Tag Archives: aitkin

Pizza Crust

Posted on by under pork, Recipes

pizza

Pizza. I once heard it is the perfect pregnancy food. All the food groups can be added and it’s hard to despise the taste. For us, it satisfies every child too. A favorite pastime for us is to ask ultimate questions like, “If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” 99% of the time, we settle on pizza. The toppings are so versatile and now, with cauliflower crust, almond flour crust, coconut flour crust or even zucchini crust (yes, I’ve made this), the crust can be versatile too.

Hopefully, with the recipe I have for you today, you have some tomatoes you’ve preserved from last year’s harvest, because you’ll want to make tomato sauce and pick up some mozzarella. As for extra toppings, think Italian sausage or brats. My boys love these thin sliced and placed on top.

We currently have a sale on for some tasty, local meat too. Check out our recent email newsletter: Click here! Or browse what we currently have available: Click here!

Today I want to share our favorite crust. We’ve been using this for years. You can substitute some or all of the flour for freshly ground or whole wheat too and it still works great. Add some extra olive oil to a bar pan with raised sides and it makes great deep dish. Roll it thin and it also makes an excellent thin crust. I’ve even used this for calzones.

Best part? Mix it up and, after getting all the toppings ready, it’s ready to be put in the oven just twenty minutes later. If you don’t have a favorite pizza crust, give it a try. I think you’ll like this one!

Favorite Pizza Crust

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour, additional if needed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 teaspoon or more olive oil, to seal finished dough
  1. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
  2. Add the water and knead for about ten-fifteen minutes or eight minutes in a mixer. Use the stretch test to see if the dough is ready to rest. Simply stretch the dough and if it can become thin without breaking, it has been kneaded enough.
  3. Pour a bit of olive oil over the dough, sealing it, cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
  4. Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit.
  5. After the dough has risen, knead it a bit and place it on a pizza pan. Roll it as thin or as thick as you like.
  6. Add all the seasonings, toppings, and cheese you prefer.
  7. Bake for 11 – 15 minutes at 450 Fahrenheit.

Enjoy!

Prepared

Posted on by under chicken, Farm, pork

Now’s the time to start planning what seasonal goods you’ll need for the year. In MN that’s almost everything, including chicken.

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In this picture we have some zucchini brownies and some spaghetti ready to be quickly made. We have grown to love okra in our tomato sauce. I freeze it whole (super easy) and then blend it into cold sauce when making a recipe. It adds a touch of flavor and makes a thicker, less watery sauce. Our okra has started to produce already and we hope to have plenty to bring to market this year.

You’ll also see our Italian sausage links. Having meat in the freezer and available has put my mind at ease and helped me to avoid shopping, a task I do not enjoy. I always have something available for a quick meal. That’s especially helpful in the busy or overwhelming seasons of the year which for us coincides with planting, weeding and preparing for markets throughout the summer.

We hope you will be able to stop by one of our markets to say hi. We plan to be at the Aitkin Historical Society’s Depot Museum (right next to the Holiday gas station) on Fridays throughout the summer. This Friday we will be there from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm.  Hope to see you there.

Here’s one last reminder. This week is the week to order chicken and turkey for the year! Also, if you’re wanting pork, we have it available by the pound now or halves and whole in the fall. Give us a call this week and we’ll get you all set up for convenient meals all year long.

You can also still order beef and pork to be processed closer to November and December. Send us an email at righteousoaksfarm@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Printable order form: Click here!

Valentine Eggs

Posted on by under Farm, Recipes

Eggs! Our chickens are producing so many right now and we have very few customers. Our boys take good care of Chubb, Goldie, Floppy, Featherfoot, Nightshade, Featherina, Grouchy, Lanky, Bossy and all the rest that look too similar to name. We give our boys non-gmo and soy-free feed for their chickens and, in return, we receive all the eggs we would like.

img_1436The Nix boys would like to offer a dozen eggs for $3.50 to anyone interested. They range in size from large to jumbo. Most of the yolks are dark yellow, providing a high omega 3 ratio for a quality egg. The chickens are kept warm and run throughout our large high tunnel all winter and play among the grass and bugs the rest of the year.

Since we have dozens of eggs in our fridge, I found a fun recipe and an idea for our Valentine’s day celebration. Hope you have fun trying them out for yourselves!

First, my little guy and I made a delicious andimg_1614 flour-less (great for those who are gluten-free) chocolate cherry cake. I am not in the habit of creating baking recipes, but this woman sure knows her stuff:
Flourless Chocolate Cherry Cake
We sure enjoyed mixing this up together.

Second, I had fun making a simple, but surprisingly tasty lunch item for my men (little and big).img_16191 Basically, all you need is a hot dog or sausage cut almost to the end in two , a toothpick to cinch it together, and an egg for the center. Place the heart-shaped hot dog in a heated pan, drop an egg in each heart, cover and cook until they are done to your liking. It went well with an english muffin. Also, a little ketchup on the side is great for those of us who can’t eat a hot dog without it.

Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Eating!