honey bees & apple trees

Collecting Klatt Farm Honey

2013-07-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Maple Cream Apple Tart

2012-09-24T05:58:00.001-07:00

Over the last two weeks we have received two large boxes of organic heirloom apples from the farm. What a treat! For this recipe I used the yellow and green mottled Golden apples. We are not sure if these are good old Golden Delicious or Swaar/Hardwick apples. Maybe you know? This recipe makes a slightly sweep apple topped cheesecake with hints of maple.

Ingredients:
1 ready made roll out pie crust. I used Trader Joe's.
4 apples peeled, cored, thinly sliced and tossed in a bit of lemon juice
1 package of cream cheese at room temp.
1/4 cup of maple sugar + 1 TBS
1/4 Tbs cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 tsp of vanilla
nutmeg
maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat the over to 350
Whip together cream cheese, 1/4 cup of maple sugar or more if you like it sweeter. Add vanilla. Taste and adjust sugar if necessary. When you find it sweet enough add one egg and whip together until mixed.
Unroll pie dough and place in an ungreased tart shell.
use a knife to trim off extra dough from edges
fill pie shell with cream cheese filling
Toss apple slices with 1 Tablespoon maple sugar, cinnamon and a couple of grates of nutmeg (a pinch or so).
Bake for 40 minutes at 350. Check after 25 minutes. If the apples are getting too brown cover the pie with foil.
Optional: I reduced a bit of maple syrup and brushed over the apples when they came out of the oven.

Let cool and then chill in the fridge. Enjoy :)

Grilled Pizza

2012-08-15T05:44:00.004-07:00

We love pizza. I have seen recipes for grilled pizza all over the place and I decided to risk it and see if I could actually toss fresh dough on a hot grill and not make a hot mess. I used pre-made dough for my adventure (yes, I admit it) but I did make my own pizza sauce. I was a little worried but I greased up the dough and flopped it on and to my surprise - it worked. They were not very pretty but they tasted great.

Pizza Sauce:

10 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove
Dash of Italian Seasoning.
5 basil leaves

Directions for the sauce: Pop tomatoes into boiling water for a few minutes and then pull them out and put them in a cold water bath. You should be able to peel the skins off easily. Next, smash up your tomatoes. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a sauce pot add garlic. When the garlic is golden, add your tomatoes and Italian seasoning. I like to add a bit of basil later. Cook this down until you have a thick chunky sauce. I used a potato masher to smoosh up the tomatoes as they cooked.

Toppings:

Margherita: Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and shreds of basil

Cappicolla, mushroom, and arugula. We shredded the arugula and tossed it with olive oil and salt after the pizza came of the grill.

Veggie: zucchini, mushroom, tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil

Pesto: same as margherita but with pesto in place of the tomato sauce.

Salami & Pepper: banana peppers, Calabrese salami, and green pepper.

Ingredients from the farm: cherry tomatoes, basil, arugula, green pepper, banana peppers,

Directions for grilling:

Heat the grill to about 300-350 degrees on one side of the grill. Keep dough cold until just before grill time. Shape your dough into ovals - they seem to work better on the grill. Coat your hands and the dough with olive oil and then place on the cool side of the grill. Close the lid and let the dough cook well on one side. Once the dough is cooked half way through - flip and then top the cooked side with sauce and toppings. Remove from grill when the dough is cooked through. You will have to watch these carefully so you don't burn the edges. I was able to cook two at a time.

Gluten Free Fruit Crisps

2012-08-13T08:20:00.001-07:00

What to do when you have orchards and berry bushes ripe with fruit? Most people would bake a pie - but that gets more complicated when dealing with gluten intolerance. The easiest and fastest way to enjoy a fruity dessert is to make a simple crisp. This recipe has been tweaked slightly from the Food Network's Mix & Match Crumble. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/mix-and-match-crumbles/index.html

Ingredients

1 cup of rolled oats

3/4 cup of nuts

1/4 cup of brown sugar

5 tbs butter softened

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

4 cups of ripe fruit

2 tbs corn starch

Directions:

Grind nuts and then mix oats and brown sugar. Mix the dry ingredients with softened butter. In a separate bowl mix fruit with sugar and cornstarch. Next, grease an 8x8 baker and pour in the fruit mixture. Use your hands to crumble the oat mixture on top. Bake at 375 covered for 20 minutes and then uncovered for another 20. Be sure to check the crumble during that last 20 minutes so you don't burn your topping. It is ready when the fruit is bubbly and the oat/nut topping is nicely browned.

