Week 9-The Latecomers

This week Carmen enjoyed a simple dinner that allowed her to taste the flavor of each item and enjoy the freshness of eating locally.

Faith's group had to throw something together quickly, and they recycled the picture from an earlier meal. I've had week's like that.

Karl's group enjoyed some spaghetti sauce this week.

West Week 9

This week at Chez Gnome it was fair week. We were quite busy but able to make home made pizza again. It had zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers, and onions. Very yummy and hit the spot so quickly there are no photos. We did actually try to make the ravioli from Cheryl posted on her blog Free Range Living. It was my first time making pasta ever. It all stuck together in one huge clump and I had to throw it all away. Next time.

Homesteaders in Training made vegetable pie. It included locally milled whole wheat flour, and the guts were all local: potatoes, leeks, pattypan squash, zucchini and cheese. She had something very nice to say about OLS.

"This morning I was struck by how much has changed in our lives over the past nine weeks. The Local Summer project seems to be about the only constant, quite frankly."

Isn't that the truth.

Sarah at Sarah's Homestead Blog made a tasty dish of potato pancakes made from mashed potato, sauteed garlic, onion and kale, eggs, and a bit of shredded Red Dragon cheese. And on the side was a mix of Summer squash, fresh beans and shelled beans sauteed up with fresh rosemary and oregano from her herb plot.

Over at Taste the Seasons, they made ratatouille.

"Our saving grace was a French dish called ratatouille, originally a poor farmer’s solution to excess summer produce. Ironically, the original recipedidn’t include eggplant, but today, ratatouille is almost unrecognizable without it ."

You have to go check it out. It looks amazing!

Laura of Urban Hennery made corn chowder from a recipe of OLS member Jamie from 10 Signs Like This. She says it's definitely as good as it claims to be. How cool is that.

Lauren at Shooting Stars of Thought made pan-seared pork chops with red wine fig reduction, corn, shoulder bacon, and tomato stuffed zucchini, pork and maple baked beans. Complete with recipes!

Turtle blog made quiche with chard. What a great idea to use up some eggs.

Great job everyone. One week left.

The South, week 9

Whew. The dog days of summer are upon us. The garden is sun-scalded and plagued by pesky blister beetles. But there's good stuff to be had!

Lastewie made a diner-style dinner of local burgers, fries, and TWO kinds of tomatoes: sliced red, and fried green (now that, my friends, is a victory for southern cooking). For dessert, she had frozen strawberries and lemon ice cream.

Similarly, Molly made hamburgers on homemade bread with a side of tomato and cucumber salad. Oh, and some edamame from a local farm. (I wish ours was still in season--it seems to have disappeared!)

Jeff and Joyce never planned a local meal this week, but they did accidentally have two of them. (Isn’t it great how that happens after you’ve been doing this a while?) One was crustless quiche, and the other was--yes, once again--tacos.

As for us at 10 Signs, we had tacos twice this week: once with White Oak Pastures beef and once with our own chicken. But I submitted spaghetti with meat sauce as our OLS meal, due to degree of difficulty. I had to make the Italian sausage on the spot because I hadn’t gotten around to it when we got our half-pig in January. Freezer raid! Where’s that bag labeled “future sausage”?

Jasmine has noticed that she tends to eat her meals in an unassembled state. Recall that last week she had enchilada filling. This week it was eggplant ravioli filling! I say bravo--assembled or not, the food chez Jasmine always looks phenomenal.

This week Laurie made a crock pot stew of chicken, carrots, onions, and cutting celery with herbs. She served it with field peas, butterbeans, and okra. Dessert was cantaloupe, which is at its best right now!

Week after week, Paulette has wowed us with beautiful beef dinners from her family’s ranch. But in the third straight week of 100-plus-degree temperatures, all she wanted was a vegetarian meal. Check out the dessert wine!

Pattie made a cheese-, egg-, and vegetable-filled “quichey/tart thing” and spent much of her week foraging for figs, muscadine grapes, and greens.

Amy gave new life to leftover North Carolina-caught grouper by making it into beer-battered fish fritters. The little fried nuggets accompanied bowls of chilly gazpacho, and the meal was topped off with a dessert of apple crumble and locally made ice cream.

Maggie had a mightily hectic week, but still managed to squeeze in two almost-local meals: one of spaghetti with marinara sauce, and one of shiitake mushroom and wild rice soup.

That’s it for this week...one more to go! I’m going to try to go out in style. How ‘bout you?

