Macaroni and Cheese!

Tweet

Macaroni and Cheese

A meal to empty the fridge to feed 6 big people with leftovers for lunch

Recipe based on Betty Crocker Recipe.

Ingredients

2 lbs uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup butter or other fat
1 cup flour (whole wheat works fine)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
8 cups milk
8 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (2 lbs)

Add-ins

2 lbs ground pork or bulk sausage

1-2 cups chopped onion

1/2-1 cup chopped spring garlic

2 bunches radishes, thinly sliced or small cubes

1/4-1/2 lb spinach, cut into 2 in squares or so.

Instructions

*In a medium pot or frying pan, brown the meat.  You can reserve the drippings as a portion of the fat for the sauce if you like.

*While meat is browning, chop and sauté the hard veggies: onions, garlic, radishes, etc.  Cabbage stems or broccoli would also be included in this step if you are using them.  I end up with a medium pot of cooked veggies by the time I am done with at least as much volume as the meat.

*Set the meat and veggies aside while you prepare the sauce and noodles.

*Put a large pan of water on to boil, cook your pasta, drain and return to your large pot while making the sauce.

*Make a roux: melt the butter/fat.  Add in your flour, salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.  Whisk and simmer until the flour smells toasty.

*Slowly add your milk, while whisking to prevent scorching.  Bring to bubbling.  add cheese in portions.  melt before adding the next handful.  You can use the whisk to keep stirring to help melt and prevent scorching.

*Once your noodles and sauce are ready, combine the meat and veggies with the noodles and stir-then add the sauce and stir again.

*If you are using chopped spinach, you may add it to the noodles with the other vegetables.  The steam and heat from the noodles will wilt the spinach just fine.

*Serve and enjoy!*

NEW PORK ITEMS!

We are very excited to be offering two new pork items!

If you made it by last week's Winter Market. In the afternoon, you will likely have seen them if not had a chance to purchase some to try.  To those folks who did pick one or both products up, we cannot wait to hear your feedback and love that you were all willing to be our guinea pigs!

The first new item is a new type of bulk sausage: Hot Sausage
It comes priced and packaged the same way our other bulk sausages do but the flavor packs just a bit of a kick.

The other new item is Ham Steaks.  Boneless and pre-sliced to about 1/4" thick, these are fantastic when heated through on a hot skillet as straight up ham steaks with breakfast or added to a ham sandwich for breakfast or lunch.

We can't wait to hear of all the other ways you have tried cooking up our NEW Hot Sausage and Ham Steaks!

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!

Spinach: The basics

Tweet

Spinach is one of those lovely vegetables that is inexpensive, ubiquitous, really really good for you, and extremely versatile!  Shall we break it down just a bit and give that huge-looking half-pound bag you just bought some ideas that make it suddenly not very much after all?

What to look for: 

The darker, the better.  Especially within a bag or box or other group of spinach.  Those are going to be the youngest, most nutritious leaves.  If you are finding lots of yellow-green leaves, chances are the leaves were some of the older ones on the plant or that bag of spinach may have been on the shelf for a while.  Frankly, it won't taste very good.

Crispy and crunchy.  The way to test?  No, don't squish or pouf or otherwise abuse the bag of spinach.  After that the only thing I can say is that it WAS crisp.

Boneless Ham Steaks

Tweet

Omache Farm Boneless Ham Breakfast Steaks

By Jason Parsley

Ingredients:

1 boneless Omache Farm Ham

Instructions:

1. Thaw ham overnight (for a small ham, at least 24 hours for larger hams)
2. Use a sharp knife to slice ham into steaks (we like about 1/8-1/4inch thick)
3. Heat your griddle or frying pan on medium heat
4. Cook slices about 4-5 minutes each side, until fully cooked (165 degrees)

Potential Additions: Sprinkle the ham with brown sugar.  Use the fats in the pan to liquefy the brown sugar.  Or you might use maple syrup.  Keep the temperature of your pan just hot enough to caramelize the sugar on the ham steaks but not burn the sugars!

