By Caitlin Moore.

Want to get an early start on your garden this year? If you have a tiny garden like me, buy a really big dark-colored tarp and completely cover the garden so the tarp hangs over the edges. Weigh it down with some rocks, and then leave it there until it’s warm enough to [...]]]>  

By Caitlin Moore.

Want to get an early start on your garden this year? If you have a tiny garden like me, buy a really big dark-colored tarp and completely cover the garden so the tarp hangs over the edges. Weigh it down with some rocks, and then leave it there until it’s warm enough to work in the garden. The covering will keep the rain off, (you will probably have to drain what has collected on top) and it will help to warm the soil too. If you have cover crop in the garden, this will help to kill it so it rots down sooner.

Also, don’t forget about the gardener’s friend Reemay©. This thin, white row cover is great for keeping plants a little warmer than outside temperature (2-5 degrees), and especially helps keep pests like Cabbage Moth and Carrot Rust Fly off of your plants.  Sun and water can get through, but pesky insects can’t. Remember to weigh it down with soil on the edges, and keep it nice and loose in the middle so plants can grow up underneath it.

The amazing VW Bus that we will have in the show. This will be available for purchase by silent auction!

*Update: We would absolutely love more volunteers for the show as well as [...]]]> Our Design! CEL will be creating an awesome 99% edible garden for the show this year! Feb 8th-Feb 12th.

The amazing VW Bus that we will have in the show. This will be available for purchase by silent auction!

*Update: We would absolutely love more volunteers for the show as well as some items from our Wish-List:

- People who will loan us some hens for the show (and will transport them to the convention center)

- A 10-12ft long dining or outdoor table and 10 chairs  for loan

please contact us at food@eatyouryard.com if you are interested in lending your time or any of the above items!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

We’ll be setting up on Feb 4-7th;  Plants will be a mixture of edible shrubs, trees, flowers, and veggies and herbs. If you are interested in helping out and want to learn how to build a landscape from the floor up please contact us at food@eatyouryard.com. We are also looking for an experienced carpenter to help us build our amazing tunable trellis, please spread the word!

Red, Blue, and Purple fruits [...]]]> If you ask a nutritionist for the easiest way to maintain a healthy diet, they will probably tell you to ‘eat the rainbow’. In other words, eat a variety of differently colored fruits and vegetables in order to benefit from the full range of nutritional benefits that the plant world provides.

Red, Blue, and Purple fruits and vegetables derive their color from pigments called lycopenes and anthocyanins, which may help reduce the risk of several types of cancer.
Orange and Yellow plants are colored by carotenoids, which the body can use to create vitamin A- essential for healthy eyes.
Green plants receive their color from large amounts of chlorophyll. Some members of this group protect against cancer, others contain folic acid and help to reduce birth defects.

But what about the things we eat that DON’T have vivid colors? What about mushrooms, potatoes, onions, bananas, etc? Are they all just empty calories? Absolutely not! Despite their pallid appearance, white plants contain phytochemicals that can protect against cancer, prevent stroke, and lower cholesterol. Take the cauliflower of this month’s recipe for example. It provides powerful anti-inflammatory compounds, which can beneficially affect everything from your digestive system to your heart.  So when you are teaching your children about nutrition, make sure you encourage them to eat their whites, as well as their greens!

Aloo Gobi (Cauliflower and Potato Curry)

2 Cups Cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 Medium Potatoes, cubed
1 Small onion, chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
3 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbs water
3 tbs oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp tumeric
2 green chilies, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mango powder
2 tbs chopped cilantro
1/4 cup water (as needed)

In a small bowl mix ginger, coriander, cayenne, and tumeric with 3tbs water to make a paste.
Heat the oil in a pan (check the temperature by tossing in a cumin seed- it will crack when it is hot enough)
Add the cumin, chopped onion, and minced chilies. Saute until the onions are soft.
Add the spice paste and saute, stirring constantly for one minute.
Add the cauliflower, potatoes, 2tbs water, and salt. Mix well, cover the pan, and cook over medium heat for 15-20min (stirring gently every 3-4min), or until the vegetables are tender.
Add the mango powder and cilantro, cover again and let cook for one more minute.

Like many root vegetables, Parsnips have experienced periods of waxing and waning popularity on the dinner table. They were eaten extensively in ancient times and were common in medieval cuisine, but later developed a reputation as animal food. Parsnips were introduced to North America by British colonists but by the 19th century they [...]]]> By Rae Russell

Like many root vegetables, Parsnips have experienced periods of waxing and waning popularity on the dinner table. They were eaten extensively in ancient times and were common in medieval cuisine, but later developed a reputation as animal food. Parsnips were introduced to North America by British colonists but by the 19th century they had been replaced on the market by the all mighty potato and fell out of favor once again.

If those creamy white piles of roots popping up at local farmers markets at this time of year are any indication though, Parsnips have at last found their way back to the American dinner plate. Despite their pallid appearance, they contain carotenoids, vitamin C, calcium, and potassium, and are also rich in fiber. They are related to the carrot,but have a sweeter taste, especially if picked after the first frost. They cook down into a surprisingly creamy texture with a lovely buttery color.

A quick search online for parsnip recipes reveals a surprising number of possibilities for such a humble root. A little while ago a good friend lent me a wonderful book- 50 Chowders by Jasper White, and there on page 178 was a recipe for Parsnip Chowder!

