We’re doing a new-to-us event at the farm today- Garlic Mustard Derby! Carol, the Sustainability Manager with the Town of Blacksburg last year hosted an event at Heritage Park aimed at ripping out this invasive weed. And I thought, what about adding a part of the day where we talk about eating it?
A little garlic mustard background. Did you know that garlic mustard is rapidly spreading through Heritage Park? This invasive plant can fast outcompeting native flowers, grasses, and shrubs that wildlife depend on for survival.
Garlic mustard is also edible, specifically when it’s young. It’s a leafy European herb with delicate young leaves that’s a member of the brassica family (includes broccoli, cabbage, turnips and mustard). The young leaves contain vitamins A, C, and beta-carotenes.
So what are the best ways to eat garlic mustard? I have been trying out some things in my kitchen this week, which I’ll showcase today at the farm.
Here are some tips from my experiences working with it this week:
Garlic mustard is aromatic and garlicky– perfect to use as a flavoring herb when proper garlic is not ready yet.
Garlic mustard is also BITTER. It’s flavor to me is reminiscent of strong arugula. Sometimes full-strength bitter greens is what you want in your dish. Other times you want a hint of the bitter and garlicky flavor with the heavy bitterness mellowed out somehow.
Pinching off and using the smallest leaves in recipes will be milder than using larger, older leaves with tough stems attached.
Blanching in salted water and then rinsing in cold water helped to mellow the bitterness.
Blending it with creamy, fatty ingredients like the ricotta, olive oil and mayonnaise help mellow the bitter.
Blending with sweet ingredients like the balsamic glaze or honey for a dressing also complements the bite
A little goes a long way. The basis for the best recipes call for mincing in the food processor and then adding to other ingredients. I recommend adding a little garlic mustard at a time and tasting as you go to not overwhelm your dish and “ruin” it.
Here’s some insight on the recipes I tried out this week. The Forage Chef blogger is a good resource for garlic mustard recipes.
The recipes that came out best for me were the following:
“I’m just amazed at [how little] some people in our area live off of,” a good friend said to me last night when we were having dinner together. He just finished another day volunteering with an NRV group that offers free tax filing assistance.
Food insecurity in the New River Valley can be sneaky and misleadingly subtle.
Do you know someone in the Blacksburg area who would like to be a member of our farm share but needs help with the payment?
Let them know that we have openings for free and reduced-cost farm shares and currently have Virginia Fresh Match funding for free produce for SNAP EBT beneficiaries.
👉🏽Reach out to learn more and get connected with our local food assistance programs.
Here at Glade Road Growing, we’re into food so let’s talk local food access.
Since we started our farm, we’ve had the joy of combining forces with other community groups to make our produce available to more people.
Here are some of the ways we grow fresh food for families in need in our community:
GLEAN Team Foodbank program through St. Mary’s Church
In our 7th season now, we work with private donors to purchase local vegetables and distribute at the Interfaith Food Pantry in Blacksburg
USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Also in collaboration with the Glean Team, the YMCA and VT Cooperative Extension, this grant purchases fresh vegetables to distribute at Interfaith Food Pantry and beyond (ending this June)
Virginia Fresh Match for SNAP EBT recipients
With LEAP in Roanoke, we’re able to double the value of SNAP EBT (food stamps) towards free produce at our farm stand and through our farm share
Farm Market Fresh
We work with the Montgomery County Department of Social Services to accept vouchers to use on fresh produce at the farm stand for low-income seniors and women, children, and infants (WIC)
Our in-house food donation program. We invite our customers to give directly towards offering reduced-cost farm shares to those seeking financial assistance. We helped 6 families last year with free and reduced-cost farm shares and look forward to expanding in the future. We haven’t turned anyone down yet for lack of funding.
Lots of federal funding decreases are happening this year with our food donation programs that are outside our control.
Except for our in-house food programs directly sponsored by local individuals, most of our programs are sponsored by USDA funding which is slated to diminish this year.
We can choose to feel grumpy and powerless in this situation.
OR…
We can look around at what we can do to support food security for our neighbors and local small farms at the same time.
Do you want to help out financially with this?
Here’s how:
👉🏾Contact us to donate to the Glean Team of St Mary’s Church- Help fund their work supporting local farmers to grow and provide vegetables to be distributed weekly at the Interfaith Food Pantry in Blacksburg.
