Monday, December 29, 2014

2014 Year in Review--the Photo Montage Palooza Edition

A mindless read for when you've got a moment to sit and visit with me
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html
Why does everyone always end up in the kitchen?
I can't say that the year has flown by, but after hosting 4 amazing meals in 3 days for [and with help of] my extended family of 12 folks I can say that the last week has flown by. This wrap up post will be my last of 2014, and I'll be back on Monday, January 5, 2015, with Asante Sana Squash Banana Muffins. [You have to read it in the voice of Rafiki from Lion King. If you haven't seen Lion King you've got a week to bring yourself up to speed. And get an acorn squash. And a banana.]

This is my second Year in Review post, because I've completed my second full year of blogging.  I still enjoy it and have learned so many things from so many wonderful bloggers. This year I realized that I need to give myself permission to take breaks. When I do, I come back recharged and with the energy to implement changes I've envisioned. This Year In Review will be a bit different than last year's primarily because I still need to update some of my spreadsheets, but instead of trying to get the gumption to do those I figured I'd just go with what I've got ready. Let's get to the details.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

First, a comparison of my statistics for the past year--first from Google Analytics (the real, accurate stuff) then from Blogger (which includes spam bots and is just not accurate, but that's what I see when I sign in so I'll throw it up here as well).

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

People came to my blog in 2014 looking for recipe ideas for produce--fresh tomatoes, green tomatoes, garlic scapes, kale, spinach and leeks. You also came looking for recipes for tomato soup, buttermilk pizza crust, make ahead mashed potatoes, healthy muffins, celery soup, fig pizza and leftovers. 

My top 10 search terms, according to Google Analytics, follow this trend:

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html
But those are just the most common search terms--there are some gems if you read through all 4000 search terms that brought folks to the blog this year.  The most memorable search term for 2014 was my guinea pig ate a pepperoni. Here are the Honorable Mentions, in alphabetical order:

"Monday morning is fine with me" [yes, the quotes are included]
are turkey, ham and chicken excellent Thanksgiving items for a compost bin? [Umm, no. Not the way I make my compost, at least.]
are garlic scapes available year round? [sadly, no, but here are recipe ideas for you]
best damn vegetable tray [here are some suggestions]
chicken feets and beetroot soup [I don't have any chicken feet recipes. Yet.]
dwarf peach tree harvest [although we have a dwarf peach tree, only the certified wildlife harvest it]
fall lasagna; roasted mushrooms, butternut squash, spinach and caramelized onions layered with fontina and herbed ricotta [that sounds amazing. what time is dinner?]
food photography behind the scenes [yeah, I like to peek behind the scenes too]
forgot salt in muffin [I hear ya. Usually I forget the sugar.]
green vista farms zucchini hawaiian pizza brats casserole [what an interesting combination, do let me know how it turns out]
help I don't know how to cook with my greens from farm! [you've come to the right place.]
how to make a chocolate milkshake without ice cream [well, you could try using beets]
how to make a sweet potato casserole with white irish potatoes [I haven't tried this one before]
how to put pesto on a pizza [I use a spoon generally, and fling it carefully]
is adding cheddar shredded to my grilled cheese a good idea [Yes, yes it is]
Monday with Hatch chiles [I've read Tuesdays with Morrie]
my lou malnati's pizza arrived defrosted [you can order pizza? Cool, thanks for letting me know]
overabundance of turnips [story of my life. Here's some ideas]
play bacon and cabbage song [could you hum a few bars?]
pumpkin liver sausage dip [what an interesting combination, let me know how it turns out]
show the picture of kohlrabi [you can find one here]
turnip greens recipes that kids will eat which is not pizza or macaroni [I'm working on that one, myself. So far this is the best I've got.]
visit parade.com for sheila's snappy ginger slaw recipe [thanks for the tip]
wow me a meatloaf [Ok, here ya go.]
www.drunkenpizza.com [there's a website? Here's a pizza]

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

That little spike in the first graphic?  That's from the debut of my Clickable Collages of Recipe Suggestions. I posted it on G+ and folks popped over to check it out. I've got suggestions for what to do with produce, like beets, garlic scapes, or green tomatoes, as well as recipe ideas--like hummus or grilled cheese.
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

