January Week One

Last year, I tried to keep up with Menu Monday posts but towards the end of the year, I noticed that they were just space fillers. Yes, I continued to PLAN my meals for the week and post them, but I was in a rut and they became repetitive and un-interesting. So really, what was the point of you reading them as I highly doubt they were giving you any inspiration for your own menus?

To mix it up a little bit, I ‘m going to work harder at more descriptive menus, with at least a few new recipes per week which should be pretty easy since I’m following the National Foodie Holidays to help plan. The Holidays for the week will be posted each Monday so that you can participate on those days or just look forward to the recipes. I hope this will not only keep me motivated, inspire you but also add new favorite recipes (and even days!) to my repertoire!

National Foodie Holidays:

Month of January:
National Bread Machine Baking Month
National Candy Month
National Egg Month
National Hot Tea Month
National Meat Month
National Oatmeal Month
National Soup Month
National Wheat Bread Month
(I'm pretty sure there are more but I gave up). LOL


This Week:
Jan 2nd- National Cream Puff Day
Jan 3rd- Chocolate Filled Cherry Day (that must take talent!)
Jan 4th- Spaghetti Day
Jan 5th-Whipped Cream Day
Jan 6th- Bean Day
Shortbread Day
Jan. 8th-English Toffee Day

Meal Plan:
Sunday: I tried out my new Deep Fryer and made a hodgepodge of Finger foods: Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders, Homemade Mozzarella Sticks, served up with Deviled Eggs, Sour cream Bread (fresh baked in the Bread Machine!), and Profiteroles with Chocolate Cream Sauce. (totally not the best for you, but I promise I limited my quantity –except for the Profiteroles which I think I had 4 or 5 they were so good).


Monday: Mustard Parmesan Chicken with an Avocado and Black Bean Salad (both recipes courtesy of Paula Deen.

Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan with Garlic Bread (Courtesy of the current issue of Martha Stewart Living)

Wednesday: Parmigiana Sliders on fresh Brioche bread (Courtesy of the current issue of Martha Stewart Living and the Breadlover’s BreadMachine Cookbook).

Thursday: Bean Sliders (Courtesy of the current issue of Martha Stewart Living) and Shortbread Cookies dipped in Chocolate.

Friday: Tomato Macaroni and Cheese (Courtesy of Paula Deen) with Turkey Meatloaf

Saturday: Chicken Salad Panini with Cole Slaw and English Toffee

In addition to the above Menu, I have a bushel of apples on my counter, with the intent of making Apple Butter and Apple Pumpkin Butter. I need to find the time and energy to take care of that before they go bad. I would love to use my Deep Fryer and Perogie Press (both Christmas presents) to try some Apple Dumplings as well but they may have to wait till next week as it is apparent I will be pretty busy this week!

Food and Faith Challenge: Week 2

I'm going to go about the Call to Action a little bit different this week.

•Walk slowly and mindfully through a piece of land that’s important to you.

I'm going to start with a picture. This is part of my land:


I walk through my land on a daily basis to watch things grow. Everyday I walk through my gardens to monitor my plants, pinch a leaf, water here, pull a weed there. This land is important to me. It's been in my family for decades and multiple generations. It has been split, inherited, sold, parceled etc to a form unrecognizable to the original piece but I still have part of it. Most of my neighbors are still family. And this land still grows food for us and noursishes my soul.

The portion you are seeing used to be a fantastic garden when I was a child, feeding several families. Then it was converted to horse pasture for a decade, which is how I used it when we first moved in. We sold our horses last fall for several reasons and this year, we are turning it back into a large garden. I've watched it go from a garden, to green pasture, to snow covered, to barren land and now to rows of seeds and plantings that will soon be food. It's an amazing process and quite frankly more than I can deal with but I'm doing it anyway.

I'm connected to this land in so many ways and I will continue to watch it change and grow and do my best to work with it as much as possible. I don't have a tractor so I had to borrow this one that you see from family to return it to a garden as 3/4 acre is a bit much to do by hand but all the tending? It will be by hand. And I will raise my children here and teach them to watch things grow.

Walk out on a piece of property, even if its a townhome patio and find the simple beauty in nature.

And this? This is good NC red clay with horse manure.

Food and Faith Challenge: Challenge to Action

For the Challenge to Action question this week on the Food and Faith Challenge over at the Local Cook, the question is asked:

•Visit your local farmer’s market and let us know what’s in season right now. If your farmer’s market isn’t open yet, when does it open and what kinds of things are available from it?

I am an avid Farmer's Market visitor. I go every week (and even write the occasional article for the Examiner about them.) I'm very fortunate to have a year around farmer's market with an indoor market place that imports and uses local greenhouses and farms to supply superior produce at all times.

I prefer to shop the outdoor stalls of local farmers, but when the pickings are slim during the winter I will definately peruse the indoor vendors for better 'pickins' then I can find at the grocery store. Be careful though, many vendors don't always label everything giving you the impression its not imported from other countries. Even "farmers" can be deceitful to make a buck.

Many that I have come to know are pretty honest and straightforward though and I always enjoy an early morning with coffee and a stroll, conversation over the smell of fresh baked bread on a saturday at the market.

Currently in season is a wonderful display of cabbages, collards, sweet potatoes and cold tolerant root veggies. The occasional greenhouse tomatoe makes a bright splash of red and there is an array of colorful flowers and plants available for gardeners and flowerbeds. The meat providers are there in droves offering beef and pork. Fresh cheeses and breads are also appearing on the weekends when customers are plentiful.

A few weeks ago, there were one or two vendors braving the late winds of winter and now as the sun shines down the stalls are 3/4's full in both sheds. We have a large market and I'm so fortunate to be able to supplement my own growing with better options.

Blog Challenge Results

The first Garden Gourmet Blog Challenge is complete. There has been a lot of positive feedback via email but sadly to say few recipes. In retrospect, I think this was a tough challenge and a hard month for a lot of people with the bad weather issues. Honestly, I am a tiny bit dissappointed at the results, but through the emails, I will do it again, for those who did not participate but really wanted to (and especially for you slackers who didn't meet the deadline, love you smooches). So look for the next challenge to be posted in the next few weeks. Deadline will be April 1st.

My entry for the Challenge:
Cousin Tim's Chicken Stew

Mrs. Beth also submitted a recipe for the Challenge:
Pastina
A delightful soup of tiny pasta, chuck roast and veggies served hot. A tradition in her family based on her Italian roots. YUM!

Our entries may have been few for this first challenge, but they are definately good ones (if I do say so myself!) and will warm your heart as well as the soul! Enjoy and join us for the next one!

1st Blog Challenge Recipe: Chicken Stew

In our family, there are many recipes that bring to mind comfort and home. One of my favorite though? Cousin Tim's Chicken Stew. I'll never forget when I first had it. Everyone had been saying for years how great of a cook my cousin was and he even had a small catering company. For some reason, I had never gone to his annual Christmas Eve Chicken Stew. Then one year I did. That first buttery creamy taste of stew MELTED in my mouth and I fell in love with chicken all over again.

I never could come close to mimicking his recipe though. I didn't know the secret. When our wedding came around I could think of no better dish to serve for an outdoor Halloween/Fall wedding than Chicken Stew and Eagle's Chili. So I approached Tim about the price to make a big pot. This sweet darling of a man, made GALLONS (I'm not even sure how many but I'm pretty sure he used at least 20 chickens that's how much there was!) for my wedding as a wedding gift to me. It was fabulous and my guests RAVED about it for MONTHS. So I finally broked down and asked him (begged him and groveled along the ground, see, I'm not above these things) for the recipe. It is fabulous. We do it a tad different but the KEY is the same. So I will tell you how I do it. Play around with it but make sure you follow the first part exactly because that is the key.

Cousin Tim's Chicken Stew
Ingredients:
1 whole roasting chicken
1 large onion
1 whole garlic clove
2-3 large carrots
2 celery stalks
salt and pepper
Half and Half
1 stick of butter

Directions:
Place all of your ingredients (except Half and Half and Butter) in a crockpot. Make sure the bird is washed and dried inside and out and well seasonged with salte and pepper. Just cut your cleaned vegetables in half or quartered in the cavity of the bird. Cover with water. Cook on low for 8-10 hours until bird is falling apart. Place a large collander in a large bowl and pour contents through strainer. Place the broth you collected in the bowl BACK into the crock pot. Throw butter into broth and melt. When melted, add cream until broth turns a golden cream color. SAlt and pepper liberally.

Debone meat and rough chop or shred chicken. The key here is to DISCARD the vegetables. The flavor is infused into the broth and chicken. Add the chicken back into the broth/cream mixture and THAT's IT. Serve with cornbread. You can play with the vegetable flavors that you want as well as how creamy you want your stew but this is the best simple stew you have ever had.

ENJOY!

I took pictures but as you can imagine, with my dinky camera, they didn't come out well. I will post them anyway soon. Promise.

1st Garden Gourmet Blog Challenge

I have recruited a group of bloggers to participate in a Challenge. The goal is to do one per month. I have some wonderful ideas on how to expand this and some future surprises in store. What I am hoping to gain from this for everyone is a lot of great cuisine and shared readership. (If that is even a word!) So if you would like to participate along with us, I welcome ALL PARTICIPANTS from a beginning cook to a professional chef!

1st Blog Challenge
After much thought, I think our first challenge will be a little loose in interpretation to see how everyone does. Here are the rules:

1) Make and photograph your favorite Crockpot Soup/Stew recipe. (This will preferably be one that has regional fair or traditional to your part of your country/family etc.)

2) Write up a post on your blog (or email to me if you don't have a blog). Link to my blog from yours. ( Link to this original entry).

3) Include a bit of info about the recipe (is it passed down in your family, from a cook book etc.)

4) I will post copies with links from my blog to yours or just your post (if you email it to me).

5) Entries must be submitted or posted by: March 1st

6) Send me an email letting me know that its done (thegardengourmet@gmail.com) (if you post it on your blog) with a link to make sure I see it.

7) HAPPY COOKING and I can't wait to see all your delicious RECIPES!!