite way of eating beans and he can eat a whole bunch of them.)
Grilled Pork with Rosemary and Garlic: serves 4-5 people
4lb of pork loin
1/4 cup of olive oil
4 garlic cloves
3 tbsp of sea salt
1 tbsp of pepper
2-3 stems of fresh rosemary
Chop garlic and rosemary finely and mix it with all the other seasoning ingredients. Rub the mixture and olive oil all over the pork. Place the pork loin on the grill for 40-50 minutes. Let it sit for 10 minutes before slicing.
Swiss Chard and Snap Pea Salad: serves 2-4 people
A bunch of rainbow swiss chard
A handful of snap peas
2 tsp of olive oil
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of black pepper
2 tbsp of orange champaign vinegar
half a lemon
1 tbsp of dijon bastard
Chop swiss chard and snap peas into bite-sized pieces. Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix it well to make vinaigrette.
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