Winter Garden Veggie RoundUp

Last weekend when Peggy and I were pulling up the winter and spring plants that were finished growing, we came up with a pan full of assorted carrots, beets, and broccoli, along with a handful of green beans and asparagus, and even a few radishes.  We had bought a lb. of button mushrooms at the store on sale and decided to invite them to the party, along with a couple of onions.

The purple straw-looking things are stems of the beet greens. We like adding them to dishes for the interesting "visual" they provide, not to mention we like how they taste. Their greens didn't make it, not really, and the beets themselves...meh.

Everything got a sprinkle of our own Cajun spice blend, some Crystal hot sauce, Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce and a stick of butter scattered all over  the top of it. 

The whole thing got parked in our ol' BBQ pit,

along with a couple of 'spatched', marinated overnight chickens and a pack of 'brats' for snacking on.

If we were planning on serving the chicken and veggies at the same meal, then we would've waited to put the veggies on at the last 15 minutes, or so.  They cook fast and really absorb the smoky taste. If  they are left too long, the smoky taste is almost overpowering. Either take them up, or cover tightly with foil and move them to the "cool spot" to stay warm.

We smoked our chickens, but took them up before they were fully cooked, planning to cool them, then quarter and freeze them for future meals.

The veggies and brats made a great afternoon meal while we finished getting the yard ready for the summer heat.

  When we had spatched the chickens the night before, we didn't know what we'd get out of the garden, if anything; the broccoli looked rather sparse, we had no idea if the carrots were doing all that much under the soil, we had to hunt through the jungle of ferns to find asparagus, the beets actually amounted to nothing, but all in all, what with more of Sam's green beans ferreted out of the fridge, looks like we had a pretty good garden haul for one meal. Munching on smoked brats and veggies, we sat and daydreamed about future garden meals. Dat's what Cajuns do; while they are eating one meal, they are already planning the next, and how to make it even better.