Summer Brings Local Farmer’s Markets
Summer Brings Local Farmer’s Markets
Every Saturday throughout the summer in Nevada City, you can enjoy a beautiful morning at the local Farmer’s Market. The Farmer’s Market is the community’s source for LOCAL fresh produce and music, educational demonstrations, face painting, and good old fashioned fun for the entire family. Shopping at your local farmer’s market is an enjoyable activity that brings the community together for food and friendship. It is an educational opportunity for many. You can learn directly from farmers and other experts about growing practices, crop seasons, and even cooking tips.
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning.
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
12 Days of Sharing:Famous Magic Cookie Bars
12 Days of Sharing
It was really exciting to participate as a co-host yesterday in the 12 Days of Sharing. I enjoyed making the Holiday Eggnog Fudge and it was a bit hit with the family, my taste testers. This has been an adventurous baking week for me. I’ll soon be posting some of our bake sale recipes for tomorrow’s huge event at the Nevada County Toy and Food Run. The Nevada County Food & Toy Run benefits many families and children directly during our annual bike run in December.
In 1991 four motorcyclists thought about what they could do to help families in need during the upcoming holiday season. They came up with an interesting idea and within a few weeks created an event. The event drew 90 bikers and a responsive cord was struck in merchants, law-enforcement personnel, and the residents in the small sierra-foothill communities of Nevada City and Grass Valley. The event was the birth of the Nevada County Food & Toy Run, a “non-profit charitable” organization sponsoring fundraiser’s to help families in need.
The holiday season is upon us, and you can feel the magic in the air. While you are out and about shopping, consider sharing that magic with children across America. By clicking on the bage below, your donation will help a hungry child. Over the course of the year, nearly 17 million children are at risk of hunger in America. That’s a pretty large number. With your donation, Share Our Strength is able to provide support to more than 1,000 non-profit organizations across America, help low-income families learn how to eat better for less through their programs and reach the goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015.
Have a favorite cookie recipe? Consider adding a recipe to the 12 Days of Sharing virtual cookie jar. The cookie swap will run until December 18th, so there’s still time to participate:
- Simply make a donate to Share Our Strength by clicking on the above 12 Days of Sharing Badge. By donating you will be entered in a giveaway to win some fantastic prizes inluding a new Cuisinart Mixer, Gift Certificates and More! Every little bit makes a difference, so no donation is too small.
- Submit your favorite cookie recipe to the Virtual Cookie Jar. Share with your fellow readers on Twitter, Facebook, My Space and encourage them to join in as well. (How to participate details)
- Visit In Jennie’s Kitchen often and the Virtual Cookie Jar for featured recipes, more from bloggers hosting, and recipes from the virtual cookie jar.
Here’s a common traditional cookie that we’ll be selling at our bake sale tomorrow and they are really easy to make. I usually make them with butterscotch flavored chips, but for the bake sale, I’m using semisweet chocolate morsels. This will be my contribution to the virtual cookie jar today.
Magic Cookie Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels, butterscotch flavored morsels or peanut butter morsels
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. I like to use my large bar pan for making these because it evenly conducts heat and these cookies comes out great! If you don’t have a large bar pan, you can coat a 13×9 baking pan with no stick cooking spray.
Combine the gragham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crumb mixture. Layer evenly with the chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press firmly with finger tips or a fork.
Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamond shapes. Store at room temperatures.
These are absolutely fabulous! Enjoy!
12 Days of Sharing:Holiday Eggnog Fudge~Noel’s Kitchen Tips
- Our Backyard on the Ranch
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. With the temperatures dropping, snowflakes falling, the fireplace lit and the holiday decorations are all through the house. To me, the holidays are so much fun when the whole family can get involved, especially the kids. One of the best ways to make wonderful holiday memories with kids is to bake holiday cookies and treats. Homemade baked goods are extremely popular during the holidays. The memories that creating Christmas baked goods provide is by far the most important thing.
This holiday season, I wanted to try some new Christmas recipes to share with family, friends and add to our team’s Nevada County Bakers family cookbook.
Today I’m sharing one of those new recipes with you as part of the 12 Days of Sharing, being hosted by In Jennie’s Kitchen. This year I’ve enjoyed being active in my community and excited about being able to take part in the Share Our Strength campaign during this past year and dedicating myself to help in the fight against childhood hunger. Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.
By posting and sharing your favorite holiday cookie, candy or treat along with a favorite holiday memory, you can contribute to the Share Our Strength Campaign by raising awareness in your community and across America. In the year ahead, nearly 17 million children in America will face hunger. That’s nearly one in four children. This holiday season, you can help. Join us in the fight to End Childhood Hunger.
