Category Archives: Recipies

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Stuffed Rabbit (Updated)

We harvested rabbit this week, setting aside a couple for ourselves.  Rabbit + bacon is always a good thing but when we saw this video we knew we had to try it.  Now, he uses pancetta but we’re working with what we’ve got.  I can’t just go butcher a pig so I can make some pancetta can I?  Well…

He shows how to debone it here:

So we put those videos to work and lunch is in the oven.  I’ll let you know how it tastes…if I can make myself waddle over to the keyboard.

StuffedRabbit

Oh, and we have rabbits for sale while they last.

UPDATE: (Later in the day…)

On the seventh day we rested, ate rabbit and it was good.

We initially cooked it on a cookie sheet then, later, broiled it on a broiling pan.  That’s the way to go if you want to avoid soggy bacon.

RoastedRabbit

The oldest boy went back for thirds.

DinnerIsServed

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Cheesy Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup is one of our family’s favorites.  With our plethora of potatoes right now we have this soup at least once a week.

Start with homemade chicken broth made from Chism Heritage Farm Chicken backs and necks.

While the broth is finishing up fry a pound of ground pork.

Next add about a 1/4 cup of sausage seasoning.  (You could just use a pound of breakfast sausage.)

Filter about 8 cups of the chicken broth.

Use the broth to cook 8 large diced potatoes.

While the potatoes are cooking, saute 1 onion and 1 pressed garlic clove.

When the potatoes are tender (usually takes about 20 minutes), mash the potatoes.

Add your spices.  This time I used about a handful of herbs I pulled from our garden.  I chopped up the basil, oregano, and thyme and added it to the soup.

Next, add about 2 cups shredded mozzarella.

and 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese.

Pour in about 2 1/2 cups of milk.

Stir soup consistently till cheese is melted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This makes a large batch of soup.  It fed my family of 6 last night, today for lunch and there is enough to send in Farm Steward’s lunch tomorrow.

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Putting up Peaches

Peach preserves, peach pie filling, peach halves, sliced peaches…

I made arrangements to buy 3 bushels of peaches from Calhoun county.  That’s a lot of peaches.  We’ll be busy for a couple of days so please forgive me if I don’t keep things updated here.  This is me practicing what I preach.  I’m stocking up.  I’m buying locally.  I’m buying in bulk from a small farmer (my co-worker’s father-in-law).  They are not organic.  I’m sure they have been sprayed but this will do until we get our own orchard planted.

Each box (pictured below) is half a bushel.  Half a bushel makes about 9 quarts of canned peaches.  Sterilize and fill each jar, pour in hot syrup and place in a hot water bath for 30 minutes.  Not much to it, just a lot of work.

It’s scald, peel, slice and pit over and over and over.  But, boy! they taste good.

Mom says when she was a girl my grandpa would drive to Calhoun to load up the back of the truck with peaches.  Then extended family would be in the kitchen (my kitchen) working together to put them up.  It’s hot, sticky work.  Here’s to hoping help is willing…and we don’t run out of jars…

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I Can’t Afford to Eat Well…and Other Lame Excuses

Eating healthy food doesn’t cost more money.  It costs more time but gives you more time…time to live…past your 60′s.  As food prices have fallen, health care costs have risen.  Correlation does not equal causation but I think the two are linked. Here is my lovely bride with more to say on this topic.

“It’s just too expensive to eat healthy.”

My reply was that in the long term eating cheap is very expensive – it costs you your health and medical care is only getting more expensive.

As I thought about that conversion I wish I had taken it a different direction.  I don’t believe it does cost more to eat healthy food, even in the short term.  What are some of the items in your shopping cart this week?  A bag of chips usually will cost $3/lb, Cheerios – $4/lb, Oreo’s - $5/lb, candy bars  - $8/lb.  Compare that to a Chism Heritage Pasture Raised Chicken – $3/lb or raw milk from grass feed dairy cows – .75c/lb.  How much money do you spend on food that isn’t nurishing you? Cheap and easy food is not real and sustainable food.  Just because you can chew it, swallow it, digest it and maybe even like it does not make it real food.

