Everything you need to know about Austin’s Farmers’ Markets

I truly feel blessed to live in a city that has so many great farmer’s markets at my dispose. Just about any day of the week there is a market open to get those farm fresh goodies you have been craving…rain or shine I might add! What’s your favorite market?

I’m going to list and talk about these by area, enjoy!

Photo Courtesy of: Johnson’s Backyard Garden

♦South Austin’s Markets:

Barton Creek Farmers Market 

Hours: Saturdays

9:00am to 1:00pm rain or shine.

Location: On the back side of the Barton Creek Square mall parking lot overlooking the city—at the intersection of S. Loop 1 (Mopac) and S. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). 

Details:

This is a great market that’s fun for the whole family and your pups! They carry a wide range of locally raised meats, locally grown produce, internationally prepared food, artisan breads and baked goods, as well as artisan crafts and gifts.

SFC Farmers’ Market at Sunset Valley 

Hours: Saturdays

Open Year-Round, Rain or Shine
9 am to 1 pm September – April

8:30 am to 12:30 pm May – August

Location:

3200 Jones Road, at the Toney Burger Center
Plenty (17 acres!) of free parking
Off Hwy. 290/71 eastbound access road, just east of the intersection of Brodie Lane and Hwy. 290/71 East Follow signs for the parking area (plenty!)

Details:

• Dog freindly
• This market has plenty of great finds, a few of my favorites are:

Austin Sea Veggies

Oma’s and Opa’s Farm

Pate Letelier

Photo Courtesy of :Rebeccamendations

South Austin Farmers Market

Hours: Saturdays

8am-1pm, year round

Location:  Parking lot of El Gallo Restaraunt on South Congress Avenue, across the street from St. Edwards University.

♦Central Austin’s Markets

Hope Farmers’ Market

Hours: Sundays

11am-3pm

Location: 414 Waller St. They are located in the heart of East Austin at the historic Pine Street Station. You can find them at the corner of East 5th and Waller St, just north of the train tracks.

Details:

The Sunday HOPE Farmers Market is a weekly gathering space for the Austin community to share:

• fresh vegetables and healthy prepared food
• artistic creations and live music
• wellness workshops
• community organizations and volunteer opportunities

SFC Market Downtown

Hours: Saturdays

9 am to 1 pm September – April

8:30 am to 12:30 pm May – August

Location: 400 W. Guadalupe, Republic Square Park
Plenty of free parking at surface lot next door and State Parking garage across the street.

Details:

• Meats, produce, prepared foods, and artisan goods
• Dog Friendly
• Live music

Photo courtesy of: Melanie Haupt

Photo Courtesy of: From Maggies Farm

♦North Austin Markets

SFC – Triangle

Hours: Wednesdays

Open Year-Round, Rain or Shine
March – September, 4 pm to 8 pm
October – February, 3 pm to 7 pm

Location:

4600 Lamar (46th Street and Lamar), Triangle Park at The Triangle
Plenty of free parking at surface lot next door and The Triangle retail parking garage down the street.

Details:

• Meats, produce, prepared foods, and artisan goods
• Dog Friendly
• Live music

Photo Courtesy of: SFC Owner

SFC – East Austin

Hours: Tuesdays

Open Year-Round, Rain or Shine  10 am to 1 pm

Location:

51st and Hwy 183 – YMCA East Communities Branch – 5315 Ed Bluestein
Plenty of free parking in the Y Parking lot and overflow parking near the golf center.

Details:

This market — and only this market – has a Double Dollar Incentive Program/Doble Dolares Programa. Come purchase $10 in fruits and vegetables with your SNAP – Lone Star Card, or your WIC Lone Star Card cash benefits f/v, and the Market Information booth coordinator will give you $10 DDIP / Doble Dolares money to spend on more fruits and vegetables. We will match your fruit and vegetable purchases every week!

There will be at least 10 fruit and vegetable farmers at this market on a regular basis, along with meats, eggs, cheese, honey, plants, and breakfast/lunch food vendors for a quick coffee and scone, or healthy lunch.

