Friday, June 6, 2008

Market to table - One local summer week 1

It's the first week of One Local Summer Challenge, where people all over the US will eat one entirely local meal, once a week, all summer and then blog about it. Of course, I never do anything half heartedly and decided that rather just eat one entirely local meal per week, I'd have one completely local day of eating per week. Unfortunately, that completely eliminates my supply of homemade bread and anything with sugar for that particular day. Hmm. Oh well. I said I'd do it and here I am. Tuesday was my first completely local day this summer - well, ever really.

Breakfast. The meal of champions, right? Local, local, local. Let's see. I need a little of this. Right. Oh, that would be good. Ok. A little olive oil in the pan. Alright. Flip and sprinkle a little of that. Unh huh. Ok and here we are. Veggie omlet - egg with roasted squash and zucchini, oozing with warm melty feta cheese (Mmm - feta) - and  a nice big cup of homemade yogurt with fresh local blackberries. What a way to start the day!

For lunch, whether at work or home, I almost always have soup. I really do eat it almost every day but each week the soup is different depending on what leftovers I had from the farmers market. Last winter there were many variations on potato and cabbage soup. Now that it's spring, it's a whole different ball game. This week I sauteed onion and spinach in a little olive oil, then added tomatoes, zucchini, squash and vegetable stock (reserved from steaming vegetables and boiling potatoes at another meal). I seasoned it with a little salt, pepper, and fresh basil and oregano (basil and oregano are both local). It couldn't have been more perfect. The aroma was just wonderful and the veggies melted in my mouth. Mmmm. I normally would have had a piece of homemade toast and jam, but 100% local, right? So I enjoyed a side of watermelon instead. 

Then my pride and joy - dinner! For dinner, I decided on a veggie plate. Steamed green beans (with just a touch of salt), mashed potatoes (raw, whole milk and salt), and a vegetable stir fry rounded out my evening meal. The stir fry was the truly beautiful dish. Yellow and red potatoes, mushrooms, onion, and parsley (all local) fried up in olive oil with just enough salt to bring out the... oh good heavens. That's awesome! Mmmm... Right. Dinner rocks! 

When the entire day was said and done, every last bit was local except salt, pepper, and olive oil. I have to admit, I really missed my homemade bread and jam, particularly at lunch, but I certainly did not go hungry. What a feast!  Until next week - happy (and mindful) eating!

P.S. For more information about One Local Summer or what others around the country are doing (and eating), check out the One Local Summer site.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds delicious!

hmd said...

What's cool is that because of the challenge, I'm hunting down all kinds of recipes I normally wouldn't try. It's gonna be fun (and yummy)!

Sam said...

Sounds and looks delicious!

I love feta with my egg as well. Its soo good that I feel it must be sinful.

I've been trying to figure out truly local recipes too...since we usually have bread/pasta/rice which isn't local with our meals. The local flour is a pain in the neck to deal with so I don't want to use it.

hmd said...

Beany - no way. Cheese can't be sinful. It's in heaven. I'm sure of it.

If you can't find pastas or rice that are local, what about making a meal out of a big baked potato or I recently discovered spaghetti squash. Next time, I'm going to use the strands instead of noodles in a meal.

I've never done the One Local Summer before, so I'm curious to see what others come up with.