A natural living site where you'll learn about organic gardening, foraging, home medicine and more.
We recently enjoyed an amazing evening of slow food in an 1831 stone farmhouse. Old Tioga Farm is a farm-to-table restaurant. Our first of five courses was a frittata with spinach and goat cheese. So, after coming home from foraging today for ramps and garlic mustard, I knew what I wanted to make myself for lunch – an individual Ramp and Garlic Mustard Frittata.
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Dandelion is probably one of the most recognizable plants on the planet. Despite the fact that it is often scorned as a lawn weed, the dandelion is a nutritious powerhouse. It is a source of vitamins A, B, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc.
The entire plant is usable; the roots can be dried and used as a coffee substitute, young leaves are eaten raw and make a fantastic dandelion leaf pesto, or cooked like spinach, and the flowers are often used to make wine or dandelion fritters.
Is corned beef a tradition in your house for St. Patrick’s Day? We definitely enjoy it, although we haven’t had it in a few years because I’m not comfortable with some of the ingredients used to “corn” the beef, especially sodium nitrite.
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Are there any food wars disagreements in your house? We argue about bread and salad dressing.
I love olive oil and balsamic vinegar with garlic, salt and pepper. I’d be happy with that as a dressing for the rest of my life. Mike is sick of it, and so he buys dressing that has some questionable ingredients.Continue Reading
My husband is a funny boy. He leaves for work by 6 a.m. – before the newspaper would be delivered – so he stops for a paper on the way to work to read while on break. He always brings the paper home, and I read it in the evening. That’s just what I was doing one night last week, when I turned the page and saw this note written on the photo featuring a local woman and her Potato Cabbage Soup.Continue Reading
I’m excited and honored to be part of the beautiful new eBook Winter Soups, a collaborative cookbook from ‘A Best of Community’ which was created to give you the best variety of real food winter soup recipes.Continue Reading
I might just love cookies as much as I love pie, and that’s saying a lot. But okay, let’s admit it. Healthy cookies taste, well, healthy. Not these babies! They are made with REAL, nutrient-dense ingredients, and they’re to die for. Crispy, buttery, scrumptious.
These cookies go by a lot of names – Snow Balls, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Butterballs, and Russian Tea Cakes. But they’ve always been Russian Tea Cookies to me. Ok, enough talking about them; let make them:Continue Reading
I was thrilled to be able to get a great buy on a bushel of Gala apples from a local orchard because the apples were a little small. One can only eat so much pie, so I decided to use some of the little apples to make some raw apple cider vinegar.
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The first time I made Welsh Cookies was a longgg time ago when I was living in an apartment with only a stovetop. I was jonesin’ for homemade cookies and had to figure out a way to make them with no oven. I remembered that Welsh Cookies are “baked” on a griddle on the stovetop, and I was in business.Continue Reading
I remember my mom making homemade horseradish. It’s a vague memory, but there were large roots, vinegar, a blender, and a pungent scent. Horseradish meant fresh kielbasi, and I loved fresh kielbasi. I still do. Continue Reading
This one is easy peasy. Are you ready? Here’s what you need to make your own personal size dark chocolate bar in 5 minutes:Continue Reading
Homemade lacto-fermented honey mustard is super easy to make and so much better than store-bought. Add a little whey, strained from yogurt, and a few days on your countertop, and you have a probiotic packed condiment. And you know how great that is for you. Continue Reading
Have you ever printed out an eBook? I haven’t, but I think that’s about to change. Simply Salads, by Season by Kristen Michaelis of Food Renegade has so many recipes that I know I’ll be using over and over, that I want a printed copy right in my kitchen, alongside all my other cookbooks.Continue Reading
I really love shrimp. I could easily eat it a few times a week if I could afford it. One of my favorite real food recipes was given to me by a friend’s mom, a precious woman who really knew how to cook. Joan is now with the Lord, but I think of her every time I make Shrimp Creole Stew.
(She also made the best crab cakes I’ve ever eaten).
