I had about a half a pound of ground grassfed beef in the freezer. It really wasn’t enough to make burgers, and Roberto has been craving meatballs lately. So I decided to make some pasta with red sauce and mini meatballs.

In my constant quest for pasta that is good for you, and doesn’t make me symptomatic, I came across another option from DeBoles– my favorite pasta company. Most of their pastas are made with a flour other than or in addition to wheat. I have had 100% corn (my favorite), and a Jerusalem artichoke/semolina mix, and now Ancient Grain. Ancient Grain is a mixture of organic spelt, quinoa and amaranth, along with organic whole grain semolina and organic whole grain durum. It packs 32 grams of whole grains per serving, and cooks up just like regular pasta.

Due to my issues with grains, I don’t cook pasta very often. But every once in a while it is nice to have a nice steaming bowl of pasta with red sauce, and for those occasions, I am thankful that I have these ready made pastas available. When I eat it, I try to eat more sauce than pasta, actually!

I wanted to make a nice sauce to go with it. Roberto, being Italian and a lover of pasta, does eat it more often than I do. For those occasions, he goes with a nice local organic jarred sauce. There was about a half a jar left of sauce in the fridge and a ¾ can of tomato paste. So this is a leftover queen recipe for sure! I added to those the mini meatballs, onions, garlic, wine and dried porcini mushrooms from Marx Foods. There is a giveaway of these porcini mushrooms (and morels) going on over at The Foodie Blogroll this month. So if you haven’t commented over there to win, please do! The mushrooms are excellent and added an amazing depth of flavor to my sauce with a mere pinch or two of the small broken bits and powder at the bottom of the bag. The sauce turned out dark and thick, perfect for coating the penne. With a nice crumble of soft goat cheese and a quick grate of Parmiggiano cheese on top, it was a great and extremely flavorful winter meal.

The other wonderful thing about this dish besides the wonderful flavor, is that it is also extremely inexpensive and would serve a family nicely with a side salad. This is a great way to stretch your grassfed beef, if you are worried about cost. This dish serves 4, and was about $1.75 per serving.

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(Jenn with Rocio of Applecheek Farm AT Applecheek Farm)

Recently when we were in Vermont finalizing some things before the big move this April, we were able to take in another wonderful Localvore Dinner at Applecheek Farm. We went to our first Localvore Dinner when we were in Vermont last November, and it was a fun night filled with great food and music. So we were looking forward to being able to attend another one during this visit to Northern Vermont.

Between the months of November and February, I have become Twitter and Facebook buddies with the folks at Applecheek, and have really enjoyed getting to know Rocio and John better through our internet connection, at the dinners, and during frequent stops to the farm when we have been in town. The internet is really an amazing tool for networking with other people who are passionate about the same things you are, and those Applecheekers are certainly passionate about local, sustainable agriculture, something I am becoming increasingly passionate about. Roberto and I are looking forward to learning more about the farm, and all the wonderful things they offer there once we are living in Vermont.

Going to Localvore Dinners at Applecheek is a way to meet and chat with your neighbors while dining on foods produced locally by your neighbors. This time we had a great time meeting Rocio and John’s children, as well as some other neighbors doing interesting things, like Nathan of FollowNathan.org(definitely check him out – he rode almost 5,000 across country on a bike learning about sustainable agriculture – talk about cool neighbors!). There is always local music, and before the dinner starts, there is always a short talk about what is new at the farm, and new in agriculture that affects everyone, both locally and at the national level. This last evening we were happy to hear that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) bill was not passed and to learn more about the Consumer-Farmer Alliance that is working together to keep sustainable agriculture alive while giving the consumer(as opposed to the government) the right to decide what products (like raw milk products) they want to purchase from local farms. It is always informative and a great way to learn more about how you can participate in Farm to Table initiatives.

As interesting as those talks always are, we all look forward to the delicious food that Chef Jason from JDC (Just Delicious Catering) cooks up!!! Applecheek is a real family farm and has been in the Clark family for generations. Chef Jason is the brother of John. John runs the farm operations and Jason is the chef!

On this night the menu was the following:

* Homemade Kimchee made with veggies from the chef’s garden – I found it perfectly spiced and crunchy

* Poutine – a French Canadian specialty of French fried potatoes and homemade gravy with cheese curds from just across the border (literally 20 miles) in Quebec. This was the BIG hit of the night. Our whole table was talking about it.

