Category Archives: SSFC

Tomato Theme Week in the Eat Local Challenge

Posted on August 13, 2012 by AnnieRie

Ten of us posting together on a weekly Eat Local Challenge SSFC decided we wanted theme weeks once a month. Today we are reporting on how we are doing with tomatoes.

I earlier wrote a post on making pineapple tomato salsa and roasted garden peach tomatoes using my CSA tomatoes and my garden heirlooms.

Also this week the following tomato related cooking was happening in my kitchen, making a large mess and keeping the dishwasher active. I had all my little tomatoes that didn’t win anything at the fair I brought home yesterday. I roasted them with salt, pepper, olive oil, sugar, onions and peppers. They ended up here. Crock pot in February sounds like a good place to use them.

Oven roasted tomatoes ready for the freezer

The pineapple tomatoes that didn’t end up in salsa were slow roasted the other day with sweet onions and put deep in the freezer to become a lovely sauce for pasta in the dead of winter.

Oven roasted pineapple tomatoes and onions

As for the six pounds of roma and red tomatoes the CSA gave me Thursday, they were blanched, seeded and packed away with herbs and garlic, again to be used this winter. The cherry tomatoes just kept getting eaten on salads at lunch, or dipped in salt right out of the container sitting on the counter. They were wonderful treats. Nothing like ripe cherry tomatoes to make me happy in August.

CSA tomatoes

For those not in a CSA, or without room to grow tomatoes, there is always Larriland Farms to pick your own. Tomatoes are in the fields right now, and for an extra bonus, in the herb gardens the basil is ready. The weather this year has made basil plants really happy, and tomato with basil is such a great pairing. Head out to Larriland if you want to freeze up some summer to enjoy when it is cold outside.

If you want to see how some of the SSFC participants used tomatoes this week, check out The Soffrito, another local hoco resident who is in this challenge with me.

And our ringleader, Emily, in Texas put her post up showing how she used tomatoes from last year since the heat in Texas has already dried up this year’s crop. Hope global warming doesn’t take away our long tomato season here. I love having tomatoes from July through October. Indeterminate varieties have always done well here, but this year the heat is affecting many of my plants by stressing them to the point they stop producing.

Anyone else having a cooking feast using up tomatoes from the garden or their CSA?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, SSFC and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Recipes, and Why I am Bad at Them

Posted on August 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

Many times for my SSFC posts I have posted pictures of dinners made to use local foods for the food challenge. Since our current challenge to use local foods for one meal is heading into the season of tons of squashes, I have been trying to find ways to use them creatively.

Last week I made two dinners using almost completely local items, with a few additions. One was my eggplant parm, and another a baked chicken dinner.

Eggplant Parm

Baked chicken thighs with Amish egg noodles and roasted veggies

If I needed to document what exactly went into these two dinners, I would be in deep trouble, because when I cook, I don’t measure. When I bake, yes, when I cook, it is just whatever seems to look and taste good, and whatever I have around the kitchen.

These dinners were from Monday and Wednesday last week, mainly using up CSA items before I got my Thursday pick up. The eggplant Parmesan recipe started out from a web search that went into a half dozen places, including Martha Stewart. I think I used parts of hers but improvised because I had no mozzarella in the house.

The eggplants were a mix of Italian and Japanese. Sliced, salted and allowed to drain out moisture. The sauce was made by mixing all my overripe tomatoes with half a jar of Wegmans organic sauce and a squeeze of tomato paste from the tube in my fridge. See what I mean about measuring? I have no idea how much went into that base.

I didn’t have mozzarella so I mixed grated domestic parmesan from Roots with all the Firefly Farm chevre I had left in the fridge and the last of the Bowling Green Feta, grated. Added a little milk to make it creamier.

Dredged the eggplant in beaten egg, Panko bread crumbs and Parm, added a little salt and lots of pepper.

Coated the bottom of the baking dish (a small deep dish) with olive oil, added sauce, eggplant, cheese, sauce, eggplant, cheese, sauce and topped with the last of the Parm. Baked it for over two hours on a slow cook setting on my oven until it was dinner time.

