Cooking: Melon Sorbet

"Food, a French man told me once, is the first wealth. Grow it right, and you feel insanely rich, no matter what you own." --Kristin Kimball The Dirty Life

To view this post on Facebook, click here. We continue to try to find a use for everything on our farm. 

Melons don't come periodically. They come in one gigantic explosion. How much honey dew can you eat? Well, a lot if you have a variety.

John made some Melon Sorbet. He did this with a Honeydew-melon variety named "Banana" that was sold as far back as 1885. We bought our seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. It has produced very well for us here in East Tennessee.

And the sorbet was delicious.

The Chef: Gumbo-Type Stew

"How was it possible that this abundance had always existed, and I had not known it? I felt, of all damn things, safe. Anything could happen in the world. Planes could crash into buildings, jobs could disappear, people could be thrown out of their apartments, oil could run dry, but here, at least, we would eat." --Kristin Kimball The Dirty Life

John's cooking. It is simply .... uh-maz-ing. What's even better is when he uses the stuff that WE grew on OUR farm to make a delicious meal.

We keep striving to eat straight from our land. We are hopeful that within the next few years we will be eating 60-80% of food that is directly from our dirt and not from a grocery store.

A ton of work. But so worth it. Especially when you have someone like him to cook it for you.

Introducing:

John's Cooking Photos

Unicorn Blood

Check this out! And believe it or not,
there is no color manipulation!
This was really the color.

What do you do on a cold, wet, overcast day? Make ice cream of course! 

Our friend Kymberly allowed us to take some of her Prickly Pear Fruit from her yard last week.

(A quick note: Even if you tell children "Don't touch this fruit it has tiny thorns even though you can't see them," they may not listen. Two kids had to ride home with their hands up in the air waiting for Dad to remove all the thorns.)

Then, today, they moved onward with the fruit and made what Isaac named "Unicorn Blood" ice cream! Here was the recipe:

The pears before they were turned into Ice Cream!

1. Prickly Pear fruit juice (aka cactus fruit or opuntia) for all of you who wanted to know. 

2. Freshly-squeezed Orange Juice

3. Lemon Juice

4. A Handful of Raspberries

5. Sugar

6. Whipping Cream

In the end, all nine kids here today for homeschool liked it EXCEPT Sidge. All adults liked it EXCEPT Wendi (aka "me!") Sidge and I seem to share a pallet for sure. 

We Bought a Farm: Working Towards Self-Sufficient

More than half of the calories we consumed for dinner were produced on our farm. This is not the norm... yet. Our goal is to produce at least 80% of our calories on our farm.

We are slowly getting there!

Dinner tonight consisted of pork from our pigs (served with a red wine and balsamic vinegar reduction sauce), greens from our garden (swiss chard and leeks sautéed in the pan that the pork was browned), and oven roasted rutabaga. Delicious!

We Bought a Farm: Cooking for a Crowd

We are foreseeing a LOT of guests on the farm. This makes my heart happy. We are excited to provide a place of respite and retreat to those we know and love.

However, it also freaks me out just a LITTLE bit. I have just recently started cooking. Prior to this year my husband did ALL of the cooking. (And I mean ALL!) But with him doing 7am-7pm/7pm-7am shifts, I had to learn.

I learned to cook with Blueapron.com. What a Godsend that was. I will be eternally grateful to my friend Stebbs for introducing me to the sheer magic of this meal heaven.

But Blue Apron is designed for 4 people. It is not enough food (and honestly, too expensive) to cook when we have guests.

So I turned to my Facebook friends for help. I asked them to send me their best recipes. Here was my plea:

I WANT YOUR BEST RECIPE!

Okay everyone. In our new life on our farm, it appears we are going to be hosting visitors fairly frequently. I have spent the last year learning to cook (via Blue Apron meals) and therefore feel a little more comfortable in the kitchen.

