Cooley Family Farm

Kevin the kids and I had such a great time at our Harvest Basket Open House. We are so thankful that so many of you were able to join us!! We truly have the best customers!

A huge thanks to our good friend Tim for bringing his own tractor and driving everyone around the farm so Kevin could show off his vegetables. Tim also spent a great deal of time helping us get ready for this special day. Thanks Tim!!!

We are so grateful to everyone who volunteered precious time to make the day special. Thanks to Joe (harvest basket customer) for helping us beautify the farm ahead of time. Thanks to Jerri (friend) for doing the face painting. Thanks to Robin and Suzy (friends) for everything from setting up to serving to tearing down. And thanks to Dave (friend) for taking pictures for us.

This year we decided to make soup the theme! And what perfect weather we had for soup. Our simple menu for the open house was Vegetable Soup, Roasted Butternut Squash soup, homemade bread, and carrot cake for dessert.

My personal favorite is the vegetable soup. I always feel so good (and guilt free!!) when I eat a big bowl of soup that is nothing more than vegetables, salt, pepper, and some smoked paprika powder. I don’t really have an official recipe for this but I will include all of the ingredients I used below. I’m getting hungry as I type this!!!

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
Lots of tomatoes!!
onions
garlic
green beans
yellow wax beans
carrots
potatoes
sweet corn
cabbage
zucchini
yellow squash
salt
pepper
smoked paprika powder

First I cooked down a lot of tomatoes and then the onions.

While things were cooking down I chopped up some of the other vegetables.

Note: The onions and green beans were cooked ahead. Add water or more tomato juice if needed.

Here is a picture of my secret ingredient. One of our harvest basket customers gave it to me
a while ago and per her instructions I keep it in the freezer. She said it can be ordered on
the internet. I am almost out so I will be looking soon!

I just combine everything and cook until it is ready. Probably 40 minutes to an hour?

Other seasonings that can be added:
basil
thyme
oregano
bay leaf
dash red pepper flakes

Butternut Squash Soup

Prepare the butternut squash for roasting by peeling and chopping into
large chunks. Place in a baking dish and lightly coat with olive oil.
Bake at 400 for about an hour or until tender.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons chopped onion
4 tablespoons margarine
6 cups roasted butternut squash
milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

Other seasonings that can be added:
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, milk, and marjoram. Bring almost to a boil.
2. Add the cooked soup along with cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.

French Bread

This is a picture of bread being served at the open house… yum!!

5 tsp. active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Combine yeast, water, sugar, salt, and flours into kitchen aid bowl and use the dough hook. Mix at low to medium speed until dough is well formed.
2. Form the dough into a ball and lightly coat with olive oil. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
3. Place the dough in a warm draft free area to rise for an hour. (The oven with just the oven light on works well)
4. When dough has finished rising, punch it down. Divide into 4 sections. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into large rectangle. Roll up, starting from a long side. Moisten edge with water and seal. Taper ends.
5. Put parchment paper on an air baking cooking sheet. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across top of each loaf. Lightly beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush on. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until nearly doubled, 35 to 40 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture.
6. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oven for 20 minutes until bread tests done. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on a wire rack.

This bread freezes very well. I often freeze loaves of this bread. When I need to use it I will take it out of the freezer and thaw. Put it in a 400 degree oven for about 3 or 4 minutes and it will be nice and crusty.

Carrot Cake

Cake Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
dash ground cloves
3 cups grated carrots

Icing Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.