Urban Farm Video

Here it is! Click HERE to see our latest episode of "Farm to Table Foodie". FINALLY finished putting it together, just in time for you to make a delicious winter recipe in your own home. Hope you and enjoy it! RECIPE BELOW.

Butternut Squash Creamy Pasta Sauce

By Becky Bowler

2 cloves garlic

½ onion

2 small tomatoes

2 medium carrots

1 red bell pepper

1 can light coconut milk

1 veggie bouillon cube

2 cups Butternut squash puree and 1 cup butternut squash cubes

½ cup Nutritional Yeast

½ t Basil

1 t Thyme

1 t Oregano

½ t Red Cracked Pepper

1 ½ t salt

½ t black pepper

½ cup or more water/veggie broth, if needed to thin

Peel and cube a large Butternut Squash. Steam the cubes until tender, approx 20 minutes. Puree about 2 ½ cups of the cubes to make 2 cups of puree.

While the squash is steaming, sauté garlic, onion, carrots and red bell pepper in a couple tablespoons of water or vegetable broth until tender. Once tender, add coconut milk, tomatoes, 2 cups of pureed butternut squash, 1 cup cubed butternut squash, nutritional yeast, and spices and herbs. Mix well and simmer to blend flavors. Serve over rice or pasta or use as a hearty soup.

Urban Farm/Market Shoot

The Hoop House Farms

BEAUTIFUL rainbow chard....you really don't see it this colorful in the supermarket

In the garden

Last weekend I had a great time with my mama in town. We hit up the Rosie O’Donnelle show, did some shopping, I was able to do some home cooking, we hung out and she was able to witness the filming of our new video to be released within a couple weeks. Friday we were able to go to Growing Home’s Urban Farm in South Chicago. They are a great non-profit organization that builds urban farms to help boost economic activity in communities and provide local, fresh, organic produce in areas that are considered food deserts. They even create jobs for those who may have troubles finding employment due to homelessness, previous incarceration, or past substance abuse. They were super friendly on our visit and their farm was BEAUTIFUL!!! So well organized, clean, and colorful. It was the coldest day that we have seen thus far in Chicago but the sun was shining. The next morning we followed them to the Green City Market up at the Penny Notebaert Museum. Walking around the market both inside and out, was very refreshing. It was amazingly warm and sunny out so it made for a beautiful morning. We walked around the market, picked up some delicious local fresh produce and were ready to get back to the kitchen for the lastest creation. Stay tuned for the video and you will have a yummy new recipe to try out this winter! I know it was a favorite of many last year :)

P.S. Don't forget to "Like" us on facebook so you can keep up on the latest videos and happenings.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thyme-2-Travel-Productions/250105368371324

Behind the Scenes shot compliments of Mom Bowler

Me and my mama

PRODUCE SHOTS

Sweet shot of the Brussels

Radishes

All color carrots

Just missed that little red berry!

Awwww Man! I was sooooo close! I just missed cranberry harvest in Wisconsin. I have a very interested farm though and they are ready for me to visit. It WILL happen next year so be ready to see me in the waders walking through the cranberry lakes and showing you an awesome recipe! Did you know that Wisconsin produces more cranberries than any other state in the nation and produces more than half of the entire world's supply!!!

Man! Super excited about those cranberries but I guess that is all a part of the process of planning ahead and mother nature does not wait for the Farm to Table Foodie! So in the attempt to drown my sorrow with the missed harvest we will move on. Thanksgiving is fast approaching and what is the most well known food on the table for that gluttonous holiday? You guessed it! The TURKEY! Looking at Turkey farms soon hopefully. Little nervous about this one. Don't worry we are just gonna visit them while they play. We all know what happens in order for them to go in the oven so it isn't really necessary for me to broadcast that step. Stay tuned!

Farm to Table Foodie Pumpkin Video and Recipe

The Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend, Sari and I had an amazing day in the pumpkin patch. It was PERFECT weather and we got there before the parking lot filled up with hundreds of cars. The fields were full of pumpkins and the place was packed with families of all shapes and sizes running around the property. It was quite interesting to see that they also had Camel rides and a giraffe on site. Hmmmm... I wasn’t real sure what that was all about but the pumpkins were plentiful so that is all we cared about. Check out the video HERE and the recipes below. ENJOY!

WHY WOULD YOU BAKE A PUMPKIN?

You can make:

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Bars, Pie, Scones, Pancakes

Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin Ravioli

Pumpkin puree can substitute oil in baking. Use a 1:1 ratio

Freeze the puree in 2 cup portions if you aren’t going to use it all.

DIRECTIONS FOR BAKING A PUMPKIN:

BAKING WHOLE: Wash the pumpkin and place it right on the oven rack with some foil on the bottom rack under the pumpkin to catch any drippings. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes depending on the size. Then cut in half and scoop out the guts in the middle. Use the flesh for puree.