Bone-in Crock-pot Ham

Tweet

Omache Farm Crock-Pot Ham

By Margaret Parsley

Ingredients:

1 bone-in Omache Farm Ham  (any size that fits in your crock-pot, most are 3-4lbs, plenty for a main meal dish for about 6-8 people)
1 crockpot

Instructions:

Frozen: Remove plastic and place in crock pot.  Cook on low 6-8 hours, high 4-6 hours.  Done at 165 degrees measured in the center of the ham, away from the bone.

Thawed: Remove plastic wrap and place in crock pot.  Cook on low 4-6 hours, high 3-4 hours.  Done at 165 degrees measured at the center of the ham, away from the bone.

Potential Additions: Many folks may consider tossing in a can of pineapple with the juice or studding the whole thawed ham with whole cloves. (the spice, not garlic cloves).  For a hint of teriyaki style flavoring (Americanized of course) mix pineapple, pineapple juice (from canned pineapple, or add more plain pineapple juice, brown sugar and teriyaki sauce with the ham.

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.

Honey Sauteed Radishes

Tweet

Honey Sautéed Radishes

Ingredients

1 Lg Bunch Radishes: topped and sliced in half

1 Tbsp Butter

½ Cup Chicken Stock

1 Tbsp Honey

¼ cup minced onions, shallots or spring onions

Salt to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter in pan. Sautee onions until soft.
2. Add radishes, stir until coated in butter.
3. Add stock and honey. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Remove cover; simmer until liquid thickens to glaze.
5. Add salt as desired and serve warm.

Extra Special 7-hour Leg of Lamb

Tweet

Extra Special 7-hour Leg of Lamb

http://www.princetoneats.org/extra-special-7-hour-leg-of-lamb

Since I need to learn how to cook lamb  I thought I’d begin with the sirloin end of a leg of lamb which is the upper end near the hip joint.  Most of ours weight between 1.5 and 2 lbs and all of them are bone-in.  The bones make it challenging to de-bone but because it is the sirloin, it is more tender than the shank end of the leg.  Because our lambs tend to be lean and have a light fat cover, we still recommend a moist cooking method such as roasting with liquid in the pan.  I’ve found a recipe that promises both simplicity and mouth-watering goodness.

Extra Special 7-hour Leg of Lamb

by Chef Alex Levine, Whole Earth Center

http://www.princetoneats.org/extra-special-7-hour-leg-of-lamb

Ingredients:

1 bone-in leg of lamb roast, half or whole.  There should be some fat on the roast.

Olive oil for browning the leg
1 large onion, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 carrot, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 celery, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup white or red wine, per your preference
1 ½ cups crushed or diced canned tomatoes (or fresh if in season!)
A couple of teaspoons of herbs: some combination of thyme, oregano, rosemary, fresh or dried, or perhaps some Herbes de Provence.
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

1. Remove lamb from refrigerator, uncover, and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack positioned to fit the lamb.
3. In a large casserole that can go into the oven, heat up a little olive oil. Sprinkle the lamb with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and brown from all sides. Remove lamb from the pan to a platter and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat until the vegetables start to soften.
4. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any leftover brown flavorful bits. Mix in herbs and tomato product.  Return the lamb to the roasting pan with any pan juices. Cover the pan.
5. Cover the casserole and place in the oven. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees, and roast for 3-4 hours.
6. Remove pan from oven and increase oven temperature to 450. Transfer lamb to a plate and cover to keep warm.  Remove the vegetables from the casserole with a slotted spoon and reserve them for the sauce. Strain cooking liquid into a fat separator or glass measuring cup; spoon off any fat that rises to the surface and discard.
7. Spread a bit of olive oil on the bottom of your casserole, and return roast, uncovered to the hot oven.
8. Make the sauce: combine the cooking liquid and reserved vegetables in a small saucepan and purée.  Add a tablespoon of butter or heavy cream, if that’s the sort of cook you are.  Keep sauce warm.
9. When the lamb is crisped up and – if there’s a layer of fat on it – sizzling, remove it from the oven. Carve lamb and arrange slices on a large warm platter. Drizzle with sauce before serving, or serve the sauce on the side.
10. If the whole carving thing is too elegant, place the meat, right in its casserole, on a trivet on the middle of the table, and have your family or guests remove hunks of meat from the roast with a pair of tongs.  Yes, it’s that tender.

