Things have been busy around here the past week, or at least they’ve felt that way. It’s likely just a result of re-entering real life after weeks of snow days and holidays, but still.
We’ve been eating mostly from the freezer and the pantry and while our meals have been local and delicious, they’ve rarely been photogenic. Recent highlights included my favorite meatloaf, a previously brined and frozen pork loin from our Christmas dinner (good even after thawing!), leftovers from those as sandwiches and lunches and tonight’s penne with homemade pesto from the freezer. I promise to do a better job this week getting our Dark Days post up on time!
As a reminder, the theme for January is new to you foods. For at least one meal choose a winter food, any of them, that you’ve never tried or never cooked/liked and find a recipe that gets you excited about it. Then make said recipe and let us know if it changes your mind. I’m going to pick collards as I’ve only eaten them down South - I’ve even been guilty of feeding them to the hens in the past just because I couldn’t be bothered after getting them in CSA boxes.
Next week, Holly is helping out with the recap (thanks for volunteering her Denise!). If you’d like to try your hand at all or part of a recap drop me a note - I could really use the help if you’re willing.
*****
The West:
There are days you wish you were in someone else’s kitchen just so you could steal a taste. Last week Denise spent a day baking bread and angel food cake, making creme brulée, snacking on leftovers of tortilla soup, pulled pork and meatloaf sandwiches and topping it all off with butternut squash lasagna. Wow, that’s a whirlwind of cooking!
Amy made her first winter squash soup of the year with a Sibley squash that she picked up from Ayers Creek Farm while visiting Portland. Check out her post for the recipe and details on getting beans from Ayers Creek.
Enjoying a visit with her niece, Joan’s featured meal included a squash tart and a simple fruit salad. A tart is a bit or an unusual use for squash, so check it out if you’re looking for ideas. They also enjoyed eggs from chickens they’ve met this week - named Cucumber and Scallion no less!
Kimberly might live in Seattle, but at heart she’s a Texan except when it Chili/chilly night. Chili she makes like a Yankee (me too). Using local chiles, meat and tomatoes she canned herself she made up a batch of rich flavorful meat and bean chili to take the chill off a cold Seattle night.
Creating a variation on a theme, Maya made use of her plentiful eggs and leeks to make a quiche featuring leftover beef, chevre, the last of the salt cured green beans and homemade salsa. She’s currently suffering from a bit of greens deprivation due to our unusual snow killing off most of them. Never fear Maya, the greens will be back soon enough!
Exploring a new farmer’s market, Anita and Cameron picked up a 5 lb pork shoulder with no plans for how to use it. They also picked up some chops and veggies that became a meal of cider brined pork chops, salad and mashed potatoes. After a few days of being stared at by the roast, Anita decided to turn it into crock pot carnitas. With a few modifications for crock pot cooking, they turned out delicious. I’ll be trying this next week as we’ve got some pork shoulder staring at us from the depths of the freezer…
Making good out of grapefruits, Einat adapted a recipe for shrimp to make flat iron steak. A little chard and rice on the side and they had a meal that they enjoyed featuring an ingredient they don’t like. And then little Max got his first bath!
*****
The South and Midwest:
Taking up the new foods theme for the week, Laurel lucked out and got a small basket of sunchokes in her CSA share. Realizing that the Unicyclist had never had them and she’d never cooked them, she decided to combine them with candied squash into a salad. With a down and dirty vinaigrette and topped with the roasted squash seeds she found success!
Taking advantage of the tomato sauce she put up this summer, Anne revisited an old favorite, spaghetti and meatballs. Her meatballs might not be completely round, but it sounds like a pretty good pre-surgery meal to me. Hope your recovery is going smoothly Anne!
In between wrastling and bathing a 43 pound puppy, Karen still found time for a local dinner. Applesauce chocolate chip muffins preceded cream of turkey and wild rice soup (a childhood favorite of mine) which was followed by an ugly beauty of a raspberry cream streusel pie. Here’s to enjoying the fruits 
of our labors!
*****
The East:
As another participant working around a puppy, Kim still managed a delicious sounding dinner of ham with brown sugar, lime and cayenne glaze, roasted squash and potatoes. All that cooking can be really hard work!
Peg rejoins us with Hutterite bean soup using homegrown beans and roasted garlic. Mmmmm. I really will have to grow some drying beans this year!
If you’ve got an overflow of potatoes, Mangochild’s aloo ki tikki looks like a delicious way to use them up. The yum sounding potato patties were eaten with a side of navy beans, homemade apple sauce and cottage cheese. Sounds like a perfect use of leftover mashed potatoes too?
Proving that local doesn’t have to be homemade, Sophie picked up frozen curried lamb stew from a local company and ate it over rice. No reason to feel bad Sophie - we’re big fans of locally made pestos and pastas around here.
Finding that splitting a frozen chicken in half is as hard as it sounds, Mia shared her Dark Days dinner with her CSA partner. They enjoyed roasted chicken with braised red cabbage and pickled beets. Sharing is at least half the fun.
Last week was all about soup for Nicole. First up was roasted garlic soup with cheese croutons - delicious even if five heads of roasted garlic seems overwhelming. The second soup was a potato chowder with caraway cheese. The cheese may not have melted as well as she would have hoped, but anything with bacon sounds good in my book!
*****
Possibly Related posts (newest to oldest):
I promise, I’ll make the “new foods” theme next week!