This past weekend was the fall open house and potluck at our CSA farm, Potomac Vegetable Farms. We stopped by Crooked Run Orchard for apple and pumpkin* picking first. It was such a gorgeous, warm fall day to be out in the orchards. When we arrived at PVF, we had missed the hayride but set to work breaking apart garlic cloves to be planted for next spring. The potluck was full of wonderful, nutritious food and the kids had quite a spectacular hay-fight in the wagon.

For the potluck, I brought mini muffins because they’re easy finger foods, always popular, and guarantee there will be something the toddler will eat. I had been meaning to try a chocolate zucchini bread recipe, and came across this one. I modified it slightly to incorporate my local, organic buckwheat flour. (Adding fiber to compensate for the sugar!)

Recipe: Whole-Grain Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c unbleached flour
• 1 c buckwheat flour (or whole wheat)
• 1/2 c turbinado sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 3/4 c milk
• 1/2 c oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 oz grated unsweetened fair-trade chocolate
• 1 c shredded zucchini

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350*. Lightly oil muffin tin. Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls, then gradually pour dry into wet and stir until smooth. Pour into muffin tin and bake for 12-15 minutes for mini muffins (18-22 for regular size muffins). Makes 36 mini muffins. Enjoy!

*Crooked Run uses integrated pest management (IPM) techniques which means their apples are minimally-sprayed, better than conventional but not organic. Their non-tree crops are “eco-ganic.”

The first few days of the Eat Local Challenge were not terribly successful, as they coincided with a work conference that required me to eat several meals in a hotel. One lunch was particularly comic in its seasonal schizophrenia, with asparagus atop sweet potatoes. The weekend farmers market visits enabled me to re-stock the fridge with dairy, bread and produce to be better prepared headed into this week.

My ulterior motive with the challenge is to be more disciplined in eating not just local foods but healthier as well. My requirement to eat something local at every meal has forced me to eat better at breakfast, which is by far my biggest problem area. I am not a morning person, and despite my love of coffee I do not have the skill or patience to make my own first thing in the morning. So I wind up eating unhealthy pastries along with my morning latte. Now, I could claim compliance by buying the locally-baked pastries at my local coffee shop, but I’m trying to improve upon that by actually eating the wonderful local yogurt I always have in the fridge. A slice of locally-baked bread, toasted, with homemade plum jam rounds out the meal and really doesn’t take all that long. I am fortunate in that my son usually eats his breakfast at daycare, so I have some time to get into a healthy routine before he learns from my bad example!

We have had some good mostly-local dinners. This hearty sweet potato and sausage saute was perfect for a rainy evening. Sunday was grilled flank steak and squash, Monday was the leftover steak in veggie-loaded salsa rice. And for those curious, scroll down to the bottom of this post for a list of the local products we’ve eaten this week, and their sources.

Recipe: Sweet Potato & Sausage Skillet Saute

Ingredients:

• 2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 T olive oil
• 4 links Italian sausage, cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bunch tatsoi (or spinach), rinsed
• 1 T soy sauce
• red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper

Instructions: Bring a pot of water to boil and cook sweet potato chunks until just tender, about 6 minutes. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat and brown sausage. Remove from pan, reduce heat to medium and add garlic and onion. Cook 3-4 minutes until soft and translucent. Drain sweet potatoes and add to skillet. Place tatsoi on top, pour soy sauce and additional olive oil over top, cover and let cook until tatsoi is wilted, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in sausage, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. Serve over quinoa or rice. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin

• steak, Fauquier’s Finest via Let’s Meat on the Avenue, Va.
• milk & butter, South Mountain Creamery, Md.
• sweet potatoes, tatsoi, onions, Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, Va.
• squash, tomatoes, Medina & Sons, Va. (@ Alexandria West End market)
• goat cheese, yogurt & Amish-baked sticky buns, Tom the cheese guy, Pa. (@ Del Ray/West End markets)
• apples, pears, grapes, Papa’s Orchard, Pa. (@ West End market)
• rye bread, Uptown Bakers, Md. (@ West End market)

This is a favorite fall meal, when we’re in the mood for roast chicken but it’s still nice enough outside to grill. The only problem is that we rarely have cans of beer in the house, but I improvised by pouring beer into an empty coke can instead. The beer steams the chicken from within resulting in an incredibly moist chicken. I also stuff the can with fresh herbs (green onions, parsley and garlic chives here) to add even more flavor. And, as with an oven-roasted chicken, the leftovers and bones can be used for several more meals during the week.

