jessiewhitefoodblog

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Lets Eat!

I had my uncle over the day I made the soup and he liked it. He had 2 big bowls of it. He said it tasted good and If I were to make it again he suggested to add meat in it too, which is totally possible.

Overall I thought the soup tasted good. Next time I would use fresh veggies since I found the soup was heavy on peas and lima beans. Also I think it needed a little more broth. Also I think next time I might add a little more salt and a lot more pepper.

My own photo

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What To Do With Leftovers

I really like this soup and I never notice how easy it is to make soup. I had leftover soup I saved and a few days after I had chicken soup and I added the leftover vegetable soup to it since I didn’t have much liquid left of it and that tasted great combined. I used frozen veggies and I found the soup was green hint because there was a lot of peas and lima beans so next time I am going run water on them to rinse them so it won’t effect the color of the soup as much.

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Ratios?

One challenge I had was I did not know how much water to put in it. I looked around on websites to see other recipes and see how much they do and then when I did it I added all the veggies then slowly adding in water to guess how much I needed. If I was to make this again I think I would have added a little more, maybe a cup or 2. And also I would of added 1 more cube to make the broth a little more stronger. Overall the soup tasted good and I would make it again.

My own photo

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How To Make Soup

Ingredients 

1kg any vegetables small dice (I used frozen bag mix vegetables, green peas, corn, carrots, lima beans, celery) 

2 liters of water (maybe more make sure all vegetables are cover) 

3 large onions 

4 cloves of garlic 

tablespoon of butter 

broth (any type) (I used package chicken broth cubes, read package) 

salt

pepper 

herbs (optional) 

Directions 

Put on the pot of water and boil 

Put butter in frying pan and make small dice onions translucent 

Half way through cooking onions add mince garlic 

When water is boiling put broth in and stir 

Add all vegetables and onions in water 

Season with salt and pepper and you can add any herbs if you liked too 

Let simmer for about 20 – 30 minutes until vegetables are soft.

My own photo

My own photo

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Soup Soup Soup

I love soup. If you open my pantry you will see a lot of different cans soup. But nothing is better than homemade soup. One soup and that I have been eating since I could remember is vegetable beef. Today I decided to make my own version of vegetable soup. I group up with not a lot of money and we had to make shift with what we got. I am now a broke college student and I still stand by that statement, use what you got.

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Willow Tree Farms Produce Chart

http://willowtreefarm.ca/our-fields-2/what-we-grow/produce-availability-guide/%20%20%20%20%20

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My Two Cents About Spaghetti Squash

I thought spaghetti squash was going taste like spaghetti, I was wrong. It was tender and a bit al dente. It has a slight of a crunch. I found it have a slight nutty taste also a little sweet. It looks like spaghetti since it is long strings. I wasn’t a big fan of it but next time I would try to cook it a little longer to see if it just wasn’t fully cook enough. I wasn’t a fan of the crunch it gave and thought it might be less if I cook it longer. My uncle tried it and he enjoy the meal. Since I never had it before I can’t compare it to what it should look like. I think this would be a good side dish instead of a full meal. My palate I find relay a lot on textures. I find myself drawn to soft food and stay away from crunchy foods.

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Recipe Steps Photos

These pictures are here to help you to follow the recipe. These photos show you when you cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, season it and fork the insides.

My own photos

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What I made

Recipe

Ingredients (spaghetti squash) 

spaghetti squash 

salt 

pepper 

olive oil 

parmesan cheese - optional 

*basil pesto I used store bought pesto but if you want to make your own 

Ingredients (basil pesto) 

60g basil leaves wash and dry, 1 bunch

30 g pine nuts 

60g parmesan cheese grated 

2 cloves garlic 

100 ml olive oil 

Directions (basil pesto) 

Place all ingredients into a food processor and process to a paste. 

Directions (spaghetti squash) 

Preheat oven 400 degrees 

Cut the spaghetti squash in half long ways. This needs a very sharp knife. 

