Abracadabra!

These...

plus ground moose and pork...

...turned in to this!

EVERYTHING local except a splash of soy sauce (out of worcestershire sauce) and paprika! There's also chicken stock in the dish, that we made with the left overs of our Dalew chicken a couple weeks ago.

Shepard's Pie isn't the most glamourous dish, but with so many high quality, fresh ingredients, it was about as gourmet as it could ever get!

(I'll let you in on a secret...notice the bag full of cauliflower in the first picture? See that wonderful mashed potato topping on the pie? Even Keith didn't know! Shhhhh!)

Here's the topping recipe:

Shhhhhhannon A's Mashed Potatoes

• 2 medium new potatoes, cut in to 1" pieces
• 1 small cauliflower, trimmed
• 1 cup milk 
• 2 tbsp sour cream (not low fat)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup grated cheddar
• salt and pepper to taste

Cover potatoes with water in a large saucepan. Salt water. Bring to a boil. Add cauliflower florets when water starts to boil. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until both veggies are tender. Drain them off in a colander, saving some of the water in a measuring cup. About 1 cup will do. 

In the same pan, warm the milk and butter, on medium heat and add sour cream and cheese. Stir constantly until the cheese is melted and the sauce becomes smooth. Put the veggies back in to the pan and mash them with a potato masher. If you need more liquid, (I didn't) use the reserved water. If you want it really smooth, which you probably do, whip them with a hand mixer or an immersion blender (which in my opinion EVERYONE should own!!). Season with salt and pepper. Eat 'em like mashed potatoes or put them on Shepard's Pie.

As for the the rest of the SP, brown the meat in a dutch oven or big skillet. If I'd had onions, the'd have gone in with. While your waiting, turn on your oven to 400 F. When the meat is about 3/4 of the way done, add the chopped carrots. When the meat is done, add chopped green and yellow beans, turn the heat off and put the lid on. Heat another pan on medium and add about 2 tbsp of butter. When melted and hot, stir in 2 tbsp flour and cook, stirring constant for a minute or two. Whisk in 1 cup of chicken stock (any kind of stock would do) until thickened. Season with what ever you have...worcestershire, soy, salt and pepper, etc. Pour it over the meat mixture and stir it together. Add a couple of handful of green peas and then turn in all out in to a large casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes, sprinkle with paprika. Switch your oven to broil and put the casserole under neath. Take it out when the top starts to brown a bit...don't burn the paprika!!

I think this would be really good done with a Mexican twist as well...salsa and corn in with the meat and monterey jack cheese in the topping. Possibilities are endless! 

LETTUCE BREAKTHROUGH

    I'd all but decided never to grow my own lettuce again, I never get heads of lettuce just random leaves that wilt within hours of being picked. This week I cut a good bunch of Buttercrunch lettuce from my garden with one last plan to make lettuce growing work for me.  I managed to outfox the wilting and now have crisp fresh lettuce waiting for me all week. Here's how I managed it:


1. I filled a retired ice cream bucket one third full with cool water.
2. I pulled the lettuce out by the root and put it in the bucket, roots in the water.


The lettuce in the bucket looked like a bouquet. I finished some yard work and went into the house, where I employed the long forgotten salad sac! My salad sac looks like a white terry cloth towel sewed up into a drawstring bag, my Mom put it in my stocking a few Christmases ago, purchased at Kitchen Bits. 


3. Once inside, I prepared the salad sac: rinse the whole bag under water and ring it dry so that it feels cool and slightly damp.
4. I cleaned the lettuce and chopped it up.
5. Put the lettuce in the bag.

I've been munching on this lettuce like a rabbit. Nothing beats growing your own food, I absolutely love when I serve something I've planted, picked and prepared myself.  When Terry says "umm, those were great green beans" I take a special pride in replying- I made them myself. 

Does it cost more to Eat Local?

Picked up our CSA box tonight and found it filled to the brim! I swear Wednesday nights are like Christmas for me!!


This week we got:

• 2 heads of lettuce
• baby beets
• yellow and green beans
• peas
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• green onions
• CARROTS!!!!
• potatoes
• 2 zucchinis (YEAH!)
• pickling cukes

I could have also taken a head of cabbage and pak choy but I passed this time around. I was so hoping to win the tomato lottery this week (if you bring in a clean bin you get to draw out of a hat to see if you are the lucky winner of a ripe tomato) but I will just have to be patient and wait for more to arrive. Soon enough I'm sure.

The kids and I hit up ELS before going to Pick-Up and I bought:

• a giant sirloin roast
• stewing beef (which I will marinate and stir-fry to use up the snow peas)
• beef bones for stock
• yogourt
• sour cream
• chevre
• pastrami 
• kielbasa
• cheddar smokies
• butter
• 2 snack sized bags of Nana's Kettle Corn
• garlic and herb gnocchi

I forget the exact price, but it came to just under $70. I was recently asked at ELS if I was finding it more expensive to Eat Local, and I really couldn't give an asnwer.  Right now it certainly feels like it's cheaper, because the CSA is paid for, as is the pig worth of pork in the freezer, the fish Keith caught and the moose given to us by a friend. 


