Bacon is Baaaack!

Tweet

You know that dog treat commercial where they claim that "dogs don't know it's not bacon"?

Well, you'll know if it's not Omache Farm Bacon!

Bacon will be ready for ordering starting for this weekend, December 5th.  As well as Half hams if you'd like to pick one up for a holiday dinner!  Check out our Home Delivery Page for pricing and how it works specifically but here's the gist:

1. You email us your grocery list (By 6pm Friday please)
2. We pull out bacon, pork chops, winter squash and eggs and/or whatever was on your list and put your name on it
3. On Saturday, your groceries are handed to you in one of three ways:
           a. Drop by the Winter Market in the 1912 Center between 10am and 2pm (12/5 or 12/12)
           b. Meet us in town after the Winter Market of in the afternoon on 12/19
           c. We'll stop by your in-town home after the Winter Market or in the afternoon.
4. Payment is made by: cash, card or check.

See? so easy!

Tomatoes and pork Asian Italian fusion

Jason has done it again! Another creative success!

This time, pork shoulder steaks and homegrown tomatoes along with garlic, some spices and home-made Thai dipping sauce have been turned into a fantastic fusion dish made to please the heat-loving as well as the mild-tongued in the family.

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 Pork shoulder steaks

3 lbs tomatoes

Italian seasoning mix or similar mix of spices ( basil, oregano, marjoram, etc)

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil for cooking pork

Salt

Minced Garlic

Thai dipping sauce (home-canned or your favorite other) (5 star heat)

Brown rice to serve over

Instructions

Cook rice.

Slice tomatoes about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick

Preheat oven to 400' F

Splash balsamic vinegar over tomatoes and then sprinkle Italian seasoning generously across tomatoes.

Bake tomatoes in one until soft through and beginning to caramelize.

Defrost and debone shoulder steaks.

Slice into strips about 1 inch thick

Heat oil in a wide frying pan with about 2 tbsp of the garlic

When garlic is just beginning to be fragrant, add pork strips and brown on all sides.

Generously sprinkle Italian seasonings over pork strips. 

Stir in about 1/4 tsp salt to bring out flavors. 

Add several gluts of balsamic vinegar to pan and about 1/4 cup of minced garlic in a pile to center of pan, cover and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes.

When fully steamed, removed pork strips to a plate and cover.

Reduce remaining pork sauce in pan and add in about 1/2 cup of Thai dipping sauce.

On a plate, make a bed of rice, lay 6-8 strips of pork on top, spoon sauce over top as desired, place 3-4 tomato slices on the side and serve!

Pineapple Pork Chops

Tweet

Margaret’s Pineapple Pork Chops

By Margaret Parsley           Serves: 2-3, depending on pork chop size

Ingredients:

2 Pork Chops

1 large Can diced pineapple or pineapple rings in juice

1-2 small cans Pineapple Juice

½-1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Teriyaki Sauce

Directions:

1. Mix together Pineapple, juice, brown sugar and teriyaki sauce.  Marinate thawed pork chops in sauce several hours to overnight in the fridge.
2. Grill pork chops. (cooking in frying pan or griddle will work also)
3. Grill drained marinated pineapple until caramelized (or use fry pan)
4. Bring remaining marinade to a boil for use as sauce and serve all over rice.

Notes:

I typically use as much as 1 large can of diced or rings of pineapple per 2 adults.

Add as much pineapple juice as needed to cover pork chops.

Adjust brown sugar and teriyaki sauce to taste.  Measurements are approximations as I usually use my nose to determine the right mixture.

Can you hard boil an egg?

Tweet

I used to not be able to without overdoing it.  (go ahead, giggle, laugh, snicker.  The one who touts herself as an awesome self-taught cook couldn't boil an egg!)

OK, so I could hard boil an egg but I didn't really like them and wasn't ever really satisfied with the results of my endeavors.  Somehow, when the yolk turns totally chalky and has a bit of a green tinge to the outside of the yolk, it just seemed like I must be doing something wrong.

I was definitely overdoing it.

