What says end of summer better than Fried Green Tomatoes?

More End of Season Goodness


I went to look at my little garden in the backyard over the weekend and found a few green tomatoes, as well as a few lonely peppers.  I have to admit I was thrilled.  Eating fried green tomatoes has become a personal tradition at the end of summer.  Instead of feeling sorry that the summer has ended when the beautiful red globes disappear, I'm excited to see the potential of firm green goodness.  


We had a seasonal dinner featuring all local foods -- bison burgers (bowood farms) , corn (which I had picked up at Tower Grove Farmers market and frozen in early September), sauteed peppers and onions and my beloved fried green tomatoes.  And like all good seasonal veggies, you've got to jump at the chance when you see it.


The sauteed peppers featured a variety of peppers from my own garden and some from Fair Shares.  It also  included caramelized onions.  No special seasoning -- nothing to take the fresh flavor from the seasonal goodies.  


Which leads to my favorite part of the meal, the fried green tomatoes!  They are super easy and super tasty.  Just slice the tomato, dip in milk, then flour, then whisked eggs.  You usually should add salt and pepper to the flour, but I opted to use a little Chicago Steak Seasoning from Penzey's  (if you live in the St. Louis area you at buy at the Penzey's store on Manchester Rd, in Maplewood)

The best cookies ever

Disclaimer -- these are not made with local ingredients -- they are just made with love.


My daughter has now been away at college for a month. In that time I've sent Grandma Neva chocolate chip cookies and carmel corn.  This weekend I decided I need to make something new a special and searched the internet for the "best cookies."  Of course people have a lot of different ideas, but one jumped out at me--  Samocolate cookies .  Lipstick blogger was trying to create a cookie that included the key ingredients of a Girl Scout samoa cookie -- chocolate, caramel and coconut.  My grandma Neva had said to include coconut in her cookies, but I'd never tried it,  and I loved the idea of using carmels in a chocolate chip cookie so knew I had to give it a try.

I used lipstick blogger's idea of toasting coconut (I used sweetened, shredded coconut) then rolling a small piece of good quality carmel it.   (I even bought my carmel from her Etsy website.  It was good, but having it shipped on a hot day wasn't good.  I found a box of melted gooey caramel in my mailbox)  I put the coconut enrobed caramels in my grandmothers recipe and found a new creation.  As you can see from the photo some of the caramels melted through, so I will make sure to use enough cookie dough to surround the carmel next time.  The key was to have a full tablespoon of cookie dough placed on the greased cookie sheet, put the carmel in the center, then top with another tablespoon of dough.  I used a pampered chef small scoop to measure the dough and when I used a full scoop, it was perfect.

Grandma would be proud.   (and yes, Katie I shipped the cookies today.)

End of Season Goodness

Trout and Peppers

Summer is quickly coming to an end and so is my source for flavorful, local produce.  This weekend we have had two amazing locally sourced meals.  Friday night was had trout from Troutdale Farm.  I baked it at 375 degrees for 35 with a little mexican fajita seasoning.  While it was baking I made a sauté of shallots (onions would work, too),  a variety of peppers, some garlic and a few red pepper flakes.  When the shallots had caramelized, I splashed on a little balsamic vinegar.  The combination made a great topping for the fish, and was a great way to use some last produce of the summer.   

                   Pappardelle Pasta, Sausage and Chard

I know this one isn't as pretty, but it is just as tasty.  

Saturday morning we made a quick trip to the Tower Grove Farmers market to see what kind of end of season produce the farmers had on hand.  I was pleased to find more corn, which I blanched, cut off and froze; green beans, which I will blanch and freeze; okra, and chard.  Remembering we had Pappardelle Pasta in our freezer from Mangia Italiano, St. Louis, I decided we had to get some of the bolognese sausage I love from salume beddu.   

