Wine and Desert Gifts for Christmas

                                              

       Wine and Dessert are wonderful friends. And they make such a great gift to send to family and friends for Christmas or any time through out the year.                  

At the Bakery (www.everydaygourmetbakery.com) we pair our Fudge Cake and our Vanilla Raspberry cakes with wines from a local winery. It is such a delicious way to say I love you at Christmas.

Other gifts that I enjoy giving are ones from sites online that support animal groups, rainforests and other issues like hunger. One of these is the online store at www.farmsanctuary.com also The Animal Rescue site and their shopping spot http://www.shop2give.us

Oh the Holidays

The Holidays bring with them a lot of things.... One of which is stress! Stressing over the gifts, and  is the house going to be ready for guests this year, "what do I serve at parties" and "What the Heck is all this going to cost me anyway"!

I am not an expert on this but I might have a few ideas that could save you a little stress:

• The first and foremost one is Relax; everything will work out fine and "why does everything have to be so perfect anyway"?? Stressing out only stresses those around you out and can sometimes ruin the holidays for all....
• Next make a list of only the essential people that you have to buy for. Take all of those other people off your list. We are in a recession after all and this is not the time to focus on purchasing gifts for those that are not the most important people in our lives.
• And try not to put more on your credit card than you can pay off in the first month of 2012.
• This might make the last two easier: Focus this year on the meaning of Christmas and not the commercialism, gather a group and volunteer at a homeless shelter or food kitchen. Get kids involved in a food drive or gift drive. Make gifts this year and involve the whole family in making them. 
• When you are buying gifts keep in mind what the recipient might really need. Make your dollars count buy making your gifts usable items that someone will actually use. And I don't mean a tie for daddy covered in comic book characters!
• What about those really hard to buy for people. Well food gifts are just the thing for them. Wrap up a bottle of sweet wine and order them a small chocolate dessert from (www.everydaygourmetbakery.com) and they will be happy campers for sure.
• And if you have the money but don't need the stress of shopping in those busy malls bursting at the seams with craized parents looking for the latest and greatest toy for little Tommy then order all or most of your gifts on-line and have them gift wrapped and shipped directly to everyone on your list....

Hope some of these ideas will be helpful. I try every year to be less stressed at the Hoilday's and one of the best ways I do it is to not fret over the gifts, the sales are better the day after anyway!!!!

Closing of the Farm Markets

 October marks the closing down of most of the farm markets across the country. If you are lucky enough to be in warmer climates you may enjoy them for a longer period and for that I am envious.  Here in the north east we are bringing out the cauldrons and filling them with sweet and tart apples, cinnamon and brown sugar, boiling it all down to make apple sauce and apple butter.

Everywhere the fields are dotted with orange balls of varying sizes filled with sweet orange flesh that we turn into pumpkin pies for the holidays. Some really really large ones make it into the local contests for the largest pumpkin grown each year.  Interesting to note is that the largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds. I know some farmers around here that would love to beat that record.  Recently I heard of people partaking in a recreation called “punkin chunkin”. Our ancestors would roll over in their graves if they knew about this wasteful activity.

As “Gus Portokalos” from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” would say the name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for “large melon” which is “pepon”. (And they probably washed them with Windex)J.   The name pepon was eventually changed to pumpkin by the English colonists.

During Colonial times pumpkin was a staple in the Native Americans diet and when the white settlers came to America they saw how the Indians used pumpkin and it soon became a staple in their diets as well. There are many uses for pumpkin;   unfortunately today we do not generally use pumpkin except for our traditional pumpkin pie.  This is too bad because it is one of the most nutrient rich squashes containing natural vitamin A and potassium.  An interesting fact about pumpkin is that in Colonial times it was an ingredient in the crust not the filling.