♦Cedar Park and More

Cedar Park Farms to Market

Hours: Saturdays

9am-1pm year round rain or shine

Location:

Lakeline Mall Parking Lot – Behind Sears and Dillard’s

Details:

This is my market (I live in Lago Vista). I love the variety here, it’s really great.

Some of my favorites are:

Johnson’s Backyard Garden ( I do a CSA with them and it’s great).

Smith and Smith Farms

CountrySide Farm Products

K & S Seafood

Razor Sharp will be there sharpening knives and tools.

Round Rock

Georgetown Farmers Market

Hours: Saturdays

8am- Noon the first Saturday in April, (4-7-12), through the week before Thanksgiving, November,(11-17-12), in the Scott & White Hospital Parking Lot at the corner of Oakmont & Univ.

Locations:

SEE WEBSITE FOR CURRENT LOCATION

Here are some great recipes using local farm fresh ingredients, enjoy! 

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry with Slivered Almonds and Green Onion on a Bed of King Soba Noodles

This is a great weeknight meal that is easy to cook, it takes just a little bit of prep work but is worth it! I love making stir fry’s like this, they are so tasty and far healthier than your standard “Chinese Food Take Out”, I’m still not even sure what that stuff is… The only ethnic take out we do is Thai. Enjoy

Prep: 20 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken breasts raw, sliced into chunks
• 2 C. Fresh brocoli, trimmed and washed
• 1 Large clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 C. Onion, sliced longways
• 1/4 C. Carrots, sliced longways
• 1/2 C. Shitake mushrooms, rehydrated if dry
• 1/8 C. Slivered almonds (I prefer cashews for this but we were out, either will do, or omit them completely).
• 1/4 C. Green Onion
• 2 TBS canola oil for frying
• 1 Pkg of Soba noodles, your choice on how much to cook. Cooked

Sauce

• 1/4 C. Light Soy sauce
• 2 TBS Fish sauce
• 2 TBS water
• 2 TBS. Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. Chili paste, I like garlic chili paste
• 1/2 tsp. Minced garlic
• 1 tsp. Agave nectar
• 1 pinch green onion, scallion part
• 1 pinch pepper

Heat sauce up to dissolve sugars and meld flavors.

Instructions:

1. Clean and cut up chicken pat dry and set aside.
2. Cut up produce accordingly.
3. Heat wok or large skillet on high with canola oil
4. Stir fry chicken in a TBS of oil and a TBS of sauce, for 3 min. Transf. to bowl and keep warm.
5. Stir fry veggies and garlic (minus green onion) in other TBS of oil and 2 TBS of sauce, for about 4 min.
6. Add chicken to veggie mixture and fry for 2-3 mor min until done. Add more sauce if desired.
7. Serve on top of soba noodles, and garnish with green onion and almonds!

Enjoy! 

Roasted Stuffed Rabbit with Mashed Rutabaga and Roasted Romanesco and Cornbread

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s been awhile since my last post… but with good reason (some good and some bad)… Let’s start with bad: We’ve had a sick kitty and injured dog over the last week. Skiddy our cat must have gotten some bad cat food we are guessing, he was really not doing well up until 2 days ago (I wont go into the details of all that but he had some tummy troubles). Our dog Ginger was playing fetch and scraped her throat… she’s the world biggest wuss (a cute wuss) so she wasn’t handling it too well but was really fine after some new wet food and some doggy pain meds (she made it out to be much worse than it was, think man cold).

The good news: It’s that time of year again and I’ve been EXPERIMENTING for the upcoming Food Experiment’s: Taco Experiment! My recipe is top secret right now…. so I can go into detail what I’ve been experimenting with but I can guarantee you it will be bad ass! Last year I won third place in judges pick so I’m hoping to beat that status this year! I love events like this and cannot wait to compete! If you live in or around Austin, please come out and show Zestybeandog some love – tickets are cheap and well worth it, you get 20 delicious creations to sample, a free beer, and live music. I need you!!!