The cookie swap will run until December 18th, so there’s still time to participate:
- Simply make a donate to Share Our Strength by clicking on the above 12 Days of Sharing Badge. By donating you will be entered in a giveaway to win some fantastic prizes inluding a new Cuisinart Mixer, Gift Certificates and More! Every little bit makes a difference, so no donation is too small.
- Submit your favorite cookie recipe to the Virtual Cookie Jar. Share with your fellow readers on Twitter, Facebook, My Space and encourage them to join in as well. (How to participate details)
- Visit In Jennie’s Kitchen often and the Virtual Cookie Jar for featured recipes, more from bloggers hosting, and recipes from the virtual cookie jar.
This recipe looks, smells and tastes great! Fudge is always a perfect sweet gift during the holidays.
Holiday Eggnog Fudge
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, chilled
2 cups sugar
1 cup eggnog
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
2 cups mini-marshmallows
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions:
Line a 9×12-inch pan with aluminum foil and set aside. Rub the sides of a large saucepan with a little butter.
Add the eggnog and sugar, and bring to a rolling boil over medium to medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for two minutes.
Fold in the marshmallows, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring back to a light boil for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add the butter, white chocolate.
Stir until thoroughly mixed or until the mixture starts to lose its glossy appearance.
Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with pecans. Cool at room temperature. Remove from pan, remove foil, cut into 1-inch squares.
www.noelskitchentips.com
It’s great fun to make holiday cookies and treats with kids during the Christmas season. Holiday baking is something that can be shared with family members of all ages. Happy Holidays!
12 Days of Sharing:Lemon Muffins and Mango Jam
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in the Sierra Foothills. Our first snow of the season has fallen. The trees are covered and the ground looks like powdered sugar. The baking season is upon us and today is the first day of 12 Days of Sharing.
For the next 12 days I’ll be posting some homemade baked goods and jams in honor of the 12 Days of Sharing. On Saturday, our team Nevada County Bakers will be at the Nevada County Food and Toy Run selling those baked goods and homemade jams to raise money for the Share Our Strength campaign. Being part of the Share Our Strength campaign, I’ve met a lot of fellow food bloggers dedicating their time to this great cause, including fellow food blogger, Jennifer Perillo of In Jennie’s Kitchen who is hosting our 12 Days of Sharing event.
Today I’ve decided to contribute to the Virtual Cookie Jar a zesty Lemom Muffin recipe along with a homemade Mango jam. This is one new recipe I’ll add to our bake sales.These muffins are light and fluffy with a zesty kick. I hope you enjoy them! Later in the week I’ll be dedicating more to the cookies.
If you would like to donate to Share Our Strength, just click on the badge below. By donating you will be entered in a giveaway to win some funtastic prizes inluding a new Cuisinart Mixer, Gift Certificates and More!
Zesty Lemon Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar, plus a little extra to sprinkle on top of muffins before baking
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Directions:
In a medium size mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add egg yolks one at a time, beating well. Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture. Slowly add the lemon juice, beating well.
Lightly beat eggs whites until frothy. Fold egg whites into batter; stir in lemon zest. Using large scoop, fill muffin cups about three-quarters full. Sprinkle tops of muffins with sugar.
Bake lemon muffins at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly brown. Makes about 12 lemon muffins.
Mango Jam
Ingredients
12 cups fresh mango diced
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
zest of 1 lemon
Directions:
In a medium pot, cook mango slices in water about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Add sugar. Boil until thick and of jam consistency. Stir often to prevent scorching. Cool to room temperature. Jam will thicken as it sits. Spoon into canning jars. Makes a great holiday gift.
The Gift of a Cookie:12 Days of Sharing
Giving cookies as a gift or thank you is a common tradition around the holidays, like when you bake for your neighbor or friend.
Buy a cookie-Help make a difference! Put a smile on your face and on a child’s knowing that you helped make a difference in a child’s life.
As many of you know, I started my team of community bakers to include moms, dads, grandparents, friends and local business owners at the beginning of the school year. The response from everyone has been tremendous.
The Nevada County Bakers is off to a hot start this holiday season with an array of events. Starting Monday, December 7th-December 12th, a group of fellow foodies will be participating in the 12 Days of Sharing, hosted by In Jennie’s Kitchen - a virtual cookie swap as part of the Share Our Strength campaign. All are welcome to participate!