What am I most proud of? My newly revamped Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient.  I'd had the idea of what I wanted for quite some time, but didn't have the ability to create it until September.  My son has asked me to tweak it--to add categories for, say, chicken or liver instead of just fruits and vegetables. I think his suggestion is a great one and will be working on it.  Here's what the landing page looks like now:
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

Clicking on, for example, Garlic & Garlic Scapes brings you to the collection of recipes using those items, as seen here:
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

I really like folks to be able to find my recipes, so I'm delighted with the changes I made. I'm also pleased that this recipe index is used by you folks--more than a thousand views this past year:

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

At the beginning of 2014 our household animal collection consisted of 3 dogs and a composting guinea pig. At the end of the year we have 3 dogs (we've substituted Robert Barker for Wee Oliver Picklepants) but no composting guinea pig. I've earned over the $100 Google Adsense payout threshold twice, so the hosting fees are covered for a while. I pushed out of my comfort zone participating in #AppetizerWeek, #IceCreamWeek, and most recently #ChristmasWeek. This fall I got interested in spiffing up my Pinterest presence, and created the Farm Fresh Feasts board where I've shared every post, in order. It's been fun to look back at the changes over the months/years (gulp).

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review-photo-montage.html

At my 4th amazing meal in 3 days (which was Thanksgiving dinner, you can see the Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole in the slow cooker) I got a round of applause. If you've read this far--give yourself a round of applause too! See ya in 2015!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies #ChristmasWeek

[the title pretty much says it all]
Welcome to Day Four of Christmas Week. This event is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. We hope to inspire you to break out those holiday sprinkles and get your bake on!

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

There are times when I feel like an utter failure as a food blogger. It's not the recipes/writing/photography/technical computer stuff, you know, the business of blogging, that gets to me--it's the capital F Foodie part.

I may have 6 different vinegars in my pantry and 20 recipes for beets in my Beet Recipes Collection, but I am not a real Foodie. I have eaten at only one of the 20+ fancy schmancy restaurants in my town [and that was because my book group met there!]. In fact, I'm perfectly happy with a Five Guys burger and fries or a plate of Waffle House Chocolate Chip Waffles. The recipes I share on this blog are, for the most part, pretty basic stuff like these Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I'm sharing them today for #ChristmasWeek simply because I like to celebrate all that is simple and good--from a breakfast of beet greens or a side dish of Chinese cabbage from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share to a tasty and flavorful cookie like these.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I like to bake chocolate chip cookies because the whole process fits in with my schedule. Unlike brownies which need to be mixed and baked all at once [and when you're making 8 dozen Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive that's a big chunk of time], chocolate chip cookies taste better when they are done in installments. When I expect to have 30 minutes free I'll set the butter out to soften ahead of time, then mix up the dough when I'm ready. I will chill this dough overnight or up to a couple of days. When I'm ready to bake I scoop up what I want to use, and I can re-chill or even freeze the rest until I need it. Making cookies this way--in small chunks of kitchen time--fits with my schedule best and leaves me more time to try and get a decent shot of the dogs in their thrift shop holiday finery. Here's an outtake:

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
Simon is patiently waiting to be allowed to leave while Robert Barker keeps trying to eat his hat  (it tastes yummy) and Vincent in his Santa Paws coat just wishes everyone would cooperate so he can have his turn to shine. Oh, and I went and got my hair done did. It's been a year--it was time.
Swing by all the #ChristmasWeek participants to see what they've been whipping up for the holidays:
Coconut Filled Sandwich Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic
Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bars by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
Cranberry Ginger Margaritas by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Rocky Road Chocolate Bark by Cooking In Stilettos
Apple Streusel Bars by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Rum Blondies with Cinnamon Chips by From Gate to Plate

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Scandinavian Fruit Soup

This chilled soup is an excellent counterpart to a cookie tray. It provides contrasting flavors and textures without refined sugars, while still being a sweet finish to the meal. It also makes an excellent bedtime snack after candlelight services and keeps for several days in the fridge. For my third recipe of #ChristmasWeek we're heading back to Scandinavia for Fruit Soup.