Are you able to make a large donation to the Glean Team foodbank program (for $1000, $2000, $5000, or more)? Farms like us turn these donations into nutrition-packed produce, freely distributed at the Interfaith Food Pantry. We can help you get set up for a tax-deductible receipt through one of our partner non-profits.
👉🏾You can also Give towards a Farm Share– Our own in-house program where we use the funds to provide low-cost or no-cost farm shares to individuals upon request.
Contact me to learn how to turn your donation into local produce for families in our area.
We’re always building more ways to work collaboratively to make local food available.
Regardless of the situation we’re in, we each have the agency to do what we can.
One of the many benefits of being a small family farm is our ability to directly help those in need with little overhead costs. All the funding we receive goes directly to food production with minimal admin and overhead.
Dollars turn around into leafy kale for a single mom at the Interfaith Food Pantry.
Or a weekly farm share basket of sweet potatoes, fresh eggs, and lettuce for a low-income senior.
There are lots of ways we all feed our community and there are lots of ways you can help too.
If you could start your dream project, and you knew in your heart that you would not fail (not the reality of failing just the fear around it), how big would you dream?
What is your personal dream project? What does it look like? What are the parts that make it really appealing to you? That make you really want to do it?
Ok, story time.
(Clips from a Soil For Water Case Study on Glade Road Growing in 2023. Thanks so much to Eric Bendfeldt of Virginia Cooperative Extension and NCAT for creating the Soil For Water series. Full video available here.)
It’s 2008 and I’m 25. I’m in grad school in a basement cubicle on campus and it’s midday on a gorgeous August day. I’m getting antsy sitting at my desk and I decide to go for a bike ride during lunch.
My boyfriend was working on a farm called Greenstar off Glade Road. Further down Glade Road, I had seen a sign on the fence of another piece of farm property that was going to be auctioned off. And today just happened to be that auction day.
So I ride my bike out Glade Road because it’s pretty out there anyway and the auction is just getting underway. There aren’t many people there, maybe less than 20. There’s a map of the property laid out that says there’s a stream at the bottom, old-growth oaks and hickory on the hill, and even more pasture land in the back. It’s a really pretty piece of open land.
And I watch the auction begin. I see the two bidders it comes down to. There’s a final bid, the gavel goes down, the auction is done and an older man I’d never seen before is the winner. Another older guy standing next to me chuckles, elbows me, and jokes why I didn’t bid. I wish. The auction ends. I go back to school.
Fast forward a couple of years to spring 2010. My then-boyfriend-now husband is wrapping up his 2-year internship at Greenstar Farm and he was about to start a part-time job at VT’s college farm at Kentland. I’d finished grad school and despite having applied for over 50 jobs (and I kept count) I wasn’t getting any callbacks, interviews, nothing.
One Saturday my husband comes home from a volunteer day at the YMCA community garden and says, “You know who I met today? That guy who bought the farmland on Glade. He said he’d show it to us sometime.” So that is how we met Pat.
Nothing was really coming my way that I wanted to pursue job-wise and JP’s interest in farming was at least, well, interesting. So why not entertain the thought of pursuing a farm?
We did do a little looking around elsewhere at farm property that we could buy ourselves. But what we could afford was always really far out, typically in rocky or thin soil or wooded. It wasn’t looking likely that we would be able to buy our own piece anywhere within 30 miles of a town.
So we toured Pat’s land with him. And we liked the place. We put together a proposal and he was good with our proposal. We moved forward with starting our farm here. Basically, he would rent the land to us and pay for some capital improvements.
I love looking back at our proposal then from 2010. It lists everything. It’s as if you asked an 8-year-old to write a farm plan. Remember that big dream I told you to think about? Our imagination was unbridled. We proposed an orchard, u-pick berries, vegetables, value-added farm produce, cider mill, camps, tours, livestock, aquaculture, more.
We did dream big, which was awesome.
Here’s my journal entry from April 14, 2010.
“JP and I are in the start of starting a small farm operation in Blacksburg. A nice 48-acre pasture across the Brown Farm was sold at auction in 2008 to a man named Pat. Well now it is almost 2 years, a masters degree and 50 job applications later and JP and I are thinking that maybe staying in Blacksburg and starting a farm at our age is not such a shabby idea…We have so many things to learn…a lot! But we are taking notes and keeping a journal and making a lot of contacts. It is exhausting and intimidating at times, especially since it is someone else’s land…But I am confident we will come out on top in the end, even if we have to learn some hard lessons in the meantime.