BAKING IN HALVES: Cut the Pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and guts. Place the halves face down in a shallow pan filled with about about 1/2 inch of water. Bake at 350 degress for 35-60 minutes. To check, insert a knife through the skin and when it slides through easily, the pumpkin is cooked.

ROASTING THE SEEDS:

Rinse the seeds and release them from the pumpkin guts. Lay on a paper towel to dry. After the seeds have dried spread them on a baking sheet and season with: honey and cinnamon, salt and cayenne, parmesan and italian seasoning, etc. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. You may want to shake them up during the baking process.

FEATURED RECIPE:

Pumpkin Mousse

2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

1 ¼ cup macadamia nuts or cashews

12 dates

1 ¼ cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

Pumpkin Spices

2 t cinnamon

1 ½ t nutmeg

½ t ginger

Bake a small/medium pie pumpkin. Scrape out the flesh and set aside. While waiting for the pumpkin to cook soak the nuts in the almond milk for a couple hours (Soaking overnight is recommended if using a regular blender). Soak the dates in hot water for about 20 then drained. Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth.

*You can eat this mousse alone or put it into a date/nut crust, pie crust, tart crust, make parfaits or freeze as an ice cream.

Farm to Table Foodie Apple Video and Recipes

Wow! I have been super neglecting this blog lately. So many things going on and trying to edit the Apple Video was one of them. It is finally complete! Check it out! Just click HERE !

See the recipe below!

FYI....I am setting the wheels in motion for a possible move back to Santa Cruz by early next year. Who knows what that will look like or when it will happen but I am very excited about it. So much to pursue there and I am ready to make a place my home.

In "Farm to Table Foodie" news, I will be hopefully shooting a piece on pumpkins in the next week or two so be ready for the video and a great recipe in a few weeks. Hope you are all having a beautiful fall and enjoying the yummy harvest foods. Feel free to drop me an email if you need any ideas for your latest Farmer's Market pickup or you just want to say hi!
info@thyme2travel.com

Best - Becks

On the Fly
Apple Pie

Ingredients

Filling:
7-8 Peeled Sliced Apples
1 T Cinnamon
1 cup apple sauce
4 finely chopped medjool dates
¼ cup of whole wheat flour (or substitute with gluten free flour)
Topping:
1/3 cup nuts (use any variety or any mixture of cashew, pecan, macadamia, almond, walnut)
10 medjool dates
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup flax meal

Method:
Peel and slice enough apples to fill a 9x13 baking dish about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with 1 T Cinnamon, add applesauce, chopped dates and flour and mix well. In a separate bowl mix the rolled oats and flax meal. In a food processor mix together the nuts and dates. Add the nut/date mixture to the oats and flax and mix well. Crumble and press the oat mixture on top of the apples. Bake for 30 minutes at 375

OTHER DELICIOUS RECIPES

Apple Sorbet
Serves 10

Ingredients
2 cups homemade applesauce (see recipe below)
2 cups %100 apple juice
2 Teaspoons lemon juice

Method
Puree in blender or food processor. Place in shallow dish and freeze at least 6-7 hours. Serve
by scraping into curls with a soup spoon or ice cream scoop.

Apple Sauce
Ingredients
4 Apples, peeled, cored and chopped (Use sweet apples such as gala, fuji, honeycrips or pink lady)
3/4 cup water
2-3 dates
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
In a saucepan, combine apples, water, dates and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork for chunky or blend in a blender or food processor for smoother sauce.

Apple Time!

Sunday, Sari and I hit the Illinois highway on a GORGEOUS day to go apple picking. I swear, everyone and their dog decided to do the same thing on that very day. We went to a large orchard about 1 1/2 hours outside of Chicago, Kuiper Family Farm, and were amazed to see the how big it actually was and how many people were there. On one side of the country road was a enormous pumpkin patch and things going on for the kiddos and on the other was a huge parking lot (field) of hundreds of cars that lead up to the main barn and apple orchards. Apparently this was a very popular place. The line was probably about a 2 hour wait to pay and get your apple picking bag.

Luckily we were sly and took a shorter route which I won’t go into greater details about. You can ask me in person ;) (We didn’t hurt anyone nor did we cost the farm any money). They had a large variety of apples such as honeycrisp, golden delicious, empire, and roman. Families were all over the place and there were plenty of apples to be picked. It was such an awesome experience that I recommend to anyone. You get to get out into the field, spend time outdoors in the fresh air, be active, pick fresh fruit, and take part in a piece of nature. LOVE IT! We spent a couple hours filming and playing around before we hit the road again.

So many apples!!! Too bad these were all left on the ground to rot :(

Eve in the orchard

Film time - I'm saying something very imformative ;)

The beautiful cinematographer

How do you like them apples?

