Savory Sides & Sweet Treats

posted on

January 20, 2021

We are pleased to announce a new partner on the One Straw farm store - Crust Bakery!


It's hard work to cook everything from scratch. Honestly, sometimes I really just want to open a can of something for dinner. Really, really want to! But then I look at the label. Or I long for a store-bought dessert and then am regretful when the preservatives don't settle well and the experience is ruined. Thankfully there's help!


Crust Bakery soups, hand pies, and cookies are delicious! And as close to homemade as you can get without making it yourself. Simple, nutritious, whole food ingredients, mindfully sourced and hand crafted.


Crust is a two-woman bakery right here in Port Townsend, owned and operated by mother-daughter team Suzen and Kelli. You may know them or their products from the PT Farmers Market or various local food purveyors. With their four hands and two heads full of ideas, they craft delicious hand pies, soups, and cookies. Everything is made by hand in small batches with high quality ingredients that are sourced from local farms (which means working with the seasons) or are organic and fair trade (because not everything grows here).


The savory, warming soups are fully cooked and merely need to be reheated. They make an excellent companion to almost any One Straw cut of meat. We've made a few suggestions for pairings in the product descriptions for quick and hearty meals.


The hand pies and cookies are frozen uncooked for you to bake to perfection. Crust Bakery is, not surprisingly, most famous for their pie crust. Buttery, flakey, mmmmmm. It hardly needs a filling! During the farmers market season when the kids and I go to market on Saturdays, Farmhand Eli gets a few dollars to buy something for himself. He invariably chooses a hand pie from Crust (and one for his sister, too). We're always delighted with our treat (momma gets any leftovers). But guess what? They're even better still warm from the oven!


But I've saved my favorite product for last: Shaved Chocolate Cookies! These are also take-and-bake, allowing you to cook them to your preferred chewiness or crunchiness. I dare you to leave them on the pan to cool. Sugar is definitely not a primary ingredient in our household, but we do enjoy treats. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a dangerous move to have these cookies in our inventory...


Find out more about these savory and sweet products on the Pantry Staples page.


More from the blog

Top 3 Secrets for Great Kabobs (Recipe)

Have you grilled shish kabobs yet this summer? I have to say, they’re one of my favorites and something I look forward to making every year as soon as the sun starts to shine. Shish kabobs are simple, healthy and so perfectly suited to the fresh tastes of summer. Quick enough for a weeknight, they can also be prepped in advance for a sunny deck party. Their roots are in multiple culinary traditions. Sometimes they’re just called Skewers. In Greece they’re called Souvlaki, which is what I made this week for my family. So what are they? At the most basic level, shish kabobs are bits of meat and/or vegetables placed onto skewers and grilled. The combinations of ingredients and flavors are endless, so they easily suit dietary needs, flavor preferences, and whatever is fresh for the season. But there are a few ways kabobs can go wrong if you don’t have the right methods in place. 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If you’re looking for a pork options, pork chops and kabobs are your best bet. They’re both delicious, but make sure to follow the rule on removing connective tissue when opting for the kabob. 2. Place meat on separate skewers from the vegetables. This is important because the vegetables are going to take waaaayyy longer to cook than the meat. Put them on the same skewers like in the pretty magazine pictures and you’re either going to have shoe-leather meat or raw vegetables. Which leads to… 3. Don’t overcook the meat. Overcooked, dried out meat is tough meat. I probably sound like a broken record on this point, but it’s so easy to get this step wrong. And it's important because I want you to enjoy every bite of our premium grass-fed beef - every time. So first grill those vegetables (the ones you placed on separate skewers) until they’re lovely and crisp-tender. Set them aside and THEN throw on the meat skewers. Now, don’t blink. Definitely don’t walk away to fill your drink, set the table, or mediate a kid dispute… In a flash, those succulent meat skewers will reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees. You’ll just have time to turn them and get lovely grill marks on all sides. Take them off the heat and rest them on a plate for 5 minutes. The internal temp will raise another 5 degrees and the meat juices will reabsorb for the most tender, juicy bite. Use a medium (not high) flame, for best results. Bonus Tips Get the family into the action. Cut up all the vegetables, toss them in olive oil, and then let everyone make their own skewers with whatever ingredients they prefer. When we made kabobs this last week, the Farmhands each made their own skewers and had so much fun in the process. Farmhand Vera eschewed the mushrooms. For Farmhand Eli, no onion. Farmhand Grace put on everything because that’s most fun  - especially the “vacchinnies” (translation: zucchini). 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Seasoned Taco Meat (Recipe)

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