Midwest, Week Seven

'Tis the season

Summer is slipping away! We're up to Week Seven of OLS.

We had a custard for dinner this week, along with some corn chowder. No, it's not an instance of dessert before dinner, silly, it was a savory custard!

Phelan is having camera woes, but she made game hens and a mighty fine peach cobbler this week.

Matt has been consuming lots of local meals lately, but the one he documented used local pasta. The pasta takes some getting used to, as it tends to cook quickly! I've noticed this with homemade stuff, too: just gotta watch it.

Lucette was feeling under the weather, but some local chicken soup lovingly prepared to help see her through definitely made her believe food = medicine.

Farm Mom Ang didn't especially feel like cooking, but she didn't especially feel like wasting good food, either. Maybe many of us feel this way, in this time of extreme produce glut. Just remember this won't last forever, folks.

FrugalMom has missed a couple of weeks due to a longer than anticipated recovery from surgery. She's on the mend, though, thankfully, so go check out her grub.

Evie has had a rough summer, too. This week, though, she put her daughter to work to go out and scavenge a meal from the garden. The first little eggs from their hens helped things out, how exciting!

Stacey just had a birthday and her loving hubby got her a KitchenAid mixer, so she's stepping up and stepping out...this week with pizza. YUM.

Kelly also went in for pizza this week. Whoa: didn't she do this last week, too? Well why yes. But hey: don't you all remember college? Or the once-a-week that our school cafeterias offered pizza and we all wanted it? Yeah. You'd eat it once a week, too.

Joanna made some lovely pasta and some only so-so corn fritters. She'll be out camping next week: anyone have any help for her for her local meal in NW Pennsylvania?

Linda had a meatball quite literally roll off the top of her spaghetti and onto the floor and the next thing she noticed...it rolled under a cabinet. Okay, it wasn't quite like that old song, but she does have some pointers about making sausage, so go check out her post!

E4 and Lori have been...busy. But! this week's meal was fast and satisfying for all.

Becke is the farmer's market shopper extraordinaire, so finding yummy dishes on her site is nothing new. She's getting help from her own garden with this week's meal.

Manerva says it's never too hot for soup if you're in the mood, and I quite agree with her, don't you? This soup featured some home-grown black beans, too.

And finally Kate agrees with Manerva: soup is just plain good eating, especially when it comes from the back yard! In fact, she calls it backyard soup, so go check it out.

Week #7 Mid-Atlantic

Naomi from Philadelphia made this lovely seitan and onion and pepper sauté.

Meredith in Pennsylvania made her favorite pasta sauce with loads of sweet peppers from her garden including a “sheepnose pimento.”

Seedling in NJ has reason for celebration! An hour after eating her Week #6 Meal she went into labor and delivered a healthy baby daughter! She has submitted that meal of local pork chop, potatoes and patty pan squash as her this week’s offering. Golly I feel like a grandmother ;-)

Christy in Delaware made a meal of maple glazed pork chops, royal purple beans and corn. Makes your mouth water.

The most colorful meal of Week #7 was had by Linda from New York . She complemented her home grown frozen chicken with beets and peaches and blueberries and corn

Nicole is upping the ante. She posts two meals this week. One a meal inspired by other OLS posters Tortilla Espanola with Swiss chard and the other meal a gazpacho with cornbread.

Rabi from NY used local peaches to make two different all local desserts. Don’t they look great?

While I imagine the drop off in participation is directly related to summer travels, I am sure that all of us are enjoying the rich local bounty that is available in August. Thanks to everyone who made time to post this week. Only three more to go … keep them coming!

The Latecomers-Week 7

Faith and her family enjoyed Monte Cristo sandwiches this week, and she put up the recipe for cantaloupe juice.

Carman enjoyed some local fried potatoes and a salad.

Karl is enjoying the bounty of fresh, local tomatoes.

The South, Week 6 (Take 2)

Hey there all...It's Stew.

I'm stepping in here today to post a Week 6 Southern One Local Summer roundup for Jamie, since she's got a doggie crisis going on at home.

First, a little anecdote to get us going. Today I was feeling bad for using wheat flour that's milled in NC, without knowing whether it was sourced locally or not. So I wrote them an email trying to figure it out. Within an HOUR I had an email back from their "Director of Commodity Procurement" with an answer. Call me impressed.

Especially because the answer was what I had wanted, but didn't dare hope for.

Most of this wheat comes from North Carolina and South Carolina. Since there is not enough wheat grown in Catawba County to last us a month we also need to get wheat from eastern North Carolina around Greenville, Wilson, Plymouth and Washington...Sometimes we buy soft red wheat from Ohio and Indiana but because freight costs get so high, that is limited

I didn't really expect it to be that local. And it's not 100% sourced locally, but I'm not perfect either. I was just surprised (and delighted, I think I said) that this is the same place that is supplying Bojangles with their biscuit flour (Huh. And therefore shipping it. Must dig more).

The bad news is that the local corn goes to the pigs and turkeys (and presumably the ones at the factory farms, but maybe I'm just being cynical), and it seems that the corn that I buy for cornbread likely comes from elsewhere. But at least he was upfront about it, you know?

