Author: yellowroomupstairs

Rick Hymer has been a New Jersey farmer for 25 years.  It is what he has always wanted to do.  He loves being his own boss, growing flowers and vegetables, and sharing all of that with his family and friends.  Us. He considers those of us who have shopped at his stand at the Collingswood Farmers’ Market for the entire life of the market, his friends.  

Rick Hymer does not sell a crazy wide variety of things.  He sells flower, herb, and vegetable plants in the Spring.  During the summer he sells tomatoes, bi-colored corn, peppers, cucumbers.  And in the Fall he sells the best red-skinned potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.

I love cabbage and Rick Hymer’s cabbage is the best I’ve ever eaten.  He explained that he uses seeds from a vintage variety.  It’s the best for soup, a side dish, stuffed, cole slaw.  Years ago when I lamented the impending loss of his delicious cabbage he told me how to “grow” it so that I would have it all winter.  He sold me several heads of cabbage that he dug out with the roots still attached.  I did as he instructed.  I buried those cabbage heads upside down in my garden with the roots sticking out like a handle.  I covered them with dirt and waited.  When I needed cabbage, weeks, months after the market had closed for the season, I grabbed the root and pulled a head out.  I peeled off the layer of outer leaves and I had a gorgeous fresh head of Rick Hymer’s delicious cabbage.  Sometimes the winter weather was too harsh and the cabbage didn’t make it.  But more than one year I pulled the last buried head and cooked that cabbage with my corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day!

So far this Fall I’ve purchased those much anticipated sweet potatoes and broccoli.  Cauliflower is coming soon.  This odd summer (weatherwise) has pushed back the harvest

The average American farmer works more than 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Rick does.  To be sure to bring something to his table for our table.

But, farmers are also people. People like us. People who like spending time with families, watching the game on Sunday, reading the newspaper, playing with our grandchildren.

Rick Hymer says that his least favorite aspect of farming is the long hours, and that there is no guarantee for a successful crop.  He regularly misses family gatherings because ripe  tomatoes or the day the cauliflower must be planted wait for no man.  And sometimes, even with all the time and sweat and sacrifice, the crop fails.

Rick thinks this is the year he will retire from farming.  But he says he will keep his greenhouse open.  He’ll be back to Collingswood in the Spring with flowers to sell.  Probably herbs and vegetable plants.  He thinks he’ll plant a little bit.  Enough to sell at his home farm stand.  He thinks he might offer his help to other farmers too.  Definitely he’ll find his way back to The Collingswood Farmers’ Market in some capacity.  He feels like the people there, shoppers and vendors, are his friends.  And he is sure he’s going to miss them.  He likes talking with them.

I hope he’ll be back.  I like what he sells and I like what he says.  And he always has a smile.  But if he decides to grab his fishing pole and head out for some peace and quiet, I wish him many long and happy years.

Rick Hymer is a farmer.  Farmers are people too.  And Rick Hymer is one of the best!

 

 

Some recipes:

Mashed broccoli (for people who don’t “like” broccoli)

Trim and steam a head of broccoli.
When the broccoli stalk can be pierced with a knife and is soft enough to mash, take it out of the steamer.  Put the broccoli in a serving bowl.  Drop some butter on top to melt.  When the butter is melted, mash with a potato masher or large fork (or puree it with an immersion blender).  Sprinkle with salt to taste.  Serve.

 

 

Sweet Potato Baked Home Fries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Wash and peel the sweet potatoes.  Cut into even sized chunks of about an inch.  Put the potato chunks into a pot of water and boil them until a knife just pierces them (about 10 minutes).  Drain and put the potatoes back into the hot pot.  Stir gently and quickly with a wooden spoon to “rough them up”.  Drop butter into the pot to melt. Coat the potatoes with the butter.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.  Dump the potato mixture onto a foil lined tray.  Bake in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes.  Watch for doneness….they will get browned.  When they are browned to your liking, take out of the oven and scoop into a serving bowl and enjoy!

 

 

 

Produce from Hymer Farm.

We’ve had a peculiar summer here in the Mid-Atlantic.  Hot.  Humid.  Rain.  Repeat.  Not the kind of weather that makes me think of soup.

