Recipes from a Farm Kitchen

Recipes From a Farm Kitchen

Ok, so, I’ve been on this farm, since the middle of April….so that makes it about 3 months since I’ve come to the farm, and I finally had my first visitors. Alia and Scott, Alia whom I’ve known since elementary school, and Scott, her really cool, down to earth husband. It was great to have them here because I love the farm, but its novelty has definitely worn off, At times I find myself not wanting to stay on the farm for the weekend, and instead I’ll drive to some city like San Francisco, or LA, to play capoeira and to socialize. Thus, it has taken visitors to make me realize HOW COOL THIS PLACE IS again. Because, it is really, truly amazing.

Everything we do at the farm is all aimed at one goal, at least for me, and that’s EATING. For the most part, we work in the garden, or in the orchard, or with the animals, all of which eventually make their way to the table. It becomes extremely apparent how high the quality of food is on the farm when I go off to city centers. I’m surrounded by a lot of people that number one, don’t really enjoy eating at the level that I enjoy it, and number two, aren’t as conscious about the kind of food that they eat, or how it’s prepared. For me, and in my life recently, the only goal of every day is to think about that; to watch something grow and ripen, to think about what I want to make for a meal, to harvest around the farm all of the ingredients, and to work preparing a meal, and last of all, eating and sharing it with gusto. It is such a truly satisfying endeavor. I’m scared to think about eating and cooking when the time comes to leave this place.

So, I thought I would share a few recipes of things that we’ve been creating on the farm and have become staples in the meals I often make. A lot of these I’ve gathered from other people on the farm, so thanks Ron, Jenn, Kevin, Liz, Kyle and Linnea for helping with these ideas!

1) Carrot Salad: Shred carrots up in a food processor (or arduously grate carrots) Add: raisins, nuts (pecans and walnuts are good choices), feta or goat cheese, some green herb is nice, dill, green onions, parsley….whatever. Add dressing: yogurt or buttermilk, honey, olive oil, lemon, salt. Mix it all together and done!

2) Beet/Mint salad: Cook beets beforehand, you can steam them in an oven safe dish with a lid. Put the beets in, add about an inch of water, cover them and put them in the oven for about 45-50 minutes or until you can push a fork through them. Or you can boil them, or roast them, however you want, but this water method is a little quicker, and kind of foil proof. Chill them in the fridge if you have time, but if not that’s ok. Dice them up and toss them with: feta cheese, mint leaves, olive oil, lemon juice, and a little salt.

3) Make your own granola! It’s super simple, but it’s also labor intensive because you have to be around. Setting a timer will help remind you when to turn it. Burned granola is the worst….

Here’s the recipe that we use on the farm…It’s from the “Horn of the Moon” restaurant cookbook.

Heat oven to 300 degrees F

4 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1/3 cup oil (I like using coconut oil)
Then your choice: add nuts, coconut flakes, anything. I like almonds and coconut flakes.
Raisins are better put in before eating because they tend to burn in the oven. This makes about one cookie sheet worth, I usually double or triple the recipe and spread it out on 2 cookie sheets.

Once you put them in the oven, you have to turn the granola about every 12 minutes or so….it’s done once it’s turned a nice golden brown. Just taste it to see if it’s the right crunchiness for you!


4) Whole Wheat pancakes

This recipe is from The Farmhouse Cookbook.

2 cups whole wheat
1 t baking soda
½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
2 T sugar (I often leave this out)
3 T oil (I like coconut!)
2 1/3 cup buttermilk or YOGURT ( I highly suggest yogurt)

The yogurt makes these pancakes fluffy and delicious every time.And as for toppings, I love making a yogurt and maple syrup dipping sauce. YUM.


5) Cornbread with yogurt!
So…we’ve been making a lot of yogurt on the farm…and we’ve been putting it in EVERYTHING. Here’s a great cornbread recipe from the Stonyfield Farm cookbook.

Heat oven to 400 F
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
¼ cup butter (or coconut oil)

Again, the yogurt here is MAGIC. And I’ve put coconut flakes into the batter as well.

Mix dry ingredients first, add wet ones, grease pan, bake for about 15-20 minutes…. I’ve also tried this recipe with rice flour instead of wheat…and I would probably bake it for less time, but it still came out pretty good. But I would only do this if you have a gluten allergy, because the wheat makes it much more moist.


5) Cilantro pesto

I had doubts about using cilantro to make pesto because I thought the flavor would be super strong, but it wasn’t. It had a really pleasant herb flavor and tasted amazing. You can basically follow any pesto recipe, I kind of just added things in until I liked the taste.

2 cups cilantro
1 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Nuts (pine, macadamia, walnuts….these are optional)

This you can also freeze in ice cube trays and save. When serving, then add cheese
of your choice.