Season's Greetings from CFI!
Happy holidays from all of us at CFI! We’re so grateful to each and every one of you for helping us grow and share the harvest. As a way of inviting you to our table to connect over shared food, we invited the CFI team to share favorite recipes and food memories. This is what they said:
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Sam, Food Access Coordinator: My superstar recipe from this Fall is definitely our squash butter two ways. A surprising and versatile little dish! This time of year, I share the harvest among good friends. Whether that's bringing your volunteers a fresh local apple on the morning of an event, or having company over for a warm meal. It's a good time to be grateful to the food we eat for sustaining us!
Ruth, Board Member: Meredith Erlewine gave me a bag of cranberries that she picked near her property in West Virginia. I love raw cranberry relish which is simply about 3-4 cups of cranberries, an orange, and a sweetener of your choice (added according to the sweetness of your choice). I start making it November and enjoy it through Christmas! You can eat it as a side dish or put it on sandwiches, in salad dressings, in muffins! I love it on my peanut butter toast in the morning!
Patrick, Board Member: Food has always played an important role in my families’ traditions this time of year and is tied to many great memories. The thought and smell of my uncle’s homemade cinnamon raisin bread takes me back to when I was a kid and my mom’s side of the family would all stay at our house during the holidays. This included many the late nights playing cards. Various finger foods come to mind that remind me of Christmas eve spent at my other uncle’s house exchanging gifts, with my dad’s side of the family along with several years of practical joke gifts my brother and I planned that always got everyone to laugh. One of my favorite finger foods that someone always made was bacon wrapped water chestnuts. This dish also holds a special place as both my family and my wife’s family both make this for our Christmas eve celebrations, so it was a way for us to have a piece of our own families as we celebrate away from our own every other year. I also cannot think of smell pork roast and sauerkraut without thinking of the New Year’s Day meal she would always prepare for us. I hope everyone reading this has a great holiday season and can make and share food full of memories of the past and create many new memories for the years to come. Bacon wrapped water chestnut recipe
The link is to the original recipe but we like to change it up. I like to use a Long Island Cheese pumpkin if possible. Also, we leave out the bacon, sometimes throw in more veggies and cheese. You can add whatever is "everything good" to you. You can also use a grain that is gluten free if you like instead of bread.
We see if we can identify all the local foods in our dinner such as Cowdery corn, Vest's potatoes, something from the garden etc. It can be a long list. We are really fortunate to have such wonderful local farmers!
Have a Wonderful Holiday!
The great thing about this recipe is as long as you have the base (below), you can add just about anything that's in season or needs to be cooked. Opens the door for a wide variety of flavor combinations. I've made it dozens of times and if I'm looking to impress, this is my go-to!
- 8 cups low sodium chicken broth (I usually use bone broth)
- 3/4 cup coconut milk (or preferred milk)
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (the more it's been aged, the better!)
- 1/4 cup white miso paste (this is an absolute must-have!)
Ginny, Board Member: Every Christmas morning my family makes the cornmeal scones from one of the Moosewood cookbooks, and it’s excellent made with the Shagbark cornmeal and/or spelt flour! We like adding dried blueberries and cherries best.
Moosewood Cornmeal Scones
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup butter or margarine
- 1 cup milk
- 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1⁄2 cup cornmeal
- 3 cups unbleached white flour
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄2 cup dried fruit
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Melt butter or margarine. Pour milk into small bowl and mix with brown sugar. Add melted butter to milk mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the cornmeal and flour. Sprinkle in salt and baking powder. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add liquid ingredients to flour mix and combine.
5. On floured cutting board, turn out dough. Press into a circle (or two) 1⁄2 inch thick, and slice into wedges. Place onto oiled baking sheet, bake for 15-20 minutes.
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Wishing you all peace, joy, warmth, safety, and good food and fellowship this season and always.
Cheers to coming year,
The CFI team
