Recipes

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2015 Local Holiday Markets

This past year, Mom and I revamped the Little Wagon Produce website. After 6 years, it became outdated. It’s no small task for a small business. It took several meetings with Tim Smith’s team from Delmarva Digital, new pictures, and updated text. A few new features include a scrolling picture banner and a “We Sell” tab. Over the years, we’ve collected a database of customer email addresses to send seasonal updates. We feel it’s a nice benefit to quickly tell customers, “Sweet corn’s ready!”. This winter, I plan to increase our collection of customer recipes online. To check out our website or join the email newsletter, just go to our homepage.
Here’s our last email update for 2015 regarding upcoming holiday markets:
Greetings Patrons & Friends,
Thank you for a wonderful 2015 season! Little Wagon Produce is closed for the season. On a daily basis, we may have a few produce items available on our wagon for “self-service”. For those of you who stopped in the beginning, you know what this means!  However, we do have 2 upcoming holiday market dates to share with you. Please mark your calendars:
  1. Friday, Nov. 20 – Milton “Harvest Market”, Noon-4pm, on the grounds of Dogfish Brewery (featuring punkin ale), come enjoy the live music!
  2. Saturday, Nov. 21 – Milford Riverwalk 2nd Annual Fall Market, 10am–2pm, downtown Milford, come get your Dolce coffee and take a stroll!
We plan to offer the following at these holiday markets:
  • Jams, jellies, honey, canned pickles
  • Spaghetti and acorn squash
  • Butternut and Hubbard squash (good for pie making)
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips
  • Holiday slates with wrought iron (pictured below)
  • Holiday flags with wrought iron (these make great holiday gifts!)
  • Possibly a few fresh greenery pieces (wreaths, garland, etc.)
  • Possibly a few fruit baskets and/or jam & jelly gift baskets
We hope the weather stays mild and would love to see you there! You can also check out our Fall/Winter Recipes on our website. We will be adding more throughout the winter.

If you have any specific needs over the winter, please give us a call at the house (not the stand): 302-349-5206. Thank you again for your business and we look forward to serving you in 2016. Have a blessed holiday season!

Sincerely,
Little Wagon Produce
Dan & Becky Vanderwende and Families

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Strawberry Lemon Pound Cake

Strawberries

I hope you make the effort to buy your strawberries from local growers this spring!

Because of the cool spring weather here on the Eastern Shore, strawberries are just now ripening, after the middle of May. Strawberries also do not like to get wet, so the rainy weather could make the berries mushy and even end the crop prematurely. My family’s business, Little Wagon Produce, does not offer u-pick strawberries but we have received a couple of requests for this through our Facebook page this spring. For a full list of U-pick’s in Delaware, see here.

Strawberry Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 frozen pound cake
  • 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 1 package lemon flavor instant flavor pudding and pie filling
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (optional)
  • 1 egg white, unbeaten (I tried to use egg beaters for this and it didn’t work as well)
  • 1 pint fresh, local strawberries (sliced)
  • 1 can refrigerated whipped cream
  • strawberries for garnish

Directions: Cut pound cake lengthwise into two layers and arrange side by side in an 8 inch square cake pan (cut sides up). Set aside. Prepare pudding following package directions except reduce milk to 1 3/4 cups. Beat in dissolved gelatin and lemon juice. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add egg white. Beat on highest electric mixer speed for five minutes. Fold berries into mixture. Pour over cake. Chill until firm enough to cut, at least one hour. To serve, cut into squares. Top with a puff of whipped cream, sliced strawberries, or a whole strawberry. Yields 9 squares.

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For more recipes, click the recipe category on the right or see below:

Meat Monday’s

Cleaning out the Fridge from Thanksgiving

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Meat Monday’s

Back in July of 2012, the USDA caused quite a stir when it circulated a newsletter promoting the concept of “Meatless Monday“, which encouraged people to skip eating meat one day a week. Don’t believe me? It’s true and thanks to Ag Wired, the newsletter was uploaded to their server and can still be found here. Of course, the USDA pulled it soon after the backlash started; the Secretary supposedly did not give the article clearance. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association wasted no time questioning the USDA’s commitment to agriculture, particularly the livestock industry. In addition, two US Senators came up with the idea of “Meat Monday” while eating barbecue beef brisket, ribs and sausage in response to the USDA gaffe. The name went viral on social media sites; there’s even a Facebook page in honor of “Meaty Monday“.

Besides the fact that the USDA lost major trust and credibility amongst its own audience, there are plenty of reasons to actually eat meat and promote it, for that matter. Of course, there’s the scientific and the biblical view, which support the eating of meat. But I’ll stick to these 6 reasons, which include making you feel sexy! 🙂

With cooler weather, football playoffs, and the upcoming Superbowl, winter seems like the perfect time to tear into some new “MEATY” recipes. I’ll be testing out and posting a few meat recipes over the following winter Monday’s.  Here’s to “Meat Monday’s” and the hard-working, dedicated livestock producers out there-including my hubby and Farmer Dan!

OODLES of NOODLES CHILI BAKE

  • 1 (12 ounce) package wide egg noodles, uncooked
  • 1 lb lean GROUND BEEF
  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
  • 1 (15 ounce) can chili without beans
  • 1 cup (or more) shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13×9 inch casserole or two 8 inch baking pans (you could eat one today and freeze the other!). Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium heat; draining off any fat if necessary. Combine cooked and drained noodles, browned beef, tomatoes and their juices, drained corn, chili and 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese and stir to mix. Top with remaining cheese and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes until heated through. Serves 8.

Goes great with a small side salad or even some fresh fruit. I picked this one because my hubby loves chili but I don’t really like kidney beans so I’m always looking for a compromise. You could even add some chili powder, onions, or fresh green/red peppers for added taste.

Here it is-precooked!

Here it is-precooked!

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Cleaning Out the Fridge from Thanksgiving

So, have you cleaned out the refrigerator from Thanksgiving? I did and, wow, it made me feel so much better. If you’re like me, you may have found some leftover apples from fall that kept well. I wanted to use them up so I went hunting for a quick and easy recipe. I found a winner. Just made it tonight. Best part is I found it in a church cookbook that my mom gave me. The person who submitted it is Betty Layton, a long time friend of my mom’s and an avid church goer. Her family, the Cannon’s, sold their farm to my mom and Farmer Dan in 1975. We loved playing in the round roof barn that her dad built. I even remember their family name etched into the wood going up the stairs and the year it was built – 1926. Enjoy!!!

Apple Crisp with Bisquick

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced pared apples (4-5 medium)

2 tsp water

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ cup Bisquick

½ cup sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

1 egg

¼ cup shortening (melted)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease square pan, 8x8x2 inches. Arrange apples in pan; sprinkle with water and ¼ cup sugar. In bowl stir together Bisquick, ½ cup sugar, and the cinnamon. Beat egg thoroughly; pour slowly into Bisquick mixture, stirring constantly with fork until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples; pour shortening over top. Bake about 20 minutes until brown on top. Serve warm or cold with milk or ice cream. Makes 6 to 8 servings.