The Reason for the Seasons: Eat Fresh & Local and Toss the Fiber Drinks!

Strawberries:  In Seaason Locally Now!

As you shop for goodies for the long holiday weekend, please remember our Farmers' Markets, Farmers' Stands and, for you local folks,  Fair Food Farms in the Reading Terminal Market.  These are all places where you can find fresh, non-chemically altered, humanely raised food for your cookouts and celebrations.  You will also be able to buy seasonal food from these producers and vendors.  Why do I harp on this seasonal thing so much?  Well, folks, there a tons of reasons to eat food that is "in season"!

Let's think about it.  In order for produce to be shipped thousands of miles to a stupermarket - so you can buy it out of season - it is picked before it's ripe and then sprayed with chemicals to preserve it, and then sometimes sprayed again with chemicals to speed up the maturation process after it lands where it is going. Yum!  Consider also that agri-business is committed to food that looks "perfect" (they have to make up for all those chemicals somehow) so we have been conditioned to believe that anything that looks real is bad.  This lead to tremendous waste!  Listen to folks looking at tomatoes at the Markets - eventually you will hear someone say, "This is not round!  Look it has a mark on it!".  Gently educate if you can stand it. Please!

See the strawberries in the picture above?  See the little one we removed from the box?  Not perfect.  In fact, very weirdly shaped.  It would never make it to that stand of "perfect" strawberries in the stupermarket.  But it was delicious!  Nature doesn't screw up that way - we do when we waste food!

Just two more points worth considering:  First, if you can, why wouldn't you support your local producers instead of paying for products grown or "developed" far, far away?  Eat from where you live. Nothing is better for "outgrowing" allergies!  Find out what's available in your area and use it.  We live in a rich, rich area - Lancaster Farmers, Mid State ranchers, cheese makers, local honey producers, free range chickens, fabulous farm fresh eggs, and of course Jersey Tomatoes, Corn and Blueberries - just to name a few items among the bounty we have literally outside our doors.

Secondly, there's the health issue.  If you are going to eat something, isn't it worth a few more dollars not to put something into your body that's covered with chemicals and hormones and/or that has led a  tortured life?  And, for our purposes here, I am not even going to get into a discussion of "shelf stable" dinners in boxes, frozen "foods" that are really a lab in a bag, etc. And remember, our support of local producers gives them the ability to provide fresh food to people in lower income areas as well.

Eat fresh, local, seasonal, and humanely raised and you can get rid of that disgusting powder stuff so many people I know drink in their orange juice each morning!  You can stop eating that faux yogurt a la Jamie Lee Curtis (why doesn't she return to the movies?) - probiotics EXIST in real food!!!  Fiber EXISTS in real food!  As do vitamins and nutrients.

The elephant in the room here, for many folks, and many folks I know for sure, is that when you buy fresh you have to cook!  In the coming weeks I hope that we can start having a conversation about effective ways to shop and cook fresh and local even when our schedules are tight - and who's schedule isn't?

For now, just remember:  there's a reason for the seasons!    Have a Happy Memorial Day weekend and for goodness sake, cook something!!!

Artichokes and Baby Eggplants!

Feeling So Lucky to Live in this Food Heaven and Some Easy Recipes



Head House Famers Market Goodies!

The Markets

We woke up to a gray, slightly rainy - again -  morning on Sunday and we weren't "feeling it" for walking up to the Market.  We'd picked up some staples at Fair Food Farms in the Reading Terminal on Saturday and frankly the weather was making us lazy.  But the puppy loves the Market - and of course so do we - so we got our bags, made a short list of what we "needed" and headed out to Head House Farmers' Market.

Fifteen minutes later our spirits were soaring! Nearly everyone, vendor wise, is now back at their stands.  As soon as we strolled up to say hello at Youngs Flowers we saw gorgeous Peonies - ice cream for mosquitos as my better half's Mom says - we do love Peonies!  Gotta get some of them on the way out we said. And, we did!  Thanks Youngs! The Youngs also carry a wide array of herb and tomato plants at this time of year; we are planted to the hilt, but we noticed many shoppers stocking up on herb plants.  Wonderful.

