Chilled Aparagus Recipe

This is my favorite way to make asparagus, its so simple and fresh. I cannot believe I have not shared it on the blog so here goes. Its perfect for summer since its chilled or for a party since you can make it in advance. I love it and so does my 3 year old.

1 bunch asparagus
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Clean and trim asparagus, making sure to trim off all the woody end. Steam asparagus until tender, remove and toss in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, about a half tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and cracked salt and pepper. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, most likely longer. You want it chilled.

Roasted Golden Beets Recipe

I am absolutely in love with golden beets. We planted then in the garden and enjoyed the beet greens and now I am enjoying them roasted. I went out a grabbed a pack of seeds so I can plant more. I love the lighter flavor they have compared to red beets and the fact that they don't stain everything. I keep it simple...

2 medium sized golden beets
2 carrots
olive oil
Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and chop beets and carrots into chunks, toss in olive oil and a dash of Italian seasoning. Place on a baking pan and cover with foil. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Remove foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Delicious, simple and healthy.

Harvest Monday 4-30-12

Well I finally got to harvest something...some lettuce from our little backyard garden. I of course did not take a picture of it. I also planted some celery starts, along with beet and carrot seeds down at our little community garden plot. I checked it yesterday and the beets are coming up! I also have purple peas, kale, swiss chard, claytonia, and 2 types of lettuce coming up in the backyard. Lots of havesting to come! One thing I love about all this rain is the fact that I don't have to worry about watering as much. :)

Happy harvest Monday! We are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions, where others show off there harvests!

Vegetarian Chili with Lentils

We had an amazing friend over awhile ago who is a vegetarian, this is what I came up with for our dinner together. I love chili and making veggie chili makes it easy to adds veggies for the kiddos.

Ingredients:
1 cup dried beans
1/3 cup dried lentils
2 carrots, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 of an onion, chopped
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
3 med tomatoes, diced
2 1/2 cup veggie stock
1/2 cup beer
2 1/2 tsp homemade taco seasoning mix (click here for the recipe)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste

Soak beans overnight in plenty of water. Place rinsed beans, lentils, chopped carrots, veggie stock, and beer into a large pot. Bring up to bubble and then reduce to simmer until beans are cooked and carrots are tender, usually takes about 25-40 minutes. Then throw in the bell pepper, onion, corn, and tomatoes, these only take a few minutes to really cook. At this point add your spices, I usually add the the chili powder, and cumin and then 1 tsp of the taco seasoning. Then taste and add 1/2 tsp by 1/2 tsp until the flavor it just right. If it seems soupy or still has to much liquid, reduce until desired. Then take a taste and see if it needs more salt or flavor. Serve over rice with some cheese, sour cream or guacamole. Serves 4.

Today we are linking up with The Gardener of Eden for Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard, so go check out others wonderful recipes.

Cheesy Veggie chowder with Sausage

I used these recipes to create a new recipe...it came out amazing! I love it!
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder from lulu the baker
Cowboy Potato Chowder from tastykitchen

Ingredients:
2 mild sausage
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1/4 of an onion, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
3.5 cups chicken stock

for the roux:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour

1.5 cups broccoli, in bite sized pieces
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Start by pre-steaming the broccoli until barely tender, not quite done. Then saute onions, and garlic in a bit of olive oil in a soup pot until tender. Add sausage, breaking it up as you brown it. Toss in the carrots, celery and potatoes for a few seconds and then add the chicken stock. Bring up to temp and then reduce to a simmer until all the veggies are tender.

Now to make the roux...Start by bringing your soup back up to a bubble. Then heat up the butter in a large skillet and add the flour, whisking continuously over medium high heat until the mixture starts to turn a golden brown color. You will know when it is ready but be careful not to scorch it. Then carefully add the roux to your bubbling soup and stir it in well, this will thicken it up quite a bit.

Now for the last couple steps, throw in the broccoli and cheeses, stirring well so the cheeses melt. Then add the milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Now enjoy a yummy bowl with some crunchy bread!

