Category Archives: Food

At the Market in February?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by AnnieRie

Yesterday morning we headed out to Olney to check out the market and see what the vendors have in late February. It is nice to have a market near us. No need to drive to Silver Spring, Tacoma Park or Dupont Circle on the weekends.

This market is a farmers, artists, and artisan/food vendor market. In the winter it is located in and outside of the Sandy Spring Museum on Rte. 108 not far over the Montgomery County line. About ten miles from us.

Sunday was lovely. Lots of vendors were outside taking advantage of the sun.

Homestead Farms of Faulkner MD, and Orchard Breeze of Ortanna PA were two of the farms outside. I picked up greens from Homestead and grilling sausage from Orchard Breeze. I also got a few other items, butternut squash and greenhouse tomatoes out there. Went inside and found apples from Falcon Ridge. This is their last week until spring. I was looking for Our House for their organic micro greens but they only come biweekly.

Here is what I brought home.

The candied walnuts were from a vendor outside, whose name escapes me, and who isn’t on the web site. So were the spiced nuts and wasabi peas. They were the little treat for my cocktail hour last night.

As for the greens, I got some extra arugula to go with the winter mix. Filled up the salad spinner, and we are good for the week.

There is something about just picked greens. Makes me think of spring. I will be starting my indoor greens box, up in the south facing window of our bedroom. It gets the most sun to start the seeds. Last year I had a great early start.

Next week my CSA begins again. Can’t wait until my first visit to pick up at Breezy Willow. I am plowing through the freezer, using up last year’s bounty, and want those fresh veggies back in our diet.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, farmer's markets, Food, gardening, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Paper Calendars

Posted on February 23, 2013 by AnnieRie

I am surprised that there are still lots of paper calendars out there. Many of us have changed to using our tablets or smart phones to record upcoming events. But, my husband still likes that calendar hanging on the side of the refrigerator. I picked up a very interesting free calendar out at England Acres last month. This is a new one for me.

I am learning all sorts of facts about locally pasture raised meats from this one. Like the February fact.

Each month also includes recipes, so today using one of my TLV chickens, I am making this recipe. Should be a good dinner as the rub smells wonderful, and the white BBQ sauce tastes really nice. It has been in the fridge since last night.

I am using half a chicken so I cut the amounts in half. The chicken looks like this as it is marinating.

Here is the recipe for the BBQ sauce. This is really good sauce. Strange combination but it works.

I know I cut off the end of the page in the pic. Just brush it on during the last ten minutes of cooking. I also cut this recipe in half since I have half a chicken. Use a little more Old Bay if you want a spicier sauce.

Tomorrow I will be posting my weekly Eat Local meal, and this will probably be it. There are other really good recipes on this calendar, that may show up on my table soon.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Wegmans Marketing Strategy

Posted on February 21, 2013 by AnnieRie

What is it with the aggressive mailings from Wegmans? They have upped the ante in their latest mailing to the all anonymous “residents” in this area, at least. Don’t know where they are mailing closer to the store but we are 16 miles away from them.

It used to be $30 in coupons. Now, they have increased the value. And, changed from a free item to a $5 coupon, plus the other two $1 coupons, weekly.

Still, $7 savings barely will cover the gasoline to drive from west county to Wegmans, so is it worth it? 30-40 miles round trip depending on where you live. Most of us out here don’t drive energy efficient mini vehicles. We have a pickup and a couple of SUVs, since we get more snow and ice, and we have to haul much more than when we lived in the city. For us, 1 1/2 gallons of gas would be what it would take just to run to Wegmans to pick up those few items. $6-7 worth of gas.

Since most of the coupon items don’t interest us, it is only the $5 one that is a draw. I have to admit, though, that we will drive further to buy from our local farmers, than to go to a grocery store.

As for our coupons, when I get to Columbia for car repairs, dental work, or doctor appointments, I would use some of these coupons. For things like the coffee packs, better pricing than Costco for this San Francisco Bay.

If I remember correctly, these K cups are $32.99. With a $5 coupon, they are seriously cheaper than anywhere else to buy K cups.

Hmmm, maybe worth it to go once or twice in the six weeks. Dental appointment next week. Car maintenance next month. A very good price on coffee. Otherwise, not worth the gas consumption to grocery shop there.

