Knitting 40 shades of green

One Local Summer, week 7, 2008

This week it has been hot, hot, hot and so the cooking has been minimalist around here.  Things like boiled new potatoes with pesto.  Does that count as a meal?  I have a pasta and a rice salad on the fridge that I have been eating when I feel a bit peckish that are full of local vegetables along with their non local grains but what should I make for my one local summer meal? Then it hit me.  The tomatoes are coming in and are starting to pile up on the counter, it is time for gazpacho.

Refreshing on a hot day and a great way to use up all those tomatoes and cucumbers.  My favorite recipe has roasted red peppers in it but since they aren't ready locally, I just left them out.  I think I will have some for lunch with an ear of corn.

One Local Summer, Week 6, 2008

I was out of town for most of the week, eating at hotels and restuarants.  Although I did stop by a local winery to pick up some white wines as I was running low.  Upon coming home I found it hot and after many heavy meals I wasn't feeling overly hungry but I did manage to make a wonderful local salad.  I picked up my vegetables at Food Matters and there sitting on top of the crate was a head of fennel.  It had me thinking of one of my favorite spring salads.  But strawberry season is long past here in Virginia.  Then when I picked up my vegetables from Olin Fox farms I had the answer for a light salad meal...the last of the spring lettuce as we enter the hottest months of the summer and blackberries.  I made a few changes and a few substitutions and this is what I came up with:

Salad with Fennel and Blackberries  (Serves 4 with extra dressing)

• 2 cups blackberries
• 3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1tsp dijon mustard
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups torn Romain lettuce
• 3/4 cup sliced fennel
• 2 cups black berries
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

Mix first 9 ingredients in a food processor, mix until the dressing has a smooth consistancy.  (If it seems to watery you may want to add more blackberries.)  Serve lettuce and fennel topped with 1/2 cup of berries and sprinkle with feta.  Serve with blackberry dressing.

While the orange juice isn't local it was fresh squeezed by Joseph at the local farmers' market.  I am looking forward to meals this week not that the summer trifecta have shown up in my CSA boxes:  eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers

One Local Summer, Week 5, 2008

Hmm, haven't been getting in front of the computer to blog much lately.  I will have to make an effort to change that as I have things to share with you (assuming my readers haven't wondered off and forgotten about me).  If nothing else, I have a local meal that I made for a friend's birthday and I even remembered to take pictures.  I promised a birthday dinner and then asked this vegetable avoiding friend what his favorite meal is.  The answer was one word:  lamb.  As longtime readers may know, I was a vegetarian for at least 16 years, so I am often intimidated by cooking meat and I have had no experience with lamb other than sheep sausage I used in a breakfast egg dish at the beginning of the challenge.

A trip to the Farmer's Market was necessary.  Smith Meadows Farm was able to help out with a pound of lamb chops.  Now what should I serve with the chops?  Three Way Farm in Warsaw, VA had wax beans and green beans...so I quickly decided that green and yellow bean salad with chunky tomato dressing and feta might be appreciated.  So I picked up the hot house tomatoes from Toigo Orchards (with promises of fresh tomatoes coming soon).  I already had some Feta in the fridge from Blue Ridge Dairy.  My friend, being Irish, doesn't think a meal is complete without potatoes (although onion rings will do in a pinch), so I bought some new potatoes from Golden Goose Farm in Riva, VA which I would boil and serve with butter from Blue Ridge Dairy and some Parsley that I had picked up at the Tuesday market maybe from   [I like to spread my Farmer's market purchases around and support many farmers.]

But how to cook the lamb?  I lucked out while paging through a copy of Real Simple I tore out this recipe for lamb chops with tomatoes and olives.   But I didn't have any shallots and my friend doesn't like olives and I already had tomatoes in the meal plan and any of the women in my cooking club will tell you that it is rare that I use a recipe as more than a guide...so I made lamb chops with spring onions and summer squash with capers (from my Food Matters CSA) following the basic directions from the Real Simple recipe.  It was a great dinner even if the wine was Italian (my friend brought the wine).  We ended the evening with peaches and black berries from Olin Fox CSA with whipped cream from Natural by Nature in PA.

A very local birthday meal.

