GardenSpotlight

one of our hand-made wreaths We've been so busy making wreaths and kissing balls for the Christmas Season. It's been very cold and a bit snowy of late.  A couple days ago, I surprised my husband with a crock pot of minestrone for lunch down at the farm.   He said it really hit the spot with this cold weather and has requested more crock pot goodness!  Today I made Kale and Tomato Soup for him as I wanted to use up some left over kale, which is very sweet and tender this time of year due to the cold weather.  We've been growing kale in the greenhouses all year along with other greens.  This recipe is super easy and really only takes about 15 minutes on the stove, but I elected to saute and then add to the crock pot for obvious reasons already stated.  Of course...it's always great to come home to an already cooked meal in the evening, so our crock pot is always working.  As a matter of fact, I have two of them! Kale growing in our greenhouse ...

We had a great time at the Pumpkin Festival today at the Farmer's Market. It was very cold though, and the Cooperative Extension office made hot Butternut Squash Soup! Yum. I made up recipe flyers for Pumpkin Soup for today, and we ran out of them, so I will post the recipe here for those who missed out. Here it is...enjoy. Allow yourself to be creative too and serve the soup in hollowed out pumpkins! Pumpkin Soup 1 Large Red Onion, sliced thinly, about 2 Cups 1 stick (½ Cup) unsalted butter white pepper to taste 8 Cups coarsely chopped raw, peeled pie pumpkin pieces (2 lbs) 6 Cups chicken broth 2 TBSP Raw Rice 2 Cups heavy cream or to taste In a kettle, cook onion in butter over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until softened and add pumpkin, white pepper and salt to taste. Cook mixture, covered, over moderately low heat 20 minutes or until pumpkin is softened. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add rice, and cook covered, over moderately low heat, 20 - 25 minutes un...