I am looking for recipes to cook for groups of approximately 12-15 people. I want your VERY BEST RECIPE. Don't send me the ones that are okay. Post the recipe that you go to and people just LOVE.

The only rules is that the recipe must adhere to the following stipulations:

1. Not too complicated. Freezer and slow-cooker ideas very welcome. Preferably under 1 hour in prep-time.

2. Egg-free.

3. Kid-friendly.

4. Free (or mostly free -- a little fudging here is okay) of things like processed foods or extra sugar, flour, or corn starch.)

I have compiled a TON of great recipes from my Facebook friends. I have also compiled a ton of Blue Apron meals that I'd like to try to recreate as well. And now, it is time to start trying these and sharing these. I will be updating this post and then republishing it to be current as I try these meals. Stay tuned!

Greek-Style Braised Chicken Thighs with Fingerling Potatoes

This was a Blue Apron meal that I successfully recreated. I used regular Oregano as I was unable to find the Greek oregano. My only major suggestion is to NOT NOT NOT salt as they suggest. Instead just sprinkle a LITTLE salt on the chicken. I was over-salted the last time.

Perfect Pot Roast

My mother-in-law actually followed the recipe and did this one for me. It was SCRUMPTIOUS. We made enough to freeze for later. Yum! Recommended by: Briana H.

Crock-Pot Moroccan Chicken

Yum! We will definitely be making this time and time again. I went ahead and ordered the Ras El Hanout spice online at amazon.com, and it came the next day. I also skipped the part where you poach the chicken and simply put the raw chicken directly into the crockpot. We served it with Basmati rice, and I even added some Indian Naan as well. Recommended by: Harmony H. 

Carrabba's Chicken Bryan

I actually was off a few ingredients when I made this recipe, and it still came out FANTASTIC! Delicious, easy, and definitely something I will do again. I just did these on the stove top, and I paired it with some spaghetti and bread. But next time, I think I'd like to incorporate a salad. Yum! A definite keeper. Recommended by: Joy Z.

The Best Crockpot BBQ Chicken

This was super easy and super tasty. I will definitely do it again in the future. Prep time is low and it would be easy to multiply for larger groups. Recommended by: Google

Oven Kalua Pork

Easy. Tasty. Yum! I just used regular sea salt since I couldn't find any of the Hawaiian kind and it still tasted great. I served it with carrots and Brussel sprouts that I cut up, covered in oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and then cooked on 400 for about 30 minutes. Meal recommend by: Joy Z. Veggies recommended by: Michelle K.

Greek Yogurt Chicken Parmesan Bake

This was SO easy. Honestly, five minutes of prep. Very healthy. And the chicken came out tasting perfectly done. I really looked like a much better chef than I am. STRONGLY recommend this dish. I will be making this time and time again. Recommended by: Kris G.

Spiced Chickpea Burgers

This was the first time I tried to recreate a Blue Apron meal -- and I did so with great success! Instead of Vandouvan Curry powder, I just used regular Curry powder, and it came out fantastically. What is great about these is that they are basically a spin on the same old regular burgers, they are very healthy, and they are pretty easy.

Curried Turkey Salad

This is a GREAT post-Thanksgiving recipe to give new life to your leftovers!

Erica's Taco Ring

This recipe is a sure hit with kids and adults! 

Summery Chicken Salad

Indian-Spiced Chicken Burgers

We did this with ground turkey and Ras El Hanout instead of the Garam Masala

Curried Turkey Salad

We have a LOT of turkey around these parts yesterday. Just made this the other day. Absolutely scrumptious. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1. Shredded cooked turkey -- 4 cups
2. Mayonnaise -- 1.5 cups
3. Plain yogurt -- 1.5 cups
4. Thinly sliced scallions -- 1.5 cups
5. Golden raisins -- 1.5 cups
6. Small cubed apple -- 6 cups
7. Curry powder -- 1/4 cup
8. Salt 
9. Pepper
10. Lemon -- 2 tsps
11. Honey -- 2 tbsp
12. Ground Ginger -- 1/2 tsp.
13. Celery (if desired) -- 2 ribs
14. Pecans (if desired) -- 1/2 cup

Directions

1. Heat curry in skillet (just until aromatic)
2. Add yogurt, lemon, mayo, honey, and ginger
3. Fold in turkey, apple, raisins, scallions (and celery and pecans if you want them)
4. Salt and pepper to taste
5. Serve on croissants or greens

We Bought a Farm: Enjoying our Duck!

