sautéed asian fusion Puff Ball Mushrooms

my friends and I were on our way back from the beach one day, and we found beautiful puff ball mushrooms growing in someone’s yard. of course we snatched them and ran home to cook them up.

above is our display of mushrooms with chopped onion tops and grated ginger

ingredients:

  • freshly foraged puffball mushrooms (depends on size, we got about 5 medium ones) make sure they are, in fact, the edible puffball mushrooms. don’t eat them if they are brown or soft, (that means they’re too old to eat) they should be firm and white, with *little* (hopefully none) insect damage.
  • cooking oil, coconut oil is my fav.

for dah sauce:

  • a lotta fresh ARTfarm ginger we probably used 2 generous “thumbs” worth of ginger, microplained.
  • a splash of soy sauce and or liquid aminos
  • a few table spoons worth of green chopped ARTfarm onion tops
  • a tablespoon or two of rice vinegar
  • a teaspoon or two of brown sugar
  • sesame seeds if u fancy

directions:

  1. once mushrooms are acquired, rinse them, remove any damaged bits, and slice thinly. it will look like beautiful mozzarella cheese. don’t eat it raw. I don’t think you’re supposed to do that. ;p

2. heat up your oil in a cast iron pan. once hot, add the mushrooms, layer by layer laying them flat to fry in the oil. watch them like a hawk so they don’t burn. cook them until they are golden brown on each side (u will need to flip each one)

they will be kinda spongy and delicious like this.

3. make dah sauce. put all the sauce things into a bowl and mixy mixy.

4. dunk the sautéed mushrooms in the sauce and enjoy ❤

Moringa Quiche

yes I took this photo. yes it was as good as it looks. btw the leaves in the photo are moringa leaves!

ingredients

  • puff pastry (1 roll)
  • coconut oil or butter to grease the pan
  • 5 ARTfarm eggs
  • a handful of ARTfarm cherry tomatoes cut in half
  • about a cup of cooked bacon (honestly I didn’t measure anything to make this I just eyeballed it)
  • three tablespoons of heavy cream
  • a pinch of salt
  • a teaspoon of pepper
  • fresh ARTfarm oregano
  • fresh ARTfarm Italian basil, cut into strips (idk how much, its up to you)
  • about a half cup of cheese of your choice (I used local goat cheese!)
  • freshly chopped ARTfarm onion tops (half a cup ish)
  • a couple cloves of garlic, minced
  • (optional for my spicy opposed baddies) one green ARTfarm chili pepper, cut into tiny bits using kitchen scissors (highly recommend this method because you avoid getting spicy oils on your fingers and therefore in your eyes)
  • about two cups worth (once minced) of fresh moringa leaves

directions:

  1. follow the directions on your puff pastry (don’t forget to grease your pan w butter or coconut oil!)
  2. preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
  3. put all the above listed ingredients (eggs, tomatoes, bacon, cream, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, cheese, onion, garlic, chili pepper and moringa leaves) into a big bowl and mixy mixy
  4. pour it into the puff pastry pie dish
  5. optional – if you want to be fancy like me, save some sprigs of fresh oregano to place on top of the quiche before you put it in the oven.
  6. bake until the center is slightly firm and no longer raw eggy. test with one of those wooden stick thingies. u could also go outside and carve your own wooden stick thingy as long as you use wood that isn’t poisonous. It took about 45 -55 minutes for my quiche to not be raw in the middle.
  7. serve and eat 💅

Carmen’s breakfast eggs

my super buff amazing survival skills teacher Carmen makes this for her breakfast most days. she’s made it for me a few times and I always feel so healthy and strong after having it for breakfast.

ingredients:

  • fresh local eggs (Carmen eats 4 eggs to start her day)
  • fresh moringa leaves (a large bouquet worth of leaves, they cook down so you can get a lot)
  • some type of starch – go local and use plantain, breadfruit or cassava (about 2 large plantains per serving)
  • fatty bone broth cold from the fridge (Carmen has used her fatty sheep or goat broth in the past)
  • salt (a pinch to taste)
  • Lucy Cockrin’s pepper sauce (golden apple or tamarind)

directions:

  1. collect eggs from your chickens or local farmers market
  2. cut up your starch into quarter sized pieces, place into a medium- large cast iron frying pan, add some fat and broth, salt to taste, and cover with a lid to steam and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the starch begins to soften. after ten minutes, uncover it and let some of the broth cook away.
  3. go to your moringa tree and break off leaflets of moringa, avoid yellow leaves, leaves with bird poop on them, and young leaves near the growing shoots.
  4. bring the moringa inside and rinse it, checking for spiders. (Carmen doesn’t bother rinsing hers, but I like to as a precaution)
  5. strip the moringa leaves off the leaflet’s stems, composting the stems, and collecting the leaves on your cutting board. once you have a decent pile of leaves, chop them using a big chopping knife, until they are minced into tiny bits.
  6. add the moringa to the starch in the pan, mixing it in and covering with a lid to steam for about five minutes.
  7. uncover, and crack your eggs into the pan directly over the starch and moringa. some of the whites will seep through the starch and cook on the pan, the yolk will be supported by the bed of starch. at this point Carmen will turn off the heat, cover her eggs with a lid, and let them soft-steam to cook with a very runny yolk. I like to cook my eggs a bit longer, but it’s up to you.
  8. serve with your favorite pepper sauce and enjoy a day of feeling like you could run a marathon.

They Started Laying!

So our flock that were just baby chicks in February, peeping in a box in the mail, have started laying like crazy. We are getting 6-10 eggs per day, pretty much all day long, from our flock of 11 hens.

The eggs are a little smallish now but they’re getting bigger every day. So it’s time to launch my farm and arts business, Mongoose & Zinnia. I’m working with my parents on a logo and packaging for the eggs. I’ll also be making greeting cards and art.