Tag Archives: real food

Protein and Dairy

Posted on May 31, 2015 by AnnieRie

An option from our Friends and Farms baskets. One that we enjoy during the summer, when our garden is producing the bulk of our vegetables, and Larriland becomes the source for most of our fruit.

I miss the South Mountain Creamery truck at the Glenwood Market. But, I am happy to report that you can get wonderful yogurt and ice cream and milk from Friends and Farms.

This week’s protein and dairy bag, with a couple of add ons.

The add ons. Pequea Valley plain yogurt. No sugar in it. Just plain yogurt. Thick, rich. The flavored ones are good too, in particular I love the maple yogurt. Still, plain yogurt can be used all sorts of places.

As for that ice cream. If you love hot stuff, you must try it. If you are a heat wimp, you will freak at what is in this ice cream. Trickling Springs in Chambersburg PA makes this ice cream. It contains cinnamon, chipotle powder and habanero powder. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I can’t eat it all by itself but I am thinking of one amazing milk shake.

As for this week’s protein items we received. We got two lovely rainbow trout. Cleaned. Split. We grilled them with lemon and dill.

Also, a couple of pounds of short ribs. They are in the freezer. Crock pot dinner later next week.

My typical dozen eggs. Already gone. Frittatas.

We don’t do whole milk. I choose to get a surprise veggie instead. This week. Beets with greens.

If you want really good meat and eggs and dairy, this is the way to go.

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

Catching Up Again

Posted on May 26, 2015 by AnnieRie

On the local food scene. In our home, it is presently dominated by our two summer food sources. A Community Supported Agriculture large share of vegetables. And a protein and dairy bag from Friends and Farms.

Supplemented by trips to the Glenwood Farmers Market. And, stopping at Jenny’s Market to round out the fruit.

Occasionally I have to hit Harris Teeter for things like tonic water for those gin and tonics. Aranciata for those Lemon Basil drinks. Tea bags to make iced tea.

The garden also contributes. With greens and spring onions.

As for the CSA. We had another week of greens overload. Not a bad thing, as we eat salads at lunch and dinner. This week at least it was all really good stuff.

Leaf lettuces. Spring mix. Romaine. Spinach. Two bunches of scallions. Green garlic. Two kinds of mushrooms. And, strawberries.

There will be no problem in using up all these goodies. Caesar salads. Greens with fruit and cheese. Greek salad. All sorts of possibilities. I am even thinking of pesto with some of my chive blossom stems and the spring garlic.

We are crossing our fingers that we get garlic scapes next week. To replenish my pesto supplies in the freezer.

As for the proteins.

Our meat share gave us ground beef. I am thinking of hamburgers on the grill. We already had the spare ribs for dinner tonight. Slathered in Rhubarb BBQ sauce. The drumsticks I will grill also.

That BBQ sauce? I found a recipe here. But then I didn’t follow it. I used the ingredients, but not in the quantities. I used frozen berries from last year. I used mostly rhubarb. My suggestion when you get an idea like this. Use whatever suits your taste. I used more mustard. Less molasses. Didn’t use the cloves. Bottom line. Trust your taste and be adventurous.

Who needs bottled sauces when it is relatively simple to simmer up a sauce that is fresh, bold, tasty and versatile.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

#grow100

Posted on May 20, 2015 by AnnieRie

The 100 square foot garden challenge. Over on the University of Maryland Grow It Eat It page.

I was asked last year if I would participate this year. With my big garden, I had to think about how to carve out 100 square feet and show what I am growing in that contained area.

I think I have it all configured, and I will be blogging about what you can do in only 100 square feet.

Like grow potatoes.

In six sq ft in a container in my backyard.

You start with this. Put them about one foot deep in a bucket or trash can (with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage). Keep adding soil as they grow. Dump them out when you are ready to harvest (once the foliage starts to die back). I put in about half a dozen potato pieces. Some are fingerlings. A couple are Yukon gold. I use CSA potatoes because they aren’t treated and they will sprout.

Then there’s the lettuce.

