What a farmer's family eats during harvest season
Photo courtesy of Miki Lyn Zilnicki
As a mother of four children under the age of seven, a behavioral optometrist, and a farmer’s wife, you may assume that the last thing Miki Lyn Zilnicki wants to do is plan and cook meal after meal for her family.
But while I’m sure there are some days that the family opts for a restaurant-cooked meal, their norm is actually just the opposite. Instead, Miki Lyn is wildly passionate about cooking nutritious, balanced meals for her family loaded with local ingredients, many grown or produced by her husband’s family’s farm, Zilnick Farms.
“The foundation of our family is built on the core values of family, faith, farming, fitness, and food,” shared Miki Lyn. “We strive to live our values daily, focusing on these five things that we believe help us stay in tune with each other and to live our life as simply as possible.”
Read on as Miki Lyn shares her passion for cooking, tips on getting kids to actually eat what you make, and a soothing recipe you’ll want to make as the cool air sets in.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, you don’t have to be married to a farmer to consistently enjoy local produce. Zilnicki Farms offers a fully customizable, weekly CSA with options for local produce, grass-fed and finished beef, and provisions delivered right to your door.
Q: What is your relationship with cooking and eating farm-to-table?
Miki Lyn: I grew up in a traditional Italian-American household that was [filled with], just as you would expect, constant family over and Sunday dinners. Food was how we connected. Any occasion, sad or happy, was centered around food and celebration. One of my most fond childhood memories is waking up to the smell of onions and garlic cooking almost every Sunday morning as the base of the sauce for dinner.
This upbringing of home-cooked meals is deeply ingrained in me, and when I met John, it was something we both shared and valued. I quickly got spoiled by all of the seasonal produce and I was blown away by the difference in flavor. Have you ever eaten a potato that was just dug out of the ground? It is like a fluffy cloud of goodness.
I grew to really appreciate how much hard work goes into the food we eat. Every week when John brings me home a box of goodies, even all these years later, I am so excited to dive in and figure out new ways to cook everything. I am constantly inspired to try new recipes and create meals for friends and family.
Q: Being a farmer's wife, what do you love most about harvest season?
Miki Lyn: Harvest season represents so many things: the culmination of all of John and his family’s hard work and dedication for months, the final push of long work hours (often seven days a week) before the much-anticipated winter slow down, but the thing I love most about harvest season is the overwhelming sense of gratitude for all that our land produces for us!
Q: What inspires you to cook for your family?
Miki Lyn: They don’t list cooking/food as a love language, but I think it absolutely should be! Cooking is the way that I show love. I want my family and friends to know that I took the time to be thoughtful about what ingredients I am using and then create a meal that is nutritious and delicious for them. Nothing makes me happier than when people love what I make for them.
As a mom, there is something so special about creating meals for your family that you know is instilling a lifetime of good eating habits. I believe that how you talk about food and how you model the behavior around food is so important for young kids. I think we millennial moms can all relate to how terrible and toxic the ’90s/ early 2000s diet culture was. For my children, I don’t want to vilify food; I want them to know that food is simply fuel for your body! We try to teach them that there is no “good” or “bad” food — just that each thing we eat gives us different energy levels and serves different purposes.
Q: How do you go about planning a family-friendly meal?
Miki Lyn: I approach my meals in a simple way and keep things as balanced as possible creating most meals with a protein, a carbohydrate, and vegetables.
I also always cook the same food for the kids that John and I eat. It may look different (deconstructed vs. altogether), but we eat the same things.
Q: What are some of your favorite harvest-season go-to meals?
Miki Lyn: I joke with John that Labor Day is the start of soup/broth season! Even the kids know now that as soon as someone gets a stuffy nose, fresh bone broth, and chicken soup are on the menu!
I am a big believer that the food we eat directly affects our health. Making your own bone broth and chicken stock for the week is such a simple thing to do — really, just a few minutes of prep to chop, and then it does its thing on the stove — and has so much nutritional value. You can just drink it warmed up, use it as a base for soup/stews, and even swap this out for water in your rice and grains. You can even add a splash or two to buttered pasta!
Simple Bone Broth
Photo courtesy of Miki Lyn Zilnicki
Ingredients:
Zilnicki Farms soup bones/marrow bones
3-4 carrots
3-4 stalks celery
1 onion
1 garlic bulb
Herbs (sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary)
Salt, peppercorns
Apple cider vinegar ( a splash!)
Optional: mushrooms, leeks, fresh turmeric, ginger
Instructions:
Roast the bones in a 425-degree oven for about 25 minutes
While the bones are roasting, wash, peel, and chop your veggies. This does not have to be perfect, large pieces are fine!
Place everything in a large pot (bones/vegetables/herbs/ACV/ salt and peppercorns) and cover with water.
Bring to a boil and then let simmer for hours, the longer it goes the better (6-12hrs+). Skim off any scum that sits at the top.
Add more water to the pot if at any point the bones/vegetables are no longer covered.
Strain through a mesh strainer into a glass jar. Let cool and then store in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze!
Note: Once cool, it should coagulate and be jiggly! That’s the good stuff and all the collagen from the bones!
You can repeat this with a whole roaster chicken instead of beef bones (a previously roasted chicken carcass can also be used) for a delicious chicken stock. Cook time is about 2-3 hours and then you would remove the chicken, strain the liquid, and store!
Q: Why is raising children entwined with a true farm-to-table lifestyle beneficial?
Miki Lyn: Raising kids on a farm is such a unique experience and one that I am so grateful to be able to give to our children. They learn from a young age about the value of hard work, follow-through, perseverance, and grit. They also get to see firsthand where the food we eat comes from and develop a deep appreciation for it.
As much as I love to get the kids in the kitchen, John loves to bring them to the farm to include them in every step of the process. In the spring, the kids are in the greenhouse planting vegetables by seed. They help to water the plants throughout the early season and see how they then get transplanted into the field when it is warm enough. John brings them on the tractor to cultivate and we watch him set irrigation up. Once the plants have produced, the kids are right there with John harvesting away. They absolutely beam with pride knowing that the seeds they planted have now turned into something to eat.
To complete the cycle, I cook whatever they brought home with them and they can’t wait to eat it.
The best part about growing food is that anyone can do it! You don’t need acres of field to get started.You can create a small garden or a few raised beds with your kids and watch how much they love getting in there.