Week 5-The Latecomers

Well, I'm late today. Way too much going on this weekend, but here's the run down.

Carmen decided to join the breakfast club by having some whole wheat pancakes. By the way, is it OK to say I like that movie even if I am a guy? Well even if it isn't, I'm going to say I like that movie quite a bit. Same with Can't Buy Me Love and Sixteen Candles...anyway...

Karl was so busy eating local meals I don't know how he found time for anything else. One time he ate a cow named Merlin (now that's knowing your food). They also had some fresh chicken noodle soup to help recover from an illness. (Somehow we got off on our numbering but I think we're back on now) And in this post he talks about local ketchup and links to a recipe. I remember my Dad telling me that my great-grandmother use to make her own ketchup too "back on the farm". He really liked it. Maybe some day I'll get to that level.

Faith enjoyed her new picnic table, some local BBQ chicken and a drink called Cantaloupe Juice. She fails to share detailed instructions, but I am demanding right now that she share a more detailed instructional post, with pictures, with the world.

The South, week 5

Ever forget to take a picture of your OLS meal until after you’ve eaten a bunch of it? Yeah, I do it all the time. And so did our non-blogger Molly:



But no matter. There's big news at Molly’s place: her young hens are laying their first little pullet eggs! She served the eggs fried alongside a potato, onion, and corn hash; green beans from her garden; and sliced tomatoes. Everything came from a 1.5-mile radius of her house, except for a little bit of cheese her parents brought back from Ontario.

The Purloined Letter had the same fabulous tomato-using idea that I did: gazpacho! But there the similarity ends. Whereas I paired mine with turkey in mole sauce, she served hers with homemade pumpernickel and blueberry-peach crisp.

Pattie’s special superpower is her ability to incorporate lamb’s quarters into anything. Watch: this week it was pizza! The other toppings included local goat cheese and heirloom tomatoes.

Laurie loves Green Zebra tomatoes as much as I do. No surprise there--they are the best-kept secret in tomatodom. But the tomatoes didn’t appear in her dinner--just in her photo. Apparently her OLS meal of baked chicken breasts, wax and green beans, and braised carrots with honey and parsley wasn’t as photogenic as the stripey veg.

Another Green Zebra lover is Lastewie, who had a friend over for dinner this week. She served three varieties of toms, fresh mozzarella, potato salad, mixed greens, cucumber and red pepper salad, caramelized summer squash, and locally baked bread with local butter. She also made a fruit salad, but she and her dinner guest nipped out to Locopops (a nearby Mexican fruit-pop stand that uses lots of local ingredients) after dinner instead of eating it. I can identify--when I visited Stew in April, we went there three times.

Jeff and Joyce had not one, but two local meals this week. The first was an “easy and tasty” pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and corn, and the second was corn and potato chowder with bread homemade from locally milled flour.

Paulette sourced her Week 5 meal from a 60-mile radius. The steak strips were from her own cattle, while the baked potatoes and speckled butter beans were grown within an hour’s drive.

Amy has been on blogging hiatus because of an especially taxing move. But now she’s back, and she promises to tell us about her recent local cooking efforts: an entirely local peach pie (local flour and honey), a scallop pasta, a blackberry cobbler, and shrimp quesadillas. Stay tuned...

Week 5 ~ International & New England

Looks like we're halfway through One Local Summer 2007! Of course, that only means the challenge is half-over, not the summer (although I personally wouldn't mind a return to cooler temps). The bifurcated carrot is apropos nothing, I just thought it looked cool.

In reverse this week, I bring you the International and New England participants...

Mary in Ontario was inspired by Cheryl's gnocchi of a few weeks back. They look like they came out perfectly!

Cheryl in Vancouver composed a meal made of side dishes: potatoes, Szechuan green beans and her "favorite salad". Cheryl, do tell what's in that salad... I think I see lentil sprouts.

Karen in Ontario made a fine looking pizza with green peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. Two kinds of cheese (cheddar and goat mozzarella) topped it off. That definitely rivals the pizzeria!

Amanda in Scotland was missing her man this week while he was off in Israel. So what did she do? She made several days worth of pasta with local veggies, worked on her dissertation, and hogged the bed.

Laurie tucked into a plate of meatloaf, veggies and cornbread (with no wheat flour!). A diligent search paid off, and Laurie found a good recipe in a cookbook from the '20s. Wanna share it with the rest of us?

Lisa kept the house cool by grilling a pizza topped with home-grown sundried tomatoes, Greek basil and homemade mozzarella and ricotta.

Stephani discovered one of the benefits of eating locally: shedding a couple of pounds. No, not because you'll starve if you eat locally, but because eating lots of fresh veggies is so darn good for ya! She made some big pots of veggie and bean soups to take her through this week.

Fiber artist Kim in the mountains of New Hampshire joined us for the first time this week. She's found that sourcing local ingredients is a little bit harder than she thought it was going to be, but recently stumbled across a grist mill while visiting a friend. She pleased the kids enormously with oat and strawberry pancakes. Yum!

Leslie had a hard time resisting striped bass this week, and served it with a simple butter, garlic and basil sauce. She also came up with some creative ways to serve all those extra cukes.

Magid is trying to use up that farm share before the next one comes in, and cooked up tons of veggies.

Wendy's daughter got married this weekend, so Wendy treated her visiting sister to a Maine lobstah dinner. Earlier in the week, her young daughter got creative with her chef salad.

It's been hot in Maine. Whew! I know I don't have much room to complain about the heat, considering what the rest of you are dealing with, but when you get used to negative temps in the winter, anything above 85˚F has me wilting like a head of lettuce in the full sun. So I made some quick, easy, fall-apart noodles with one of our favorites: canned smoked fish.

Thanks for another great week, and keep making those fabulous local meals!

The Mid-Atlantic OLS Week #5

We had some participants drop out and some drop in this week in the Mid-Atlantic.

After a two week hiatus, Naomi made a saute of local tofu, peppers squash and mushrooms and served it over local greens.

Peg put together a BLT made with homemade bread. And although the bacon was not local, the other items like corn on the cob, summer squash and peaches were. Boy, a BLT … what a great idea.

Nicole now has a blog up and running! Congrats, Nicole. In fact she did TWO meals this week! A Corn, Tomato and Potato Salad followed by a Peach Tart. A Nicoise Salad minus the tuna and a Cantaloupe Granita. Recipes are included!

