Beets!

Beets!

The first plantings of beets are ready and so are the snow peas. Yesterday we had the first beets of the season. I pulled beets on Sunday, cooked them in salted water, peeled them and sliced them into a pint jar. I added half a teaspoon of sea salt, a quarter teaspoon of celery seed, two tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. I put the lid on the jar and turn the jar around several times to mix all the ingredients. I refrigerated them overnight. We ate them all yesterday. They were great. I think I’ll have enough beets to pull some every few days for about three weeks. Then we’ll have to wait until the next batch matures. I have one row of beets that have just come up and another row that’s planted, but not yet up. I’ll try to plant a row every other week. I bought three times as many seeds as I did last year.

For dessert we had the dessert we have for every summer patriotic holiday. We make it in our big glass lasagna pan so we have lots of leftovers. My grandson has always loved this dessert.

Red, White and Blue Dessert

1 box graham crackers, processed into fine crumbs
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
¼ cup sugar
3 packages (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of one lemon
1 container Cool Whip
2 cans cherry pie filling
2 pints fresh blueberries or large bag of frozen berries

Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter and press into glass dish. Bake at 350 about 5 minutes until it begins to brown and smell nutty. Cool completely. Beat the cream cheese until fluffy; add confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and vanilla then beat until smooth. Spread on cooled graham cracker crust and spoon cherry pie filling and blueberries over all. You can make stripes or just mix them up. We seem to alternate the patterns we make. Chill until ready to serve. Cover with Cool Whip before serving.