Everyone helps clean!

So what did John do to help clean?

John was given the duty of pouring salsa from a bowl back into the jar.

He picks the tiniest counter space in the darkest corner. 

Oh John.

And now for dessert ... Apple Crumb Cake!

When we got together to cook, we actually made this first to free up the oven for some of the other things we had to cook.

Here is their picture from the cookbook.

It's a nice thick cake, loaded with chunks of apples and it is really moist. We ate it soon after dinner when it was still warm, so it totally fell apart all over our plates, but it was awesome warm.

We didn't put enough butter on the top for it to melt all of the brown sugar and cinnamon, but that didn't make much of a difference.

The most impressive part is that it holds at room temperature for a while, and it remains just as tasty and moist as when I first made it. It keeps together better too instead of turning into a crumbly mess. 

I was also pleased with how easy it is to make. Josh says it's the perfect kind of cake to have around when you might have company coming over because of how well it holds up and how satisfying it is. I would love it if people had this on hand every time I came over. (Or maybe I wouldn't because I'd gain millions of pounds since I'd eat it every time I went out.) 

The recipe was featured in gapmag where Brent and Josh are wearing some spiffy threads. 

Anyway, I like getting together and cooking with other people a lot. There's something satisfying about eating with a bunch of people you care about over a meal that you made that tastes good and is made of good ingredients. 

Leek and Potato Gratin

Like everything else I have made from the cookbook thus far, this was totally delicious. It was delicious to the point that my father liked it so much he commented about it the following day. (My dad sometimes doesn't like what I cook because he's a very simple meat and potatoes kind of guy. I like spices and trying new flavor combos, so our palettes don't always mesh.) Greg loved it and ate multiple servings like a pro potato gratin eater.

They were also really easy to make. 

The only downside is that they do have heavy cream in them, which is pretty fattening. But whatever. It's not like I go around chugging cartons of heavy cream left and right. 

The recipe required more leeks than we actually used. We made ours with three, and I think that was more than enough. 

I love potatoes.

The recipe was actually featured on the Bon Apetit website here, so I was able to post it below in case you wanted to try it yourself.

Leek and Potato Gratin

There's nothing like the flavor of a freshly dug potato. In this luscious fall gratin, potatoes get the royal treatment.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds small white, red, or Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices 
1 tablespoon unsalted butter 
5 leeks, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1-inch lengths and well washed
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
1 cup heavy cream 
1/2 cup milk 
6 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a pot of boiling salted water, parcook the potatoes for 5 minutes. Drain. 

In a 10-inch cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the leeks to a bowl. 

In the same skillet, arrange half of the potatoes over the bottom. Pour 1/2 cup of the cream and 1/4 cup of the milk over the top and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Top with the sauteed leeks and arrange the remaining potatoes on top. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup cream and 1/4 cup milk over the potatoes and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender, the top is golden brown, and most of the cream and milk have been absorbed. Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

Note: I didn't edit this recipe, but stated how I modified it above with the amount of leeks we used.

Harvest Fest - Goats, Turkeys, and One Sassy Llama

Picking up where I last left off, we went to the barn next, where we got to meet Farmer John.

He comes in at about 40 seconds. I think he's incredibly sweet, and it always breaks my heart to see him cry about his goats. During the tour, he told us about his different goats, like his top milk producer. He also described their ears with a reference to the flying nun, and said one had Princess Leia hair. Never have goats sounded more like divas. Meanwhile, the goats just desperately want to eat my coat and the scarf of the lady in front of me.

When we left the barn, we saw the pigs, and then headed over to where Polka Spot was outside.

She was eating, and people kind of got excited (I am no exception.) and crowded the fence to call her over. 

She totally wasn't having it because she just wanted to get her munch on, so she headed back to the barn. Afraid that this would be my only opportunity to get a picture of myself with her, I passed my camera off to Nick and asked him to take a shot.

Yeah. It's impressive. While looking at this picture, imagine Nick saying, "No thanks guys. Bye!" in his best llama voice, and you get the full effect.

After this we were directed to their vegetable garden, which was perfectly laid out in neat rows. I really liked how the beds were raised, and next spring I think I might build a single raised bed garden for myself to plant a few vegetables in. Or maybe some flowers. My father is a huge gardener, and I can only hope he passed his green thumb onto me. That's genetically possible, right?

