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.

Week 2-the Latecomers

Tracy enjoyed a July 4th local meal, and she has a little something to say about how easy it is to cook for yourself.

Katrien really enjoys here local meal this week.

Carmen enjoyed a very simple local meal.

Faith also enjoyed a July 4th cookout, and she had turkey apple sausage, which sounds very yummy!

Patt chimed in that even while they are crazy busy at their farm picking all the sweet corn that's ready they were able to enjoy a July 4th meal.

Local 4th of July meal: Venison brats (husband hunts), potato salad-potatoes & eggs from O’Rourke Farms-mayo & mustard not local-onion from our farm; cantaloupe-1st of the season from our farm, unfortunately the procuitto isn’t local, but I’m working on that!