Tuesday Tapas (and Half-Price Bottles of Wine!) in The Loft
September is going to be an exciting time in the Loft! Starting on the very first day in September, we are pleased to invite you to TAPAS TUESDAYS!
- Tapas Tuesdays - every Tuesday, beginning September 1st, 6-9:30 pm
Come try our free-range, grass-fed, organic take on a favorite - TAPAS! And we'll have half-priced bottles of wine to go with the tapas!
Some of the tapas we'll be serving:
*** Garden Herb Polenta topped with a 100% grass-feed beef tenderloin medallion in a red wine and shallot reduction
*** Tumeric and Garlic freshwater Giant Prawns from Substainable Farms.
*** Organic Piquillo Sweet Peppers stuffed with Fleur de la Terre cheese, and roasted asparagus. That tasty morsel is wrapped in hand-cut Gunthorpe Farm bacon.
*** Oven-roasted sundried black mission figs wrapped in Gunthorpe bacon.
Come experience a warmer climate as fall approaches. Tuesday nights at The LOFT - it's good for you, the earth, and, of couse, it's YUMMY!
Thursday Mediterranean Night in The Loft!
On September 10th, we will begin Thursday Mediterranean Dinners in The LOFT
- Thursday Mediterranean Dinners - every Thursday, beginning Sept. 10, 6-9:30 pm
Mediterranean food IS comfort food. And we can't think of a more comfortable place to enjoy the roasted, mouth-watering flavors of the Mediterranean than in the LOFT on Thursday nights! We'll pair each dish with a regional wine that accentuates its unique flavors.
Mediterranean Menu highlights:
***Traders Point Farm Roast Provencal. slow braised 100% grassfed beef roast with TPC heirloom tomatoes, capers, garlic and white wine
***Paella Traditional. saffron infused organic bomba rice with our garden fresh bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes, onions, carrots and beans, all topped with a blend of TPC Fleur de la Terre and Manchego cheeses.
Come out and enjoy a night on the Mediterranean, organic style!
Friday Dinner on the Deck or Party in the Barn!
The sun may be setting a bit earlier, but Friday Dinner goes on. Perhaps it will be a yummy, grilled Dinner on the Deck! Or it could be a bistro setting in the Barn! Either way, we will have live music, good food, and lots of fun. Bring grandpa and the kids!
This week we'll be serving Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon with avocado tzatziki (avocado, cucumber,
TPC whole milk yogurt) sauce and grilled lemons. For those preferring a vegetarian option, we will have grilled, marinated portobello mushrooms and fresh squash from our garden topped with creamy avocado tzatziki. The grilled delights will be accompanied by wild rice with sweet and tart cranberries and toasted almonds, and local, sweet (organic!) cut corn.
For kids we will have grilled cheese quesadillas with grapes and local, sweet cut corn.
Beverages: Choice of ice tea, lemonade, water
Adults $15 Kids $7
***Specialty Beers and Wines available for purchase***
Coming Soon - Saturday and Sunday Dinners!
Starting in OCTOBER, we'll be introducing
***Saturday Night Candlelight Dinners in the Loft
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Saturday Night Candlelight Dinners: beginning Oct. 3, 6-9:30 pm
Organic Specialties including 100% grassfed meats, and scrumptious vegetable dishes created by our sustainably, locally, organically-focused, classically trained chefs.
***Sunday Night "Family-Style" Dinners in the Loft
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Sunday Evening Family-Style Dinners: beginning Oct. 11, 6-9:30 pm
Bring your family and friends to enjoy four courses of farm-grown home-cooked meals like Grandma used to make! What could be better than passing platters of homemade chicken and dumplings and more? Check back in following weeks for menu highlights!
If it's dinner you want, starting in October THE LOFT has got you covered SIX NIGHTS A WEEK!
Going Organic - Where to Spend Your Food $$$
You know "going organic" is generally better for the planet, the plants and animals, and for you...but is organic always best? Is it always worth the cost?
According to an article in the Journal of Food Science, organics raise your overall food bill by 10 - 40%. But what you get is usually worth that increase - healthy, safe food without tag-a-long pesticides, fertilizers, or other contaminants. However, not all organics are equal. Here are a few things to consider:
Produce Fruits or vegetables with thick, non-edible skins (bananas, pineapples, and to some extent, melons), allow you to leave most (not all!) of the pesticides behind. As a rsult, the most important fruits and vegetables to buy organic are those where the skin or peel is thin or is eaten. Many recommend that apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, raspberries, spinach, and strawberries be on the "always organic" list.