Scrape out seeds 

Fork the skin 

Salt and pepper insides of both pieces of squash 

Drizzle oil on both sides of squash 

Put on a baking try skin side up at for about 45 minutes 

*if making homemade basil pesto you can do it now. 

Once done, take a fork and scrape at the squash 

Plate the squash and top it with a heaping spoonful of basil pesto and topped off with parmesan cheese

My own photo

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Cooking Squash

You can cook squash many ways. I roasted my squash, (look at my next post) but here is a short video of different cooking methods on how to cook it the way you like it.

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squash-in-the-oven-178036

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Fruit of the day

When I got to the farm I walk around looking at everything they had on sale for the day. I wanted to try something new. I never had spaghetti squash and always wanted to try it and It stood out to me at the shop so I decided today was the day to try it.

My own photo

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Willow Tree Farms

They have been family owned since 1969, 47 years by the McKay family. It been through 3 generations. They have 600 acres of land. They sell meat and fruit and vegetables that are grown on their farm. In 1979 they started growing strawberries and now they sell over 30 different types of fruit and vegetables. All the animals are naturally raised. To be naturally raise some of the things they do for their animals are being ethically raised on pasture, free roaming, never fed antibiotics free from added hormones. The started out being an dairy farm but they sold all the cows. They miss doing it so they started back up but this time got into beef. They are feed hay and grain and the farm grows it themselves. They sell meat from cows, sheep, pigs and chickens. They do not raise the pigs and chickens themselves but they have their neighbor farms raise them with the same values they do when they raise their animals.

My own photos and video

http://willowtreefarm.ca/

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Road Trip

The market I went to was Willow Tree Farm located at 975 Regional Rd. 21, Port Perry, ON L9L 1B5. I went there because I never went to a farmer’s market straight from the farm itself and also I never went to a farmer’s market that runs through winter so I wanted to go and see how they do things compare to a farmer’s market that just runs in the summer. What I found out after researching, the summer farmers market I go to at Nathan Phillips Square, all the food comes from Willow Tree Farms. They also have 11 other farmer’s markets across the GTA that sells produce from Willow Tree Farms. So I went right to the source on this trip.

My own photo

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So i put the pickled blueberries in vanilla ice cream and it was a great!

The sweetness from the ice cream added to the sweetness from the blueberries and the blueberries added a nice texture to the ice cream. 

my own photo

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Food preservation

One way to preserved food is to pickled it. To pickled something, you have to let it soaked in a brine. For my blueberries I use vinegar as a brine. To add flavor and to help kill the growth bacteria you can add herbs and spices, this process is known as antimicrobial. I added cinnamon for the antimicrobial.

http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-pickling-and-fermenting-229536

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_preservation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickling

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Appetizer with Pickled Blueberries!

Ingredients 

• brie cheese round or wedge 

• 1/8 tsp cinnamon 

• pickled blueberries 

• crackers or crusty bread 

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

2. Place the brie on a baking sheet. 

3. Sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over the brie. 

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes, cheese will start escaping. 

5. Remove brie, use a spatulas to put it on the plate. 

6. Drain pickled blueberries and spoon them on top of brie. 

7. Eat with crackers or crusty bread.

*i didn’t this time but adding a little honey on top

my own photo

http://www.honeyandbirch.com/brie-pickled-blueberries/

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How to make pickled blueberries!

Ingredients 

• 1 pint blueberries 

• 1 cup white vinegar 

• 1/3 cup white sugar 

• 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt

• 1 cinnamon stick 

Instructions 

1. In a medium saucepan, boil the vinegar, sugar, salt and a cinnamon stick. 

2. Put the washed blueberries in a jar and then pour the vinegar mixture over the berries. Cover and cool. 

3. Once cool, refrigerate for 3 days before using.

my own photo

http://www.honeyandbirch.com/pickled-blueberries/