Category Archives: Local Businesses

Olive Oil and Pasta …

Posted on July 24, 2014 by AnnieRie

… and so much more.

I have written about Secolari before. And, used their products in many of my favorite meals. Products like their oil and balsamic, their flavored salts. Plus, that lovely pasta from Pappardelle that they carry.

Now, I can add chocolate mint honey to my latest finds. I am thinking about the suggested use in iced lattes.

Last night we had a bloggers’ get together at the Columbia Mall location with the owners highlighting some of their products. A “perk” so to speak of being a blogger around here.

Goodies like popcorn with Black Truffle salt and Lime Olive Oil.

There was a good crowd there. Tasting the oils, the vinegars, the honey, and enjoying small bites from Zoe’s Kitchen, located across the promenade from Secolari.

You don’t have to be a blogger to taste their products. Whenever you visit, you can sample before choosing your favorites. Barth and Mary deRosa have a wonderful shop here.

If you aren’t into oil and vinegar, but love pasta, they have a product for you. Pappardelle.

Another favorite of mine.

This orzo, with the lemon infused oil, will be paired with these little gems.

A baking sheet covered with my tomatoes and shallots. Slow cooked in a 200 degree oven. Tomorrow they will be mixed with the orzo and drizzled with oil. A very tasty salad.

Check out Secolari. Buy some pasta and olive oil. Indulge. Much better and so much cheaper than dinner in a restaurant.

Thanks Barth and Mary for hosting us last night.

3 Comments

Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Real Food and tagged community, cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

The Friends and Farms “Basket”

Posted on July 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

An individual basket with a few add ons. Just the right size for two people with a garden. Or a single person. Or a couple who eats out a couple of nights a week.

This week our proteins were chuck roast and sockeye salmon. Since the salmon was an 8 ounce individual filet, I could email or call or register on line to order another portion or two.

This week’s cheese was mozzarella.

Perfect for the two tomatoes in the basket, and my basil from the garden. Or with all those supersweet 100s I am getting from the garden.

We got a large onion. A couple of yellow squash (like I need squash). Actually, putting them away to make ratatouille next week when we are supposed to get eggplant.

Blueberries. Yes, there will be frozen berries. And lemon blueberry zucchini bread. There were two ears of very sweet corn. It is gone already. I did ask for additional and will be billed for three more.

Dinner Thursday night was sockeye salmon and corn on the cob. Nothing else. Well, there was wine.

The last things in the basket were the large bag of mostly baby spinach. Which makes perfect salads. With that smoked bacon from last week.

I wasn’t in the mood for the fresh bread choices this week so I got one of these.

A parbaked ciabatta. Sitting in the freezer waiting for me to need it.

Upcoming meals will include a caprese salad, obviously. A spinach, blueberry and walnut salad one night. That ratatouille next week. Chuck roast is in the freezer waiting for cooler weather.

#hocofood

Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Ninety Eight Ounces

Posted on July 6, 2014 by AnnieRie

That would be how much zucchini I harvested Saturday morning.

I wrote the other day about zucchini recipes. Now, we need to add a new one to the list.

Zucchini Fritters. Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Although I did modify it a bit. I used shallots and baby leeks instead of scallions.

I did make them as recommended in my cast iron skillet.

The recipe yielded a dozen tiny fritters. Perfect with kofta.

Topped with homemade tzatziki.

A completely local meal. Lamb from England Acres. Onions from my garden. Zucchini and shallots from the garden. Egg from Miller Farms in Clinton. Tzatziki from my cucumbers, mint, dill and Pequea Valley yogurt.

The wine.

One of Breaux’s stars. A 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc. Lots of alcohol though. 16.4%. Big wine. Stood up to the kofta.

So far, I am beating those zucchini. But barely. I did put away two packages of shredded zucchini in the freezer. Saving for a cold winter’s day to make bread.

4 Comments

Posted in Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Lock Those Car Doors!

Posted on June 26, 2014 by AnnieRie

It’s zucchini season.