The Nevada County Bakers will be topping the 12 Days of Sharing by participating in the Nevada County Food and Toy Run on Saturday, December 12th. So those of you who are locally in the area, stop on by for an assortment of baked goods, raffle prices and support our community.
Join us in making a difference this holiday season. Not only will you find some amazing cookie recipes for this holiday season, with your donation, you’ll receive a giveaway ticket for some pretty cool gifts. How exciting is that?
Visit the virtual cookie jar and find a favorite recipe. Then pay it forward and click the 12 Days of Sharing badge to make a donation. Every amount counts, so no donation is too small.
Share Your Season:Homemade For The Holidays
Share Your Season with the Nevada County Bakers
With the holidays approaching fast, it’s time for another Bake Sale for our team of bakers. We are testing some favorite holiday recipes and planning what to bake and putting together some favorite holiday gifts sets. Our next bake sale is planned for Saturday, December 12, 2009. (Further details to follow in future posts.)
For families facing hunger, the holidays can be one of the hardest times of the year. This holiday season you can Share Your Season and help end childhood hunger in America and in your community.
Homemade For The Holidays
The crispness of the Fall air and the beautiful colors of the leaves remind me of the holidays and making fresh baked goods. As we move into November, there are a number of pumpkin recipes that come to mind. I am happy to be baking one of my all time favorite pumpkin recipes for this holiday bake sale. It’s moist and full of flavor.
Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/4 cup cranberries (optional)
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two inch loaf pans. (Or use mini loaf pans)
2.In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, sugar and vanilla until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and pumpkin spice. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pecans may be added at this point. Pour into the prepared pans.
3.Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Help us Share The Season and hold a Community Bake Sale in your community.
If your interested in becoming a part of our team, donating on behalf of our team or would like futher information on how you can participate, please contact Nevada County Bakers
Nevada County Bakers Call To Action: There Is Strength In Numbers
Great American Bake Sale
After nearly months of planning and deciding, our 2nd Annual Great American Bake Sale is coming up this weekend! Saturday will be a Spectacular day of events- our Nevada County Bakers will be selling homemade, nutritious baked goods at Pioneer Park in Nevada City and members of the community will be participating in the Food Bank’s Race To End Hunger . The 5K/10K runs and 5K walk begin simultaneously and start and end at Pioneer Park Parking Lot (Park Ave.). Scenic course leads runners/walkers through Nevada City, to American Hill and out Old Downieville Hwy. There will be Food, Fun and Festivities for everyone after the event!
I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be able to teach families in the community how to use food and cooking as a means of performing a great community service.
Fighting Childhood Hunger
The fact of the matter is, every night one out of six children go to bed and wonder when their next meal will come. Many people don’t realize that hunger is a real problem in the United States. Statistics show that 12.4 million children go hungry. That’s one in six.
The biggest need in our community is financial support. We need the help of our community in joining together throughout Nevada County.
It’s a fantastic sense of accomplishment, knowing that we will make a difference to hungry children in our community. So join us in making a difference in the lives of so many, there is strength in numbers.
Nevada County Bakers Recipe For Action! Great American Bake Sale Event
Don’t stand For Hunger! Run For Food!
I’m excited to say that the Nevada County Bakers will be holding another great Bake Sale on Saturday, August 22, 2009. This time the Bake Sale will take place at Beautiful Pioneer Park in Nevada City, CA. during the Food Bank of Nevada County’s Race To End Hunger. Two Great Exciting Events!
Our last Bake Sale, during the City Wide Yard Sale, we raised $250 in just a couple of hours on a rainy day. We had a lot of support from many mothers, fathers, grandma’s and grandpa’s in making it such a great event.
Gather your friends, family and neighbors in joining the efforts of the NC Bakers as we sell homemade nutritious snacks, muffins, pies, jams, etc. at the Race to End Hunger to raise money to feed hungry children in our community.
It’s a fun solution with a large impact. This is a great way to benefit a good cause, give people an opportunity to learn about Childhood Hunger in our community and help children in our community. It’s a win-win situation!
So join us in making a difference in the community and lives of children.
Special thank you again to the generous supporters of this Team. Your generous support will ensure that children across the country get the regular, healthy meals they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
All proceeds will be donated to the local schools individually in Nevada County and our local Food Bank of Nevada County and will help us towards our goal of raising $1,000 for this worthy cause.
For more information on how you can help our team, please contact Noel Chapman at (530) 432-5505 or by illyab469@aol.com Stay tuned for some great recipes at Noel’s Kitchen Tips. To make a donation to Nevada County Bakers, please visit our Team Page.
