Food – New England's Narrow Road

Breakfast of Eggs and Vegetables

I am lucky to live in a climate that allows for growing herbs (and some vegetables) year round. My little backyard garden provides me with parsley, fennel and peppers regularly. Because I can simply pick them any time, often I will incorporate veggies into my breakfast.

garden vegetables — Garden bell peppers, basil, fennel and hot peppers

Many aspects of our diet are picked apart and we are warned of so many foods these days, but vegetables are rarely demonized. Corn has too much sugar, but that is about the only negative thing I remember being said about a vegetable!
Because vegetables have always proven to be good for us, I constantly try to eat as many as possible.

I am not a big meat lover, and prefer fish to chicken or beef. Eggs hold so many good nutrients and provide protein to start the day and I usually eat one egg for breakfast. I used to make omelets, but these days I simply stir fry vegetables and herbs from my garden, then drop an egg into the mix, cook it up and eat! Super simple.

breakfast of eggs with garden vegetables — Once the veggies are fried, add eggs and scramble

I don’t grow onions or garlic, but I do usually add those to my morning stir fry. To keep me using these nutritional foods without all the fuss, I keep leftovers in a container in the fridge. The easier it is to grab something the more you will use it. If I had to wash, de-seed, and chop peppers at each meal I may skip them altogether. If I had to skin and slice onions, same thing. But with them sitting in a handy container, ready to chop, adding to meals is much simpler.

storing peppers and onions for later use — Keep leftover bits of pepper and onion in a container

To change it up a bit, sometimes I forego the eggs and eat apples and oatmeal. And when I have too much food in my fridge, sometimes I will eat leftovers from the night before. Fish and sweet potato fries are good for breakfast too!

Eating Healthy in Peterborough New Hampshire

seal of the town of peterborough — Peterborough, NH

One of the things I enjoy about living in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire is the emphasis on buying local. Eating healthy and organic, while supporting local farms is easy to do. The quaint and picturesque community of Peterborough has farmers markets all summer long, and an indoor farmers market at the Community Center in winter. There are two health food / organic stores that I know of which sell local and organic produce and meat. Maggie’s Market on Main Street and the Green Grocer on Union Street are the ones I visit. The Green Grocer has tables with various items to purchase for lunch.

Going out to eat is another way to support the locals. Although I don’t get out much and have only eaten at a couple of places in Peterborough, restaurants tend to advertise that what they cook was purchased from farms nearby. I loved that the Bantam Grill listed all the local places that supply their food right on a chalkboard. By the way, they have delicious food and are right on the main road, Route 202 (Jaffrey Rd.), in the plaza.

Harlows is an interesting and cozy place to eat. I’ve only been in there once, but looking at their online menu, I see some yummy sounding sandwiches (Avacado Bliss) and meals, loaded with good veggies- don’t know if they are local. There is a little stage in the back where they feature a variety of live bands and music in the evening. It’s a popular place.

Much of the produce that is local comes from Rosaly’s Garden and Farm Stand. I’ve been there once, at the end of summer, or maybe it was mid summer. There is a long row of hydrangea bushes at one end of the garden, which grabbed my attention. It was beautiful. Here’s what the website says, “Rosaly’s is one of the largest Certified Organic Farms in New Hampshire and is the oldest certified organic farm in the state.” I see that she offers “pick your own” blueberries and raspberries, and sells herbs (also pick your own if you want) as well as flowers and vegetables.

And right after I wrote this post I bought some eggs at Roy’s Market that had a flyer inside. They (the eggs) came from Oxbow Farm, and the flyer mentioned that The Bagel Mill uses Oxbow eggs on their sandwiches.

There is no excuse for not being healthy eater, if you live in or near Peterborough!

Monkey Faces and Indian Pudding

Slow Cooker Indian Pudding (Photo credit: lynn.gardner)

As I sit here trying to cool off at 3:00 AM – yes it’s winter and the inside temp. is 62, but I am hot, (you older ladies will understand), I was enjoying reading about the Indian Pudding again, and I was replying to comments on the re-blog post, from Laurie @ A Taste of Morning. That Indian Pudding recipe and photo got me thinking of my grandparents and all the baking and cooking they did.

My grandmother always had cookies on her little counter in the kitchen and sometimes they were store bought, but I remember her holiday cooking best. She made “monkey faces” which were cookies filled with mincemeat, but I didn’t like mincemeat so she would put jam in some too. She made her own jam and jelly also and had a little dirt cellar where she kept her jars of preserves on wooden shelves. The cookies – which were more like little pies because the dough was like thick pie dough- were made by plopping the mincemeat, or jam, onto a round piece of dough and then covering it with another round piece. The edges would be pressed down with a fork and then slits made in the top.

She also made the tallest apple pies ever. I used to call her apple pie “mountain pie” Continue reading “Monkey Faces and Indian Pudding”

Memories of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

grilled tomato and cheese sandwich — Grilled tomato and cheese sandwich

I seldom eat a sandwich any more but I had stopped by the neighborhood organic grocery store and picked up some whole grain bread made by The Bread Shed, and a nice tomato for my salad and decided that I needed to grill up a sandwich.

When I lived in Florida, grilled cheese sandwiches were an ‘after church’ ritual. Usually some friends of my kids would stop over and I’d make everyone sandwiches, and grilled cheese became the favorite. We’d stand around and eat and talk in my sunny, air-conditioned kitchen. We all have some memories of funny stories told in those days and one of the kids (grown now) still asks me to send him a sandwich. He insists I made the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever.

So, after my shopping trip, with that nice, thinly sliced bread and fresh, red tomato just sitting there on my counter I just had to grill me up some deliciousness.

And it was good.