As for the chicken thighs, same sort of thing. Put olive oil, tomatoes, onions, peppers and chicken in a casserole, Covered the chicken in herbs, salt and pepper. Put it all in the oven on slow cook setting for three hours while doing chores around the house.

Served it with Amish egg noodles. The noodles were homemade by a vendor that sells at the Briggs Chaney farmers market. The chicken came from them also. The egg noodles were quickly boiled at the last minute.

Accompanied this SSFC meal with a local wine. We belong to a cellar club at Breaux. This wine is wonderful with chicken and with seafood. I love the blend.

Breaux Wine served with Chicken

Getting back to recipes. We got a huge eggplant this week. Along with lots of lovely tomatoes, garlic, white peppers. This week’s eggplant dish may actually be a stacked version using the tomatoes and mozzarella I bought at Roots.

Veggies inspiring a variation on Eggplant Parm

Who knows what I will cook next? And, if I will remember what I did put in it? That’s the fun of being in a CSA, getting creative with What’s in the Box.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally Recap

Posted on July 30, 2012 by AnnieRie

A week and two days. Dedicated to eating at least one item a day from MD farms. We did it. It is easy with the goodness from Howard County Farmers Markets, and from a few local farms like England Acres, and from the case at Atwater’s Bakery in Catonsville.

Some of the items I used:

Corn, from England Acres and from TLV Farm, bought at the market

Chevre, from Firefly Farms

Eggs, from TLV and England Acres

Add to that watermelon, cantaloupe, spring mix, feta, smoked cheddar, ground lamb, ground beef patties, onions, and such a variety available here in MD.

Good meals like this one, from Saturday night. Breezy Willow spring mix and Firefly Farms chevre with my tomatoes and basil. Yes, the sockeye came from Alaska, not a local fish, but a great dinner.

Buy Local Week may be over, but the markets are still here. If you want to see great foods available for you in the future, it always helps to buy from our local farmers.

This weekend is the start of the Howard County Fair. There will be local produce and local cheese at the Fair. Support your local farmers and buy from them, if not at the fair, at the county markets.

See you at the Fair. We will be there at least four of the days. A season pass is a bargain if you want to enjoy all the entertainment and just absorb the atmosphere.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, West HoCo and tagged community, cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, tomatoes, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Three More Days into Buying Locally

Posted on July 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

The nine days will be finished tomorrow. The other two posts for how I started have shown it is simple to find good food from around the Howard County area, by shopping at farm stands and the markets.

Here is the update for Wednesday through Friday. Does farming include crabs?

We did get a few to have as an appetizer Friday night. This is with local lamb from England Acres, served with chocolate stripes tomatoes from my garden coated with a gooey smoked cheddar from Eve’s Cheese.

And yes, I did char the lamb while searing it, but the inside remained a lovely pink. That was dinner Friday night, after the crab appetizer.

Thursday we grazed on homemade salads. Cucumber salad from the garden, with onions from Butler’s Orchard. Ratatouille also included one of their candy onions. The watermelon is from Catonsville market, and feta from Bowling Green Farms.

The colorful potato salad included CSA potatoes and green beans, and was finished with hard boiled eggs from TLV Farms.

In my CSA post prior to this one I talked of making gazpacho on Wednesday which showed up for dinner that night, along with the other two burgers from England Acres farm, and corn from their farm.

Three days. Three dinners. Lots of local foods. Here it is Saturday night and there will be local salad and maybe a dessert if I get the peaches done. The peaches were bought this morning from Lewis Orchards at the Glenwood market, along with some just picked spring mix from Breezy Willow. Both will serve in some way in dinner tonight.

It is one of the pleasures of living here. Hitting the market to see what looks good, and bringing it home to have for dinner the same day.

hocofood@@@

Taking the Buy Local Pledge

Posted on July 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

Maryland has been promoting the Buy Local Challenge for five years now. The Governor hosted the Kick Off picnic, last week.

It is easier these days to participate in the challenge. What with all the farmer’s markets in the area, the farm stands, the local CSAs, and stores stocking MD farmer’s items, you can find enough local items to complete the challenge. One item a day for nine days from a local source. July 21st through the 29th.

