One Local Summer-week 7: Western Region

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Colorado, Oregon and Washington:

Hi everyone! This is Donna filling in on the recap for Laura this week. I hope I didn’t miss anybody, but if I did, please leave a link to your post in the comments. Here in Oregon we went cherry picking and I would have been happy to just eat a big bowl of cherries for dinner, but for the sake of my family I supplemented the cherries with fresh corn-on-the-cob and grass-fed beef. Let’s see what you did!

Ellen’s CSA is keeping her family well fed with wonderful sounding vegetables this week! She prepared a local meal of kale & garlic, marinated and baked local tofu (how did you find that, Ellen?!!) and rice. Her plans for next week sound even better!

Vacationing in B.C., Joan managed to find a local meal that sounds just scrumptious: Cowichan Bay Farm duck with sour cherry and ginger sauce and a potato strudel! Then back home again she whipped up some marinated local chicken, gratin and chard. It looked so good that even her dog was drooling!

Melinda created a truly wonderful local meal consisting of local yoghurt, local strawberries (and there’s nothing quite like Pacific Northwest strawberries) and locally roasted coffee. Then she wrote a beautiful post defending simple tasty meals. I’d trade gourmet for a meal like this any day. Can I eat at your house, Melinda?

Laura at Urban Hennery is surrounded by so much local food that it’s become her normal fare and she bemoans that it’s not gourmet enough to write about. Check out Melinda’s post, Laura! Inspired by the other challenge participants, she made her first homemade pasta and served it with broccoli and cream sauce. Way to go!

The Shibaguyz rant on the lack of anything edible in the grocery store and wax poetic on the virtues of real food. It’s so entertaining, you’ve just got to read it for yourself! In other news, they went on a treasure hunt in their garden and came back with more produce than my garden will probably produce all summer. Happy hunting, guys!

On the Hendrick Homestead Holly and Denise went shopping at the farmers’ market and came home with quite a haul. They feasted on roasted chicken with garlic and fresh herbs, baby root vegetables roasted under the chicken, fresh peas, green salad with homemade vinaigrette and cherry clafoutis. Thanks for the recipe – now I know what to do with the rest of my cherries.

Kimberly made a find worthy of squealing and jumping up and down when she discovered local organically grown grains at a farmers’ market. I’d squeal too, Kimberly! She put her local flour to good use baking bread and making a sourdough starter. They ate locally all week, but it all paled in comparison to the new find!

*****

California:

Hi- Lauren from Shooting Stars of Thought here. Laura over at Urban Hennery asked me to step in and do the OLS West roundup this week, and despite the fact that this week was quite possibly my own busiest of the summer, I agreed to take it on. What is it about the middle of summer and crazy schedules? Anyway, it doesn’t look like being busy kept many of the OLS West away from the kitchen.

Anita at Married with Dinner was inspired by a restaurant pork chop, and set about creating her own version at home. Looks like she did her Marin Sun Farms pork chops justice too, with her own technique for quick-brining incorporating hard cider, brown sugar, rosemary, thyme, and Dijon. Accompanying the chop on the grill were delicious looking fingerling potatoes from Mr. Little, tossed with Spring Hill butter, Sciabica olive oil, and home grown herbs and Rocambole garlic. A side of pan-seared haricot verts completed the delicious looking meal.

Dolores over at Culinary Curiosity was also inspired by a fellow food blogger, and put together “one local salad” of peaches, arugula, and goat cheese after seeing a similar recipe. Her version comprised stovetop “grilled” peaches, CSA arugula, and delicious looking Cypress Grove “Truffle Tremor” cheese. It looks simple, easy, and delicious.

Michelle at Green Bean Dreams went on a blackberry frenzy after a U-pick berry trip. She managed a blackberry crisp with locally milled flour and homemade butter, blackberry scones with locally milled flower, local butter, and homemade buttermilk, and with the last of the berries, a triple berry crisp. As if baking wasn’t enough, she accompanied each of her sweet treats with a local meal: local pizza with the blackberry crisp, local corn, peas, and a tomato and mozzarella plate with the scones, and roasted homegrown potatoes and salad with the triple berry crisp.

It was zucchini time for Sarah over at Ward Road Garden, when she spotted the first zucchini of the season in her garden. She seemed to waste no time grilling it over the BBQ, and is already planning a Zucchini Ginger Jam for next weekend.

Momaste over at Locavore On Core posted about both week 7 and 8 this week, and it looks like she not only enjoyed several meals, but managed to prepare extras for the freezer as well. First was grilled eggplant sliced topped with Spring Hill Cheese goat’s milk brie, fresh tomato slices, and basil, topped with blackberry fig balsamic vinegar, from Hare Hollow. She followed that up with a local breakfast of pepper and cheese omlette, bacon, and watermelon. And finally it was Mousakka, a potato, eggplant, and ground beef casserole, with everything but the cheese and spices coming from local ingredients.

As for myself, I managed to fall behind in a post again—I got too distracted reading about all the delicious meals everyone else is whipping up (I was also distracted by several out of town guests and an annual 80-person potluck). But I did manage to sneak in several meals and dishes that were at least 90% local: beef chili; “breakfast for dinner” omlettes; my backyard bbq staple—tri tip, potatoes, and corn on the cob; and a local broccoli casserole for the potluck. I’ll try to post about it all by next week’s roundup!

It’s really exciting to see what everyone else is doing out there with what foodstuffs they are growing and finding around them. I’m more inspired than ever after doing the roundup this week and look forward to trying out some of the meals and recipes posted—everything looks so delicious!

One Local Summer, week 7: International

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

United Kingdom

Sally cooked up a local breakfast this past week of bacon, sausages, eggs and bread.  She was disappointed to discover, though, that her normal market is now selling non-local pecorino.

