winter garden.

While we have been busy in the kitchen we have also been out in the garden. I love yard work (yeah, I love shoveling too!). I will admit that we have a LOT of clean up after growing food plants rather than ornamental bushes, but it is worth it. The glorious weather has helped make the garden clean up even nicer. We are pulling, clipping, raking, and planting. We prepped and planted garlic and shallots. I love planting even as the cold comes. Speaking of planting...


This year we are planning to try to grow certain herbs and greens inside to see how much we can stay local for veggies even throughout the winter. Our pantry and freezer is packed with everything we preserved from farms and our garden all summer, but we still wanted fresh greens. With a sprouter we have a lot of variety throughout the winter for salads as well as bread, but we wanted more! So lets give it a shot and see how far we can go.

We plan to do a few succession plantings as we figure out what works best (or doesn't work). Our first planting::

-mustard greens
-salad bowl lettuce (cut and come again)
-spinach
-cilantro
-chives
-swiss chard
and by special request we will try
-window box roma tomato

To winter greens!

cheese.

My 4 year old is a picky eater. Always has been. Has to do with scent and texture. He is super sensitive. So when he started eating samples of the stinkiest, most aged cheese when at Whole Foods or the farmer's market, well, we weren't about to let that one go!

Each time we visit somewhere with good cheeses he samples, smells, tastes, and compares. We let him taste and select the best cheese for us. A few times he has conversed with the cheese person at the shop - asking if they have an aged cheddar or something to sample. Anyone who is so gracious as to talk seriously and kindly to a 4 year old about cheeses while cutting him samples of whatever he wants to try is OK in my book. In the end, it is his choice, and we get it and try it. An extra bonus is that there are many excellent local cheeses - well, that and he has good taste in cheese!

Here are two of his favorites this week:

Edelweiss Raw Milk Cheddar & Gouda (WI) - Raw milk from grass fed cattle cheeses.

Honey.

Ahh, just when we were about out, the local farmer we get our wheat from tells us he is extracting his honey. Gotta love it. And the color and smell are just that much better on these dark gray January days.

in from the cold.

After shoveling ice and snow outside in the cold, a warm hearty lunch is very welcome. Who says eggs have to be for breakfast, anyway? And with local eggs, milk, leeks, and cheese it is even better...not to mention the local fingerling sweet potatoes caramelized in a Dijon brown sugar glaze...

Sweet Potatoes
1-2 pounds fingerling sweet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced thickly
1 Tbsp Dijon
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter

I first boiled the sliced potatoes in the skillet until I could poke them with a knife (not mushy). Toss out the water, and return the skillet to the heat (med hi) with a drizzle of olive oil to keep them from sticking. While they are sizzling, warm the mustard, brown sugar and butter up together--whisking until mixed. Drizzle over the potatoes in the skillet, and let it bubble for a minute (stir/turn) before removing from heat. SOOOO good.

The boys love the colors on our local eggs.

eat local for thanksgiving

The Crunchy Chicken blog has created a pledge to Eat Local for Thanksgiving this year. What does this mean? Try to use foods that are in season, local, and organic.

"In your pledge you can state what you are planning to do, whether that be acquiring a local turkey to getting all your vegetables at a farmer's market, etc. It's totally up to you. The point is to think about where each food source comes from and buy it locally or don't serve it if it's out of season or has to travel miles to get to your plate. "

So go pledge!

New Glarus Brewing Co...Organic Revolution.

We try to buy local goodies for the bulk of our food & beverage purchases if we can. This includes wine and beer.

Today my husband stopped in at the New Glarus Brewing Company when we were in the area, and discovered that they have an organic beer which is naturually carbonated and 100% bottle fermented (and made using Wisconsin organically malted barley). So, of course, we had to get some.

Straight from the drinkers' mouth (that would be Brice):

The beer has a light flavor, clear golden color. Not sure about "dancing on my palate," but it does have a nice carbonation with more than just the initial beer flavor, which is a nice surprise. Overall, an enjoyable beer - even more so knowing its organic.

Caramelized Apple Tart...mmmmmm...

The local foods potluck picnic today was a great time - good food, great weather, fun conversation, happy kids. I posted last night with what I was making, and today, here is the first of two recipes.

Caramelized Apple Tart with Cinnamon Custard

(recipe from Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating From America's Farmers' Markets, from Deborah Madison)

Ingredients:

For the Apples:
3 apples (I wanted super apple, so I used 6)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar

For the Batter:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra
1/2 cup sugar
3 medium eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch tart pan. Peel and core the apples, then slice them into thin wedges. Melt the butter in a wide nonstick skillet, add the apples, and sprinkle them with the sugar. Cook over high heat, occasionally flipping the apples, until they start to caramelize, then reduce the heat to medium. Keep a close eye on the apples, turning them frequently so they don't burn. This will take about 15 minutes in all. Turn off the heat.

To make the batter, cream the butter and sugar in a mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla and salt, then stir in the flour. Smooth the batter into the tart pan with a spatula, pushing it up the sides to make a rim. Lay the apples over the batter.

Mix the ingredients for the cream together, then pour it over the apples. Set the tart on a sheet pan and bake until the crust is golden and starting to pull away from the sides, about 35 minutes. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

I altered a few things to keep it mostly *local* for the potluck. I used fresh ground whole wheat flour for the crust - yum. I substituted maple syrup for sugar. And in WI, finding local eggs, cream, butter and apples is easy. It was spectacular. And, a drizzle of our home made boiled cider on the plate before eating - oh.my.

Local Foods.

Today was a happily busy Friday.

Tomorrow we are meeting several other families from my online mom bookclub at a park for a local foods potluck picnic. This month our book selection was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and we are having this potluck to tie in with the book, and also to get out in this great fall weather and meet face to face after only chatting about books online for who knows how long. It looks like it will be a perfect day.

I planned on making several things - figuring one won't work out. So far so good though! The boys helped with e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. in the kitchen today, much to the frustration of my husband, but they did a great job. They ground flour, sifted, peeled/cored apples, scrubbed vegetables - they made a mess. What fun!

A sneak peek of what we are making?
--Roasted Root Vegetables & Mashed Squash with Red Wine Sauce
::Includes locally grown herbs, carrots, brussel sprouts, radishes, beets, squash, garlic & flour. Also using local red wine & butter.

--Caramelized Apple Tart with Cinnamon Custard
:: Includes local apples, eggs, flour, cream, butter, and maple syrup combined with a few extra spices.

--Whole Wheat Bread
::Includes local wheat, honey, and milk. I'm taking this to go along with the apple butter I made a few weeks ago.

Yum.

Should be a fun day.