This soup is such a perfect blend of sweet corn nostalgia and winter comfort that I can get a craving for this soup just about any season… but it feels especially fitting during that ‘hungry gap’ when many of the frozen veggies are gone and we’re down to sprouting potatoes and mason jars from the pantry.
This recipe can skew simple or a little more involved depending on how you’re feeling, but on way or another, make this while it is still soup season!
My latest version included the last of a batch of ‘corn and vegetable stock’ from the summer. This simple seeming stock is rather magical in my opinion. You make it from the leftover cobs after canning the sweet corn this past summer. This just pulls all the deliciousness out of every cob of corn.
After you cut off the corn kernels off the cob, just toss cobs, and onion peelings, celery leaves, carrots (or just their peelings), garlic and a bay leaf into a pot and simmer for at least 4 hours, strain off the stock and either freeze (leaving a good inch of headroom in the jar) or pressure can with the cans of corn.
Like all my recipes, especially soups, there is a lot of leeway to use up veggies and ingredients that you have on hand. If you have zucchini but not celery, go for it- or parsnips instead of carrots- OK! Make this recipe yours, you are in control in hte kitchen!
As sunlight hours (if not warmer temps) return to Minnesota, so do the backyard eggs. This gluten free Strata recipe is a beautiful way celebrate the return of spring and fresh eggs. It is also a healthy family favorite, and a great way to sneak in all kinds of veggies.
On Our Suburban Homestead
I love how our chickens help keep us in tune with nature’s cycles. If you’ve been interested in starting a backyard flock of your own, or want to learn where you can buy local farm fresh eggs, I’ve got you covered. This is a family favorite for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Especially when the boys go and collect the eggs then crack them right into the mixing bowl!
We all have our favorite food from holiday meals. That one most anticipated dish, or the combination of flavors that only happens once a year. For me it was the turkey stuffing and pumpkin spice cake. Although… looking back now, doing dishes with my grandma holds just as special a space in my heart.
I distinctly remember my grandma’s attic stairs around the holidays. They would be lined with all the baked goods she’d made, to keep them cool in what she referred to as her ‘extra ice box’. Each step held its own treasure; pumpkin chiffon, lemon meringue or apple pie, brownies, apricot strudel, lemon bars. But my favorite Thanksgiving dessert was the pumpkin spice cake! My Grandma was quite the baker.
Recipe Updates
I hope Grandma would still be proud of the recipe as I make it today. I’ve swapped and altered (quite) a few things. I make my own pumpkin puree, but there are decent organic canned versions out there now too! I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. And I swap half of the regular flour with oat flour, which is simply whole rolled oats that I’ve pulsed in my Nutribullet until flour like. I’ve also doubled the spices- so know that you can make this recipe your own as well.
I’ve tried to get this to an all Gluten Free version, but because my taste buds are locked into all the other things associated with this dessert, half GF is as close as I can get. This is a splurge anyways, and worth every bite!
To make a roll, invert a jelly roll pan of baked recipe on a tea towel and gently roll up and let cool in rolled position. Unroll to frost, re-roll and enjoy!
The recipe is also quite versatile. I’ve made it as bars, bread, muffins, a two-layer cake and most recently even a ‘roll’. Delicious whatever the form takes.
A note on pumpkin puree: Making your own pumpkin puree is not hard, but you do have to plan ahead a bit. The process is easy; cut a pie pumpkin in half and scoop out guts, roast cut side up (some people roast whole and scoop out after baking- I’ve never tried that!) at 350F for 1.5 – 2 hours. Let cool, scoop out chunks, and puree. It tastes AMAZING!
With either homemade or purchased pumpkin puree, I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
Pumpkin Spice Cake Recipe:
4 eggs
1C Coconut Oil
1.5 C Sugar (I use raw)
2 C Pumpkin Puree
Thoroughly blend
Clockwise: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Ginger
In a separate Bowl MIX
1 C Oat Flour (grind/blender whole oats)
1 C White Whole Wheat Flour (or whatever flour you have)
½ tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 T Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Cloves
1 tsp Ginger (Or sub all spices with 2 T pumpkin spice blend)
Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, mix well. Pour into
greased pan.