I do appreciate the place, but it isn’t my weekly place to shop.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Food, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged community, Food, foodie, Howard County, wegman's, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

The Costco Stock Up Run

Posted on February 20, 2013 by AnnieRie

I almost titled this post, you can’t get there from here. It seems there is no direct way for us to get over to Costco from where we live. So, I noticed I am not using them for many of my purchases, just because of the time it takes to navigate through Columbia. No direct way from west county. I end up using Rte. 108 all the way around to go in the back way through Lark Brown to avoid the delays on the other roads.

That means I really stock up when I go there. Very little food these days though. It seems to be my Go To place for toiletries, paper goods, spices, oils, chicken broth, printer cartridges, and my personal favorite ridiculously expensive item, Sonicare toothbrush heads. Why in the world do they cost so much? I made sure I got enough olive oil, nuts, garlic powder and chicken stock, the low sodium one that I like to use for making couscous and risotto. Hopefully it will be another 3-4 months until I need to go back.

The only real food items I bought, and this is indicative of how we have changed our eating habits, were lemons, limes, Meyer lemons, oranges, and “WOOHOO” I found one of those lovely large ends of wild ahi. My one huge splurge for raw fish, and I love getting the end piece to portion out and make 4-5 meals from it.

Two pounds. I ended up making three vacuum seal bags out of it. Two have those perfect thick filets and one has about a pound of the under side and the very bottom. The large one will make one of my slow cooked oven braised in tomatoes and olive oil, Tuscan style tuna — which will serve us for two meals. The smaller ones will be pan seared, maybe coated with sesame seeds and a little garlic.

Now that I have the vacuum sealer from my brother, I know the freezer won’t dry out or burn this fish. It was really easy to make the bags. I am really liking this machine.

I have learned a little trick with the 11″ roll. Cut a short piece of it. Turn it sideways and seal the open two sides, making a fully sealed plastic pouch. Now, cut off one of the “permanent” sealed edges, to get a long thin bag.

This puts the white strip for writing on the bottom instead of the side, and you use less plastic for smaller items. You need that three inch section to go into the machine. Why waste 3 inches by 11 inches to put it in horizontally, when you only vacuum and seal on the three inches by five or six inches. You get much more mileage out of the roll, doing it this way.

The thin seals made by the machine are now on the sides, and the thick original seal is on the bottom.

I ended up with three nicely portioned bags, one to be taken out and used this weekend, the others to stay fresh in the freezer for weeks.

Since this worked so well, I may be getting some large packs in the future of scallops, and make them into single serve portions. I also can’t wait for summer, when I can freeze fruit from Larriland.

hocofood@@@

Garlic. Scape. Pesto.

Posted on February 17, 2013 by AnnieRie

Wonderful stuff. Even when it was frozen. It screams springtime. Makes me anticipate the coming of spring in just a few weeks.

I defrosted this pesto to have with dinner tonight. Six cubes of it from one of the freezer containers. Half was for dinner tonight and the other half for some pasta tomorrow. I have one more plastic container full of this pesto, still in the freezer. Come on springtime, so I can make some more.

I made the pesto, poured it into ice cube trays, froze it, then stored it in plastic. But now that I have those vacuum sealers I may do something different next year. I love garlic scapes. Never knew what they were until I got into the CSA, and until I saw them at the Howard County Farmers Markets. Next year I will be buying more, harvesting a few dozen of my own, and getting them from the CSA. All will go into making this lovely pesto.

These are garlic scapes. You cut them off so the garlic puts more energy into the heads of garlic than into the flower. They are more delicate than garlic cloves. Mix a cup of scapes with half a cup of parmesan and half a cup of pine nuts. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to the blender or processor until you get the right consistency. Use as soon as you can, or freeze, or put in a mason jar with a coating of olive oil, in the fridge for a week, no more. If you can keep it that long.

I use it on all sorts of stuff. Flatbread. Pizza. Pasta. Crostini. Veggies. Potatoes. Tonight it went on veggies and potatoes, served with England Acres petit filet mignons.

This was my Sunday night Eat Local Winter Dinner. Local beef. Potatoes from EA as well. Veggies from the freezer. The last from almost 10 months ago, in our winter CSA. I found them in the bottom. They, luckily, were still good. My pesto. The only nonlocal items were the spices, balsamic and the olive oil they were cooked in. Pan seared the steaks, then added oil and balsamic and finished in the oven. Steamed the veggies. Defrosted the pesto. Microwaved the potatoes, then added them to the steak pan to brown up in the oven.