I’ve adjusted her recipe for shrimp creole just a little, using my homemade fish stock or bone broth instead of water, but I think she would approve. Continue Reading
Mike did a lot more fishing this summer than he has in a while. He always fillets the fish, and we have been using the carcasses and heads to make stock. If you are not a fisherman, but have access to a fish market where you can buy whole fish, you could do the same. Continue Reading
It was a pretty good season in the garden for onions, and they’re all harvested. Most of them are curing for storage to use over the winter. But I took about 4 pounds of them and made them into super delicious onion butter. Continue Reading
Foraging can be a fun way to add nutrients to your table – for free! Staghorn Sumac is super easy to identify and a cinch to harvest. And it’s just as simple to make delicious Sumac Lemonade, also known as Indian Lemonade.
Native Americans also made a cough syrup with Sumac, and gargled with it to ease a sour throat.Continue Reading
Who doesn’t love a refreshing, cold glass of lemonade on a hot day? It practically says “summer”. Ferment that lemonade and you’ve added an entire new dimension to it – probiotics and some fizz.Continue Reading
We have a bed on our front porch at the cottage which overlooks the lake. (You know – the porch with the plaid floor). It’s the perfect shady spot to read and relax on a hot summer afternoon.Continue Reading
So, my sister-in-law makes THE BEST cream of broccoli soup. EVER. And she won’t give me the recipe because the person who gave it to her made her swear never to give it away.
Can’t she cheat a little? I was determined to make this cream of broccoli soup and it had to be just as good. In the end, it was my husband who made a suggestion that made the soup rock. I was missing the cheese!Continue Reading
Mint is a member of the genus Mentha – plants with a strong menthol flavor. There are a number of varieties including spearmint, peppermint, apple mint, orange mint and even chocolate mint.Continue Reading
We have lots of company at our summer cottage and we love to cook out on the charcoal grill. Burgers are great, but sometimes we want something a little more fun. That’s when we make grilled chicken fajitas!Continue Reading
Just upstream from where I harvest ramps, I found a nice patch of watercress, a perennial green which grows wild in shallow areas of streams and has a wonderful peppery taste.
Watercress is especially tender in the spring, and can be used fresh in salads, or as an ingredient in soup. It is high in vitamin C and minerals. It can be used all season, but once it flowers, it may become bitter.
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I don’t have a drop of Italian blood in me. My Aunt B, who is now 90, learned to cook from her Italian mother-in-law. She is a fantastic cook and her sauce is superb. An Italian friend of mine calls her ‘Aunt Meatball’ because he thinks her cooking is so authentically Italian. Aunt B’s secret? She would not dream of making tomato sauce without beef bones and bone marrow.Continue Reading
If you are interested in grain-free baking, you will love Nourished Kitchen’s recent eBook The Nourished Kitchen’s Guide to Grain-Free & Dairy-Free Baking, Sweets and Treats. I’ve only recently begun to do some grain-free baking, so I really appreciated the extra information on ingredients like coconut flour and blanched almond flour. I thought that almond flour was just ground almonds, but I learned that there is a difference and why it’s important to use blanched almond flour:Continue Reading
Asparagus is one of those love it or hate it vegetables. I love it, as long as it is properly cooked. Overcook it and you get slime. But cooked until just tender, it’s sublime. And roasting it brings out its sweetness, like it does for other vegetables.
Although food is primarily for nourishment, it serves other purposes in our lives. Food is a means around which we enjoy each others company and deepen relationships. It provides pleasure as it tickles the taste buds. For me, and probably for many of you, preparing food is also an outlet for creativity.
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What is a born and raised Pennsylvania girl doing making Cracklin’ Cornbread? This is a traditionally “suthun” dish after all. (By the way, Southerners think that Pennsylvanians are Yankees, but to Pennsylvanians, Yankees are people from New England).Continue Reading
My mom always made the best fruitcake ever. No candied fruit and not overly sweet. She would make 6 at a time. We would eat the stuff for breakfast, it was so wonderful.
