HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Hey yall!!!  Goodness it is almost november!!   I sure hope tomorrow will be nice outside for all the kiddos to have fun trick or treating or going to halloween parties!!   I remember having snow and ice here one year for halloween and it was miserable!! 

So what did I do last week???  Well I made some new things like below this Martha Stewart recipe for a carmalyzed onion potato tart.  Ok NOT my favo but some of my customers really liked it.  I did however make it to my liking by omitting sliced taters and sauteed some fresh zucchini and garlic.  THAT was delish!!!  I will make that again!!

It is just pie dough, u can buy pie dough in the store but I love my old pie dough recipe.   Carmalzye your onions with a bit of salt and pepper.  On the pie dough spread some herbed cream cheese, the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of italian seasoning.  Which is basically equal parts of dried basil, oregano, parsley and a bit of salt and pepper.   Top cheese mix with (in my case) one sliced and sauteed zucchini, then onions and fold over edges.  I did do an egg warsh on the dough and a bit of sprinkled seasoning.  YUMMO!!

Parmesan topped foccacia loaves.  Just about ready to come out of the oven. 

And since It is almost halloween I thought I would add a couple of my handmade scarecrows. 

And punkin heads on sticks 

My favo pair of scarecrows.  I leave em up on my mantle year round!!  I need to make some for next year.  Maybe if I start now they will get done by oct next year!! LOL

So this week I have on my menu vegetable minestrone, creamy cauliflower soup, creamy tater soup with cheese, vegetable alfredo lasagna, a vegetable rice salad, some black olive sage baguettes, foccacia, lemon blueberry muffins, apple dumplings, butter crumb topped apple pie, fresh chunky maple applesauce, and a chicken n stuffing casserole bake.   So it should be a pretty busy mon tue getting these things ready.  Which is ok then I have market wed and thurs.  So friday and Sat are me days!! hopefully crafting days!!

Hope yall have a spooktacular day tomorrow!!

be back soon with pics!!

HUGS

Darlene

**dont forget if yall are near me I can deliver my chicken scratch gourmet items to ya***

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Beautiful fall days

WOW it has been just gorgeous this week!! A bit of rain but also sun and in the 60s!!   The news just said we could have sprinkles tomorrow thru monday each day but nice and dry today!! I wish this could last into november and then snow in december!!  LOL I put my order in but not too sure it will deliver but I tried!!  LOL
So this was a busy busy week so far and I am sure feeling it, today is our first winter market in South Haven at FOUNDRY HALL and tomorrow is our last thursday market in ALLEGAN!!  So that meant I only had mon and tues to get things ready instead of m-w this weeek.  Makes a huge difference but next week things will be calmer! 

I did some cranberry orange muffins

Chocolate brownies with peanut butter chips

And some cinnamon roll bread pudding.  I have to say I usually make some french bread for my bread puddings but decided to use my egg bread instead. OH MY GOSH! CAN U SAY SUPER YUMMO!! I will never never use just french bread ever again!!  LOL this was absolutely the bestest bread pudding I have ever made or eaten.  So rich buttery and amazing!!  I did make a creamy vanilla cinnamon sauce to heat up and pour over it.  I used our fresh eggs to make this bread and you can see the richness of fresh eggs in the color of the bread nice and creamy yellow/gold color. 

Fresh out of the oven!!  a bit crispy on top which was so good as is but then with the sauce on top oh my cinnamony goodness! 

Fresh from the oven cranberry muffins

On my csa list was chicken pot pies.  I did them with my flaky pie dough crust and some rosemary sprigs added.  These smelled so good!!  The filling is rotiserrie chicken, some local taters, onions, carrots, and zucchini squash.  and some herbs. 

I watched food network the other day and Sandra Lee's show had this potato carmalized onion tart that sounded good so I thought I would offer that.  Made up my flaky butery crust a bit thicker for these, there is a layer of herbed cream cheese spread ontop of crust, then top with thinly sliced taters and top with onions.  I also put a bit of italian seasoning on the top and a bit of parmesan cheese. 

They look pretty and had a good taste but I would change something next time just not sure what yet. 

