Category Archives: Winter Eat Local

A Super(bowl) Basket

Posted on January 30, 2014 by AnnieRie

This week’s Friends and Farms small basket.

A nicely sized assortment of protein, dairy, produce and fruit. But, my favorite part of it was the inclusion of “big game day” items.

Like the chicken wings, and the ground beef (to make sliders perhaps?).

This week, besides those, we had a pound of Salvadoran style chorizo and eggs, as our breakfast items. I already made the chorizo in tonight’s dinner.

I choose yogurt instead of milk. This week we got peach flavored. And, frozen strawberries. I am thinking about making strawberry peach pops to have for dessert while watching the game Sunday.

We were supposed to get romaine this week, but had a substitution. A large head of Bibb lettuce.

It is happily resting in water in the fridge. Some of it, along with a few of the pea shoots, and the grape tomatoes became tonight’s salad.

The dressing on that salad was made with some maple yogurt dressing using that yogurt from last week’s delivery.

My super bowl menu. Buffalo style wings. Sweet potato fries. Sourdough crostini with various toppings. Strawberry peach pops.

Dinner tonight. Besides that salad above.

Chorizo. Baked on top of kale, apple, and crouton “stuffing”. Served with a sweet potato. Most of which came in this week’s and last week’s baskets.

Who needs grocery stores?

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Loving the Basket

Posted on January 23, 2014 by AnnieRie

Of Friends and Farms goodies. Here, in the dead of winter, it is nice to pick up some fresh veggies, like kale and onions.

Besides these fresh veggies, we had apples and carrots in the bags at the pick up point.

The carrots and those onions will be great in a slow cooker pot roast. We had a chuck roast this week, and some “processed” items.

The tomato puree, with the chuck roast, carrots and onions will form the basis for a pot roast.

We got a piece of sharp cheddar cheese today. Matched with apples, a good snack or dessert.

I chose Maple yogurt this week. We also had cod in the bag, which became part of dinner tonight.

What am I missing? Oh yes, Breadery bread.

This week I chose Montana white bread. To use for toast, and for a couple of recipes that need bread.

While I was there, I picked up a dozen eggs, and a half gallon of apple cider. It is nice to have extra items available to augment your basket.

Can’t complain at all. This is a great deal for getting fresh and flash frozen items to make it through the winter.

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Meal Planning

Posted on January 20, 2014 by AnnieRie

Something I vow to do. But, it doesn’t always get done.

This week, though, we have quite a full calendar. Lots of people coming, for work estimates, including those to clean up from the burst pipe.

My better half has two amateur radio dinners, so I need food for my dinners at home.

A fellow blogger, part of my group that did an Eat Local challenge, had a post today that reminded me about the importance of planning ahead and using items in their prime.

Slow cooker recipes are always my favorite. Like my venison chili.

Using my freezer items. The last of the ground venison. My roasted peppers aka the chili starter. Larriland tomatoes, that were blanched and frozen whole.

Half the turtle beans from the Friends and Farms basket. They were soaked overnight. Drained, rinsed and cooked until almost done (making sure to boil them for ten minutes before simmering for two hours). Also adding that tablespoon of baking soda, recommended for those of us with hard water.

The other half of the beans were simmered on the stove, with half the basmati rice I made the other day in my Christmas present. My rice cooker. The half of the beef sausage not used in the frittata.

I now have three more meals from the chili I made. A meal from the black beans and rice with sausage. And, leftover lasagna. Most of those leftovers were flash frozen in order to keep them fresh. I bring them out early in the morning into the fridge. Put them in the oven on the slow cook setting, while we handle all our daily things.

Dinner is ready and waiting without time spent on our busy weekdays.

I have to say, my favorite items around here are: the crock pot, the rice cooker, and the chest freezer. It makes it easier to cook in advance, when I have spare time. During those hectic days, I have the equivalent of “TV dinners” in the freezer, that are simple to pop in the oven.

The other thing I did Saturday was cook all the potatoes, and half the eggs, for salads.

I wasn’t always this organized when I first joined a CSA in 2010. We gave away quite a few items, and some rotted before use. It has taken three years to get to this state. Where I can efficiently use CSA items and make use of those frozen goodies.