Alternative Method (Margaret’s)

Does your crock pot come apart into a base and a ceramic and glass lidded crock?  Perfect!  (If not, use an appropriately sized casserole and foil as described in the recipe and transfer between oven and pre-heated crock-pot quickly.)  Use the crock as your casserole dish.  The lid substitutes for the foil cover.  After the initial roasting, move the crockpot out of the oven and onto it’s regular base.  Set it to high and come back in about 4 hours or when it is nearly as done as you like it.  In our case and as most recommend, keep lamb somewhere between rare and medium done-ness.  When you are close to that point, pick back up with the recipe by getting your oven heated to 450 and leave the lid off.

Margaret's Honey Balsamic Recipe

Tweet

Recipe of the Week:

It would seem that a great place to start with ideas for your CSA veggies and fresh veggies in general would be with Salad Mix.  It has become a household staple.  An easy way to eat at least some of the vegetables you need to eat each day and a type of vegetable with which you can quite literally please everyone.

Margaret’s Honey Balsamic Salad Dressing

A popular staple in our house is salad.  I’m sure everyone already has their old standby favorites but I thought I’d add one more that you can add to your repertoire for the season!

Ingredients:

½ cup Balsamic Vinegar

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Mustard (preferably your favorite stoneground or Dijon but plain yellow will do)

1-2 Tbsp Honey (We like raw, local honey of course!)

Directions:

1. add all ingredients together in a shakeable jar or whisk in a bowl.  (We use a pint canning jar and a lid from a glass spaghetti sauce jar)
2. taste your mixture and adjust honey or vinegar and oil as necessary to suit your family’s tastes
3. Store in refrigerator.  Allow time to come to room temperature or microwave just until re-liquified before serving as the olive oil will solidify in the refrigerator.

Other optional variations

• Add walnuts
• Chop walnuts finely and add to dressing.  Flavors will be best when given time in the refrigerator.
• Add raspberries
• Add rinsed and dried ripe berries right to your jar and shake well.  The berries should break up.  Give time in the refrigerator for best flavor.
• Add walnuts and raspberries
• Raspberry walnut is a classic combination.  Can’t go wrong here!

Salad Additions for a Real Meal

Want to turn your Salad mix into a full lunch or light supper?  Here’s my favorite additions:

• Cheese: shredded parmesan is my favorite but Feta is wonderful as well as Cheddar
• Nuts: I usually keep sunflower seeds in the pantry but Walnuts or almonds are great as well.
• Dried fruit: Dried cranberries are my pantry staple and my typical go to dried fruit.  Try raisins or chopped up pieces of your favorite fruit leather

Other salad dressings:

Not a big vinaigrette fan?  Need something else for just the right flavor?  Our other favorite around here is Goddess dressing.  The grownups have to hurry when salad is served and there’s only just enough Goddess on the table or the munchkins will hog all of whatever is left!

The BEST Egg Salad Ever!

Tweet

So we all know how scientific I typically am about my recipes.  This one's different...

Okay I was just kidding.  I do have some recipes that I'm pretty particular about but this isn't one of them.

Margaret's Amazing Egg Salad 
(based loosely on a Betty Crocker Recipe)

Serves about 6 humans.
(count your children accordingly, some days mine are worth 1 human each, sometimes they total 1/4 human...)

