One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 3

By Sheetar 23 May 2011 23 May 2011

Husband was in charge yet again of this one. We’d had a fancy blue cheese wedge salad at a restaurant and thought, hey, we could do this locally. So, a big chunk of lettuce covered in blue cheese, blue cheese dressing, and most importantly bacon, add a slice of bread, and we have a meal. The dressing came out REALLY well even though we didn’t have buttermilk and sour cream, but the yogurt is pretty tangy to begin with, so it worked out.

Wedge Salad
Lettuce – Jack’s Farm
Spring Garlic – Jack’s Farm
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Goat’s Milk Yogurt – Shellbark Hollow
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Tea
Sesame French Bread – Sweetwater Baking
Riesling – Mount Hope Winery
Non Local – pepper, worchestershire sauce

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 14

By Sheetar 16 August 2010 14 August 2010

My little garden in the backyard has finally started producing something! After a REALLY disappointing zucchini season – read: Lack Thereof – the garden has made up for things by giving me a ton of cucumbers. I planted lemon cucumbers, regular old green cucumbers, and miniature white cucumbers. I’ve foisted some off on the neighbors, and have been eating a lot of them fresh out of the garden, but there are still too many. So, I found a wonderful recipe for cucumber soup. I doubled the recipe, using three green cukes, two lemon cukes, and two of the over-ripe white cukes that turned bright yellow. Used cilantro, oregano, basil, and sage from the deck herb planters, plain old water instead of broth, and left out the avocado. My soup isn’t bright green like the picture in the recipe, but I let the onion get a good carmelization going which contributed to the brownish tinge to the soup. It’s great both hot and cold, with or without the dollop of yogurt.

Cucumber Soup:
Cucumbers – My Garden
Herbs – My Garden
Goat’s Milk Yogurt – Shellbark Hollow Farm
Garlic – North Star Orchard
Non-local – pepper, olive oil, lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 13

By Sheetar 9 August 2010 9 August 2010

Week 13?! At this rate, I’m almost sure I could do this all year. The folks at Hoagland Farm really inspired this week and egged me on into trying this recipe. They had cabbage and pork roast, and I ended up coming home with both ingredients and intentions on this being an easy crock pot recipe. It was just that, and I never could’ve imagined the delightful flavors that came about as a result of combining the two. I’m SO glad we have leftovers on this one! We sort of followed a recipe here, making a few changes to make it more local.

Pork Roast with Cabbage:
Green Cabbage – Hoagland Farm
Pork Roast – Hoagland Farm
Onion – North Star Orchard
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Mount Hope. Gewurztraminer.
Non-local – Vinegar, spices

One little bonus localish item that didn’t make it into the dinner photo – cupcakes! These were so good, and I’m still blown away by how amazing these cupcakes are. I picked up a 6 pack of cupcakes from Iced by Betsy this past week and WOW WOW WOW. If you go to the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market and haven’t yet given in to temptation, you really ought to. Trust me.

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 12

By Sheetar 2 August 2010 31 July 2010

I came home from the Market at the Anselma Mill with a Spaghetti Squash. I’d never had spaghetti squash and I’ve been trying to broaden my vegetable horizons and try new things. Searching online, I found this recipe for spaghetti squash pancakes. Interesting, different, and easy! I didn’t quite follow the recipe as written. I baked the squash in the oven for an hour as the site instructs, let it cool and then scraped the contents into a bowl. Instead of adding all the ingredients, I just sprinkled flour in until I got a consistency that would stick together, slapped the little pancakes down on a pan with a little olive oil and put some toppings on. Clockwise, the front is just topped with cheese, next is tomato, cheese, and basil, then we have a cucumber, and finally the bacon, lettuce, and tomato spaghetti squash pancake. Bacon always makes things better and this was absolutely no exception. Ingredients list below, and this was a fantastic light lunch with PLENTY of leftovers!

Spaghetti Squash Pancakes:
Spaghetti Squash – Smith’s Produce
Tomato – Smith’s Produce
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Basil – My own deck planters
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Lettuce – Brogue Hydroponics
Cheese – Farmstead Fresh. This is their cheddar cheese.

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 11

By Sheetar 31 July 2010 31 July 2010

I’m a little behind on blog posts, but better late than never! This week I fired up the grill and stuffed some chicken breasts. Lettuce, in July, you say? YES! Brogue Hydroponics grows it all year round, and by now, I think the One Local Summer readers know that I love my greens. So, clockwise, starting on the left, we have grilled squash, in the back is a salad with lettuce, mushrooms, and my first cucumbers from the garden, and in the front chicken stuffed with chevre, mushrooms, and peppers and grilled with a peach slice on top. Detail of the ingredients follows and this was certainly a delicious and filling meal!

Squash:
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Yellow Squash – Smith’s Produce

Salad:
Lettuce – Brogue Hydroponics
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms, Crimini variety
Cucumbers – My garden! White Ghost variety
Non-Local – Salad dressing

Chicken:
Chicken breast – Mountain View Organics
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms, Crimini variety
Peppers – That same producer at Anselma Mill that I can’t remember the name (still!)
Chevre – Shellbark Hollow Farm. This is their Sharp II Chevre.
Peach – Northstar Orchard

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 10

By Sheetar 18 July 2010 18 July 2010

I really cannot believe it’s week ten already. I just didn’t feel like getting everything together and seriously cooking this week, but I did manage a meal. This week, I bring you a veggie panini!

Vegetable Panini:
Bread – Saint Peter’s Bakery. This is their wheat bread.
Yellow Squash – Arrgh I can never remember the name of this producer at the Anselma Market
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Onion – North Star Orchard
Cherry Tomatoes – Jack’s Farm
Eggplant – Smith’s Produce
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms. Crimini Mushrooms.
Colby Dill Cheese – Conabella Farms. This cheese is absolutely amazing.

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 9

By Sheetar 13 July 2010 13 July 2010

Rotisserie chicken and grilled vegetables was on the menu for this week. I picked up a whole chicken and a bunch of different vegetables for the grill wok. The chicken was basted with some non-local jelly and olive oil, but otherwise, everything else is local!

Chicken:
Whole Chicken – Why Not Farm

Vegetables:
Onion – Smith’s Produce
Tomatoes – Brogue Hydroponics
Flying Saucer Squash – I can’t remember which stand this one came from, but it was delicious!
Portabella Mushrooms – Marsh Creek Farm

One Local Summer

One Local Summer – Week 8

By Sheetar 9 July 2010 9 July 2010

Only the finest in outdoor cooking! This was last week during some of that AMAZING and beautiful weather we had. We busted out the new electric fondue pot and went to town with some beef broth fondue. There’s no real plate photo today because cooking meat and veggies in the broth gives you little bites here and there, a lot of conversation, and a relaxing and long dinner – perfect for a gathering of friends. Dear friend Debbie and her 4 month old son joined us for this meal and it was a really enjoyable evening. The ingredients list looks much shorter than usual, but it really was a filling meal and we certainly were not left hungry when the meat and veggies were gone.

Fondue:
Turkey – Mountain View Organics
Top Round Beef – Bethany Farm
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Potatoes – Smith’s Produce
Onions – Smith’s Produce
Baguette – Saint Peter’s Bakery
Non-Local – Beef Broth