This week, though, I need to find something more interesting to do with those lovely portobellos still in the fridge. They are really nice looking, and I am thinking about stuffing them. Or maybe a mushroom lasagna. I still have some Secolari noodles in the pantry.

Even when I plan, I get that urge to be creative. Great ingredients from our local sources make that easy, too.

hocofood@@@

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

The Sausage Inspired Frittata

Posted on January 18, 2014 by AnnieRie

The beef sausage just screamed, make something with eggs and sausage.

The Friends and Farms basket contained eggs, potatoes and sausage. All great ingredients to make a frittata (or a Spanish tortilla). The difference, flipping in a pan or finishing in an oven. I chose to finish in the oven.

My cast iron skillet has a cover that doubles as a shallow frying pan.

This morning I slow cooked the sausage in the oven. All of it. Half went into tonight’s dinner. The other half will be used in another dish. I also parboiled the potatoes we got. Peeled and sliced.

Some became potato salad. One went into this dish. Along with some chard from Harris Teeter and a few scallions.

The sausage, scallions and chard were all cooked first. Then I added five eggs that had been whisked with a splash of milk, salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence.

Cooked on the stove top until the bottom set, then finished in a 350 degree oven, sprinkled with Parmesan, cut and served with a salad.

The bibb lettuce from F&F also.

A simple Saturday night dinner, served with a Virginia wine.

Early Mountain does make one very flavorful Pinot Gris. It went well with the frittata.

A very good beginning to cooking with our new source for food. Thanks, Friends and Farms. Today, a frittata. Tomorrow, venison black bean chili.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Friends and Farms, Intro

Posted on January 16, 2014 by AnnieRie

My first “basket” from the local company bringing regional, seasonal foods to the area.

Friends and Farms.

Yes, I know. I was supposed to be in a winter CSA. They canceled due to lack of a minimum. It gave me an opportunity to try out Friends and Farms.

I have talked to them a few times. We shared exhibit space (I was volunteering for the Conservancy) at the Wellness Fair last summer. I wasn’t sure I wanted a meat, dairy, produce, fruit and fish supplier. But, they have great options. Like sample baskets. And, four week or thirteen week subscriptions. Individual, Small, Large, and Vegetarian options.

Flexibility to substitute. So, I signed up for a small basket, for four weeks. After my first pick up today, I will be using them until CSA season starts.

I really am impressed with what we get, and their use of regional suppliers from small farms, fish suppliers, butchers, bakers (I wonder if they have candle stick makers). Seriously, some familiar suppliers and some new finds.

I like having a few weeks advance planning calendar. Makes meal planning easier.

Enough words. What did we get? A small basket will supply 2 people for 2 or 3 meals daily.

First, the meat element.

Wayne Nell and Sons supplies much of their meats. We got chicken breasts, country style boneless pork ribs and beef sausage. You can opt out of pork if you wish.

Every other week you get a breakfast style meat with eggs. The opposite week it looks to be seafood and something else, like a cheese choice.

We don’t drink (well I don’t) milk, so we opted for the Pequea Valley yogurt option. This week we got Black Cherry. I could have substituted a different flavor if I didn’t like this one.

Eggs. An Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) butternut squash puree. I am thinking hummus maybe, or lasagna to use more of those lovely Pappardelle pepper lasagna noodles bought at Secolari the other day.

The rest.

Bibb lettuce. Hydroponic tomatoes. Potatoes (plus a bonus of a few sweet potatoes, as some of the white potatoes may have a bit of freeze damage on them). Two lovely Portobello mushrooms. Two pink grapefruit from FL. A bag of dried black beans. A jar of McCutcheon’s pickles.

And, bread from The Breadery. I chose the option of variety, instead of having them give me the same bread weekly. You pick a loaf from the assortment displayed. I chose 5 seed bread this week. You can also swap the bread if you are gluten free, or on a low carb regimen.

I really like the options. We already had bread with dinner tonight, and the beans will be soaked and cooked tomorrow.

Chicken stir fry this weekend. Egg salad sandwiches, using some pickles. A frittata with the beef sausage crumbled in it. Using some eggs. Potatoes.

