Tag Archives: Locavore

Butcher Shops

Posted on October 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

The place to find the best tastiest cuts of meat, to round out the other items in my freezer, and to make winter cooking so much easier.

Like today. A perfect crock pot meal. From beef short ribs, purchased at Wayne Nell and Sons. We took a field trip this morning. To visit a new to us Amish market, for comparison. To hit an orchard or two. And, to check out the main supplier of meats to our Friends and Farms basket.

I was on a mission. For ham hocks. Lamb. And, kielbasa. I found two of the three at Wayne Nell. And, on the way home, at Mt. Airy Meat Locker. I found the lamb I wanted to use for a number of winter specialties.

The Amish Market was our destination for lunch. After we checked out an orchard and the butcher. We found the market to be good, but not as large as the Shrewsbury market.

When I came home, I took the lamb and made six vacuum packs for the freezer. As for the short ribs that ended up in the crock pot, they just looked so good I had to buy them.

This was a simple crock pot meal. Put in the pot at 1 PM on high. Dinner at 6:30. One can black beans. One onion. A large bunch of spinach. Browned ribs and some dry rub. A little salt and garlic powder.

Go watch the Orioles beat Detroit. Sit down to a lovely meal. Served with a very impressive Delaplane Cellars meritage style wine.

An interesting wine which includes tannat. Not a common grape grown in the area. Soft, elegant. A great complement to the beef and beans.

Between our chicken share from the CSA, the protein in the Friends and Farms baskets, and a few well spaced trips to family owned butcher shops, I can keep the freezer stocked without having to buy factory farmed meats.

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Posted in Day Trips, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

My Favorite Pizza

Posted on October 2, 2014 by AnnieRie

Inspired by a visit to Napa and Sonoma. Made even better using the arugula from my garden.

My prosciutto, goat cheese, fig, scallion and arugula pizza.

Made last night after a very lovely blogger happy hour at Seasons 52, on the new “Main St-like” outdoor area at the Columbia Mall.

Outdoor dining there has absolutely fun views. No storm water management ponds or cars parked three feet from your table.

Their flatbreads reminded me that I had the ingredients to make an awesome rectangular pizza. I had an “under the weather” husband at home. Dinner out wasn’t an option. I enjoyed the company of my fellow bloggers. And, will return to have some of their seasonal foods.

I came home, and very easily stretched out some fresh pizza dough from Harris Teeter. Added figs, goat cheese, scallions, prosciutto, olive oil, salt and pepper. Baked at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. After removing from the oven, I dropped some of my newly grown arugula on top.

Simple, quick, tasty dinner.

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Restaurants and tagged community, cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

So Good …

Posted on September 28, 2014 by AnnieRie

… I almost forgot to take pictures.

But, then I remembered.

This is my green tomato pasta. Revved up a bit. The original, from here. I have strayed far from this recipe. Yet I love the concept.

This is what I did.

Created my tomato base. A half dozen green “yellow plums”. A large handful of underripe cherry tomatoes. Those two just less than ripe zebras from the Friends and Farms basket. Put into a hot, olive oil slicked sauté pan. With some scallions. And a large helping of stuff from Harris Teeter’s olive bar. Artichokes. Hot peppers. Sun dried tomatoes. Garlic. Mushrooms. All heated up to make one very awesome sauce.

I added a couple of cubes of this.

My mixed greens pesto. Made with radish greens. Arugula. Carrot tops. African blue basil. Parmesan. Almonds. I never measured to make it. Just put in what looked good. Sometimes I think we need to cook by the seat of our pants. And not get hung up on measurements.

The pasta.

Of course, it was Pappardelle’s, bought at Secolari in the mall. Cracked pepper this time. With a good bite. And just barely done. For that slightly chewy texture.

Served with a lovely 2012 Chardonnay from Linden. Just the right touch to cut through the richness of the dish. A local wine. A locally sold pasta. My tomatoes. My homemade pesto.

Easy to make.