Blackberry Pecan Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

Peach walnut crisp with vanilla ice cream

Farmhouse Frittata

2012-08-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

This recipe was whipped together after a failed pesto chicken meal the previous night. We took the potato and zucchini hash and a bit of the pesto and repurposed it into a yummy frittata.

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked diced zucchini, potato, onion, green pepper, and banana peppers.
8 eggs
6-8 cherry tomatoes
fresh basil
pesto
Parmesan

Directions:

1. In a large oiled oven proof skillet you will want to saute the vegetables until tender or reheat veggies that you have ready.

2. In a bowl scramble the eggs with 1/8 cup of milk. Sprinkle in Parmesan 1/8-1/4 cup and 1/4 of a teaspoon of pesto.

3. Spread out the veggie mix so it is even on the pan and then pour in the egg mixture.

4. Lower the heat to a very low flame.

5. Cover. After a few minutes add halved cherry tomatoes.

6. Recover and cook on very low until egg mixture sets.

7. Add more cheese to the top of the frittata and then run the whole pan under the broiler until frittata is golden.

8. Slide frittata onto a serving dish and top with fresh basil, salt & pepper.

Lemon Oregano Porkchops w/ Asian Pear Sauce

2012-08-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

The oregano plants have bolted and the honey bees have gone bananas. They love the oregano flowers. At any given time you can find dozens of bees darting in and out of the leaves and er...flowers. Much to their dismay, I recently deadheaded the oregano leaving them only a small batch of bolted herb to play in. Since I was out there chopping and weeding, it seemed like a great idea to make something that featured oregano. Plus, my favorite dish of all time (and Peter Brady's) is pork chops & applesauce. Or is it Pork shopsh & Apple Shawsh? He might not have approved of pear sauce but we thought it was a winner.

Lemon Oregano Porkchops

Ingredients:

8 center cut pork chops.

Marinade:

1 Tbs fresh chopped oregano
1/4 cup Meyer Lemon Olive oil.
1 clove of garlic - minced or microplaned
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/8 tsp lemon zest

Directions: Mix up the marinade and brush onto pork chops just before grilling. Grill until pork chops are fully cooked.

Asian Pear Sauce

Super easy to make and the pears from the farm are so sweet no sugar was needed.

Ingredients: 3-4 cups of chopped Asian pears
1/8 cup of water - they will make more juice.
Cook the pears until they are soft and then drain them. Smash them with a potato masher.
Refrigerate until cool or eat it warm.

Detroit Beet Salad

2012-07-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

I got the inspiration for this salad from Mary Ann Esposito's cookbook Ciao!Italia Family Classics We were looking for a recipe where we could gather the most ingredients to bring from the farm to the table and her Basil with Beets recipe was perfect. I swapped out some ingredients and changed up the measurements a bit. It was tasty and a dish we will make again.

Shallots drying

More Shallots drying

Klatt Farm ingredients in this recipe: arugula, basil, beets, shallots, and garlic!

Ingredients:

8 fresh picked Detroit Red beets (or whatever red beet you have handy)
1/4 cup of arugula cut into strips
1/4 cup of beet greens cut into strips
1/2 cup of basil cut into strips
1/8 cup of goat cheese
optional: toasted pine nuts. Oh, how I wish I had some when we made this!

Dressing:
1/4 cup Oh!Olive Mushroom & Sage olive oil.
3 Tbs white balsamic vinegar
1/2 large Dutch Yellow shallot (or whatever kind you have) minced
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Scrub up the beets, Toss in a tbs of olive oil and roast. We wrapped ours in foil and stuck
the package on the grill until the beets were fork tender. Let cool at room temperature until you finish making your marinade.

2. Whisk up the marinade and then add the beets. Cover and leave on the counter until the flavors marry. 1 hour or more.

3. Wash up your greens and then chiffonade them.

4. When dinner is ready, toss the beets with the greens and then sprinkle on goat cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Enjoy!

