Okra and Cabbage

When I think of okra the first thing that comes to mind is deep fried okra and while this is very tasty, it is not the healthiest dish in the kitchen. Besides the fact that I rarely have enough oil around to deep fry anything. If you are looking for okra check out EatingWell.com and search for okra. You will find a variety of easy, quick dishes for this late summer veggies. EatingWell.com Okra Recipes I personally am going to try the Louisiana Catfish with Okra and Corn.

Also, be sure to save one head of cabbage, go pick one up if you have to. Cabbage is just coming into season now as are many of the late summer/early winter veggies. Take your cabbage, pull of the outer layers of leaves and then slice or chop. Place this in a freezer bag in the freezer then use about a cup at a time in the winter in soups. Cabbage adds a wonderful rich flavor to soup that even non-cabbage lovers will enjoy. My family's favorite recipe that involves cabbage is a minute minestrone. Wonderful for the winter months. I will post it once the weather turns cold.

Beef, it's what's for dinner

Every year we buy a 1/4 of a cow. It is shared with others and we get just the cuts we want. I portion the meat to last the year eating about 1 beef meal a week. I've seen the cows that have come into our home. They are grass fed, well cared for and free of unnecessary antibiotics and hormones. The meat is much leaner than what you would find at the grocery store and much more flavorful.

I have had many comments to the effect of how could you go and see the poor animal you are going to eat?! I see this a different way. I try and honor my food enough to care that it is humanely treated. I know that the animals I eat have had good lives up to the point where they became my dinner. None were mistreated. None suffered. It isn't as hard as you would think when you consider the alternative. Imagine that the meat you purchase at the store was raised and lived a good portion of it's life sick and bloated from eating corn. A meal that it is not accustomed to eating. It lived wallowing in it's own feces, knee deep. These animals are surrounded by bugs and disease and must be fed antibiotics for yours and their own safety. They are fed hormones so that they will grow more quickly and sometimes the effect is that their own bodies cannot hold the weight. Their limbs break under the weight of their own bodies. That is not humane and I would prefer not to eat an animal that has suffered in this way. I do not want to support this kind of farming.

If you want to continue to eat meat but do not want to support inhumane treatment of animals, consider purchasing your food from a local farm that you can see the animals, ask questions on what treatments they received and ask what types of diets they ingested. Sunny Hill Farm in Whiteford, MD has beef available for sale now. See below for their advertisement:


Sunny Hill Farm has their own farm raised beef for sale. 1/2's & 1/4's available in Oct, Nov. & Dec. Order now for the best tasting grass-fed beef with no hormones, steroids or antibiotics. Enjoy a wide variety of steaks, roasts, & lean ground beef. The price is $2.99/lb., USDA Inspected, vacuum sealed & picked up at the farm.(You can make payments until delivery, Sunny Hill also takes MasterCard & Visa)

Sunny Hill also has farm raised fresh turkeys for sale for Thanksgiving. Place orders now! Sunny Hill Website.

A brief hiatus

Just a quick note. I am a little busy with my business right now Sappari Solutions and will not be posting regularly for a couple of weeks. I will be back in time to can salsa and make apples into apple sauce. Let me know if there is anything you would like to hear about and I will squirrel the ideas anyway until I am writing again.

Sausage Kale Rice Soup

I know I said I was not going to post. But if I don't write this soup down I will forget and it turned out really great. I was looking for a different way to use the kale that we had received so here it is:

Sausage Kale Rice Soup

1/2 c. of dry Lunberg Farms CountryWild Rice, cooked ahead (2:1 water ratio)
1 large onion (about one c.) chopped
1 green pepper chopped
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 lb bulk pork sausage
2 c. chicken stock
4 c. water
4 c. chopped fresh kale

1 - cook the rice 1 c. water per 1/2 c. dry rice. 45 min.
2 - in a large pot saute onion and pepper. Add Kale. Cook til softened, set aside in bowl
3 - in same pot, cook sausage, add garlic.
4 - return veggies to pot, add stock and water. Bring to a boil. Add rice. Cook til heated through.

Enjoy!

A brief hietus

Just a quick note. I am a little busy with my business right now Sappari Solutions and will not be posting regularly for a couple of weeks. I will be back in time to can salsa and make apples into apple sauce. Let me know if there is anything you would like to hear about and I will squirrel the ideas anyway until I am writing again.

Summer Pasta Salad

Here is a way to use many items in your CSA basket at once:

Nettie's Summer Pasta Salad

1. cook 1/2 lb of pasta - macaroni, shells or other small noodle. Drain
2. Meanwhile saute in this order:
1 large chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped red pepper
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 c. chopped squash - zuchini, summer or a combination
1 c. chopped eggplant
2 chopped tomatoes (about 2 c.)
1 can or 1.5 c. black beans, drained
the greens from one bunch of beets (about 1 c.), rinsed and chopped
.25 c. chopped fresh basil

Remove from heat, add .5 to 1 c. shredded cheese: cheddar, pepper jack or other flavorful cheese.

Toss veggies with pasta serve warm or cold.

Cucumbers

This week my fridge drawer was bursting with cucumbers. For whatever reason they seem to be multiplying in the fridge when the door is closed and the lights are down. So, this week has been a cucumber eating week. We have had Tziki Sauce with fried cucumbers and eggplants; cucumber slices and cucumber salad. Other favorites include cucumber slices in a big pitcher of water (it looks lovely for a party) and cucumber soup (nice and refreshing on a hot summer day). You can always try pickling them and storing in the fridge or canning the pickles. So many options but the best part is that cucumbers are ripe right when you need them, the dog days of summer. A cool neatly packaged gift.

If you are looking for recipes on the above items, just ask!