Roasted New Potatoes and Green Beans

I loved the recipe I posted last week and wanted to try it but there are just two of us plus one that eats tiny bites so I needed a smaller recipe.  I wanted to pare this with green beans fresh from the garden so I just added them to the mix.  This was served with my mini meat loaves that I keep in the freezer for quick meals .........YUMMMMM

8 ounces small new potatoes (cut in 1 1/5 inch pieces if they are bigger than this)
1 cup fresh green beans
1/2 small onion, sliced top to bottom
1 tomato, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, mashed but still in skin (keeps it from burning)
1/8 teaspoon Chili Flakes
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper

Wash your hands and mix this all together until all the vegetables are coated with olive oil.  Place on a baking pan. Roast together at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for 25-30 more minutes (stir after 15 minutes).  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon chopped chives and cook another 5 minutes.  SERVES TWO

What To Do With Tiny New Potatoes

Small new potatoes, roasted with onions, garlic, tomatoes, olives, and herbes de Provence.

The garlic cloves are cooked with their peels still on (but crushed) to help keep the garlic from burning or drying out. The peels also help keep the mushy roasted garlic distinct, so that if an individual doesn't want to eat garlic, it can be avoided. You can either remove the skins before serving, or let the individual remove them once served. SEE MY CONVERTED RECIPE FOR TWO

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lb small new potatoes (look for the smallest you can find, the potatoes should be no bigger than 1 1/2 inches, if they are bigger, cut them into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces)
• 1 medium onion, sliced in the direction of root to top
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed with peel on (do not remove peel)
• 2-3 small to medium vine-ripened tomatoes, or plum tomatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 10 pitted olives, green and black (Kalamata and Nicoise)
• 1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp herbes de Provence
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives for garnish

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 400°F

2 Put all ingredients (except chives) into a bowl, toss with your (clean) hands to coat completely with oil and seasonings.

3 Spread out in an even layer in a roasting pan.

4 Put the potatoes in the oven, cook for fifteen minutes at 400°F. Then reduce the heat to 375° and cook for 30 to 40 minutes more, until the onions and tomatoes are somewhat caramelized and the potatoes are cooked through. Halfway through cooking, stir the potatoes so that they remain well coated with oil and do not get dried out, and the bottom of the pan stays coated with oil.

5 Remove from oven and let sit until cooled to room temperature.

Sprinkle with freshly chopped chives to serve. Excellent served with steak and a side of greens. (You can toss fresh spinach or chard with the oil remaining in the potato roasting pan and put back into the oven for just a few minutes until just wilted.)

Yield: Serves 4 to 6.

From Simply Recipes (including picture)

* NEW * - Buckwheat Pancake Mix

We've combined our 'BETTER THAN WHEAT' flour, freshly ground from our mixture of healthy heritage Gluten-free grains and some freshly ground buckwheat groats to produce a TOTALLY GLUTEN-FREE and scrumptious pancake mix!

You'll love the fresh taste of the freshly ground grains! 

These pancakes are great with with addition of fresh fruits and even shredded zucchini!

You receive a 2 pound bag of Pancake mix that includes the gums and fresh gluten-free baking powder. Recipes for 2-6 servings on each bag.

Available directly from us (contact us) or through www.NebraskaFood.org.

$7.95 for a 2 pound bag.

Elderflowers

Do you have Elderflowers growing near you?

In my area, we are still seeing elderflowers in bloom! These beautiful lacy flowers have more value to them than just their beauty.

Go visit Jill at Jill's Home Remedies for the rest of the story..........

Common Mullein - The Roadside Herb

Today’s featured plant is Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus.

Common Mullein is also known as Great Mullein, Aaron’s Rod, candlewick plant, flannel plant, flannel leaf, lungwort, feltwort, cowboy toilet paper, shepherd’s staff, velvet dock, woolly mullein, torch plant, torches, miner’s candle, big taper, blanket mullein, “Hig candlewick”, “Bullicks lungwort”, “Hare’s-beard”, “Ice-leaf”.”Beggar’s blanket”, “Moses’ blanket”, “Poor Man’s blanket”, “Our Lady’s blanket” or “Old Man’s Blanket”.

(There are more names, but this list is getting pretty long already.  Do you get the impression this thing is pretty widespread?)

Range and Identification of Common Mullein

Common mullein is native to Europe, but it is now found on every continent except Antarctica.  (As I said, it gets around…)   The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provides a range map, but it’s really found pretty much everywhere in the U.S..