One Local Summer: week 2, 2008

I had good intentions to post this weekend but after an extremely hectic week at work and a weekend out of town it looked like it would have to wait until Monday -- and now that I have been without power for 16 hours (and they don't think they will get it back on for another five or so...) well I will just say that it is good to have fall backs for these busy weeks along with lots of pasta veggie salads with mostly local veggies and non local pasta, I had an entirely local meal of Smithmeadow pasta and roasted tomato sauce which I canned and a lovely salad of mixed lettuces, dried apples and a bit of feta with balsamic vinigrette. I will update with a photo and details (maybe even a recipe for the sauce) when the power returns.

I also have lots of knitting to report so now that work is wrapping up for a bit I should get back to posting regularly.

One Local Summer

While I have two CSAs that provide me with local produce year round, we have finally reached that point in spring where I feel I can rededicate to mostly local eating rather than using some local ingredients in my meals.  A trip to the farmers' market yields everything needed to make yummy meals and the fresh produce is young and crisp and so enticing.  This is the time of year that I have to watch myself carefully so that I don't end up with more produce than I can eat (let alone fit in my refrigerator) because it all looks so good.  With the fresh local strawberries in full force, it is hard not to come home with a few quarts as well as fresh veggies that will be mixed with eggs and cheese for a wonderfully local and tasty breakfast.  Which brings me to think about the Eat Local Challenge and to search the Internets looking for new and tasty recipes and ideas.  On one of these searches, I came across another challenge.

Liz, formerly of the Pocket Farm blog (still of the Pocket Farm), decided she would stop blogging.  Fair enough, but that left us with a hole in the Eating Local Challenges, as she had organized summer challenges for the past two years that encouraged participants to eat one meal a week made entirely of local foods.  Nicole, over at Farm to Philly, has taken up the task and will be hosting the challenge this summer. 

Sign-ups are now closed but feel free to follow along and join us as we eat fresh local produce.  Just make one local meal each week (with the exception of oil, salt, and spices).  Updates will appear over at the Farm to Philly blog each Tuesday.

Today I am headed off to Vintage Virginia to sample some great local wines and hear one of my favorite local bands who have started playing nation wide Celtic festivals so keep your eyes open for a performance near you.  My local meal was a breakfast frittata and strawberries.  I had planned to make biscuits but I was out of baking powder and decided to go without.

Frittatas are my go to Saturday and Sunday morning breakfast.  They are a great way to use up little bits of leftovers in the fridge and sneak in a full serving of vegetables at breakfast.

For this one I browned some rosemary sheep sausage from Smith Meadows, then sauteed some onion and wilted the swiss chard I got from oneor the other of my CSAs.  I mixed some eggs from Olin Fox Farms with a little ricotta from natural by nature and a bit of water and poured this over the vegetables and sausage.  I cooked this on the stove until the center was still a bit moist and then threw it under the broiler until it was set when I threw a bit of smoked Gouda from Fields of Grace in Remington, VA.  Not a bad way to start the day.

Eating Local: spring cleaning recipes

Did I mention I was cleaning out my crisper in the fridge?  Well I came across a few turnips...

Can't tell how big that pile is?  Let's try another picture...

That is my library card for scale...and yes, the bowl doesn't have other veggies on the bottom.  It is all turnip goodness.  I guess I better start coming up with more recipes that incorporate turnips.  Only problem is that this was just one of the vegetables taking over my kitchen.  I need to get cooking (and stop going to the farmer's market and grocery store and adding to my store of veggies).  Well, when you have vegetables, make vegetable soup.

As a kid my favorite soup was Campbell's Alphabet Soup.  On many an occasion my mother would cook this up with a grilled cheese sandwich (made with sharp cheddar) and I couldn't be happier.  This is a much healthier version but it goes nicely with grilled cheese or Chubble Bread

Clean out the larder Vegetable Soup for the pressure cooker

So maybe you have some onions left over from the fall? (good planning -- I have been out for months with only a short reprieve where one of my CSAs included a few onions) Or your CSA has started to include spring onions?

This lovely came from my Food Matters CSA.  Chop up a cup of onions which will be sauteed with some olive oil.  Hopefully you also stocked up on garlic because garlic makes everything tasty.

