Tag Archives: Howard County

Preserving #hoco

Posted on September 15, 2012 by AnnieRie

Maybe I should call this one, my house reeks of garlic. But, that’s not particularly pleasant, unless you love garlic. This weekend finds us preserving food. Getting ready for winter. Making like the squirrels who are burying acorns (and corn). I can’t believe it when corn starts growing in the middle of my yard.

But, I digress. Today I popped off to the Glenwood Market to pick up a few things. And, when I returned, I was slow cooking and drying tomatoes. The tomatoes are winding down in the garden. I do have quite a bit of little ones, that I oven dried to make pesto.

Heirlooms ready to oven dry

Our theme this week for the Southern SOLE Food Challenge is preserving. I certainly am putting food away for winter. Besides the tomatoes and the pesto, I learned a trick from Lewis Orchards, at the market. Buy the buttermilk cake from Stone House Bakery. Cut it in quarters. Wrap it. Freeze it.

the cake

Wrapped and ready to freeze

Take those frozen Larriland Farms strawberries. Some whipped cream. A quarter of the cake. Make summer happen in the middle of winter.

Check out what my friends are preserving, by clicking on the links on my Challenges page.

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Processed Foods

Posted on September 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

I think I spent all day today processing fresh veggies. I now have a greater appreciation for what my mom and grandmom did, with all that work associated with freezing (and canning) foods. I haven’t done much canning. Mostly freezing, after blanching or preparing the veggies from the CSA and farmer’s markets.

Roasted Beets

The beets were dry roasted, to put in salads this week. Besides the beets, I had jalapenos in the oven. These are destined to become the base for chili oil, once they age in the fridge.

Roasted Jalapenos

I also made ajvar, using eggplant and red peppers.

Add a little roasted garlic, and make this wonderful spread.

Roasted Garlic

The finished product. So flavorful. Not that hard to make. Roast eggplant and peppers. When done, throw a head of garlic cloves in the oven, after turning it off. Puree all of it in the blender. Add olive oil, salt, pepper and balsamic to make it taste the way you want it.

Ajvar

I finished all this by blanching and freezing the roma tomatoes from the CSA. These were peeled and bagged, after blanching, and will be added to crock pot dinners this winter.

Tomorrow, if I am ambitious, the peaches will be blanched, peeled and frozen, to use in vinaigrettes and sauces all winter.

I made a mess of the kitchen, using the blender and the food processor, both of them twice. I swear, I spend all my time doing dishes. Oh, I forgot, I did process two peaches, with yogurt, peach nectar and honey, to make peach pops.

Peach yogurt pops

What did you do this weekend?

hocofood@@@

6 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Locavore, Real Food and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Markets and Farms

Posted on August 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

I had intended to do a mid summer look at what is happening at local markets and farms, but somehow the month of August got away from me. We are two thirds of the way through the Howard County market season, which will wind down the end of October. I have visited three of the five producer only markets in the county, with most of my visits to Miller Library and HCGH. The other location is Glenwood on Saturdays. Not living near East Columbia, I haven’t been to Cradlerock or Oakland Mills. Many of the vendors go to multiple markets, so with the exception of only five, I have seen the rest.

I like our markets, even though they aren’t huge. They are producer only, and you can get a good assortment of veggies and fruits, bread, meat, coffee, cheese, baked goods, flowers and plants, by visiting them. Their prices are reasonable as well. I try to hit one of them each week, for the things I don’t get in the CSA. Our CSA is almost exclusively veggies, so I have lots of other goodies to buy at the markets. Things like bread from The Breadery.

The Breadery’s lemon rosemary loaf

And, flowers from Greenway Farms.

Celosia

Plus, for me, eggs and meat are an important purchase. Currently, only TLV farm sells meat at our markets, and they sell eggs. Breezy willow also has eggs.