This is a Farmer’s Market Feast to say the least… If you have never had rabbit, I suggest you try it at least once in your life. It’s really good! It has a very light mouth feel and the way I prepared mine made them not gamey at all. Rabbit meat is a source of high quality protein.^[20] It can be used in most ways chicken meat is used. In fact, well-known chef Mark Bittman says that domesticated rabbit tastes like chicken because both are blank palettes upon which any desired flavors can be layered.^[21] Rabbit meat is leaner than beef, pork, and chicken meat (via Wiki). I roasted 2, 2-3 lb rabbits for 5 people it could have served about 8.

Prep: 45 min

Cook Time: 1.5 hrs (or until done).

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

Rabbit:

• 5-6 lbs of fresh rabbit.
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 2 pads of butter
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• fresh thyme, 1 TBS

Stuffing:

• 3 Cornbread muffins, broken up
• 2 C. French bread broken up
• 4 Stalks Celery, diced
• 2 Carrots, diced
• 2 large shallots, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 C. Chicken stock
• 1/4 C. butter
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 2 green onion, chopped
• 1 TBs olive oil

Mashed Rutabaga: (Has half the calories of  potato version).

• 2 large Rutabagas chopped into 1″x1″ cubes
• 2 TBS. Butter
• 1/4 C. milk
• 1/2 C. parm reggiano cheese
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 TBS, Green onion

Roasted Romanesco:

• 1 large bunch of romanesco, cut up into smaller stalks
• 2 TBS olive oil
• Sea salt
• parm reggiano cheese 1/4 cup

Instructions:

Rabbit:

1. Preheat Oven to 325 F.
2. Clean rabbit and pat dry, remove inner organs in any and save for a pate possibly.
3. Stuff with stuffing and place in roasting pan.
4. Melt butter, add lemon juice and thyme and baste onto rabbit, then season with salt and pepper,  there will be plenty left to “re-baste” a second time.
5. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour and 15 min.
6. Uncover, re-baste, and cook uncovered until internal temp is 160 F.

Stuffing:

1. Heat a large skillet and cook garlic, carrots, shallots, and celery for 5-8 min on medium high in 1 TBS of olive oil.
2. Transfer to large mixing bowl with breads, butter, stock, and seasonings, mix well.
3. Stuff rabbits evenly.

Mashed Rutabaga:

1. Bring lightly salted water to boil in a large pot, add rutabaga chunks and boil until tender, about 30-45 min.
2. Drain water and mash adding spice, milk, butter, and cheese. Add green onion last and mix.
3. Cover until ready to serve.

Roasted Romanesco:

1.  Place cut up romanesco onto a large foil lined cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and seasoning, bake for 2–25 min at 325 F.
2. Top with parm reggiano cheese.

Enjoy this farmers market feast with good friends, family, and lot’s of wine! Cheers!

Homemade Sauceless Pizza with Brussel Sprouts, Mozzarella, Shallots, and Bacon (this is my fav pizza recipe ever)!

I have been on a pizza kick lately… well actually for my whole life. I love pizza but what I have begun to love even more is making my own at home. After countless different versions of topping combinations, store bought dough, homemade dough, sauce or sauceless, making pizzas until my hands ache parties I have decided that THIS recipe is hands down the best pizza you can make at home! This would be a great Superbowl Pizza!

Prep: 1.5 hrs

Cook Time: 15-20

Serves: 2-3

Makes: 2 medium thin crust pies

Dough

Ingredients:

• 1 (1/4 ounce) Package active dry yeast
• 1 C. Warm water
• 1 TBS. Sea salt
• 2 tsp Olive oil
• 2 1/2-3 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
• 1/4 C. Cornmeal

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed bowl.
2. Add sea salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cup flour.
3. Attach bowl and dough hook, turn to speed 2 and mix 1 minute.
4. Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough clings to dough hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 for 2 minutes. If making 2 pies split dough into 2 balls.
5. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top.
6. Cover, let rise in warmest place in house away from draft until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).
7. Punch dough down each ball.
8. Brush 2,  10 inch pizza pans with oil and sprinkle cornmeal to cover pan.
9. Press dough across bottom of pan forming collar around edge to hold filling Top with fillings and bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes.