Mikaela has found a wealth of vegan protein sources in Pennsylvania. This week’s meal was a barbeque of summer squash, onion, and tempeh. A chilled salad of orange and red tomatoes with green beans rounded out the plate and peaches and strawberries were for dessert. Just in case you think tempeh can’t make your mouth water, take a look at THIS.

Though she wasn’t able to snap a picture of it, Meredith grilled a local portabella mushroom and put it on a grass fed burger … had a side of sweet corn and a dessert of fresh white peaches.

Seedling got her husband to make this week’s menu … Eggplant mozzarella, salad, local rolls and corn.

Christy, who btw has done a great job tracking the Farm Bill for us, made her own pasta this week from local ingredients and tossed it with local pesto. Her son loved cutting the noodles.

Steph G made a meal with a southwestern flair this week. Using hot peppers, green peppers, scallions, tomatoes and local free range chicken, she put together a Southwestern Chicken and Veggie Sautee. But the REAL event was the cornbread that she put together with locally ground corn meal.

Midwest, Week Five

Welcome again to the Midwestern roundup of One Local Summer! We've just made it through Week Five, so we are halfway there. (Please don't tell me summer is half finished though!)

At our house, it has been a busy week of canning things for the winter, so I made some chili and cornbread from local sources. Oh, and blueberries are almost finished for the season because of our drought, so I panicked and (eeks!) purchased 20 pounds.

Phelan just finished doing a 24 hour blogathon for Farm Aid. Whew! She posted something every half hour for the day, and she made some great stuff during that time. Check it out!

Matt treated his family to blue potatoes, which the kids loved, along with burgers this week.

Lucette is with me on the summer being NOT half over. She had a FEAST! Those mushrooms looked quite yummy.

Farm Mom Ang got to harvest her first and lonely eggplant this week! (Don't worry, it won't be her last.) She made her meal quickly, but it was delicious, so she proves that local doesn't always mean slow.

AnnMarie is pulling in quite the harvest lately (even I haven't tried to grow Yugoslavian finger fruit), thanks to a lot of rain.

Stacie also pulled off an eat-it-when-you're-ready chili this week. Her boys helped shell the beans, too. Yum.

Guess what color the soup is when you make it out of white tomatoes? Jennifer will tell you!

Kelly's meal this week was...interesting. Well, we can't all be Top Chefs all the time! And frankly I think it's great to tell of our successes and our, er, less than successes in this challenge.

Joanna's tomatoes aren't lasting long in her house! Go check out the meal she made this week, which included her first harvest.

Are you ready for this? Linda made...Watermelon gazpacho! I simply HAVE to try it; it looks so yummy.

E4 and Lori made some inspired barbecue this week, including the charcoal. Now, THAT is local eating!

Debbie's local meal this week has been her local meal for days now. It's inspired by an Indonesian dish!

Becke has been cooking lots lately, too. She made a stuffed pepper soup! It sounds very fall-like, actually.

Manerva has been dealing with hot weather lately, but that didn't stop her from turning the oven on to make hamburger buns!

And Kate made some pesto! Please go take a look at her colorful meal here.

OLS West Week 5

Our OLS meal was grilled veggies (zucchini, peppers, green beans, onions, and eggplant) with a light splash of olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. For dessert, we had rhubarb/strawberry cobblers. Yum!

Jocele over at Knitting On Call made a wonderful tortilla dish using egg, veggies and local tortillas. The potatoes on the side are an added touch of yum!

Sarah at Sarah's Homestead Blog found local salt! How cool is that... For this week's dinner she made a turnip puff, with mystery golden beans, a sliced tomato with shredded basil, and home baked herb bread. A recipe is also included in her post.

Over at My Green Turtle, she made greenbeans and tomatoes tossed with a bit of red wine vinegar and olive oil. On the side, they had a combination of cauliflower and romanesco cauliflower. They have been gone this week and so made two meals last week.

Laura over at Urban Hennery has been on a cross country trip. While vacationing with family, they created a wonderful local meal from that area. They had whole chickens on the grill, fresh green beans, peapod salad with green onion and bread from the bakery in town. I can't think of a better way to holiday than to eat local foods.

Melissa at Homesteaders in Training, a recent Colorado transplant, dined on two tarts: savory and sweet. While getting a hold of raw milk is proving to be a bit of an obstacle, she used local, pasteurized milk for butter for the crusts. Her new job at a CSA supplied the veggies for one tart, and plums and honey filled the other.

Lauren at Shooting Starts of Thought was inspired by okra. She had local gumbo z'herbs. With recipes. She also made a delicious and beautiful pie.
Great job everyone!

OLS West Week 4

Here at Chez Gnome, there are no photos of our meal this week. It was just too yummy to stop and take the time. We had roasted chicken with vegetables which included carrots and potatoes. For desert we had fresh peaches. Yum!

Laura at the Urban Hennery made a meal on the fly. They are just getting ready to leave on a cross country trip. She prepared spaghetti, salad, and ice cream for dessert.

My Green Turtle made salad with red peppers, carrot, and eggs. She also made beets! She too will be hitting the road this next week. She posted a second meal this week to make up for next week while she'll be gone but I'll save it till next week's post.

Sculpin has hurt herself! She is going to be taking it easy and not doing a lot of standing. Get better!

Cookiecrumb at I'm Mad and I Eat made local corn; potatoes mixed with peas; cucumbers; and tomatoes this week. I love what she said about summer cooking in the heat:

"I agree with my friend Catherine, who said that during the warm season, simple food is best. That doesn't mean you can't get complex flavors. Just layer bite after bite, clockwise or counterclockwise, around your plate."

Great advice!

Amy at Amystery made homemade pesto, cheese and local tomatoes on noodles. They look wonderful.

Sarah at Sarah's Homestead Blog made a yummy pizza of Spinach, basil, tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, and onion. She didn't stop there and made Lightly boiled new potatoes with butter and chives and a wilted spinach and kale salad with lime drizzles turnips and a poached egg. Two meals this week!

Lauren at Shooting Stars of Thought made mushroom and gouda humitas, served alongside Winchester Gouda, bread from Charlie's Best bakery, and a simple arugula and yellow tomato salad. And again, recipes!

YAY!!!!