Next up, was the Long Grove Apple Fest. We decided to take the back roads about1 1/2 north-east-ish and appreciate the two-lane quieter roads with a little but more countryside scenery. BUT along the way I saw a sign that we were driving through Bartlett, Illinois and remembered an article I had just read about a movie thriller that was being created based on the urban legends of this road in Bartlett, Illinois called Munger Road. (Check out the story: http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-movie-munger-road-inspired-local-myths-murders-161600009.html ). I told Sari to google map it on her iPhone to see if we were close. Well, we were only a mile away and decided to drive the quiet eirey road over the railroad tracks just to say we did. I can definitely tell that it could be very creepy at night. Sari loves that stuff and wants to go back in the evening some time. Me? Not so much!

The Festival!

Back to the apple-day..... we made it to Long Grove and like many festivals I have experienced lately, I was disappointed. You would think that when something is called Apple Fest, there would be tons of booths selling apples and apple things. Well, there was one booth with apples and cider, another one with apple martinis and one bakery, the Applehaus, selling pies, donuts, and apple treats. The rest were crafts and tons of carnival-like JUNK food. And this was not just some tiny festival. That drives me crazy! Make it about the apples! The two lines for the Applehaus, one on each side, were probably a 2 hour wait. Do you think we waited? NO! Do you think we still got something? YES! Man, we are good! Sari slipped a guy in front of the line a 20 and asked if he would buy us a pie :) No problem. The pie is called a brown bag pie but it comes in a box. When we opened it, we were in a little shock but no longer wondered why it seemed so heavy. There was a huge carmel dome over the top that protected the flaky crust and apple filling and it was half wrapped in brown parchement paper.

Wow! Someone was actually selling apples at AppleFest!

THE pie!

But, what seemed to be one of the most popular things to buy at the Fest was a big let down. I am so glad we didn’t wait in line. The flavor was pretty blah and the filling was not well gelled together because you could see all the little clear pectin chunks mixed in with the apples and cinnamon. Total bummer! Oh, well, I was going home soon enough to make some fresh apple recipes of my own that I knew would be much better. We were late told by passersby that we should have tried the Apple Donuts but we were NOT about to wait in line. We could see them cooking them up though and of course they did smell pretty tasty. After a quick walk around we saw all that we cared to see and hit the road again. Back to Chicago!

The infamous Apple Donuts we could small, see and grab (if we really wanted to) but did not taste

Overall, it was an awesome fall day and if you have an opportunity to get out to an orchard in the next few weeks, I absolutely recommend it. It’s Apple time!

P.S. Hopefully we will have the video ready to post by next week.

Oktoberfest 2011 - Chicago

Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest.....oh how American’s will adopt any country’s tradition or annual festivity in order to drink and be merry :) This one is a little be more dear to my heart. Why? Well, it’s a German festivity of course! Although, I so wish that I was writing this from Munich right now, I will have to settle for Chicago and it’s Americanized version.

Oktoberfest is a 16-18 day beer festival that is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It runs from late September into the first weekend of October. As one of Germany’s most famous events, it has typically more than 5 million people in attendance every year. The original Oktoberfest, starting in 1810, was more of an agricultural show, promoting Bavarian agriculture. Not until 1887, did Oktoberfest Staff and Breweries come into the picture. Now it’s all about the beer; from 120,000 litres of beer poured in 1910 to now around 7 MILLION liters served. Traditional food is also widely available such as: sausages, pretzels, potato dumplings, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, and cheesy noodles. (See my post on Germany for more on beer and food at http://thyme2travel.blogspot.com/2011/07/germany-beer-bread-and-sausageor-is.html)

BUT.....as I said early, we American’s are well capable of adopting popular worldly traditions and Oktoberfest is no exception. You don’t have to be Germany to take in the experience, although it can never live up to what takes place in Munich. We’ll do what we can! There are hundreds of Oktoberfest celebrations all over the United States, with the largest one, surprisingly, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chicago does it’s part by putting on a a couple 3 day celebration with beer, brauts, music, and family activities. Last night some friends and I went to one up in Southport. Much to our disappointment, it felt more like we were at a carnival as they served funnelcakes, deepfried twinkies, cheese fries, crab rangoo....oh but they did have some Super Pretzels and Oscar Meyer Weiners. The beer wasn’t even Oktoberfesty. Uninterested in just an excuse to drink and eat horrible food, we decided to skip the overpriced outdoor activity and head over to Lincoln Square where the more authentic German culture resides. We made our way to the Chicago Brauhaus and were able to get a seat to drink our litre Oktoberfest beers and sample some pretzel, sausage, sauerkraut and german mustard. I recall us saying several times how it made us REALLY want to be in Germany at that moment. It made my heartache as I was reminded of all that I loved about being in Germany, and it wasn’t even the beer, sausage, or pretzel. Maybe the mustard tho ;)

P.S. Apple picking has yet again been postponed due to the gloomy weather. I promise it's coming though!