You must act now to keep gardeners from leaving zucchini in the back seat of your car! I swear you can watch them grow.

We got zucchini today from three sources. In the CSA. In the Friends and Farms basket. And from my garden. Bread is in the future. Chocolate zucchini bread, that is.

A quick look at what we got from our local and regional sources for food.

Friends and Farms gave us heirloom zucchini, tomatoes, a cucumber, white potatoes, green bell peppers, leaf lettuce and scallions. The fruit was a pint of blueberries. I picked white bread this week. Eggs. Swordfish. Beef kabob cubes. This is an individual basket. Just the right size for a couple who have a garden, and a CSA subscription.

The greens are already gone. They were in tonight’s salad.

As for Lancaster Farm Fresh and our half share CSA.

Eight items in the vegetable share. Two pints of organic blueberries in the fruit share. Three lovely cheeses. Chicken share a mix of boneless skinless breast meat and whole legs.

The veggie share. Eight ball zucchini. Green cabbage. Peas in the shell. Green beans. Pickling cukes. One large slicing cucumber. New red potatoes. And heirloom spinach (which was supposed to be kale, but I swapped).

Gouda, cheddar and bleu cheese. Every month a threesome of interesting fresh, mostly raw milk cheeses.

I don’t need grocery stores. I have it all in our “grand slam”. CSA. Friends and Farms. Our garden. Jenny’s market. Where today I picked up oranges to make my fennel salad. A few grapes and plums for my husband’s fruit fix.

Here’s to eating what is freshest and from small local sources. And, that garden thing.

Zucchini anyone? I can deliver.

hocofood@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

A Decade of Summers

Posted on June 23, 2014 by AnnieRie

Our tenth summer here. Time flies. The trees are much larger. The bushes growing together. It is even more private than when we arrived. Not quite as quiet, though. More development brought more traffic.

But still, summer out here is lived outdoors. Either mowing or weeding or trimming or harvesting or eating or drinking or whatever. I spend so much time outdoors. Watching the animals. The birds. The snakes. Yes, the snakes. Life in the country is always an adventure.

We also eat more meals at home. Shop closer to home. I almost titled this post, summer salad days, because we have transitioned into the summer routine of salads for lunch, and a big component of dinner.

It’s too hot some days to cook. Or, our appetites are affected by the heat.

We stopped up at the garden after dinner at Iron Bridge tonight. Tried to decide if we wanted to stand in that long line at the Woodstock snowball stand. Decided instead to come home for leftover crumble with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream.

Blueberry season opens this weekend at Larriland. I never went to Larriland when we lived in Columbia. Now, it’s a couple of times a month. Peaches and blackberries after the blueberries.

Getting ready for field day this weekend with the radio club. Hoping we don’t get storms.

Tomorrow I need to go and vote. Thursday is Fiddlers and Fireflies, a summer staple in this part of the county, out at the Conservancy. Things don’t always slow down around here when it’s warm.

Here’s to summertime. Officially here last weekend. To lazy days with minimal fuss.

To that perfect Caprese salad.

To Life in the Slow Lane.

#hocoblogs

Leave a comment

Posted in Community, Farms, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Weather and tagged community, cooking, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Grill From the Garden

Posted on June 22, 2014 by AnnieRie

Tonight’s dinner brought to us by the ripening cucumbers and zucchini in the garden.

I picked three cucumbers this morning and two baby zucchini. Along with my first tomato, some dill, and a pound of kale and rainbow chard.

Cucumbers. Dill. What does that mean?

Tzatziki. A plop of plain yogurt. One diced cucumber. Teaspoon of fresh dill. Squeeze of lemon. Salt. Pepper.

All without hitting a grocery store. The lemons came from Jenny’s market, as did a few other things I am using for salads this week. And the potatoes.

I put some teeny potatoes in the grill with my CSA asparagus and the zucchini from the garden. Great side dish.

