Our passion for fresh local ingredients...

We made a commitment when we first re-started the bakery to source local ingredients as often as possible.  We were so excited when we found a local mill, but we quickly realized that we were paying as much in shipping for our flours as we were for the actual flours. When it came time to re-order more flour, instead of having it shipped again, I thought it would be a good idea to make a trip out to Small Valley Milling. This mill has been exceptional from day 1 with hearing our needs and providing us with some of the best flour I believe money can buy. Unfortunately Halifax is two hours from Quakertown. I knew this trip would be special because I would be able to see first hand how our flour is made. A goal we have is to know where our food comes from and this was a perfect opportunity to do this.

Joel Steigman is the owner of Small Valley Milling. He converted his mill to an all-organic mill in 1999 and has never looked back. He was very welcoming and interested in the Farm Bakery. His mill offers Spelt flour, both whole and white, as well as other specialty flours. I was blown away by the size of some of the equipment! I took some pictures for you all to see.  The flours Small Valley Milling produce taste noticeably better, and all of the minerals and vitamins are preserved because the grains are properly grown and milled.  The Farm Bakery is all about using the cleanest, healthiest ingredients in our baked goods. Our continued partnership with Small Valley Milling will assure this, even if it's 2 hours away! I believe it's certainly worth the sacrifice to bring our customers wholesome ingredients and keep our costs in check. 

Thanks for sharing in our passion of good wholesome foods.

-Chris

Cherry Dumplings....Mmmmmm!

I was so excited my Aunt Janet reached out to me last week and stated that she had found Grandma Mikulitsch's Cherry Dumpling Recipe.  Grandma Mikulitsch is my father's Grandmother or my Great Grandma.  Many of the recipes Grandma Meyers made were originated from her Mom and it's exciting to be able to share some of these old recipes.  I'm not sure about you all, but I had never had a Cherry Dumpling and I have to say that they are definitely not one of our Healthy Recipes. They were a lot of fun to make, especially right now with cherries being in season.  Grandma Mikulitsch brought this recipe over from her home-town in Austria and often made this recipe for my Aunt and Father for dinner, that's right not dessert, but they ate these dumplings for dinner!

Friday's at "The Farm" we like to call our test kitchen night.  We had a lot of fun making these dumplings with the entire family!!  Lets us know if you try these out, we did make them for dessert by the way!!  I have a feeling we will be making these again with a little healthy twist!!

Enjoy your Cherry Dumplings,

Becca

Cherry Dumplings

Makes 12-16

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups of Flour
• 1/2 Cup Mashed Potatoes
• 1 Cup of Water, plus extra if needed to make dough
• 48 Bing Cherries - Wash & Pit ahead of time - 3 per dumpling
• 1-2 Sticks of Butter
• 1-2 Cups of Plain Bread Crumbs
• 4 T of Sugar

Instructions:

1. Make dough.  Combine 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and 1 cups of a water in a bowl.  Mix until thoroughly combined using a mixer with a dough hook or a fork until you have a dough consistency.  Add more water as needed.  Form the dough into a ball.
2. Flour a your work surface, sprinkle more flour on your dough and a rolling pin.  Roll out the dough as big as you can using your floured rolling pin until about 1/2 inch in thickness.  Keep flipping the dough and flouring the surface and rolling pin until its fully rolled out.  
3. Cut dough in squares.  (Big enough to fit 3 cherries)
4. Add 3 cherries to each square, close and seal.   Roll into round balls.
5. Bring large pot of water to a boil.  Add dumplings, keep at a simmer for 10 minutes and then drain.
6. In a large non-stick frying pan, melt 1 or 2 sticks of butter, add in 1 or 2 cups of bread crumbs and approximately 4 tablespoons of sugar.  This is the bread crumb mixture that will coat your dumplings so you can use as much or as little as you would like depending on your taste.
7. Add the Dumplings into the pan, toss and coat with the crumb mixture until lightly browned.
8. Serve warm either plain or topped with vanilla ice cream.  
9. Scrumptious!!!  

The "Cupola" went on today.....

