• 3½ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt

Add dry mixture alternately to the butter and sugar mixture with 2 cups applesauce, preferably this homemade, unsweetened applesauce. Add one cup of raisins soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes, drained well and patted dry in paper towels. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes at 350 degrees and test for doneness; if necessary, bake 5 minutes longer. Serves 16 or more.

You will need about 12–16 apples, depending on size. You do not need to peel or seed the apples, and you may cut them into quarters or halves, depending on size. Pour over the apples about 2–3 cups of apple cider and bring slowly to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce heat and cook at a simmer until all of the apple pieces are very soft. Turn off heat and let apples cool for about 15–30 minutes. Then put the apples through a food mill using the medium disk. Even if you never use a food mill for anything else, it is worth purchasing one to have applesauce this good.

Return apples to the original pot and cook over low heat until the sauce reaches the proper consistency. If you use cider in this recipe and apples with a lot of sweet/tart flavor, you will not need to add sugar; but you may add it by ¼-cup additions as the sauce thickens, tasting after each before adding more.

You may store the applesauce in airtight containers in the refrigerator for two weeks or in the freezer throughout the winter.

Stored in the smallest Ziploc containers, they make great additions to school or work lunch boxes. Just add a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar to the applesauce and pack frozen for a frosty treat at lunchtime.

We have all been reminded, however belatedly since the first cases of salmonella were reported in May, that commercial egg houses that look a lot more like itty-biddy cages to me are prime venues for the development of salmonella and other bacteria. And what they feed to the chickens to minimize that risk is not anything you and I want to be eating either.

I have written before about the hormones fed to cattle and the arsenic in chicken feed that is polluting the water supplies in areas that support large commercial chicken breeders — all in the name of producing more meat faster than the normal growth rate would allow. And we all know now how the prevalence of antibiotics in our food and water systems is creating growth and development abnormalities in our own children. We know these things; we know they are given to the animals because the conditions under which we permit them to be raised is abominable. And yet it persists.

Those of us who shop at markets — and in Fairfax County it is barely 1 percent of our population — are making choices that involve some inconvenience and cost. Obviously we were inspired by something we learned along the way to those choices. What worked for us? Though we may be a small number, we are diverse, and I have a feeling that we have been influenced by a variety of concerns through a variety of conduits. I would like to see more leadership on this issue at the local level, but around here it is hard to find.

The question remains: Are we like sheep? What can we do — those of us who have seen the dark side of our food supply — to inform others? I am personally a big fan of Jamie Oliver and what he is trying to do in this country by focusing on school lunches. It’s a good strategy at its core, but we really need his help at the grass roots; we need him to come into our communities and equip us with the tools to spread his word for him and to take action at the local level.

I have written before about the bill that was introduced in Richmond last year that would have provided incentives to school systems all over the state to buy more local produce and other products for made-from-scratch lunches. One gentleman on the committee that considered the bill cautioned that buying local would cost too much in times of shrinking tax bases and budget-cutting, and no one challenged him; not one person on that committee knew that this is not a fact in evidence or that many school systems across the country and in Virginia are proving every day that it does not have to cost more to feed our children healthy meals at school. So the bill died in committee because no one knew the facts.

We know the facts or we would not be shopping at farmers’ markets; we need to figure out how to share them with others and how to educate our future leaders, if not the present ones, about these facts. Smart Markets is working on planning a policy forum to develop some initiatives to present to our local and state officials. I hope to see a tremendous response when we announce the forum. It seems that it is up to us, you and me, to spread the word. If we don’t, who will? And if we don’t we will affirm my greatest fear: that this is an elitist enterprise that will never have an impact on food policy in this country.

You would think that 500 million recalled eggs would create more than just a rant in a newsletter — don’t bet the farm on it. Or better yet, put your mouth where your money is and help spread the word. Bring a friend to a market, sign the citizen’s petition in support of raw-milk sales, speak up at a PTA meeting about the lunches served in your school or, even better, organize a protest. Remember those? If they could once end a war, they can certainly begin a food revolution in this country. Keep me posted on your epiphanies and your activities. We are here to help.

See you (and your friends and neighbors) at the market!

