Category Archives: Locavore

Killer Baked Beans

Posted on July 6, 2013 by AnnieRie

It’s all Facebook’s fault. Or, it’s Nicole’s aka HoCo LoCo, since her liking 100 Days of Real Food was the reason I “liked” them and got this recipe.

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I have never made baked beans from scratch before seeing this. All this partying is inspiring me to make picnic foods.

We have been out quite a bit lately, what with cooking and creating salads and sauces for Field Day, going to a Fourth of July crab feast taking potato salad with CSA veggies, and now, tomorrow, a housewarming. The beans are perfect to take there, for the grilling. We did try them out tonight with sliders for dinner.

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My Adaption of 100 Days of Real Food’s Slow Cooker Baked Beans

INGREDIENTS
2 cups dried navy beans (optional, but recommended: soak beans in water for 6 to 8 hours and then drain)
4 oz bacon, cooked and diced
1 smoked shank
1 onion, diced
1 – 16 oz container of my homemade tomato sauce (you can use canned)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
black or red pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS
Place the beans, bacon, pork shank and onion in the bottom of a slow cooker. Set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together the tomato sauce, syrup, mustard, vinegar, chili powder, salt and pepper. Pour over top of bean mixture and then add 3 cups of water. Turn the slow cooker onto high and cook for 10 to 12 hours. Serve warm.

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The Farmers Never Sleep

Posted on July 4, 2013 by AnnieRie

At least that’s how we feel. Today was just another day with a CSA delivery, even though it is Independence Day. You have to harvest crops when they are ready and don’t mess up the rhythm by canceling a CSA day.

Week Seven. Ten items. All of them really things we enjoy. OK, I swapped the kale for fennel, but only because I love fennel.

The list:
1 Bunch French Heirloom Round Carrots- De Glae Organic Farm
2 Slicing Cucumbers- Elm Tree Organics
1 Head Read Leaf- Peaceful Valley Organics
1 Bag Yellow Wax Beans- Sunny Slope Organics
3 Green Zucchini- Autumn Blend Organics
1 Bunch White Beets- Windy Hollow Organics
1 Bunch Fresh Red Onions- Windy Hollow Organics
1 Bag Pickling Cucumbers- Eagle View Organics
1 Bag New Red Potatoes- Green Valley Organics
1 Bunch Green Kale- Life Enhancing Acres (swapped for fennel)

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I am really happy to see the pickling cucumbers as my husband loves dill pickles and I bought crocks last year at Zanesville Pottery in Ohio.

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One for pickles and one for sauerkraut. These crocks remind me so much of those my grandparents used.

Today to celebrate the Fourth, we went off to a crab feast at a fellow ham’s (amateur radio) place. I took a potato/green bean salad using up my green beans and a couple of boxes of TLv farm potatoes.

With the wax beans and red potatoes, I can do some for us this weekend.

And, the carrots. These are my favorite freezing carrots. Blanch them. Put them in a bag. In the middle of winter, grate them in soups and sauces.

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It was a busy day today. We are bushed. But, had a great picnic dinner with locally made sausages from Red Apron Butcher, and with crabs from LP Steamers. Paired with Yuengling Lager from my husband’s home town, a real US based feast for the Fourth of July.

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One Straw Farm and Other CSA options

Posted on July 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

One of the oldest CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) farms that includes delivery sites in Howard County. I forgot to mention them in my farms page, and I need to add them. I first heard about them at the Slow Cook blog, which I read when I retired. They deliver all over Maryland. Lora adds comments to my blog about what she gets each week at her pick up site at MOM’s.

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They deliver to MOM’s in Jessup and to a private residence in Ellicott City. For $24 a week, eight items. They are a large operation, well rated and a good choice for those on the eastern edge of the county. The eastern Howard Countians have a choice. Gorman or One Straw. Western and central Columbia have many more choices. Like Love Dove. Breezy Willow. Sandy Spring using Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop. Zahradka. I believe Roundabout Farms in Glenwood still is active but their web site isn’t.

Friends and Farms is another option to buy locally. They aren’t a farm but they partner with many local farms to provide weekly boxes of good veggies, plus other foods.

So many of my fellow bloggers belong to CSAs these days. It is interesting to learn the differences, and to see the commitment to supporting local seasonal eating.

Take the Buy Local Challenge and support the local farms. Those of us in CSAs can eat locally every day, just from our farm shares.

