East Coast Region

Last week of the Challenge - Harvest Edition

Thanks, Katharine,Josh & Family and Liz & Nathan for all the good East Coast eats!

Massachusetts

Katharine Brown

The Keep it Local challenge has been a family affair in our house. My husband has helped with taking the photos and sometimes even with preparing the dishes. My son just helps us eat it. In addition to being a mom and working full-time - I also have a very part-time job and make it a priority to exercise at least three to four times a week. Due to my busy schedule I find myself using my crockpot quite a bit. I used it three times last week, one of which was my Local Challenge Meal.

Crockpot Cabbage Rolls

Ground beef from Littleton, MA
Cabbage, onion, tomato all from Farmer Dave's CSA in Dracut, MA
Rice which I'm sorry to say was not local. I looked - to no avail.
1 tomato, blended up

Mix the raw beef (1.5 lbs) with the raw rice (2 cups) and add 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped tomato. This mixture will be messy. Peel off one cabbage leave at a time and wrap the meat mixture like a messy burrito. Pour the blended tomato over the top. Cook on low all day (8 hours).

Now I admit this wasn't much to look at and my house smelled fairly cabbage awful when I first got home, but we loved this. We scarfed it all down, even my toddler, which is not the case typically.

  

Washington DC

Josh Flaherty & Family

We went all out on this one (or, rather, I did, but my family was happy to eat it): local bison burgers with local cheese (goat's milk manchego, no less) and local tomato served on homemade (from non-local ingredients) olive bread, served with local kale chips. (The kale was local; I shredded it, put some oil on it, cooked it a bit and added salt, on the advice of the woman at the farmers' market). All very tasty.

Rhode Island

Liz & Nathan, Providence

For the final meal I decided to try and make a whole local day of it.  I started out with a ricotta, tomato omelette with pesto.

Ricotta - narragansett creamery, providence RI, a mile or two.
Tomato - my backyard, providence RI
Eggs - pat's pastured, saunderstown RI, 35 miles
Pesto - bear pond pesto, glastonbury CT 75 miles. 

For dinner we moved on to have spicy pork burgers with queso blanco and homemade pickles.  We tossed in an ear of corn and a couple oysters for good measure as well. To make the burgers spicy we added some diced jalapeno and sweat it down with some red onion and garlic. 

Ground Pork - pat's pastured, saunderstown RI, 35 miles
Jalapeno, chives - backyard, providence RI
Red onion, garlic, corn - Al's greenhouse, cranston, RI, 7 miles or so
Queso Blanco - narragansett creamery, providence RI, a mile or two
Buns - Iggy's, cambridge MA, 55 miles (I didn't have time to make my own)

Oysters - matunuck oyster farm, east matunuck, RI, 37 miles

Plus this morning I had some locally made Kefir with raspberries and maple for breakfast.  Thanks again Narragansett Creamery!

Oops sorry I forgot a picture of me and nathan.  Next time!  Camera battery is charging.

It's been fun!
-liz and nathan

This was great idea, Erin. I hope you keep it up.

Thank you for letting me take part in this challenge!

Week 3 - Harvest Edition

Massachusetts

Katharine Brown

Shepard's Pie
ground beef: Littleton, MA
garlic, carrots, onions, celery, peas (frozen earlier in the season), corn, potatoes: Dracut, MA
cheddar cheese: Waterbury, VT
beer: Sam Adams, Boston, MA

 

Rhode Island

Lz & Nathan, Providence

We've been very happy to be able to partake in our local meat man, Pat's Pastured, for this challenge.  Without the added challenge of 100% local it's hard sometimes to justify spending excessive money on meat.  Let me tell you, it is all well worth it with what he's got to offer.  This week found us with a pair of pork rib chops, a grilled baked potato (our new obsession), grilled scallops (quite possibly the best scallops I've ever had. Buttery and wonderful.) and an ear of corn.  We can't do anything without some sort of sauce, so I whipped up a quick parsley tarragon vinaigrette and called it dinner.  Here's what we had....

Pork Rib Chops - Pat's Pastured, Saunderstown RI 27 miles
Potato - Al's greenhouse, cranston 5 miles or so
Corn - Al's greenhouse, same as above
Scallops - Bomster Scallops, Stonington CT 47 miles
Herbs for vinaigrette - backyard, down the stairs to the left. 