Mom is 87 now and not able to make the fruitcake anymore, but one of my sisters is carrying on the tradition. (Bless you!)
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Do you like pecan pie? It’s one of my favorites for Thanksgiving anytime. There’s no reason to make it with corn syrup and refined sugar when using maple syrup and unrefined sugar is so delicious. The maple flavor is not overpowering nor is it overly sweet. Maple Pecan Pie is simply delicious! Continue Reading
Are the holidays creeping up on you like they are on me? It’s November and I’ve barely begun to plan. And there’s so much to do. Gifts to buy, cookies to bake for an annual cookie exchange, and meals to prepare.
Just because we’re so busy shouldn’t mean that we throw healthy out the window. Eating all the nutritionally worthless food that gets put in front of us during this time of year is a sure fire way to get run down and sick.Continue Reading
Today’s post is by author Kristel Wiesner; her goal is to share tips for saving money on healthy food without sacrificing nutrition. Kristel believes improving your diet is a journey, and every step taken to replace processed food with whole food is one step closer to better health.
I’ve watched my sage plant develop into a small bush and considered removing it several times. It takes up sunny real estate, which is usually reserved for more useful plants. The sage’s pretty blooms have been it’s only saving grace.Continue Reading
We grow some really large winter squash here like Cherokee Candy Roaster and Tromboncino. One squash can yield as much as 12 cups of purée. One of my favorite things on earth is pie (that and butter). So whenever I bake one of those monsters I do the reasonable thing; I bake a winter squash pie.
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There’s still lots of swiss chard in my garden. It can withstand cold nights and even a light frost.
Swiss Chard, and other leafy greens, have high levels of oxalates which can cause problems by forming stones in our body, especially in our kidneys. Since oxalates are water soluble, the blanching of leafy greens like swiss chard, spinach and beet greens is recommended before eating.
I’ve tried to research whether dehydrating removes oxalates and have not found any evidence that it does. I would suspect that since only H2O is evaporated from the vegetable, the oxalates would be even more concentrated in the dried greens. Can a healthy person consume small amounts of high oxalic foods without problems? Probably.
When I dehydrate swiss chard, I choose to first blanch the leaves. I remove the center rib of the chard and cut the leaves into approximately 4″ pieces. I blanch in boiling water for a minute or so. I then drain the chard and discard the water. I lay the leaves in a single layer on a parchment covered cookie sheet and place in my oven which has been heated to 150 degrees.
I check the progress every hour until the leaves are dry and crumble easily. When they are completely cool, I store them in an airtight container for use in soups and stews throughout the winter.
Broccoli, to me, is one of the unsung heroes of the garden, providing a harvest early summer through fall, even tolerating a light frost. Broccoli seedlings are set out in late April/early May in NEPA and generally produce a large head ready for harvest in about two months. But then they continue to produce side shoots right up through October. Continue Reading
The basil is still going strong in the garden so it’s time for more pesto. We’ve had lots of it with pasta this summer and I’ve frozen a bit as well. Tonight I thought I’d do something a little different and serve it over potatoes. The pesto recipe is below. For the potatoes, I simply cut several large potatoes into 1/2″ cubes and boiled until tender.
For the pesto, blend together 2 packed cups of fresh basil, 3/4 cups of grated parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup of olive oil, 4 T of garlic, and 2 T of pine nuts. Optionally, do not add the pine nuts until after blending for some added crunch. That’s how I like it. Stir with the cooked potatoes ….. serve and enjoy!
When we are at our cottage, we enjoy baking outdoors in our 10” cast iron Dutch oven. The Dutch oven is on legs, allowing coals to be placed underneath it, and the lid is flat with a lip around it so that hot coals can be placed on top.
