Today is National Soup it Forward Day. We are encouraged to celebrate community, friendship, health, and, soup, by making an extra-large batch of our favorite homemade soup, then delivering it to unsuspecting friends and neighbors who need a little pick-me-up and appreciation. In celebration, I’m posting my Four Cheese Cheeseburger Soup recipe that I created for our farm‘s Weeklyish Newsletter.
Continue readingThe best (food-related) part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. Don’t waste those turkey bones! It’s time to make turkey stock! You could watch my video on making chicken and roasted veggie stew, and simply replace the whole stewing hen with your leftover turkey carcass. But it might not fit in the crockpot, so you may have to use a bigger stock pot.
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Broa is a rustic Portuguese cornbread. Unlike more common Midwestern American cornbreads, which are leavened with baking powder or soda and fairly sweet, broa is yeast leavened and savory. It’s great with the addition of cranberries and made into small boules you can scatter about the celebratory table, so everyone can cut or tear off a hunk without waiting for it to be passed! No kneading (but a bit of advanced planning) required.
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Garlic Scapes are one of my absolute favorite foods, yet available so fleetingly. They are the flower stalk from hardneck garlic, and must be harvested to allow the garlic heads to size up. But their delicious garlic x leek flavor is an absolute delight. The biggest scape regret is that their season lasts but about two weeks a year.
Continue readingSome folks have complained I haven’t posted anything new lately. That’s just sour grapes dough.
Sourdough Boule
Blueberry Basil Muffins
July in Indiana brings two of my all-time favorite flavors: Blueberries and Basil. And they’re wonderful together. Things have been really crazy lately, with hot, long days working in the field. My body was crying out for a rest, with a long, hot, four days of Culver Lakefest on the horizon. I didn’t really have the time, but I opted to listen to my body and spend some time in the kitchen this morning. Haven’t spent any quality time in there since Hole in the Woodstock, anyway. So, I came up with these Blueberry Basil Muffins to celebrate. Continue reading
Pasta with Grilled Lemon Asparagus
After a late start, the asparagus harvest this year has been great! But after grilling, air frying, sauteing, and roasting, plus Cream of Asparagus Soup, it was time to celebrate asparagus with something a little unexpected. How about pasta? And let’s grill it for good measure! And lemon sounds like it would brighten things up a bit!
Baked Oatmeal for Breakfast means you can work ’till lunch! Yum!
I love the flavor of oatmeal. But I loathe its texture. And texture is an important thing! So, when Xenia raved about the baked oatmeal at the dining hall, I was a bit reticent to try it. But, when I did, I could see what all the fuss was about!
Filled with apples, dried fruit, and oaty goodness, baked oatmeal is tasty, satisfying, and a breakfast that will stick with you. It’s great for breakfast before heading out to cut firewood on a chilly day. Continue reading
Yummy, sticky, sweet, spicy… Pecan Rolls!
I wish I could make pecan rolls as good as Joann McCormack, “The Cinnamon Roll Lady.” Alas, I must limit myself to those little sticky plops of ambrosia to summer, when I can get them at the Tuesday evening Culver Farmers’ Market. Mine, though, are still pretty durn sticky-good. My version is also easy and quick to make. I can put it together in time for breakfast even on a busy Sunday with parade, chapel, or other commitments. Continue reading
Make and refrigerate (or freeze) a large quantity of brioche dough, and you can make a wide assortment of fresh goodies in little time
Things have been a bit really crazy lately, allowing not so much time to cook, let alone bake. Yet the ducks kept laying eggs, even as the days get shorter and colder. Normally they would have slowed nearly to a stop by now. The result? I’m running out of egg storage space!
So, on a stormy Sunday with no work duties(!) and a lot of studying to do, I decided to do something about it. I made up about a 4 1/2 pound batch of refrigerator brioche dough!
Brioche is a (very) enriched bread dough, with lots of egg and butter, and sweetened with a bit of honey. It’s often baked in a typical loaf shape, but can be substituted for challah, made into cinnamon rolls, or beignets filled with chocolate or jam (though that requires deep frying, a mess I seldom want to deal with). Continue reading