Those that know me are aware that I get really excited over local companies that provide great organic food!  I am lucky to have Growing Power come to my work every week with a little farmer's market in our cafeteria.  And several years ago I met Dave Swanson, of Braise in a cooking class and have been getting his Braise home delivery ever since it started. 

Now I'm looking forward to trying a new thing in Milwaukee, Brewers Organics.  They provide weekly organic deliverys to the Milwaukee area.  I just signed up and Monday I will get an email with recipes and a reminder to check the website to see if I want to make any changes for what's coming (you can make 3 changes it says).  I'm a little nervous as with my other places I pick exactly what I want (I'm quite the control freak!)... this is looking fun though, suprises are good! 

So far after setting up my account I went through the list of fruits, vegetables and herbs and clicked the "don't like it" on anything that I don't like (everything on this list is looking good, except eggplant which I'm allergic to...  boo!).  Now I just wait for my email Monday and take a look.  Friday my delivery will come, I just leave a cooler on the front porch and my goodies will be waiting for me when I come home from work!

One of my favorite things about Wisconsin summers is enjoying fresh zucchini. 

A good friend is keeping us supplied since I didn't get any planted this year. 

For a party I was hosting I just knew there had to be some of this amazing veggie so I turned to my grill and some other local veggies available at Growing Power!

FOR THE GRILL:
4 ears corn, shucked and soaked in sugar water overnight or longer 
    (I fill a container with water and sprinkle some sugar in and cover and set in the fridge for a couple days)
1 large zucchini, ends cut off and sliced the long way into 4-8 pieces depending on the thickness
1 large bell pepper, any color
1 serrano chili pepper

Grill the above veggies on medium heat until you see grill marks or blistered skin on the peppers.  I go for low fat so I grilled all naked.  For a richer salad, you can coat all the veggies in olive oil.
Allow all veggies to cool.  Cut corn off cobs, chop zucchini into 1/4" wide triangles and dice peppers.  Toss with drssing below.

FOR THE DRESSING:
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
Whisk the above together.  Season with salt and pepper (I prefer celrey salt) here.

FINISH WITH:
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion (Red or whatever you have on hand, I used a nice local cippolini)
1/4 Cup Crumbled Feta Cheese
1/2 Cup Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Mix veggies with the dressing along with the feta, onions and cilantro.  Save a little cilantro to put on top for garnish.

I love egg salad and trying different variations.  My last craving took me to a recipe from Martha that had an interesting blend of Greek Yogurt and Ricotta.  I didn't have ricotta but I had some Quark from a local cheese shop I recently visited.  So I adapted the recipe a little and ended up making it into a great sandwich using several of my favorite local Wisconsin products!  The end result was a rich creamy egg salad winner...
4 Large Eggs (Growing Power)
1 1/2 Tbsp Quark (Clock Shadow Creamery)
1 1/2 Tbsp Greek Yogurt (Sugar River Dairy)
1 Tsp Dijon Mustard (Organicville)
1 Tsp Freshly Chopped Chives
1/4 Tsp Salt (I went with celrey salt)
Freshly Ground Pepper
4 Slices Bread (Sprouted Bakehouse)
1 Cup Lettuce (i used microgreen mix)

Workplace potlucks...  love 'em but sometimes deciding what to make is too much.  I knew I wanted to take advantage of the great Growing Power greens we have available at the farmer's market at my work but decisions, decisions.  Aftter thinking then finally going through my recipe files I found the perfect thing...  a green salad with a Fruit Ale Dressing from Vegetarian Times.  I thought this would be perfect since I recently met the sister in law for dinner at a restaurant in her workplace, Bartolotta's Rumpus Room and tried this amazing Zombie Killer beer that I immediately hunted down after that amazing meal and still have 2 bottles left in the fridge.  It has a nice sweet cherry flavor that would work well for this recipie.  I gave it a try, nervous since I prefer to do tried and true recipies for gatherings like this, but it turned out great and was pretty simple for this Thursday night in the kitchen.

DRESSING:
1 - 750ml bottle ZOMBIE KILLER by B. Nektar
2 Tbsp
Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 Cup Olive Oil (I used a Spanish variety)

Bring ZOMBIE KILLER to a boil in a 2 qt saucepan.  Reduce heat to medium and
simmer about 30-45 minutes until liquid is reduced to about 1/2 cup.  Cool. 
Whisk ZOMBIE KILLER, Maple Syrup, and Mustard together.  Slowly whisk in Olive
Oil.  Season with salt and pepper (I used home made celrey salt). 
Store dressing until ready to use.  I put back in the ZOMBIE KILLER bottle and
closed with a wine stopper from my Rabbit Wine bottle opener but I'm sure a cork
would work too).

SALAD:
1 Large Bunch Arugula or other Greens (I used combination of Arugula, Bib Lettuce, Spinach)
2 Thinly Sliced Gala Apples (or any other sweet apple will work)
1/2 Cup Golden Rasins
1/4 Cup Chopped Toasted Pecans

I tore up the greens and threw in the salad spinner to wash and left there for transport.  The apples were cut up the night before and I let them sit in some lemon juice in the fridge to prevent browning.  Toasted pecans were mixed with the rasins and put in their own container ready to take to work in the morning. 

The next morning I grabbed the beer bottle of dressing, salad spinner, apples and nut/raisin mix along with a serving bowl and salad tongs.  Salad was tossed with about half of the dressing at party time.  

It was a hit and gone in no time!  Salad and beer was quite the pairing in our office!  I already have requests to make again...  I might mix it up with some blue cheese or dried cranberries depending on the mood.