 

Chop this up and add it to your chopped onions.  Let see what else needs to be added to this soup...some carrots or parsnips, celery (I usually have a bunch in the back of the fridge that has seen better days), some of those turnips, green beans (I used frozen) some cabbage...

Maybe some potatoes...

Some tomatoes...

Wait a second there, there aren't any tomatoes back here in the pantry.  Spaghetti Sauce, I have.  As well as salsa and caponata but no plain tomatoes...plan B will work just fine.

Some water or stock or broth, whatever you have on hand remember we are trying to use things up.  I will admit to getting the broth from trader Joe's as well.  I don't have the freezer space to make loads of stock and I don't seem to do it so this "convenience food" works for me. 

Oh, you wanted your recipe in traditional format?  I can do that.  Your ingredients and amounts may vary depending on what you have in the crisper or can pick up at the market for those of you better about keeping on top of eating the veggies that you bring into the house.

Clean Out the Larder Vegetable Soup for the Pressure Cooker

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 4 (or more) cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped (your preference)
• 2 large carrots (or parsnips or combination), chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1-2 cups of turnips, chopped
• 2 cups green beans
• 1/4 head of cabbage (2-3 cups), chopped
• 1-2 cups of potatoes, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• 4 cups canned tomatoes (28 oz can or a quart jar)
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (or water)

In the pressure cooker heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add the onion and cook until nearly translucent, then add the garlic (be sure not to brown or burn it) and saute a few more minutes.  Add the rest of the chopped veggies and let saute for a couple of minutes (my pan is usually pretty full at this point) with the thyme, salt and pepper.

Throw in the tomatoes and broth and lock the lid into place.  Cook 6 minutes at high pressure and let the pressure release naturally. Adjust seasonings and  serve with a sprinkling of cheese. 

Feel free to adjust the vegetables to what you have on hand and it freezes wonderfully.

Enjoy!

Additionally, I have started adding grated turnips to just about everything that starts with some onion cooking over medium heat. Let me know if you have any great turnip recipes. I have it on good authority that I need to finish up the winter veggies because there will be fresh asparagus in tomorrows CSA box.

ETA: I have no idea why when working on my work computer (an ibook) where I have to enter all the html, the pictures do not insert in the text as I placed them. But since this is what has kept me from finishing this post and posting for most of the month (that and the fact that I have no patience to wait for my home computer which is dial up) and will publish anyway. Maybe this will encourage me to call around about other options for my home internet connection.

Spring Vacation

I had a few weeks off of work last month and decided to take a long overdue trip to visit my best friend from high school and her family (last time I had seen her that would have just said husband but they had since added a new addition who was quickly headed toward her 2nd birthday). She moved to Colorado 14 years ago and while I don't see her or talk to her often enough, I miss her always. I also have another friend/former colleague who moved outside of Denver last summer and thought I could see them both. Well, it worked out better then expected because when I said that I was going to Fort Collins and let her know the dates I would be there, she mentioned that she and her husband had been talking about doing the brewery tours up there and it coincided with her spring break as well. And I even got a touch of snow.

So here you have drinking local in Colorado.  It started out with a tour of the local Anheuser Busch facility.

Home of the famous Clydsedales.  These beautiful stain glass windows are in the barn.  My mother should appreciate making stain glass representations of the animals that live within.

Fort Collins is a training facility for the horses.

After the horses we went to see the Brew House.

This is followed by a tasting in the tasting room.  They have expanded their line far beyond Bud, Busch and Michelob.  There was a blueberry flavored beer, shock top wheat, and some other interesting things to taste.  From there we went to lunch followed by a tasting at Odell's Brewery.

Finally, we capped off the day with dinner at Coopersmiths Brew Pub.

The next day we went to New Belgium Brewery, beer of environmental drinkers everywhere, where I won a 22 oz Fat Tire Ale with the following haiku which I had to read in front of all the assembled tasters (luckily it was still pretty early and therefor not crowded).

Beer, drink of the Gods

Hangover sure ain't no fun

Good beer, New Belgium

We capped off the beer fest with a tasting at Fort Collins Brewery.  I have to say it was a great vacation and I didn't just drink but it was interesting to try all the different beers and get an idea how they are made.  If you are in the area and like beer it might be worth a long weekend trip.