The following recipe for Dutch oven zucchini bread requires a temperature of 350 degrees. To achieve that, we place 15 hot coals on the top of the lid, and 7 hot coals evenly spaced under the pot. On a colder day, we add another briquette or so.Continue Reading
One of the ways that is often recommended to dry fresh herbs is to hang a bunch upside down in a dry spot with good air circulation. I have done this, but have not been satisfied with the results. The herbs dry well enough but don’t have the strong taste I’m looking for.Continue Reading
Garlic is classified as either softneck or hardneck. Hardneck garlic, which is generally grown in the north, forms curly flower stalks called scapes and can be used to make a fantastic garlic scape pesto.Continue Reading
Nutritionally, a pastured chicken is far superior to traditionally raised chicken. Chickens that are running around on pasture eating insects, worms, and forage have a great taste, but they also have muscle tone. And chickens with muscle tone may not be as tender.Continue Reading
Crisp. Rich. Not too sweet. Kruschiki (Chruschiki or Polish Bowties) have more than a taste. They have a feel that I couldn’t begin to describe. And they are beautiful.
THIS is the cookie of my childhood. A special part of my Polish heritage. We made them every year. And I yearn for a life where time for such things exists. Making Kruschiki takes hours. It’s been 2 years since I’ve made them, and it was probably 15 years before that.Continue Reading
A week or so ago, on a cool, rainy day, I wanted an excuse to turn on the oven. I had lots of Mexico Midget tomatoes on hand, so I decided to dry them. Technically, a sun-dried tomato Continue Reading
To walk out into my garden and pick most of what we will have for dinner gives me so much joy. The garden is on the verge of bursting with eggplant, zucchini, okra, peppers, tomatoes and onions. Sounds like grilled ratatouille to me! Continue Reading
What do you call them? Blueberries or huckleberries?
Wild blueberries always make me nostalgic. My family spent summers at a beautiful mountain lake and blueberries were abundant on the mountain. Mom would make pancakes in the morning and we would run out into the yard in our pajamas to gather just enough berries to add to the batter.Continue Reading
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There is so much to love about this strawberry maple jam. There are only two ingredients, both of which are available in my local area. It’s simple to make, it’s healthier than jam with sugar, and it’s delicious.Continue Reading
For her birthday today, my daughter Jessi requested “no cake, just ice cream with homemade maple walnut topping.”
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Pasta with eggplant sauce is a popular recipe with a wonderful blend of flavors and textures. I love that most of its ingredients come straight from my organic garden.
The sauce boasts a savory tomato base, with the earthy sweetness of sautéed eggplant. Garlic, red pepper, mushrooms, herbs, and a hint of spice add layers of flavors that tantalize the taste buds.
The beauty of this dish lies in its adaptability. You can adjust the spice level to your liking, add other vegetables, or top it with fresh basil or grated Parmesan cheese for a personalized touch.
Whether you’re a seasoned pasta connoisseur or a novice cook, pasta with eggplant sauce is a wonderful meal that deserves a spot on your dinner table. Its versatility, flavor, and nutritional value make it a dish that will excite your taste buds and nourish your body. So, gather your ingredients, put on your apron, and start cooking.
Oven Roasted Potatoes on a Bed of Pine Needles
Looking for healthy recipes to go along with our traditional Super Bowl fare, I came across a recipe for Kale Chips. I’m not a big kale fan, but I’m always willing to try something new, especially if a vegetable is involved.
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Salads are a main stay in our home, but sometimes in the winter we want more comfort food. I have been mulling over an idea to add baked apples to our salad. I just love the combination of warm/cold in a salad, especially in chilly weather.
Tonight I finally decided how I wanted to make my baked apple salad and Mike and I both really enjoyed the result.
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I like vegetables. A lot. I had stocked up on butternut squash from a local farmer this past fall, so when I saw this recipe, I was anxious to give it a try. I found it in a Wegman’s magazine. It was simple to make and delicious!!
Here’s the recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine squash and onions in large shallow pan; drizzle with oil. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper; toss lightly. Roast 55 minutes, until tender and brown. Add spinach, which will wilt, and dried cranberries; toss.
Enjoy!! I sure did.