Growing up, Christmas Eve was the big meal of the holiday. My folks would round up strays (folks who didn't otherwise have plans for the evening) and serve a smorgasbord of fish, Swedish meatballs (link to my folks making a batch for the blog), boiled potatoes, more fish (did I mention the pickled herring?) and lefse--that recipe is coming on Friday to round out #ChristmasWeek. 


On Christmas Eve after piling on all of the fish smorgasbord delights, we'd push back from the table and go digest somewhere. Typically us kids would play Bobby Hull hockey in the basement while the adults visited upstairs. After a period of time, we'd reconvene at the table for dessert: cookies and fruit soup. And more lefse, because you can never have too much of a good thing like lefse.



Do you get a tangerine in the toe of your stocking? I grew up with tangerines in my stocking, reading about Almanzo Wilder getting an orange in his stocking in the Little House on the Prairie series, and now we've got the Band Fruit Fundraiser citrus piled up in the basement (link to my fruit round up featuring 156 recipes using fall and winter fruits). As much as I love dark chocolate peppermint bark-coated roast beast, fruit is also an integral part of my Christmas sweets spread.



If you like to eat locally, Scandinavian Fruit Soup is your excuse to pull out the packages of beets berries you put up while they were in season. [In my case, I came across way too many packages of roasted beets in my quest to find blueberries, so beet & orange smoothies are my current breakfast drink of choice necessity]. If you don't have local fruit put up, canned or frozen fruit works great.  I'm especially partial to canned cherries--terrific flavor--and I love how the grapes in fruit cocktail look in the dark juice.

My recipes for #ChristmasWeek have been a mixture of getting my ethnic on and classic sweets that I just love to eat any time of year, but make especially for the holidays. Monday I shared Finnish Pulla {Cardamom Coffee Braid}, yesterday I shared lessons learned from making Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive, tomorrow I'll share Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Friday I'm bringing #ChristmasWeek home with Norwegian Lefse. For more of my traditional savory & farm share centric recipes, please see my Visual Recipe Index.

Swing by all the participants to see what they've been whipping up for the holidays:
Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic
Peppermint Spritz Cookies by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
Scandinavian Fruit Soup by Farm Fresh Feasts
Egg Nog Pound Cake by My Catholic Kitchen
Coquito Cheesecake Flan by Mind Over Batter
Mulled Wine Fruit Gums by Food Lust People Love
Soft Vanilla Caramels by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive #ChristmasWeek

Need/want to make 8 dozen brownie bites for a cookie drive or a whole bunch of cookie plates? Look no further! My second recipe of #ChristmasWeek is well suited to mass production and full of chocolatey goodness as well. I share my 3 lessons learned so you don't have the failures I did.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Welcome to Day Two of Christmas Week. This event is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. We hope to inspire you to break out those holiday sprinkles and get your bake on!

Hanging in my house is a poster of Life's Little Instructions. On it are such gems as 'overtip breakfast waitresses' and 'when you borrow a car, return it with the gas tank full', but one of my favorite ones is 'never refuse a plate of homemade brownies'. I don't care if the ingredients for the brownies came out of a single box or from multiple containers in your pantry--to me, if the brownies come out of YOUR oven they are homemade.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

What if you want to give homemade brownies to 1,500 single Airmen who are spending Christmas away from their families? Or, more realistically, if you wanted to contribute several dozen brownies to the Airmen's Cookie Drive? You need a few Mass Production Techniques to enable you to churn out tray after tray, and that's why I wrote up this post for #ChristmasWeek.

Making individual sized treats for a cookie drive is a Big Project. Making brownies for a cookie drive [is that even legal? I mean, they're not technically cookies, whatever the technical definition of a cookie is] is another level of hassle. You either need to cut your pan nice and even [no 'you cut and your sister chooses first' here] or you need to make individual brownies and get them safely out of the pan.
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Lesson #1:  Use paper liners.
Trust me and the pile of failures I shared with my kids and on my FB page. [Perhaps the kids would prefer we skip this lesson and just have 8 dozen less-than-perfect brownie bites piled up around the kitchen.] To spray or not to spray the paper liners I leave up to you. I didn't spray, nor do I spray my brownie pan normally. There are 3 sticks of butter in there, for crying out loud!


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Lesson #2:  If you're using nuts, GO BIG.
I like nuts in my brownies, but I'd never put nut-filled brownies in a cookie tray for my friends who have food allergies. While the Cookie Drive Organizers said that nuts were OK, I didn't want the volunteers to guess if my brownies contained nuts.  Instead, I went big and glued a big ol' pecan half on top of each brownie using a candy melt. You can see through the lid that these treats belong with the other nut-filled goodies.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Lesson #3:  Just do it. It will make you feel good.
Doing for others makes you feel good. If you love to bake, then baking for others is an exceptional way to feel good. You don't need an Airmen's Cookie Drive either--police stations, fire stations, animal shelters and hospitals would be glad to follow the instructions to 'never refuse a plate of homemade brownies'.

Are you trampled by turnips? Collared by kohlrabi? Buried in beets? For recipes using my usual suspects, please refer to my Visual Recipe Index until #ChristmasWeek ends and I return to my local food, mostly savory ways.  If you're tempted by sweets and looking for holiday ideas--yesterday I shared Finnish Pulla {Cardamom Coffee Braid}, tomorrow I'll share Scandinavian Fruit Soup, Thursday brings us Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I'll close out the week with Norwegian Lefse on Friday.

Swing by all the #ChristmasWeek participants to see what they've been whipping up for the holidays:


Turtle Hot Chocolate by  The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

Rum Raspberry Tart by Cookistry

Chocolate Saltine Toffee (aka Christmas Crack) by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

Pecan Brownie Bites by Farm Fresh Feasts (that's me!)
Peppermint Brownie Cookies by Mind Over Batter
Bourbon Brownies by Cooking In Stilettos

Monday, December 15, 2014

Finnish Pulla {Cardamom Coffee Braid}

This is a recipe for Finnish Pulla, a cardamom-spiced lightly sweet braided bread. It is delicious plain or with butter, served alongside tea or coffee, or as an after school snack. The recipe makes three loaves which is terrific for gift giving during the holidays. 

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http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html


Baking: art or science? Discuss.

When I first saw this bread being made it was all art: building the fire in the wood stove, mixing the ingredients until the dough looked right then braiding, decorating, and finally baking the bread. To my young, fresh-out-of-college eyes Eila Akkanen's ability to create this bread was purely magic. [Looking back on that summer, Eila was doing her weekly baking in the the farmhouse kitchen where she'd raised her family and had probably performed that 'magic' thousands of times.]


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html


I think baking used to be considered an art, or perhaps more accurate, a series of crafts. Building a fire to the proper baking temperature is as much a learned skill as kneading dough or even beading bracelets. Nowadays I don't need to know much about building a baking fire--I use the keypad on the oven to type in the precise temperature I'd like, and double check it with my oven thermometer. I could re-learn the chemical equations which describe the reactions of a pile of ingredients turning into a loaf of bread, but I don't need to know how it works--just that it does.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html
I braid one side towards the middle, then the other, then finish by pinching the end pieces together.

My approach to this recipe is a mixture of science and art. Because my kitchen temperature averages 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, I use my bread machine to mix the dough [don't worry if you don't have a freezing kitchen and a bread machine, I'll provide directions for mixing the dough]. When the machine is finished, though, my experienced eye takes over and shapes the dough until it looks right.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html


The inspiring recipe came from Beatrice Ojakangas' book Fantastically Finnish. Instead of starting with whole cardamom pods I use the ground spice, and because I first had this while working on a dairy farm I like to use a richer milk. I have made this bread using all cream--very rich dough, very tender crumb, great way to use up 2 cups of heavy cream--as well as half & half and even 2% milk. Normally I'll say 'use what you have on hand' but if you've only got fat free milk please go grab a pint of half & half before making this. It is the holidays after all. 