I spent 8 years of my life in Massachusettes, where Clam Chowder is king, but until reading White’s book, I had no idea that New England has a grand tradition of non-seafood based chowders known as ‘Farmhouse Chowder’s, Parsnip Chowder being one of them.
Here is the recipe I used from Mr. White’s book:

3oz meaty salt pork, rind removed and cut into 1/3-inch dice (I used a tbs of bacon grease that Ihad in the fridge instead)
2tbs unsalted butter
1 large onion, cut into 3/4 inch dice
1 lb parsnips, peeled and sliced into rounds (thin-about 1/3 inch-toward the top and thicker toward the bottom
1 lb Yukon gold, Maine, PEI, or other all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch dice
3 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I only used about 1/4 cup)
(I also added in a few sunchokes that I had in my bag o roots)
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat a 3- to 4-quart heavy pot over low heat and add the diced salt pork. Once it has rendered a few tbs of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the pork is crisp and golden brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer the cracklings to a small ovenproof dish, leaving the fat in the pot, and reserve until later.
2. Add the butter and onion to the pot and saute, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion is tender but not browned.
3. Add the parsnips, potatoes, and stock, turn up the heat, bring to a boil, and cook vigorously for about 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to low.
4. Remove 2 cups of the chowder from the pot and puree in a food mill held over the pot so it falls directly back into the chowder, or puree in a food processor, then return it to the chowder. Let the chowder simmer slowly for another 5 minutes; the broth should look silky-smooth. Remove from heat, stir in the cream, and season with salt and pepper.

White instructs that the chowder should be left at room temperature for up to an hour before reheating and serving, to allow the favors to meld, but if hunger overtakes you, you can skip that step.

The result is a thick creamy soup with chunks of potato and parsnip that are soft enough to pleasantly dissolve on the tongue. I find the flavor to be a bit sugary for my taste, but for those of you with more of a sweet tooth, this might be right up your alley. Except for the cream this is a rather low-fat dish, but it has all the comfort-food appeal of a thick clam chowder.

When you sit down with your friends and family at Thanksgiving later this month please take a moment to remember the native peoples who showed kindness to the first European Settlers and the price that many of them paid for that kindness. This month we honor them and pay tribute to their rich ancestry and [...]]]>

When you sit down with your friends and family at Thanksgiving later this month please take a moment to remember the native peoples who showed kindness to the first European Settlers and the price that many of them paid for that kindness. This month we honor them and pay tribute to their rich ancestry and traditions. Learn More

Halloween is over and all of the jack-o-lanterns have outlived their usefulness…

It is amusing that most of us have had intimate knowledge of the innards of a pumpkin at one time or another; that we are quite comfortable vivissecting these symbols of autumn for halloween, or eating them in a pie at thanksgiving, and [...]]]> By Rae Russell

Halloween is over and all of the jack-o-lanterns have outlived their usefulness…

It is amusing that most of us have had intimate knowledge of the innards of a pumpkin at one time or another; that we are quite comfortable vivissecting these symbols of autumn for halloween, or eating them in a pie at thanksgiving, and yet very few of us (myself included) have ever followed one all the way from its natural state to the dinner table.

I have cooked pumpkin in various incarnations over the years but that main ingredient always came from a can-even when its jack-o-lantern brother was staring me right in the face nearby! Its not that I never made the connection, it just always seemed like too much work and afterall, the ingredients on the can just say “pumpkin”, there are no additives to be frightened of, its pretty darn close to scratch right?

Well…those of you that are interested in nutrition might be surprised to learn that because of the high heat, etc required by industrial canning processes, the food being preserved is in danger of being denatured. In other words canned foods can have significantly less of the vitamins and enzymes that we require. Pumpkin and other squashes are a wonderful source of carotenes, which the body uses to produce vitamin A, but when they are eaten in processed form, you may not be getting the full dose that you expect. So due to this, and the fact that I wanted to finally be able to say that I had cooked the elusive from-scratch pumpkin pie, I ditched the can and bought myself a sugar pumpkin.

The type of pumpkins that we love to carve are mostly unsuitable for cooking. They are bred for the quality of their shells, not their flesh, and they can be rather stringy and dull in flavor. Sugar pumpkins are smaller, deeper in color, and contain a much larger amount of flesh in proportion to their shells. They are also extremely easy to peel and, as I soon found, relatively easy to prepare:

Cut off the top and bottom of your pumpkin and cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds and peel with a vegetable peeler.
Cut the pumpkin into 2in chunks and place in a steamer basket over 2in of boiling water. Cover and steam for 15min.
Let the pumpkin cool and then puree in a food processor or blender. The result will be just as smooth as the canned version but significantly brighter in color. The pumpkin I used made about 2 and 1/2 cups of puree.

From what I have read, culinary historians have discovered recipes for pumpkin pie dating back as far as the middle ages. Now days you can find a simple recipe on the back on any can of pumpkin, but since I was kicking the can, I decided to adapt Sally Fallon’s recipe from her book Nourishing Traditions. This recipe omits several processed ingredients that I have been trying to avoid, such as condensed milk and large amounts of refined sugar.

1 batch pate brisee or prepared pie crust
2 Cups pumpkin puree
3 pastured eggs
3/4 cup Turbinado sugar
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Cup sour cream or creme fraiche (I used Zoe’s organic cultured sour cream)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line a 9-inch pan with pate brisee and pinch edge to make a border. Cream eggs with sugar and gradually blend in other ingredients. Pour into pie shell and bake for 35-45min. Simple as that!