We got the beet

It's fourth of July week and in our family, that's a big deal.  My sister and brother in law come to town from Kentucky, my brother's girlfriend comes in from Chicago, there's a big get together at our cousin's house in Memphis - it's a to do.  But I love it.  Because it's also the week of my birthday.  So I get to be around all my favorite people for my birthday, which is all anyone can ask for. 

With the fourth happening on Wednesday, and everyone and their mama in town, planning a menu for the week is a lost cause.  So I'm just trying to go with really simple things based on what I've already got. 

While at my dad's house the other day, we got to talking about panini presses and that he'd seen a guy use a stove top grill and a cast iron skillet as a make shift press.  I've had that and the question "what am I going to do with those beets and beet greens from the farmers market?", dancing in my head since the weekend.  Here's what I did:

Deeeeeeeeeelightful.  This is just a quick homemade honey multi grain bread with beet greens and Gruyere cheese.  But its so good.  And a perfect summer bite because, despite the cheese, it's light. 

I couldn't wait to try the whole grill/skillet panini press wannabee trick.  Guess what?  It totally works.  Totes.

Boom!  Awesome.

So first, I threw together some bread.  Let me just stop you, because I know where your brain just went and I can feel your eyes rolling as I type.  Yes - I threw some bread together.  And YOU CAN TOO.  I promise, one successful round of bread that rises and smells amazing, and you'll have it down.  I love making bread in the summer too, because you can just put it outside, cover it, and let it rise.  It's the perfect temperature right now!  It's nice to say the temp is perfect for something.  It's kind of miserable for everything else...like living.

Delish.  It's worth it.

Honey Multi grain Bread

- 3/4 cup warm water

- 1 package of dry active yeast

- 1/4 cup honey

- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

- 2 tblsp olive oil

- 1 tsp salt

- 2 tblsp flax seed

- 2 tblsp poppy seed

- 2 tblsp sunflower seeds

Stir water, yeast, and honey in a large bowl and let rest for about 5 minutes until foamy.  Mix in olive oil, salt, 1/2 cup of wheat flour, 1/2 cup of white flour. Add flax, poppy, and sunflower seeds.  Add remaining flours, alternately, 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time, making sure each time that all the added flour is completely mixed in.   Do this until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.  Knead several times on a floured surface until smooth.  Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a dish towel, and put bowl in a warm place to rise for one hour.  Once dough has doubled, punch the dough down, knead a few turns, and then either grease a cookie sheet and form a loaf, or place dough in a bread pan.  Cover and let rise for another 45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 425 and cook bread for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Use this bread to make your favorite sandwich.  For my sandwich I rinsed the leaves from the beet stalks, sauteed them in a light drizzle of oil, grated some Gruyere, and grilled that sucker up!  Do this with Gruyere and apple, or mozzarella and spinach, add chicken or hummus or anything!  Snack worthy, lunch worthy, perfection.