Autumn Breakfast

The weekends are my favorite time to make a delicious meal. Mornings are spent lounging around, sipping coffee or tea, and leisurely preparing breakfast. Bobby and I  walk down the Fillmore on Saturdays to the Farmers’ Market for the week’s freshest produce. Last weekend we went to Rainbow Co-op to stock up on bulk foods like Fair Trade coffee and rice, spices, and other organic items. It is this combination of ingredients sourced close to San Francisco, CA that we made this morning’s breakfast one of the best so far. The crisp weather has ripened the apples, making this meal perfect for fall taste buds.

French Toast with Apple Cinnamon “Compote”

Ingredients:
– Eggs from Olivera Farms (Fillmore Farmers’ Market)
– Milk & Butter from Straus, Evaporated Cane Sugar, Cinnamon (Rainbow Grocery)
– 2 Fuji Apples (Rainbow Grocery give-away from the Green Festival)
– Bread (La Boulange)
– Organic Brown Sugar

Recipe:

1. Whisk 4 eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a large bowl. You’ll be dipping your bread in it, so it’s best to choose one with a wide bottom which will let them soak. Once prepared, dip sliced bread into mixture, flip and soak other side, and place directly on skillet on medium heat. Coat pan in butter first for easier non-stick surface.

2. In a small saucepan melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add diced apples and stir. Once coated with butter, add 2 tablespoons sugar (we used Organic evaporated cane sugar, you can use whatever you have handy or brown sugar), and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Let simmer, turn heat down if still cooking French Toast.

Once both are finished cooking, top Apple Cinnamon “compote” over French Toast and serve warm. Enjoy with Hot Apple Cider to heat spirits up more!

Abundant Harvests,
Brittany

Where’s The Beef?

I just found this wonderful Bay Area Meat & Poultry guide, and I have to share it!
Where the Wise Foods Are.

Salud, b

Tomato Time!

The summer is in full swing, and every gardener’s tomato plants are overflowing. Here are some great recipes for your tomatoes, tried and approved by Brittany and Bobby.

¡Salsa!

• Dice 6 small-ish/ 1 cup ripe tomatoes from the garden and add to a bowl–seed, skins, and all!

• Dice 1/4 cup onion and add to bowl. I used a sweet yellow onion, but red would be good if not better.

• Chop 1/8 – 1/4 cup cilantro leaves and stems and add to the bowl. We used some from our garden, but try to buy organic when possible–pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides will be sprayed directly on your cilantro. The same goes for the tomatoes, as well.

• Squeeze the 1/2 the juice from a lemon to the bowl. Mix && enjoy!

You can easily mix this recipe up to your own taste buds and local harvests. Try a lime instead of lemon, add some finely chopped garlic or garlic powder, use parsley instead of cilantro, and more! If you’re really interested in learning more Salsa recipes and are in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out this workshop. I’m super excited to attend next week!

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Pasta Sauce

Super simple version of pasta sauce with ingredients harvested from the garden and already present in the fridge and pantry. We encourage you to do the same, rather then following our recipe word-for-word.

• Dice 1/2 cup yellow onion and add to skillet with olive oil on a medium-low heat. Cook for ~3 minutes, before caramelizing.
• Add 1/3 cup diced bell peppers–green and red are my favorites and in the garden. Use what ya got! Cook for another 3 minutes.
• Dice 1 1/2 cups tomatoes; seeds, skins and all! You might need a little more olive oil at this point, too.
• Spice it up:: add minced garlic (1 per person +1), dried/fresh oregano, dried/fresh thyme, dried/fresh basil, garlic powder, salt and/or pepper. A little chili powder or jalapeño to give it a kick.
• Let simmer until liquid has thickened to your liking; we probably cooked ours for around 8-10 minutes.

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Insalata Caprese

Bobby’s favorite meal is perfect for all of our harvests.
Just add diced, ripe tomatoes from your garden to a handful of fresh basil leaves and diced Spring Hill mozzarella. Drizzle in cold-pressed virgin Olive Oil from HomeMaid Ravioli Co and devour!

Planting Guide: Start your basil and tomatoes indoors to maximize success during the first two weeks of the baby plants’ lives. Once cotyledons have formed, and mature leaves begin developing–or you see roots out the bottom of the container (term: root bound)–transplant to larger pots or outdoors in full sun, away from sea spray or wind. Plant together, for they are natural companions.