One Local Summer- Week 7: Mid-Atlantic

Maryland

It was rotisserie chicken this week for Danielle and family, fresh from their farm. The farm also contributed mixed beans, new potatoes, salad with onion, cucumbers, grated Italian zucchini, and chevre cheese to the meal. Farm-fresh garlic seasoned their sour cream (for the potatoes) and the bread (from a bakery local to their in-laws).

Cream of purslane soup was enjoyed chez Purloined Letter. For those yet to experience purslane, this versatile little staple is technically a weed. Check out the cracks in your sidewalk and you very well may find some growing wild. It’s also found in many gardens, and it’s no wonder– it’s quite tasty. I do have to try this soup– PL steamed the purslane, pureed it with some local cream, then thinned it out with some stock made from the week’s vegetable peelings. Salt, pepper and a garnish of basil and voila! Sautéed tomatoes and zucchini served as a side. While just-picked blackberries made for a delicious dessert.

New York

Hats off to Meghan who, despite hotter than hot weather, decided to take on chicken soup this week. Hers featured leeks and roasted garlic– yum. Along with the soup she made a roasted scape and beet salad. And to finish it off peach-pie-and-balsamic-flavored frozen yogurt. You have to check out the recipe for yourself– most interesting. Meghan’s farmer’s market supplied most of the meal.

Mia was off to Oregon so she missed last week’s round up. While vacationing and attending a wedding she made a point to indulge in local specialties such as hazelnuts (who knew) and all sorts of berries. Upon returning this week she found herself playing catch up at work, and despite being super busy she still found time to toss up a local salad of CSA goodies: bibb and romaine lettuces, sorrel, mizuna, sugar snap peas and a mix of herbs. She topped it with some cheddar cheese and an apple cider vinaigrette.

Pennsylvania

Robin once again scored big at the farmer’s market: corn, peppers (green and purple), yellow squash, a cucumber, a tomato, an onion, baskets of red potatoes, pie cherries, plums and two kinds of colby cheese- jalapeno and Italian. Plus a dozen eggs. The heat kept the family out of the kitchen, so instead they enjoyed most of their bounty raw: cut up peppers and tomatoes, chilled plums, hunks of cheese on slices of cucumber “crackers.” What a great idea!

New Jersey

It was pesto this week at our house. I couldn’t resist after receiving a bunch of basil, garlic and tomatoes from our CSA. I served the pesto over angel hair from our favorite Brooklyn pasta-maker. So simple and delicious.

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Elizabeth of Seedling.
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Pennsylvania

As a ‘welcome home’ and ‘thank you’ to a friend, Kristen served up a Tortilla Español using local eggs, cheese, onion, and potatoes.  And the baby continues to get in on the act: he ate local sweet potatoes last week.

Beany made some great-looking fava bean dip, as well as a quiche.  Her quiche used local eggs, butter, mushrooms, onions, and basil. Yum!

Because of the heat wave we’ve been suffering here in Philly over the last week, Naomi mostly stuck to salads.  She only had to cook the corn for her salad of corn, pepper, tofu, zucchini, cucumber, yellow bean.  Smart move!

Pat had what she considers an uninspired week.  Huh.  Well, she still managed two meals out of it!  She made turkey cutlets with cool pepper sauce, as well as a mess of spaghetti with meat sauce.

I, too, had an uninspiring week - really, I think it’s the heat wave.  I was snacking all week collard green pesto and garlic scape pesto, as well as the pig liver pate I picked up in Ithaca, NY recently, all with local bread.  On Sunday I was slaving over my hot stove all day for a co-worker’s birthday celebration on Monday.  I served her favorite chips with six dips, all of which contained almost all locally sourced ingredients - carrot ginger dip, beet and goat cheese dip, guacamole, cucumber-feta salsa, onion dip, and roasted garlic.

New York

Julia was on vacation in Maine, so she got to eat locally somewhere else!  And let me just tell you: I’m jealous.  Maine lobster and sweet corn for dinner, preceded and followed by bar-hopping where local microbreweries are everywhere.  She even ate local while camping, having brought some things from New York with her and supplemented with locally grown items from Maine.  Clams and haddock?  Yeah, next time Julia goes camping, I’m stowing away in her trunk.

Zucchini are taking over at Peg’s house - she’s harvesting it faster than she can eat it!  To try to use it up, Peg cooked up a meal of grilled zucchini and cheese panini-style sandwiches, cucumber and onion salad, and corn on the cob.  It sounds amazing!

Linda visited the Green Market at Lincoln Center, and bought the fixings for a fantastic big, big salad. She used spinach, cucumber, red onions, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese aged 32 months in a cave!  She then plundered a friend’s garden for a whole bunch of fresh herbs for the salad.  Delicious!

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Nicole.

One Local Summer - Week 7 - South

I can’t believe we’re at week 7 already!  I have no idea where this summer is going, and how we got here so quickly. 

Over at Low Mileage Food last week, I got a craving for lasagna.  Never mind that it’s been 90 degrees and over every day.  So, we had local lasagna, including homemade noodles.  And yes, it was delicious,

Jasmine at Knitting 40 Shades of Green, on the other hand, beat the heat with a lovely gazpacho.  C. at Foodie for Tots also worked with the heat, fixing chimichurri flank steak, buttermilk and herb marinated chicken breast, tomato mozzarella salad, and potato salad for dinner with her in-laws.  It looks really, really good.

It was also hot for the folks at Capturing Today, pushing over 100 degrees in their neck of the woods.  They responded with rotisserie leg of lamb, a summer vegetable medley, cucumber salad, and sliced tomatoes.

