My sister Katie (an avid gardener) has owned goats, rabbits, and dogs, but at her new home in town, she really wants to own chickens. Gardeners know how very beneficial chickens are to have around your garden, and foodies know how superior fresh, organic eggs are compared to commercial, store-bought ones. And laying hens- the quieter, less obtrusive of the sex, really don't make much noise. But because of a city ordinance banning chickens, she can't keep any. It is worthwhile to note that her town values sustainability and has many progressive projects in place already (so I'm confident she will get the support she needs to turn the rules around!)... but her reason for starting Berea Chicken Brigade is to not only help get chickens into her backyard, but yours as well. Her site will serve as a meeting place and resource center for other chicken-lovers in the same predicament.

So visit her site, follow it on twitter, friend it on facebook! We chicken lovers must stick together :)

I found these are "Silver tip Firs" and they are mostly grown on the West Coast. They are slow growing, which makes them rare- and quite expensive. Do you have a favorite type of Christmas tree? This year, we choose a concolor for their great citrus-y smell.

Look at this beautiful arrangement in a rusty old sink...really makes me rethink the "junk" I pass by at auctions sometimes:

Isn't that a clever idea for a container garden?

I didn't mind spending a little extra on Organic Miso because it only takes a tablespoon to make a serving, so I knew I could get many dinners out of one container. I found Westbrae Natural: Mellow White Miso in the organic section of my grocery store. 

For the soup shown above, I thinly sliced one onion and sauteed it in a little olive oil till translucent, then added 2 cups of fresh, chopped spinach and sauteed till wilted. I added one cup of chicken broth, one cup of water, and 2 heaping tablespoons of white miso, stirred till dissolved and let simmer. Next I added one cup chopped firm tofu and simmered till the tofu was heated through. I garnished the soup with sliced green onions and a tiny bit of chili oil.

I love how versatile this soup is, you could add almost any vegetable you happen to have on hand. I think mushrooms, napa cabbage, or thinly sliced zucchini or carrot would also taste great in this soup.

I have been cheating. On what, you ask? 

On dinner. On my made-from-scratch, garden-to-table, cooking-marathon ways.

And here is why: Not long after getting home from work, the daylight starts rapidly fading, and I, like many others, feel the need to squeeze as much as I can into my day before it gets dark. Messing around with dinner when it's dark out just feels wrong. Of course, I just need to adjust the shorter days, but in the meantime, here are some sneaky shortcuts that I've been using to make the most of the daylight:

Frozen Pie Crusts: 

I know many people are extremely anti-storebought crust, but think about it this way: when you want quiche for dinner, over half the prep is already done! I made a delicious savory quiche last night- based loosely on this recipe, and it came together quickly and easily. 

Jarred Tomato Sauce:

This one is especially hard to admit, because I love homemade sauce. But unfortunately, I don't have any sauce of my own this year- or even my own frozen crushed tomatoes- the tomato crop was extremely dismal here. So I could still make my own sauce from canned plum tomatoes, but if I'm making something else from scratch, like meatballs, I buy a jar of canned sauce and add a bunch of fresh basil and a bit more garlic.

Pizza Dough:

This is another super simple recipe, but I think it's extremely time and cost efficient to buy pre-made dough and I don't think there's an extremely big taste advantage to making dough at home. If I don't have to make the dough myself, I'm more prone to get a little fancy with the pizza toppings- grilled veggies, homemade sauce, carmelized onions... 

*note: my grocery store carries frozen dough (white or whole wheat!) that's already thawed and ready to go, but if that's not an option for you, most pizza places will sell you unbaked dough for a dollar or two.

Chicken Cutlets:

I haven't been cooking long enough to know why these have fallen out of style, but I do know foodies smirk a little at cutlets. I don't, because they cost less than pre-cut chicken tenders, and they cook evenly and quickly. I use them to make chicken marsala, chicken parmigiana, or lemon garlic chicken. Back off, foodies. ;)

Freezer-Friendly:

I freeze everything. Fresh breadcrumbs, fresh lemon juice, chicken stock, leftover wine, wonton wrappers (from a failed appetizer attempt), rolls, and two frequent dinner-savers kale and bacon. This makes it easy to add an extra homemade element to an otherwise dull meal. 