When we started planning the renovation we never really thought about all of the little details to plan as part of the restoration.  When Christian our builder asked us if we would like a Cupola, I really had no idea what he was talking about.  So after a little explaining, a "Cupola" is basically the small structure that goes on the top of the roof that can provide ventilation to the building and also acts as a ground for lightening storms.  You see these on barns across the country in all different shapes and sizes.  Since our barn is relatively large, our Cupola is actually 5 feet by 5 feet. It was quite large close up. But now that its up on the roof it looks perfect.  

In addition, you can see from the pictures that they are placing new boards on the outside of the beams.  These will help to reinforce the structure of the barn, but once the siding goes on you will not be able to see them from the inside.  The goal is to maintain the structure of the barn on the inside so you can still see all of the old beams that the barn was built with back in the 1800's. 

We are really excited with the progress.  There is still a lot to be done, but Christian and his team are working extremely hard to make every last detail perfect.

Until next time....

Warmly, 

 Chris & Becca Lynde

Taco Tuesday at "The Farm"

Although we love to have our traditional Mexican inspired dishes on Thursday's, in the summer we love to add in some great Fish Tacos.  I remember a few years ago when Chris told me he was going to make Fish Tacos, lets just say I was not very excited about them.  However, after tasting them, they are now a staple at our house, especially in the summer.  These Fish Tacos, are light, fresh, and bursting with flavor.  Not to mention, we have added a few nice healthy twists to these to keep the calories down.

We hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Warmly,

 Becca

Fish Tacos with Guacamole and Chipotle Cream

(Yield: 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. white fish (cod is a great fish, but you can really use any fish)
• 1 box hard-shell tacos (I use the blue corn, stand and stuff yellow is good too)
• ½ red cabbage shredded
• non-stick spray, either olive oil or canola oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 400 degree F.
2. Spray a sheet pan with the oil then arrange the fish on the sheet pan.  Fish should not be touching.  Then spray the top of the fish with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Set this aside while you assemble the toppings

Guacamole

Ingredients:

•  3 Avocados
• Juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
• Half red onion, ¼” dice
• Handful of cilantro
• 2 medium-sized vine ripe tomatoes, ¼” dice
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Split the avocado and remove the pit, score the avocado in a grid pattern, then scoop the pulp into a medium-size bowl. 
2. Add the lemon/lime juice to the bowl and stir.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Put your fish in now.
5. And follow the instructions for baking the shells on the packaging.

Chipotle Cream

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. plain greek yogurt
• 1/8 c. almond milk (any milk will do)
• 2 tbs. chipotle sauce (I find this in the Mexican food section)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.  It should be the consistency of heavy cream
2. To plate add the fish first (I take a spatula and break the fish into strips) to the shell, then layer the chipotle crème, guacamole, then shredded cabbage.  

The "New" Roof is on......

It is truly amazing to watch these hard-working Amish gentlemen take the barn down piece by piece and then re-build it.  They started with the roof.   Their goal is to remove the old roof, reinforce the rafters and then put the new roof back on as quickly as possible to protect the structure and wood on the interior of the barn.  We have been praying daily over all of these men to keep them safe, especially with how high the barn roof is, its actually kind of scary to watch.  The project was started a little over a week ago and the roof is completely finished!  It really looks amazing and had we not started this renovation I'm not quite sure how much longer that old roof would have lasted.  There were actually two layers that needed to be removed, the old first shingle layer and then someone years ago must of repaired the roof by just placing slate shingles over top.  The weight of the roof was so heavy that some of the rafters and beams had started to bend.  They were able fix all of the issues and the roof looks amazing.  

We still have a long way to go, but it's really exciting to see the progress!!  I cannot wait to see the new windows and big barn doors that will go in to add some light on the inside and make "The Barn" a really special place to host a wedding or event!  Here are some of the pictures so far!  Make sure to sign up for our Newsletter for our weekly updates on "The Barn" renovation!!  Check out this sneak peak on what the future holds.

One last thing, my Dad heard that every barn has a coin that is put in when it was originally built.  We are still looking for the coin in hopes to find the exact year that the barn was built.  Has anyone else heard this?  When we asked our Amish builders they had not heard of it before, but we are still hopeful.

We continue to trust God every step of the way!!!  

-Chris & Becca 

"We live by faith, not by sight."  

2 Corinthians 5:7