Ginger Pumpkin Cake--Make It with Local Pumpkins

Market Manager Kim Hunter recently made this Ginger Pumpkin Cake twice. Here are Kim's notes about using locally grown pumpkin to make this recipe.

"The recipe calls for 15 oz pumpkin. You can use canned, but for the local spin, bake some fresh local pumpkin. I had a medium-sized baking pumpkin from Farm Front Gardens, which was enough to make this recipe on two different occasions. (I froze half of the cooked pumpkin.) And you can toast the pumpkin seeds (toss with a little olive oil and salt) for another good snack.

Directions for cooking fresh pumpkin: Cut stem from top to allow steam to escape. Bake pumpkin in a 350°F oven (on a piece of parchment paper of aluminum foil lined cookie sheet) until soft. (About 45-60 minutes for a small to medium pumpkin. Check it with a fork at 45 minutes--you want it tender, no resistance to the fork. )

Remove seeds and keep in a separate bowl if you will be toasting them later. Scrape pulp from inside of pumpkin into a large bowl. Freeze any portion not being used. Squeeze out any excess moisture before cooking with pumpkin and process in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Market to Menu: Green Beans in Basil Vinaigrette

Give this easy but delicious recipe a try this fall as the green beans are in at market and the basil in your garden hasn't been bit by the frost yet. Consider it as a fresh, healthy alternative to green bean casserole for your Thanksgiving celebration.

Serves 4 to 6.

2 lbs green beans, trimmed and broken in half if large

2 cloves garlic, minced or pushed through a garlic press

20 basil leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

2 tsp Dijon mustard

4 TBS red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

3 scallions

Bring water to a boil and cook beans until tender crisp. Pour immediately into a colander and pour ice water over them to stop the cooking action. (This can be done ahead--drain and store in a zipped storage bag.)

In a blender or food processor, put the garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Pulse on and off, then add mustard and vinegar. Pulse until smooth. Add the oil slowly in a thin stream, with the machine running, just until blended.

Place beans in serving bowl and pour vinaigrette over them. Toss to coat thoroughly. Garnish with scallions.

Local Artists Hard at Work for Nov. 6

While we go about our daily lives this month, 52 artists and crafters in our area are hard at work preparing for the Fall Craft Fair to be held at the market on Nov. 6 from 8 am-1 pm.

Be sure to mark your calendar for the fair and please help pass on the word to friends, neighbors and co-workers who may not know about it. Feel free to print this color flier as your reminder or post it in your workplace!

Last year's first Fall Craft Fair was a huge success for shoppers and artists alike!

• Get a start on your holiday shopping,
• think about teacher's and hostess gifts, or
• just pick up something for yourself!

There will be a great variety of art at the fair, including pottery, jewelry, hand-knitted accessories, holiday decor and gifts, baskets, natural soaps, lotions and cleaning products, children's clothing, hair bows, birdhouses, glassware and stoneware, woodworking and more! Here's a sneak peak at some of the artists' work:

In addition to the arts and crafts, our farmers' market vendors will have all their wonderful seasonal produce, meats, seafood, eggs, cheeses, breads, coffee, flowers and more!

Herons Executive Chef Scott Crawford will join us with free samples of a delicious autumn soup featuring local, seasonal ingredients, and friends from the 10% Campaign will be with us to educate us about how we can help build North Carolina's local food economy, one person at a time. Bring the kids by too for free face painting with LynneSue Fischer!

Make Your Own Beverages for Health and Flavor!

Alice Loyd, who joined us at market last week and will come again to the Education Tent in November with her local sauerkraut, has an upcoming beverage classes that might be of interest to the foodies in our area.

Making Cool Fermented (Non-alcoholic) Beverages
November 9, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., 3415 Noel Court, Raleigh
Sponsored by Food Is The Key
Cost: $20

Alice offers this evening workshop in Raleigh for hands-on practice in making kombucha, fruit-based sodas, and the cultured dairy drink kefir. Get off the sugar and onto the high-nutrient refreshment of enzyme-rich fermented beverages. Easy and fun!

For more information or to register, contact: foodisthekey@earthlink.net or 919-607-3081.

Market to Menu: Roasted Rosemary Butternut Squash

This simple dish has great flavors and warmth for the fall--perfect for any dinner or a side dish for Thanksgiving.

Serves 4

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4" cubes
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 TBS fresh rosemary, chopped
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, toss ingredients together until evenly coated with oil and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Place evenly on a non-stick baking sheet and roast until tender, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Kids in the Kitchen: Farm to Table

If your kids are tracked out this fall and have an interest in cooking, you might want to sign them up for a new camp: Healthy and Delicious, Farm to Table, from Classy Kids Cook. This camp focuses on fresh ingredients from the farm with lessons such as Fall at Its Best, Fall into Vegetables, Apples & Pears, Oh My!, Giving Thanks, and Rustic Farm Hand Food.

