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MB’s Hearty Vegan Lentil Soup
I love food that is inexpensive, filling, healthy, and flavorful. This recipe hits all of my requirements. For more of a kick, feel free to add some cayenne powder! Servings: 5
Make it: Herbed Focaccia Bread
Herbed Focaccia Bread
A recipe for baking an herbed foccacia bread, an Italian yeast bread backed in a sheet pan and flavored with olive oil and herbs. It is simple, easy, and smells absolutely incredible when it is cooking.
Harvest of the Month: Winter Squash
What are Winter Squash?
Winter squash is a group of several species of annual fruit in the genus Cucurbita, including the popular butternut, acorn, delicata, and spaghetti squash. What we call “pumpkins” are also winter squash. Winter squash is different from summer squash, like the zucchini, because it’s harvested and eaten when the seeds are matured and the skin has hardened. Due to their hard rind and sweet dense flesh, they can be stored for long periods in cool dark storage, up to a year from harvest.
Make it: Puréed Parsnip Soup
Puréed Parsnip Soup
My grandmother loved parsnips, and would use them in her cooking like most people would use carrots. You could find them in her red flannel hash, in soups and stews, and even mashed, in heaping bowls, alongside the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. Although I did not appreciate parsnips when I was a child, I have grown to love them almost as much as my grandmother did. This simple recipe, which beautifully blends the earthy flavor of parsnips with the sweet acidity of tomatoes and the sharp bite of peppercorns, reminds me of her.
CCE Essex receives $385k USDA grant to expand local food buying
Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Essex County was awarded a $385,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of the Local Food Promotion Program. Funds will be used to expand CCE Essex’s existing Farm to School program into a Farm to Institution program, working with schools, hospitals, senior centers, retirement homes, correctional facilities, colleges and universities, and early child care centers.
One avenue for reaching project goals will be to build upon Adirondack Harvest’s wholesale and local food outreach capabilities, through marketing and promotion, web development, and networking. CCE Essex staff will also collaborate with Adirondack Medical Center, Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), the Essex County Soil and Water Conservation District, Harvest New York, and the Hub on the Hill to accomplish project goals.
MAKE IT: Anadama Molasses Bread
Anadama Bread
This old-fashioned recipe is an easy way to make a delicious loaf of yeast bread. I usually use whole-wheat flour and blackstrap molasses, but you can use whatever wheat flour and molasses you have on hand (if you successfully substitute other types of flour for the wheat, please let me know!). It does not require a lot of kneading, and will make your kitchen smell amazing when it bakes.
MAKE IT: Easy Cinnamon Rolls
Easy Cinnamon Rolls
These cinnamon rolls are a holiday breakfast staple in my home. Don’t let the number of steps in this recipe keep you from trying it – this is actually quite easy to make. Although I usually use traditional, animal-based ingredients when I make them for my family, I have also successfully made these cinnamon rolls using only vegan ingredients – and my family never knew the difference (shhhh!).
Make it: Eggplant bacon
This is one of those “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” recipes. When I make batches of these, they do not last very long at all. I usually cook them in the oven (much faster than dehydrating!), and if I want them extra-crispy, will cook them directly on a cookie rack that is placed on a baking tray. That strategy allows both sides of the eggplant to cook, giving it a fantastic texture.
Make it: Skillet Cornbread
Skillet Cornbread
This old-fashioned recipe for skillet cornbread is simple, easy, and produces a delicious cornbread that has a perfectly buttery crust on the bottom.
Ingredients:
- ½ stick butter
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups cornmeal
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cup milk
- 10-inch cast iron skillet
Make it: Vegan banana bread
Fat-Free Banana Bread (Vegan)
I follow a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet, and rarely bake treats for myself, because most baked goods have lots of ingredients that I simply won’t eat. This recipe for banana bread not only meets my dietary requirements, but also produces a dense, moist banana bread that is surprisingly delicious, considering the lack of oil, eggs, or most other ingredients normally found in banana bread recipes.
Make it: Last-minute local food ideas for Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m taking today and the next few days off for the holiday. In case you are looking for some last-minute recipes or food inspiration, here are a few treasures from the Almanack archive:
Kim and Pam Ladd, who wrote the popular “Happy Hour in the High Peaks: An Adirondack Bar Guide,” are two ladies who know cocktails. They put together some favorite Thanksgiving Cocktail Recipes.
