albemarle, nc

Month: November 2016

Thanksgiving Market!

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I have no  photos this week whatsoever so as usual just sub a horse.

I won’t be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers’ Market on 11/26 but I’ll be there tomorrow with a few of these: arugula, radishes, broccoli, parsley & mint, and a lot of kale, chard, and Carola, German Butterball and Peppermint potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat berries.

SPECIALS: Ground Beef  – Buy 5, Get 1 FREE.

I’ll have our grass fed, grass finished Angus beef in these cuts: Ribeyes, NY strips, filets, sirloins,  ground beef, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, oso bucco  short ribs, brisket, soup bones, liver,  eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts.

Lots of bologna, pastrami, corned beef & hot dogs for quick and easy dinners on Wednesday night!

We were making our list for Thanksgiving dinner and my sister says, there aren’t many vegetables on here. I was like VEGETABLES!? I GOT VEGETABLES 365!   Thanksgiving is for being thankful that you had them all year and now it’s time to celebrate by eating all the delicious Thanksgiving foods 🙂  that we only have  one day a year. At our house that’s homemade mac & cheese…my mom’s stuffing…brined + herb marinated turkey with wine & herb gravy.  Oh I’ll have my swiss chard too, but I’ll take that au gratin, with gruyere. And my sweet potatoes –  in the form of pies. Homemade cranberry sauce! Is it Thursday yet???

Most of it I grew, some of it my friends grew, and a few things came from the store – I mean we’re not ACTUAL pilgrims here. So I have 3 recipes to share! The first one is of course Sweet Potato Pie. This is the very best recipe of all the ones I have tried and everyone loves it. It’s also really good made with coconut oil and coconut milk instead of dairy. So:

1 lb sweet potato, baked until very soft and caramelized. I bake a 1 lb potato (or 4) (or two 2 lb potatoes  because double batches are easiest) (I need a whole pie for myself) the day before, at 450 for an hour, then turn off the oven and leave them in another hour +. Make the pies the next day.

Take off the peel and beat the sweet potato with 1/2 c softened butter til smooth. Add 1/2 c sugar, 1 shot of Southern Comfort in the bottom of a half-cup measure then fill with milk so 1/2 c liquid total, 2 eggs, dash cloves, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t vanilla. Beat til smooth. Pour into crust OR greased pie dish to make a crustless pie and bake at 350 for about an hour until a knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Enjoy with fresh whipped cream!

Now, Chard Gratin. Another Thanksgiving  exclusive here – hello creamy cheesy greens! We usually only make half of this recipe (2 lbs chard, etc and bake in a glass loaf pan). You need 4 lbs chard, 3 Tb butter,  small onion peeled and minced, 3 garlic cloves peeled and minced, 1 t salt, few turns fresh ground pepper, 1/4 t nutmeg, 2 T flour, 2 1/4 c milk, 5 oz Gruyere, shredded and divided.

Oven at 400. Wash chard, remove stems – save about 1/3 of the stems. Fill a large pot 3/4 with water and boil. Prepare and ice-water bath in a large bowl. Add chard to boiling water and blanch for 2-3 minutes, it will turn bright green. Transfer immediately to ice bath. Drain chard into a colander lined with a thin kitchen towel (like a flour sack towel). Gather the edges of the cloth and wring out as much water as you can, and you’ll have a firm ball of chard – put that on a cutting board and cut into 1″ sections lengthwise and then crosswise.

Dice reserved stems and cook with butter, onions, garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg over med heat 5 min. Add flour and cook 1 min, reduce to med-low and add milk, mixing well. Cook until thickened and bubbling – stir frequently. Add 3 oz gruyere. Stir until melted then turn off heat and add the chard. Pour into 1 1/2 qt dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake 15-20 min.

And the last one is Martha Stewart’s Cranberry Maple Jelly – a texture similar to the canned jelly, but homemade from real cranberries and maple syrup – so worth the extra effort. We usually make half the recipe and make it the day before. We save the cranberry mixture that is left after straining the jelly and use it in cocktails, or add it to  glasses of champagne,  or as a spread for leftover turkey sammys or as topping for stuff. Delish.

 

 

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I watches. Then I naps 🙂

See you tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

White dog. Red clay.

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Not a good look.

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow with a little broccoli, parsley, mint, Red Russian kale, rainbow chard, eggplant, sweet potatoes, potatoes: German Butterball, Peppermint, Carola bakers; wheat berries. And these:

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This is the time of year I make a craft 🙂 Tired of same old weeding and stuff. Need a creative endeavor so I don’t lose my will to live. Remember when I made those fall gourd faces? So cute. One year I make okra angel ornaments haha. But now! I’ve figured out how to make jewelry that I like to wear, and maybe I can sell some so  I can keep making more. We’ll see. This one’s aquamarine, I have 2 of those and a chrysoprase one and some other stuff.

SPECIALS: Ground Beef  – Buy 5, Get 1 FREE.

I’ll have our grass fed, grass finished Angus beef in these cuts: Ribeyes, NY strips, filets, sirloins,  ground beef, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, oso bucco  short ribs, brisket, soup bones, liver,  eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, and bologna, pastrami, corned beef,  & hot dogs made from 100% grass fed beef without any nitrates/nitrites.

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The last week of eggplant. We got a frost last night and a hard frost coming this weekend. Frost is a month late this year.

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All those white bales stacked up on the right are baleage, part of the cows’ feed for this winter.

Ok, see you guys tomorrow!

Save

Market Stuff for November 5.

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Hiya!

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow with a little bit of these things: hibiscus roselles for tea, green onions, parsley and mint. A lot of these things: baby turmeric, arugula, Red Russian kale, rainbow chard, eggplant, sweet potatoes, potatoes: German Butterball, Peppermint, Huckleberry Gold, Carola bakers; wheat berries and some garlic maybe.

SPECIALS: Ground Beef  – Buy 5, Get 1 FREE and Cube Steak is 20% off again, and NY Strip steaks are BOGO 50% off!

I’ll have our grass fed, grass finished Angus beef in these cuts: Ribeyes, NY strips, filets, sirloins, flat irons, flank, ground beef, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, oso bucco  short ribs, brisket, soup bones, liver,  eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, and bologna, pastrami, corned beef,  & hot dogs made from 100% grass fed beef without any nitrates/nitrites.

We’ve got calves everywhere! In the evenings they form a little gang and run around in the sunset kicking up heels while mommas yell for them to come back.

Love that. Also that’s it’s cool enough to enjoy them finally, and the horses.

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My young horse is very spirited 🙂

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My old horses take lots of naps.

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I went riding and took another along, just for fun. You know how I fancy mortal danger.

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Oh doesn’t that look nice? How sweet. Unfortunately after this ride I only have 2 lives left.

See you guys tomorrow!

 

 

 

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