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Hi…

..and welcome from The Local Growers.

Here you will find the stories about those individuals who grow food and make products locally.

These are some of the people I’ve met while looking for good foods - locally grown foods.

I know their journey. It’s one I experienced growing up on our family farm in West Central Minnesota. That farm was diversified. In other words, we raised several things - crops, hogs, dairy and chickens.

Our meals featured the garden produce my mom harvested, canned and froze and the meat, eggs and dairy products we raised.

It was wholesome food!

While I don’t live on that farm anymore, I am always on the search for locally grown foods. I invite you to join me in this great journey.

Let’s go!

Asparagus and chicken - a roasting good story

Asparagus and chicken - a roasting good story

Tis the season for asparagus and I’ve found a couple of recipes. (Yay)

Since this is also the season for grilling, unless you live in Minnesota and snow is in the forecast for the end of May (don’t laugh, it’s happened), well it’s grilling time! And, truth be told, I’ve known people who grill in the midst of winter! There’s nothing like that fresh grilled taste!

Oh, and I also have a sheet pan recipe for the oven. Both are great and use asparagus, because, well, I LOVE asparagus!

Here goes:

First, the grilling recipe and this is oh so simple! And yes, you CAN grill asparagus! Just make sure you don’t have it going the same way as your grate! Yikes! You can also put it on tin foil on the grill.

But here’s the Grilled Asparagus.

1.5 lb. asparagus

Nonstick olive oil spray

-Prepare the grill to medium to medium high heat.

Lightly spray the asparagus

Place on grill and grill it until tender and beginning to brown - should take about 5 minutes.

Transfer to platter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Okay, I know that recipe is simple, but what flavor it has! It might not be Fancy Dancy, but it will have great flavor and there’s beauty in the simplicity. Why complicate things?

And for the sheet pan:

You will need:

2 lemons, sliced

1.5 lbs chicken tenders

2 to 3 Tbsp lemon pepper

1 tsp. salt

olive oil

2 oz. parmesan cheese

-Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place sliced lemons on greased sheet pan. Topwith asparagus and chicken tenders.

Drizzle with olive oil and salt then sprinkle chicken with lemon pepper

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Enjoy!

And another thing….

I LOVE asparagus, but cutting it can be a challenge - especially at a dinner party! Oh, who am I kidding. I don’t get asked out a lot to Fancy Dancy dinner parties, but, even when I do, cutting into a cooked stalk is difficult and I’m a klutz. Yep, not a good combination.

Even eating it at home, I sometimes just stab the thing and bite off a chew! But I have found an answer to my problem: slicing it!

I watched an episode of Simply Ming on Public TV yesterday, and a chef was cutting it…little circles of asparagus … and then he put it in a dish. i thought, wow! How easy it would be to add to a stir fry and eat without having the whole stalk cutting thing.

Another recipe site talked about cutting it diagonally so you have pretty cuts and smaller pieces of asparagus to eat.

I like those options!

Do you have a recipe to share?

Staples Area Farmers Market has an especially healthy connection

Staples Area Farmers Market has an especially healthy connection

The Egg Man and all his chicks....

The Egg Man and all his chicks....