I was 19 years old the summer I spent two weeks helping to build a wall around a schoolyard in a rural Turkish village. During breaks, villagers expressed their gratitude (or maybe just entertained their own curiosities about us) by offering us a drink called Ayran. It’s a salty yogurt drink that on those hot,…
Tag: Recipes
{community} Be a Dinner Elf
Food is much more than a series of nutrients and calories. Food brings people together to celebrate the good times and helps sustain us during the tough times. Some recipes are infused with memories and help honor important people and times in our lives. Food is at the center of any good get-together: a casual…
Lard {Yes, that’s what I said: Lard.}
I should admit that, straightaway, this task was a stretch even for me. In a moment of pure curiosity (lunacy?) and inability to turn down a good deal, or a free deal, I graciously accepted a cooler full of pig fat from a local farmer. Josh from West Wind Acres had a few pigs processed,…
{How To} Butter…and Accidental Crème Fraiche & Buttermilk
This past Tuesday, Nick and I learned that Meadowbrook Farms won’t be able to bring us the butter we use every week from The Country Creamery in Canestota, NY any longer. The news was a bit alarming; we use 18 lbs of the stuff each week for croissants, scones, muffins and cookies. We love its…
{Guest Contributor} Frozen Yogurt Popsicles
Editor’s Note: I am pleased to introduce Hanna, Michael’s sister (my farmer and boss) and now our newest and youngest contributor! While working in heatwaves and downpours at the various Wednesday and Saturday markets in Saratoga, I would hear rave reviews about a frozen yogurt pops making the rounds on the farm in Granville. I…
{pizza week} Feast for a Family, Pizza 4 Ways
Summertime seems to find us hosting family, visiting family or meeting family at some intermediate location. Our extended family is large and we are close… we are lucky! Family gatherings generally mean food, and LOTS of it. One of my favorite meals to share, whether at home or otherwise, is pizza. When it comes to…
{pizza week} My First CSA Pizza
Editor’s Note: Let’s welcome back Erica G as a contributor! Erica & her 3 year old son Dominic are enjoying their first season as a CSA Member. This pizza post was written back in late June during the first weeks of their Denison Farm CSA Share. Erica will continue exploring her first CSA season in…
{Pizza Week Part Two} The Dessert Course
Ah, two of the most wonderful words in the English lexicon: Dessert and Pizza. Put them together, and it’s pure heaven. While it isn’t a “true” pizza, this Dessert Pizza combines a sauce and lovely toppings on a doughy crust, just as traditional pizza would. Plus (in my opinion), it really isn’t a meal unless you end it…
{pizza week part two} Pizza For One
Think you need a whole pizza party in order to make pizza? Wrong. Next time you are searching for a quick dinner to make yourself, try making a Pizza for One. Just because you are dining alone doesn’t mean that you have to eat cereal or cold leftovers for dinner. I like to make this…
{pizza week} Checking our Inventory
Pizza is one of my most favorite foods. It’s something that I enjoy in all its various transformations from Chicago deep dish, to New York hand tossed, to super duper thin crust. At home I often make thin crust but have sometimes made one with a slightly thicker crust that actually bakes up in my…
{pizza week} Traditional Focaccia w/ Pesto
Every weekend at our bakery over on Quail St. in Albany, my husband Nick prepares Specialty Focaccia Pizzas with fresh produce & herbs we get from our farmer friends at Farmer Jon’s Produce in Selkirk, NY and cheeses from R&G Cheesemakers in Cohoes or Palatine Cheese in Nelliston (in the Mohawk Valley). Jon and DJ…
{pizza week} CSA Pizza w/ Good Intentions
I love making pizza at home. It’s easy, I can put a lot of vegetables on it, and it always tastes good. A perfect one-dish meal. Today I made pizza using the ingredients from my CSA box and from my garden. Oh my! I have a lot of produce to use up at this time…
{pizza week} Feeding Teenagers w/ Doughboys
We have three sons, now all in their twenties. For thirteen years, we had teenage boys at home. Our house was filled with roving hordes of adolescent boys; boys with skateboards, boys with guitars and drums, boys with spray cans and paint brushes, boys with movie cameras, boys with paint ball guns and nerf guns,…
{theme week} get your pizza on.
Pizza. Its quick, can be a healthy “one pot” meal and the options are endless. Grill it. Bake it. Pizza for one. Pizza for many. Dessert Pizza. Focaccia. CSA Veg Pizza or Meat Explosion Pizza. With the bounty of the summer comes endless flavor combos and ways to prepare it. Pizza becomes an essential “comfort”…
{Dispatch} from a small kitchen
Editor’s Note: We are interrupting today’s normally scheduled post* to bring you the coolest rental kitchen of 2011 which happens to belong to our contributor Christine! Do you have a teeny kitchen? Do you need inspiration on what to do with said space-challenged room? Where to place all those gadgets when you have no drawers…
