Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival Revisited

Grey Fox is a years worth of bluegrass in a long weekend in NY State. I attended for the first time last year. The cool cats I camped with put together an INCREDIBLE campsite. We won best campsite award and my friends Dusty and Chris were given tickets for the following year.

Here it is, 50 some odd days away from this year’s festival, and our story has appeared on the Grey Fox website! It describes in detail how our campsite was green, and how that helped us win the honor of “Best Campsite”. The campsite is described in detail in a letter written beautifully by Chris.

Chris talks about Bryan and I finding edible wild plants and incorporating them into our meals and beverages. A photo (you have to go through the slideshow) of the pancakes we made with wild berries appears on the Grey Fox site! Can you believe it? My food is on another website! So fun.

Receiving news of this has inspired me to share one of the beverages we made last summer.

Staghorn Sumac Tea

Approximately 20 Sumac Berry Bunches

1 gallon of water

Soak sumac in water for 2 hours in the sunshine, then strain into drinking vessel. Add sweetener (stevia, honey, agave, etc) and ice and enjoy. There’s vitamin C in it as well.

The perfect beverage during Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.

Good Friends

I had plenty of inspiration with friends visiting this past weekend. Plus, all of our names in sequence have the first letters A, A, B, C, D, D.

Breakfast on Saturday was blueberry apple toasted coconut pancakes with rhubarb sauce, yogurt, maple syrup and blackberries. On the side was Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage and sliced oranges.

Breakfast on Sunday was egg muffins: kielbasa, green onions, garlic, and parsley. There was also banana mango, 2 pieces of Gerard’s Bread, granola with yogurt, rhubarb sauce, sliced almonds and shredded coconut.

With the energy from these lovely meals we biked in and around Johnson, VT. There were also lots of sprouts that we grew in our apartment that we had with lunches. Yea!

“I think I need sprouts every day.” – Adam

A, A, B, and D are pictured. C and D had to go to a graduation.

Some like Ramps, others like Wild Leeks

Wild leeks are in season. Do ramps grow where you live? I don’t know, but wikipedia does.

Wild Salad

1/2 lb of wild leeks/ramps

couple pats of butter

2 cups of cooked Isreali Couscous, or whatever: brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, etc

s+p

Saute chopped leeks in butter until just starting to sweat, and begin to have more transparency. Add couscous and salt and pepper to taste. It’s simply wonderful. The leeks provide the bulk of the flavor.

It’s a taste of Spring.

The Chicken Log

When I was a wee youngin’ I used to play with my cousins in Bomoseen VT.  We’d run around in the woods and play house-we find a spot and designate rooms and jobs.  I can remember telling my younger cousin “Go get us dinner from the chicken log!”.  It was a large dead tree that had decayed to where it’s innardsrip away from the tree in a spongey, springy manner, just like white meat, chicken.

I came upon this chicken log on Sunday with Adam, Amanda, and Bryan.  We had a good laugh, then I pointed out more chicken logs along our hike.

For a moment I almost felt like I should serve up a plate of it.

Quickie Snack-Yogurt Salsa Dip

Bryan and I tend to eat snack plates mid afternoon to get us through to dinner. We know that having a good blood sugar level is essential in the activities that we do. It’s also important in keeping our moods even. We can tell when the other is low, and it’s time for a snack like this:

Yogurt Salsa Dip

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup plain yogurt

Mix together and scarf with tortilla chips.

We also had grapes and olives on the side.

Nuts about Chicken, RAW Salad, SP Fries and Virgin Ice Cream

Dinner was so good last night! I was at City Market in Burlington recently and saw Coconut Panko Chicken in the meat section. I ran with that idea and created the following:

Nuts about Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1 egg

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 cup chopped almond slices

1/4 cup ground flax

s+p

butter

Combine all ingredients except the egg in a medium sized bowl. Cut the chicken into finger like pieces. I like to use kitchen scissors, it’s so much easier! Douse chicken in beaten egg, then dip all the pieces in
breading. Place in oven safe baking dish and put just a few spots of butter pats on top. Just enough to brown up the chicken while it bakes. Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown. Approximately 20-30 mins.

While the chicken cooked I had a side of sweet potato fries cooking as well.

SP Fries

I big sweet potato washed (I like the skins on) and cut into fries

2 T oil-whatever kind ya like, I used sesame

1 T chili powder

1 T cumin

cayenne-how hot do you like it?

s+p

Combine spices and oil with a whisk in a bowl big enough to hold the fries with a little room left over. Put a plate on top and shake the fries all about in spices and oil mixture. Place on a cookie sheet, I use a Silpat Liner as well. If you don’t have one, lightly grease the pan. Bake, turning a couple times at 375 degrees for 20-30 mins.

To balance the rest of the meal Bryan and I created a beautiful raw salad.

RAW Salad

1/4 head red cabbage chopped

1 cup of sprouted mung beans

1 unripe mango cut into matchsticks (Bryan did that-he’s much better at it)

I apple shredded

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 shredded carrots

3 green onions chopped

1 T hemp oil

1 T ground flax

s+p

Combine everything and experience a fresh festival in your mouth!

The other night I made homemade ice cream for the first time.  We had this for dessert.

Virgin Ice Cream

1/2 block silken tofu

1/4 cup cashew butter

2 1/2 cups soymilk

1 inch piece of fresh ginger grated finely

1/2 cup chopped raw cashews

2 T unsweetened cocoa

pinch of stevia

Generous squeeze of agave nectar, approx 3 T

Blend everything except for the raw cashews in a blender until smooth. Dump concoction into ice cream maker, then add the chopped cashews. Follow the ice cream maker directions and bam! Ice Cream. Top with fun delicious treats, we had blackberries.

Note: After storing my “ice cream” in the freezer, the second time I ate it I had to defrost it in the fridge for a couple hours. I guess when I’m making ice cream without any preservatives or wacky ingredients to make it softer, I have to put in the extra effort to remember to take it out ahead of time.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog. My name is Debi and I live with my boyfriend Bryan and our dog Sioux in Cambridge, VT.

My mission for this blog is to share with the universe what happens in our kitchen. I like to try new ingredients and improve uses of familiar ones. I love eating healthy, tasty, wholesome, local food.  Perhaps you do too!