{featured produce of the week : organic purple carrots}

locally grown here – they don’t call us colourful colorado for nothin’

although my favourite colour, tender, and still yummy when eaten raw, i prefer purple carrots steamed with a smidgen of maple syrup.  actually, what i do is –

chop them up into roughly 1/2 inch pieces. add enough water to cover the carrots to the pan and boil {covered} on medium high heat until the carrots begin to soak up the water. i don’t even add any butter or oil, because these things are so good without it.  add in more water {or veggie stock for extra flavour} if necessary, but basically you want the carrots to almost glaze, and then add in a tiny bit of good quality maple syrup toward the end.

they are so yummy cooked this way.  i would like to try to peel them thinly and use them almost like a pasta – or perhaps i’ll run them through the food processor, but i do think i need to buy an attachment for that…

and — purple carrots *kind of* resemble fireworks, eh?!  😉

which, most likely, there {sadly} won’t be many of in colorado this year.  i’m not even sure if denver will do a show this year, with all the wild fire action.  it’s particularly bad on hot days – which we’ve had lots of the last couple weeks. the other day i thought i could actually smell it.  i was at work and i said, “do i smell the fire?”  and someone said, “well we aren’t grilling, so it must be!” — it’s just an odd feeling, to get up every day and see sunny skies and know that not far from me, there is a raging blaze busting through people’s homes and lives. i remember when i was in school, we went on a field trip to elitch gardens — and the hayman fire was so bad then, there was this super hazy, thin layer of ash that kind of fell over everything.  you could almost wipe it off your skin.

so we decided to go home…

i digress.

i’m grateful to live in a pretty state with beautiful views and nature at its finest. however, my main complaint about this place has always been the dryness. and that causes so many issues – the most major being the fires.  we desperately need some rain around here.  not only to help with the fires and our beloved ecosystem {albeit magnificently resilient} but to help with our crops!  personally, i want to keep eating these yummy local veggies i keep picking up at the market.

everyone join me in doing a rain dance?  {thanks in advance, becca! ;)}

happy july everyone!

Tags: carrots, colorado, fire, food, local, purple carrots, seasonal