One Local Summer, week 9:  Midwest

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Anne of Green Leanings writes:  “This week’s OLS meal was a quick-and-simple one: roasted chicken thighs with BBQ seasoning, corn on the cob, and broiled zucchini (cooked with olive oil, salt and pepper and thyme and dill) topped with a sauce of thinned Greek yogurt and scallions and mint.”

Joy at The Spiral of Seasons writes about her rustic breakfast hash:  “I diced a purple potato from last night’s CSA box and sauteed it in olive oil. While that was cooking to a golden brown, I diced other vegetables from last week’s CSA box that I want to clear out—part of an onion, a whole yellow squash, and a whole green pepper. At the last moment, I put in some chopped tomato just long enough to warm it up.”

Ellen of The Daily Grind (who’s eating raw these days) writes:  “For dinner, we had our head of lettuce with Ani Phyo’s Kreamy Curry Dressing (yum!), a raw carrot and raisin salad (double yum!) and sliced cucumbers.”

Anna of twelve22.org writes:  “"This is my Fake All-American Meal. I made bean burgers and topped one with local cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and pickles. To round out the meal, I had coleslaw and zucchini ‘chips’.”

Mandi at Eco ‘Burban is getting back to the breakfast basics with steel-cut oats, homemade blueberry sauce and maple syrup, with her locally roasted coffee with cream.

Sirena at Swimming in this Sea of Life writes:  “I made stuffed green peppers and home fried potatoes. I stuffed the green peppers with non-local rice (tried to find some, but I have a feeling rice is not available in CO?), mushrooms from Rakhra Mushroom Farm in Alamosa, CO, and tomatoes from my garden. I blanched the peppers prior to stuffing. After stuffing, I put a piece of cheddar cheese on top and baked for about a half hour. On the side we had my style of home fried potatoes. I boil the potatoes in cubes until almost done, then fry them in the skillet with spices and a little olive oil.

I had also bought a cabbage at the farmer’s market over last weekend and didn’t really know what to do with it. I sliced it up and boiled it in beef base, along with a few carrots I had left over from Miller’s Farms. It was very simple and tasty. Reminded me of fall.”

Destabee at Kaleidoscope Living made chicken in the crockpot:  “I covered the bottom of the crockpot with onion slices, placed the chicken on top, added a a pint of water and the tomato sauce.  Next I tossed the whole garlic cloves and freshly picked herbs (left as whole stems of leaves) on top of the chicken and set the pot to cook on high for 3 hours.” She then added some small potatoes and kept cooking until the chicken was done.  “The hardest part was having to wait when it smelled amazing. To accompany the chicken I sliced a zucchini squash from my garden and sauteed it it lightly.  Just before it was done I added some halved cherry and grape tomatoes and let them warm through. “

Becke at Columbus Foodie made a BELT ( Bacon Egg Lettuce Tomato) sandwich this week.  She says, “The Becke BELT is easy to make - just make egg salad to your liking (I use mayo, salt, and a touch of Dijon mustard in mine, shallots if I’m in the mood), and put it together on toasted bread with sliced tomato, a leaf or two of lettuce, and a couple slices of bacon. Voila.” Serve with some local chips and you’re ready to go.

Karen of toteleeding wrote: “This week we took advantage of our garden’s bounty, with new potatoes and green beans smothered in pesto. ... mixed cherry tomatoes ... and the garlic bread ....” She also made a French apple pie and served it with local cream.

Lesli of Going Green wrote:  “Oh, this is getting tougher than I thought…but delicious! Local brats with potatoes. (Some potatoes local, some not.) Salt and some olive oil (on the potatoes.) Best brats I ever had.”