Spider Web Cookie Pops

Using the sugar cookie recipe from our last blog entry, we made these wonderful Spider Web Cookie Pops. Using them for Halloween parties or giving them away on Halloween to children you know would be great fun. Easy to make, delicious to eat, fun to look at; so what more could you ask for. We placed our cookies in a clear bag and tied a ribbon around it for easy distribution.

FALL IN VERMONT

The leaves are at their peak in Grand Isle. Beautiful yellow colors on our maple trees, not much red but beautiful just the same. Most of our garden has been harvested except beets and carrots. They can remain in the ground until it snows. At that point, if you place straw or leaves on the plants to protect them from the cold temperatures, they can be harvested until the ground begins to freeze. Today was cookie baking day. The children and I made dazzling sugar cookies and frosted them with a colorful glaze. We chose to cut our cookies in maple leaf shapes and paint them with brilliant fall colors.(Pictures of the sugar cookie leaves can be found on our website www.mykidskitchen.vpweb.com) The children enjoyed rolling out the dough and painting each cook as though it were a master piece. As their mom, I agree each cookie is a work of art and they were spectacular. The best recipe we have found for our sugar cookies is as follows: Sugar Cookie Recipe 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 2 3/4 cup flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together in a standing mixer. Add the egg, until mixer is blended. Add vanilla, and flour until mixer forms into a ball. Turn mixer out onto a floured surface. Roll out dough and cut shapes accordingly. Place on a non-greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 -15 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.

Spring Time

After a very exceptionally warm winter our spring is proving to be quite interesting too. However, plants are now being planted in our garden such as herbs, onions, leeks, beets, carrots, green beans and lots of potatoes. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower will be going in the ground in the next week or two when the soil becomes a bit warmer. We. can't wait to begin harvesting vegetables in the next months making great healthy food

Fresh from the oven: Scones

Scones are one of those foods that either you enjoy or you may not eat them because you think they are too dry. Keeping this in mind and experimenting with many different recipes, I have finally have a great recipe that I think is practically perfect.

Basic Scone Recipe
4 cups flour
2 eggs slightly beaten (Beat in a 2 cup measuring cup)
About 1 cup of cream. (Pour cream on top of eggs until measuring cup measures 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup sugar
6-8 tablespoons of grated frozen butter
4 teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt
1 cup of any desired fruit.
Directions;
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt and baking powder. Grate frozen butter into dry ingredients. Slightly mix the ingredients making sure that the butter in evenly dispersed. Incorporate beaten eggs and cream to the mixing bowl. Stir only until ingredients begin to combine. Place dough onto a floured piece of wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangle around 8" x 14". Place fruit evenly on dough. Fold dough as you would fold a business letter (trifold). Slightly press dough into a log form and cut into 8 triangles.
Place scones onto a slightly greased baking sheet and place in the oven for 22-25 minutes or until slightly golden.
Enjoy fresh from the oven.

HARVESTING HORSERADISH

At this time of year harvest time is almost over. A few herbs, beets, turnips, carrots, and horseradish are still in the ground waiting to be used.

Horseradish is a very interesting root we use in many of our recipes. Horseradish is a perennial plant of the "Brassicaceae Family" which includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli and cabbage. We harvest our horseradish after we have a frost. After we dig it from the ground, we peel it somewhat like you would peel a carrot, wash it and grind it with an old fashioned meat grinder which proves to be the most difficult part. Horseradish fresh from the ground is a powerful substance. The aroma is so strong that recently my husband purchased a military surplus gas mask to process our horseradish. With the mask, he can process between 8 to 10 pounds of ground horseradish without taking a break to wash out his eyes with clean water or a break to clear out his lungs.

Horseradish with time lessens in strength, but it still transmits a wonderful, more mild flavor 6 months after being processed. We use it in many different ways such as; adding it to ground meat for flavor, spread on roasts, to flavor cole slaw, in certain cocktail drinks and in cream sauces. We also make a spicy horseradish mustard that is a wonderful condiment on sandwiches or with sausages.

So next time you wish to spice up your food, try horseradish. It truly is a unique and flavorful food.

Summer Farmers' Markets

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What a busy year at the market! My Kids' Kitchen has been making breads and jams for all our local and tourist customers. The favorite bread this year is our "Maple Oat bread". Made with our delicious maple syrup which we made this spring. Another favorite is our "Triple Berry Jam" made with local island strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.

Soon fall products will be available like our delicious "Maple Pumpkin Butter" and "Apple Butter" both are wonderful on sandwiches, toast, and scones. Another favorite this year are our pickles. We have added "Dilly Beans", and "Bread and Butter Pickles" along with old favorites of "Garlic Dill Pickles and Pickle Beets" to our table. All made with our garden vegetables and without the use of pesticides. Of course the children are part of taste control, letting us know if they are tasty enough for selling.

A new item "Cheesy Bread Sticks" has been added to our collection of breads. A customer asked us to add this to our table because she thought they would do well. She was right and now we have added these fragrant items to our table regularly.

Soon the weather will turn blustery and the tourist will return home but hopefully they will have purchased a little bit of Vermont that will last with them throughout the winter season.

Flooding and Spring Harvesting

With record amounts of snow this winter, those living in the Lake Champlain area knew that our spring was going to be soggy. Dealing with melting snow and then receiving record amounts of rain in April, it met flooding for many communities around the Lake Champlain valley this year.

As always, hearty "Islanders" are surviving this obstacle with the added difficulty of getting on and off the the Lake Champlain Islands. We hope with many days of sunny weather the lake will finally recede. Everyone including gardeners can then begin the clean up of debris and putting in their gardens.

It is amazing how hardy perennials are. Even with all this rain, they are persistent as they poke through the wet ground. Herbs like sage, tarragon, chives, and thyme among others are growing quickly. Asparagus, horseradish and rhubarb are poking out of the soggy soil also along with daffodils, tulips, bleeding hearts and all the early blossoming perennails.

As gardeners, we are so pleased to see life among the flooding. It brings joy and satifsfaction that even though some things may not be pleasant, life still continues on a cycle.

We are now harvesting asparagus and thought you might enjoy an easy recipe for a quiche using this delicious early spring vegetable. It is quick, easy and very tasty. Great for a brunch, lunch or a light dinner.

ASPARAGUS QUICHE RECIPE
2 cups of fresh asparagus chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Favorite pie crust recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place pie dough into pie pan and pre-cook crust for 15minutes. Let cool for several minutes. While crust cools, saute chopped asparagus and onion in a saute pan until tender. Let cool. While the onion and asparagus cool, whisk four eggs into medium sized bowl. Add cream, cheeses,salt and pepper to bowl and stir until blended. Add onion and asparagus mixture to pie crust and pour egg mixture on top of the vegetables. Place in oven for 30 minutes or until golden.