Conscious Consumerism: I’ve purchased from Spring Hill Cheese Co. at Fillmore and Castro Farmers’ Markets in San Francisco. Home Maid Co. sells olive oil, olives, raviolis, fresh pastas and spreads at Fillmore, Castro, and Divisadero Farmers’ Markets. Remember: buy local, buy organic.

Cheers,
Brittany

100% Farmers’ Market Meal

I’m such a sucker for a Farmers’ Market with good tunes since it seems to be one of the most distinguishable characteristics of each. And of course, the jazz coming from the Fillmore Center at Fillmore Farmers’ Market [Saturdays @ Fillmo’ && O’Farrell 9am-1pm] is continuously great.

This week I went shopping before making breakfast, so what better than to make it based off all my fresh goodies?!

Scrumdiddilyumptious!!!!

So this is what I made:

Veggie Scramble:: Red bell pepper, green bell pepper, zucchini, organic onion, organic garlic [this was actually purchased weeks ago at Divisadero FM], organic large eggs.

Green Onion && Cheddar Biscuits:: purchased from the wonderul bread man at the beginning of the market, usually near the honey lady and the Indian food stand.

Purple Rosemary Potatoes:: exactly the same from the previous recipe post!

It took about 20 minutes or so to prepare the vegetables, cook them, and plate it. Who would eat processed cereal when this is a cheap option. It took about ~$3 to feed two well. Real well. Then I took my full belly to enjoy some Wyder’s Cider and a beautiful Saturday at Dolores Park. This is what I call a SF day!

Oh, and don’t forget to spoil yourself with a $2 bouquet.

Cheers,
Brittany

Swiss Chard & Feta Frittata with Rosemary Purple Potatoes

Since I work at the Farmer’s Market I get a lot of excess produce from vendors at the end of the day. This past Sunday, though, was the ultimate score of produce. This monstrous bag contains: carrots, radishes, green onions, 4 bunches of swiss chard, 1 bunch kale, broccoli fourettes, green beans, and a head of broccoli. I told you it was the ultimate score. Of course, before I went shopping and bought garlic, yellow onion, asparagus and purple potatoes from Zuckerman’s Farm (It was their last day at that market, so I wanted them to have a good parting gift.)

For Monday’s breakfast I made:
Swiss Chard and Feta Frittata with Rosemary Purple Potatoes

This meal features::

– Organic Yellow Onion and Swiss Chard from J & M Ibarra Organic Farm Stand
from Divisadero Farmers’ Market.
– The olive oil is from Home Maid Co. in South San Francisco (Divis, Castro & Fillmore FM), and the purple potatoes are from Zuckermann’s Farm.
– Rosemary grown at USF Garden or gleened off San Francisco streets and dried in the living room.
It feeds:: 3 people (Add another chard & 1-2 eggs for 4 people.)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In a skillet coated in olive oil over medium heat, add ½ c yellow onion and cook until translucent.
3. Add the ½ c Chard stems, cut into ½” pieces. Cook for about 5 minutes, until stems are tender.
4. While you wait, whisk 4 eggs and a dash of milk together.
5. Add the 2 c Chard leaves and maybe a dash more of olive oil. Make sure the leaves are coated, not heavily—just don’t let them burn on the skillet. I finished mine with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, too.
6. Once the sauté mixture is cooked through, I transferred it into a olive oil-greased baking pan. The traditional way is to put the skillet in the oven, but the only skillet I trust in the oven I don’t trust with eggs. Consider clean up while cooking to make life easier.
7. Add egg mixture and mix through.
8. Add ¼ c feta cheese crumbles and mix in evenly.
9. Place pan in oven, cook for 13 minutes.
10. While the eggs cook, sauté 5-6 diced purple potatoes in olive oil with 1 tsp garlic salt, 1-2 tbsp crushed, dried rosemary on a medium heat. Cook until tender, will take about the same time as the frittata.

This meal took about 35 minutes from start to finish. Clean up was only 5-6 things, since I eyeball spices and vegetable proportions. All cooking is a ratio, you just need to find the balance. Just like life.

Until Our Next Meal,
Brittany