…We have gotten a lot of support from a broad audience…at least they are all positive to our faces, though we are also looking for critiques, too. I think we are finding a lot of those on our own.”
We started that first year coming up with ideas, visiting other farms, talking to other folks about our ideas, and starting some small gardens, initially on the small, flattest area just in front of the barn. We started selling at the Blacksburg Farmers Market. At our first market, we had a table in the back with just fresh onions, yellow squash, and zucchini. We were hoping to bring in $100. We brought in $227. It was like that each week, making a little bit more than we expected, which encouraged us, and putting nearly it all back into the farm.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. I say it takes a village to start a farm. Lots of our friends showed up to help. Some had a lot of mechanical knowledge and helped us build small tools. Some kept their ears open for cheap equipment. Several helped volunteer with the actual garden work, planting, harvesting, weeding, weeding, weeding.
We got to know the family that lives just down from here who also offered to rent their 3-acre parcel to us. So now we’re renting two pieces of land from two separate families. And they’re both great.
We grow bit by bit. We go to farming conferences. We visit other farms. We watch YouTube videos. We build greenhouses and they get crushed in the wind. We raise heritage turkeys and half fly away and the other half get eaten by a fox. We make sure we have a stunning display at the farmers market and show respect to every potential customer. We make mistakes. We fix them.
I’m so grateful I never got that real job after grad school. For me, a bad day here was better than a good day in a cube. Did I really want to be doing database management for the EPA? Would I be spending all my hard-earned real-job salary on therapy, mourning my lack of time outdoors? Trying hard to save money to retire early to start a farm?
The seasonality of farming sets you up on a cycle of perpetual opportunities for optimism. “So this one thing didn’t go well this year, but I think I know why and it will be better next year if I just try again.” Farming is like that. Gratefully, it has been for us.
I found the secret end-all of all skincare products. It’s all the things: healing, moisturizing, soothing and non-toxic. Economical, minimally-processed, organically available and locally-produced.
And it was right under my snout all these years.
Lard balm in action. Photo by Silver Pebble Photography.
I discoveredlard for skincare. No scowling. I invite you to take my lard-softened hand and allow me guide you there…
Lard is the main ingredient in our bar soaps, body balms and lip balms, made in small batches for us by Elisabeth of Antonina’s Garden (website coming soon). Lard? On your skin? Yes. Here are just a few reasons to clean and moisturize with it.
Lard mimics our natural skin oils. It has similar pH, lipid balance, cellular make-up and natural collagens to our skin. It’s in first place when is comes to a skincare ingredient that is closest to our own skin. Our porcine compatibility is the reason why pigs are sought out medically for skin grafts, organ transplants and enzyme replacement therapies. Thank you, honorable pig.
Lard makes our soaps and balms especially nourishing, more so than plant-based soaps. Lard is a gentle and natural way to cleanse your skin and moisturize without clogging your pores, even for acne-prone skin.
Nearly all off-the-shelf soaps and moisturizers are made withtoxic junk like factory-processed detergents, plantation-imported palm oil and contain microplastics and worse. Eww! Don’t put that on you!
Now, not all lard is created equal. Do not rub Kroger lard on your face. Reread that last line.
Happy lard comes from happy pigs. Vitamin D-rich lard comes from pastured pigs that have been exposed to sunlight. When you use lard on your skin, you’re soaking up all of that Vitamin D. Lard is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin E and Vitamin A. It’s packed full of vitamins to give you healthy, glowing skin. Moreso even than tallow.
Lard for our soaps and balms comes from, get this, our own happy Berkshire pigs. Downright gleeful pigs, out in the sun, snooting around the pastures and fed organic. How great is it that we can use the whole animal and reduce waste?
From farm to home workshop to here, our soaps and balms are made not only with your health in mind, but with consideration for the world around you.
Our lovely lard soaps. Photo by Silver Pebble Photography
Fall is such a landmark time on a farm. Besides a lot of hearty, cool season crops coming in like cabbage and sweet potatoes, a new round of fresh meats is ready as well. Today we wrapped up our fall round of Pekin ducks. They came out so lovely! We get a little better each time. I love raising ducks because I feel like they have more expressive personalities than chickens (louder, wetter, cuter…). I’ve also practiced a lot this fall cooking duck. Here’s what I’m learning.
