The First Supper

Today was the day my friends. We at here at the Manor (not really, but it's fun to call your house and yard with gardens a manor) had our first local side dish made with cukes from our own garden. It's a wonderfully easy dish to make and goes perfect on a hot summer day.

Cucumber Salad

two medium cukes (from garden 0 miles)
1/3 c cider or white vinegar
1/3 c water
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
dash of dillweed

Slice the cucumbers thin. Add all ingredients except dill. Chill for 3 hours. Drain and serve with a sprinkling of dill.

You can also leave the cuke slices in the syrup (sauce?) if you don't eat them all at once, but it's pretty hard not to gobble them all down at once. This dish is so good even the meat and potato eating Husband approves. It's only my first local dish, so it's relatively simple, but I am pleased as punch about it. Hopefully, this will be the start of healthier and more aware family.

One of the added benefits to OLS I haven't seen written about yet is that it gets lots of veggies into you and your family. Farm fresh veggies are so much tastier than store bought fresh veggies and certainly better than canned veggies. You can trust me on this one, because I am the worlds pickiest eater. My mother tells story of taking me to visit some of her relatives in Tennessee when I was about two. These relative happened to live on several acres and kept a large "hobby garden" about two acres big. While staying with them, my mother noticed that I would eat four times the amount of vegetables that I normally ate. "Huge, heaping platefuls," which makes a very happy mother, especially when her child's diet is more bird-like. "She just picks at her food." Ecstatic at this revolutionary development in my diet, when we returned home my mother bought tons and tons of vegetables from the grocery store, only to discover that I would turn my nose up at anything she served. Thankfully, my mother is brilliant (don't you dare tell her I said that) and quickly realized that it was the fresh picked produce which got me eating so much. Unfortunately, we did not have a garden at that time.

See the moral? Farm fresh veggies are so much tastier than store bought fresh veggies and certainly better than canned veggies.

We also had meat, which may or may not have been local. We went to the "farmer's market" on the square which happens every Saturday and bought some pork from a butcher's shop which advertised as "fresh from the farm." Though, when I asked if any of the meat was local the reply came that the beef came from Kansas City, the poultry from Mississippi and the pork was just "local." It was very tasty, but I think I will be buying from there again for my OLS challenge.

Pork chops with a Caribbean rub

It's that time again

Spring time always ruins my knitting mojo. The call of nature totally overwhelms all my senses until I obey it's whims. Instead of knitting, most of my time is spent walking in concentric circles in my yarn prodding the grass to cover the blank areas, squatting in the middle of our gravel driveway at early hours of the morning to pull weeds and sometimes I water my tomato plants (with chives!) and daydream about what I will do with them and my new pressure canner. (That last bit sounds a little sadistic doesn't it?) It's also the time when OLS gets back into full swing.

Last year I learned that any attempt to include locally grown food in my family's diet is a good attempt. Simply put whether it side dish or main course, I'm not in a contest with anyone. If I had not come to realize this guiding belief, I would be much more disheartened and possibly even unwilling to participate. I remind myself that I want to enjoy this experience with my own little credo.


Pumpkin Cheesecake. The pumpkin was grown locally by one of the our coworkers last year and frozen until I decided what I needed to be: my first OLS dessert.

I was going to post the recipe I used until I realized that it was woefully wrong (even lacking cooking instructions) and I apparently didn't follow any of it other than the 1 lb of additional pumpkin, 1/4 t cinnamon and 1/4 t nutmeg. The hubby likes to sprinkle a bit of ground clove and a lot more cinnamon across the top of his servings.

I love cheesecake, but I can't say that loved this one. A little undercooked it tasted and felt more like pumpkin pie of which I am not a big fan. (BTW, the Hubby does like pumpkin pie.) However, all the ladies at work liked it or were exceptionally nice to me about it Friday when I took it in. I saved a piece for the pumpkin's originator and made her promise to send lots more pumpkins my way this year, because I have a pressure canner and I intend to use it.

Keepin' it Green

Although, I haven't mentioned much about it this year, We (and by we, I mean me and the Hubby by default) are participating in One Local Summer. This past weekend was a visit to see the In-Laws and to purge their garden of any unnecessary growths, like beans, corn, okra and cukes. Granted a visit with the folks is about a three hour round trip, so it doesn't reduce our carbon footstep as much as a hardcore OLS might desire, but we did kill two birds with one stone getting veggies and visit in at the same time. It was a good visit and I'm so glad they are willing to share with us.

We immediately fried and ate the okra, so I have no pictures of that. I will share with you this is little tidbit: Before my husband married me, he didn't eat fried okra, or fried squash for that matter. After I made it the first time against many loud localizations, he decided it was good stuff. It warms my heart.

The beans were pre-canned for us by my wonderful MIL, but unfortunately she and I do not agree how to can beans. She likes hers fresh. extra fresh. As in so turgid you could break your teeth on them. I side with the extra limp overcooked in ham camp. It's okay. I own crockpot "the green beans' best friend"! Now, I only have to cook twelve cans of green beans to an acceptable level of limpness. YUM! Still no photos.

Last year I only had enough ears to make a few jars of corn salsa, but this year they sent us home with 2 five gallon buckets of sweet corn. After about 5 seconds of thought, we decided on turning it into creamed corn. I really have to thank my Hubby here, because all his years experience helping his parents do the exact same thing turned into 11 jars fabulous looking creamed corn. Although, after two days of husking and creaming and canning corn we aren't really excited about trying it, but I am sure we will love it this winter.


They also sent us home with an armful of cukes, which I immediately pickled. It made about 2 pints worth of pickles. I didn't care for last year's pickles (the Hubby ate them all), so we are trying a new instant picking mix this year. Being the pickle snob I am, I really hate the artificial yellow coloring added to this mix to make it look more picklely. (You like that word? Me too.) Hopefully, I will be able to get over this visual deterrent and eat me some good pickles this year.



And at last my tomatoes are starting to spit out ripe yumminess which I can shove into jars and enjoy later this winter as seen above. They will be great for stewing and adding to our favorite lentil soup recipe.

So, excuse me while I go find more things to squash into jars.

The Missed Supper

This past week has flown by without me and has now come upon me in torrential downpour. Literally. We've already had 3 inches of flash flooding.

There was much planning and scheduling and driving to get done this past week as my brother came down from VW, my grandmother was picked up from out of town and all the rest of the relatives gathered for the "4th" of July. There was also the Best Friend's Birthday to celebrate, and home brewed beer to bottle (more about that later). Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to go out and get any local produce for my OLS dinner this past week, because during all this my father was rushed to the ER.

Unbeknownst to me, or any one else other than my mother, my father has been suffering from great pains in his chest and upper back for a little more than a week. And without going into great detail, he was rushed away right before the family celebrations (eating) began still moving and talking, but very much worried. He had a heart attack scare in the ambulance (sudden drop in heart rate), but came through it alright to spend a couple hours in the hospital with "it wasn't a heart attack" diagnosis. The EMT noted the right side of his heart wasn't getting enough electrical signals to pump as well as it should, but other than that his heart was fine. However, he may have some issues with the discs in his spinal column or a VERY pulled back muscle. No one knows what it was right now. He visits the doctor the first appointment he can get this week. The EMT noted the right side of his heart wasn't getting enough electrical signals to pump as well as it should, but other than that

Y'all, for the first time in my life I thought I might loose the man who pushes down trees and took me father-daughter camping once every year from first through twelfth grade. I managed to put on a brave face and didn't even cry once for my grandmother's sake. (My only grandma is my father's mother and she is easily depressed by worrying too much. ) I'm very glad to have him back and with such good news.


So, now you know why I didn't eat local this week. Although, on the way home Saturday after everything had passed and Dad was safe at home again, I did notice a local grower's produce SHOP, which opened today. Maybe later this week I'll stop by to get some yumyums for Dad.

The Bounties of Fall?

What OLS week is it? 5? 6? Okay, so I have not been real dedicated to finding local produce these past few weeks...oops! The good news is that the Hubby and I will still be enjoying our local bounty this fall and winter.

We are hoping to try out (from left to right) the oven-dried and home grown tomatoes in an herb bread, the corn from M's parents as corn relish on who knows what, and some homemade spaghetti sauce again from our very own tomatoes (which I happen to know is good, because last night we ate the last bit of sauce which would only partially fill a jar after canning it.)


We are also the Best Blackberry Scavengers Ever in all the world and after gathering hundreds of blackberries for this year's jelly, we also managed to acquire enough (about another 4 quarts) for M to make a wild blackberry wheat ale. The house is a little hoppy-smelling right now from all the open cooking of the ingredients on the stove, but it should thin out as the beer ferments in a closed container. Next year, I think I should demand a Wild Blackberry Wine for myself. Oh, and maybe a blackberry cobbler too. And that we should possibly plant our own bushes, because we are blackberry-aholics!!! Jellies, beers, wines, cobblers....anything else we need to try?


As a side note to all of those who are home brewers and pet owners; Your dog will eat the hops you filtered out and set aside to throw on the compost pile. Nothing goes to waste in this house, not even the compostables. (I will warn you though, I have no idea how this is going to affect PoPo's system. We are horrible pet owner's and we experiment to see if there is anything she won't eat out of our hands. No, you're not supposed to give your dog table scraps it upsets their delicate digestive system, blah, blah, blah...The vet says PoPo is in outstanding health, minus the pollen allergies. So we play this little game to amuse ourselves and I don't see PoPo complaining.)

Stay Tuned: I am trying to grow some pumpkin seedling from my Grandmother's heirloom milk pumpkin seeds!

The Next Dinner

I am very quickly learning several things about myself and the Hubby during this challenge. The most important of which is the variety of fruits and vegetables I will eat versus the very limited starch-only vegetables the Hubby will eat (point number 1). He is an odd one I tell you. He doesn't like fruit.--ASIDE: What kind of weird person doesn't eat fruit?!-- Making it very hard to find and eat local produce which both of us like.

I also hate making dinner, while loving to cook (point number two). So the idea of going shopping for raw produce to make dinner...well lets just say I often find reasons to skip that particular errand. This makes it very difficult to START dinner, but once I get going it's actually rather fun.

Thankfully, we have other hobbies involving food, which help bridge this gap (point number three). We brew our own beer, which I don't drink, but have fun helping. Here it is chilling before we transfer it into the second bucket for a week long siesta, i.e. fermentation period.
Believe it or not the house doesn't really smell while making this India Pale Ale.

It rather fun to locate nearby retailers and brewmasters to share experiences and ideas. And as an added bonus, we often find out about local suppliers for the foodstuffs. So, OLS has a way of showing up in our lives without a meal! (point number three, a.)

We also like to make our own blackberry jelly and picking the wild blackberries around our house, at the park where we walk the dog, or at work on the school grounds allows us to enjoy the same activities we did when we were little. Although, this time we aren't putting the berries directly into our mouths...Without knowing it we have been supporting one of the biggest producers of all time* before I even understood what it meant to eat local. (point number three, b.)


However, today I made a very exciting breakthrough on point number one. I love fried squash, fried okra, steamed broccoli, raw carrots, fresh spinach, creamed corn, red smashed potatoes, green beans practically any way you serve them, and peas especially with water chestnuts...well, just about any veggie. My husband as I stated earlier eats-baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, french fries, hash browns, and the occasional sweet potato. Pretty much he eats starch. So as a *compromise* we pretty much only have things he'll actually eat for dinner. But today was different.

Today he ate squash. And he liked it!

I am very proud to present: Squash (incognito) Fritters with chilled peaches and blackberries. Also known as dinner number two for my One Local Summer challenge.


Fresh Squash: 0 miles, a coworker brought some in from her garden to share.
(Fritters include, grated squash, 1 small onion, eggs, flour, cornmeal and seasonings.)
Blackberries: 0 to 1 miles depending on where and when we got them.
Peaches: not locally grown and I have to say not at good as the rest.

I'm learning that weather, I choose to eat local or not, somehow you find yourself eating locally anyway! (Point number 5.)
*Mother Nature, of course silly!

We joined Netflix

...so my blogging has been lacking. You may not know that we do not own cable tv, nor local channels, though we do own a tv (or two) , a dvd player and we live in the sticks. Hello, Season 2 of House; you are a wonderful thing. I think that I may love you Netflix...and Hugh Laurie. Oh, and Dr. Chase has beautiful hair and a lurvely accent.

It's been hard to get anything other than sitting on my bum done, but I have found some time to knit (at work when I'm away from the tv). Two of these things are recycled FOs, and one of these things is my current work progress. Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a hint. It's still missing parts.

It's almost midnight and the bathroom has the most light.

And I made a cop out OLS dinner of Vegetarian Enchiladas. I am super lazy, so this entire meal only used locally grown banana peppers-i.e. peppers brought to me directly by my co-worker.


It's my not-so-blogging-secret to get my Hubby to eat and enjoy one less meal with meat a week. We're not vegetarians, and we do enjoy our animal products. It just that the Hubby may enjoy it a little to much. It's not healthy to poop meat is it? I found this recipe in my Betty Crocker recipe gifted to me just prior to my wedding by my mother, who gave up cooking dinner when I was in high school and apparent expected my to immediately serve my husband dinner at 5pm upon my impending D-day...But I digress.

This recipe could certainly be made using only local foods for the hardcore even the tortillas and some of the dried herbs.* However, I am not hardcore. I am lazy, poor and the depressed owner of a tried and true brown thumb.

Vegetarian Enchiladas
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese (8oz)
1 cup Cheddar cheese (4oz)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 medium onion chopped (1/2 cup)
1 green bell pepper chopped(1/2 cup)
2 green chiles chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
2/3 cup water
1/4 t ground black pepper
1 T chili powder
1 1/2 t oregano
1/4 t cumin
1 clove garlic chopped
at least 8 tortillas

Mix cheeses, sour cream, parsley, peppers and onions. Set aside.

Heat remaining ingredients except tortillas, until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring ocassionally. Dip tortillas in sauce coating all sides. Scoop filling into tortillas; roll up and place seam side down in a large baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Garish with additional cheeses, sour cream and chopped onion if desired.

As you can see this recipe is easy deviated from and stays delicious. I used regular taco shells instead of tortillas, premixed shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese coated with taco seasoning, banana peppers instead of chiles, 1 cup of bell peppers instead of 1/2 cup, dried parsley instead of fresh and I completely forgot about the oregano. It was still yummy!

*p.s. Drying your own herbs would be a wonderful way to stock up for winter and super easy.

Neon

Saturday, we ate lunch with a married couple we don't get to see often. One of M's college buddies got married right after graduation and moved away to another state. His wife (the most awesome gal you'll ever meet) is expecting. So, I was able to give away some more handknits. The blue herringbone booties have a new home, which the recipient was totally thrilled with, and I quote " I wish I could knit these." *Knitting orgasm* I was overjoyed down to a tingling in my toes. (Since she's not a knitter, she didn't even notice the way the edge curls up like it's not supposed to-and I wasn't about to point it out.)

Sunday, I also got through the gusset on Hedera...and the instep...and the toe. This sock knit up so fast that I didn't even have time for SSS.


Cookie A. thanks again for another great pattern. My only mod was that I changed the ribbed cuff for a picot edge, because it reminded me more of leaves for my little ivy columns. As sweet as it looks, it gives the sock a little less 'stay up' power. No biggy, however, I just wear handknit socks around the house anyway.

Also Sunday, to my shock, I discovered this guy hiding under a cuke leaf. You know what they say about cucumber plants with big leaves?

They have HUGE cukes.

Guess what I'm gonna do with him? It may have a lot to do with some of the reading I've checked out of the library, such as Root cellaring, Stocking up, Preserving summer's bounty , Putting food by, Carrots love tomatoes and Roses love garlic. That way I can continue my One Local Summer (OLS) challenge throughout the winter.

Admittedly, I'm having a harder time getting local supplies than I had planned, due to my own lack of availability. The farms are typically open M-F 9:00 -5:00 while I'm at work, and on Saturday afternoons when all I feel like doing is being lazy. However, I was able to find some local honey at the supermarket. (Who calls the grocery store that any more?)

My first meal maybe a little more scant than others, but the whole goal of this to slowly integrate it into my life. I'm really okay taking baby steps. First cukes and honey, next maybe a Saturday trip to a farm. Jen, you really need to hook me up with some meat. I'll drive.