Category Archives: Winter Eat Local

Giving Thanks Again

Posted on November 28, 2014 by AnnieRie

Today. Instead of mindlessly spending money at crowded shopping centers. Like a number of my local counterparts, I completely avoid the downtown mall in Columbia and any of the megastores between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Tomorrow I will go out and get the beginnings of our Christmas decorations, namely the garland and the poinsettias. From our local farms. I may head up to Breezy Willow to get some presents, but with the Howard County Conservancy holiday natural crafts fair next Saturday, the 6th, I may just do all my shopping there. Making my presents to friends and family completely locally sourced.

Today, though, we had our private Thanksgiving. Where we gave thanks for continued good health. For 35 years of Thanksgivings together. For friends who we will be seeing over the next few weeks at holiday parties. And family who will get together again for Christmas eve.

Yesterday we went to a family dinner, like we have done for most of these 35 years. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I made my first turkey as we were always in PA for Thanksgiving.

Now, we stay home. With no close relatives left on my husband’s side of the family, we no longer deal with the congested, sometimes icy and snowy trip up I-81. Watching the weather Tuesday night into Wednesday, I could understand the thoughts and actions of those trying to get home in bad weather.

Still, my MIL did the turkey in PA. My brother does the turkey here in MD. I never cooked a whole turkey in my life until 2006. Our second Thanksgiving after moving here. Our first without a trip to PA. We do Thanksgiving on Friday for us. Just a small “hen” from Boarman’s. This year was 12 pounds.

This year I “did good” on the brining and the browning. Not so good on the gravy.

Even though I washed off the brine before baking the bird, the pan drippings were too salty to make gravy. Happily, the turkey was moist enough not to need gravy and the stuffing was moist as well. We did a simple meal. Turkey. Stuffing baked on its own. Brussels sprouts. Dinner roll. And, I forgot to bring out my homemade cranberry relish.

Served with a light pinot noir. Leftover pumpkin roll for dessert. As for that cranberry relish. It will get used with all the leftover turkey.

I have a whole container full of breast meat to make meals. I also have the carcass and the innards in the crockpot making stock.

Turkey soup next week on the menu definitely. Here’s to the holidays! Full of friends and family, and great local food.

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Posted in Family, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Remember When, Weather, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, family, farms, Food, foodie, holidays, local businesses, Locavore, real food, traditions, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The CSA and Market Official End to Summer

Posted on November 7, 2014 by AnnieRie

The markets are ending all over the county. A few have a week or so to go. Tomorrow is the last Ellicott City market. As for our CSA, yesterday we picked up our last summer share. There were 44 of us at our host’s site. Fall veggies were the norm in our boxes, but it still was considered the summer CSA.

It was greens heavy, as usual for this time of year. This was also the second week we got celeriac aka celery root.

This week it included the leaves. Looking them up online I see they are in fact edible. There was an interesting discussion at the pick up site about how we get our veggies. If it is in the box, it is edible. We get carrot tops, beet greens, kohlrabi leaves, all sorts of things not found in our local grocery stores.

What did I do with that celeriac? Sliced it and froze it. Same with the leaves. It will be used in stocks all winter.

As for the rest of the box, there was romaine, red cabbage, broccoli, spinach, bok choy and sweet peppers. There was also kale but since I grow it in my garden, I did a swap to get beautiful arugula. I had used the last of my home grown arugula in a pesto, so this fresh large stuff in being used with goat cheese for salads.

Next Thursday 28 of us will get our first fall CSA box. Then, the following week two more people join us. Fall CSAs aren’t as popular as summer. People seem to think all we get are potatoes and turnips.

Still, we are happy. We met the minimum to continue a Columbia pick up site. I look forward to celery and Jerusalem artichokes. To exotic pumpkins and maybe salsify.

Who knows what surprises will come every Thursday?

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Posted in CSA, Dark Days, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Winter Eat Local and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

One Pot Wonders

Posted on November 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

It’s that time of year. When thoughts turn to soups, stews and one pot comfort foods.

Fairly easy to accommodate with a little advance planning. How about revved up pork and beans.

Or maybe chicken chili.

And, from leftovers, a Sunday luncheon of stuffed peppers.

All because of this in the pantry.

A few cans of beans, all sorts of flavors, can make meal planning and execution easy.

The pork and beans. Compliments of those beans, the pork butt from Friends and Farms. All those green peppers which I steamed in the oven last Friday. A little onion, and a little of the butternut squash, also baked while the peppers were steaming.

The leftovers from that dish were spooned into a couple of nice looking peppers and heated up Sunday for a late luncheon.

As for that chicken chili, this was the inspiration.

That pound of additive free ground chicken from our CSA delivery. Browned, than added some crushed tomatoes, some peppers and onions from the freezer, a can of beans, some spice (I used cumin, cinnamon, salt, guajillo chili powder, cilantro and garlic powder). Left to simmer for an hour on the stove.

