I am taking a brief blogging break to spend some quality time with my family on the West Coast.  Sometimes there is nothing better than disconnecting from the internet and reconnecting with family!

Once things settle down here I will be back to work in the apple orchard and back to my old shenanigans! Please don’t leave me!

Cheers to a happy and healthy 2012!

This is my absolute favorite picture of Henry.  It pretty much sums up how I want to feel all year long.  What a dog!

See you all very soon!

No, we are not getting another dog.  But, Taylor and I are about to be an aunt and uncle for the very first time!

I am heading out first thing in the morning to Portland, OR to be with my family.  I can’t wait!

Blogging will be a bit erratic for a few days.  But I will be cooking with my mom and preparing meals for my sister and brother-in-law so recipes will still come!

Hopping for an uneventful flight and I will see you all from the West Coast!

We enjoyed a nice weekend with family and friends.  It was wonderful.

Of course we all feel a little bit like this now:

Too much food and wine can take it out of us all.  We are pooped.

Even Henry had a great holiday.  New toys all over the place!

Thanks for the package Lizzie!

Now we are all resting up for the next big event.  New Years!

Alright, lets be honest. I am not much of a New Years girl.  But I am a champagne and appetizer girl so I can usually rally and go to a party.

And with the easy appetizer I have shown below, it is worth staying up till midnight for.  Trust me.

Bacon wrapped stuffed dates!!!

These puppies scream holiday party appetizer and are worth getting dressed up and leaving the house for.

Heck, they are even worth taking a night off of being a vegetarian.  They are that good!

The best part about the recipe below is that you can make as many or as little of these guys as you want.  It doesn’t matter!  But you should probably make a lot.  They disappear quickly.

All you do is this:

Preheat oven to 375.

Slice whole pieces of bacon into thirds. Set aside.

Slice pitted dates in half and stuff with cheese.  We used gruyere but you could use goat, blue, or whatever you fancy.

Once dates are stuffed put them back together and wrap a piece of the bacon around them.  Secure with a tooth pick.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes.  Take out of the oven and flipped.  Bake for another 5-10 minutes checking to make sure it isn’t burning.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Hope you enjoy the appetizer.

Now I have to get back to my boys.  Movie night.

Did you know that if you start with a can of chickpeas your meal will be amazing?!

It will.  Trust me.

We are busy trying to eat everything in our pantry/refrigerator because we are not going to be eating many meals at home over the holiday.

So in an effort to avoid the grocery store and use everything we have I have been forced to be creative.  And guess what, being creative in the kitchen is really fun.

This lovely photo is a picture of our last meal.  Chickpeas with broccoli, cauliflower, and bacon.  Yep, bacon made an appearance and almost stole the show.  But to be honest, the real highlight was the chickpeas.  Amazing.

This is a great meal to make using everything you’ve got at home.  You can substitute any of the veggies or bacon for whatever you have.  The lesson here is that a can of chickpeas can go a long way.

Here is what I did:

Chopped up some broccolie

Chopped up some cauliflower,

diced up some bacon

diced up a yellow onion

diced up 6 cloves of garlic

Pinch of dried oregano

a few pinches of crushed red pepper

salt and pepper

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

I first cooked up my chopped bacon.  While that was cooking I steamed my broccoli and cauliflower for a few minutes.  Just until they were crisp tender. Then I removed my bacon from the pan. I added the onion to the bacon fat and Sauteed for a few minutes.  Add the garlic.  Add the oregano and crushed red pepper. Stir.  Add the chickpeas and veggies.  Stir in the bacon.  Remove from heat when everything is heated through.

Serve with some parmesan cheese and a glass of wine.  Delicious.

I am heading out the door to grab a Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks.  Call me crazy, but I love those things. It’s almost Christmas after all, so I feel it is necessary to treat myself.  If you haven’t tried one get ready for a sugar rush.  They are great!

Happy Friday!

It’s cold out there!

I guess winter has finally arrived in New England.  We drove to the beach on Saturday afternoon and there was actually snow covering the sand.  I have never seen such a thing!

Henry even got in the water.  Crazy dog!

You could not have paid me to get in the ocean.  We saw surfers out in wet suits,  but I still can’t imagine being in water that cold!

Not only was it cold over the weekend, but this morning I laced up my running shoes and did a chilly 10 mile run through Concord.  It has been  a long time since I have run in cold weather.  It’s going to take some getting used to!

Not only was my run chilly, but pruning apple trees this afternoon was not much warmer.

To be honest, pruning apple trees is one of my least favorite chores on the farm.  The loppers are heavy, the trees can be a total mess, and the ladders can be slippery.  The funny thing is, I miss getting my hands dirty!  I love digging, planting, harvesting, anything that involves dirt.  The apple trees, not so much.  I am always afraid of breaking my neck up there!

But the good news is that so far I have a clean track record and I am hoping it will stay that way all winter.  We still have about 900 more trees to prune so I am crossing my fingers we get through them in one piece!

And as a reward for our cold hard work, I made us dinner.

Sweet potato and three bean soup!

Amazing.

This soup is the result of everything we had in our pantry.  I will do my best to give an accurate recipe.  I just added as I went.