Made a couple kofta. One pound of England Acres lamb. Handful of scallions from the garden. Garam masala, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Olive oil. Perfect with tzatziki.

Great with a pinot noir. And a homemade dessert.

Strawberry rhubarb crumble. Compliments of Smitten Kitchen.

I think this was a win in the “eat local” column.

#hocofood

Leave a comment

Posted in Food, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, grilling, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Viva La Difference!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by AnnieRie

Five weeks in. Two different sources of local and regional food. They have their strengths and a couple of weaknesses. But, all in all, they are a good fit for how I cook.

How is a CSA different from the regional buying service? I think I am getting there at understanding it all.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. Seventy five farms in Amish country. Almost all of them organic. Lots of options, but you pay for the whole season up front.

This year I picked a half share. Since I have a garden. And my Friends and Farms subscription.

That means I get 4-7 organic items weekly. This week we got six items.

The spring heavy veggies, as PA is slightly behind us in MD, season wise.

A large Napa cabbage on the right. A robust head of romaine. Enough garlic scapes to make more pesto. A healthy amount of snow peas. Three kohlrabi. And a bunch of asparagus.

This year I added on a couple of extras. Like a fruit share.

This week, strawberries and rhubarb. Perfect to make a crisp or crumble.

The chicken share. Every week, 3-4 pounds of chicken. This week.

A whole heritage bird. I really enjoy grilling or roasting these chickens, and making stock from the skin, bones and innards.

As for my other major food source, Friends and Farms. We are signed up for an individual share this summer. A thirteen week commitment. We have also done a small share when it isn’t CSA or gardening season.

I like getting the mix of veggies, fruit, protein, dairy and bread.

This week. The protein.

Andouille sausage. Bacon. Chicken breasts. The Andouille was dinner tonight. With a side of braised cabbage. The chicken. Will be a stir fry Sunday. This week we also got a dozen eggs. And, these veggies and a fruit.

An onion. Garlic. Kohlrabi. A yellow squash. Tomatoes. Radishes. Kale. Blueberries.

My add ons this week. A way to get more without going to a store.

Yogurt, to make tzatziki and a few dressings. Butter, not pictured.

As for the ice cream. Given as a credit because some of the mussels last week were cracked or dead. As usual, the company comes through if the products aren’t up to their standards.

Between these two sources, we get a huge majority of our food. One requires a season paid in advance, and not a large amount of substitution. But the quality is excellent. As is the variety.

The other. Excellent flexibility and customization options.

Who needs Giant Food? Or the new Whole Paycheck coming to Columbia? Not those of us who know we get great food at better pricing than Whole Paycheck, and better quality than Giant.

@@@hocofood

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Berry, Berry Good

Posted on June 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

Both my food sources delivered strawberries today. There will be some creative cooking going on.

Today Lancaster Farm Fresh began the fruit shares for those of us who opted for this add on. We got a jar of their incredibly rich “just apples” applesauce. Too bad we didn’t sign up for a meat share. They got boneless pork chops.

As for our chicken share:

Breasts, thighs and legs. 4.5 pounds of chicken. I have been so impressed with what we get, as always.

We get an email in the morning telling us what was selected. We do get advanced notice on Tuesdays, of the expected crop picking. But, it does change slightly.

There were nine items in the half share today. I did swap the cilantro, as I grow it, for that lovely fennel. There will be fennel, orange and red onion salad soon. I am impressed with the size of the leaf lettuce, and the romaine.

The bonus. Those radish greens, which are edible and quite tasty, albeit a bit peppery.

The CSA pickup was this afternoon. This morning I also got our Friends and Farms basket.

OK, I was brave and took the mussels, even though I don’t eat them. My husband was thrilled with them. They are gone already. Tonight’s dinner. White wine. Mussels. Butter. Shallots. Garlic scapes. A teaspoon of flour. Classic mussel dish. Served with the baguette from The Breadery.

The rest of this week’s protein and dairy. Short ribs and Ewe crème cheese. We also got baby bok choy, zucchini, baby bellas, broccoli, asparagus, spring mix, and those strawberries.