There are many traditional and nontraditional recipes for using pumpkin available today. One tweak on the traditional pumpkin pie that I like is to take your pie out after 15 minutes of baking then make a mixture of 2Tb organic flour, 4Tb organic cane sugar, 1tsp cinnamon, 2Tb earth balance. Blend this all together in a food processor or cut it in with a pastry blender. Then blend in 2/3 cup chopped pecans and 2/3 cup chopped walnuts.  Sprinkle this over the top of the pie and place back into a 350’ oven for 35 minutes.

A more non-traditional but really delicious recipe that my whole family enjoys is for Leek and Pumpkin Casserole. It also uses seasonally available ingredients like cider and leeks. The recipe follows:

Leek and Pumpkin Casserole

1 lg sweet onion, sliced

2 leeks, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 3/4 cups diced pumpkin

1 cup diced sweet potato

2/3 cup diced rutabaga or turnips

14 oz can of chopped tomatoes or 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes

2/3 cup – 1 cup hard cider

2 tsp herbs de Provence

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh flat leaf parsley for garnish

Method

Preheat the oven to 350’F. Put all of the fresh vegetables into a casserole dish and mix them up well. Add the tomatoes, 2/3 cup of the cider, the herbs and salt and pepper mixing everything all up together.

Cover and bake in the center of the over for 1 ½ hours, stirring once or twice and adding a little more cider if needed. You want the vegetables to be tender when done. Garnish with parsley and serve warm with crusty bread.

Fall is in the Air

With the weather cooling down in many parts of the country we begin to think of fall and all of the things that go with it. Harvest time is a big deal in our area. Soon there will be apple festivals, with the many different flavors of cider being pressed in old wooden cider presses at local cider mills. Flavors such as raspberry, cherry and good old fashioned apple.  The warm smell of cider doughnuts filling the air, wine tours winding down and wineries snuggling in for the long winter months ahead.  Make sure to pick up some of your favorite local wine or cider to store away to be used in soul warming mulled wine and cider drinks throughout winter.

In New England the foliage is already nearing peak in many areas. And soon we will hear the laughter of small children running through the corn field mazes that will begin to crop up all around the north east and heartland. 

Making good use of what we find at our local farmers market is probably at the top of many of your to do lists. Every week the colors of fall show themselves more and more and with them come the rich ambers, mustards and warm reds and green colors of winter vegetables.

With most area farmers markets soon coming to an end now is the time to prepare an area in your basement, garage or porch for storing those delicious beauties so that you can make them part of your winter meals on a regular basis. But once you’ve stored those beauties away don’t forget about them, it is easy for us to succumb to the old saying “out of site out of mind”.  Make sure you have chosen your storage area wisely preferably one that you walk by or go near on a regular basis and be sure to check your stock regularly making sure to look for soft or moldy pieces that may need to be used first.

One of my family’s favorite winter squashes is acorn. I have several ways to prepare this delicately flavored beauty but the recipe below is my favorite.

Coconut Scented Acorn Squash Puree

2 Acorn Squash cut in half and seeded

1 ½ cups organic coconut sugar

2 TB organic raw virgin coconut oil

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 cup water

Method

Preheat the oven to 350’

Cut the tip off of each half of the squash so that it will sit level. Place all 4 halves in a large casserole dish with a lid and pour the water into the bottom of the dish. Divide the coconut sugar evenly between all four halves place the cover on top place in the oven and bake at 350’ for 1 hour.

When the squash is done carefully  (they will be very hot!) scrape down all of the meat into the center pool of melted sugar, do this for each half.  Now scoop this mixture out and into a bowel. Add the coconut oil and salt, mash up and mix until the oil is melted.  Serve warm.

Servings 4-6

Garbage Plates

It seems everywhere you go in this country there is some regional food that is the big thing in that area. Everyone talks about it and if you are a visitor the locals tell you "Oh you gotta try that, you aint had nothin till you've had that".  Its that way in Rochester and Buffalo as well here its red hots, white hots, grape pies and garbage plates. The original garbage plate was created by Nick Tahoe the owner of a food establishment by the same name. Nick is gone now but his establishment and many others still continue to make this concoction that is so loved by the locals.