Over at Tennessee Locavore, they’ve been eating a lot of local meals, including chicken and mushroom kebabs, and bacon and tomato sandwiches.  Num!

Tiffany at the Garden Apartment cooked up zucchini and potato pancakes, as well as ratatouille with goat cheese and pesto, and visited one of the farms that produces some of her food.  What an excellent week!

Over at Bridgman Pottery, there were some great looking meals served up, including a vegetable bake, cold cucumber soup, and gazpacho. 

At Outpost 505, they also worked up a whole bunch of local meals, including one of my favorites, meatballs.

Heather at Simple Green Frugal cooked up something pretty original and nifty:  polenta lasagna.  At least I’m not the only person making lasagna in this heat. 

And last, at Our Greener Pastures, this week saw soft tacos and berry cake.  Delicious. 

Have a good week, everyone!  Stay cool.

One Local Summer, Week 7: New England

Is anybody else having a hard time believing that we’re already into Week 7?  Whoa!  Where does the time go? 

Here’s what we’ve been eating in New England this week:

NH

I chose to highlight a meal of grilled flank steak and “Italian” green beans.  We’ve hit that time of year when pretty much every meal is a local one.  Figuring out which meal to highlight is a nice problem to have!

Lisa had a fabulous cheddar burger, with buns baked on the outdoor grill!  Lisa makes a good point in her entry about comments she gets about eating “all those eggs and that beef!” But her latest physical confirms that, if you choose wisely, you can eat the good stuff!  I agree, Lisa - pastured beef and eggs really are better, both in taste and in terms of nutrients!  Mmmmmm…

MA

Erica got the first tomatoes of her CSA share this year this week, so she enjoyed them as a salad, along with a pork cube steak and homemade yogurt sauce.  Quick-cooking pork and other cool ingredients helped cut down on time spent near a hot stove!

Simple and gorgeous, Laurie’s entry this week highlighted two NE summer favorites: littleneck clams and heirloom tomatoes.  Tthe littlenecks were dug by her husband, and served with garlic scape butter and big slices of german stripe tomatoes. Yum!

Bivalves were also on the menu at Sarah’s.  She enjoyed “Italian-style big flat pasta with mussels, and a tomato-onion-eggplant sauce.  The pasta was made with locally-milled white flour and home-ground local spelt flour, plus black pepper, salt, and a drizzle of olive oil.” She points out that these were the first nightshades of the season for her.  Here’s to hoping for many more!

VT

Lamb sauteed in a sweet onion wine sauce with zucchini and kale, was served with a VT summer ale at Stacey’s.  Stacey wishes she could find a local oil that she could use in place of butter, especially in the summer when butter can seem heavy. 

Although, since she’s already into the zucchini, I will say that after a while the only way I can look forward to eating zucchini again is because it’s a chance for some butter and salt!

A full blown veggie feast is highlighted at Peaceable Imperatrix.  Vermont artichokes, sauteed zucchini and tomatoes and a big fat Greek salad were all delicious and all local!

Have a great week, everyone!

One Local Summer, week 7:  Midwest

This was the “week of (free) mulberries” for Lesli of Going Green -- she and her family had them in smoothies, salads, and even on corn pone!

After a hectic few weeks, Katherine of Kitten’s Lost Her Mittens was able to put together a simple meal of steak, green beans and potatoes.

Jenny of The Nourished Kitchen put together another of her beautifully composed meals, this time with zucchini stuffed with apricots and lamb, quinoa pilaf, a simple salad and apricot-honey ice cream.

Destabee of Kaleidoscope Living is having a rough week and declares this a week of “a lot of local snacking” including blueberries, cherries, tomatoes, zucchini, eggs, a hot dog, grilled cheese sandwiches, and cantaloupe.

Becke of Columbus Foodie made the gorgeous looking CaJohns Corn Chowder with Smoked Sausage (and shares the recipe!)

Eco ‘Burban Mom Mandi made a meal of true comfort food, potato gnocci with homemade pasta sauce and a mountain of Edam cheese.

Simple but wholesome and comforting seemed to be a theme this week.  Sirena of Swimming in this Sea of Life made egg salad and served it on honey bread with some asparagus on the side.

Joy at The Spiral of Seasons also had a sandwich supper, with grilled chicken on sourdough honey whole wheat bread (with a link to the recipe) and served it with cantaloupe and honey sorbet.

Anna at twelve22.org made “cheddar mash” with Yukon gold potatoes and cheddar, and a huge serving of broccoli, kale, green beans, snow peas, and onion.

Anne at Green Leanings also had a sandwich meal with “BLTs minus the T,” corn on the cob, and zucchini capaccio (I hope I got the right link for that, Anne).

Debbie’s unpictured, unblogged meal was also simple, roasted potatoes, more slow cooked greens, green beans, and grilled zucchini.

Addendum:  Karen of toteleeding had a, well, disappointing meal of green beans from the garden, potatoes from the CSA and baked local chicken with chipotle mulberry sauce.  Turns out it needed a bit of work, but she plans to use the chicken revamped in another meal.  And the (local) milkshakes they had for dessert were wonderful!. 

One Local Summer- Week 6: Mid-Atlantic Report

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

New York

Meghan is continuing to dedicate a large part of her diet to local eating. She produced, count them, three local meals this week! Her first of the week was roasted chicken with broccoli which in turn became her second– a huge salad featuring leftover chicken and beets. For her final meal of the week she and some dear friends supped on ricotta gnocchi with pesto, another huge salad, plus roasted asparagus. Looks like a fun night was had by all.

