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One Local Summer 2012 – Week 16

In a move of colossal idiocy, I formatted the card that contained the meal photo for this week, and wrote right back over it with some lovely portraits from a family session.  *FACEPALM*  So, I will describe the meal instead, which won’t be as good as the photo, because the photo was really really good, and I can’t believe I did that.

It was husband’s last week home, and he did the shopping at the Farmer’s Market, bringing home a big chunk of Pork Butt to feed to the crock pot.  It simmered in there all day with some home made hard cider (apples sourced locally) and maple sugar, and was falling apart at dinner time.  SO tender and juicy.  Next to that, on the plate, was a pile of mashed potatoes which had been mixed together with caramelized onions and garlic.  Next was steamed and sauteed garlic string beans.  Then we had grilled roma tomatoes from our garden, and finally grilled peaches with Fat Cat cheese (the highlight of the plate for me).  Seriously, those peaches were delicious and inventive, and something I would’ve never thought to have made.

Epic Meal that you’ll Never See:
Pork – Countrytime Farm
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Hard Cider – with apples from Linvilla Orchard (I think?  This was brewed a while ago!)
Garlic – Jack’s Farm
String Beans – Jack’s Farm
Onions – Jack’s Farm
Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Tomatoes – My Garden
Peaches – North Star Orchard
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, various spices, cider vinegar

One Local Summer – Week 13

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Week 13?! At this rate, I’m almost sure I could do this all year. The folks at Hoagland Farm really inspired this week and egged me on into trying this recipe. They had cabbage and pork roast, and I ended up coming home with both ingredients and intentions on this being an easy crock pot recipe. It was just that, and I never could’ve imagined the delightful flavors that came about as a result of combining the two. I’m SO glad we have leftovers on this one! We sort of followed a recipe here, making a few changes to make it more local.

Pork Roast with Cabbage:
Green Cabbage – Hoagland Farm
Pork Roast – Hoagland Farm
Onion – North Star Orchard
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Mount Hope. Gewurztraminer.
Non-local – Vinegar, spices

One little bonus localish item that didn’t make it into the dinner photo – cupcakes!  These were so good, and I’m still blown away by how amazing these cupcakes are. I picked up a 6 pack of cupcakes from Iced by Betsy this past week and WOW WOW WOW. If you go to the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market and haven’t yet given in to temptation, you really ought to. Trust me.
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OLS: Week 11

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And another week down, bringing us to week eleven of the One Local Summer challenge. This week we decided to attack the pulled pork sandwich. I wasn’t able to find locally baked rolls that would work for sandwiches, so we found Vermont Bread Company rolls at Kimberton Whole Foods that worked out well, even if they’re not really that local. It’s probably the biggest non-local item I’ve used, but I really, honestly tried to find local rolls that would work and just couldn’t find any. Oh well! We did go the extra mile with the barbeque sauce and made that from scratch. The dinner was delicious and while the pork butt took all day to cook in the smoker and then crock pot, it was WELL worth it. Non-local ingredients used (other than the rolls) were in the barbeque sauce: pepper, salt, cider vinegar.  The rest of the ingredient run down follows.

Corn: Kimberton Whole Foods (locally grown)
Peaches: North Star Orchards
Feta Cheese: Apple Tree Goat Dairy
Pork Butt: Countrytime Farm
Maple Sugar: Miller’s Maple
Tomatoes: Jack’s Farm
Garlic: Jack’s Farm
Onion: North Star Orchards