When my daughter and her boyfriend discovered it recently I knew I would have to come up with a version that was both delicious and  acceptable to be consumed in our home. I'm not really a fan but I didn't want them to go elsewhere so this is what I came up with.

First make a good version of Mac salad, using dream fields elbow macaroni, veganaise, mustard, relish, onion and red peppers. Season it well with salt and pepper and place in the fridge to get cold.
Next put some Alexis brand french fries or home fries (can use sweet potato fries) in the oven. Follow the directions and bake them until crispy.
Now make sloppy joe's with your favorite vegetarian grounds, and sauce.
Ok when everything is done baking and cooking its time to assemble. It goes like this: Mac Salad, French Fries, then the Sloppy Joes. You top this all off with chopped onion, mustard and some hot sauce if you like.
There are many versions of this throughout our area some add baked beans ( you can use Bush's vegetarian beans) and some versions use sausage or hot dogs (there are vegetarian versions of both of these)
The important thing is to make it as disgusting as can be tolerated. But by making it yourself you can have a healthier version.

Happy Birthday

Hitting a milestone means different things to different people. For me hitting my 50th birthday has been very emotional. I guess I thought I would have accomplished more by now yet I have lived a very long life in just 50 years. Maybe its because I was starting to feel old. I don't really know for sure why I have dreaded this day so much but what I have done about it is whats important. I joined a local gym and started zumba classes, I also made a decision not to brood about it instead I would keep my positive attitude about life and do new things that brought me joy. I will make better choices and start doing things that make me happy. I love everyone that is in my life but I sometimes allow whats going on in their lives to effect mine and end up neglecting myself. No more! I will still be there for all of them but I will now be there for myself as well. I will now share my pain with my friends instead of keeping it bottled up inside, talking to no one about it and creating an ulcer for myself. I will invite more people to my get togethers thereby expanding my base of friends and I will continue to color my hair, damed if I'm gonna go grey! I may even get a spray tan (you know they have organic spray tans now) Any way the point of all of this IS I may have missed out on some things until now but I don't plan on continuing to do so.

Our week without kids

Cleansing is best done in the Spring of the year but it is said it can be done any time that the body feels backed up or bloated. During our week with out the kids here while they were out in Oregon visiting my daughters father I talked my husband into joining me in my vegetarian diet. As I have mentioned in previous posts I am the only vegetarian in our house. So although I do serve alot of meatless meals my husband does still enjoy eating meat.

He had been experiencing bloating and a constant felling of fullness. So I suggested we have a week of meatlessness to which he agreed. After just 3 days he began a full natural cleansing and by end of week was much more comfortable and his bloated feeling has gone away. Just another check mark on the side of vegetarianizm!

The New Baby

So WOW  it has been a busy year. Eli was born on Jan 4th and its been wonderful but hecteck ever since. My daughter has been trying to finish school and thank goodness she graduates in 2 weeks. But she starts college in the fall so its back to babysitting again, of course you know that me and grandpa don't really mind in fact grandpa would just die if he couldn't get his time with little Eli each day. I hate to be the steriotypical grand parents but we can't help it, he's such a joy and so cute.

I am still working on my book, it seems like it's taking forever but one day I will finish it. Right now we are very busy at the bakery expanding out in California and in other places around the country.

Now we are starting a new project at home.  We want to start a sustainable community in the NC mountains where we can offer a peacefull living experience to humans and animals alike.  It would include a mini farm, a year round green house, housing made of earth and cobb or strawbale, and possibly some Yurts, a plan for sales of products grown and produced on the farm as well as an Everyday Gourmet test kitchen and office. We are in the first stages of planning and will soon be looking at ideas for rasing the funds to go about building this community. Part of that plan will include student interns from the colleges and other outlets from surrounding areas. 

I will try to keep up with this blog more regularly now and post updates as we progress with our plan.
Hope everyone has a fun and safe summer.