Tag Archives: Locavore

Agretti Anyone?

Posted on July 17, 2014 by AnnieRie

A new one in this week’s CSA share.

Agretti. Described here with a wonderful sounding recipe (to be dinner tomorrow night). This recipe is competing with the Mario Batali Babbo recipe for agretti with fennel and anchovy vinaigrette. But I don’t think I have anchovies at the moment.

The thing I love most about this CSA from Lancaster Farm Fresh is that totally unexpected off the wall “CHOPPED” worthy vegetable that I never heard of before.

It is precisely why I keep coming back to them every year.

Today this is what we got.

VEGETABLE HALF SHARE
agretti – Eastbrook Produce
Chinese purple garlic – Eagle View Acres
green kale – Cherry Lane Organics (I swapped for lemon cucumbers)
8-ball zucchini – Red Fox Organics
red cherry tomatoes – Organic Willow Acres
red beets – Back Woods Organics
bicolor sweet corn – Healthy Harvest

FRUIT SHARE
5 peaches – IPM – Fifer Orchards
1 pint blueberries – Little Buck Organics
1 jar raspberry jam – Oak View Acres

CHICKEN SHARE
breasts (1 pound)
whole leg (1 1/2 pounds)

I roasted the beets already, and had two ears of corn with dinner tonight. Beets will be sliced into salads. Cukes will go into a tzatziki. I am also making a ratatouille tomorrow night that will show up a few times. Once as that pie I mentioned yesterday.

The chicken breast will be poached and become salad.

Can’t wait to taste that agretti tomorrow night. Another new adventure. Thanks to LFFC.

Tomorrow I will talk about the Friends and Farms basket and how I will be taking the Buy Local Challenge to the EXTREME!

By the way, the corn is awesome.

Leave a comment

Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged buy local challenge, cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Tidbit Tuesday

Posted on July 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

Where I run off in all directions and have no single thing to say in a post.

There were 75 pounds of vegetables collected today for the food bank. A lighter day for squash, and the tomatoes aren’t ready yet.

I was up at the Conservancy gardens this morning, “basking” in the 70something degree temperatures with about the same amount of humidity. I hadn’t been there since Saturday, which was fairy house building day.

This is what 118 people look like before they headed off into the woods.

Creativity, a great time, and lots of pictures for this year’s album.

Now, on to the next events, and the continuous harvest of my garden.

The bulk of the five dozen little tomatoes I harvested. Fifty supersweet 100s and 10 sungold. Mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, basil, chopped onion and banana pepper, and a touch of sugar. Roasted at 250 degrees for a couple of hours. Destined to be frozen and used as one of my recipes in my presentation next month on preserving food.

Then, there were the onions.

I had to harvest a number of them today, as they were getting mushy at the top. We had 1.5 inches of rain in the rain gauge at the garden (in a 36 hour period). It is driving us nuts, splitting tomatoes and washing away my mounded soil over the onions, leeks and shallots.

Some of those onions, along with new red potatoes and bacon from England Acres, roasted along with the tomatoes. There will be a very nice salad made from this.

As for zucchini, I did make that lemon blueberry zucchini bread. Thanks to the Lean Green Bean.

I did substitute, as usual. Used all AP flour. Upped the sugar to about 4/10ths of a cup. It tastes wonderful.

There is more shredded zucchini sitting in the fridge so that tomorrow I can make zucchini fritters and freeze them. Another project for that preserving food program scheduled in late August.

I have been a busy bee today. Time to head off and watch the All Star Game.

2 Comments

Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Real Food, Volunteering and tagged community, cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, howard county conservancy, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Taking the Buy Local Challenge

Posted on July 14, 2014 by AnnieRie

For the third year in a row. The MD Buy Local Challenge. Dates are July 19-27.

This year I almost forgot about it until I received the reminder email. Since most of our food is local or regional, we already eat at least one item every day that comes from our Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA, our Friends and Farms basket, a local market or farm, or my garden.

If you wanted to join in, it is easy to do. You don’t even have to cook. Buy some fruit.

Peaches and blueberries are definitely in season. Or how about watermelon, or cantaloupe? Blackberries?

Seriously. Take a trip to Larriland and pick fruit, maybe take home some tomatoes.

Hit the farmers market in Ellicott City Sunday. Some Breezy Willow eggs. Cheese from Shepherd’s Manor. Meat from Orchard Breeze.

The list goes on. If you want sungold tomatoes, check out Love Dove at the Miller Library or HoCo General Hospital market.

Or, any of the Howard County markets. And, don’t forget wine counts too. Black Ankle maybe> Or Elk Run? Or Big Cork?

Are you in?

#hocofood

Leave a comment

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

The Friends and Farms “Basket”

Posted on July 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

An individual basket with a few add ons. Just the right size for two people with a garden. Or a single person. Or a couple who eats out a couple of nights a week.

