This week at the farm we were not only busy out in the field.  We were also working hard on the THANKSGIVING Web site.  When you visitGriggstownquailfarm.com you can see that it looks a little different.  We are happy to announce that we are now ready to take Thanksgiving Turkey orders ONLINE!  This year we will be having four locations to pick up your thanksgiving turkey: Headhouse, Bernardsville, Flemington and of-course the Griggstown Farm Market store.  This is an exciting time of year for us, as we look forward to a wonderful fall season!   We’ve also given the store a facelift!

When you’re on the Thanksgiving site this week, you’ll notice a special section for fundraisers.  This is a great opportunity for you or your organization to earn money, and provide a quality product, absolutely risk free!!

Swiss Chard Recipe

Ingredients

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard

1 small clove garlic, sliced

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp water

Pinch of dried crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon butter

Salt

Directions

1 Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the toughest third of the stalk, discard or save for another recipe (such as this Swiss chard ribs with cream and pasta). Roughly chop the leaves into inch-wide strips.

2 Heat a saucepan on a medium heat setting, add olive oil, a few small slices of garlic and the crushed red pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Cover. Check after about 5 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Flip the leaves over in the pan, so that what was on the bottom, is now on the top. Cover again. Check for doneness after another 5 minutes (remove a piece and taste it). Add salt to taste, and a small amount of butter. Remove the swiss chard to a serving dish.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swiss_chard/

Now that the heat has subsided, it’s time to enjoy the fall season.  We are now gearing up for a great Thanksgiving season.  This is definitely our busiest time of year at the farm.  We have a number of programs ending and starting all at the same time.  The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program is winding down, but the fall is a great time for the vegetables.  The cool weather should bring some of our best produce all season.   Info about the CSA is here.  You can call the store to be put on the waiting list for next year.  We have waiting list because of a huge response over the past few years for people to go local for their food.

One other program that we starting for the fall season is the Pie Fundraiser!   This is a great way to raise funds for your group or organization with no risk.  For the Fruit Pie and Chicken Pot Pie Fundraiser, we provide your group all the info and promotional materials needed to sell Griggstown Chicken Pot Pies and Griggstown Fruit Pies.  It’s easy and has worked well for a number of local groups, including:  Hillsborough High School, …  Click here for info.  I think that this is one of New Jersey’s best Local Fundraising opportunities!

Last but not least, Thanksgiving Turkeys!!!  I know it’s not even Halloween, but next week we start taking orders.  Call, order online, or come into the store to place your Turkey order for Thanksgiving.

Our summer lunches have ended.  We won’t have the BBQ going outside.  But we will still have prepared food available in the store.  You can still come into the store to enjoy a wonderful lunch in our flower garden.

Just arrived for the Fall – The new issue of edible Jersey, Fall 2010.  Edible Jersey is a free publication that we provide in the Farm Market store to our customers.  It has great articles about local foods, gardens, and the seasons in New Jersey.  This issue has articles on Getting ready for fall, restaurant picks, search for the Harrison Apple, Pick-your-own, and Art of Pasta.   Come in today to pick up you copy.

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice

1 cup water

6 green bell peppers

2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
3. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)
4. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
5. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/stuffed-peppers-4/Detail.aspx

The heat wave is still fresh in our minds, and yet we here at the farm are looking forward to Thanksgiving!  Yes, it’s that time of year again.  During the Fall season besides offering the best Turkeys around, we also have a great fund raising tool.  If you are interested in raising money for any club, organization, or group, we make Chicken and Fruit Pies to sell and make a significant profit.  It’s called, the Pie Fundraiser, here is the information on our site. You can also contact Matt or Tim at the farm to help you with any of the details.  Together we can make a great fall even better.

This week I spend some time looking at a great resource.  The American Farmland Trust is a great organization that focuses on saving farmland nationwide.  This week there is a special section on growing local.  I’d encourage you to take a quick look at their site to see some of the great information that they have on sustaining farmland and promoting healthy food.  Click here to go to www.farmland.org/

Lunch Menu September 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th 12:00pm-2:00pm

Entrees: $5.00

Caprese Sandwich

Jersey Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella Cheese,

Basil, Reduced Balsamic Vinegar

Grilled Portabella Mushroom Burger

Griggstown Tomato, Pickled Red Onions,

Melted Cheese Blend

Turkey Burger Sliders

Lettuce and BBQ Mayonnaise

Grilled Pizza

Cornmeal Crust, Blue Cheese,

Red Wine Figs, Caramelized onions

Sides: $2.00

Potato Salad with Bacon

Black Bean salad with Corn, Peppers, and Scallion Vinaigrette

Ginger and Garlic Bok Choy

Ingredients

1 small bok choy

½ inch fresh ginger root

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon sesame oil (or olive oil)

Directions

Separate the bok choy leaves and cut off the chunky stalks.

