Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

Tonight we enjoyed a stuffed portabella mushroom dish that was filled with some farm fresh ingredients.

The mushrooms were brushed with olive oil and grilled until softened.
To make the filling:
Cook some sausage of your choice until brown. We used an all natural chicken sausage but the deer sausage we have would have been good as well. Remove from pan. In the same pan, saute a medium onion until soft. Add several cloves of garlic and about a pound of fresh torn spinach and allow to wilt. Add sausage back to pan and gently fold in fresh goat cheese, set aside.

I then made a pesto using the sun dried tomatoes from last summer's bounty. I made it with garlic, basil, walnuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. (Process ingredients in a blender or food processor.)
The mushrooms were filled, topped with pesto and broiled until hot and bubbly. Enjoy!

We ended up with a lot of extra filling and I thought it would make a great pizza topping. It did! I made a whole wheat crust, topped with sauteed mushrooms, the filling, more goat cheese, the pesto and mozzarella cheese. Probably the best pizza we have ever had!

Grandmother's Collard Greens

Due to the unusually hot days I had to harvest all the collard greens before they bolted this week. I am cooking them like my grandmother used to and freezing them to enjoy at a later date. She was born and raised in the eastern part of N.C. where the black sandy soil grew the best collards and sweet potatoes in the state. They were also famous for their peanuts and country hams. Every time I fix collards I hear her telling me how to do it and it makes me smile.

First of all you MUST have the Morris heading collards 'cause those others won't no good. Yes mam. Once you have the correct variety to cook you must wash them real good. At least twice. Yes mam.

 Now put you ham in a pot of water, cover it and let it boil for at least an hour 'cause that's how long it is going to take you to wash, de-stem and cut up the collards. Yes mam. (We are lucky around here to have a ham company that cures using only salt and sugar but she used ham for all those years, so in this recipe go for it!)

Cut the thick center stem out and coarsely chop the collards.

 If you are going to cook 'em might as well do a bunch at one time. Some for now, some for the freezer. Yes mam. Once the ham has created a nice salty broth add your your collards, cover and boil them for another hour at least. Now when I say boil, she did boil them. I prefer to simmer, that way I don't need to hover over the stove! Enjoy~ Thanks Grandmother!

Onion Rye Bread

This is a favorite bread for sandwiches such as reubens and patty melts. It also makes for delicious toast.

Onion Rye Bread

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rye flour
2 tbsp. honey
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp yeast
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup hot water
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 med. onion finely diced
2 tbsp. caraway seeds

In your mixing bowl with dough hook attached put in:
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. yeast
1/2 cup hot water
Half of the white flour, half of the rye flour
water, milk and butter
Turn on mixer and let incorporate.
Add onion, caraway seed and rest of rye flour.
Slowly add white flour a little at a time until dough pulls away and cleans the side of you bowl. Let knead 6-8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double. Punch down, place in a greased  9 x 5 pan and let rise another hour or so or until puffy when touched. Brush top of loaf with and egg wash mixture and bake 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Corned Beef

This was posted on my other blog a while back but is so delicious and easy I wanted to repost and add pictures. We love corned beef but not all the junk that is in it. I have started corning my own and it so easy!
You need a large bowl, some salt, water and a roast. I use whatever roast that happens to be plentiful in my freezer at the time. This time it was a chuck roast.
Dissolve 1 cup of salt into 8 cups of water. Put your roast in and make sure it is completely covered and weighed down under the water. I set a plate on top of mine and a jar full of water on that. Let sit for several days. I let mine sit for 4. After corning, take out the roast and rinse. Place in a large pot with your corning spices (I use a mix from Penzey's).To avoid all the big pieces of bay and seeds I ground mine and sprinkled them on the meat. If you cook it stove top, cook for an hour or so before adding vegetables. I like to use my crock pot. I put the roast, spices and large chunks of carrots and potatoes in it, turn on low and cook all day. About an hour before serving I add wedges of cabbage and continue cooking.
And that is what's for supper this St. Patrick's Day!

( Tomorrow we will be having corned beef reubens with the leftovers. Check back for the rye bread recipe!)

Cooking Beira Tronchuda Leaf Cabbage

Last Fall we started some seeds for a leaf cabbage called Beira Tronchuda. The plants were late going in the ground and I just now got my first harvest. Though the leaves look like collards they taste like cabbage. It is a really unique plant and one I will definitely grow again as you can continually harvest the leaves all winter, unlike harvesting a head cabbage once. They were delicious raw and were fantastic cooked and served alongside beans tonight for supper. I don't know for sure but think they would probably have more nutrients due to the dark color of the leaves.
To cook the cabbage I washed it well and cut the thick vein from the center. I diced it in finger size pieces. Next I fried a couple of pieces of bacon. When it was crispy, I removed it from the pan and added about 1/2 cup finely diced onion. Once the onion was translucent, I added the cabbage and cooked until tender, stirring often. Tasty!