There has been some knitting...

I have been carrying these same socks around with me forever, putting in a row here or there. The above picture of sock number one is time stamped February 15. I started them on the 9th of January and finally on an airplane, heading for an hour layover in Memphis, I cast off for Wendy's generic toe up feather and fan socks. Since the 19th I have worn them twice and carried them in my purse everywhere hoping to get a chance to photograph them and yet here I am typing this entry without a single image on my camera...hang on a second while I take a photo or two (or 15 and still none of them will be good...is it the camera or operator? Good question...)

Just my luck...my camera battery just died after 2 pictures. Now I have to go home and charge it and then take 13 more pictures only to hate them all. So while I am waiting for the battery to recharge let me distract you with a query/story. I always have a sock on the needles and carry it around with me in my purse. While waiting, or commuting, or hanging out, I will pull it out and complete a couple of rounds. Often someone will ask me what I am knitting. If it matters, I knit one sock at a time on double points. My response is always "a sock". Then people inevitably respond with "just one?" Not knowing what else to say I point out "just one at a time". Would it be more accurate to say I am knitting socks? I feel at the moment I am knitting just one. I think if I was working on a sweater sleeve I might respond with "a sleeve" and if I feel like talking to them might show the other parts of the sweater or a picture on the pattern. Are they asking about what I am currently knitting or wondering what it will become or are they just trying to make conversation with a stranger for no good reason?

Pattern: Generic Feather and Fan Toe Up Socks by Wendy Johnson

Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns in Black Lake

Started:  January 9, 2008

Finished: March 19, 2008

Notes:  The socks are a little difficult to get on over my heel -- this may be the the lack of stretch in the stitch pattern or just the result of short row heels on my foot.  They fit fine once they are put on carefully. 

I immediately cast on for my St Patrick's Day socks while waiting in the airport in Memphis.  The pattern I choose called "Making Waves" warned that it pulled in quite a bit and to maybe make a larger size than usual so having smallish feet I decided that the medium size would be just fine.   

In just a few days I had knit quite a bit and was almost ready to turn the heel.  So I tried them on, they weren't even close to fitting over my heel.  So what is a girl to do but cast the first sock aside and cast on for the second one with more stitches.  But I love the way the pattern is working out with the stripes. I am nearing the toe on the second sock (and worrying about whether their is enough yarn) and trying to psych myself up to pull out the first sock.

Dark Days Eat Local Challenge: wrap up

February and March  -- these are lean months for eating local in any climate that experiences freezing weather in the winter. There isn't too much growing that isn't in a hoop house, cold frame, or green house. Anything that is fresh is likely being helped along as the seeds and roots start their fight out of the winter mud and into the light. I wasn't posting much (about much of anything) and didn't get many entries posted. I think one of the reasons for this is that due to the lack of variety in the storage crops, I am often mixing them with non-local items, like butternut squash with noodles, lime and coconut milk or roasted veggies and black beans, or even a simple pasta dish. With a large portion of the meal being non-local foods I never quite felt right posting since my summer meals were usually 95% local. However I still eat tons of local food in the winter.  Well, Laura, over at Not So Urban Hennery (she has just moved out of downtown), has wrapped up the challenge and I was no where to be seen.

I have been doing some spring cleaning and decorating (new curtains anyone?) and that includes the refrigerator and pantry. I have been trying to use up those last few squashes, the pounds of turnips that I have been avoiding and the greens and sweet potatoes that keep coming in from Olin Fox Farms and Food Matters. So I thought that I would share some of these recipes with you, in case you, too, are trying to clean out the crisper and use up the last of the mounds of squash and the piles of turnips. It may require a few ingredients from the grocery store but the result should be a great dinner.

This recipe started out as a filling for vegetable enchiladas and has morphed and changed as my mood and ingredients have dictated what I have cooked.

