July 2013 Blog Posts (26)

In an effort to eat less meat, I've been trying to put together some yummy recipes.  Here is a delicious one from lunch today!  I don't really measure when cooking - these are rough estimates.  This recipe would be good with whatever ratio you wish.

1.5 cups cooked lentils

8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

goat cheese

walnuts,…

This weekend I picked up a large box of fresh picked peaches at my local farmers market. The peaches were picked the day prior at Piney Woods Farm in Burgaw, NC.  I had the pleasure of visiting their farm not long ago when I purchased a 1/4 steer beef package from them.  …

It’s kind of funny how some things just sort of fall together by coincidence.

I have had cinnamon rolls on the back burner in my brain for a while, but what with family matters and vacation plans, cooking and baking got tabled a bit, cause I was cleaning out the fridge and freezer (Oh joy of annual deep-freeze ice scraping!).  While I was down south, I happened to stay in a hotel that was literally right next door to Trader Joes, and while I was there, I happened to get hooked on TJ’s…

My family likes to eat sushi, but we're not living in Japan or Hawaii anymore, so we've got to make do with what's available to us here in Ohio.  I use the veggies in the farm share box (cucumbers, carrots, kohlrabi, spring onions, salad mix) plus whatever protein I've got on hand to make sushi at home.

You can find the tutorial…

So after about 2 years of searching my local area for a CSA, I finally found one after moving back home to the Upper Peninsula (eh!) from Indiana.  A local farm that frequents the farmers market in town decided to try its hand with a small (only 15 people) CSA.  When I got that e-mail, admittedly I kind of got a little excited and after a couple of weeks discussing the money aspect with my boyfriend and showing him that this was the way to go, we finally decided to do it.  

This past…

I recently returned from an RV trip to Montana, which left me away from my homestead for almost a month. It's always a challenge managing this time away when it comes to my crops, and this year was no exception with the addition of my 9 chickens.  I enlisted my neighbor, who has been learning along with me about the chickens. She has three daughters who were willing to chip in as well with the food and water.  My parents, sister and friend all signed on board (or were persuaded!) to visit…

This sauce lets the beauty of a freshly picked tomato, grown for flavor, not ability to travel, shine through.  It's easy to make--if you're a ninja you probably don't even need a cutting board--and keeps your kitchen cool to boot.…

We are lucky enough to live on a farm and raise our own Dorper sheep and milk our own Jersey cows for the most incredible lamb and raw cream imaginable.  Last night I made thyme lamb chops and show the technique of how to grill them in a cast iron pan.  The thyme, raw cream aoli dressing was out of this world and the recipe is on my GrassFood blog.

How many folks recall the family run oyster factories?  For those who don't know what I'm talkng about or just want to see how our "sea farmers" are keeping their businesses alive,  take a look at an article on one of the remaining family "old style" oyster/shrimping familes out of Bluffton, SC - "The Oyster Factory." I've been blessed with these folks being in our local area and always "visit" at least twice a monh, even though I tell the wife its' to visit the…

Click the picture for a link to my update on growing my first garden as the Girl Gone Local :)

Over the weekend, we acquired a 2 year old Boer/Pygmy Whether named Houdini. He is stubborn and tries to get out the gate, but extremely friendly and will follow you around like a dog :) All of the 5 older hens seem to be laying now, and the 4 younger gals should be large enough to start getting acquainted with them in a few weeks! 

I'm taking a break from the last of the barn painting... Scorching 89 degrees, but thankfully I'm working on the shaded north side/rear.

Without…

When I first started gardening in my mother’s back yard, she called me a Russian Peasant. It was not a compliment. I headed out back in the evening with my head wrapped in a scarf to keep the mosquitoes at bay, wearing old sneakers, and carrying a pitchfork. In the late summer, I brought turnips and carrots to her customers, who loved them. Years alter, when I actually met a Gardening Russian Peasant in Portland Oregon, I had to agree—I did look like a peasant. Maybe Irish, rather than…

So far this year I've managed to keep a handle on the zucchini.  (Who am I kidding?  It's only July!) Last year, however, Squashzilla took over my garden and I could not shred and freeze those baseball bats fast enough.  Putting up the squash when it's in season means I get to make a summer pizza, like this zucchini, corn, leek, pesto and feta pizza in the middle of winter.…

My summer obsession with beets for lunch continues.

First it was sautéing the greens with a farm fresh egg.  Now that the greens are all 'et up', I've shaved the beets thin, marinated them in balsamic vinaigrette, and have been gobbling them up, Danish smorrebrod style, in an open-faced sandwich.

I'm having trouble picking my favorite cheese, though--Colby Jack, feta, and goat are all good:…

Click Here to find out how my first week on a tighter food-buying budget went :)

I've been working to take better photos of the food I make from my CSA farm share.  Here's a new photo with an old favorite recipe (how can I say old?  The blog is less than a year?!): 

The recipe write up is…

Last year I pickled a few small jars of peppers, then my spouse brought one in to work to share.  And I got a giant bag of peppers in return!  Here's one way I use the veggies I put up during the season:  

Smoked sauteed mushrooms, pickled peppers, feta and pesto pizza on a pesto crust.

You can find …

My garden and my CSA farm share bless me with wonderful arugula.  Some of it gets put up as Arugula Pesto, and some of that gets put into focaccia dough for this delicious Friday Night Pizza Night meal:

You can find the recipe…