FROM SCRATCH CLUB

We were lucky enough to be invited by our Chef’s Consortium friends to participate in another fabulous event (remember the Michael Pollan event?) and this time, we got the chance to introduce the Capital Region to our DIY antics by serving up our first ever tastings table! No demos, just food. Eekkkkk! Annnnnd SO MUCH [...]

{This is what summer 2012 will be all about} Summer living, food allergies or not, is delicious and yet requires some thought if you want to eat fresh and healthy food without heating up your kitchen. French fries are in regular rotation in the Fischer family but I can’t bear the thought of turning on [...]

{Christine’s 2011 22-week CSA Share from Kilpatrick Family Farm} This month’s episode is all about CSAs– community supported agriculture! We tell you what CSA is and why it’s awesome for both farmers and consumers. If you’re interested in supporting local farmers and the local food system, this show is for you. Are you still on [...]

Making vegetable stock is so easy, yet I’m guessing that not all of you have homemade stock on hand. By the time I remember to make some stock, I only have half an onion or a single celery stalk to work with and something about buying a whole basket of fresh veggies just to boil [...]

I have always loved the folk tale of “Stone Soup” because in it a delicious soup is created from meager ingredients.  I love the challenge of creating delicious food from not-so-obvious ingredients.  Over one year ago I pledged to stop buying grocery store meat and this prompted me to start purchasing whole chickens at the [...]

Maybe it’s being trapped inside at home with a new baby, but I’m prematurely feeling that mid-winter desperation about what to make for dinner every night.  This feeling worsens when we’ve skipped a week at the farmers market and have no fresh, local produce.  Local green vegetables are already becoming less prevalent and I can [...]

I don’t think I’d ever made a casserole before.  I wasn’t even sure I had a casserole dish.  My venture in to this new territory was made even more exciting for me because I didn’t strictly follow a recipe.  I found a Martha Stewart recipe that resembled something I imagined was both healthy and tasty [...]

Have you thrown a fondue party yet? No? What are you waiting for? Take the plunge this Thanksgiving by trying out a fondue appetizer while the turkey is in the oven. It’s a great excuse to keep your family and friends lingering around the table, lazily dipping crudite and hunks of warm bread into a [...]

I’ve pretty much wrapped up harvesting crops on Silly Goose Farm. Apples are done, tomatoes are done, and all that’s left to put-up is a couple of cabbages, a few rows of rainbow carrots, and a whole bunch of pears. The pear trees on our farm are over 100 years old and positively drip with fruit. [...]

It’s Monday. You have a whole week of lunches and dinners to plan. Well here’s an idea that is super easy to slip into your weekly rotation: The Buddha Bowl! Make it for dinner and save the leftovers for a lunch that you can eat on the go. I’ve been experimenting with different rice bowl [...]

I used to be a creative person.  For years after completing a bachelors in art I made stuff and found ways to express myself visually.  I am no longer like that.  I have the usual excuses: child, work, household demands, tv, etc, but really none of them is adequate in explaining my lack of non-verbal [...]

Sure I’m still harvesting (an enjoying) tomatoes from my garden, and I’m still making pickles from the cucumbers I pick every day. But the weather is crisping up around here and it’s time for some comfort food. To me that means it’s time to make my infamous Roasted Root Vegetable Tart. I’ve been making this [...]

The weather here in New York is surely and swiftly turning more autumn-like every day; cooler nights and crisper mornings have me frantically clinging to summer produce and laid-back dinners. This vegetable fajita recipe requires just a little bit of planning to let your local vegetables marinate and then comes together quickly as a one-skillet [...]

Did you know I lived in Mexico for a while? Well I did. It was a phenomenal time, and I wish I could have stayed longer. When I was there I learned a lot about real Mexican cuisine, especially specific to the region where I resided. Foods I learned and now love and crave include pozole (corn [...]

I should admit that, straightaway, this task was a stretch even for me. In a moment of pure curiosity (lunacy?) and inability to turn down a good deal, or a free deal, I graciously accepted a cooler full of pig fat from a local farmer. Josh from West Wind Acres had a few pigs processed, [...]