Recipe: Beer Can Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 can beer
• several stems green onions
• fresh parsley
• ¼ c butter
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 T cumin
• 1 t cayenne pepper
• salt & pepper
• 1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs.

Instructions: Preheat the grill to medium (350*). Open the beer can and pour out (drink) about half. Poke several holes around the top, and stick herbs in the can’s mouth. Place on a large plate or stand. (If you don’t have a stand, you can balance the chicken on the grill using the can and its legs to form a tripod.) Soften the butter and stir in the sugar and seasonings. Rub the mixture under the chicken’s skin and all over the exterior. Place the chicken over the can and carefully transfer onto the grill. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 hr. to 1 ¼ hrs. Remove from grill (very carefully!) and let stand for 5 minutes before carving. Serves 4.

Recipe: Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 T butter, softened
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1/2 t cumin

Instructions: Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Spread butter over cut sides, sprinkle sugar and cumin over the top. Wrap in foil and place on grill, away from the flame, for 40 minutes. Serves 2-4. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin

• free-range chicken, Smith Meadows, Va.
• butter, South Mountain Creamery, Md.
• white sweet potatoes, a Virginia farm, Del Ray Farmers Market, Va.
• herbs, Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, Va.
• beer, Starr Hill Jomo lager, Va.

There’s no reason to pack up the grill just because the calendar says summer is over - fall is a great time to grill, particularly here in DC where summer humidity (and mosquitoes!) drives us indoors too much of the time. Char-marked root vegetables are a fun way to blend summer flavors and seasonal produce.

Recipe: Grilled Butternut Spears

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into thick slices
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 t cumin
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• sea salt

Ingredients: Whisk seasonings into olive oil and toss half of the mixture with butternut spears. Let sit for 20 minutes. Wrap spears tightly in foil and place on upper rack in grill over medium high heat for 20 minutes. Remove from foil and place on grill rack, sear for 2-3 minutes more per side. Brush with remaining oil mixture and enjoy.

Farm of Origin: Butternut squash from Norma’s Farm, Alexandria West End Market.

We recently ventured out to Stribling Orchard’s Apple Festival to kick off fall with fresh-plucked apples. It didn’t feel particularly like fall as it was a scorching 95 degrees. Stribling is a sixth-generation family farm with a lovely view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The occasional train passing by below the orchard provided an added thrill for the kids.

The toddler picked a few apples, had some fun with the picking stick, and then we headed back to the shade of the country store to indulge in a caramel apple.

We got some beautiful young celery in our CSA bag last week, and I was planning to use it in some sort of soup when I had the thought to use some of our apples as well. This can be served hot or chilled, in case you also live somewhere where the weather and calendar aren’t always in sync.

Recipe: Creamy Apple Celery Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 T butter
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 4 large apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• black pepper to taste

Instructions: Melt butter in stock pot over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add celery and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in apples and broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer over medium low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with immersion blender. Serve with freshly ground pepper warm, or chill for at least 1 hour to enjoy cold. Makes 4 servings.

Notes: This creamy soup is lower in fat than your traditional cream of celery, and the sweetness of the apples will appeal to kids and adults alike.

When canning tomatoes recently, I saved some to make a batch of fresh tomato soup. This is highly adaptable and a great way to use up any stray vegetables in the fridge. I froze a portion and the remainder lasted us two nights. The first night we ate it plain with country ham & biscuits on the side, and the second night I added cooked sausage slices to the portion we were about to eat. You could poach some fish in it or add cooked shrimp, chicken, or other protein to make a complete meal.

Recipe: Harvest Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil
• 6-8 tomatoes, seeded and diced (or two 8 oz. cans crushed tomatoes)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 ear corn, cut off kernels
• 1 T dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley)

Instructions: Heat olive oil in soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and carrots and saute until onion is golden. Add tomatoes, oregano, broth and water. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in zucchini and corn, simmer five minutes longer. Add cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Serve with a nice crusty baguette and enjoy!

A FarmFreshDC Note: The September installment of Farm Fresh DC will be posted Sept. 26. In honor of the official start of fall, we’ll be featuring apples & squash. If you’ve got a recipe to share, comment below or email me at foodietots at gmail dot com. Thanks!