Apple Breakfast Casserole Recipe

Tweet

6-8 sliced of bread, toasted and cut in 1" squares (or other leftover bread)
3 apples, cut in 1" cubes
1/2 cup Craisins (or other dried fruit in sm. pieces)
6 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
Cinnamon, Ginger, Allspice, Nutmeg

sour cream, yogurt, apple sauce, etc. for serving

1.  Preheat oven to 325'
2.  Grease the bottom of an 8x10 baking dish.  spread your bread pieces across the bottom.
3.  Spread apple pieces on top
4.  Sprinkle dried fruit across top of apples
5.  Beat together eggs and sour cream
6.  Sprinkle spices across top.  (I rarely measure, just use my nose until it smells good, so start sparingly!)
7.  Place in pre-heated oven for 50-60 minutes or until apples are soft and eggs are set.

Serve as-is or feel free to use sour cream, syrup, yogurt, apple sauce, fruit butter, chutney, etc on top.  (Especially if you let it bake while you went outside to do animal chores and over-baked it a little! :)  )

Leftover Breakfast pie Recipe

Tweet

Corned beef and cabbage for dinner?  not much of a corned been sandwich family or is there just not much left for leftovers?  This recipe was a breakfast hit with my family and great for all sorts of leftovers that just aren't ever quite as good as "Leftovers"...  You can probably tailor the recipe to any type of meat roast and vegetable dinner that now is crowding the fridge as leftovers.

leftover cooked Cabbage (about 1/4 of a large head, cooked)
Leftover Mashed Potatoes
Leftover Corned Beef or 1/2 lb fresh sausage
2-3 medium Carrots (leftover or fresh)
one small Onion, leftover or fresh
4 eggs
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Sour Cream, for serving

1.  Pre-heat oven to 325'  Prepare a baking pan or pie plate appropriate to number of folks you're feeding.  (There were 4 adults and one 4 yo eating breakfast, I used a 9" ceramic pie pan)
2.  If using fresh sausage or onions, cut onions into large pieces and cook until browned in a small frying pan with sausage.  Break sausage up into small pieces while cooking.
3.  if using fresh carrots, chop into about 1/2" pieces or slices.  Chop cabbage leaves into bite sized sections, place in baking pan with carrot pieces.
4. If using leftover corned beef, shred or slice into sections and toss in baking pan with cabbage and carrots.
5.  add to baking pan cooked sausage and onions and toss together with cabbage and onions.
6.  Settle the meat and veggies into a nice even layer in the pan.  Beat eggs and pour into baking pan
7.  Spread potatoes in an even layer across the top
8.  Sprinkle Cheese across top of breakfast pie
9.  Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 45-60 minutes or until carrots are soft and eggs are set.
10.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
11.  lick the baking pan clean... yes it was that good!

Pumpkin Potato Pancakes

Tweet

A.K.A. Pumpkin Latkas

Part Hannukah, part Thanksgiving, part necessity.



I was surfing the web looking for inspiration for an egg-free breakfast and these are what I came up with.  Egg free in part because my chickens are on strike again and store-bought eggs are just so different!  Egg-free in another part because as much as farm eggs are yummy and healthy and filling and delicious, some people still simply cannot eat eggs.

Oh yeah, and it's kid approved...



See that?  Sour cream not even touched...

Microwave Winter Squash Recipe

Tweet

Everyone knows that winter squash should be baked.

This is true, but what if you want something home-made and fresh for lunch?  With a little preparation at time and a microwave at school or work, you're set!  You'll also have the rest of the building or lunchroom drooling!

You'll have to tailor this recipe to suit your tastes, as always, but I have the basics to begin upon here.

Microwave Winter Squash Lunch
Makes enough for 1 person.
Time: 15 minutes preparation, 8 minutes cooking.

Ingredients:

One small winter squash, softball size or appropriate to your appetite.

