Farmers Market Part Two

We have gotten over 5 1/2 inches of rain since July 4th here at the Lazy J Bar C! That is more rain right here than we got all last summer! We are finally getting some serious produce from the garden and I was real happy with the selection I was able to display yesterday at the Farmers Market.



Swiss chard, Bennings green tint pattypan squash and Ronde de Nice French heirloom zucchini.

Clairmore zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and Tatume Mexican heirloom squash. I also have some locally grown pinto beans and 9-bean mix for sale.

Rosa Bianca and Listada de Gandia Italian heirloom eggplant. Also, my seasoning blends and baking mixes.

Here is Jerry's mom, Harriet, helping out at the information table! :)

As you can imagine, this is a very popular spot for the kids!

Juana's tamales are very good! She almost always sells out! My favorite are the green corn. :)

The table on the left is the Holy Trinity Monastery, they sell baked goods. The table on the right is my friend, Sheila, she has the most AMAZING produce every year!

Finally, we have Mr. Busby with his local honey, honey products and nuts. He also brought some great cantaloupe this week, see them sitting on the crate on the right? There were about 10 more vendors, we aren't a very big Farmers Market but we seem have a nice variety of items! :)

Zucchini Relish

I make this relish with either cucumbers or zucchini. It is spicy and I just LOVE it! I use it in potato salad, chicken salad, egg salad, on hot dogs, just everything! :) The recipe is from "The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving." It doesn't make very much but it is handy when there are just a few veggies that need to be processed. These are the Clairmore zucchini that I grow, they are very thin skinned and the flesh is almost buttery in texture. I also threw in a yellow crookneck just for color!

4 medium zucchini (about 1 1/4 pounds), finely chopped. (Or cucumbers to weigh the same.)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 sweet green pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons pickling salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Check out my Farmgirl food processor! LOL!! It really does a good job chopping all the veggies!
 

Toss together zucchini, onions and red and green peppers in a large non-reactive bowl. Sprinkle with salt and stir well. Let stand for one hour, stirring occasionally. (If using cucumbers, let stand for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.)

Drain vegetables and rinse; drain again, pressing out excess moisture.
Combine drained vegetables, sugar, vinegar, mustard, celery seeds, hot pepper flakes and turmeric in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Brain to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender; add water if necessary to prevent sticking.
Blend water and cornstarch; stir into vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes or until liquid clears and thickens, stirring often.

Remove hot jars from canner and ladle relish into jars to within 1/2-inch of rim. Process 10 minutes for half-pint jars and 15 minutes for pint jars at sea level. (Adjust processing time for your altitude.)
Makes 4 cups.


Linking to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop.

Onion Cheese Rolls

These are nice rolls to have with anything cooked on the grill this time of year and the house smells divine while they are baking! :) I like to shape my rolls into rosettes, it is actually easier than trying to form them into round rolls. The cheese gets completely mixed into the dough during the kneading process so you don't see it but you can sure taste it! The bread flour makes for a nice, light roll but you could also use only all-purpose flour.

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons dried, chopped onion
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)



Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a 12-inch rope.

Tie each rope into a loose knot.

Take the top tail and bring it around and up through the middle. (See it sticking up?)

Bring the bottom tail around and down through the middle.

Use your fingers to smoosh the tails together well so that they don't separate during rising and baking. Hmmm....smoosh, now there's a technical baking term! ;)

Place on a baking sheet and let rise until nearly doubled. I like to use parchment paper for easy cleanup and nonstick purposes.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a rack immediately and let cool completely.

Cheese Tortellini with Eggplant and Goat Cheese

This is my all-time, favorite, fresh from the garden recipe! This recipe came from Rachael Ray a few years back. I even made this before I had a garden and goats! :) I love my Italian heirloom eggplant because they are so pretty and they taste good too! I grow two different varities, Rosa Bianca and Listada de Gandia, these are the Listada de Gandia. These seeds also came from Baker Creek.

2 small-to-medium eggplant (1 to 1-1/4 pounds)
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and Pepper
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (about 1/2 pound)
4 ounces soft goat cheese
1 cup basil leaves, thinly sliced
6 ounces dry cheese tortellini (I use one-half of a package of Barilla)

Trim half of the skin from the eggplant; cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Heat a large skillet over medium heat; add the olive oil, eggplant and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes.  Cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the goat cheese and basil and stir until the cheese melts. Cream cheese would also work!

Meanwhile, cook the tortellini according to package directions; drain well. Serve eggplant mixture over tortellini with a nice salad and some crusty bread. I like to serve hot Italian sausage as well. I hope you all don't think less of me but I also adore this left over, cold the next day! :)

Chicken Treats

This is my Gimper chicken with the bad foot. She is enjoying one of her favorite treats, a tomato horn worm! Blech!!