Slice the stalks finely. Roughly chop the leaves.

Peel and grate the ginger. Peel and crush the garlic.

Heat the oil in a wok until almost smoking. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook for 1 minute, stirring often

Add the bok choy stalks. Mix well. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the bok choy leaves. Stir and then cook for 1-2 minutes, until they are just wilted.

Serves 4

http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk/ingredients/pak-choi.php

Fennel Cucumber Salsa

Ingredients

1 English cucumber, diced

1 large fennel bulb, diced

1 avocado – peeled, pitted, and diced

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/2 cup pickled banana peppers, diced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Combine the cucumber, fennel, avocado, red onion, banana peppers,

cilantro, honey, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Allow mixture to sit

20 minutes before serving.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fennel-Cucumber-Salsa/Detail.aspx

The summer heat hasn’t stopped us yet.  With fresh Ice cream and plenty of ice tea, we are managing to stay sane.  As you are probably aware, there is big problem with eggs right now.  I came across this interesting article about farm fresh eggs, click here.   If you are interested in truly farm fresh eggs without having to worry about poison, we have Farm Fresh Free Eggs available in the store.  We have been getting a lot of compliments on the ice cream lately, so if you haven’t come in to try some, you are definitely missing out!

This week’s recipe comes from farm and food activist and author Amy Cotler. A longtime advocate of seasonal cooking and local eating, she is the founding director of Berkshire Grown, which became an early model for local farm and food advocacy. She consults, teaches and lectures nationally on food and farm to table issues. Be sure to check-out her most recent cookbook, The Locavore Way.

Celebration Corn-Tomato Soup

Serves 4 main course, 6 appetizers, makes about 6 cups

1 large onion
1 poblano chili
1 jalapano chili
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon butter
8 ears of  corn
3 cups chicken stock*
salt
1 cup milk, preferably whole
1 lemon
2-3 ripe tomatoes or 1 basket of cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar or cider vinegar
6-8 large basil leaves

1-Dice onion. (I like using a sweet onion.) You’ll want 1-1/2 cups, but if you get less, don’t worry about it. Cut the chilies end to end. Pull out the stem, knock or spoon out the seeds. Cut into strips and dice. Peel and mince garlic cloves.

2-Melt butter over medium heat in a pot or large skillet with a tall lip. Add the onion, chilies and most of the garlic, reserving about 1/3 for later. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

3-Shuck the corn, then remove the silk.  Hold each cob, standing up by the large end in bowl.  Scrape down the kernels with a sharp knife to remove them, turning as you work. Add kernels to the pot. (If the pot is the right shape, that is more wide than tall, I like to turn off the heat and scrape the corn right into it.)

4-Add chicken stock, salting to taste if it’s homemade. (Less is better than more.) Simmer for 15 minutes. Add milk and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the juice of the lemon, then taste, adding salt if necessary.

5-Remove the tops and chop the tomatoes. Or, if using cherry tomatoes, half or quarter, as you like. Mix in a small bowl with the reserved garlic and the vinegar. Pile the basil leaves on top of each other and roll. Then slice thinly. Do not chill. Reserve the tomatoes and basil for garnish.

6-To serve, heat the soup. Ladle into the warm bowls. Spoon the tomato mixture into center of each bowl, dividing it equally. Sprinkle with the basil.

Salt: I like adding salt several times, but never too much. Most chefs add kosher of sea salt at various stages of cooking so it gets integrated into the flavors, rather than layered on top at the end. Recipes generally don’t do this, as it’s too much to talk about!) Soup can be made and held in the fridge.

Recipe style: I integrated the ingredient preparation into the numbered procedure, rather than adding it to the ingredient list, as in “1-1/2 cups onion, diced”. This makes for a longer recipe, but one with more explanation of chopping, dicing, etc. Do you prefer one style over the other?

*For vegetarians, use vegetable instead of chicken stock

Lunch Menu September 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th 12:00pm-2:00pm

Entrees: $5.00

Caprese Sandwich

Jersey Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella Cheese,

Basil, Reduced Balsamic Vinegar

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Griggstown Chicken,

with Homemade BBQ Sauce

Turkey Burger Sliders

Lettuce and BBQ Mayonnaise

Grilled Pizza

Cornmeal Crust, Blue Cheese,

Red Wine Figs, Caramelized onions

Sides: $2.00

Potato Salad with Bacon

Black Bean salad with Corn, Peppers, and Cilantro Vinaigrette