Simple Steamed Beets and Some Tips for Eating Them

Beets are wonderful with creamy cheese such as feta, Burrata or chevre. Nuts such as pistachio, hazelnut, walnut or pine nuts are also a great compliment. Adding a little acidity with lemon or vinegar is nice. Don't forget the sea salt and olive oil either! Beets are amazing on salads. Our current favorite is Little Gem lettuce, beets, roasted pumpkin seeds, green onions and chevre.

-Cut the tops off of 1 bunch of beets, leaving about 2 inches of stem. Reserve the tops for another use.

-Rinse the beets, then place the whole beets in a steamer with about 2 inches of water.

-Steam for about 20 minutes until tender when pierced with a fork, check the water level about half way through and add more if needed.

-Remove from heat and run under cold water until partially cool.

-Slip skins off.

-Slice the beets into wedges or rounds.

-If you are going to eat them as a side dish, dress them with a few sprinkles of Balsamic vinegar and/or lemon, some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

How to Take the Bite Out of Radishes

Salting them takes the sharp bite out of radishes and makes them sweet and delicious.

-For watermelon radishes: peel, cut in half or quarters and then into thin slices.

-For Pink Beauty radishes: cut each radish into thin rounds.

-Place the radishes in a glass bowl.

-Sprinkle with a big pinch of salt and let stand for 15-20 minutes.

-Taste them; if they are too salty you can rinse and dry them.

-Use in salad or as a small side dish. They are pretty and yummy!

How to Prepare Artichokes

-Peel the first layer of outer leaves off of your artichokes, and peel the stem (once peeled the stems are delicious too).

-Add some lemon juice to a bowl of water, and float the artichokes in the water to clean them and keep them from browning. Swish them around briskly to remove all debris before steaming.

-Put the artichokes in a steamer basket over boiling water and steam until tender, about 25-30 minutes for medium/large artichokes. (You can pull off an outer leave to test if it the artichoke is tender.)

-Melt some butter in a pan, add a little garlic if you like.

-Dip and then eat each leave, scraping the meat off the leaf with your teeth. Yum!

-Once all of the edible leaves have been, well, eaten, scoop out the spiny inner leaves as well as the bristley hairs, leaving a delicious heart and stem. Eat and Enjoy!

How to Freeze Strawberries

-Gently wash and then pat strawberries dry.

-Take the tops off.

-If you have room in your freezer, lay the strawberries in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

-Put them in the freezer for 24 hours then fill and seal freezer bags with strawberries, making sure to take as much of the air out of the bag as you can.

-You can also skip putting them on a cookie sheet and just put them in plastic bags and freeze them that way.

-Frozen strawberries will keep for a year; they are delicious in smoothies, pies and as ice cream topping.

-If you don’t freeze them on a cookie sheet, they will stick together in the bag. To break them apart, run them briefly under hot water so that you can break them apart.