Spicy Beet Slaw Two Ways

2012-07-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of beets ready for picking on the farm. Last year, I found a great recipe for "Crimson Slaw" from Bon Appetite online. The directions seemed pretty straight forward but somehow I missed the red cabbage which was listed last in the ingredient list. Pretty funny since this is a slaw recipe. Maybe it was the white space that threw me off? Anyway, we made it clueless about the cabbage and then made it a third time reducing the horseradish. Everyone loved it with just the onions and beets. This summer I added the cabbage. lol.. Here are both of my versions with and without cabbage. The original recipe can be found at http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2004/10/crimson_coleslaw

Ingredient from the Klatt farm in this recipe: Beets

Spicy Beet & Onion Slaw

This is great on a shredded pork sandwich

2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs Oh! Olive Red Apple Balsamic
1 Tbs prepared horseradish
1 cup of grated fresh beets
1 cup of paper thin sliced red onion
salt & pepper to taste

Ruby Red Coleslaw

3 tbs olive oil
3 Tbs Oh! Olive Red Apple Balsamic
1 Tbs prepared horseradish
1 cup of grated fresh beets
1 cups of red onion
2 cups of red cabbage
salt & pepper to taste

Pittsburgh Public Market

2012-07-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

We have been coming down to the farm for several years now and everyone has been to Pittsburgh but me. This summer we made it goal to venture north a wee bit and see the strip. One of the places I wanted to visit was the Pittsburgh Public Market. It is a small venue made up of local small businesses. http://pittsburghpublicmarket.org/ We enjoyed looking around at all the goodies. But here were a few things we thought were pretty amazing:

Om Nom Bake Studio
http://omnombakestudio.com/

The ladies running this little treat stand had some delicious creations to offer. We went home with pinky splints, peanut butter cookies, and a tasty bacon chocolate chip cookie dubbed "The Porker". Good stuff! I am wondering if they ship to Chicago?

Gryphon's Tea
https://www.facebook.com/gryphonstea?ref=ts

Our next purchase was Gryphon's Teas. Gryphon was there serving up hand mixed tea blends. We purchased the Fleur de Mint. As a mint tea fan, I can't think of anything better than to add a little lavender into the mix.

Olio Fresca

http://oliofresca.blogspot.com/

Last but not least we stopped at Olio Fresca to sample the olive oils and balsamic vinegars. I am a big fan of balsamic. They had watermelon samples drizzled with peach balsamic. Delicious. I picked up a bottle and then made a last minute switch with a bottle of pineapple balsamic. Yum, indeed!

We enjoyed strolling around the market and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it gets bigger and better over time. Don't forget to support your local businesses near you. Visit your farmer's markets, craft shows, and mom-n-pop shops!

Mango Jam Poke Cake w/ Basil Cream

2012-07-21T07:05:00.001-07:00

Gluten free doesn't mean that you can't have cake. This dessert was a huge success and I dare say the cake was better than any boxed cake I have every tried. The best part was the delicious homemade mango jam given to us during a recent visit with family. The mangoes grow in their backyard in Florida and there is yearly mango/garlic exchange between our extended families. Can it get better than that?

Klatt Farm Ingredients In This Recipe: Basil

Ingredients:

One Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake baked as directed in an 8x8 pan

8 oz of the jam of your choice (we used Marcy Klatt's fresh made mango jam)

8 oz of heavy cream

one small bunch of basil leaves 4-5 (medium size leaves)

2 packs of stevia.

Directions:

1. Make cake according to directions. Cool in pan.

2. Once cake is cool. Poke all over with a straw to make holes in the cake.

3. Spread 8 oz of jam over the cake.

4. Chop up basil leaves w/ Stevia in a mini food processor.

5. Whip up heavy cream. Once you have stiff peaks, stir in the sugared basil.

Enjoy!