With the CSA deliveries, the well stocked pantry and freezer, I can heat up meals by dumping ingredients and “kicking it up” with spice.

Perfect meals now that the weather is blustery.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Test Drives

Posted on October 19, 2014 by AnnieRie

Fall. Winter. Spring. The seasons where there aren’t as many options to get local, regional, seasonal, fresh foods. The farmer’s markets, one by one, shut down in early November.

There are options out there, though. Here in Howard County, there are year round choices. Like Friends and Farms, who uses Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) foods from a New York farm to supplement those winter root veggies, and who contracts for citrus from the Southeast.

Foods like these. Or their tomato puree. I started with Friends and Farms in January last year. Bought a four week subscription, a small basket. Now I am buying a 13 week subscription and using an individual basket to supplement my garden and my CSA.

My CSA, Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, has a seven week fall extension. The individual share is only $20 a week, for fresh organic vegetables.

Like these from last week.

Fennel, radishes, leeks, cauliflower (white and green, the green was in the swap box), romaine, green beans, sweet peppers and red beets. Seriously. Nine organic vegetables averaging $2.20 each. You can’t come close to this pricing in any natural food store.

Other options around here. Some we tried and liked. Some we haven’t. Love Dove Farms offers an eight week fall CSA. Breezy Willow, a spring option from March until May. Zahradka Farm, delivers a winter option to your doorstep from January through April.

If you ever considered one of these for the winter, check out the links on my Local Resources page.

Or, keep your local food sources alive by hitting the weekend farm stands, or the weekend markets that are year round. The Howard County farmer’s markets may be closing soon for the season, but you still can find small farms and businesses to supply you with the best vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy.

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged CSA, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Peaches and Peppers

Posted on September 1, 2014 by AnnieRie

And other things being done in the kitchen.

I’ve literally been overwhelmed with peaches this year.

There’s a few reasons for it. Besides getting peaches most weeks in the CSA, I was managing the site for a month while the site host was on vacation. Add to that, it was August. Lots of members didn’t show up. I ended up with the host’s peaches a few weeks, and a few leftover fruit shares. One week, we had six watermelons left. Food bank got most of it, but the peaches. Became a gateway to preservation.

I made peach syrup. I vacuum sealed a few bags. I have just enough left to make jelly, using the peaches and the jalapenos from my garden. We ate copious amounts of juicy fresh peaches for lunch. And breakfast.

As for the peppers.

The last week I hosted, I had my sweet pepper item, plus some from the swap box, and a share I picked up for a vacationing member. Yesterday, I blanched, sliced and froze four bags of peppers. This winter there will be lovely bright peppers on chicken, or fish, or pasta.

The beauty of having a CSA share is that ability to preserve and freeze the extras. In the dead of winter, those ingredients will liven my dinners. Grab a bag of peppers. Some tomato sauce. Some caramelized onions, maybe. Some pesto. Mix and match.

Those bright red Amish paste tomatoes in the picture above became tomato sauce. A quart of it. The slicing tomatoes met the same fate. Two pint jars. The freezer is almost full. Winter won’t be dull and dreary around here.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Two Stop Shopping

Posted on March 27, 2014 by AnnieRie

As I blogged yesterday, I did the weekly pick up down on Gerwig Lane for this week’s Friends and Farms basket, then I headed over to Wegmans to get those K cups, olive oil, and a few other small items.

Of course, I never get out of there without at least two bags of stuff.

Like the fixings to make a Greek salad, since we got cucumbers this week in our basket.

I have learned to put extra items on my list by signing in on Sunday night and choosing what I know we will use. This week I added extra Asian pears, cucumbers and Bibb lettuce.

Our meats this week included turkey sausage, pork butt and chicken breasts. It was an egg week, and for me, the substitute yogurt for the eggs, and the eggs for the weekly milk, rounded out my protein and dairy.

I won’t need to purchase anything else to make dinners and lunches next week.

The pork, with the sauerkraut, and the pears will make a great dinner.

We also got frozen strawberries. Right now, I am enjoying refreshing drinks made of strawberries and seltzer.

I picked one of my favorite Breadery breads. Kalamata olive and rosemary.

We also had spring mix, sweet potatoes, onions, and broccoli crowns.

Dinner tonight was inspired by those cucumbers, and the mix of lettuces.

At Wegmans, I hit the olive bar and also picked up some Campari tomatoes. I had the last of the Bowling Green Feta in the fridge, so Greek salad got made.

The tuna. Pan seared with sesame seeds and sea salt. The last pieces of the tuna we bought last month. The fingerlings. A splurge at Wegmans. Since all I have in the house are the sweet potatoes from today’s basket. Half the plate. The Greek salad. A piece of that lovely olive bread.

A glass of pinot noir. What could be better for dinner?

