What is the secret of good food? For us, good food is fresh, organic, grown as close to home as possible, and seasonal. This applies not just to produce, but also meats, dairy, and eggs.

Our organic kitchen garden provides a great deal of what we eat, and our eggs walk across the road every week.

Seasonal eating means using what is available and fresh in your locale at any given time of the year. I have found that as the seasons change I begin to crave whatever is that season’s bounty. In this way, our bodies stay in touch with the earth’s cycles and our diet varies through the year. Here is a recipe that fits the fall season.

Apple Cranberry Muffins
Topping:
1 cup of dry ingredients (oats, pecan meal, wheat germ, w.w.flour) plus 1/3 cup light brown sugar or Sucanat. Mix with 4 Tbs. room temperature butter and set aside.
Batter:
2 cups flour (we prefer spelt flour)
2/3 cup sugar or sucanat
1 Tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, allspice, cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter softened
2 eggs
1-2 tart apples
1 1/2 cups sour cream
A dozen cranberries halved

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, butter, and sour cream and then combine this with the dry. Add the cranberries (halved) and pecan or walnut pieces. I normally use a big Granny Smith apple cut into small pieces, but any tart cooking apple should be fine. Spoon the batter into muffin tins and then add the topping. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until beginning to brown. Makes 12 to 16 muffins depending on how fill the muffin cups. These muffins may not look so pretty, but the collision of cranberries, apples and spices and the crunch of the topping are irresistible.

This next recipe offers a new twist on an old favorite.

James’ Famous Corn Meal Pancakes
Recipe for 4
1/2 cup flour (we use white spelt flour now)
1/2 cup stone ground corn meal
1 tsp. baking power
2-3 Tbs. pecan meal
1 Tbs. natural sugar (optional)
salt
1/4 cup liquid oil
3/4 cup milk + some
blueberries (or fruit in season)

Mix the dry ingredients then add the milk and oil. The mixture will tend to thicken up. I keep adding a little milk until I get a consistency like pea soup. Add blue berries if you can and cook on a hot griddle. Serve with maple syrup. Pecan meal is the "secret" ingredient, available in many natural food stores. We first found it at the Dekalb Farmers Market years ago. The secret missing ingredient is eggs, which would make your creation "cakey." With pecan meal and no eggs, you can get a thin pancake which is crisp around the edges.

James and Eve Davis own the Hawk and Ivy, a holistic country B&B retreat on 24 acres just outside Asheville N.C. She is an artist, garden and floral designer; he is a Ph.D., contractor, and maker of pancakes who also marries lovers.

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