The "Keep it Local" Challenge

Week 2!

Five  Seven of us participated in this week’s challenge (I’ll update the blog if anymore entries roll in today).  Looks like maybe one other person is joining in my breakfast-lunch-dinner-dessert-cocktail challenge…sara? yesnomaybeso?  the food is looking good folks! read on…

MIDWEST

(Just Added!)

Rebecca - Illinois

Gazpacho! - So I didn't get to a full meal this week, and a couple of ingredients in this are not local,  (olive oil, wine, S&P) but here goes:

Tomatoes/Green Pepper/Onion ~ Angelic Organics/Caledonia, IL (Thanks Sarah P!)

Garlic ~ Henry's Farm/Congerville, IL (Central IL/Mackinaw River Valley)

Simple but sooo good. More next week.

Sara, Ari, Charlie and Lucy – Illinois

this a veggie and goat cheese sandwich and it was goooooood. Bread from Bennison's Bakery in Evanston; tomatoes from Growing Power; cucumbers from Green Acres Farm in North Judson, IN; goat cheese from Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, IL and basil from Nichols Farm in Marengo, IL. That yummy side of melon was from Genesis too.

Everything except the basil and the melon came from Green Grocer in Chicago. Cassie and the gang make this local thing almost too easy.

 

Lara  - Illinois

Here is what I came up with for week two.   I made scrambled eggs with some sautéed veggies on the side. I used some baby summer squash that I still had from Wienke's Market in Door Co.  The eggs were Phil's and I also grated some cheese with dill from Renard's in Door Co. as well.  The only non-local ingredients were the grapeseed oil I used for cooking and Celtic sea salt I added to the eggs.

Erin (your hostess) - Illinois

There is a magical place in Three Oaks, Michigan that has single-handedly changed my palate when it comes to certain foods.  If you ask me under normal circumstances if I’d like for you to make me a ham sandwich with mustard, pickles and a tomato I would give you a dirty look and maybe I’d even fake gag.  But if the goods from that sandwich came from a place called Driers Meat Market I would try it. and I would like it. and then I would eat it again and again and again.

• Bread – Three Tarts Bakery, Northfield, IL
• Mustard, ham and pickle – Driers meat Market, Three Oaks,MI
• Tomato and lettuce – Twin Garden Farms, Harvard, IL

Also, why are sandwiches so good?

WEST COAST

(Just Added!)

Kathy Pelham - Washington

Here’s our local dinner for this week. We got tied up last night with complications in cleaning out the chicken coop (we are such exciting people…) and I had to take pictures inside so the lighting looks yucky….and then I forgot to send this over.

We had Dungeness crab from North Puget Sound

 

• Butter from Rose Valley in McMinnville, OR
• Corn from Yakima—I forget the name of the farm
• Cucumbers, tomatoes from Jubilee Farm, Carnation, WA
• Basil and garlic from my garden
• Bread from Essential Baking company in Seattle. They use Fairhaven Flour from Bellingham.

Beth – Northern California

I had every intention of cooking a local meal for dinner! The eggplant in my garden is ready to go.  However, I helped a friend can 50 lbs of (local) tomatoes today and I'm exhausted.  So my entry is homemade salsa, crushed tomatoes, spicy tomato juice, and strawberry rhubarb jam.  I'm not actually eating any of it today, but I'm too tired to cook anything else.  I will have a nice meal in January with local tomatoes.

The tomatoes were picked by my friend and her family. (She has 70 lbs to do tomorrow.)  The strawberries and rhubarb are from 25 miles away.

 

Georgene Smith – Southern California

Greetings from Los Angeles! This week's meal is as local as I can get.  Spaghetti squash with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and garlic, all of which is from my garden.  The garlic was sautéed with olive oil from Clovis, 222 miles away.

 
Can't vouch for the salt and pepper.  Their could be some serious miles there.

Keep it local challenge – week 1 eats!

A delicious start to the challenge.  There were seven nine ten of us who kicked off the challenge this year.  Meals ranged from freshly caught fish to a couple of egg breakfasts.  Meals had on vacation, meals had on the fly and meal we’ll just have to imagine what they might of looked like :).  A good start I’d say.  Please join us for week 2, beginning……NOW!

Oh wait…but first on to the good eats!  Get hungry.

{{Scroll down to read Maura and Wyatt's new entry along with Sara and her family! And Meagen and fam! All midwest...}}

MIDWEST

Kathy Pelham (on vacation), Michigan

I'm on my annual trip to Leelanau County, Michigan. My family has spent summers here for over 100 years. I've been impressed over the last few years at how the farmer's market has grown and how many new small farms have popped up. On Tuesday I walked out of the farmer's market loaded down with numerous bags of good stuff.

