Summer's End Meets Auntumn's Beginning in Noel's Recipe

Another Tuesday that feels like the race is on to get apples sorted and ready to sell at NorthSide Farmers Market, which begins at 4. Lucky for me, Noel has been blogging longer than I have, and her Apron Free Cooking site is chock full of seasonal food ideas. I gotta tell you, though, I've never heard of pairing zucchini and pumpkin together for a vegetable bread. Noel's recipe sounds yummy, and is a good way to use up surplus "zukes" (as she calls zucchinis!).

Marcheta *learning something new every day

P.S. isn't the graphic of Noel shedding her apron just the best?

Noel writes:

This article originally published in the Galion Inquirer on  September 14, 2011.


Zucchini Pumpkin Bread

What are we going to do with the zucchini now? Sometimes too much of a good thing can be….well… too much.

 There comes a point where my daughter won’t eat anything without spending five minutes inspecting the meal in detail. She’s figured out that I’ve been dicing, chopping and shredding zucchini into very small bits and mixing it in all kinds of menu items.

I’m going to outsmart her yet!

In the past I’ve tried a recipe for zucchini bread that involves chocolate chips, one that includes bananas and one that bakes up like a cake. My daughter has a super zucchini detector and I’ve not been able to slide those breads past her. My son, on the other hand, spreads the butter and continues to play his video game.


This year though, I think I’ll be able to convince my daughter that zucchini doesn’t deserve the reputation she’s assigned it. I’ve found a recipe for zucchini bread that’s going to convince this vegetable deserves a spot on the “like” list. The secret to this recipe is finely shredded zucchini. Shhh, don’t tell her.



3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts


In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin, butter and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until breads test done. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack.


I made this bread for a family gathering and the loaves just disappeared. Nobody asked me how I got the bread to be so moist. Nobody asked if it was a healthy recipe. Nobody asked if there was zucchini in the bread. They just gobbled it up and asked if I had another loaf with me.


So, I’m going to shred up the rest of the zucchini bumper crop and freeze it. I figure if I measure the 1 cup amount required by this recipe into zip top sandwich bags and freeze it, I’ll have an easy time mixing up a loaf of bread whenever I want one.
I think I’ve just found the family Christmas gifts, zucchini pumpkin bread for one and all! Zucchini has a way of bringing people together!


Noel Lizotte is breaking free of corporate stress with convenience cooking! www.apronfreecooking.com

"Chopped Up" Apple Cider (curious? read on!)

 

Yesterday's lunch was another Total Local success story.

I know! 

It's a great feeling. I am proud to share the accomplishment with you in hopes that you will be inspired to design meals around what is local to your own area.

I had planned to make cider baked pork chops, but did not want to tie up the time involved for the baking. Because cider + pork is a marriage made in Heaven, I did not want to ditch the idea of a cider/ pork chop dish and  simply grill the chops. I put my brain cells to work and they came up with a new (for me) idea. 

I poached the pork chops in apple cider. The cider was fresh pressed from our own apples and the chops were from pigs raised by Russ and Mendy Sellman and purchased from their on-farm store, The Farmers Wife (see business page for information). 

When the chops were cooked and most of the cider reduced, I added a bit of oil to the pan and browned them up. Our meal included sauteed yellow squash, purchased at NorthSide Farmers Market, and fresh tomatoes from our garden. Dessert was pear pie, made by Mendy's dad, Dennis, served with milk from Hartzler's Dairy in Wooster and purchased at The Farmers Wife.

I gotta tell you, this "Sunday Dinner" meal was yummy, and it felt great to know that all the food except for the milk came from within a five mile radius of my house. The milk came from a dairy about an hour or so from here. 

Our garden was not the best this year. Thank goodness I live in an area that is full of dedicated market growers and that I have several opportunities a week to shop at farmers markets and/or stores like Russ and Mendy's. :)

Marcheta *living the good life

As American as Apple Pie

Now, these are some really big smiles, eh?

Longtime friend, Burky, came out this morning to purchase a bushel of apples for his sister who owns a Dairy-type of  restaurant in New Washington. 

Why the big smiles? When I took their picture, Jim informed Burky that he was about to be made famous on OJC. 

But I am smiling for another reason. Almost all restaurants these days serve 'factory' food. That is why I search out small, independently owned diners and small restaurants that have reputations for cooking and baking their own foods. To know that Burky's sister is among these people gives me a good feeling about our food system. As long as people support businesses that use locally produced foods, our natural food chain will stay intact. I feel that an area, and a nation, that produces its own food has the most important type of security there is. After all, we can't wage other battles if we are starving, can we? (OK, stepping off my soapbox now!)

Marcheta *smilin' 

Hidden Stars

I think that there may be as many stars right here on Earth as there are in our galaxy, The Milky Way. These stars are hidden from everyday, ordinary viewing, which makes discovering them so delightful.

The star in today's picture is the center of this apple's universe. Cut any apple through the middle and you'll find a star, too. 

Just think, true to its core, each tiny seed has the power to produce a full-sized apple tree, that eventually could produce four or more bushels of apples a year, with a star for each apple's heart! If that isn't something amazing, I don't know what is.

Ohio's countryside is dotted with apple orchards, from large commercial operations to smaller hobby ones, like ours. We have John Chapman's vision to thank for our bounty. Chapman, aka "Johnny Appleseed" spent a great deal of time establishing Ohio's first orchards. His legend is alive today in the heart of the fruits he loved best, making him a true Star of the Orchard. 