Macaroni and Cheese

This is my favorite recipe for Macaroni and Cheese, it comes from Elise at Simply Recipes. She calls it Civil War Macaroni and Cheese and if you click on the link you will go to her post with some history and a little different method of making it. This is a little drier than if making a cheese sauce but we (especially Jerry) like it that way! :)

2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups elbow macaroni (I use whole wheat)
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup packed, grated cheddar cheese
Black pepper
Nutmeg
1/4 cup bread crumbs


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Heat milk in a saucepan until steamy. Stir in dry macaroni and let come to a gentle boil; reduce the heat to a simmer; watch closely and stir often so that it doesn't stick or boil over! :) Cook for 15 minutes or until done. The macaroni should absorb most of the milk. Add the butter, cheese, black pepper to taste and a pinch of nutmeg to the macaroni; stir well, add salt if needed. Pour into a greased baking dish; top with the bread crumbs. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly and the top is lightly browned.

We had this with a broiled hamburger patty and some Swiss chard sauteed in bacon grease with a little crushed red pepper flake and the crumbled bacon added back in. YUMMY and very mid-western! LOL!!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Here is yet another recipe using my Baking Mix! :) This is pretty much the recipe on the Quaker Oats container but for some reason, when I use the Baking Mix, they just taste better! Might be the little extra sugar in the Baking Mix or the wheat germ, not sure but it works!

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Baking Mix
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups old fashioned oats, uncooked
1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter, sugar and molasses until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add Baking Mix and cinnamon; mix well. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for one minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookes.

Stuffed Ronde de Nice Zucchini

When I decided to grow produce to sell at the Farmers Market last year, I wanted to grow some different things. Almost every vendor has the classic Black Beauty zucchini so I went with Bennings Green Tint Scallop, Clairmore zucchini, Tatume Mexican squash and these French heirlooms. Not only do the plants perform well for me but the zucchini are just too durn cute! How could you NOT want to use these for stuffed zucchini! :) I purchased my seeds from Baker Creek last year, this is the second year of planting that I have gotten out of them.

I made this dish last year for the first time and based it on a recipe I found at SmittenKitchen.com.

3 Ronde de Nice squash (large zucchini cut in half lengthwise may be substituted for the Ronde de Nice.)
Salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Salt and Seasoned Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. If necessary, cut a small slice from the bottom of the Ronde de Nice squash so that they sit flat. Cut off the top about 2 inches from the stem end, leaving a nice wide hole. Using a spoon, scoop out the insides leaving a 1/4-inch thick wall of squash on all sides. Trim the top of the squash. Set the squash flesh aside. Season the inside of each squash with salt and turn upside down onto a plate. (The salt will draw out the moisture.)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until tender. Add the ground beef, raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring often to break up the meat, until it is no longer pink.
Finely chop the reserved squash flesh and add it to the onion-beef mixture with the oregano, basil, thyme and a little salt and Seasoned Pepper to taste. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and bread crumbs and cook for one minute longer.
Turn the squash right-side up and stuff them with the filling. Place them in a baking dish sprayed with a little non-stick spray and add about 1/2-inch of water to the pan.

Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake until the squash is tender when pierced with a knife, about 45 to 50 minutes. Remove the foil, raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees, sprinkle the squash with some grated cheese and continue baking until the cheese has browned.

I hope you try growing these delightful little squash for yourself next year!

Linking to the  Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

Cheesy Biscuit Sticks

For lack of a better name, I am calling these little guys Biscuit Sticks! :) They are made with my Baking Mix and are just the right size for a little snack. Jerry and his mom have been gobbling them up almost as fast as I make them! When I made the first batch, I grated the cheese with the large holes on the grater but because I used my Queso Blanco goat cheese, which doesn't melt very well, the cheese was kinda chewy in the biscuits. With this batch, I used the smaller holes on the grater and I was much more pleased with the outcome. :) Grated cheddar or parmesan cheese would also be yummy!

2 cups Baking Mix
1/4 cup cold butter cut into small pieces

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup grated cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place Baking Mix, butter and cayenne pepper in a bowl and cut in butter.

 By the way, can anyone tell me why my pictures sometimes end up rotated when I upload them?!?








Stir in grated cheese. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk all at once.

Stir together until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Dust the top with additional flour. Knead gently 8-10 times.

Pat dough into a rectangle about 12 x 8 inches and about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into sticks.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Sample while still warm....repeat as necessary! :)

Putting the "lazy" in the Lazy J Bar C!

Just some random shots from last Sunday here at the Lazy J Bar C, it was HOT and everyone was taking it easy!

Madeline



Abigail



Buddy

Little Joe

Ruby

Bob



Jerry

Wish I could have a Sunday nap! :)