 Toppings

• 5-6 slices of cooked bacon, not too cooked
• 2 C. Sliced brussel sprouts
• 1/2 C. Parmigiano Reggiano , shredded
• 20 1/8 inch slices of fresh mozzarella rounds
• 1/2 C. Shallots, sliced
• Olive oil, 3 TBS
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning blend
• 1/2 tsp. Thyme
• 1/2 tsp. Red pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Instructions:

1. Prepare dough and make pies.
2. In a small bowl mix olive oil and spices.
3. Spread oil mixture onto pies evenly.
4. Distribute Mozzarella on to pies (they don’t have to touch, when they melt they will spread out).
5. Distribute brussel sprouts bacon and shallots on top of mozzarella.
6. Sprinkle the Parmigiano Reggiano lightly on top of both pies.
7. Bake for about 15 min-20 min until crust is crispy and cheese is brown and bubbly.

Enjoy! Cheers!

Bison and Venison Meatballs with a Roasted Beet Salad Dressed with a Yuzu Poppy Agave Dressing

One of my new years resolutions was to be more aware of where ALL of my food comes from. Over the past few years I have really begun to notice little things here and there that are just not quite right with the food that’s out there on grocery shelves. I have always been a label reader and have made conscious decisions about what I purchase but even then I find myself surprised in the results of companies that are clearly being deceitful. For instance the other day I decided I would boil some eggs to have as a snack for last week with lunch… When boiling them, my “brown” (supposedly cage free) eggs starting peeling off this brown paint like film- it was then apparent that these eggs have been bleached and then dyed brown to look more natural… REALLY?!? Is that what the consumer is paying about $1.50-$2.00 extra for? WOW…

There are so many mis-labled food items out there whether it be “Organic” (theres are so many variations of ‘Organic’), “All Vegetarian Diet” (Lot’s of GMO corn counts), “Free-Range” (free to roam in there 5×5 pen with other chickens), “Fat Free” (may as well replace that term with 50+ ingredients, 40 of which you cannot even give a definition for), and my all time favorite “All Natural” this is the biggest crock of shit term ever coined whether it’s on human food or animal food! I recently bought some “All Natural” dog  jerky treats that I come to find out were made in China and are killing dogs due to the way the process the chicken… I could go on and on. The best thing you can do is educate yourself and make educated purchases when it comes to you and your families food.

So I have decided the best way to be aware of what I eat is by shopping local as much as possible and staying away from processed food items when at all possible. In Austin we are lucky to have so many great Farmer’s Markets at our dispense selling everything under the sun. I used to do workshare for Johnson’s Backyard Farm last year where I’d work for 5 hours and then get a large share of veggies. I really liked being a part of where the food I eat comes from! So now that I’ve moved to Lago Vista I just went ahead and became a member of the farm so I can pick up my produce on weekends! It’s really good to eat seasonally and locally – it tastes better, you know where your food was grown, and you support your community.

Click here to join the Johnson’s Backyard Farm

I’m going to share a recipe with you that uses nothing but fresh organic food and humanely processed meats. I hope you enjoy!

Prep: 20

Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min

Serves: 4

Meatball Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb venison sausage, ground (Thanks Liz and Kyle, I love you and your love for good food).
• 1/2 lb bison, ground
• 2 C. whole wheat bread crumbs ( I made my own bread, served the rest with dinner and took the neighbors a loaf).
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 TBS. fresh parsley
• 5 large spinach leaves, chiffonade
• 1 green onion, chopped (the whole the green and scallion).
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 farm fresh egg
• 1 TBS butter

As a side note….Fennel would go great in these meatballs as well, I always do sausage and fennel so I wanted to do something different this time.

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat Oven to 350 F.
2. Mix everything from above together minus the butter. Form into 10-12 balls.
3. Heat large skillet with butter on medium high, cook for 2 min on each side, browning the balls on most sides. 5-8 min
4. Transfer to oven for 10-15 min or until cooked through.

