Farm Blog

Spring Quiche

Spring Quiche

Like pizza with all it’s various toppings, a quiche is a great opportunity to experiment with all kinds of veggies, meat, herbs and cheese.   With our fresh ingredients including our delicious eggs, a quiche doesn’t last long in our house! In this recipe, we used 

Baked Beans

Baked Beans

We use our crock pot to make the most delicious homemade Baked Beans.  It is always a hit at our house.  The Pork Hock adds rich flavor and you will have the most tender, fall apart meat to enjoy with your bowl of beans.  We’ve 

Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers

Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers

We love a homemade pot of chili and ours is based on our favorite recipe from Anita’s mom.   But, we’ve added diced sweet potatoes and sweet peppers which gives chili such a great flavor and a little more veggie.

This is a delicious one pot recipe packed full of good flavor and nutrition.   And, the best part is it’s even better the next day by itself or dished over a bowl of polenta, pasta or your morning eggs.   If you want a vegetarian/vegan recipe, just leave out the ground beef.

This recipe makes a small pot.  We usually double it to guarantee leftovers for this chili loving family.  It never lasts long!

1 lb. BBF Ground Beef

1 T organic Chili Powder

2 tsp organic Ground Cumin Powder

3 organic Garlic cloves, diced OR 1 or 2 tsp garlic granules

2 organic med onions or 1 large, diced

2 organic sweet peppers, any color.  We use our frozen diced peppers.

1 quart organic diced tomatoes plus 1 qt. water.  We use our own canned tomatoes.  If using store bought, use two 28 oz cans.

1 T organic Apple Cider Vinegar

1 can organic Black, Kidney or Pinto beans, usually 15 oz., drained

2 cups organic diced sweet potato

Salt and ground pepper to taste

In your favorite soup pot, saute ground beef breaking it up as it cooks.  When just a little pink is left, add the diced onions and fresh sweet peppers.  If you are using frozen peppers, hold off until you add the tomatoes as they release a lot of water.

Saute until veggies are almost tender.  Add the chili powder, cumin, diced fresh garlic, 1 tsp salt and several grinds of fresh black pepper.  Stir and saute for a few more minutes.  Pot will be fragrant and mixture will look dry.  It may seem like a lot of chili powder and cumin but you are seasoning quite a bit of food once the recipe is completely together.  Back off if you like and adjust later as needed.

Add the tomatoes, water if using, beans, vinegar and a couple cups of diced frozen peppers if you didn’t use fresh.   Bring to a simmer and allow to cook gently for approximately 30 min.   Taste for seasoning and make adjustments as needed with any spices and vinegar.   Add the diced sweet potato and a little water if chili looks to chunky.  Gently simmer until potato is tender.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Udon Noodle Soup

Udon Noodle Soup

This soup has just a few ingredients so it’s important to use the best.   Using homemade broth is a great way to make this soup over the top delicious. We used beef broth, but you can easily make this with chicken.   If you’d like to 

Harira Soup

Harira Soup

This Moroccan lentil soup comes from the N.Y. Times food section and is originally vegetarian.  We’ve used chicken or beef broth in the soup and added a pork meatball at the end.  But, it would certainly be delicious without these changes.   Fantastic recipe especially those 

Herbed Chicken Salad

Herbed Chicken Salad

This delicious farm inspired Chicken Salad is so simple and packed with a ton of flavor and farm goodness.  All inspired by meat, veggies and fresh herbs we’re growing right here at our organic farm and good food from our farm partners like Organic Roots Olive Oil and Bushel & Peck’s raw ferment.

You can create a salad just like this by using the best farm sourced ingredients.

Here’s how it comes together.

 

BBF Whole Chicken – Simply braised with salted water in our crock pot until cooked through.  Meat was picked and remaining bones, etc. were returned to the crock pot to continue creating the most aromatic broth for a future soup. Meat was shredded and refrigerated.  Shredding is our preferred texture for chicken salad – the meat has more contact with remaining ingredients.

 

BBF Veggies – A bed of salad greens dressed with Organic Roots Olive Oil, ACV and sprinkle of salt. Tossed and placed in bowl.