Midwest, Week Nine

Shameless stealing of Becke's meal posting

"Eating in season" also means "eating what's available now." I mixed up a lot of what I had a lot of for this week's meal. (It tasted better than it looked, I swear.)

Matt did a Comfort Food meal for his family this week. And what is more comforting than Cottage (Shepherd's) Pie? (Even the name gives you a warm, toasty feeling, right?)

Lucette found the last of the last, she thinks, of her venison. Her photo of the burgers she made of them scared her, though, so she substituted instead pics of the corn and salad she made.

Ang has been busy using her stove for things other than meals. How can this be, you ask? Well, her kitchen is like a lot of ours lately: we're all putting away that harvest, one boiling pot of water at a time. She wanted to keep things simple, yet tasty, this week: sure looks like she succeeded!

Evie has had lots to contend with this summer. Hail, then a flood, has done away with much in her garden. She's a stalwart Scandinavian, though, so she's carrying on with a Swedish meal her grandmother made quite often.

Ever-diligent Kelly has discovered the secret of perfectly-grilled chicken breasts: it's diligence! She praises the flood of wonderful veggies that now show up on their plates, knowing well this late-summer eating is but a small slice in time.

Joanna missed this week. She knows why, and how. But here's the best thing: she knows that next year, they'll have a house, and a garden of their own, so this eating-local thing will be REALLY local.

Linda made a spookily autumnal meal this week. It looked GREAT! She confesses, though, that it tasted awful. (I blame it on rushing the seasons: fall will be here soon enough, girl!)

Lori and E4 posted last week's meal this week. Hey: at least they posted it! They both brought up how kooky this Midwestern world is, though, in terms of getting local goodies. You'd think in a breadbasket like Ohio you could get local wheat. I think the same of dairy in Michigan. Farmers out there, listen up! Sell local! We're HERE, and we want to buy!

Becke was chilling with some local soup this week, too. Dang, that looks good. And she, like me, can't believe One Local Summer is almost over!

Manerva missed the floods that hit her state. She got some much-needed rain, though. She happily shared some great grub with visiting relatives this week, though. That's the best kind of meal, I think.

Week 9 ~ New England and International

Korinthe unintentionally went for a two-fer this week. She started with a Deborah Madison-inspired potato soup, and came back later with a whole day's worth of local eats.

Laurie put together a lovely pizza featuring her backyard tomatoes.

Wendy treated her husband's business associates to a typical Maine feast: lobster, corn on the cob, coleslaw, rolls and a blackberry and peach cobbler. Mmmm.... I would have loved to sit in on that business lunch!

Leslie's simple meal shows how truly easy local eating can be.

One Local Summer is inspiring Heather to try new things: last week she made her first pizza, and this week she feasted on grilled veggies, trying grilled zucchini for the first time.

My sister-in-law was visiting for a few days, and we treated her to chicken enchiladas verde, made with our own chicken and tomatillos. Who knew Maine could be tomatillo country?

Karen in Ontario made a fabulous meatloaf.

Mary in Ontario found a new toy in the local thrift shop, and made a batch of Kettle Corn from local popcorn, and called it dinner. It's maybe a wee stretch, but she was excited, so go look!

Moonwaves in Ireland is having a busy time of it, but managed to squeeze in a plate of veggies and some nice Cheddar cheese.

Amanda in Scotland managed to squeeze in a meal of baked potatoes topped with summer veggies and cheese. She finished her dissertation, so wander over there and congratulate her, 'kay?

Cheryl in Vancouver made a gorgeous summer veggie quiche.

Sadly (or not), next week is the final week of One Local Summer. Will the intrepid local eaters stick it out? Will there be a surge in participation? Will everyone be on vacation instead?
You'll only find out if you tune in next Monday for the final installment.

Mid Atlantic Week #9

I want to thank the four stalwarts who posted this week in One Local Summer. This week before school starts is about as busy as the winter holidays, so I understand that people are being pulled in other directions.

Nicole in New Jersey used local sausage and peppers for her main meal and then made a berry tart for dessert

Bezzie from New Jersey drew on local potatoes and Philly knockwurst for her local meal this week.

Over at Farm Dreams Christy in Delaware made pasta with her Mom and since Mom had never tasted pesto before, she made a pesto sauce for the homemade pasta.

Rabi from New York came through with two offerings. The first was a roasted eggplant pesto with green beans and squash sauce. And the second was a dinner of corn beet greens and mashed potatoes.

You guys rock. Stay with it for one more week.