Sunday Suppers: Healthy Doesn’t Have to Mean Rabbit Food

While we are more and more leaning towards eating vegetarian, we still enjoy a good Piece of Meat when we know where it came from, how it was raised and how it was slaughtered.  We’re not to this point yet, but we are certainly not above asking a server if their meat is humanely raised and slaughtered.  And we’re also not above driving almost 2 hours to visit a farm, meet the farmer and buy meat straight directly, although we don’t do that on a regular basis.

So, before I show you what we ate for our Independence Day meal, meet the farmer who raised the meat that went into our burgers and our bacon, Bailey Newton of Triple B Farms in Bullock, NC:

And now, on to the meal!

Here’s what was on our menu:

• Guacamole with BeANatural Chips–if you haven’t tried them, you should.  They are made of a mixture of three types of beans and are crispy and absolutely perfect with any sort of Mexican-y food.  Not the Soul of Healthfood, but tasty w/a fair bit of both protein and fiber
• Caramelized onion burgers with spicy ketchup&mixed greens on whole grain buns
• Grilled white corn on the cob
• potato salad and happy bacon
• broiled asparagus with lemon zest and nutmeg

We also invited our neighbors to share the grill, so the brats were theirs.

So yummy; so easy, and The Beloved got to grill for the first time in a Very Long Time.  It was Win-Win-Win, all the way around!

Guacamole
This was pretty much my Lightning Guacamole with fresh the addition of fresh peppers from our garden.  Nice!

Caramelized Onion Burgers

• 1 pound grassfed ground beef, 80/20 is good
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• wee splash of olive oil
• wee splash of balsamic vinegar (or your favorite)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• salt and pepper

For the onions:
Heat a pan over low heat.  Add the oil, then the diced onions, a bit of salt and pepper and the vinegar.

Let caramelize slowly, stirring occasionally so they cook evenly.  This took about 30 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

For the burgers:
When the onions are cool, gently but thoroughly mix them into the ground beef along with the rest of the ingredients.  Form into four fairly thin patties.

Grill ‘em how you like ‘em.  Or broil them. Or fry them.

Spicy Ketchup

This is no more than some organic ketchup mixed with a splash of fish sauce and some of our favorite hot sauce ever, Gator Hammock.  (Check the bottom of this post for a link should you wish to Purchase some.  And you should.  The Stuff is Good)!

Potato Salad with Happy Bacon
This made a Very Lot.  You might want to scale it back.  Or eat bigger portions.

• 8 medium red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed and cut into cubes
• salt&pepper, to taste
• malt vinegar (for sprinkling over hot potatoes, as much/little as you like)
• 4 eggs, hard boiled, cooled, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1-2 Tablespoons mustard of choice
• squirt of honey
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tablespoons of our Other Favorite Hot Sauce, Virginia Gentleman Bourbon Chipotle Hot Sauce (there’s a link for that, too. Yum, as well)
• 1/2 large sweet onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• some slices of happy bacon, fried until crisp
• fresh chopped herbs of your choice, although dill and/or chives would be lovely.

Boil the potatoes in salted AND peppered water (you’ll be amazed at the flavor) until tender.  Drain and put back in the pan. Hit with a bit of vinegar, shake the pan all around, cover and let sit on the cooling burner for about 5 minutes so the vinegar will soak in and the potatoes will dry out a bit.  Let cool.

Combine yogurt, mustard, honey, mayo, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Whisk well.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Fold the potatoes, chopped egg, dressing, onion and celery together.  Right before serving, fold in chopped herbs and crisp bacon.

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon and Nutmeg
Alton Brown told us this would taste kinda like a big old Chardonnay.  He wasn’t kidding.  It was awesome.  I pretty much just did what he told me to, so go check out his recipe.

Corn
Easy-peasy.

• Ears of fresh corn, shucked
• Neutral oil
• butter
• salt

Lightly brush the ears with oil.  Grill for just a minute or two per side, or until the corn is taking on just a bit of color.

Rub with butter, sprinkle with salt, and put in face.

And that’s pretty much that.  If you have a local farm in your area that grows happy food, I encourage you to Seek it Out and Go There.  Not sure if there are any around you?  Try Local Harvest.  It’s a wealth of info for farm fresh goodness of all kinds–from U-Pick to CSAs to farms–in the US, searchable by city, state and Zip code.

Enjoy some fresh, local food, and have a lovely day!