Knitting 40 shades of green

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

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.

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...

Dark Days Challenge: greens

I have been getting lots of greens in my CSA -- Kale and baby collards, mostly.  So I have been trying to find new ways to add them to my diet and make sure they don't yellow in the crisper or turn to liquid as I try to eat all the potatoes and turnips.  This past week my Food Matters CSA supplied mushrooms as well and I thought it would be a good chance to make this great recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen for mushroom and kale triangles.

They are really good and I even got a veggie hating friend to get his greens in by serving this.

The Red Pepper Flakes in the cooking water are from a friends attempts to make hotter pepper flakes, the kale, onion, and mushrooms are from the Food Matters CSA, the eggs are from Olin Fox Farms CSA, the garlic is from Twin Springs Fruit Farm, and the Cheese is cheddar from Blue Highland Dairy.

I also made Greens with Couscous using some grape tomatoes that were languishing on the counter.  Next up maybe a soup with Greens and White Beans.

Re-entry Dark Days Challenge

Once again February has come to an end and I have barely posted at all. I haven't checked the archives but imagine that this would hold true in the past as well. I am not sure what it is but I guess after the whirlwind of the holidays and then the parade planning, the intense hockey schedule, the winter months and my generally busy work schedule for the beginning of the year, not much gets completed. Yes, I have cooked (using lots of local ingredients) but the meals are often simple and I don't think to document them. There has been little knitting although I am 5/8 through a pair of socks. I kind of lost my mojo for a while (and my hands were often cold and glove clad). However, I have recently caught the bug again and want to spend lots and lots of time knitting. I keep finding new projects that I want to cast on.

I have started quite a few blog entries but very few seemed to get finished. And many will never get posted because they are no longer relavent, for instance the blog entry containing this "gem":

Leap Day should be a holiday. If you work today and you get a certain amount of vacation days and holidays it means that every four years you have to work an extra day. Doesn't seem fair. It should definitely be a holiday.

Maybe I will check what is on my camera and see what is worth sharing...

The perfect answer to not enough time and too many root vegetables...

beef stew with root vegetables in the crock pot

I based this loosely on the recipe from locavore on core

I used potatoes, turnips, rutabegas, carrots, onions and garlic from my various CSAs. Yes, I have now joined more than one. I also used 1 lb of stew meat from Smith Meadows that I bought on a whim at the Farmer's Market (cooking with beef is still a rarity for this former vegetarian). You will notice that I halved the amount. The celeric and mushrooms were picked up on a rare outing to Whole Foods.

Adventures in the kitchen

I agreed to help my step mother with the food for a brunch she was having for representatives from Alexandria's sister city in France who will be in town for the Scottish Walk. In addition to the quiches that I promised her, I decided to make up a batch of my new favorite appetizer recipe.

I am folding up triangular turnovers filled with chicken filling when I run out of filling and still have another strip of phyllo dough on the counter and enough leaves of dough left over to make another stack and a half. I start looking in the fridge for something to stuff in there but am coming up with nothing and then I spy some apples sitting on the counter. I know they should be in the fridge but there wasn't any room in there. A little soft but they should be OK for cooking, hmm...

I chop the apples and start throwing things together. After stuffing that first turnover I remember the cranberries in the fridge and take out a handful and mix that in with the filling as well.

With a little vanilla ice cream they turned out pretty well.

Apple Turnovers
(makes 8 turnovers)

filling
3 apples
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 - 1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup cranberries (you could also use dried cranberries)
juice and zest from one lemon

wrappers
8 leafs of phyllo dough
1/4 cup or less dried sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Chop apples, and mix with cheese, honey, walnuts, lemon juice, lemon zest and cranberries.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to prevent drying); lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon coconut. Repeat layers 3 times. Cut crosswise into 4 strips. Spoon about 2 tablespoons apple mixture onto one end of each strip. Fold 1 corner of edge over mixture, forming a triangle; continue folding back and forth into a triangle to end of strip. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo, cooking spray, chicken mixture, and coconut.

Place triangles on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray; coat with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Here is the recipe

Kind of a cheat of NABLOPOMO to make two entries out of my local meal this week but then, when I said I would post daily, I never said it would be interesting. Besides, it was getting late last night and I had typed the same post three times and had it not save (internet connection issues) and was getting frustrated.

Here is the recipe for my squash bake

Winter Squash Bake
Serves 6

5 cups spaghetti squash
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk, skim
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut spaghetti squash in half and scrape
out seeds and strings from the cavity. Place cut side down on a sheet pan
and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until flesh is soft. Let cool slightly.
When cool scrape strands of squash from the shell.
2. While spaghetti squash is baking, heat onion and butternut squash in
olive oil over low heat until the vegetables are soft. Stir in flour with
a wooden spoon. Gradually stir in the milk until the mixture is smooth.
Bring the mixture to a boil and add salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
3. In a 9 × 9 × 2-inch baking dish, spread a little of the vegetable
sauce over the bottom and cover with spaghetti squash. Add more vegetable
sauce and spaghetti squash in layers until all is used (ending with a
layer of sauce). Sprinkle top with cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes
until nicely browned and heated through.

spaghetti squash, Three Way Farm, Warsaw, VA (62 miles)

butternut squash, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)

onion, Three Way Farm, Warsaw, VA (62 miles)

flour, Byrd Mill, Ashland, VA (76 miles)

milk, , Natural by Nature, Avondale, PA (98 miles)

cheddar cheese, Lancaster County Fresh, Lancaster, PA (94 miles)

non local: olive oil (CA), salt and pepper

Oh and with a little salt sprinkled on the squash seeds were great!