One of the reasons I appreciate duck is how much you get from one. Two duck breasts, parted off and simply seared just right, make an elegant and unique dinner. Whenever I nail a duck breast dinner, I chuckle at how easily I’m able to have a top-class restaurant-style meal in my own home.
The duck legs and wings I put right in a roasting pan, as is, with no other additions (not that I have anything against other ingredients, I’m just reeeealy busy). I slow cook them, covered, for several hours at 250 deg F. During this time the fat renders out of the parts into the baking dish. After cooking like this for 3-4 hours, I remove from the oven and pour the fat off (through a strainer) into mason jars to use for cooking later. Once the meaty parts have cooled, I get in there and pull the meat off. Oh, my, how succulent duck confit is. It’s like juicy, rich pulled pork, without being pulled pork (maybe for meals where you have non-pork eaters?). Try my duck carnitas recipe below to become a believer.
Besides the obvious meat, you also get several ounces of duck fat for cooking other meals and with the bones you can make a hearty duck stock. So many gifts, from one humble creature! Thank you, duck.
Recipe for Easy Duck Herbed Carnitas (with blueberry sauce and goat cheese)
Ingredients
2 duck leg quarters and 2 wings (either parted from a whole duck or from our duck confit kit)
Preheat oven to 250 deg F. Place the duck parts and herbs in an oven-proof crock and put lid on. Bake for 3 -4 hrs, until the meat easily pulls from the bones.
Remove crock from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Carefully strain the meat into a colander, over a pot to collect the strained fat below (pour off the fat into mason jar to use later).
Once the meat has cooled enough to handle, pull it from the bones (you can discard the bones or use to make duck stock). Salt and pepper the duck meat to taste. Spread out into a single layer on a baking sheet. Move the baking sheet to the top rack of the oven and bake at 400 deg until the tips start to become crisp, about 10 minutes.
Top warmed flat breads with pulled duck meat, minced shallots, blueberry sauce and a coin of goat cheese. Serve warm immediately.
Recipe for Duck Egg Cake with Duck fat and Rosemary by Hank Shaw
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan with butter.
Crack the duck eggs into a large bowl, add the sugar, and beat with a whisk until well combined and slightly frothy. Drizzle in the oil and duck fat while stirring the mixture. Once the fat is well incorporated into the mixture, sprinkle the rosemary on top.
In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using the whisk, stir the flour into the egg-fat mixture until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes. Stick a toothpick into the center of the cake, and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. If not, bake for another 10 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto the rack. Slice and eat warm or at room temperature.
Recipe for Simple Seared Duck Breast (with ginger garlic soy sauce glaze)
Ingredients 2 boneless duck breasts salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Score the skin on the breast in a cross hatch pattern; cut into the fat but take care to not cut into the meat below
Season meat and skin-side with salt and pepper
Put the breast skin-side down in a cold (as in, not preheated) heavy-bottomed skillet. Turn skillet on to medium heat.
Render the meat-side for about 10-12 minutes, until the skin is crispy and some of the fat has cooked out
Carefully, pour off some of the rendered duck fat into a heat-proof glass jar, like a mason jar.
Put the duck breast back in the pan, meat-side down, and cook about 5-7 minutes more on medium heat, until a meat thermometer reads ~152 deg at the center. Take care to not overcook it. Duck breast is best medium-rare, with some pink in the center
Remove the breast from the skillet, tent with foil and allow to rest at least 10 minutes
Slice and serve with just a plain soy sauce drizzle or the glaze recipe below, over rice and your favorite lightly steamed veggies.
Juicy and sassy, baby ginger is not as spicy hot as its dried out counterpart. And you can use it easily in all the ways you love.
Grate or thinly slice directly from the root and use like this:
– Minced with garlic into your favorite stir-fry veggies for a burst of flavor – Steeped in hot water for an instant tummy soother – Grated into homemade vinaigrette salad dressing (which is simply olive oil, your favorite vinegar and salt) – Blended into smoothies or homemade mango lassis – Added to your favorite pumpkin soup recipe for a cozy flavor change-up (see recipe below)
Yes, this tropical super food CAN grow right here in southwest Virginia. In fact, baby ginger is only available locally because its shelf life fresh makes it nearly impossible to ship without drying down industrially. You’ve never seen it in Kroger, right?