We have so many new shoppers signing up for the newsletter each week now that I thought you might like a little introduction to Smart Markets, Inc. I founded this operation in the winter of 2008 after working as a volunteer market master for the Fairfax County farmers’ market operation for five years. I had also shopped at my neighborhood market at Nottoway Park for almost its entire lifespan throughout my catering career. So I knew something about what I wanted at a market and what others seemed to want. But I also saw a wasted resource because the County feels no obligation to support successful or interesting or fun markets — we were told repeatedly in Market Manager meetings that their only obligation was to provide locations for markets so that county residents could shop if they wished to. They actually said that they did not care whether the vendors were successful.

But I did, and it bothered me that so many of the farmers were forced into selling at 8–10 markets a week to make a living when little more than one percent of the residents of Fairfax County were shopping at the markets. I was lucky to know the ladies in D.C. who had started and still operate most of the good markets there, and I was mentored along the way by Robin Schuster of Markets and More. who had worked with Nina Planck before Nina took off to open markets in London and New York. I also read a lot by some of the experts in this field, mostly based in academia, who because they are committed to programs that support small farming pay attention to how good farmers’ markets operate across the country. And there are some great tutorials out there as well as advice on the legal and marketing issues that we face when we operate markets. And, last but not least, I was encouraged by the farmers and other vendors I worked with at the county markets.

There is no need for me to go any further into my motivation — you can read our mission statement on our website — but there are some things you might not know about how we operate. I work hard to bring a professional perspective to what may seem to be a frivolous endeavor. We are very serious about our rules and regulations, and we are tough negotiators when it comes to securing the best sites that are conducive to creating the best markets. We also support our vendors in numerous ways including offering assistance with display and marketing, pricing, product development and other tips for making more money! We seek out and develop other opportunities for our vendors to sell their products and to buy from each other. And we promote a team spirit at our markets to the extent that we do not tolerate behavior that undercuts any other vendor or undermines the team spirit we work so hard to nurture.

We charge less than most other professional markets in this area for participation, and all of the fees we collect go toward support of the markets. There are no salaried employees, but we do pay for professional Web page management and for the services of three market managers to enable me to spend more time on market development. All but three percent of what you spend stays with the vendor; what they share with Smart Markets pays for our insurance, printing, banners and signs, and music and other performances at our markets. All other support services are supplied by volunteers who are central to our success thus far.

We now operate seven markets in Virginia and Maryland, and we are looking forward to returning to the George Mason University campus in September and hopefully starting a market on the University of Maryland–College Park campus too. Next year I hope to focus on building the markets that we have rather than opening many more. There are three ways that we can grow our business — by opening new markets, by expanding the number of vendors in the existing markets and by increasing the traffic in all of them. We are still scratching the surface of the potential here in Fairfax County, and there are many more people who deserve to know how easy it is to shop local and shop healthy in this area.

I hope to spend more of our time and effort next year on the education and outreach components of our mission to fulfill that promise that I made to the farmers three years ago — that I want to help them be able to make a good living doing four really good markets a week rather than ten mediocre ones. Then we can begin to open some new markets for the other farmers who will be standing in line to sell at Smart Markets, Inc!

Thank you all for your support over the past three years — for coming out weekly to buy from our small, local businesses — some of whom I know will soar one day and leave us behind. I am encouraged by the belief that there will always be new and unique artisans to bring into the fold. And hopefully, the farmers will always be with us. That’s the whole point!

See you at the market — every week!

The Adamses are raising heritage livestock — hearty breeds that have been in America for centuries and are known for their flavorful meat. The husband and wife also are using methods that go back almost as far.

Everything they sell at local markets is raised on their land without chemicals, growth hormones or antibiotics.

You can buy grass-fed, free-range, hormone-free meats of all kinds from Walnut Hill at our Fairfax Corner and Gainesville markets.

Here is that tutorial I promised about how you go about putting produce that you purchase at the market together for a great home-cooked meal in minutes, using the staples in your summer pantry and fresh or dried herbs and spices that you can also have on hand at all times.

First let’s assume you have shopped at the market for the following items: sweet corn, beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, sweet and hot peppers, summer squash and potatoes. These are all vegetables that you can buy at a farmers’ market knowing that they will remain fresh and usable for at least a week. So while there are dishes that you can make using all of the above, there is no need to use up your market produce immediately. It will keep under the proper storage conditions for much longer than store-bought produce.

Just in the last week I put together with no recipe at hand two wonderful dishes. One was enhanced by the addition of meat to make a one-dish meal, but even without the meat it would have been a tasty and nutritional side dish or vegetarian entree. The other was another complete side dish packed with nearly the same produce with a totally different sensory appeal.