Harvest Monday 2/21-2/27 2012

lovely beet greens, we are still thinning.

More peas!

I love the beet greens, especially the color. We harvested a lot of greens (kale, chard, and spinach) without taking pictures this week. Most were blanched and added to the freezer. The others were added to yummy salads along with claytonia, mache and the last of the lettuces. I also decided to try and make our own spinach powder this week by drying out some of our spinach, wish me luck. I just remembered to add that we also had 5-7 radishes that we harvested this week.

Sadly we had a couple days full of wind and our peas were stripped from there trellis and snapped down in half. I picked the mature ones of the plants and I hope for the best but who knows if they will make it. Everything else in our little garden is perking up with the sun...I keep on the water since we still are waiting for the rain. I love sunny weather but know that rain is what is best this time of year...rain...please come!

I made it to the market this week so here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday Feb. 25th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, fennel and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, tangelos, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, limes and strawberries.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, spinach, escarole, swiss chard, aruglua and chicory.

Root veggies- parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, turnips, and many types of potatoes.

Others- many types of winter squashes, regular cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, red onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, sugar cane, savory cabbage, and asparagus.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 2/14-2/20 2012

Chard, kale, mache, claytonia, spinach and a radish

More spinach, and our first beautiful peas (Sugar Magnolia Purple Snaps from Redwood Seeds)

PEAS! Finally some yummy peas, they tasted amazing. We were not sure if we were ever going to get any since we planted so late in the fall. They managed to over winter and produce! We also had lots of greens to add to salads and a few radishes. Still looking forward to more root veggies and our brassicas in the future.

Sadly, we did not make it to the farmers market this week to get the list. I have a feeling not much changed but next week we will be back with a full list.

We also added a little bit about us (click here) to our blog. Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 2/7-2/13 2012

Lil' guy likes to hold the basket.

We pulled more radishes (5 of them), a bunch of kale and some spinach. Next year I hope to be able to plant a much larger amount of everything for our fall/winter garden. We still have been able to harvest something every week but I would like to be able to harvest a lot more every week. I think this week we will finally be able to harvest a few purple snap peas!
Here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday Feb. 11th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, pommelos, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, Mexican limes, Palestine limes and strawberries.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, spinach, swiss chard and pea greens.

Root veggies- parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, sweet potatoes, and many types of potatoes.

Others- Butternut squash, acorn squash, many types of winter squashes, red cabbage, regular cabbage, napa cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, kohlrabi, sugar cane, thai peppers, chayote, and yucca.

Changes this week: the addition pea greens.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 1/31-2/6 2012

Radishes, parsnips, and carrots

Kale, and beet greens

More root veggies! We needed to thin the root veggies again and instead of giving them to the girls like normal we kept them for ourselves. Even though they are still way to small, the parsnips and carrots tasted great. The doctor said the radishes were great too. I was surprised at how much I liked the beet greens. We sauteed them into some pasta with lentils, marinara and mozzarella cheese. It was amazingly yummy! We also had claytonia, spinach and chard added to a salad or two this week. Our fridge is on the fritz and freezes any veggies so we ate most of it right away and put the kale in the freezer for later.

We have 30 tomato seedlings already and plan on starting more soon, but I also started celery, and 4 types of peppers this past weekend. We are really looking forward to the summer bounty in our garden.

Here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday Feb. 4th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, pommelos, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, Mexican limes, Palestine limes and strawberries.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, swiss chard and spinach.

Root veggies- parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, sweet potatoes, and many types of potatoes.

Others- Butternut squash, acorn squash, many types of winter squashes, red cabbage, regular cabbage, napa cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, kohlrabi, sugar cane, thai peppers, chayote, and yucca.

Changes this week: the addition of strawberries (can you believe it!?) and the subtraction of hachiya persimmons.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 1/24-1/30 2012

First Radishes!