* Root Vegetable Cassoulet made with veggies from the chef’s garden – Delicious!

* VT Soy Tofu Skewers marinated in Rock Art Brewery Beer (made one town over) and spices – I didn’t try it, due to my soy allergy, but it looks like others enjoyed it!

* Turkey Casserole with Herb and Cheddar Crust made from Applecheek Farms turkey and veggies from the chef’s garden – fantastic! I am a HUGE fan of Applecheek’s turkeys ***

* Cheddar Ale Soup – chock full of delicious farm fresh potatoes and local cheese

* Carrot Cake with Crème Fraîche Icing – a wonderful way to end the night with a nice glass of raw milk!

* Farm fresh Raw Milk, Hot Apple Cider and Water to drink

You can also BYO to the Applecheek dinners. Roberto and I decided to try a bottle of Otter Creek’s Russian Stout. Otter Creek is a brewery in Middlebury VT. It is a historic beer that was made in England especially for the Russian Czars. It is a beautiful robust and dark beer with distinct chocolate notes. It was a great choice with this wonderfully hearty winter dinner.

There was a pretty big snowstorm up on the hill that night and the wind was blowing in gusts as you looked out the windows during dinner. But the hall was warm, full of music, laughter and the perfect comfort foods, keeping the chill out.

We had a great night chatting with everyone at our table, and even got the opportunity at the end of the night to enjoy some of John’s homebrew – a wonderful fermented maple sap drink that he made using ancient brewing techniques. Something I am also interested in trying my hand at somewhere down the road.

My wheels are turning – I am thinking perhaps making elderberry mead from our own bees and elderberries (that we still don’t have, but hopefully will one day)….but that is what happens when you are out in the country, your life has more space for learning new hobbies and skills, and the sky is the limit.

Cooler temperatures really do require comforting and hearty foods. Sometimes the simplest of ingredients can truly make the most satisfying of meals. Plus you don’t have to sacrifice good nutrition or big bucks in the process. Those are all qualities of a winning meal in my book!

I am a big fan of beans. I really could eat them everyday, they are so versatile and packed with nutrients. But, I know not everyone likes beans as much as I do…I had some leftover cooked Borlotti beans from Rancho Gordo that I got in San Francisco during the Foodbuzz Food Blogger’s Festival.  I needed to use them up, so I asked Roberto how he would like them to be prepared. He asked for “Cowboy Beans”. This comes from his growing up in Italy and watching old American Westerns on TV. In many of the movies, there were scenes of cowboys eating baked beans from a can. So as a child he always wanted to know what those cowboy beans tasted like. He tells me that he never imagined them tasting as good as when I make them. What a sweet husband I have.

I love baked beans, and we make them often at home. My grandmother was famous for her beans. I guess it is a family thing!

My most recent rendition of cowboy beans also included carrots, and potatoes, to stretch the recipe and make extra for leftovers. I slow cooked them with smoked polish sausage. A perfect winter time meal!

INGREDIENTS:

1 strip of bacon, chopped
½ a large onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small potatoes, chopped
4 small carrots, chopped
1 cup of leftover beans
1 can of tomato paste
1 empty tomato paste can full of water
dash of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 TBS maple sugar or syrup
salt & pepper to taste
1 package of smoked Polish sausage (or any kind of sausage), cut into smaller chunks

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a dutch oven, or large oven proof pot add the bacon and brown. Add onion, garlic, potatoes and carrots, and sautee for about 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly. Once the veggies are getting browned, add the beans, tomato paste, water, BBQ sauce, maple and seasoning. Stir until veggies are coated with the sauce. Then add the sausage and put the lid on the pot. Cook at 350 for about an hour. Check to see if more liquid needs to be added. If so, add more water – and then check your seasoning. Cook for another 30 minutes. You can keep the pot simmering at a lower temperature, like 200 F, to keep warm until you are ready to serve. Just keep checking your liquid amounts.

Serves 4 big portions. Less than $3 per serving.

Today I want to share with you my consistent kitchen disaster: Pancakes! I know, it is funny to imagine that anybody could have a pancake disaster, but I am here to confess that making pancakes has always brought disastrous results for me in the kitchen.

If I make them from a mix, things go pretty well, even if I soak that mix overnight. But if I try to make them from scratch using the same ingredients that are in the mix, things just get really screwy. Why? You tell me.

