SELLMEYER FARM NEWSLETTER

Everyone keeps asking me what I'm doing with my spare time now that market is over with. Well for one market is not over with. We have one more Saturday and then they are having a trial winter market the first three Saturdays in December. So we will probably try to do those as we will have lots of eggs to sell, plus we can sell jams & jellies and dried tomatoes and apples. I won't bake for those markets as there will be baked goods people there and we're not sure how the customer response is going to be to this. So I've been busy making jam. I've made persimmon, blackberry, blackberry jalapeno and damson jam. I've packaged dried apples and tomatoes, but need to get more apples done.

Today we are catching and loading up all the 2 and 3 year old hens and hauling them to a small animal auction up at Kingsville which is about 2 hours away and is at 5:30 p.m. So I've been running around trying to find big boxes to use and last night we made wire tops for them. Today I have help coming and we will catch and box and load the truck. There's somewhere between 60-80, it's hard to count them between the guineas and ducks when they're all running around! Then Greg is coming home early and we will head off to the auction!

Since Thanksgiving is next week I thought I'd share with you a couple of recipes that I'm going to be making and taking to our families get together's.

HOLIDAY BROCCOLI SALAD
2 large bunches fresh broccoli (2 1/2-3 lbs.)
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 (6oz.) pkgs. sweetened dried cranberries
1 (6oz.) pkg. dried apricots, diced
1 (8oz.) block extra sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 (2.25oz.) pkgs. slivered almonds
1 small red onion, diced
Cut flowers from broccoli; chop & set aside, cut broccoli stalks into 1" pieces; pulse in food processor 6-8 times or until finely chopped.
Whisk together mayonnaise & next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add flowerets & chopped stalk, cranberries & remaining ingredients, tossing to coat. Chill. This makes 18-20 servings.

INDIAN PUDDING

When chilled this pudding firms to the consistency of polenta.

1/4 cup butter
4 cups fat-free milk
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large egg yolks
cooking spray
9 Tbsps. frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook 2 minutes or until browned. Add milk to pan; bring to a boil. Gradually add cornmeal, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Combine sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through egg yolks), stirring well with a whisk. Gradually add half of hot milk mixture to sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Return milk mixture to pan; cook 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves.
Pour cornmeal mixture into a 9" square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour & 15 minutes or until pudding barely moves when pan is touched. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover & chill 2 hours. Cut into 9 squares. Serve with whipped topping. Yield 9 servings.

This Indian pudding recipe is not my original recipe, I lost it and can't seem to find it in my thousands of cut out magazine recipes and 300 cookbooks!!! But it is the closest to it I can find. If anyone out there has a better one I'd love to see it!