Beets with tender greens
Salt and freshly ground pepper
About 1 1/2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
About 1 1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
Cut the greens from the beets, leaving about 1 inch of stems on the beets. Trim the tails of the beets to about an inch. Scrub beets well.
Wrap each beet tightly with doubled aluminum foil. Place the beets in a baking dish and bake about 1 hour, or until tender. Remove the beets from the dish and cool until they can be handled. Remove the foil.
Trim and peel the beets while they are still warm. Slice the beets thinly and season with salt and pepper. Toss with a tablespoon each of olive oil and vinegar.
Prepare the beet greens by cutting the leaves from the stems. Cut the stems in two to three pieces. Rinse the leaves and stems well. Blanch the stems for about 4 minutes in boiling lightly salted water. Add the leaves and cook until just tender, another 2 or 3 minutes. Drain the greens well and cool until warm to the touch. Toss with the sliced beets and the remaining olive oil and vinegar. Adjust the seasoning
and serve. That's it!
*Now I chose to steam my beats until they were tender when pierced with a fork instead of roasting them in the oven. And I topped my salad with a little goat cheese. MMMMmmm, absolutely delicious. 

Use the baby artichokes to make crispy artichoke hearts:
wash off the artichoke, remove the outer 2 or 3 set of dark green leaves until the remaining leaves are a lighter shade of green or cream color. Using a sharp knife, cut off the top 1 inch or so of the top of the artichoke, then remove the outer skin from the stem( yes, the inside of the stems are very delicious). Cut the artichoke in half lengthwise, steam 10 to 15 minutes until slightly soft, remove from the steamer, coat with olive oil and garlic powder. Grill on the bar-b-que or under the broiler oven for 5 to 10 minutes on each side until brown and crispy. At this point, the whole artichoke is edible...enjoy! 

How about a nice roasted "root" vegetable dish using our potatoes, carrots, and fennel bulb.  Cut them into pieces, coat with olive oil and salt and pepper, put in a roasting pan, single layer, 400 degree oven, until crispy brown.

This week's avocados are the Hass varietiy grown by David Righetti of San Luis Obispo.   Let them sit out on your kitchen counter ( or put them in a paper sack with a ripe banana or apple to quicken the ripening process ) until they are soft, but not overly squishy!