Spinach and claytonia, to add to a salad

Finally something besides greens! I don't like radishes but my husband does, we were both excited to find these. I'm sure their will be more this week and hopefully some other root veggies. We of course had eggs, along salad greens but not a lot. Everything is slow growing but at least we are at the turning point. One of our fav bloggers (Rick at Stoney Acres) just posted about the amount of day light finally coming up to 10+ hours (read it here). I'm thankful for lessons learned. We have learned a lot, mostly with help from family, friends and other bloggers. Thank you all!

Here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday January 28th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, pommelos, hachiya persimmons, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, Mexican limes, and Palestine limes.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, swiss chard and spinach.

Root veggies- parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, sweet potatoes, and many types of potatoes.

Others- Butternut squash, acorn squash, many types of winter squashes, red cabbage, regular cabbage, napa cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, kohlrabi, sugar cane, thai peppers, chayote, and yucca.

The same as last week with the addition of yucca.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 1/17-1/23 2012

Greens, greens, and more greens. We ended up with a lot of spinach and kale so we blanched and froze some for soups. All of our salad greens are still growing and I checked a radish the other day and they are finally getting close. I cannot wait to be able to start harvesting our root veggies. We also had some eggs but not a lot. We spent most of our time indoors this week since we are finally getting some rain.

Here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday January 21th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, pommelos, hachiya persimmons, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, Mexican limes, and Palestine limes.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, swiss chard and spinach.

Root veggies- parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, sweet potatoes, and many types of potatoes.

Others- Butternut squash, acorn squash, many types of winter squashes, red cabbage, regular cabbage, napa cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, kohlrabi, sugar cane, thai peppers, and chayote.

The same as last week with the addition of parsnips.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 1/10-1/16 2012

 This we harvested some sage, salad greens and kale. We also picked up some kale at the market to make kale chips , a yummy treat this weekend. So far we have really enjoyed our first fall/winter garden but we are looking forward to spring/summer.

Here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday January 14th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, pommelos, hachiya persimmons, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, Mexican limes, and Palestine limes.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, swiss chard and spinach.

Root veggies- carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, sweet potatoes, and many types of potatoes.

Others- Butternut squash, acorn squash, many types of winter squashes, red cabbage, regular cabbage, napa cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, kohlrabi, sugar cane, thai peppers, and chayote.

Pretty much the same as last week with the addition of rosemary, sage, thyme, pommelos, kohlrabi, sugar cane, thai peppers and the flowers are back!

We spoke with the man selling sugar cane about getting starts so we could grow our own and he was excited and helpful...he invited us to his farm, gave us directions and told us that in spring time he would bring us cuttings.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna, one of our favorites of all things layered (from terrines of Fois Gras to Tiramisu) can be an incredibly healthy meal. We have been playing with recipes for awhile and finally created a favorite. We recently invited a guest to share a vegetarian version of the classic. We pulled alot of the ingredients out of our backyard (the veggies, herbs, sauce, and eggs).

Here is the list of our ingredients:

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Marinara (1 to 1 1/2 Quarts).
Fresh Kale
Fresh Spinach
Fresh Swiss Chard
Home made Ricotta cheese, we used the recipe in Sunset Magazines  "One Block Feast""
1.5 cups Cheddar cheese
1.5 cups Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan
1-2 Eggs
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried thyme
9 Lasagna noodles (3 per layer)

Now, here is how you do it:

Pre-Heat the oven to 375 degrees and get a piece of foil large enough to seal your baking dish.

For a 9X13" baking dish you will need perfectly cooked lasagna noodles. If you use fresh noodles the same applies, cook them, then cool them and toss with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

Mix 1 (or 2 if you want it more firm) egg with 3 cups of ricotta cheese, the herbs, salt and pepper to taste. You may want to thin it with whole milk or heavy cream. We like ours to be thick.

Now mix the Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses and reserve. The parmesan is to be dusted in with the cheese to your liking; too much will make the dish too salty so beware.

Now we layer layer layer.