But the weather for the last market was positively autumnal and I craved soup.  While treasure hunting my way through the Collingswood Farmers’ Market I thought of a great way to make a delicious, unique, and simple vegetable soup and I set to it.

My daughters and I shop together each week and our shopping strategy is to walk the length of the market to see what’s new and enticing.  We stop, turn with the sun  at our backs, and shop, filling our wagons, until we are at the end of the market where we’ve parked our cars.

I decided during our walk to give every farmer a space in my soup pot and I bought one or two things only from each stand.  This is a great way to experiment with new vegetables.  It is also a great way to get your children involved.  Let them choose.

Recipe for Hamburger Vegetable Soup.

Ingredients:  a pound of ground beef or bison, leeks, celery, carrots, lima beans, winter squash, potatoes, green beans and/or yellow beans, cabbage, plum tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini….what would you add?

Directions:
1.  Dice and saute one stalk of celery, two leeks, and three small carrots in about a tablespoon of butter for about three minutes.
2.  Chunk up and saute the ground meat.
3.  Cut up and add your chosen vegetables to the pot.  A little of each makes for great flavor and fun eating.

4.  Pour in a 32 ounce box of chicken broth and 32 ounces of water.
5.  Add a clove of garlic (whole, so you can take it out before serving), salt and pepper to taste, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup dried parsley.  (You can buy fresh parsley at the market and pull the leaves off.  Delicious!)
6.  Stir all the ingredients, put a lid on it,  and let simmer on low all day.  The house will smell terrific!  Be sure to check the liquid level during the day and, if you have to run out for a quick errand or to take a nature walk with the children….leave the lid on and turn off the heat under the pot.  Then come back in a turn the heat on again.  The soup will continue to slowly cook, without the heat, while you’re away…don’t stay away too long.  If the liquid seems too low add some water or some broth.

I served this soup with some crackers and cheese spreads (also from the market…see Hillacres Pride …cheese crackers are wonderful…and Cheese Etc.).  Grilled cheese with Hillacres Pride Cheddar on Wild Flour Bakery sour dough bread is also delicious!  And those fabulous little rolls with some farm fresh butter from Villa Barone…maybe even some fresh mozzarella slices.

And for dessert….Some sliced apples from Fruitwood Farm and Wm. Schober and Sons with cookies from Springdale Farm and Wild Flour Bakery.

Some (I hope all) of the farmers and vendors from whom I purchased:  Springdale Farm, Buck Wild Bison, Wild Flour Bakery, Flaim Farm, A.T. Buzby Farm, Hymer Farm, Formisano Farm, Muth Family Organic Farm, Viereck Farm, Savoie Organic Farm, Wm. Schober and sons, Fruitwood Farm, Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms.

For your next shopping trip to the market…don’t bring a list, have no preconceived notions.  Buy something new.  And have fun!

Thirty seven years ago, at the end of a whirlwind romance, I got married.  We met on a blind lunch date (with two other women) for lunch at a cafe that had recently witnessed a attempted organized crime hit.  That was in mid November.  After a lunch of enormous hamburgers, during which a truck backfired outside and my future husband comically tried to hide under the table, we dated for six weeks and became engaged at the end of December.  On the day after Valentine’s day, we were married.  We had twenty wedding guests at a lovely inn and then went off to a driving trip to New England and the temperature on Boston Common was 72 degrees.

We returned to a lovely rented carriage house that we shared with a raccoon and about fifty mice.

I had determined that we were going to be cozy.  Big mugs of tea.  Pots of soup.  Homemade breads and cakes.  And to that end I found a very simple recipe that I made weekly, called Cheerful Morning Apple Cake. And so it was.

Hardly anything went as planned those first few months and yet, we’re still together. But we were in love (still are) and everything was (still is)beautiful. Maybe it’s the apple cake.

This cake is very simple to make.  The batter is stirred with a spoon.  Of course I used a wooden spoon.

Ingredients:

for the dough:
Mix together–
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup of room temperature butter
1 egg

Stir in:
1/2 cup milk

Then, add:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

 

 

for the streusel mixture:
Mix together —
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 to 4 apples, peeled and sliced thin

Directions:
1.  Mix the dough well with a spoon. Spread half of the dough in the bottom of a 9×9 inch pan (I lightly  grease the bottom of the pan).