In America we spend less on food than any country in the world.  This cheap food is not only causing people to be malnursihed but it also effects our soil.  Joel Salatin in Folks, This Ain’t Normal says, “Don’t people understand that a cheap food policy will create a cheap farmer policy?  And a cheap farmer policy will create a cheap landscape policy?  And a cheap landscape policy with create a cheap soil policy?  No civilization can be any healthier environmentally or economically that it’s soil.  No health care system and no bank bailout program can compensate for a bankrupt soil policy, which is exactly what a cheap food policy creates.”

Our family is still developing good eating habits.  We certainly have some issues we need to work on but we have come a long way.  Eight years ago a typical day’s menu for my children looked something like this:
Breakfast:  cold cereal (absolutely nutritionless and full of sugar) with pasturized 2% milk (from who knows what farm)
Lunch:   peanut butter and jelly on cheap bread
Dinner:  hamburger helper with canned refridgerated rolls and a can of green beans

Today there is no boxed cold cereal in my house.  Breakfast is usually eggs and bacon, fruit salad with cottage cheese or oatmeal.  My kids still love peanut butter and jelly but I make the bread and jelly.  Dinner is usually a meat with vegetables but no bread.  We do buy different food but eating healthy is not just about going to the store and buying different groceries or just shopping the perimeter.  Healthy eating starts with a different approach to food.  You don’t just buy pre-packaged food that is labeled “healthy”, you buy quality ingredients and cook them.  There is no way around it, if you want to eat healthy you have to cook.  If you don’t have the time or desire then you have to pay someone the cook for you.  That sounds very expensive to me.  The great thing about this approach is that it can lower your food budget while giving you more time with your family in the kitchen.  Go to the library and read Nourishing Traditions The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats and Folks, This Ain’t Normal.  Both books will give you a desire and a direction toward real food.  Then get into your kitchen and help your farmer make the world better with just your plate and fork.  Stop watching TV and cook something!

I’m still learning, but I’m learning with my kids and it’s great.  Old habits die hard but we can form better habits in ourselves and our children.  Chime in below and let us know where you have found the most success in your healthy kitchen efforts.

Update
Here are a few sites we rely on to help us in our efforts.  Expect this list to grow.
The Healthy Home Economist
Nourished Kitchen
The Nourishing Home

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Day 5: Spring Orzo Soup


Spring Orzo Soup

  • 2 TBS Olive Oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 lemon, juiced and reserve zest
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 2 sprigs lemon thyme
  • 2 cups spinach leaves packed
  • 1 1/2 C Uncooked Orzo Pasta
  • 1/2 C dry white wine
  • 7 1/2 C Chicken Broth
  • remaining cubed chicken or 1-2 cups
  • 2 TBS water
  • 1TBS Cornstarch
  • 1/4 C Parmesan Cheese
  • 1/2 C slivered almonds

Saute the onion and garlic in oil until fragrant.  Add the lemon zest, pepper, and thyme and cook another 3 minutes until the onions are golden brown.  Turn the heat to medium and add spinach and orzo.  Cook for one minute.  De-glaze pan with 1/2 C white wine.  Add broth, chicken, and lemon juice.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes until orzo is barely tender.  Whisk water and cornstarch together.  Bring the soup to a light boil and add cornstarch mixture.  Let thicken for 3 minutes.  Garnish with Parmesan and Almonds.