#hocofood

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Posted in Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, CSA, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, wegman's. Bookmark the permalink.

Old Favorite, New Ingredient

Posted on March 24, 2014 by AnnieRie

Frittata. With smoked scallops.

Heading out to Roots today for cereal and coconut oil. Seeing smoked scallops.

I knew I wanted to elevate our frittata recipe to another level.

We had Swiss chard from our weekly Friends and Farms basket. Oven roasted tomatoes. Scallions. Parmesan.

Cooking all that goodness on the stove and finishing it in the oven.

This was five eggs mixed with milk and Herbs de Provence. Poured in the pan before adding back sautéed scallions, chard and oven roasted tomatoes.

Finished in a 350 degree oven. In an oven proof skillet.

Really. What could be a better local meal?

#hocofood

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Posted in Food, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Beef or Wine?

Posted on March 23, 2014 by AnnieRie

Trying to decide what was the star of tonight’s “mostly local” dinner. The fall apart tri-tip, or the fifteen year old VA wine.

I think it was the wine.

That’s not to say the beef was underwhelming, because it certainly was a highlight of the meal. Slow cooked in the oven. With sliced onions and green peppers.

I was going to do tacos, but we were in the midst of spring clean up and I needed a meal to cook all by its lonesome in the oven while we worked with the landscapers to get things all ready for springtime.

Nice to be all mulched, weeded and swept up. In case spring every arrives here in Maryland.

I cooked the beef in a covered dish on a low (190 degree) setting in the oven. With a splash of red wine. A glug of olive oil. Peppers, onions, garlic. The peppers and onions and beef in baskets from Friends and Farms.

Late this afternoon I emptied a can of black beans into a small amount of beef broth, with about 4 ounces of corn (IQF, from Friends and Farms). Made a black bean and corn side dish. Microwaved a couple of potatoes.

Piled it all on a plate and served it with the local wine.

Yes, this wine is fifteen years old. Yes, this wine is from Virginia. You wouldn’t know it though, if you tasted it blind. The equivalent in taste and nose, to a fine Bordeaux. Cherries all over the nose and the taste. No sense of age. No mustiness. Absolutely beautiful. Glad I have a couple more of these down there somewhere.

Jeff left Linden to head out on his own, years ago. Many of us love his wines at Glen Manor. Can’t beat something this special.

Who needs to go out and eat “meh” food at chain restaurants. Give me good food and good wines from around here and bring on springtime!

#hocofood

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Posted in Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Weather, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Grillin’ Tuna

Posted on March 22, 2014 by AnnieRie

Hooray, springtime arrived for a day! It will probably be gone tomorrow but you know we should celebrate when we can.

My grilling choice was influenced by a post on a new local blog. The picture of the ahi reminded me we had lovely tuna steaks in the freezer, after a buying spree from Friends and Farms last month.

We chose some extra tuna and put it away anticipating a lovely day like today.

Turns out this was a really local feast. The tuna, green beans, green pepper, and sweet potato all came from F and F baskets.

Add to that one awesome 2001 Elk Run Cabernet. That’s right. 2001.

Who would have known that Maryland Cabernet could be soft, subtle and compliment the tuna so perfectly.

Grilling was a real joy today.

Simple tuna. Brushed with Italian vinaigrette.

Veggie packet.

Green beans from the IQF packet. Scallions. Green pepper. Sun dried tomato and garlic from the olive bar at Harris Teeter (seriously, get a container of stuff from them and use it everywhere). Italian vinaigrette for the marinade.

Spring may only be a day long around here, but tonight. Dinner was regional sourced, and excellent.

#hocofood

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Posted in Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, grilling, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, real food, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

It’s Taco Time!

Posted on March 20, 2014 by AnnieRie

Well, it will be this weekend. I have to make the corn tortillas for that to happen. Otherwise, we got all the fixings in this week’s basket from Friends and Farms.

Cilantro. Check.
Tomatoes. Check.
Jalapenos. Check.
Tri Tip Steak. Check.
Onions. Check.
Cheese to shred. Check.

All I need is some lettuce and maybe some sour cream or guacamole. I also was thinking of some corn and black bean salsa, using that frozen corn.

Tonight though we made the fresh mahi mahi.

I was going to grill, but it was too windy. I ended up baking the fish in a white wine and lemon olive oil sauce, with pepper. Baked a couple of potatoes. Mixed some corn with scallions and Rotel tomatoes with lime and cilantro. Added a bit of fresh cilantro.

Nice dinner.

We also got the usual, honey whole wheat bread and eggs. As for fruit and veggies, there were radishes, Swiss chard, green peppers and apples.

Meal planning made easy. There will be a frittata, too.

Not missing the grocery stores at all. I even picked up a container of unsalted butter to bake breakfast goodies next week for the community garden kick off meeting.

#hocofood

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Posted in Food, Friends and Farms, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.