Doesn’t get better, and not that hard to do. Even while watching the football games.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, heirloom tomatoes, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, real food, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Stuffed Peppers

Posted on September 27, 2014 by AnnieRie

One of the first things I did with the large lovely peppers in this week’s Friends and Farms basket. I decided to wait a few days and show what I made, using what we get in our weekly selection.

What it looked like going into the oven.

My half, at lunch today.

I had made chicken with rice the other night. Had some rice with mushrooms left over. Had some leftover beef short ribs with greens, red pepper and onions, too. Mixed it all together and stuffed the largest pepper. Not your traditional sausage stuffing, but it still came out very tasty.

As for the rest of this week’s food, here is the compilation, and where it is going, or has gone.

Starting with protein and dairy. The yogurt has been opened and used to make honey mustard dressing. The eggs, already in a five egg frittata yesterday. It was served with dinner last night, half of it. The other half is Monday’s lunch. Spare ribs will probably be tomorrow’s dinner. Sausage in the freezer until I need it for a pasta dish on Wednesday or Thursday.

The rest of our individual share. Heirloom tomatoes from southern Maryland. A couple of honeycrisp apples from Bear Mountain Orchards. Spinach. Hydroponic spring mix from Baywater Greens. A red onion. Baby bok choy. And two green peppers. One the star of today’s lunch.

Tomatoes are almost gone. They were served with a black bean soup I made overnight in the crock pot. The bok choy will go into a chicken stir fry. I am thinking of making creamed spinach using yogurt one night. Spring mix and red onion definitely salad material.

Apples are already eaten. It won’t be long before all this good food is prepared and served. I need to run up to check on the slow roasting mixed peppers that will be vacuum sealed and saved for chili this winter. That other green pepper ended up on the baking sheet, with those sweet and hot peppers from the CSA.

Real Value

Posted on September 25, 2014 by AnnieRie

This week’s CSA share.

As I looked at the selection, I decided it was time to do another comparison of the value of this half share. It cost me $19 a week for the summer, and again this fall, the same, since we signed up early for both seasons.

Most weeks I know this half share would have cost me more in the organic aisles of the local grocery stores. Here, proof again that it is true.

I used Wegmans on line shopping tool, for our local store. They have some of the best prices in the area for organic. The smaller stores, like Roots and MOMs can be even more expensive.

We had nine items this week. I did swap the red kale for some potatoes. I used the cost of the kale in my comparison because that is what we were sent.

Most expensive to buy. Organic cauliflower and broccoli. $4.49 for cauliflower. $3.49 for broccoli. Spaghetti squash (theirs wasn’t organic) $1.49/lb. Mine weighs almost two pounds.

Organic red kale was $2.69 each. Red leaf lettuce $2.29 each. Butterhead lettuce, not organic, $1.99. Hot peppers, not organic, $3.99 a pound. I had almost a pound of them. The only radishes at Wegmans on line were regular. Not the French Breakfast radishes we got. They were $1.99 a bunch. Organic baby beets, $2.99 a bunch.

All told. A smidge less than $27 to buy.

As for our fruit share this week.

Seven organic honey crisp apples. At Wegmans these go for $3.49 a pound. Mine weighed slightly over 3 pounds. The kiwiberries. Who knows what they cost. They are rarely seen around here. Conservatively $4, maybe $5, if you can find them. Value, somewhere between $14 and $15. My fruit share costs $10 a week. Really worth it for those fruit varieties that are extremely hard to find without possibilities of pesticides.

This week I didn’t photograph my chicken share. It was boneless skinless chicken breast, and a couple of whole chicken legs. So, I will leave us with the photograph of a recent dinner with the Lancaster Farm Fresh chicken.

The chicken breasts are usually parboiled first. I then make them into whatever suits my taste over the next few days. Maybe Caesar salad. Maybe chicken salad sandwiches. This time, I used some white wine, olive oil, some mixed herbs and quickly heated them in a moderate oven. The wine keeps them moist.