Serve with crustini and Cantaloupe Raspberry Salad

Cantaloupe Raspberry Salad

  • 1/4 C chopped mint
  • 1 TBS honey
  • 2 tsp lime juice
  • 1 Cantaloupe cubed
  • 3 1/2 C raspberries

In a small bowl, whisk together the chopped mint, honey, and lime juice. Allow the mint-honey dressing to chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Gently toss the prepared dressing with the cantaloupe and raspberries.  Serve the salad immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Crustini

  • 1 french baguette cut into 1/2 inch slices
  • 1/4 C olive oil
  • 1/4 C butter
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese

Set oven to broil.  Mix oil, butter, garlic, salt and pepper in sauce pan.  When hot, dip bread into oil on both sides.  Dip one side of bread into Cheese and place cheese side up on cookie sheet.  Broil for 8 minutes.

Thank you for trying this out!  When summer reaches it’s peak, look out on this blog for a week of recipes using chicken and summer produce.  As always, I appreciate feedback and am happy to answer any questions.  Contact me at Jacquelyne@sew4cons.com and keep up with me at City Roots and Fruits.

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Day 4: Spring Chicken French Salad


Spring Chicken French Salad

  • 1 1/2 TBS butter
  • 3/4 C baby carrots
  • 1 C baby zucchini (or sliced regular zucchini)
  • 1 C baby yellow squash (or sliced regular squash)
  • 1/2 C peas
  • 1/2 C green beans
  • 1 C water
  • 1 C cubed chicken
  • 1 TBS fresh chives minced

Melt butter in pan.  Add carrots and toss to coat.  Add the water, season to taste with salt and pepper.  Simmer for 4 minutes

Add the remaining vegetables and chicken and continue to cook and stir until water is evaporated.  If they are not soft then add a little more water and continue to cook.

Stir in creme fraiche and chive and serve with sour dough baguette.

Stay tuned for….

Day 5: Spring Orzo Soup

Jacquelyne Aubuchon is a guest contributor to this blog and a loving sister and aunt to the residents of Chism Heritage Farm.  You can contact her at Jacquelyne@sew4cons.com or keep up with what she is doing at City Roots and Fruits.

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Day 3: Chicken and Dumplings

Here’s a vegetable heavy twist on an old favorite.  I love root vegetables and springtime usually offers the opportunity to clean up the stores.

Chicken and Dumplings

  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 1 red onion, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 C hard apple cider (Woodchuck, green apple)
  • 3 rutabaga, cut in 1 inch pieces
  • 2 turnip, cut in 1 inch pieces
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 2 parsnips, sliced
  • 1 sweet potato, cut in 1 inch pieces
  • 4 sage leaves, minced
  • pinch Herbs de Provence
  • 5 C broth
  • 2 C peas
  • 1 C chicken

In dutch oven in 2 TBS oil, saute onions and garlic until golden brown.  Add 2 C apple cider and deglaze pan.  Cook for a couple of minutes.  Add remaining ingredients holding peas and chicken for later.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add peas and chicken.

  • 1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 C white flour
  • 3 sage leaves, chopped
  • 1 tsp rosemary, minced
  • pinch Herbs de Provence
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1/2 T salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3/4 C milk

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Add egg and milk and stir until forms a stiff dough.  After stew has cooked for 15 minutes, drop dough on top in spoonfuls.  Cover and cook 10-15 minutes more or until dumplings are light and spongy.

Basic Herbs de Provence

5 tablespoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons dried savory
2 tablespoon dried marjoram
5 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 ½ tablespoons dried lavender flowers

Mix and store in air tight container.

For tomorrow, make Creme Fraiche:

Creme Fraiche

  • 1 C heavy whipping cream
  • 1 T buttermilk

Heat cream to 105 degrees F.  Remove from heat and stir in buttermilk.  Pour into small jar and cover loosely with plastic wrap, until thick but still pourable.  Stir and taste every 6-8 hours.  In 24 to 36 hours the creme fraiche should develop a slightly nutty sour taste.  Once it does, refrigerate.  May be stored up to 10 days.

Stay Tuned For….

