The Midwest:
El (Fast Grows the Weeds) embraced the food of her Lake Michigan ancestor’s and made pasties (short a, I think) for dinner last week. These meat and potato filled turnovers sported local and homegrown ground beef, side pork, potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, onion, celery and herbs with a greenhouse salad on the side. Thanks for reminding me of these El – I think I’ll make them this week!
Over at Wendy’s house (Midwest Green), they roasted a chicken and served it with homegrown potatoes and milk. It might have been beige, but I bet it tasted great 
. There are plans for chicken soup with potato, onion, carrot and garlic in the works. Yum!
My Mom (Nordic Walking Queen) stole our menu from last week and made it with homegrown and local ingredients while on vacation skiing in Big Sky, Montana. Aside from breakfast ingredients, they had everything to make a dinner of roast chicken and wild rice. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of the homegrown chickens we took in the coolers on every road trip or driving distance vacation we ever went on. My folks even smuggled them to me in suitcases while I was in college and before Mike and I were growing our own. Mom – I think if you raise it and kill it, you can eat it for as many meals as you’d like. 
Always up for an easy dinner, Angela (Notes from a Country Girl…) used her left over rooster to make stock and then rooster noodle soup (ha!). But not one to take the too easy route, she made her own noodles! Go Angela! And don’t you hate it when you realize that you’ve gotten rid of something you now want? Drives me nuts.
Sara (Put your shovel…) picked up a tub-o-lard at the market recently, so this week she’s been experimenting with it. First up was crust for a spinach, mushroom, sun-dried tomato, zucchini, onion, garlic scape pesto and egg quiche. And then there were enchiladas with onion, ricotta, yogurt and pepper jack filling with homemade enchilada sauce. She even shared her enchilada sauce recipe – which I am so bookmarking!
The West:
Kristen (Arugulove) got her first Marin Sun Farms meat CSA shipment on February 11. For Valentine’s Day they braised beef back ribs and served them over homemade pasta with sauteed kale and cabernet. She even included the recipe for us – I know I’ve got some beef ribs in the freezer that would be perfect for this!
Are you a deep dish pizza lover? Then Anita and Cameron’s (Married …With Dinner) version adapted from Last Night’s Dinner is worth a look. Italian sausage, home canned tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and more. Wow, I may just have to break out of our flat bread rut to give this a try!
Spring must be right around the corner! Kathleen (Our Life in the Country) found the first of the asparagus at the Saturday market! She simply steamed it and served it with barbequed flank steak smothered in sauce. Simple food and simple pleasures – the best part of being a locavore!
Sara’s (Prepping 4 28) had a tough couple of weeks, but she rejoins us with a dinner of quiche and salad. She decided to make her own crust and then added into it eggs, broccoli, carrots, spinach, bell peppers, cheddar cheese and milk. It was delicious. Up this week? Something to make use of the wheat berries she found at the market.
*****
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No basil in our pie, actually — it’s not in season, even here in early-spring California. We used shredded spinach to give it that beautiful green garnish.
Sorry about that Anita. I should have know that you were using the suggested spinach substitute…
Mmmm, pasties (with a short a)… haven’t had them in years! I think revisiting my Michigan roots might just help me shake the winter blahs