Roasted vegetable with black beans and feta cheese

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup zucchini squash -- diced (I used an organic one I had picked up at Trader Joe's)
2 cups sweet potato -- diced (these were white sweet potatoes other than the third of an orange one sitting in the fridge from some other meal)
1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen, organic corn, I can't seem to justify the price or freezer space to freeze my own)
1.5 cups turnips -- diced (I have found even the ones that are a little less than beautiful roast up just fine and I often don't peel any of my veggies if they are organic because I am lazy and rationalize that there is healthy fiber and nutrients that should feed me rather than my sad compost pile)
1 large parsnip -- diced (This was a new addition for me but I had some laying around)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 cup red onion -- chopped
1 small tomato -- seeded and diced
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
4 cups of kale leaves -- chopped (I usually use spinach but there is no room for spinach in my fridge it is stuffed to the gills with hardier greens that are looking for homes in creative recipes or the compost pile -- how did it get so out of hand?)
1 cube frozen chopped chiles (The freezer doesn't have much room either and I am trying to freeze some soup and whatnot so it is getting excavated as well).
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup or so feta -- crumbled and divided (you can also use cojito, queso blanco or farmer's cheese -- I had local feta)
2 1/4 cups black beans (I get mine from Rancho Gordo cook them up a pound at a time in my pressure cooker and then put them in the freezer in 2 cup portions ~about 1 15oz can)

Preheat oven to 425º. Place olive oil in In a 9X9 baking dish. Place squash, sweet potato, turnip, parsnip, corn, garlic, hot pepper cube, 1 tsp. cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and toss. Roast, tossing every 10 minutes, until tender, about 25 -35 minutes. Add tomato, 1/4 cup cilantro, kale and onion. Return to oven for 10 minutes to wilt the kale. Meanwhile, cook or otherwise warm the beans.  Place 3/4 cup of the vegetable mixture topped with 1/4 cup of beans on a plate and sprinkle with cheese (or whatever proportions work for you).  Enjoy.

** Hey I hear the folks over at Eat Drink Better are holding a carnival of local recipes and food stories so if you want to read more about local eating check over there.  (and I will post this without pictures and add them after the Caps game where I will be "rocking the red" and cheering my team to victory!!)  You win somw and you lose some -- now if we could just win three more this round...

Random Thursday

I haven't posted in forever and have lots of things to share.  I started several posts today and while I was taking pictures and before I down loaded others, my camera battery decided to die on me.  So while I wait for it to recharge and am in a posting mood, I will entertain you with a list of random things

1. I don't think about my age much and willingly tell it to all that ask, including small children and attractive men, but today I had an experience that made me feel old.  I stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up some grape tomatoes to use on my Mediterranean Salmon with Garlic Spinach when I noticed the young woman serving the wine samples.  It was one of the girls I had coached in rowing when I first moved back to Virginia and was working at an entry level wage and needed to pick up a little extra cash.  After doing a little quick math in my head I realized she is not only old enough to serve wine samples but likely has been drinking them legally for a year or so.  Where have the years gone.
2. This made me laugh out loud maybe even more than Norma's W.T. Fuck (which I can't find for the life of me).
3. I lost my wallet last week at the Capital's final regular game of the season.  After the game we had gone to a few pubs and partaken of a few pints and I didn't make it home with my wallet something that I didn't notice until the next morning.  A friend had been picking up the tabs since I had taken them to the game and so I hadn't looked for it since buying that first beer at the Verizon Center and then throwing it back in my purse when I got back to my seat.  I called the restaurants who didn't have it and canceled several of the most important cards (my credit and library cards).  I had even ordered a new driver's license after tracking down my license number (if you ever need this try calling your insurance company).  Well, this morning as I was going out to get my paper, I noticed a package between the storm door and my front door that I must have stepped over last night in the dark when I got home.  A package from Verizon Center Lost and Found.  Inside was my wallet, still soaking wet, with everything that had been in there when I had last seen it -- cash and all.  There are still good and decent people in the world. 
4. I can't decide if this composter is ingenious for those who are compost challenged and lack outdoor space or absolutely excessive and crazy. Electricity as an ingredient of compost? It is an expensive way to make dirt.  I should add here that I desperately need to turn my compost pile which will be quite a task but should turn up some great soil.  Maybe I will finally get motivated for that this weekend...I doubt it though.

I hope to have a few more posts for you over the next few days -- some travel adventures, some knitting, and some recipes.  Stay tuned.  Same bat time, same bat station.