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I started this challenge last year, not because of the politics of eating locally, but because of the pleasure of eating locally. I decided to use this format because I wanted to see pictures of food and hear some food stories from cool foodie/farmie people. I've enjoyed every bite.
I'm not sure yet how the challenges will continue (would love to hear your suggestions/ideas in the comment section below), but either way I hope you all keep eating the good stuff.
See you all next time!!
We're halfway through the Harvest challenge and this morning I awoke to chilly, chilly air (wind really) blowing in off Lake Michigan. I *love* the first really cool fall morning. Warm enough to keep the windows open, but cool enough for an extra blanket pulled up around my ears. I started thinking about what comes next, leaves changing, apples/pumpkins/squash at the farmers market, then frost, then freezing then snow, then darkness. Round these parts anyhow...some of you lucky smokes get nice weather yearround where food grows outside in the ground every day.
I started wondering how many of you have been putting up fruit & veggies for the winter season? Any of you? I admit that I only really started doing this last fall, but have been filling up my freezer ever since and more lately. I'm not yet into canning, but I'll freeze just about anything. Currently in my freezer: flour, bacon, blueberries, peaches, blackberries, raspberries, bread, parsely pesto and corn chowder.
My current habit is to freeze any fruits and veggies I didn't get to in a week - most don't last much longer then 5-6 days so unless I have a plan for it - in the freezer it goes. I've learned a couple of tricks along the way (and would love to hear more if you've got your own - please share in comment section!)
With fruit it's important to freeze each piece individually prior to bagging it up. This prevents the fruit from freezing together into large clumps and allows you to use just as much as you desire. If it's a larger fruit like bananas, peaches or plums I'll peel and slice it first. I then spread the fruit out on a parchment covered cookie sheet and place it in my freezer
I usually leave them in overnight b/c I don't really know how long it takes for them to freeze and that seems long enough. Then I just collect them all in a freezer bag, label it and in to my freezer it goes.
The veggies I blanch and dry thoroughly before freezing. To be honest I haven't perfected my veggie freezing, but I'm getting there. Soups I freeze in mason jars, and the pesto I freeze in my ice cube trays before moving them into freezer bags.
Now I can just take 1-2 out and pop them in soups, pastas, and sauces for a litle punch of flavor.
Now I don't have a garden so I'm not a composter, but something I do is to save my unused vegetable scraps. Those too get collected (unblanched) in a tupperware and frozen. After the container fills I take all the scraps out, dump them into a large soup pot filled with water and slowly cook the whole mess. After about an hour of slow cooking I strain all the veggie bits out and viola! Homemade vegetable broth.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from people is that their produce always seems to go bad before they have a chance to eat it all. Try freezing it, before it starts to turn, freeze it. You'll be glad you did come February!
*tip: check your cookbooks for freezing tips as well - many of them have a section for it!
I found peaches growing in my alley!
A large peach tree with branches FULL of peaches! This was surprising to me b/c I walk down this alley all the time and had never noticed peaches…plus, it’s my dirty old concrete alley…but low and behold, sweet juicy peaches have emerged. This reminds me of the time this little tree in my old backyard in Colorado suddenly grew plums. I’d lived there for 3 years and not a hint of fruit emerged and then one year they just grew and the branches hung low under the weight of all that purple goodness. spontaneous fruit combustion! or something like that.
I’m hoping these fine folks will be willing to share these peaches with me…time to meet the neighbors.
Erin
ps – Now I don’t mean to mislead you on the nature of where I live it’s not the wild…but I have a sudden concern about this new find of mine…there also happens to be a pack of coyotes who hang out in the cemetery behind my building…I wonder how much they like peaches…?
I’ve been thinking about writing a post about photographing food since I started these challenges a year ago. Since the challenge’s focus is on finding/eating local foods the idea has remained low on the priority list for this blog. And my guess is that for many of you, the photo itself is taken quickly so that you can just-eat-already. Understood.
For me, the photos share equal importance with the write-ups…the images are a large part of what inspires me…and maybe you…to become more creative and adventurous in my own local foods cooking. The write-ups entertain me and give me new information…the photos make me salivate.
I read a lot of food blogs of all types. I stick with the ones who know how to take a good photo. I’m no vegan, but I routinely read this blog primarily because of the beautiful photos she takes – and have been inspired to prepare more vegan dishes as a result. She is taking great care to style and photograph these dishes, but it’s her home, not a set. Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks.com does one better – simple, often messy, gorgeous photos of food I often want to-eat-right-this-minute as a result of those photos.
So I decided it was time to share with all of you a few tips about photographing food that might help you to enjoy that part of the challenge a bit more and create delicious images for the rest of us to drool over.
1) Try to shoot in natural light when you can. Put your dish near a window (or take it outside like I often do). If you’re making something at night, do your best to give as much light on and around the dish to make tip #2 possible…
2) No flash. Really, don’t ever use flash when photographing your food. It bleaches everything out and your dish looks nothing like reality. Here is an example of my dinner a couple of nights ago. First photo with flash, second without – same conditions otherwise:
my camera *wants* to use the flash so I have to turn it off to take the photo I want. Your camera doesn’t always understand what makes a good photo, yo.
3. Get to know the Macro function on your camera. This is the setting that allows you to take very close-up photos. Using this function allows you to add a certain depth, clarity and yumminess to your images. Take a look at the difference between regular and macro in these shots:
Okay, now that I’ve posted these I realize that the first photo of apricots isn’t even focused, BUT STILL, it’s the second one that’s got you a little hungry, right?
Don’t sweat it, if you don’t have time or interest in taking a better food photo – but if you do, I hope these tips help!
(Please leave a comment below if you have more/better tips to share!)
Open up fridge’s and pantries – the Keep it Local Challenge – Harvest edition begins today!! So now what?
Now you figure out what to eat – what’s tasty and local and fresh, hopefully what’s organic and local and fresh, IDEALLY what’s roll-your-eyes-back-in-your-head-tasty, organic and local and fresh.
Maybe you went to the farmers market this past weekend. I did, along with half of the town I live in:
::Evanston Farmers Market
Take a look at your leftover purchases – perhaps those could make a meal. Or maybe you’ll wait until this weekend to go to the market – do a little prep work if that’s the case. Find an easy recipe that has items you know will be available this time of year. Not sure what’s available this time of year? This site will help.
My best (and frequent) advice is: Keep it simple! Especially if this is your first challenge or the first time you’ve really tried to eat locally. Don’t forget that a fried egg or a fruit salad or a green salad all count as local meals. Many a hopeful challenger has stopped before the first week was up because they overestimated what was available locally, got frustrated and disappeared from the challenge. don’t let that be you! If all else fails, eat an apple!
Most important to remember: send in the photo of your meal plus a write up about your experience (which can include who you shared the meal with, where the food came from, whether it was any good etc…) ever SUNDAY to me: erin@thegoodlifewellness.com.
During the course of the month, between the weekly update of challenger meals, I’ll be sharing information on the concept of eating locally, tips on photographing your food, perhaps a story or two shared from or about farmers. So check back in as frequently as you please.
Can’t wait to see all your good eats!!
Erin
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