Local Harvest

On Monday night I went to a cooking class with my friend Laura Dawn. You can see pictures of the school's beautiful kitchen and read more about the class on her site. (Warning: May cause kitchen envy.) The classes at Viking Cooking school are normally $80-$90, but this was only $20 through Wasatch Gardens.

Wasatch Gardens is a local nonprofit group whose mission is "to empower people of all ages and incomes to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food." Living here in Utah, we are blessed to have many local farms and farmer's markets close by. Someday I will have my own garden and maybe my own chicken coop. For now I get my eggs from a couple of chicken farmers near work, and I get most of my produce at nearby farms or through a food coop. I love the challenge of using all of the fruits and veggies in the coop basket. This week we got broccoli, sweet potatoes, avocados, cucumbers, apples, apple pears, bananas, grapes, figs, and plums. Yum!!! I am planning to share recipes from the cooking classes on my food blog. For now here is one of my favorite recipes from the summer cooking school:

STRAWBERRY SALSA

2 1-pint baskets of fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Stir the strawberries and honey in a large bowl. Let stand until berries release their juices, about 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and thyme. Chill at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Serve with vanilla ice cream

Note: This is for all you Californians. We may have lots of fresh produce here, but we still get our strawberries from your fields. :)