There will be stir fry on the menu this week. And, lots of salads.

Tomorrow night, slow cooked short ribs over greens.

For the Saturday night movie at the Wine Bin. Mushroom pate. The rest of the baguette. Chicken salad. Strawberry salsa.

Having fun with the fresh foods.

#hocofood

Leave a comment

Posted in Community, CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged community, cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Farm Fresh Feasts

Posted on June 10, 2014 by AnnieRie

A great name that sums up my way of cooking. And, the name of the blog of one of my CSA “internet buddies”. We connected on line while commenting on CSA links at In Her Chucks. A blog that is inactive at this time. But, we still read each other’s blog, and make great foods using each other’s recipes. Trust me. She has the most amazing pizza page.

Kirsten stopped at Larriland a few days back, to pick up strawberries. Based on my recommendation of the place. And she made strawberry salsa. Really! I need to make this salsa. It looks like just what we need around here. More homemade salsa.

Today I got about a quart out at the community gardens. I worked my garden and picked a bit from a released garden, at the suggestion of our managers, to not let good fruit go to waste. Today was Food Bank day and we harvested and donated 35 pounds of food to Howard County. I was picking kale and chard and chives.

After that, I remembered we needed to pick those very ripe berries from the abandoned plot. Along with pulling out lots of weeds while up there. Now, I have almost enough to make that salsa.

As for farm fresh feasts, here is what you can make from those lovely fresh strawberries.

Salad with goat cheese and balsamic glaze.

Farm fresh feasts. The best way to eat.

#hocofood

2 Comments

Posted in Farms, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Springtime Recipe Inspiration

Posted on June 7, 2014 by AnnieRie

I haven’t done a recipe round up in a while. With the explosion of late spring vegetables, I think I should gather together all my links to the dishes, desserts, salads, suggestions, etc. that I continue to mention in my CSA posts.

Like my garlic scape pesto. Here in the middle of the very fleeting garlic scape season. The simplest version combines a cup of scapes (cut in small pieces), a half cup freshly processed Parmesan, a half cup toasted pine nuts, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Put fresh Parmesan cut in chunks into food processor. Pulverize. Add scapes, mix. Add pine nuts, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle oil in until you get the creaminess you want.

As for other things to do with scapes, grill them. Lightly oil them. Put on a really hot grill and keep turning them so they don’t burn. Season with salt and pepper before serving. They melt in your mouth.

Asparagus. Like the wild ones growing in my yard. They will turn green when you move the mulch. I like a simple dry grill method. Put in a basket. Dry grill for a few minutes. Just before taking them off the grill, brush olive oil on them and light salt and pepper them. Once on the table, shave Parmesan on them.

I also blanch them, then cut in small pieces. Make a simple egg/milk/herb/S&P mix and put into large non stick oven proof pan, lightly oiled. Once it begins to set up, dump the blanched asparagus on top, pick any grated cheese and put it on top and finish in the oven on 350 degrees.

I also put those blanched pieces mixed with any pasta, and a healthy spoonful of any pesto on top. Finish again with cheese.

Am I in a Parmesan rut or what?

Let’s move to strawberries and rhubarb.

Already wrote about that barbecue sauce.

I’ve made sweet desserts like crisps and crumbles, but can’t find all the recipes for them. The Food Network one was used at least once.

Kale. Chard. Greens. Nothing really fancy but lots of inspiration out there.

Kale chips are fun. Mess around with your favorite spices.

Also, that night I made one of my famous frittatas. Anything with that egg mixture, can be one light fresh seasonal awesome feast.

I suppose what I am saying here is this. Whatever is the freshest stuff you can find. Bring it home. Lightly treat it. Lots of olive oil, a little salt and pepper. My addiction to parmigiano reggiano.

Whatever.

It’s not yet corn, squash, zucchini or pepper season. Be patient and enjoy what has just been picked.

#hocofood

Leave a comment