Dark Days Challenge Week Seven

Week Seven brought a Pumpkin Soup and Acorn Squash Meatballs to my table, but also led me to the realization that I'm leaving the Dark Days Challenge behind in 2009. I've learned a lot over these past seven weeks, but also figured out that the challenge wasn't completely working in my family.

In retrospect, I really needed to have my whole family on board with the idea before I committed to the challenge of one all-local meal each week. My kids are not huge veggie lovers so throwing them something like leeks and kale in the same meal was a bit much. My husband, who cooks a lot, was also starting to resent all the weird looking vegetables popping up in his fridge and on his plate. He has gotten into the spirit of eating locally, but wants it a little more on his terms and I can go along with that. For my part, cooking has never really been my thing and the added stress of trying to make every single ingredient local was definitely more work (particularly in the winter) than I had anticipated.


On the other hand, it has brought about a number of great changes that I plan to continue. I'm shopping weekly at a co-op with great local food and I've found substitutes to some of the non-local fruits that I once deemed essential. My local pears are working just fine in my smoothies instead of bananas shipped from thousands of miles away. I'm keeping my Community Supported Agrigculture (CSA) membership with Klesick Farms and looking forward to my next delivery tomorrow. To find a CSA near you, click here.

I'm still eyeing the one sunny, flat spot in my yard and trying to figure out if I can convert it to a garden next year. It currently holds the jungle gym, and we're trying, as a family, to decide if the kids are ready to give that up. I'm thinking maybe we could compromise and do a garden with a little skateboarding track around it. Hmmm...

One last note... I was very inspired to write this last Dark Days post after watching Iron Chef America last night. You know eating locally is gaining some traction when one of the hot reality shows pairs up with First Lady Michelle Obama to support the message. The show featured Iron Chef Flay/White House Super Chef Comerford vs. Iron Chef Batali/Super Chef Legasse and the secret ingredient was anything from the White House garden. The First Lady showed them around the garden where the chefs had their choice of the winter vegetables - sweet potatoes, kale, leeks - all the same things showing up in my local farm box this month. If you're interested, the 2 hour special airs again at 8pm on Thursday, January 7th.

Dark Days Challenge Week Four

Now that I'm into week four of this eating local Dark Days Challenge, I'm finally taking some steps to having more local food on hand. If I'm going to cook one local meal a week in an effort to shorten the distance my food travels before it gets to my plate, I definitely need more advance preparation. For starters, I received my first delivery from a Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) local farm. On the recommendation of a friend, I chose Klesick Family Farms in Stanwood, WA. If you're interested in finding a local farmer near you, check out Local Harvest.

I purchased the all-Northwest box of food and received tuna, cabbage, leeks, potatoes, Pink Lady Apples, Concorde Pears - and a jar of enchilada sauce as a gift for my first order. The potatoes and leeks made it into a soup for my weekly meal (see below).

My next step was to spend a leisurely amount of time (i.e. no children with me!) at my local co-op browsing the aisles and seeing exactly what they have and where all the food comes from. I ended up with local chicken stock (which is good if you're not one of those cooks that has a lot on hand!), vegetable stock, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, butter, and cream. I also scored a jar of miso that wasn't local, but does meet my kids' recent request for homemade miso soup.

For my meal this week, I actually borrowed a Potato Leek soup recipe from a fellow Dark Days participant who blogs at Married...with Dinner. Thanks for the recipe! It came out well and was perfect for a cold winter day. I'm happy to report that the soup elicited a "That's pretty good," from my 9-year old. My 7-year old is still a harder sell on new foods, but he was okay with it dipped in bread. Baby steps... The best part about it was that my husband played sous-chef and cut up all the vegetables for me. He still can't figure out how his wife ended up in a challenge that involves cooking!