But, to break it down, I figure the CSA probably costs me about $50-$60 a week or so (depending on the length of the season) including my eggs. I'm not sure what we've been spending on food at the grocery store, because there are always cleaning products, clothes, and what have you on my bill. I'm also buying Keith's lunch stuff (buns, lunch meat, snack sized apple sauce, V8 juice), and I have to buy lactose free milk for Cameron, and then things like olive oil, vinegar, sugar, in-season fruit, cream, crackers and bread when needed. And then, depending on what's in season, I might be buying $50 worth of strawberries, tomatoes or apples, or slightly less than that in peaches, cucumbers, etc. But these of course get eaten over the space of a year, so weekly it works out to a $1.

So, although my numbers might range from $150-$200+, which might seem high to some for a family of 4, what I do know is that for the most part, it is the complete cost for most of my food. So many processed, industrially grown and fast foods don't take in to account the price they will ultimately cost us in environmental damage, future health-care costs, and all the government subsidies that are paid out to industrial farmers, thus paid for in our taxes. Pay now or pay later. :-)

                                                     _____________

And so, dinner tonight was pan fried potatoes, garlic and butter zucchini, steamed yellow beans and Dalew roast chicken. Heaven. Kids asked for seconds and thirds....but there wasn't any left! Note to self: cook more food when it's THIS good. :-)

I want to end today with a neat little moment from yesterday. We had dinner at a friend's place so I brought a salad and a bumble-berry upside down cake (I'll post the recipe tomorrow!!). I was making up my salad dressing and tearing several big beautiful basil when Sydney, who is 7, walked in to the kitchen. She took a deep breath in, her eyes about popped out of her head and with this mystified voice asked me what smelled so wonderful! I just about burst with pride. My kid appreciates basil. :-) I told her I loved her and gave her a hug. This project is worth every penny!

Book Club and Blueberries

       I had a difficult time dragging myself away from the lake yesterday, if not for Book Club and the opportunity to hang out with terrific friends and discuss a delightful summer book The Forgotten Garden  by Kate Morton. I would have stayed dockside.  I did however linger at the lake long enough that when I got home I had a tough time scrounging up a local menu for my guests.

      
          We had our meeting in my backyard around a little fire. I served a mixed platter of Thornloe cheeses (medium cheddar and garden vegetable mozzarella), Some Burt's Farm pepperoni, carrots, cucumber, and green and yellow beans with a yoghurt chive and cumin dip. 


           As for the not local foods, the usual suspects for me- bread, nacho chips and embarrassingly: salsa. If I'd thought ahead I could have bought salsa at ELS. We also had ice cream cones- again if I'd planned ahead I would've bought local at the ELS. I can get Thornloe cheese, Farquhar's butter and chocolate milk, but I can't get the milk or ice cream. 

          While I was at camp, Terry did some exploring behind the lawn on our property only to discover a goldmine of blueberry bushes!  We've lived here for some time, but have been preoccupied with the kids  and whatever... Anyhow, Terry cut some trails so we could bring the kids along and pick some berries. Which is exactly what we did today.

         
I want to make blueberry everything!

Home And Back To Eating Local

We are now home from our week long trip to our family cottage and ready to get back in to our project. I  actually missed it, while I was gone! I expected the break from planning and cooking our meals would be, well, a break! I was surprised to find out it wasn't always so. I actually felt uptight about the food we were eating all week and wasn't always able to completely enjoy them. 


Truth be told, I was wishing I hadn't even told my family we were doing this project. I knew I wasn't going to get much support, so I don't know why I did.  I ended up with the hyper-vigilance of someone who wants to bust you when they think you are being "bad" (You're cheating! Olive oil isn't local!), or ridicule (no, this meal isn't local, we aren't hippies...said my Dad when my 4 year old asked if his meal was local). I think my Mom was ready to humour me, even though I didn't ask her to, but I could see she totally didn't understand it either. I was setting out our feast of ham, potato salad and fresh peas and I commented, sort of longingly, that corn on the cob would be really good with this meal. She was telling me how nice the corn was she'd been buying from the grocery store...the one that was already pealed and wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam plate. I told her that I would just wait until it was in season locally and do the meal again and she just shook her head and said that it all sounded like a lot of work. That floored me. How was waiting a lot of work? Wasn't it less work? Eat what's growing in the backyard now, and then eat the corn fresh off the plant when it's ready. Sigh! 


I let it go but it was a big realization that industrial farming and the ability to ship anything, anywhere, any time of the year, has totally messed up our instincts. 


Our non-local meals tasted fine of course, there was just something missing (or added depending on the food). I think it was the lack of mindfulness that made the meals, one especially so, less satisfying than they could have been. None of the ingredients were sought out (or grown for that matter) with care. Everything was store bought, many coming from a can, that came from who knows were. (Mushrooms in a can? I will never understand that.) The meat in particular was hard to get passed. Where did it come from? Under what conditions was it grown and produced? Again, the lack of understanding was astounding. I was asked if my kids would eat chicken seasoned with lemon-pepper. Before I could answer, a bottle of Mrs. Dash was pulled out and I was shown there was no salt in it....as if that was the offensive ingredient! Politeness though, and the extreme dread of "getting in to it" with my family, made me bite my tongue and just eat it. It was just for a few days, and we could get back to doing it our way when we got home. 


So, here we are. The fridge is stuffed with the box of veggies Shannon D. picked up for me from the CSA while I was away. I have to make my shopping list for the week still and take care of that. I'm going to be home for three full weeks now, so I'm going to make more of an effort to cook some bigger meals, so I can share my recipes and take full advantage of the goodies Dalew's has grown for us. 