I used to add chopped nuts before my boys outlawed them… Bake at 350F for 20-40 minutes depending on what kind of pan you’re using; muffin tin – loaf pan.
Cream Cheese Frosting!
8 oz pkg of cream cheese 1 T milk 1-2 tsp vanilla 1 C + powdered sugar *We add ground ginger to the frosting as well** adjust milk to make as think or thin as you like.
In case you’re looking for more healthy recipes for your winter squash varieties, I’ve got you covered with my “Holiday Market Meals“.
Can’t wait for you to dig into this recipe with family and friends this season! Just try to save some for the guests 😉 Michelle
My Switch has been flipped and my body is craving hearty soups, roasted veggies and all. the. Kale!
Kale really is the King of the late Fall garden. It is by far one
of the easiest plants to grow and it just keeps giving. Easier to grow than
many other superfoods, this stuff was made for Minnesota gardeners.
Growing Kale
Kale can happily grow with only 6 hours of sunlight, and will still produce tender leaves – making it a great option for those of us struggling with the shady side of the garden. Like most leafy things, it likes a healthy dose of Nitrogen, my best practice is to add homegrown compost to the top before planting.
There are quite a few different varieties out there and they are not all created equally.
Kale Variety Role Call
Dwarf Blue
Seed Savers Exchange Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale has consistently tender leaves, and stay roughly one and half feet tall. One of my all time favorites.
Westlander
The Westlander Kale from High Mowing Organic Seeds was a show stopper this season, producing the ‘Kale Trees’ loved by vegetable gardeners.
Lacinato
I prefer any kind of curly kale to Lacinato (aka Dino) Kale about 1000 : 1. So when I am raving about kale, keep in mind I do NOT mean the stuff pictured above. I mean nothing is 100% perfect right…
Red Russian
Red Russian is a striking beauty that had a more leathery texture than the others I’ve grown, so I suggest using these in cooked form. Still very much worthy of a spot in the garden.
Scarlet
A single glorious Scarlet Kale from that OVERWINTERED (yes through last years insane polar-vortex temps) and is happily living its best life towards the back of my garden, partly shaded and loving it. I’ve now overwintered plants from the seeds of this kale.
I may have saved the best for last- this is for sure my new favorite for late season harvests and the fact that it is a true perennial in my Zone 4b Minnesota garden.
Homesteader’s Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex
Not only is this a perennial, but the variety of leaves coming from that single seed packet, from flat to curly, darkest green to purples- but all with the best kale flavor I’ve grown. This is also my go-to variety for blanching and freezing to use all winter long. The only company selling these amazing seeds is Experimental Farm Network.
Cold Hardy
Most kale varieties can easily handle temperatures down to 10F. So even up here in Minnesota we can keep these beauties growing into November. A few years back they lasted until our Christmas meal! Because of their size and ability to take the cold I have never grown these with any season extension covers or hoops.
After the first few frosts you’ll fall even more in love with this veggie. They get sweeter with each passing frost!
HARVESTING TRICK
Snap off those bottom leaves first working your way up the stalk as you go. This is a key to not being stuck with big, tough leaves! This is especially important if you want to keep enjoying all season long. You can always snap off a few leaves and freeze them rather than having to eat tough leaves a few weeks later! This will also leave you with adorable kale trees at the end of the season.
Meet the Kalettes!
Kalettes are kale’s hipster little sister. They’re a mix of kale and Brussel Sprouts. These are gorgeous to grow, with intense purple stems, and purple coloring into the base of the leaf clusters.
They take up a huge space like Brussel Sprouts, and produce a lot of fluff – but the taste is pretty awesome! I’ll grow two or three plants next year instead of six.
