I'm a seacoast NH wife and mom. I have a 6 year old daughter, Lucy and a 5 year old son, Evan. I try to eat and live locally for the health and enjoyment of my family! Come live the local life with me!
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Here's some news about the upcoming farmers' markets this weekend.
First off, the first winter market for the Newmarket Farmers' Market is this Saturday, November 21, from 9 am - 1 pm. You can Become a Fan of the market on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @NwmktFM.
Seacoast Growers is also hosting their first winter market at Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford, NH. Rmember, to get your Popper's Sausage Kitchen orders in by Wednesday with pick up at the Fresh Local booth on Saturday. I also read that Berrybog Farm of Strafford, NH will be at the market with frozen blueberries and other blueberry treats.
And for a second dose of farmers' market, the Newburyport Farmers' Market will be open Sunday from 10 am - 1 pm.Enjoy your weekend!!
Here's a nice sausage option for you! Popper's Sausage Kitchen runs a Sausage Club out of Dover, NH. The next pick-up is scheduled at the Seacoast Eat Local's Rollinsford Winter Market this coming Saturday (pick-up is at the Fresh Local booth). Orders are due by Wednesday, November 18th.
John "Popper" Medlin strives to use local ingredients by tapping their own maple trees, growing and drying their own chilis, and making their own red wine vinegar. They also pledge to purchase from local, natural, free-range, and/or organic sources as much as possible.
The top three PSK Sausages for your Thanksgiving stuffing
1. Breakfast- ginger, white pepper and sage
2. Fig and Brady - juniper, nutmeg, mace and clove
3. Garlic and Herb- garlic, savory, sage and marjoram
Here's what he has available for ordering:
Poppers Sausage Kitchen Product List
Fresh Sausages
Bourneworst- My version of the house sausage from the butcher shop I trained at in the Netherlands. Soft flavors of nutmeg and clove with a with a touch of Dijon.
Smoked Bratwurst- Black cherry smoked and made with Smuttynose Star Island Single.
Maple Bourbons- Sweet maple and chili with a hint of sour mash. Best seller.
Hot Italians- Fennel, chilies, and house made red wine Vinegar round these out nicely.
Sweet Italians- fennel and tomato create an earthy sweetness.
Szechwan- Sweet soy and floral peppercorns. With a back note of heat.
Mexican Chorizo- cinnamon, Mexican oregano, garlic, dried poblano peppers and twelve other herbs and spices. Uncased.
Poblano Cumin- Fire roasted poblanos and toasted cumin. Perfect for tacos.
Blueberry Tarragon- lower bush berries and sweet anise Make these pancakes best friend.
French Garlic- fresh garlic, soft herbs and a nice French wine.
Fig and Brandy- Nutmeg, mace, clove and a touch of juniper. Great for casseroles or by themselves.
Poppers Breakfast- sage and ginger make this mild sausage eggs and toast happy, very happy. Loose not in casings.
Spiced Apple- Harvest spices and Flag Hills Apple Brandy make these memorable.
Cheddar Bay- Sharp cheddar and bay leaf. Gooey is great.
Ragin’ Cajun- Fresh onion sausage loaded with smoked Tasso ham.
Spanish Chorizo- This spicy sausage has nice back notes of oregano and garlic. Great with seafood or cold with cheese
Irish Bangers- Traditional Bangers. Herby with a pepper kick.
Other Good Things Polish Kielbasa- Beef and pork in this traditional favorite.
Smoked Bacon- Lightly cured and Black Cherry smoked.
Liverwurst- all pork liver, smooth and mild. Apples and fried onions added.
PSK Dogs Pop Dogs- Garlic and Onion make these not your average dog.
Hot Hot Dog- (H2D2) – Cayenne, Jalapeno, and Thai Chilies. It puts the HOT in the dog.
Dwatt Dawg- Chicken, BACON, cheddar, and herbs.
Weisswurst- Veal and pork. German white sausage with mustard, celery and onion.
Pork Pate’ Pork and Brandied Cranberries- Wrapped in smoked Ham.
Spicy Apple- Apples bloomed in Flag Hill Wineries Calvados (Apple Brandy) and wrapped in Smoked Tasso Ham.
Prices are as follows:
Fresh Sausages- $7#
Smoked Sausages- $8#
Scrapple- $7#
Bacon -$7#
Thick sliced add $1.50
Pork Pie- $13
Hot Dogs- $10 for pack of 8
Pate'- $5 for 8oz.