Until next week....
Liz and Nathan

Week 2 - Harvest Edition

Massachusetts

Katharine Brown

This week's meal is a creamy pasta primavera. It was made with:

baby eggplant
kousa
leeks
and basil, all from Farmer Dave's CSA in Dracut, MA
fettuccine from Capone Foods in Somerville, MA
ricotta cheese from Maplebrook Farm in Bennington, NH

No store bought ricotta compares to this fresh ricotta cheese. Goodbye Sargento, forever. The fresh pasta was also delicious. Soon I will try my hand at making fresh pasta, but for a busy night like tonight, having it ready in less than two minutes was priceless.

 

Washington DC

Josh Flaherty & Family

Risotto (non-local, I admit) with local lamb sausage and local shallots, served with a salad of local tomatoes and local basil. Yum, say all.

 

 

Rhode Island

Elizabeth & Nathan, Providence

So this week consisted of a giant piece of beef.  It was a very good piece of beef, in fact I think that local beef will be the only beef I ever eat again.  One because I really don't eat much red meat and two because it is rather pricey. 

This is what it consisted of....
Ribeye - Beaverhead Farm, jamestown RI 35 miles or so.
Pattypan squash - I can't remember which farm I picked these up from, but it was definitely in RI. 
Japanese eggplant - Al's Greenhouse, Cranston RI 8 miles or so.
Herb "chimichurri" - Parsley, Oregano and mint from the backyard, really close.

I have to say that this time of year really takes the challenge out of this for me.  Without trying I almost made this other meal totally local. If it weren't for the chicken sausage it would have been 100% local too and that wasn't even my goal.  Plus I really like the picture.

Eggplant and Chard - Al's greenhouse, Cranston RI 8mi.
Mozzarella - Narragansett Creamery, Providence RI 2 miles.  Locally sourced dairy. 

Week 1

Welcome new and returning East Coast Challengers!!

New Hampshire

Katharine Brown, North Conway (on vacation!)

I'm in North Conway, NH on vacation with my family. For my first "meal" I made a breakfast sandwich using cheese, eggs, and bacon from NH and bread from Maine. It was DELICIOUS. The bacon was especially good

    

 

Rhode Island

Elizabeth & Nathan

So this was actually made last Sunday so I'm not sure if I will do it justice in remembering everything. 
Grilled chicken with a potato, fennel, red onion "salad" with local breseola and an herb vinaigrette, oh yeah and some grilled corn.

Chicken - Pat's Pastured Poultry, Saunderstown RI
Rose Finn Apple Potato - my backyard.
Fennel bulb - Arcadian Farms, Hope Valley RI
Purplette red onion - Urban Edge Farm, Cranston RI
Breseola - Pascoag RI (I forgot the place's name)
Herb Vinaigrette - Herbs from the back yard (basil, tarragon, parsley)
Corn - Al's greenhouse, Cranston RI

It is SO much easier doing this now than in May.  However it is harder to make up your mind what to make, there's almost too much variety!  haha.  Can't wait till week 2. 

Washington DC

Josh Flaherty & family

Just saw your pictures of the Evanston Farmers' Market. That place is so huge. We have one here in Silver Spring with about 7 stalls. Very jealous.

Anyway, here's the meal: Local Andouille sausage with local potatoes, local onion and local tomato sauce (produced on a small farm nearby), served on some non-local rice.

Week 5 - Final week of the challenge!

Rhode Island

Liz & Nathan, Providence

I really wasn't feeling very creative this weekend and the farmer's market springtime bounty is getting rather sparse, so I ended up with a simple omelette.  However we did smoke a brisket earlier in the week that was in fact local, but we had non-local sides with it so I didn't count that meal, but I'll throw in a picture of that too just for good measure. 
 
Here's how it went down:
 
Omelette

• Eggs - Harmony Hill Farm, Harmony RI - 10 miles or so
• Broccoli & Dandelion Greens - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI - 33 miles
• Feta and Fresh Mozzarella - Narragansett Creamery, Providence RI - 2 miles

Brisket

Beef brisket - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI - 33 miles. 
 
Then my camera ran out of batteries before I could become remotely creative in my own picture, so you get the serious egg pic.  That'll teach me to wait till the last minute!  You got to see Nathan in our last pizza adventure (and here he is again!), since he is as much a part of this as I.