Potato-Leek Soup - adapted from Emeril Lagasse
1 pound leeks
2 bay leaves
20 black peppercorns
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 T butter
2 strips bacon, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken stock
1 pound starchy potatoes, peeled and diced
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup cream
2 T finely minced green garlic, chives, or tender leek greens

Tie together bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme into a cheesecloth bundle or infusing ball. Cut the white part of the leeks lengthwise and rinse well under cold water. Slice crosswise and set aside. Discard the greens, or save for making stock.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat; when melted, add the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is soft and has rendered most of its fat; do not brown. Add the chopped leeks and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add bouquet garni, chicken stock, potatoes, salt, and white pepper, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are falling apart.

Remove the bouquet garni and puree the soup with an immersion blender (or in batches — carefully — in a standard blender; then return to pan). Stir in the cream and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately, with minced chives or green garlic sprinkled over each bowl.

All was local, except for the bacon and a few of the spices. The potatoes and leeks came from Klesick Family Farms. The chicken stock was from Pacific Natural Foods. The butter and cream came from Organic Valley.

Dark Days Challenge Week 3

Ok, it's Sunday evening and I haven't made my local meal this week (the deadline for getting included in the weekly blog about the Dark Days Challenge is Sunday so this is a problem). I've learned that most of the participants in the challenge are waaaaaay more versed in the locavore world than I am. This week's email dialog has been full of debates on canning, freezing herbs, and finding local grains - all topics I know nothing about.

Ah well, I do have local cabbage in the fridge and would love a nice salad, so here goes. This recipe is adapted from the Firecracker Slaw recipe from The Fast Track One-Day Detox by Ann Louise Gittleman. It's not something I do regularly, but I did try the detox a few years ago and it introduced me to a lot of organic veggies I'd never thought of eating - daikon radish, dandelion greens and raised some interesting questions about what happens to our bodies when we fill them with chemicals.

Firecracker Slaw

1/2 small green cabbage

1/2 small purple cabbage

1 c. mixed peppers (red, green, yellow, orange)

2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

4 tsp. flaxseed oil

Cayenne Pepper - season to taste

The cabbage was fresh and local; the peppers were frozen and leftover from the summer farmer's market. I usually use them for cooking, but was unsure how they would hold up in a salad once they were defrosted. It turns out they work just fine and even maintain a little crunch. The oil, vinegar, and cayenne were my non-local ingredients. I'm sure I could find apple cider vinegar since I live in the land of apples, so I'll have to think about that for the future.

Now, if only I could convince my kids to eat cabbage!

Dark Days Challenge Week Two

On to week two of the Dark Days Challenge of eating locally... Thanksgiving offered the perfect opportunity, but I didn't quite have my act together to pull off an entirely local meal, so instead I did a leftover meal the next day.

We had Open-Face Turkey and Cheddar Sandwiches, accompanied by Potato Pancakes and Honeycrisp Apples. The turkey was our leftover Thanksgiving turkey from Shelton, WA and the cheddar cheese was Organic Valley. (Note: I bought the cheese thinking it was from Washington because it was labeled "local" at my co-op. I know Organic Valley has locations near me, but now that I look at the label it says it is certified organic by Oregon Tilth so I'm guessing it's from Oregon). The potato pancakes were leftover mashed potatoes (also from WA) making their debut the next day in a new form. The honeycrisp apples gave us something light and fresh to go with it all.

Now, it would have been ideal to have fresh home-made bread for all of this, but I am not yet a breadmaker (tune in later in the Dark Days Challenge to see if this changes...) so I bought some local organic bread - Dave's Killer Bread.

I hadn't yet fully defined "local" for the purposes of this challenge, but after discovering the bread came from Milwaukie, OR which is 200 miles away from my home, I decided I would define local as Washington and Oregon. Many places in Oregon are actually closer than Eastern Washington.

One thing is for sure, this challenge has absolutely made me more cognizant in the store about where everything is coming from. I'm hoping to get on a weekly delivery schedule for a local farmer to make my cooking life a little easier in these upcoming weeks!