A Mainstay Soup at Our Home - Wonderful For Fall

Now that there is some hope of cooler weather, I thought I'd share one of the soups that's a weekly mainstay at our home. You've got to try it and let me know! 

It's Tortilla Soup from the Fix-It and Forget It Cookbook (Good Publishers) and it's done in your crockpot!

My husband LOVES this soup. Both our daughters make it frequently and everyone they serve it to LOVES it.  

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast halves (cook, debone and shred chicken)

1 garlic clove, minced,

2 Tbsp. butter,

2 14 1/2 oz cans of chicken broth,

2 14 oz cans chopped stewed tomatoes,

1 cup salsa (mild, medium, or hot),

1/2 cup chopped cilantro,

1 Tbsp or more of ground cumin.

Melt the butter and add the minced garlic to it. Combine all the other ingredients in a slow cooker THEN add the sautéed garlic. Cover and cook on low for 8 - 10 hours.

Then shred or cube 8 oz of Monterey jack cheese - put this in your soup bowls. Ladle your soup over the cheese THEN sprinkle tortilla chips on the top and add a dollop of sour cream.

IT'S that easy and very yummy. I always double the recipe. It's great the first day and even better the second. And it freezes well— Enjoy! Let me know how you like it!

And He Takes My Hand

Little Boy Loves Goats from Lylah Ledner Goat Farmer on Vimeo.

Finally! Our Fall Market and Cafe Open This Thursday

It was nothing less than exciting to walk around this morning looking at all we'll be snipping, pulling and gathering for this week's RE-OPENING of our Thursday morning Fall Market and Cafe.  We open these days at 8:30 am and close at Noon.

We look forward to seeing our little cafe tables filled with people sipping coffee, eating lemon cranberry pound cake or nibbling pumpkin scones and enjoying some fresh fall air at our little suburban farm.

Pie Pumpkins from Crooked Sky Farms

Menu Plan for This Weeks Markets - See here on how to shop a market.
To help you in your menu planning and market shopping - this is what we'll have in our market baskets:

Swiss Chard

Kale

Lettuces

French Sorrel

Mustard Greens

Arugula

Okra

French Breakfast radish

Bunching Onions

Peppers

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Squash

Watermelon

Apples (English Orchards)

Sweet Potatoes (Crooked Sky complement)

Sweet Onions (Crooked Sky complement)

Red Potatoes (Crooked Sky complement)

Pumpkins (Crooked Sky) - check out how last year our market looked. Lots of changes!

Crow's Dairy goat chevre and feta ( of course) 

Maybe some carrots and beets.

Herbs:

Thyme

Oregano

Lemon Verbena

Winter Savory

Garlic Chives

Mint

Basil

In the next few weeks - we'll add spinach, sugar snap peas and turnips to the lists.

Jill's Guide To Phoenix Garden's Start Now

I have some of the most amazing friends and Jill Green of Sweet Life Garden is one of them.  I learn from Jill. She teaches me . . .

Today, her blog post was so good that I had to repost some of her gardening pictures here and then tell you to go HERE to read all about HOW to start YOUR OWN back yard garden. Jill has a simple step by step approach and her style of communication will make it understandable and a doable. Not only do you need to go to her post HERE....but please subscribe to her blog and receive her gardening "how to" updates.

Tell her Lylah sent you!

HSM & Regular Markets - French Cafe - Gonna be Wonderful

This morning I went outside - let the girl and boy goats out of their night time pens, went around to set up the morning HSM (Honor System Market - one of you gave it the initials and that's what we'll call it) with some wonderful squash, red mustard, slicing cucumbers, okra and eggplant.

SWEET BREAKFAST BREADS
I'm loving the new pumpkin scones from Grano de Vida. We still have an exclusive with this fabulous bread baker - who you will get to MEET this next week.  Besides the pumpkin scones (butter, cream and eggs - oh Julia Child would be proud!), Carol makes us cranberry scones, lemon cranberry loaves, cinnamon bread, and another new breakfast bread....apple cinnamon. All simply amazing.  If you don't see them on the bread table - look in the black refrigerator.

MORE FALL PRODUCE
Later this morning (Friday) we're setting up beautiful cooking/baking pumpkins (Complementing with Crooked Sky Farms), butternut and spaghetti squash, sweet onions, yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The other thing I'm excited about is the Apple Cider that's coming - we'll only have 24 and they'll go quick.

HSM
So...what is HSM - It's our Honor System Market - we'll continue that market - with items that you see have been seeing. Most everyone has figured out how it works - with weighing your own produce, using the white pad of paper in the vintage black armoire to write your name, what your purchased and the amount and then putting your cash (we have no change) or your check - made to The Simple Farm in that silver drop box inside the armoire.  Some of you even leave us little notes which always make us smile.

Thursday  Morning Market
I know we've gone back and forth and the driveway signs have been confusing. However - NEXT week - October 11 and 13 - we'll be back with the market/cafe combination at our farm.

Market Hours
8:30 am until noon - Thursday only.

French Cafe
Cooler weather brings everyone out and of course - we'll have our 50 cent cup of coffee and a selection of Grano de Vida breakfast breads at the morning cafe.

HUGE Sweet Watermelon, French Sorrel, French Breakfast Radishes. . .

. . . will all be on display at our HSM (Honor System Market) Wednesday morning.

Last week Ted came by the farm to pick up some caramel (they really like it at their family) and I showed him a few melons that were probably just about ready.  Ted picked his own, cut it, carried it off and sent me some pics along with a sweet story about it weighing 20+ pounds and tasting amazing.

Our French Breakfast radishes have gone wild. They're ready to be picked and I'll do that Wednesday morning.

The other day a woman and her daughter came to the farm. I always like to ask people how they found out about us. She told me she'd been looking for French Sorrel and my farm popped up. She was looking for it to make a Indian (from India) dish.  I have happy sorrel and was glad to cut a bag for her.

So - watermelon, radishes and French Sorrel will be something new at the HSM.

Oh, our Thursday market will open NEXT week - October 11th at 8:30 am and we'll close up the market at Noon.  Yummy breakfast breads and coffee will be served at our French Cafe AND our farm bread maker will be our farm guest. I can't wait for you all to meet Carol and tell her much your LOVE and are addicted to her breads!

Milking Goats

Little Goat Milker from Lylah Ledner Goat Farmer on Vimeo.