Grooter Family at their Beardsley Country Market
The kids and I decided to check out all the grocery stores in the Big Stone County a couple weeks ago. We were able to make a truly delicious, nutritious and affordable meal with the groceries we bought from the Beardsley Country Market and the Graceville Country Market.
The Graceville grocery stores has a great selection of produce, including some hard to find fruit and veggies like blackberries, turnips, and portabella mushrooms. For our special Saturday night dinner we purchased fresh blackberries, strawberries and one orange pepper. The blackberries ($2.50 per half pint) were the best such berries I've ever tasted. I was pleased that Larry carried strawberries that were grown in the United States. I try to buy US grown food when I can't buy locally grown.
At the Beardsley County Market the kids greatly enjoyed playing with Alma's classmate Jada and the Grooter family was very welcoming and friendly. We purchased sirloin steak cubes ($6.51), fresh, authentic corn and lime tortillas ($.99 and made in Minnesota), and a large container of sour cream ($3.60) for our meal. The highlight of the Beardsley Market is their fresh meat, cut to order.
At home we made Steak Fajita's--here's the recipe I used
Marinate for at least 1 hour
1.5 pounds of steak cubes or strips in:
¼ Cup lime (or lemon juice in a pinch)
3 gloves minced garlic (grown on our farm)
1 T vegetable oil
½ t salt
½ t Cumin (I used about 1-2 Tablespoons because I love this mild spice)
In a large skillet cook over medium high heat:
Cool spiced/marinated meat until done to your liking
Then add:
2 medium onions sliced in strips
2-3 green, red, orange or yellow peppers sliced into ½ inch strips (from Graceville and some frozen peppers that we grew in our garden and roasted on the grill last fall)
Salt
Pepper
Stir and cook the peppers with the meat, onions, and spices until the peppers are hot, but still a little crisp.
Warm the tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds, place the meat, onion, and pepper mixture on the tortillas. Top with salsa and sour cream.
We fed this festive and very healthy meal to three hungry adults and three kids. In addition to the steak fajitas I served the fresh blackberries and strawberries on the side and made a batch of brown rice ($.50) that I had purchase bulk at The Granary in Ortonville.
The cost of all the healthy, fresh food purchased from our local grocery stores was around $21 (including the $4.50 splurge on organic cilantro salsa from The Granary in Ortonville). Without the pricey salsa, this meal cost us less than $2.50 per person. At a restaurant in the Twin Cities this meal would have cost at least $60. Even at the less expensive, but excellent, Mexican restaurant in Benson this meal would have cost us over $40 (if we didn't order Margaritas!).
I'm pleased at the effort that our local grocers put into providing us with fresh ingredients to cook healthy and fun meals for our families. Thank you to the owners of the Graceville and Beardsley Country Markets.
The kids and I decided to check out all the grocery stores in the Big Stone County a couple weeks ago. We were able to make a truly delicious, nutritious and affordable meal with the groceries we bought from the Beardsley Country Market and the Graceville Country Market.
The Graceville grocery stores has a great selection of produce, including some hard to find fruit and veggies like blackberries, turnips, and portabella mushrooms. For our special Saturday night dinner we purchased fresh blackberries, strawberries and one orange pepper. The blackberries ($2.50 per half pint) were the best such berries I've ever tasted. I was pleased that Larry carried strawberries that were grown in the United States. I try to buy US grown food when I can't buy locally grown.
At the Beardsley County Market the kids greatly enjoyed playing with Alma's classmate Jada and the Grooter family was very welcoming and friendly. We purchased sirloin steak cubes ($6.51), fresh, authentic corn and lime tortillas ($.99 and made in Minnesota), and a large container of sour cream ($3.60) for our meal. The highlight of the Beardsley Market is their fresh meat, cut to order.
At home we made Steak Fajita's--here's the recipe I used
Marinate for at least 1 hour
1.5 pounds of steak cubes or strips in:
¼ Cup lime (or lemon juice in a pinch)
3 gloves minced garlic (grown on our farm)
1 T vegetable oil
½ t salt
½ t Cumin (I used about 1-2 Tablespoons because I love this mild spice)
In a large skillet cook over medium high heat:
Cool spiced/marinated meat until done to your liking
Then add:
2 medium onions sliced in strips
2-3 green, red, orange or yellow peppers sliced into ½ inch strips (from Graceville and some frozen peppers that we grew in our garden and roasted on the grill last fall)
Salt
Pepper
Stir and cook the peppers with the meat, onions, and spices until the peppers are hot, but still a little crisp.
Warm the tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds, place the meat, onion, and pepper mixture on the tortillas. Top with salsa and sour cream.
We fed this festive and very healthy meal to three hungry adults and three kids. In addition to the steak fajitas I served the fresh blackberries and strawberries on the side and made a batch of brown rice ($.50) that I had purchase bulk at The Granary in Ortonville.
The cost of all the healthy, fresh food purchased from our local grocery stores was around $21 (including the $4.50 splurge on organic cilantro salsa from The Granary in Ortonville). Without the pricey salsa, this meal cost us less than $2.50 per person. At a restaurant in the Twin Cities this meal would have cost at least $60. Even at the less expensive, but excellent, Mexican restaurant in Benson this meal would have cost us over $40 (if we didn't order Margaritas!).
I'm pleased at the effort that our local grocers put into providing us with fresh ingredients to cook healthy and fun meals for our families. Thank you to the owners of the Graceville and Beardsley Country Markets.
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