Fruit/Herb Preserves Vinaigrette Dressing

This is a great way to use up any flavor of fruit or herb preserves you might have in your fridge.

Strawberry is always a go-to favorite for this tasty dressing, but also try the roasted garlic, or a blueberry basil later in the season!

Vinaigrette Dressing with Herb/Fruit Preserves

2 Tbls Fruit/Herb Preserve (Strawberry Black Pepper, Roasted Garlic, Blueberry Basil)
1 Tbls Dijon Mustard
¼ Cup White Wine Vinegar
¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt (to taste)
Freshly Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

Directions:
Place first four ingredients in a lidded jar or dressing shaker and shake until well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Strawberries!

I picked up 20 quarts of fresh delicious strawberries from Living Hope Farm in Harleysville, PA last Friday and worked hard all weekend canning up four different strawberry preserves:

Strawberry Bay Leaf

Fresh strawberries from Living Hope Farm in Harleysville, PA are simmered with bay leaves in this wonderful preserve. The bay leaf is subtle, and instead brings out the fresh strawberry flavor - similar to the way coffee brightens chocolate. 

Perfect for morning toast or french toast, this preserve also goes great over ice cream. Or use as a base in a vinaigrette dressing. 

Peppered Strawberry

Fresh strawberries from Living Hope Farm in Harleysville, PA are paired with freshly ground black pepper for a unique strawberry preserve. The black pepper is very subtle, but helps lend a savory note to a traditionally sweet preserve.

Pick your favorite soft cheese (goat or mascarpone work perfectly!) and serve alongside this semi-sweet preserve. Or add a spoonful to your favorite mixed drink. Strawberry Mojitos, anyone? 

Balsamic Strawberry

Fresh strawberries from Living Hope Farm in Harleysville, PA are simmered with a rich balsamic vinegar to create this flavorful semi-sweet and savory preserve. 

Skip the maple syrup and serve this tasty preserve with french toast and mascarpone cheese. Or, next time you need to pack a lunch - go with a gourmet PB&J! 

Chocolate Strawberry

Fresh strawberries from Living Hope Farm in Harleysville, PA are combined with chocolate for this semi-sweet preserve. 

Ice cream sundaes, PB&J, spoonful in yogurt with granola for a tasty parfait, stuffed french toast. 

Indian Valley Farmer's Market Dates - 2015

Small Batch Kitchen has BIG plans for the 2015 season, Mark your calendars and be sure to visit us on opening day!

Cheddar Cheese Thumbprint Cookies with Pepper Jelly

These were a tasty and easy to make appetizer. I used Jalapeno Spread on half and Tri-Color Hot Pepper Spread on the other half.

Cheddar Cheese Thumbprint Cookie with Hot Pepper Spread

Makes about 36

1-1/2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 cup Small Batch Kitchen Hot Pepper Spread

Preheat oven to 350 F. In food processor, pulse together cheddar and parmesan cheeses and butter until smooth. Add egg yolk; pulse until blended. Add flour; pulse just until soft dough forms. With hands, roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet. With thumb, make indentation in center of each. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake 15 minutes or until firm outside and lightly golden. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack, allowing the cookies to cool directly on the baking sheet. At this point cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature or frozen. Before serving, fill indentations with hot pepper spread. If you have stored the cookies for a time before serving them, you can re-crisp them by baking them at 350 F for 3 minutes, then allow them to cool fully before adding the spread.

Adapted from the recipe found at: http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe363.savoury-cheddar-cheese-thumbprint-cookies.html 

Oktoberfest - October 18th

We'll be at the Oktoberfest event at the Indian Valley Farmer's Market on Saturday, October 18th.

This FREE event runs all day - 8:30 am - 4 pm at Stover Beverages at 115 S. 4th Street, Telford, PA.

We are closing our first Farmer's Market season with a bang, and are debuting our beer and wine line this Saturday.

Also, be sure to place your orders for holiday gifts soon! You can email me at thesmallbatchkitchen@gmail.com to place an order - check out our "What's in Stock" page to see our current availability.

In the Kitchen!

We've been busy in the kitchen!

On Sunday, I went to Frecon Farm Orchard in Boyertown, PA and picked lots of apples and pears. I'm busy working up some sweet and tasty preserves and will have them available at the market starting September 27th. I'll be turning the pears into my mother-in-law's favorite: Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pear Spread!



I also finally jammed up some of our homegrown ground cherries. This recipe turned out better than I could have dreamed! Tastes like a mix of pineapples and strawberries. And the best thing of all - only 3 ingredients! These will be available at the market this week - September 20th.




The pickled beets (3 ways!) will also be ready for the market this week. I jarred these up a few weeks ago, and they have been curing up. Beautiful and delicious!



And lastly, the watermelon rind pickles are an interesting and tasty pickle. My mom told me that she remembered her grandmother taking these out of the pantry and serve them with cucumber tea sandwiches and sweet tea when she would have her friends over.



I couldn't let the watermelon meat go to waste, so I mixed up a batch of watermelon preserves. I'm going to hold onto a jar of this and breakout in the middle of February. It's like a jar of summer!



And I'm excited to announce that I've been working on some tasty beer preserves recipes. I'll be debuting these at the Indian Valley Farmer's Market Oktoberfest on October 18th. I'll probably post some pictures ahead of time, but these will make GREAT stocking stuffers and hostess gifts this holiday season!

Availability Update

I've updated the "Where We'll Be" page to reflect the upcoming farmer's markets dates.  Note that there will be a fun Oktoberfest event on October 18th! I'm also going to be attending a few craft markets this holiday season and will update the page accordingly. 

Current Availability

Mustard & Salt
Blueberry Jalapeno Mustard: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Curry Mustard: 4 oz available
Sage Honey Mustard: 4 oz available

Hot Pepper Salt: 4 oz available

Chutney & Sauces & Salsas

Blueberry Chutney: 8 oz available

Chinese Plum Sauce: 4 oz available
Peach Salsa: 8 oz available
Salsa Verde: 8 oz available
Pepper Relish: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Savory Spread

Roasted Garlic Balsamic: 8 oz available

White Wine & Herb: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Onion Marmalade: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Jalapeno Preserves: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Tomato Peach: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Tomato Jalapeno: 4 oz available
Tomato Basil: 4 oz and 8 oz available
Spicy Tomato: 8 oz available

Tomato Curry: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Beet Marmalade: 8 oz available

Sweet Spread
Honey Plum: 4 oz available
Honey Plum Cardamom: 4 oz available

Peach Bourbon: 4 oz available

Ground Cherry: 4 oz and 8 oz available

Pickles
Sweet & Sour Pickled Onions: 8 oz available
Sweet & Spicy Pickled Onions: 8 oz available

Watermelon Rind Pickles: 8 oz available

Pickled Beets - Spiced: 8 oz available

Pickled Beets - Honey: 8 oz available

Pickled Beets - Cardamom & Clove: 8 oz available

Down to the Last Jar!

Spiced Honey Plum - 4 oz

Lemon Basil - 8 oz

Cherry Bourbon Chipotle - 4 oz

Roasted Garlic Mustard - 8 oz

Blueberry Ginger - 8 oz