what's for dinner? (hint, it's not beef)

what's for dinner? a question that most of us attempt to tackle every day. last night, i headed straight to the garden for some inspiration. carrots and chard were looking mighty good, so i plucked away at the two until satisfied.

the chard is really something beautiful. golden stalks and bright green leaves - it would be a nice garden accompaniment even if left uneaten. but let's be real, we're going to eat it, and we're going to like it. fun fact: apparently, chard is in the same family as beets. the more you know...

the carrots took much longer than the chard to grow into what they are today. planted back in april, we've needed much patience to get to this point. when i first put the seeds in the ground, i had this idea that they'd be up in no time. then i read the back of the seed pack. 70 days until maturity. literacy - it's a good thing. little did the seed pack know that we'd have an unusually chilly spring here in the pnw.

we've planted another bunch that are growing much quicker than the first thanks to some steady sunshine. and i'm getting better at thinning them out so each sprout has enough room to grow (really important, i'm learning).

regardless, the carrots are ready now. crisp and sweet, i decided to roast them to maximize their sweetness and caramelize them. gave them a quick boil and stuck them under the broiler with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a sprinkling of brown sugar. we ate them alongside some homemade cheese ravioli that we'd been storing in the freezing for a couple months.

mixed with some sauteed chard, we topped the ravioli with butter, raisins, and goat cheese. the slight bitterness of the greens, the sweetness of the raisins (and carrots) and the tanginess of the goat cheese worked well together. it was a nice way to meld what we had in the fridge with what we found in the garden.