I love when my husband cooks. Because he doesn't just cook. It is like art to him. He puts together amazing things and makes them taste and look just .... amazing.

Unfortunately, becoming an ER doc meant he couldn't cook every meal in our house anymore. When he works, he works until 7pm. And when he is home, the farm takes a lot of time. So he now cooks maybe once a week. But each time he cooks, it is just so, so, yum!

Yesterday JB decided that the nine ducks we have had in our freezer for half a year needed to be used. So he defrosted all of them and used all the breasts for the meal above! (This is only half of it as with two WWOOFers and Grampa and Grampa we have 10 at dinner right now.) Now he is using the rest for some stock. There's a huge pot on the stove doing some sort of magic. JB said the pot will be going for about a week. Seriously!

No, seriously, the pot is big. Look.

Brussel Sprouts

We have a lot of people that come to our farm, and when they find out we are making Brussel Sprouts, they hesitate -- just for a moment. I can see the look on their face. Trying to be polite. But not excited whatsoever about the prospect of faking their way through this green vegetable. 

They don't like Brussel Sprouts. Or don't think they do.

But JB's Brussel Sprouts? So good! While we've still had a few people who have decided against this awesome veggie, the majority of our visitors have changed their tune after trying his recipe.

I call this JB's recipe. But the truth is, JB is doing very little cooking in our house anymore. Oh how I miss his food! But with his full-time job off the farm and his full-time job on the farm, I've taken over.

He's taught me how to make his Brussel Sprouts. And according to Grama, mine are better than his!

All we do is put cut up pieces of bacon in a large pan and cook the bacon until done. Then we add the Brussel Sprouts (ends cut off and cut in half.) We cook over Medium or Medium-High heat for about 25 minutes, stirring often, and making sure they aren't sticking to the pan. If they start sticking, add some white cooking wine to the pan to loosen it up.

Yum!

I recently stumbled upon another recipe for Brussel Sprouts. It's very similar, and I plan to try it soon: Honey-Roasted Brussel Sprouts.

Seriously! If you have never given ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS a chance! Do it! They are nothing like the boiled ones your parents made you eat as children. I promise!

Eggless Cake

Tried this eggless cake the other day, and it was a huge success. Can't say it was the BEST cake I ever had, but I can say that I don't think I would have ever been able to pick it out as not having eggs in it. We will DEFINITELY use this recipe again and try different flavors. 

The biggest news is that our Isaac, who really avoids baked goods in general since so many have eggs, seemed to really enjoy the cake. He said it tasted more like brownie than cake, but he liked it!

I would LOVE to hear from some of my baking compadres who could explain to me WHY I had to follow the directions I did (pictured below.) I did what it said because I am an order-follower and not experienced enough in the kitchen to deviate. However, WHY did I have to make these depressions and then just mix them all together? What is the reason?

We Bought a Farm: Elderberry Flowers

My niece and nephew are here visiting. Today, JB took my nephew Nate and Abigail on an adventure. They gathered Elderberry flowers. Believe it or not, you can cook these flowers and create fritters. JB is currently in the kitchen coming up with his own "eggless" recipe for fritters!

***UPDATE***

JB wrote a post detailing the recipe he used to make the fritters. They were scrumptious. (Although I continue to have a mental block with eating things that I would ordinarily not think of eating.) Click here to read all about Eggless Elderberry Flower Fritters.