Granola Bars

Yes...this is the batch of bars that broke the food processor. Yes...they were worth it.

Raw Granola Bars

I took these bars to a baby shower yesterday and although most people went for the naughtier treats, several of the ones who tried these loved them and asked for the recipe, which I'm happy to share.

Ingredients:
1 block of dates (pitted)
1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
handful of dried fruit, like raisins, currants, apricot, etc...I used currants

*The above dry ingredients, especially the seeds and nuts, can be substituted with the seeds or nuts of your choice, so long as you have 3 - 4 cups of the dry ingredients. There is really no wrong way to make these. You can also use more peanut butter and less honey or vice versa. The dates are for making everything stick.

Directions:
Chop the dates and whiz in food processor until the blade breaks*. Remove from food processor and add to blender with a tbsp of hot water and whiz until a ball forms.

Melt the peanut butter with the honey in a small saucepan.

Mix all ingredients and press into a 9x13" pan. I lined my pan with parchment.

Refrigerate 1/2 hour and cut into bars. Not necessary, but I dehydrated the bars for 6 hours and then returned to the fridge. They're perfect :)

Would make a nice gift

Tip:
So, the blade really did break on my food processor the first time I made these. I would recommend not using the food processor or blender. Not only did the dates break the blade on the food processor, but then they nearly burned out the motor in the blender. I recommend chopping them by hand with a knife or kitchen scissors.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Head of cauliflower

Cook 5 minutes:
2 tablespoons butter
 1 large onion, chopped
 4 cloves garlic, minced

Add, cook 5 minutes more:
 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
 2 carrots, chopped

Add, bring to boil:
 1 box vegetable broth

 Stir in and simmer 15 minutes:
1 head cauliflower, chopped

Remove from heat and puree in blender until smooth. Add to pot on low heat and add:
1 cup milk
 1 tsp salt
 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Heat through and serve with some yummy bread of your choice. We like rye. 

Cauliflower soup with buttered roll

Zucchini Fritters

The pic below shows the last of our 2014 zucchini (and a couple other things). Not included is the large one that I just used to make some zucchini fritters. Grated, it was the equivalent of 7 cups of zucchini and it made about 3 dozen fritters. We had some for dinner and froze the rest. 

6 cups zucchini, peeled and grated
2 tbsp salt (I used Kosher)

Sprinkle the salt on the grated zucchini and let sit 30 minutes. Drain liquid and squeeze zucchini to get as much excess liquid out as you can.

Add:
1 cup flour
1 cup parmesan cheese
4 eggs
2 small onions, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
Salt, pepper and paprika to taste

Fry on the griddle in oil (I used peanut oil) a few minutes on each side until browned and cooked through. Drain on paper towels. I added fake bacon and 1/2 cup cheddar to half the batter and those ones were good too; just a variation. 

30 zucchini fritters

Ready for the freezer

Erin's Squash Soup

2014 Squash Harvest

Cut in half, de-seed and roast in roast pan in 1/2 inch to 1 inch of water about 40 minutes:
1 Buttercup Squash – you can substitute Butternut, but it won't be as good. Trust me on this.

Saute until soft about 10 minutes:
1 Onion, Chopped
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 Tbsp Butter – the good kind
¼ Tsp Nutmeg
¼ Tsp Cinnamon
¼ Tsp Salt
¼ Tsp Pepper

Add to onion mixture:
Cooked Squash
1 Box Vegetable Broth

Cook about 10 minutes until flavors meld. Cool and puree in food processor or blender. Add back to pot and add 1 cup of water; simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Slowly stir in:
1 Pint of Whipping Cream (Heavy Cream)

Squash soup from homegrown buttercup squash

Kale Chips

1. Wash kale thoroughly in water and vinegar.

2. Dry kale thoroughly with paper towel.

3. Rub kale thoroughly with olive or coconut oil. Sprinkle with sea salt, Mrs. Dash or your favorite seasoning. Bake 10 minutes at 275. 

4. Eat kale and enjoy thoroughly.

Tomatoes - FAIL

Oh, tomatoes. We had such plans for you. Sadly, our crappy weather and blight had other plans. Laura planted over 40 tomato plants, including mostly organic and some heirloom varieties.

Here's what she planted:

• Kellogg's Breakfast
• Black Cherry
• Gardener's Delight
• Martino's Roma
• Black Krims
• Heinz Processor

Hopefully we will be posting our yummy salsa and green tomato chow recipes and pics next year. For now, here's the sad result from this year.

Boooooooo!

Alliums

Laura planted the entire allium family this year:

• Chives
• Garlic
• Leeks
• Onions
• Scallions
• Shallots

The garlic didn't do so well...not even a scape. However, we are planting more this fall so next spring they'll be in the ground and ready to grow all season.

The onions are coming great! They will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. There are a couple dozen at the most, but that's still a couple dozen organic onions more than we had. 

We've been eating the scallions since June. Always nice to be able to run out to the garden to grab supplies for supper. 

We have a few chives too. We didn't really plant them, so much as they sort of grew through the moss covering the soil in the pot they've grown in for the past few years. We didn't cultivate them as we should have, not even so much as removing the moss. We suck. lol

Today is our first harvest of both the leeks and the shallots. Laura picked 4 leeks and 4 shallots, all if which will be in a Leek & Potato Soup shortly. (see recipe below image)

Leeks and shallots

Sauteing leeks, shallots and fresh herbs

 Evenly chopped carrots and potatoes,
cooking separately to ensure even cooking and less starch

Soup and buttermilk biscuits

Leek & Potato Soup:

2 carrots
4 shallots
4 leeks
2 cloves garlic
3.5 cups cubed potatoes
olive oil
chicken or vegetable stock
coffee cream
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
fresh marjoram
fresh parsley
fresh thyme


How does this all get put together into a soup? I can only guess - Laura's working on that part. I shall be trying to get her to impart it. Anyone who knows anything about making soups would be able to figure it out without instructions. Basic, right?