Recently I bought some buckwheat flour. Most of the Buckwheat Pancake mixes have some whole wheat flout in them, and even though I soak the mix overnight, I wanted to make a pancake that was truly wheat and rice free. I tried to make the recipe that was on the back of the package of flour, which called for whole wheat flour. Instead, I substituted coconut flour for the wheat. The recipe required overnight soaking, which I thought was great, since I do that anyway. It also used yeast, which I thought was weird…but I followed the directions, and then added some kefir (in the amount of water that was asked). I fear that is where I went wrong. I reckon that the yeast and bacteria in the kefir battled it out against each other all night and ended up killing each other off.

In the morning, the batter was really dry and had a funny almost fluffy consistency. So I added some water. The batter just kept soaking up the water, never reaching a thinner consistency. It was looking funky, so I added an egg, since most pancake recipes call for eggs – and I thought it might help the batter with the consistency and at least bind it all together, so I could cook them up.

I heated up my cast iron pan, added some butter to the pan, and tried to make a pancake. All it did was burn on the outside and remain raw inside. I tried again and again, but all I managed to do was smoke up the kitchen (setting off the fire alarms and everything), and allow frustration to set in.

I generally am not a pancake fan, preferring savory breakfasts, but sometimes I get a craving for them. Due to my problems digesting grains, I need to soak the flour, which means I have to wait until the next day to actually make the pancakes. So by the next morning, I really want them! So when I use all these ingredients to make the batter, and have to wait and it still doesn’t work out, it is upsetting and extremely frustrating!!!! It’s not like I can just whip up a new batch and try again…I would have to wait another day!

So I wanted to turn this disaster into a positive experience. I poured all the leftover batter into the cast iron skillet and threw it in the oven, hoping to make a pan-cake out of it. It baked at 350 F for almost 2 hours before the middle was cooked through. I took it out, and tried a bite. It was so bad, I literally could not swallow it. I had to spit it out, and dump the whole mess into the compost bin (the nice little blue bin in the photo). Un-salvageable DISASTER.

So I am asking all of my faithful readers, especially those who are into traditional foods and gluten free cooking: Do you have a recipe for a non-wheat, non-rice pancake or crepe that can be soaked with kefir or yogurt over night, that tastes great and is easy to make the next morning?

Help! I am desperate!!!

On another note, please remember that through the end of this month, all the proceeds of the sale of my e-book – The Secret Energy of Love Through Food will be going to Haiti Relief efforts. You only have a few days to take advantage of this sweet deal!

(Sunshine with Toad Hollow Goat Milk Caramel and Mary Joy with none other than Ben & Jerry’s!)

As many of you know, I am part of a fabulous group of ladies, who love food, in Saint Augustine. Every month we hold an all out foodie event, that we call, Ladies Supper Club. Each month, on a rotating basis, one of us hosts and picks the theme or main dish for the month, then each of the women is assigned a dish – welcome cocktail, appetizer, soup or salad, veggie side, non-veggie side, dessert and wine. We let our creative juices flow, and come to the dinner with dishes based on our best interpretation of the theme. We have had some really memorable themes, like Blueberries, Cooking with Julia Child, Tamale Fiesta, etc. I really love spending time with these ladies each month and seeing what creations everyone comes up with. We all lead busy lives, and it is nice to have scheduled time to come together each month, and spend time finding out what has been going on in each others’ lives over the last month. I am really going to miss these ladies when we move to Vermont. Ladies Supper Club was a great way for me to meet some wonderful women in Saint Augustine. Who knows, maybe I will start one, in the Great White North.

In January, it was my turn to host. Last January, I hosted a Moroccan inspired meal, which I was happy to learn was memorable for the ladies. We had a great time feasting on spiced foods, and worked off some of the meal later by blasting the music, and having an impromptu bellydancing dance party!

This month, in honor of our upcoming move to Vermont, I decided to make the theme none other than Vermont. I have an awesome cookbook called Dishing Up Vermont 145 Authentic Recipes from Green Mountain State, by Tracey Medeiros. The book contains 145 authentic recipes from the Green Mountain State. Contributors are various restaurant proprietors, chefs, bed & breakfast owners and farmers who are all inspired by the bounty of food available in this beautiful state. This is a cookbook of local and seasonal foods. Something I am very passionate about. So I decided to choose a recipe from this book for Ladies Supper Club.

