UVM Food Feed

Weekly Vermont Food Events: 12/12-12/18

Posted by Haylley Johnson | December 12, 2012

Wednesday (Dec 12)

Hill Farming in the Mad River Valley: Past, Present, and Future

The evening presentation is part of a project about area hill farming that includes an historical essay and documentary film. The sponsors hope to engage people who are interested in hearing and talking about the history and today’s farming opportunities in the uplands of the Mad River Valley.

6:30-8pm. Round Barn Farm. 1661 East Warren Road. Waitsfield. Free. More information here.

Thursday (Dec 13)

Best Practices for Food Safety in Value-Added Foods

This webinar will provide an overview of various Good Manufacturing Practices and other related food safety best practices for value-added food producers and processors.

2pm. Online. No preregistration required. Log in here.

There are many other Extension events this week. See the list.

Friday (Dec 14)

Holiday Party with Anthony Santor

The standup bassist joins drummer Geza Carr and pianist Shane Hardiman in an evening of live music, refreshments and locally made offerings such as Danforth Pewter and Fat Toad Farm Caramel.

6-9pm. Fresh Tracks Farm Vineyard & Winery. Berlin. $5-20. More information here.

Saturday (Dec 15)

Food Sacred and Yummy

Ishana Ingerman introduces foodies to Sally Fallon’s unique cookbook, Nourishing Traditions, providing both information and samples to taste.

10:30am–2pm. October Tea Room. Burlington. Donations. More information here.

Sunday (Dec 16)

Kids’ Cooking Class: Gingerbread Cookies

Holiday cookies are a treat to make and eat and, in this class, kids get to do both! Join us as we make gingerbread dough that is easy to roll and fun to stamp out with many different cookie cutter shapes.

2-3:30pm. McClure Multigenerational Center. Burlington. Please preregister here.

Tuesday (Dec 18)

Fat Composition of Organic and Conventional Milk

e-Organic has invited Gillian Butler, Newcastle University (UK), to share her research results on fat composition of organic and conventional retail milk in England.

9-10am. Online. Free. Please preregister here.

Other places to find Vermont food events:

Seven Days

Hunger Mountain Coop

Kellogg Hubard Library

City Market

Mad River Localvores

UVM Extension

Know a website to go here? Email the link to haylley.johnson@uvm.edu.

Posted in Economic, Environmental, Health, Social | Tagged weekly food events | Leave a comment

RECIPE: New England Compote (Gluten-Free)

Posted by Sarah Swanke | December 11, 2012

Faced with a calendar packed with potluck Holiday parties, what’s a local foodie to do? Fortunately for us, this New England Compote, featuring pumpkins and apples, is both delicious and uses ingredients found locally even during the holiday season.

First, a little history: I created this dish with some friends a before finals last year. We were looking for a way to ensure a 3am, caffeine-fueled cram session by wasting all this pesky free time we had during the evening. Naturally, we decided having a cooking party would be the perfect solution!

Like myself, most of these friends were ardent foodies, so we were committed to creating something local. Due to my gluten-free diet, a traditional apple or pumpkin pie wasn’t going to fly. So, using pumpkins, apples, and cranberries left over from Thanksgiving, we rolled up our sleeves and created what I now affectionately refer to as a New England Compote (inspired by the lovely Susan Voisin at FatFreeVegan).

This dish is a new twist on the old classics of pumpkin pie and apple crisp, combing both flavors with a tangy splash of cranberry. It can be served right from the pan, but for a more upscale feel, scoop the compote into large Martini glasses.

Ingredients:

4 cups pumpkin (about 2 medium sized pumpkins)
3 large apples
3/4 cup cranberries (or more, depending on how tangy you want it)
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp butter (melted)
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cloves (ground)
1/8 tsp Allspice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 9×5 pan.
Peel the pumpkin and slice it thinly into pieces about 1/2-inch thick pieces.
Cut the apples into slices a little thicker than the pumpkin.
Mix the maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice into the butter.
Combine the pumpkin, apples, cranberries, and spiced butter in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Pour mixture into the greased 9×5 pan, cover the pan with tinfoil, and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove tinfoil, mix the dish, and then bake for about another 15 minutes.
Use a knife to make sure the pumpkin slices are soft; if not, return to the oven until pumpkin is tender.
Remove from the oven and let cool (the dish can be served warm or cold).