I bought a six plant market pack of butterhead lettuce. Put it inside a bunny fence. I have harvested six heads of lettuce, and they keep regenerating if you cut them just above the soil. Don’t pull them out. I should get at least another half dozen heads of lettuce. This circle is another six square feet.

Only twelve feet used.

I then marked off a 5×6 section of my community garden. Put in tromboncini, Thelma Sanders pumpkin and a handful of tomato plants. A couple of San Marzano. Supersweet 100s. Cherry. A nice mix.

It doesn’t look like much yet, but it should give me lots of salad tomatoes and some canning tomatoes. The tromboncini are a heirloom squash. Just wait til you see what they produce.

I marked off a 3×15 foot section with cucumbers, zucchini, leeks, onions and arugula.

This is part of it, and then I went perpendicular for 3 feet by 3 feet to bring in the shallots and my lone pepper plant.

All together I am up to 96 square feet. I have a two by two option left, so I added the herbs.

Some sage, thyme, chives and dill are bunched up there. I already made chive blossom vinegar using a cup of chive blossoms and 12 ounces of white wine vinegar.

I will keep track of what this 100 square feet produces.

So far, the lettuce, onions and herbs are being harvested. I did find my first zucchini blossom today.

Here’s to fresh vegetables in a small amount of real estate.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Real Food and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Fifty Shades of Greens

Posted on May 12, 2015 by AnnieRie

Springtime. The drowning in the greens. Not a bad thing. One of those pleasures that we anticipate in the dead of winter.

Today’s CSA pickup yielded lots of greens. Lettuces. Spinach. Kale and more.

A large share. Formerly known as a full share. I forgot how large they can be. Still, as people who put many vegetables on our lunch and dinner plates, this is a good haul.

I have to comment about those squash.

Zucchini and yellow squash are NOT in season in Lancaster County. It seems our CSA has decided that the consumer who wants more produce earlier than normal in the midAtlantic will be driving their selections.

We seem to have expanded into a few more Southern states. The purists may not be happy, but we are getting incredibly fresh organic food at less than retail cost, so I can forgive them for using other farms. Last year, we had a delayed opening because the crops were far behind here. The extreme cold winter hurt them.

This year, they opted to bring in vegetables from further south. That allowed them to open on time. We know this was another brutal winter. When it comes to decisions. Do they branch out and keep customers, or remain pure to the “local” tag and lose customers due to decreased yields and subpar product. I can understand them.

I have to admit. Those squash? Awesome.

Two ended up in tonight’s dinner. A simple gratin. Squash. Hummingbird Farm tomatoes. Mozzarella from last week’s basket. Olive oil. Herbs de Provence. Baked at 350 degrees until browned.

Tonight’s dinner.

Not bad for a Tuesday.

As for those other greens. They will be enjoyed.

And that rhubarb. Begging to become a crisp tomorrow.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Transitions

Posted on April 26, 2015 by AnnieRie

Winter has finally left the building.

It is almost farmers market season. The spring and summer Community Supported Agriculture deliveries will soon begin. Our Friends and Farms basket will have ASPARAGUS!!!!!! in it. Do I sound ready for something other than root vegetables?

We got a mixed basket last week.

The good additions. Lovely leaf lettuce, hydroponic tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, cucumbers. Good things to grill too, like country ribs.

I am so happy that the markets are about to open. The week of the 4th of May. The same week we get our first CSA delivery. There will be seven markets in Howard County this year. Three on Saturday. That should prove interesting. For us, the return of Glenwood is awesome. We love having a local market. Where we can run over for bread or fruit or plants. As for veggies, not so much. Between my garden and the CSA, we won’t be buying many veggies.

We are transitioning to a full share in our CSA. Transitioning to a protein and dairy bag from Friends and Farms. That should provide us with the right amount of food to keep us out of the grocery stores for a while.

I also structured our garden planting to be able to provide us with the ingredients necessary to make sauces and roast tomatoes to fill my almost empty freezer. This year I made it to May with my frozen sauces and tomatoes. I say May because I have three containers left of sauce.

The sauce has found its way into many meals. Like those killer lasagna.

Tomatoes from my freezer. Peppers from the CSA. A slight tweak on the traditional lasagna.