Look at how precise they are. So neat. They also had baskets of tomatoes out for people to take since they had an abundance of them this year. I ate a handful of cute little yellow ones only to later remember that I had just pet goats with those same hands with no washing in between. But then I figure, I eat three spiders a year in my sleep, and they must be filthy. It's not like spiders are preoccupied with grooming. They just roll around on dead things or poop, right? And I have yet to have anything terrible happen to me from a slumbering spider snack. Or at least I think so. 

I can't help it. I have a thing for fresh veggies, and I can't get enough of them. 

After the garden the official tour was over. We were given a free sample of their vanilla orchid goat's milk ice cream (delicioso), and then we could walk where we pleased until the bus returned.

Of course, we went back to see if Polka Spot was around. 

She was. I went over to the fence, and she came over to join me. I even got to pet her. (Not going to lie, she was covered with hay and junk, so I plucked some off of her.)

This pretty much made my day. Not gonna lie. 

Nick managed to bond with a turkey. I think the turkey really liked his shirt, because it kept coming over to him with all of its plumage on display. He was an older turkey, and he was missing some of his feathers, but I think it added to his charm.

Kinda matchy matchy twinsies, right?

Chickens kept photobombing the poor guy, but I finally got a picture of him in all of his finery, strutting his stuff.

Overall, the tour was perfect. To me, Harvest Fest was very much what Autumn is all about. Good crops, a chill in the air, and a sense of community sharing and coming together to celebrate what nature has to offer.

I'm looking forward to going back there next year. Or...maybe for the zombie walk.

Butter-Crumbed Cauliflower

Originally, we were going to use this Cauliflower for another recipe, but given the other things we were cooking, we weren't going to have the oven time to roast it. So, we butter-crumbed it, which is another recipe taken from the Beekman Heirloom Cookbook. It was really quick and easy, and it was delicioso. (Oh Jim Gaffigan gif, where are you?)

It's probably the easiest dish we made when we got together.

The recipe is the same as this one, except we used panko instead of bread crumbs and nutmeg was added for flavor. I've really begun to dig Cauliflower lately. I hated it when I was a little kid, but now I think it's really tasty, and it keeps cropping up in different dishes I've been making.

There's a close up picture. For some reason, I thought this would be a really good idea, but it's kind of goofy. Oh well. Whatever. Have a close up picture of cauliflower with bread crumbs. Print it out and give it as a Christmas present and say you got it on Etsy. They'll believe you. There's all sorts of ridiculous stuff on Etsy.

Harvest Fest - Beekman Tour - The Crypts

We did a lot when we went to Harvest Fest, so I'm going to take a few posts to cover it. After we stopped and viewed the house, we went to view the crypts of the original Beekmans. It had been made to store the bodies of the dead in when the ground was frozen solid in the winter. We were able to go inside and walk around. There were some of the old stones inside and a few bones.

The marker outside the crypt

Gravestones from inside the crypt.

There were also a couple of bones inside, but I didn't take pictures of them since it seemed disrespectful. Rachel, being a scientist, feels that one was an animal bone. The other one may have been human. (I also think it'd be sweet if Rachel got her own show like Bill Nye. Except a lady Bill Nye.)

There were light fixtures in there too, and some people were taking 30 kajillion pictures of them, so I bet if you google "Beekman Crypt Light Fixtures", something will pop up. 

We went around to the back of the house next to view the gardens, which I posted earlier. The posts on the balcony higher up are actually larger than the ones on the lower balcony. This is to make it look like they're all the same size when you're standing on the ground. 

At this point we were shown the apple trees, and I had ...

...my first Polka Spot sighting.

She's way over by the group of people at the fence, laying on the ground. There's some goats photo-bombing my shot off to the left too. Jumping around. Being goaty.

I was excited. Not gonna lie. I wanted to go do a Vogue Editorial fashion spread on her, but the tour led us to the pond in back.

Gorgeous, right?

Let me pause here for a moment to tell you about Sister Wife Dream Farm. Not only does it sound like an awesome idea for a Facebook app, but it's what I'd like to happen to my friends and me. I want to get a large beautiful farm for all of my sister wives (Nick, Rachel, Elyse, Jess, Alissa ...and heck, John too) to come live on and appreciate all of the wonderful things a farm can provide. Like a llama.

So, if I mention Sister Wife Dream Farm, you won't be totally clueless.

Disclaimer: I don't actually have Sister Wives. Or even a wife. But I do have a sister. 