We started out with hors d'oeuvres on the dock-- eating venison sausage made from a deer shot by a hunter friend in the southern half of the state and drinking Bell's Oberon from Kalamazoo, MI.

Dinner consisted of fantastic super fresh Lake Trout caught the day before in Lake Michigan by Red Cloud Fisheries in Suttons Bay. When he's not selling fish, the owner, Francis Weese makes beautiful traditional Native American baskets.

We grilled zucchini and onions from Second Spring Farm in Cedar, MI and wild ramps from Bakkers Acres, Suttons Bay, MI.

The best corn of the season came from Harris Farms in Honor, MI.

We drank a Chardonnay from Willow Vineyard--my favorite local winery--in Suttons Bay, MI.

Grilled peaches from Cherry Beach Orchard in Suttons Bay, MI and Butter Pecan ice cream from Moomers in Traverse City, MI topped with local maple syrup was the grand finale of our local dinner.

Oh, man, Michigan in the summer.  Nothing beats it.  - Erin

Lara Fickes (on vacation) Door County, WI

one cranky baby = emailing you late.  Not bringing camera cord on vacation = no photo to go with my write up.  But here is what I pulled together this week.......
I had a hamburger with an ear of fresh corn on the side and a glass of wine.  The hamburger meat was from Heartland meats - purchased at the Evanston Farmer's Market.  I am currently in Door Co, WI on vacation.  I was hoping to find a local bread source, but was unsuccessful, so I ate the burger with no bun. I did however top it with cheese from Renards, a local cheese maker, as well as salsa and sliced pickles.  The salsa and pickles were from a local roadside type stand that does their own growing and canning.  The corn, also from a little road side stand.  And, last but not least, the wine was from a local Door Co winery.

Sounds like a great meal!  I love roadside stands.  You guys should stock up! - Erin

Erin Loughlin, (your hostess) Illinois

So I’m going with my theme of featuring one main meal per week as local.  This week was breakfast!  My refrigerator broke down midweek so I was worried all would be lost, but that’s the beauty of local foods – they are so fresh and best eaten as such.

• The potatoes and tomato were from Nichols Farm, in Marengo, IL
• Basil, egg and garlic – Tempel Farms, Oak Creek, IL
• Goat Cheese – Belmont, WI
• Red Onion – Lake Breeze Organics, SW Michigan
• Salted hand rolled butter – Alcam Creamery, Richland Center, WI

My big score this week was the BUTTER.  It’s rich and creamy and delicious. yum.  I bought a huge log of it and will freeze it in thirds so that I can use it all year long.

(Just Added!)

Wyatt and Maura, Michigan

The cucumbers, tomato, some peppers were from our garden.   The chicken is from Otto's Chicken, Middleville, MI?.  Lettuce,  potato and some peppers, and zucchini from Visser Farms in Holland MI
Onion and yellow squash from Scobey Farms, Somewhere nearby in Michigan

 (Just added!)

Sara, Ari, Charlie and Lucy, Illinois

This week's local breakfast required a trip to the Wicker Park Famers' Market--Baby Lucy's first! We picked up lots of goodies and ended up with plenty of stuff to make several local meals, but first came breakfast: toast with scrambled egg, sauteed mushrooms, goat cheddar cheese and fresh basil.

The bread for the toast came from the appropriately named Delightful Pastries from here in Chicago; the eggs were Phils from Forreston, IL; the butter and cheese were both from Nordic Creamery in Westby, WI; the basil was from my favorite farm, Nichols in Marengo, IL; and the mushrooms were from River Valley Ranch in Burlington, WI.

(The mushrooms were being sold in one pound bags and when I asked the farmer if I could have a half pound bag instead, he looked me square in the eye and said, "Well yes, but I'll have to warn you...then you'll have half as many mushrooms.") We enjoyed our breakfast with some Rishi Tea from Milwaukee, WI and some gorgeous yellow cherry tomatoes from Nichols Farm that were pretty enough to string and wear as a necklace.

 (Just added!)

Meagen, Michael, Ian and Marcus, Illinois

Honey marinated chicken (honey from Wisconsin, chicken from our local butcher)

Michigan potatoes

Cucumber salad with dill - cucumber and dill was from a friend's backyard, the rest of the ingredients came from the farmer's market.

 

I am not a photographer and not a chef, so it doesn't look pretty, but it was good!!

WEST

Beth Harrington, California

Eggs scrambled with herbs, tomatoes and onions.  And fruit salad.