It is always fun to talk directly to the producer to get ideas of how to use the products.  I told the man at the salume beddu booth I was going to put the sausage with pasta and chard, like he suggested last year.  He reminded me to include onions and garlic.  I already had locally sourced shallots from St. Isidore farms and garlic from Bellews Creek, so I had it all!  

I did make a couple of additions at the last minute.  Remembering how good the peppers were on Friday, I added a pinch of red pepper flakes and splash of balsamic vinegar.  And I had some pine nuts left from another recipe that I threw in with some shredded methuselah cheese (from Heartland Creamery) at the very end.  It was a hearty, tasty lunch on a cold, wet day.  

Jelly Success!!!

Last year when we were receiving a lot of peaches in our Fair Shares CSA share I decided to make peach preserves.  It wasn't hard at all.  I followed the directions and they turned out fine.  This year we received grapes for a couple of weeks in a row.  We weren't eating them so jelly seemed like a good idea.  Like other projects I know nothing about I went out to the web and started reading everything I could.  It seemed the main idea I kept finding was to not play with the recipe.  Jelly needs a scientific balance of juice, sugar and pectin to set and changing the balance would end up with a runny mess.

The problem I had with that was the recipes seemed to have different ratios.  I knew I had been successful with canning tomatoes from the pick your own website, but the writer there was saying to add more pectin than the ball canning instructions, which seemed like a good source since they sell the ingredients.  I opted to follow the instructions that came with my pectin, which was a mistake.  I ended up with 8 jars of grape syrup.

Luckily the writer of the pick your own website was nice enough to include directions for how to fix jelly that doesn't set.  It wasn't too hard, and I now have tasty grape jelly.

You can follow all the directions on that site, but I wanted to share some thing I learned.  First of all, don't be afraid of having grapes, or worry about the skins.  To make jelly you just need the juice.  I put the whole grapes in my food processor and chopped them a little.  You then cook them on the stove to release the juices and strain it through a cloth.  All the seeds and skins stay in the cloth, and the heavy juice strains through.  I had 4 lbs of grapes and ended up with 5 cups of juice.   It was all very easy.

I made full sugar jelly this first time because the sugar free sounded harder to get to set.  Recognizing the difficulty I had, I 'm glad I did, but now I feel ready to try sugar free.

I highly recommend you give making grape jelly a try.  It feels great to know I could get it to work, and I know you will, too.  Any suggestions on what to make jelly out of next?

Homemade Grape Jelly

I'm not posting a picture with this, but decided I had to post to keep myself on track.  On Friday I decided to try my first try at making homemade grape jelly.  We had received wonderful locally grown grapes the last couple of weeks and we weren't eating them.  I couldn't let them go to waste!

It didn't work.  I now have eight or nine jars of thick grape sauce.  Later I'm going to try to "fix" the mess.  I'll be posting pictures when I let you know how it turns out.

Tomato Paste for Lunch

Yesterday I picked up a few Roma tomato "seconds" when I was as Fair Shares to make more tomato paste.  But I didn't buy enough to bother canning it.  Which was actually a good thing.  I got to have some for lunch today!

Last night I blanched and peeled the 12 tomatoes, then put them in the fridge overnight, since I didn't have time to cook them down to a paste.  This morning I drained off the excess water, threw them in the food processor to chop, then dropped them in the crock pot, along with a bay leaf, a garlic clove and a pinch sea salt.  I left the crock pot uncovered and set it to high, then left to take my daughter to school and go walk with friends.

When I came home, I had a beautiful, rich tomato paste.  I removed the bay leaf and garlic clove, and was going to put it in a ziplock bag to freeze, but then I walked by my basil and the combination of smells told me I had to eat some.

I spread some of the paste on a hearty slice of Companion 5 grain bread and chopped some fresh basil on top.  I was going to add some shredded cheese, but decide it may be better kept simple, and I was right.  The deep tomato flavor, with the hit of basil on the hearty bread was perfect.  I did add some Alpenglow cheese on the side to have some protein.  The Alpen glow cheese has a mild, buttery flavor that complemented the tomato paste sandwich.  (I am not much of a cheese person, but I love this one!)