Roasted Beet Salad with Poppy Yuzu Agave Dressing Ingredients:

• 3 Large beets with leaves on top, cleaned and peeled and chopped into medium bite sized pieces.
• Beet leaves, washed and vein trimmed out. (Don’t throw these out, these are so good, they taste like a denser, sweeter spinach!)
• 1 Large shallot, sliced.
• 4 Garlic cloves, leave whole

Dressing

• 2 TBS Yuzu juice (this is one of my newest cooking “MUST HAVES”).
• 1 TBS clementine juice
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 1 TBS agave nectar
• 1 TBS shallot, minced
• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• Mix all of the above and chill while beets cook.

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven to 375 F.
2. Place beets, shallots, and garlic into a glass baking dish. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just until coated evenly. Bake for 40-50 min or until soft and starting to turn golden.
3. Cool for 30 min or so.
4. Place beets on greens and toss with dressing.

Serve with warm bread and butter.

Coming soon: My BEST pizza to date:  Brussel Spout, Bacon, and Shallot Pizza with homemade dough!

Bacon Wrapped Quail Stuffed with La Marechal Emmi Cheese and Jalapeno : Pan Seared in Duck Fat Served with Grilled Brussel Sprouts

This is one of my FAVORITE dishes to make for dinner guests. It’s so incredibly good and is sure to please!  La Marechal Emmi Cheese is so amazing with this dish, it really ties it all together. I served this with grilled brussel sprouts, a potato gratin, and homemade bread. The plates were cleaned (except for the bones of course). This is a great special occasion dinner as well. The quail can be hard to find and are a bit on the pricey side, I pay about $ 3-4 per quail and like to serve 2-3 per person. You can always ask your hunter friends

Prep: 30 min

Cook Time: 20-30 min

Serves: 4 with 2 quail per person

Ingredients:

• 8 semi-boneless quail, washed and pat dry.
• 8 slices of bacon, nitrate free please
• 1 block of  La Marechal Emmi Cheese, about 8 oz or so.
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced into 8 long slices
• 2 TBS rendered duck fat, you can buy it here via Marx Foods
• Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1lb of brussel sprouts, halved
• 1 clove of garlic, minced for brussel sprouts
• 1 TBS butter for brussel sprouts
• 1 lemon, zest on top of sprouts

Instructions:

1. Clean quail and stuff with one piece of jalapeno, one chunk of cheese, and wrap with bacon. Repeat until done with all 8.
2. Preheat oven to 375 F.
3. Gather 2 large skillets. One for quail and one for sprouts, use a griddle if you have one for the sprouts to “grill” them. Bring skillets to medium high then add 2 TBS of duck fat to the quail skillet and 1 TBS of butter and garlic to the sprouts skillet.
4. Add quail and sprouts to respective skillets: Cook quail for about 3-4 min on each side and season with salt and pepper lightly. Then transfer to the oven in a shallow baking pan for 5 more min. Do not over cook. Cook sprouts until nice and browned (tossing occasionally), season lightly with salt and pepper. Keep warm in a covered dish.
5. Once quail are done in the oven plate your food and serve with a big red like Chocolate Block

Enjoy! Cheers!

It’sa Parma Pizza! My Rendition of a Favorite from Mandola’s Italian Market

Ever since I got my Kitchen Aid mixer I’ve been experimenting with tons of new things (new to me)! I love bread so I’ve made a few batches of that lately. I’ve also been doing pizza crusts which are FAR better than anything you can buy frozen or pre-made We recently moved far away from any “real” pizza (all that’s out here is Domino’s). So one night I decided I would create one of our favorites at home. This is my rendition of the Parma Pizza at Mandola’s Italian Market. It was very similar, it had crispy crust, it looked the same,  and it was tasty! The only thing I would have done differently was get the dough thinner (we prefer cracker like crust), this was a bit thicker but still good. I still miss our usual Thursday Mandola’s night out… but this helps!

Prep: 1.5 hrs

Cook Time: 15-20

Serves: 2-3

Dough

Ingredients:

• 1 (1/4 ounce) Package active dry yeast
• 1 C. Warm water
• 1/2 tsp. Sea salt
• 2 tsp Olive oil
• 2 1/2-3 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
• 1/4 C. Cornmeal

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed bowl.
2. Add sea salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cup flour.
3. Attach bowl and dough hook, turn to speed 2 and mix 1 minute.
4. Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough clings to dough hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 for 2 minutes.
5. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top.
6. Cover, let rise in warmest place in house away from draft until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).
7. Punch dough down.
8. Brush 14 inch pizza pan with oil and sprinkle cornmeal to cover pan.
9. Press dough across bottom of pan forming collar around edge to hold filling Top with fillings and bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes.

