Homemade Cherry Pie #GardenCuizine

Cherry Pie

Homemade cherry pie tastes better than anything you can buy. Cherry pie makes a great alternative to birthday "cake" too. Cherry pie is Harry's birthday favorite. In fact, today I'm decorating a pie that I made last night for his milestone birthday celebration. Happy 70th, Harry!

Why do you think store-bought fruit pies are so inexpensive? Because the fruit is stretched with lots of sugar and cheap filling goop! More like a science project than something worth eating.

In the future we hope to harvest our own cherries. We planted two new trees this spring; one appears to have died. So who knows if we'll ever get to grow our own cherries. In the meantime, I bought some at our local farmers market.
 
Preheat oven to 400 F

Pie dough
use your favorite pie dough recipe
Filling Ingredients
6 cups sweet cherries - pitted
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons (T) instant tapioca
1 T tapioca starch
1 T key lime juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup water
egg wash: 1 egg whisked with splash water

Putting it all together

• When pitting cherries be sure to account for each and every pit so your guests don't get a pit
• Combine all ingredients except the water and egg wash and toss in large bowl. Stir and after 15 minutes if the cherries do not seem juicy add the 1/4 cup water. Let sit while you roll out the pie dough.
• Roll out pie dough in two 11-inch circles for 9-inch pie plate. Fit one for bottom crust into lightly sprayed pie plate
• Fill with cherry mixture
• Use a fluted cutter and cut strips of dough out of the remaining circle for lattice top crust. Press and crimp edges using fingers
• Egg wash
• Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake until golden brown and you see the cherry filling bubble - about 1 hour total. You may have to put foil around the edges during baking to prevent getting too dark
• Allow to fully cool before decorating if serving as birthday 'cake'!

Edible decorations shown in photo: red shiso perilla, chocolate mint, anise hyssop, pansy

GardenCuizine Nutrition data Sweet Cherries:
Good Source: dietary Fiber, Potassium and Vitamin C
1 cup pitted Sweet Cherries: 3g (13% DV) dietary Fiber, 342mg (10% DV) Potassium, 11mg (18% DV) Vitamin C
Photos and recipe Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Traveling to New Hope or #Lambertville? Thumbs up to Caffe Galleria #GardenCuizine

When traveling to New Hope, PA or Lambertville, NJ be sure to experience the excellent food, service and live music at Caffe Galleria located on the Jersey side: 23 North Union Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

For Harry's birthday dinner we both had their Cedar Plank Fish du Jour, which was Corvina cooked to perfection in their brick oven served with a generous portion of veggies. Their salads are large enough to share. We shared a Pomodoro Salad with fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic reduction. The photo shows my half salad portion!

They don't have a liquor license but if you would like to order a bottle of wine with dinner they have an arrangement with a nearby liquor store that offers free delivery within minutes without any service charge. 

Desserts are made in-house (an attention getter for me) and featured a full line of gelato and sorbets. We enjoyed a scoop of gelato in espresso on the recommendation of our server that was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal. 

Whole wheat crust option for pizza, vegan and vegetarian foods (seitan, tofu, brown rice) and locally sourced foods including free-range eggs, pasture-raised meats were other menu features that caught my eye. 

Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Grow your own potatoes! #GardenCuizine

Growing Your Own Potatoes
~kitchen garden update~

Our organic russet Butte potatoes are now blooming away. As first discussed, seed potatoes were cut into pieces leaving an 'eye' on each piece and planted in trenches (June 9th). As the plants grew (June 27th), about 3 weeks later, the dirt was filled in; a process called 'hilling'.

The goal was to 'hill' the potatoes so more potatoes would grow. We planted ours in a raised bed, which made it difficult to hill the soil higher than the sides of the raised beds. The soil doesn't appear mounded, but since the seed potatoes were started low, in a trench, filling in the trench served as 'hilling'. We opted not to go any higher to avoid the soil rolling out of the raised bed. If the potatoes were planted at ground level we could have continued to mound up the soil. 

The top photo shows Butte potatoes in bloom. We're also growing 'King Harry' and my other favorite, 'Yukon Gold'.  When you grow your own - you can select from many different varieties. When you buy in a store - you are limited to whatever is available.

The potatoes will be ready to be dug up for cooking after the plants die. Check back for follow-up blog posts.
 
GardenCuizine Nutrition Data: Baked Russet Potato: 
Excellent Source: Potassium and Vitamin B6
Good Source: dietary Fiber and Vitamin C

1 small potato (138g): 4g Protein; 3g dietary Fiber (13% DV); 759mg Potassium (22% DV); 12mg Vitamin C (19% DV); 0.5 mg Vitamin B6 (24% DV)

Happy and Healthy Gardening!
Blog post and photo Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Garden #GardenCuizine #gardenchat #hops

Today in Our Garden

Hops (Humulus lupulus) twine above a wren's bird house. Hops vines add charm to any garden. The green blooms can be boiled to add characteristic flavor to beer. Hops extract also acts as a preservative. According to Mother Earth News, "It's not the flowers themselves, but the resin glands (called lupulin) at the base of the petals that give hops their distinctive properties. The resin itself contains acids that produce bitterness; the volatile oils in the glands yield aroma."

And, no, we've never tried to make our own beer. Why do that with Iron Hill Brewery right up the street!

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/home-brewing-zmaz88jfzgoe.aspx#ixzz36xsOeobV

Blogpost and photo Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.