Speaking of holidays, I'll be sharing sweet recipes each day during #ChristmasWeek. Tuesday I'll be sharing 3 lessons learned making Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive, Wednesday it's back to Scandinavia for Fruit Soup, Thursday we're keeping things simple with Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Friday I finish getting my ethnic on with My Mother's Norwegian Lefse
If you're not into sweets, check out my Visual Recipe Index for more savory ideas for what to do with the produce from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, farmer's market, and garden.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Salami Alfredo Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Gooey cheese and spicy salami on top of creamy Alfredo sauce for a hot mess of a pizza.
A subtitle could be: where to find the tools you need for successful pizza at home.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/salami-alfredo-pizza-pizza-night.html

Almost as many times as I've shared a Friday Night Pizza Night recipe here I've also said to preheat a pizza stone if you've got one [one glaring exception would be deep dish pizzas which I cook in cast iron skillets]. Now I'm going to say that if you like to make pizza at home and don't already have a stone, GO GET ONE. I took my stone out to make room for the turkey last month and didn't even notice it was gone when I made a deep dish Thanksgiving leftover pizza [with green bean casserole--who knew?]. Last weekend I preheated my oven while I was dithering over what kind of pizza to make for my birthday**. I assembled my pies, opened the oven door to slide the first one off the peel onto the . . . . oops.

Well that was unexpected. I ended up using a cookie sheet and my crust was no where near where it usually is crispness-wise.  The stone really makes a difference. I even wrote an ode to mine.  Here's a link to King Arthur Flour where I bought my stone, and an Amazon affiliate link for good measure. The shape shouldn't matter, but I like how my rectangle fits in my oven and how I can easily fit multiple dishes on it when I'm baking. 

My stone is broken, but unlike a casserole dish I can just push the edges to close approximation and rock on. Compared to the cost of buying a couple of pizzas every weekend, it paid for itself 15 years ago. Ditto on the pizza peel [Amazon affiliate link to my sanity-saving pizza peel] which makes getting the pizza in and out of the oven terribly easy. Triple ditto the parchment paper, though I keep on buying that stuff so it's not like it pays for itself [silicone mats do not work in this instance]. My kids just don't hear such a wide array of colorful language when I use parchment paper.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/salami-alfredo-pizza-pizza-night.html

There is a pizza recipe here, I promise. This was a hot mess of a pizza, but boy did it taste good. The pictures are lousy, but I decided to share it anyway because of the flavor. We had salami left from an antipasti dinner, prepared alfredo sauce because I cannot resist a magical markdown sticker, and mozzarella because people don't make a lot of caprese salads in the winter so there's marked down mozzarella at the fancy cheese counter. You'd think that I'd know better about using thawed mozzarella slices, but you'd be wrong. This pizza made a gooey, drippy mess all over the back of the oven when I lifted it up to broil the top (photo at the end).  It was worth it.

For general hints, tips, and photo collages please check out my Pizza Primer post, a brain dump of all things related to making pizza in my home kitchen.  For a photo album of pizza dough troubleshooting tips, please see my FB page.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Ham Ball and Black Eyed Pea Chirashi Rice

Continuing to upcycle a holiday ham, this time into New Year's good luck, while getting folks to eat a wide variety of vegetables as well.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/ham-ball-and-black-eyed-pea-chirashi.html

I am not a nutritionist nor much of an advice giver--but in my 8 years of experience with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share and 16 years of experience with, shall we say reluctant vegetable eaters [because if the child won't eat any type of vegetable, well, that's not a picky eater--you have to pick something in order to be picky, you know?] . . . .

This has been such a run on sentence I've lost the point. Let me sum up.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/ham-ball-and-black-eyed-pea-chirashi.html
If you have a wide variety of vegetables in your house, you are more likely to include a wide variety of vegetables in your meals. If you include a wide variety of vegetables in your meals, the folks eating your meals will ingest a wide variety of vegetables. Because we joined a CSA, my kids eat a wide variety of vegetables.
It's a bold statement--but if I'd served this recipe to my kids before we joined a CSA, or in the early couple of years, they probably would have picked out the ham balls and the rice and left the rest. Sure, while they've spent the last 8 years eating from the farm share they've also been growing up--that happens--but the unrelenting exposure to a wide variety of vegetables is the foundation of the change. Extrapolating from the end of season survey, we got more than 40 different vegetables over the course of the 20 weeks.  That's a wide variety, and more than I would have bought had it been up to me (ahem, mustard greens, turnips, and beets I'm talking to you!).