We did our usual stroll all the way through the stalls, looking before we started shopping/supposedly making a plan.  By the time we got to the end of the Head House, we had some meals planned and our mood had totally changed!  Oh how happy we were!  Under that one gorgeous old roof we were able to purchase food that we would never be able to get in a stupermarket - from the folks who produce them - what could be better?

Our bounty included: White Turnips - you can eat them raw like radishes or thin slice and quickly sautee them; Tasoi - a spinach like, but firmer green, really delicious; Purple Radishes - fat tangy radishes with the best radish greens we'd seen in a long time; Asparagus (of course it's still in season!); Spring Garlic; Rhubarb and Strawberries; a couple of early Tomatoes; and of course a stop at Birchrun Hills Farm for Red Cat and Fat Cat cheeses (we are addicted); Chicken from Mountain View Poultry; and lastly a real surprise: Spotted Alaskan Prawns from Otolith Sustainable Seafood.  This last was a purchase we hadn't planned on at all - total impulse.  Excellent impulse.  These are amazing shrimp, flash frozen and vacuum sealed on the boat and fairly and humanely harvested.  With these shrimp we may be able to sway those who think gigantic boxes of chemically treated frozen shrimp from big box stores is such a "great deal" - if they can taste at all!! We sauteed them in butter and garlic, butterflied them with the shells on - they were delicious and the difference in the flavor is well, scary - in an oh so good way.

We lugged everything home and made our weekly stash of butter (and so had a yield of buttermilk for biscuits) and started planning our approach to these fabulous products. We came up with at least 4 fabulous dinners and some goodies for quick weekday breakfasts.  For example, we made stewed Rhubarb and Strawberries and Buttermilk biscuits.  With good strong coffee on a weekday morning, you are good to go with that delicious combo!

It was hours before we noticed that it was still gray and damp and threatening rain!!!

A Few of the Recipes

Our newest, best cocktail hour appetizer, which we shared with the Birchrun Hills and Talulah's Table folks on Sunday (just in case you see it on the menu at Talulah's Garden!):

Red Cat Poppers
Bring a round of Birchrun's Red Cat Cheese to room temperature
Slice a couple of fat strawberries as thin as you can
Get out your best Balsamic Vinegar

Put a slice of strawberry on a piece of the cheese (you may need a spoon if the cheese is getting runny and fabulous)
Put just a few drops of Balsamico on top of the strawberry slice
Pop into your mouth
Remember who told you!!  You're welcome!

Red Cat Poppers Ingredients

Buttered Eggs
This recipe comes to us from the Canal House Cookbook, Volume 6 (www.thecanalhouse.com)

Cut hard boiled eggs in half;  arrange them on a plate
Sprinkle good extra virgin olive oil on top of each 1/2
"Butter" the top of each 1/2 with good mayonnaise - not Miracle Whip, please . . .
Salt and Pepper each 1/2 - we used sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprinkle finely chopped herbs over each 1/2 - we used a combo of our chives and our par-cel (a celery and parsley combo plant) but you can sprinkle whatever you want to add flavor
You're done and they are delicious!

Warm Fresh Greens Salad
Remember those beautiful radish greens I mentioned above?   And those white turnips?  They star here:

Take a bunch of greens - in our case, the Radish Greens
Clean the greens, remove the stems, chop coarsely, rinse again
Let the greens drain
Saute a bit of Spring Garlic and if you like a some finely chopped jalepeno in olive oil
Slice a couple White Turnips on a mandoline if you have one - if you don't just get the slices as thin as you can
Thinly slice a half of a red onion
When the Spring Garlic and Jalepeno are softened add the red onions, and the white turnip slices to the pan - saute for about 5 minutes or less - just softened
Add the radish greens, toss thoroughly with the rest of the ingredients, and let the greens warm
Add salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle with your favorite vinigarette - we used a basic dijon vinigarette
Serve warm

It is possible to shop only once or twice a week and eat delicious, nutritious and seasonal food at home.  It just takes a bit of planning - and sometimes the planning takes place AFTER the shopping!  Enjoy!

A Farmers Market Gift Idea

Asparagus, Rhubarb and Spring Onions make a beautiful arrangement

If you know a Foodie - or just a fan of fresh food, consider this type of "bouquet" to mark their  celebratory day!

This was for Mother's Day and came from the Headhouse Farmers Market a la Tom Coulton Produce; everything had been picked the morning it was presented.  You can't beat that for freshness.

The little vase is a selection from our garden - a mix of blooms, sage flowers, and some rosemary and lavender snips.

It was very well received!!

Enjoy this wonderful weather and get out there and plant something!!

The Farmers Markets are Back! Garden Notes and A Delicious Frittata Recipe

Headhouse Farmers Market 2011

Happy Days are definitely here again as the Headhouse Farmers Market opened for the season on Sunday May 1st.  The above shows the gorgeous asparagus, rhubarb, and spring onions already available from one of the vendors.  We arrived almost right at opening at 10:00 AM and the Market was already crowded.  Not every vendor is set up yet, but more were present on an opening day than we had ever seen - and of course, there are no tomatoes or corn or peaches right now - but you can keep us going for quite awhile on that asparagus!!

The speciality stand offerings have also developed quite a bit in recent years.  Talula's Table and Garces Trading Co offered cheese spreads, smoked fish and meat - all sorts of lovey little treats - great appetizers or just delicious little finger food possibilities.  John and Kira's were there with their fabulous, locally made chocolates - and they aren't there in the really hot weather, so now is the time!  Otolith - a purveyor of line caught, wild fish and seafood was there and we have a lovely piece of wild Alaskan King Salmon in our freezer!  And of course, one of our favorite local cheese makers, Birchrun Hills was there and we snagged this delicious Blue - one of their best cheeses in my opinion. 

A Much Beloved, Local Blue



A number of other Markets will be opening around the city in the coming weeks - Philadelphia is very, very lucky to have such a network of Farmers Markets - providing fresh, seasonal and local foods to so many of our neighborhoods.  But they need our support to continue, so before you run in and purchase that 1,000 mile asparagus in the stupermarket, stop and find a place where you can purchase it from a local purveyor - the taste alone is worth it!!  It's also wonderful to be able to shop a few times during the week (there's always a market somewhere).  The food is fresher, it's fun and you avoid having to stuff a whole lot of products into your 'fridge from one huge shopping trip!

The Garden

We are very happy with the progress of our "mini - farm" and the rest of the garden so far this season.  The local rainfall and temperatures seem  to be working well for the growth cycle - fingers crossed.  We already have some peppers forming, our fava beans are getting tall and nice and stocky and I am pretty sure that we'll be eating some white radishes this weekend.  Our lettuces - all in pots by the way - have been delicious and a few days after we harvest some, we have lots of new growth.  That will end with the warmer weather of course, but right now, it is such a joy to go out the back door and "snip a salad" - well worth the work!  One suggestion:  if you haven't tried "Par-Cel"- and you enjoy flat italian parsely and love the flavor of celery (both are real big around our house) - you must get your hands on this herb.  We are growing it in 3 different places and using it in all sorts of ways.  The flavors of both italian parsely and celery come through in each little leaf - amazing and very versatile. Something different - introduced to us last year by our friends - (and the source of our wonderful farm fresh eggs) -  at Larken Springs Farm (www.larkenspringsfarm.com). The Larken Spring guys found Par - Cel plants at one of their local Farmers Markets; I ordered our plants on line.

On the flowering end, what we are really enjoying currently are our Gerber Daisies - We have little pots all over the house of cut flowers from these gems.  They are quite prolific, a bit finicky (they don't like it too hot and they definitely don't like to get too dry), but the more you cut, the more they grow at this time of year.  Having your own cut flowers around the house can't be beat.  I bought our Gerber plants at Lowe's - they are good hardy plants.

A Recipe

Right now, as mentioned, it's lettuces, arugula, parsely, you know, lots of leafy greens, that are ready for eating in our garden.  Sometimes we cut too much and as homegrown lettuces don't last as long after they are harvested as those that have been sprayed with every chemical under the sun, we always try to come up with ways to use our greens up - even when they seem to be getting a bit wilty in our 'fridge.  This is a Frittata we put together last week from left over salad greens and just about everything else left over in our 'fridge that seemed like it would contribute.  Don't be shy about making Frittatas - they can be eaten warm or at room temperature, they travel well (good for lunches), and with a Bloody Mary they are perfect for Brunch and are delicious!

Il Moya Left Over Greens Frittata

This recipe is really open to your creativity and what you want to put in it - and what's in the 'fridge.

We used:

About 1 1/2 cups mixed greens - Mesculun, Simpson Lettuce, Arugula, some Par-Cel, Sorrel, and a tiny bit of Tarragon - tossed together and cleaned

6 large farm fresh eggs (they ARE the dish, so go for the gold!)

Sun Dried Tomatoes in olive oil - I had about 8 small ones on hand

We had some left over fiddle head ferns - so in they went too

1 small jalepeno pepper and a couple of spring onions

Extra virgin olive oil, salt, freshly ground pepper and freshly grated parmesan cheese

Chop the greens, the spring onions, fiddleheads, the sun dried tomatoes and as much of the small jalepeno as you'd like - toss that all together

Whip together the eggs, some salt and pepper and a little bit of milk or cream - just adds a touch of extra richness

Put a little of the olive oil and a pat or two of butter into a large non-stick skillet

Melt the butter and get the oil hot - toss the chopped mixture in for just a few seconds to warm the mixture; stir it around and spread it out over the pan surface

Pour over the seasoned egg and milk/cream mixture and swirl the pan so that the egg mixture covers to the edges of the pan

Cook over a medium fire until it just starts to set up and seems a bit firm in the middle and still a little bit loose around the edges; push the mixture away from the sides of the pan a bit with a spatula and go all the way around the edges with a tiny drizzle of the olive oil

Sprinkle the grated parmesan all over the top of the frittata

Put it under a broiler - no more than 6 inches from the fire - keep a close eye on it!  You only need a few seconds before it will start to be bubbly and brown on top.

Remove the pan from under the broiler - let it sit for a minute or two and then slide the frittata out onto a large plate or cutting board - that oil you drizzled around the edges will help with this

Cut it into wedges - serve warm or at room temperature

Wrap leftovers up in wax paper and store in 'fridge

Enjoy!!  That Bloody Mary would be the perfect accompaniement!!

Il Moya Left Over Greens Frittata

Enjoy this wonderful, re-energizing time of year.  Support the Markets, grow some of your own goodies, and share your adventures in local and seasonal cooking and eating!





TGISPRING!!!



A Queen Village Tree in all of its Glory!

Oh, how happy are we folks?  Is there a more thrilling time of year for urban gardeners, mini-farmers, cooks, and Farmers' Markets fans?  Look at those bulbs, those trees, those early flowers and those perennials - not to mention the herbs that return!  I know I am biased, but Spring is such a wonderful thing in an Urban setting. The city is tough in the winter and  it really brings our souls back to life when the blooming starts, doesn't it?  Also good to see folks in my neighborhood out on their stoops and working in the back gardens and talking seeds and plantings.  It just feels like life returning.

So, we do have our trusty sage, oregano and chives returning; along with catnip and mint.  Someday I will figure out how they survive under tarps in our side alley during the winter!  In a completely unexpected turn, our Fordhook Swiss Chard from last year is returning in the standing planter!  On a whim a number of weeks ago, I threw some commercial jalepeno seeds into a saucer to dry, planted them in some seed starter and guess who has little jalepeno pepper plants - with 3 or more leaves at this point?  Now, THAT amazed me.

The 2011 Urban Garden:  The plan - over the past few years -  for our urban piece of paradise, has been to learn what works/what does not  in our yard and gardens and gradually develop more edible plantings and planting "systems".  We have landed on the use of "standing" planters - ours come from Gardeners' Supply Company but they are available at many garden centers and especially online.  I used one planter last year - on wheels - and had very good luck with it.  To be honest I also enjoyed working with a planter that is large and deep with a planting area that is at my waist.  We can do our bending exercises later! So, this year we are planning on using three of these standing planters - a few large lightweight pots are still around  for Potatoes, and Mint and, of course, cutting flowers.  And my built in Herbal Garden remains and will be very full this year.  But if it's an edible product, it is will be growing in the planter stands lined up against the side of our house.  We get amazing sun on the side of the house for long periods of the day - the wonder of being the "end of the row"; this also provides us with a growing area that is NOT in the middle of our garden and dining and sitting area. One "twist" we are going to try this season is growing Sun Gold tomatoes in amongst our 4 O'Clocks.  We read some really good information about mixing edible plants and flowering plants in the garden so we'll see. I will be reporting regularly with photos of how this all goes as the season progresses. 

OK - 2011 Edible Plantings in the Urban Mini Farm:  what's in right now:  lettuces, mesculun mix, arugula, white radishes, 5 types of heirloom peppers - sweets, hots, and longs; Potatoes; Rainbow Swiss Chard; Fordhook Swiss Chard (returning plants); Spring Garlic; Puntarella - another returnee from last year; and White (another heirloom) Cucumbers.  Herbs in right now are returning Oregano, returning Sage, returning regular Chives and Garlic Chives, Mint, Par-Cel (more about this little gem in another post, but if you see it, buy it and plant it!),  French Sorrel and Italian Parsely.  To go in a bit later, the Sun Gold tomatoes - these are my "candy" when I am gardening; I can't stop myself from picking them and popping them in my mouth as I work - heavenly and warm; two types of Eggplant - the miniature. "Fairy Tale" type and regular full size eggplant.  Herbs to go in soon really are just some assorted varieties of Basil and a couple of Thyme plants.  The Nasturium seeds are already planted and hang in a window box over one of the planters - the little Nasturium flowers are peppery and delicious. I also have a big pot of variegated Marigolds - sown as seeds -  nearby - I will probably split this up around the growing edibles.  Say what you want about Marigolds, but they keep the cats away and other critters away!  Speaking of, the catnip - returning from last year is doing quite well.  We have to keep it in a pot hanging out of reach of our two cats - they don't know when to stop with fresh catnip!

And just a quick note:  we have stopped taking up a lot of space with full sized tomatoes!  You have probably noticed that we have at our finger tips some of the best tomatoes in the country!  I can't wait until our Farmers' Market vendors start laying out the Heirlooms and the Jersey Toms, so frankly, I see no reason for me to try to replicate - I already now I can't - their art.  I"ll take the space for something else.

Next Post:  Flowering Plants, Perennials (what's doing well/what's not) and New Additions to the Cutting Gardens

Food News:  I am loving Mark Bittman's columns for the New York Times and his articles in the New York Times Magazine on Sundays.  Good recipes in the latter and good, reasonable approaches to the "big" questions facing us as a culture around Food.  Mark "gets it" without being so strident as to turn off potential readers (I have to learn that from him!).  If you haven't see any of his writing, check out back issues of the New York Times.  I am also already missing Rick Nichols in the Inquirer.  I really appreciate Craig LaBan and consider him a really good critic; I just so enjoyed the twist Rick Nichols would take on a story - a foodie story.  He is missed.


An early Spring Recipe:   So, the asparagus has made its first appearances and we could not be happier.  We eat it in every possible way we can because we believe the local asparagus is the only asparagus worth eating and when it's gone, it's gone!  I came upon this sauce in the new Canal House Cooking, Volume No 6 (http://www.thecanalhouse.com/).  We just tried it and it was an orgy of asparagus!

Asparagus with Blender Lemon Butter Sauce

The Asparagus treatment:  we generally rinse off any sand, break off the woody ends, and quickly - very quickly - blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water and dump them in ice water to stop the cooking.  We like our asparagus crunchy!  We then melted a bit of butter and a few drops of good extra virgin olive oil in a cast iron pan, got the pan really hot, and dumped the asparagus in for some quick "finishing".  You are looking for a little brown/black on spots of the asparagus - but it's quick if your pan is hot enough!  So don't leave the pan!

The Sauce:  Put 4 Large egg yolks, 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice, a big pinch of salt and pepper into the jar of an electric blender.  Cover and blend for one minute.  With the motor still running, add 8 tablespoons of warm melted butter in a slow, steady stream - you want it to emulsify. Makes 1 Cup.

Adjust the seasonings and serve with the asparagus.  Absolutely proof that Spring is here and that the goddesses love us and want us to be happy.  Enjoy!

So, . . . what are YOU planting?  Please, let's share this adventure of "growing our own" in the City!!

Happy Spring!

What about all of those Food Terms? And - A Great Recipe for Meatless Mondays

Harold

First of all, I apologize for the gap in postings, but we have a new member of our family - a 10 week old Dachshund named "Harold".  Harold has been the focus of almost all of our energies for the past two weeks.  He is getting into a schedule now and he is a joy - more about the wonder our furry friends bring to our lives at another time - anyhow, life is slowly getting back into a somewhat more predictable reality.

During late night/early morning walks and playtime with Harold, I have been doing a lot of Food Reading.  It seems that over the past couple of months, every major publication has felt the need to run some articles, and often publish cover stories, about topics that those of us who consider ourselves Foodies care deeply about.  These issues have run the gamut of favorite Foodie topics including,   Sustainability/Seasonal; Vegan/Flexitarian; Organic; Free Range; Humanely Raised; Urban Farming/Victory Gardens (redux);  Government Subsidized "Food"; and my recent favorite:  "Emotionally Sterile" Food (that which has been totally factory manufactured thus, untouched by human hands).

It's scary to see so much out there in everything from Newsweek to the New York Times to CNN - scary to me because, in my opinion, when the mainstream media gets its talons into something, and edits it for what they believe to be the American attention span,  it gets dummied down so much that meaning - and potential usefulness - are lost.  A prime example of this is the word "Organic".  Now, when a farmer I meet tells me that his tomatoes are organic and explains to me what he had to do to maintain his products without spraying chemicals all over them, I tend to believe that he is selling me "Organic" tomatoes.  I have also learned enough over recent years to know how real, not chemically soaked tomatoes, should look. However, when Wal-Mart says it's now selling "Organic" produce - and I go check it out, and the cucumbers are waxed within an inch of their lives, and nothing looks organically raised,  I am dubious.

Whole Foods has recently announced that they will "color code" their meat and chicken products based on how the animal was raised.  Huh? Right - and that will be an accurate reading of Free Range vs. Tortured now, won't it?  Be suspect of this use of language, not practices; advertising not substance, designed to dupe us into thinking we are shopping and eating better.

Another recent example of "Big Stories" in the media was the run of pieces demonizing - again - Salt!  "Salt is bad".  "Recent reports indicate that Americans are eating too much salt".  "Eliminate salt from your diet".  OH COME ON!!!!  The problem is that Americans have guzzled the Kool Aid and literally exist on processed, factory produced food and fast food at nearly every meal!! That stuff is loaded with Salt!  Is that news?That's what the fast food chains use to get people hooked - salt.  So, does this mean that Salt is the enemy?  Does it actually mean that Salt is "bad for you"?   Or . . . , hang in there now, does it actually mean that Americans eat way too much processed and fast food and it's killing them?!?  So far, I can say that in all of the junk writing I pored through when the "Salt Scare" became a big story, I saw nothing by way of discussion of this very obvious fact.  Protecting advertisers, I can only assume.

I don't think of myself as seeing a conspiracy around every corner, but I am so aware - even in folks close to me - confusion and misunderstanding around these all important issues.  When that continues to happen, most of us have a tendency to throw our hands up in the air and give up.  Somehow, I am wondering if that's the goal of all of this mis - use of terms and mis - information. 

Continue to ask - ask for more than the surface information, ask for sources and practices.  Demand to know more.  And be suspect of any "all of nothing" fix touted in the media.  And without a doubt, stay away from processed, factory produced and fast food as the mainstay of your diet.  Yes, we are all time challenged; learn how to use some of your precious time being selective about what you eat!

And the good news is that soon we'll be planting and tending and anxiously waiting for our own urban produce to provide us with some really healthy eating!  I can't get enough of the seed catalogs and so far I have done a ton of garden layout grids - very sustaining in this cold weather!

If you are observing "Meatless Mondays" - and I hope you are for so many reasons - here's a real winner of a dish.  I LOVE Meatloaf.  I love it at the first meal, I love sandwiches from it, I just love it.  This recipe satisfies even my meatloaf loving soul!  Enjoy!

Lentil Cheese Loaf

3/4 chopped onion
3/4 chopped celery
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 cups well drained, cooked lentils (Brown lentils contribute to that "meatloaf look")
8 oz coarsely shredded sharp cheddar cheese (this is not the time for the microplane/rasp; use a box grater)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (avoid breadcrumbs in cardboard boxes!  Make your own and it is not necessary to use stale bread - stale bread makes stale bread crumbs)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon Worchestershire Sauce
3/4 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of Hot Pepper Sauce
Bottled Chili Sauce for Serving

Cook onion and celery in the vegetable oil in a heavy sauce pan - medium heat - about 4 - 5 minutes
Stir in garlic; cook 1 minute longer
Mix remaining ingredients -  except for Chili Sauce - until well blended

Add onion mixture and mix well

Pack into a well buttered 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch glass loaf pan

Bake in a preheated 325 oven for 50 minutes or until the loaf is firm to the touch.

Cool - in the pan - for about 10 minutes
Run the tip of a knife around the edges of the loaf and unmold onto a serving dish

Cut in slices and serve with chili sauce

You can serve this with the fixin's you would use with "meat" meat loaf; it is delicious!  Enjoy!

"Everything" Storm coming! Be Prepared for Ice!



The Maple outside of our house

There's nothing more important today than making sure that we all have at least the basic things that will keep us safe, warm and functioning with the coming storm.

It seems to me that Philadephians are getting hardened to snow storms - but, and this is a big but, Ice is a whole different experience, and it has the potential to do some serious damage.

Please be sure that you have working flashlights, a battery driven radio of some kind (there's probably an old Boom Box in a closet somewhere!), and some candles and matches and magic matches at the ready.  Also, consider what systems in your household would be affected by any power loss.  For example, in our home, we know that we will be able to manually light our burners to cook, but our oven definitely won't work because it's an electrical ignition that starts it, even though it's gas.  What kind of heat do you have?  If your heater is driven by a fan, you will lose heat.  And of course, if you have electric heat, you will also lose heat.  If you have a working fireplace, now is the time to be sure that you have, not only wood or duraflames or whatever, but also kindling to get fires started.  And be sure that your flue is clean and open!

Many of us have "put up" food products - and for many of us a good deal of that putting up is freezing.  Freezers will mainly be OK for a couple of days if they are well packed and if they are not opened.  The same is true of the refrigerator of course.  We are considering a big cooler out on the deck filled with water, juices, and some foodstuffs, just in case.  That way we will have access to some refrigerated items without having to open the 'fridge.

Take notice of the power and cable lines around your house - we live in the city, they are everywhere - know where the ones around your house are.  Ice has major impact on power lines; we lose power when they come down, but falling down doesn't necessarily mean that they have lost power.

If you share your life with dogs, and the world becomes encased in ice, you do have a challenge when your buddy has to go out.  Keep sand, and/or dog friendly ice melt near the front door and sprinkle it liberally to at least get out the door with the dog.  You know, during these times, it is how well you trained your dog that will come back to bite you.  We tried through another ice storm to get our dogs to go to the bathroom out in our back yard.  Of course, using our beloved back yard as a doggie bathroom is usually a big no-no.  And it remained that way in the ice!!  And so we slid! 

If you feed the birds in your area, now would be a good time to get some extra seed out there so that they can feast a bit.  They have a very hard time when everything is frozen over.

Lastly, one of the great things about living in the city is having neighbors close by.  Neighbors who we know and talk to!  Keep your eye on the others on your block or neighborhood - especially older folks and those who live alone.  It is a good time to reinforce the city practice of looking out for each other!

Expect limitations.  Understand that some things will be canceled and delayed - and that's fine and they should be.  Be safe!