Double Up Farm

While I love elderberry syrup, it turns out not all children like it. My dental hygienist mentioned how her kids only liked the elderberry gummies, and asked if there was a way to buy local elderberry syrup and make her own. As is often the case - my answer was "I'll let you know". I have messed with gummies before, and don't like making them. What I do like is jello. What kids like are Jigglers!! So I made elderberry jigglers. The first batch was too loose (so, I ate t

If you do something two years in a row, does that make it an annual event? This was the second year the Union County Master Gardeners have come for a field trip, and once again, I am sure I must be related to some of these folks. We had a great time with the farm animals, a lovely lunch, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed showing them how to needle felt (even though some of them immediately put me to shame!!!) Promised the ladies my top secret (not) White Chili recipe. An

My mother was an amazing cook, and I have many of her recipes (which I make all of the time). One that I don't have is chicken and dumplings. So when I moved to the South, I was very excited to see it on menus. But people - you are doing it all wrong!! Here in the South, they think dumplings are basically big fat noodles. Tasty, but not chicken and dumplings. So it was with a good deal of trepidation that I decided to try a new recipe. And...And....it's right!! It has

You remember a while back I went on and on about how I hated beets but now I love them? Well eggplant is even worse. My mother did horrible things with eggplant and I cannot abide it, even covered with cheese and tomato sauce masquerading as eggplant parmesan. Until now. A friend from the Waxhaw Farmer's Market gave me a recipe for eggplant which I politely accepted and then threw away. Except that it stuck in my head, and when my market neighbor showed up with some prett

I hate beets. Sure, I ate those round pickled beets in a jar when I was a kid, but as soon as I was a grown-up, I avoided them in all guises. But I am at the Farmer's Market every week, and I am literally surrounded by beets - big beets, little beets, red beets, golden beets. I caved to the intense pressure and bought some. I was totally and completely wrong - it turns out I love beets. I have not tried the red ones yet, because I am so obsessed with these golden beauties

We are entering my favorite food time of the year. Sure, I love Autumn harvest stuff, and Christmas goodies, and there's always room for turkey. But we are starting the season of eating from the garden, and it makes me so very, very happy. Tonight's dinner came in two parts. Last night, I made a batch of egg and maple custard. While it was warm and liquidy, I poured it over strawberries. It is very sweet, so the balance of slightly tart berries was just luscious. Tonight

First things first - these rolls are perhaps the best bread product I have ever had in my life. Stage one - Sponge (leaven) Water – 1 ½ c Yeast – 2 ½ t Flour – 1 c Mix this up about an hour before you want to get started, this gets the yeast working. Leave it covered somewhere warm. Stage two - Main Dough Flour – 4 ½ c Salt – 1 ½ T Sugar – ¾ c Milk – ¾ c Egg – 1 egg Water – ¼ c Butter – ¾ c (diced up) Add all the dry ingredients and mix together in a large bowl, then add i

That's me in the middle, with my sister, father, and grandparents - no, you are not imagining it - I was quite the looker. I have had a long love affair with Beef and Barley soup. In 1973, as a 13 year old in the middle of trying family circumstances, I first had this at a restaurant in Michigan called The Wooden Nickel. Over the years, I have had it again and again, and finally a while back I found the perfect recipe. It is my family's absolute favorite, but today was extr

If you know Mr. Double Up, you know he does not eat anything green. And if you know me, you know I have devoted my life to sneaking vegetables into his menu. This week, it is kale in all its splendor. I had never tried kale until 3 years ago, when my gardening friends pressured me into growing it. I love the stuff now, although I don't really eat it the way normal people do. I don't grow it any more either, because my friend at Scott Howard Farms grows more delicious kale

I don't remember why I even had a bag of that flaked coconut. But it has been sitting in my cabinet for a long time. Sure, I could just throw it out, but that would be cheating. So I decided to make a coconut cake. I started with Ina Garten's recipe, but since Mr. Double Up does not like coconut, I cut the recipe in half. Then I doubled the coconut, because that was the whole point. The result is perhaps the densest cake I have ever had, but it is really delicious and mo

Even after 12 years, I cannot get used to the idea that we get snow in the Deep South. I mean, come on people, if you have to put up with 100 degree heat in the summer, you should not have to deal with 10 degree cold and snow and ice. If only I ran the universe... So, it is cold, and icey, and snowing. And yesterday I shared a recipe for super easy bread with a friend. And today, I wanted a sandwich. And my store-bought bread was downstairs in the freezer. In Double Up

I love Indian cuisine. I never tried making it myself until I met my friend Hamsika and her mother, Lalitha, and my friend Vani. They have given me so much encouragement, I find myself trying things I would never have attempted before. Although I still like it much better when they cook FOR me, it turns out they have their own lives and cannot quite manage to be at my beck and call. I am slightly embarrassed to say that with all of the incredible dishes, my favorite Indian

Many years ago, when we lived in San Leandro, a friend introduced me to a little snack called "Linguica Bread". Linguica is a Portugese sausage. There It has been a family staple ever since we first ate it, and I am forced to turn a blind eye to the commercially produced pork, and processed ingredients. Once we moved away from the San Francisco Bay Area, I have had to order the linguica from the Bay Area, because you can't get it here in North Carolina, and most of the big

I am pretty fussy about lasagna. Don't get me wrong, I will eat and enjoy ANY lasagna, but I am constantly looking for the next best thing. Imagine my shock when crockpot lasagna turned out to be so delicious that I will never bother with a pan again. This could not be easier, and it was just wonderful. Crock Pot Lasagna Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef 4 cloves garlic, minced ½ lb lasagna pasta 4 cups of marinara sauce 1¼ cup cottage cheese 1½ cup Italian cheese blend 1 tbsp

One of Dave's favorites - I had some puff pastry in the freezer and these where very easy and delicious. It doesn't seem to matter how many I make, that is how many we eat. INGREDIENTS 1 egg 1 tablespoon water 1/3 cup sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 package (17.3 ounces) Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets(2 sheets), thawed DIRECTIONS Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Stir the sugar and cinnamon in

Crock pot that is - see what I did there, kind of misdirected a bland cooking post like it was something exciting. Well, for me, the cooking IS exciting so I feel good about it. Anyway, I like to do most things from scratch. But with the recent medical hoopla, I confess to taking an easy way out. This was absolutely delicious, so fast, so easy - so doing it again and again and again!!! It makes a Chicago style, deep dish pizza. Crock Pot Pizza 1 can refrigerated pizza dou

I am very fond of those York peppermint patties - so when I saw this recipe on the Facebooks, I had to give it a try. I am always on the lookout for a new item to sell at the market. 1. These are absolutely delicious - like, I had no idea they could be so much better than the ones you buy at the store, although really, I should have known. 2. There is a huge learning curve when it comes to dipping chocolates. I do not think this is something I would want to tackle for the

We love cranberries - I make cranberry apple relish in quantities to eat all year, not just Thanksgiving. I make fresh cranberry salad, I put craisins in just about everything I make. So, running across a Facebook recipe for Cranberry Cake was pretty much a no-brainer. I try a lot of recipes, most of them do not make the cut. But this one? Oh yeah, this goes into the files to make again and again and again. The presence of the whole cranberries makes each bite a little e

Uh....no!!! I have now processed all of my own apples, and have moved on to two bushels of apples from the mountains. Today, thanks to my friends at Whisper Creek Farm, I made six quarts of apple pie filling. Oh yeah, baby - I am making more of this. And since I have another 70 lbs or so of apples, it looks like Apple Pie for everyone!!! INGREDIENTS 6 lbs apples 4 1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup cornstarch 1 teaspoon salt 10 cups water 3 table

Five years in the making - I finally have enough apples to do something! It has been a struggle. This is NOT apple country, and every pest known to man has apparently marked my house on their map as the place to go for apples. But this year, with some diligence, and I admit it, just a little bit of treatment, I have apples. My favorite thing to do with these apples is just eat one every morning - they are planted near the sheep pasture, so I like to pick one each morning a