Dairy We've all heard about growth hormones being administered to cows. There are potential health hazards to both cows and humans associated with the increased growth hormone. According to the Center for Food Safety (and a 2003 article in the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research
), cows treated with growth hormone suffer a 50 percent greater incidence of lameness (leg and hoof problems), 25 percent more udder infections (mastitis), and serious reproductive problems including infertility, cystic ovaries, fetal loss and birth defects. These not-so-healthy cows are then given antibiotics, which find their way into their milk, affecting human's abiity to combat diseases. There are also studies showing that when cows are given additional growth hormone, their bodies respond by producing more growth factors, some of which find their way into milk, and are associated with an increased risk of certain cancers.
Bottom line: organic dairy products are woth the extra $$$.
Meat We stress the importance of buying meat that comes from animals who "do what that animal should do" (cows who eat grass, pigs who root for earthly delights, chickens who wander, pecking at grains and grubs). This is not only more humane for the animals, but also easier on the planet, and better for your health. Organic meat doesn't necessarily fit that bill - so ask about how the animal was kept, what they were fed, where they were housed. That being said, for the same reason that organic is important for dairy, it's also important for meat. Our Farm Store stocks only 100% grass-fed, organic beef. We have many different cuts available, so stop by and take home some ground beef and rib eye!
ARE ORGANIC PRODUCTS TASTIER? While you'd certainly like to think so after spending the extra money, there's no "proof" as of yet. And a rock-hard peach from Chile will probably be tasteless, whether it's organic or conventional. Your best bet on this front is to buy LOCAL organics, or at least to find high-quality "brands" that taste good every time. The "organic" lable can't guarantee yummy food - but the farmer sitting behind the booth at the Green Market will - they usually eat what they sell and value each customer who purchases from them.
ARE ORGANIC PACKAGED FOODS WORTH THE $?
Cookies and chips are heavily processed and filled with not-great fats and sugar. Watch out! You may see "organic high-fructose corn syrup" on the label of organic snacks! Wile most of us occassionally snack on something processed, in this category, you're probably not saving yourself much grief by buying the organic. If you have the extra money and you want to have "an all organic pantry", then spend your money here. Otherwise, we'd recommend that you try to keep foods in this category to a minimum, whether they are organic or conventional. Homemade cookies and olive-oil coated potato wedges are much better for you and taste better too!
More "First Evers" at the Green Market
We've had so many new food introductions at our Green Market in the past few weeks, you'd think we had a contest going between the vendors! But honestly, no contest is needed. Our farmers and producers are just a naturally creative bunch, and we hope you help us keep them that way by coming out and voting with your food dollars. This week, look for blackberry jam from Brandywine Blackberries, a new vegetarian pie from Daina’s Petite Pies, and plums among the already dizzying display of apples on the Countryside Orchard table. Just down the path, Feast Catering will be rolling out ginger almond peach dumplings and peanut butter sandwich cookies.
Food's not the only thing that's new! Flower Child Aromatherapy, our steadfast soap vendor, is branching out from her clensing bars and nows offers a truly nature liquid hand sanitizer.
If you haven't made your way through all the new food introductions from earlier in the month, we can't blame you. We'll just say that Bluffwood Creek still has plenty of sweet corn, Joe is brining more of his crock-fermented dill pickles (plus a limited supply of just-picked Romaine lettuce heads), and the British-inspired Bangers-and-Mash Pie will be showcased again at Petite Pies. We're sure Literally Divine Toffee won't mind a bit if you swing by for sme of their heavenly toppings to spoinkle on your ice cream.
Vendors Attending This Week:
* Aboubakar Allal - handmade silver, leather and wooden works, as well as traditional drums from Niger, Africa
* Brandywine Blackberries - organic blackberries, blackberry jam and spaghetti squash
* Bluffwood Creek Organic Farm and Apiary -honey sticks, hand cream, lipbalm, honey candy, bee pollen, honey, and SWEET CORN
* Countryside Orchard - Red Free, Gala and Sansa apples; also PLUMS this week
* Daina's Petite Pies - single serving dinner and dessert pies made with premium local meats and vegetables. Back for a return engagement: Bangers and Mash Pie, made with Swiss Connection cheese and sausage, and a brand NEW introduction: ITALIAN SCALLION, an all-vegetarian pie.