I now need I need to pick up more tomatoes next week so I can add to my tomato paste stash I canned last month.  Having tasty tomato paste all year long will will be a treat on a cold, winter day.

How do you use tomato paste?

A locally sourced treat

Carmel Corn!!!!

This week I faced a big change at home -- my daughter left for college.  I knew I had to do something special for her, and was going to make Grandma Neva cookies, but didn't have time last night.   I also knew I had to come up with something fast since I had to mail her a box today with things she had forgotten. Luckily I remembered a recipe I got from my best friend years ago.  One of those she gave me on the back of her wedding rsvp cards when I was a newlywed.   The carmel is made in the microwave and it always turns out perfect without all the fuss of candy thermometers.  I used locally sourced popcorn, and would have liked to use locally sourced butter, but have not been able to get any for awhile.   

I highly recommend giving this a try.  Here is the recipe:

Pop 3 quarts of popcorn.  Put it in a brown paper bag. 

In a microwave safe bowl, glass 2 qt bowl place:

1/2 c butter

1 c brown sugar

1/4 c corn syrup

1/4 t salt

Cook on high for 1 minute.  Stir.

Cook another minute. Stir

Cook another minute.  Stir.

Cook two minutes.  Stir.

Add 1/2 t baking soda. Stir.  (at this point it will be all bubbly, thick, and ready.)

Pour over the popcorn in the bag and stir well.  

Fold over paper bag and microwave 1 minute.

Pour out on a cookie sheet and bake in a 225 degree oven for 40 minutes.  

Cool and eat.

I made a double batch and put the carmel corn in sandwich ziplock bags that my daughter can share with her friends.  And they worked will for packing material around the items in the box I needed to send.  

Please share ideas for homemade treats that ship well.  I know my daughter and her friends will appreciate it. 

Seasonal pasta dinner

Seasonal Pasta Dinner


This week's share from Fair Shares included Salume Beddu Bolognese sausage, Ozark Forest fresh mushrooms, Zimmerman tomatoes, Nolte pac choi, DeMange honeydew, Jacobs Orchard grapes, and Mangia Pasta whole wheat rotelle.  I looked at all the seasonal goodness on my kitchen counter as I unpacked the bags and immediately saw a seasonal pasta dinner.

I removed the sausage from the casing and browned it while cooking the pak choi stems in a little olive oil, and boiling fresh pasta.  When the pak choi stems had softened some, I added some Theis farms chopped green pepper, that we received last week, and some mushrooms.   Last I threw in the pak choi so it could wilt a little before putting it on the pasta. 


I served it over the pasta with fresh tomatoes.

The end result, was a tasty plate of seasonal goodness.  I think the thing that pulled it all together was the bolognese sausage.  The hint of cinnamon and nutmeg is a great balance to all the veggies. 

Pickling and Canning experiences

lime pickles, bread and butter pickles, pickled peaches, tomato juice (top), and tomato paste (bottom)


This summer I have been trying to pickle and can some items to keep the summer joy of local produce all year long.  Last summer I made bread and butter pickles to great success.  What I found was I didn't make enough so I made more this summer.   I use standard pickling instructions (pickyourown.org has great instructions.)     Here is my recipe:

1/2 t ginger
2 c vinegar
2 c sugar
1 T mustard seed
3/4 T celery seed
1/2 T turmeric
1/2 t red pepper
1 clove garlic
1 c water
2 onions, sliced
2 lbs pickling cucumbers, sliced.
This made about 4 pints of pickles.

Next, I tried making Lime pickles.  My sister in law shared an old family recipe.  I took a sneak taste before canning and they were good, but I haven't opened a jar yet because I want to give them time to pickle thoroughly.