Day 4: Spring Chicken French Salad

Jacquelyne Aubuchon is a guest contributor to this blog and a loving sister and aunt to the residents of Chism Heritage Farm.  You can contact her at Jacquelyne@sew4cons.com or keep up with what she is doing at City Roots and Fruits.

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Day 2: Lemon Chicken Pasta

My husband once told me that he had never met anyone who at as many carbs as I do.  So, no meal planning would be complete without pasta in my mind.

Lemon Chicken Pasta

  • 1 lb pasta
  • 3 slices bacon
  • 2/3 cup olive oil
  • 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 3 lemons, juiced with 1 TBS zest reserved
  • 1/3 C chopped fresh basil
  • 1 C cubed chicken
  • 1 tsp lemon pepper

Fry bacon until crispy and set aside to drain.  In leftover bacon grease, fry chicken to reheat.  Drain and put in bowl.   Boil pasta according to directions.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, Parmesan and lemon juice.

Drain pasta and reserve one cup of cooking liquid.  Put pasta in bowl and stir in dressing.  Slowly add cooking liquid until moistened.  You may not need all the liquid.

Chop bacon and add to pasta.  Stir in remaining ingredients and serve.

Serve with french bread and honey butter.

Honey Butter

  • 3/4 C butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 C honey

Cream honey and butter together.  Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Day 3: Chicken and Dumplings

Jacquelyne Aubuchon is a guest contributor to this blog and a loving sister and aunt to the residents of Chism Heritage Farm.  You can contact her at Jacquelyne@sew4cons.com or keep up with what she is doing at City Roots and Fruits.

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Day 1: Chicken Salad, great hot weather fare

We spend a great deal of time outdoors and our kitchen is not particularly air conditioned.  With spring planting and all the springtime chaos, we like things we can have on had to fix a quick meal.  The first thing we will do with the chicken is make some chicken salad for sandwiches.

Chicken Salad

  • 3/4 C mayonnaise
  • 2 TBS dry white wine
  • 2 TBS fruit chutney
  • 1 1/2 T curry powder
  • 1 C cubed chicken
  • 1 stalks celery diced
  • 1 green onions, sliced
  • 2 TBS raisins
  • 1/2 C roasted nuts of your choice (cashews are good)

Mix the dressing ingredients:  mayo, wine, chutney, and curry in blender until smooth.  Add chicken, celery, onions, and raisins mixing well.  Chill.  Stir in nuts just before serving.

My brother isn’t a mayo fan, so, in this recipe you can’t really taste the mayo.  (I don’t like jar mayo)  You may need to tone down the spices for your taste, but I think it’s just right.

Where do you get chutney, you might ask?  Well make it with your leftover fruits in the fall.  We love chutney in the cupboards for putting on meats.  If you don’t like having those stores on hand, you can find chutney in the ethnic section of your local grocery store.  Major Grey’s Mango Chutney is pretty common.  Any chutney will do though, I used a dried fruit chutney.

Also, try your hand at making mayonnaise.  It’s so delicious fresh and your salad will be even more good for you.  So many more nutrients.  If you use farm fresh eggs it will be even tastier.  This is a great tutorial here:  Homemade mayonnaise without tears

Serve salad on baguettes with a lettuce salad and dressing for a complete meal.  Another option is to put it on a bed of mache.  Mache’s nutty flavor makes a great companion to this salad.

(Usually it doesn’t have tiny holes in it like mine does, but I have a terrible infestation of potato bugs in my garden and hate chemicals more than them.)

Stay tuned for…

Day 2:  Lemon Chicken Pasta

Jacquelyne Aubuchon is a guest contributor to this blog and a loving sister and aunt to the residents of Chism Heritage Farm.  You can contact her at Jacquelyne@sew4cons.com or keep up with what she is doing at City Roots and Fruits.

