I’ll just tell you right now it was a long week around here. My brother had surgery to set his broken collarbone with 9 screws and a plate hours before I flew home to Washington. My sinus infection got worse while I waited for a doctor’s appointment. And my stomach has declared itself my enemy.
Of course I also found time to make cookies and enjoy the snow. Today we got a tree and made a HUGE pot of chili and a MASSIVE loaf of bread. So it wasn’t all bad, just long and busy.
That said, I don’t have the energy to post my photos and write up my own meal, but I wanted to be sure that I got the recap up for everyone else. I’ll get our meal up tomorrow, with pictures of a hopefully very pretty (and very tall) Christmas tree.
Everyone continues to impress me with their creativity and resourcefulness. This is a busy time of year, with challenging weather for a lot of us, and you all just keep cooking up a storm. So impressed!
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The Midwest:
Over at Anne’s house they enjoyed a favorite standby – Asian lettuce wraps. A bit of lettuce, shredded carrot, julienned snow peas, sai fun noodles and chicken thigh make a messy but tasty meal. With a local romaine supplier they should be enjoying them all winter.
With quite the “tail” to tell, Karen’s meal this week was Desperation Stew and Tragedy Bread. In between runs to the back yard, she still found time to cook a mostly local meal that included beef stew, homemade sourdough bread and stewed apples. I’d say that’s a commendable effort!
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The South:
Using up a few long-haul ingredients, Laurel still honored the spirit of the challenge with her Shepherd’s Pie. Mmm, it certainly looks delicious!
Two meals made an appearance at Donna’s house, one cooked and one raw. The first was a pie made of roasted veggies with a crust of mashed potatoes with sauteed greens and onions on the side. The second was collard wraps filled with guacamole and assorted veggies and lettuces. Both were delicious.
Deciding to give Indian cooking one more try, Jennifer made whole wheat veggie samosas with garbanzo, cabbage and potato curry. In the end, the meal was okay if you like the strong flavors of Indian food and curry in particular. But she thinks she’ll stick with Thai (I’m with you Jennifer – shhhhh).
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The East:
Nicole enjoyed two local meals this week. The first an on-the-fly soup using things from the kitchen and pantry. A bit of onion and two types of squash, tomatoes and bacon, butter and stock. The second was a lunch of poached duck eggs and simply fried bacon. Thanks for the comparison of duck to chicken eggs – may have to give them a try!
A kale frittata, panfried sweet potatoes and toast with homemade apple butter and red currant jelly made a simple breakfast at Mia’s house.
A smoking dinner of veal sausages and turban squash homefries made an appearance at Sophie’s place. It’s about the cutest squash I’ve ever seen!
With the power back on, Peg made a dinner of Yukon Gold potato soup with a side dish of cabbage, carrots and onions. Check back later for details, and hopefully recipes!
Deciding the leftovers aren’t so bad after all, Kim followed up her turkey with a maple glazed pork roast with candied onions. I completely understand the urge Kim, that’s why we had chili tonight.
Squeaking her flour in just under her local limit, Jenn made squash and pesto pizza this week. One pie with the squash on top and the other with it on the bottom. Check out her post for recipes.
Rejoining us now that the car situation is back under control, Zoa’s dinner featured sausage, roasted potatoes and mixed veggies. Persimmon cake joined them for dessert. Glad you’re feeling better Zoa!
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The West:
It might not be pretty, but it makes up for it with flavor. Maya pulled some smoked eggplant ravioli from the freezer (great idea Maya!) and served it with a ximple tomato sauce. On top were crispy jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) and on the side whole wheat buttermilk rolls.
Still with us and still pregnant, Einat made beef soft tacos last week. For dessert she sauteed a not-so-ripe pear with a bit of apple cider, cinnamon and brown sugar and added Dutch babies. So I guess now I have to ask what Dutch babies are?
Jack greeted this morning’s snow with no-full sweet and simple baked apple pancakes. These sound so simple yet so wonderful – I can’t wait to get another snowy (or maybe just rainy) morning to make them. Check out his post for instructions and photos.
Finding time to catch up, Nicole Rene posted two meals last week. The first was a zucchini quiche using homegrown zucchini stashed in the freezer. The second was ribs and greens with bread on the side. Next year I have to remember to freeze zucchini.
A crazy week of vet emergency, Menu for Hope shopping and vacation planning, left Anita almost without photos. Luckily her adaptable chili came to the rescue. So nice to see we’re not the only ones that make chili in big batches and freeze it for later. So glad Bella’s okay!
Chessa’s featured meal of the week was mashed yukon golds and celeriac, smoky braised greens and hot-sauce glazed tempeh. Lucky girl, she’s also doing some recipe testing for Robin Robertson’s new cookbook. Oh, if you’re in Seattle she’s also got a great review of the SPUD delivery service.
Experimenting with a new cookbook, Joan made pork loin chops with Cinderella pumpkin risotto, braised lacinato kale and fresh cranberry chutney. The kale and the risotto were actually combined to make a nice combination. She also has a great post up about how much harder food shopping is when you start weighing your decisions.
Amy had an exciting local food week of CSA delivers, dinners out, preserving classes and home cooking. Meals included sweet and spicy beef noodle, roasted beet salad, paprika roasted chicken thighs and crab dip. Check out her great post for all the details.
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Wow that all looks good!
About washing butter, yes, you do have to, but it’s more like rinsing really. When the rinsing water runs clear, all the buttermilk is out of the butter. (If you leave it in, it spoils quickly, from what I’ve read.)
Wow! All of the participants are so creative in their cooking! I am awed and inspired. My stuff is basic (yet tasty) but these dishes look and sound amazing! I was late getting my post done this week (after not getting one done at all last week). I find that eating local isn’t necesarily difficult in and of itself, but incorporating it into a busy lifestyle can be a challenge. I’ve resorted to my old soccer mom ways several times over the last month and ordered pizza or some other kind of takeout. The problem for me isn’t gettin glocal food in my urban setting, it’s leaving behind my urban lifestyle in my urban setting. Does that make any sense to anyone but me? Sometimes it feels like I take one step forward and two steps back…
That said, I think I’ll make borscht tonight with the poor beets that are freezing in my snow covered garden.