I am ecstatic about our many yummy meals over the last few days. We’ve really been enjoying eating.
Our Rules.
Laura’s rules require one meal a week to be composed of 90% local ingredients. We’ve taken it a step further.
Our rules are namely this: eat 90% local for every meal, an average of 50% from the garden. If we can’t get something local, we’ll purchase bulk and organic from a local supplier. Coffee, tea, spices and sugar will be organic, sustainably harvested and fair trade whenever possible. (There are some exceptions for traveling when we do.)
Sampling.
1. Blue Ballet Squash Soufflé: I was adventurous this week! This was last night’s dinner, adapted from a recipe in The Classic Zucchini Cookbook, a book I received as a Christmas present. I’ve never made a soufflé before, but Matt the cooking school graduate said I did a fine job. It was truly delicious.
Squash and lemon zest from the garden, eggs and butter (local), sugar and spices (fair trade, organic, sustainably harvested). For the salad: mustard greens, carrots and scallions from the garden.
Harvest:
Cooking:
The finished product:
2. Pizza: Friday Night is Pizza Night for Matt and I. This one is homemade crust made with local flour, homemade sauce made with tomatoes stored in the garage, local mozzarella, home grown sun dried cherry tomatoes.
3. Autumn Squash Pasta: This recipe was from Recipes from America’s Small Farms, another book I received as a Christmas present. I would never have thought to put squash and pasta in a casserole together, but it was quite delicious.
Harvest:
Cooking:
The finished product:
4. Meyer Lemon Sponge Custard: I even made local dessert! Garden fresh meyer lemons, eggs (local), flour (local), sugar (organic, fair trade, sustainably harvested). Click here for the recipe. It was easy to make and truly delicious.
5. Stuffed Butternut Squash and Garden Salad. Note that we loved loved loved the salad, and really weren’t so keen on the stuffed squash. I think the stuffing needs to be more integrated with the squash, and we need a different type of squash.
Harvest:
Carrots, watermelon radish, radicchio, mustard greens, arugula, scallions:
Salad:
Butternut squash stuffed with pine nuts, dried cherry tomatoes,
scallions, and whole wheat couscous.
6. Homemade biscuits topped with marmalade: Matt’s homemade biscuits made with local flour, topped with local butter and my homemade meyer lemon marmalade!!!!!
7. Red Lentil Stew with a Side of Greens. This was one of those seriously winging it meals, but it was scrumptious! Bulk red lentils stewed with carrots, scallions, parsley, and curry powder (bulk) over whole wheat couscous (bulk, organic). Side of kale sauteéd with scallions.
Harvest:
Carrots (left to right): Purple Haze, Dragon, Dragon #2 (from 2 different companies - note the orange interior versus the yellow interior), mixed orange (Red core Chantenay on top and Danvers below, I think), White Belgian, Yellowstone, Amarillo Yellow.
All Together:
8. Lemon Soup with a Side of Greens: This soup used to be one of my favorites and on a whim I decided to try my hand at it. Yum. Lemons from the garden, eggs (local), rice (bulk), parsley and greens from the garden. Check out the recipe here.
9. Roasted Garden Vegetables: brussels sprouts, chioggia beets, fennel, broccoli, carrots, scallions, meyer lemon.
Step One - Pick Fresh Vegetables from the Garden:
Step Two - Roast the vegetables (see recipe here):
Step Three - Remove from Oven:
Serve over whole wheat couscous,
with a side of sauteed beet greens and scallions:
