Thursday, July 11, 2013

Cheesy News Story

City Greeners, we love taking time to acknowledge our beloved farmers.  As the local food movement progresses, more and more outlets are taking time to acknowledge the folks responsible for growing and raising our food.  


Well, Fox 2 News is at it again - they recently featured our favorite cheese makers over at Marcoot Jersey Creamery in Greenville, Illinois.  In the video they talk about their new Tipsy Cheddar cheese, made with Schlafly Beer's Pale Ale - a cheese coming soon to City Greens! Check out the video featuring Amy and Beth from Marcoot here!



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Getting the East Winds at City Greens


This week at City Greens we are featuring a new line of products - East Wind Nut Butters!



We have had East Wind's Smooth Peanut Butter - with Salt, but now we are expanding our lineup.  Starting this week, we'll have in-store:

Organic Smooth Peanut Butter (no salt)
Organic Smooth Peanut Butter with Sea Salt
Organic Tahini
Raw Cashew Butter
Roasted Cashew Butter
Smooth Almond Butter
Crunchy Almond Butter

Of course, our Mound City crunchy peanut butter and crunchy chocolate peanut butter are still available for shoppers as well.  And as always, these nut butters pair exceptionally well with all of Hilty's Amish Jams and Jellies available at the market, and all products are sold at cost

See you at the market, City Greeners.

Friday, July 5, 2013

National Blueberry Month

The market has been feeling very fruity lately.  We've had cherries, strawberries, and raspberries, and now are pleased to announce it is finally blueberry season at City Greens! It just so happens that July is National Blueberry Month!  To celebrate, here's a favorite way to use these tiny blue treasures along with a few other in-season City Greens Market items:

Blueberry Zucchini Bread



Ingredients
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten (available at City Greens)
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 2 cups shredded zucchini (available at City Greens)
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (available at City Greens)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
Preparation 
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans (or one big loaf pan - this will extend baking time).
  2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Fold in the zucchini.  Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans. 
  3. Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean (this will be longer with a bigger loaf pan)  Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. 
  4. ENJOY! 
Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com
Image courtesy of AllRecipesMedia

Monday, July 1, 2013

Bean There, Done That

City Greeners who have been coming to the market regularly know that this week was the first week of green beans!  With such great quantities, we wanted to give you one of the easiest tutorials on how to make pickled green beans - what some affectionately refer to as Dilly Beans.


Crisp Pickled Green Beans

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 pounds fresh green beans (available at City Greens!)
  • 2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled (available at City Greens!)
  • 1 bunch fresh dill weed
  • 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)


Directions

  1. Sterilize 6 (1/2 pint) jars with rings and lids and keep hot.  Trim green beans to 1/4 inch shorter than your jars.
  2. In a large saucepan, stir together the vinegar, water and salt.  Add garlic and bring to a rolling boil over high heat.  In each jar, place 1 sprig of dill and 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.  Pack green beans into the jars so they are standing on their ends.
  3. Ladle the boiling brine into the jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the tops.  Discard garlic.  Seal jars with lids and rings.  Place in a hot water bath so they are covered by 1 inch of water.  Simmer but do not boil for 10 minutes to process.  Cool to room temperature.  Test jars for a good seal by pressing the center of the lid.  It should not move.  Refrigerate any jars that do not seal properly.  Let pickles ferment for 2 to 3 weeks before eating. 
  4. ENJOY! 

Recipe courtesy of AllRecipes.com
Images: blog.mainefoodandlifestyle.com