Sarah Swanke is General Research Intern at Environmental Working Group in Washington DC. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Boston College ’12 with a degree in Biology. During that time she took a semester to study Food and Social Movements at UVM School of Continuing Education, after which Sarah worked with the City of Winooski to launch a job training program designed to teach refugee students sustainable agriculture. To share her love of cooking, Sarah has often volunteered in creating meals at local soup kitchens.

Posted in Social | Tagged recipe, recipes | Leave a comment

Weekly Vermont Food Events: 12/5-12/12

Posted by Haylley Johnson | December 5, 2012

Wednesday (Dec 5)

Whole Foods Nutrition Group Meeting: Enhancing Immunity

We all hate the endless colds, runny noses and lack of energy that seem to pop up as the temperature drops. In this class, we will learn about foods and practices that strengthen the immune system during the winter months

Snack provided.

6-7pm. 31 Sitka Lane. Moretown. Free; donations appreciated. Open to the public. Please preregister here.

Thursday (Dec 6)

Easy, Healthy, Affordable & Tasty Fish

This class will go over healthy and sustainable food choices for fish that is low in mercury and introduce you to some affordable favorite “tinned” fishes you may not have tried yet. See how easy it is to stretch the amount of fish you buy by making delicious, affordable fish chowder with Pollock, local potatoes, Vermont dairy, and lots of extra vegetables.

5:30-7pm. McClure Multigenerational Center. Burlington. City Market Members: $5; non-members: $10. Please preregister here.

Friday (Dec 7)

One on One Ag Finance Hour

“Ag Finance Hour” is a time to sit down with a UVM Extension Farm Business Management specialist, one-on-one, to work on the financial planning, critical to your farm’s success. Meetings last an hour to an hour and a half and are focused on developing balance sheets, cash budgets or completing financial analysis. 1.5 hours per meeting.

9am-5pm. Berlin UVM Extension Office. $15. Please preregister by calling Christi Sherlock or Erin Clark at (802)223-2389.

Saturday (Dec 8 )

The Floating Bridge Holiday Market and Tree Cutting

Join The Floating Bridge Food & Farms Coop in historic Brookfield for group caroling and community sings, holiday farm-inspired crepes and hot beverages, holiday arrangements and wreaths, and local farm gifts including: canned goods, sweets and treats, assorted meats, winter produce, soaps, candles, and much more.

10am-4pm. The Fork Shop. Pond Village. Brookfield. 2205 Route 65 (next to Ariel’s Restaurant and the Floating Bridge). Free. Continues on Sunday (Dec 9). For more information (and times/locations for other day), see the Floating Bridge website.

Sunday (Dec 9)

Rural Vermont Benefit Contra Dance

Join Rural Vermont and our friends at Brattleboro Contra for a night of great fun for a great cause! There will be live music by talented performers, including Ethan Hazzard-Watkins on fiddle, Anna Patton on clarinet, and Andy Davis on piano. All levels and ages welcome. All proceeds benefit Rural Vermont.

Beginners’ workshop: 7:15pm; dance starts: 7:30pm. Stone Church. Brattleboro. Sliding scale general admission: $10-$15; Students & seniors $7

Tuesday (Dec 11)

Community-Based Multifunctional Farms in New England and their Relationship to Regional Food Systems: Report of 2011 Farm Surveys

Given the growing interest in understanding the relationship between food systems and small/medium-sized farming operations, this webinar will share results from surveys of farms in the New England region. Summarized results will include farm profiles, multifunctional activities (agritourism, direct sales, value added, and off farm income), financial outcomes, expectations, challenges, and entrepreneurial assessments.

12-1pm EST. Online. Free. Click here to learn more.

Wednesday (Dec 12)

Designing Resilient Communities: How our Towns and Suburbs can Incubate the new Eco-Agriculture and Launch a Food Security Revolution

Permaculture educator, designer, editor and visionary Peter Bane shares his vision of the rethinking of community land use. Peter is the author of the newly released, “The Permaculture Handbook”, and will be sharing insights from his process in developing this comprehensive tome on the practice of ‘garden farming’ and will also be available for a post-lecture book signing.

7-9pm. Unitarian Church of Montpelier. 130 Main St. Montpelier. $3-5 donation. For more information, call 802-999-2768

Other places to find Vermont food events:

Seven Days

Hunger Mountain Coop

Kellogg Hubard Library

City Market

Mad River Localvores

UVM Extension

Know a website to go here? Email the link to haylley.johnson@uvm.edu.