(Brie Stuffed Chicken, with a Pear and Cider Sauce – and Apple Pie for dessert!!!)

The dish I choose to prepare was Brie-stuffed Chicken Breasts in Pear and Cider Sauce. This dish is from The Dorset Inn. I was really intrigued by the flavors, and you can never go wrong with Brie, especially in my Supper Club group! I sent my choice for a main dish around to all the girls a few weeks in advance, and looked forward to what everyone would bring to dinner!

(Old Vermont Cocktail)

When the ladies got to my house, they were all carrying bags of food! For our welcome cocktail we had a maple syrup and bitters cocktail, which was reminiscent of curry (weird, but actually quite tasty). To eat along with the cocktails we had a yummy brie dip, the recipe from a Vermont B & B. The soup was a cheddar ale. We had delicious roasted root veggies and fresh baked rolls to accompany the chicken. For dessert, homemade apple pie with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (3 flavors) and Toad Hollow Goat’s Milk Caramel ( This is to die for!).

It was another great evening! Thanks ladies!

* Also, don’t forget to SPREAD THE LOVE THIS MONTH, purchase a copy of my e-book – The Secret Energy of Love Through Food! All proceeds during the month of February will go to Haiti Relief!

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This is a great dish to serve your loved one(s) for Valentine’s day. The flavors are unique, as are some of the ingredients which makes it a special kind of meal. Yet at the same time it is quite easy to prepare – the oven does most of the work. It is like fancied soul food.

Lately, I have been trying to familiarize myself with artisan brews. For years, like a lot of people, I thought I just didn’t like beer. But I have come to find that once in a while, I do enjoy a bit of the bubbly. I prefer unique brews, generally dark porters and stouts, and I love British style hard cider (which isn’t beer either…), but sometimes a lighter beer catches my fancy. I have always been fascinated with the Ancient world, especially in Northern Europe. The myths, stories and legends of Scotland, England, Ireland, Brittany in Northern France, and Scandinavia have always been my favorites. Of course due to my food obsession, I have also been curious about ancient feasts – the foods and cuisines.

Years ago I found an amazing ale, the likes of which has been made in Scotland for over 4,000 years. This ale is brewed with heather flowers and Scottish malt and has a very floral flavor. It is quite refreshing and crisp, and goes really well with roasted chicken. It can also be enjoyed on it’s own, or with really earthy cheeses, like raw cow or sheep milk cheeses, which often have a grassy quality to them.

In light of recently finding out a bit more about my biological ancestry, I decided that it would be fun to start exploring more of the foods and dishes of Northern Europe (perhaps that explains my long held fascination with that area of the world, and its history). I also happened upon a pack of Fraoch, Scottish Heather Ale,and felt inspired to make roasted whole chicken legs and root veggies with a heather ale sauce. In honor of our upcoming move to Vermont, I also added some maple syrup to enhance the sweetness of the ale, and used Herbs de Provence to enhance the floral qualities. I can honestly say the result was one of the best dishes I have made in a while. If I had known how good this was going to be, I would have made it for Valentine’s Day. It is definitely special enough for that. Thank you kitchen muses for this wonderful meal! Sometimes, hobbies and interest outside of the kitchen, can really inspire us, IN the kitchen. This dish is certainly a testament to that.

For dessert, be sure to try my Spicy Mayan Hot Chocolate . It is a recipe from my e-book The Secret Energy of Love Through Food .

Here is a sweet way that you can give a little this Valentine’s Day – I will be giving all the proceeds for the book, during the month of February, to blogger efforts on behalf of Haiti relief.

Half will go to H2Ope for Haiti (a way to raise funds to supply water to Haiti by BloggerAid-CFF) and the other half will go to

Stir It  28 for Haiti

So please buy a copy today!  And please spread the word! This is a perfect cookbook  for Valentine’s Day and any day to share a delicious meal with any loved one!

You can also send a donation directly to Stir It 28 by going to Bren’s blog There is a Paypal donation box on the upper right hand side and to H2ope for Haiti by going to this Justgiving Page .

Recipe under the cut…

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In my last post I talked about how you can eat organic and healthy on the cheap. If you missed that post, please check it out for some tips and links to some great recipes – that do not take a lot of effort in the kitchen, but will be much more nutritious, and less expensive for you than fast food or freezer meals!