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/ham-ball-and-black-eyed-pea-chirashi.html

This recipe is a great example of how having extra vegetables on hand means I'll add more veggies to our meals. It's also another way to get your New Year's good luck on without extra effort the day after the hoopla. For another New Year's Black Eyed Pea recipe, please see my Black Eyed Pea and Kale Salad in Salumi Cups.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Teriyaki Roasted Mushrooms

Teriyaki sauce tossed with roasted mushrooms for an easy to fix savory appetizer.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/teriyaki-roasted-mushrooms.html

It's been over a week since our Fall Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share ended. One moment I'm blogging my Thanksgiving After Action Report, the next moment I'm cleaning up from Robert Barker's latest escapade [he chewed a hole in my nukable neck wrap and I vacuumed rice & flax seed from the living room rug. Now there are piles of rice & flax seed all around the yard]. You can read about Robert's story--and get a dog food recipe--here. The end of the Fall CSA means two things:  time for mushrooms and time to squeeze in all my end-of-year posts before I take a holiday break.
No, it doesn't mean I'll stop blogging about what we're eating from the farm share. Although we only get fresh foods from the farm for about 6 months of the year, to paraphrase the words of my birthday t-shirt, "We eat local because I CAN" (seriously cute shirts, no affiliation to disclose). The point is that I've been freezing and canning and filling up the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve like a boss an ant all Fall, and after I take a couple of weeks off to host my family-of-origin (flung from the far corners of the globe to Southwestern Ohio for the holidays) I'll be back on it with seasonal CSA-inspired recipes, ways to use local foods, and the occasional indulgence thrice weekly in 2015.
Mushrooms and end of year posts . . . there's a connection. We don't get mushrooms in the farm share, though if I'm lucky I can score an occasional King Oyster mushroom at the farmer's market--so I like to make mushroom treats for my spouse and I while I'm not staring at overwhelming piles of mustard greens. I'm also participating in Holiday Baking Week next week, sharing five sweet holiday recipes [though predominantly getting my ethnic on] with giveaways for you folks.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/teriyaki-roasted-mushrooms.html

That means I need to get my savory and New Year's recipes up now, like this little effort-big taste vegetable appetizer, one of my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks (link to my Pinterest board). My spouse and I consider a skillet of mushrooms a mini-date--we're easy to please--and I've shared several recipes. You can find more mushroom recipes in my Mushroom Recipe Collection, part of my Visual Recipe Index.

Friday, December 5, 2014

TLC for Rescue(d) Dogs: A Recipe with Results

Grass fed beef liver plus rice in a gentle mix, great for boosting the nutrition of neglected dogs.
Subtitle: Tenderness, Liver, Cardio and/or That Liver Concoction

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

I have a recipe for dogs today--though cats of people certainly could eat it [folks, add salt, pepper, and/or onion to taste]. It may seem weird for a local foods blog to have a dog food recipe, but the key ingredient is liver. I buy my beef from my neighbor's friend, a quarter beef at a time, and I get all sorts of parts in that quarter beef. Some, like the tongue, were initially new to me but have become desired cuts. Others, like t-bone steaks and liver, tend to sit in the freezer until I come up with a way to cook them.
Yes, I just put t-bone steaks and liver into the same category. It's not them, it's me. See, I can confidently take a package of ground beef and make Green Tomato Bacon Jam Burgers. I know how to cook them and they turn out great--better than I can get at a restaurant, though Five Guys runs a very good second to me (and their fries are way better than I could ever do). A t-bone steak is scary. I worked at a steak house in college, and I've eaten in fancy-pants steak houses. I know what a good steak should taste like, how it should turn out. I have not mastered the technique of cooking it enough-but-not-too-much. So I bypass the scary packages. The liver I leave just because I keep trying ways to get the family to like it, and my neighbor keeps giving me hers so I've got plenty.
With this train of though--local liver is in my house and I need to find a way to cook it--liver is now akin to the beets, turnips, or kohlrabi from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share and therefore excellent blog fodder. It's possible I'll add a beef liver category to the Visual Recipe Index [my son just asked me where the chicken category was] but for now I'd like to share WHY I'm cooking that liver concoction.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