Stay tuned for some great recipes at Noel’s Kitchen Tips. To make a donation to Nevada County Bakers, please visit our Team Page.
Demand For Food Assistance Continues To Grow
NEVADA COUNTY BAKERS COOK FOR A CAUSE
RECIPE FOR ACTION
Despite the much needed rainy weather mother nature brought us this past weekend, our Great American Bake Sale was a success. Our booth was moved inside the Nevada City Vets Hall so we were able to set up in the kitchen area. We sold coffee, hot chocolate, tea and a variety of baked goods, jams and marmalades. Approximately 10 moms contributed bakes goods and we received and a few donations from other supporters. I thank you all for your time, support and dedication to our event. We were able to raise $250 within the first couple of hours. That’s pretty good on a rainy day. More donations are being offered from fellow supporters.
We coordinated our event with the City Wide Yard Sale in Nevada City. As local residents searched for treasures and the best deals they were eager to satisfy their sweet tooth. The smell of cupcakes filled the hall. Our Aloha Obama Cookies, Piggy Pizza Pops, Cookie Pops and Carmel Corn were a big hit. It was a delightful treat to see the expressions on kids faces as they stopped by our booth.
According to the Food Bank, monthly distributions to individuals and families has risen sharply with the economic downturn. It is up by one-third in recent months. Every week they deliver 8,880 nutritious lunch snacks to the needest school children. But because of a lack of resources, just as many children who qualify for this service are being denied.
- $25 could cover the cost of a 4 dish utensil set to serve children free after school meals.
- $100 could buy a food carry bag to enable organizations to deliver hot and cold meals to children.
- $500 could cover the cost for an organization to buy a new deli slicer to prepare sandwiches for 150 children.
- $1000 could help an organization pay for a staff person to server meals at a meal site in the summer.
I want to make a difference in this this world and in my community by participating in the Great American Bake Sale. I can make a difference and affect the lives of many children right now from my own kitchen.
The Nevada County Bakers is a group of moms joining together in the fight to end Child Hunger in America and in our community. Help us by making your donation today, visit Nevada County Bakers. For more informatiopn about this event or future events, please contact Noel Chapman. Check back soon for our Nevada County Bakers Great American Cookbook.
Thanks to all who supported the Nevada County Bakers Great American Bake Sale. We look forward to working with you in the future.
Mother’s Day Blessings: Show Mom You Care By Helping Other Mothers
In reading and following my blog, you’ll see that I have started a wonderful team of mother’s getting together to cook for a cause. Share Our Strength has provided me an opportunity to start supporting the efforts to help fight childhood hunger in America as well as my community.
When I opened an e-mail this morning from the Share Our Strength Organization I read a story that touched my heart. Did you know that one in three single Moms in the United States cannot reliably provide the nutritious food their families need to grow up healthy?
As the economic crisis deepens, the number of families in need is increasing.
In the e-mail was a story about Christina, the mother of two boys, ages 2 and 6. Christina recently lost her job. Because her food assistance didn’t make it to the end of the month, she had no food in the house. When her young boys complained of hunger, she gave them popsicles for breakfat to buy some time until she could find a more suitable meal.
“You have these beautiful children,” she explained, ” and you can’t give them what they need. It makes you feel desperate.”
In most communities, there are resources such as food pantries, summer meal sites, and after school programs that can help. But like Christina, many families don’t know about them or can’t access them.
Share Our Strength helps by bridging the gap between families like Christina’s and the programs they need in order to feed their children everyday.
Share Our Strength supports and expands the most effective programs, like nutrition education classes that help moms stretch limited dollars and free school breakfast programs that connect children at risk of hunger with nutritious food at the start of every day.
Nevada County Bakers will be at the City Wide Yard Sale in Nevada City this Saturday, May 2 from 8am-4pm selling bakery goods, coffee, hot chocolate and raffling off some goodies. I will be handing out information about Share Our Strength as well as providing families with afforable meal solutions, recipes and more. Sign up sheets for kids cooking workshops as well as adult cooking workshops will be avaiolable.
Please join us in the fight to end childhood hunger in our community.
You can help too, by donating today. Visit http://join.strength.org/goto/ncbakers. And when you do, you can send a Mother’s Day card to the special mothers in your life. It’s a gift she will appreciate, knowing that it will help improve the lives of mothers in need in need all year long.
Thank you for your support. There is no better way to honor mothers than to help nourish America’s most valuable children.
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