Boiled Peanuts

  You might think you don't like boiled peanuts.  But maybe you've never had boiled peanuts made with fresh dug Virginia type peanuts. When boiled peanuts are made with dry peanuts, they can take 24 hours or need to be pressured cooked and are often said to be slimy.  Fresh dug peanuts, like we have now, though, just need an hour in a pot of boiling salt water.  Then they are delicious. We've found them quite addictive.  Give this seasonal treat a try.

WHAT'S FOR SUPPER - ROASTED VEGGIES

  From many of the WWOOFERs who come to our farm, I seem to glean some new idea for cooking.  Justin, our current visitor, likes greens, so I've even started cooking and enjoying mustard and turnip greens, which I'd previously shied away from.  Shelley, earlier this summer, liked grits, so with that encouragement, we started enjoying our own grits much more often and now still do.  It is Chelsea I have to thank for the idea of roasting vegetables, though.  Sure, I'd roasted some potatoes before, but only occasionally.  Chelsea said her normal meal back home was an assortment of roasted vegetables.  So I gave it a try.  I cut up whatever I had into bite size pieces onto a cookie sheet, tossed it with a generous amount of butter and salt, and turned the oven to a toasty 400.  An hour later, with a few tosses in between, the plain vegetables had been transformed into slightly carmelized gems of yum.  So now, whenever I set a platter full of roasted vegetables on the table, we joke we're eating Chelsea food tonight.  We laugh and then dig right in. Cooking vegetables this way, you can get even picky eaters to eat most anything.  For example, last night's roast tray included radishes, daikon radishes, and turnips, with a good portion of onions.  No complaints were heard here, just spoonfuls of seconds. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are always great.  Peeled chunked eggplant is delicious.  Don't forget the garlic as whole cloves or pressed to toss with the butter onto the vegetables.  Herbs and/or spices are a bonus.   I'm still experimenting.
  Try this as a main/side dish, but purposely make too much.  Then the next meal, you'll have the start to another great meal.  Reheat the vegetables as part of a pasta sauce, use them on a pizza, or tuck them into an omelet.