Farmer's Market Itch

With being back to school, myself and the kids, life, as you know, has been quite busy! I haven't been to a farmers' market in weeks and I was itching to go! So despite the rain the kids and I packed up and headed over to the North Berwick Farmers' Market (check out their revamped website). The NBFM has three more markets left this season, so if you haven't trekked over to North Berwick, maybe you should! Here's what I bought:

• Feta from Creeping Thyme Farm
• Watermelon
• Leeks
• oh yeah, and a blueberry scone...

On the way home from the market I swung by one of my favorite "roadside" farm stands, Parcell Farm in Rochester, NH. (More info and directions, see the bottom of this post.) I bought:

• more leeks
• Swiss chard
• celery
• kale

As a side note, Parcell Farm will only be open this weekend, and the next three Thur-Saturdays, with their last day being October 31. So be sure to swing by soon if you want some delicious local popcorn!

I have a whole chicken in the freezer from Newfields Own Produce and I think we'll have that for dinner this weekend. I'll cook it in the crockpot like I always do! On the NBFM website they have a nice section for recipes and I'll be trying the Lemony Leek Risotto to go with the chicken. I'm hungry just thinking about it!

My other culinary plans for the weekend include making a leek & potato soup, kale chips, Swiss chard crustless quiche (which I promise to blog about!), and making chicken broth with the chicken carcass (hence the local celery). Busy week, high expections! Here's hoping I at least get one of these tasks done! (Oh, and if I forget to blog about it, you need to try the spaghetti squash casserole on Penny-wise People's blog, very good stuff!)

What local things have you been up to?

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One Local Summer: Week 6

Week 6 of the One Local Summer challenge, halfway over already and we're just getting our summer weather! I made a simple, yet tasty, meal this week! Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans!

I put a whole chicken in the crockpot (fully frozen) using the method I've posted on my blog previously. Putting a whole chicken in the crockpot is such an easy way of eating local fare with little time involved. You can season it however you like of pick the chicken off and make many different chicken dishes!

This time I put in about 10 spring garlic bulbs into the cavity of the chicken and "roasted" those all day. I then boiled some local red potatoes and mashed them up with the roasted garlic and a bit of butter and fresh chives from my garden! They were SO tasty! My second vegetable was fresh green beans from a roadside farm stand.So overall a simple, yet hearty meal! Steve ate the leftover potatoes the following night with a slice of Swiss Chard Quiche!

Onto OLS week 7! What are you cookin' up for local fare this week?

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Chocolate Chili Cha-Cha

Sounds yummy, doesn't it? Well it was! I made this for a chili cook-off at my husband's work. Let's see if it wins anything. (Tweaked from this recipe.) I also apologize for the lack of a picture. The lack of natural light was no help. You know what chili looks like, this is no different!

Chocolate Chili Cha-Cha

1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (28 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes
1 cup diced onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1 pound spicy sausage
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 (32 ounce) bottle hickory smoke barbecue sauce
1/4 cup chili powder
2 (15.25 ounce) cans kidney beans, undrained
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, combine tomato sauce, tomatoes and Italian seasoning.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until slightly crisp. Drain and stir into the pot. Retain the oil for the next step.

3. Add the chopped onion and garlic to the bacon grease and saute till lightly browned. Drain and stir into the pot.

4. In the same skillet over medium heat, cook sausage until browned. Drain and stir into the pot.

5. In the same skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until brown. Drain and stir into the pot.

6. Stir the barbecue sauce, chili powder and liquid smoke into the pot; taste and adjust seasonings.

7. Stir in the kidney beans and chocolate and simmer until flavors are well blended. Serve.


Enjoy and wish me luck! I'll let you know if I win anything! Oh and don't hesitate to try this in the crockpot. Chili is always better after it's aged a bit.

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Compost Stew

Ok, first off, it's not really compost stew. That is what dear husband said it looks like, but truly it is a tasty hearty winter stew. (Yes, that large potato piece next to the spoon should have been cut better!)

I received my "family" CSA share last week from Localmotive through the Sustainable Farm Products campaign at Nelson Farms. In my bag I had parsnips, sun dried tomatoes, acorn squash, apples, a dozen eggs, a bag of salad greens, carrots, potatoes, rutabaga and beets. I was a bit unsure of what I'd do with some of the items since I'm not a big winter root vegetable person, but I decided I'd make an effort to make something good!

Well here's what I came up with. A stew named "Compost Stew" (since that's what our compost pile supposedly looks like). Sadly, or maybe not so sadly, I don't have an exact recipe. I actually just winged it. You can wing it too with what you have on hand.

