Raising a healthy Jane (or just being a healthy grown-up Jane) comes from good food and proper nutrition. Grab your aprons, I’m on kitchen duty with food to spare and recipes to share! When time allows, here’s where you’ll find one of my how-to-convert-to-an-organic-diet recipes.
Sauté ½ cup diced scallions in 2 T butter. Add 2 T fresh minced tarragon, 2 T fresh minced dill, 1 lb frozen peas, ¼ t nutmeg, 3 cups vegetable broth; boil for 2 minutes. Purée lightly (leaving some chunks). Stir in 1 cup half-and-half and 2 T honey; heat for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.
Winnie Nielsen says: Green peas are one of my favorite vegetables and this recipe looks so simple,fast and delicious to make. There is something so satisfying about homemade soup and bread during the cooler months of the year!
Sauté 1 diced onion and 2 cloves minced garlic in 2 T olive oil. Add 1 cup diced potatoes and 2 cups vegetable broth; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add 1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple and 3 cups sliced Swiss chard; simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in ½ cup peanut butter, 1 T chili pepper sauce, and ½ cup fresh minced cilantro; heat for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serves 6.
Winnie Nielsen says: Wow, this looks different and delicious. Anything with Swiss Chard sounds tempting to me. I am not a huge fan of peanuts but perhaps they don’t dominate with so many other ingredients to tame it all down. I love the consistency of this soup with the hardy creamy texture.
Winnie Nielsen says: Frosted grapes! I love to put grapes in the freezer and then eat them like a sweet cold treat! Better for you than Klondike Bars!
My mom has been busy helping Nanny during the final stages of recipe testing for Nanny’s upcoming book. And if my mom’s been busy, my nanny has been even busier! So I thought it might be useful if my sister and I helped Nanny with her chores yesterday.
We love little Charlie! We could watch him for hours when he runs around and plays.
Winnie Nielsen says: Who wouldn’t love to help with Charlie! There is no sweeter smell than a barn bedded down with hay with the sound of animals munching contentedly on their grain mix! It feels so peaceful!
Stella Jane, are you going to visit Charlie tonight at midnight to see if he really talks? You know they say that all animals talk on Christmas Eve at midnight! I wonder what he will say?? Be sure to let us know if you can stay awake that long!!
Terry Steinmetz says: What wonderful helpers both girls were for Nanny. Did Charlie lick your fingers? I love to feel that! And those eggs will be really tasty on Christmas morning! When you go back to Nanny’s, please hug Charlie for me. Thanks!
Karlyne says: My just-turned-seven granddaughter is absolutely pining for a Jersey. I don’t know if I should show her these photos or not, Stella Jane! You are one lucky and blessed little girl!
Megan says: Thank you ladies. I so enjoyed reading your posts to Stella this morning and had never heard that the animals talk at midnight! How very very exciting! We have been busy loving our stuffed animals because we hear they can become real like the velveteen rabbit. Hugs to you all and hope you are enjoying these few days.
Denise ross says: Sounds a wonderful day, memories forever, have a beautiful Christmas
The three soups I featured recently were so popular, I decided to share a few more recipes.
Sauté 1 diced onion and 2 cloves minced garlic in 2 T olive oil. Add 3 cups diced carrots and 3 cups vegetable broth; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add ¼ cup minced parsley. Purée. Stir in 1 T honey, 1 t lemon juice, ½ t ground cumin, and 1/8 t ground allspice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.
Winnie Nielsen says: This looks so hearty and delicious. Carrots are a favorite vegetable of mine and this soup just adds another great way to enjoy them! What are those little cracker looking things you have shown? They look equally delicious!!
MaryJane says: The crackers are a recipe we’ve published … somewhere:) I’ll have to see if I can find it but not until I get my book done!!!! The clock is ticking.
The delicate peels of Satsuma oranges make this marmalade a snap to prep. It is easy to remove the peel and not the pith with just a vegetable peeler, and after the peel is removed, the pith peels right off! It is typical for orange marmalade recipes to have more sugar than fruit by weight. This recipe is a reduced-sugar version, and uses my ChillOver Powder to set up, rather than relying on the natural pectin in the oranges.
Winnie Nielsen says: Hehehe, guess who loves Satsuma marmalade? My Satsuma tree oranges are now turning bright orange and the little Kumkwat tree is ripening as well. When I make the marmalade, I like to mix both kinds of fruits together. Just because I can is the only reason. Kumkwats are quite sour but with the sweetener, that does not come through in the marmalade. It is just a great pleasure to go out in my yard and pick the fruit off and make up a batch of my favorite jam. Just to make sure it is not runny, I added Mary Jane’s ChillOver powder and was pleased with the results.
I haven’t tried Satsumas yet. I do make Clementine Marmalade. My Mom lives with us and she loves Marmalade so I learned to make it for her. This recipes sounds great, I love the idea of using honey and I still need to try the Chillover Powder. One of my favorite things about canning in addition to the ‘pinging’ of the jars and the outcome of seeing so many beautiful jars, but the scent that wafts through the house 🙂
Thank you MaryJane and have a great day 🙂
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claudia Hebert says: Where can i purchase the chillover powder. i have not seen this product in my area!