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This was my CSA share just before Buy Local Challenge week last July. Possibilities. Potato salad. Salads with cucumber and tomatoes. Add some Bowling green cheese and lovely lunches every day can be on your menu.

Even if you don’t cook much, you can still buy local farm fresh items to eat, like fruit, yogurt, ice cream, honey, jams and jellies, tomatoes, cheese. Easy to do. Sign up and make this year the best ever.

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My New Farm Page

Posted on July 2, 2013 by AnnieRie

I added a page to the blog. My links to the farms where most of my food is purchased. I will be adding more and more to this page before the Buy Local Challenge begins, but right now it is just a series of links to the home pages.

We are blessed with a variety of farms in this region. Farms with CSAs. Farms with farmstands. Farms that come to the local markets.

There are abundant sources of eggs, cheese, produce, fruit, and plants, right here within a 100 mile radius of Ellicott City. Taking the pledge to Buy Locally for the Maryland Challenge is really a cinch.

Even if you don’t cook much. How hard is it to use fresh fruit? Jams, honey, eggs, meat, tomatoes, corn. Not much skill necessary to use these items.

Every time we replace corporate sources with local sources, we are helping our local economy.

Something as simple as eating local fruit every day. Or, making a salad using local greens and tomatoes. Or, buying three local cheeses and using them on salads, breads, or as appetizers.

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Between the spreads and the feta and gouda, I can easily go through Bowling Green’s cheeses as part of our everyday dining.

How about yogurt and ice cream? Breezy Willow sells both, at their farm store open Saturdays year round.

Meats! We are so fortunate to have local farms offering chickens, turkeys, pork, lamb, and beef, all year round. If you want to eliminate pink slime, antibiotics and growth hormones, you don’t have to travel far to get fresh meat from the farms surrounding Columbia and Ellicott City.

CSAs! There are over a half dozen available. Many using local farms.

If you haven’t signed up to take the Buy Local Pledge, think about it. Even if you only transition a few things to being locally sourced, it is a step in the right direction.

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Look appetizing?

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The Buy Local Challenge

Posted on June 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

Coming up on 20-28 July. Maryland has a Buy Local Challenge the last full week of July every year. What do you have to do to participate?

It’s easy. Go to the web site and register. Pledge to eat one local item every day during the challenge. These days, eating locally is pretty simple.

Some ready made ideas. Like honey, coffee, biscotti, bread, milk, ice cream, eggs, cheeses, jams and jellies, tomatoes, fruit.

Some that require a little cooking, like corn, meat, squash, potatoes.

Yesterday, my lunch plate was full of locally grown ideas.

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The blueberries from Larriland. Arugula and salad mix from Love Dove Farms, bought at the farmer’s market. The onion in the tuna salad. The potatoes, scallions and chives in my potato salad. The goat cheese.

This year’s theme for the challenge is to Enjoy Local Foods Outdoors. Picnic items like potato salad, deviled eggs, cole slaw, sliced tomatoes and onions on burgers made with local beef.

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Bread and rolls from Stone House, or The Breadery, or Great Harvest, or Atwater’s. Bowls full of fresh berries with ice cream from Misty Meadows, bought at the Friday market.

Grilled corn on the cob, with fresh butter and spice.

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Caprese style salad, with goat cheese from Firefly Farms, or fresh mozzarella bought at Breezy Willow. They also have ice cream, fresh Trickling Springs butter, honey, yogurt that is awesome.

If you are a CSA member, it is really a snap to beat this challenge.

Or, check out the local farmstands, like Clark’s or Baugher’s or Breezy Willow.

Buy some mint. Put it in a pot. Make mojitos.

The possibilities are endless. How about peach pops made with fresh local peaches, local yogurt blended and frozen?

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Are you up for the challenge? Register now, and think about what you can do to support Maryland farms and businesses.

And, come to our picnic on the 28th at the Howard County Conservancy. More on that later this month.

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The Blue(berry) Plate Special

Posted on June 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

Lunch after Larriland, and berry picking.

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We had considered a visit to Town Grill in Lisbon, but it was packed. So, we came home and made a salad that screams summer. More on the recipe in tomorrow’s post, but first some pictures from a busy Saturday on the opening day of blueberry picking season.

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No matter where you looked there were cars and people. Families, couples, singles, we heard all sorts of languages, too. Lots of people picking blueberries and tart cherries. We did see cars over in the strawberry fields, for what ended up being the last day for strawberries.

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The black raspberries need a few more days to ripen. We will be heading out there Tuesday or Wednesday if we hear they are ready.