TLV smoked bacon

The markets aren’t my only source of farm fresh goodness. I have been going to England Acres regularly for chicken, eggs, dairy and cheese. When I am there, I do find other bargains like I did today. Peaches, roma tomatoes, gala apples, all $1 a pound. Check out the white peaches. Four peaches. They weighed 3.7 pounds total. One of them weighed a pound. The others just a bit under. One of these lovely peaches will be grilled Monday night, and served with balsamic.

huge white peaches

England Acres is fun, for families there is lots to do. Feed the chickens. Check out the goats. Today, you could pick corn, or dig potatoes. They are five miles west of Mt. Airy, so if you live in West County, they aren’t far at all. I take a cooler and buy meat and dairy. I also hand pick my eggs, still with hay on them, from the basket. This week I got all large eggs. I will be saving them for a week or so, to use for some deviled eggs.

fresh eggs from England Acres chickens

Besides England Acres, we also head out to Larriland when they have new UPick items. We have done blackberries. Blueberries. Strawberries. I will be heading out to get peaches and apples this week. In the fall I will harvest greens to blanch and freeze.

strawberry picking at Larriland

I haven’t made it to Gorman yet, but I hope to get there. For me, this time of year is awesome. All these wonderful good veggies and fruits there for us to enjoy. In the fall I also will go out to Sharp’s Farm for some specialty pumpkins and fall squash. TLV farms also allows you to pick your own pumpkins.

Don’t let the summer and fall get by without experiencing our local farmers. Hit a local farm stand, one where they grow it themselves. Come to the markets. Take the family out to a farm to see the animals and see food right out of the ground. The goats at England Acres would love to see them.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Family, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Fall Plann(t)ing

Posted on August 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

Planning on planting for the fall? It is time to get started. I was looking at Victoria’s great garden pictures over on The Soffrito. Planting in containers for the fall is a great way to extend the season. These were my spring greens. I will do the same for fall. I plant them in a protected corner and put netting over them to deter the bunnies.

Mixed greens

I also saw an awesome recipe while watching The Chew today. I was in the midst of helping my husband with a filing project and had the TV on after the noon news. What to do with green tomatoes? We will soon be at that stage of harvesting the last of the summer goodies. My planning includes creative ways of using up some of the ones that don’t ripen, before ripping out the plants and putting in kale and arugula. I will be freezing slices of the large ones to make fried green tomatoes, and freezing any little ones to make this spaghetti recipe.

Besides all that, I need to get a few more heads of garlic from the CSA that can go in the containers once I remove the flowers from the summer. After planting in October, I will heavily mulch them to survive the winter.

Organic garlic, perfect for planting this fall

The CSA has announced that Columbia will be a location for the fall extension of the CSA, so we will have fresh veggies in November and December. Check out the Sandy Spring site to see if you want to join us. Fall veggies like carrots, potatoes, greens, pumpkins and other squash varieties are great to use in stews, soups and crock pot dinners. What could be better than this in December?

CSA basket from last December

Sounds like I need to check on my topsoil supply and get a few more bags of mulch to mulch the garlic. And, run out to some of the nurseries to see what they have for fall planting. Maybe fennel?

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Weather and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally: Mexican Style

Posted on August 20, 2012 by AnnieRie

Last night I made my Southern SOLE Food Challenge, SSFC, meal with a Mexican influence, compliments of our CSA basket that had lovely poblano peppers in it. Most of the meal was local, with just a few exceptions, like the black beans and the mozzarella.

Chicken, black beans and stuffed poblanos

The picture doesn’t do it justice. The poblano got soft, silky and it was filled with creamy mozzarella that countered the heat. The chicken came from our winter CSA, one of the last deliveries from Zahradka. I simply seasoned it with garlic powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper. The black beans did come from a can. A can of organic beans, drained and rinsed, then placed in the pan with grapeseed oil, and covered with my rhubarb sauce. A one dish oven baked meal.

Really good with a Yuengling, the local beer from my husband’s home county in PA.

I got the rhubarb recipe by reading one of the posts in our inlinkz party. I didn’t use it on pizza, but it has been used often. Tangy, rich and so delicious.

