Sunday, August 14, 2011

chipotle fish tacos with sweet fire salsa





Combine flour, Chipotle mix, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in beer to create a batter.
Coat cod pieces in the batter. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Letting excess batter drip back into the bowl, add the fish to the pan; cook until crispy and golden, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Serve the fish with tortillas and salsa.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Rustic Italian Pasta Salad

1 box of cooked rotini pasta

1 green pepper diced

2 cucumbers peeled and diced

4 tomatoes diced

1 package of The Culinary Herb Farm Rustic Italian Mix

1 1/2 cups of olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon parmesan cheese

2 cloves of garlic diced

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, and rinse with cold water until completely cool.

In large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and toss well. Serve chilled or at room temperature. salt and pepper to taste



Friday, August 5, 2011

Organic Farming


One hornworm will eat through a whole tomato plant in 3 days. and we cant pick all of these suckers off our plants. but there is a way to let nature help us out.
Meet the Braconidae, a wasp family that is a friend to the home gardener and commercial producer alike. these little jewels are a significant biological control against thousands of other insect species.The female wasp uses her ovipositor to lay eggs just under the skin of an unlucky hornworm. As the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the hornworm’s viscera–literally eating a hornworm alive. Larvae chew their way out through the host’s skin when they mature.
Once outside, the future wasps pupate, spinning tiny oval cocoons that look like insect eggs along the external back and sides of the worm. These fellows–and ladies–are not just innocently hitching a ride. When the adult wasps emerge from the cocoons, the already weakened hornworm will soon die, thus preventing any further defoliation on tomato plants.
So, if you see a bright green hornworm carrying what looks like a clutch of white-colored insect eggs on its back, leave it there! The hornworm is not only feeding its own destruction, it is also carrying potential destroyers of hornworm brothers, sisters and descendants. That means we get those wonderful, luscious tomatoes right off the vine, the braconids get a meal and a future, and the hornworms get…GONE!