Parmesan crusted foccacia loaves 

And I did up some vegetarian lasagna rolls.   Cooked noodles, then added some cooked fresh spinach mixed with ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and a bit of sour cream then added some of my homemade tomato sauce.  Rolled up and put ontop a bed of chopped tomatoes and sauce. 

They turned out good and I will make them again.  I did try them with fresh homemade noodles but they were way to soft to roll and just tore too easy so bought some organic ones at a local health food store and they worked alot better. 

My mom and I also made some baked ziti casseroles, butternut squash soup, harvest potato vegetable soup (which was really thick, flavorful and comforting) and some pumpkin muffins. 

Looking forward to next weeks menu I am thinking maybe some creamed spinach, ministrone, a chicken pasta dish and apple dumplings. 

If you are near us and want to order any of our menu options you can email me, or like us on facebook at chickenscratchfarm and I can arrange to bring it and meet you.

So I am off to get ready  to get to the kitchen early today since I am going to be at market this afternoon.

LOTS to do!!

Hope yall have a blessed day and I will be back soon with more goodies!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

week 4 csa options

This weeks options were: entrees= chicken rice casserole, pesto chicken pasta, vegetarian zucchini ricotta bake, apple stuffing stuffed acorn squash (pictured above) vegetarian stuffed pepers, carrot soup, and white chili

And here is the carrot soup.  I have to say I do love fresh carrots but I LOVE this soup.  This will be a recipe I am sharing for yall it is divine!!  Coconut milk makes it vegan also and lends a really smooth creamy flavor to this soup.  I added dried parsley to the recipe and also used crysallyzed ginger (which is really a nice flavor in here) 

The chicken rice casserole is really yummy with tostitos multi grain chips and the pesto pasta was really yummy too.

Local tomatoes, onions, zucchini and organic black and white beans

And some red velvet cake truffles dipped in white chocolate and accented with a bit of red swirl

Here's the chix rice casserole, I made it so we can try it out topped with some fresh chopped cilantro.  I really wanted to put a dollop of sour cream on top but actually for the first time ever didnt have any here at home.  I have 2 large tubs at the kitchen but none here! 

White chili soup. 

Next week we start our csa/winter market at Foundry Hall in South Haven on wed from 3-6pm.  Our summer markets are about over so it is time for indoor markets!! wish we would have been inside today, I took my orders to market and left due to the terrible winds and rain and it is darn right coldddddddddddddd!! BRRRRRRR!!  too early for this cold, but I did work in my craft studio on some micorscope slide ornaments for xmas and some painting on my smen signs for a consignment shop. YEAH!!

and I  have a fire in the furnace goin so it is nice and cozy in our little house.  =)  My boys are curled in a comforter on the couch next to me so all is good in the world right now!!  Hubby should be home anytime now.  I think we are having some acorn squash tonight and wellllllllllllllllllllll not sure what else but I do have bacon out so something with bacon for sure!! YUMMY!! 

Hope yall have a great evening!

Be back soon

HUGS!!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

windy windy day

No market today!  This is my first saturday all season to miss market!!  (except our vacation) due to weather.  It is so incredibly windy there is no way my things are going to survive so I will set up times to deliver the csa orders and then I think I am goin to work on some snowmen things I have been wanting to make!!  YEAH!! WOO HOO!! craftin time!  LOL  and maybe a nap with my boys today too. 
Yesterday was a full day at the kitchen too.  These cinnamon swirl buns were rising and boy did they rise!!

As u can see the rose nice above the top of the muffin pan.  Nice n light n fluffy too.

They are a bit plain so had to do the "farmgirl bling" thing!  A healthy drizzeling of a cinnamon vanilla glaze.

I had more orders of my tomato mushroom quiche so those got finished up.

I also made some cheese ravioli and a nice tomato basil sauce on top.  

Another view of the finished buns.    I talked with a friend of mine who owns Evergreen Lane Creamery, they make artisan goats milk cheeses along with other dairy products, and will be brining and offering that to my customers at markets and in my CSA this winter to see how it goes.  They make amazing goat cheese and I thought it would be fun to make some homemade crackers to go along with it or maybe some nice french bread baguettes.  YUMMY!!  She is taking a cheese cource in Vermont so will start that as soon as she gets back.  How exciting!!