To place your order you can call him at 603.534.3971 or by e-mail at popperchef @ yahoo.com
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I can't say it any other way...this cake does melt in your mouth! So delicious! It's a family recipe passed down to me by my grandmother. It may extend beyond that, I'm not sure. I don't have time to snap a picture, but I did want to get this fabulous blueberry recipe out to you as the blueberry season is winding down. Without further ado:
Melt-In-Your-Mouth Blueberry Cake
4 eggs, separated 2 c sugar 1 c shortening 2 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt 3 c flour 2 tsp baking powder ¾ c milk 3 c blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Beat egg whites until stiff, and then fold in ½ c sugar and set aside.
Cream shortening; add salt, vanilla, and the remaining sugar. Add egg yolks and beat until creamy. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately.
Fold in egg whites and blueberries which have been coated with 1 tsp flour.
Turn into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!
Pick me a blueberry! If you don't have kids or you're not familiar, that's a quote from the wonderful book Jamberry by Bruce Degen.
It's berry season! Well it's been berry season, but strawberries are almost over for the season. But raspberries are in season now and blueberry picking is gaining momentum. Blackberry season will be here before we know it!
So here's where you can pick some tasty berries (here are my favorites):
Berrybogg Farm in Strafford, NH (PYO blueberries and blackberries)
Spiller Farm in Wells, ME (PYO raspberries and blueberries)
For lots more PYO farms all around NH and beyond, be sure to check out Pick Your Own or Seacoast Harvest (NH and ME specific).
Berries are so easy to freeze and can be canned simply as well (I'm still eating last years frozen blackberries and blueberries)! I have found great guides from the Pick Your Own site: How to Freeze Berries How to Can Homemade Jam
Oh yipee! Tina Sawtelle of Pinewoods Yankee Farm just e-mailed me to let me know (and all of you!) that she has beef available again! Stock up while you can. She can be reached by phone or e-mail:
ESAWTELLES@aol.com
Pinewoods Yankee Farm 93 North River Road Lee, NH 03861 603-659-8106
And also a quick reminder that the next winter farmer's market will be held tomorrow (Sat. Jan 10th) at the Stratham Town Hall. Head over to Seacoast Eat Local for the scoop. I hear they're going to have frozen blueberries from the summer peak and fresh cut flowers. And don't forget to pick up your 2009 calandar while you're there.
It's been too long since I've shared a yummy recipe with you. I had some extra yogurt leftover so I found this recipe for Blueberry Yogurt Muffins. Also I'll mention that Lenore of Rock Op Co-Op has a dairy delivery from Brookford Farm so you can get some farm fresh yogurt from this co-op. Oh and this week Lenore had some local blueberries for sale as well as eggs so you can utilize many local ingredients into this recipe.
Blueberry Yogurt Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 (8-ounce) carton vanilla low-fat yogurt 1 large egg, beaten 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed Cooking spray 1 tablespoon sugar
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 2. Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine orange juice, oil, vanilla, yogurt, and egg; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moist. Gently fold in blueberries. 3. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray; sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over muffins. Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately, and place muffins on a wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen
These turned out very yummy and fairly healthy for a muffin. There's 150 calories per muffin, 3 grams of fat and 1 gram of fiber. I got the recipe from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook which I surprisingly snagged from Paperback Swap. You have to check them out, I've received so many great books from swapping.
I received my weekly "Heart of New England" newsletter this week and was quite intrigued by the recipe for "The Best New England Blueberry Muffins". I just had to try it! Go pull out the blueberries you froze from all that picking you did!
So this is a quick fly by weekend post for some yummy blueberry muffins. Oh so simple, you have to try them. And if you have one of those wonderful muffin top pans, this is a great recipe. The tops on these muffins are soooo crispy and yummy. New England Blueberry Muffins For twelve muffins:
½ cup butter 2 cups flour (we use King Arthur unbleached all purpose) 1 ¼ cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for the muffin tops 2 large eggs ½ cup milk 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 2 ½ cups blueberries. Zest of 1 lemon (optional)
Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
With the mixer on slow, cream the butter and sugar until they are fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until they are well blended. Add the lemon zest, if using.
With the mixer on slow, sift the dry ingredients and add them, alternating with half the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Mash ½ cup of the blueberries and mix them with the batter by hand. Add the whole berries and stir them in by hand, or skip mashing the ½ cup and mix in all the berries whole.
Grease a muffin tin, including the top, with the butter (the batter will spill onto the top during baking). Pile the batter high in each cup of the tin and sprinkle the sugar over the tops.
Bake the muffins at 375 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes, testing with a toothpick or wooden skewer for doneness. The muffins should cool in the tin on a rack for 25 minutes before they are served.
I was browsing this mom site called MomAdvice. She has a page of notebook ideas that she at one time or another would like to try. There are great ideas for doing things with your kids as well as other frugal ideas and some recipes scattered in. I found a recipe for Blueberry Crumb bars posted in her 7.31.08 journal entry. I just had to try them!
