Did you say you made a Crisp???

Apple, Pear, Blueberry, Ginger Crisp

Ingredients:

5 small apples peeled and diced

1 large pear peeled and diced

1/2 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of amber agave nectar

1/4 cup of flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. freshly grated ginger root

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup of chopped nuts (such as walnuts, pecan, or almonds)

1/2 cup of oats

1 tsp. cinnamon

6 Tbsp. cold butter cut into small cubes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix the agave nectar, 1/4 cup of flour, vanilla, and ginger in a small bowl.  Toss with the fruit mixture.

Butter a deep dish pie pan. Pour fruit mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the topping in a bowl with your fingers: flour, brown sugar, nuts, oats, cinnamon, and butter.  Mash up until fully combined together.  Sprinkle on top of the fruit and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, or serve it at room temperature with some fresh whipped cream.

Holy Crap This Turned Out Great... Vegetable Lasagna

I had a serious need for some warm comfort food on one of the coldest, windiest days in February.  Lasagna is pretty easy to free style when you have just a few of the basic ingredients.  I had a fridge full of veggies, a few jars of tomato sauce, and some noodles in the cupboard, I knew what I had to do.

This lasagna truly is loaded with vegetables, I even blended them into the sauce to go above and beyond. Wait and see...

Super Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant- peeled and thinly sliced

2 red bell peppers

1 head of garlic

1 butternut squash peeled, seeds removed, and cubed

1 zucchini

1 summer squash

1 fennel bulb (optional)

2 small onions

3 cups of thinly sliced mushrooms

1 cup of riccotta cheese

1 cup cottage cheese

3 eggs

1/4 cup of herb paste (recipe follows)

1 14oz. can of tomato sauce

1 14oz. can of diced tomatoes

handful of chopped fresh parsley

handful of chopped fresh basil

1 box of oven ready lasagna noodles

First we must prep all of the delicious vegetables:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees

Spread the peeled and thinly sliced eggplant on a rimmed cookie sheet and sprinkle both sides of the slices with salt and pepper and olive oil. Roast in the oven until soft- about 20 minutes.  

Meanwhile you can also roast the bell peppers and garlic.  Slice the bell peppers in half the long way, remove seeds, and rub a small amount of oil on both sides of the peppers, place skin side down in a baking dish. Roast until the skin is black and charred- about 20 minutes.  Peel the skin off the peppers and roughly shop the pepper flesh, set aside.  

Slice the tip of the garlic bulb so that just a bit of each close if exposed.  Pour a bit of olive oil onto bulb and wrap is foil.  Roast for about 10-15 minutes.

Peel, remove seeds, and cube the butternut squash into small cubes. Spread onto a roasting sheet with a bit of olive oil and roast until soft, about 20 minutes.  

Either using a fork or a cuisinart, mash the baked squash and mix in a bowl with the ricotta, cottage cheese, eggs, and herb paste. Set aside.

Meanwhile. Thinly slice two small onions and saute in a skillet with a little olive oil over medium heat until soft and slightly browned. Remove and set aside. Using that same pan, saute the mushrooms until soft- about 10 minutes.

Thinly slice the zucchini, summer squash, and fennel bulb (top trimmed off and root core removed. Saute over medium heat until slightly soft- set aside.

Time-out, this may seem like a lot of steps, but if you are able to multitask and have a few things going at one time, it's really not that bad. Also, if you have a great boyfriend who wants to hang out with you in the kitchen on a Friday night, hand him the the wooden spoon and have him take care of the saute station.

Ok, let's keep going.  In a small pot, combine the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper.  Keep over low heat.

Wow, that seemed like a lot, but only because there are so many vegetables that are stuffed inside this wonderful dish.  Let's finally assemble the lasagna and get it in the oven.

Find yourself a 9x13 inch cake pan.  Start with a layer of sauce, then a layer of the noodles (about four noodles per layer), then spread 1/4 of the butternut squash/cheese mixture over the noodles. Next, sprinkle a layer of the mixed vegetables-about a 1/3 of each- the roasted red bell peppers, garlic, eggplant, zucchini, squash, fennel, onions, and mushrooms. 

Continue layering- sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, and vegetables until you end with a layer of noodles and top it with the cheese mixture.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.  Enjoy!

Herb Paste:

I prepare lot of this herb paste during the summer when my herb garden is in full bloom and super abundant.  

I use my Cuisinart, but you can easily just chop everything very finely and mix it together by hand.

1 cup of chopped fresh basil leaves

1 cup of chopped fresh chives

1/3 cup chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/3 cup chopped fresh oregano

1/3 cup chopped fresh savory

1/3 cup chopped fresh majoram

1/4 cup chopped fresh sage

I blend all of these herbs with enough olive oil to make a thick paste.  Put the herb paste in a freezer bag, remove air, and lay flat in freezer.  I use this stuff all year long in soups, on bread, mashed potatoes, vegetables, pizza, and lasagna! It's so versatile and you can easily break off any size amount you need.

