Romantic Valentine's Day -Not!

I had a nice quiet Valentine's Day planned for my Sweetie and me. Grandma had Miss Muffet sleeping over until Sunday. The only thing we had to do was go to a potluck/annual general meeting for the Ottawa Valley Food Co-op. It's an online group of Ottawa Valley farmers/producers. It's amazing the variety of things you can order. Order week is the second week of the month. Then on the third Saturday of the month, we producers take the orders to Pembroke where they are sorted and delivered to a variety of central locations for customer pick-up. It's surprising how far our products go, there is such a demand for local stuff. We've belonged for nearly a year, check us out here, it's a good overview of our farm too. I need to get a new picture, that one is nearly 2 years old, but Ella looks so cute. Maybe when it warms up some we'll try for a new Ella/piggie picture.

Back to my Valentine's day. We had fun at the potluck, it's good to talk with the other OVF people, we really don't know them. Most of the food was good. I made a marinated shoulder roast. Then the meeting started. It went on and on and on! It was 6 before we got home, Colin still had to chore. So much for my romantic supper and dessert I was going to make. We ended up with leftover pork and 5 minute rice when Colin finally got in for supper at 7:30. By then we were tired and I had a headache, so we just watched a dvd (Grapes of Wrath) and went to bed early. Not exactly what I had planned.

We've both been made board members for the OVF. They have a regular meeting/potluck coming up in March (if they can ever agree on a date) I sure hope it's shorter than the AGM.

Here's the marinated pork recipe, mix all this in a zipper bag and put in the pork roast the night before for best results. Though it's yummy done this way just before cooking too.

6 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp ground pepper 2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika 1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp thyme 3lb pork shoulder roast

Take from bag and put in roasting pan, do not cover. Roast 350F for 30 minutes a pound, or until meat thermometer reads 165F.

Had I been home in time, I would have made my Grandma's chicken cacciatore for supper. It's the first meal I made for Colin when we were dating. It needs to simmer most of the afternoon.

Chicken Cacciatore
3lb chicken pieces, we use thighs 1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced salt & pepper, to taste
28oz stewed tomatoes 28 oz tomato sauce
1/4 cup red wine 1/4 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf

Brown the chicken in a little oil. Add everything into a dutch oven. Cover and simmer all afternoon until the house smells wonderful :) Don't use a crock pot, the sauce doesn't reduce and is too runny. If you really want to do this "old school" serve with Italian/French bread, green beans and roast potatoes -yummmmmmm!