Easy and good. Really easy. How hard is it to steam veggies, nuke a few potatoes, sear a steak and pop it in the oven. Dinner in less than 30 minutes.

hocofood@@@

Shopping at the Farms

Posted on February 16, 2013 by AnnieRie

Last winter I had a CSA and we did Silver Spring, Dupont Circle and Tacoma Park markets to get my local items for my winter challenge. I thought nothing of driving into DC or the suburbs to get fresh foods locally grown. At the time, I was unaware of the year round farm stores that are actually closer to me, and are now where I get my meats, produce and locally produced items like bread, milk, eggs and honey.

Every other week I head out to England Acres to get dairy, meat, winter veggies and fresh greens. Also, apples and sometimes citrus. Judy gets high tunnel microgreens and winter greens from a farm in Damascus, East Rivendell Farm.

I will be heading over to check them out some day probably a Friday when they are open. For me to add a farm to my local resources list, I like to visit and see what they have. I love the greens from East Rivendell. Today I picked up some winter salad mix, and a bag of red chard at England Acres. I believe both of them were brought in from East Rivendell. Like these greens a few weeks back.

The mix I got today includes some lovely baby dinosaur kale. I also picked up the Baby Bellas again today. And, some carrots that Judy orders from Lancaster Farm Fresh, the coop that supplies my summer CSA. The carrots are so sweet in the winter. My favorite time to buy them.

This week I made lots of soups and the lasagna, so we are eating leftovers until tomorrow night. Then, I will be making my winter weekly Eat Local Dinner, using two little 5 oz. filets I got from Judy today. We were talking out at the farm about whether I should order a side of lamb. She will be selling sides and whole lamb packages. In March and in May. After that, no fresh lamb until the fall.

I find it interesting to get meat from the local farmers. Chickens available only from May until late fall. Lamb available winter and early spring. Seasonal influences based on when the animals are ready to process. If you have never bought or cooked with locally raised, farm fresh meats, you don’t know what you are missing. Just like local eggs and local produce, that freshness and taste are unmistakable.

Only three weeks to go until my Breezy Willow Early Bird CSA starts. Still happily eating from the freezer, the pantry and a couple of trips a month to the farmstands. Can’t believe how little I get from grocery stores these days. I asked my husband last week to stop at the store for the few items I can’t get at markets, like coffee creamer, extra light olive oil for cooking and dishwasher detergent. When your total gasoline points for the month are 39 from Giant Food, you know you have changed your buying habits.

As for CSAs, the local ones are filling up quickly. Look over at localharvest.org if you want to get the freshest produce and fruit weekly. There are all sorts of sizes and types now being delivered to pick up spots all over Howard County.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Commentary, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo, Winter Eat Local and tagged CSA, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, Howard County, Locavore, real food, value of CSA, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Grandma’s Tomato Soup

Posted on February 15, 2013 by AnnieRie

Nope, none of that canned stuff your mom might have served. The kind of soup my grandma made. Fifty years ago. Made with tomatoes, broth and slow cooked until everything came together.

Tomato rice soup. Made with tomatoes I grew last summer. Amish paste tomatoes. About two pounds of them. Put in the crock pot with some chicken broth and almond milk. Two tablespoons of tomato paste. A couple of cubes of my garlic scape pesto. Allowed to cook all day, until about an hour before serving when I pureed the tomatoes and added a cup of riso.

Served with crumbled rosemary crackers and a side salad of baby spinach, cranberries and goat cheese. The wine?

Tablas Creek syrah. 2003 vintage. Hard to believe it is ten years old. Big, balanced, with a hint of berries in the nose. It went well with the soup and the salad. A simple soup and salad dinner elevated to the next level with a great wine and completely made from scratch. Including the berry vinaigrette on the salad.

Enough left for a couple of lunches. Soup and salad is on the table many days for lunch. Thanks to another hocoblog food blogger for posting about tomato rice soup with basil. Although she used brown rice, the inspiration was there.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Locavore, Real Food, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, crockpot soups, Food, foodie, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

I Love Lamb

Posted on February 14, 2013 by AnnieRie

Valentine’s Day. What could be more romantic than dinner shaped like a heart?

Not only did the lamb end up in the shape of a heart, there was also a heart in the cheese.

Boarman’s lamb rack. Cherry Glen Monocacy Ash goat cheese. The local contributions to our Valentine’s Day dinner. Most of the rest was organic, but the lamb and the cheese were locally sourced.

The wine. From deep in the cellar where there is a box of wine that we won at the Taste for Life auction a few years back. A local charitable event to raise money for cancer research. It has now moved to Baltimore but for years it was held at the Ten Oaks Ballroom. We bought some lovely wine there at the auction and have been opening one every year for a special occasion. This was the year to open the 1996.