Here is an awesome recipe for a lentil loaf – made with leftovers and pantry staples. This was a truly great meal, especially for this time of year, when we are yearning for comfort food, that “sticks to your ribs”. The flavors were really good in the loaf – bringing lentils to life with the addition of zing from sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers. Adding a delicious and savory sauce for on top, takes this meal from humble to fantastic! I served it w/ sautéed dinosaur kale with onions, garlic and a sprinkle of fresh meyer lemon juice.

This is a great vegetarian meal for those who don’t normally eat vegetarian – or for your veggie friends! It is also gluten-free. So I hope you enjoy it! Here’s to great health and great food!

For the next few weeks I am going to be focusing on some other real life things and projects. I am still around, and plan to keep posting, but maybe not as regularly as usual.

Lentil Loaf with Sweet Tomato Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups red lentils, sprouted and cooked until tender
(why do I soak/sprout? )
½ small yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TBS olive oil
salt & pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp dried thyme
½ cup, shredded cheddar and parmesan, tightly packed
1 egg, scrambled
¼ cup jarred roasted red peppers, chopped
2 TBS sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
1 TBS dijon or spicy mustard

For sauce:
½ can tomato paste
splash of red wine
1 TBS maple syrup or sugar
pinch of dried thyme
salt & pepper

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a skillet sauté onion, carrot and garlic in olive oil until tender. In a large bowl mix veggies with lentils and all the other loaf ingredients. Place in a lightly oiled (or buttered) loaf pan. Cook loaf for about 30-40 minutes, until heated through.
While the loaf is cooking, make the sauce. In a small saucepan, stir all ingredients together, and cook over medium heat until cooked through. Serve spooned over top of sliced pieces of the loaf. Serves 4 (large potions).

Shepard’s pie has got to be one of the most comforting meals around. I love this dish, and this is THE BEST one I have ever made. The most rewarding thing for me, since I have started cooking exclusively with Happy Meat, and local and organic vegetables, is when I make simple dishes like this, that I have always loved and made a billion times before, and realize how much better it tastes when you are using the freshest and best ingredients you can find.

Ingredients really do matter – not just in terms of health, but also in terms of taste. It really does take it up to a whole new level. I can attest to this, because even Roberto, can taste the difference. He will marvel at how good it tastes, and wonder how it can be so, since I used the same ingredients – and then he will realize that it is because the quality of the ingredients have changed since the last time I have made this. Lately he has been saying that everything I cook is the best thing he has ever tasted! Now, I know I am a good cook, but I can’t take all the credit.

Making a dish like Shepard’s pie, doesn’t take much effort – and the cost is minimal – even when you use the best of ingredients. All it costs you is about 10 – 15 minutes of prep time. The rest of the work is done in the oven, or on the stovetop, where you don’t have to do anything, but smell how good it is!

This meal is less than $3 per person – and that is with a hefty man-sized portion. Less than a fast food meal, or something out of a box or a bag – way better for you too, and I guarantee a thousand times tastier. Even your kids will love this one! This meal can serve six, but Roberto and I ate half each – divided over 2 meals – and that was under $3 per serving. Seriously.

Treat yourself to something good and hearty tonight!

INGREDIENTS:

5 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks – I used Idahos
water
butter
cream

8 oz. of reserved potato water
1 tsp better than bouillon, beef
(or you can use 8 oz. Homemade beef stock)
splash of wine or stout beer
1 TBS non-GMO cornstarch

1 lb of grassfed ground beef
2 carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 small onion peeled and cut into small chunks
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup of mixed leftover roasted potatoes (sweet and white)
handful of corn
handful of peas
sage
thyme
salt & pepper
Malt vinegar

METHOD:

Boil the potatoes until tender. Reserve 8 oz.of potato water. Hand mash potatoes with butter and cream, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

If using better than bouillon instead of homemade, in a small saucepan, mix potato water and bouillon, and stir together. Heat over medium, and add a splash of red wine, or stout. Whisk in 1 TBS of corn starch, and keep whisking over heat until gravy thickens. Then set aside.

In a cast iron skillet place ground beef, carrots, onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until eat begins to brown, and veggies start to soften. Then add your leftover veggies, corn, peas, and spices. Mix together. Pour gravy over top, and stir. Then dollop the mashed potatoes on top and spread evenly over the top of the other ingredients. Sprinkle a hearty bit of malt vinegar over top for that real pub taste!

Enjoy!