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These are the black raspberries, just below some of the blueberry fields. We picked almost 6 1/2 pounds of blueberries.

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My final tally was 21 cups of blueberries. Seventeen bags in the freezer. One I gave to my neighbor and three cups in the fridge to make fresh baked goodies and to use on salads and cereal.

I also went up to the barn and got some sweet corn, and some sweet cherries. My husband is devouring the cherries but I did get two bags of a cup each, pitted and halved, to freeze. The rest. Being eaten every chance we get.

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Is there a better way to get your fresh fruit, than picking it and eating it that same day? Can’t wait for blackberry season.

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From CSA to Markets to Farms

Posted on June 28, 2013 by AnnieRie

Where I shop these days. In the summer, the vast majority of my food purchases come from these three sources. The only reason I hit the grocery stores or Costco is for bulk pantry items.

Like the nuts and olive oil for pestos. I am in pesto making mode. With the basil from the CSA, and arugula from Love Dove Farm, and mustard greens and carrot tops from the CSA.

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I saved the carrot tops from both weeks of CSA, and the mustard greens from a week ago. Add some arugula and scallion tops, some garlic, slivered almonds from Costco and Pecorino Romano from Costco. I don’t measure this at all. The carrot tops and mustard greens were blanched, then rinsed, then squeezed dry. I got two one cup jars for the freezer.

Pesto is one of those forgiving recipes. Add or subtract. Substitute. Be creative. My second pesto came from the CSA basil, with almonds, pecorino, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. The simple recipe. Two or three cups of basil. 3/4 cup almonds, 3/4 cup of cheese, three garlic cloves, drizzle in the olive oil while processing. Get the consistency you want. Season with salt and pepper if you need to. Put it in air tight containers, cover in olive oil. Refrigerate or freeze.

Pesto in the winter is a wonderful thing.

Next venture today was fava bean and halloumi.

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On the right, the fava beans in their pods, after blanching. Take them out and they are still in their wrinkled shells. Shell them and use them in all sorts of ways. This is one of my favorites.

I did not take pictures. Mine don’t look as good as that. I buy my halloumi at Roots Market. Had mint from the CSA. I used peas I got from Love Dove. They were snap peas but I shelled them.

Tomorrow we are hitting Larriland for the first day of blueberry picking. There will be pounds of berries brought home, cleaned and frozen, with some left out to enjoy. I just used the last of what I picked in 2012.

In the summer, hit the markets, the farms, join a CSA and the only thing you buy at the store may be toilet paper. And, other non food items. Really. We have an amazing variety of fresh foods here in Howard County.

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Why I Like This CSA

Posted on June 27, 2013 by AnnieRie

Week Six. It’s the unusual veggies that make my day, when the email comes and things like this are in the list.

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Fava Beans. Something you rarely see around here. I have a great recipe for grilled halloumi with fava beans and mint. It will be part of dinner tomorrow night.

The Complete List:

1 pack microradishes – Eastbrook Produce
1 bag green beans – Healthy Harvest Organics
1 bag fava beans – Bellview Organics
1 bunch chioggia beets – Plum Hill Organics
1 bunch blue hyssop – Lancaster Farmacy (swapped)
1 bag white cucumbers – Liberty Branch Organics
1 bunch carrots – Red Fox Organics
1 bunch sweet basil – Noble Herbs
1 head broccoli – Organic Willow Acres
1 slicing cucumber – Valley View Organics
1 bunch red kale – Sunny Slope Organics
1 bunch fresh red onions – Windy Hollow Organics

The total package:

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I also love the white cucumbers. A treat we get once or twice a summer. And, those microradishes. And, that lovely bunch of very fragrant basil.

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I am tempted to try and make pickles with the white cucumbers, but they are so good and so crunchy that they won’t make it into the pickling crock. I still have a week or two for my planted pickling cukes to produce. Lots of greenery and yellow blossoms, just a few tiny cukes out there.

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Transitioning from spring veggies to summer ones, and anticipating those first tomatoes. Tomorrow I will be putting together a post about what I have been doing with the CSA veggies, and maybe have pictures of my first garlic harvest. I think the garlic is ready to be dug out of the ground.

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Adventures in Food

Posted on June 20, 2013 by AnnieRie

Micro Radishes. Something new in the CSA box.

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Things like these micro radishes are the reason we love belonging to a CSA. Little surprises, of items we never encountered, except maybe in fancy restaurants once or twice.