Middle Eastern Spiced Rolls

2012-07-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

During our latest trek down the hill into town we stopped into the Martins Ferry library and picked up a stack of books taller than my youngest daughter. One of the books that caught my eye was a Lebanese cookbook. We love the flavors of middle eastern food and I have been trying to hunt down a recipe for a dish made by an old neighbor of mine. Of course, that recipe wasn't in the book but there were plenty other mouth watering recipes for grilled meats, relishes, and stuffed veggies. At home I had started cooking a traditional family rice dish that I was going to stuff into swiss chard leaves but then I was drawn back to the stuffed veggies in the library book. The basic stuffing recipe for veggies has rice, meat, a few other things plus cinnamon and all spice. Since I already had a bunch of beet greens and chard scrubbed down and cooking in a tomato sauce with onions, I decided to wing it and toss in some cinnamon and allspice. Viola - a spicy sauce that was savory and slightly sweet. I added some ground beef (wish I had lamb on hand) and long grain brown rice and we were ready to get rolling. It wasn't exactly what I planned to make for dinner but it ended up being a delicious surprise. It is somewhat reminiscent of the flavors of Moussaka. So, if you like that - you will like this.


Chard growing on the farm

Note: 3 fresh from the farm ingredients used in this dish: garlic, chard, and beet greens.

Ingredients:

29 oz can of tomato sauce
1 yellow onion diced.
3 cups or so of mixed chopped greens. I used Swiss chard and beet greens.
1 pound of ground chuck or ground lamb.
3 cups of cooked long grain brown rice (make ahead of time)
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 clove of garlic.
2 dozen or more Swiss chard leaves.
log of goat cheese.
2 Yukon gold potatoes
Zatar spice

Directions for potatoes:

1. Cube potatoes into small cubes and fry in 2 Tbs oil until crispy on sides and tender in the middle.
2. Season with a dash or two of zatar spice, salt, and pepper.

Directions for sauce:

1. Saute onion, garlic in 1-2 tsp of olive oil
2. Add ground beef.
3. Once ground beef is cooked down add 3 cups of greens.
4. Once the greens are wilted add the can of tomato sauce
4. Add cinnamon and all spice
5. Cook until the tomato sauce mellows and flavors combine 20-30 minutes
6. Add 3 cups of rice to the tomato sauce.

Directions for rolls:

1. Steam Swiss chard leaves and then cut out as much as you can of the center stem without cutting the leaves in half.
2.Dollop a tablespoon or so of the rice mixture onto the leaf and then 1/4 tsp of goat cheese and a sprinkle of fried potato.
3. Roll and place back into the steamer or put on a platter in the oven to keep warm. I used a bamboo steam to steam the leaves and then returned the rolls to the steamer to keep warm and then to serve.
4. Continue until all leaves are used. You may have a lot or a little of the rice mix left depending on the size of your leaves. Keep this as a side dish or to stuff other veggies: zucchini, tomato, or pepper.

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

2012-07-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Klatt farm ingredients used in this recipe: patty pan squash, garlic, swiss chard, beet greens

There are rows and rows of squash growing on the farm. Some are thriving and some are being eaten alive by squash bugs. Among all the winter squash we found a volunteer from last year - a patty pan squash. It wasn't planted this year but it returned to remind us that it is a tasty vegetable. Since we didn't know about it the patty pans got a little bigger than expected. It seemed like a good idea to stuff them - so we did.

Ingredients

2 medium patty pan squash. hollowed out. Save the inside bits but not the seed.
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs olive oil
3 cups of mixed greens (chard, kale, beet)
Italian Seasoning
salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Saute garlic, onion, patty pan, and greens in 2 Tbs olive oil.
Let cool
2. Mix greens with ricotta, raisins, salt & pepper, and a dash of
Italian Seasoning.
3. Stuff mixture into the patty pan shells.
4. Wrap the squash in silver foil (aluminium foil) and grill until tender.

Enjoy!

Fiestaware & Wine Soaked Fruit Salad

2012-07-19T05:51:00.002-07:00

The family farm is close enough to the Fiestaware Factory that we couldn't help but pile into the car and go out to see what we could find. I have a nice size Fiesta collection but I could always use more and I was looking for smaller bowls to serve bite size yummies for the girls. Plus, buying items made right here in the United States of America is always a great idea.

