Kids Dish

The September Eat Local Challenge has come and gone and with the help of my CSA, meat buying club, local farmer’s markets, and other resources I think I did pretty well.

1. Eat one meal per week during the month of September that is made using locally grown ingredients. Non-local oil and spices are allowed.

I think we probably ate more than one local meal each week. I seemed to do much better with the meals I didn’t think about too much like stir fries and the Sloppy Joes. Another success was the Ribollita which was probably the best meal we ate all month. Except for the the Eat Local Rosh Hashanah. That meal was awesome. Even Sam ate the brisket.

One dinner in particular took more than four hours to cook and was a complete and utter disaster. By the time it was ready Sam was in bed and I’d lost interest completely. But the mashed potatoes with leeks were superb.

2. Can, freeze, dry, or otherwise preserve two things during the month.

I didn’t manage to can anything, though I did actually buy a canning set for the water bath method. I did freeze plenty of tomatoes, eggplant, green beans and a couple of sweet potatoes.

3. Utilize one new resource for locally grown food during September - that could be a new restaurant, farmer’s market, etc.

We joined a coop for this one. The coop we joined sells a number of local foods, has their own farm and is part of the Buy Fresh Buy Local PA campaign. We also went to a restaurant that serves local meat and produce. The meal was awesome, though since it was restaurant week the menu was limited. The dessert, raspberry and peach crisp with pistachio crumble and basil ice cream was to die for.

Now that it’s over I realize I probably could have eaten just about every meal locally. With the coop only a ten minute drive from my house I’ve got easy access to local milk, cheese, eggs, meat, bread and produce if I can’t get to the farmer’s market. I feel bad that I didn’t preserve more, but my freezer is full to overflowing as it is and we still haven’t replaced the ancient chest freezer in the basement. Now I need to start planning my local Thanksgiving.

eat local, September Eat Local Challenge, CSA, coop, locavore