Rhubar-b-cue sauce

Besides Sunday night, we also used up some of our local meats the other day. I slow cooked a brisket from Woodcamp Farms. It has been used three times since Thursday. I used the rhubarb sauce on it, after dry rubbing it with the Rub Joe Meat coffee rub.

Slow cooked barbecue brisket

Finding locally raised beef, lamb, pork and poultry is pretty easy in the county. My local resource page shows quite a few of the places where I buy meats.

Veggies are easy. Fruit is easy. Meat is easy. Seafood is easy. Herbs are easy. The hardest part of eating locally is finding grains and beans. Still, having the bulk of the meal come right from local farmers is better than having it shipped halfway around the world.

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

So, How Did I Do at the Fair

Posted on August 10, 2012 by AnnieRie

The Howard County Fair is winding down, with two days left. Tonight is the 4H livestock auction, and if it isn’t thundering, we will be there. We have been out there four days already, and have definitely had our share of fresh lemonade, plus bought Baugher’s peaches at Rizzmull’s.

Rizzmull’s stand at the fair

We always go Sunday morning to see if I got any ribbons for my garden entries. This year my tomatoes were a total bust, as they weren’t ready, or they were way past ready, at the entry date. My Amish paste didn’t get any prizes.

Amish paste heirloom tomato

But, happily I am bringing home my first blue ribbon, to add to my red and yellow ones from previous years. For my herbs, from the garden.

Rosemary, African blue basil and cotton lavender

I also went back Wednesday and entered my last gladiolus from my front yard. Surprise! It won second place, so another red ribbon for flowers that have been blooming for years in our yard. This year they started blooming early, but still had a few left for me to enter the last large one.

My second place winning gladiolus

Sunday morning I get to pick up my ribbons, and my checks, and bring home my containers. In the meantime, here are a few more pictures from wandering the fair on Thursday. I love our county fair. It is small enough to feel cozy, but still has lots to do.

As for my heirloom tomatoes, there’s always next year.

hocoblogs@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Recipes, and Why I am Bad at Them

Posted on August 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

Many times for my SSFC posts I have posted pictures of dinners made to use local foods for the food challenge. Since our current challenge to use local foods for one meal is heading into the season of tons of squashes, I have been trying to find ways to use them creatively.

Last week I made two dinners using almost completely local items, with a few additions. One was my eggplant parm, and another a baked chicken dinner.

Eggplant Parm

Baked chicken thighs with Amish egg noodles and roasted veggies

If I needed to document what exactly went into these two dinners, I would be in deep trouble, because when I cook, I don’t measure. When I bake, yes, when I cook, it is just whatever seems to look and taste good, and whatever I have around the kitchen.

These dinners were from Monday and Wednesday last week, mainly using up CSA items before I got my Thursday pick up. The eggplant Parmesan recipe started out from a web search that went into a half dozen places, including Martha Stewart. I think I used parts of hers but improvised because I had no mozzarella in the house.

The eggplants were a mix of Italian and Japanese. Sliced, salted and allowed to drain out moisture. The sauce was made by mixing all my overripe tomatoes with half a jar of Wegmans organic sauce and a squeeze of tomato paste from the tube in my fridge. See what I mean about measuring? I have no idea how much went into that base.

I didn’t have mozzarella so I mixed grated domestic parmesan from Roots with all the Firefly Farm chevre I had left in the fridge and the last of the Bowling Green Feta, grated. Added a little milk to make it creamier.

Dredged the eggplant in beaten egg, Panko bread crumbs and Parm, added a little salt and lots of pepper.

Coated the bottom of the baking dish (a small deep dish) with olive oil, added sauce, eggplant, cheese, sauce, eggplant, cheese, sauce and topped with the last of the Parm. Baked it for over two hours on a slow cook setting on my oven until it was dinner time.

As for the chicken thighs, same sort of thing. Put olive oil, tomatoes, onions, peppers and chicken in a casserole, Covered the chicken in herbs, salt and pepper. Put it all in the oven on slow cook setting for three hours while doing chores around the house.

Served it with Amish egg noodles. The noodles were homemade by a vendor that sells at the Briggs Chaney farmers market. The chicken came from them also. The egg noodles were quickly boiled at the last minute.