 

Chicken Salad – Created by Brian with BBF Shredded Chicken, BBF Diced Red Onion, BBF diced red Chard stems, Organic Mayo, Organic Dijon Mustard, splash of ACV, Salt, Pepper, fresh BBF Parsley and Dill

 

Toppings – Any seasonal vegetables and fresh herbs will work but at the time, we used tomatoes, cucumber, Cilantro PLUS Bushel & Peck’s raw fermented Immunichi containing cabbage, carrot, apple, ginger & turmeric.

 

There is a misconception that healthy eating doesn’t taste good. Or, even look good.  Thank corporate, bland tasting food for this misguidance.  This delicious salad certainly debunks that myth.  The fact this salad is healthy is not the point.  It’s incredible because the food is fresh and locally inspired.  Not difficult, not complicated.  Just real food that tastes really good.
Fried Green Tomatoes with Herbed Ricotta

Fried Green Tomatoes with Herbed Ricotta

It’s a shame not to make use of the bounty of green tomatoes left when cold weather comes in late September and October.  When a hard frost is imminent, we harvest all the tomatoes including the green.  The unripe fruit store for several weeks and 

Tomato Basil Salad with Fresh Mozzarella

Tomato Basil Salad with Fresh Mozzarella

The sweetest tomatoes and fragrant basil come together in this simple late summer salad.   Serve as a side or atop a bed of greens for a beautiful salad.   No extra dressing necessary.  The juice from the tomatoes combined with the EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar make 

Tzatziki

Tzatziki

Classic Tzatziki sauce is hard to pass up and it’s way easy to make.   We use it as a creamy salad dressing, on top of our homemade falafel or just dipping for a delicious fresh pita bread.  Great way to use the cucumbers!

2 cups organic whole milk yogurt

2  tablespoons olive oil

1 med. cucumber, peeled and shredded on a box grater, about 1 cup

2 T Lemon juice

1-2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, chopped mint is a nice addition as well

1 med. garlic clove, finely diced or smashed to a paste

Place yogurt in a medium bowl.  Grate cucumber onto a plate.   Squeeze out all juices from cucumber (reserve) and add shredded cucumber to yogurt.   Combine remaining ingredients in bowl and blend thoroughly.   If the consistency is too thick, stir in a little cucumber water.  Ideally, place in refrigerator for a couple hours to let flavors blend.   But, it’s so good, it’s hard to wait!

 

BBF Pulled Beef BBQ

BBF Pulled Beef BBQ

This recipe uses BBF beef cuts like Chuck, Arm and Brisket that love a low, slow braise.   Braising transforms these less tender cuts into moist, fall apart meat for your favorite pulled beef sandwiches.   Grilling the meat is purely for infusing your recipe with authentic 

Garlic Scape Hummus

Garlic Scape Hummus

1 – 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas 3-5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (depending on taste) 2 tablespoons tahini 2 garlic scapes, bulb removed and set aside, tender part of stems chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 

Creamy Buttermilk Spinach Dressing

Creamy Buttermilk Spinach Dressing

Just a forewarning…..this may be the best creamy salad dressing you’ll ever try.

My mother, Barb, made this dressing every year when spinach was being harvested from her garden.   Mom grew a beautiful garden and there were staples on the table every spring – tender Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, red radishes, green onions and fresh spinach.   We always had trimmed radishes and green onions kept fresh in a cold bowl of water in the fridge.  We’d eat them raw dipped in a little salt.  Can you imagine your kids eating green onions like french fries?   We did and we loved it.

But, the spinach dressing was the highlight.  Don’t let the bacon drippings deter you from making this dressing.   Leave them out if you like but a little adds good flavor to the dressing.   Feel free to adjust the ratio of buttermilk/mayo for a thicker or thinner dressing.  You just can’t go wrong with this dressing!  Enjoy!

1 c buttermilk

1/2 c mayo

1 tsp dried dill or 1 T fresh, finely chopped

1 green onion, entire stalk diced including greens

Crispy fried bacon, one or two slices, diced

Bacon drippings, couple teaspoons, must be warm!

Freshly ground pepper

If you do not have buttermilk, make your own by combining whole milk with 1 or 2 T lemon juice.   Taste after one tablespoon and add more if you like more acidity.   Place in mixing bowl and whisk in the mayo until creamy.   Add remaining ingredients and combine well.   Taste for seasoning.   The dressing gets even better the next day but certainly delicious immediately.

We serve this over a fresh spinach salad with finely sliced red onion and sliced hard boiled BBF Eggs.