Maryland

The Purloined Letter had cause for celebration this week so she and family enjoyed an especially special meal together. With grilled portabello mushrooms from Pennsylvania, roasted asparagus spears from New Jersey, baby potatoes and lamb shanks from Maryland, plus fresh rosemary from the neighbor’s yard, and slices of gorgeous Chioggia beets pulled from their own garden it was a meal worthy of marking a milestone birthday. And to top it all off, they breakfasted the next morning on multigrain pancakes from grains they milled themselves served with cheese and blueberry jam also made with their own hands. Delicious.

Throughout the challenge, Danielle and family have been enjoying meat from their own livestock. This week they branched out a little with some grass-fed beef from a neighboring farm. Something new and only a nominal impact on their overall food miles! Alongside the beef kabobs they enjoyed the first of their red potatoes topped with farm-fresh herbed butter, plus broccoli, green beans, home-made herbed focaccia and a salad of greens, shredded zucchini and onions– all from their farm.

Smtwngrl discovered this week that without consciously making the effort, it’s difficult to achieve a truly local meal. On the other hand, a well-stocked pantry means you can work local ingredients into your eating without much thought or planning. Feeling the deadline crunch, she reprised her kale and onion frittata and new potato homefries for her official OLS entry. However when she sat down to recollect the week she realized that local eating was a big part of her diet anyway which is equally important to mention, I think.

Pennsylvania

Robin had a similar experience. Finding it difficult to make the farmer’s market this week, she feared she would have to forgo the challenge. That is until she realized she had already eaten her local meal… without really trying! Plus her kids surprised her with scones one morning which also, for the most part, were local. So for her inadvertent local meal, Robin turned a bunch of rainbow chard into a cheese-and-chard-filled omelet and a chard-and-cheese casserole. Check out this rainbow chard… you’d almost think it was candy:

New Jersey

After oohing and ahhing over other participants’ pizzas, I thought it was high-time we had some of that cheesy, saucy goodness chez Seedling. This week it was a grilled pizza with tomato sauce from last year’s larder, locally made mozzarella and CSA radicchio and basil.

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Elizabeth of Seedling.
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Pennsylvania

Post-vacation dinner at A Rowhouse Kitchen was marinated roast chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans, with a salad of homegrown red oak lettuce. And then she made up a big pot of homemade chicken stock!

As usual, Buzz and Pat’s meals for the week look delicious!  There was pot roast with roasted veggies, a plum and blueberry cobbler that makes me want to eat through the computer screen, and spaghetti casserole.

The lovely ladies at Philly Farmers had some beautiful meals last week.  It started off with one of my favorite things: corn on the cob!  Dinner was sliced tomatoes with basil from the garden, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, plus the corn.  The meal also included marinated and grilled carrots and summer squash.  Breakfast the following day was a fried egg with bread and butter.  They also fed the baby his first local produce: carrots!

As for me, I was busy preparing for a dragon boat race in Ithaca, New York last week but I still managed to eat a few local meals.  My first meal of the week was honey roasted pork chops, zucchini blossoms stuffed with garlic scape pesto and homemade mozzarella, and swiss chard gratin.  The second meal was bison burgers on locally made challah rolls, served with locally grown cannellini bean, tomato, and basil salad.

New York

Peg thinks she would have gotten voted off the island or something for her OLS meal last week, but I think it sounds yummy: a stir fry of sugar snap peas, onion, carrots, zucchini, ramps, and locally made tofu served over non-local rice.

Linda cooked up her favorite - roasted potatoes, radishes, onions, portabellos, topped with NY cheddar and broiled.  She’s looking forward to getting more creative and mixing things up a bit.

Julia delved into the world of freeganism this weekend, something I admire but don’t have the intestinal fortitude for myself.  She dropped in on a locally hosted freegan event with a friend.  After the dinner there were some bags of greens left that guests were invited to take home.  She’s going on vacation shortly, so she really challenged herself to use up all the greens before leaving.  The result was dinner with a friend of vegetarian peanut sauce stir fry.  She also made herself a grilled zucchini sandwich with greens for lunch the next day.

This section of the OLS update by Nicole.

One Local Summer - week 6: International region

Canada

Amber even managed to eat local (during week 5 of the OLS challenge) while on a camping vacation!  She cooked salmon, potatoes, and peppers in tinfoil over the fire.  Yum!  And last week, she made peppers stuffed with kale, onion, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic fronds, and feta, all served with a local salad of greens and carrots and snapper caught for her by a loved one.  She even made jam for the first time - welcome to canning madness, Amber!

United Kingdom

Sally went all crazy last week and made some beautiful-looking gnocchi.  She served them with pork chops and homemade pesto made from rocket and pecorino.  Coincidentally, she also found a most excellent tool for British locavores: The Free Range Review!
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Did we miss your update this week?  Leave it in the comments!

Joanna, our fantastic International Region coordinator, is currently having computer issues.  Until she is up and running Nicole from FTP is doing the update.

One Local Summer-week 6: Western Region

Oregon & Washington:

With a source for garbanzo beans finally located, Kimberly made a favorite dish, Garbanzos with Greens, this week. She fllowed it up with a simple green salad and a bowl full of cherries. Check out her post for the garbanzo recipe - I might even have to try it.

Joan and Grady are on a road trip through British Columbia. This week’s local meal found them enjoying both the scenery and the food at the Fat Duck Pemberton Valley Vineyard and Inn. Dinner included a delicious looking salad, Pacific coast halibut, local potatoes, duck and a local wine. The followed it up with strawberries and cherry strudel at the North Arm Farm.

Over at Donna’s house they had blueberry pancakes for dinner after going blueberry picking. The recipe was from a Tomie DePaolo children’s book (I loved him as a kid). Another evening they had London broil in a homemade marinade with mashed potatoes and zucchini. There was even enough steak left over for stir fry and quesadillas on other nights.

While her photo might not do it justice, the spinach and ricotta lasagna that JM made last week sounds fabulous. She not only made the pasta from scratch, she also made the ricotta - I’m so impressed! While she had the pasta roller out she also made ravioli and filled them with the beet filling left from last week’s Red Casunziei. Now that’s impressive.

The Shibaguyz are back in town (welcome home!) and faced with the clean up of their untended garden. What they’re growing in their small space is truly impressive. Go check it out!

Denise and Holly rejoin us this week with a local meal featuring roast chicken, baby root vegetables, fresh peas, salad and cherry clafoutis. They checked out two farmers’ markets last weekend and found strawberries! I’m jealous that they’ve already got peas, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. Guess a greenhouse really is an advantage around here.

Over here at the Hennery our garden is finally feeding us more than lettuce, radish and onion. Our featured meal was simple herb roasted pork chops, boiled potatoes and a spring/summer veggie saute. Everything but the pork and the butter was from our garden - what a nice feeling.

*****

California:

Taryn’s meal defines the simple summer supper. Boiled corn, blanched purple beans, mixed greens with olive oil and balsamic, a sliced pickle and home brew. Now that’s a dinner after my own heart.

Proving that you don’t need to own an ice cream maker when you have friends with one, Michelle found one to use for the Fourth. Their dinner included corn on the cob, baguette, cheese, tomatoes, cauliflower, homegrown potatoes, fresh lemonade from backyard lemons and home churned vanilla ice cream. Nice.

Continuing the corn on the cob theme for California, Lauren combined it with plank grilled wahoo and swordfish with apricot sauce and foil roasted squash medley. As she says, “simple and classic - it doesn’t get more summery.”

With just three weeks to go until baby, Momaste still managed a full day of local meals. Highlights included a purslane omelette, kamut-barley berry slaw, yogurt-peach-plum smoothie, chicken in apricot-plum sauce and roasted new potatoes. Now that’s how you eat locally.

After complaining about the cold weather last week, Anita got hit with a heat wave this week. Since they were spared the worst of the heat, they decided to grill and make carne asada tacos. They roasted sweet corn slathered with chile-spiked crema. It was all topped off by local s’mores - so jealous.

One Local Summer, week 6:  Midwest

Joy The Spiral of Seasons:  A beautiful and tasty looking breakfast of eggs, sourdough honey bread with goat cheese and strawberries. 

Broccoli quiche, green and wax beans, and cole slaw were on the menu at Karen’s house (toteleeding).

Lesli at Going Green got creative and made corn pone and served it with cheese and greens! 

Everybody’s rounding out their meals a bit more as more and more veggies become available, and Sirena of Swimming in this Sea of Life is no exception.  She tried grilling jalapeño poppers, overcame a challenge, and learned some things in the process.  She served her poppers with a cheese and red onion quesadilla with fresh salsa. 

Holly of blender took on the challenge of salmon and rutabagas, along with potatoes, cole slaw, and finished up with frozen kefir with berries and honey.  Mmmm. 

Destabee of Kaleidoscope Living is finally home and cooking for herself again.  She came up with a colorful plate of chicken, mixed veggies, and mixed berries for dessert. Oh, and basil and nasturtium blossoms for even more color. 

Jenny of the Nourished Kitchen also had a beautifully composed of “roast chicken, a simple green salad, mashed potatoes with wild chive blossoms, roast chicken gravy, sugar snap peas and cherries.”

Anne of Green Leanings is off camping, but left us with this meal to consider:  BBQ chicken, green beans with scallions and butter (homemade!) and potatoes with red onions and smoked paprika.

Eco ‘Burban Mandi defied the weather and made white bean chicken chili with yellow summer squash and smoked Gouda.  With plenty extra for lunches. 

Anna of twelve22.org had an artistically composed salad.  In her words, “Mmm, vegetables. The egg, tomato, and balsamic vinegar (combined with olive oil, salt, and pepper for a super easy vinaigrette) were store-bought and local. Everything else was from the garden—lettuce, chard, onion, snow peas, broccoli, and green beans. Well, green and yellow bush beans.” Very pretty. 

Becke, the Columbus Foodie grilled her meal of ribeye steak, baby zucchini and and some non-local potatoes (that needed to be used) with her homemade butter. 

Molly of field work was away at a poetry workshop in the woods, but that didn’t stop her from eating local.  She had bratwurst boiled in beer with diced onions, red pepper flakes, and hot sauce. 

It seems Robyn at JediMomma’s Journal had two entries this week:  Kale Paneer & Cherry Clafouti and Cheese enchiladas with apple cider vinegar salad.  It all looks fantastic! 

One Local Summer- Week 5: Mid-Atlantic Report

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Maryland

Smtwngrl enjoyed her first frittata this week and it looks like she’s hooked. It turned out to be a great way to use up the abundance of kale from her CSA. Garlic scapes, spring onions and some raw milk cheddar gave it a little zing. She served potato dill salad and roasted veggies on the side. The dill she grew herself. The potatoes and veggies were farmer’s market finds.

Danielle and family had a veritable feast– roasted heritage turkey, couscous with mini bulbing onions, basil, garlic and chevre, plus a salad of greens, carrots, onions and kohlrabi. The turkey, veggies, herbs and cheese all came from the farm. Wine, bread and dessert were all provided by guests from their own local sources. And to round out dessert, Danielle whipped up some cream from their cows and sprinkled it with some of their own berries. Can’t get fresher than that.

Leftovers have never looked so good. Check out what the Purloined Letter ate this week. First she assembled a rather verdant salad of arugula, fresh peas, turnips and radishes, all from her CSA. Then she fried up some rice along with farm steak, farm eggs and a whole host of veggies including radish greens, swiss chard and onions from both her CSA and her own garden.

New York

And speaking of leftovers… with a little careful planning combined with a little careful shopping Meghan was able to work local ingredients into much of her eating this week. Last week’s local meals became this week’s lunches. Local eggs brightened her breakfast. She sipped mojitos spiked with some of her own home-grown mint. And stocked up on locally made beer and wine. And when she dined out this week she made sure it was at a restaurant that sourced its ingredients locally.

It’s hard not to oooh and ahh over Mia’s dessert this week: vanilla ice cream from a local creamery topped with CSA lavender and strawberries. Dinner didn’t look too bad either: grilled pork chops from upstate NY with crushed mustard and coriander seed, a side of sautéed mustard greens with spring onions and bruschetta made from local sourdough topped with sorrel pesto.

Pennsylvania

Robin really stretched her dollar at the farmer’s market this week and was able to prepare an equally impressive meal. Roasted chicken, roasted potatoes topped with smoked cheddar, sweet corn on the cob and a salad chock full of flavors from boiled eggs to carrots and cukes.

New Jersey

Grilled chicken sausage, roasted potatoes and a mixed green salad was enjoyed over at Studio Tamar this week. A new farmer’s market has made the OLS challenge a little easier and a lot tastier. Tamar’s CSA provided the salad.

We’re having a seafood streak at my house and that’s just fine with us. The local supermarket came through with Jersey crab cakes which I served up with some CSA chard and a reprise of my basil/garlic scape pesto over locally made ravioli.

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Elizabeth of Seedling.
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Pennsylvania

Continuing to keep it simple for OLS, Mikaela’s meal consisted of just four ingredients: rolls from a local baker, carrots, fennel, and garlic scapes.  Mikaela has problems using up fennel before it goes bad (me, too), so she did a little research using one of her cookbooks.  The book revealed that while fennel smells of licorice, the flavor is more mild and it can be used as a replacement for celery. Good tip!  Mikaela includes the recipe for her carrot fennel soup - yay!

Having been the recipient of Anj’s jam, I’m drooling at the idea of her OLS activities for the week: making blueberry jam. Delish is right!

Naomi’s OLS meal celebrated Independence Day at her parents’ house.  They had grilled lamb chops; grilled summer squash, carrots, onions; and a salad of summer squash, multicolored carrots, scallions.  They washed it down with a locally produced beer.

Pat wasn’t on vacation this week, so she only cooked up four local meals.  For breakfast one morning, Buzz and Pat ate maple sugar ragamuffins - not the kind that come in a box, but the good homemade ones.  I think I might have to give those a try!  Another meal was chicken noodle soup, and another was creamy corn and chorizo-stuffed mushrooms (so yummy looking!).  And the final meal (pictured): grilled london broil with sauted zucchini and smashed potatoes.

The lovely ladies at Philly Farmers were only home for a few days last week, but they used that time to their advantage - they used what they had on hand to make a great breakfast!  Fried eggs in Amish butter with cheese, and toast with blueberry jam and a big glass of local milk.

I cranked out three local meals last week.  Some blueberries that I picked last weekend became blueberry pancakes.  There were also meals of herb roasted chicken and potatoes, peas, and green beans cooked in duck fat that I recently rendered myself, as well as meatloaf with honey-roasted carrots, leftover kale and spelt berries, and fava beans sauted in garlic and fennel.

New York

Peg had the full-on OLS experience this past week: an entirely local meal, including dessert and drink!  Fettucine alfredo (homemade fettucine!) with mushrooms and onions, with a side of fava beans. A bottle of local chardonnay.  Fresh raspberries.  What more could you ask for?

Julia was able to make two meals last week - the very gorgeous asparagus frittata with grated carrots and beets, and mape hazelnut muffins.  In an act of frugality, Julia used up some leftover garlic scapes from another meal in her frittata.  And did I mention that recipes for both are included?

Linda’s meal sounds so good amazing - dill-encrusted Long Island flounder with steamed asparagus.  She also experimented a little with a chopped cucumber salad with grated radishes and carrots and a touch of dill.  Unfortunately, the cucumber salad went awry - according to Linda, the radish was a little too much.  But there’s always a next time!!

One Local Summer-week 5: Western Region

California:

While summer hasn’t quite made it to San Francisco, Anita still found some pretty summer produce to accompany her interpretation of beef and Guinness pie. The pie sounds delish but her method of cooking the veggies has me even more excited. Check out her post for the full recipe.

Revisiting childhood memories, Taryn made use of what she had this week to reinvent the Nesquick smoothie. Some crushed frozen raspberries, a bit of unsweeted cocoa powder, goat’s milk yogurt, a splash of milk and ice. The second time she indulged by combining it with scrambled garlic eggs and sauteed swiss chard.

As she headed out of town with some steak and eggs loving men, Tracey still found time for a simple local lunch. She used up the rest of the zucchini in her CSA basket and made leftover roasted zucchini soup.

Shocking her neighbor (and maybe herself) Michelle used potatoes from her front yard as the foundation of her dinner. She slow roasted them and served them with heirloom tomato bruschetta and the first homegrown Dragon’s Tongue beans of the season.

Making up for missed posts, Lauren rejoins us with three weeks of updates. Week 3 was grouper, roasted fingerling potatoes, braised green beans and chioggia beets. Weeks 4 and 5 found her making tri tip and roasted Peruvian blue potatoes and a vegetable fritatta. Check out her posts for recipes as well.