* Farming for Life – Lacto-fermented vegetables, including real crock-fermented dill pickles, and lacto fermented beverages, including garlic beet Kvaas and Kombucha. This week’s feature: ROMAINE HEAD LETTUCE and GARLIC
* Feast Catering - a variety of tamales, sweets, salsas. New this week: PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH COOKIES and GINGER ALMOND PEACH DUMPLINGS
* Fields of Agape - chemical-free grains (Omega III golden flax, hard red wheat berries, hard white wheat berries); free flour grinding while you wait
* Flower Child Aromatherapy - handmade soaps, sachets, incense, perfumes, and LIQUID HAND SANITIZER
* Harvest Cafe Coffee Company - freshly brewed coffee, a variety of freshly roasted coffee beans or freshly ground beans, loose tea, iced tea and iced mochas.
* Kelsey's Cultured Foods - cultured organic vegetables
* Life Farm - certified organic produce. Look for new items each week as the season progresses
* Litterally Divine Toffee and Truffles-chocolate and vegan truffles (made with organic ingredients) and almond toffee (both vegan and organic), coffee toffee made with Harvest Cafe Coffee's beans, and ice cream toppings
* Magnolia Mill Farm – green beans, eggplant, squash, peppers and OKRA
* New Leaf Farm - pledge-organic produce, including zucs, tomatoes, summer squash, bell peppers, jalapenos and cucumbers
* Pet Lover’s Organic Bakery - handmade organic pet treats; 50% of sales go to benefit the Humane Society
* Phelps Family Farm - a variety of beef and pork meats, sausages and eggs
* Pilates Wellness Studio - Reflexology; health and wellness information
* Redwine Farm - farm fresh eggs, organically grown vegetables and cut herbs, hot sauce and pepper seasoning
* Seldom Seen Farm - transitional organic produce. This week's features are gourmet lettuce mix, topped beets sold by the pound, shallots, bulb onions, heirloom and red tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, arugula, various bunched mustard greens, cilantro, parsley, summer squash, pea shoots, bell peppers in red, purple, green, SUNFLOWERS, FLOWER BOUQUETS, and limited quantities of GREEN AND YELLOW BEANS
* Seven Springs Farm - beef, chicken (whole and parts), eggs, popcorn. Now taking orders for Thanksgiving turkeys!
* The Swiss Connection - unique (and delicious) cheeses, meats (including beef sausage products) and ice cream, plus a variety of pet products
* Trader's Point Creamery - organic milk, ice cream, pourable yogurt, artisan cheeses, eggs, and ground beef
* Valentine Hill Farm - variety of whole grain breads, English muffins, Mediterranean Herb and Thai basil pastas, European style lemon pound cake and spritz cookies (all made with certified organic ingredients)
* Zen Sheep Farm – certified organic lamb cuts, fresh tarragon and thai basil, plus organic wool pillows, yarn and roving
NEW...Avocado Milkshakes at The Dairy Bar!
Visit our Dairy Bar and order our new creamy and delicious AVOCADO MILKSHAKE ! Made with our very own artisan ice cream and 100% organic avocados, we bet you have never tasted a vegetable treat like this before!
Recipe of the Week
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Trader's Point Creamery Mozzarella
Now's the perfect time to grab a bunch of heirloom tomatoes and some fresh basil from the Green Market. Add TPC mozarella cheese to the grocery list and you'll have a fantastic, ready-for-company salad that is easy to make and sheer heaven for tomato lovers!
- 3-4 lbs of heirloom tomatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes or wedges
- 1 lb Trader's Point Creamery mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 1/2 cups loosely packed basil leaves, chiffonaded (cut into 1/8-inch strips)
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients, except oil. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly until dressing is emulsified. Add tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil and toss well. Season with salt and pepper. (If time permits, let the salad stand for 15 minutes, as the flavors meld into wonderful goodness!)
Quote of the Week
Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.
~Elizabeth Berry
Upcoming Events
September 1 - Tuesdays Tapas Night in the Loft, begins weekly 6-9:30 pm
September 5- Mexican Fiesta Party on the Deck or in the Red Barn with Live Music!
September 10 - Thursdays Mediterranean Night in the Loft, begins weekly 6-9:30 pm
September 12 - Luau on the Farm! Fabulous Organic Pig Roast ...Live Music and more...!
September 19 - Mangia Italian!...live music and more...!
September 26 - Chuckwagon Chili Cookout!...Live Music and more!
October 3 - Saturday Night Candlight Dinners in The Loft, begins weekly 6-9:30pm
October 11- Sunday Night Family Style Dinners in The Loft, begins weekly 6-9:30pm
OCTOBER 18 - OKTOBERFEST ON THE FARM! 12-5:00pm German Brats, Beer and Wine, PolkaBoy Band, Hayrides, Pumpkin Patch and MORE....!
