NYC Feb 2015 Walk about and more…

March 1, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in My life, NYC, Travel Tags: Abc Home, Eataly, Gotham West Market, NYC, Rhinebeck, Tarrytown, Tiny's, train 26 Comments

The larger part of our week was spent roaming NYC and hanging with my awesome son who is living a totally grown up life. I’m so proud and I still can’t believe he’s been on this earth almost 27 years… WHHHAAAT?!#$%%

We often meandered from the apartment in Tribeca through Soho… Look water leaks in the big apple

and north on Broadway stopping at Dean and Deluca’s – here’s a pic of one of our vendors- Big Picture Farm- great folks with lots of goats in Vermont- These caramels are back on the shelves now at Chez Chloe in seasonal boxes and cello bags- chai, mocha latte, raspberry rhubarb… yum

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New York Gift Fair Feb 2015

February 17, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Chez Chloe, NYC, Travel Tags: Gift Fair, NYC, NYnow 20 Comments

Another fantastic week in New York City has come and gone. The first half of the week was consumed with NY Now, the international gift fair at the Javit’s Center. On to a little Chez Chloe bricks and mortar business…

It was a lot of fun having my guy along- I have to remember next year to get Orcas Island on our badges. You’d think I had some kind of rack the way people stared at my chest trying to read “Olga”.

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Golden turmeric ginger milk

February 9, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Beverages, Fitness and Health, Fresh and healthy, Juicing, Nuts and Seeds Tags: almond milk, coconut oil, ginger, Golden milk, medicinal, turmeric 35 Comments

I had a friend recently ask me about turmeric milk. Not being in my repertoire, I thought it sounded interesting and only imagined how it would stain my nut bag. Well, for starters I learned you don’t strain it. Although my champion juicer has a permanent yellow hue. This one is for you Becky!

A lot of recipes call for powdered turmeric and/or ginger or often will have you grate it/chop it and simmer it and then strain it. But I have been juicing fresh turmeric over the past year and decided to juice it and fresh ginger. These amounts are what I used and honestly I think it’s to your personal taste. I like it heavier on the turmeric.

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Shakshuka- baked eggs, tomato and goodness

January 30, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in breakfast, Brunch, dinner, Eggs, farm time, Vegetables Tags: breakfast, brunch 29 Comments

This dish has been floating in my thoughts since Feb 2014 when Chloe and I visited Irving Street Kitchen in Portland and I ate their, quote “Moroccan Slow Poached Eggs and Grilled Garlic Rubbed Toast”.It was spicy, simple yet had depth and very good.

The house smoked Tasso side of bacon also rang my bell. I basically searched online tomatoes and baked eggs and Shakshuka popped up. But really it’s not a name that’s going to stick in my overcrowded mind. I also reached for the wonderful Jerusalem Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. They have a fantastic website as well.

I drew, as always, from a combination of recipes- Jerusalem, David Liebowitz’s Shakshuka and a simple version in the NYTimes.

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Happy New Year

January 14, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Asian inspired, dinner, farm animals, Fitness and Health, honey, My life Tags: Flu, remedies, soup 21 Comments

Finally. Your new year probably started a couple weeks ago. But our first week felt like a hiatus between the lines of time. Now we are looking ahead at travel plans to NYC for the Gift fair. Excited to get back on track with yoga and exercise… you know that momentum of righteous resolution. After days of barely having any appetite my buds re-calibrated post holiday to not needing so much sweet and I already dropped my holiday mid waist luggage.

We nursed a gnarly flu with the following arsenal… This is how we do it.

Herb pharm echinacea goldenseal blend. I’ll take this 2-3x day

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white bean, kale and sausage soup

December 10, 2014 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Meat, Soup, Vegetables Tags: Eden Foods, Italian sausage, Kale, Skagit River Ranch, soup, white beans 24 Comments

This is just a little something to ground you between the inevitable highs and lows of the holidays. Kale, white bean and sweet italian sausage from Skagit River Ranch It’s a moment to go to something simple, familiar – we aren’t re-inventing the wheel here. Maybe use a little of that soup stock from the turkey bones. I made about 6 quarts from two turkeys. It’s important to keep eating healthy for a majority of the time through this season. And honestly, we enjoy the holidays more if we don’t feel like we’ve completely fallen off the cliff with eating habits.

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fall salad, brussels sprouts, pumpkin, pomegranate

November 21, 2014 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Fruits, Salad, Vegetables Tags: brussel sprouts, dogs, fall, pomegranate, pumpkin, pumpkin seeds 27 Comments

Life is going along here on the farm. Garden beds are mostly at rest, thirteen hens are laying about 6 eggs PER WEEK- need to work on that. I had to actually buy a dozen at the store- ouch. We are working on breeding Shirley our yearling goat. I’m so not getting any idea of when she’s in heat despite numerous youtube videos on said subject- followed by actual mating. wow. I seriously just want to get our own buck… hint hint:) I mean a critical point of having these darlings was to get milk if I remember correctly. And we can’t do that without babies!

But let’s move on…I’m not so chatty today.

I served this salad with a meal of slow cooked lamb and red rice. It’s similar to a fall salad from 2012 with feta and I used the same maple vinaigrette.

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cider press 2014 & cider glazed pork roast

October 29, 2014 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in dinner, Juicing, Lamb Tags: apples, cider glaze, cider pressing, farm life, pork loin 25 Comments

That time of the year again…

Another lovely fall apple pressing, year 2014! Ollie, excited about his first pressing EVER was raring to go. That’s my guy.

He made about 50 trips back and forth with the barrels of peelings to the pile we set up for the deer (photo from last year). What a champ.

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Grain free “Greens” pie and transitions

September 28, 2014 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Baked Goods, Brunch, dinner, farm time, Gluten Free, Nuts and Seeds Tags: GF, greens, Kale, nut crust, Otis 16 Comments

Quotations hug the word greens- just so you know it is not a green pie with an accidental s. It’s a nut crust stuffed with beet greens, green curly kale, lacinato kale, red russian kale, a fair amount of garlic, a little egg and a sprinkle of peppery goat cheese. Yes we do have a lot of kale in the garden.

A recent three day mini yoga workshop left me high on breath and thoughts. Trying to be present while practicing produces quite a large container full of ideas to be processed either drifting off to sleep at night or on an early waking morning with time to contemplate.Which means don’t reach for your phone. Let the mind percolate.

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Raw Energy bars

August 23, 2014 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in farm animals, My life, Nuts and Seeds, Raw Foods Tags: dates, dried cherries, nuts, raw bars, seeds 29 Comments

Hello again…

Summer is winding up and we are flush with garden vegetables and fruits yet, I still love to make these raw nut and seed bars. They are a nice fit after yoga or to help fill in the hunger gaps creeping into my afternoons. I’m one of those people that rarely awaits the pang of hunger. Now and again I like to feel it… but rarely.

Print: {organic raw nut and seed bar}
I use a base of almonds, cashews and dates and sometimes hazelnuts get thrown in depending what’s on hand. I find the cashews help a little more with binding and it’s important for it not to be too dry or they really crumble apart. I’ve tried my new vitamix (which I LOVE) but really this recipe is working better in the cuisinart.