Shannon A.

Grocery List, Freezing and Supper

         Tomorrow I am off to the Eat Local Shop and Northern Flavours to pick up my weekly groceries. People often ask me if I am spending more money on food this summer, a worry that I shared at the outset. So much about eating locally produced food is about how I think about food, and I don't just mean the politics of food and the environmental impact of transporting and packaging food across the province or planet. Eating local means I need to seriously plan ahead, I go out once to get groceries for the week and when we run out, we wait till Friday. This is very liberating for me, I was terrible for stopping at the grocery store three or four times a week- needing only one thing and leaving with a bagful of stuff. I am spending less money on food this summer. Prices are usually comparable, occasionally more, but never so much so that I do without.  


     Grocery List-

• milk (2 bags) Farquhars
• butter 
• sour cream
• cheese Thornloe
• cheese curds
• cranberry juice
• lettuce
• cucumber
• green/yellow beans
• broccoli
• ground pork
• smokies
• 2 loaves of bread
• flour- please, please, please let there be white flour
• maybe blueberries
• radishes
• carrots

      The other shift in my food thinking is how brief this season is, I often worry about the fall and winter when all this lovely freshness will be a memory. I am trying planning for the long dark season ahead, today I chopped up the remainder of my radishes and prepared them for freezing. I don't have a food packager so I use ziploc bags and stick a straw in the corner. I zip it shut leaving the straw in, then I suck out all the air and quickly withdraw the straw and close the zip.  I am planning to buy twice as much of freezable produce as I would regularly, one to eat, one to freeze for winter.

             Tonight we roasted a bird, potatoes and enjoyed it with a cucumber salad. I love chicken on the BBQ, but tonight our propane tank ran out, luckily my strong and handsome husband was home to haul the back up tank from the garage to the deck- a job that would have had me cursing a blue streak.

    

This was our dinner before it hit our plates.

A Quick Update While In Civilization

It is rainy today so we are in town doing some laundry and errands. We've had beautiful weather so far this week which has lent itself to picking bucket loads of blueberries. We've made blueberry jam, blueberry upside-down cake, blueberry-peach crisp and eaten blueberries in our cereal, and blueberries right off the plants while picking. Keith had to go back home to work yesterday, so he brought several bags full with him to wash and freeze before people started eating those too!!

Our Eat Local meals went pretty well. We made our own pizza, ate the pickerel we caught last time we were up here, and a ham from Dalew's. We brought veggies from the farm with us as well, and stopped at Thornloe Cheese to pick up a beautiful variety of cheeses....smoked mozzarella and sundried tomato and herb being our new favourites. We also picked up a loaf of fresh bread, which like Shannon D. pointed out in one of her last posts, is a heck of a lot better than buying from the grocery store. I'm almost out of my precious eggs from Dalew's now (I actually felt a little posesive about them when my Dad pulled some out for his lunch...the're my eggs!! I forgot to mention to him that fresh eggs are hard to peal when boiled, he was more than a little frustrated with them, so I don't think he'll be touching them again), which meant I had to pick up free-range eggs from the grocery store today. I shook my head when I read the package...free-range being they live in a barn and can move around as they please. Nothing like the hens we see at Dalew's who are out in the grass eating bugs, soaking up the sun and doing all the things chickens like to do. Sigh. Shannon D. is picking up our next dozen eggs from Dalew's tonight though, so there will be more in my fridge when we get home.

Well the washing machine just finished, must go transfer to the dryer. Not sure if I can check in again before Sunday but I'll be looking forward to Shannon D's posts when I get home!

Shannon A.

Roasted Radishes? Who Knew?

           Before dinner last night, I realized that with the exception of a consistent local egg provider and white flour, I have nearly mastered dairy, meat and grains. My top three favourite food groups. I don't take to vegetables and fruits naturally, they honestly never occur to me until half way through dinner preparations, and then I scramble to throw a salad together or cut up veggies. I have always envied the seemingly natural way vegetables appear as part of the overall meal plan when I visit my friends. 
         

      This is a borrowed image- I left my camera at the cottage- but these are exactly the way mine looked, honest.

   
    I started to realize that my success had not accounted for vegetables and fruit. So I made more of an effort, I steamed some peas I bought at the farmers market at the Eat Local booth and finally roasted the radishes I had harvested last week-ish.  I mixed the radishes in olive oil, salt and pepper, put them in a foil pouch and put it on the BBQ while I grilled 2 pork loin chops from Dalew Farm. My son and husband ate the peas, and my daughter and I gobbled up the radishes. I loved the peppery flavour of the radishes.  My garden always provides plenty of radishes and I usually give a lot of them away because I don't care for them raw- now I'll be freezing the extra for fall- there must be a delicious radish soup waiting to be discovered.


 The pork chops were divine.


         We also had rice- so not local, but I missed it so much and we bought it months ago in a 10 pound bag, I also miss risotto, penne pasta, green peppers, and banana and chocolate pudding for dessert. As I approach the halfway mark of our Eat Local Dinner Summer project I find things differently challenging. I know I'll have tomatoes soon, my garden is generous with tomatoes. I'll buy more tomatoes locally to can for the fall and winter, but what about the others- what is the most responsible way to have buttered chicken, sliced bread, or mushroom risotto? For the things for which there is no alternative, what then?

Seek and ye shall find- Northern Flavours!