Paul Hetzler has a piece on Native Foods on the Thanksgiving Table. Larry Gooley has one on an old-time ritual, Nutting Season.
If you’re not into eating crickets, maybe apples are your thing. There’s a recipe for a traditional Thanksgiving Apple Pie or Farmhouse Apple Crisp.
Ever wonder How Cranberries Get Their Color? Paul Hetzler’s piece All About Cranberries is a perfect primer on the native berry. Also try Annette Nielsen’s Adirondack Cranberry Compote.
Make it: Thanksgiving Fish Dish
Did You Know?
The first Thanksgiving meal shared between the pilgrim colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans in 1621 included American eels!
Before you add eels to your menu this year, be sure to check NYS Freshwater Fishing Regulations.
When we asked Fisheries staff to share a recipe for a freshwater fish dish they traditionally prepare on Thanksgiving, we were hard pressed to find one, but we did receive a seafood recipe (below).
If you have a traditional freshwater fish dish you enjoy with your family on Thanksgiving and would like to share it with us, email fwfish@dec.ny.gov.
Local food: Venison Meatloaf
This comfort food recipe, courtesy of Cornell University Cooperative Extension’s Wild Harvest Table, is a fantastic way to showcase ground venison. Ground venison is a fantastic source of inexpensive, locally-sourced lean protein that is a staple in many North Country homes. If you do not have ground venison, you can easily substitute ground beef or turkey for equally delicious results!
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb. ground venison (OR ground beef or turkey)
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup of quick oats
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp mustard
- ¼ cup minced onion
- 1 clove garlic, mashed
- 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley, if available
- Salt and pepper to taste (~1/2 tsp each)
- ¼ cup ketchup or barbeque sauce for top
Chefs unite against food waste, and help you get more from your meals
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MEALS: From Adirondack Harvest, an article about a chef who combats food waste. Curtiss Hemm uses his skills to teach others how to get the most bang for their buck cooking with locally grown (and often more expensive) ingredients:
“Curtiss Hemm thinks about food in ways that others don’t. Along with being a chef, he is a food instructor, food economist and food anthropologist. The Rumplestiltsken of chicken, he can spin a single bird into $188 worth of saleable restaurant product, massaging the parts many of us would throw away into pates, consommés and brodos.”
Although a locally raised chicken make seem like a splurge, price-wise, with that chicken, a head of cabbage and a few other odds and ends, a family can enjoy three or more wholesome, delicious meals that cost less than dinner at McDonald’s. And the odds and ends can be used to make a wholesome broth for future meals.
Eat local: Farmhouse Apple Crisp
Farmhouse Apple Crisp
This has to be one of my favorite comfort food recipes of all times. When I was growing up, my mom would make apple crisp in a giant pan. As soon as the crisp came out of the oven, my sisters and I would descend on the hot pan like ravenous vultures, happily devouring every last crumb. Although this version won’t make the giant pan-sized apple crisp that my mom made, it will allow you to enjoy the exact same delicious apple crisp that my sisters and I did, and still do to this day. Enjoy!
Latest News Headlines
- Saranac Lake ice palace takes shape
- AWI awarded 5-year contract for lake monitoring program
- Governor’s budget highlights climate
- Essex residents call on state to help replace their human-powered internet
- Protect the Adirondacks picks environmental lawyer for new deputy director
- Mental health advocates in the Adirondacks look to fix gaps
- Ask a Scientist: Climate research
- Lake George Park Commission tries new bid for milfoil herbicide
- 27 Fun & Beautiful Hikes in the Adirondacks to Explore
- Ski by night in Tupper Lake
Latest News Headlines
- Saranac Lake ice palace takes shape
- AWI awarded 5-year contract for lake monitoring program
- Governor’s budget highlights climate
- Essex residents call on state to help replace their human-powered internet
- Protect the Adirondacks picks environmental lawyer for new deputy director
- Mental health advocates in the Adirondacks look to fix gaps
- Ask a Scientist: Climate research
- Lake George Park Commission tries new bid for milfoil herbicide
- 27 Fun & Beautiful Hikes in the Adirondacks to Explore
- Ski by night in Tupper Lake
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