Living with teens sure makes the kitchen and refrigerator the most visited spaces in the home. There never seems to be enough food to satisfy their growing bodies! But fortunately, they're all handy in that kitchen (not quite got the hang of total cleanup yet) and will even do up a nice meal for the rest of us. So yesterday's lunch ala Julianna had to be blueberry/raspberry/chocolate pancakes, since the syrup was freshly tapped. And dinner was a home-baked pizza (we called it "gourmet thin-crust" since my dough ended up a bit too dry and flat). With all this cooking and eating happening, we're thankful to be able to dig into the freezer for some of the put-aways of last summer. Of course, around this time we start to wonder if those jars of tomatos will take us through to the fresh ones of the coming August, or if the crate of carrots in the cellar will make it to May. I found a recipe for home-made onion powder and may just try transforming some of the coming harvest into compact jars... those teens do enjoy eating, but any shortcuts in the cooking/prep process are very welcome indeed!!
There are a few of our farm goodies, however, that don't store long-term quite so well, and that's where our Rondout Valley Organics members come in! They can enjoy the hard work of our hens while helping us to empty the fridge for those other kitchen ingredients that the teens so love...