Ginger is already famous for promoting immunity, reducing nausea and easing inflammation. But did you know that baby ginger is higher in its signature beneficial compounds than dried ginger?
Research at VSU has shown that baby ginger has about two to three times the antioxidant activity of dried ginger and over two times the polyphenols (read: good-smelling beneficial compounds).
All the dried ginger you see in grocery stores comes from oh so far away. And was harvested months ago. And was likely sprayed with chemicals for shipping. Don’t feed yourself that!
Our fresh baby ginger is Certified Naturally Grown, with the same strict standards as USDA certified organic.
We only have it fresh here at the beginning of fall so come see us at the farm stand this week and pick some up. Remember, fresh ginger freezes well so get the 2 lb bulk deal and freeze so that you can cook with it all winter long.
Here’s what I do to freeze baby ginger and use through the winter: I trim the stems then I freeze the rhizomes whole in a ziplock bag. When I want to use it, I pull out a frozen knob, grate/microplane off from the frozen what I want to use, and put the rest back in the bag, into the freezer.
Enjoy a warm mug of apple cider with baby ginger tonight. Cheers!
Recipe for Baby Ginger & Butternut Squash Soup
Prevent your butternut soup from getting boring by adding a healthy dose of grated baby ginger. For a variation, blend in a can of unsweetened coconut milk at the end to make the soup more filling and increase its tropical aroma.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 (3-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
½ tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon grated fresh baby ginger
3 to 4 cups vegetable broth
Freshly ground black pepper
For serving
Chopped parsley
Toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
Crusty bread
Instructions
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, salt, and several grinds of fresh pepper and sauté until soft, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the squash and cook until it begins to soften, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the garlic, sage, rosemary, and ginger. Stir and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute, until fragrant, then add 3 cups of the broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the squash is tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
Let cool slightly and pour the soup into a blender, working in batches if necessary, and blend until smooth. If your soup is too thick, add up to 1 cup more broth (or a can of coconut milk) and blend. Season to taste and serve with parsley, pepitas, and crusty bread.
Recipe for Sesame Ginger Dressing (which can also be a marinade or stir-fry sauce)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or sub coconut aminos)
2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon freshly minced ginger
Optional if you want a creamy dressing: add 1 tablespoon tahini or cashew butter
Instructions
Make the dressing by whisking together the following in a medium bowl or shaking in a mason jar: sesame oil, olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, garlic and fresh ginger. If you want a creamier dressing, add in a tablespoon of tahini or cashew butter.
Recipe for Japanese Pickled Ginger (gari)
Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients
4 ounces fresh ginger (washed thoroughly but no need to peel if young and thin-skinned), sliced paper-thin with a mandoline or vegetable peeler
2 cups water
Several thin slices of raw beet (optional, for added color)
3/4 teaspoon salt, plus an extra sprinkle
1/2 cup rice vinegar (cider, white wine vinegar may be used)
2 tablespoons sugar (or more to taste)
Instructions
Sprinkle the ginger (and the raw beet slices, if using) lightly with salt and put in a lidded jar, preferably first sterilized with boiling water. Add the vinegar to a stainless steel saucepan, and bring it to a boil, stirring in the sugar and salt until dissolved. Use a funnel to pour the hot liquid over the ginger, mixing well (it should completely cover the slices).
Tightly cover the jar, allow it to cool to room temperature and refrigerate. The pickled ginger, which is ready to eat after several hours, keeps well in the refrigerator for up to six months.
Hot and sultry one minute and storming the next. That’s what Blacksburg is like right now. We’re in a good mood here regardless because pepper season is upon us. There’re lots of types of peppers, all great in their own way.
I’ll break down for you my favorite ways to use what we offer.
Sweet Italian frying peppers (aka Carmens)- By far, our sweetest pepper. Elongated “bull’s horn” shape. These peppers freeze, roast and fry superbly. They are my go-to sweet pepper, raw or cooked. *Bulk deal available.
Bell peppers– Sweet and crunchy with a thicker wall than sweet Italian frying peppers. Great for roasted stuffed peppers. *Bulk deal available.
