Mega Chocolate & Almond Biscotti Recipe

Biscotti is an Italian word for cookie. This is an unusual cookie in that it is dried until crispy. If you like chocolate, and who doesn't, this is a great recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of coca powder
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup almonds, toasted
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Description:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add all ingredients except eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl whisk egges and vanilla and add it to the dry mixture. Stir everything until the dough comes together.

Cut the dough into two pieces and use flour to keep dough from sticking. Form dough into two strips about 2 inches in diameter, on baking sheet with parchment paper. Place about 4 inches apart.

Bake for 35 minutes and cool for 15 minutes.

Cut each strip into 3/4 inch slices. Place strips cut side down on the parchment lined baking sheet, reduce the oven temperature to 280 degrees and return to oven for 25 more minutes. Flip strips and put in oven for 15 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

You can add a drizzle of white chocolate tot he biscotti by melting 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Let the chocolate harden before serving.

Ravioli and Winter Vegetables

I don't know about you, but I like about any kind of ravioli. Jenna and I made spinach and rigotta ravioli pasta last night for supper after we all got back from Christmas shopping. It was very good. I'm going to put the recipe in the blog, but realize that the ravioli filling can take lots of forms and many of the winter storage vegetable work well for ravioli.

Ingredients:

Dough:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
6 eggs

Filling:

1 pound fresh spinach
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound ricotta
1 egg
2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch black pepper

Sauce:

1/4 pound butter
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped sage

Directions:

Dough is formed by making an indentation in the floor on a tabletop or bowl.  Add the eggs to the center of the flour indentation. Incorporate the flour into the eggs with a fork. Knead the flour and eggs together to form dough and continue to knead until the dough is thoroughly worked together, this should take 4 to 5 minutes. Reserve the dough until ready to assemble.

Cook the spinach until tender. Remove the spinach from the boiling water and cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Put into a colander and squeeze out the water from the spinach. Chop the spinach coarsely and combine spinach, ricotta, egg, heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Season with nutmeg, remaining salt, and black pepper.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in in a skillet. Simmer the nutmeg, saga and butter for 1 minute. Reserve until the raviolis are cooked.

Assemble the raviolis, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out each piece to form a thin layer (about 1/8 inch).  Place 1 spoonful of filling onto a sheet of dough 1/2 inch from the edge. Continue to place spoonfuls of filling along the dough 1-inch apart. Put another strip of dough on top of the strip with the filling on it. Pinch the edges of each ravioli with the tines of a fork.  Use a knife  to cut out the raviolis. Set aside each ravioli on a cookie sheet dusted with flour. Avoid stacking so they don't stick together.

Add raviolis  to boiling water. When they are fully cooked, they will float, this takes about 2-3 minutes to finish cooking. Serve each portion with sage butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of grated parsmesan cheese.

Other fillings for ravioli are:

• carrots
• kale
• cheese
• winter squash: butternut, acorn, delicate, jester (are all good types)

Oasis

Oasis - A fertile or green spot in a desert or wasteland, typically made that way by the presence of a water table at the surface. I also like the definition of a place of peace, safety, or happiness in the midst of trouble or difficulty. (From Wikipedia)

Our farm is an Oasis in every sense of the word.

Our farm is an organic, chemical free and GMO free zone in the midst of a desert of chemical agriculture. We grow clean, well mineralized, fresh, and flavorful vegetables. We use large amounts of compost in our fertility program. We rebuild soils at 100x the rate of natural processes. We sequester carbon and have achieved a positive carbon foot print. We build biological life in our soils. We grow healthy and happy plants. We listen to what our weeds tell us about our soils and take action to counter imbalances.

Our farm is a place of peace and safety. We come home from our activities of the day and can walk through the pastoral gardens or woods. There are birds and wildlife in abundance. There are no dangerous machines, smelly confinements, mega monocultures or promiscuous pollen GMO's).

We feed our minds and bodies. We read good books. We listen to the great teachers and thinkers of our times. We use solitude to think. We find wisdom in the past as well as the future. We use technology appropriately to enhance our farming. We do physical work (my gym membership is a compost shovel and my tread mill is looking for mushrooms on a wooded hillside glen). We grow much of what we eat. We seek to retain the knowledge of food preservation from our past.

Oasis - an organic farm in a wasteland of chemical agriculture, made that way because of a family who is passionate about the food they grow and the people they serve. A place of peace and safety for a legacy of family, wisdom and community. (From Brian)

The Signs of the Thyme

Have you ever noticed the many signs around us, especially around the typical farm. Our farm doesn't have any of the typical signs but I got to thinking about what our version of these many signs would say.