Thank you!
MaryJane says: Here you go!! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. http://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/store/c/37-ChillOver.aspx
Fran Brooks says: I am getting muscadines and want to make jelly. How would I make it with the chillover powder?
Joan says: What is chill over powder? Made marmalade for 40 years but never heard of it
MaryJane says: Here’s a link, http://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/store/c/37-ChillOver.aspx. There’s a link in the recipe also. Try it, you’ll like it!
Winnie Nielsen says: We have been enjoying the Comice pears that look sort of like these that come from Oregon. The pears are sweet and juicy and perfect on salads with a bit of crumbled blue cheese on top!
Karlyne says: Clever photo!
I could live on butternut squash. I have my Airstream’s floor covered in our winter’s supply. (I keep my Airstream just a few degrees above from freezing, tucked away in the back of my barn—perfect for storing squash.)
How about you? What’s your favorite winter squash? My mother’s was “old mother Hubbard” squash. I remember her breaking them open during the winter with a small axe. She was probably growing what is now called the Blue Hubbard Giant Heirloom Squash. The hubbard she grew were huge—much bigger than a baby! Once she opened one up, it lasted for several meals. We often ate a section after it was baked with just butter, salt & pepper.
Sauté 1 diced onion and 2 cloves minced garlic in 2 T butter. Add 4 cups cooked butternut squash and half a Granny Smith apple, diced. Add 3 cups vegetable broth, 1½ cups apple cider, 1 t minced fresh thyme, 1½ t salt, and ½ t black pepper; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Purée. Serves 6.
Terry Steinmetz says: My favorite squash is the butternut as well. We like it baked with a little butter & brown sugar. I also make soup from it, adding white beans for more protein and fiber. My 2nd favorite one is acorn baked with stuffing, butter & spices. Yummy!
Winnie Nielsen says: I am with you , Mary Jane. Butternut squash soup is just the best and it is so easy to make. In Florida, we grow Seminole pumpkins which are really more like butternut squash than what you know of as a pumpkin. They can grow very large with a thicker skin , but have that same dark orange and sweet meat just like a butternut. Instead of thyme, I lie to add some curry which gives it some extra “heat”.
Mary Jane Grellner says: I love the concept of Mary Jane’s Farm and everything in it….having SO much fun reading your messages and hope you will send me “something” from there with your name. I would place it proudly in my own kitchen where I am getting ready to prepare this wonderful sounding Butternut Squash Soup.
Thank you for your information and ideas!
Hugs,
Mary Jane
Here’s another quick and easy soup leading up to the big day. Potatoes! Nothing says comfort like potatoes.
Sauté 1 diced onion in 4 T butter. Add ¼ cup flour, 1 t dry mustard, and ½ t cayenne; stir for 3 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken broth, 1½ cups diced carrots, and 1½ cups diced potatoes; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add 2 cups half-and-half and 3 cups grated cheddar cheese; cook for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serves 6.
Winnie Nielsen says: It was so cold here in northern Georgia yesterday that this soup would have been so perfect! It looks delicious!!
sarah earle says: Here in Buford, Ga. it is very cold. Going to have this soup tonight. Sounds so good and comforting.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
Happy New Year Mary Jane! Our formidable Queen Bee Ploughin through!! I am so happy to have met you in 2013. Who knows, maybe 2014 will offer another chance to do so again?! I wonder if Delta will be charging us “extra” to stand in line at the boarding gate?
Beautiful!!!
After yesterday’s postings on all things ” bee” how apropros a photo indeed. Was amazed reading one of my favorite nature books last night ” Earthly Pleasures” by Roger Swain. There is a chapter on gathering swarms of wild bees to take back to your own empty and waiting hive. Evidently there are ” bait hives ” you can build ( instructions in book) to attract them and then carry that to your own hive and the switch is easily made ( according to the book) Fascinating stuff.
Here is what one of your loyal readers Debby Mckissic ( and winner of one of the Tomato t-shirts!) told me today in an email when I told her about yesterday’s ” telling the bees” thread here :
“My mom kept bees for years in Va., and on their farm. In Northern Va., she kept bees, taught bee keeping at George Mason University and was an extension expert in bee disease and went after “swarms” often in people’s yards and brought them to local beekeepers..she is the expert beekeeper and now I wish I had kept bees and learned from her in her younger years..I always had honey…free..and it was the best…especially that from the farm..the bees would be on certain plants and she always knew from the color and taste of the honey what kind it was…” Just wanted to share .
Love the idea of a bait hive. Will need to get his book. Ah, Debby has it in her … she might think she didn’t “learn” but she probably got her mother’s bee prowess through osmosis of sorts. I’ll have to see if I can find the study again, but we can GET the “experiences” of our lineage through DNA.