Things are goin great with my csa program so I am just thrilled.  If you are near Fennville, Allegan or South Haven MI leave me a comment if you would like info on joining and recieving my newsletter emails.  My program is weekly, no committment no minimum orders.  I will be delivering this weekly thru the winter and also have some avaialble at my winter markets too.  I want it to be affordable for everyone.  I sure am havin a ball going thru all my old cookbooks digging thru my grandmothers books to find ideas.  And I am also offering at least one vegetarian option too. 

Hope yall have a wonderful weekend!   I am hoping to get a few things accomplished so will let yall know how that goes!! LOL

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

CSA workin wed

Hey everyone!!   WHEW!! What a wild wed it has been!!  This am I took my brother to his job, he volunteers with a job coach at Habitat for Humanity resale store.   He wipes things down and dusts shelves and so on.  His regular lady who he has had for umpteen years had to resign her position and we all miss her but I have taken on some of her things she did with him.   We had fun!!     when I got back it was time to get my butt to the kitchen and get things ready for tomorrow!!  This week's csa menu had the main entrees of :  tomato mushroom quiche with a cornbread crust and fresh thyme,  a pasta casserole with andouille sausage from Young Earth Farm and my homemade tomato sauce, our homemade cheese filled ravioli with a tomato basil sauce and then for bread options they had cheddar pepper bread or italian herb foccacia.

The filling chopped ingredients for quiche

Brought a couple dozen of our chicken eggs for the quiche  it took 22 eggs!!

The cornbread crust with a bit of fresh chopped thyme from Joe's herbs

Baked up and nice n golden

Cheddar pepper bread

nice and brown in the oven almost ready to pull it out!

my tomato basil noodles waiting for sauce

and there is the sauce

I thought it would look finished with a bit of farmgirl "bling"  LOL yepper it isnt just for baked goods!! LOL  some fresh chopped baby spinach and some parm bread crumbs 

I also got some double chocolate gooey butter cakes made, some pumpkin cake rolls filled with cream cheese filling, red velvet cake frosted with cream cheese frosting, red velvet cupcakes, pumpkin spice bread, pistachio bread, pumpkin muffins with cinnamon sugar tops, and the italian herb foccacia.  So WHEW!! I am one tired chic here.  NOW it is time to kick back and watch surviror and eat my wonderful supper my dear sweet hubby made.  We are having breakfast which is fine by me!! LOVE bacon, eggs, hash browns and my fresh cheddar bread!!
Have a wonderful evening!
HUGS
Darlene





~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Happy fall monday

Happy Happy day here!!  I am so doing a happy dance right now!!  Last week at market my necklace broke which had my silver heart charm on it my hubby bought me last year for our anniversary, it was special to me as he and our Bubba dog went to pick it up after being engraved with my boys names on it!!  As some of you know we lost our Bubba in feb this year and it just made me treasure it even more!  So this while goin thru my bags there it was on the bottom under some papers!!! WOO HOO!! YEE HAWW~ so happy happy now!

So here is a pumpkin guy I finally finshed up yesterday.  He is gonna greet customers in the farmstand but not for sale I like him too much to sell him!! LOL

This clump of trees is in our pasture and every fall it gives off such a wonderful show of color I had to take another pic of it! 

These are along the pasture just starting to change.

I made up some soft n chewy pumpkin cookies and topped them with a bit of "farmgirl" bling.  Some clear sugar crystals.

Glazed pumpkin latte cakes.

Smaller version of the pumpkin latte cake

And made some more of my pumpkin poke guys.  They are just too darn cute to stick around here and there.  I sold all of what I had at market so made up13 more. 

one more of my sweet punkin jack. 

It is gonna be another beautiful fall day here in the 70s so I am off to get my grocery shopping done and maybe head to the kitchen to get a few prep things done up.  I just really really want to stay at home and play outside with the boys ya know.  Oh well hope yall have a wonderful monday and will be back soon with more fun things!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~