The plant is known as a colonizer of open disturbed soils.  The Wisconsin DNR lists it as an invasive, but they have an awful lot of plants listed as invasive. Okay – non-native – still, it’s been around so long, does it really matter at this point?  They do say it can be invasive in the plant detail page, but I haven’t found that to be the case in my area.  It prefers dry, sandy soils, but can grow (really HUGE) in rich garden soil, and even grow in marginal soils such as chalk and limestone.  It can be found in neglected meadows, forest openings, pastures, fence rows, roadsides, and industrial areas. (WI DNR)

Plant height is 2-6′ (60-180 cm) (the happy monsters in my garden last year were pushing seven feet).  The leaves are large, oval and fuzzy.  As you can see in the photo below, a large happy specimen in my garden has leaves larger than my shoe, which is a size twelve.   Leaves are 12-15 inches long (or longer) and covered with velvety hairs.  When the flower stalk emerges, leaves cling directly to the stalk – there are no side branches.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY GOT TO 

COMMONSENSE HOME

Food Preservation - Choosing a Method - Cabbages

Our ancestors devised many methods of preserving their harvest out of necessity.  They did not have the luxury of having fresh food shipped, sometimes thousands of miles, to the grocery nearest them.  Nor did they have freezers that would hold the food cold for months at a time (except in the coldest climates where it was kept in attics or outside).

Food Preservation includes many different methods:  Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating, Cooked and Frozen as meals, Smoking, and Fermenting to name a few.  When choosing a method or methods to use for a particular fruit or vegetable coming out of your garden or bought bulk at your local farmers market you have to decide how you are going to use this product and primarily how you prefer to eat it.  There is no sense dehydrating everything if you don't like reconstituted dried foods or canning if you hate, well canned peas for example.  Sometimes the way you use that particular food will dictate how you preserve it.

Eggs - New Layers Growing in our Chicken Tractor

Our current layers are Red Star Link Hybrids.............they are horrible.  Burned out fast, don't lay in hot or cold weather and I SHOULD HAVE KNOW BETTER but I needed some chickens fast and they were purchased at 5 months old and ready to lay.

Preserving The Harvest 101

PRESERVING THE HARVEST: Food Preservation has many faces and we are going to introduce you to one of them. Whether you are a beginner or need a refresher you'll love our quick and simple Canning Class.

What you'll learn to make:

1. A simple Jam
2. Dilly Beans
3. Amish Sweet & Sour Pickles

We'll give you recipes, introduce you to necessary equipment and you'll actually take something home to enjoy.

Grandma Farmer (Jean Gesch Slocum) has been canning for approximately 52 years, starting beside her mother who worked during the day and canned into the night.

Class Fee is $35, please bring a sack lunch. We will eat outside and tour the gardens.

Class Time: 9 am - 2 pm

SPACE IS LIMITED!!!! Pre-register by sending class fee via Paypal to gramafarmer at gmail.com or giving to Jean Directly and indicate you are coming. We can only work with 4-6 people in the kitchen as it is. All proceeds to towards building our commercial farm kitchen!

Class will be held in my country farm kitchen at the farm near Dunbar.

My Favorite Dish/Wash Cloth Fund Raiser

This is my favorite cloth for Dishes.  It will not only scrub but it dries quicker and doesn't get mildewy as fast during hot summer days.  Many folks love these SPA CLOTHS because they are made from 100% cotton and are gentle on your skin!  However you use them be sure to get some of your own today!

Amish Sweet Dill Pickles

This is a favorite at our house!  We always make them with cucumbers but note that they can also be made with zucchini.  I always chunk up the cucumbers so larger ones can be used and seeded.

Amish Sweet Dill Pickles

Bring to a boil: 3 Cups sugar, 2 Tablespoons salt, 2 Cups pure apple cider vinegar, 2 Cups water.

Place in each pint jar (about 4 pint jars): sliced cucumbers or zucchini,

1 whole garlic clove, 1 dill sprig (1 teaspoon of dill weed is about the same as 4 dill sprigs)

Pour liquid into jars. Seal. Process about 15 minutes in steam canner.

Allow the pickles to cure for a month before eating! 

Plantain - Your Grandmothers Knew How to Use it!