I thought that was a fascinating exchange.

On to the One Local Summer Week Six entries!!!

My neighbors an hour or so to the West, Joyce and Jeff, are taking advantage of corn season with a second meal in a row featuring corn-on-the-cob. They made flour tortillas (from the Southern Biscuit flour I just blathered on about) for their beef enchiladas. The sauce was from Dad's garden. It looks divine!

Also over there in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, we welcome Amy back from a hiatus. She made a quiche from bits and pieces of good stuff leftover from previous meals. Country ham, spinach and red onion. I'm all about dishes that transform leftovers into a wondrously new meal.

Down the road from Amy a piece (I'm getting into this, considering I grew up in Michigan and typically only speak Southern when I've had one too many porters), Laurie whomped up a zucchini frittata, paired with sliced tomatoes and bread. I'm a little jealous that Laurie says she has a secret cow to get raw milk from for butter. (Plausible deniability, y'all. She says she does. Raw milk is illegal to sell for human consumption in NC, so we don't want to out her. I may or may not have a connection myself. I'll never tell.)

Still in North Carolina, but moving up to the mountains, we welcome back Maggie, who had been on the road. She made my absolute favorite summer meal: burgers, corn-on-the-cob, tomatoes and slaw.

I guess I fit into the NC category, too. I, unfortunately, slacked this week. I did have much local foods, but I didn't take pictures or anything. I had canned 60 lbs of tomatoes ($1 lb in bulk, suckers!), and was exhausted. My meal was picked at throughout the day, and I had baba ganoush, tomatoes, and chocolate ice cream.

The coolest meal preparation method award goes to the postest with the mostest at The Purloined Letter. She cooked their veggie stew in a homemade SOLAR cooker! When it had cooked all up, the stew went on top of some blackeyed peas, and next to some garden greens.

Over in Tennessee they had TWO FULL week 6 meals at the M4-D Ranch! Overachievers. Harumph. Both looked gorgeous. Number one was steak on the grill with onions and peppers, sliced tomatoes, butter beans and blueberry buckle. Rowr. The second was no less impressive: steak fajitas with homemade tortillas. Are you using Southern Biscuit flour, too?

Pattie from Food Shed explored agriturism at a Georgia Dairy that had an attached country store. She gussied up a wild-greens infused salad she made for lunch with the dressing she got at the store. She washed down with chocolate milk. Yum. Chocolate milk.

Not least (though apparently last today), our Jamie managed to wade through the tomatoes that are covering every surface of her house to make her week 6 meal. She went straight up deep south: country ham, stewed okra, and biscuits from scratch. I'm not usually big on country ham, myself, and Jamie seems to have found a recipe that made it work.

OK, everyone. Y'all are doing a fabulous job. I'm entirely impressed with the variety of foods you're making.

You'll have Jamie back next week, I promise! I'm a little corny. I blame in on my Dad, who's the corniest guy I know.

Mmmmm. Corn. Dinnertime Chez Stew. See ya!

The South, Week 6

Will be slightly delayed due to veterinary emergency -- stay tuned.

OLS West Week 6

Summer has created a bit of a schedule crunch here at Chez Gnome. With the garden and a birthday this week, our dinner was meager at best. We had veggie stir fry with egg. Pretty boring but there you go.

Cookie crumb at I'm Mad and I Eat made a wonderfully simple yet tasty dish of homegrown tomatoes stuffed with egg salad, served over homegrown lettuce leaves. (Must try this one)

Lauren at Shooting Stars of Thought has yet another wonderful post with recipes. She had sea bass in paper, homemade orichette with arugula pesto, and eggplant caponata with roasted red peppers. What a feast!

Turtle at My Green Turtle made chicken salad. The salad consisted of red butter lettuce, cucumber, red peppers, chicken, and tomato. There was also squash on the side. Even her butter for the squash was local.

Sarah is being buried alive by summer squash of all sizes and shapes. What do you do with those round ones? Stuff 'em, of course!

Amy enjoyed beet salad, Alaska-style (with smoked salmon).

Melissa had her lovely assistant help out with the pasta making, then topped the noodles with sauteed zucchini and onions. Melissa recently posted her refrigerator pickle recipe, so get your hands on some cukes!

Great job everyone!

Week 6 ~ New England & International

Fran and her man Dan gobbled up an entire Deborah Madison-inspired tomato gratin made with lovely heirloom tomatoes. Wouldn't you? It looks delicious!

Along with several other local meals, Wendy made ratatouille for the first time, and found that it tasted pretty good, despite looking "a little nasty".

Leslie's zucchini gratin with goat cheese was similar to my own crustless zucchini pie, both good uses for the super-abundant summer vegetable.

Heather borrowed her mom's rolling pin in order to whip her pasta into shape, topping it with homemade tomato sauce with zucchini.

Korinthe had roasted veggie tacos this week, and is finding that eating a more vegetable-based diet is making her feel healthier.

Lisa's meal of noodles, veggies and queso blanco was Asian-inspired, and included a starter featuring her own homemade crackers and cream cheese. (note: I realize the link isn't working, but that's what it says in my feedreader. Lisa, where did your post go?)