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How to Roast a Chicken to Feed a Family for a Week

This weekend, while I was at the family farm, we got to discussing the size of the chickens being slaughtered.  I personally am all about a 6-7 pound bird.  At the store I can only get 3-4 pounds birds.  I don’t find this to be enough for what I expect to do.  Christopher (Head Farm Steward) finds that many of his customers want the smaller birds and don’t know what to do with the bigger one.  My family of four can decimate a 3-4 pound bird in one sitting.  I almost never make a meal that doesn’t have left overs.  We eat them for lunch the next day, so a 3-4 pound bird leaves me without my lunch.  While Christopher and I were packing up the birds and working on a million other projects, we decided to provide his readers with a meal plan to help them learn what to do over a week with a large bird.

This weeks menu:

Grocery List:

salad Small bag whole wheat flour
baby carrots flour
1 C baby zuchinni cake flour
1 C baby squash baking powder
2 C spinach cornstarch
½ C green beans instant yeast
5 lemons salad dressing
fresh basil red pepper flakes
red onion salt
2 onion lemon pepper
sage leaves pepper
1 bag carrots herbs de provence
3 rutabaga curry powder
2 turnip 1 lb pasta
2 parsnip orzo
1 sweet potato slivered almonds
chives roasted nuts
1 bunch thyme ½ C cider vinegar
1 head garlic olive oil
celery mayonnaise
peas dry white wine
green onions  honey
raisins
fruit chutney
hard apple cider
Parmesan cheese
1 Chism Heritage Farm Chicken
bacon
milk
buttermilk
heavy whipping cream
3 eggs
2 TBS butter

To begin with, we have to bake the chicken.  This is such a nice fix it and forget it thing to do.  The only problem I ever run into is getting the chicken thawed out and remembering it’s ready to bake.  The flavoring on this is simply the chicken.  These have such a nice flavor, nothing else is needed.  On this prep day, you will need to cook the chicken, make broth and start the bread.  Starter for the bread can be prepared ahead of this even.  An excellent tutorial can be found at A Bread A Day.  Ingredients on the grocery list reflect this recipe.

Easy Baked Chicken

  • 1 Chism Heritage Farm Chicken
  • 2-3 TBS melted butter
  • salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  (Why 400? It’s a good temperature for this.  If you go 350 you will still cook the chicken, it will just take longer.)  Salt the chicken all over.  Melt butter and brush on breast and legs.  Cook until 170-175 degrees on a meat thermometer.  Brush with drippings every 15 minutes or so for a really nice skin, or forget about it and wonder why your timer is going off and find a perfectly good chicken when you pull it out.  Cook one hour for the first four pounds and add 8 minutes for each additional pound.

  • 3 lb – 1 hour
  • 4 lb – 1 hour
  • 5 lb – 1 hour 8 minutes
  • 6 lb – 1 hour 16 minutes
  • 7 lb – 1 hour 24 minutes


Mostly I just wander off and once in a while smell something and go test it for temperature.  Often I put it in at 3:30 when I leave to pick my son up from school and it’s mostly done when I get home.

After roasting the bird, let it cool for 15 minutes on the counter.  If you want to trim it for immediate eating it’s ready.  For this meal plan, we will take all the meat off the bones and cube it.  By combining it with other ingredients we can make it stretch further.  Once cubed, put in a large zip lock bag and refrigerate it until ready to use.

Chicken Broth

  • leftover chicken bones from cubing chicken
  • 1/2 C cider vinegar
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • salt
  • pepper

Place all ingredients in a pot and cover with cold water.  Let sit for one hour.  Turn on heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for several hours or until you can’t stand cooking it anymore.  Let cool and put in fridge overnight.  In morning skim off fat.  Broth with be gel like consistency.

Stay tuned for….

Day 1:  Chicken Salad, great hot weather fare!

Jacquelyne Aubuchon is a guest contributor to this blog and a loving sister and aunt to the residents of Chism Heritage Farm.  You can contact her at Jacquelyne@sew4cons.com or keep up with what she is doing at City Roots and Fruits.