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Blogs for March, 2013

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Enjoy: Easter

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One of the sweetest times of year to spend with family, friends and some little yellow peeps, I love Easter. This year at The City Farm we decided to enjoy our Easter with each other by creating an imaginative twist on Easter desserts! Based on a traditional chocolate pudding recipe, we infused our signature with some Avocados straight from our groves and of course, the soon to debut City Farm Avocado Honey. I have a sweet tooth with a different twist, gravitating towards non-dairy options we provided you with both a non-dairy pudding–and one that tastes just a tad bit richer!

To make our non-dairy Chocolate Avocado pudding, you will need:

6 ripe avocado, peeled and flesh removed from pit

1/2 cup quality cocoa powder (100% pure cacao)

1/2 cup pure honey (soon to be City Farm!) 

1/2 cup coconut milk

3 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Prep time, about 10 minutes. I’m a fan of quick sweet eats. Place all items in mixing bowl, simply mix together with a hand or stand mixer. This recipe will make approximately 6 – 8 half cup servings. This recipe is 100% free of dairy and any refined sugar additives.

For traditional Avocado Chocolate Pudding, use the following ingredients:

One pack of Jello chocolate mix and 3 cups of whole milk.   Mix well, and chill!

Ingredients  Photo 2Chocolate Avocado Pudding

We photographed both the non-dairy and traditional Avocado Chocolate Pudding side by side, with rice whip cream and homemade whipped cream to create a layered (and delicious) look.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding and Peeps Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Get creative at an Easter party with some peeps and chocolate Hershey eggs! We hope you enjoy your Easter, and bring a little City Farm to all of your friends and family!

Walking "Beep" to Set

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My Love Affair with Pizza

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The very first time I ate a homemade pizza was in my parents’ kitchen. I was ten years old and the Italian movie star Rosanno Brazzi and his wife were visiting us. Lydia Brazzi made the dough and the tomato sauce. The “pizza pie” was cooked in my mother’s old white enamel oven, where the top temperature was about four-hundred-fifty degrees…not hot enough to get the chewy crisp crust I love today. Lydia was so excited to be preparing her “specialty” for us. It wasn’t until after she and Rosanno had left that I told my mother I liked the version at our local pizzeria better.

The best pizza in the world is found in Italy.  It doesn’t matter what city or town you are in, the pizza will be perfect…not just because the ingredients are fresh, the ovens are hot, and the waiters are sexy.  It’s because while you are savoring each bite you’ll be looking at the Grand Canal, the Ponte Vecchio, the Pantheon, or some other architectural wonder.

The best pizza I have had here in California is at…I almost hate to give you the name of the place because the wait is already so long there…but here goes.  Il Dolce, a modern pizzeria-restaurant located at the corner of Harbor Blvd and 19th Street in Costa Mesa, has the best pizza I have had this side of Italy.  The owner, a highly trained pizza chef certified by the Verace Pizza Napolitana Association, prepares the pizza then bakes it in a wood-burning oven. Everything about the pizza is perfection…the tomato sauce, the homemade mozzarella, and the chewy crisp crust.
Buon Appetito!   Il Dolce, 1902 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa, 949.200.9107

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Today. In my World.

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Enjoy: Sweet Friday Delight

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Keeping my Friday tradition, the City Farm went sweet this week; marshmallows, to be exact! We decided to have a little fun in the kitchen in celebration of sending out our first monthly newsletter (join us on the homepage if you haven’t received yours!) with featured products for the month of March. April’s products may be centered around food, but we have a few other City Farm must-sees to send your way. I digress; I needed something sweet, but also something that could be make quickly, food and convenience are my top two.

Two desserts sounded right. City Farm Marshmallow cups, and traditional Rice Krispie treats (who doesn’t love those?) Our City Farm Marshmallow cups can be easily made, all you need are:

1 bag marshmallows, 1 bag chocolate chips, Peanut butter, almonds, granola, candy of your choice and Cupcake cups

The art of creating the perfect marshmallow cup is layering. Begin with a bottom layer of marshmallows, next add in the layer of peanut butter and another candy/nut mix of choice. Add layer two of marshmallows, add a healthy layer of chocolate chips (chocolate is full of antioxidants), and top with another layer of marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown! Think s’mores, oven style. Let these delights cool for just a minute! They taste best served hot. Enjoy, and don’t be fooled by their overwhelming appearance. They taste delicious!

photo (47)      photo (49)

 

More on the traditional side, I decided to make delicious Rice Krispie treats next. To make these buttery sticky squares of heaven you will need:photo (48)

3 tpsp butter, 1/2 bag of marshmallows, 2 cups rice krisp cereal

Mix the melted butter with the melted marshmallows (microwave for 45 seconds at medium power) together, and pour in your rice krisp cereal. Mix all together in a small baking pan, and pop in the refrigerator! Allow your treats to cool in the refrigerator for 5 minutes, then simply cut the squares, and enjoy!

Happy Friday, may yours be as sweet as mine!

Look up here!

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Its amazing what you will find in your own back garden.  If you just look up, you might just see one of these.

I had noticed some owl pellets (pods of vomit – I know, lovely right?) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_%28ornithology%29)  in my front garden, and being inquisitive I decided to poke around in a few of them, to see what the local owls were eating these days.  Nothing out of the norm, a rat, a ground squirrel, maybe a gofer.  Lots of teeth and bones and hair.  Then I noticed one that was still quite fresh (read: squishy and soft) and entertained the idea that this had not long been regurgitated!  So from that spot on the ground, I looked up and the barn owl in the picture above, was looking straight down at me!

He stayed in my beautiful Chinese Elm for about a month.  During the daylight hours I would search the branches and find him sleeping.  Oblivious to the dogs or the noise I was making from working in the garden, he stayed on and slept.  Around 5pm-6pm, he would slowly wake up and groom as seen below.  Getting ready for a night of adventure and tasty meals!