 Toppings

• 7-9 Slices of Parma ham aka Prosciutto
• 1/4 C. Parmigiano Reggiano , shredded
• 1/2 C. Mozzarella, shredded
• 4 C. Fresh arugula
• Olive oil, 2 TBS
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning blend
• 1/4 tsp. Thyme
• 1/2 tsp. Red pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Sea salt
• 10-15 Pieces of shaved Parmigiano Reggiano
• Lemon juice from 2 lemons and a tsp of olive oil mixed together.

Instructions:

1. Prepare dough and make pie.
2. In a small bowl mix olive oil and spices.
3. Spread oil mixture onto pie evenly.
4. Distribute 1/2 C. Mozzarella on to pie.
5. Distribute Parma ham on top of the cheese.
6. Sprinkle the Parmigiano Reggiano lightly on top of the Parma ham.
7. Bake for about 15 min-20 min until crust is crispy.
8. Top with arugula and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.
9. Drizzle lemon juice and oil on top!

Polish Party Time!

For my Mom’s 56th Birthday I wanted to do something really special. My Mom and I didn’t always get along wonderfully when I was younger and it seems like the older I get the more I really have started to connect with her. I’m sure many of you can relate… So I had been thinking and thinking about what I could do and it hit me… Over the Christmas break my Mom mentioned to me how her Dad used to cook the best Polish sausage but no one could ever get the recipe right when they tried (he took the recipe to the grave).  So I decide I was going to make polish sausage from scratch, REAL polish sausage! I sought out relatives, Google, books, etc… and went with my gut instinct on the recipe from my research. So for my Mom’s birthday I surprised her with a full blown polish celebration: Sausage, Perogies, Polish Mistakes, and Polkas – the whole nine yards!  The day before the party my Mom and I made the sausage together and I got to hear stories about my Grandpa and her childhood (I never met him since he passed before I was born). It occurred to me at this point that there was a lot of this (stories and memories) missing from our relationship so it was really nice to experience this and hear her accounts. I think my Mom was a little emotional by realizing this as well.

For the festivities we had a handful of friends over and made the perogies, Polish Mistakes, and of course drank FAR TOO much wine and beer! I felt terrible the next morning but very proud that everything turned out amazingly good! There’s just something so gratifying about making/eating 100% homemade unprocessed food (minus those Polish Mistakes haha)!

I’d like to share the Perogie and Polish Mistake recipes with you all. However the sausage will indeed remain a secret between my Mom and I. Oh and if you’ve never made sausage from scratch it’s a huge PAIN IN THE ASS, but sooo very good and different from what you get in the stores.

Pierogies

Prep time: 1 hr

Cook Time: 20-45 min depending on fillings (potato takes longer).

Serves: 8

• 5 C. All purpose Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 3/4 tsp Kosher sea salt
• 1 TBS Sour cream
• 1 TBS Oil
• 1 C. Water
• 2 Onions, sliced.
• 2-4 TBS Butter

Instructions:

1. Mix dry ingredients in mixer on low, then add wet, mix on low until dough like consistency. Add more flour or water until it’s right.
2. Divide dough into medium sized balls and roll out through a pasta roller. Cut flattened dough into circles with a cup or cookie cutter. Should be about 4″ in diameter.
3. Fill with your choice of stuffing. We did potato and onion, potato onion and cheese, kraut and bacon, and Ricotta and parsley.
4. Seal pierogies with an egg wash or water. Par boil for 2 min then pan cook in butter with onions until browned.

Polish Mistakes

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 25 min

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

• 1lb Beef, 85/15
• 1lb Country Pan Sausage
• 1/2 Block of Velveeta Cheese (this is about the ONLY thing I would ever put Velveeta in).
• 1 TBS Garlic powder
• 2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Loaf of small Party Rye slices

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Brown meats, add cheese and spices.
3. Mix well and spoon mixture onto little rye slices.
4. Bake for 10-15 min.