Sauteed Chicken with...Not Pears, but Apples

Originally this recipe calls for bartlett pears, but it is noted that you can substitute apples instead. Rachel and I had an apple theme going on for the evening, and we had just visited the orchard for some fresh Cortlands. So, we opted for the swap.

Rachel cooks chicken like a pro.

We had to cook the chicken first by its lonesome, and the breasts we got were HUGE, so they took longer than the recipe required to cook them. Having plenty of chicken is always a good idea though when feeding Greg, Rachel's boyfriend. As we cooked, he maintained a conversation with my cat.

Greg: "Do you like nomenclatures?"

Handsome Gentleman: "Meow."

Greg: "Are you looking for the clatures?"

So, anyway, my friend John finally showed up to eat things and not use an indoor voice while indoors. They watched some terrible Kung-Fu movie in which only half was dubbed, so I doubt the plot mattered. 

Sucks to be a cat that can't eat people food.

Even if you are really handsome.

I was on apple peeling/chopping duty while Rachel mixed the ingredients for the sauce together. I can kind of see why it wasn't pictured in the cookbook, because ours came out looking ...well...

Yeah.

All right, I'm not plating expert. I was really hungry, and I just piled everything together. It looks like a sloppy mess, but I don't care. Come at me bro. IT WAS DELICIOUS. 

It also blew John's mind because apparently chicken and apples together was a foreign concept. 

Rachel thought that the apples were really tart in this, and she thought we should have used a sweeter apple. I like tart though, and I thought they were really tasty with the shiraz we used. I guess it's all a matter of preference. 

Greg and John also agreed that it was good.

Handsome Gentleman didn't get any because he was hunting for clatures.

And because he is a cat.

If you want to see how this recipe turned out for other people, you can take a peek at some pictures on the Beekman website.

For a similar recipe, go here. We didn't use apple juice or whipping cream in our recipe, but the rest seems pretty close. Of course, we also used apples.

Copyright Law and All that Jazz

So, I've been reading a little about copyright law as in accordance to recipes being published on blogs. I think it's a pretty fine line to tread upon, and I don't want to get in trouble. Also, I would kind of love it if more people bought their cookbook. But, if the recipe for a food item from their cookbook is available online via a reliable source, I'll link to it. If it isn't, I'll include a similar link from a website.

I also plan to work with recipes they have on their website and to create some of my own. I only started cooking last year since I figured it was a skill worth having, and I love doing it. So part of this is the mission of cooking through the entire Beekman cookbook, and part of this is just to experiment and enjoy cooking with people I like spending time with.

I just wanted to clarify before I continued posting in case there were any questions regarding content and copyrighted things and all that sort of thing.

Pumpkin Cheese Bread

How did my pumpkin cheese bread turn out? As beautiful as the picture? Or if not appealing, was it at least edible?

Well, let's take a look at the process.

Here's the dough I made a couple of nights ago, waiting for me to knead it into submission:

Forgive me for the terrible lighting since I made this later at night so that it had time to rise before I baked it the next day.

There it is the next day, all...embiggened. I was really worried that I had used too much flour, but it turned out just fine. (OR DID IT?)

Just loafin' around. I had to flip it over since the seam of the bread was supposed to be on the bottom. It had to rise in the pan too before I could bake it.

And here it is, fresh from the oven.  I was pretty pleased with how it looked since I have never baked a bread involving yeast before. I've baked dessert loaves and corn bread before, but never an actual loaf. 

The bread has a really pretty color to it. It picks up an autumnal orange from the pumpkin and the cheddar. It's also hearty.  A serious bread to sink your teeth into. 

As for taste, it was excellent. There's a hint of heat from the cayenne pepper, and the cheddar and pumpkin work really well together. I probably ate more of it than I should have, but whatever. You only bake your first loaf of bread once.

One recipe down, plenty of others to go. 

I really need a gif of Jim Gaffigan saying "delicioso" because I feel like it'd really come in handy right now. I'm just sayin'.

The recipe for this can be found in the Beekman 1802 Heirloom cookbook, or you can find it online here on Huffington Post.

Harvest Fest Part One & A Start of Some Bread

Tomorrow is looking like a lovely day to knock out a few recipes. Life in general has been busy. A new school year just rolled out, one of my friends is about to get married (two weeks away!), and I tend to find layers upon layers of things to do.

But, tomorrow I've set aside the day to bake and cook some of the fall selection of recipes out of the Beekman cookbook.