Lunchbox– oh, man. The perfect snackable size, small core, few seeds and oh, so sweet! Great for raw snacking or grilling whole. Kids love them.
Banana– Crisp, prolific and great for pickling. *Bulk deal available.
Mad Hatter– New this year, a sweet pepper with a fun, funky shape. You may detect very slight heat near the ribs and seeds but really a harmless pepper.
Shishito– Small & green with a thin wall. Legend says 1 in 20 are hot. Blister in a hot skillet for a star bbq appetizer.
Cherry– Red, round, sweet & crisp. Slight heat, but by no means a killer. Serve stuffed with cream cheese and roasted to win over your object of desire.
Poblano– Dark green and flat bell shape with medium heat. Classic stuffed with cheese for chile rellenos.
Jalapeño– Thick wall, green and hot. Excellent in salsa and stuffed with cheese for jalapeno poppers.
Cayenne– Hot, red & skinny with thin wall. Easy to chop without getting hot pepper juice all over your hands. Longer shelf life than other hot peppers since it’s not as juicy.
Habañero– Our hottest pepper. Small, crumply shape with waxy orange coating. Shines with carrots for a stellar sweet & hot sauce.
Peppers are the pinnacle summer vegetable. But they won’t last all year.
Sweet Italian frying peppers and bell peppers are some of the easiest veggies to freeze because they don’t require any blanching as most raw veggies do.
Just slice, bag and freeze.
Recipe for Peperonata (sauteed bell peppers with tomato, onion and garlic) by Vicki Wasik
This makes a nice side veggie hot, or chilled, it’s a great spread on bread or can be tossed with cooked pasta or quinoa. If you want to make it a whole meal, along with the pasta, stir in 2 cups of cooked chickpeas or white beans or lentils and serve over salad mix.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, divided 3 medium cloves garlic, smashed, peeled, root end removed and thinly sliced 1 medium yellow onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick 3 large bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced lengthwise 1/2 inch thick Tomatoes, chopped, to make 2 cups 1 sprig basil, sliced into ribbons, with stem discarded (or save for veggie broth) or 1/2 teaspoon dried Sea salt 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
In a heavy skill, heat 4 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until just starting to turn golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in onions, increase heat to medium-high, and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 20 minutes.
Transfer to a large pot and add tomatoes and basil and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer, then lower heat to maintain simmer. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until peppers are very soft, about 1 hour. Stir in remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir in vinegar and the sugar or honey, if necessary. Serve right away, or chill, then serve reheated, slightly chilled, or at room temperature.
I’m a salad lover. I’m one of those people that feels a meal is not complete without a mound of leafy greens. Besides rounding out the color on your plate, salads also add a vibrant dose of nutrients and minerals and help you feel more full which may dissuade you from overeating heavier foods you’d regret later.
So here’re ways I incorporate leafy and other greens into meals that even picky eaters enjoy.
Basic leafy greens salad– A standard item at our farm stand, year round, is lettuce mix. It is a variety of red and green tender baby lettuce leaves cut at a young age. We also have a variation we call salad mix which is lettuce mix with added baby brassica greens like baby red and green mustard for added flavor and color. The greens are typically washed, dried and ready to serve right out of the bag (though you can give them your own rinse if you like).
Lettuce mix is so easy to use because there is no prep needed other than dressing. So many weeknight dinners or quick picnic lunches have a simply dumped the bag right into a bowl, dressed and was out the door. This may sound odd, but lettuce mix is the softest green we grow and so most people find it easy to chew and hence eat.
Dressing ideas– here’s where you can express your self. My personal go-to dressing is balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a crushed garlic clove, a pinch each of salt and pepper and some dried thyme. This dressing is easy to make from items in my cabinet and satisfies all the needs for bright-tangy-filling-salty that I tend to seek out in a dressing.
In fact, many great dressings can be made from condiments sitting around your fridge or cabinet. Here’re what I reach for most, in whatever combination strikes me that day:
Balsamic vinegar
Reduced balsamic glaze
Apple cider vinegar
Rice wine vinegar
Olive oil
Sesame oil
Tahini
Mustard (any prepared mustard)
Honey
Soy sauce/tamari/ liquid aminos
Fruit jam
Fresh chopped herbs (basil, thyme, fennel are favorites)
Garlic
I’m a label reader (or at least a glancer). I avoid dressings with high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil, canola oil, MSG and ingredients I generally can’t pronounce.
