The Harvest PatchFarm Fresh : Family Grown : Community Suported Agriculture

Had a great class tonight for West Seneca Community Ed….

We made Apple Brie Salad

Cucumber Salad

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Macaroni Salad

and BLT Salad … here is the recipe

BLT PASTA SALAD

Ingredients

• 12 ounce corkscrew shaped pasta
• 1/2 cup milk
• 12 ounces lean bacon
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons chopped chives
• 5 cups chopped Lettuces

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water as the label directs. Drain and toss with the milk in a large bowl; set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp.

 Drain on paper towels.

Discard all but 3 tablespoons drippings from the pan. Add the tomatoes, thyme and garlic to the pan and toss until warmed through; season with salt and pepper.  Crumble the bacon into bite-size pieces; set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.

Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream and 3 tablespoons chives with the pasta until evenly combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the lettuce; toss again to coat.

Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1-tablespoon chives.

Serve at room temperature.  

You will Need

•  1 large bunch of broccoli
• 2 cups of sweet corn
• 1 large red onion
• 2 cups of half and half
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cup of cheese ( sharp cheddar is delicious , but mild cheese works too)
• salt and pepper
  
• 1/4 cup of flour
  

    chop onion, and sweat it in the cooking pot

after the onions are softened add flour to make a rue…

then add in the chicken bouth and half and half… allow it to boil…

 rough chop the broccoli and then add it into the boiling pot

 toss in the corn now too..

let it all cook together nicely until the veggie are soft…

   then using an immersion blender, if you have one if not you can pour    the soup into the blender or food processor, smooth out all the veggies…  once smooth add the cheese until melted…

       There it is final product… ENJOY!

• You Will Need:
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 2 2/3 cups cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3  eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter Two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans.  
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, 1 1/4 cups hot water, and sour cream; set aside to cool
3. In another large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and shortening together until smooth . Add both sugars and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well incorporated. Add vanilla, and mix again for 30 seconds.
5. Add flour mixture alternating with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6. Divide batter evenly among the 2 prepared pans. Bake until cake is just firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 18 to 24 minutes. Let cool
7. Place on Cake plate and frost with strawberry butter cream (listed below)

Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting

• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 15 strawberries
• 6 cups of powder sugar

Create by using softened butter with an immersion blender place in the strawberries and powder sugar and mix all together until smooth, it takes a while, but the juice from the strawberries creates enough liquid to make it smooth…

   I placed the first layer on the cake plate, and then spread nutella over it and then made a layer of cut strawberries, then placed the top layer on..

The final cake… So delicious!!!

Time to dig deep into those winter vegetables….      

• 3 baking potatoes
• 1/2 cup of spinach
• 1/4 feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of pecans
• salt pepper
• 1/4 cup of sour cream

Turn oven to 375 F and bake the potatoes for an hour… make sure to poke them with a fork so they don’t burst… I also brushed them with some olive oil to make the skins extra crunchy…

Next in a bowl combine the spinach, cheese, pecans, salt and pepper…

Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut in half…

Scoop out the potato into the bowl with everything else

Now add the sour cream

Mix well and then refill the insides of the potato skins

Bake for 15 more minutes….

Enjoy!!!

Severed with beans from last years harvest thank goodness for good

freezing

I spent my whole car ride home today fantasizing about how I was going to make this pizza… I started with a delicious homemade crust that I rolled in cornmeal… it gives it a great crispness

Then I spread peanut sauce all over the crust and topped it with sliced carrots, purple onions, cooked chicken shaken in a spicy thai sauce, then layered on pumpkin seeds and sprinkled on some sharp cheddar cheese and coconut…. The picture does it no justice… and we started eating to fast  to get a picture of the whole pie…

Today two teams will be excited for their chance to win the super Bowl, while the other two teams will have been so close and lost that chance…

With the super bowl nearing why not throw together a simple and delicious Playoff Snack

– Nacho Nacho

• tortilla chips
• left over taco mean
• cheese
• hot sauce

Pile them all together and microwave for two minutes… enjoy!

Happy New Year Meal:)

First chop some purple onion……. and put a few strips of fresh bacon into a large stock pot, you are going to use this pot to cook everything else… once the bacon is a bit crispy remove it from the pot and place it on a paper towel….. Then add in the onion and a bit of garlic chopped….

Cook the oinions until they are soft, while they are cooking put about 2 cups of half and half or 1% milk on to warm up…. then once the onions are cooked down toss them in 1/4 cup of flour to coat them, and add in the warm milk….

Next you can get crazy with the cheese, for this batch I used one block of Irish cheddar, 1 1/4 cups of paramasan , and 1 cup of cheddar… I have also used blue cheese , goat cheese, what ever flavor cheese you like….

Then in the food processor I put some of Wegmans Garlic Tuscany Bread to create crumbs, in a small pot of the stove I cooked down about 2 table spoons of butter and then put the bread crumbs to make them toasty  ..

Do not forget you need to put a pot of boiling water to make the noodles… I used small shell and medium shell about one and a half boxes of the mixed noodles… Once they are all boiled to softness, add them to the pot of cheese mixture….

Mix it all up well and then pour it into a dish to bake in the oven…. and then let it cook until you get a nice crisp on top…

And that is it for the mac and cheese….

Our New Year’s Tradition is that we always have lobster… well today I went to Top’s where I always get a live lobster to make at home, and they were only 5.99 a pound… however there was not a lobster to be found anywhere in the place… not even ones they had already steamed… so then I went over to Wegmans , and as I walked in three employees were taking down the huge live lobster sign and the tank was empty…. so I thought I had to give up on the lobster tradition, however there in the case right next to some shrimp were three steamed lobsters calling my name…

so I snatched them up and then just re-flash boiled them at home…  with a splash on lemon and a cup of butter… love love love lobster…

Happy New Year… Welcome 2012….

• Veggies in stock pot..
• Carrots
• Pearl Onions
• Beans
• Celery
• Sweet Corn
• Cook all of these veggies down with a little bit of garlic, and add in Chicken stock and boil until almost all of the liquid is gone
• then added them into a baking pan
• boil about 10 little red potatoes and 1 medium yam in boiling water
• then mash very fine with your immersion blender
• put the mashed contents into a piper I used my pamper chef one
• then pipe onto the top of the veggie mix…
• add goat cheese on the top and bake until bubbly

Ok here is a super simple Cut out Cookie Recipe perfect for the holidays…

 2/3 cup of Crisco

2/3 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Cream together the Crisco and sugar

Add in the eggs and vanilla

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt together

Mix in the dry into the wet

Then scoop out into two balls

Chill in the fridge over night

Next day

Remove dough roll out on a flour surface and using cookie cutters, cut out shapes…

Bake on parchment paper for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees

Cool on racks before frosting

     The Pasta

  – Spinach and Basil Stuffed Ravoloi

 – Motzerella and Swiss Cheese

 – Topped with Brushetta in a Jar , made this summer with fresh   

   tomatoes

The Salad

 – Mixed Greens

 – Crumbe Blue Cheese

– Sliced Almonds and Dried Cranberries

– Topped with a Splash of balsamic  vinegar