RECIPE 1: Mexican Fiesta Bowl

Ingredients:

• Sweet onions
• Fennel (Remember, I put fennel in everything!)
• Sweet green, red and yellow peppers
• Mildly spicy to hot peppers
• Zucchini and yellow squash
• Fresh garlic
• Tomatoes
• Sweet corn
• New potatoes

Optional Ingredients:

• Canned kidney beans
• Simply Sausage Spicy or Mild Chorizo (or a combination of the two)

Directions:

Saute in about 3 tablespoons of good olive oil 1/2 cup each chopped (into fairly large chunks) onion and fennel till slightly softened and lightly colored. Add 3/4 cup each chopped peppers and mixed summer squash and saute another 2-3 minutes, then add finely chopped garlic to taste (2 teaspoons at least) and saute another 2 minutes. Next add about 2 cups of peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped tomatoes and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

While you are chopping and sauteing the veggies, brown the sausage links in a little olive oil till cooked through. (I heated up two links each of the spicy and sweet chorizo for 4-6 servings.)

To the vegetable mixture as it cooks, you may add chili powder and cumin and either dried or fresh oregano and basil. Or select any other spicy ingredient such as smoked chili powder or chipotles in adobo sauce — make this your own dish however you wish to do so. At this point you may add two ears of fresh corn kernels cut from the cobs and one can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed, to the veggies. Cook over low heat for another 3-4 minutes.

Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it from the pan but save the oil in the pan for the diced potatoes; add them to the oil and toss gently over medium-high heat until they are lightly browned and cooked al dente. While the potatoes are browning and the veggies are simmering, slice the sausages into 1/4-inch rounds and add along with the potatoes when they are done to the vegetables.

Season with salt to taste and serve. This dish could easily be served over pasta or rice to stretch it even further.

RECIPE 2: Italian Flag Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• Sweet onions
• Fennel
• Sweet red and yellow peppers
• Colorful cherry or grape tomatoes
• Summer squash
• Boxed pasta of your choice — my choice is always De Cecco brand boxed pasta which was recommended many years ago by Gourmet magazine. In those days, in order to buy De Cecco, I had to drive into DC to Litteri, the justifiably famous Italian market in the old wholesale market area of DC at New York and Florida Avenues. Now you can buy it at Whole Foods or Safeway — though not in all of its guises. The farfalle (bowtie pasta) or any of the larger macaronis will do for this salad, which would overwhelm the small elbow pasta.

Optional:

• Cooked corn cut from the cob
• Cooked fresh beans or canned
• Anything else in the fridge that looks good

Dressing: Lemon vinaigrette with pesto

Directions:

To serve 4–6

Slice 1/2 cup each of the sweet onion, fennel, and peppers very thin and then slice the julienne in half horizontally. Halve about one cup of the tomatoes and add to the other sliced vegetables in a large bowl. Dice enough summer squash to make about one cup and add to the bowl. At this point if you have some leftover cooked corn as I did or you want to add cooked fresh beans or canned for additional protein, add these ingredients now.

Somewhere during the prep of the vegetables, you can bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook about 8 ounces of pasta. Drain when done but do not rinse. Try to time this performance so that the pasta is done just about the time you are ready to pour the dressing over the salad, as any pasta (or potato) salad is much better if dressed when warm.

Lemon Vinaigrette:

The best-tasting balance of oil to acid is three-to-one, but you can adjust this if you want to consume less oil. I use 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice to 3/4 cup of a mixture of my favorite extra-virgin and Berio pure olive oil and add about 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper and 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard before whisking or emulsifying it in some other contraption.

I then add Traditional Basil Pesto to the dressing to taste and pour over the salad ingredients. And serve.

There is obviously some chopping involved here, but for each recipe it takes less than 20 minutes — and believe me it’s worth it! Each of these dishes even with the sausage added takes only about 45 minutes from start to finish. Let me know what you make of these ideas yourself — we can start a recipe roundtable where we share our own additions and adjustments to these basic dishes.

Have fun and see you at the market!

First, read this article about a recent speech made by Delegate Todd Gilbert in Woodstock, Va., to a Farm Bureau Young Farmers’ Summer Expo.

Now you know why I was impelled to rant about this latest example of a divisive political strategy designed to create a wedge between an elusive underdog farmer and an indefinable elite. The reference to the “wine and cheese” crowd was interesting too. I am pretty sure that the ones drinking local wine and eating local cheese know very well that the local growers and producers — the small farmers who till most of the farmland in this state — are not the ones polluting their own land and water.