My Friends Know Me So Well

I have great friends.


I know when I see something that instantly reminds of me of one of my friends, I want to get it and send it to them.  I love the gesture of giving a gift out of the blue, it's so much more personal than a forced holiday gift.  Something that you see that you just know is perfect for that one person in your life.  These are of the kind of gifts that I will accept:




From my friend and co-worker, Shena, this awesome magnet!

And this from my former Blooming Glen Farm Co-farmer, Jesse.  He knows how obsessed I am with red beets so he sent me this T-shirt and delicious bag of chips!

Mmmm.... Nut Butter

Ever since my amazing boyfriend, John, surprised me two weeks before Valentine's Day by buying me a Cuisinart, I haven't been able to stop dreaming up new recipes to use with it.

So far, I've been hooked on making nut butters.  They are so easy and extremely versatile.  The other week I made a big batch of chocolate almond butter- oh man, was that amazing.

This week I'm going for the ultimate combo of rich natural flavors.

Toasted Coconut Cashew Butter

First I used my toaster oven to toast about 1/3 cup of medium flaked unsweetened coconut.


I threw the coconut into the Cuisinart first.  Then came about 2 cups of raw cashews.  Blend for about 1 minute and scrape down the sides of the container.  It should look something like this after 1 minute:

Keep blending!
Another couple minutes it will start to ball up and look like this, but just keep going:

After a couple more minutes...

getting creamy!

Oh man!

Ta-da!  A thick and creamy nut butter made from scratch with only 2 ingredients!

I filled a small jar as a gift for my mama and the larger jar I'll have to have John hide from me so I don't eat it all with just a spoon.  If it sits on the kitchen counter, I find myself opening the jar and dipping my finger in every time I walk past.

Smoothie of the Week

Smoothie of the Week

Every week I seem to get into a rhythm of making some sort of smoothie after yoga or running.  It's usually just a combination of things I have on hand.  I make mine with a stick blender right in the measuring cup that it came with.  I don't have a blender, so this works best for me, but use whatever means of blending that you have.

During the late summer months, it's great to plan ahead for the winter and try to freeze lots of fresh fruit.  Around me I have several orchards that have U-pick areas for blueberries, strawberries, peaches, cherries, and raspberries.  As hard as it is to keep from eating all of the fruit right out of the picking basket, I know I'll appreciate the storage in the middle of winter.

This week I made this beautiful mixture:

Ingredients:
A handful of frozen blueberries
1/2 of a ripe banana (fresh or frozen)
1/2 of a ripe avocado
1/3-1/2 cup of coconut water (add more if you like it thinner)
2 spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt or a splash of almond milk to keep it vegan


Now blend, blend, blend!

Beets on the Side

When I first started working on the organic vegetable farm, I had the amazing opportunity to store some vegetables over the winter.  We were usually able to salvage a lot of produce from the fields before they were disked.  There were rutabaga, celeriac, potatoes, carrots, garlic, squash, and beets.  I stored them in 5 gallon plastic buckets with damp sand and holes drilled into the lids for ventilation.  I kept them in my cellar steps where it is dark and cold during the winter.


So, if you are lucky enough to have a local farm provide you with this autumn bounty, or if your personal garden is overly bountiful, you should definitely try storing your vegetables.  You will be so happy to go down into your ground cellar and grab those root veggies in the middle of February for a nice hearty stew.


Thinking of this bounty of storage vegetables, I was inspired to make a quick and simple side dish that can be easily transformed into a delicious lunch or a light dinner.


Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Beets

3-4 medium to large beets
1 large red onion
4 sweet potatoes
1 large bunch of fresh dill
zest of one lemon
EVOO
Good Balsamic Vinegar
S&P
1/2 cup of toasted almonds 


Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.


First, peel and chop the beets into small cubes. (I only peel non-organic beets- no need to peel organic beets- there is a lot of nutrients in and just below the skin)
Chop the onion into large chunks.
Chop the dill.
Combine those three ingredients on a rimmed baking sheet.  Toss with several Tablespoons of Olive Oil and a few shakes of Balsamic Vinegar. Along with S&P.

Roast- covered with foil for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and roast until beets are knife tender- about 15-20 minutes more.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into similar sized cubes as the beets.

Boil the potatoes until knife tender. Drain and place in large bowl. Zest the lemon right over the taters.
As soon as the beets are done, throw them into the bowl as well and toss. Top with toasted almonds.

Serve this as a side dish at dinner, or you can muscle it up by having it for lunch over brown rice, sauteed spinach, and a poached egg on top. (and don't forget that sprinkle of nutritional yeast)
Ahhhh, yum.