Allison opted for simply good this week and made a breakfast of over-easy eggs and toast. She even added a parsley sprig for photographic effect (she ate it later). She’s looking for zucchini recipes if you’ve got any ideas.

Making it up as she went, Momaste made a delicious soup of carrots, potatoes and chipotle peppers with a bit of cheese and plain yogurt to round it out. She might not have used a recipe but it sounds pretty dang good to me.

*****

Oregon, Washington:

With her nose to the grindstone on deadline, Melinda has been reaping the rewards of Matt’s cooking skills when it comes to dinner. Meals have included polenta with Tuscan vegetables, Roman style fava beans with artichoke hearts and homemade pesto, beans and potatoes. Yum!

With basil straight from her garden, Joan made a dinner of Pesto Pasta Genovese, salad, baguette and Pinot Noir. Yum - looks just like what I had in Genova last year and the recipe was in fact a variation of one she picked up in Siena several years ago (I LOVED Siena).

Discovering that the sixth time is the charm, Donna finally made mozzarella that she was happy with. She promptly put it onto a homemade pizza topped with fried bacon and olives. On the side was a green salad. She also managed to make ricotta using the leftover whey. Way to go Donna!

JM has been busy cooking all kinds of things. From mixed green salads to hearty breakfasts to a reprise of her Uova e Spinachi Cotti all Fiorentina to Cherry Clafouti and Red Casunziei (beet ravioli). Check out her post for the complete details - she’s been busy!

Enjoying the wonderful weather, Monica enjoyed peapods fresh from the garden, burgers with warm dijon potato salad and a dessert of homemade strawberry shortcake. She’s looking forward to the start of her CSA share this weekend.

Taking her inspiration from the beautiful tomatoes and peppers at the market (so jealous as we’ve see none up her so far) as well as a bit of fennel, Kimberly made a gorgeous dinner. Halibut braised with Mediterranean vegetables looks divine and is definitely going on my list of things to make soon.

Here at our house, last week was a busy time of getting ready to host 30+ friends and family for the holiday. We started the week with our own broccoli and eggs in a crustless Quiche Lorraine. At the holiday barbeque we hosted we served all local foods for our share of the potluck and breakfast, along with a keg of local (if not organic) beer from our favorite brewery. We finished off the long weekend with a dinner featuring our first homegrown potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli and a bit of Alaskan halibut (not quite local, but close).

One Local Summer, Week 5: Midwest

Monday, July 07, 2008

At the Nourished Kitchen, Jenny, who is using local ingredients in all of her meals, had a local meal from a concessionaire at her very picturesque farmer’s market. 

Lesli at Going Green reprised her vegetable wraps from last week and added the “Best steak ever.”

Eco Burban Mom Mandi is finding it so easy to put together local meals that she’s doing it without even trying to! 

Karen at Toteleeding had two kinds of zucchini-crusted pizza and a delectable peach crumble with homemade ice cream. 

Attempting to recreate a meal she and her husband had in Germany, Sirena at Swimming in This Sea of Life put together a hearty meal of kale, onions, potatoes, and sausages.

Contributing to a family potluck, Joy at The Spiral of Seasons made a simple but pretty cucumber salad and a lovely loaf of bread. 

At twelve22 Anna had a simple and elegant meal, which she ate while reading her neighborhood paper. 

JediMomma Robyn made an unusual but delicious sounding cabbage and cheddar pie. 

Destabee of Kaleidoscope Living is away from home helping with flood relief efforts (thanks Destabee!) and isn’t cooking but is still able to eat locally at least a little at a local tavern and has been able to get some veggies, honey, and cinnamon rolls from the local farmer’s market where’s she’s assigned. 

Debbie of Rites of Passage has been remiss at posting about her local meals, but she’s been eating lots of spinach salads and sesame kale and black raspberries this week. 

Kris at Quilted Simple had a meal of steak, baby potatoes, zucchini, and fruit, and also processed a LOT of berries for freezing to eat later. 

Anne of Green Leanings had a lovely sounded vegetarian pasta dish and salad. 

And for dessert, a luscious honey cake was on the menu for Molly of Field | Work. 

Becke at Columbus Foodie made a 100% local breakfast with local eggs, butter, potatoes, bread, sausage and bacon.  Whew!  That’s some breakfast!

One Local Summer- Week 4: Mid-Atlantic Report

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Maryland

Due to technical difficulties, smtwngrl’s post was missed last week so I want to make up for it here. She enjoyed rainbow chard and zucchini sautéed with spring onion, garlic scapes and radishes and seasoned with basil and balsamic vinegar. This tasty dish was served over wild rice with steamed snap peas on the side. The veggies all came from her CSA and local farmer’s market. For this week she took inspiration from fellow OLS participants. There was what must have been a tasty tomato and onion salad and some pickled kohlrabi–– inspiring indeed! She rounded out her local extravaganza with a poached egg on toast and a glass of local wine.

It was pasta this week for Danielle and family as the farm makes its transition from spring to summer. The pesto was part of last year’s reserves. It was topped with homemade chevre– even the milk came from the farm –and a sprinkling of this year’s basil. Homegrown salad greens and grilled pork tenderloin from their Tamworth pigs completed the meal.

The Purloined Letter found herself swimming in summer’s bounty this week thanks to a productive trip to the farmer’s market, a particularly generous CSA offering and her own garden’s success. This she felt was worthy of celebration, so she saluted her good fortune with a dry cherry martini.

Then she broke out the grill and served up some farm-fresh steaks, corn on the cob and potatoes.

New York

Meghan went all out this week and made a corn custard with sautéed mushrooms and chorizo. The chorizo she found at the farmer’s market served as inspiration for the meal. On the side she served up a green bean salad, then toasted it all with a Long Island rosé. Delicious.