From Alternative Nature Online Healer:

Plantain Medicinal Properties and Herbal Use

Plantain is edible and medicinal, the young leaves are edible raw in salad or cooked as a pot herb, they are very rich in vitamin B1 and riboflavin. The herb has a long history of use as an alternative medicine dating back to ancient times. Being used as a panacea (medicinal for everything) in some cultures, one American Indian name for the plant translates to “life medicine.” And recent research indicates that this name may not be far from true! The chemical analysis of Plantgo Major reveals the remarkable glycoside Aucubin. Acubin has been reported in the Journal Of Toxicology as a powerful anti-toxin. There are many more highly effective constituents in this plant including Ascorbic-acid, Apigenin, Baicalein, Benzoic-acid, Chlorogenic-acid, Citric-acid, Ferulic-acid, Oleanolic-acid, Salicylic-acid, and Ursolic-acid. The leaves and the seed are medicinal used as an antibacterial, antidote, astringent, antiinflammatory, antiseptic, antitussive, cardiac, demulcent, diuretic, expectorant, haemostatic, laxative, ophthalmic, poultice, refrigerant, and vermifuge.
Medical evidence exists to confirm uses as an alternative medicine for asthma, emphysema, bladder problems, bronchitis, fever, hypertension, rheumatism and blood sugar control. A decoction of the roots is used in the treatment of a wide range of complaints including diarrhoea, dysentery, gastritis, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, haemorrhage, haemorrhoids, cystitis, bronchitis, catarrh, sinusitis, coughs, asthma and hay fever. It also causes a natural aversion to tobacco and is currently being used in stop smoking preparations. Extracts of the plant have antibacterial activity, it is a safe and effective treatment for bleeding, it quickly stops blood flow and encourages the repair of damaged tissue. The heated leaves are used as a wet dressing for wounds, skin inflammations, malignant ulcers, cuts, stings and swellings and said to promote healing without scars. Poultice of hot leaves is bound onto cuts and wounds to draw out thorns, splinters and inflammation. The root is said to be used as an anti-venom for rattlesnakes bites. Plantain seeds contain up to 30% mucilage which swells in the gut, acting as a bulk laxative and soothing irritated membranes. The seeds are used in the treatment of parasitic worms. A distilled water made from the plant makes an excellent eye lotion.

For information on how to use and infuse some plaintain for medical purposes, make salves and more, Go to this link for great instruction:

10 Ways To Love Your Liver

Liver, love it or leave it! We are going to give you some links to some great liver recipes today that may just change your mind about liver.....or at least give you the ability to consume it more pleasantly at least twice a month.

The health benefits of eating healthy liver are outstanding!  One of which it the generous amounts of Omega 3's it contains (see this post on Omega 3's and Depression).  The Weston Price Organization suggests you consume it every week.......we thing every other week might be enough and it's sure to be cheaper than a good piece of Salmon. For the recipe pictured go to: http://heritageharvesthome.blogspot.com/2013/07/liver-onions-with-bacon-and-sage.html

Here at Heritage Harvest Home(stead) we offer liver in 1/2 pound packages from our grass-fed beeves.  CONTACT US on how you can purchase some!


First Note of Caution!



We believe that liver should only be consumed from a organically grown (doesn't have to be certified) beef, lamb, goat or chicken so that it does not contain toxic substances.

Introducing Our Newest Farm Members

Our granddaughter, Gabby, who lives with us now, didn't know quite what to think when grandpa put her on top of the new 2 week old calf that joined us this last week.  All our calves come from a grass-based dairy.  This one is half Angus and half Guernsey.  He is eating goat milk and thriving on it!  This little guy will be raised on grass and milk only until fall of 2014, it's never to early to order your quarter or half beef.

Liver & Onions with Bacon and Sage

Love your Liver!

see original post at http://ediblearia.com/2009/07/23/not-your-average-liver-and-onions/

Pastured beef liver fried with bacon, just-dug onions, brown mushrooms and fresh sage leaves brings this inexpensive, nutritional powerhouse back to the dinner table.  Even the kids will dig it.

Select only the freshest, pastured beef liver, never the frozen feed-lot stuff from the supermarket.  Cut into 1/2 strips and lightly dredge in sprouted flour seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper.  Set aside.

Fry uncured, pastured bacon until crisp and all the fat has rendered out.

Add sliced onions and continue to cook until well browned.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon grease and reserve for another use.

Add 2 tablespoons pastured butter to the hot pan and swirl to combine with the remaining bacon fat.

Add sliced brown mushrooms (I like the dark, earthy-flavored varieties) and sauté until they begin to crisp on the edges.

Make sure that the skillet is still good and hot, then add strips of floured liver and coarsely chopped fresh sage and flat-leaf parsley.  Cook until well browned, turn and brown on the other side.

Arrange on a plate, drizzle with pan juices and enjoy.

Pan-fried beef liver is a good source of Iron and Zinc, and a very good source of Protein (approx. 22g per 4oz), Vitamin A, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12,Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Copper and Selenium.

This post is part of the Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet