Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I'd like to do this more often, I would.

But life is exhausting. I don't know how people with kids do it.

I haven't done anything fun lately, honestly, but I have been cooking a little bit. Not as much as I'd like, but there are the occasional little discoveries. If you know me, you know I consider the farmers' market on par with going to church, except better, since I'm agnostic but I can't deny the gorgeous bounty of planet Earth.

Corn is in season. I think we're supposed to avoid corn products as part of some conscientious avoidance of Big Agriculture, but I figure a few ears of seasonal, organic white corn from vendors I shop with year-round can't hurt. Certainly doesn't hurt the taste buds. Three for $1 and I can plan a meal around them: what goes with a nice ear of corn?

Sub-question: what goes with a nice ear of corn that will require as little effort as possible to prepare, AND be healthy, AND use other vegetables (since god knows we get an obscene amount from Live Earth)? That's a lot of things to consider. Many nights my tired little brain can't muster up the creativity and decision-making powers to find the answer, and we go to a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant after much debate and whining (the latter mostly on my part).

Tonight I managed to hit all the points.

There was the corn, steamed ('cause it's easy and Kevin doesn't dig grilled corn for some bizarre reason).

There was a bunch of chard, fresh from our share, chopped and sauteed with garlic.

And there was a salad made of leftover quinoa, black beans, heirloom tomatoes (see? better than church), red onion (snatched from the garlic braiding activity station at Live Earth's solstice party), and a cumin-apple cider vinaigrette.

Recommended!