Tag: <span>One Local Summer</span>

Tag: One Local Summer

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 8

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MORE PORK!  Yes, we’re big fans of the pig meat, but this meal was so filling that I only managed to make it through about half of that chunk of meat on the plate.  It’s probably the fault of the overflowing salad bowl, but that’s the way I like it!  I’m always doing  salad prep while husband is out running the grill, so sometimes I get a little overzealous, today being no exception.  In the salad bowl is lettuce, turnips, radishes, mushrooms, cucumbers, and carrots along with the same not-local-but-homemade dressing we’ve been using.  It’s just olive oil, homemade vinegar, and a little bit of red wine, but it works great and is simple enough to not overpower the awesome vegetables in the bowl.  Going around the plate we have a Ham Steak which was really really great – cooked up nicely on the grill, rubbed with pepper, salt, and a little maple sugar.  Then there are steamed green beens with sea salt, and a cucumber salad made by soaking the cucumbers in vinegar, red wine, and a little crushed pepper.  We cracked open a bottle of our homebrewed PA Maple Reserve which is actually all local except for the yeast – local cider, local maple syrup, all fermented into a really delicious wine.

Ingredients:
String Beans – Jack’s Farm
Carrots – Jack’s Farm
Radishes – Full Circle CSA
Turnips – Full Circle CSA
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Lettuce – Full Circle CSA
Cucumber – Clover Hill Farm
Ham Steak –  M&M Creek Valley Farm
Maple Sugar –  Miller’s Maple
Wine – Homebrewed PA Maple Reserve with Maple syrup from Miller’s Maple and cider from Linvilla Orchards
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, homemade vinegar

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 7

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Don’t tell anyone, but we’re actually a week ahead due to husband’s love of cooking local food.  Really though, that’s fine, because at some point, we’ll end up being away or too busy or something and we’ll fall behind a week, so I figure this will all come out in the wash, as Willy Wonka might say.  Husband is a big fan of the basics – meat, vegetable, and a salad makes a meal.  However, it’s the prep and spices and whatnot that bring it far beyond that level.  I’ve never had a complaint about any dinner, and how could I – my basic policy is that any meal I don’t have to cook is a good one!  Enough babbling, onto the plate!  First up, in the salad bowl, we have lettuce, turnips, radishes, and some carrots with a non local but homemade dressing.  On the plate is a slice of a Pork Loin  Roast on the rotisserie after being rubbed with pepper, maple sugar, and salt, glazed with red wine and maple syrup while being cooked.  Then we have carrots drizzled with maple syrup, and grilled zucchini (a personal favorite).  Topped the whole thing off with a glass of red wine and we had a lovely dinner.

Ingredients:
Pork Loin  Roast – M&M Creek Valley Farm
Zucchini – Clover Hill Farm
Carrots – Clover Hill Farm
Lettuce –  Full Circle CSA
Turnips – Full Circle CSA
Radishes – Full Circle CSA
Maple Sugar/Syrup – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Paradocx, Barn Red
Non Local – Olive Oil, homemade vinegar, salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 6

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Well I really have no reason to cook since the husband enjoys it so much and I find it such a chore.  That said, I did help out this week by making the spaetzle!  We had bought a spaetzle maker (basically a slotted metal plate like a cheese grater with an open-bottomed container that slides across the plate) but hadn’t tried it out yet, and this week seemed like a great opportunity to use it and fill in some space on the plate!  We followed the recipe on the spaetzle maker package which gave us a really thin batter, but I’ve tried it once now and know what sort of consistency to shoot for.  Also on the plate is a pork rib roast, cooked on the rotisserie on the grill, covered in maple sugar, salt, and crushed pepper and brushed with homebrew amber ale, vinegar, salt, and pepper while on the rotisserie.  Then we have bacon wrapped asparagus, a bowl of cucumbers with salt and pepper and vinegar, and a nice glass of Blaufrankich from Chaddsford Winery.  Everything came out AMAZING and made for a really nice dinner.

Ingredients:
Pork Rib Roast – M&M Creek Valley Farm
Asparagus – Clover Hill Farm
Spaetzle – Whole Wheat Pastry Flour from the Mill at Anselma and butter from Handmade by Abby
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Cucumber – Clover Hill Farm
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Chaddsford Winery
Non Local – homemade vinegar, salt, pepper, homebrew amber beer

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 5

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Husband took the cooking reins again and grilled up a delicious dinner.  The veal tenderloin was marinaded in red wine, salt, vinegar, and freshly ground pepper and then cooked on the grill.  The spinach was steamed and seasoned with salt and a touch of vinegar.  The last thing on the main plate is a chunk of blue cheese that rounded out the palate of flavors on the plate.  In the salad bowl are mushrooms and snap peas over a bed of mixed greens, dressed with a mix of red wine, vinegar, and olive oil.  The wine is from Seven Mountains Winery and isn’t exactly local since it’s about 2.5 hours away, but it’s on the way out to my grandma’s house, so we consider it local since it’s a trip we would’ve made anyway, not a special trip just to pick up the wine.  It’s absolutely delicious with hints of honey and a nice, crisp dry finish.

Ingredients:
Cheese – Birchrun Hills, Blue
Veal Tenderloin – Birchrun Hills
Spinach – Jack’s Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Snap Peas – Jack’s Farm
Mixed Greens – Jack’s Farm
Wine Marinade – Paradocx, Barn Red
Wine – Seven Mountains, Dry Riesling
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Homemade Vinegar, Olive Oil,

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 4

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Another wonderful week of local food!  We’re getting some awesome vegetables ripening, and strawberries are ready for picking.  We’re probably a week ahead, even after the very long, late winter, mostly thanks to a TON of rain in April and then three weeks of full sun.  We could use the rain now though, but it isn’t stopping our local providers from having some great food for us to enjoy.  Husband and I worked together on this one – he did the main plate and I worked up the salad.  We have a pork butt steak cooked on the grill, rubbed with maple sugar, salt, and pepper and marinated in malt vinegar.  Then there are carrots with a touch of maple syrup, another chunk of homemade gouda with milk from a local farm, and cucumbers in vinegar with salt and pepper.  In the salad, we have DELICIOUS strawberries over a bowl of mixed greens and snap peas, dressed with an olive oil, wine, and homemade vinegar dressing.  To finish things off, there’s a glass of homebrewed peach ice wine.

Ingredients:
Port Butt Steak – Countrytime Farm
Cucumbers – Jack’s Farm
Carrots – Jack’s Farm
Cheese – Milk from Birchrun Hills
Strawberries – Charlestown Farm
Mixed Greens – Jack’s Farm  and Charlestown Farm
Snap Peas – Jack’s Farm
Maple Syrup – Miller’s Maple
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Paradocx Barn Red
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Homemade vinegar, Homebrewed peach ice wine, olive oil

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 3

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Another relatively simple plate  for this week, but simple can still be delicious!  Husband is home again and took over both the shopping and cooking this week (HOORAY!).  On the plate, we have a basic salad with red wine, vinegar, and oil dressing, steamed pea shoots, a grilled pork loin marinated in red wine and vinegar and rubbed with salt and pepper, and then cheese, paired with a glass of Barn Red from Paradocx Vineyard.  The husband  has taken to making his own cheese and this is his first gouda.  I WHOLLY approve of this pursuit and its results which were incredibly perfect.  The milk for the cheese even came from a local dairy farm, so it counts!

Ingredients:
Lettuce – Jack’s Farm
Cheese – homemade with milk from Birchrun Hills
Pork Loin – Countrytime Farm
Pea Shoots – Jack’s Farm
Wine – Barn Red from Paradocx
Non Local – Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, homemade vinegar

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 2

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After last week, I knew that I’d be going with asparagus again.  Not wanting to just grill it again, I found a recipe for bacon-wrapped asparagus.  Well, bacon-wrapped anything is delicious, so this seemed like a fantastic plan.  The result is that the plate looks a lot like the one from last week with a few changes.  What can I say, when something works, it works!  Another salad (MMM GREEENNNSS, said like a vegetarian zombie), grilled mushrooms, that bacon-wrapped asparagus, and a chunk of bison sausage.  Finished off with a cool glass of water to end a yucky hot and humid day, and it was a great, easy, meal all cooked on the grill.

Ingredients:
Mixed Greens – Charlestown Farm
Red Leaf Lettuce – Charlestown Farm
Pea Shoots – Jack’s Farm
Bison Country Sausage – Backyard Bison
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Asparagus –  Hill Creek Farm
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Cheese – Birchrun Hills (honey and sea salt cheese spread)
Non Local – Olive Oil, dressing

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 1

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This is our SEVENTH year of One Local Summer and it’s hard to believe it’s been that long already.  If you’re not familiar with the One Local Summer thing, it was a challenge started locally by Farm to Philly.  The basic rules were make one meal a week using only local ingredients allowing for exceptions like salt, pepper, and oil.  The challenge encouraged participants to visit farmer’s markets, farm stands, and get to know your local producers.  It reduces “food miles” (the amount of resources from gas to man hours spent on getting a product to you) which means less of a tax on the environment to make a meal, thereby reducing your carbon footprint.  I know that sounds a little hippie crunchy granola, but it makes sense.  If you can get amazing locally grown asparagus, why eat asparagus that was trucked in from California?  Plus, it supports your local economy and helps local, hard-working farmers who take pride in what they do and care about the crops/animals they raise.  Over the years we’ve found everything from butter to flour, beef and bison, eggs and an amazing array of vegetables, but there’s always something new to make!  It encourages us to eat healthy (free-range eggs, beef, bison, etc all are far healtheir for you than their commercially-raised quivalents) and be creative in the kitchen.  In fact, during the summer months, it’s fairly likely that all of our meals are 90% or more local at this point!  It’s become more of a way of living for us than just an annual challenge, but it’s still fun to concentrate on that one special meal a week that’s all local.

Explanation out of the way, our local farmer’s market, the Phoenixville Farmers Market, had their opening weekened on May 2nd.  It was SO nice to see our favorite vendors back for the regular season – you really get to know these folks, seeing them every weekend for so many years, and it brightens my week to see familiar smiling faces and have a quick chat with my favorite vendors.  Words can’t really accurately describe the wonderful little community we have in this market and I am truly grateful that it exists and has grown SO much.  I’m rambling on again, aren’t I?  That plate!  Okay, back on track.  Lots of greens!  Earlier on in the season, there are SO many delightful greens available (mustard greens, pea shoots, lettuce, bok choi) and I HAPPILY scoop them up to include in our meals.  Asparagus is another early season favorite, the mushroom guy grows year round in a climate-controlled mushroom house, plus the chicken (grilled with home-grown saffron on top!) which all made for  a really full plate for dinner.  It’s paired with a cool glass of homebrewed mead made with honey from local bees.  The whole thing was enjoyed on a warm evening on the patio, and it was just the perfect end to the day.

Ingredients:
Chicken – Deep Roots Valley Farm
White Trumpet Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Snap Peas – Jack’s Farm
Pea Shoots – Jack’s Farm
Mixed Greens – Charlestown Farm
Asparagus –Hill Creek Farm
Non Local – Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Balsamic Vinegar