        I've had a few questions lately about my lead on a local hotdog- Creative Meats, I wondered why their products weren't sold at the ELS shop. This Friday, when I was doing my weekly grocery at ELS I asked, and the staff person told me about Northern Flavours at 106 Beech Street, Sudbury, a delightful little cafe that specializes in northern foods and products. Baked goods can be purchased as well as meat from Creative Meats. I was so excited! I bought some pepperoni and bacon as well as bread and ice cream cones for the kids. Turns out I can place an order by calling Creative Meats and they will deliver it to Northern Flavours where I can pick it up, just like that!
       
       This really drives home my point about eating local- it's not what I buy, but rather where I buy that makes the difference. Eating Local hasn't limited me nearly as much as I had expected. Once I found Eat Local, it all seemed so much easier, to add Northern Flavours means I have the luxury of two amazing choices.


      Last week, I came to the realization that I am not likely to bake my own bread. A lovely idea, definitely an occasional treat, but as my primary source of bread- no dice. So where to get my bread? I asked the staff at Eat Local for some suggestions.  There is no clear, as of yet, baker in town who uses local flour, butter, eggs etc, so the next step is to support a local business and buy fresh bread rather than bread shipped from miles and miles away. I bought a loaf at Northern Flavours, which was made locally.
My thinking on this is as follows- the environmental cost of shipping flour, sugar etc. to a bakery who will bake bread locally and, without all the junk to make it last two weeks on a shelf, is less than buying bread shipped baked and packaged from out of town.


     I was away this weekend, but had done my shopping before I left. When I arrived at camp I stocked the fridge with my weekly groceries and every meal had its lion's share of local foods. It was a great weekend away, camping lent itself well to being away from home but still managing to eat local. I can't wait to hear how Mrs Allen's trip s going.

Home for Supper- local food, not local condiments

     Dining in the summer has its own brand of casual. I haven't posted a whole lot of detailed dinner menus because often we will roll into the house shortly before dinner and have grilled cheese, or last nights chicken in sandwiches or a standby recipe using local fare.  I had anticipated that I would have to change my cooking in order to eat local, but that hasn't been the case- we are changing where we buy food more than what we buy.


     Last night was one of those rare evenings; where a lovely calm comes over the house, my husband is home from his night shift and has had a chance to rest. Cooking dinner takes on a new pleasure because all of us will be at the table together. It's the sort of night that inspires me to shake out fresh linen from the drawer and enjoy a glass of wine with my meal.  We had mushroom kebabs, perogies on the BBQ, cheddar smokies, and a lettuce cucumber salad. I had such high hopes for this meal, I laid out the food and photographed it, you'll notice I separated the local food from the "not local." 

      The cheddar smokies from the Burt's farms have become a weekly ritual around here. They are fully cooked and only need be warmed on the BBQ to be ready. The meat is beautifully seasoned, garlicky and peppery. The cheddar adds a smooth saltiness that makes my mouth water. Terry and I agreed that what sets these smokies ahead of all others is that they do not rely on the cheese to make them delicious, and this week we'll pick up some regular smokies just to prove it!
     
      With all the fabulous summer weather, I prefer to cook on the BBQ, so I had a very clever idea (I thought). I put the perogies in a foil pocket with some butter and put them on the grill. I had recently saw an article where perogies were cooked on the BBQ on skewers with Kielbasa, can you even imagine? I figured my idea wasn't far off. Wrong! I left them piled so they stuck together and the middles were still sticky and doughy- fixable enough, but a little foresight would have made a big difference. Next week I'll try the skewer, or lay them flat instead. 


     Salad, was too heavy on the endive, so bitter. 


    I brushed a lemon, soy sauce, and ginger mixture on the mushrooms- next time I'll marinate ahead of time, they were way too dry.


   In all, it was not the food I had envisioned- but I shared it with my family, at the dinner table in the middle of the week with no rushing at all.  When I had the food at the table, I felt pleased that all the food was locally produced, the only shame I had was the sour cream- poor planning, I could have bought that at the Eat Local shop but forgot and didn't want to drive back into town. The salad dressings are leftover from before the project began- and are a punishment in their own right- flavourless and oily, should have made my own.


    As for the hooch, Terry is out of home brew, for now. And well, I love French and Australian red wines. I mean I did buy the tetra pack. I hate wasting food and wine, and bad wine will vex me for days! So, dear reader, please suggest a good ontario red- cabernet sauvignon SVP.   Send recipes of salad dressings, rubs and marinades using local ingredients- help me out!!

On The Road Again...

I didn't take in to account the amount of travelling we do in the summer when I took on this project and now we've run in to a conundrum...how we will work Eat Local dinners in to our stay at the family cottage over the next week or so? We take turns cooking dinner, so I have no say in the menu for half the week. I also have to feed three other family members, one of which is an incredibly picky eater and one isn't a fan of veggies. Keith suggested we Eat Local for the dinners we have to cook and then Eat Local for either breakfast or lunch, which are usually informal eat-what-you-want on the other days. Sounds like a reasonable compromise to me. This of course means I'm going to have to pack a lot of food from home to take with us....there won't be much available where we're going. We are looking forward to stopping in to the Thornloe Cheese Factory on our way by and I want to stop in at the big buffalo in Earlton to see what I can find at Boreal Cuisine (their website is down right now), a small shop that offers local food and products.  Hopefully there will be some small farm stands open between here and there as well. Luckily we received some more substantial goodies in our CSA box last night, like potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower and I stocked up on flour, butter, honey, canned tomatoes and sour cream at ELS.  I roasted a chicken from Dalew's (yummy, yummy) and we are going to take one of their big hams with us. It's also blueberry season and our cottage is surrounded by them, so I foresee us eating a lot of those...poor us!!  I think we will do perfectly fine. I will only have Internet access a few times over the week, so I will update the blog when I can.


