getting ready for making maple syrup

It's snowing today -- another 5-12 inches due. I hate the way dirty snow looks, but it's hard to think about tapping maple trees when it's snowing so hard. Today I'll lug everything out and take a look at our supplies. I'll wash everything and set it out to dry.

We'll move the cinder blocks and fire brick from the barn and set up our fire box for the back porch after it stops snowing. We plan to

BBQ sauce

I made pulled pork last night from a pork shoulder from Barb Muench's hogs. She sold us 1/2 of one from our collective this fall.

Typically I put the roast in a crock pot and let it cook for a day. Then I pull it out and take off all the fat and the bones. I shred the meat and put it aside while I make the bbq sauce. This is the bbq sauce I always make --

BBQ sauce --
1 sweet onion - chopped

Poor little calf has some type of external parasite I think -- she's losing patches of hair. Vet is coming on Monday to see her. We're also getting her de-polled -- not so crazy about her horns.

This weekend I'm cleaning, baking, and hanging out around the house. I can't wait. Grace's home with us.

Tonight I finished the NY Times crossword puzzle and made a quick dinner with my Black River Produce delivery from Friday. I sauted fresh scallops with onion, garlic, and red peppers and then added fish sauce, cilantro and lemon juice at the end. I served the dish with bread, a baby spinach salad with mozzarella ciliegines, plum tomatoes, and kalamata olives. It was a pretty simple dinner, but

Indian curry roll ups -- great for football games

I made a really lovely pizza rollup thing last night. I took a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks and played around with it a bit.

I sauted garlic, onion, carrots, cut up green beans, red pepper, and cauliflower -- all prepared first in a dice of similar size, except the minced garlic. I added a teaspoon of cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, and garam masala, and methi (fenugreek leaves).

easy chicken masala

Last night I made an easy chicken masala -- sauteing in an oven-proof pan some veggie oil, 1 chopped onion, 4 cloves minced garlic, and 1 chopped red pepper with 1T garam masal until the onions were translucent, and then removing it all from the pan. Then I sauted 5 boneless chicken breasts until just brown on each side, and also put that aside. I deglazed the pan with nearly a quart of whole

I have an unusual assortment of food in my house right now. Usually we eat a lot of local foods year round -- but right now I have tons of citrus and tropical fruit. I'm eating smoothies with nonfat yogurt and fresh berries for breakfast, mango and pineapple with cottage cheese for lunch, and salads with cukes, tomatoes, grated carrots and beets, sprouts, and beans for dinners. It's time for me