• Instead of signs that say "Keep Out" we say "Come Observe".
• Instead of "Trespassers will be Prosecuted", we hope "Visitors will be Impressed".
• Instead of "No Admittance", we say "Admit All Who Seek To Learn".
• Instead of "No Hunting", we want you to "Hunt for Truth".
• Instead of "Dead End",  we see "Unlimited Opportunities"
• Instead of "Wrong Way", we want people to find the "Better Way"
• Instead of "No Soliciting", we encourage people to "Seek Wisdom"
• Instead of "Danger Biohazard", we have "Safety, Healthy Soil"
• Instead of "Skull and Cross Bones", we want "Smiling & Healthy People"
• Instead of "Deer Crossing", we want "Bare Foot Crossing" Our children's favorite.
• Instead of "Pavement Ends", we want to encourage people to take the "Road Less Traveled"
• Instead of "Rough Road", we see a "Firm Foundation"

Opposite

Is it just me or does it seem like you can just about do the opposite of the common wisdom in the culture and prosper.

Opposite - a truth that is totally the reverse of the common wisdom.

Here are some opposites:

Are Givers More Likely to Succeed at Farming

Adam Grant in his revolutionary book, "Give and Take" about pro-social motivation — the desire to help others, independent of easily foreseeable payback.  Says there are three "interaction styles" in the business environment. These interaction styles are the giver, the matcher and the taker.

A Farmer Explains a Hymn

Brian Petersen, wrote this hymn during a Worship class in February, 2013

From the Story of Joseph

I didn't set out to use this story for my class assignment, I wanted to do Lyrics about how Israel moved from slavery in Egypt to a free and generous people in the wilderness. However I got stuck on the story of Joseph. I had often thought there were many parallels between the life of Christ and the things God did through Joseph. That is what my hymn is about, the foreshadowing of a savior. There is so much going on here, that I decided to also add a commentary to explain line by line, so the richness of the story and the parallels to Christ are understood. See the second page for this. I have no idea how you would put music to this, but it does sound poetical. I might have switched forms for the last paragraph, but those were the words in my mind. What does it mean when the poem is 16 short lines and the explanation is three pages? I guess there is more going on here than meets the eye. Check it out. Here is the poem again.

A Farmer Writes a Hymn

Hymn by Brian Petersen - From the Story of Joseph

This is a hymn (a poem really, since there is no music) I wrote during a class on worship at Cross Roads College here in Rochester. Lisa and I took this class together during January-February 2013 as a date night activity. See my previous post for explanation of the class. I commend classes like this to you.

I wrote the poem in a day or two, but it took weeks to understand it. There are parallels here between the story of Joesph and Jesus that I had never seen before and didn't even understand until I had really contemplated the words and gained insight from studying the story of Joseph more deeply. See my next post for the analysis.

Can a Farmer Write a Hymn?

I recently had the most amazing experience. Lisa and I took a class on the “Theology and Philosophy of Worship”.. It was an evening class that met for 5 weeks.

One of our assignments was to write a hymn. This was going to be impossible because I have little musical ability. Thankfully that was not required.  My hymn was about the parallels between the life of Joseph (in the Old Testament) as a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus.  Andrea, my daughter, a music education and composition major said, “very cool, dad”. For a non-musical Dad that says it all.

So here is my hymn (a poem really, since there are no notes).

A diadem of colors, white, Israel's favorite son

Foresees majestic future, bright, from the Holy One.

Wicked jealous brothers, bent, no vision only cost

Betray the young redeemer, sent, a son of Israel lost

A sojourn in a country, far, of stripes and victories won

A faithful broken servant's, star, keeps listening as a son

Two men in dungeon dreary, three, have messages divine

For one the bread is broken, tree, one partakes the wine.

A holy humble servant, best, suffering but meek

A vision during kingly, rest, interpretations seek

A whisper from creator, of mystery, earthly kings

Lifts up a slave, of history, a world salvation brings

Israel's King triumphant, fight, His wisdom bless and save

Narrow path for lasting life, of light, from birth to grave

Brothers restored, Israel unite, to the Son of favor

The Father saved, The Spirit's might, through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Market menu for December 21, 2013

We will have the following items at the market for Saturday, December 21, 2013. We are at the fair ground for winter market this week.  (New items are in Bold Print)

Salsa - Brandywine, Cherry Tomatoe, Roasted Roma, Hot'n'Sweet, Jalapeno Jelly (yum)
Brussels Sprouts
Winter Squash - We have a 1 week supply remaining
     Acorn, Spaghetti, Delicata, Orange Hubbard, Butternut, Buttercup, Orange Kuri, Kubotcha
Pie Pumpkins - New England Pie, Winter Luxury
Red Onions
Garlic (We ran out of garlic last week, but shallots are a good substitute, see "shallot week posts")
SHALLOTS
Leeks
Sweet Spanish Onions
Chipolini Onions
Dried egg plant
Cipotle Smoked Peppers
Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Lisa's Soap