Cooking with Kale
We grow a LOT of kale, so here’s how we use it.
Fresh
Chopped and ‘massaged’ (when you run olive oil into the leaves to tenderize them) salads, Here’s one of my favorite chopped kale salad combos as highlighted on my website‘s recipe page.
Kale Chopped Salad Ingredients 3-4 Cups Kale, torn Drizzles of EVOO, honey, 1/2 Lemon juiced S&P A few Craisins Directions Toss into blender of choice and just barely pulse. Can add fresh berries, parmesan cheese and nuts after blending
Crispy
Kale chips are such a great way to sneak in ALL those Vitamins,
minerals and Protein! We just tear and massage in EVOO, bake on a sheet pan for
5-10 minutes at 350F. You can use whatever seasonings you feel like that day-
chili powder, cumin, onion powder, or go for an Asian taste and add in Aminos
and red pepper flakes. One note; garlic powder tends to burn for me on these.
Steamed + Sautéed
Warm Squash and Crisped Kale Salad!
Have you ever cooked up a pan of kale and red onions? If not, this needs to be one of the next things you try. I’ll add a simple mix of kale greens, onions + garlic with chick peas and roasted squash and boom you’ve got your self a perfect fall salad. This recipe is included in my Market Meals post from last winter. Add kale, onions and tomatoes to your egg scramble in the morning to boost flavors and nutrients.
Preserving Kale
Since we grow so much kale it is one of the veggies we preserve a lot of as well. I used to just wash tear and freeze, but have found that it holds both its flavor and its texture better if I steam blanche it first. Steam blanching is better for greens that regular blanching directly into the boiling water as it helps retain more of the nutrients.
I then pack the blanched kale leaves into muffin tins and freeze overnight. Then remove the ‘pucks’ which equal roughly 2 cups of fresh kale into freezer bags (important to squeeze out as much moisture before freezing). With the air removed from the bag, its also a great space saving way to store kale. We use frozen kale in recipes all winter long. Frozen kale is perfect for adding into soups and stews, you can also eat it just like steamed/creamed spinach – YUM.
If your main use of frozen kale is in smoothies, I’ll suggest you DO NOT blanche it before freezing. There is something magical about the way kale crumbles and loses some of its toughness when frozen raw. If you’ve never liked kale in smoothies, I challenge you try frozen kale and let me know!
So, are there any Kale Nay Sayers left out there? What can I do to convince you of kale’s abundant awesomeness?
So tell me, which recipes are you going to dig into first?
From nettles, to fiddleheads, ramps to cattails and of course mushrooms- foraging is the darling of the foodie world right now, and for good reason. Foraging gives food lovers a chance to go out and pick delicious locally grown food without any of the work of growing it… sounds like a dream, right!
It IS dreamy, but let’s not over-romanticize it.
The food did grow somewhere, seeds were moved about and then nestled into soil. Or underground runners ran and sprouted up at just the right spot. When you find food growing wild, take note- because you are witnessing that plant’s ideal growing conditions. What a gift!
You know I love growing my own good food, but when Mother Nature does it for you, why not join the good food party!
My eldest son ‘responsibly’ harvesting ramps
Forage Responsibly
In order to forage or harvest responsibly from an area and not kill the remaining plants (or yourself) you need to do a little research before you start ripping food from the earth. Thank you internet!
Know Before You Go
Know what variety you’re looking for, where they typically grow and when. Unless you stumble upon a field of ferns or a cattail dell you’ll have to get out, hike around and for your food- which is part of the appeal! But knowing the habitat of the plant you’re after goes a long way!
Also- did you know you can help our local plant communities by pulling up (and then eating) Garlic Mustard! Foraging for nature in new ways.
the native plants thank you!
Thankful for neighbors with nettles!