Accompanied this SSFC meal with a local wine. We belong to a cellar club at Breaux. This wine is wonderful with chicken and with seafood. I love the blend.

Breaux Wine served with Chicken

Getting back to recipes. We got a huge eggplant this week. Along with lots of lovely tomatoes, garlic, white peppers. This week’s eggplant dish may actually be a stacked version using the tomatoes and mozzarella I bought at Roots.

Veggies inspiring a variation on Eggplant Parm

Who knows what I will cook next? And, if I will remember what I did put in it? That’s the fun of being in a CSA, getting creative with What’s in the Box.

hocofood@@@

4 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

CSA Week 13, The Second Half of the Season

Posted on August 3, 2012 by AnnieRie

We have crossed over the hump. Week 13 of the CSA. Twelve left until the fall season. It must be a great summer in PA, as we are getting slammed with pounds of vegetables. The haul:

Week 13 Sandy Spring CSA Full Share

1 Bag Green Beans
1 Bag Garden Peach Heirloom Tomatoes
1 Italian Eggplant
1 Bunch Red Beets
1 Pint Blackberries
4 White Bell Peppers
2 White Garlic
1 Bag Mixed Specialty Squash
1 Bag Mixed Tomatoes
1 Young Fennel Bulb
1 Bag Red Flesh/Red Skin Potatoes
1 Bunch Rhubarb

Twelve items again. And, yes, we got blackberries and we got rhubarb. Some baking and some fruit salads are in the planning stages with these goodies.

As for the financial aspect, this is getting difficult as depending on where you look, the prices are all over the place. How do you reconcile heirloom tomatoes. I have seen them for $5 a pound at MOM’s, and $4 a pound at Roots, and $2.50 each for large ones at the farmer’s markets. I could get them cheapest at the market, and by running all over town find the other items. I know I was $100 ahead two weeks ago.

What it would cost me in gasoline to chase down organic veggies would negate savings by buying at one place. But, try finding rhubarb at the markets right now. Difficult.

I know the cheapest that I could buy organically grown (but maybe not always certified) veggies would be at Love Dove on Fridays and Breezy Willow on Saturdays. Add Zahradka to the mix, or go to Olney for Our House Farms and I could get most of what is in the CSA. Again, lots of driving. I do go to the markets, but it is convenient to get the bulk of my veggies all together with the advance email of what seasonal goodies are coming home with me.

As for some of these heirlooms, they are incredible. The peach tomatoes have a taste that is fantastic, and so different. I couldn’t stop eating them when I got home.

Garden Peach Heirloom Tomatoes

The red flesh potatoes were this amazing pink color inside, so now between the purple, white and pink potatoes I can make an extremely colorful potato salad, and use some of the green beans in it as well.

Red Flesh/Red Skin Potatoes

There were three pounds of potatoes and four pounds of heirloom tomatoes this week. Using a rough cost estimate for the tomatoes gives me $20 and the potatoes $6. The eggplant at Roots would have cost me $4. So, not worrying about finding out the rest, like rhubarb, I already came out ahead again this week, way ahead considering what you can pay for organic blackberries, if you can find them. The eggplant weighed over a pound and a half. It looks like another eggplant parmesan will be made next week. I made one last week with the eggplants and some of my tomatoes.

Eggplant Parmesan

Off to do menu planning and get ready to take the veggies to the fair for registration tonight. Hope the weather stays clear.

hocofood@@@

6 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Prepping for the Howard County Fair

Posted on August 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

The Howard County Fair starts Saturday. I am in the final stages of choosing my entries in the tomato and potential other categories. It is a frustrating exercise when Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated. Last week there were many ripe tomatoes.

Assorted heirloom and hybrid tomatoes

This week I have dozens of green tomatoes on the vines, and just a handful that are at their peak. The stink bugs, as usual, have ruined quite a few, putting holes where bacteria will grown and blacken spots. You can cut these spots out and eat the tomatoes, like we used to when we didn’t demand perfect tomatoes (devoid of taste but pretty), but these aren’t show tomatoes.