2.  Cover the dough with apple slices and the streusel mixture.

3.  Top with the other half of the dough.

4.  Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until lightly golden brown or for 25 to 35 minutes

 

I can’t guarantee that mornings will be cheerful because of this cake…but I can guarantee that the cake is simple and delicious and with a mug of tea, coffee, or cocoa…well…..

Apples are available at The Collingswood Farmers’ Market at Fruitwood Farms, and Schoeber’s.

Believe it or not this long weird-weather summer is coming to a close.  The produce is changing at The Collingswood Farmers’ Market.  Apples are here.  Winter squash is popping up.  And baskets of lima beans made their first appearance at A.T. Buzby’s table this weekend!

I am fortunate to have a grandson who enjoys cleaning lima beans.  He has fun opening the pods and popping the beans into a bowl.  Lucky for me!

What follows is a simple recipe for making succotash.  The recipe uses corn, lima beans, tomatoes, and butter.  It’s easily assembled …with help shucking the corn (husband!) and shelling the lima beans (grandson)… and easily cooked.  One pot does it all and all at once.

Ingredients:
Fresh corn (your ratios can differ…I used 4 ears of corn and a 1/2 cup of lima beans)
lima beans
2 small tomatoes (I used San Marzano plum tomatoes)
4 tablespoons butter (as I used sweet butter I added salt to my taste right before serving)

Directions:
1.  Melt butter in a pan
2.  Drop in chopped tomatoes following by corn and lima beans

3.  Let them cook in the melted butter for about five minutes.  Put a lid on the pot and cook at least five minutes more.  Check lima beans for doneness.  They should be soft, but not mush.

That’s it! Beautiful, simple, and delicious!

 

Lima beans from A. T. Buzby
Corn from A. T. Buzby CSA share
San Marzano tomatoes from Muth Organic Farm
Butter from Hillacres Pride

Corn and tomatoes are plentiful and can be found throughout the market.

 

The Collingswood Farmers’ Market now has a lamb vendor.  Headquarters Farm owned by Roger Byrom is located in Stockton NJ.

An article published in NJ.com states : “Headquarters Farm is a stunning historic property with the Neshanic River running through it. The farm, built in the mid-1700’s, is home to a flock of sheep cross-bred over the years to create the Headquarters Farm Romney/Romeldale/Jacob breed which are raised for meat production and sheepskin byproducts. Byrom raises and finishes his sheep and lambs on grass, as was customary during the time the farm was founded in the 18^th century. He also rents out his flock to solar farms to provide a sustainable mowing service and for invasive plant species control. Roger sells his meats and sheep skin byproducts directly to the consumer at several local markets.”  Including, now, Collingswood Farmers’ Market…every other week.

You can see and “like” the farm’s Facebook page here: Headquarters Farm Facebook page.

My daughters and I walked to the end of the market and quickly found Roger Byrom’s stand.  It was adorned with lamb skins and slippers and a large cooler full of frozen lamb meat.

One of my daughters bought slippers and ground lamb.  The other bought lamb cubes.  And I bought a leg of lamb for my husband to grill/smoke.  Roger assured me that it was a small leg…he showed me the large for comparison!

Ingredients:
small leg of lamb
olive oil for marinating and basting.
spices for dry rub (including…white onion, black pepper, lemon peel, salt, French thyme, roasted granulated garlic, Greek oregano, spearmint) Your preference.
small chuck of a mild wood for smoke in the grill (we used cherry)

Directions:
1.  After thawing the lamb, rub with olive oil and throughly cover with the dry rub spices you prefer (mint, oregano, garlic, rosemary…)  Put in the refrigerator for several hours, or better, overnight.

2.  Set the fire in the grill with a hot and cold area.  The leg will be roasted on the cold side of the grill.  Put the meat on the grill.  Put the lid on.  And monitor the temperatures of the grill and the meat.

3. The whole cook took only about 3 hours.  The “oven” temperature of the grill was a steady 230 degrees Fahrenheit.  Low and slow is a must when cooking lamb.  Lamb is extremely lean and will dry out and be tough if overcooked.  The meat easily rose to 140 degrees and was taken off to rest for about 40 minutes.

