Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

Finally had a chance to take a breather this weekend and get caught up on my TV stories. I’d been eager to watch Will Allen on the Colbert Report. I’m always happy to see the urban farming movement get a wider audience. The interview — jumping off Allen’s new book, “The Good Food Revolution: GrowingContinue reading “The Good Food Revolution”

I’ve been making versions of this sauteed chicken with tomatoes, olives & feta for years. But with just a couple slight changes to the original recipe, this is now a house favorite. Instead of sauteing the chicken, this time I threw it on the grill. And instead of regular red grape tomatoes, I used aContinue reading “Grilled Lemon Chicken with Olives, Oregano, Tomatoes & Feta”

This past weekend, my friends and my children’s teachers and other dedicated souls, ran a 197-mile relay over 36 hours from Madison to Chicago. The Ragnar Relay is an intense test of training and endurance. These runners — parents and teachers from the Irving school community — ran in shifts, through the night, through theContinue reading “Test of Endurance – for Parents, Teachers & Kids Looking for Softer Landings”

Not the kind of opening day involving balls and bats. This opening day means our friendly area farmers are seeing plenty of bounty on their properties. It means their nurturing kept spring crops healthy during the recent months of wacky roller-coaster hot/freezing weather. And it means, for us in Oak Park, that the local doughnutContinue reading “Opening Day!”

From The Mobile Market’s Facebook page. Speaking of truck farms and agri-education on wheels… In D.C., food deserts will be served by a farmers market on wheels. This takes the food truck concept to a whole new level. The Mobile Market — yet another program launched with Kickstarter funding — is a 28-foot retrofitted schoolContinue reading “A Farmers Market on Wheels”

I’m more and more a fan of the grassroots, Web-based fundraiser Kickstarter. Never more so than with this project, Truck Farm Chicago, which only has 12 days left and a little less than half its goal left — to raise $4,000 to so that this small group of agri-educators can reach out to 3,000 students,Continue reading “Truck Farm Chicago Is Looking for a Kickstart to 'Keep on Truckin' This Season”

The other day my husband, the guy who never comes back from the store with anything that wasn’t on his list, surprised me with a pineapple. It was a genuine surprise. Pineapple isn’t a staple around here and I really didn’t know what to do with it. So it just sat there, all prickly andContinue reading “Pineapple Palooza”

Green chili, chicken & asparagus. Yes. I said asparagus and chicken enchiladas. Not asparagus as a side dish. No, these beauties are wrapped snugly along with shredded chicken, cheese and chopped green chili. When I saw the recipe, I almost passed it up as ridiculous. Asparagus enchiladas. Really? Really. Try it. I’m glad I did.Continue reading “Extra Creamy Chicken, Green Chili & Asparagus Enchiladas”

First CSA share of the season. Today is a special day, like Christmas or my birthday. We brought home our first CSA share of the season and I found myself practically giddy examining each bundle of dandelion greens, chives, asparagus, radishes, arugula and bags of yellow potatoes and fresh-cut mixed lettuce. Next thing I know,Continue reading “First Harvest Dish: Mashed Potatoes & Dandelion Greens”

My favorite board on Pinterest is the one I’ve been building that features the “Versatile Canning Jar.” At first, I thought the pins would mostly be of jars used as farmer-chic drink vessels, crafts or for homemade food gifts. But it turns out Mason jars, the revolutionary invention of Jersey-born John Landis Mason in theContinue reading “Single-Serving Apple Pie in a Mason Jar”