Menu examples include Cider-roasted Chicken, Shepherd's Pie, Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Spiced Pumpkin Cookies. Sounds like a delicious way to get the kids into the kitchen, eating healthy and enjoying farm-fresh food! This camp is offered the weeks of Nov. 8 and Nov. 29, and the school offers other camps and after-school classes as well. Campers aged 6 to 18 are welcome! Visit Classy Kids Cook's web site for details.

United Way: Consider Giving to the Market

For those of you with upcoming United Way drives at your office, please consider directing a portion of your donation to the farmers’ market. We are 501(c)(3) organization and use our donations to help further our mission that all those in our community be educated about and benefit from local food.

It is easy to donate! Just note the portion of funds earmarked for the market by adding a non-United Way 501(c)(3) organization to your donation roster. You will need some or all of the following information on the form. Thank you!

Western Wake Farmers Market Inc.
Morrisville, NC 27560
EIN 26-4416426

We appreciate your continued support of the Western Wake Farmers' Market!

Get Schooled in the Lunch Line

It may have been a while since you walked through the lunch line at school, so how familiar are you with the National School Lunch Program? This past spring, a lot of people took a fresh look at school lunches through "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" on television.

Now you can learn more from Lunch Line, the Documentary, which takes a new look at the school lunch program by exploring its past, current challenges and opportunities for the future. As the film follows six kids from a tough Chicago neighborhood who set out to fix school lunch, and end up at the White House, you may be surprised by what you learn.

Advocates for Health in Action (AHA) is sponsoring the screening of Lunch Line on Nov. 10 at 1 pm and again at 6 pm at Meredith College in Raleigh. After the screening, co-producer Michael Graziano will be on hand to discuss the film and talk about what is next for school meals. You can learn more and buy tickets online in advance for $8 or at the door for $10. All proceeds will benefit AHA-sponsored school health initiatives in Wake County.

TerraVITA Food & Wine Event: Saturday, Oct. 16

If you love food and wine or microbrewed beer, this is for you: TerraVITA Food & Wine Event, Saturday, Oct. 16, from 1-5 pm at Southern Village in Chapel Hill.

Enjoy organic and biodynamically grown wines from dozens of wine producers, a few microbrews, and local foods artfully prepared by North Carolina chefs at this celebration. Area chefs from Herons, Zely & Ritz, Crook's Corner, Chef & The Farmer, Watt's Grocery, Market Restaurant, Carolina Crossroads and other restaurants will prepare locally sourced meats, produce, cheese, desserts and more at this sustainable feast!

Tickets are $65 each ($75 the day of the event, if tickets are still available), and include all food and drink. You can purchase tickets online now. There will also be a silent auction at the event, and all proceeds will be donated to Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and TABLE, a non-profit coalition of community volunteers and college students committed to feeding hungry children in the Carrboro and Chapel Hill area.

Market to Menu: Clams and Shrimp in Spicy Broth

I bought two dozen littleneck clams and a pound of shrimp from Southport Seafood Co. last weekend at market, but I didn't really have a plan as to how I was going to prepare them. A quick online search yielded a simple and really tasty recipe from Giadia De Laurentiss, Mussels, Clams and Shrimp in Spicy Broth.

I made the recipe as it is featured with only a few minor changes: no mussels and only half of the crushed red pepper so that my kids would eat it. Paired with bread from La Farm Bakery and a salad of mixed greens from Ben's Produce and Farm Front Gardens, we enjoyed a great Sunday night dinner that was almost entirely local!

According to people who reviewed the recipe, you also could add fish. Don't be afraid to alter recipes for the ingredients you have or to put a seasonal spin on them!

10/10/10: Celebrate by Getting Your Hands Dirty

10/10/10 is coming...that's right, October 10, 2010, is next week, and 350.org is celebrating with a "Global Work Party" where you are invited to do something in your community to help fight global warming.

Here in the Triangle, there will be work parties at the fields of six local farms, gardens and community gardens on October 10 from 1-4 pm. Each work party begins with a local foods potluck at 1 pm, and then the work begins. Party-goers can expect to work on the farms and gardens at seeding cover crops, weeding, harvesting and cleaning hen houses, for example.

What does working on a local garden or farm have to do with addressing climate change? Organizers say it's because we need to rethink the way we produce food on the planet--moving away from industrial agriculture powered by fossil fuels, and move instead towards small-scale, local, organic farming.

How can you join the party? RSVP at this site, then go to the NC Conservation Network site for more information and to register for a particular farm. There are sites in East Raleigh, South Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Louisburg and Wendell.

When you go, you'll need comfy work clothes and shoes, work gloves, and bring a local dish to share along with your own plates/cutlery and water or drink of choice.