Summer salads

August 2, 2017 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Lunch, Seasons, Side dishes, summer, Vegetables, Writing Tags: farm animals, farm life, quinoa, salad, summer vegetables 7 Comments

It’s so summer. I could almost say the hottest, driest summer I can remember. It’s been roughly 6 weeks that have reminded me of growing up in Florida where virtually everyday the sun rises and stays out shining hot. Except here it’s about 70 degrees instead of 90. I’ll take it.

We earned it here in the PNW. I didn’t get the garden in till the third week of May because it was so wet. The four leggers and 2 leggers were slopping around in mud pretty much till the end of May.

Our four goat mama’s cranked out three sets of triplets and one set of twins. We had a full house with 11 kids and 4 moms. And so we are building a new BARN. Ollie is so supportive of this venture- it also gives his farming roots a chance to grow and thrive… The boat and/or sports car has been bumped to the next decade:)

We (well they) will be moving in by September and we’ll be ready to bring on the winter.

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Grilled veggies, millet, greens, cocoa chili dressing

May 22, 2015 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in dinner, Main: Pork, summer, Vegetables Tags: El Dorado, mesquite, Pork shoulder chops, red peppers, Saltworks, summer vegetables, Yoga Journal, zucchini 96 Comments

Grilled red peppers, yellow squash, zucchini and pork shoulder chops on a bed of greens and millet is topped with a dressing concocted of olive oil, grilled red pepper, cocoa powder,worcester sauce, honey and a dash of lemon. You can add as much heat as desired. This recipe is based on the one I found in the June issue of Yoga Journal (a favorite of mine) and I think it’s a great one for this holiday weekend.

I think it would be just as lovely as it was written in Yoga Journal with grilled corn, black beans and a mesclun mix. But I opted for pork (just bought a LOT of local pork) and our garden greens which at the moment are tender young kale and spinach. I made the millet the night before and warmed it up with some broth- a little water and salt would do just fine.

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chocolate and zucchini

September 12, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Baked Goods, Chocolate, summer, Vegetables Tags: chocolate, zucchini, zucchini bread 37 Comments

Of course this sounds familiar. No, not from the hundreds of zucchini bread recipes…just from one of the original food blogs, what was it? Oh right. Chocolate & Zucchini. One that I still peer into on a regular basis, she never seems short on ideas and is currently reaching out to her audience for inspiration on the title of her new book coming out in spring 2013. Go Clotide.

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Summer clips

August 24, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Charleston, Orcas Island, Seasons, summer Tags: Charleston, deer, food, Orcas Island, Travel 36 Comments

Summer comes and goes quickly… As I mentioned we are back to school and ‘the routine’ while folks on Orcas are still enjoying the last scraps of summer till Labor Day. I’m enjoying our own last weeks of summer vicariously through our large roll of photo imports and the thankfully persisting warm days and evenings. So get comfy cause I got some highlights of summer photos to share!

Waking up at 4.30am at the Anacortes Inn, (it’s no Hilton but is clean and does the job) the day after landing in Seattle, patiently waiting for day break and letting my DOD (81yrs old) sleep till we can’t take it anymore… The first glimpse of summer from the Anacortes ferry landing.