Lime pickles take a lot more time.  The cucumber slices have to be soaked in lime water for 24 hours, then rinsed a number of times to get rid of the lime.  They have to soak again in cold water for an additional three hours, and rinse and drain again.  The lime is said to give the pickles crispness.

The family recipe for 7 lbs pickling cucumbers is:

2 qts vinegar
8 c sugar
2 T canning salt
2 T canning spice (I was going to make some, but ending up buying it from Penzy's)
1 t cloves
1 t celery seed

Mix everything, and pour it over the cold cucumbers and let them sit over night (again).
The next morning bring the pickles to a boil and simmer for 35 minutes.
Put the pickles and syrup in jars and boil in the canner for 45 minutes.  
(Like I said it look a lot of time)

I also pickled peaches.  The recipe I used was from a book, but I didn't like the end result.  It called for equal parts of vinegar and sugar, as well as cloves and fresh ginger.  When I opened the jar this week to try them, I was really disappointed.  The book said I would taste peaches and summer.  All I could taste was vinegar and ginger.  I poured out the jar, but I want to try it again.  I found a new recipe that used half the amount of vinegar to sugar and will post after I try it.

Last, I made tomato paste and tomato juice.

We have spent a lot of time in the car recently and pass the time listening to podcasts.  On Sunday night I was listening to Good Food from KCRW and they discussed canning homemade tomato paste.  Since I had  a dozen locally grown tomatoes on my counter I knew I had to try it.

I used the directions at pickyourown.org and and was thrilled with the result.  I can't wait to open a jar after fresh tomato season.  I'm looking forward to spreading the paste on bruschetta and using it with pasta.

Because you have to squeeze out all the juice to make the paste, I had a lot of juice sitting there that I couldn't waste.  I ended up adding a little seasoning and lemon juice to create a tomato juice.  Noone in my family drinks tomato juice, but I find it in various recipes so I know it will be used.  I canned the paste and juice in half pint jars so I won't end up wasting half of the unused portion.

I'd love to hear what you have canned and pickled.  I am in a learning mode and want to try more.  I may pickle peppers next.  I seem to be getting a bumper crop from my little garden and hate to see them go to waste.

Zucchini Blueberry Bread

It's that time of year -- abundance of zucchini and blueberries.  I found a wonderful recipe at allrecipes.com that gave me the chance to use both!
(search blueberry zucchini bread)

I made a couple of adjustments, of course.  First I used  more zucchini that it called for.  I also increased the cinnamon. And last, I added a streusel to the top made of brown sugar, butter, flour and a little cinnamon.  The crunch made it feel special and more like a blueberry muffin.

I made a few loaves of this to take to a family reunion.  People snacked on it all day and it disappeared quickly.

Fairy Tale Eggplant

Last week we got a pint of Fairy Tale Eggplants in our CCSA share.  If you've never seen them before, they are basically eggplants about the length of your pinky finger.  We got some last year, and I tried a recipe online but I didn't understand the excitement others were feeling. This year I decided to try something simpler.

First, you have to know, my husband HATES eggplant.  It is one of the food carryovers from his childhood that makes him gag.  While I, on the other hand, really love a well prepared eggplant.  One of my favorite dishes on earth is eggplant parmesan.  I order it at every new Italian restaurant we try.  When it is done well I believe it is close to heaven, but more often than not, it is just mushy with cheese and sauce.  With that in mind I knew I didn't want mushy.

Luckily our Fair Shares (my CCSA) newsletter mentioned roasting eggplants a few weeks ago.  While she wasn't discussing the fairy tale eggplant, I decided I should try her approach -- roasting.

I cut off the ends, and split the tiny eggplants in half.  Laid them on a baking pan, drizzled olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and pressed a generous amount of garlic over each piece.  I baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, then added shredded buffalo mozzarella over each piece and baked an additional 5 minutes.