Start with marinara. Then layer 3 lasagna noodles. Top the noodles with the ricotta and then the other cheeses. Then layer the Kale, Spinach and Swiss Chard.

Cover this with sauce and repeat.

The last layer of lasagna noodles goes down and is simply covered with marinara and topped with the shredded cheeses. In other words, use the home made ricotta for the inside 2 layers.

Wrap tightly with the foil and place on center rack of your preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and broil at 375 degrees until the cheese starts to caramelize.

Salt, Pepper and Parmesan the top.

Let stand 5 minutes, then serve with warm homemade bread and homemade butter.

This is how much Kale, Spinach, and Swiss Chard we used, but I would recommend a little more.

We are linking with with The garden of Eden's Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard, so check out other recipes from the week.

Harvest Monday 1/3-1/9 2012

Not much to talk about this week when it comes to harvest, just salads (claytonia, mache, red romaine, deertongue lettuce) and greens (chard, and kale). The girls provided some eggs but they have dropped in their production the last few weeks and one was broody for awhile so she wasn't doing much but laying in a nesting box.

We also had our first Saturday of the year and one of our goals (check them all out here) is to make a detailed list of what our local farmers market has every week. We want to learn what other farmers are growing on our area, develop relationships with them and learn from them. Plus the public can learn how easy it is to eat seasonally.

Here is the first list from the Chico Certified Farmer's Market: Saturday January 7th 2012

Herbs- dill, cilantro, parsley, and lemongrass.

Fruit- grapefruits, many varieties of apples, hachiya persimmons, oranges, kiwi, mandarins, lemons, Mexican limes, and Palestine limes.

Greens- red Russian kale, dinosaur kale, curly kale, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, many different types of lettuce, tatsoi, swiss chard and spinach.

Root veggies- carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, radish, sweet potatoes, and many types of potatoes.

Others- Butternut squash, acorn squash, many types of winter squashes, red cabbage, regular cabbage, napa cabbage, broccoli, romanesco cauliflower, celery, onions, sweet onions, garlic, green onion, leeks, mushrooms, sunchokes, avocado, and chayote.

We were thankful and somewhat amazed at the bounty of our little town...it is January remember! The variety is wonderful and just proves that eating seasonally is really no big deal.

Happy Harvest Monday, we are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...so go check out with others are harvesting around the world.

Harvest Monday 12/27-1/2 2011/2012

baby artichoke with a little frost bite...I think they taste better this way.

We only really harvested this baby artichoke and eggs this week. Before we left for the holidays we harvested a lot of the salad greens, they are making a slow come back and we should have some yummy salads this coming week. We did a big thinning in the garden this week on our root veggies...the doctor had some of the tops of the thinning and the rest went to the girls. I really missed the girls while we were out of town and I'm so thankful to have great neighbors who will chicken sit. This week we plan on writing a post of our goals for the year...some are life goals and some are homestead goals.

We are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions, check out what others around the world are harvesting.

Canned goods total 2011

Spicy pickled green beans with cauliflower

Chicken (turkey) stock

Zucchini pickles

Half gallon jars of CircleFive marinara sauce

We did a lot of canning this year but I hope to can even more next year.

Marinara- 185 pints
Pomegranate sauce- 1 half pint and eight 4 oz jars
Demi glace- twenty two 4 oz jars
Bloodymary mix- 6 and a half pints
Zucchini pickles- 8 pints
Spicy pickled green beans with cauliflower- 7 quarts
Chicken and turkey stock- 50 pints ish...I didn't keep a log in the beginning of the year.

Stay tuned for our next years goals...
and have a Happy New Year!

Harvest Monday 12/20-12/26 2011

Kale, Swiss chard, and spinach

Salad greens...claytonia, red romaine, deer tongue lettuce, and mache.

The last harvest Monday of 2011! We just got home and un-packed the car. I of course came in a started writing. :)

We harvested only a bit this week since we left to spend time with family for the holiday. The weekend was wonderful and relaxing and we scored some awesome loot. We received a bee keeping book and heirloom gardening book, along with a bunch of other fun stuff...plus seeds! We also received a flip video camera...so you can look forward to how to videos! We will be hosting Christmas next year, so the planning starts now...