My first reaction to Delegate Gilbert’s specious argument was to wonder exactly which farmers he felt were threatened by any attempt to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Certainly not the farmers I know who use the waters that flow into the bay for their irrigation and for their own drinking water. Certainly not all of the young farmers I know who are working so hard to make a living without subsidies and without chemicals. And certainly not the small farmers who cannot afford to use chemicals beyond what it takes to get a plant up and growing — not after the fruit or vegetable appears.

So I wonder which farmers would be threatened? I am guessing that it would be the farmers whose farms are so large that they can afford to use chemicals, farmers who do not live on or raise their own families on the land they destroy, and farmers who are not using or drinking the water they pollute with their chemical-based farming methods. And I am also guessing that the people who own those farms aren’t farmers at all.

We are never going to solve any of the problems we face if we let our so-called leaders pit us against each other in order to advance their own agendas. Somewhere along the way in recent years we have forsaken the Preamble to our own Constitution — where the common good was touted as the reason for founding a new government in the first place.

At least Delegate Gilbert was rebutted, however, by another delegate who obviously represents small farmers in Henrico who are more like those that you and I know. Delegate A. Donald McEachin accuses Delegate Gilbert of “doing his best to create misplaced fear with false accusations.” McEachin contends that “cleaning up the bay will protect farmers by ensuring they have a clean water source for their crops”. It helped me feel better about losing my mind again to know that someone out there actually agrees with me!

Then I read the coda — the New York Times Sunday editorial about the possible loss of one of the oldest farms in America. The short piece deals with the death of the Tuttle Farm in Dover, N.H., and the letter the Tuttles posted on their website announcing their decision to stop farming. According to the Times:

What killed it was the economic structure of food production. Each year it has become harder for family farms to compete with industrial scale agriculture — heavily subsidized by the government — underselling them at every turn. In a system committed to the health of farms and their integration with the local communities, the result would have been different. In 1632, and for many years after, the Tuttle farm was a necessity. In 2010, it is suddenly superfluous, or so we like to pretend.

So here we stand in our local communities, working hard to help save our own small farms and having to deal with politicians who want to drive another wedge between two groups who in reality share a common goal — and we aren’t pretending. Remember that the farms that benefit from the absence of regulations and those that continue to pollute our land and water are the big commercial farms, that “industrial scale agriculture.”

Supporting your local food production chain — which includes our entrepreneurs and chefs who are committed to locally sourcing their products — demonstrates better than any words that we know the real story. We know better than to believe that we cannot save our planet and the small farmer at the same time.

See you at the market!

My kitchen, refrigerator and freezer are so full of good stuff that I bought at the farmers’ market that if I were home each evening I would be cooking up something different each night! And I want to let you know how easy it is to do just that. Depending on whether you are new to the kitchen or whether your kitchen is the hub of a busy household — or whether you have been developing your craft over many years of reading cookbooks as you would novels and working your way through them like in Julie & Julia — having a kitchen full of ingredients that can be put together in many different ways is heaven on earth for any cook.

I am working hard to bring to the markets not just samples of the foods you can make from our market recipes but also a working chef who loves cooking enough to cater for others — at the same time that she is also a singer and musician who performs throughout the area. Being a natural performer, I am sure she will be delighted to teach as well as demonstrate, but you can learn on your own too — and you can develop your own instincts in the kitchen with a little practice and patience. For those of you just starting, I would recommend a couple of the food magazines that highlight seasonal recipes — much cheaper than a cookbook and much more focused on home cooking for two to six people.

Two of my favorites are Cooking Light and Eating Well — Cooking Light is especially geared to the novice cook and also the cook with a family to please, while Eating Well includes a wealth of information each month about the latest nutrition updates and also incorporates recipes that include ingredients that you can buy at the farmers’ market — especially the fruits and vegetables.

And while you may end up not using everything you buy, it is a great adventure to buy what looks good at the market even without having a recipe or menu in mind. It sounds scary, I know, but it is the way to go if you want to feel confident from the start about the endeavor.

A week or so ago I served a wonderfully tender and flavorful whole grilled chicken from Heritage Farm and Kitchen with a melange of summer vegetables including sweet onions, colorful peppers, zucchini and yellow squash, all diced and sauteed in olive oil and with a final addition of corn cut from the cob. A dish such as this one brings summer into the house and onto the table with little effort and a minimal commitment of time. Last night it took me 20 minutes to make a sauce from fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic from several farms. In another 25 minutes I made pizzas by combining the sauce with leftover grilled sausage from Simply Sausage and fantastic focaccia from our market baker. And if I can do that these days with my schedule, you can too.