Besides the large amount of tomato sauce in the freezer, there was quite a bit of pesto. And herb butters.

Nothing like pasta with pesto.

Here’s to celebrating spring. And all the goodness it brings.

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Friday Night in Old EC

Posted on April 19, 2015 by AnnieRie

Main Street Ellicott City. Not a destination as often as we lived in Columbia. But we really need to remedy that.

Friday we headed there to drop off a rug to be cleaned. And decided to stay for dinner. Our first visit to Pure Wine.

It will not be our last. What a fun place to have dinner. Particularly if you can snag an outdoor table overlooking the main street below.

And whatever is above the old Earle theater.

We also could see the new site for a second Mutiny Pirate Bar.

This could be interesting in the future. Wine Bar and Pirate Bar. Right across the street from one another.

Everyone who knows us is aware that we love the family owned businesses. Not the chains. We are happy to report that we loved Pure Wine.

We started with rockfish tacos. One for each of us.

Paired with a Falanghina del Taburno.

Followed by this.

Truffle fries. OK, we could eat these all night. Perfect with the wine.

Finally, we decided to have some pinot noir with a charcuterie board. I love the fact that these small plates don’t stuff you and you can pick and those and match food to wine. They offer 2.5 ounce, and 5 ounce glasses. Some half bottles. And, of course, full bottles. Great wine list but a little sparse on local wines. Their only flaw in my world.

As for that board.

The current selection has six meats. Six cheeses. You can pick a board of three or five. We picked wild boar salami, smoked prosciutto, and smoked duck breast, plus two cheeses. A crotonese and a chandoka.

We are planning our next visit when we pick up our rug from its cleaning. You know we like a place when we plan a return visit.

I do love old town Ellicott City.

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Spring Things

Posted on April 17, 2015 by AnnieRie

Just the beginning of an activity packed week, in and around our home. All things spring.

Starting with Greenfest. Tomorrow at the Howard Community College. Living with wildlife. I’m not sure how our CSA fits in with the theme, but we will be there.

Then, on my plate, a trip to Sharp’s Farm on Tuesday to get my vegetable seedlings to put in the garden. This year I am also looking for some annuals for the yard. To fill in where we lost some plants.

As for flowers, this post by UKDesperateHousewifeUSA caught my eye the other day. In it, Claire talks of the lack of flowers in her Columbia neighborhood. I thought, hmmm, she needs to look elsewhere in the county. There are loads of flower gardens out here.

She misses cut flowers. I should bring her some. This is today’s haul from my yard.

The early blooming tulips. The yellow daffodils. The white ones are almost finished. I don’t pick the hyacinths, though. They stay in the yard. After the month of tulips, we will have day lilies and star lilies. Then, gladioli. Black eyed Susans. Sunflowers. Mums. All summer and fall, my flower beds produce.

Today, I was happy to see the cherry is blooming.

Not at peak yet, but soon.

Getting back to the week ahead. Wednesday is Earth Day. It is Twenty Minute Clean Up Day in the county. I will be cleaning up the road side and our property lines.

Next Saturday the Conservancy celebrates their Earth Day. With a bird walk. Service projects. And a plant sale by the Master Gardeners.

Well, that only leaves me with a couple of days to get work done around here. I did take the time today to test a new recipe to use up the last of the peaches in the freezer.

You can call it peachy pecan bread. Or pecany peach bread. Simple to make. I will be taking some for those of us working our table tomorrow at Greenfest. Made with CSA peaches that I blanched and froze last summer. A sign of things to come. Peach season is right after strawberry season. Can’t wait.

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Weather and tagged community, Food, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, real food, spring flowers, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Parsnip-ity

Posted on April 15, 2015 by AnnieRie

As in parsnip overload. By my choosing.

Today was my last week of the winter CSA. Three weeks until the spring/summer season begins. I decided to load up on parsnips from the swap box. Good thing our site host is a friend and lets me swap more than one item if I give her some stuff she likes. I swapped kale and cabbage today to get a triple share of parsnips. They keep well. I like them. I even have made colcannon with them.

