Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts

Friday, June 15, 2012

Oh, you're so fresh!

Coming back to the house with Sydney from an appointment this afternoon we were greeted at our front door with our first farm box of the season.  It has been so busy today I had almost forgotten about it.  This will be our third year participating in a local organic farm share.  We just love it.  It's so exciting to get fresh vegetables at the door every Friday.


We have a nice assortment of lettuce, swiss chard, baby bok choy...


...radishes, garlic chives, rutabaga, rhubarb and asparagus.


We were lucky this week to even get a small box of strawberries. Yum! Tonight we'll start with a big romaine salad with strawberries and maybe some grilled asparagus to go with it.  I'm already thinking of a rhubarb coffee cake for tomorrow.

It may not be official until next week but for us this marks the first day of summer!
Happy Weekend friends.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Season of Rhubarb


Lovely pink stalks with bright green leaves are a sure sign that summer is here.  This week we received our first delivery of our organic farm share.  Eager to use rhubarb for the very first time, I found a delicious recipe for a rhubarb upside down cake.  Not too sweet, not too tart.  The cake is moist and has a light vanilla flavouring and is perfect when served warm out of the oven with it's buttery carmelized topping.  Best of all you can make it in minutes.

Upside Down Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients:

Base:
•2 tbsp (25 mL) butter
•1/2 cup (125 mL) packed brown sugar
•3 cups (750 mL) coarsley sliced Ontario Rhubarb

Cake:
•1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, softened
•3/4 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar
•2 eggs
•1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
•1-1/2 cups (375 mL) all-purpose flour
•2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
•1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
•1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) nutmeg
•1 cup (250 mL) sour cream or plain yogurt

Preparation:
Base: In 8 inch (2 L) square non-aluminium baking dish, heat butter in 350°F (180°C) oven for about 5 minutes or until melted. Sprinkle brown sugar and then rhubarb evenly in dish; set aside.

Cake: In bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Stir into creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, making three additions of each.

Spread batter over rhubarb. Bake in 350°F (180°C) oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until top springs back when lightly pressed. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes. Run knife around edge of pan; invert cake onto serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe from Foodland Ontario.

Other things inspired by rhubarb.



Rhubarb Rose Chalcedony Necklace handmade by Fiveforty.


A gorgeous rhubarb coloured ceramic button from White Clover Kiln.


Delicious rhubarb orange jelly to liven up your morning toast from Bovinebubbles.

Friday, June 25, 2010

What's in your Garden?

Look what I spotted in our garden this week.



I know these rabbits can be so destructive in the garden but this sweet little baby was so cute to watch. I'm sure his family was pretty happy when we planted our new vegetable garden this year. 'What? All of this for us? Ah, you shouldn't have.' So far so good though as we do seem to be sharing it. They have helped themselves to a couple of lettuce plants but not all of them. Hopefully we can coexist happily.

Today we will get our second shipment from the farmshare that we purchased this year. It's exciting to see what vegetables we will get this week. Stay tuned...