Of Cabbages and Corn Kings

Aren't we lucky? 

We get to enjoy the bounty of harvesttime in the Midwest.

These guys and pal know it. They are riding high and living the life of cabbage kings.

Seems like a pretty good retirement gig.

Future sauerkraut!

In a Peach Jam

This is what half of a a socially distanced line for peaches looks like. It wound around the parking lot in a giant U. People wore masks and were quite polite. It was weird.

This why these people were willing to wait in a long line in a big parking lot.

Beautiful Georgia peaches.

The peach truck was selling out and had to limit people to two boxes each. Just enough for our needs. We ate them fresh and made this beautiful peach ginger jam.

Canning in 2020 surely broke some kind of records as we all worked to stay busy and productive. By the end of the summer jar lids were nowhere to be found. We felt so lucky to have stocked up pre-pandemic. Still haven't seen lids back on the shelves. Guess when the peach truck comes this year we will have to sacrifice so others can have the limited canning supplies by settling for peach pie and crisp. Sigh. So hard.

Ramping Up the Pandemic Pantry

One thing we could do well, and safely, while isolating was get out in nature 

and forage our little hearts out.

In this case some generous young foragers shared their bounty of ramps aka wild leeks.

Pretty, aren't they?

We made a pesto-like concoction.

Spread it on flatbread from the freezer. Added a bit of cheese. 

And voila. Perfectly pizza from the wilds of Wisconsin and our well-stocked store of staples.

Urban Syrup

There is no acceptable substitute for real maple syrup.
However the price of real syrup is somewhat dear, 

so last March we put our giant West Hill Norway Maple to work. 

With the perfect combo of cold nights and root-warming sunny days, 

the three taps produced more than three gallons of sap a day.

The end result was thirty gallons of sap over a few short weeks,

that we were invited to add to the collection of a Master Gardener friend's hundreds of gallons,

from over a hundred trees she taps.

Boiling it down is a family affair.

We got in on a little time tending the operation in the woods on a day when family had other obligations.

When the numbers and the taste test converge to say it's time to pull off the syrup it goes through the woods, into the house.....

and comes out like this!

Fire up the griddle!

Trumpet Fan Fare

It doesn't look like much of an indulgence, 

but these Black Trumpet mushrooms 

dried and mixed with course salt give everything from scrambled eggs to your 

bloody Mary glass rim the flourish to take them from ordinary to extraordinary.

When this is gone we'll have to wait for quite awhile until we can make more.

 Trumpet salt definitely gives added incentive to next fall's foraging!

Fall Fungi Foray

Through the Cable Natural History Museum organized by Emily Stone 

and under the leadership of Tavis Lynch

of Tavis's Wild and Exotic Mushrooms of Cumberland, Wisconsin.

This is some of what we found. 

Chanterelle, Black Trumpet, Wolf Fart puffballs, Oyster, Shrimp of the Woods, 

and Bear's Head Tooth.

A participant who is already an experienced forager brought Lobster and 

Chicken of the Woods for us to try. Both were excellent.

We sorted and IDed them.

And then we cooked them up.

The Black Trumpet mushroom is easy to identify and has a very interesting, truffle-like taste.

The group found enough of these that we each got to take some home. After sautéing some for breakfast I made this. It was great.

Wild Foraged Black Trumpet Mushroom Spread

1 tablespoon ghee or butter

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic scapes or shallots

1⁄2 cup coarsely chopped black trumpet mushrooms(cleaned)

8 ounce cultured cream-cheese

1 pinch sea salt (real salt) to taste

1 pinch white pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a skillet over medium/low heat, sauté garlic scapes in ghee until soft.

Add in black trumpet mushrooms continue sautéing until mushrooms are cooked through and any liquid is evaporated.

Reduce heat to low, add cream cheese (cut or scooped into roughly 1 tablespoon sized chunks). Stirring constantly until the cream cheese is melted and mixed thoroughly.

Transfer to an air tight jar or container and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours prior to allow the flavors to come together.

Remove dip from at the refrigerator roughly 30 minutes prior to serving to allow it to warm to room temperature. Serve with crackers, toasted bread or raw vegetables.

Recipe Notes:

Use 1 ounce dried black trumpets that have been reconstituted in warm water in place of the fresh.

This recipe makes 16 servings

Tomato Days

So many tomatoes! 

If only we could spread the bounty of the Wisconsin garden out through the year to have real, homegrown tomatoes instead of the pallid impostors passed of as tomatoes at the grocery store in the winter months.