Magid made a simple corn & potato chowder, along with a sauté of veggies.

Laurie enjoyed an incredibly fresh roast chicken dinner: just one day from plucked to plate.

In Ontario, peaches for dessert followed Mary's signature pizza and cucumber salad. What's your signature pizza?

And in Ireland, Moonwaves enjoyed hamburgers with her own homemade ketchup. You know, I've never made ketchup because we don't really eat all that much of it, but I may just have to give this recipe a try.

Thanks again for another great week of local food!

Mid-Atlantic Week Six

This was the “week of the frittata” in the Mid-Atlantic. Lots of local eggs went into this week’s meals.

Nicole reported in with a Chard Tart with a side of huge cherry tomatoes and melon and blueberries for dessert

Naomi from Philadelphia was able to put together a tofu stir fry from local ingredients over a bed of greens.

Bezzie from New Jersey made a chicken quesadilla with salsa. Her salsa photo is fun.

Peg from New York made a mouth watering Potato, Onion and Tomato Frittata with Goat Cheese.

Jasmin adapted a Deborah Madison recipe and made Potato and Pesto Croquettes this week. Doesn’t that look good?

Christy in Delaware made her first ever frittata featuring blue potatoes from he garden.

Rabi from NY missed her Week Five posting due to an emergency room visit … but please check it out here. She also did a bonus meal for Week#5 brought to you by the letter B

Linda from New York has returned from her family travels and welcomed the chance to eat local again. Her meal consisted of barbequed pork chops (from the “eternal pig”) a potato and bean salad and fried green tomatoes.

Mikaela made some whole wheat tortillas and filled them with local veggies and tofu scrambler. The bean salad and corn sides and the strawberry dessert made for a very attractive plate.

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

Midwest, Week Six

Can't you almost taste me?

I'm hoping the dog days of summer, and not the rigors of local eating, have affected people's schedules out there, as I am missing a lot of fine Midwesterners this week. Sigh. I *know* cooking + hot weather are not the funnest combination. But just think of the bounty of produce out there just WAITING for you to eat it!

I found it hot this last week, too, so we made pizzas on the grill. They were so filling that I forgot both the salad in the refrigerator and the peaches ripening on the counter! The family didn't seem to mind.

Phelan has been a busy bee, canning her little heart out. Though if you see this post, you may wonder if she's got a touch of heatstroke, poor thing.

Matt has been busy canning, too. Here is his meal, better late than never.

Lucette shares an omelet and a salad this week for her meal. But it wasn't just a salad; it was a metasalad, an ubersalad: a so-not-to-be-compared to iceberg and carrot shavings salad: check it out.

Ang the Farm Mom sang a little bit of Italian this week for her meal. And don't you agree that eggplant goes with everything??

Evie is putting her tortilla press to good use again, this time for the pita for gyros! Doesn't that look delicious?

Stacey has been busy, too, but you will simply love the photo she took of her late-night scramble of a meal.

Gina and her family are contemplating a move, AND she's doing a lot of food processing now. But she did get a chance to prepare a meal this week on the 100 Foot Diet.

Jennifer made a quick fridge-to-skillet-to-plate meal this week that looks like it tasted quite yummy.

I know Kelly had some company coming, and decided grilled pizza sounded like a perfect crowd-pleaser...but I am not sure if she posted the meal in time. Go see her site anyway!

Joanna had a couple of locally-produced meals this week. She posts her lovely pasta/cherry tomato dish, but she really loved corn in the husk on the grill, the good Hoosier that she is!

Linda made a meal her grandmother served almost every Sunday. How wonderful that she is able to keep these traditions going! The one thing Linda admits, though, is she didn't wring the chicken's neck that morning, as her Grams would've done; she did it earlier this year.

E4 and Lori produced a meal that included one of their extra goats...or chevon, as they say. (Tomayto tomahto?) It certainly looked quite good!

Debbie made a meal that really looked great. She made a slaw and a risotto, and is still eating local cantaloupe, though she's not particularly relishing the latter.

Norma Jean made burgers this week, and she was really excited for the leftovers she'd eat the next day. They also polished it off with some homemade beer. You should check her tip about what she plans on doing with her leftover burger, though!!

Becke made a lovely soup-and-a-sammie that probably made us all wish we lived closer to her! That corn chowder...mmm...

Manerva also made a sandwich for this week's meal, even grinding the buns' grain herself. I personally think arugula belongs with any sandwich in which mayo is used, don't you?

Looking for something to do with all that corn? Kate (no pic this week, her little boy is sick) has given us a link to her CSA's newsletter, where she got the recipe for corn risotto.

Week 6-The Latecomers

Carmen enjoyed a salad and some corn on the cob.

Karl enjoyed multiple local meals, it seems all at the same time. He definitely has an active household!

At Faith's house they enjoyed some Filipino food. I remember something I had once at someone's house, whose wife was Filipino, that was rice stuffed into banana leaves. Man it was good. Good memories. She promises cantaloupe juice next week.