My husband really loves radishes, so these little gems are radish taste on steroids. Really spicy and peppery. Perfect scattered on top of a salad, or as a bed for tuna. Tonight on a salad.

What else did we get from Lancaster Farm Fresh, the Amish co-op that supplies our CSA.

2 yellow straightneck squash – Outback Farm
1 pack microradishes – Eastbrook Produce
1 bunch sweet onions – Sweetaire Farm
1 head broccoli – Twin Pines Organics
1 bunch mint – White Swan Acres
1 bunch red beets – Farmdale Organics
1 bunch orange carrots – Freedom Acres
1 bag mustard – Organic Willow Acres
1 head escarole – Windy Hollow Organics
1 bag baby lettuce mix – Elm Tree Organics
1 bunch English thyme – Noble Herbs
1 quart new red potatoes – Plum Hill Organics

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Yes, asparagus is not on the list, but a half share member was there putting it in the swap box when I got there. I grow English thyme, so mine went in the box for those lovely asparagus spears.

This week’s box is showing us that summer is coming, what with the yellow squash and those gorgeous onions.

I like getting twelve items, of reasonable quantity. The beets will go quickly, and the carrots and the broccoli. I need to find something creative to do with the baby mustard greens. And, escarole. Not my favorite, but I will find something in the recipe blogs to use it up.

Field Day is this weekend. Most of the greens will end up in a salad I will be taking up to the site for Sunday lunch.

CSAs are gaining in popularity in this area. Currently, Sandy Spring, Breezy Willow Farm, Love Dove Farm, Gorman Farm, One Straw Farm, Zahradka Farm all deliver to the county. Along with Friends and Farms.

Check them out and let me know of others in the area.

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Think Small

Posted on June 19, 2013 by AnnieRie

Small business, that is. This week is National Small Business Week. Established 50 years ago by President Kennedy. According to statistics (I believe they are from the SBA), 2 out of 3 jobs in the USA are in the small business sector.

As a locavore and locapour, most people know that I enthusiastically support small businesses. An article I just read today published by Forbes suggests things to do in your community to support your small businesses. I am going to piggyback on that list and generate my own.

For small business week, pick one of the following and resolve to do it.

1. Go to a local restaurant or bar, instead of a chain. Like the Rumor Mill, where Tom Coale announced his candidacy last night. A local restaurant owned and operated by local people.

2. Go to one of the Howard County Farmers Markets this week, or buy something from a local farm stand.

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3. If you are going to grill for 4th of July, buy your grilling meats from Treuth, Boarman’s, Clark’s, Mt. Airy Meat, Breezy Willow, TLV Tree Farm, or one of the other local farms, like Copper Penny in Hanover.

4. Buy or order something from a local business, like Crunch Daddy, Cosmic Bean, Pfefferkorn, Thai Spices, Bowling Green, Breadery, Great Harvest.

5. Support your local wine and beer suppliers, buying MD or VA wines or beers.

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6. Use your local hardware stores, like Clark’s, Kendall’s, or Burtonsville Ace.

Next month is the Buy Local Challenge, for MD. This week is a good warm up to participate in that 9 day long challenge. And, for that challenge, you can come out to the Conservancy with your local picnic and be eligible for prizes for the best picnic.

Details —

JUL 20-28- Buy Local Challenge- Join the Conservancy as we support local farmers and celebrate the Maryland”Buy Local” Challenge when local produce is booming at the end of July. Participate two ways –

First Way — Enter individually to join the statewide program, attempting to eat at least one local item every day during the challenge period of July 20-28 2013.

Register at http://www.buy-local-challenge.com/contest.html

This year’s challenge-theme is a “Take Local Outdoors” contest to win $200 by taking pictures of your outdoor meals and submitting them on the Buy Local Challenge page.

Second Way — Double your fun! Join the “Conservancy Team”, in a parallel event on the last afternoon of the challenge on Sunday, July 28th from 2-5 PM. Prepare your favorite LOCAL picnic foods for your own picnic, and enjoy them in the Conservancy’s picnic grove with many of our local farmers and producers. We will be giving 2 prizes: one for the best local picnic spread (meal and/or snacks), and the other for the best picnic dessert. Local farmers and producers are the judges. And, of course, if you want to come picnic with all of us without entering the state contest, just bring your best locally made dishes and join the party. Register for the date at www.hcconservancy.org.

Or, in other words, get out there and support your neighbors!

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