The current factory was founded in 1907 and is located in Newell, West Virginia. The people running the outlet store couldn't be nicer and not only can you find everything you ever wanted in current production, they also have a large room of seconds. This is a treasure trove of stacked plates, dishes, and bowls that were not good enough to place on store shelves. Ha - good enough for me, a small spot here or a raised bump there doesn't distract me from a good bargain. I managed to navigate through the Dr. Seussish stacks without knocking anything over (although I came close). I was on the hunt for a new butter dish and found 200+ butter dish bottoms in the second room but no tops. I suppose it is the luck to find some items. Nevertheless, we were pleased to leave with a half dozen fruit bowls, pasta plates, and coffee mugs to drag back to Chicago with us in August. If I could have had my way I would have jumped into the rubble pile of thirds to take back some broken pieces for art projects. I suppose that is what the fence was for.

First on display

Oh boy, Fiesta Heaven.

Stacks of Seconds

Bowls just asking to topple over


This must be the "thirds" pile. It screams craft projects to me. I almost hopped the fence. lol.

Wine Soaked Fruit Salad

To compliment our new little Fiestaware fruit bowls. I whipped up an easy fruit salad that is spicy and refreshing.

4 cups of chopped fruit
3 TBS of honey
The juice of one lemon
1 tsp of cardamom.

Place in a bowl and then top off the salad with your favorite sweet white wine. I used a Riesling. Let soak in the refrigerator and then spoon into small dessert dishes and enjoy.

Blackberry-Kiwi Goat Cheese Pie

2012-07-17T20:04:00.001-07:00

The blackberry bushes are suffering in the heat this summer. The heat, the crows, and the raccoons seem to be getting the best of the berries. Nevertheless, I dug around the bushes with my little helpers and gathered up the last bit of ripe berries for dessert. We had enough for the center of the pie and filled out the outer edges with slices of kiwi. This summery pie is gluten free, low-carb, and delicious. We are looking forward to the upcoming rain and more berries soon!

Annalina returning with her basket of berries.

Ingredients:

Blackberries
1 Kiwi
1 1/2 cups walnuts
3 TBS butter - chopped up into bits.
1 dash of cinnamon
3 oz of goat cheese
5 oz of cream cheese
4 oz of heavy cream
1 tsp of lemon zest
1 tsp of fresh lemon juice
3 packets of Stevia.

Directions:

Crust: Add nuts, butter, and cinnamon to a small food processor. Grind until nuts are finely chopped and butter is incorporated. Spread mixture onto the bottom of an 8 inch pie plate or pan. Bake at 350 degrees until crust is set and golden. 7-10 minutes. Cool completely.

Cheese filling:
Whip up 4 oz of heavy cream in a small bowl. It should make 8 oz of whipped cream. Set in fridge.
Next, cream together goat cheese and cream cheese with the lemon juice, zest, and 3 packets of Stevia. Add whipped cream to this mixture.

Lastly, dollop the cheese mixture onto the nut crust. Be careful smoothing it out as the nuts are still fairly loose. Top with fresh berries and slices of kiwi. Refrigerate several hours then slice and enjoy.

Saturn Peach Rice Salad

2012-07-13T09:44:00.002-07:00

The saturn peach tree here on the farm produced lovely little peaches this year. We have one small bowl of fruit left to cook with and I decided to make a refreshing summer rice salad.

Saturn peaches from the farm

Ingredients:

1 cup of diced saturn peaches. No peeling necessary.
1 1/2 cups (dry) black rice
2 green onions
1/8 cup of chopped pecans
1/8 cup of goat cheese. Rolled into little balls
Meyer Lemon olive oil
Oh! Olive Sicilian lemon white balsamic
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Cook rice & let cool
2. mix in peaches, onions, and nuts.
3. Whisk up 2 tbs of balsamic and 1 tbs oil with salt &
    pepper to tast.
4. Mix viniagrette into the rice and veggies. Taste and
adjust to your preference.
5. Roll goat cheese into little balls and gently mix into
the salad.

30 days on the farm

2012-07-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

This year is our second thirty day summer adventure on the farm. We started the tradition last year and plan to continue it well into the future. We pack up the kids and all of our necessities and travel down to the farm to enjoy summer with our family. As always, there is much to do and much to talk about. There are fruit trees, honeybees, berry bushes and vegetables galore that need TLC and harvesting. The kids enjoy helping out with farming tasks and I enjoy cooking with all the fresh fruits and vegetables. We are a few days into our stay and we have much to share. Come back often and see what we are up to. :)

-Tanya