This has been an out-of-sorts week around here. With my last minute trip home last weekend, I didn’t make it to the Saturday farmer’s market. Which left us with what was in the fridge and the few local ingredients I could pick up at the grocery store nearest our house. So our only all local meals were one of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli and another of butternut squash ravioli and vodka marinara from Cucina Fresca bought pre-made.
Other than that we subsisted on local ingredients combined with organic travelers or things from the depths of the freezer. We had soft shell tacos made with local beef, salsa, lettuce, onion, sour cream and tomato (BC hothouse) but with non-organic tortillas, taco seasoning. Grilled frozen chicken breasts from Costco (leftover from one of Mike’s hunting trips) with salad made from 1/2 local ingredients and 1/2 traveling organic and local broccoli / cauliflower.
Finally, we also supported two local restaurants this week for Friday and Saturday dinners out. Does it count if we supported a restaurant we love and an owner that’s part of our community even if we know they’re not dedicated to sourcing supplies locally?
This coming week won’t be much better as I spent yesterday running necessary errands that didn’t happen last weekend. Unfortunately, that list didn’t include the 2.5 hours needed to go down to the U District farmers market. So we’ll have to raid the freezer and the canning shelves, combined with the local products I could find at Central Market for our challenge meals this week.
Now on to the rest of you, who I am sure had more success than I. The theme of the week seems to be the timely appearance of self preserved veggies and fruits.
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The East:
Kim (Yankee Food) seriously scored this week, finding local organic kale in her grocery store in New Hampshire in December. Totally unexpected. She took full advantage of it to make a beautiful sausage and kale soup. And in an equally beautiful pot I must add.
Stirfry made an appearance at Christy’s house (Farm Dreams). With a range of beautiful colors from carrots, broccoli, corn and parsnips, it combined fresh and home frozen ingredients.
Ed (The Slow Cook) had visions of recreating the apple torte that he ate as an exchange student in Switzerland. Unfortunately the recipe was nowhere to be found. The substitute he chose from Joy of Cooking wasn’t up to par. So, if you have any good recipes for making apples into dinner, not dessert, Ed and I would both like to know.
While she’s been busy with her newest family member (Congrats!) Sarah of Cucina Bella still took time to put up her recipes for Cranberry Apple Sauce and Roasted Butternut Squash.
In celebration of the generosity of her hens and her newly acquired 1/4 cow, Wendy (Happily Home) made a dinner after my own heart. Grilled steak, deviled eggs, eggnog french toast and salad. Any chance we can get a recipe Wendy? The generosity of our hens is quickly burying us in eggs again!
Nicole over at Farm to Philly recovered from her illness enough to turn in two meals, both winter comfort meals. Her first is a wonderful looking chicken parmesan with green beans. The second was chicken teriyaki stirfried with spaghetti squash.
With a welcome 2 hour school delay due to icy roads, Jasmine (40 Shades of Green) made a potato leek soup and a goat cheese tart to enjoy for lunches and dinner. Any chance of getting that soup recipe? I keep seeing leeks in the store, but my repertoire for preparing them is pretty limited.
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The West:
Sick of turkey leftovers, Anita (Married with Dinner) and her husband decided to graze on Sunday and put together a platter to be jealous of. Her efforts to make the traditional enchiladas suizas with local ingredients highlighted to her that it is getting more challenging to hit the 90% local mark as the winter goes on. She did succeed in finding tomatillos and complimented her enchiladas with sopa seca and a pot of heirloom beans.
Even with a last minute clean-up catastrophe, Donna (Chocolate Crayons) is still with us. Her meal this week was pot roast with all the fixins’. Glad you’re still hanging in there Donna - can’t wait to see what you do with the rest of your local stash!
Laura (Hello, Sunshine) is busy with finals and is finding it hard to dedicate time to cooking. Her post is a great reflection on the benefits and challenges to eating local from the perspective of a college student.
Under the weather and busy celebrating Hanukkah, Ellen at Daily Grind still managed two local meals. The first was a Hanukkah dinner with friends. And the second was previously made local Mellow Lentil Sniffle soup from the freezer.
Melinda (Elements in Time) has been busy this week caring for her grandfather. I’ve enjoyed her stories about him and his life and am glad to hear that he’s home and headed for recovery. Melinda, you will never regret the time you’ve taken with him this week.
In addition to her local meal of the week, goulash, quiche and cornmuffins, Katrina at Kale for Sale has launched her 25 Green Days of Christmas. Check back with her regularly for great ideas for reducing your impact, and as a side effect your stress, this holiday season.
Potato crusted white sea bass, yukon gold mashers and braised rapini made an appearance at Jennye’s (Wool Fairy) house this week. Even the younger set like it.
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The Middle:
With snow falling all around, FarmMom (Children in the Corn) made a baked pasta dish with sausage, tomatoes and cheese.
Anne (Green Leanings) managed two meals this week. The first was pan roasted chicken breasts with gravy, mashed potatoes, delicata squash and Brussels sprouts with leeks. The second was braised short ribs served with carrots, rainbow chard with leeks, and spaghetti squash. With supplies running short, but eggs in plentiful supply, Anne is looking for egg recipes too.
While she’s not eating locally at home, Penny (Penelopedia) is feasting in the Bay Area this week while visiting family. I can’t wait to hear all about what she finds to eat while she’s there.
Valeree at Cincinnati Locavore turned in a couple of meals this week. While it might not have been as local as she’d like, the first was made with her mother-in-law’s recipe and was fettucini marinara and meatballs. The second was was an accidental combination of pepper chicken and buttered radishes.
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I know there are a few other people playing along who I’ve likely missed here. If you’re one of them please leave a note in the comments with a recap of your meal and a link to your blog.
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Laura, thanks for the recap once again! My grandfather is recovering from the heart surgery with more energy than before he went to the hospital (more blood to the heart will do that, I guess!). The medications left his mind a bit cloudy for a few days, but that seems to have subsided as well. So, I’m back home now. I’ve had my first totally local meal in ten days. I must say it feels good, and tastes great! Thanks for pushing us all to do this - it has certainly motivated me to get our garden in gear so that it still feeds us in the winter.
I hope your grandmother is doing well. I’m sure it meant a lot to her that you were able to go spend some time with her. I’ll always cherish this past week with my grandfather.
As a side note, I was thinking about your hens as the snow was falling on my last day in Seattle. How do hens like the snow?
Between all the running around and getting ready for the holidays, we’ve just been trying to empty out the fridge and polish off the ends and pieces that collect in the cupboards. A trip to the H Mart in Federal Way didn’t help matters any since it netted a few exotics such as lotus root, snake beans and Chinese broccoli (from CA not China!). I’m not sure that next week will be any better, but at least our beef, eggs, milk and many veggies are still local. Our focus seems to just be the thing that is elsewhere.
I forgot to say that while I liked the old look, I like the new look too!