Know the land you’re harvesting from. Is the land you’re planning to peruse public or private. Do you have permission to be there? Who can you ask you verify there haven’t been any pesticides/herbicides sprayed? Determining how far back you want a clean record is something to figure out before you jump out of the car!
Know how you’ll use the food when you get home! Food waste is food waste whether you bought it at the store, or found it growing in the wild. It helps me to remember that some animal could have eaten what you foraged, or the plant would have been stronger next year- so make use of what the earth grew for you! Search out recipes before you start foraging!
Responsible foragers know: never take more than half of anything you forage for!
Toby, age 9
Local Food Line Up
Ramps:
These are truly the first of the first to emerge in my neck of the woods. Their mild garlic taste screams spring to me. From eggs to soups and breads, these add a depth to whatever dish they’re in.
Please gather these sustainably, as Minnesota ramp flushes are dwindling with the uptick in foragers. I go into details about ramp harvesting in this earlier blog post but basically, don’t take many from each stand, and try to cut above the bulbous root so it can recover and grow back the following year.
Stinging Nettles:
A solid source of iron and a natural spring tonic to help flush toxins, there are so many reasons to eat your nettles!
Yes, they sting- or some say burn, so I always wear gloves and use tongs when working with these.
Blanching and drying do take the sting out, as does pureeing the heck out it, I still recommend blanching before pureeing as the BRIGHT fresh green holds longer after blanching.
Fiddleheads:
Tasting of mild asparagus , all kinds of ferns start as these adorable fiddleheads. Ostrich ferns are the gold standard for springtime delicacy as far as I’m concerned- this is one that you’ll have to scope out the year before- to see what the ferns turn into after unfurling they’re deliciousness.
Cattails:
Who knew the shoots tasted like cucumber! These are one of the easiest items to forage as they can be seen a mile away, and there’s not really anything else that looks like them 😉 These are simple, fresh + delicious, especially early in the season (like right now)! Do make sure they’re coming from a clean water source as they are a natural water purifier and accumulate toxins. You basically eat the heart of the stalk or shoot, and can also be pickled.
Mushrooms:
This is where it can tricky! Confessed MN Mushroom Newbie! I’ve only foraged for mushrooms in Sweden with experts, so I’m hesitant to dive into this. That and my kids don’t really enjoy them (but my hubby and I do, so…) It is best to go with knowledgeable friends or guides.
For now I mostly buy them as a treat from my local mushroom farmer, Finney and the Fungi or at Forest to Fork at Keg + Case. However, a few favorites I’ll be keeping my eyes open for are Chanterelle and chicken of the woods.
I love that there’s always more to learn about the natural world growing all around us!
Lambs’ Quarters
The one non-native MN plant I always like to mention for early Spring foraging: lamb’s quarters. You’re going to find this beauty in disturbed soils. Most people think it is a weed, and it an aggressive little bugger, but I deal with it because I love the flavor and huge mineral stores it possesses. Well worth the space. Similar to spinach it often shows up before and lasts longer than my bolted spinach.
Spring Foraging Recipe Ideas
What’s tastier than foraged nettle + ramp pesto… Eating it with foraged cattail hearts and early harvests from the garden.
I am at best a half-hearted recipe follower, so if you’d like a
specific recipe, please google any of the following ideas that tempt you.
Bonus: most of these are easy to make with your own spin by substituting ingredients
and altering to your taste preferences.
Ramp Salt: Dried ramp leaves- dehydrate and crush/pulse with sea salt for a sublime seasoning for soups and stews, fish and chicken. I’ve done ramp butter, but the salt, and just dehydrated leaves work better for my kitchen.
Nettle Pesto:
I blanched the stinging nettles before blending with ramps, pine
nuts, cheese and EVOO for a fresh green powerhouse pesto.
Nettle Soup: Scandinavian Nasselsoppa sounds so much better that stinging nettle soup, right! This is a basic ‘boiled with potatoes and broth’ kind of pureed soup to get you all caught up on your greens!