The result was a hit it our household.  My eggplant hating husband said they looked like roasted cocoons, which I guess helped him get past the childhood memories.  He had quite a few and said he would have them again.  The girls said they reminded them of roasted potatoes.  I think that is about as high of praise as you can get from my girls.

(One final note: The younger one didn't like seeing the seeds so if I made them again I think I would cover the seeds better with the cheese. )

Grandma Neva's Cookies

My grandma Neva was famous for her cookies. She baked them often enough to have some on hand at all times, which was pretty often because many of us believe that was all she ate at some meals, which must not have been too bad since she lived to 93.

Grandma had given the recipe to various members of the family, and it was told differently each time. One of the most recent variations I heard was a teaspoon of walnut extract, rather than the vanilla in mine. Others have coconut and others have butterscotch chips. We think she made it up as she went along, depending on what she found in the kitchen. (I always thought it was some sort of wonder recipe, until I realized it is pretty much identical as to what was found on the back of the Quaker Oatmeal box. )

This afternoon I made the recipe as she gave it to me more than 20 years ago. As I was making it. I realized it is perfect for the style of cooking she used, and one I am trying to embrace -- use what you have on hand and make the best of it. The cookies I made today used locally sourced eggs and Missouri grain project whole wheat flour. I doubt my grandmother used locally milled flour, but then again I don't know where people got their flour in the 1930's in rural Missouri.

Please try this recipe and think about ways you can adapt it to what you have on hand -- raisins, dried apricots, pistachios, etc. Let me know what you come up with. I know my Grandma would be proud.

Grandma Neva's Chocolate Chip Cookies

mix: 1-cup brown sugar

1 cup while sugar

1 cup shortening

a little salt

and two eggs.

Add: 1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups flour

2 cups oatmeal

Mix thoroughly.

Add 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Mix well. Stir in 2 cps chocolate chips and 1 cup choppped pecans.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Grandma said to, "bake in a moderate oven until done." We bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Garlic Focaccia Bread and Radish Shoots

Tonight I picked up two weeks of food from Fair Shares. (Last week's pick up was postponed for a week because of the snow and ice.) There was a couple of new items, including a Garlic Focaccia Bread made by Yellow Dog Farms of Warrenton, MO. We have received fresh greens and lettuces from Yellow Dog Farms throughout the growing season so I was glad to see they are finding ways to supplement their income in the winter months.

I love focaccia bread, and this was as good as I was hoping for. I cut off a couple of slices to eat with fresh pasta and tomato sauce. I used a jar sauce that I always love, but added some Ozark Forest Mushrooms and Claverach shoots.

That is where I made my mistake. I picked up radish shoots this afternoon and didn't realize they had a strong flavor. I had thrown shoots into sauces in the past to increase the nutritional value of the sauce, but they had been mellower shoots. Tonight the radish shoots did not compliment the other ingredients.

When we started receiving shoots last spring I didn't know what to do with them, but I was willing to try. Everything I read pointed to the higher nutritional value of the shoots, than the actual vegetable. One cup of radish shoots has 28% of the daily recommended levels of vitamin C, and is high in other vitamins and potasium, too.

I sometimes throw the shoots into sauces, and once added shoots to a meatloaf, but a couple of weeks ago we used them as the main ingredient in a chef salad. As usual we were in a hurry and needed to create an easy, nutritional meal. We opened the refrigerator and started pulling out whatever we could find - which wasn't much. What we did have was a cucumber, a bag of pea shoots, a lot of cheeses and a stick or hard salami. I made a simple dressing and my husband made a salad with the other ingredients. It was quite tasty, easy and healthy.

Peach Blackberry Coffee Cake

Today I was feeling cabin fever. I broke my arm a few weeks ago and have been afraid to go out in the snow and ice so I've been in a lot.

On Friday I got my arm out of the sling so I have a little more use, and today I was looking in our basement freezer and found blackberries and peaches that I froze this summer. It seemed the perfect day to make a tasty summer dessert and break the winter blues.

