Soup Season.....

The first fire of fall is always a noteworthy event for us. The warmth from the woodstove on a chilly, blustery day marks the change of seasons as surely as the colorful falling leaves, acorns under foot, skeins of migrating geese, and the dog finally ceasing to shed as he begins to grow his new winter coat. We fired up our new Avalon woodstove for the first time ever on October 1st. It was installed back in May and we were instructed to light several small fires initially to 'season' the new stove, after which we could use it unrestrainedly as we wished. The stove is a dream to light; it takes right off into a roaring fire... no smoking, no fanning to create a flame. The chimney was built correctly too. What a relief! I now have my Girl Scout fireplace - no electronic controls, no fans needed; just a basic heat source that will warm the house during emergencies or very cold weather without electricity or other extraneous technological contraptions.

Art is away at continuing education school this week and I've been home with just the animals for company. Mo and I took a long, exhilarating hike along the lake, stopping to feed the fish, then up through the harvested fields to the high spot on the farm from which you can see clear to Heaven! Most of the leaves have already fallen, helped by the strong winds and torrential rains over the past week. But some of the trees have yet to give up their bounty. All of the oaks lining the back field are still holding onto their leaves and their acorns; many maples along the way are still resplendent in their red and gold mantles. The air smells earthy and musty and crisp all at the same time. Gone are the swarms of gnats and other flying bugs though the occasional lazy bee can still be seen gathering the last of the season's pollen from some sheltered wildflowers.

I didn't light a fire in the woodstove today as it really wasn't cold enough for one, but the cooler weather and approaching cold front did give me the urge to make a stockpot of soup for the freezer. I have been craving my favorite, Chicken Chowder with Chipotle (Chupe de Pollo con Chipotle). I took some pictures of the preparation. I thought I'd share the recipe as there are some friends here who are sure to ask for it! I usually double this recipe as it's just as easy to make twice as much and I always regret not having made more...

You will need the following for a Dutch oven, but if you have a large stockpot, double this recipe to make 1-1/2 gallons:
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
Olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast
2 medium red potatoes (about 12 ounces) cut into half-inch pieces
1/2 pound fresh slender green beans or use a 15 ounce can, whichever is easier
1 (15.5-ounce) can white or golden hominy, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup whipping cream (or half and half to lighten the fat)
Salt to taste

1. Remove 1 chile and 1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce from the can; reserve the remaining chiles and sauce for another use. (I freeze them in little baggies so I always have them on hand.) Finely chop the chile and set the chile and the sauce aside separately. (Hint: wear rubber gloves when handling chiles and remove all the seeds and veins inside as that is where the heat is stored!)

2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven (or stockpot if doubling the recipe) over medium heat. Add chopped chile, onion, carrots, celery, cumin, oregano, thyme and garlic; cook 7 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring frequently. Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Add chicken, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Remove the chicken and cool slightly. Shred the chicken with 2 forks, cover and keep warm.

Remove the pan from heat and let stand 5 minutes. If you are using a blender or food processor, puree the broth mixture, a third at a time, until all of the broth is pureed. (I use an immersion blender so I can puree the broth right in the pot.) Return the pureed broth mixture to the pot. Stir in the potatoes, green beans and hominy. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, uncovered, 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Stir in the chicken and the cream and simmer 5 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in the reserved adobo sauce and salt to taste. ENJOY!

Yield: 8 servings (about 1-1/3 cups).
Calories: 246. Fat: 6.2 grams. Protein: 24.5 grams. Carb: 21.8 grams. Fiber: 3.5 grams.

Busy days of spring 2011...

Old square nails, snail shells, white Macaw egg & Robin egg

 

 

I came in from weeding around the Daylily border on the shady side of the house on the first nice and sunny day we had here in a long time and started this blog post. It's taken me 2 weeks to finish and publish it before my self-imposed deadline of the last day of May. Friends have been calling and emailing asking for an update. Well, here it is!

Temperatures have really been heating up here these last weeks. I had my hair buzzed short last week as I just couldn't stand the humidity from the constant rainy weather, mist and fog that we've had all spring. We've not had any late frosts once the nights started to get above freezing and the fruit trees went through their blossoming without any problems. The pear and apple trees all have small fruits forming now and are leafing out nicely. Our garden is all planted. Honestly, I don't think there is room in there for even one more plant! Everything is up and growing already. We put in 18 tomato plants that Art started from heirloom seed in early March. They all survived the transition to the outdoors and are doing great; some even have blossoms on them! Our potatoes are up as well. We put in Yukon Gold, reds and some Russets for baking and french fries. We put in several types of small round squash like 8-Ball Zucchini, a yellow pool-ball sized summer squash called One-Ball, and one that is supposed to be square and blocky called Piccolo . I bought the seeds from Territorial Seed Co and we're anxious to taste them! I also got some seeds and planted some Moon and Stars Watermelon. This is a midnight blue watermelon that is supposed to have yellow stars on the skin with one large yellow moon! The flesh is red and sweet, but I can hardly wait to see the unusually colored fruits. Other goodies out there are the usual radishes, lettuce, spinach, arugula, basil, parsley, cilantro, peppers, eggplant, beets, carrots, kale, onions, garlic, cucumbers and Brussels sprouts. I've probably forgotten some things as it is a very full garden patch.

Our newly sown grass came in lush and thick this spring around the new patios after we replanted it 3 times! Art just mowed it for the first time this week and took down the temporary fencing we had up to keep the dogs off of the seeded areas. After so much mud, we finally have quite a nice lawn. We've been spending a lot of time moving plants around in the perennial garden. When the concrete guys built the patios, we moved a lot of the plants back away from the edges of the gardens so they wouldn't get bulldozed under. Well, we're moving some of them back to the bare edges again but also bought a lot of new plants to try out and also to fill in the bare spots. The good thing is that with all the rain we've had, including some incredibly hard and long downpours, we have had NO water in the basement! So the new drains are working just fine.

We had the new three story chimney built and just this week installed the new wood heating stove in a corner of the kitchen. The stove is an American made Avalon Arbor and a real beauty! Though it looks black in this picture, it is cast iron with a porcelain ceramic finish in an espresso brown color. The shiny ceramic makes it easy to wipe clean and prevents the cast iron from rusting. This is a highly energy efficient wood heating stove that re-burns the smoke before it is allowed to escape up the chimney. We plan to use it as an adjunct to our Tarm wood hot water furnace so we don't have to run the oil furnace to supplement the heat from the Tarm when temperatures are very cold. We burn over seven cords of wood in a heating season. With the cost of fuel oil at almost $4.00 a gallon, we don't want to use much of that if we can help it!

We are planning to throw a wedding here at Jolico Farm on June 4th and we are in countdown mode here with final preparations taking up much of every waking moment! The gardens are finally taking shape. We've planted many new perennials and filled out the borders with colorful geraniums. A new Eden Climbing Rose bush has replaced some old never-blooming Wisteria on one side of the arbor. Hopefully the Eden Rose will like that spot more than the Wisteria did! It should be a wonderful occasion and a beautiful happening. I hope to have pictures to share in a couple of weeks when all has been put back in order, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Moses, Art and I are SO happy that it's finally spring!