Posts Tagged ‘locally grown food’

Sunday Brunch

Posted on July 31st, 2011 by Tonia 2 Comments

We were out a *little* past our bedtime last night with friends. Ok, a lot past. And {old farts that we are} we paid for it bigtime this morning in the form of raging headaches and general orneriness. Luckily, we have a secret weapon against such mornings: brunch.

Brunch is maybe my most favorite thing that humans ever invented. Brunch is especially awesome when its contents are composed of fresh, local ingredients. And in that regard at least, this was a rockstar brunch.

The pretty pink potatoes came out of our garden, and so did the kale that we sautéed them with. The flour in the pancakes was grown and ground down the road from us. The milk, too. I picked the blueberries yesterday at a farm in Bayfield. The eggs came from Sarah & Bob’s chickens, living in our yard. The maple syrup was made by my family. The bacon came from Blaise and Jes’s farm down the road.

We fed our souls with laughter and fellowship, and our bellies with yummy morsels.

See how much happier we all look already? I’m telling ya, brunch is a miracle worker.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- we’re so blessed to live in a community full of family farms and folks who care about their community, the earth, and good food. Couldn’t ask for anything more than this right here.

And after this happened, I got my bum to the beach, read my book and fell asleep for a while, and floated in {the deliciously ice-cold} Lake Superior for two whole hours. So in other words, this was a pretty fantastic weekend.

Local Wheat Berry Salad

Posted on July 27th, 2011 by Tonia No Comments

Let me count the ways in which I love Maple Hill Farm. It’s right down the road from us, which makes shopping pretty easy. They do pigs, wheat/flour, veggies, soap, yarn, and more. They’re super friendly, happy to answer questions and spend time visiting whenever we drop in.

I brought home some of their wheat berries the other day and made this recipe with them. It was so fresh, summery, and filling {I wish I had doubled the batch because just the two of us gobbled it all down immediately.}

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked farro or wheat berries
1 cup shelled green peas (about 3/4 pound unshelled)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cubed seeded watermelon
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shaved fresh pecorino Romano cheese

Steps:

1. Place wheat berries in a large saucepan, and cover with water to 2 inches above berries. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 23 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
2. Add green peas to pan with wheat berries, and cook for 2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and rinse berry mixture with cold water; drain.
3. Combine berry mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. Add the watermelon cubes and 1 cup chopped parsley, and toss gently to combine. Top with pecorino cheese.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Jam Making, part one

Posted on July 14th, 2011 by Tonia 8 Comments

Yesterday we got up bright and early and headed to Bayfield, a beautiful little town known for its plethora of apple and cherry orchards and berry patches.

Bayfield is situated just so on the peninsula that it’s basically incubated by Lake Superior and the growing season is a whole zone better than it is at our house, just 12 miles to the south. Hence, fruit-growers have flocked to the area and set up shop on every south-facing slope that could be found.

The whole town is full of picturesque orchards {most with ancient, twisted, gnarly rootstocks that have been re-grafted onto many times in their life.} It’s a pretty magical place. We’re lucky to live so near to it, yet far enough away that we’re not quite so bombarded with tourists all summer long.

Anyway, our mission in Bayfield was to pick strawberries, and we chose Northwind Farm because they grow organically and because the farm and homestead is 100% powered by the wind and sun. Even the car has a solar-panel.

The owner, Tom, showed us to a patch ripe for picking and set us loose.

It was pretty glorious out there in the early morning sun, the smell of strawberry hanging in the air, the chickens clucking away behind us, and the crickets singing.

In fact, it was down-right romantic! I love working quietly away at the same task with Mike. We’re both in our element when our hands and minds are busy yet we’re relaxed…not in a rush to be somewhere else or do something else; not thinking about the To Do list at home. Something about the smell of strawberries is romantic, too.

We picked almost 20 lbs. and then moseyed home to begin the jam making {oh, if only we had known at that point how incredibly unprepared we were for how much work jam making is!}

To be continued…

Fresh Strawberry Shakes

Posted on July 4th, 2011 by Tonia 4 Comments

Yesterday was the first day that we were able to get local organic strawberries at the market, and we felt like celebrating their arrival by throwing them a party in our mouths along with our good friends Milk and Ice Cream.

That’s right. Strawberry milkshakes. We whipped them up and called some friends to come over and enjoy them with us, and sat around the table discussing the many merits of strawberries. There’s nothing wrong with eating huge amounts of sugar at 11:00 PM, right? Nahhhhh.

Tonia’s Totally Local Strawberry Shake:

1 carton of Hermit Creek strawberries, green tops removed

6 big scoops of Tetzner’s vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup of Tetzner’s milk {or more if you want to drink it verses eat it with a spoon- and it depends how strong your blender is. The milkier it is, the easier it is to blend.}

Blend it all up and enjoy!

…But, after the strawberry shakes were gone, we decided we wanted more. So we made more:

Tonia’s Not-So Local Pistachio and Honey Shake:

1 cup pistachios, shelled

2 tbs. honey {or to taste- some like it sweeter than others}

6 big scoops of Tetzner’s vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup of Tetzner’s milk {or more}

Blend it all up and you know what to do!

These are our two most favorite shake recipes. Pretty simple, but very satisfying. What’s yours?