Serve with your favorite side dishes.  To accompany our grilled lamb we ate zucchini and white beans sautéed with olive oil and thyme.

Roger Byrom is the man to talk with if you love lamb….he sells a variety of different cuts and gives very good advice as to how to cook this new meat offering at Collingswood.

 

 

Maitake mushrooms are also called “hen of the woods”.  They have a funny name and they are funny looking.  They are to be fried when cooked and make a wonderful paring with steak.   We love them with a filet mignon.

This is a simple, delicious, and very special meal.

At the Collingswood Farmers’ Market we are fortunate enough to have, every week, Davidson’s Mushrooms from Kennett Square PA (THE MUSHROOM CAPITAL OF THE UNIVERSE!). Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms are at the end of the market and they sell over a half dozen different variety of very fresh mushrooms.

Ingredients:
1 small maitake mushroom
2 grass fed beef filet mignon
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
1. Put a skillet on a burner on the stove at medium to medium high temperature and melt the butter.
2. Tear the mushroom apart.  Be aware of the root (a small rough piece) and discard it.

3.  Toss the mushroom pieces into the skillet and fry until brown and crispy. Stir frequently.   Do not burn!
4.  Cut the filets in half across the width and dry on paper towels.
5.  When the mushrooms are brown and crispy take them out of the skillet and put aside.  6.  Sprinkle the filet lightly with salt.  Place the filet salt side down in the skillet.  Fry in the butter that is left in the pan for about three minutes.  Turn over and fry another two minutes.  The steaks will be rare to medium rare.  Fry another minute for more doneness if desired.

6.  When the steak is done, remove to a serving plate. Top with the fried mushrooms.  And serve with favorite sides.

Maitake mushrooms from Davidsons Exotic Mushrooms

Filet mignon from Hillacres Pride

Butter from Hillacres Pride (research shows that grass fed beef is best cooked in butter, not oil)

Potatoes from Muth Family Organic Farm

Green beans, tomatoes, onions from A.T. Buzby Farm (from my CSA share!)

Hillacres Pride has been selling their products at The Collingswood Farmers’ Market since 2006.  They started with cheese.  And then a little ground beef.  They gradually added their family grown farm products so that today they sell over 40 dairy products (no milk…Not in NJ!), over 45 beef products, over 25 pork products, 15 different sausages (from breakfast sage to chorizo to kielbasa), over a dozen chicken products, eggs, and a host of prepared products like meatballs, mac & cheese, beef BBQ, and cheese crackers!

Hillacres  Jerseys is the name of the family farm from which Hillacres Pride sprung.  Tom’s family had the farm first.  Then Tom married Mandy.  Tom and Mandy wanted to stay on the farm and raise their family.  They needed to add income to keep everyone together.  Cheese was the first and most obvious answer.  Jersey milk is high in protein and makes excellent cheese (according to Mandy)!  And so Mandy’s husband Tom dubbed their venture their pride….Hillacres Pride.

After cheese production came beef (cattle takes two years to raise) and then pork (pigs take seven months raise).  Tom and Mandy added a pasteurizer and processing plant in 2009, which helped to expand their cheese line.  And finally they added chickens.

I have purchased Hillacres Pride products since the first time they appeared with their cheese at The Collingswood Farmers Market.  I ventured into ground beef shortly after that.  And I haven’t looked back.

The first time I bit into a burger made from Hillacres Pride grass-fed beef I was five years old again.  (And that was a long time ago)!  This was what beef tasted like.  I remember.  Yes, beef should taste rich and buttery and full of flavor!

Hillacres Pride has a winter program.  Once a month, on a Saturday,  from December through April,  Judy (Mandy’s mom) and Roland (Mandy’s dad) set up shop for preorders items only in nearby Haddonfield.  I am proud to say that I am one of the two people who made up the first year of the winter program.  Now there are many, many winter people.  One simply signs up, orders online when the email reminder comes, and spend a minimum of $25.  Easy to do.

I no longer buy my meats from a supermarket or even a butcher.  I buy from Hillacres Pride.  And that has changed my eating life all for the better.

 

Links to some of my recipes using Hillacres Pride products.