The West is doing an amazing job!

Week 4 ~ New England & International

James and I enjoyed the first potatoes of our season this week, and nearly died from delight. The pastured lamb was fabulous, but those potatoes may haunt my dreams.

Carole in Massachusetts joined us this week with her first local meal, and she did a fabulous job: Swiss chard quiche, tossed salad and steamed kohlrabi. The family had never had kohlrabi before, but gave it the seal of approval. I agree!

Wendy in Maine checked in with barbeque spareribs, a salad and corn. Corn! in Maine! There is hope that I'll see some soon, then. She also tried her hand at making crackers.

Leslie brought American Chop Suey to her Slow Food convivium's potluck dinner.

Melissa safely made the big move from Maine to Colorado last week (which means I'll have to send her over to the Western round-up). Not only did she try her hand at high-altitude baking for the first time, but she scored her veggies (for free) as part of her new job at Red Wagon Organic Farm. Beet pizza never looked so good.

Heather fought off an unseasonably chilly, rainy day with a pot of spicy sausage and kale soup.

Laurie filled round zucchinis with homemade chicken and cranberry sausage. More squash (in the form of pattypan) and Johnnycakes rounded out her meal.

Stephani's CSA recently started and she's flush with veggies. Like Heather, she made Sausage & Greens soup, but her sausage ended up being too spicy. Whoops!

Frances laid out a feast for herself and Dan this week: salad, grilled veggies, hard boiled eggs and cheese. And local beer to wash it all down.

Korinthe had a successful go at making mozzarella, which topped her two-faced pizza: one half pesto, the other saucy.

Burgers on the grill appealed to Lisa, and she did hers up deluxe, with onions, mushrooms and queso blanco. Add raspberry ice cream, and you really can't get any better than that.

Amanda in Scotland checked in with a meal made by her man, Aaron, who she keeps barefoot and in the kitchen. ;) Aaron spoiled her with a spinach and mushroom frittata, sauteed zucchini and Hibernian brown bread (one of my absolute faves).

Karen in Ontario dined on steak, spuds and peas, before sharing more of her garden pics with us.

Cheryl in Vancouver made some sweet-looking veggie burgers. Who needs pre-formed patties when you can dine on grilled eggplant, zucchini, and baby 'bellas with Swiss instead?

Mid-Atlantic Week #4

The dishes this week show some of the variety that is showing up in mid-Atlantic markets this week

Mikaela made a monster salad from her CSA share this week that included shredded beets and turnips, cukes, banana peppers, carrots and radishes topped with a cherry tomato from the garden. On the side she had corn and artichokes (yes local artichokes!) as well as tofu on sautéed Swiss chard.

Mac in Philadelphia had a juicy local Delmonico steak with local mashed potatoes and green beans

Bezzie made a delicious salad of local tomatoes and cucumbers. She says these are baby steps, but it sure looks tasty to me.

Managing the harvest has become a challenge for Peg. But she did manage to put a topping of green bean puree on a locally grown potato this week. I think that counts!

Seedling broke out the pasture fed beef from the freezer and added locally made pasta and a CSA salad to round out her meal this week

Jasmin made a dessert this week from local ingredients and added to my culinary knowledge bank with a “Dutch Baby.” Her Dutch Baby was topped with local apples and peaches. Yum

Because her husband is out of town this week, Christy and her kids decided to have breakfast for dinner with Whimsical Farm scrambled eggs and Rumbleway Farm bacon.

Rabi proved that even when you are on the road you can put together “fruits and leaves.” Check out her apricot and cucumber salad.

While the rest of us are still struggling to meet this challenge, Linda has taken it up a notch. She is building her OLS meal around a different cuisine each week … This week it was Spain where the Torta Espanola was the centerpiece. The slide show she has put together of this meal is not to be missed.

Congratulations to everyone who participated this week.

The South, week 4

I sense a slight slump in participation, but I can't throw stones, because it's all I can do to keep afloat! July'll get ya. The days might be long, but they can never be long enough.



This week I made a Chinese-themed meal out of locally caught fish and homegrown cucumbers. Dessert is a no-brainer; the figs have started coming in fast and thick. Figs, figs, figs. We LOVE figs.

Jeff and Joyce had fresh sweet corn with breakfast casserole. The casserole included homemade tortillas made with local flour and butter!

The Purloined Letter staged a dinner on the grill: burgers, sweet corn, squash, and cukes, with grilled peaches for dessert and mojitos to drink! She made the burgers with zucchini and chard mixed right in--something I’m going to have to try. Go look at the series of photos, if for no other reason than to look at the mouthwatering way the tomatoes slouch off the burgers. Now those are ripe.

Jen is finding the true spirit of OLS: networking with friends and sharing the spoils of all your gardens. “Home grown and canned green beans from the In-laws. One can down, 23 to go...” she notes. Also, take a look at her photo of the world’s scariest cucumber.

Laurie incorporated leftover carrot soup into a meatloaf (the naturally sweet addition was a real winner, she says!), then served it alongside a simple cucumber salad.

Paulette’s husband was home on a weekend pass, so they celebrated with local lamb chops, veggies, potato pancakes, and Tennessee wine.

Pattie borrowed Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan with a Vengeance several times from the library before relenting and purchasing her own copy. Why? Because of easy, appealing recipes like the corn fritters that were part of this week’s OLS meal. She served them with a Georgia peach salsa and a side of lamb’s quarters.

Pressed for time, Maggie made a quick and delicious meal of North Carolina-made linguine with homemade Bolognese sauce. Dessert came from her favorite local ice cream shop, Ultimate Ice Cream (5 miles from her front door).

Lastewie made her very first batch of egg noodles--and I’m proud to say that she used one of my eggs! She served the noodles with pan-fried rainbow trout, hush puppies, green and wax beans, tomatoes, and cantaloupe.

And despite a hectic week, non-blogger Molly managed a lovely local meal. Her parents brought some food from the North Carolina coast, including (ready to be jealous?) local tuna. The meal: beef, veggie and tuna kebabs; fried okra; and corn on the cob.

Midwest, Week Four

Here is this week's One Local (Midwestern) Summer roundup!

My daughter and I made some egg pasta with broccoli. I'm still getting lots of salad fixings out of the garden, but now other veggies are becoming available, too. And local wine, like any wine, certainly clouds my vision!