But we can't, so all-you-can-eat BLTs, puttanesca sauce, caprese salad, and salsa are on the menu everyday, several times a day, in tomato season.

And to add to the wonderful experience is the annual reminisce that comes with pulling out a recipe card written in the hand of the giver. 

In this case, Tammy. 

Here is her salsa recipe with adaptations for a smaller quantity. We don't have a many friends as she does. Her recipe would feed a very large group. Ours is just right for a family weekend.

Tammy’s Salsa

4 cups fresh tomatoes (can use part canned tomatoes)

Cilantro to your taste (1/4 bunch)

1/3 large or ½ medium onion

1-3 mild jalapeno peppers, seeded (or more, or some hot ones if you like heat)

1/8 cup (1 ounce) lime juice

1/8 cup (1 ounce) vinegar

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon each salt and sugar

Chop finely or pulse in food processor.

Serve with chips (and margaritas if you are lucky).

This is pretty spicy stuff for a pastor's wife. We are going to send her some recipes from our church lady cookbook for times when canned soup combos are called for. Although we would never want to quash her spirit, culinary or otherwise, salsa as a funeral potluck offering might make some tongues wag, and burn! Tater tot hot-dish might put out more than one kind of fire.

Best of luck in your new role, Tammy. We're on stand-by with Jello recipes if you need inspiration.

Berries with a Chance of Bears

The Up North young people discovered a beautiful blueberry patch. Easily accessible, and bordering a lovely woods with just the right amount of potential for bears to come out and join in the picking. A hint of danger makes one pick faster so a pail was filled in no time at all. Let the baking commence!

 

We heard once that the average number of recipes that people use from a cookbook is three. Seems low, but realistic given that there is only one recipe we consistently use from The Berry Cookbook. T'would be a shame to tear out just that page, so here it is in our digital recipe record for when that cookbook finally winds up in the thrift sale pile. We give you:

Bessie’s Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins

From The Berry Cookbook - Carol Katz

Makes one dozen

1 ½ c. sifted flour

¼ t. salt

1 T. baking powder

1 egg, well beaten

¾ c. loosely packed light brown sugar

½ c. milk

1 T. melted butter or margarine

1 ½ c. blueberries, well drained after washing and dredged in a little flour

Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease a muffin tin.Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine the egg, brown sugar, milk, and butter, then mix into the dry ingredients.  

Stir with a fork until the mixture is moist but still lumpy. Fold in the blueberries.

Fill the greased muffin tins two-thirds full and bake for 15 minutes, or until done.

Please note:

Very little fat is used. 

We have substituted orange juice for the milk with good results. 

If you do not have a blueberry patch nearby, grocery store berries work just fine too.

Enjoy!

Fenceline Fiddlehead Forage

Beautiful, tightly wound fiddleheads arising from their ostrich fern base.

Pick only one or two from each so the plants don't suffer. Make sure they are ostrich ferns!

Blanch in boiling water for a few minutes.

Saute in butter. Yum!

Gobble, Gobble

Turkey. Not just for Thanksgiving. 

This is a very nice soup.

Keep it in mind for the next soup weather day.

We recently made it on the last soup weather day.

Good anytime.

Turkey Meatball Soup

½ lb. ground turkey

3 T. grated Parmesan cheese

4 T. fine dried bread crumbs

1 large egg

1 T. fresh minced parsley or 1 t. dried

S and P to taste

1 qt. chicken broth

½ c. frozen or fresh peas

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 small zucchini, finely diced (optional)

½ c. precooked tiny pasta, such as orzo, shells, rings, or precooked rice

In a medium bowl, mix together the turkey, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, egg, parsley, and S and P. With moistened hands, form the mixture into balls about the size of marbles. Remove them to a large plate, cover with wax paper and refrigerate until ready to cook.

In a large pot, bring the broth to a simmer. Add the peas, carrots, and zucchini and cook for 5 minutes or until just tender. Slowly add the turkey meatballs, keeping the liquid at a slow simmer. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes or until the turkey balls float to the top. Add the cooked pasta, and heat through. Serve in soup bowls and pass additional Parmesan cheese if you wish.

From Susan Costner - Parenting magazine 1991

Blizzard Bread

Just two weeks ago we were housebound by a spring snowstorm. Today the sprouts are sprouting, the buds are budding, and the grass is greening. Finally!

The good news about the late, last blast of winter was that we finally made bread after vowing to all winter.

We wanted a not too healthy, but wholesome bread that would make good breakfast toast. This recipe for Country White Bread from Taste of Home was perfect.

Punching down risen dough is so satisfying.