Dinner last night was left-over pork...and Nana's Kettle corn. ;-)


Oh...and one more interesting development....I received an e-mail yesterday from Megan Thompson at the CBC asking if we'd be interested in doing a radio interview about our project! How exciting!!


So off we go on another adventure. I hope Shannon D. has a lot to report while I'm gone!


Shannon A.

Two Weeks Completed

We are back home from our little family road trip and happy to be home eating real food again. I can't believe I actually missed cooking while we were gone! Eating local just wasn't an option on this trip, although we were happy to discover the Food Studio cafe at the Royal Ontario Museum where we had lunch was serving up local fare!


Dinner tonight was BBQ pork chops and steamed peas from Dalew's and local potatoes with herbs from our garden. I made apple pesto to go with...just 3 tablespoons of my own apple butter and basil, rosemary and parsley from the garden, EVOO and salt pulsed smooth in my Magic Bullet.


I'm so happy to hear that Shannon D. found eggs. I don't know what we would do without local eggs! I'm also thrilled to find out we aren't the only people who think about the hens that produce eggs of such colour variety and shape. We're pretty sure we can tell which hens are prudes and which ones "get around". ;-)


Shannon A.

Questions Answered

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about food lately. Ok, who am I kidding? I always spend a lot of time thinking about food! Most of the year, however, the majority of my thinking about food is either: "what am I going to put in the kid's lunch boxes?" or "what can I feed the kids quickly, and without creating too many dishes and still be out the door for hockey/dance/Brownies on time". For the summer though, there is none of that. No food needs to be packed so it fits in to little boxes which need to stay fresh and edible for 4-6 hours, and we seldom need to eat dinner in any hurry or at a set time. I get the opportunity to slow down and switch my food thinking to leisurely browsing my cookbooks, and food themed magazines and books. I can browse the farmer's markets and plan meals around what's good instead of what's quick. I can take the time to evaluate what we've been doing and plan to do better. This summer though, with this eat local project, I'm thinking about food in ways I never have before and it's brought up two big questions. 1) Sometimes we have to make the choice between buying local and organic...which is better? and 2)Which "foreign" products are we deciding to let in to our kitchen and why?

I was hoping to find an easy answer to these questions in The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, but I'm more than half way done and I don't have them yet. Are the strawberries I picked down the road better than the organic ones from California at the YIG? So much of the organic products and produce we get up here have been shipped from so far away, using fossil fuels to grow, harvest, package and ship them, that calling them good for the environment is a stretch. They may not have pesticide or fertilizer residue on them, but instead they are bathed in oil and I know all the things that go along with oil...like terrorism, wars, pollution, explosions on oil rigs that then gush in to the ocean for months. I think the answer is that there is no easy answer when you have to chose between the two. 


However, I don't think anyone can argue that organic and local is by far the best choice. Many of the farmers and producers who have joined ELS are doing their best to farm as ecologically sound as possible, even if they aren't completely organic. We are fortunate enough to have access to a wide variety of these products, so as long as I'm choosing these items most of the time, I will try not to worry about the deeper implications when I have to chose between the two. Taste, I can assure you, will be the deciding factor when I do anyways. There is absolutely no point in paying good money for organic strawtastingberries from California on principal, when there are fresh, juicy strawberries down the road. Maybe if we stopped settling for crap organics from the Southern US and started demanding and be more willing to pay for local organic produce, we wouldn't have to chose anymore. And on top of all that, I would much rather see my money going to the Lewington Family in Lavigne, who send me pictures of their new human and animal babies and invitations to see their farm along with the lettuce they provide me each week, than the CEO's at Earthbound farms and Costco.


As for the second question (which in a round-a-bout way was brought up by "R" who commented on the very first post of this blog): What products are we making exceptions for in this project? Well, this is how we see it....this is just a project, not a punishment. We aren't being forced to do this by anyone. We haven't sworn off eating anything. The whole point of taking this on, was to take a closer look at what we are feeding ourselves. Could we make better choices? Of course! Could we be spending our money helping out others in our community and in return receiving food that would hopefully be better for us, the environment and just simply taste better? Of course! Do olives grown in Northern Ontario? Of course not!


There are simply some items that make perfect sense to import from other countries...like olive oil, sugar, chocolate, coffee and spices. They taste really good. Some have their own unique and important nutritional benefits. They are consumed in small quantities. When there is a local substitute, we are trying to use them....I for one have been using maple syrup or honey rather than sugar when possible. But, sometimes it just isn't possible. We've also tried to cut back. I found a source for canola oil in Ontario, so when suitable, I use it over olive oil. And I'm sorry...you will not get me to give up coffee or chocolate, but I will buy fare trade when possible!


What we are trying to do is to source out and buy locally every opportunity we get. Meat from a local farm instead of at Costco. Asparagus from the backyard rather than Peru. Making blueberry crisp rather than banana bread. Making our own pasta with locally milled flour and farm eggs, rather than buying a box of spaghetti from the grocery store shelf. We are trying to be much more conscious of what we are putting in to our bodies, and enjoying the process. This is about learning not about doing everything perfectly. 