Basically I made this up in a 6 qt. crockpot. I included 1 can of beef broth, 1 packet of beef bullion, 3-4 cans extra water, 1 lb package of stew meat from Rock Op Co-Op, an onion, a handful of seasonings (garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, pepper), and the goodies from the Localmotive share: acorn squash, potatoes, rutabaga, carrots and parsnips.

It was very yummy and showed me I could make a nice tasty meal utilizing almost all local ingredients. Not that I doubted the fact, I just wasn't quite sure how it'd go over in the middle of winter!

Enjoy!

**Oh! And with the sun dried tomatoes, I'm going to try to alter this focaccia recipe. Looking forward to sun dried tomato-garlic bread!

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Stinky kitchen?

Did you burn Christmas cookies like I did? I didn't realize how far the Oatmeal Coconut cookies would spread and sure enough they spread right off the pan! Ahh!

I found this easy air freshener "recipe" on the Crockpot 365 blog. You take a mini crockpot, add water and 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Voila! Let it "stew" awhile and the odors will be absorbed. My husband will never know I burned cookies! :)

Enjoy your Christmas week!

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Mustard-Herb Beef Stew with Cheesy Beer Bread

Watch out, this is one beer filled meal! Ok, well you're cooking with it, so enjoy! The stew meat is local from Lasting Legacy's Farm in Barrington. I purchased it through the Rock-Op Local Foods Co-Op. I used the beer bread recipe from Annie's Eats blog and the stew recipe is from a recent Better Homes and Garden magazine.

Mustard-Herb Beef Stew

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1-1/2 lb. boneless beef chuck, cut in 1-to 1-1/2-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in wedges
4 carrots, peeled, cut in 1-inch pieces (I used baby carrots instead)
8 tiny Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. spicy brown mustard
1 14-oz. can beef broth
1 12-oz. bottle dark porter beer or non-alcoholic beer (I used Guinness)
1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. In large bowl combine flour, parsley, thyme, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add beef, a few pieces at a time; stir to coat. Reserve leftover flour mixture.

2. In a skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown beef.

3. In a large crockpot stir in onions, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, tomato paste, mustard, remaining flour mixture, broth, beer, and bay leaf. Cook on high for 1 hr then turn down to low for another 4-6 hrs or until beef and veggies are tender. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve with Cheesy Beer Bread. Makes 6 (1-1/2-cup) servings.

Cheesy Beer Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
12 oz. beer
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9×5” loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder. Whisk to combine well. Add cheese and whisk to combine. Slowly add beer to dry ingredients and stir lightly until just combined, and all ingredients are completely moistened. Place into a prepared loaf pan and pour melted butter over the top. Place in the oven and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I hope you enjoy this hearty fall meal.

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Crockpot Applesauce

I've seen this recipe posted in a few different places and I thought it was an awesome idea. What could be better than the smell of apples and cinnamon in the air and a nice bowl of applesauce?

The kids and I stopped by Butternut Farms again and picked some Honeycrisp apples. The apples were huge! I'm not sure if these were the best applesauce apples, but it looked and tasted fine. (For more info on apple varieties and uses, check this chart.) Here's the recipe:

Crockpot Applesauce
4-5 large apples (I used 5 extra large apples)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup water

Peel, core and slice your apples and place in the crockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Mash with fork or potato masher.

This is how my apples started their journey in the crockpot: I cooked them for a little over 4 hours and mashed them easily with a potato masher. Enjoy this simple recipe for yummy fresh applesauce.

I found a recipe for "Zucchini Muffins with Everything Nice" in one of my new cookbooks (quaint recipe name) that calls for applesauce so I'll be trying out the homemade applesauce in a recipe tomorrow. Stand by for that recipe and picture!

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Cookin' a Whole Chicken

I was able to snag a few fresh whole chickens from Kellie Brook Farm last week. They had just put up some fresh, never frozen chickens so I thought it'd be fun to try it out.

What I do is place the whole chicken right into the crockpot. I put three foil balls on the bottom of the pot so the chicken is held up over the crockpot. I used a crockpot liner so I didn't have to worry about the other chicken parts touching the edge of the pot. If you don't use a liner place a piece of foil between the chicken and the crockpot so it doesn't get too crispy.

Since it was fresh I put it on low for 6 hours. And voilà, fresh roasted chicken right out of the crockpot! I'll then pick apart the chicken and make chicken salad, enchiladas or sandwiches.

I went on to attempt to make my own broth so I could use all of the chicken and not put much to waste. I went back on to All Recipes website and found a crockpot chicken broth recipe. I must say I love my crockpot! I put all the ingredients in and let it stew over night. I woke the next morning to the most amazing chicken soup smell ever! I wish I had some cheese cloth to strain the broth, but I made do. Now I have 8 cups of homemade broth put up in the freezer for winter soup!

Give it a try soon, you can't go wrong with a crockpot!

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