Stuffed peppers
Quick collards with bacon
Elegant beets stacked with feta and peston fresh cheese
Asparagus chicken stir fry
Smoked Boston Butt and Hash (for two)
Chicken fingers and easy chicken parm
Slow cooker chicken paprikas
Pork chops with apples, leeks, and sweet potatoes
Prepared meals you can buy from Hillacres Pride
The best hot dog you’ve never hear of…Italian Style
Another smoked Boston butt
Johnny Marzetti….I love him!
Breakfast for dinner….BACON!
Stuffed Cabbage!
Chicken noodle soup…
Good for what ails you soup with a chicken and beef knuckle
Fresh Ham
Whole chicken in a slow cooker…just like rotisserie chicken, but easier to make
Sheet pan chicken and vegetables
Hamburger vegetable soup.
filet mignon with maitake mushrooms

Thank you Mandy, Tom, Judy, Roland …and the rest of the family!

Hillacres Pride website

We shoppers at The Collingswood Farmers’ Market are fortunate to have many wonderful farmers and vendors.  We are especially fortunate to have a wonderful mushroom vendor.

Our location is only a  short car ride away from the Mushroom Capital of the World, Kennett Square, PA.

Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms’ table is located (at the market) near near Duker T’s.  Their presence is small but their products are amazing.  If you’ve never eaten a fresh mushroom from Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms, you haven’t really tasted a mushroom.

Because Davidson’s grow their mushrooms indoors, they can guarantee to have portabello, crimini, shiitake, oyster, and maitake (Hen of the Woods) on a weekly basis.  They have now been carrying Lion’s Mane mushrooms regularly too.

Lion’s Mane mushrooms have a distinct texture that is different from a common crimini mushroom.  For this reason it is not recommended that the Lion’s Mane mushrooms be pan fried.  They will absorb all the butter or olive oil and become soggy.  Roasting is the best way to treat these unique fungi.

What follows is a recipe recommended to me by the Mushroom Man himself.  Because of their texture and delicate “seafood” like aroma and flavor, Lion’s Mane mushrooms can be made into “crab” cakes.

Ingredients and Directions for Preparing the mushrooms:

1/2 lb. Lion’s Man Mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper (to taste)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 clove of garlic (roasted and then combined with the mushrooms OR 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic (again, to taste)

Pull the root off the mushroom and discard, then shred the top of the mushroom like mozzarella cheese sticks.  Mix the above ingredients.  Spread out in a baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes.  Stir every ten minutes during the baking process.

While the mushrooms are baking mix the following ingredients in another bowl:

1 Tablespoon dried parsley
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 cup bread crumbs (I used panko for some crunch)
1/4 cup diced onion
1 egg
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon paprika
When the mushrooms have finished roasting, allow to cool slightly and mix with the rest of the ingredients.  Form into patties.  

At this point the patties can be put in the refrigerator until later.

Fry the patties in oil or butter until they are browned and warmed through.  10 to 15 minutes.

Serve them plain.  Serve them with your favorite sauce.  Serve them with mayonnaise on a roll.

My husband was born and raised in New England.  Fish cakes of any kind are a big thing.  He likes his served with baked beans….me, some mac and cheese.

My husband was skeptical…but he liked the Lion’s Mane “Crab” Cakes very much.  What he said was “these are actually good”! Definitely a recipe to make again and again (as we are part of the “aging population” and to share.

Mushrooms from Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms
Eggs from Savoie Organic
Mac & Cheese from Hillacres Pride

This is an easy to prepare delicate pudding.  It’s perfect for a large group and perfect for when you grow weary of corn on the cob!

My grandson is a little more than four years old and he likes to help.  He likes to help in the yard and in the kitchen, specifically .  This recipe is easy enough to allow a four year old to help and complicated enough for a four year old to be proud to help.

(All of the ingredients were pre-measured and set up on our prep table before my helper stepped up on the stool).

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 small green onions (scallions), trimmed and cut into thin rounds
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

 

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightly butter a 6 cup soufflé or baking dish.
2.  Melt the butter.  Cook the green onions in the melted butter until they just become translucent (about 3 to 4 minutes)
3.  In a small bowl, whisk the flour and 1/2 cup milk until smooth.  Set aside.
4.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk, and the seasonings.
5.  Next add the milk and flour mixture.  Then quickly stir in the corn and sautéed green onions.  Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
6.  Bake until the corn pudding is cooked through, 50 minutes to 1 hour.  It will jiggle when you move it, but it should not be liquid in the center.  Remove from oven and serve.

