Sunday, July 20, 2008

Local diet update - July 20, 2008

Uh huh. You see that? That's my share of 35 pounds of canned tomatoes. And, no, that's not a type-o. A group of us got together yesterday and canned 4 batches or 35 pounds of tomatoes. Of course, as I was hovered over the stove on Saturday morning, I didn't make it to the farmers market this week, but look at those jars. It was so worth it! Besides, as I look through the fridge and pantry, I can see we'll be just fine on supplies this week. Here's how it looks...

Somehow I still have the better part of a watermelon from a past farmers market left to eat. That'll be great for breakfasts along side my homemade bagels. And those bagels are only made tastier with my latest batch of homemade (and this time local) butter. Mmmm.  

For lunches, I pulled out 4 jars of of my homemade and all local veggie and sausage soup from the freezer. That'll be nice with toasted cheese sandwiches - that would be my homemade yogurt sandwich rolls toasted in the toaster oven along with some local gouda cheese. Anybody salivating yet?

Dinners have been pretty basic lately and I'm planning on continuing that trend into the next week. We've been eating a lot of local eggs with homemade toast or toast with a side of my homemade yogurt (adding some jam to sweeten it up from time to time). We both try to eat our main meal of the day during the lunch hour, so it's easy to get away with these light dinners. And honestly, homemade bread, toasted and topped with homemade butter and/or homemade jam with a side of homemade yogurt - yeah, simple really is beautiful!

So even without having made it to the market this week, we'll be fine. If all else fails, I have tons of local beans and local rice just ready to be cooked up, and of course, all the fruits and tomatoes that I've been canning over the last few months. We just picked up a gallon of fresh, whole, local milk from the diary and I still have plenty of the dairy's cheese, sausage and salami in the freezer to use as needed. Yep, no one will be starving around here!

I did pick up just a few items from the grocery - dark brown sugar, organic chocolate chips, and walnuts. All those goodies went into that Chocolate Nut Bread I made this past week - one loaf for company and the other to give the hosts of our canning party yesterday morning. It was a hit both times and it was pretty good, if I do say so myself. But don't listen to me. Here's the recipe. Give it a try!

So that's about all the local diet news that's fit to print this Sunday morning. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Happy (and mindful) eating!

5 comments:

Green Bean said...

Those jars of tomato sauce look beyond delicious!! I'm jealous but that motivates me to gather my friends to can tomato sauce now in addition to jam. Canning together is SO much more fun.

Glenda said...

Mmmmm, those jarred tomatoes are gorgeous!

How nice to not feel like you *have* to go to the market / grocery store.

Reading your local diet updates really has my wheels turning.

Kim Campbell said...

How fun was that?!?!

I need to find a local dairy.

hmd said...

Green Bean - I agree. I love canning in groups. We had people, chopping, washing, boiling, cooking, etc. And it all came together - 30 jars in 2 hours! And it was so much fun!

Glenda - Thanks! I really enjoy the market, but a week away every once in awhile (especially for something like this) is nice.

Kim - The dairy was a real find! And not only do they have milk, cheese, yogurt, etc, but they have different meats, honey, and veggies during the summer. Unlike the veggies at the market (which I find are about the same price or cheaper than the grocery), the dairy's milk and cheese are definitely more expensive, but wow is it good and it feels good to know where our food came from and that it was obtained sustainably.

Melissa said...

hmmm...I should try to round up some people to do this as a group venture. It's a lot of work to do alone sometimes!