Want to make your salad sweeter (dare I say, more kid friendly?)
Add some fruit slices on top of the greens like apples, peaches, grapes or dried cranberries
Sneak in a spoonful of prepared fruit jam to vinaigrette salad dressing
Use a balsamic glaze instead of balsamic vinegar for an added sweetness boost
Want to make your salad more filling? Protein is Queen. Here are some addition possibilities:
Nuts (try unsalted and salt the full salad to your liking before serving)
Cottage cheese
Cheese chunks of choice (mozzarella, feta, colby jack, etc)
Rinsed canned beans
Cooked lentils
Sliced serving of cooked fish, chicken, steak or pork chop
Though a basic lettuce mix salad with vinaigrette is what I use the most, here are some other simply leafy combos you can try:
Breakfast salad–Arugula and apples slices dressed with jam vinaigrette or maple syrup. I love this because it makes me feel better about the big stack of maple-syrup cover pancakes or powdered sugar donuts I’m having so early in the day.
Massaged kale salad– Raw kale hand-worked with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, toasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, cooked quinoa.
Bok choy salad– Chopped bok choy and sliced salad turnips, dressed with tahini, rive wine vinegar and liquid aminos. Serve over sushi rice and top with chopped peanuts
Caprese salad– Sliced mountain magic tomatoes, leaf basil, mozzarella slices or pearls, balsamic glaze drizzle. Add sliced cucumbers for extra color and crunch.
Roasted veggie salad– Pre-roasted beets, delicta squash or eggplant, feta, fresh herb vinaigrette, lettuce mix, arugula or spinach. Add combos of hot cooked veggies with fresh raw greens for a filling presentation-grade dish.
Here’s a home process I use each year to put up lots of jars of tomato sauce to use through the winter. I’ll say up front that I do not waterbath for this method. There are rules I follow in order to can in this way, with the end result being a very acidic (pH less than 4.3), uniform tomato-only sauce into sanitized jars. Acidity and sealed jars are the protective super powers of this sauce against spoilage and botulism.
My Personal Rules
-Ingredients are just tomatoes. Ripe, but not overripe. Rinsed and quartered. Blemishes and cores cut out. This means no garlic, onions, herbs, spices, sugar or other vegetables. Adding ingredients other than tomatoes can make it less acidic, thus reducing its high-acidity super powers. The only other potential ingredients I may add, after the tomatoes have cooked down, are vinegar (helps lower the pH) or salt (does not affect pH but improves flavor).
–This is a blended, uniform, reduced-tomato sauce, not just jarred whole tomatoes. I reduce the raw tomatoes by cooking out excess water to about 35-40% of their raw weight. I reduce the tomatoes by cooking them down in one of these ways:
Cooking down in a stock pot (I use one with a heavy bottom to prevent burning and without a lid) on the stove over medium-low heat, stirring every 30 minutes (takes about 4-6 hrs)
Roasting in the oven in open trays, rotating the pans and stirring halfway through (fastest method; takes about 2-2.5 hrs at 450 deg F)
In a slow cooker (like a Crock pot), on high setting, with the lid cracked to allow evaporation overnight (most hands-off method and can be plugged into a garage or protected porch so my kitchen doesn’t heat up so much; takes about 8 hrs)
For both the roasting method and the slow cooker method, after they have cooked down, I transfer to the stock pot in order to blend the cooked tomatoes into sauce with the immersion blender.
I blend the cooked down tomatoes in a stainless-steel stock pot with an electric immersion blender. Seeds and skins (chopped fine by the blending process) don’t bother me so I leave them in (though others may food-mill them out before blending). Having a blended sauce helps assures a consistent pH throughout the jar.
The pH of the sauce at this point is pretty low (acidic). The batches I’ve tested ranged in pH from 3.9-4.2. I have a pH meter kit at home which comes with 4.0 and 7.0 calibrating liquids. pH meters are readily available online. Food safety experts consider foods with pH below 4.6 safe against botulism.