You can also prep our gazpacho and succotash recipes in 45 minutes or less and be ready to eat in an hour. So while I am working on getting us some instructional assistance at the markets, go try this yourself and see what happens! Learn what you need to ask when you do have the opportunity — and learn what you can do on your own to substitute a couple of cooked-from-scratch meals for fast food or grocery-store prepared foods. Anything you make at home from scratch is going to be healthier — fresher, tastier and more wholesome than anything you “outsource.” And you may even discover that it’s more fun! I am counting on that. And so are our vendors.

See you at the market!

In summer, when you want to be in and out of the kitchen quickly with minimum fuss, fumes and fervor, not to mention fever, you will benefit from a pantry that is stocked with items you will need over and over again. Marinades and salad dressings will be your first line of defense, and you can whip them up in no time if your arsenal is maintained. Shop for the largest bottles of your favorite oils and vinegars and decant them into smaller bottles that you keep within reach in your kitchen. Have on hand several types of mustard including a good Dijon and a sweet mustard too. Add to that your basic Asian flavoring ingredients such as good-quality soy and hoisin sauces, sesame oil and one of the many spicy oils available. If you do not make your own barbecue sauce to keep in the fridge, keep a big bottle of your favorite brand and also bottles of ketchup and cocktail sauce. And I always have an opened container of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce on hand and some fresh ginger.

For some reason I find that I use thickeners such as cornstarch (for stir-frys), arrowroot and tapioca more in the summer — must be those cobblers and pies that use those up. And I keep a good supply of whole grains for salads and summer soups — quinoa, couscous, bulgur, brown rice, barley, and my favorite, wheat berries. You can pick up some squash, peppers and tomatoes at the market and have a Tex-Mex, Italian or Asian-flavored salad in 20 minutes with the staples mentioned above. And the combinations are endless!

One other thing I always have on hand in rather large quantities is lemons. I use lemons for the iced tea that I drink all day, but also for many salad dressings and marinades. Even in those recipes that may call for vinegar, I use some lemon juice to add a light, fresh, and seasonal lift. I also use lemon juice in the homemade mayonnaise that I make and also have on hand at all times. That and pesto that I make myself and store in the refrigerator in small containers with a film of olive oil on top or in the fridge are two staples well worth learning to make and use in summer as the base for a sauce or a flavoring agent.

Those of you who know how much I like and use fennel will not be surprised that I think that fennel is right up there with onions as a staple in the produce pantry. And believe me, I am working on finding a farmer who will grow it for our markets. It is extremely healthy for you and, as a substitute for part of the onion in any summer recipe, it adds another layer of flavor that will enhance any dish. I call these staples because they both keep well — fennel up to a week in the refrigerator — and they can be on call for any number of recipes that use summer produce.

Well there is your list — and a couple of recipes too for that summer pantry that will make things a lot easier for you in the summer kitchen. I am sure I will think of some others as we move through the season together, and I will pass them along. Even now my husband is yelling “Limes, limes!” He is thinking more of the gin and tonics he likes to make after a hot day working in the yard than any dinner dish, but limes can be used for those salad dressings and marinades too — if you have any left after imbibing.

See you at the market!

Summer is the time of year to experiment with a recipe like this — try adding some finely chopped sweet peppers or even summer squash for a heartier brunch dish.

This recipe appeared in the April issue of Cooking Light as part of an article about “Ten Nutrition Myths.” One of the myths the article refuted was the result of bad science that warned us for about 20 years not to eat eggs because they would raise our cholesterol levels. But we now know that the cholesterol in eggs has no effect whatsoever on the body’s cholesterol levels. One large egg contains only 1.5 grams of saturated fat, and eggs are a rich source of 13 vitamins and minerals.

Directions:

Heat two teaspoons canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add one jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (adjust heat by using more or less of the seeds), ¾ cup thinly sliced green onions, and two minced garlic cloves; sauté three minutes. Add about 2 cups chopped plum tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt and cook two minutes until thoroughly heated through.

Add six large eggs and cook three minutes or until soft-scrambled, stirring constantly. Sprinkle evenly with 2 ounces Monterey Jack cheese and ¼ cup chopped cilantro.

Serve with warm corn tortillas (use 8 for 4 servings) and lime wedges and Tommy’s salsa of choice for an extra kick.