campfire

All-time Favorite Posts

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The Forest Feast turned 2 today! On that foggy morning 2 years ago, I had just gotten married, just left New York City for a cabin in the woods and I needed a new project to be excited about, a fresh start in a new place. Only in my wildest dreams did I think this little blog would inspire a whole new direction for my career and a cookbook dream project to boot! THANK YOU, my dear readers, from the bottom of my heart!  Your sweet notes and encouragement have inspired me to continue sharing recipes and made it possible for this series to grow. I am so excited to see what will be in store for The Forest Feast, and can’t wait to share my cookbook with you in April.

Growing up in the apple orchard, every fall we had more apples than we knew what to do with. When we had eaten all the apple butter, apple pie, apple sauce and apple cake we could manage, my mom would start dehydrating them to make garland, and we’d save them for decorations around the holidays. The Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot just ended, and we haven’t managed to take down our sukkah yet (the little hut you built to eat meals under for a week). I just love sitting out there, maybe just another week or so! Jonathan snapped some pictures of me sitting under it the other day, while I was slicing apples for dehydration. I strung the dried apples (along with peppers and dried orange slices) on pastry twine and hung them in the sukkah.

I’m feeling a little nostalgic, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite all-time posts from the archive with you:

Watermelon Salad (my most popular post to date! from July 2012)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Jan. 2013)

Campfire Cocktail Hour (Feb. 2012)

Red Roasted Carrots (April 2012)

Guacamole Deviled Eggs (Nov. 2011)

Happy weekend, everyone!

With lots of gratitutde,

xx Erin

Passover Seder in the Woods

Spring has sprung in the woods! Passover is this week and to kick it off, we hosted a first-night Seder.  We spent 2 days cooking all the traditional Jewish dishes: Matzah ball soup, Haroset (a paste of dried fruit and nuts), Farfel (quiche-like squares), Tzimmes (a sweet potato carrot dish), plus a roasted chicken with rosemary and lemon. The seder plate has items that represent different parts of the meal and the Passover story of slavery and freedom, including a hard boiled egg, horseradish, parsley, matzah, a shank bone and the modern addition of an orange. In this story of Exodus, when the Jews fled Egypt, they didn’t have time for their bread to rise, so this week we eat matzah instead of bread as a reminder that there are still people today who seek freedom. Chag Sameach and Happy Passover!

Photos and illustration by Erin Gleeson

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Spring Kohlrabi Salad

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A spring-y salad that would be great for an Easter or Passover meal!

photos and illustration by Erin Gleeson