Blueberry Crumb Bars
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
So how did they taste? Let's just take a quote from my dear husband, "These were better than I expected!" Which either means my cooking leaves much to be desired or he doesn't have much faith in blueberry crumb bars. I fear the answer is the former! But hear me now, I am learning and cooking better and better everyday!
And what was my reward for all this baking, cooking, and learning this week? A nice cold Kahlua and milk, yes raw whole milk! Very very tasty...
Lucy and I are off to the Barrington Farmer's Market now so I'll check in once more today with what we found. Have a great weekend everyone!
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To keep your muffin or cake mix from turning too blue when adding blueberries, coat the blueberries with flour or cornstarch before mixing them into your batter.
I also heard that coating them helps them stayed mixed in the batter as they cook and not all sink to the bottom. I haven't put that to the test, but I will be soon!
And stand by for another blueberry recipe! This time I'm going to whip up some Blueberry Crumb bars. Anyone sick of blueberries yet?
Give them ears of corn to shuck! Miss Lucy sat and shucked three ears of corn all by herself. I was able to get a whole batch of Verry Berry Muffins mixed and in the oven.
Now doesn't this batch of muffins look so much better? For the last batch I only had 1.5 cups of flour vs. 2 cups, so I tried my best to adjust the recipe. Somehow (seems I failed at "adjusting"), batch two came out looking so much better! All the muffins went to the neighbors so I have to make another batch, aw shucks! :)
Honey, yogurt, blueberries; how can you go wrong? And look at the dough grabbing that one berry there. . . don't you really want to try them now? Yummy!
Oh man was the picking glorious this morning! The berries hung off the bushes like bunches of grapes. I picked just over 10 lbs and I am planning on going back for one more round.
I picked up their Berrybogg Farm blueberry cookbook (only $3). I'm excited to try their blueberry lemon cake. I'll also be making some more Verry Berry Muffins.
There are plenty more blueberries (and blackberries, which I snagged 1/2 pint) that are ripening so make sure to head on over to get some berries for recipes or to freeze for the winter. Happy picking!
(Oh and scroll down for my Dover farmer's market haul post from today as well.)
Wednesday morning I'm off for some blueberry picking at Berrybogg Farm in Strafford, NH. Supposedly the crop has held up through the rain and the bushes are in need of picking. I hope to pick at least 10 lbs. Anyone else go blueberry picking this season? I've already been once to Locke's Blueberry Farm in Barnstead, NH. I picked 7 lbs when I was there. My two kiddos love blueberries though, so I need many more pounds to sustain them through the winter (and all the yummy blueberry recipes I'm finding)!
So I'll update everyone Wednesday afternoon with how picking went and how many pounds I picked. I am also planning on stopping at the Dover Farmer's Market (open from 2 pm - 6 pm). If anyone is interested the Dover, Exeter and Portsmouth farmer's markets will be having canning demonstrations. I want to pick up one of the fact sheets that discusses how to store all the vegetables and produce. Someday I may get into canning or at least freezing my produce for the winter months.
I came across some local honey while at Lee Farm Day. (If you didn't go, you missed out on some yummy elk burgers!)
Anyway, Hive Healthy, out of Nottingham, NH, was selling some Grade A - Pure Natural Wildflower Honey. An 8 oz. bottle was just $4 so I picked some up some to try.
Sunday morning I was browsing the Seacoast Beekeeper's Association to see what they had to offer. I opened up their August newsletter and came across this fabulous recipe for blueberry muffins made with plain yogurt and honey. I had all the ingredients on hand so I got to work making some scrumptious Sunday morning muffins.
The ingredients came together very quickly and I had the muffins in the oven in no time. When they came out of the oven they were as gorgeous as could be. I was quite pleased with how they tasted too. They weren't overly sweet, but had enough sweetness that you weren't just tasting just flour and berries.
Now I'm sure you're dying for the recipe, right? I used my local honey, eggs (picked up at the Barrington farmer's market last Saturday), yogurt and blueberries (picked at Locke's Blueberry Farm in Barnstead, NH). Ok, ok...here's the recipe! Enjoy! (And if you do make them, please leave me a comment and let me know how you enjoyed them.)
VERRY BLUEBERRY MUFFINS 2 c. flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1 c. plain yogurt 1 tsp. baking soda 1 egg 1/2 c. vegetable oil 1/4 c. honey 1 tsp. vanilla 1 c. blueberries, frozen or fresh
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a one bowl
Combine yogurt with baking soda in a second bowl; set aside.
Beat the eggs and then add oil, honey and vanilla into a third bowl.
Add flour mixture and yogurt mixture alternately to egg mixture. Gently fold in berries. Grease muffin tins. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Enjoy your weekend!!