That's all the tips I have for now, they keep me from getting take-out and get me out of the kitchen a little more quickly. Because when you find yourself tempted to attempt dinner projects like Thousand Layer Lasagna, well, that's what the weekend is for. :)

Pick the Cutest Farmer

The very best part (in my book) is that you can nominate people (I can think of a few!)- so if there's a cutie at your weekly farmer's market who you think fits the bill, visit the site and hit "participate" to add them to the list! 

I sort of refuse to tun on my heat this early in the season, so I love this list of Heat Saving Suggestions up on Design Sponge right now. Some of them are obvious (put on a pair of thick socks!) but others- like swapping sheer window treatments for heavier ones are a good reminder and might be necessary even at this point in the season. 

I'm off to get a cup of tea- stay warm out there! 

(Pictured are SmartWool Snowflake socks.)

Since yesterday was a rainy day following an exhausting (but fun!) weekend, it seemed like the most natural thing to do was put on a big pot of soup and bake some homemade bread. I followed a recipe from (of all places) a pressure cooker manufacturer's website, because it most closely resembled this awesome soup I had at my friend's restaurant. The problem was- I don't own a pressure cooker AND I had never cooked lentils or barley before and was nervous about everything coming out ok. So I cooked everything separately- which took for-ever and let me tell you, I call this "sit around soup" not because I was actually sitting around while it was cooking- quite the opposite- but once this labor intensive soup does sit around, it becomes savory and smooth and lovely, and I might actually make it again one day. So here's how I did it- and please- by all means, tell me if you think there's an easier way!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Italian sausage, casing removed, crumbled
3/4 cup diced onion
1 cup pearl barley 
3 cloves garlic
3 quarts chicken stock
1 cup lentils
4 chicken thighs
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas, rinsed
10 oz. spinach, chopped
1 cup mild to medium salsa

1. Start by cooking the pearl barley: combine the barley and 3 cups of stock in a saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover till cooked, about 45 minutes. Start the lentils by adding them to 1 1/2 cups of stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, checking frequently until cooked.

2. Poach the chicken thighs, let cool, remove the meat from the bones and skin and shred or pull.

3. Cook sausage in a skillet until brown and crumbly (I added water so everything would cook evenly since I planned on rinsing the fat off once it was done cooking anyways). Set aside cooked sausage and saute onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil.

4. As ingredients are ready, add them to the remaining stock in a large pot and simmer. Eventually combine the barley, lentils, chicken, sausage and salsa and bring to a boil. Add the chopped spinach and parsley and stir until wilted. Add plenty of salt and enough pepper. 

Serves... I don't know, 16? This made an enormous amount of soup, but the leftovers are incredible so I'm not complaining. :)

My garden grew wildly, and I planted things I'd never done before- broccoli, eggplants, kale (of course I've tended to them in the Organic Gardening gardens before, but never done them on my own...). But the broccoli flowered, the kale is tough (maybe after a frost it will get better?) and I'm regretting ever inviting oregano to take root in my garden. And my tomatoes! Just a few from each plant ever turned red, no hope of putting up any sauce this year. But there are things to be grateful for- my basil is healthy and bushy and I plan to freeze lots of pesto, and this trellis I started in August:

is now covered in beans and I may get a jack-o-lantern pumpkin! 

Still, I'm sure most gardeners feel a similar sadness at the end of the growing season. I guess  all we can do is plant cover crops, garlic and other bulbs, and pull out our winter sweaters and seed catalogs and get started planning next years garden!

P.S. Yesterday I did a video shoot for Plant. Grow. Eat. (the new cooking videos from OrganicGardening.com) and added a few great recipes and techniques to my repertoire, so I can't wait to share the new videos with you when they are ready. 

I used this recipe and it worked quite nicely. Now I kind want to pickle everything! 

Here are some more pickling links:

Willi made some tasty giant pickles recently.

Giardiniera at Smitten Kitchen. 

Pickled red onions at David Lebovitz.