Phelan in Kansas missed last week, but this week proves that she is able to fix a mighty fine meal on what is simply available.

Matt in Iowa made quite a lot of things from local goodies this week. Frittatas are easy yet so tasty, so he shows us how.

Lucette in Ohio demonstrates the Exhausted People's Dinner! For many of us, summer is the time of projects, and of course afterward nobody wants to cook.

Farm mom Ang in Michigan relied on Deborah Madison's Local Flavors for her meal this week. (I can't state enough how great Ms. Madison's cookbooks are, but this one is WONDERFUL for farmer's-market fixings.) I wished we lived closer, Ang, because I would've dropped by and asked for a bowl!

Frugalmom in Illinois and her family usually have pork on special occasions only. Well, Week 4 qualifies! It was worth the wait.

This is Mary's first OLS meal. Her CSA has had harvest problems, and she has classes on Saturdays so she misses out on most farmer's markets, poor thing! She has found another CSA to try, but luckily, she's got one beautiful meal posted here. She lives in Ohio.

Evie in South Dakota made (and it was only a matter of time before SOMEONE in the midwest made it)...ratatouille! Her experience with local pasta was not so exciting, though.

Stacie in Illinois keeps finding more local farms! For this week, she's found a source for organic chicken just 12 miles from her door.

Kelly is in Ohio, too. She craved borscht, and she and her daughter had a somewhat frazzled farmer's market trip to get many of its ingredients. What she pulled together sounded really yummy.

Also in Ohio, Jennifer made a wonderful stew, all from her garden!

Pat is in Oklahoma. It's been hot there, and she has had a busy summer. She had a salad, a huge one, out of her garden!

Linda is in Missouri. This week, almost everything came right from her farm, including her own chicken and eggs. She laments she can't grow olive trees there, though! (Oh Linda, I swear olive oil is a food group in this house, I use it that much.)

Miranda in Minnesota made a crowd-pleasing meal with some of the bounteous corn available now.

Norma Jean is in St. Louis. Veggie sandwiches were on the menu this week, paired with some homebrew! (Hmmm. Beeeer....) SO: does anybody out there have any good ranch dressing recipes? Send them her way.

Manerva in Minnesota gets bonus points this week for posting not one meal but two. Two husband-approving meals, natch! She feels really happy about this, but she knows these days are fleeting, harvest-wise.

And finally, Kate in Wisconsin posted a picture on Flick*r of her meal. Calzones, people! And fava beans (my personal favorite). Yum.

Week 4-the latecomers

Karl and his Pile of O'Melays enjoyed a relative feast with a ton of local ingrediants. And Karl did an extra credit local meal this week.

Katrien is glad potatoes finally came into season at her market, and she has a nice note about how thankful she is to be eating locally!

Faith decided to get into the action with all the other people enjoying breakfast foods for their local meal this week.

Carmen enjoyed a tomato pesto pie, that I'll be labeling for future use in my little kitchen. Looks delicious.

Week 3 ~ New England & International

It sure has been busy here, and it seems elsewhere as well because entries are down for the week. Go see what others are making and check in next week with your own local meal!

James and I finished a long day of barn-building with barbecue chicken, grilled garlic scapes and green beans. Easy and satisfying!

Leslie had a green theme this week: green beans, sugar snaps, garlic scapes along with local fluke with garden herbs.

Jen & Steve spent week 2 on the Cape, but are back this week with striped bass from their vacation.

Heather is still experimenting in the kitchen and making new foods.... this week she successfully attempted making pasta, although she lacked the equipment for rolling it out.

Lisa also gave pasta-making a try with her new toy, I mean tool. (Don't get jealous, Heather!)

Cheryl's meatloaf looks like a quick, easy and comforting meal.

Laurie's husband went clammin' and provided the cherrystones and oysters for their local meal.

Fellow Mainer Wendy had nine (nine!!) local meals this week, and still thinks she's not doing enough. Can someone besides me talk some sense into her? ;)

ETA: Stephani received her first CSA share, and made herself a bowl of Spring Pea Soup. Also in her share was a loaf of olive bread, which although not local was no doubt delicious I can say this with confidence... her CSA farmer is an awesome baker).

Mary in Ontario learned that a little bit of persistence pays off, as she finally found locally grown and milled grains. She used some of her new cornmeal in cornbread that she served alongside curried carrots and oven roasted beets and potatoes.

A trip to the Italian market inspired Cheryl in Vancouver to make a big, bubbling dish of homemade gnocchi. Freshly churned berry ice cream looks like the perfect finish to her meal.

Amanda in Scotland enjoyed a traditional Irish dish called Colcannon.

Karen in Ontario got the morning started off right with a lovely frittata.

And Yukino in Moldova had a stunning array of local food pics this week.

If anyone was missed, just leave a comment in your area's roundup, and next week, please have your meal posted by 6 pm EST. Thanks so much, and keep cooking those great local meals!

Mid-Atlantic Week #3

As I sit here in New England, keeping vigil over green tomatoes, my mouth is watering as the Mid-Atlantic entries feature the tomato and even PEACHES in their local meals this week.

Nicole from New Jersey, an emailer, got out her pasta machine again only this time made an Herbed Pasta with Tomatoes, Broccoli and Feta

She ended the meal with a bowl of ripe blueberries

In “the city” Elisabeth made a squash frittata with local eggs and squash.

Peg from New York is lucky enough to live near a farm stand that offers local food for lunch. She ate a grilled panini with zucchini cheese and greens made at her local Blooming Hill farm stand. What a convenient way to eat local.

Mikaela from PA made a wonderful veggie sandwich on a baguette, a salad of beets and beans, some local cherries and washed it all down with a Yeungling lager.

A local chicken was on Seedling in NJ’s plate this week. Her CSA share provided abundant greens for the salad.

Using a whole wheat penne pasta from Harrisburg, PA Christy in Delaware shares the secret of a spicy sauce recipe she learned from an Italian chef while on a cruise. Check it out.

Once again Rabi from NY created the most adventurous offering of cherry-rhubarb glazed tofu & peas in a turnip nest.

Linda from New York gives thanks to the pig that keeps on giving. She made ribs from her fall pig and had potatoes and squash on the side. She even made a and made a Cherry Clafouti for dessert. I also encourage you to look at her Week #2 meal that I missed last week … a delicious stew.