Just out of the oven and brushed with butter for a soft crust.

According to our vintage copy of the Farm Journal Country Fair Cookbook the "break" on the sides that we thought was not good, is actually desirable. Does it look "well shredded".

We won't be entering the fair with this recipe, but it is a winner and keeper for the collection. Now that it is documented here it will be available by an easy google search of "Next Door Laura bread" whenever we need it. How cool is that? Quicker than finding a card in a recipe box!

This is a great resource for figuring out "what went wrong?" with our many baking failures (with out having to pester our home ec major friends with questions too often). There is a similar page for each type of baked good - muffins, pies, cookies, biscuits, cakes, etc. And there are blue ribbon winning recipes in every chapter too.

Copyright 1975. Many batter spatters inside.

Quinoa or Never

Well of course just as it is going out of fashion we decide to finally experience the miraculous grain known as quinoa.

We toasted it before cooking.

Made a yummy dressing that includes ginger and peanut butter.

Shredded colorful veg and herbs.

Gave it a toss.

And another with the dressing.

Topped with some peanuts and..... lunch is served.

Crunchy Thai Peanut & Quinoa Salad

      Author: Cookie and Kate

Yield: 4 servings

This Thai-flavored salad recipe is made with carrots, cabbage, snow peas, and quinoa, tossed in delicious peanut sauce. This healthy salad is vegan, gluten free, and packs well for lunch. 

Recipe yields 4 salads.

INGREDIENTS

Salad

• ¾ cup uncooked quinoa or millet
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup thinly sliced snow peas or sugar snap peas
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• ¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
• ¼ cup chopped roasted and salted peanuts, for garnish

Peanut sauce

• ¼ cup smooth peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I love ginger so I used 2 teaspoons)
• ½ lime, juiced (about 1 ½ tablespoons)
• Pinch of red pepper flakes

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook the quinoa: First, rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander under running water. In a medium-sized pot, combine the rinsed quinoa and 1 ½ cups water. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer the quinoa until it has absorbed all of the water. Remove the quinoa from heat, cover the pot and let it rest for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Set it aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce: Whisk together the peanut butter and tamari until smooth (if this is difficult, microwave the mixture for up to 30 seconds to loosen it up). Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. If the mixture seems too thick to toss into the salad, whisk in a bit of water to loosen it up (I didn’t need to do this).
3. In a large serving bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, shredded cabbage, carrot, snow peas, cilantro and green onion. Toss to combine, then pour in the peanut sauce. Toss again until everything it lightly coated in sauce. Taste, and if it doesn’t taste quite amazing yet, add a pinch of salt and toss again. Divide into individual bowls and garnish with peanuts.
4. This salad keeps well, covered and refrigerated, for about 4 days. If you don’t want your chopped peanuts to get soggy, store them separately from the rest and garnish just before serving.

NOTES Recipe minimally adapted from Frugal Vegan by Katie Koteen and Kate Kasbee. 

Party!

Look who's ready for some New Year's Eve fun!

Always the hit of the party. 

Penguins reminiscent of Wallace and Gromit's arch nemesis, Feathers McGraw,

bring smiles in the buffet line.

But nobody wants to take the last one off the platter. 

Who could eat a face like that?

From Betty Crocker's Best Christmas Cookbook.

Hunt and Gather

Awhile back we heard author Sam Thayer  speak on foraging. Up until then we had no idea that many, maybe even most, of the plants, nuts, and berries that we see every time we go out in our Northern woods and waters are edible. We bought one of Sam's books and have checked out his website, Forager's Harvest. Now we are starting to see nature as one big pantry. 

Look at these:

They are American Hazelnuts. 

After realizing that the odd shaped clusters hanging on the ubiquitous, previously not even noticed shrubs are not mutant plant deformations one can recognize them as food. This is the kind of opportunity that hunter gathers like NDL delight in.

  

The nuts require husking, which can be a rather pleasant, even addicting activity that draws others in. It is a perfect pastime for chatting on a sunny screen porch or at the kitchen table.

  

Once husked the nuts are cracked and the nutmeats extracted. Taking a hammer to a handful of nuts is a surprisingly satisfying part of the process. 

Toasting brings out the flavor. 

Pretty, eh?

And now we can make our own Nutella, top a dish of ice cream, roll a cheese ball in them, use them in baked goods, or pop a fistful into our mouths as a snack if we are willing to give up an hour's work for one delicious moment.

From our first batch we made these previously featured Hazelnut Krinkle cookies.

Never did we think we would be making them some day with our very own harvest of hazelnuts.

So gratifying! So good!