Have No Fear, Biscotti Is Here

I've had biscotti on the brain all day.  At the Inn today I was busy making four, count that, four! different kinds of biscotti. There was peanut butter chocolate chip, cranberry lemon zest, vanilla chai, and chocolate chocolate chip. All equally delicious in their own biscottilicious way.  SO... when I got home, I decided to whip up a batch of my own signature biscotti.


They turned out to be quite delectable, John was was dipping them into his cafe bustello and I grabbed a hot cup of my dandyblend.  YUM-O!  

Whole Wheat Pistachio Macadamia Nut Spice Biscotti

1/2 cup (1 stick) room temp. butter
1 cup of sugar (white, rapadura, sucanat, whatever you like)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup corn meal
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts


Preheat oven to 350 degree.


In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.


In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, salt, baking powder, and spices.


With your mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Once combined, stir in the chopped nuts.


Shape into two separate 'loaves' on a cookie sheet. About 5 inches wide, 1 inch thick and about 10 inches long.


Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool 10-15 minutes.
Place loaves on a cutting board and slice into 1 inch thick pieces. Place them cut side up back onto the baking sheet and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Simple Sunday

When I put in an eight hour day at the Bed & Breakfast, on my feet, baking scones, cooking breakfast for 20 guests, and turning over eight rooms, I don't have much energy by the time I walk home at 4pm.  At least it was a warm and sunny February day, even if I had to spend the whole day inside.  Working at the bed & breakfast on the weekends is always fun, a lot of work, but it's worth it when you meet so many wonderful people from all over the world. 

So when I got home all I had the energy to do was start some mung bean sprouts for the week.  I usually pour about an inch of beans into a quart sized large mouth mason jar.  I went to my local hardware store and bought a few feet of mesh screen that I cut into circles slightly larger than the lid ring. That way you can easily screw the lid back onto the jar and rinse the beans right through the screen.  I rinse them 2-3 times a day until the have sprouted to about an inch in length.  Then, transfer them to the fridge.  

Use these yummy sprouts on salads, soups, stir-fry, eggs, anything you like!  I love making these over the winter when there is a limited supply of fresh vegetables around.  They are an easy way to get something really green and crunchy into your diet.

Waking Up

Somedays, the second I step out the door, the birds tell me that Spring is coming.  Do you know that sound, smell, and feel that spring is right around the corner?  This morning in particular, the birds sounded so freakin happy chirping away up in the big maple tree, the grass was damp, the air was warm and humid, and the sun was slowing burning off the thin clouds that stretched across the sky.

My compost pile looks like a big sleeping bear quietly hibernating in the back of my yard. Collecting my kitchen scraps and laying green material (food scraps) onto brown material (straw and leaves that I store in the ground cellar) and layers of dirt throughout slowing keeps the pile growing.  It doesn't seem to be going anywhere right now, but once the weather warms up, it will start to 'move' a lot more quickly.

I need to keep something green and edible in the house while it is cold and gray outside.  I seeded this little organic leaf lettuce into a window box planter. They stay warm on the radiator and get a little sunlight (not enough this time of year) through the big kitchen window.  They won't get huge or thick, but it's just the sight of them growing big and tall in just a matter of days is what is most exciting.  I will soon trim them off and through them onto a salad or in some soup.  They are more like sprouts than lettuce greens, but still just as delicious!

There's also no harm in attempting to grow a pineapple top. I cut this little guy up for dinner the other night and instead of composting the green top of the fruit, I potted it up in some succulent soil mix.  We'll see what happens, I will keep you updated!

February chills

This week started off with a beautifully sunny and warm February Monday, the greenhouse was a balmy 70 degrees and felt oh so good on the skin after months of winter's chill.  Then, the rest of the week went back to a normal dreary, cloudy, cold,  and rainy winter.  But that didn't really matter much and I didn't let it get me the least bit down because I got to spend everyday of this past week in the greenhouse seeding ONIONS!!! And leaks and scallions!  The sweet and earthy smell of the greenhouse comes as a beautiful relief to winter's stale freeze.


The winter months can drag on and on- especially when we don't get any snow.  I love a little snow storm in the winter, to get snowed in, watch movies, go for a walk, and get cozy. The clouds can't seem to part to let in the tiniest amount of sunlight.  It has been a mild winter, but at this point, all I really want is spring.

February seeding: onions, leeks, and scallions.

A delicious way to wake up after a session of yoga.  There is nothing better than fresh juiced juice!  This morning I whipped up... carrot, celery, ginger, apple, pineapple, parsley, beet, and broccoli stalks.  Really, just whatever fruits and vegetables I can find in the ice box.  It's just so so good.

wide mouth

and so it begins!

This is an account of organic vegetable farming in eastern Pennsylvania, cooking and baking the fruits and vegetables of our labor, how I am pursuing my training to become a certified ashtanga yoga teacher, and of course, ways that I choose to stay healthy, happy, and inspired!

back porch harvest

John swaying in the breeze

looking forward to these little guys!