Amana Orange with a stink bug created spot

I also have dozens of what would be lovely great whites, legend and chocolate stripes, all with large dark circles that the stink bugs have created, all just destined to become salsa, and not ready for prime time. This year the stink bugs were late in arriving, for whatever reason, and seem to be peaking just when I want to harvest for the fair. Earlier harvesting tomatoes seemed to be fine, and were lovely to eat and process.

Legend, chocolate stripe and great white, all perfect for eating in July

Right now, I have one lovely great white, but I need two to enter. All the chocolate stripes show stink bug damage. I have a handful of Amish paste that look to be close to perfect, and a handful of very small legend tomatoes, perfect in shape, but not the size that they normally achieve. My early July Amish paste were all processed and reside deep in my freezer as a base for winter tomato sauce. I had a dozen lovely early produced tomatoes, that were way too early for the fair.

Amish Paste

Here are some of those, just picked and ready to join the rest to be blanched, peeled, processed and frozen. They have been one of the stars of this year’s garden, and there are dozens more on the four plants out there. I should be able to process and freeze at least three or four more batches this year. I don’t like to attempt canning the heirlooms, as their low acidity makes them a more difficult vegetable. You would need to adjust the acidity upwards by adding it, and pressure canning is recommended by many people. I don’t have a pressure canner (yet), and I am just getting into canning using small simple batches.

I find that for my winter soups and stews, freezing vegetables that can be loaded into a crock pot and cooked all day is the way to go. Now that I got a dedicated freezer for my fruits and vegetables, I am using that method.

Now that I have checked out my heirlooms for the fair, I am also deciding which cherry tomatoes to enter. I need fifteen good samples of cherry tomatoes. I am also considering whether I should enter my plum tomatoes.

As for herbs, many of mine are doing well this year.

Grey Santolina (Cotton Lavender) and Chives

The herb entry calls for three varieties. Some do better than others in water, and some just get so bug eaten that they look awful, but still taste great. I really enjoy the luxury of picking herbs just before dinner. Snipping chives for eggs or potatoes. Tarragon and marjoram for chicken. Rosemary for potatoes, or for lamb. Mint for salads and tzatziki. The four or five varieties of basil I grow are all doing great this year, with some of them turning into bushes.

African Blue Basil

Same thing for all the thyme varieties. Decisions. Decisions. I need to make my choices soon. Entries are accepted Friday night or Saturday morning. All this anxiety just for a little strip of ribbon, right? I don’t know. It must be that Olympic influence that makes us compete. Here’s hoping my tomatoes and herbs do OK for me this year.

See you at the Fair!

hocofood@@@

7 Comments

Posted in Food, Gardening, Howard County, Weather and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally Recap

Posted on July 30, 2012 by AnnieRie

A week and two days. Dedicated to eating at least one item a day from MD farms. We did it. It is easy with the goodness from Howard County Farmers Markets, and from a few local farms like England Acres, and from the case at Atwater’s Bakery in Catonsville.

Some of the items I used:

Corn, from England Acres and from TLV Farm, bought at the market

Chevre, from Firefly Farms

Eggs, from TLV and England Acres

Add to that watermelon, cantaloupe, spring mix, feta, smoked cheddar, ground lamb, ground beef patties, onions, and such a variety available here in MD.

Good meals like this one, from Saturday night. Breezy Willow spring mix and Firefly Farms chevre with my tomatoes and basil. Yes, the sockeye came from Alaska, not a local fish, but a great dinner.

Buy Local Week may be over, but the markets are still here. If you want to see great foods available for you in the future, it always helps to buy from our local farmers.

This weekend is the start of the Howard County Fair. There will be local produce and local cheese at the Fair. Support your local farmers and buy from them, if not at the fair, at the county markets.

See you at the Fair. We will be there at least four of the days. A season pass is a bargain if you want to enjoy all the entertainment and just absorb the atmosphere.

hocoblogs@@@

5 Comments

Posted in Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →