Sue Weaver Tells of Spring on the Farm

Cook this Bavarian classic with ease in your crockpot. Serve with roast beef, pork or goose.

Ingredients

• 1 small head red cabbage, washed and coarsely sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 tart apples, cored and quartered
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1⁄2 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 1⁄3 cup cider vinegar
• 3 T. butter

Preparation
Place all ingredients in crockpot in order listed. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours (or on high
for 4 to 5 hours). Stir well before serving.

Try a few more crockpot recipes.

A granita is a simple, flavored ice that doesn’t require much sweetening or special equipment. Experiment with other fresh summer fruits, such as strawberries, peaches, cherries or apricots. You can also replace the lemon juice with a liqueur such as Grand Marnier or cherry brandy.

Ingredients
2 lbs. ripe, juicy nectarines (about 8 to 10)
1 T. honey
3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ tsp. vanilla

Preparation
Place nectarines in a large metal or glass bowl. Boil 3 to 4 quarts of water and pour over fruit. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then remove skins (they should slip off easily; if not, let fruit sit in the hot water for an additional 1 to 2 minutes). Halve nectarines and remove pits and stems. Cut halves into large chunks. Working in about three batches, puree nectarines, honey, lemon juice and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Transfer to a large, shallow glass or plastic pan, such as a 13- by 9-inch cake pan, and stir gently to distribute ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer. Stir every 30 minutes for two hours to break up ice crystals. Be sure to run spoon along sides of container to break up frozen edges. Then, freeze until firm. To serve, rake a fork across the surface and place shavings in a chilled dessert dish, wine goblet or martini or margarita glass.

Karen K. Acevedo   Read more Back to “Turkey Surprise”>>

Once you’ve cooked these meatballs, you can use them three different ways.

1. Serve them with your favorite sauce over pasta. (Heat the sauce and meatballs separately and combine them just before serving. More fragile than meatballs made with beef and pork, turkey meatballs won’t stand up to extensive simmering).
2. For a meatball sandwich, split open a fresh, Italian bread roll and pile on shredded mozzarella cheese, warm meatballs, warm marinara sauce, and more cheese.
3. Or, reduce the size and cooking time to make more, smaller meatballs and use cocktail toothpicks to serve them as an appetizer with marinara sauce or cranberry chutney for dipping.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds raw ground turkey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 T. minced fresh garlic
• 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/2 T. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• 1 tsp. dried sage leaves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 3 slices bread (any kind), torn into chunks
• 1/2 cup dry white wine

Preparation
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs just until combined. Add turkey, onion, garlic, parsley, dried seasonings, salt and pepper.

Use a large spoon or your hands to mix ingredients well. Place bread chunks in a small bowl, pour the wine over them and use your fingers to break down the bread so that no big chunks remain. Add to the meat mixture and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Pat mixture to a level surface, wipe the edges of the bowl with a paper towel and press plastic wrap on top of the meat mixture to cover it tightly. Refrigerate for as little as one hour or as long as overnight to allow the flavors to meld and the mixture to firm up.

To bake the meatballs, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll turkey mixture into 2-inch balls, and place on a large, rimmed baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Using tongs or a fork, turn meatballs over, and bake for 25 to 30 more minutes, or until meatballs are browned on top and show no pink in the center.

Remove pans from the oven. Depending on the moisture and fat content of your ground turkey, juices may have collected in the baking pans. Use tongs to lift the meatballs from the pans and place them on a baking rack. The meatballs will be fragile at this stage, so handle carefully. Let them sit for 15 to 20 minutes to firm up before using them. Makes approximately 2 1⁄2 dozen.

Back to “Turkey Surprise”>>

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You can use commercially canned or homegrown pumpkin for this recipe. If doing the latter, bake the pumpkin rather than boil it in order to get a drier, denser product. After scraping the baked flesh from the rinds, use an electric mixer to beat until smooth. Remove any tough, fibrous pieces that didn’t cook down.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 T. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• ¼ tsp. allspice
• 1/8 tsp. ginger
• 1/3 cup butter, cold
• ¾ cup pumpkin
• ¾ cup milk
• additional flour if needed

Preparation
Stir together dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add pumpkin and milk, stirring just until ingredients are moistened and a soft dough forms. If the dough seems very soft, add more flour, a few tablespoons at a time, just until the dough is easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a half-inch thick. Using a 2-inch biscuit or cookie cutter in a simple shape of your choice (such as a pumpkin or leaf), dip the cutter into flour, shake off excess and press into biscuit dough. Place biscuits on a lightly greased cookie sheet one-inch apart and bake at 450 degrees F for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot with butter and honey or apple butter. Makes about 12 biscuits.

By MaryAnna Clemons

Comfort food cooking is about real food (like warm biscuits and gravy!).

My mother could open her cupboard or refrigerator and create a complete meal for our family in an hour or less.

• She didn’t microwave the nutrients right out of our roast beef stews.
• She didn’t add fake sweeteners to her homemade apple pies.
• She didn’t pour and mix potatoes out of a box.
• And she definitely didn’t order out for fast food (who had the money for that?).

My Long Learning Curve
Since I always thought being in the kitchen was akin to a torture chamber, I didn’t learn the tricks and tips my mother wanted to teach me.