I used this recipe from myrecipes.com. I had used it once in the fall when I needed to make something to take to school for my daughter's teachers, but I never really got to have it for our family. It was easy enough to make with my hurt arm, and the best part was I was able to use mainly local ingredients. The ingredient new to me this time was flour grown and milled in mid-Missouri by the Missouri Grain Project. Here is an article about the Missouri Grain Project from 2009. It explains that Missouri is #5 in wheat production, but none of it was being milled locally until 2008. The wheat is grown chemical free. I also used local butter, local eggs, and local fruit.

The best part of the whole thing is that it tastes like summer on a snowy, icy day.

Holiday Feasts

Holiday meals have a lot of tradition. In our house I've been serving turkey for thanksgiving and nice beef cuts for Christmas for a few years. The side dishes vary some, but between the two holidays there is always cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, some sort of sweet potatoes and a green vegetable. This year I was pleased to incorporate a lot of local foods into these feasts.

I have to admit, I opted not to buy a local turkey. Fair Shares had made arrangements with some local turkey growers, but my family doesn't really care for turkey very much so I try to buy a small one that won't have leftovers. Along with my non-local turkey though I had all locally sources side dishes. I was able to use a family favorite sweet potato soufle that is topped with pecans, using local sweet potatoes and locally grown pecans. In the picture above you will see it on the table next to pan roasted brussels sprouts topped with locally sourced cheese. It was a fun way to prepare the brussels sprouts, but not as good as some I had at Mazara a couple of weeks ago. They did a silimar preparation but added prosciutto. I'm going to try it again with some great berkshire bacon from Salume Beddu.

In the top pictures I feature grassfed beef tenderloin steaks from American Grassfed Beef. The beef was awesome. I tenderized it using a tool I bought from the American Grassfed Beef website, a Jaccard meat tenderizer. At $39.95 I wasn't sure if it would be worth it, but it has been a great investment. The steaks were wonderful. (but they may have been even without using the Jaccard), but I've also used it on chicken breasts and on a pork tenderloin. I also bought one for my mother. She uses hers often and believes it does make meat better.

With the beef, I served mashed potatoes and turnips. I made a mistake by trying to boil the potatoes and turnips together. The turnips take longer to cook so we had hard lumps, which turned off my kids. We also had sauteed apples, using apples from Schwarz Farms, in OFallon, Il, and a tossed salad with salad dressing made from jam from Centennial Farms, of Augusta, MO. (the salad included fresh veggies and sprouts from various farms) My mother made homemade rolls -- you can't get much more local than mom's homemade rolls.

Overall, it was nice to be able to incorporate locally produced and grown foods in our traditional holiday meals. We didn't have to give up anything we would usually have, and found even better flavors in most of the dishes.

A typical fast meal using local foods

Time and physical challenges have kept me from writing about our resolve to eat locally. December is crazy busy, as we are heavily involved in church activities, then I fell down some stairs earlier this month which as limited the use of my left arm/hand. The good news is I will heal, and my family has been stepping in to do more cooking.

This is a photo of a typical meal we will throw together on a busy night. It includes pasta, sausage, sauteed greens, garlic, olive oil, and cheese. This combination is one of my favorites. The hearty sausage, with the tasty greens has become a comfort food for me. I also like that it helps us clear ingredients from the refrigerator. You can throw in other veggies if you have some strays in your frig. Shoots from Claverach farms regularly make an appearance.

We made this wonderful apple galette to finish the meal (and use up the apples that were getting soft.) I always make an extra crust to freeze when I make a pie, which I had for the holidays, so we already had a crust ready. Roll it out flat and pile the apple filling* in the center, pull the sides up around the sides and bake at 375 for 40 minutes.

My husband used this recipe, but didn't peel the apples and used locally grown pecans rather than walnuts. I was really easy and fast -- apples, brown sugar, nutmeg and nuts.