Interview with LaFuji Mama

Last week I was flattered to be interviewed by one of my favorite blog moms, La Fuji Mama. It was a fun chat and I really enjoyed talking with her about my passion for good, local food and how it led me to my work at the Ballard Farmers Market.

Interview with La Fuji Mama.

This mama is a wonder... let me tell you. I have a hard time getting things done with my one toddler, and she has two kiddos under three yrs. Amazing! And she can bake. That in and of itself is awe-inspiring to me. My house is the place where bread comes to die. I hope that you can take the time to check out the interview and her other amazing posts. Enjoy!

BTW This is the cartoon I was refering to in the interview:

Plug for Farmers Market

I think it shows the choices quite nicely. ;)

The end of summer

It is official. The summer has come to a close. I pulled the tomatoes today. This is the last of them. It was warm as I was gathering. About 60 degrees... drizzling slightly. Just enough to put droplets on my glasses. I pulled and prodded to see if there were any left that would be worthy of a meal. As you can see I found quite a few.

The kittens were out there with me. Not really kittens anymore. Little Bo is still tiny for a cat, but she is almost 5 lbs. Samson is over 7 lbs and only looks small in comparison to Taio (our 20 lb main coon). They played around me as I worked, systematically pawing at things as they saw fit.

I love fall. I will miss the light however. Here in the Pacific NW, with the rain comes the clouds... and with the clouds comes the darkness. It is time to think about taking Vitamin D again. Time for tea and warm drinks and opening your curtains for every daylight hour you can. Soon we will have 6 hour days.

But then, comes Christmas crafting. ;)

Market Days

This week was the first farm frost. Last of the tomatoes, last of the summer squashes, basil and other summer lovers all done.

My list is still impressive however. :)

Carrots, celery, curly kale, corn, Choggia beets (sweet) and golden beets, parsley, dill, cilantro, and mint, garlic, Rose Finn and Ozette potatoes, broccoli, parsnips, rutabagga, and a whole pound of chantrelle mushrooms. Traded for: bell peppers, raspberries, pears, chicken legs, chicken wings, and farm fresh eggs.

Menu for this week:

New template from here. Isn't it cute?

Preserving Food ~ Dried Apple Chips

We still have some apples left over even though our pantry is now stuffed full with strawberry applesauce, so I thought that the food dehydrator needed some more work.

I remember apple chips fondly as a child. My mom would cut them up and put them in our oatmeal, rehydrate them for baking, or even just drop some in a bowl for an afternoon snack.

A corer/peeler/slicer is really kind of essential in making these easy. It took us about 10 minutes to get fill up two dehydrators and I was teaching the kids how to do it at the same time.

It made fast work of the hard parts.

You just cut one slit down the side of the sliced/cored apple, place them on the tray, and get ready to enjoy your chips!

I have read that you can dip them in water with two capsules of Vitamin C in it and they will retain their color better. I don't mind the mild brown they took on. I think the essential part was getting them to the dryer from the cutting quickly. With my little helpers, it took no time.

Dehydrate for 4 - 6 hours or until done to your liking. We like ours just past crispy.

Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Preserving Food ~ Apple Peel Jelly

I got this idea from Callista, who made what sounds like the best jelly ever! For our family though, I can not add that much sugar in jelly, so I decided to try out an old fashioned recipe from the Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving instead, but use her apple peel juice method, and tweak the seasonings. It turned out so wonderful and I have to share:

Old Fashioned Apple Peel Jelly

Step 1: Make the juice

First, boil the apple peels. I had a 9 quart pot filled to the brim. I added enough water so when I pushed down on the peels I could see it, and boiled. I let that simmer on low for over 3 hours once it got to a boil. I just left it there all of nap time. Then I took a colander, and set it on top of an upturned cereal bowl in my largest bowl (HUGE metal mixing bowl that I keep for canning). I don't have any cheese cloth. I didn't think that the people at the store would want me bringing the plague to them, so I figured it could drip sufficiently while I made and ate dinner. I ended up with 10 cups of liquid.

