Baking Day!

Yesterday was quite the marathon baking day! Three loaves, all with similar bases and different  fruit/vegetable add-ins. At Cherryvale Farms, we have a commitment to delivering delicious, easy to make mixes that are also healthy, hence your addition of a fresh fruit or vegetable.

In the case of our "Everything But The...Zucchini / Apple Cinnamon / Carrot Raisin" bread mixes, the main add-in is the fresh ingredients you yourself supply. No gummy, rubberized, dried-out fruit or veggie bits in our mixes! No! You're in charge of making the mixes wholesome for your family - we just provide the vehicle to do that. To learn more about what I'm talking about, check out this link for a NY Daily News story on fake blueberries in processed foods. Those little blueberries you thought you were eating in your breakfast cereal or muffin may not be blueberries at all! They might be oil, dyes and gums made to look like blueberries. Ew! I don't know about you, but that grosses me out.

Here's a look at my "Everything But The" Carrot Raisin Bread, Apple Cinnamon Bread and Zucchini Bread (from left to right). Some more fine-tuning and we'll be well on our way to packaging. YAY.

Couscous and the Importance of Mis en place

I'm big on organization. Huge in fact. My closet is color coordinated, my books are arranged by size and color, the bills in my wallet always face the same direction. So, naturally, my cooking methods are very organized. I rely on this organization to keep me on task when I'm cooking. Something is bound to distract me when I'm in the kitchen so having my mis en place prepared (French for "everything in place") ensures I don't forget anything for a recipe.

In praise of the mis en place, I prepared and photographed my fixings for a couscous dinner the other night. A riff off a traditional Moroccan tagine, I sauteed zucchini with diced green olives, dried apricots, dried cranberries and preserved lemon and added the mixture to my prepared couscous.

Couscous basically cooks itself so the zucchini sizzled in the pan while it steamed in a pot, once combined it made for a yummy middle eastern style meal.

Oh, and those preserved lemons? Made them myself. Uh huh, yes I did. And it was incredibly simple. You could easily pay $12 for a jar at a specialty store or just do it yourself by investing in a $1 mason jar and lid, a few lemons and some salt. Here's a simple recipe you can make at home. If you get your mis en place all ready before you can your lemons, you're well on your way to becoming an organized home chef as well.