In the Fields: Apple Picking Season is Here! Though it’s hard to tell from the relentless heat this weekend, fall has definitely arrived at our local orchards. Peaches are on their last legs, so if you didn’t get them this weekend you may be out of luck. Apples are ripe, and I was surprised to learn that some varieties are already past their peak. Stribling Orchard in Markham, Va., was our destination this weekend. They have a well-stocked country store where you can find every type of preserved peach, apple or pumpkin product you could want, plus local cheese, fresh-baked pies, turnovers, bread and cinnamon spice donuts. We picked golden and red delicious and Empire varieties. While apples store well and are brought to market throughout the winter, they’re only on the trees for about two months so head out soon if you want to pick your own! The pick-your-own website provides a directory, and the new Farms + Fests page here lists some upcoming apple festivals you might want to check out if you’re local.

Alexandria Market Report: At the markets, heirloom tomatoes are winding down - available last Wednesday at Upper King Street but gone at the West End, and corn is less abundant. Peppers, summer squash, melons and field-ripened tomatoes are still available, Italian blue plums, and a few grapes are in season. Sweet potatoes and the first baby pumpkins are here. Squash blossoms can still be found at the West End Market, and Westmoreland Farms had several recipes printed out for the taking. Norma’s had a few purple tomatillos again this week, which I snatched up for a final batch of Peach-Tomatillo Salsa (recipe below). Tom the Cheese Guy reports that the Del Ray vendors are still negotiating a winter market. He says there is one city councilman who is very difficult to work with but refused to name names. October 19 will be “Oktoberfest” at the West End market, an alcohol-free, kid-friendly event with vendors planning to serve food.

Recipe: Roasted Peach Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1 peach
• 1 pt. tomatillos, skins removed
• 1 jalapeno (seeded for milder heat)
• 1 small onion
• 1/3 c cilantro
• olive oil
• juice of one lime
• pinch of salt

Instructions: Drizzle a touch of olive oil over peach, tomatillos and jalapeno. Sear on grill over high heat until just charred. Remove from heat and cool. Chop/quarter grilled ingredients and onion, pulse in food processor with cilantro until desired consistency. Stir in lime juice and salt and allow to stand at least 1 hour before serving. Enjoy!

After conquering my fear of canning, the next item on my kitchen project list was making jam. I had recently stumbled across this lovely Green Gage Plum & Vanilla Jam recipe at Chez Pim which sounded simple enough. I had some green Shiro plums and Italian prune plums to work with. I really wanted to use honey, but I’ve read that you can only substitute honey for half of the sugar in a recipe, and didn’t want to stray too far from the original recipe since this was my first jam-making experience. I also had fewer plums than originally purchased, thanks to a toddler who was downing up to 6 a day…

So, my recipe quantities were: 1 lb plums, scant 1 c sugar, 1 T lemon juice, 1 T honey, 1 vanilla bean. I followed the original instructions and got a nice, thick jam, but I wasn’t sure what to do about the peels. I suspect that Pim’s green gage plum skins were thinner and perhaps dissolved? The prune plum skins had not, and were tough when I tried one. I strained the cooked jam then to remove the peels, which thinned my jam a bit so I was pleased to see when I opened a jar that it was a nice, jelly-like consistency. It is quite tasty, sweet and the vanilla adds such a lovely fragrance.

Now, Pim’s recipe is for a small batch to begin with, so guess what happens when you halve that? A meager two mini jam pots…

It probably wasn’t worth processing them since one went straight into the fridge to be eaten soon, but oh well. It was part of the learning experience. I will definitely keep practicing - and reading up on jam techniques over the winter. In the meantime, head over to Lelo in Nopo and check out the yummy jams she’s been making!

Oh, and the little bit left over? Excellent topping for peach ice cream!

This simple no-cook, make-ahead summer soup is the perfect starter for your July 4th barbecue. Refreshing and cool, with a touch of jalapeno heat, it’s just the thing to warm up the taste buds for whatever’s on the grill!

Recipe: Watermelon Gazpacho

Ingredients:

• 1 jalapeno, seeded
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red onion
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 c jicama, peeled and chopped
• 6 c watermelon, chopped

Instructions: Coursely chop jalapeno, garlic and onion and chop in food processor until fine. Add jicama, chop, then add watermelon 2 cups at a time. Process until nearly smooth. Stir in lime juice and pour into glass bowl or serving dishes. Cover and chill several hours or overnight. Garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro and enjoy!
Makes 6 servings.

Notes: I bought one of the smaller watermelons at the grocery and used just over a quarter of it - so you can easily get 2-3 times this recipe from one melon, if you need to feed a larger crowd. And if you really need to make it red, white and blue, swirl in a little yogurt and top with a couple blueberries before serving.