Shannon A.

Farm Fresh Eggs= Heaven

      I love fried eggs- yes I do, love 'em. It took me years to perfect the delicate technique of flipping an egg in the pan so that the yolk won't break. I love runny yolked eggs with crispy whites, fried over easy, especially with a dark rye buttered toast. Maybe add some crispy fried bacon and strong hot coffee to round out a terrific breakfast- mondo delicious.  But for me, the eggs are the star of the meal, the head liner, the draw if you will, without the eggs, the others aren't nearly as delicious.


     Last week we sussed out a farmer who sold eggs, an older couple not far from my house. I suggested Terry take my bike to their house to get the eggs, but we haven't attached a basket yet, and I suspect once we do Terry won't want to ride the bike anymore. Anyhow- these eggs are different, each one has its own unique shape, size and colour.  Some are long pale putty coloured ovals and others are squat bumpy brown spheres. I get a little giggle imagining the hens checking out each others eggs, commenting on the lovely little features of their friend's eggs- or the roosters joking; all eggs look the same. In my imagination the chickens are exactly like the hens from Chicken Run:

            These eggs aren't just beautiful on the outside- no sir, they are they most delicious eggs I have ever tasted. The yolk is bright yellow and flavourful. I am a bit of a salt hound- but I don't need to salt these lovelies.  My daughter tried to sneak an egg from my plate this morning and I nearly had a fit! MY EGG!   

See, aren't they perfect?

Pies, jam and more jam

          It really is a thrill to know that even one person has viewed this blog and if you're visiting for the first time today, then welcome, welcome welcome! Please leave comments, suggestions, tips and RECIPES.  But just to be clear, Mrs Allen and I are just two ladies, chief grocery buyers in our homes, trying to do our best to eat local suppers all summer long, we aren't always perfect, but we are learning a lot.

              We had a banner day in the house yesterday. From the strawberries we picked at Lise's strawberry farm we made one strawberry rhubarb pie, eight 500ml jars of freezer jam and had some to freeze for future smoothies.

          Disregard the date stamp on the photo, I never remember to reset it when I change the batteries or any time after that.  This picture is important because I am a terrible huller of strawberries, Often my husband (whose parents were both farmers) will come into the kitchen to see how I have lopped off the tops of the strawberries carelessly and wastefully. He saves them and trims off all the usable berry and uses it in his own smoothies.  I felt very differently about these strawberries, having picked them myself and having become more aware of food politics. I felt quite smug about how little I had wasted and couldn't wait to show off when Terry came into the kitchen. 

             

             I called Mrs. Allen to ask how she hulled hers, she has a special tool. Mrs Allen has the best stocked kitchen ever, whenever I need something, she's my gal. Since she was using her huller, I consulted my "go to" cook book- a Betty Crocker Cookbook given to me one Christmas. What this cookbook lacks in glamour it makes up for in useful information.  Such as this technique using a drinking straw to hull a strawberry:

Also yesterday, I went to my own garden to check things out. I planted late this year and reluctantly. I was feeling really bogged down this spring and didn't much feel like gardening. I am so glad that I managed to get it done,  My first harvest was yesterday- radishes: red and icicle.

    
Look at these beauties-  I plan to roast them for supper tomorrow- a new recipe- will report on that later.


         Lastly, I found a local egg seller. Terry bought a dozen today, saw the chickens running about and everything. The farmer had gathered 11 eggs and when Terry arrived to buy a dozen, the farmer went to the coop to collect another to make it a dozen.  Local eggs tomorrow morning, Make mine over easy!

We're Famous! Well, sort of...

I was pleasantly surprised to find the link to our blog on the ELS weekly flyer today! Shannon D. (sorry Mrs. Duguay...I think we are officially The Shannon's now!) mentioned yesterday that she'd been asked if it was OK to include it, but I didn't expect it would show up so soon. I went to ELS tonight for our weekly trip before the CSA and was asked if I was "one of THE Shannon's from the blog?" when I gave her my name for the member's discount. Eeek!  Man, I feel kind of naked....kind of like the dream where you show up on stage and you realize you have no clothes on, and your speech isn't ready. The blog isn't completely dressed (yet) and neither of us have this Eating Local thing down pat (yet) and here we are up on stage. Wow! I have to say I was a wee bit uncomfortable.


 However, as the day went on and I thought about it more, I realized that it's probably a good thing that we are putting ourselves out there so soon. Firstly, now we have more than just ourselves to own up to...if we cop out, others are going to know! Secondly, I'm hoping people are going to help us out. Please, if you have answers to any of our dilemmas, recipes to share or if you can recommend places where we can source our food (wieners anyone?), leave us a comment or send us an email.  Thirdly and I think more importantly, I'm hoping we will inspire more people to give it a try. Trust me, if the two of us can do this...ANYONE can! We didn't come in to this armed with any real knowledge or any sort of real plan. We decided on a whim that we would do it. We didn't plan in advance. We were both Costco, YIG, Food Basic based shoppers, who ate McDonalds on a regular basis and didn't eat enough veggies (well my family didn't anyways) and some how we, our husbands and our children have survived the first 2 weeks.  No one is going hungry, no one is missing KD or chicken nuggets. You know what? I think this is about the longest I have ever stuck with any project in my life!! Imagine that!