These are destined to become roasted veggies. Colcannon. And, I am thinking parsnip and sweet potato fries. I have quite a bit of both left.

Enough to take samples to Greenfest this Saturday. Our site host and I are staffing a table to promote our CSA. We need to guarantee our pick up site by recruiting a few more members.

Our Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative CSA is one that provides us with so many great vegetables. Fruit. Meat. Cheese. Eggs. Bread. Herbs. Milk. Tofu. The list seems to be endless. They have grown by leaps and bounds. Now delivering to six states and the District.

The rest of this week’s final basket.

Spinach. Chard. Mushrooms. Aeroponic butterhead lettuce.

Add ons.

The pantry item was mint tea. The cheese was a raw milk farmer’s cheese. The meat share was 1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast.

In three weeks, we will begin the next season. Six months of food. I ordered a full vegetable share. Bread. Cheese. Fruit. Meat.

All I need with the exception of staples to keep us supplied with fresh organic non-GMO food.

Now, off to find new recipes for those sweet parsnips.

See you Saturday at Howard County Community College. Look for the Lancaster Farm Fresh table and stop to say HI to us.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Main Streets

Posted on April 13, 2015 by AnnieRie

I grew up in a city. Baltimore, to be exact. Living on “Main Street”.

On 144 just east of Catonsville (yes, I know Candlelight Lodge is now a funeral parlor instead of the restaurant it was).

Saturday I drove that main street. Starting in Ellicott City.

Filled with family owned businesses (except for that stupid Subway they added).

Heading east to Catonsville.

Home of Atwater’s. One of those amazing bakeries around here. Where you can buy lunch and head upstairs to comingle with others at the tables while having lunch.

They have a couple of farmer’s markets right off Main Street aka Frederick Avenue. One on Wednesday and one on Sunday. They also are the home of an icon.

Bill’s Music House. You have to see it to believe it. It’s huge, and a landmark to us.

I love heading off the highways and traveling the Main Streets in our area.

Take a trip on Rte. 144. Part of the National Road. Worth the time to park, explore and discover.

If you keep heading east you will hit the Inner Harbor. Frederick Road becomes Pratt Street. I couldn’t have grown up in a better part of this state. So much history. So many stories to hear.

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Restaurants and tagged community, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

The Incredible Edible

Posted on April 11, 2015 by AnnieRie

Eggs.

For years, they got a bad rap. Now, we know they are one very packed source of many vital nutrients. We stopped buying them during that period. Now, they are an important part of our diet. Maybe that’s why my eyesight has stabilized. And why my “good” cholesterol keeps going up.

We get eggs weekly now in our Friends and Farms basket. Really fresh, wonderful eggs. The kind with that bright yellow yolk.

Eggs on Sunday morning is standard fare at the house. Served with whatever fresh bread we get.

The markets are opening in a few weeks. If you want to experience the taste of fresh eggs, you should pick up a dozen from one of the local farmers.

If you really get hooked on fresh eggs, you can always find out how to raise chickens in your yard (how’s that for a segue into Greenfest?). Cathy Hudson and Van Wensil will be offering their workshop at 12:30 pm at this year’s Greenfest at Howard Community College on April 18th. Always popular.

If you can’t raise chickens, you can find them at many of the local farms, like England Acres. I like to go there and watch the chickens run all around the farm, while you are checking out the goodies in their farm store.

Tomorrow, April 12th, they are open and grilling their beef for tasting. Eggs and other local goodies in the store. They are just west of Mt. Airy. Most of the lamb we eat comes from them.

What does this have to do with eggs? Nothing, really. I am just very happy to see spring has arrived and the farms and markets are opening weekly.

As for the eggs. How about a few more of my favorite ways to enjoy them.

A frittata.

Or a spinach salad.

I also love to make egg salad for sandwiches.

Such a versatile food. Easy to make. Easy to digest. Easy to find. And, quite good for us, too.

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

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Tag Archives: real food

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Catching Up Again

#grow100

Fifty Shades of Greens

Transitions

Friday Night in Old EC

Spring Things

Parsnip-ity

Main Streets

The Incredible Edible

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