  
 
-liz & nathan

Week 4

Rhode Island

Liz Kramps, Providence

I was kind of at a loss this week as what I wanted to get was not available.  So we get pizza #2 this month, however this pizza is grilled.  Plus we added a little stuffed squid on the side.  We had enough food to feed an army! 

Grilled Pizza #1:

• Hot Italian Sausage - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI 33 miles. 
• Fresh Mozzarella - Narragansett Creamery, Providence RI 2 miles
• Tomato Sauce - the last of the leftover frozen sauce from summer '08 made in a giant vat in my kitchen!
• Basil - from the basil plants I bought for my own little garden, Al's greenhouse, Cranston RI 8 miles. 

Grilled Stuffed Squid

Squid - Point Judith RI, 35 miles
Hot Italian Sausage - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI  33 miles
Pretty good when dipped in the leftover tomato sauce. 

Grilled Pizza #2

Leeks - Wishing Stone Farm, Little Compton RI 34 miles
Little baby broccoli - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI 33 miles
Bacon - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI 33 miles
Atwells Gold Cheese (an italian style cheese) - Narragansett Creamery, Providence RI 2 miles
 
 
Note Nathan showing off the fine new grill.  :)

Week 3

Liz has company!  Welcome Josh (and visiting Chicagoan sister) from DC...

Washington DC

Josh Flaherty (and sister Megan from Chicago)

Local bison burger (apparently there are bison local to DC) on local bread with local tomato and local mozarella. Very tasty. Oh, and this counts as my sister's entry as well (Megan Flaherty); she was visiting from Chicago.

Sorry we blew the first two weeks. The farmer's market here in silver spring finally opened.

 

Rhode Island

Liz Kramps, Providence

This week was special because it proved to be the last time we would use our old beat up Weber.  We now have replaced our old friend with a new-fangled grill/smoker sure to make it's debut probably next weekend.  
  
 

We went with the good old burger and fries this week.

Ground Beef - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI 35 miles or so.
Buns - left over homemade herb focaccia (from last week)
Cheese - Divine Providence (a cheddar/gouda type cheese) Narragansett Creamery, Providence RI 2miles. 
 
Grill fries - Potatoes, Fryeburg Maine 211 miles (yikes thats really far for New England!)

 
Until next week!

Week 2

Liz remains our sole East Coaster yet again this week...will anyone join her for week 3...?

Rhode Island

Liz Kramps, Providence

Ahh, week #2...This week entailed a local flounder sandwch on herb focaccia with a tarragon aioli alongside roasted asparagus

 

 

Flounder - caught somewhere off the coast of Jamestown, RI - 35 miles (give or take).  The flounder was coated in homemade bread crumbs and baked on a rack to keep it extra crispy.mmmmmm

Homemade Herb Focaccia - backyard thyme and rosemary came from downstairs and about 12 ft out the door.  Again, I cheated on the flour.  King Arthur is based out of Vermont thought. :)

Tarragon Aioli - tarragon from the same place the thyme and rosemary came from mixed with local eggs from Zephyr Farms, Cranston RI - 5 miles

Asparagus - Four Town Farm, Seekonk MA  - 7 miles

I can't wait for more veggies to be available.

 

Week 1

(We only have one entry this week from the East coast - Other East Coasters! Don't let Liz be lonely!!)

Rhode Island

Liz Kramps, Providence

So I scoured the farmers market for something of substance to make for dinner.  Unfortunately springtime in New England is not necessarily the most produce-productive time of year.  I cheated in that the flour and yeast in the crust were not local...neither was the garlic that we brushed the crust with, but everything else was.

Potato, asparagus, bacon, goat cheese and mozzarella pizza with a fresh herb topping

  

• Potatoes: Cooks Valley Farm, Wrentham, MA (25 miles)
• Asparagus: Simmons Farm, Middletown, RI (35 miles)
• Bacon: Simmons Farm, Middletown, RI (35 miles)
• Goat Cheese: Crystal Brook Farm, Sterling, MA (55 miles)
• Fresh Mozzarella: Narragansett Creamery, Providence, RI (2 miles)

• Fresh Oregano and Thyme: my backyard, Providence, RI (25 ft)

Let's see what Week 2 brings...

Comments

[Erin Loughlin]

Liz - I really want to eat this pizza...I made a quiche last week with bacon and asparagus and it might have been the best quiche I ever ate...