Here we are! We are approaching the 3rd week of January…and well, it has been the grayest of the gray weeks. I am certainly dressing in layers these damp days and to boot, I am dressing up our winter dishes in layers of puff pastry, like this Chicken Pot Pie!

I have to share with you that as bone chilling cold it will be out on Brenton Reef tomorrow, Matt and I look forward to the beauty and peacefulness of this time of year. We may be the only two crazies out on the Reef with our small pump collecting another batch of pristine ocean water, but we are there together and on our way to craft another beautiful batch of our Newport Sea Salt. (If Matt ever reads these posts, I can just imagine his eyes rolling at the last bit…me trying to wax poetically about being together at the reef….especially after today’s collection.)

To prep for our chilly collection day, I prepared a Spiced Irish Oatmeal with Toasted Pecans and Sliced Bananas for an ultimate warm the belly breakfast.

I recently shared with our market customer and now friend, Faith, (once a food columnist for a New Hampshire newspaper) my hesitation with baking my own focaccia. After SEVERAL failed attempts last year, I threw in the proverbial focaccia making towel. So, when sweet smiling Faith walks over to me at our local farmer’s market table on Valentine’s weekend with not only the cutest hand illustrated Valentine for us, but her recipe for Focaccia - on her 80th birthday. Well, I had to

“Accept what is, let go of what was, and have FAITH in what will be.”

This time around I made Irish Soda Bread Scones which I will now be making as part of our traditional meal. However, it was not just any old Irish Bread recipe…this one comes with a side of Salted Whiskey butter. Yum!

I posted the ‘Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Sage’ when we first started our website and I included a story about making my favorite soup and how it ended with a trip to the ER - you can read that here if you like. I have since made this recipe every fall and have gotten over my fear of cutting up this waxy skinned beauty to benefit from scooping out the seeds to roast and add a garnish to the soup. It’s such a game changer with the Rosemary and Thyme roasted squash seeds. I found myself snacking on them and had less and less to garnish our soup bowls with! ;)

This delicious Roasted Chicken with Herbes de Provence butter was inspired by Melissa Clark and you can find the full recipe in her book, ‘Dinner in French’. Of course, I modified the Herbes de Provence Butter to include our aromatic blend (our sea salt, French Tarragon, Summer Savory, Mediterranean Oregano, Marjoram, and Rosemary and Thyme) and a few other essential ingredients. This is the recipe I will add below on this post. For the main roasted chicken recipe, definitely visit Melissa Clark’s cook book or use your favorite way to roast chicken and add some of this butter all over the chicken and under the skin - it comes out so amazingly delicious and fills your home with an herbaceous aroma.

This past week for St. Patrick’s Day, we made the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage (twice, friends…we have 2 teenage boys that are big fans) and instead of the boiled potatoes, I chose to roast baby gold potatoes with butter and our Rosemary and Thyme sea salt. They were a big hit as a side to Corned Beef and melted swiss grilled pumpernickel sandwiches with a coarse grainy mustard - YUM - why do I always write when I am hungry…or am I always hungry?? ;)