Kale

I admit it. It scares me too. It looks a little too "green" and "nutritious". But I was watching a cooking show this winter, I believe it was Rachel Ray, and she was saying it was the new "super food". So I decided to try it. I ordered the Siberian Dwarf variety. I planted it. It came up and it is beautiful!

So I looked it up online to see what to do with it. I found a website call vegbox-recipes.co.uk. It says "Kale is a leafy cabbage like vegetable. It's strong flavor requires careful cooking, so it's worth reading how to use it and checking out recipes, to make sure you enjoy it." Ok. So make sure to pick it young.

"Choose kale leaves when they're still small and young. Avoid leaves that are mottled yellow, as this means that they're going to be old and bitter. Use it as soon as you can." Here's the best part! "Trim the stringy stalk. Wash the leaves well. Then use them as spinach or cabbage. You can slice the leaves and wilt them in a little butter and garlic for a quick, tasty side dish. Young tender leaves can be used as a salad." Guess what's for dinner! Yum!

"Kale is a great source of Vitamins C, A and B6. It's also packed with antioxidants, which are vital for a healthy immune system." Cool.

I will have Kale to sell for the next few weeks at the Monticello Farmer's Market on Thursdays. Come be brave and try some Kale with me

Spinach recipe...

I love spinach and I love to find things to do with it! I am so happy that it is finally here, but you can only eat so many salads and I don't like it wilted too much. I still love the fresh flavor and thickness of the leaves. So I have found a recipe that my family loves. Here it is...

Spinach with Orzo and Feta

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook 1/2 pound orzo according to package instructions. Stir in 1 pound chopped trimmed spinach until wilted. Drain. In a large bowl, toss hot spinach and pasta with 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint, 1/2 cup feta cheese, 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and ground pepper.

Thank you Martha Stewart for the great recipe. Enjoy!

Gracie!

My name is Gracie! And I am the favorite chicken in the flock right now. I am also the smallest so I get picked on a lot by my sisters. See my featherless tail? But I have figured out that when my Mama comes out to feed and water us I can jump down and go between her legs and my sisters cannot get me! I also like to ride on her shoulder as she cleans out nesting boxes and collects our eggs. My Mama protects me.

I came from a home where I was raised with a Rooster named Mohawk. He protects me too. I had to come live here because my Mama was looking for a good Rooster to watch over her flock and my owner was giving us away. My Mama loves having a Rooster to hear them crow and to make the eggs yummier! She sells my pretty brown eggs at the Farmers Market. But you have to come early because she only has a few dozen a week and they are so yummy that they sell really fast. Happy Chickens make really nice eggs!

Its time for Rhubarb

OK. I admit it. Rhubarb is not my favorite. And my husband loves it. So I have had to really look for recipes that have a rhubarb flavor, but yet not too much, so that I enjoy eating it. Here is my favorite recipe so far. It s a coffee cake with rhubarb sauce running through the middle of it, Yummy!

Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
Filling:
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 cups diced rhubarb

Cake: 
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I use pecans)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Filling: In a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in rhubarb. Cook and stir over medium heat, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and cool.

Cake: Combine milk and lemon juice. Set aside. Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly (a food processor is great for this). Remove 1/2 cup of this mixture and set it aside to use for topping. To the remaining flour mixture add baking powder, baking soda, and walnuts. Combine egg with milk mixture. Add to the dry ingredients and stir in or process until just moistened. Spread 2/3 of the batter over the bottom and part way up the sides of a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Spoon the rhubarb filling over this. Drop the remaining batter by spoon fulls over the filling. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

I will have rhubarb for sale for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy.

Market Starts next week! May 13

Wow! Wear did the prep time go?

Its a rainy day today so I decided to try to make some dog biscuits to sell. It might satisfy all of the doggie lovers need to buy their canine friend a treat! I taste tested them on Foster, and I think he really like them!

I've been labeling my eggs, putting my herbs outside to get nice and full, and digging up perennials to sell. I've been organizing my cookbook for market, making lists of ingredients to buy, and making business cards. I think I might be in "Market Mode".

Everything in the garden is starting to come up and it looks nice. I have been really trying to stay on top of the weeds this year.

Baking for next Thursday-
-Monter Cookies!
-Banana Bread
-Strawberry Rhubarb bread
-and Yucky Pretzels (that aren't so yucky!)

I will have my herb plants, perennials, jams & jellies, and a bird bath to sell.
See you Thursday!

Seedlings

My seedlings are popping up! Its so fun everyday to see who decided to come up above the soil. Each day there is a new variety that decided to stretch out towards the sun in my patio door. The last one to pop up is my parsley, I am thinking that I got a bad batch of seeds. I bought the parsley seeds at Wal Mart, I should have ordered them from Territorial.

I decided it would be a good idea to buy a shelf to put in the patio door when my puppy gladly tasted the first batch of basil that I grew. I made the mistake of putting them on the floor in the sun and 20 minutes later they were gone! But the shelf works well. I normally have flats of seedlings spread all out on the floor in front of the window and worry someone will step on them. Now they are all up against the glass and it looks nice too.

I planted my herbs, 4 varieties of tomatoes and 3 kinds of peppers. I like to put the herbs in cans. Its a free pot and it looks cool to sell them at market. I planted the tomatoes and peppers in peat pots for easier transplanting. My tomatoes and peppers will go in the garden.

In two more weeks I need to start my pumpkins, zucchini, summer squash, cukes and eggplant. They get so big so fast that you don't want them in the house too long. Its so fun to watch all of this growing! And before you know it they will all need to go into the garden. Then the real work begins!

My Seed Order!

Its March 2nd and I finally decided to order my seeds. The snow is almost off my deck and my seed trays are sitting out in front of the patio door waiting to be started, so it must be time. My Cool Breeze Cucumbers were already sold out so I almost waited too long!

I like to order from Territorial Seed Company. They have really nice seeds and the newsprint pages make me really happy in January. I like to read seed catalogs like a novel so it takes me weeks to choose which varieties I will order. I sit there with my highlighter and my post it flags for hours reading every choice, trying to decide which will be best. The funny thing is I tend to end up ordering my favorites over and over. Renegade Beans just do the best and are so sweet! Teton Spinach grows so much later into the season than other varieties I've chosen, and there is nothing like a Sugar Snap Pea! They are so yummy raw, I think I eat as many as I pick to sell.

But I did decide to venture out on a few new things this year. I've never grown Beets before, and my sister sold quite a few, so I chose Red Ace. They sound good. I hear Kale is the big thing for next year so I decided on Dwarf Siberian. He sounds fun! Then there are Radishes. I never like Radishes till last year at the market when I finally tasted one. They are good! But I did try one from the grocery store in February and that just doesn't work. I couldn't help it, I ordered 2 varieties of Radishes, Cherry Belle and Red Head. Don't they sound interesting?

http://www.territorialseed.com/