A interesting question came up while I was in the store today. The other young lady working asked me if I was finding it expensive to be eating locally. I hadn't really thought about it until then. I'd have to go back and really look at the numbers, and I will try to keep better track over the next few weeks to see. It's probably too early to tell anyways. The seafood Keith came home with from New Brunswick would certainly screw up the numbers, and I'd have to factor in the cost of the meat I already had from Dalew's and my CSA share. The last two things have been part of our diet for the past two years anyways, so they aren't new expenses because of our project. We also regularly eat wild meat, fish and berries which can be pretty tricky to put a price on. As I see it though, it doesn't really matter. Eating cheaper food from further away may cost me less now, but it will certainly cost us more in the long run when we factor in our health and the environment. So, if it does cost me more right now to eat good, whole food, from just down the road and in return have better health and a better planet to live on, I'll glad pay it.


So for those of you who found us today, welcome! To the ladies at ELS today, I'm sorry I didn't ask you your names...I was a bit flustered. I do need to get to know you all better!


Before I forget, dinner tonight was smokies from Burt Farms on buns we found at Buns Master...baked on location by real live people, from scratch. I picked up 4 more baskets of strawberries today and some of them got turned in to strawberry-rhubarb jam...rhubarb from my friend's back yard. Yum! The rest our in the freezer to be played with at a later date.


We head out for a family vacation tomorrow. Not sure how Eating Local will play in to this trip, but maybe we will surprise ourselves!


Shannon A.

Day 12-16 - Doing Well At Home and On The Road

So much to catch up on!


Day 12 was a Friday, traditionally pizza night at our house. I'd been dieing to try a recipe from my new Moosewood Cookbook so I chose the Focaccia and turned that in to pizza sandwiches. I sliced the square flat bread in half and removed the top half. I made a sauce from Ontario grown and canned tomatoes, herbs from my garden and a package of shredded zucchini I had in my freezer from last year. I slathered that on the bottom slice of bread, added chopped up salami from ELS and grated Thornloe Mozzarella. I put the lid  back on and baked it until it was heated through and the cheese was melted.  Thankfully it was a HUGE hit and will definitely be a do again recipe. As the summer goes on, I can see the topping possibilities becoming more interesting...peppers, onions, mushrooms, pesto, etc.


Day 13 had us on the road. We went to visit friends on Manitoulin Island. I figured this dinner would be a Eat Local write-off, but much to my delight I found out that our hosts were serving a handmade and locally purchased lasagna! I doubt the ingredients were grown locally, but it was nice to know that our meal wasn't factory made. I brought a head of romaine lettuce from our CSA and homemade caesar dressing ( unfortunately, only the eggs in my dressing were local) but they added another head of lettuce from their own garden so it would feed the big crowd. Turns out they had their own garlic left over from last year's garden, which I could have used in the dressing had I known a head of time! On our way home the next day we stopped in at a local grocery store to pick up a 4L bag of 1% Farquhar's milk (which I hope to start getting at ELS this week) and for Farquhar's ice cream cones! What a treat!


Day 14 was a travel day which didn't see us home until 5:30. I had semi thawed burgers from Burt Farm, so we tossed those the BBQ and made a salad with what was left of our lettuce, green onions from the farm, chevre from ELS and my blueberry/basil vinaigrette.


Day 15 was hot, hot, hot so after meeting Mrs. Duguay and son at the splash pad, we headed home for Perogy Princess perogies and cabbage rolls purchased at ELS (warmed up the cabbage rolls on the BBQ!), and CSA peas. We ate like royalty!! Again, I don't know where the ingredients are coming from for these pre-made dishes, but the fact that we are supporting local businesses makes it OK in my books.


Which brings us to today, Day 16. Much to my chagrin, the strawberry farms were closed by the time Keith was up from sleeping off a night shift. The kids and I took a walk in to the green belt behind our house instead and picked about 2 cups of wild blueberries...better than strawberries any day! Another recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook that came highly recommended, was for crepes. I'm not sure whether to say we had breakfast for dinner or dessert for dinner, but either way we had a balanced FREAKIN' DELICIOUS meal! This is XXX food porn!

Crepe ingredients all local (flour, eggs, milk and salt), filling was vanilla yogourt with a bit of whipped cream (just to use it up and because I didn't have enough yogourt), local blueberries and local maple syrup.


Shannon A.

Freezer Jam For Mrs. Duguay

Freezer jam is really quick to make, it uses less sugar than regular jam, and it retains the fresh flavour and presumably more of the nutrition of the fruit, because it isn't cooked. However, it can sometimes be a bit runnier than traditional jam, it can't be kept at room temp so it isn't great for travelling or gift giving, and it takes up precious space in the freezer. Each has it's pros and cons so I usually do some of each every year. I usually use Club House Garden Fare Freezer Jam Pectin.

This is from their website:

Garden Fare No Cook Freezer Jam is a softer, more spreadable jam than cooked jam. It is perfect as a spread on bread, toast or muffins, as a tart or cookie filling, or as a topping for ice cream, yoghurt, pancakes and cheesecakes. Make delicious tasting freezer jam whenever you have the urge to capture the fresh taste of summer in a jar. Select one fruit or try a combination of fruit. All You Do: 1. Wash and rinse containers. 2. Place prepared [4 cups (1 L) of finely chopped fruit] in large mixing bowl. 3. Gently stir in 1½ cups (375 mL) of sugar and allow to stand for 15 minutes. 4. Slowly sprinkle gelling powder a little at a time onto fruit mixture while stirring for 3 minutes. 5. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. 6. Gently stir again for 1 minute. 7. Pour jam into jars, leaving 1 inch (2.5 cm) head space. Seal tightly. Jam is ready to eat. No standing time is required. 8. Store in refrigerator and use within 6 weeks or store in freezer for up to one year.