We are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions...go check out what others around the world are harvesting.

Harvest Monday 12/13-12/19 2011

Frosty flowers

The first pea!

An onion popping up under the straw

We didn't harvest much this week, just salad greens and eggs. I have been saving our chard, kale and spinach for a special meal. Yesterday I made sage cheese and ricotta cheese. Tonight I will be making lasagna with the fresh ricotta, chard, kale and spinach for dinner with a close friend. Have a happy Holiday weekend and...

Happy Harvest Monday! We are linking up with Daphne's Dandelions, a place to check out what others around the world are harvesting.

Thanksgiving feast 2011

Better late than never...

Top left- corn, edamame, and sun dried tomato (from the garden) salsa.
Top Right- stuffing
Bottom left- Mashed parsnips and potatoes
Bottom right- Green beans from the garden (recipe below)
Photo by Mike Z

Everything...including the homemade chive/sage cheese, crusty beer rolls and the Cornish game hens we raised.
Photo by Mike Z

The Cornish game hens wrapped in bacon.
Photo by Mike Z

Candied pumpkin, with candied pumpkin seeds, dehydrated vanilla beans and creme fraiche.

Home made raw butter

Chicken stock from the leftover bones.

Thanksgiving is a time to bring in close friends and family to share a little something to show an appreciation for their friendship and help throughout the year. This year we hosted a renegade Thanksgiving, we invited those who had no place to go. This turned out to be one of the most satisfying Thanksgivings in recent history. The true meaning of Thanksgiving is to celebrate the harvest and bring the community together...that is what we celebrated this year.

Firstly, our plan was to use our own garden and poultry as the base for our modest feast. We planned ahead and saved some of our late summer crop. Believe it or not, freezing things like beans doesn't ruin them. They tasted like we had just made the harvest. That was the whole point; to give back to our little community with things that we spent the year nurturing, whether it be plant or fowl.

Without question the most difficult part was dressing the Cornish cross breeds. Leaving the skin on didn't work out so we skinned them. As a result I thought they would dry while roasting, but we solved that problem by flattening out bacon and wrapping the entire bird in it. We actually cut them in half, and the portion size was perfect. I believe in making each apart of the dish separately. So the stuffing and sides were not cooked with the birds.

We took the opportunity to use The One-Block Feast, by Sunset Magazine to influence the candied pumpkin desert, the creme fraiche, butter and cheese. We already shared the recipes for the mashed parsnips and potatoes, Cornish game hens and corn salsa on the blog.

So I've decided to let you in on an old German secret for presenting green beans...a staple during the holidays.

Steam the beans until just about perfect. Place in a saute pan with butter and finely chopped garlic. Saute until the garlic is moments from turning color, then crack saltine crackers over the entire dish and saute until some of the crackers looked toasted and golden brown. You only need to season with pepper if desired, the salt is in the crackers. This is always the first dish we run out of . It is a major hit.

The master chef (the Doctor) getting everyones plates ready.
Photo by Mike Z

Harvest Monday 12/6-12/12 2011

one little borage flower

We had lots of salads this week. We also had one with tomatoes! Crazy, they did not taste very good but they still gave us nutrition. Any more that ripen will go to the girls (chickens). We are still getting 4 eggs a day and I hope that continues. I cannot wait for our root veggies to be ready along with brassicas. We picked up 2 lbs of apples from the farmers market this weekend from our favorite apple farm that is only 15.5 miles from our house. We love there pink lady apples and get them every year to give as part of our Christmas gift. We are really lucky where we live because we can get almost everything locally.

Happy Harvest Monday! We are linking up with Daphne's dandelions, a place to check out what others around the world are harvesting.

Salad greens, a mix of claytonia, mache, red romaine, deertongue lettuce and chives

Some cherry tomatoes from our volunteer plant that is still producing