Prepare to be inspired by Mia’s pizzas this week, I know I’m already planning mine. She made two kinds, both enabled her to use up some of her reserves in the freezer as well as leftovers from last week’s OLS meal. Very clever! One featured pesto and sausage. The other, tomato sauce and onions. A tossed CSA salad was served on the side.

Pennsylvania

Take a look at what Robin brought home from the farmer’s market.

From this a quiche was born featuring jalapeno Colby cheese, spring onions and homemade crust. I am impressed. She also reprised her potato salad from the week before since it was such a hit with the family.

Pamela lunched with a friend over local apple and cinnamon pork sausage with a side of potatoes and sautéed zucchini with spring onions. It turned out to be a significant week in Pamela’s OLS journey and I’m looking forward to reading more about her experiences.

New Jersey

Our local meal this week was a family affair, even my 10-month-old daughter participated! We enjoyed local cod with a basil and garlic scape pesto over sautéed chard and quinoa. I topped it with some cubed zucchini.

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Elizabeth of Seedling.
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Pennsylvania

Those who attended Anj’s Fiber Nite got a real treat: two dishes made from local ingredients!  Using Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as her guide, Anj served peas with onions and sage, and zucchini with onions and tomatoes.  Having attended Anj’s Fiber Nite at least once, I know that Anj is a stellar cook - I bet it was delicious!

Mikaela’s simple approach to seasonal eating included a meal with just six ingredients: turnips, cucumber, garlic scapes, tofu, spring onion, Swiss chard.  She cooked up tofu in barbecue sauce, and Hakurei turnips with Swiss chard, spring onions, and garlic scapes.  My plan to encourage Hakurei turnip love is working!

It seems timely that Caroline’s meal this week included Jersey-caught bluefish, what with my wailing lamentation about the lack of Jersey fish for purchase in the area.  In Caroline’s case, the bluefish were included in her CSA share - that’s so cool!  She grilled it up with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice and local cilantro.

Beany has been trying to convince her husband to quit buying store-bought tomato juice.  She finally convinced him with her own special blend of tomatoes, cilantro, raspberries with a bit of red chilli powder and lemon juice.  She served the cocktail with a noodle stir fry with local peas, carrots and broccoli, as well as a green bean mushroom dish.

Naomi hasn’t had time to make a full on local meal, but she has been having tons of local ingredient smoothies made from blueberries, black raspberries, strawberries, and yogurt.  Way to celebrate the berry season!

Pat was on vacation last week, so she pretty much made a local meal every day! Wow!  So what did Buzz and Pat eat last week?  Pork medallions with cherries, cucumber salad, chicken pot pie, cream of asparagus soup, ricotta with strawberries and honey, and broccoli with cheesy mushroom sauce.  I’m just going to move in.

Cabbage was the star of the show at Philly Farmers last week.  Cabbage was transformed into cole slaw and served it on oat bread with cheddar cheese, along with corn on the cob and white beet chips.  They also made kale chips, which is something I might have to try to use up some my CSA share kale.

As for me, I had a few local meals this week.  I ended the week by finding some local (although barely so) clams that I steamed in butter, white wine, a bit of chopped onion and garlic, basil, parsley, and dill. Mid-week brought a vegetarian dinner of Hakurei and Scarlett Queen turnips from my garden, along with a casserole of kale, spelt berries, garlic, and cheese, as well as a meal of the best chicken I’ve ever tasted served with carrots in butter, parsley, and tarragon and grilled yellow squash.  Earlier in the week I cooked up some lamb marinaded in red wine, olive oil, oregano, and honey and served it with shaved carrots in butter and dill and spinach.

New York

Peg started her day with a hearty local breakfast: potatoes and onions with eggs...or, the fancier way to put it: a frittata.  It’s the first thing that Peg ever learned to cook by herself!  That was years ago, so I’m sure she’s had plenty of time to perfect her recipe!

Linda made a giant omelette with radishes and portabellas, and fried potatoes with onions.  She even accommodated her husband by cooking the potatoes and onions until ‘burnt’.  Aw, that’s love!

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Nicole.

One Local Summer - Week 4 - South

Melissa at Bridgman Pottery has been busy this week, solving her local vinegar problem, making up a great sounding beet, carrot, arugula, and feta salad, serving up another supper of scrambled eggs and tomatoes and goat cheese, and finally, rescuing some abandoned peaches.  Wow! 

Mel at Thirtyo had a great looking meatloaf, green beans, and baby potatoes. 

Sometimes, when it’s hot outside, all you can do is eat lightly, and the folks at Walnut Spinney did just that this week, with slaw, green beans, and toast and cheese.

Tiffany at the The Garden Apartment kept the stuffed vegetable theme going this week, trying something she hadn’t cooked before:  stuffed squash blossoms.  They look great!

At Capturing Today, dinner this past Saturday night featured pork chops, corn on the cob, and black eyed peas.  We’re just starting to get corn on the cob in here in Greensboro, so I’m totally jealous. 

Madeline’s family at Barn-Raising ate a bunch of zero mile food this week, along with some local pork spare ribs.

C. at Foodie Tots cooked up a great looking spring herb and yogurt marinated chicken, served with a swiss chard and maitake mushroom saute.

At Our Greener Pastures, a locally sourced breakfast was featured.

Heather at Simple - Green - Frugal ate locally all day.  I think she’s going to pull off doing this the whole challenge, folks. 

At Low Mileage Food, we had cube steak and a pile of vegetables, and it was mighty tasty.

And, finally, over at Outpost 505, they had two of my favorite meals:  pasta and macaroni.