-I ladle hot, bubbling tomato sauce into hot, sanitized glass mason jars, with sanitized lids and rims. I use my dishwasher in “Sanitize” mode to initially clean the jars. Then, about 20 minutes before I’m ready to jar, I put them in the oven at 200 deg. I boil water to pour over the lids and rims that I’ll use. I’ve found that name-brand lids and rims are better quality than knock-off brands from online. The blended sauce is simmering and bubbling hot as I ladle it into the hot, prepared jars, one at a time. I’s all so hot! Long sleeves and gloves help protect me from hot splatter.
I use a ladle and mason jar funnel to fill jars with just a sliver of head space. I wipe the glass lip with a clean paper towel, and cap with a clean lid and rim. I hand-tighten then flip the jars upside down to cool. Once they are cooled, after several hours, I check that the lid is sucked in and the jars sealed. I’ve found the jars to be shelf-stable at this point, as long as the seal stays air-tight.
And what do I do with the sauce then?
This tomato sauce is just concentrated, unsalted tomatoes. Here are my favorite ways to use it, especially in the winter, when I’m craving summer flavors and nutrients. I dress up the tomato sauce at meal prep time in these ways once I pop open a jar:
Marinara for pasta or pizza- add salt, caramelized onions, garlic, basil, oregano, fennel seed, splash of red wine or anchovy paste for extra flavor.
Chili base– add salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, paprika, beans and browned ground pork.
Tomato soup with buttery toast- mix equal parts tomato sauce, whole milk and chicken stock/vegetable broth. Add salt, butter and herbs to flavor.
Salsa for homemade nachos- add salt, minced onion, garlic, lime juice, cumin and olive oil.
Breakdown
When I did the math on a batch this week:
~ 22.4 lbs of our farm’s whole heirloom tomato seconds
Trimmed down to:
~17.6 lbs of raw, quartered tomatoes
Which after roasting in the oven (spread out in 3 roasting dishes) for 2 hrs at 450 deg F, reduced down to:
~6.8 lbs sauce (so reduced to 39% of raw chop, by weight)
The reduced tomato sauce pH measured at 4.0 with my home pH meter. I packed the hot sauce into exactly 3 one-quart jars (which equals 6 pints).
The kids are out for summer. Your university buddies are in vacation mode. Sounds like time to grill some chicken!
Our first fresh chicken of the season turned out beautifully.
And you know they’re super good for you because they’ve been grazing on cover crops and snacking on all-organic whole grain feed since we put them outside here. Grocery store chicken doesn’t even come close.
Spatchcock chicken– a new farmer favorite! Also called a butterfly cut, grills flat and cooks fast.
Whole chicken– Whole chicken is the best value poultry we sell. Roast whole with a simple herb rub for no-work week-night dinner.
Leg Quarters– Most flavorful cut with thigh and drum attached. Great smothered in your favorite bbq sauce.
Boneless breast– Cooks fast and versatile for skillet fajitas, baked in bread crumbs or for seasoned chicken sandwiches.
Wings– No one eats wings alone (but you can if you want to). Share them with your best buds and your favorite summer beverage.
Backs, necks and feet– Make bone broth! Need I say more? When you’re not into assembling dinner, heat up a mug of broth with some scallions and grated ginger and be on your merry way. Your gut will thank you.
Hearts– Protein-packed into bite-size servings. Marinate, skewer and grill the Brazilian way.
Liver– This woman-farmer’s favorite. Summer brunch with homemade chicken liver pate is a girls’ best friend. Iron and vitamin A abound. Add plenty of maple syrup and fresh herbs if pate is not your thing…yet. I didn’t grow up eating liver but I do now.
We’ll have more fresh chicken days this summer than ever.
1 fennel bulb, sliced lengthwise into 1/2″ cross-sections
Instructions
Preheat. Set your grill to two-zone heating to 350 degrees F.
Dress. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Lay chicken flat on baking sheet. Drizzle dressing on all sides of chicken. On a separate plate, drizzle remaining oil on fennel sections and set aside.
Smoke. Place chicken on indirect heat on the grill and cook for approximately 30-40 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 145 degrees F.
Direct heat. Transfer chicken to direct heat side of the grill. Leave on direct heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 160 degrees F. At this time also arrange fennel sections around chicken on grill.
Rest and serve. Remove fennel and chicken from heat to cutting board or serving platter and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. Slice, serve, and enjoy.
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Lots of federal funding decreases are happening this year with our food donation programs that are outside our control.