Eggs - 70 mi

Herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano) - my garden

Tomato - 110 mi

Onion - 110 mi

Musk melon - 110 mi

Grapes - 110 mi

Pluot - 110 mi

(My CSA is 110 mi away!)

Yay, Breakfast! ooh, muskmelon…never tried it. Give us the name of your CSA’s farm so we can ogle their website! - Erin

 

Georgene Smith Goodin, California

This was a bad week for me to start the challenge -- I was out of town all but one night and had to go "local" with what I had on hand.

All the veggies are from my garden.  The beans are actually purple on the vine and turn green when you cook them -- you have to cook them a long time or they're tough.  The red mess is actually caramelized tomatoes, onions and peppers and, despite appearances, is actually really yummy.  The corn's been a bit of a challenge -- it has to be picked at just the right moment or else it gets really starchy.

I failed miserably on the fish.  It's from, ahem, Alaska.  But at least is was grilled with California olive oil...

I’m jealous of your local olive oil and your garden!  can’t wait to see what you cook up next week! - Erin

Elizabeth Kramps, Washington

The day started with some beet thinnings and eggs all from about 20-40 feet away from the house. 

There was a picture of these super local ingredients after cooking, however there were a little less photogenic yet delicious just the same.

The day ended with a pork 'banh mi' burger with cucumber, carrot, red cabbage slaw, homemade kim chee and some grilled potatoes.

ground pork - blue valley meats, Walla Walla WA 260 miles
slaw veggies and kim chee veg all came from Jubilee Farm, Carnation WA 6 miles
dressing for slaw was a homemade mayo with eggs from the chickens that live 20 feet outside my door. 
burger bun - essential baking company, it's a seattle bakery but I can't vouch for the localness of their ingredients.
potatoes - from the Issaquah, WA farmer's market yet I cannot for the life of me remember which stand I got these guys at.
ketchup for the mystery potatoes - homemade with Jubilee Farm tomatoes.

I can’t say I’m surprised by how good this looks – you guys always bring the good eats.  Can’t wait to see more – hope you’re enjoying your new home! - Erin

SOUTH

Barb Moran, Austin, TX

My "keep it local" dinner last night. Everything from Farmers Market or local Texas business

Yay, Aunt Barb!  This looks delicious.  Can’t wait to see what Texas brings to the table next week! – Erin

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For those of you intending to join the challenge but missed last nights deadline I’ll be adding entries throughout the day today only.  If you miss it altogether start planning for this week’s meal!

Check back to the blog on Wednesday for a tour around my local farmers market.

The Challenge begins today!

What you need to know…

1. Sometime between Monday and next Sunday, prepare and eat one meal made up of all local ingredients
2. Take a photo of that meal and send it to me along with a little write up of what you ate and where it came from: erinmloughlin@gmail.com
3. Don't forget to include your name, where you live and a website if you want me to link it
4. Eat that meal
5. enjoy it.
6. On the following Monday check back on the blog to see what everybody else ate all week!

 

Happy eating!

5 more days til the Challenge begins.  Getting excited?

Looking for recipe ideas?

Not all of us are intuitive cooks.  I watch these shows like Top Chef and Masterchef and CANNOT figure out how the hell a person can get the idea to make a surf-and-turf-carrot risotto-cake-with-truffles when all they’ve been give is the carrot.  How??

No, I need recipes.  I need someone to tell me that a certain combo of flavors will go well together.  But when you’re heading into a challenge such as this one, you have to start with what’s given to you.  What’s in season and available at your local market will dictate what you end up making. 

So I’m here to recommend my 2 favorite go-to cookbooks for cooking locally and in-season

1) Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets, By Deborah Madison

Deborah Madison visits farmers markets from across the country and comes up with really great seasonal and locally produced items for all her recipes.  They aren’t going to all fit where you or I live, but the recipes are good and inventive.

2) MY FAVORITE!!!  Food to Live by, By Myra Goodman

I have yet to make a recipe from this cookbook that I haven’t wanted to make again and again; that others haven’t salivated over; that hasn’t been delicious.  It is GOOD. yum. 

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Any other suggestions, folks?

i *heart* cookbooks.

xo

Erin

And now for a little extra challenge to go with your challenge

A week and a half before the challenge begins and I’ve started thinking about meals I might want to make.  How about you?

I realized that I planned this for five weeks instead of four weeks and that gave me an idea for a little extra twist I plan taking on during this challenge.  It goes like this:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• cocktail (!)
• Dessert

The challenge is only one meal per week so each week I’ll focus making a meal reflecting a specific meal of the day (including everyone’s favorite: the liquid meal)

Whose with me?