The Last of This Season's Farmers Markets

Peppers From Swede Lake Farm

Leisa From Ames Farms with The Apples I bought to Press

Pumpkins For Sale at the Mill City Market

The farmers market season is winding down and I feel a sense of panic to buy up all the fall bounty before it's too late and we have to return to buying produce at the grocery store. I want to purchase as much as I can, blanch, shock it, and freeze it. Is this realistic? Will I eat it? Frozen vegetables are so unappealing to me unless they are pureed or put into a casserole of some sort where they can be slathered in red sauce or cream of mushroom soup. I think I will try to freeze a few things like spinach, kale, and broccoli and go from there.

Swede Lake Farms at Mill City and Kingfield Farmers Markets

Swede Lake Farms and Global Garlic
Love this farm. I had the pleasure of meeting Scotty and Deanna last year at Kingfield Farmers Market. We instantly connected and became great friends. This year I have had the fortune to go out to their organic farm in Watertown, MN and help weed, harvest, hang garlic and be Scotty's sous chef in the kitchen. I've even had the opportunity to ride in Deanna's dad's powered parachute! They are such great spirited people with tons of knowledge about the food they grow from seed to harvest. They are truly amazing and so is their produce!

No Knead Foccacia Tiles

Love these no knead foccacia squares. My client's teenagers go ga ga over pizza rolls so I have been making them on a regular basis. I needed to switch it up a bit and came across this recipe for foccacia tiles and thought "perfect." They love food that is individual and comes in tiny packages. You can basically go crazy with whatever you want to put on them. I did yellow squash, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and a little sauteed kale for the vegetarian and pepperoni with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, and sauteed kale for the meat eaters. You could also just buy a pizza dough and call it a day, but homemade tastes so much better and with this one it rises overnight to give it depth and flavor.

No Knead Foccacia Tiles
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

4 cups unbleached AP Flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tst salt
Olive Oil
Toppings

1. In large bowl combine 3 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt. Add 1 2/3 cups warm water. Stir until all is moistened. The mixture will be a soft, sticky dough. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 12-24 hours. I let mine sit in my turned OFF oven.

2. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Brush parchment with olive oil. Stir in remaining cup of flour ( I used a lot less. just add a little at a time till you get a sticky dough) Turn dough out into the prepared pan. Using well-oiled hands gently push dough into pan (dough will be sticky). Cover and let rest for 1-1 1/2 hours until puffy.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a sharp, floured knife score dough into 6 portions. Gently press desired toppings into the surface of the dough. Brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with desired seasonings. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

4. Transfer to wire rack. Cut into 6 tiles. Serve warm.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yummy cinnamon rolls on the weekend for a personal chef client. These are really easy when you don't have a lot of time the next morning/day to bake. They sit in the fridge over night and then a quick rise and into the oven! Yummy!

Cheddar Cornbread Muffins

I made some yummy cheddar cornbread muffins to go along with some chili I made. The cornmeal is local from Whole Grain in Welcome, MN. I adapted a skillet cornbread recipe to muffins and also used half raw milk mild cheddar and half white cheddar from Wisconsin. It turned out great!

Cheddar Cornbread
adapted from marthastewart.com

Serves 5.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces) plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
  
• 1 Chopped Jalepeno (optional)
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, salt, and pepper; make a well in center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk and eggs to well, and whisk to loosen eggs. Gently incorporate dry ingredients, then mix in cheese.
2. Brush inside of muffin tin with melted butter. I used the large muffin tins.
   
3. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin and sprinkle extra cheddar cheese on top; bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cornbread cool in muffin tins for at least 5 minutes before removing and setting on cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Wrap completely cooled muffins in plastic, and store at room temperature up to 1 day.

Apple Press

I was fortunate enough to have grown up on a farm in South Dakota with an apple orchard. I am also fortunate enough to have awesome parents who still have the old apple press even though our apple orchard died out years back because of a disease. One apple tree remains and my father has since replanted other fruit trees. The last time I was home my parents sent back 2 large grocery bags of apples so me and my brother decided to break out the apple press that we had sitting in the garage from last year's intention to make hard apple cider. I had forgotten how much fun it is to press apples. The smell, the stickiness, and the taste of fresh apple juice. It was a perfect fall evening!































I let the 3 quarts of apple cider sit out on the counter for 4 days to make hard apple cider. It tastes delicious! Like tangy apple juice and it has a thicker texture than plain juice. We plan on getting more apples so we can make more hard apple cider and even apple cider vinegar!!!

Bread Baking

This summer I have been baking bread 2 times a week for clients. While at first it was a challenge I have now gotten it down to a fine art. Bread baking is one of those things that I had lost interest in after I had baked bread everyday one winter when I was nine-years-old. I remember in 4-H they had taught us how to use the instant rise Yeastie Beasties and I went crazy. The bread I bake now is much different. I sometimes use a sourdough starter with a rising time that is overnight instead of an hour or two. All in all I have begun to love the bread baking again.

My First Blog Post Ever

Hello Everyone,
I have decided to start a blog to post and share all my wonderful and delicious creations. Also to discuss food, kitchen gadgets, recipes, general health, and nutrition. Yay! I'm so excited!