Tonight I started the first one

Pumpkin Cheese Bread.

The dough has to be chilled overnight in the fridge, so that's where it is now, hoping to look somewhere near as delicious as the image above taken from the Beekman Heirloom Cookbook.

Last weekend, I went to Harvest Fest with two of my friends, and it was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. Everyone there was incredibly friendly, the farm was beautiful, and I brought home some awesome things. 

Right now I'm enjoying Roasted Jalapeno Hummus made by Freddy's Rockin' Hummus. Normally I make my own hummus because when you make your own, it's way better than any store-bought brand. So, I can appreciate a good home-made hummus, and the Jalapeno's in this gave it just the right kick. 

And is it possible to become addicted to lip balm? Because I'm pretty sure I might be. Olive Naturally was at Harvest Fest with freshly made products with all the scents of the fall season. I bought Pumpkin Cheesecake lip balm, and I have been using pretty constantly since. 

I also found a beer I actually like. I'm not a beer drinker. I don't like the taste of beer usually -- that is, until I met Ommegang. They have some sort of berry beer that I didn't catch the name of, but it is phenomenal. 

Man, I'll need to figure out what that was. 

Of course, all of the shopping and food was awesome, but the best part for me was getting the opportunity to tour the farm. When we went, the sun was bright and the air was crisp, so it was the perfect day for a good walk. 

This is the view of the back of the house and the flower gardens. When I was watching the show, I always thought that this was the front of the house, but as we were informed during the tour, it's not. 

This is. You can't really see it, but there's a carefully laid out pumpkin arrangement on the stairs. There were also random pumpkins in the trees. 

This is the view over the grounds. I mean, could a day get any more beautiful? 

I think I'll end this post here for now, but don't worry. I have plenty more beautiful pictures from Harvest Fest. 

Sorry about the delay

I made an attempt to get all of the ladies together recently, but unfortunately we couldn't get together because almost everyone was sick in one way or another. This past weekend three of us actually went to Sharon Springs for Harvest Fest and took a tour of the Beekman farm.

I met Polka Spot, and I ate so many delicious things. It was a pretty perfect day, and I'll post about it later. But for now, since it's late and I'm tired, a list of all the things we plan to make this fall:

Soups & Salad

Onion Soup
Roasted Cauliflower and Apple Soup
Broccoli - Cheddar Soup
Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Entrees

Chicken with Succotash
Beer-Braised Beef
Butternut Squash-Filled Lasagna Rolls
Blue Cheese Pizza
Harvest Beef Chili
Sauteed Chicken
Roast Pork Loin
Hungarian Pork Goulash

Deserts

Cinnamon-Ginger Applesauce
Rustic Apple Pie
Apple Butter Turnovers
Caramelized Pear Bread Pudding
Apple Cake
Baked Apple Dumplings

Vegetable Sides

Butter Stewed Lima Beans
Leek & Potato Gratin
Butter-Crumbed Cauliflower
Mushroom Pilaf
Roasted Beet Tangle
Braised Fennel

Other

Pumpkin Cheese Bread
Mulled Cider
Poached Pears

It's a long list of things that sound delicious and full of fall flavor. I'm excited to start cooking some of them soon. Here we go!

- Sarah

OUR MISSION..SHOULD WE CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT

Firstly, I suppose it'd be in order to welcome you to our blog. It's a humble thing, and I'm not even sure if anyone will ever read it besides the four of us, but whatever.

The inspiration for this blog is The Beekman Cookbook. It's a book created by Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge, the couple who purchased the Beekman farm in Sharon Springs, NY. I found out about them since their show appeared on my Netflix queue, and I am down to watch anything about gay men on a farm with a sassy llama. 

Look at how cute they are with the goats.

Essentially, the cookbook is broken down by season, with recipes that are appropriate for each of the seasons. We're going to start off with the fall recipes, and by next summer we're hoping to have baked/cooked/created all of the recipes in the book. 

By we, I mean myself and three of my awesome lady friends. Then there's going to be some other people milling around eating everything because I can't eat it all myself. Well, I could, but I like having other people eat what I cook. Then they can tell me it's good. (Or not if they never want me to cook for them again.)

Sometimes we'll blog about other recipes, or about the Beekmans, or whatever, but our main focus right now is the Beekman cookbook.

This weekend we'll begin cooking four of the fall recipes which you'll see soon after in the blog. 

Wish us luck!

- Sarah