The challenge is promoting Maryland farms, and you will find VA, WV and PA farms at our markets, so do they count or not? For my purposes if they are participating in our markets, and are close enough for them to drive here and sell, I am not going to be that parochial about it. But technically, this challenge is promoting Maryland agriculture so I will try to identify the sources for what I choose.

My sources will be on my Local Resource page, updated as I find more local sources.

Saturday Dinner: The corn is from England Acres near Mt. Airy. The cippolini onions are from Butler’s in Germantown, MD. The lima beans were bought at Jenny’s Market but I don’t know their source. The filets were bought at Boarman’s in Highland, not local beef but a local butcher.

Sunday Dinner: Included tomatoes from my garden, and tzatziki made with my cucumbers. Why is this local? The plants and plugs were bought at Sharp’s Farm in Howard County MD, in April, and planted in my garden. I buy my plants from her farm in order to support her business as a wholesale source of vegetable and flower plants.

The chicken again is from Boarman’s. The zucchini from my CSA, which is sourced from PA farms. The scallions in the fritters are from Love Dove Farms, bought at the Howard County farmer’s market. They are local.

It isn’t that hard to eat locally sourced foods here in Howard County in the summer. If you haven’t signed up to do the challenge, you can still try and eat locally, even if it is just going to the restaurants and ordering from their Farm2Table menu.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, SSFC and tagged buy local challenge, cooking, farmer's markets, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally: The Fruits of the Vines

Posted on July 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

This week is a fruit themed week in the challenge ten of us are taking to cook seasonally and locally all summer and fall. For me, fruit has to include grapes. At least, the liquid, fermented version of grapes.

Hardscrabble Chardonnay grapes

My Challenge Page with all the SSFC links. We have been blogging since the beginning of June about our experiences with cooking locally. This past week, it was warm and muggy and the summer fruits have been coming into many markets.

Last night after going to Linden to visit, we decided to make a simple fruit related dinner. Fruit salad with watermelon, cantaloupe and tart cherries was the main component. On the side, olive bread with herb butter. The herb butter would also be used on the fresh corn on the cob. A light wine from Glen Manor.

My tomatoes. After all, tomatoes are also a fruit. This plate included orange blossom, red fig, yellow plum, sweet olive and green grape tomatoes, all from my garden. Served with homemade tzatziki using cucumbers and mint from the garden. The yogurt was organic Greek, my free container from the last visit to Wegmans. With South Mountain not at Glenwood Market, I have lost my local source for dairy.

Heirloom tomatoes

Sometimes the simplest freshest meals are the best. Summer fruit and vegetables need little more than salt, pepper, fresh herbs and maybe a drizzle of oil.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, heirloom tomatoes, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally: Ratatouille

Posted on July 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

A go to veggie side when we drown in zucchini and eggplant. We don’t have eggplant yet but lots of zucchini and a few yellow squash Thursday in the CSA box.

I wandered into Wegmans after having the pickup serviced over at British American, to get some organic tomatoes and two small eggplant, to use with the squash, a yellow pepper from the farm stand, onions from the CSA and my basil pesto. All mixed up in a pan, roasted, and served with local beef sausage, the last of the deliveries from Zahradka in April.

The beef sausage is a good fit with the ratatouille. We also opened one of the Glen Manor 2010 Cabernet Francs that was left up in the dining room wine rack. A good match because the wine wasn’t overwhelmed, nor did it upstage the ratatouille. A simple rustic dinner.

This week’s contribution to our Southern Sole Food Challenge, using sustainable, organic, local and ethically grown or raised veggies and meats. The ten members of the challenge use Google Reader to keep track of what we are making using our local bounties, all of us living south of the Mason Dixon Line.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally: Even With All the Craziness

Posted on July 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, the craziness. Loss of power. A Weekend trying to stay cool. Did we do it? Yes, mostly.

Tonight we grilled. Since the downstairs AC is down, we didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. I went to Jenny’s market this morning, and found them moved up the road since their tents were ruined with trees falling Friday night. They are still upbeat and have lots of good things to eat.

I had a pound of Black Angus beef taken out Friday to grill Saturday for friends. That didn’t happen after the storm, so we used it tonight.

The beef was formed around some Wegmans pepper jack cheese, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The beef is local, from this winter’s CSA. The cheese isn’t.