Great served with something off the grill!

 

This is quick preparation with a bit of a long bake so my helper, Pop, and I (Gramma) went on to build with bricks in the screened in porch while the pudding baked.  Our brick challenge (from a game where one chooses a card to see what has to be built) was to build a chair.  I think we did brilliantly!

 

Corn from Muth Organic Farm (but can be purchased at Buzby, Hymer, Fruitwood, and many other stands throughout the market)

Green onion also from Muth Organic Farm (can be purchased at many other stands throughout the market.

Butter from Hillacres Pride.

 

Easy way to save (freeze) corn to use when summer is over.  Shuck the ears of corn.  Cut the kernels off the ear…best to hold the ear on end in a deep bowl.  Spoon the kernels into zippered freezer bags.  Toss in the freezer.  Yup.  That’s all it takes.

When I was a child bell peppers came in one color and during one season.  Green.  Summer.  Occasionally someone would leave the pepper on the plant too long (or so we thought) and it would turn red.  But those were very exotic.

At the Collingswood Farmers’ Market there are green, purple, and white peppers for sale right now.  The red ones are coming.  It may be my imagination, but I think the purple and white peppers are milder than that traditional, old style green bell pepper.

This week I stopped at Muth Organic Farm to buy their white and purple peppers.  I wanted to make stuffed peppers.  The peppers were beautiful and the day was certainly hot enough to qualify as summer.

I learned to make stuffed peppers from my mother.  A traditional recipe to be sure.  Rice, meat, onions.  Stuffed in a pepper and put in a pot of tomato “sauce” and cooked on the stove top all afternoon.  I loved them.  But…as I grow older…this recipe is a little “harsh”.

What follows is an easy recipe that is mild and does not heat up the entire kitchen.  It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and stuff the peppers and to make a “mellow” tomato sauce.  Then everything is put into a slow cooker and cooked on low for 6 hours.  A perfectly perfect dinner for an extremely hot summer day.  While my dinner was cooking I was reading a book (…because I know you’re curious….the novel I am reading is the great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, written by Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset, tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period.  It is an enormous book and perfect for drowsy summer afternoons.  Try it…you might like it!) …  in front of an air conditioner.

Ingredients for the stuffed peppers:
a slow cooker
4 bell peppers
1/8 to 1/4 cup pearl barley
1/2 onion
6 button type mushrooms
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound ground beef
salt to taste

Directions for the stuffed peppers:
1.  Put the barley in a bowl and cover with water so that the water is about an inch above the barley.  Let soak while you are preparing the meat mixture.
2.  Cut the tops off each pepper and clean out the membrane and seeds that are inside.
3.  Dice the onions and mushrooms into small pieces.
4.  Melt butter in a frying pan and fry the onions and mushrooms for about 5 minutes (be careful not to burn them).
5. Drain the barley in a colander.
6.  Mix together in a bowl the ground meat, onions, mushrooms, barley, cheese, and salt.

7.  Stuff each cleaned out pepper.

Ingredients for the sauce:
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 can tomato soup
2 soup cans of water
2 tablespoons dried parsley
the juice of one whole lemon
1 teaspoon sugar

Directions for the sauce:
1.  Mix all ingredients together and pour into slow cooker.

When the sauce is mixed and in the slow cooker, stand the stuffed peppers in the sauce in the slow cooker.  The meat mixture should not be covered with the sauce.  The filled peppers should be standing in the sauce.

Set the slow cooker to low for six hours.

Then go read a book.

When finished take the cooked peppers out of the slow cooker and stand up in a serving bowl.  Sprinkle some more cheese on top.  Serve with a bowl of the sauce on the side.

 

Peppers purchased from Muth Organic Farm (peppers are plentiful at the market right now)

Ground beef and cheese and butter purchased from Hillacres Pride

Onions purchased from Muth Organic Farm and ATBuzby

Mushrooms purchased from Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms