I’m here in Minnesota (Wayzata) visiting my family this weekend. This was a somewhat spontaneous trip that happens to coincide with my family’s big Thanksgiving celebration (a week late, but who’s counting?). What does that mean for me? More turkey, dressing, mashers and everything else!

I’ll show some pictures of today’s efforts in a minute, but first, this is my youngest brother Sam. Today he was at Trollhaugen ski resort showing off his aerial moves to some ski students. Shortly after jumping a gap of more than 20 feet and hucking a 540 he caught an edge, crashed and fractured the crap out of his collarbone. See that x-ray?!?

Of course, being that it’s Saturday and it’s not a life threatening injury, all the hospital did was sling his arm, drug him up and send him home. They’re expecting to do surgery to plate and screw it together on Tuesday… Until then, he’s just hanging on the couch, eating some monkey bread.

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The morning started off with Danish pastry. It seems that I’ve been using too little brown sugar in my filling, hence the fact that mine often melts and runs across the pan. Oh, plus my mom actually makes 6 braids with a recipe, not four. Minor detail left off the recipe.

We didn’t do full out Thanksgiving today, but close. There were various menus passed around in the past week, lamb, steak, chicken, etc. In the end, we cooked a turkey and had a bit of steak as well. Plus we had mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, broccoli, monkey bread and salad. Mmmm. For dessert there was blueberry pie, warm apple tart, pumpkin bars with frosting and pumpkin bread, all with fresh whipped cream. Really, we could have skipped dinner and gone straight to dessert…

Good thing Thanksgiving only rolls around once, or sometimes twice, a year. I can’t eat like this all the time!

The first of the seed catalogs have started arriving and I think my trip and the holidays are the only things that will stop me from going into total garden planning mode.

I’m already contemplating what I’m rearranging and what we are and are not planting again. At the same time I’m dreaming of planting dry beans, celery, eggplant and more.

Catalogs like Seed Savers Exchange are going to be particularly dangerous to our checking account! Now that I’ve got a year of mostly success, and some lessons learned, under my belt, I’m contemplating choosing more open pollinated and heirloom options and putting in more varieties instead of the somewhat mono-species planting I did in 2008.

I have a feeling that the time to order seeds, start seeds and start working dirt won’t come soon enough at the same time that it comes much too fast…

I’ve heard some murmurings from a few first time challenge participants that they can’t compete with the gourmet meals being cooked. I want to say loud and clear - this IS NOT A COMPETITION. It’s a challenge. And like any challenge, you start where you are and you try to go as far as you can.

I will admit right now that the first time I did an eat local challenge I was a bit embarrassed at the simplicity of our meals. But you know what? That’s the way we eat and that’s the way we cook. It might not always be sophisticated or gourmet but it almost always tastes really freakin good. Really good.

Some of that is my growing skill and confidence in the kitchen (modesty aside), but most of it is creditable to the high quality ingredients we use.

This week has included several complicated meals, one that I’m trying to write up dirtied an insane number of pots/pans for a seemingly simple meal. But the one that I’m choosing to feature first is what I ate while home alone tonight.

Homegrown potatoes diced and pan fried with bacon and a bit of salt. Local bread toasted with homemade raspberry jam. A two-egg scallion and cheddar omelet. And a glass of Washington Chardonnay left from the cooking extravaganza alluded to above.

Might not be fancy, but it’s one of our go-to lazy night dinners around here. We both like it and I’m extremely proud of the fact that I’ve finally mastered the pan fried potato. In fact, mine might be better than Mike’s these days Not to mention the fact that I’ve only recently learned to make an omelet without making a mess in the pan.

As the host of this challenge I’m here to tell you that what you cook doesn’t matter. Whether you enjoy finding the ingredients, preparing the meal and eating it does. So cook what you’ve got and be proud of it, we’re all just here to cheer you on.

Stay tuned for Sunday night when Kimberly will be filling in for me on the recap. I’m visiting my family in MN for a long weekend while Mike stays here and holds down the fort.

Image courtesy of Late Bloomer

Is there a moment when you realize that you are maybe just a bit insane?

Is it when you pull multiple chicken carcasses, plus a couple more, out of the freezer to make stock? Is it when you realize that you have too many for your BIG stockpot and decide to split it up and make a second batch in the even bigger pressure canner pot?

Or is it when you realize that perhaps you don’t really have enough quart jars for the volume of stock you just made? Or a plan for how to store it - is there room in the freezer? Is it when you wish you’d gotten a new O-ring for Denise’s loaned canner and had the gauge checked?

Or is it when you’ve got 20 quarts (that’s 5 gallons!) of stock in your freezer and you realize that that’s likely a 6 to 12 month supply?

Yep, that’s pretty much the moment you realize that you might be just a bit insane.

And I’m just enough sheepish about it that I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of the little soldiers lined up on the island before they went in the freezer.

What insane preserving or cooking ahead have you done lately?

This week’s recap brings tales of turkey, stuffing, squash, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and variations on the theme. It’s fascinating to me that so many of us celebrated the same holiday with the same meal, but featured such different takes on the themes.

You’ll note that our Thanksgiving post this year did not feature our meal, that’s because we joined family for dinner and while many of the ingredients were local and fabulous, I utterly forgot to take any pictures. The highlights for me included my mom’s famous “Danish” pastry - I’m sure it’s not Danish at all, but that’s what we call it around here. So good!

The lard that I rendered Tuesday night has been put to quick use in pies, apple tart, beans and more. I already can’t believe that I lived this long without it! Home alone this weekend, I ate simply and mostly from the garden - so relaxing.

I can’t wait to see what we all come up with next! Check your email tomorrow night for the themes for the rest of the challenge.

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The Midwest:
Kim joins us this week with two meals. The first, Red Flannel Hash, is so pretty that I could almost see myself cooking something with beets. Almost. The second, a mostly local Thanksgiving dinner shared with family. The sweet potato dish sounds divine and the sour cream pumpkin pie sounds like a good use for the extra pumpkin puree now hiding in my freezer. Welcome Kim!

Using ingredients that each have their own story, Anne made a dinner of Asian pork chops, kabocha squash and carrots with a soy/ginger/honey glaze and daikon radish pickles. The pickles sound really interesting - I’m always stumped about what to do with daikon radishes, so pretty but so hard to use!

Karen not only made fries with sweet potatoes she grew herself, she served them with an onion and potato frittata, homemade dill pickles and acorn muffins. To top it all off, dessert was homemade apple pie. Mmmmm.

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The South:
Proving that the south is a completely different climate than the PNW, Laurel found tomatoes, basil and zucchini at the farmers market this week. She combined it into a simple ratatouille over spaghetti squash. Wow! Check out her post for the recipe and instructions.

Lacking enough stock to make local sides for the FIVE Thanksgiving dinners she attended, Caitlin instead made a local brunch for her boyfriend. After tenderizing the crap out of a round cut of beef, she grilled it and served it topped with a fried egg and a side of simple vinegar coleslaw (recipe included).

Jennifer offers up a recipe for two bean pumpkin chili that sounds delicious. If you’re wondering what to do with your your leftover pumpkin, this seems like the way to go.

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The West:
Choosing to keep her cornbread stuffing in deference to tradition, Kimberly created a local Thanksgiving feast for two. The menu included not only the traditional turkey, potatoes and stuffing, but also roasted kabocha squash and Brussels sprouts. Mmmm, that is a beautiful turkey.

Still pregnant and still cooking, Einat’s featured meal this week was a simple dinner of tortellini in a ham, mushroom and onion white sauce. Mmmm, great minds must think alike as this is almost identical to the pasta that I made myself this week.

Maya tried her hand at making sausage this week, not only grinding and stuffing her own pork, but even finding local sausage casings! She served them over braised leeks with sweetmeat sausage mash and sauerkraut on the side and a simple green salad. The sauerkraut was also homemade - I’ll have to compare notes with her as mine decidedly did not turn out this year…

Jack hosted his second meal for charity, a five course Thanksgiving meal to benefit Northwest Harvest (go Jack!). Breaking with tradition a bit, the meal featured their favorite dishes from the year and included mostly local ingredients. I absolutely adore this idea and am trying hard to figure out how to do my own version serving less sophisticated fair (if I only I cooked as well as Jack). If you’d like to replicate the idea, he’d love to fill you in on how it works.

Taking a break from family obligations, Anita and Cameron also enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner just for two. Simplifying the menu from last year’s extraordinary effort, they enjoyed a meal of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, corn and Pinot Noir. Dessert was pumpkin pie (I used her recipe this year - delicious!). This weekend, they also got their new raised garden beds built and are now contemplating what crops to plant first.

Joan roasted a delicata squash with morels and shitakes with a bit of thyme, salt and pepper. Served with sustainably caught Alaskan salmon it sounds like an excellent way to spend a Saturday night!

Turning in an impressive list of local meals, Amy ate well this week! Highlights included Alsatian seared duck breasts with black truffle butter sauce, pumpkin enchiladas, Thanksgiving dinner, carnitas and Shepard’s pie. I know whose house I wish I’d been at this week!

Cat’s meal this week as a breakfast of fried potato and eggs with toast. Seems she has the same gene mutation as me, the one that makes us incapable of frying potato rounds and requiring that we use cubes. Her version sounds excellent as does her recipe for Early Colonial Bread.

Joining us via email, Melissa sent this update. “For our second week of the Dark Days Challenge we ate a very simple, local meal. The only truly unique thing about it was it all came from Whistling Train Farm in Kent. We had picked up our CSA box on Wednesday and they had carrots, broccoli, potatoes and Italian pork sausage. I steamed the carrots and broccoli together, then the potatoes and just cooked up the sausage. Simple and good.”

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The East:
Splitting the Thanksgiving meal into two, The Purloined Letter served a lunch of arugula salad and spicy pumpkin soup. For dinner, there was turkey, cornbread casserole, roasted Brussels sprouts, cherry relish and homemade pickles. They topped it all off with sweet potato pie and maple whipped cream.

Spending quality time prepping for her holiday meal, Nicole took time out to share the menu. Turkey with ginger butter; apple cider gravy; pumpkin chestnut stuffing; mashed potatoes with caramelized shallots; sherry vinegar and molasses glazed carrots; cauliflower and prosciutto gratin, cranberry quince sauce; cranberry orange pavlovas and apple cake. Wow - how do I get invited?

Making a last minute family dinner, Mia combined chicken sausage with butternut and carnival squash, salad and wine. Mmmm. Plus, after talking up her CSA to family, they came through with a Thanksgiving dinner that was 90% local!

Sophie’s year of locavoring (nice term!) culminated in a local Thanksgiving feast to make my jaw drop! Dishes came from the freezer, jars, vacuum-sealed packages and farmers. The meal was a true celebration of the bounty of the area she lives in. Check out her post for all the details and photos.

With her mamma in town, Mangochild had a very thankful week. Her featured meals this week included a meal of roasted squash with maple syrup and roasted Brussels sprouts and homemade wholemeal corn bread. The second was a simple meal of kale and red onion with flatbread and beans. Both drove home to her that quality ingredients are usually more important than complex recipes.

With a 20 pound turkey and four pies for four people, Kim’s family will be eating Thanksgiving leftovers for a while! Also on the table was sausage cranberry and apple stuffing, turnip gratin, butternut squash and honey spiced cranberry sauce. The turkey cutout in the pie makes me smile.

Pam found time in a busy week of projects to make a simple lunch of a cheese sandwich featuring goat cheese, homemade bread, lettuce and homemade mayo with eggs from her chickens.

Her local cornbread pudding went over well with relatives, even without a mention of where the ingredients came from. Then Matriarchy made her own local Thanksgiving feast and served it leftover style. The second holiday dinner even included sweet potato and egg custard pies. Yum!

With a busy week of travel and family, Peg still found time for a local lunch of yam and yogurt. How’d the caulking turn out Peg? And how did you cook that yam?

Jenn’s post is currently under construction, but be sure to check back tomorrow night for all the details.

Wanting to expand her featured meals, Zoa made a meal of chicken salad, homemade pita bread and a green salad.

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Canada:
After stocking up on homemade stock, Late Bloomer used it to make a chicken stew and ginger squash soup. The stew looks fabulous but he squash soup sounds like something that would make even Mike like squash - I can’t wait to give it a try!

I’m home alone this weekend, well as alone as you get at our house, as Mike is gone duck/goose hunting east of the Cascades. Before you feel too bad for me, let me just say that this is exactly what I needed.

It’s been a whirlwind fall full of chickens, gardens, family, friends and travel and having a weekend to do exactly what I want (or don’t) is exactly what this introvert needed. I’ve accomplished not very much since Mike left yesterday morning. Mostly just small things that needed doing like finishing the painting in the living room, buying chicken feed, cleaning my kitchen top to bottom and doing a bit of knitting.

Last night I made myself a very simple bacon and leek pasta sauce over fresh pasta and followed it up with a sliced apple.

Tonight I went even more minimalist, satisfying my love of squash (Mike is NOT a fan) with homegrown roasted spaghetti squash with a dab of local butter and a bit of salt and pepper. The second course was simple boiled potatoes (homegrown fingerlings) with a dollop of sour cream. The final course was a sliced local bartlett pear. Mmmm. Definitely not gourmet, but oh so good.

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In other news, we dropped off a full two bags of goodies to Northwest Harvest just in time for Thanksgiving. I forgot to take a photo, but it included homegrown potatoes and squash, local dried beans, assorted cans of regional organic tomatoes and fruit. We also threw in a few other things including pasta, crackers, cookies and more.

Have you made a donation for the Dark Days Harvest Drive yet? Be sure to let me know when you do and I’ll get you entered for the drawing taking place on December 24.

There are a lot of things to be thankful for this year. A new home, a fabulous husband, a full pantry and freezer, chickens and gardens and fruit trees, dogs and cats. For family and friends, both here and far. For good food and wonderful company. For a day spent making scrumptious treats, pies and breads. Hope your thanksgiving is equally full of delectable people and food.

Around here, no holiday is complete without Danish Pastry. Other dishes can come and go, traditions can shift and change, as long as there’s Danish Pastry. Mine is never quite as good as my mother’s, something to do with the filling I think. But even so, the ritual of making it, baking it and enjoying it with a cup of coffee is what makes the day complete.

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Danish Pastry*
makes 4 pastries

mix together:
1 C very cold butter
1/4 C sugar
4 C flour

blend together:
3 egg yolks
1 C sour cream
pinch of salt

Add to flour and butter mixture. Sprinkle 1 T yeast over the top and mix it into the dough.

Form the dough into two balls, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before baking.

To bake, cut a ball in half, spread it length wise on a cookie roll sheet. Fill the middle with a mixture of brown sugar, butter and cinammon, cut and braid the edges to fill. Repeat with the other half of the ball. Bake 425 for 18 minutes.

* My mother’s recipe, exactly as sent to me. Let me know if any step isn’t clear.