Steph from PA joined the ranks this week posting an egg pie, red potatoes and green beans with PEACHES for dessert …. Wow peaches!

ETA: Meredith from PA was planning on including what she thought were local canned mushrooms in her omelet, but a look at the can told her that those Pennsylvania Dutchman 'shrooms had a Chinese accent. It just shows that it does pay to read the labels, folks.

Great job everybody!!!! I am looking forward to next week !

Midwest, Week Three

HOT, hot and dry: who wants to cook in such weather? My prescription for eating this week was tapas, mostly made ahead of time, for this week's OLS.

Matt mined the depths of Epicurious for inspiration. His kids took seconds, and even thirds, on some greenery! Success!

Lucette hit the farmer's market, but she's also getting lots of goodies out of her garden. Go see her meal here. And she is very close to having tomatoes!

Ang was a little disappointed by her hamburger buns, but her kids didn't seem to agree with her. Practice makes perfect! And her squash is just beautiful.

Frugalmom was delighted by her grass-fed beef. Its leanness required a bit of a different cooking spin, but it was worth it.

Evie had an All-American meal of meat and potatoes this week. You HAVE to see what her husband cooked the meat on, though: he made it! Amazing. (If you're ever in Michigan...)

Burgers seem to be all the rage this week: check out Stacie's beautiful pic. She's been having a hard time sourcing local flour. Isn't that nuts, considering she lives in the Grain Belt?

Jennifer found it too hot to cook, too, so she relied on her microwave and her rice cooker for her meal. Her gardens are beginning to go into high gear, too.

Kelly hosted a potluck dinner this week. Though not 100% local, the spirit was definitely right, and, she notes, the part of the meal that DID fit the "rules" was certainly a meal in itself. She also found a source for local flour.

Joanna admits she dropped the ball this week, as it has been a crazy one. She's packing local fare for her camping trip this weekend, though.

Pat also had burgers this week: made from buffalo! She also has some interesting observations about all this organic food.

Linda points out that there's an unexpected upside to this local eating: no huge grocery bags to lug around! She is getting lots of stuff out of the garden now, and between her chickens and butter made from a neighbor's cow, she's saving lots of money, too.

Kelli tried out some of the Swiss chard she grew. She's so far not convinced of its merits. Send recipes her way, people! Meat came from the back 40, and they made onion rings, too.

Lori and E4 had a quick and yummy meal this week from their farmer's market goodies. Quick was key!

Miranda proves breakfast fare can be dinner fare too for this week's meal. She made frittata and spuds.

Debbie followed Matt's recipe (so, do you see how all this is catching? It's his recipe from this week!) with the kid-friendly greenery. Yum.

Norma Jean hit the farmer's market big time this week. She and her husband are completely enjoying this challenge, and are considering expanding their gardens even further next year to help in their quest for local food.

Becke went all vegetarian on us for this week's meal. It was inspired by a side dish at a barbecue joint and was served up with a bit of POW!

Manerva has been eating local for a while now, as she doesn't get off her farm often! This week's meal was a simple and satisfying one, but she served it with some local wine.

The South, week 3

I can't remember where this week went; I only know that I've been sweating a lot. The watermelons are in in south Georgia, and we continue to partake of them. Tomatoes are everywhere. Peppers are starting to ripen. Leave a cucumber alone and it turns into a melon overnight.

We don't grow sweet corn ourselves, because to get decent pollination you need to plant a big block of it. We don't want to spare the space. And why should we, when so many other folks around here grow it? It's easy to get, and man, is it good.

Elsewhere in the steamy southland...

Molly made a frittata-like zucchini casserole (photo at left) with eggs from her own hens and zukes from her own garden. The side dish of roasted veg came from her own garden and from a farm 1.5 miles away. She washed it all down with beer from the Duck Rabbit Brewery in Farmville, N.C.




Steph is posting about last week's OLS meal this week, and will be posting about this week's OLS meal next week. Got it? Good, because you'll want to see what she's been doing with all her farmers' market gleanings.

The Purloined Letter has been somewhat wilted by the heat, so she only wants salads most days. But she managed to get close enough to the stove to make homemade Norwegian whey cheese. And then she served clafouti for dessert, which makes me want to ask for a dinner invitation.

Jen sneaked actual fruit and vegetable matter into her meat-and-potatoes-loving husband's meal. Behold the glory that is Squash (incognito) fritters.

Laurie's ratatouille on cheese grit cakes also passed muster with her husband, who normally spurns squash and eggplant.

Jeff and Joyce's cheddar studded meatloaf patties and mashed potatoes were so good, they forgot to take a picture. But here's what they had to say about it.

Like me, Jasmine stopped eating meat at age 16. And like me, she has since added it back into her diet. But beef and its kin are still a little foreign to her. Read her blog to share her first experience with locally raised buffalo.

Summer vegetables + mandoline = Jessica's work lunch!

Paulette served a local meal with local drinks: a perry (hard pear cider) from a local winery for the grownups, and muscadine grape juice for the kids.

The recent heat and humidity reminded Maggie of her childhood on the banks of the Missouri River. The perfect accompaniment to that feeling was oven-fried catfish.

Stew, whose Week 1 microwave soup you may recall, has taken eating locally at work to a whole new level. Her coworkers are even starting to notice!

And in other fish-related news, has anyone heard of Barramundi? Joanne hadn't before this week. But she was delighted to discover that it's a farmed fish that is raised in Florida in an environmentally friendly manner. She baked it in a coconut crust with a side of mango and orange salsa. She also served a salad made with local greens and Georgia melon.

Pattie has just eaten the last of her homegrown Purple Peruvian potatoes. And you should also check her blog to find out about her field trips to a local chocolatier and a cut-your-own sunflower farm.

A beef hash with vegetables was the special chez Bibliotecaria. It fed her for four days (!) and helped her clean out the fridge before a business trip.

Amy has been under the weather lately, so she craved something souplike. She made a hearty beef stew with golden zukes, tomatoes, potatoes, and onion. Dessert was fresh fruit, and plenty of it: blackberries, figs, and the first melons of the Carolina summer.

Week 3-The latecomers

Karl and I had a miscommunication about signing up for OLS, but he's got one of his local meals up now. Really, it sounds like almost all of his meals qualify as local so it should be easy for him to find one each week. He has an interesting blog about homesteading down in Missouri.