Let me know how it turns out!

Shannon A.

Day 14- Strawberry Bliss

             My trip was terrific, I love this heat and spending time at the beach.  I managed to get a map at the Tourist Information Centre with directions to the local farmer's market, which was only open on Saturday.  We spent the day at the beach making sand castles, chasing kites and snacking from the cooler I had packed before we left, not exclusively local food, but enough to assuage my guilt over the cheese strings and juice boxes.   I never made it to the farmer's market, too busy hanging out on the beach with my dear friend Char and her son. On the ride down the corn fields and apple orchards caught my eye, and with better planning when I return to Blue Mountain in the fall, I'll be coming home with plenty of corn and apples.
         
            A trip can really throw you for a loop, I swear the kids and I were car-lagged from the whole adventure, so yesterday we just laid around in the heat, napping and slowly putting things back where they belong.Yesterday, Mrs Allen and I met up at the local splash pad so the kids could cool off and we could chat. Mrs Allen mentioned that she was making freezer jam with the strawberries she picked at a local strawberry farm. Immediately intrigued, I asked her to post the recipe- I'd never heard of freezer jam, and all the boiling and work of regular jam is just too much for me.  So, finger's crossed that the freezer jam recipe will appear sometime today.

         Earlier today the kids and I went to Lise's Strawberry Farm in Chelmsford. We spent an hour picking strawberries. So much of this project has me thinking of my Nanny and Poppa. Our family has cottages on Rock Lake, we call them camps. Every summer, my brother and my two cousins would spend a few weeks at camp with our Nanny and Poppa. Both of whom were champion pickers- strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and apples in Collingwood in the Fall. My Poppa knew of a natural spring and when he'd go out checking his minnow traps or raspberry picking on his own he'd sometimes return with crystal clear spring water from a cooler. He'd sit on the deck and get us all to drink some. The water was cool and refreshing, but I was a child and didn't understand why it was so special, or why water had impressed him so much. I wish I knew where the spring was so I could drink the water again. I am going to ask my uncle next time I see him....

          
         Close to our camp was the Estaire Strawberry Farm and every year Nanny and Poppa would pack the four of us kids into the back of their truck and we'd pick strawberries. This was a welcome change of scenery and strawberry picking is so gratifying, baskets fill quickly and truly I believe strawberries are the most beautiful fruit. Nothing can compare to those heart shaped rubies hidden behind emerald leaves. 

         
         When we returned to camp, Nanny would clean the berries and get to work jamming and making pies in the heat of summer. Camp was luxurious by normal standards, it had plumbing but certainly no air conditioning.  She would work in that kitchen rolling her own dough, slicing strawberries and boiling jars all afternoon listening to the radio and never say a word, not sing not complain just quietly dedicated to her task while we all played outside.

        
           Today, with my own two kids, my sister in law (who loaned me the cash to pay, no debit at this farm, thank you Ang) and my nephew and two nieces we picked five baskets. I am excited about these strawberries, I hope to make some jam tomorrow and a pie (may need to get more berries) so that I can taste the sweetness of this day later in the year. 

 

I didn't have a camera at the field but here is my first attempt at food porn.

Day 11 -14 Eat Local Hits the Road

        Summer is my favourite the time for traveling with family, with no work (other than house and yard work) to return to, the whole trip takes on the relaxed feeling all vacations should have.  The kids and I are heading to Blue Mountain for a little glamping (glamour meets camping) getaway. 
        
       I have tried to source out the farmer's market and Eat Local Shops for the Collingwood/Wasaga/Blue Mountains area with little success. I want to check it out for two reasons; firstly because my awareness of the ease of eating local has revealed that once you find the source the rest is fairly easy, and secondly a genuine sense of community exists at markets and local shops which would lend some interest to our trip.  And of course I want to see what I can buy local there and bring home to share.


     For the road trip I have packed local strawberries and ham and cheese sandwiches. Last night I was worrying about not having made a 100% all local dinner yet and we are nearing the end of week 2. The overstock in my fridge and pantry are dwindling down, when I get back I will begin wrestling with pasta and bread. Mrs Allen is on speed dial already, expect a call Monday good buddy.

Day 11 - Happy Canada Day!

For lunch today we travelled the world at the International Food Fair at the arena. Keith and Cameron chose Poland and had perogies and cabbage rolls, Sydney went to Italy and had lasagna and bread and I went to Sri Lanka and had rice, and three curries...cabbage and potatoes, chicken, and lentils along with one of those lentil crackers (I forget the name now). Great lunch and a nice exotic treat, but we came back home for a local dinner. Keith fired up the oil on the side burner of the BBQ and fried local potatoes in to fries and pickerel fillets we caught on our last trip home and fresh farm peas. Yum!


We signed up for the Thursday Night Locavore Challenge at Eat Local Sudbury, which started this week. Everyone is posting what they ate on Facebook, so this should be a great way to get more ideas, sources and recipes. I love that so many people are joining in!! 


Shannon A.