I'd like you to meet Robert Barker. I met him last month when I went to the Humane Society to donate leftover composting pig food and bedding after Crystal died. [As an aside, I think folks who join a CSA should get a pair of composting pigs for their living room. It's a win-win situation and I loved the near 5 years we had Quartz and Crystal after we adopted them from MGPR.] I had no intention of getting another dog when I casually asked, after filling out the donation paperwork, if I could peek into the dog room. Robert Barker immediately caught my eye because, and I'm being totally superficial here as my son pointed out, he's a good-looking Basset hound.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

I grew up with Basset hounds. When I say I grew up with them, I mean I do not have a childhood memory without a pack of hounds in it. One family story is of a race to see who would learn to walk down [my mother gently correct me, it was up the steps] the steps first--toddler me or our first Basset pup. The dog won. I got my last hound as a sophomore in high school and lost him when I was in my mid-twenties, and though I went in a new direction with my next dogs (short ears and long legs) I've always had a soft spot for Bassets.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

While Robert Barker's good looks caught my eye, his story tugged at my heart. He was picked up by animal control after a neglect complaint and weighed 18 pounds when he arrived at the humane society. He wasn't yet available for adoption due to the court proceedings but I was smitten. I went home and told my spouse about him (though at the time I didn't even now if Robert was a boy or a girl). The next day my spouse left work early so we could return to the shelter and visit Robert again. That started a week of calls and trips to the shelter with trumped up excuses [here's the application I emailed last night, I was in the area, how does the dog react to the uniform, etc]. I bought a new dog bed and a used dog bowl and left them in the car 'just in case'. The animal control officer came for a home visit, met Vincent and Simon, and said that Robert would make a good addition to our home. I'd like to think that photo of cute little me with puppies in the whelping pen helped our case.

The next day Robert was released from medical hold and came home with me. His weight was up to 33 pounds but he was barely more than skin and bones. His fur was dry and missing in many areas, he could not maintain a crouch long enough to pee without sinking down into his puddle, and he was such a sweet and friendly dog. I took him to the vet and in addition to a course of meds she told me he just needed TLC. The shelter had been feeding him prescription canned and dry dog food, and our vet said we could gradually switch to over-the-counter food.

Looking at the ingredients in the canned dog food aisle I was struck by all the flour and flavorings used. When my spouse commented 'this one has Animal Liver . . . doesn't even specify which animal it's from' I decided to use what I've already got on hand and make my own version of TLC--That Liver Concoction. I ran my recipe by the vet and got an OK to get started.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

We've been feeding Robert about ⅓ to ½ cup of this concoction with breakfast and dinner for the past several weeks. [Simon and Vincent get a Tablespoon and teaspoon, respectively, though Vincent as the Top Dog gets dibs on licking the spoon.] Robert's coat looks much better, he's got more energy to play with our other dogs, he's alert and aware of squirrels and chases them on walks, he doesn't dip down into his pee--he's just a delightful addition to our family. When I was discussing this post with my spouse I asked for help creating a backronym for TLC. Since plenty of exercise has been a big part of Robert's daily routine, my spouse suggested Tenderness, Liver, and Cardio. It works for me, and it's working for Robert Barker. He's a pretty awesome 50th birthday present, don't ya think?

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html
Cuddling with Vincent helps with the Tenderness part.
Robert will probably always be a food hound. In my experience Bassets are. His favorite place to hang out is with a human in the kitchen.  No matter which kitchen, you'll find Robert Barker there. It's probably time for a recipe, right? Let's get to it.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

TLC--That Liver Concoction for Rescue(d) Dogs

1 package beef liver (mine come in ¾ to 1 pound packages)
water
2 cups cooked rice (I use short grain sushi rice because that's what I have on hand)

Place liver in a small saucepan and add water just to cover (2 to 3 cups). Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Transfer liver to a food processor (a blender would do in a pinch) and add  a small amount of the poaching water. Pulse several times to break the liver into small pieces, then process until it is a uniform paste. [If you're making this for folks, taste and add salt & pepper at this point]. Add the rice, and some more poaching water, and process until well mixed. I usually use all the poaching water because . . . why not? The rice will absorb it.  This keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/tlc-for-rescued-dogs-recipe-with-results.html

This post is shared on What's Cookin' Wednesday, Fiesta Friday