Chef Camp #1: Priorities

Tweet

Chef Camp #1: Priorities

Budget? Health? Low-sodium? Organic? Vegetarian? Vegan? Allergies or sensitivities? Time?

All reasons are important.  What works for you may not work for anyone else.  The best priorities are the most important ones to you and your family.

Taking some time and seriously considering the aspects of food and eating that are important to you and your family can help you define your cooking style and your kitchen.

Chef Camp: Monthly goals: December

Tweet

Happy December Folks!

While I'm sure you all are loving reading about my opinions on how to improve yourself and your kitchen, I'd bet that everyone would love to hear also about your challenges and growth.

Many of the various "boot camp" ideas also have a participation or sharing component.  It's that whole build community thing, right?

I would love to know that some of you would like to grow and stretch as well.  Make a list.  Not a long one, a short one will do.  A list of what you'd like to improve upon, learn about, try out, etc. in your kitchen this month.  Feel free to share some or all of your list here and then at the end of the month, lets report back and talk about it.  Lets work together, build some community, and hold each other accountable for what we'd like to try.

Ready?  I'll start with mine below...

1. try out some pre-made breakfast type pastries for HM in the mornings and quick breakfasts for the rest of us.
2. find one new reasonably fast breakfast idea a week.

PLEASE NOTE:

All statements made within this blog are my own experiences and opinions only.

Part of Omache Farm’s mission is to educate consumers about our products and philosophies.  Please feel free to copy and distribute any information with citation.  Use information for your life that works for you and your family and feel free to discard the rest.  What works for one family doesn’t always work for another!

Chef Camp: Introduction

Tweet
The inspiration for my newly minted Chef Camp was a letter to the editor in WSU's school newspaper, The Daily Evergreen.  Here's the link to the letter I read.

A bit about ME. 
A.K.A. Why I feel qualified to stand on this particular soapbox.

Chef Camp

Tweet

Wishing you could tame that food budget?

Wish you could expand your recipe repertoire?

Want to learn how to figure out something new without consulting every recipe book and the internet?

How about cooking fresh, delicious meals on the fly?

Introducing: Omache Farm's Chef Camp

After a recent Letter to the Editor in the Daily Evergreen (WSU's student newspaper) from a student complaining that they really don't have time or money to cook healthy food for themselves, I was inspired to create a set of blog posts to help other folks improve their kitchen sense, their food budget and their health.

Here are the topics I will be working to cover in the near future.  Any other subject suggestions are happily welcomed!  What stumps you?  What is your kitchen goal?  What do you continually struggle with when it comes to food?  Please make a comment here or send us an email!   OmacheFarm@gmail.com

Topics:
Your pantry and the food bill
How to cook from scratch
Cooking on the fly
Fast Meals
Breakfast Variety
How to try a new vegetable
Protein other than meat and eggs
Bread
Gluten Free
The Potluck with Allergies
Cooking as a family
Cookbook bookshelf
Hands-free cooking
Cooking with Pastured Meats
Farm Fresh Pastured Eggs

PLEASE NOTE:

I am not a professional nutritionist.  All statements made within this blog are my own experiences and opinions only.

Part of Omache Farm’s mission is to educate consumers about our products and philosophies.  Please feel free to copy and distribute any information with citation.  Use information for your life that works for you and your family and feel free to discard the rest.  What works for one family doesn’t always work for another!

Winter Stuff Pickup

Tweet

We have our first pickup scheduled for our Winter Stuff folks!

What am I talking about? visit our Winter Retail page...

Tuesday November 26, 2013 from 3-6pm.

With Pork, Lamb, Eggs, produce, gourds, wool and farm crafts, there is quite a bit to choose from for November!

Wilson Banner Ranch will also be taking orders for Tuesday pickup this week.  They are offering butternut squash, Banana winter squash, more pie pumpkins and eggs, mix and match boxes of pears and apples and of course their famous apple cider!

If you have yet to sign up for our Winter Stuff email list so you too can order fresh, local food and other farm products from your local farmer, email us at OmacheFarm@gmail.com to get on the list.

Hurry!  Ordering for this week's pickup closes at 10am Tuesday morning!