These look very strange but trust me they are good!

It was such a fun time with good friends and good food!!! Time consuming for sure but well worth it!

Happy New Year from Zestybeandog and Co! Yard Birds with Agave Garlic Citrus Jalapeno Glaze, Black Eyed Peas, and Sun Dried Tomato Bread

Happy 2012 to Everyone! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks but all is well in Zestybeandog Land! We have successfully had Christmas with both families, packed a 1,700 sqft house into a 10×20 storage unit, moved to Lago Vista from Austin to stay at Evan’s  parents home for the next 1-2 years while they’re in Singapore, unpacked some kitchen stuff, had a low key NYE celebration playing poker and enjoying drinks, and of course cooked up a great New Year’s Day meal for everyone. We are so grateful for our families for all of the amazing help we had… or we’d probably still be packing boxes! Here’s to new adventures and good times in 2012. I wish you all the best of everything not only for 2012 but for all the years to come. Cheers!

I’d also like to give a personal shout out to my fellow foodie bloggers: Five Reflections, Rufus’s Food and Spirits Guide, Simple Speedy Snacks, Twistedvines, Talinorfali, Bam’s Kitchen, Saffron and Honey, The Kale Chronicles, The Complete Cook Book, Coffee with Caroline,Pure and Complex, Sports Glutton, Charles with Five Euro Food, Tandy with Lavender and Lime, Sweet Caroline’s Cooking,Hotly Spiced, Edible Substance, Food Diary of a Picky Eater, Adesinsa’s Kitchen AND to all I may have missed, I’m still in a food coma

Yard Birds with Glaze

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 3-4 hours

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 2 Whole chickens 4-4.5 lbs each
• 1 C. Amber agave nectar
• 2 TBS Butter
• 1 Jalapeno, minced
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 1 Clementine, juiced
• 2 TBS Sugar
• 1 tsp Sea Salt, kosher
• 1 tsp Green peppercorn, finely ground
• Charcoal
• Mesquite wood chips, soaked in water for 20 min
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Prep smoker, with about 10-12 lbs of charcoal and wood chips.
2. Make glaze in small sauce pot. Mix all ingredients besides the chicken, and last 3 items on the list. Bring to a simmer and then cook on low for 5 min, stirring occasionally.
3. Salt and pepper washed chickens, place on smoker and glaze every 30 min until chicken reached an internal temp of 165 F.

We paired this with a Brooklyn Lager 2, it was great!

Black Eyed Peas

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 3 hrs

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

• 22 oz Black eyed peas,  like Melissa’s
• 5 Thick slices of bacon, cut up into chunks
• 2 Tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 Jalapeno, diced
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 1.5 TBS Better than Bullion Paste
• 5 C. Water
• 2 tsp. Cumin
• 1 TBS. Pepper
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. chili powder

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to crock pot and cook for 3 hrs on high.

Bread Recipes coming soon

Snowballs for Santa… Friends and Family in Texas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my foodie friends! I hope you all have tons of great food and drinks with your families! We are packing up the house as I speak, but still finding time for good food and family time. Tonight I’m making quail,  risotto, and brussel sprouts. My Dad’s making shrimp cocktail to start off the meal Of course we will be having these little snowball cookies for dessert, if Santa is lucky there may be a few left for him…

These are great and easy little cookies that are great for Christmas time!

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 20-25 min

Servings: 45-50 cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 C. Butter
• 2/3 C. Sugar, granulated
• 4 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 4 tsp. Water
• 4 C. Flour
• 2/3 C. Powdered sugar
• 1.5 C. Pecan pieces

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 325 F.
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy with hand mixer.
3. Add vanilla and water and cream again.
4. Add Four and pecans and mix well with a spoon or hands.
5. Roll into little balls with hands and keeps as balls.
6. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 min or until done.
7. Let cool for 15 -20 min and roll in powdered sugar.

Enjoy! Cheers!