Corn Zucchini and Poblano Lasagna

We enjoyed this side dish immensely. 

Perhaps add a little meat if your family is not vegetarian, or serve as a side dish. 

The corn sauce is amazing! Photos are from our kitchen but...

Recipe courtesy of Marcela Valladolid of the Food Network.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced, divided
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears), or frozen and thawed

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
• 1 large zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 4 poblano chiles, charred, peeled, stemmed, seeded and cut into 1-inch strips
• 12 (7 by 3-inch) no-boil lasagna sheets
• 2 cups shredded Oaxaca cheese, or mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare roasted peppers on grill or in oven as shown here.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 2/3 of the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Mix in the corn and saute for 5 minutes. 

Stir in the cream and thyme. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes for the flavors to incorporate. Turn off the heat and let cool slightly. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook for 1 minute. Mix in the zucchini and poblano strips and cook for 5 minutes for the flavors to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat.

Spread about 1/4 of the corn mixture over the bottom of an 11 by 8-inch baking dish. 

Cover with a layer of 3 lasagna sheets. 

Spread 1/4 of the poblano mixture and 1/4 of the cheese over the pasta. 

Repeat the layering 3 more times. 

Cover with foil.

Bake until the pasta is cooked and tender, about 50 minutes. Remove the foil and turn up the oven temperature to broil. 

Broil until golden brown and bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie Bars are perfect for school lunches because they don't break apart. We suggest baking for 18-20 minutes unless your oven normally takes longer. We also used parchment paper in the pan for easy removal and cooling, and no-mess cutting.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 (12 ounce) packages semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts ( I like pecans) (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375* Grease a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
3. Beat butter, both sugars and vanilla in large mixer bowl.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
5. Gradually beat flour mixture into butter mixture.
6. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
7. Spread into prepared pan.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Tasty and Healthy - August 9, 2012

Greetings and welcome to this week's newsletter! Summer is in full swing. Hard to believe that doors will soon open in Tampa Bay Area Schools. (please note change in locations this week only)

Cool salads are a summer favorite. Try adding the unexpected - some cooked black-eye peas (or Conks and Zippers, too). Shred some carrot, cucumber, olives, cooked pasta and maybe a little cheese to jazz up your salad this evening!

Have you driven along Mondon Hill Road from Cooper Terrace, Preston Road to Weatherly Road? Both sides of Mondon Hill Road resemble lakes. Between rains, we are clearing our fields to plant Autumn and Winter Crops.

Pesticide-free Okra is still slowly trickling in. 

If interested in SHELLED black-eye peas, conk peas, or zipper peas, please phone the farm to place an order. Peas are in our standard two pound bag. $8 per bag.

As always, please feel free to phone the farm for special requests or special orders. We'll do everything we can to accommodate you. If you need something from the Farmers Market in Plant City, it is best to phone by Wednesday afternoon.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services visits to our farm to test our soil and plants. For more information about our farming techniques, and the testing we undergo, please click here. 

Gran'ma Angie thanks you for the bags! She hopes you will keep on bringing 'em. Thanks for "recycling" your plastic bags with us! It helps us keep prices down.

From the Farmers Market:

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Cucumbers
Green and Red Bell Peppers
Green Jalapenos (be sure to remove the seeds!)

Sweet Cubanella Peppers

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Baking Potatoes

Red Skin Potatoes
White Skin Potatoes

Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash

Yellow Onions
Scallion Onions
Red Radish

Celery
Cabbage
Romaine

Head Lettuce
FLORIDA Avocados
South Carolina Peaches (see our recipes on the right)
Lemons

Limes

Bananas
Shelled Zipper Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)

Shelled Black-eye Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)
Shelled Conk Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)

From the Farm:

• Reservations being taken for our specialty Traditional Southern Field Peas (phone to order please)
• Pesticide-free Okra

Where we will be this week:

Friday -  Please note: Rolo will be out of town on Friday, August 10, so we will not be at our Spring Hill Drive location on that one day. Thanks for understanding.

Saturday - Joann will be at the Hernando County Farmers Market on Hwy 19 with 40 other vendors! Come browse, shop, and visit with your neighbors - it's an all 'round enjoyable time. You'll also be supporting local businesses by visiting their booths. 

Saturday and everyday - Gran'ma Angie, Nana Phyllis, Joann and Rolo will be at the Produce Barn until 6PM. 

For our Calendar of Locations, and special times and dates for August, please click here, or click on the Calendar Tab at the top of this page.

Recipes for the Week:

Black-eye Pea Stew

Black-eye Pea and Cucumber Salad

Cole Slaw

Peach Cobbler

Quotes for this week:

Do not spoil what you have by desiring

what you have not;

but remember that what you now have

was once among the things you

only hoped for.

~ Unknown

Kindness and intelligence don't always deliver us from

the pitfalls and traps. There is no way to take the

danger out of human relationships.

~ Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

As always, thank you for your encouragement and support. Without you, we wouldn't be able to do what we love most - FARM!

Looking forward to seeing you,

10137 Preston Rd

just off Mondon Hill Road between Hwy 41 and Hwy 50.

Produce Barn is open daily until 6PM

Phone 352-799-6752

When we're busy in the field, our cells keep us available:

352-232-3381 and 352-232-0294

E-mail us Beasley_Farm@tampabay.rr.com

For our Produce Stand locations, dates, and hours please click here.

Please phone the farm to special order Southern Field Peas if you would like them brought to one of our satellite locations.

