In the last 6 weeks, I have been fortunate enough to attend two media tours to visit a variety of farms. One tour was organized by Farm Food Care and the other tour was organized by Farmers Feed Cities. Both tours were amazing and have been thinking about visiting more farmers and eating local. Therefore, on my way back from Collingwood, I stopped by Cookstown Greens to see their farm. Caroline and Simon Ffrench were all too happy to give us a tour and teach us about their unbelievable operation. Just take a look at these photos. These images say a lot!!

Stunning!

Black Tomatoes!!

Beauties.

On our way out, we received a beautiful bag of goodies. These vegetables were truly appreciated as I’m still on a low carb diet and it meant that I would have a beautiful lunch today!!

Salad Ingredient

Cookstown Greens Seedling Salad ( may contain: daikon and burgundy radish, popcorn pea, chickpea, chard, red cabbage seedlings and edible flower petals). I also chopped the beautiful cucumber and the purple green pepper into the salad. Trust me – this was not your average summer.

I did not need to add toasted nuts or feta cheese. My salad was going to taste amazing without any additional ingredients. The only thing I needed was a dressing. (which I make without using a formal recipe. Sorry)

Salad Dressing Ingredients:  Lemon Balm (from Cookstown Greens), olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a bit of honey, a bit of grainy mustard and then I whizzed up all the ingredients in the Cuisinart.

I love homemade dressings.

End Result: A stunning, TASTY salad.

Cookstown Greens Inspired Lunch

For more info about Cookstown Greens, please visit their website.

To find their products in retail stores click here and to find their farmer market locations please click here.

Ps I think  Ontario Table  would be proud of me for having a LOCAL lunch. You too can have a LOCAL lunch. (hint hint) For more info about her quest for everyone to eat local, please check out her website here.

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I have been reading tweets about canning from @foodie411 @SarahBHood and from Bumpercrop for the last few years. I was even inspired enough to buy the jars last year but instead of canning they now sit on my windowsill with a variety of dried beans in them.

But things have now changed.  I successfully “canned” last week after being given a lesson by @OntarioTable. (are you doing a happy dance for me?)  I was fortunate enough to meet Lynn Ogryzlo (the author of Ontario Table)  at the Farmers Feed Cities media event last week. A part of the tour  was a canning lesson from Lynn!! Clearly this was a highlight of the day for me.

The next day, I ran out to Canadian Tire to buy more jars and then went right to work. Goal:  to “can”peaches. This is what I did:

1. I boiled the peaches, and then took the skins off.

Step One

2. I sliced them as nicely as I could. (I’m being honest..some slices were not as pretty as I anticipated).

Peaches. Sliced.

3. I then boiled the jars and the lids.

4. I made a simple syrup…2 cups boiling water to 1 cup of sugar. Stir and voila you have simple syrup.

5. I placed the peaches into the jars and then filled up the jars with the simple syrup. (leaving a bit of  room at the top).

6. I wiped the rim of the jar with a clean cloth. This is an important step!!

Final Results!!

7. I sealed the jars with the lids.

8. I dipped the jars into a big pan of boiling water that had some gizmo at the bottom to prevent the jars from cracking. Lynn told us that if you wrap the jars with a clean tea towel that it will also do the trick. The jars boiled for 10 minutes.

9. I removed the jars and tightened the jars even more. I then took a deep breath as I waited to hear the “popping” sound that would ensure a “proper seal”.

10. I went on twitter to tweet as I wasn’t sure if  I “canned correctly”. i.e I was nervous about the popping sound and I was nervous if I boiled the jars long enough. I was thrilled to receive some supportive tweets from @Foodie411 @SarahBHood @ATasteofWorld and @FoodandHome.

Infact, Lynn was kind enough to call me just like a personal 1-800 help line!!

I am super excited to continue my “canning career” and try chutneys, relishes, pickles and more.

Feel free to send recipes, canning blogs, and tips!! (hint, hint)

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On Wednesday I had the opportunity to spend an incredible day with Farmers Feed Cities. We started off the tour with a visit to Quiet Acre Farms in Niagara on the Lake, where we had an up close and personal visit with their peach orchards.

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches!!

But what caught my attention were these round zucchini at their roadside stall.

Bought Two. What was I thinking?

It was exactly the type of inspiration that I needed to get back me into the kitchen, seeing as I have done ZERO cooking for the last month. Have you noticed my blog posts (recently) have been about every topic except recipes? Well that has all changed. This trip really inspired me.

STUFFED ZUCCHINI RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 round zucchini

1/2 a container grape tomatoes, cut in half

small chunk of feta cheese

8 black olives (I like Unico ripe oil cured…in a jar)

1/2 onion, chopped finely

1 garlic clove, minced finely

Italian seasoning

METHOD

1. Slice the top off the zucchini and scoop out the inside.

step one

2. Fry the onions and garlic till aromatic . Then add the grape tomotoes, olives, italian seasoning till everything is kinda soft.

Oh So Good.

3. Stuff into the hollow space of the zucchini. Top with some crumbled feta. Bake on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Voila…dinner.

Perfect for My No Carb Diet

Please note that I’m on a no carb diet, otherwise I probably would have added some bread crumbs to this recipe.

If you see these round zucchinis at a farmers market – please pick some up!! You won’t find these in a grocery store. I promise you. For more information about farmers markets, please click here.

Upcoming Blog Post: Canning Peaches!! Stay tuned.

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