I also made some mushroom gravy using the Whole Foods brand of condensed mushroom soup. I now know that I prefer the Pacific brand, as this was a little thinner. I added some of the cremini mushrooms too. Spooned over the chicken. Served with some brown Jasmine rice.

And, those great zucchini fritters I have made many times. That Smitten Kitchen recipe is now a staple in my recipe file.

Printing My Own Money

Posted on September 23, 2014 by AnnieRie

If you have the time, watch this video.

If you come away with a desire to start a garden, it is a WIN.

This year I put in a 500 square foot garden at the Howard County Conservancy. A community garden. The results are in. I must have harvested at least $500 worth of food. Already getting back my entrance fee and dwarfing my yearly $45 maintenance fee.

How did I do? Would you believe 139 POUNDS of tomatoes.

The largest producer in terms of pounds were those yellow plum tomatoes. These three plants, the puniest I put in the ground, gave me 271 tomatoes, totaling 27 pounds. There’s quite a bit of oven roasted tomatoes in my freezer from this harvest. I did get 54 pounds of my heirlooms. The pineapple, hillbilly and German Johnson varieties.

What is astounding is the amount of tomatoes harvested from six plants. Over a 1000 supersweet 100’s and almost 900 sun gold, both varieties of cherry tomatoes. There were 31 pounds total from those plants.

As for zucchini, my four plants yielded 28 pounds of zucchini. Lots of fritters, bread, grilled or sautéed zucchinis on the table this year.

Cucumbers. Thirty four of them from six plants. Not the best year for them, but not bad.

My winners, though. The onion, leek, shallot plantings. I will definitely do them again next year.

Greens did well too. Lots of kale and chard. The chard is still producing.

I also planted arugula and Bibb lettuce for the fall. The garden is alive and well.

So much satisfaction in growing your own food.

Now, I do need to whack out all the basil and put the pesto away for the winter. My last task before planting next year’s garlic, and putting in a bit of ground cover.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Real Food and tagged cooking, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, howard county conservancy, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Red Veggie Week

Posted on September 19, 2014 by AnnieRie

When I opened my newsletter from Lancaster Farm Fresh, four of the eight items had the word “RED” in them.

I am a firm believer in eating by color. I even have the book from Williams Sonoma that tells us how great those rainbow of color veggies and fruit are for us.

According to the book, here is what red veggies bring to us.

“Red fruits and vegetables provide antioxidants for protection and healing. Promote heart health. Promote urinary tract health. Help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Improve memory function.”

Here is what we got this week. That black futsu squash (which happens to be orange at the moment). That Italian style chicory. Bok Choy. Onions. And the four “red” items.

Red radishes. Red bell peppers. Red romaine. Red potatoes.

I include the potatoes because I will parboil them and use them in potato salad, including their skin. With organic veggies, I don’t mind using the skin.

Besides the vegetables this week, my fruit share included these items.

Honey crisp apples. Asian pears, KIWIBERRIES! Again. We really like these berries. A great snack.

This was a cheese week too.

Three cheeses. Once a month. Every month is different. We have had no repeats in five deliveries. A smoked gouda. A sheep’s milk ash cheese. And, a lavender goat cheese.

We also got 2.5 pounds of chicken wings and a couple of skinless chicken breasts in our chicken share.

This basket, with our Friends and Farms basket, means no trips to the grocery store again. Unless we run out of toilet paper.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

“Chopped” In My Kitchen

Posted on September 17, 2014 by AnnieRie

Sometimes it does feel like I’m on that Food Network show. Like yesterday. Our weekly preview email from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative.

Tells us we are getting Galantina chicory, and black futsu squash. REALLY???? I thought we were beyond being surprised.

Like in the past, with things like Thelma Sanders squash and White Hamon sweet potatoes.

The squash intrigues me, as I may try growing it in the garden next year. Drying seeds and planting them. Like this.

That was from my Thelma Sanders squash.

Seriously, I can’t imagine not having the fun associated with opening an email that introduces me to new and exciting vegetables, that inspire me to cook outside my comfort zone.

I am crossing my fingers that this fall we get more salsify.

Life’s too short to eat boring food.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Home Cooking!

Posted on September 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

That’s what I am doing today. Getting most of the CSA and F&F items cooked or prepped to make my week easier.

Like making crock pot cauliflower leek soup.

I know we can be pressed for time, and trying to put dinner on the table is sometimes close to impossible. That’s why lately I have been cooking on one day and just reheating for a number of dinners after long busy days.

I had three leeks hanging around in the refrigerator. Got a cauliflower in the CSA basket. Scallions from Friends and Farms. I always have almond milk in the pantry. A little chicken stock from the freezer. Salt, pepper, garam masala. Made enough soup for at least two meals. Or one dinner, two lunches.

After taking it out of the crock pot, I did mash it up a bit with a potato masher, to make it creamier.

I also dry roasted the beets, for salads all week. I took four chicken breasts and put them in the oven next to the beets and baked them. I now have chicken for salad. For dinner tomorrow. And, for a stir fry.

Dinner tonight. Another one of those frittatas I rely on. The half not eaten will be lunch early this week.

This one used a few of my tomatoes. The rainbow chard from the CSA. The top half of those scallions mentioned above. The last of the Scamorza from last week. Six eggs. Seasoned with a little Italian seasoning.

I have a real head start on eating well on the three days this week that we will be running around. And I made a major dent in the meat and vegetables delivered last week.

Still need to find a nice evening to make the edamame for an appetizer. And, to make hot pepper jelly with all those peppers we got.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, Food, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Synergy

Posted on September 11, 2014 by AnnieRie

When the whole is so much greater than the parts. Or, how we can feed ourselves wonderfully using two regional sources that add up to a week’s worth of outstanding meals.

A different take this week. Grouping.

Protein. Both of our food sources, Lancaster Farm Fresh, and Friends&Farms. It was a chicken heavy week. F&F is trying out a new supplier. Bell and Evans. This week it was boneless skinless chicken breasts. Which have already become dinner. Pics at the end of the blog post.

My LFFC chicken share (that reminds me, check fall sign up) had three packages this week. Thighs, breasts and drumsticks. I should have done a throwdown between the two suppliers.

As for the rest of the Friends and Farms protein. It was an egg week. And, smoked bacon. A half pound of Nell and Sons ground pork. I am thinking frittata with the pork and eggs. Making the bacon to use with some greens. And, with a really good potato salad.

Let’s move over to fruit.

Stanley plums and apples. From F&F. I am thinking of one huge gorgeous plum cake to take to the pot luck for Conservancy volunteers. As for LFFC. Three huge peaches. Destined to become peach pepper jelly. More on that later.

KIWIBERRIES! Check out the site to see where these lovely little gems originate. One of the real benefits of belonging to LFFC. Exotic fruits and vegetables.

There were two packages in our fruit share this week.

Vegetables. First, the LFFC half share.

We have four ears of bicolor sweet corn. Cauliflower. Hot mixed peppers. Pink radishes. Beets. Rainbow chard. Edamame and green beans in the colander. The French breakfast radishes came out of the swap box, as I gave up my green mizuna. I have enough greens in the house.

Moving over to F&F.

They advertised this week as wrap week. Using that awesome hydroponic butter lettuce. Raw peanuts. Scallions. Cucumbers. Thai basil. Heirloom cherry tomatoes. Zucchini (can you say fritters).

For the next week, like all our other weeks, we will enjoy homemade goodness, like this.

Tonight I baked, in the same large pan, the Bell and Evans chicken breasts. Two for dinner tonight. One for my husband to take for a dinner while radio contesting this weekend. Last week’s cauliflower. Covered with olive oil, white balsamic, garam masala and salt. Last week’s tomato. Split open and filled with Italian dressing. A side salad from hydroponic lettuce, cucumber and radish. That meant I used up the last of the veggies from a week ago, and I am ready to take on this week’s.