Tomatoes from southern MD. Onions local, too. Corn probably from VA. Not our good sweet corn, but not bad.

Salad made from CSA beets, greens and a pear from Harbin Farms farm stand. Beer and wine both local. He wanted beer. I wanted wine.

I added one of my frozen strawberry purees to my wine glass, making a sangria.

Honestly, what is better than a low carb meal, no bun, with fresh onions, tomatoes and cheese stuffed burgers?

Oh, I forgot. Grilled corn with seasoned butter.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, SSFC, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Locavore, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally, the Whole Weekend

Posted on June 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

Without going to Wegmans. 🙂

Seems like all anyone is talking about is Wegmans. Don’t get me wrong. I love going there for specialty items but camping out? Really? Seems like from the comments I will be OK if I go looking for that Marvesta shrimp and stay away from the food court.

My challenge to cook locally continues and most of this weekend included local meals. Check out what the others are doing on our Google Reader page.

Friday night we went to Black Ankle. Most of what I took to eat was locally produced.

Saturday I grilled all sorts of local goodies.

The petit filets and tomatoes were from Boarman’s. Yellow zucchini, asparagus and radishes from Glenwood market. Potatoes, lettuce and onions from CSA. Green beans and herbs from my garden. The tomatoes were not local, but they were so good after oven roasting them.

Today was a fun day. Lots to do around the house. No time to camp out to go to a grocery store. Can you tell I wonder why people would camp out to go to a grocery store? Really. The only thing I ever camped out for was Jimmy Buffett tickets.

Getting ready for ARRL amateur radio field day. More on this later in the week. But, we spent hours checking hardware for the towers.

Dinner was in the crock pot. Lots of greens this week in the CSA, so I made a variation of a Tuscan bean soup. A pound of kale. Chicken broth from my freezer. Italian sausage from South Mountain. The butter beans were not local, but they were organic from Roots. Spring garlic from my garden.

So were the herbs.

A sweet onion from the CSA, salt and pepper. A really good meal.

Dinner tonight was served with a 2004 Linden Cabernet Franc. Love their francs. None of the bell pepper acidity of other Virginia francs.

Last night an old Pearmund complemented the filets. Hanging in there barely but still a good wine. 2002 was not a big year in Virginia. This Ameritage was starting to fade just a bit. Still, with the big steak flavors, it did OK.

Friday night of course was Black Ankle night. Lots of local MD wine to drink.

I think I went an entire weekend eating mostly locally produced foods. Haven’t been to a grocery store all month. You can eat amazing meals using markets, CSAs and a local butcher like Boarman’s.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine and tagged crock pot cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Week Two: Eat Local SSFC Challenge Veggie Meal

Posted on June 10, 2012 by AnnieRie

So, this week the ten of us decided to try vegetarian meals. I did two or three last week, but had all this lovely turkey around this week to use for dinners.

I decided to do a veggie meal at a local winery for a picnic.

We have been drinking Pearmund wines since they opened. Chris makes an amazing buttery intense Chardonnay here at the winery. I wanted to bring food that would complement the Chardonnay and be light enough to eat mid day in the warm Virginia weather.

We found a lovely spot to picnic.

I brought a couple of Bowling Green cheeses, and a loaf of lemon rosemary bread from The Breadery.

Off in the bag are hard boiled TLV Farm eggs, and radishes from Breezy Willow, both bought yesterday. I had seasoned salt for dipping.

Add to that, the last of the mushroom pate made with CSA mushrooms and the end of the black walnuts from Baugher’s (I had frozen some of them when I got them last winter). A vegan pate. No cream or cheese, but an interesting, very good version of a pate.

Finally, I made potato and green bean salad, with CSA potatoes and green beans from Zahradka, bought at the Glenwood market. The tzatziki is not local. Give me one more week and some local yogurt. My cukes are almost ready to harvest. This salad is simple. Boil the potatoes. Steam the beans. Put tzatziki on top. Mix it all up before serving.

After dining, we walked around and checked out the grapes on the 36 year old vines that were there when Pearmund purchased the property. Old vines. Lovely wines. A veggie brunch. Locally sourced for almost every element. Fresh seasonal goodies to enjoy with a great wine.