Nettle Tea: Simply hang and dry. I mix with other leaves, such as raspberry, lemon balm or mint as I find it too strong on its own.
Cattails:
You’ll peel off over half of the outer layers of leaves to get to the white hearts. I always say I’m going to gather enough to pickle, guess its good to have goals 😉 really these are divine just eaten raw with some nettle pesto, or chopped on salads!
Add perennial vegetables/herbs like Rhubarb, chives and Asparagus into the mix and you could be eating flavorful, healthful and delicious meals after taking a walk. Spring in Minnesota is truly a bounty of good wild food!
What will you be foraging?
What other questions do you have about Foraging in Minnesota?
These women just had to be my first ‘full on’ farmer interview. They have helped my kids fall deeper in love with many veggies, they’re the only certified organic farmer at our local White Bear Lake Farmer’s Market and they are a great example of giving back and educating their own community.
Let’s back up, shall we so you too can fall head over heels with Mhonpaj’s Garden (pronounced mon-pahs).
May is the head farmer, and Mhonpaj, her daughter is the farm manager; their care and love for each other is mirrored in the farm. “She’s my shining star,” Mhonpaj says of her mother.
When I walked into their greenhouse up in Marine on the St. Croix I was hit by two things; May’s smile and the amazing smell.
May at her greenhouse
May’s smile is positively contagious, and the smell of warm earth was heaven after the cold snap mother nature had thrown at us. ( fingers crossed for no more frost!). If you’ve ever taken a stroll through a commercial vegetable greenhouse, or even a floral greenhouse, you’ll remember the smell of chemical fertilizers clinging to you.
In May’s greenhouse, only rich, pleasant organic soil smells wafted by…
May came to Minnesota in 1981, a refugee from Laos. She spent many years picking produce in the summers and assisting farms. Then she watched her mother, who had picked in fields while pesticides were being sprayed the next row over, lose her battle with cancer. At one point the doctors asked if May’s mother had eaten pesticides the cancer in her intestines was so bad. Deeply affected by the loss, both May and Mhonpaj were determined to do things differently moving forward.
Mhonpaj’s experiences around food lead her to a degree in Health Education/Health Fitness. It was during a college trip to Thailand where she saw their practices of sustainable agriculture that she became hooked.
Around the same time Mhonpaj’s fiancé (now husband) took a position as the SE Asian coordinator at the Minnesota Food Association (MFA). He suggested her parents look at MFA because of their love of farming. May enrolled and took the 4-year organic farming program. The program included everything you need to know to become a certified organic farmer in Minnesota. They teach hands-on techniques, technical support, record keeping and marketing.
starting a second planting of green onions
10 years later they are organically farming 6 acres and *almost* making their livings from farming. They rent 4 acres at MFA, and feel lucky to have access to that certified organic land with irrigation, deer fencing and available tillage – all the costly infrastructure pieces that constrain many other farmers from getting started. They also rent and farm a 2-acre parcel in Stillwater.
I got a chance to speak with Laura Hedeen, programs manager at MFA about May. “Everyone values her expertise so much, her knowledge is evident when she teaches,” Laura said. May has been mentoring farmers informally for years, and now is in her third season as an official staff member of MFA, teaching organic farming to immigrant farmers. “She teaches visually, and her techniques are really efficient, we’re lucky to have her help,” Laura added. Then Laura filled me in on a long and impressive list of speaking and teaching engagements ( MOSES Organic Farming Conference speaker, Keynote Speaker at the Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference, children’s groups, farmers groups etc) that, of course, May didn’t see the need to share.
“Organic farming and gardening, it’s not just a technique, it’s a lifestyle,” was Mhonpaj’s immediate response to my asking if the organic piece was really ‘that’ important to her. Next she said, “what you’re putting into your body matters; what the vegetable comes with, I mean what they put on them, is just as important as the nutrition inside the veggies.” So yes, people- this family is ‘all in’ on growing organic.
ver heels with 