This week our proteins were chuck roast and sockeye salmon. Since the salmon was an 8 ounce individual filet, I could email or call or register on line to order another portion or two.

This week’s cheese was mozzarella.

Perfect for the two tomatoes in the basket, and my basil from the garden. Or with all those supersweet 100s I am getting from the garden.

We got a large onion. A couple of yellow squash (like I need squash). Actually, putting them away to make ratatouille next week when we are supposed to get eggplant.

Blueberries. Yes, there will be frozen berries. And lemon blueberry zucchini bread. There were two ears of very sweet corn. It is gone already. I did ask for additional and will be billed for three more.

Dinner Thursday night was sockeye salmon and corn on the cob. Nothing else. Well, there was wine.

The last things in the basket were the large bag of mostly baby spinach. Which makes perfect salads. With that smoked bacon from last week.

I wasn’t in the mood for the fresh bread choices this week so I got one of these.

A parbaked ciabatta. Sitting in the freezer waiting for me to need it.

Upcoming meals will include a caprese salad, obviously. A spinach, blueberry and walnut salad one night. That ratatouille next week. Chuck roast is in the freezer waiting for cooler weather.

#hocofood

Leave a comment

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

Lancaster Farm Fresh

Posted on July 10, 2014 by AnnieRie

Today I picked up my CSA. Like I do every Thursday. I decided to concentrate today on the CSA. And talk tomorrow about the other major source of food into our home.

Since 2011, I have been a member of this cooperative. They provide me with fresh organic vegetables, and now, chicken, fruit and cheese. The cooperative has 3000 members across a six state area. Around 80 Amish farmers belong to the coop. With the assistance of a transportation and management effort that connects them to the “plugged in” world.

As for what we got today. In my “half” share, costing me $19 a week. Seven to ten items, usually.

We got:

Red Leaf Lettuce
White Onions
New Red Potatoes
Red Beets
Eight Ball Zucchini
Royal Burgundy Beans
Dill
Fennel (we actually got cabbage, I swapped for this)

I really like the variety. And the just enough amount.

I added a chicken share.

Today I got a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Destined to become chicken salad tomorrow. And two pounds of wings. There will be Buffalo wings Sunday.

I have a fruit share. Today:

Two pints of organic blueberries. And, the first of the fresh peaches.

The berries. A mix. Some will become the basis for a lemon blueberry zucchini bread (hey, gotta use those zucchini). The rest. Flash frozen on a cookie sheet. And saved for the dark of winter.

We also have a monthly cheese share. Which gave us great stuff a few weeks ago. Still loving that raw milk cheddar.

Between this, my garden, and Friends and Farms, we don’t need grocery stores except for staples.

Loving that local regional sourced food.

#hocofood

Leave a comment

Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Ninety Eight Ounces

Posted on July 6, 2014 by AnnieRie

That would be how much zucchini I harvested Saturday morning.

I wrote the other day about zucchini recipes. Now, we need to add a new one to the list.

Zucchini Fritters. Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Although I did modify it a bit. I used shallots and baby leeks instead of scallions.

I did make them as recommended in my cast iron skillet.

The recipe yielded a dozen tiny fritters. Perfect with kofta.

Topped with homemade tzatziki.

A completely local meal. Lamb from England Acres. Onions from my garden. Zucchini and shallots from the garden. Egg from Miller Farms in Clinton. Tzatziki from my cucumbers, mint, dill and Pequea Valley yogurt.

The wine.

One of Breaux’s stars. A 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc. Lots of alcohol though. 16.4%. Big wine. Stood up to the kofta.

So far, I am beating those zucchini. But barely. I did put away two packages of shredded zucchini in the freezer. Saving for a cold winter’s day to make bread.

4 Comments

Posted in Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

In A Pickle

Posted on July 4, 2014 by AnnieRie

And Beyond.

With all the pickling cukes around here, I decided to make refrigerator pickles. Easy to do. Mix the spices. Dill, peppercorns, garlic scapes, salt. Three to one ratio of water to vinegar. I made spears, thick and thin slices. Four pints.

These weren’t hot water processed. They will keep in the fridge for about two months.

CSA this week brought me more cukes.

We had pickling cukes and a slicing cuke. A pound of snow peas. Broccoli. A large sweet onion. Carrots. Golden beets. A pound of green beans. I have fava beans, because I swapped the three zucchini (like I need more zucchini around here). Nine items in a half share. More than enough to keep us veggie heavy in the house.

The fruit share. Two pints of blueberries and a pint of sweet cherries. The blueberries are already being processed for the future.

I flash froze them and put them away in little containers. Well, except for those that became the aperitif tonight.

As for the Friends and Farms basket.

A cuke. Basil. Spring mix. Peaches. A cabbage. Another sweet onion. More green beans. Sweet potatoes. Eggs and plain yogurt. As for protein. Spare ribs and ground turkey. I found a recipe for larb “kai”, which I will be making with turkey instead of chicken.

Oh, and I forgot about my Lancaster Farm Fresh chicken.

A four pound free range bird.

So far, in two days. Beans are gone, in two salads. Onions are gone. Roasted. Beets are gone. Roasted. Tomorrow there will be cole slaw on the menu. Using those carrots and a cabbage.

Really good veggies coming in. And the quality of the meat is awesome.

Here’s to eating locally. And well.

#hocofood

1 Comment

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

Zucchini Squared

Posted on July 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

This week, a couple of great recipes using all those zucchini. The ones from all sources.

Double chocolate zucchini bread. Modified.

The recipe started from King Arthur Flour. Substitutions in parenthesis.

2 large eggs
1/3 cup honey (I used agave)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1/3 cup King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa (I used Hershey’s)
1 2/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini, gently pressed
1 cup chocolate chips (I used peanut butter chips)

I did it all in one bowl. Mixed by hand. One by one I added ingredients and mixed. Poured into a 5 by 9 inch pan. That was pre-greased. Baked at 350 degrees for an hour (I have a convection oven, non convection may take 10 minutes more).

Took it to a committee meeting, and brought some home that was dessert tonight.

As for the other recipe. There wasn’t one.

Pour all sorts of things into a baking pan. I used six small zucchini. Various types. Sliced. Added a 28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes. Peeled. Smashed up. A can of Roland roasted red peppers. Sliced onions. Italian herb mix. Salt. Pepper.

Go for it. Zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes. A perfect combination. Served as a side dish. With bread to dip. Whatever. This is a staple during zucchini season.

This was slow cooked in the oven on 250 degrees for an hour and a half.

Who says zucchini has to be boring?

#hocofood

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Gardening, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Lock Those Car Doors!

Posted on June 26, 2014 by AnnieRie

It’s zucchini season.

You must act now to keep gardeners from leaving zucchini in the back seat of your car! I swear you can watch them grow.

We got zucchini today from three sources. In the CSA. In the Friends and Farms basket. And from my garden. Bread is in the future. Chocolate zucchini bread, that is.

A quick look at what we got from our local and regional sources for food.

Friends and Farms gave us heirloom zucchini, tomatoes, a cucumber, white potatoes, green bell peppers, leaf lettuce and scallions. The fruit was a pint of blueberries. I picked white bread this week. Eggs. Swordfish. Beef kabob cubes. This is an individual basket. Just the right size for a couple who have a garden, and a CSA subscription.

The greens are already gone. They were in tonight’s salad.

As for Lancaster Farm Fresh and our half share CSA.

Eight items in the vegetable share. Two pints of organic blueberries in the fruit share. Three lovely cheeses. Chicken share a mix of boneless skinless breast meat and whole legs.

The veggie share. Eight ball zucchini. Green cabbage. Peas in the shell. Green beans. Pickling cukes. One large slicing cucumber. New red potatoes. And heirloom spinach (which was supposed to be kale, but I swapped).

Gouda, cheddar and bleu cheese. Every month a threesome of interesting fresh, mostly raw milk cheeses.

I don’t need grocery stores. I have it all in our “grand slam”. CSA. Friends and Farms. Our garden. Jenny’s market. Where today I picked up oranges to make my fennel salad. A few grapes and plums for my husband’s fruit fix.

Here’s to eating what is freshest and from small local sources. And, that garden thing.

Zucchini anyone? I can deliver.

hocofood@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

The New Blogs in Town

Posted on June 25, 2014 by AnnieRie

Howard County has been blessed with some really interesting writers, particularly when it comes to food. Using hocoblogs and HowChow as my go-to sources and my morning coffee accompaniment, I get what is happening in and around the area. And find new things to cook. And to blog about.

Like my latest finds in the food world.

Three Beans on a String. A fellow LFFC CSAer who loves to cook and takes amazing photographs. I met Elizabeth at Petit Louis Bistro, at a hocoblogs party there. I regularly read her posts and envy her photography skills. Her food looks great. I bet it tastes that good also.

The Unmanly Chef. Love the name. Jessie from hocoblogs sent me a link. HowChow had him guest post today. I see from that post we are both customers of Friends and Farms. And, I have to get my hands on these skewers, highlighted in his kabob post. I also need to try the egg in my kofta.

The Bare Midriff. Yes, Elizabeth’s blog isn’t new, just new on my regular reading list, that I just updated. I have been reading her blog for a while, but haven’t written about it. We met at the Gadsby event, another hocoblogs get together.

Next month we have an event planned at Secolari, my favorite place for olive oil, seasoned salts, vinegars, and of course, that awesome Pappardalle’s pasta. More on the event later.