Roasted Radishes? Who Knew?

           Before dinner last night, I realized that with the exception of a consistent local egg provider and white flour, I have nearly mastered dairy, meat and grains. My top three favourite food groups. I don't take to vegetables and fruits naturally, they honestly never occur to me until half way through dinner preparations, and then I scramble to throw a salad together or cut up veggies. I have always envied the seemingly natural way vegetables appear as part of the overall meal plan when I visit my friends. 
         

      This is a borrowed image- I left my camera at the cottage- but these are exactly the way mine looked, honest.

   
    I started to realize that my success had not accounted for vegetables and fruit. So I made more of an effort, I steamed some peas I bought at the farmers market at the Eat Local booth and finally roasted the radishes I had harvested last week-ish.  I mixed the radishes in olive oil, salt and pepper, put them in a foil pouch and put it on the BBQ while I grilled 2 pork loin chops from Dalew Farm. My son and husband ate the peas, and my daughter and I gobbled up the radishes. I loved the peppery flavour of the radishes.  My garden always provides plenty of radishes and I usually give a lot of them away because I don't care for them raw- now I'll be freezing the extra for fall- there must be a delicious radish soup waiting to be discovered.


 The pork chops were divine.


         We also had rice- so not local, but I missed it so much and we bought it months ago in a 10 pound bag, I also miss risotto, penne pasta, green peppers, and banana and chocolate pudding for dessert. As I approach the halfway mark of our Eat Local Dinner Summer project I find things differently challenging. I know I'll have tomatoes soon, my garden is generous with tomatoes. I'll buy more tomatoes locally to can for the fall and winter, but what about the others- what is the most responsible way to have buttered chicken, sliced bread, or mushroom risotto? For the things for which there is no alternative, what then?