Filling:
Whatever strikes your fancy.  My favorite choices are below
1. Cranberry
       2 tbsp dried cranberries
       1 tbsp honey
       1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
       cloves
2. Sausage Rice (sweet with brown sugar or savory with seasonings)
       1/4 cup of your favorite breakfast sausage, cooked.
       1/2 cup cooked rice
       seasonings (salt, pepper, sage) (optional)
       brown sugar (optional)

Instructions:
@ Home
1. Gather your filling ingredients.  You can mix them all together in a sandwich bag (cranberry) or microwave-safe container (sausage) and store it in the refrigerator.
2. give your squash's skin a scrub.  (Generally a good policy no matter who you got it from!)
@ Work
3.  With a knife, stab the squash so that steam can escape.
4.  Microwave the whole squash for about 4 minutes, turn it over, microwave for 4 more minutes.
5.  CAUTION!  HOT!  Let the squash rest for a few minutes until you can cut it open without burning your hands on the steam.
6. with a spoon, scoop out the seeds and toss (or compost!) them.
7.  if you chose the sausage filling (or something similar), reheat it while your squash is cooling.
8.  Mix and Enjoy!  if you have extra room in your container for the sausage filling, scrape the squash from it's skin into your container.  If you just had your squash and your sandwich baggie of yummies, you'll have to scrape the squash filling loose and mix with your filling in the skin.

YUM!

Please share in the comments your favorite filling for squash, baked or microwave!

Ethiopian Cabbage Dish

Tweet

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ethiopian-Cabbage-Dish/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

Prep Time: 25 Minutes            Cook Time: 40 Minutes          Ready In: 1 Hour 5 Minutes

Servings: 5

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

4 carrots, thinly sliced

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 head cabbage, shredded

5 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

Directions:

1.                  Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

2.                  Cook the carrots and onion in the hot oil about 5 minutes.

3.                  Stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, and cabbage and cook another 15 to 20 minutes.

4.                  Add the potatoes; cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until potatoes are soft, 20 to 30 minutes.

Cilantro-Lime Coleslaw

Tweet
We made this recipe on the 4th of July and it was FANTASTIC!  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 lime, zested
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sweet chili sauce
2 teaspoons white sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh
cilantro
1/4 red onion, finely diced, or more to
taste
4 cups shredded green cabbage, or more
to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Whisk mayonnaise, lime zest, lime juice, rice vinegar, garlic, sweet chili sauce, and sugar in a large bowl, stirring to dissolve sugar. Mix cilantro and red onion into dressing. Stir cabbage into dressing mixture, about 1 cup at a time, until all cabbage is coated.

NOTES:
We added in shredded carrots and didn't use sweet chili sauce because we didn't have any to hand.
1 whole large-ish head of our cabbage plus carrots and the rest all fit into our 6-quart KitchenAid mixer.

Cilantro-Lime Coleslaw from AllRecipes.com

Cabbage Coleslaw

Tweet

I used to hate coleslaw.  Despise it.  As it happens, what I really hate is the preservatives and oey-goey white… something that seems to be present in quantities more vast than the supposed star of the recipe: Cabbage.  And frankly, if you have a mandolin or cabbage board or accessory for your kitchenaid, it’s really easy.  It was one of the most favorite dishes I would make for my fraternity boys.  If it got their approval, I’m sure it’ll get yours!

Creamy Cole Slaw

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/creamy-cole-slaw-recipe/index.html

Prep Time:10 min  Inactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time: --

Level:  Easy  Serves:  8 servings

Broccoli: The Other Parts...

Tweet

When one consumes broccoli, one is only eating a small portion of the plant.  The heads stand about two feet off the ground and grow from the middle of large leaves.  I don’t know about you but I like to use as much of a plant as possible.  Sure, I've got chickens and pigs and they love this kind of stuff but what is wrong with using as much of the plant as possible most of the time?

Parmesan Spinach Cakes

Tweet

Parmesan Spinach Cakes

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/parmesan_spinach_cakes.html

From EatingWell:  September/October 2008

4 servings, 2 spinach cakes each | Active Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

12 ounces fresh spinach

1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese, or low-fat cottage cheese

1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

2 large eggs, beaten

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper