Although I never seem to find the time to write regular blog posts and keep this blog up to date, I must admit that I really enjoyed eating local this summer.
Eating local has taught me to:
1. think about what's in season and appreciate what we are eating.
2. waste less food and food packaging.
3. learn how to preserve foods. Even for two vegetarians, the single farm share box at times contained more food than we could eat in a week, so we learned how to blanche the veggies and store them so we have food to enjoy even after our farm share is over.
4. try new foods (i.e. garlic scapes)
5. try new recipes and make up our own recipes
6. eat less processed foods. We have both lost weight and consider that to be a very positive side effect.
7. consider what is in the foods we are eating - especially when we buy form the grocery store
8. spend more time together as a couple since we have been preparing all the foods in our basket together
9. take the time to savour foods.
10. think from the ingredients perspective and make meals based on the ingredients we have on hand.
We are planning to eat local again starting next summer and hope to keep up many of these new habits throughout the coming winter months.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Last Farm Share Box 2010
Yesterday we picked up our final farm share box. It contained:
cabbage
lettuce
brussel sprouts
potatoes
squash
orange cauliflower
We roasted the brussel sprouts and made a topping for them with crushed mustard seeds and feta cheese. It was delicious, but the sauce was a bit too milky. I plan to try this again and use cream instead, but less of it. The strong flavours of the feta cheese really compliment the brussel sprouts quite nicely!
cabbage
lettuce
brussel sprouts
potatoes
squash
orange cauliflower
We roasted the brussel sprouts and made a topping for them with crushed mustard seeds and feta cheese. It was delicious, but the sauce was a bit too milky. I plan to try this again and use cream instead, but less of it. The strong flavours of the feta cheese really compliment the brussel sprouts quite nicely!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
What have we been getting lately in our Farm Share Basket?
The weeks sure fly by quickly! July was a great farm share month and every week now the harvest for our farm share basket seems to be more bountiful. Below is a list of some of the delicious items we have been receiving in our CSA basket:
- beets
- broccoli
- zucchini
- field cucumbers
- corn
- garlic
- cilantro
- cauliflower
- jalapeno peppers
- swiss chard
- red potatoes
- another kind of potatoes (sorry, I can't recall the name anymore)
- cantaloupe
We tried several recipes with cucumber, but probably the best was this appetizer:
Ingredients:
- 3 cucumbers (peeled and sliced)
- goat cheese (one large log)
- sundried tomatoes (one package in oils)
- fresh Ontario garlic minced (2 cloves)
Directions:
Mix the goat cheese garlic and sundried tomatoes together and then put it on top of the cucumber slices. This makes for a really delicious appetizer!
As well, we like to eat our corn with lime, cayenne pepper and salt. We use equal parts of cayenne and salt and then dip a lime slice in the spice mixture and spread the mixture onto the cooked corn. It is deliciously spicy and much more flavourful than butter. Yum!
By the way, if you have a chance to try fresh Ontario cantaloupe I would highly recommend it. The flavour is completely different from the store bought cantaloupes. I was never a huge fan of cantaloupe, but the cantaloupe we received in our farm share this past week sure changed my mind. I never realized that I could like cantaloupe so much!
- beets
- broccoli
- zucchini
- field cucumbers
- corn
- garlic
- cilantro
- cauliflower
- jalapeno peppers
- swiss chard
- red potatoes
- another kind of potatoes (sorry, I can't recall the name anymore)
- cantaloupe
We tried several recipes with cucumber, but probably the best was this appetizer:
Ingredients:
- 3 cucumbers (peeled and sliced)
- goat cheese (one large log)
- sundried tomatoes (one package in oils)
- fresh Ontario garlic minced (2 cloves)
Directions:
Mix the goat cheese garlic and sundried tomatoes together and then put it on top of the cucumber slices. This makes for a really delicious appetizer!
As well, we like to eat our corn with lime, cayenne pepper and salt. We use equal parts of cayenne and salt and then dip a lime slice in the spice mixture and spread the mixture onto the cooked corn. It is deliciously spicy and much more flavourful than butter. Yum!
By the way, if you have a chance to try fresh Ontario cantaloupe I would highly recommend it. The flavour is completely different from the store bought cantaloupes. I was never a huge fan of cantaloupe, but the cantaloupe we received in our farm share this past week sure changed my mind. I never realized that I could like cantaloupe so much!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Week 6
This week's farm share will include:- green onion- zucchini- broccoli- fresh garlic- oregano- corn (Speedy Sweet variety)It sounds like a good bundle! I better sign off for today and get to work planning what we should make this week.
My Thoughts After a Months Worth of CSA Farm Share
How will we ever go back to the grocery store? Seriously, the produce is so much tastier when we get it straight from the farm and it seems to last a lot longer in the fridge. Part of that is from me researching how to best store each and every vegetable/fruit as they are so delicious I wouldn't want to see even a bite go to waste.
I have been going to the grocery store only once a week now -- sometimes twice, but only to pick up the basic necessities like milk, paper towel, cooking oil, and other things I can't get from the farm. I really don't miss it and when I add up my grocery bill for the past month it seems to be less money than it had been in previous months. I must say, I really don't miss visiting the grocery store either.
We've both noticed that we've lost weight and we feel healthier too. We have now removed most of the processed foods from our diet. The only few processed foods that remain in our house are the cereal that is in our cupboard, ice cream, yogurt and lactose-free milk.
Another thing we have noticed is a serious reduction in the amount of garbage we produce each week. There are no more plastic produce bags from the grocery store, and many less cartons too. All the packaging we get from our farm share gets returned to the farm at the end of the week so that it can be reused. Definitely much better for the environment than recycling.
Week 3, 4 and 5
This month certainly has flown past quickly! Below is a list of some of the delicious items we have been receiving in our CSA basket:
Week 3
- lettuce (2 heads)
- spinach
- asparagus
- strawberries!!!
- garlic scapes
Week 4
- spinach
- garlic scapes
- romaine and red leaf lettuce
- sugar snap peas
- strawberries
- green onions
Week 5
- red leaf lettuce
- strawberries
- asparagus
- snow peas
- sugar snap peas
- Zucchini (yellow and green)
In addition to using these ingredients to make some of the recipes I've already posted, we made many delicious salads, zucchini soup and an Indian style zucchini curry (the curry was made with an onion, garlic scapes, 3 zucchinis, 1 tomato, cumin, garam masala, red chili flakes, coriander powder and salt).
Monday, June 14, 2010
Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
Tonight I made a strawberry rhubarb compote for dessert. I'd never eaten compote before, but it really is great. I think next time I'll make sure we have something to serve this with as it really is a bit too flavourful to be served on its own. I saw some great ideas to serve this with yogurt or even have some on your morning oatmeal for breakfast, so I might just splurge and have fruit compote on my oatmeal in the morning! Yum!
So, in case you are interested here is the recipe I used:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit
Ingredients
1 part strawberries
2 parts rhubarb (cut in 1 cm pieces)
sugar or honey to taste
Sprinkle some sugar or honey overtop of the rhubarb. Cook the rhubarb in a covered pan for 25 minutes (no stirring required) or until softened. Then stir in the strawberries (larger strawberries should be halved) and cook for another 30 minutes or until it is all softened up and fully cooked.
So, in case you are interested here is the recipe I used:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit
Ingredients
1 part strawberries
2 parts rhubarb (cut in 1 cm pieces)
sugar or honey to taste
Sprinkle some sugar or honey overtop of the rhubarb. Cook the rhubarb in a covered pan for 25 minutes (no stirring required) or until softened. Then stir in the strawberries (larger strawberries should be halved) and cook for another 30 minutes or until it is all softened up and fully cooked.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Week 2
This week we received the following in our farm share basket:
- green onions
- lettuce (boston and green)
- spinach
- asparagus
- rhubarb
As well, we have been able to pick up some fresh Ontario strawberries at our local farmer's market, peppers (red, yellow, orange and shepherd), tomatoes (an assortment of colours) and some more lettuce too! It seems we can't get enough of the fresh Ontario green lettuce - it sure is delicious!
One of our most delicious meals was baked miniature potatoes and spinach with herbs (baked for about 45 minutes with fresh thyme and whole pieces of garlic). Then we dressed this with a homemade dressing with 1 part dijon mustard, 1 part red wine vinegar and a 2 parts evoo.
We have also eaten plenty of salad. I think the best ones have been made with the green lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes (the black tomatoes are especially delicious), peanuts and green onions. We like to add about a very tiny amount of poppy seed dressing to the salad. Yum!
Another delicious and simple to make meal was cooked asparagus with a fried egg on top. This pairs so nicely together and is quite delicious.
With the red peppers we cut them in half and stuffed them with cherry tomato halves and drizzled with olive oil. We let this bake uncovered for about 45 minutes and it melted in the mouth. If you like cheese you can add some goat cheese, of if you prefer a lighter meal you can add some pepper and basil to the finished product.
The one thing I was having some trouble with is finding ways to store the vegetables so that they last until we can finish them. So far we have found that the best way to store green leafy lettuce is to wrap the whole head of lettuce with some paper towel and keep it in the crisper. With green onion the best storage method we have found to keep them crispy tasting is to put them in a glass in the fridge and cover the white ends in water.
Until next week... Bon apetit!
- green onions
- lettuce (boston and green)
- spinach
- asparagus
- rhubarb
As well, we have been able to pick up some fresh Ontario strawberries at our local farmer's market, peppers (red, yellow, orange and shepherd), tomatoes (an assortment of colours) and some more lettuce too! It seems we can't get enough of the fresh Ontario green lettuce - it sure is delicious!
One of our most delicious meals was baked miniature potatoes and spinach with herbs (baked for about 45 minutes with fresh thyme and whole pieces of garlic). Then we dressed this with a homemade dressing with 1 part dijon mustard, 1 part red wine vinegar and a 2 parts evoo.
We have also eaten plenty of salad. I think the best ones have been made with the green lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes (the black tomatoes are especially delicious), peanuts and green onions. We like to add about a very tiny amount of poppy seed dressing to the salad. Yum!
Another delicious and simple to make meal was cooked asparagus with a fried egg on top. This pairs so nicely together and is quite delicious.
With the red peppers we cut them in half and stuffed them with cherry tomato halves and drizzled with olive oil. We let this bake uncovered for about 45 minutes and it melted in the mouth. If you like cheese you can add some goat cheese, of if you prefer a lighter meal you can add some pepper and basil to the finished product.
The one thing I was having some trouble with is finding ways to store the vegetables so that they last until we can finish them. So far we have found that the best way to store green leafy lettuce is to wrap the whole head of lettuce with some paper towel and keep it in the crisper. With green onion the best storage method we have found to keep them crispy tasting is to put them in a glass in the fridge and cover the white ends in water.
Until next week... Bon apetit!
Week 1 - meals from our basket
Sorry for the late update! We made some delicious big salads with our farm share goodies during the first week. We made an asparagus salad and also some great green salads too. The lettuce was delicious and almost had a buttery flavour. It melted in your mouth and you hardly needed any dressing.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Week 1 - What's in our Basket?
Looking forward to eating some great local food this week!
We just received an e-mail from Cooper's Farm with what we can expect to see in our basket this week. This week we will be receiving:
We use a lot of cumin and other spices found in Indian dishes in our cooking - and haven't used much thyme or oregano in the past. I will likely be drying most of these herbs and take on a new challenge and learn some recipes that will allow us to use these herbs. One thing I am planning to do is to try making and drinking thyme tea!
If you can have any ideas for recipes please share them with me.
We just received an e-mail from Cooper's Farm with what we can expect to see in our basket this week. This week we will be receiving:
- thyme, oregano, sage
- red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce
- asparagus
- fingerling potatoes or russet potatoes.
We use a lot of cumin and other spices found in Indian dishes in our cooking - and haven't used much thyme or oregano in the past. I will likely be drying most of these herbs and take on a new challenge and learn some recipes that will allow us to use these herbs. One thing I am planning to do is to try making and drinking thyme tea!
If you can have any ideas for recipes please share them with me.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Asparagus Salad
Tonight we ate asparagus salad that we made from ingredients we bought at the local farmers market and also with ingredients we have in our cupboards and fridge/freezer at home. It was simple and delicious - probably mostly because the produce was so fresh. Although the recipe doesn't follow the 100 mile diet to the fullest, it is at least partially on the way and we made the recipe using ingredients we still have on hand at home. We plan to at the very least keep the ingredients we have on hand until they are used up. The 100 mile diet is about being conscious of what we eat and where it comes from, and we shouldn't be tossing out our stores of food as that is not very environmentally conscious. Instead, we will be making better decisions as we move forward and trying to buy local where possible at least for the summer and fall. Below is the recipe I concocted:
Asparagus Salad (as a meal for 2 or side dish for 4)
- cooked asparagus - fresh from the farmer's market (approx. 1.5 bunches)
- cooked corn (straight out of the freezer) (approx. 1 cup)
- quartered cherry tomatoes - fresh from the farmer's market (approx. 8 tomatoes)
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and toss with some lemon juice, pepper and butter.
Sorry there are no photos - we felt like eating something light and the salad was beautiful to look at (very colourful) and tasted delicious too.
Asparagus Salad (as a meal for 2 or side dish for 4)
- cooked asparagus - fresh from the farmer's market (approx. 1.5 bunches)
- cooked corn (straight out of the freezer) (approx. 1 cup)
- quartered cherry tomatoes - fresh from the farmer's market (approx. 8 tomatoes)
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and toss with some lemon juice, pepper and butter.
Sorry there are no photos - we felt like eating something light and the salad was beautiful to look at (very colourful) and tasted delicious too.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
And so the journey begins... On Becoming a Vegetarian Locavore
So, what inspired me to become a locavore?
Over the past year I have been reading up on and then trying to do things that are better for the environment and for our health. Gillian Deacon's book "Green for Life" has pretty much become our bible for greening our lives - especially when it comes to cleaning.
The main challenge we ran into when it comes to cleaning was finding somewhere that consistently stocks and sells Borax - a product that Gillian Deacon talks about for using to clean bathrooms, floors and many other purposes too. In case you are in Ontario and are trying to find Borax, I would suggest visiting your local Metro grocery store and looking in the laundry aisle. That's where I was able to find it for us and it really works quite well as a product for cleaning the bathroom.
In addition to Gill Deacon's book, I recently read:
These books and also some fabulous former coworkers introduced me to the idea of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm Share. A Farm Share is where you have the opportunity to buy a share in a farm's bounty and/or risks. You pay a set fee to the farm and then receive a share of the farm's produce each week during the growing season. Each CSA is unique, as each farm grows different crops and will have different arrangement for receiving shares, length of season and the cost of the shares too. As I understand it, CSA farmers are generally dedicated to sustainable agriculture so that the land will have nutrients and/or value for generations to come.
I had thought for a long time that this sounded like a fabulous idea, but didn't realize that I pass 2 farms offering farm shares on my way to/from work each day. This weekend we made a decision and a commitment to support a local farm by purchasing a farm share and deciding to eat local produce for 23 weeks starting the first week of June. We recognize this is going to result in a huge shift in the way we think about food. Instead of going to the store and purchasing ingredients for the meal we plan to make, we will be making recipes based on the local produce we receive as part of our farm share. As we cook only vegetarian meals at home, we will be making only vegetarian meals. We will not be strictly following the 100 mile diet for all things, however we will be following it as best we can at least until November, which I understand is easiest to do over the summer and fall months, however, it is at the very least a start for us, and is far better than the produce we have eaten in previous summer and autumn months that has been shipped in from around the world.
If you would like to know more about CSA's and/or purchase a farm share in Ontario, Canada visit: http://csafarms.ca. This directory will help you to find out about local CSA's and from there you can research your options and make a decision.
I am hoping through this blog to document and share our experiences and recipes for eating local and am also hoping that if you are doing the same thing that you can share your experiences and recipes with us! For now... Bon Apetit!
Oh, and by the way...
Over the past year I have been reading up on and then trying to do things that are better for the environment and for our health. Gillian Deacon's book "Green for Life" has pretty much become our bible for greening our lives - especially when it comes to cleaning.
The main challenge we ran into when it comes to cleaning was finding somewhere that consistently stocks and sells Borax - a product that Gillian Deacon talks about for using to clean bathrooms, floors and many other purposes too. In case you are in Ontario and are trying to find Borax, I would suggest visiting your local Metro grocery store and looking in the laundry aisle. That's where I was able to find it for us and it really works quite well as a product for cleaning the bathroom.
In addition to Gill Deacon's book, I recently read:
100 Mile Dietand am currently reading:
by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
by Barbara Kingsolver
Locavore
by Sarah Elton
These books and also some fabulous former coworkers introduced me to the idea of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm Share. A Farm Share is where you have the opportunity to buy a share in a farm's bounty and/or risks. You pay a set fee to the farm and then receive a share of the farm's produce each week during the growing season. Each CSA is unique, as each farm grows different crops and will have different arrangement for receiving shares, length of season and the cost of the shares too. As I understand it, CSA farmers are generally dedicated to sustainable agriculture so that the land will have nutrients and/or value for generations to come.
I had thought for a long time that this sounded like a fabulous idea, but didn't realize that I pass 2 farms offering farm shares on my way to/from work each day. This weekend we made a decision and a commitment to support a local farm by purchasing a farm share and deciding to eat local produce for 23 weeks starting the first week of June. We recognize this is going to result in a huge shift in the way we think about food. Instead of going to the store and purchasing ingredients for the meal we plan to make, we will be making recipes based on the local produce we receive as part of our farm share. As we cook only vegetarian meals at home, we will be making only vegetarian meals. We will not be strictly following the 100 mile diet for all things, however we will be following it as best we can at least until November, which I understand is easiest to do over the summer and fall months, however, it is at the very least a start for us, and is far better than the produce we have eaten in previous summer and autumn months that has been shipped in from around the world.
If you would like to know more about CSA's and/or purchase a farm share in Ontario, Canada visit: http://csafarms.ca. This directory will help you to find out about local CSA's and from there you can research your options and make a decision.
I am hoping through this blog to document and share our experiences and recipes for eating local and am also hoping that if you are doing the same thing that you can share your experiences and recipes with us! For now... Bon Apetit!
Oh, and by the way...
A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, or 150 miles usually for ecological reasons. (From: http://www.urbandictionary.com)
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