Besides the lamb and the wine, I also served a salad with the goat cheese and my homemade fruit vinaigrette. I made this vinaigrette using St. Helena Olive Oil Co. balsamic and extra virgin olive oil. Plus juice from my strawberries and blackberries. I defrosted some of them this week to use to make dressing.

Keep adding berries to the bowl and smash them up to release the juice. Strain them through a fine sieve and add a three to one ratio of oil to vinegar. I added some dried mint and dried basil plus salt and pepper to the dressing.

Mixed greens. Cranberries. Monocacy Ash cheese. Dress with the vinaigrette. Grate a little sea salt and pepper over it.

Later tonight a little sea salt caramel gelato. A nice homemade Valentine meal.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, hoco loco, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Lasagna vs Lasagne

Posted on February 12, 2013 by AnnieRie

So, what is it? Do you use the Italian spelling when not using traditional Italian ingredients? I have been working on perfecting my lasagna recipe. Lasagna because my recipe uses ricotta and mozzarella, not traditional Italian bechamel and ragu lasagne.

I made a lasagna today, to use the meat sauce I made on Sunday. It just jumped up and said, I need to be in lasagna. It was right. The sauce was made with local sausage, my tomato sauce from the freezer, some onions, mushrooms and garlic and all slow cooked in the crock pot.

I served a small portion of the sauce over penne on Sunday night. The rest really needed to be used as the star in a recipe. Lasagne immediately came to mind. But, now I know that the Americanization of the dish substituted ricotta, mozzarella and egg for the bechamel sauce. I like our version, so at The Common Market yesterday I picked up ricotta, mozzarella and some durum semolina pasta.

There you go! Lasagna from scratch. Ready to go in the oven.

To make this lasagna, you need:

a pound of sausage, browned with an onion and half a dozen mushrooms
at least a quart of tomato sauce, I made mine with tomatoes I blanched and froze
Italian herbs to taste, with salt and pepper

This is the sauce base.

You then need to make the white part. 15 oz. ricotta, 8 oz. mozzarella, 1 egg, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and 4 oz. milk.

I used 8 sheets of lasagne noodles. Layer sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. It comes out looking like this.

Yes, it did get a little crispy around the edges. Foil would have stopped that, but I like mine crispy. We will get three meals out of this. We served it with a Breaux cellar selection Barbera/Nebbiolo blend, called Six Degrees.

And, a salad of grapefruit, fennel, red onion over baby greens, with olive oil and grapefruit juice as the dressing. Mostly local, all organic. Absolutely lovely for a Tuesday night.

Who cares how you spell it?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Lovin’ Mondays

Posted on February 11, 2013 by AnnieRie

Back before we retired, Mondays were definitely not our favorite day of the week. Back to work. Back to the commute. The early mornings. No matter the weather. We had to get up early and return to DC or northern VA on the bus or the van.

Today was just another reminder of how we love being retired. Errands. Can be done on Mondays. No weekend rush. No Saturday lines. Need to go to Lowe’s to find extra long heavy duty cable ties. Well, let’s combine that errand with a leisurely private lunch while picking up our cellar club wines at Breaux.

An empty parking lot. The tasting room all to ourselves. Soup from a Thermos. A baguette and some peppered goat cheese. Four bottles of our cellar selections.

We picked up a few extra bottles, one of the Malbec and one newly released Cabernet Franc Reserve. Then, off to Frederick to stop at Lowe’s and, across Buckeystown Pike, my favorite coop, The Common Market. If you live in west county, a combined trip to the Frederick Costco and The Common Market can be done with less time getting there, than going to the east side of Columbia. A few extra miles, but less time in traffic.

The Common Market has better prices than MOM’s, and about the same as Roots, but their bulk food aisle is amazing. Three times the size of Roots. I picked up couscous, mixed nuts, cranberries and some artichoke pasta from the bulk aisle.

Plus, Monocacy Ash from Cherry Glen. A treat for our upcoming Valentine’s Day dinner. I will pair this cheese with whole strawberries from our freezer, which were picked at Larriland last spring.

Another special touch from the olive bar. To serve with the lamb on Thursday. Mixed marinated veggies, gigante beans and chickpeas.

I was supposed to be picking up items to make a local/organic lasagna with my meat sauce I slow cooked yesterday. As usual, too many other tempting goodies there. Then, home tonight to pop chicken pot pies from them into the oven, and watch one of the better sunsets of late. Looks like tomorrow will be warm and clear. Can’t beat this weather.