Instead, as I moved on, I settled for the convenience of “dinners in a box.”

I jumped on the popular food bandwagons of the day, only to be disappointed when it turned out that meat wasn’t really going to kill me, that milk with my cookies wasn’t really going to give me colon cancer, and that putting real sugar in my coffee is better than chemicals in a small pink packet.

I’ve tried the diets that called for protein only, and the shakes that added strange green things to it that you’ll never taste (riiiighhhhtttt).

And none of it ever gave me a warm feeling inside.

Trouble with Today’s Food
The ingredients in our food today don’t even resemble real food and I didn’t start realizing that until I had my second child, who is now 8.

Due to her condition of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at just 1-year-old, I started researching foods (among other things) and realized that some food will aggravate arthritis.

I learned that:

• Herbs were worthy, underappreciated life forms that can heal, calm and treat humans and animals
• Aluminum is hard to detoxify out of our bodies
• MSG and Aspartame are almost ubiquitous in our overly-processed world

The latest books showed me that our food is being genetically modified and that producers don’t have to (and aren’t) labeling these products.

Our First Real Garden
So, I started my first real garden last year. My daughters helped me plant the tomatoes and waited patiently for their first taste of a home-grown tomato.

“This is awesome, how could you have ever let me eat a store bought tomato?” My oldest daughter asked me.

It’s About Real Food …
Comfort cooking isn’t about bandwagons, boxed food or diets – it’s about real food.

• It’s about connections with the people you love.
• It’s about taking the time to appreciate the gift of being able to create and nourish through food.
• And most importantly, it’s about knowing what you are putting into your child’s body–and yours, too.

I’ve changed everything about the way I cook – sans microwave and Teflon – and I can only wish for lost time with my mother in her kitchen.

… And Quality Kitchen Time
Today, I teach my children how to create meals from simple ingredients, how to cook with sourdough starter, and how to treat common ailments with herbs. We make biscuits, pizzas, bread sticks, oatmeal bars, French fries, pies, soups and more.

I cherish every minute I can corner them in the kitchen with me, and I use that time to tell them stories of a
grandma they never had an opportunity to know.

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Sourdough No-Rise Biscuits
I used Morrison’s gravy mix for the gravy and cooked up some sausage that doesn’t use preservatives or MSG –most sausage in your store’s meat section has ample amounts of MSG.

For breakfast we’ll add in-season melon and hot tea or coffee — comfort time, comfort food.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of flour (I like King Arthur’s Flour for its quality, and it’s never bleached and doesn’t use aluminum.)
• 1 cup of sourdough starter (I take this out to come to room temperature before I use – don’t forget to replace what you used. If you used a cup of starter, add a cup of flour and a cup of water, stir, let bubble, return to fridge.)
• 1 cup of milk (also allowed to come to room temperature)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 T. baking powder (aluminum free)
• 2 T. melted butter (or you can use the grease from your sausage)
• Morrison’s Gravy Mix

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and add starter and milk. Mix to a firm feeling dough, about 15 kneads, adding flour as needed to keep the dough from being too sticky. Roll out on a floured surface and cut your biscuits (we used a cold glass to roll and to cut). Place on greased cooking sheet, or grease the biscuits by dunking them in melted butter and then putting on cooking sheet.
Bake 12-14 minutes, checking at 10.

About the Author: A California native, MaryAnna Clemons, lives in Colorado, where she shares 35 acres with four kids, six horses, five dogs, five cats and one chicken.

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More Recipes

While lavender is a decorative plant, it also has its culinary uses. There are many lavender cultivars available, but use Lavendula angustifolia for culinary purposes—others can be overly sharp. This fresh summertime lemonade will win over your dinner guests and may even make tee-totalers of the most diehard beer drinkers (at least for the night).

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 cups water, divided
• 2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup lavender leaves, torn; extra stalks for garnish

Preparation
Boil sugar and 2½ cups water for about five minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Add lavender and bring to a boil for three minutes, remove from heat and cover.  Let stand for one half hour. Strain liquid into a pitcher and discard lavender. Add cold lemond juice and remaining 2½ cups water and mix. Add ice cubes and serve with a lavender stalk in each glass.

Get more lavender recipes!

These moist, slightly sweet energy bars are just the thing for breakfast on the go.

Halve this recipe or wrap extras in plastic wrap or foil, place in freezer bags and pop into the freezer.

Ingredients

• 11⁄2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3⁄4 cup flaxseed meal
• 3⁄4 cup oat bran
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1⁄2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1⁄2 tsp. allspice
• 1 1⁄2 cups carrots, shredded
• 1 1⁄2 cups apples, peeled, cored and shredded
• 1 cup almonds or pistachios, chopped, or 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 T. crystallized ginger, finely chopped
• 3 egg whites, slightly beaten
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1⁄4 cup molasses or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation
Stir together dry ingredients.
Add carrots, apples, nuts and ginger, and stir well.
In a separate bowl, combine egg whites, applesauce, molasses and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and stir just until ingredients are moistened.
Spray two 8-inch by 8-inch square baking pans or two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Divide batter between two pans, spreading evenly.
Bake in a 350-degree F oven for 25 minutes. Let cool on wire racks and cut into squares. Makes 32 2-inch squares.

More Bread and Baked Items