1 chopped sweet onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can pinto beans, rinsed

1 can kidney beans, rinsed

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cans diced tomatoes in their juices

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

2 tbs tomato paste

2 tbs chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

3 cups fresh spinach

Directions:

Sautee your onion and garlic in some olive oil.  Add your sweet potatoes.  Cook about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.  Add your spices.  Stir.  Add beans, tomatoes, chicken broth and paste.  Bring to a boil.  Turn heat down and simmer for about an hour.  Taste test to see if you need to add anything.  Add spinach.  Serve warm over cooked brown rice.  Add sour cream and parsley to garnish!

Enjoy!

Baked chicken, instant netflix, and hot chocolate are all ingredients for a lovely night.

I know a lot of my friends are busy going out on the weekends, but lately we have been enjoying the company of our own living room.  Losers we may be, but we don’t care!

This weekend while I got busy in the kitchen Taylor built a roaring fire and browsed netflix for a fun movie.  Once dinner was ready we plopped down in front of the tv (we rarely eat in front of the tv so this was a nice treat) And enjoyed a delicious meal with a fun movie.

Baked chicken thighs, butternut squash puree, and a spinach salad.  A complete and healthy meal.

With a glass of red wine of course.  It was date night after all!

The movie we watched was actually a tv series.  We started the show Breaking Bad and now we can’t get enough of it.  We watched 3 episodes in one sitting (they are an hour each) and can’t wait to watch more.

Dessert was a unpictured cup of hot coco.  The perfect evening.

Off to bed early tonight.  I am running the Boston Marathon this April and training has started.  Long run in the morning before a day in the apple orchard.  Brrrrrr it’s going to be cold out there!

Have a great night!

And because I am feeling lucky to still be harvesting food off the farm I thought I would share a simple farm fresh dinner with you.

I can’t believe that it’s December and we are still eating leafy greens from right outside our front door! It’s crazy.

However, today Henry and I were on a mission. Not only were we in pursuit of leafy greens but we had something else on our minds.   Beets!  Yes, they are still out there.  And we went digging.  I was SO happy to find beautiful beets just waiting for my oven!

Okay, so they weren’t as beautiful as these beets.  This picture was taken earlier in the season, I forgot my camera on our walk.  But the beets Henry and I gathered were big just like these. However, the greens were not so healthy looking.

Not to worry though.  We didn’t need to use the beet greens since there is still plenty of kale thriving at the farm.

The meal below is just what the doctor ordered.  We feel strong and healthy thanks to fresh veggies in December!

Quinoa with roasted beets, kale, and goat cheese.

Amazing.

Here is what you need for two people:

5 roasted beets.  Quarted

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa.  (I cooked ours in vegetable broth which added a nice flavor to the whole meal)

1 bunch of kale, torn into bit sized pieces (sautéed)

crumbled goat cheese (maybe a 1/4 of a cup)

toasted walnuts for garnish

olive oil for drizziling

salt and pepper to taste

Throw all of your cooked veggies and quinoa together in a bowl.  Garnish with goat cheese, olive oil, toasted walnuts, salt and pepper.

Easy and delicious!

Now we are sitting on the couch all looking like this:

Too much of a good thing.

Enjoy your evening!

It’s not nearly as exciting, but hey, if you are bored with your regular lunch routine maybe this will give you another idea.

And it helps if you have friends with chickens.  Fresh eggs really make this meal!

This would be scrambled eggs with broccoli, string beans, and brussels sprouts.  Seasoned with hot pepper flakes, parmesan cheese,  salt and pepper.  Delicious.  With a side of toast of course.

It if filling, healthy and helps get us through an afternoon of pruning.

Nothing fancy, but if you need a change in your routine eggs is a fun one!

Off to work.  Have a great day.

The weather made it hard to believe Christmas in only a few weeks away.

Sunny and in the 50′s.  Totally weird.

But that didn’t stop us from getting into the spirit.  Taylor cut down a beautiful tree for his parents house.

Once we had my in-laws tree strapped to the car I got busy searching for our tree.

Since we basically live in a shoebox our tree needed to be on the small size.  And small it is.

But now that it is home and decorated with lights it really brightens up the place.  Even if it’s only 3 ft tall!

We had to put it up high because Henry lifted a leg as soon as he saw it in the house!  Yes he’s potty trained, but a tree in the house is apparently very confusing! I can’t blame him.

But isn’t it a lovely tree?

There are a lot of things about Christmas that I don’t like.  For example, shopping.  I hate Christmas shopping more than anything.  But I do love all the houses in town decorated with lights, wreathes, and of course trees.   And I love all the get-togethers that surround Christmas.  My favorite thing about this time of year is cooking in my kitchen with a glass of wine, Christmas music playing in the background, and a fire roaring in the living room.  It is wonderful.

Last night Taylor and I enjoyed a very simple meal of roasted veggies over couscous.

We roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and green beens in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Served over couscous with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper for a wonderfully simple meal.

Enjoy your Sunday.  And if you are out there Christmas shopping I should send you money and a list of things I need to get!!!!  Have a great day everyone.

Yes, it was a bit ridiculous. But hey, I married a skier.  If there was a few inches within driving distance we were there.

We hiked up a small section of a trail we have hiked in the past.  There wasn’t a ton of snow, but enough for a few turns.  It was worth the drive even if the skiing wasn’t great.

At least Henry was in Heaven.

Hey, we all played hookie and it was totally worth it!  The apple trees will be there tomorrow.  The snow however, I don’t think it will be there.

Now we are home and I am going to recreate this meal from when we were in Portland.  It was so good.  Definitely make this!