Step 2: Recipe

I then used the juice for this recipe:

4 cups apple juice
2 Tbs lemon juice
3 cups granulated sugar

(I used raw, organic sugar and it worked just fine)

Prepare lids and jars. (Here for info on how to do that)

Bring juice and lemon juice to a boil and add in sugar, stirring until dissolved.

Step 3: Season the Jelly

For Apple Pie flavor add in: 1 tea cinnamon and 1/2 tea nutmeg

For Apple Cider flavor add in: 1 Tbs whole allspice, zest of one orange, 1/4 tea cinnamon, 1 tea whole cloves (strain out at the end)

Step 4: Cooking and canning

Boil hard, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to sheet from a metal spoon. (For me it took nearly an hour... and I didn't stir it much). You do not need any added pectin for this recipe. The pectin in the apple peels will work fine. I added a pectin box the first batch I made and it make it more like jello! LOL! It still tastes great though.

Pour into prepared jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.

Process jars for 5 minutes in rolling boil, then shut off heat, and leave for 5 minutes.

Remove jars, cool, label and store.

Preserving Food ~ Apple Pie Filling

Today I am sick. This nasty cold has gone viciously through our family this last week, starting with Logan on Tuesday and all the way through Don and I these last two days. It is only a three day thing... but wow. It's a killer. We have spent many an evening all laying on my bed, watching movies, eating popcorn or pasta for dinner.

Getting sick really isn't a mother's prerogative. It seems as though it should be, but when I actually get sick, it is more like something I have to push through than 'recover from'. This week was no different. The worst day of my cold I was delivered 5 boxes of beautiful apples.

No stopping apples. So no stopping applesauce and apple pie filling. Being in Washington, I have honestly never bought apples for canning before. I have always had trees, or known people that have had trees. So this is the first time I have ever paid for boxes of apples and I wasn't about to let them go bad as I sat conversing with my tissues.

Sarah Jean's Apple Pie Filling

Granny Smith Apples

4 1/2 cups of sugar

2 Tbs cinnamon

1/2 tea nutmeg (I liked 1 tea)

1 tea salt

1 cup corn starch

10 cups water

Mix all ingredients, except corn starch. Mix the corn starch with a little water and then add it in. Boil all ingredients.

Being that this is the first time I bought apples, I forgot to ask if they were organic. Just to be on the safe side, I washed them all.

Peel and core a large bowl of apples, and cut them into halves or fourths (I like fourths, they are easier to stuff in the jars, but halves look better in the pie.)

I am saving aside the peels for Callista's Apple Pie Jelly. :)

The recipe calls for cramming as many apples in as you can up to the rim of the jar, but I found that if you fill the jar half full with apple slices, and then add a bit of the sour over those, then cram the jars with the slices it worked much better to get the sauce to the bottom of the jar.

Work bubbles out with a knife. Sauce will settle and you will want to add more in a few minutes. Add lids and submerge in hot water bath for 20 minutes.

Happy Canning!

Market Days

Sorry I am late on this this week. You can all imagine why. ;) The shell shock of the pantry fall out is still going on. We have to replace some moving boxes that got soaked in peach, tomato, and cherry juice, and we have to wash the jars, but the shelves are reinforced... so when I put the jars back up, it should not happen again. I still don't understand why it happened. Nothing shook the garage... there was no more weight on that shelf than any others. It just gave way. But 25 some odd jars later (I really don't know the number, but my guess is between 22 and 25 jars hit the ground) I am feeling much better about the whole thing. Thank you so much for all of the appropriate horror. It was wonderful to get such sweet responses and emails from you all. A lot of work hit the ground yesterday and at this point I am just really glad it wasn't worse.

This weeks list:

Artichokes, green beans, a flat and a half of blueberries for more jam, leeks, cilantro, parsley, dill, Rose Finn potatoes, Italian zucchini, romaine and oak leaf lettuce, golden beets, red Swiss chard, Sun Gold and plum tomatoes, garlic, blond cucumbers, celeriac, two bags of chicken wings, a dozen eggs, and a thing of chocolate goats milk as a treat for the kids. Plus this:

WE HAVE CORN!!! It is so very very good. I made it up that same night and it was so sweet and tender it didn't even need butter. I just dipped it in a little salted boiling water for about 2 minutes and it was plump and delicious. Fresh corn is something that is really only good in season. They can try to grow it far away and then ship it... but it isn't good. Not like this. Tomatoes and corn are two of the things that really only taste like they are supposed to when you get them in season, warm from the summer sun. This was like a little bite of sunshine. It was amazing!

This weeks menu reflects a little bit of the lack of desire to cook anything on my part. It is a less than creative week. But comfort food can be creative and I am all about comfort on these first few frustrating days of fall.

Farm Party

Last week we had the annual barn stomp farm party! It was so wonderful. The music and the food far out did last years event, although I missed the games that we so enjoyed last year.

The beautiful, sunny fall weather quickly turned cold as the sun went down. But we had a great three hours of dancing, eating, and enjoying the beauty of the farm. My friend Dustin was the chef this year and omgoodness did he do an amazing job! He and his helpers set out an incredible feast that included an entire roasted pig (raised by another friend of mine), a bunch of coho salmon, and more veggies from the farm than you can imagine. It was amazing (not to mention DELICIOUS!)

Here is a slideshow of the highlights... what a fabulous evening!

The Mother of all Onions

The Walla Walla was developed by a Italian American who developed it for the early maturation of the crop (weeks before other onions in the season). It was soon known for not only being early, but also being sweet enough to eat like an apple!

This tradition continues with four generations of this same family dedicated to growing the same wonderful crop of onions year after year.

The farms onions were, of course, grown on the farm, but the small farm tradition and the reverence for the Walla Walla variety still live on.

This onion is fast on it's way to bring a bloomin' onion for a wonderful end of summer feast. :)

Here is a recipe for an onion flower and a bit of history of the onions from the farm:

Life is Sweet for the Walla Walla Onion

Market Days

Val says "Get thee to a farmers market!"

Goodness my friends... there is SO much food out there this time of year. It is blowing me away. This is the time of year to shop at the farmers markets. You may get hooked, or you may be a seasonal shopper... but if there was any time to go, it would be right now. Everything is fit to bursting with incredible amounts of... well, everything! We have summer squash, right next to winter squash, we have carrots right next to our second planting of snow peas, we have tomatoes, and basil, right next to parsnips and rutabagas. We have everything!

My list for this week: ("Prepare to be amazed!" (a quote from a little friend)) Leeks, celery, sungold and plum tomatoes, red beets (for cake again), snow peas, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, Anaheim and bell peppers, purple cabbage, Romaine lettuce, Italian zucchini, romaine and red Oak Leaf lettuce, red and yellow onions (one is the mother of all onions!), 2 1/2 lbs of basil, a flat of sauce tomatoes, and 4 half flats of blueberries. In the fridge I have rutabaga, parsnips, a dozen eggs, and a half lb of local Chanterelle mushrooms.

And then I have this:

Bruised fruit from the stand next door to make fruit cocktail.

Apples from a tree offered on freecycle (in WA we have plenty of apples to share).

Menu for this week:

List of food preservation for the week:

Applesauce

Fruit Cocktail

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Plum Jam

Plum and Ginger Sauce

Blueberry Jam

Pesto

Roasted Bell Peppers (in olive oil)

Chocolate Beet Cake (to freeze)

I am going to be a busy lady this week...

Rainy Market Monday and a Menu Too!

I felt lucky to have new tents at the market this year. Last year, when we had a cold rainy day, slowly, ever so slowly, the tent would sag, and then all of a sudden DUMP water on us as we were working. Yesterday though, the new tents saved us from the horrid sudden waterfalls in most ways... by actually working and not sagging and such. So, that was good. What was not good was that we have two tents side by side... so between the two tents was this never ending stream of water pouring down between the two sides of the table. This was uncomfortable. Doubly so, considering that the 15 customers that did come to the market in the deluge asked for things from both sides of the tables... making us walk through the stream of water with every order. I was soaked to the skin (and standing in wet running shoes) the entire day. You really get to see the hard core local foodies when you work the market on a downpour day like yesterday. We thanked each and every person that came to our stand yesterday for coming out in that weather.

You prepare to be cold and wet in Nov... even Oct sometimes (at least you prepare for cold and wet in Seattle in Oct)... but Sept 6th? We were both in cotton layers, and the only reason we had coats is because we got up while it was still dark (ie; still cold). We were not as bad off as some (the lady behind us was in a running outfit and a apron. Poor thing was SO cold by noon that she was dancing around just to keep warm.) but still, a rather uncomfortable day, in which, once again, we made no money for the farm. Sigh.

Living locally in Sept is so easy. It is amazing the things you find this time of year. Anything and everything grows here.... except lemons (which we were asked for yesterday... weird.).

My list for this week: Bell peppers in all sorts of beautiful colors, celery, garlic, cherry tomatoes and Sun Gold tomatoes, red oak lettuce, romaine lettuce, curly parsley, leeks, Rose Finn potatoes, blond cucumbers, crookneck and Italian zucchini squash, purple cabbage, baby artichokes, fresh onions, Walla Walla onions, nectarines, white flesh peaches, a bag of beets for that cake recipe again (SO GOOD!), one dozen and 11 eggs (one broke, so she gave it to me), 12 chicken wings, a pizza and a huge brownie (which I ate there.) Oh, and I was given a 7 lbs (making it a $11) cabbage to make into soup (no one is going to spend $11 on one cabbage and we know it.)

After I got home and took a nice hot shower last night, The Man and I got to go out on a date. On the drive we saw these dahlias at a road side stand. Being local (out of someones front yard) I thought I would include them in the bounty for the week... isn't it beautiful?

Making a menu from this amazing bounty is only hard because there is so much to chose from. This week I chose these selections:

The "notes" section that is on this menu is really nice. I used it to add a couple snacks I want to be sure to make this week. The eggs are already boiled, and the beets are on the oven for a bunch of cupcakes right now. I'll save the smoothies for later in the week. (menu template found here) The Tiny Food Party is actually on Wed for Cyan and her girlfriends... I just forgot in the middle of writing, so I added it to Sunday so it had a place in the week. (Read the way I use my menu plans here.)

Happy Monday everyone!

Garden Photos

As you can imagine... moving twice in a 7 months does not lend itself well to a fruitful garden... but we have gotten a few things.

My first crop of purple potatoes! :) It was very exciting. I think we even got enough for a dinner later this week.

Minutes after I took this picture, that basil went into pesto for the freezer for winter. That just has to be good for you! Those tomatoes were put on nachos later that night as well... Even Logan ate them. :D My little boy is growing up.

Market Days

My market days list for this week:

Three bunches of red beets, garlic, romaine lettuce, wonderful eggs (from happy chickens), shelling peas (we are the only ones that have them this time of year due to a second crop the farm puts out, so these are prized items), summer savory (which I am drying), cilantro, broccoli, green beans, celeriac, sun gold and cherry tomatoes, blueberries, peaches, and basil.

This week was a very fruitful week for me. Basically I didn't have to put out any money whatsoever for this amazing feast of bounty I have sitting on my table in this picture. Why? Because I asked when every one was packing up if they had excess or bruised fruits and veggies that they couldn't sell but were still sound. The peaches and blueberries would have been $.50/lb, but being a vendor myself, I traded our leftover veggies for that. So I didn't even have to pay for that. But even had I paid, it wouldn't have been much and the blueberries are just for eating, the peaches are for peach butter (recipe later), and that bag of goodness you see on the bottom right??? Yeah. That's basil. About 1 1/2 lbs of basil. *glee* Look for my pesto recipe later this week. :)

That jar of yummy that is sitting in the middle is a trade for my roasted tomato sauce from another vendor. Smoke jalapeno peppers. I can't wait to try them!