This is exciting. I like the thought processes that put together the baskets.

Check them out. They have pick up spots all around Howard County, and they are really convenient on Gerwig Lane, just off Broken Land and Snowden River.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged community, cooking, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Discovering Secolari

Posted on January 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

The new store in Columbia Mall. My husband was there Friday and picked up some of the Pappardelle pasta I have found to be so good, and so versatile.

This is the peppercorn trio lasagna noodle. Let’s say it amazed me, as it expands during the cooking. It gets wider so I only needed four of the six noodles I boiled.

These noodles, along with some homemade sauce with hot Italian sausage became the base for my latest venture into different lasagna recipes.

And, by base, I mean the bottom two layers. I ran out before I got to the top so I improvised. I had some vegan roasted pepper sauce from Roots in the cupboard so added that on the top layer.

We served it with a simple green salad, and a very nice Breaux wine. The “Trilogy”.

This was my Sunday “Eat Local” dinner. Much of this meal came from my freezer and fridge.

The sauce. Made with Larriland tomatoes. Copper Penny sausage. The last of my CSA onions. I put all three in a baking dish yesterday and slow roasted it until the sausage fell apart, the onions almost disintegrated and the tomatoes could be pureed. I then added a can of San Marsano crushed tomatoes and a cube of my pesto. To make a sauce.

Cooking from the freezer.

As for the cheese portion of the lasagna. Bowling Green Feta, chopped in the food processor. Chevre bought at Breezy Willow. One of their eggs. A splash of Trickling Springs milk. Pecorino Romano. Mixed up. I just eyeballed how much milk I needed to get it creamy enough to spread.

If I didn’t have those extra noodles, I would have been fine, but that third layer needed sauce, so I used about half the jar of that vegan roasted pepper sauce.

I spread extra Pecorino Romano on top, and added some dried Italian herb mix. Oregano, basil, thyme. Slow cooked covered in the oven while the 49ers beat the Panthers. Uncovered at a slightly higher oven temp to brown the top.

We will get two meals from this dish. It has a kick to it, from the hot Italian sausage and the peppercorn pasta.

My next foray into lasagna will probably be a butternut squash dish, to use more of these great noodles.

I will head back to Secolari to try their olive oils next. Thanks to HowChow for his post that reminded me they had opened at the Mall.

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

The Winter Locavore

Posted on December 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

I miss the Dark Days Challenge. Back two years ago when I thought it would be hard to find local foods to cook a meal.

These days, after learning how bountiful our area is, I miss the challenge as a way to connect to other bloggers, who value eating seasonally and locally.

It is simple to eat mostly local foods at every meal, here in the MidAtlantic.

Breezy Willow Eggs

Breakfast is simple, if you use local eggs, bacon, locally baked breads, butter, yogurt, milk.

Lunch, lots of simple salads with high tunnel greens. Sold at markets. Like the winter indoor Olney Market at the Sandy Spring Museum, or the Saturday Silver Spring Market. Things like potato salad. Beets. Spinach. Mock’s greenhouse tomatoes, arugula, basil, chard.

Fritattas. Chicken or turkey salad made with local meats.

We have a freezer full of local meats. Fruit picked at Larriland. Tomatoes from my garden. Pesto. Greens. Corn. Fava Beans.

I can easily use local food sources and my freezer to make meals most of the week. Saturday farm hours at Breezy Willow and Copper Penny. Saturday and Sunday at England Acres.

I just wish we still had that challenge to keep us interested in blogging about it. And, I am crossing my fingers that Mom’s in Jessup gets enough sign ups to make the winter CSA a go. We will know in about two weeks. CSA would start up again the week of the 20th.

As part of my resolution, I will cook a local meal most Sunday nights, and blog about it. Not a bad resolution.

hocofood@@@

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Fall CSA Week Six, The End is Near

Posted on December 12, 2013 by AnnieRie

Week Six of Seven. Next week is the last delivery. Just in time for Christmas cooking.

This was a very good selection of food. Almost all will work in soups and stews.

We got:
1 bag carrots
1 bag Yukon gold potatoes
1 bag sweet potatoes
1 bag garlic
1 bag watermelon radishes
1 bag red beets
1 piece celeriac
1 bag parsnips
1 container cremini mushrooms
3 leeks\
1 green cabbage

The bread this week was an Italian boule. Perfect for the chili I will be making this weekend.

I really enjoy these one pound loaves of bread. Lots of variety and just the right size for us.

I already roasted the beets and the radishes tonight, to use in salads. The root vegetables will keep. I have a large paper bag hanging from a hook in the garage, keeping the potatoes fresher longer.

Tonight for dinner I found a good recipe to use up last week’s cabbage.

A simple braised cabbage. Made with a small head of green cabbage, a sliced carrot, an onion, some chicken stock, salt and pepper. Roasted for two hours, covered with foil. Then finished for 20 minutes to caramelize. I served it with Copper Penny Farm garlic sausage.

Enough left for lunch, probably Sunday.

One more week to go, and two chickens coming next week. Here’s crossing my fingers that the winter CSA starting the end of January gets enough members for the MOM’s Jessup pick up site.

hocofood@@@

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Santa’s Little Helper

Posted on December 11, 2013 by AnnieRie

At least in our house, the major helper as I prepare for Christmas is right here.

Yes, it is the crock pot. Without it, trying to accomplish all the decorating, cleaning, baking, writing cards and wrapping presents would be quite a bit more complicated.

I have to admit, I didn’t use my old crock pot very much. With my long work hours, I wasn’t able to time things for them to be ready when I got home. They usually were mush after my eleven hours out of the house. Working in DC meant long days.

I have pretty much perfected the timing these days. Get everything out of the freezer by nine. Crock pot started before ten. A six hour cooking on high setting, with the warming function keeping dinner warm until we are ready to eat about six.

Soups are the best thing to make using items from my freezer. Add a jar of chicken stock, some tomatoes maybe, whatever protein works best and then fill in from the CSA veggies.

I have a tag in the blog. Crock pot soups. Lots of variations using some very basic items.

Any sort of greens from the CSA will make a very good base for soups. Like the kale from last week.

A pint of stock. A couple of ham bones from Copper Penny Farm. A couple of cans of organic cannellini beans. A few carrots, some celery and an onion. That’s all you need to make bean soup for dinner. Oh, salt, pepper, garlic powder.

If you get really busy during the holiday season, consider using that crock pot to make some rich flavorful soups. So far this week I have made three different soups. When the temperatures get down below freezing at night, soups, stews and chili are our favorite meals.

A collection of some of the best I have made.

Grandma’s Tomato Soup
Navy Bean Soup
Freezer Clean Out Sausage Soup
Venison Chili

The possibilities are endless. Break out that crock pot and make dinner the easy way.

hocofood@@@

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It’s Been A Soup Sort of Week

Posted on December 10, 2013 by AnnieRie

Seems to be the norm this week to have soup for lunch or dinner. What with a second snowfall today.

At least we got the snow thrower some hours. I think it hasn’t been used in two years. My husband had everything done in about an hour this afternoon. All told, between the two storms we had about seven inches of snow on the ground.

It even brought the red bellied woodpecker up close to the house, something she rarely does.

While we were out there, the crockpot was on, with my latest version of cauliflower leek soup bubbling away.

The secret to my soup? Garam masala. It makes it much more complex in flavor.

The recipe:
1 small head cauliflower, broken into pieces
4 medium leeks, sliced, white part only
2 scallions, sliced
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, parboiled first
1 pint stock (I used turkey)
1 pint almond milk
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Everything in the crockpot except for the almond milk, for six hours on high, or eight hours on low. One hour before serving, I pureed most of the mixture, leaving about 1/4 of it in its chunkier form. After pureeing it, add the almond milk for the last hour to give it the creamy texture.

Tonight we dressed it up a bit.

I had a package of Copper Penny Farm mini chorizo in the oven on slow cook (250 degrees) for that last hour. Placed a few of them, with some of their juice, over the soup.

A mostly local meal tonight. Just the spices and the almond milk, not local. Warm, satisfying. It’s interesting how soup is one thing we love to have when the “weather outside is frightful”.

hocofood@@@

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