Faith had a local meal featuring ribs and broccoli, and if you look at her most recent post they built a picnic table. I can't imagine a better place to enjoy your next local meal!

Carmen had some fried okra!

Katrien enjoyed what appears to be a well balance meal, and she is excited for her upcoming potato harvest. (Or is it potatoe??)

OLS Week 3 - West

My meal for this week celebrates the new red tomatoes I've got on my vines. They are the most delicious thing ever. I decided a red onion, bell pepper, and fresh basil pizza with homemade sauce and a ton of fresh tomatoes on top. It was so yummy, absolutely no leftovers to be had.

Laura over at Urban Hennery made a feast! After having a bout of almost local meals, she pulled off the grande finale for the week. They had grilled chicken, salad, roasted veggies, and even an appetizer. To round out the meal they had some local wine and ice cream. YUM!

Cookiecrumb over at I'm Mad and I Eat made Joe's special:

"Joe's Special. It's a historic San Francisco mish-mash dish of ground beef, onions, mushrooms, spinach, eggs, and seasonings. If you follow the recipe on that link, be advised that you will get a wet, gray mess."

She lists her Joe's special method which includes very basic ingredients. It sounds delicious!

Sarah at Sarah's Homestead Blog made Homestead egg frittata filled with yellow squash, onion, garlic, spinach and local sharp cheddar. On the side: green beans sauteed with garlic and fresh out of the oven herb-filled bread. To drink: a freshly pulled pint of Blake’s home brewed Hefeweizen. Her glass of beer is a site to behold.

Amy at Amystery went out and caught her own food. Wild Alaskan salmon never looked so good.

Jocele at Knitting on Call found local tortillas to make a wonderful Mexican inspired egg taco with local veggies.

Lauren has made another masterpiece over at Shooting Stars of Thought. She is so wonderful to take us through her selection through her shopping experience and ultimately gives us her wonderful recipes. This week's menu includes: grilled yellowtail & cipollini onion kebobs with ginger-chili marinade, Nicoise Potato Salad, Grilled Corn and Radish Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing. Check out her haul from the market, beautiful!

Krystle and Hans-Peter at Taste the Seasons are using up the last of the chard.

"After finishing this meal, we knew that we had come up with a dish that could serve as a main course, without leaving any stomachs unsatisfied."

And of course the recipe is included in the post. The colors of chard are amazing.

Update!

Human error has caused me to not catch Turtles week 3 post. (and I thought I was doing so good too...grrr).

Turtle's meal looks wonderful. There was a wonderful salad with baby gems, cucumber, eggs, tomatoes and cheese. They also have corn on the cob! We don't have that here yet~lucky! She also baked some home made bread and there where strawberries in the photo as well. She lists all her mileage there as well. Great job!

I swear, every time I do the weekly roundup I feel like I've gained 10 lbs from just looking at all the delicious food everyone is making.

Great job! See you next week.

Who wants a button?

Jasmin at the Worsted Witch very kindly made these blog buttons for us.

Feel free to take one and proudly display it on your sidebar, but of course, save it to your own server.










And here's one that I made:

Week 2 OLS West

Wow! What an amazing week. Everyone from the west is doing a great job!

I was gone most of the week and unable to make our food choices (long story of camping with the parents). When I got home, I was too tired to do anything but make some eggs. I did wake up early and bake some blueberry muffins before a long day of errands and catch up. They are the perfect on the go breakfast.

Jocele made roasted red potatoes and onions, a salad and fixin's. This is even with the disappointment of a freezer going caput and them loosing all their meat. Way to hang in there Jocele!

Cam made homemade fettuccine with homemade butter and basil. Raspberries for dessert rounded out the meal. She also has a bonus post on how she made raspberry butter.

Ms. Peabody over at Urban Hennery made not one but two local meals. They had New York Strip steaks on the grill with fresh green beans and a salad on the side. To top it off they had local vanilla ice cream from the Sno-Isle co-op with fresh raspberries and strawberries on top. Their second meal:

"We did the chicken on the grill with a medley of vegetables in the grill basket. The chicken was seasoned with another spice mix from Grandma Edna’s, the veggies (potatoes, onions, green beans and zucchini) were seasoned with some sea salt, more of the same herb mix, and olive oil. We washed it all down with tap water and beer from the local Red Hook brewery."

MMMMM Red Hook... Don't forget to check out her new baby chicks. They are so cute!

Cookiecrumb made a wonderful soup straight from her own garden. Check out her greens clippings. Beautiful in it's simplicity.

Amy was going to a potluck and brought some amazing looking Gracious Grilled Salsa. The potluck she attended had some other wonderful local foods.

"This salsa was a hit at the potluck which also featured other spectacular regional foods....marinated moose steaks, salmon, halibut, of course many homegrown salads and rhubarb crisp."

Krystle and Hans-Peter made Penne and Swiss Chard with Gorgonzola Sauce. Chard production is going crazy there and this meal uses up what they have straight from the garden. They've also included the recipe. It looks delicious!

Lauren went with a liquid theme this week. She made milk poached halibut and summer squash with cantaloupe & green tomato salsa. She again has documented her meal composition and has recipes. Very cool Lauren.

Kathy made roasted chicken, green beans and strawberry strudel. She had all but given up the hope of finding any local strawberries this season when she stumbled upon some of the last available at the local market. She also made 12 jars of jam. Yay for late season strawberries!

Trina made a camp dinner using a variety of ingredients dried by themselves. She's survived the fire ants and is back home from her weekend of Energy Independence.

Sarah made some homemade herbed egg noodles with sauteed Walla Walla sweet thinnings, garlic, and zucchini. What is with all this homemade noodle goodness?! You guys are so creative.

Great job everyone! You are all doing such a wonderful job.

Week Two in the Mid-Atlantic

We had a bigger turnout this week in the Mid-Atlantic. Everyone is going at this with gusto and it is fun to read about all your meals.

In “the city” Elisabeth found some Swiss chard from Troy, NY and spiced it up with red pepper flakes and an herbed goat cheese from Coach Farms.

My mouth was watering when I saw pictures of Naomi from Philadelphia’s whole wheat linguine with ground beef, kale, zucchini, yellow squash, garlic scapes, fresh mozzarella, and lemon basil.

Mac in Philadelphia celebrated the Fourth of July by grilling a Natural Acres Farm Porterhouse and dressing it with zucchini ribbons form the garden.

Bezzie from New Jersey found a locally made cheddarwurst that she says rivals Johnsonville Brats in flavor and put it on a Chambersburg, PA bun. And the side was locally grown Jersey corn.

Peg from New York took a recipe from Lauren in CA's Week #1 entry and made up a zucchini, chard and blue potato casserole. And on the side she had some roasted potatoes with her famous garlic scape pesto. It is a reminder to all of us to browse the OLS site for ideas for our own table

Angela in PA proved that the rich offerings of Lancaster County can provide not only local chickena and hamburger, but also local pretzels and potato chips. (I, for one, was amazed in Hanover County, PA to find an entire aisle dedicated to pretzels. It is its own food group I think.)

Mikaela from PA was INSPIRED this week to make pesto from garlic scapes, basil and CHERRIES and lather it on a local Foccacia and top with squash. But that’s not all! Check it out … it’s a great read.

At the center of Seedling in NJ’s plate this week was a local pork chop. It was surrounded by local steamed greens and beets and topped with baby onions from their CSA share.

This week Christy in Delaware made a barbeque chicken and added local broccoli and roasted potatoes. The names of her food sources roll off the tongue like locations in a Beatrix Potter story … Rumbleway and Lockbriar Farms.

What do you get when you put summer squash, kasha and kale togther? Well Rabi from NY likes to call it Squasha Skale. The presentation is top notch, Rabi!

Linda from New York had a hankering for dandelion green, mushroom, garlic linguine and it got her musing about the food pendulum and how it swings.

And last but not least, Meredith in Pennsylvania made a small concession for her picky eater husband, but more than made up for it with homemade black raspberry sorbet.

I heard from two emailers this week: Laura from PA had a hot summer's night veggie meal of corn on the cob with grilled green peppers, sweet onions, zucchini and garlic

Nicole from New Jersey emailed in her report and it was an enthusiastic account of how she has resurrected her old pasta machine and baked her first pie form scratch. Once again she chose a recipe from Epicurious : Pasta with Pesto Broccoli and Potatoes

Here is her ingredients list

-red-skinned potatoes: purchased at Terhune Orchards (appx 30 miles), but of unknown origins
-broccoli: from Honey Brook CSA (appx 30 miles)
-linguine: homemade of long distance King Arthur flour and local eggs
-pesto: homemade of Honey Brook and home garden basil and (really)
-long distance olive oil and Parmesan

She ended the meal with a Berry Tart with Berries that her girls had picked at Terhune Orchards

Great job everybody!!!! Look forward to next week !

Week Two ~ New England & International

Another fabulous week of summer has come and gone. Here in New England, we're just getting past lettuce season, so the variety of locally available produce is improving a bit. Now comes the hard part of waiting for things like ripe tomatoes!

In Maine:
Wendy prepared an old family favorite, chili, using some home-canned tomatoes from last year's garden.

Melissa is making the most of her remaining time in Maine, and continuing the seafood theme. This week's meal of pouch-cooked haddock, salad and strawberries starred heavy cream from a local farm in the form of butter, buttermilk dressing and whipped cream. Wish Melissa and her man a safe move to Colorado, why don'tcha?

Heather is reading labels, asking questions, and learning more about where her food comes from. This week, during some of our cool Maine weather, she roasted her first chicken.

"Build your own chef salad" was the theme at Cheryl's this week.

Stephani and I both had quiche this week, only hers was crustless.

In Massachusetts:
Leslie's braised lamb shanks look positively mouth watering. Ruth Reichl's Hashed Browned potatoes were a lovely addition.

Laurie had a creative twist on linguine with (freshly dug) clams.

Fran has embraced the bounty of Massachusetts and Vermont with two local meals this week: the first of goat cheese, eight-grain bread, and grilled squash, and pesto pizza with veggies and more goat cheese.

Korinthe hosted a bbq which turned out to be mostly local.

In Vancouver, Cheryl's frittata was a big hit with her son, who has turned to begging for more!

In Ontario, Karen's hearty salad did double duty as lunch and a side dish to grilled burgers.

Also in Ontario, Mary found inspiration from Stacey's post, and made some new local food connections, culminating in fried eggplant and veggies for dinner.

In Scotland, Amanda brought a little bit of America to her 4th of July feast of burgers, potato salad, pickles and strawberry shortcake.

In Ireland, Moonwaves prepared a simple spinach omelet for herself.

Yukino in Moldova checked in with boiled potatoes with sauteed tomatoes and parsley, and pancakes.

And for anyone who thinks it's too late to participate in One Local Summer, I'd love it if you read this post.

Week Two: Midwest

Week Two of One Local (Midwestern) Summer

It was a busy holiday week for many of us, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to grab everyone in this roundup, but there certainly were lots of delectable dishes shared by all.

I LOVE beets, so my meal used the roots and the leaves. I also made feta for the first time with milk from my goat guy. VERY tasty, and it certainly didn't last long.

Phelan and her family celebrated the Fourth with local fare. Her picture quality is LOTS better, but her post proves that life with three growing boys can keep one on one's toes. (Breathe, Phelan.)

Matt in Iowa is doing his own round-up of OLS folks. This week he stayed away from frying things and instead made lots more than one meal with local food! He is proving that this can become a way of life, with a bit of effort. His one 100% local meal can be found here.

Lucette went to the farmer's market for her fare and found CORN! How exciting: fresh corn is always such a fun find.

Ang's meal was also on Independence Day. She is considering it Food Independence Day! That fried kohlrabi looks great, Ang!

Frugalmom showed us that even major surgery (an appendectomy) can't keep her from cooking local! Now that's devotion.

Evie listed some of her biggest challenges this week with eating locally: her family! I think we all, in some form or another, have to "work around" our loved ones' particularities, certainly, in this and any other food preparation scheme. But this week was Italian Night, so go check it out.

AnnMarie still thinks salads, which she thinks are boring, are still the best local meal going. She did some experimentation with flowers that really added a good dimension to her meal.

Gina is trying to make a bigger effort to source local "minor ingredients" for her meals, too. She cans a lot of things, like barbecue sauce and baked beans, so go check out her meal this week; a barbecue sounds great!

Joanna made up some lovely local pasta. She tells us one juicy tidbit about her Eat Local Challenge: it hasn't been expensive! And she loves these new discoveries.

Stacie is not calling it shopping, this roundup of local food, she's calling it procurement! Go check out her findings. (And Stacie: Michigan cherries DO rule.)

Pat made a leg of lamb for the first time ever! It was moist and yummy so she'll be trying it again.

Linda has had a lot going on this week at her home, so her meal this week was very small but satisfying. Her post was interesting: all this new experimentation she is doing with local food has really opened her eyes and gotten her excited. Trouble is, it's gotten her husband excited too so she has to try to get pictures before he eats everything!

Kelli was so busy she missed the first week. She and her family don't have to go far to get their meat: try the back yard!! She lives in Iowa, and usually has interesting farm-related tales to tell, so check out her blog, and, if you're local, buy some of her goodies.

E4 questioned some of the "local" origins of his dinner, which reminds us that even stuff in the farmer's market can be goodies that were trucked in from very far away.

Miranda's local meal was more kismet than an active plan with a recipe. Her day was set up that way, and her friends brought along a somewhat local and intriguing cake for the meal. Sometimes, the best-laid plans are no plans at all.

Debbie, likewise, set aside earlier plans for her meal. It was simply too hot to cook! She also mentions her new grains and beans shipment from a farmer nearby: there is lots more local eating in her future, and lots more experimentation, too. (Debbie, homemade tempeh is both fun AND relatively easy, and you've reminded me I need to get cracking!)

Norma Jean is on vacation this week, but before she left she was snacking on some homegrown tomatoes. She won't have internet access this week, but she's bringing along a lot of local goodies for her trip.

Becke made a cooling, soothing dish of chicken pot pie??? Boy. This girl has the a/c on for her comfort food!

Manerva made a quick and satisfying meal for herself when her husband was out fishing. (Girl, I so have to work around the obstacle that is my husband for good food, too!) Her farmer's markets are starting up next week so she's expecting a lot more on her plate soon.

And Kate so shamed me: she is blog-FREE thanks! (SO sorry!) She made the following good eats from her farmer's market finds on Saturday: "We had grilled sandwiches with bread baked from 100% local whole wheat flour and Wisconsin onion/mushroom jack cheese. I also made Honey-Spice Roasted Cauliflower (ExpatChef on EatLocalChallenge.com) with local cauliflower, and we had the first ears of sweet corn of the season. For desert we had Door county cherries."

The South, Week 2

Week 2 of One Local Summer was a holiday week--and a food-centric one, at that. A lot of our participants took advantage of the Independence Day vibe and grilled all-American fare. As for me, I inexplicably made Greek food. I’m just a rebel, I guess. Nevertheless, the 4th is my favorite holiday (I think it's because I was at an impressionable age in 1976), and you can bet I spent it carving out big hunks of Georgia watermelon and watching the neighbors' fireworks mingle with the lightning bugs.

A business note, while I’m thinking about it: If you’re posting OLS photos to Flickr, please let me know in an e-mail. There are so many photos there that your pic may be lost in the shuffle unless you give me a heads-up. Thanks!

Okay, here’s the week that was...

Non-blogging participant Molly celebrated the 4th of July with grilled pork kebabs, sauteéd Swiss chard, green beans, and grilled zucchini. She and her friends drank Gaelic Ale from Asheville’s Highlands Brewing Company. Bonus points: the meat was from less than a mile away.

Another non-blogger, Joanne in Florida, tucked into wild Key West coconut shrimp, an apple and kohlrabi salad, and locally grown watermelon. “Yummers,” she said, and I agree 100 percent.

And Amber in Arkansas enjoyed pinto beans with brown rice; steamed baby squash and white bell pepper; fresh tomatoes; a lettuce, tomato, and cucumber salad; and grilled peaches for dessert. Everything except the peaches came from Arkansas. The peaches were sourced from just across the Louisiana border because--just like in my part of Georgia--local peaches were destroyed by adverse weather this year.

Jeff and Joyce celebrated Week 2 with garlic-butter roasted pork and scalloped potatoes, plus a side salad for Joyce. They wish the cheese they used was from somewhere closer than Ohio, but I say anytime you know the farmer, you’re doing something right.

Jasmine’s computer is in the shop, but she went above and beyond the call of duty and posted about her local meal from a nearby Panera franchise. She made a chard and zucchini frittata with roasted tomatoes, sauteéd okra with tomatoes and onions, and green beans with a sundried tomato pureé. Good, and very vegetable-y!

If I could take photos as beautiful as Jessica’s, I would just about die of happiness. She whipped up a very picturesque plate of sauteéd tofu, potatoes tossed with rosemary and olive oil, fresh green beans, and corn on the cob.

The Purloined Letter focused on the green and herbaceous this week. Check it out: Garden crustless quiche (with local Amish goat’s milk and eggs, plus pickings from the garden), a salad laced with lemon verbena, and a dessert of honey ice cream with spearmint-and-lemon-balm tea.

Laurie eats off of outrageously beautiful pottery. And this week, what she was eating was Farmgirl’s caramelized beets with garlic, squash casserole, and a green salad.

Paulette is starting to make me a little jealous with her ranch’s homegrown grassfed beef! This time it was T-bone steaks, a vegetable medley, and local red wine.

Pattie says ice cream counts as dinner, and I’m not one to argue...especially when it’s homemade from raw milk, duck eggs, and blackberries.

Bibliotecaria was inspired by her CSA stash to create a pasta dish brimming with basil, parsley, tomatillos, and tomatoes.

Maggie had friends over for Independence Day. On the menu? Grilled steak, coleslaw, roasted potatoes, and a carrot salad. Inquiring minds want to know how in the world she found North Carolina vinegar!

Lastewie, needing a local meal, dropped in on some cheffy friends with a huge garden. (I can vouch for them, ‘cause I’ve been there. These are the folks you want to invite you to dinner!) They dined on dauphinoise potatoes, beet and bean salad, tomato and cucumber salad, homemade bread, and leftover pie with ice cream. Being a considerate guest, Stew brough a 6-pack of Carolina Brewing Company IPA.

And finally, Elian got creative, making veggie wraps with collard leaves as the wrapper! Southern sushi, y'all.