Tasty and Healthy - August 2, 2012

Greetings! We're already in August! Today's photo features even more creative ideas in making fresh fruits and produce appetizing during our hot, humid days. Any type of cold fruit and vegetable salads can cool down parched throats, and provide electrolytes to our bodies, especially for children playing outside, or anyone who finds themselves outdoors during Florida's summers. I just couldn't pass up sharing this beautiful photo - it sparks the imagination for creative ideas in making produce more appealing. Try making popsicles in orange rind halves for something a little different.

Many roads in our end of town have remained flooded from heavy downpours since Tropical Storm Debby. The clay-rich fields at Beasley Farm are still extremely soggy. This means a few of our summer crops are not maturing in the way we had hoped. Still, we keep our fingers crossed that our pesticide-free harvest will come to fruition soon. In the meantime, welcome to this week's newsletter! We hope your summer has been enjoyable, healthy and safe. 

Pesticide-free Okra is still slowly trickling in. See recipe below.

If interested in SHELLED black-eye peas, conk peas, or zipper peas, please phone the farm to place an order. Peas are in our standard two pound bag. $8 per bag.

As always, please feel free to phone the farm for special requests or special orders. We'll do everything we can to accommodate you. If you need something from the Farmers Market in Plant City, it is best to phone by Wednesday afternoon.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services visits to our farm to test our soil and plants. For more information about our farming techniques, and the testing we undergo, please click here. 

Gran'ma Angie thanks you for the bags! She hopes you will keep on bringing 'em. Thanks for "recycling" your plastic bags with us! It helps us keep prices down.

From the Farmers Market:

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Cucumbers
Green and Red Bell Peppers
Green Jalapenos (be sure to remove the seeds!)

Sweet Cubanella Peppers

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Baking Potatoes

Red Skin Potatoes
White Skin Potatoes

Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash

Yellow Onions
Scallion Onions
Red Radish

Celery
Cabbage
Romaine

Head Lettuce
FLORIDA Avocados
Lemons

Limes

Bananas
ASPARAGUS
Shelled Zipper Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)

Shelled Black-eye Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)
Shelled Conk Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)

From the Farm:

• Reservations being taken for our specialty Traditional Southern Field Peas (phone to order please)
• Pesticide-free Okra

Where we will be this week:

Friday - Rolo will be at the Spring Hill location. Please note: Rolo will be out of town on Friday, August 10, so we will not be at our Spring Hill Drive location on that one day. Thanks for understanding.

Saturday - Rolo and Joann will be at the Hernando County Farmers Market on Hwy 19 with 40 other vendors! Come browse, shop, and visit with your neighbors - it's an all 'round enjoyable time. You'll also be supporting local businesses by visiting their booths. 

Saturday and everyday - Gran'ma Angie, Nana Phyllis, Joann and Rolo will be at the Produce Barn until 6PM. 

For our Calendar of Locations, and special times and dates for August, please click here, or click on the Calendar Tab at the top of this page.

Recipes for the Week:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Roasted Okra

Quotes for this week:

"Sometimes when we are generous in small, 

barely detectable ways it can change 

someone else's life forever."  

-Margaret Cho

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
- Deitrich Bonhoeffer -

As always, thank you for your encouragement and support. Without you, we wouldn't be able to do what we love most - FARM!

Looking forward to seeing you,

10137 Preston Rd

just off Mondon Hill Road between Hwy 41 and Hwy 50.

Produce Barn is open daily until 6PM

Phone 352-799-6752

When we're busy in the field, our cells keep us available:

352-232-3381 and 352-232-0294

E-mail us Beasley_Farm@tampabay.rr.com

For our Produce Stand locations, dates, and hours please click here.

Please phone the farm to special order Southern Field Peas if you would like them brought to one of our satellite locations.

Roasted Cajun Okra

Okra is usually one of those veggies you love or hate. I have been guilty of being in the second category -- until recently.


If it is the goo-i-ness which keeps you from enjoying these fiber-and-nutrient rich little guys, try something new which takes that slime away (smile).

Okra is quite tasty when grilled or roasted. In fact, we have used Italian seasonings, Cajun seasonings, Mexican-style seasonings, and even plain old salt and pepper. It's all good.

Ingredients:


Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cajun Seasoning blend
Raw Okra

Method:


Slice caps and tails off Okra (to allow steam to escape).


Slice larger pieces in half lengthwise.


Place in baggie. Drizzle oil.

Add whatever seasonings your family prefers. Vary this occasionally to match whatever else is on the menu that night.


Place on cookie sheet which has been lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 400F degrees, approximately 30 minutes, longer if crunchy texture is desired.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Always on the lookout for creative ways incorporating our prosperous harvests, I find zucchini is the easiest of all to utilize.

This easy Devil's Food Cake is a great way of integrating some fiber and nutrition into a dessert chocolate lovers are sure to enjoy, with no one the wiser as to what you have put into the cake.

First, let me admit to cheating. I used a Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake mix.

In lieu of water, I used 2-3 cups shredded zucchini, including the skin. The zucchini squash contains lots of water and electrolytes, making for a very moist cake. Though layer cakes are perfect for this recipe, a simple cake pan was used to accommodate limited refrigerator space.

Ingredients:

Cake Mix (any flavor is fine)
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil
2-3 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini

Mix eggs, oil.
Add cake mix until blended well, but not overly beaten (too much beating will toughen the cake).

Add the zucchini, thoroughly blending. Pour into pans of your choice.

Baking time depends on your oven. This one actually baked 7 minutes sooner than it would have with water. My husband never knew about the zucchini until he had polished the cake off, and I told him.

Icing:

1/2 brick cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 - 1/3 cup pure cocoa
1 tsp pure vanilla
1-3 tbsp cold water
3/4 box of 10x powdered sugar

(for less icing, reduce the ingredients)

This is a rich cake, and no one even knows vegetables are in it.

Have fun experimenting with unconventional ingredients in your daily baking!