Eat Well. Do Good. Have Fun.

If you're looking for a little foodie fun to warm your belly and your heart this weekend, head to Enterprise Farm for their Locally Grown Pancake Breakfast. The breakfast, which takes place tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. to noon, will feature pancakes made with locally grown and milled whole wheat flour from Four Star Farms in Northfield, Mass. And there will be plenty of locally made accopmaniments, including maple syrup from Bree-Z-Knoll Farm and bacon from Austin Brothers Valley Farm.

Although the farm's location in Whately is a bit of a drive for us Bostonians, it's a worthwhile trip this time of year. When you just can't manage another bite of pancake, you can peruse the local, organic produce on offer at The Food Shed and stock up on wintry veggies for the next few weeks, including my favorite: celery root!

All proceeds from the event will benefit the Northampton Survival Center, which provides food to low-income individuals and families in the area, an important community resource especially in this difficult economy. So, grab a few friends and make a day of it. Your farmers, your community, and your belly will thank you!

Click here for directions.

Photo by Presta, via Flickr Creative Commons

A Berry of a Different Sort

One of the exciting things about our new winter farm share with Enterprise Farm has been that, in addition to the lovely fruits and veggies each week, we've also received the occasional bag of wheat berries. These lovely little berries come to us via Four Star Farms in Northfield, MA, and are particularly exciting to me as I have yet to find many options for truly local grains. They are also exciting because I have never in my life cooked with a wheat berry! Word on the street is they add a bit of crunchy texture for a hearty whole grain bread (here's hoping my husband will break out his KitchenAid sometime soon) and recipes for wheat berry salad abound (throw in your favorite mix of cukes, feta, olives, etc.). But, when I finally had some time to get inventive the other night, I opted for my usual winter standby: soup. The wheat berries add a wonderful texture with their springy bite, and combined with beans you've got a complete protein. Here's what I put together--it's a simple, easy recipe that can be adapted to suit whatever your pantry has on offer.

Wheat Berry and Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

12 c low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock*

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 t dried thyme

1 t red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

2-3 good splashes of olive oil

1 c wheat berries

1 helping heaping of whatever winter veggies you have on hand--I used parsnip, carrot, kale, squash, and onion

1 can kidney beans, rinsed (someday, I will learn to cook with dried)

1 can canellini beans, rinsed

Directions:

In a large stock pot, bring the stock, garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, and olive oil to a boil. Add the wheat berries and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour.

While the wheat berries cook, chop veggies. Add them to the soup when the hour is up and simmer for another 20-30 minutes, until veggies are tender.

Add the beans and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

*you may notice that many soup recipes call for 10 cups of stock--I like to use 12, as this often results in a big bowl's worth of leftover broth, perfect for freezing. When you have the sniffles, or just the winter blahs, nothing beats a rich, hot broth with a piece of crusty bread!

Warm, steamy, yummy.