Marcheta *star-struck

Natural Beauty

 

Denise does the decorating at one of Galion's historic homes, The Bishop Brown Cottage. For fall, she decided to forage for natural plants and asked me to go along with her. 

Along an abandoned railway, we were on the hunt for bittersweet, which dries to a deep orange center with a bright orange outer layer that peels back as it dries. We did find a small amount, which would have been disappointing except that we found loads of rose hips.

Rose hips are the berries of wild roses. They are rich in vitamin c. Tea can be made from the berries, but I've never attempted to make it. Maybe I'll thy this method from e-how food. Rose hip tea can be bought at health food stores.

When gathering wild things such as rose hips to use for decorative purposes, it is extremely important to not take it all, because these are foods that birds eat during the winter months.

Bittersweet and rose hips are beautiful in fall arrangements. Use caution when gathering wild plants. Long pants will help guard against poison ivy and protect your legs from scratches. Gloves are important because even though different types of rose hips have different kinds of thorns, they are all prickly! But most of all, enjoy the weather and have fun!

When you are home, old canning jars, flower pots, baskets of all sorts, and grapevine wreaths are but a few items to use as base supports. What ideas can you think of for making natural fall decorations?

Marcheta *(rose) hip to be natural

Thar's Gold in Them Thar Fields!

Travel the beautiful Ohio countryside these days, and you'll see a froth of gold on soybean fields. As the soybeans ripen in their pods, the plants will turn a deep golden hue right down to their dark green roots. 

The fields are in different stages of golding up. Some have just begun while others are already turning brown. Most, though, look like the field in today's picture. With goldenrod and brown-eyed Susans chiming in, these are truly Golden Days. And if prices are good, the farmers will be rewarded with gold of another kind. 

I plan to enjoy these days as much as possible, because as the poet Robert Frost observed nearly 100 years ago, Nothing Gold Can Stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay. 

Marcheta *having Gilt feelings

Hot Cider, Anyone? (spices optional).

Wouldn't you just know it? The very day we choose to make the first apple cider pressing has to be one of the hottest days of the year :(

We got as many of the 75 gallons put in a spare refrigerator as we could squeeze in and I delivered orders right away, but we still have about half of the cider in the truck. It is parked in the shade and we keep spraying cold water over the jugs. It's a wet job, but at least it works.

 I have my own  apple cider labels designed, but am really pressed for time and decided to have the cider put in pre-labeled jugs. My labels are not as water resistant as Anthony's, so it is really a good thing that I opted to use his labels. Most people know that it is our cider, but I will put a mailing label on the jugs when I set up just to remind them. 

And the ironic part is that by Friday the high temp is forecast at 68, which is perfect apple cider weather.

Oh, well...that's how it goes in Ohio :)

Here is a recipe from Food.com that I like for Cider Baked Pork Chops. I purchased naturally raised pork chops at The Farmers Wife store this morning.


I also have local honey from Dave Duncan. I *was* going to make the dish tomorrow, but have decided to wait until Thursday when the weather will be (just a little bit) cooler.

 

Marcheta *rolling with the punches

It's Cider Time!

This truckload of full apple crates will be heading to the cider press tomorrow morning. We still have a few apples to sort, but basically this is it for this time. Some trees are slower to ripen, but since we don't have a cold storage facility to keep this batch from rotting, we'll go with a smaller pressing. 

Of course, apple cider is a healthy and refreshing beverage, but did you know that it is also excellent for cooking? Adding cider to a pork roast or oven baked pork chops not only adds flavor, but it also tenderizes the meat.

Jelly can also be made from apple cider..after all, the juice has already been prepared! 

What yummy cooking ideas can you think of that include fresh apple cider?

Marcheta *thinking, thinking.....

Good Egg/Better Egg

 

These pictures show two ways that we can buy eggs in our area. 

One is from the grocery store. I am sure that it is a good enough egg. The carton of one dozen cost about $1.80 and was graded as "large Grade A" Amish from Holmes County, Ohio (about 2 hours from my town).

The other egg was purchased at 'Lil Farmers Market in Bucyrus, Ohio. The carton of eggs cost $2.00 and was not graded, but the lid to the carton (made for extra large eggs) would not completely shut. The vendor is from Crawford County and lives about half an hour from my place.

One is brown. One is white. One has a deep golden yolk. One has a pale yellow yolk. One kept its yolk and white intact when I broke it open. One had a watery part to the white that spread out over the dish when I broke it.

The market vendor's eggs are only a few days old. I don't have any way of knowing how old the Holmes County eggs are, but since the facility is rather close to home compared to where other food comes from, I'd say I am safe in thinking that the eggs are fairly fresh.

I don't have access to scientific measuring tools to compare nutritional value, but I don't need to because I know which egg I'd rather eat just from the facts listed above.

**POP QUIZ**

Can you guess which egg came from the farmer's market and which on came from the grocery store?

Good for you! 

Marcheta *and good for me, too :)

Perfectly Imperfect

This row of pears are fresh off the limbs of one of our Bartlett pear trees. 

When I see grocery store fruit, which is picked green, treated with spray and wax and put in cold storage for up to a year before it becomes available to purchase, I see something wrong with our system of food supply. Sure, the fruit is considered to be "beautiful" because it looks so pretty, but beauty has its price; such fruit has lost nutrition as well as flavor. 

It doesn't have to be this way.

Go to any farmers market or on-site farm stand, and you will see perfectly "imperfect" produce that isn't chemically impaired. When food is left to ripen on the trees or vines, what do you get?

Full flavor.

Optimal nutrition.

Now if that is not perfection, I don't know what is!

Marcheta *imperfect and proud of it