Locavore In Training

Ok, let's just politely ignore that I used canned pumpkin, shall we? Last night I made pumpkin gnocchi. I didn't even realize gnocchi was on my list of things to make from scratch, but after seeing how easy it was, it will definitely be added to the easy dinner recipe list!

I found a new blog while searching for Gnocchi recipes. Mine came from Foodess.com, and boy, as it delicious and easy! I omitted the sage, only because I don't have any on hand, but I'll definitely try  it again with it! I changed the recipe a tiny bit by frying the cooked gnocchi in the browned butter until one side got crispy. I think this really added a nice texture.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

Source: Foodess.com

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cup flour, plus for rolling out dough
• 4 tbsp butter (original recipe called for 3 tbsp)
• 1/4 cup sage leaves (which I omitted)
• grated parmesan cheese
• salt, kosher or sea

1. Set a large pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, combine pumpkin, egg, salt, and nutmeg. Once mixed well, add flour in batches.

2. Flour hands, separate dough into 3-4 sections. (4 worked well for me.) Roll on floured work surface into 1-inch thick rope. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Repeat.

3. Add gnocchi into boiling water, and cook until they rise to the surface. This took 4-5 minutes. While gnocchi is cooking, melt butter in a saucepan. (Add sage leaves if you have them.) Cook until butter browns.

4. Drain gnocchi, (she suggested draining on paper towels, which I missed but seems like a good idea) then add to saucepan with brown butter and fry until crispy. Sprinkle with parmesan and salt.

Well, I ended up with 3/4 of a cup pumpkin left from dinner... So I turned it into breakfast! Spiced Pumpkin Buttermilk Biscuits. I changed nothing, so the recipe is here. I got 9 biscuits instead of 10, they rose beautifully and tasted amazing.

Oh, and did make ghee last night! Easy enough once I got the temperature right.

Projects to do, in which I apparently mean "things to cook." I can't help it... On the path to local-ism and self-sufficiency, the kitchen is my place to start. I can't really grow things where we live (too much shade) though I have tried... and so far, I'm not raising animals (cats do not count!). By the time I can do those things, at least I'll know what to do with my spoils! In the meantime, the kitchen is my workshop.

In no particular order (except the ghee, which is on deck for this week):

• Ghee
• Sausage
• Popcorn on the stove - If there was ever a post to motivate me, this is it. Plus I threw out all my microwave popcorn.
• Granola
• Cheese! (Been on the list for... 3 years now.)
• Nut butters - Lots of options on this site, and others, but this one may just be at the top of my list.
• Mayo
• Beef stock (This is on the agenda because the 1/4 cow purchase includes bones... so, why not?)
• Learning to cut up a whole chicken
• Tallow
• Tortillas

Turns out, I'm just not very good at blogging. Oh well. I've decided not to care about that, and get to it when I can and want! My last extended absence was more or less a result of not accomplishing anything locavore-related. In this case, it's exactly the opposite! Can't really say what kicked me in high gear, but I'm not complaining.

I've been cooking. A lot. I mean, a lot. It's been awesome. I've been inspired by so many blogs, cookbooks, recipe sites and cravings. Some recent projects (all of which I planned to blog about, maybe I'll actually get to a few):

• Season of Soups! I've always been picky (in which picky = broccoli cheese only) about soups, and I decided to kick that aversion this year once and for all. I'm shooting to make one new soup recipe each week. (With as many local ingredients as possible.) Here's what I've made so far:
• Loaded Potato
• Chicken Tortilla
• Chicken and rice
• Pumpkin Black Bean
• Cheeseburger Soup (Jay's favorite, hands down - said it was the best soup I've ever made.)
• White Chicken Chili (sort of... no actual chilis were harmed in the making of this soup, so I may have to try this one again.)
• Chicken Stock - Directly related to the above project! I've been making a batch every week or so using a whole, cut-up chicken in my crockpot. I end up with delicious shredded chicken and healthy stock, both of which makes me feel better about spending $22 for a free-range, pasture raised chicken. To the linked recipe, I just add a bunch of water, enough to more or less cover the chicken. I'm going to see if I can get a second batch using the leftover bones... maybe save the wings to add to them?
• Homemade Vanilla Extract - I have two batches going, one started 2 months before the second. The first one had (remedied this morning) less fresh beans and used Dewers as the base. It may or may not turn out, but the fact of the matter was that we had a bottle of Dewers no one wanted anything to do with. The second uses absolut vodka. The second has been brewing maybe 6 weeks and is starting to smell like something I'd actually like to use. Oh, and I did buy my beans from Amazon, and they're far better than anything I've ever purchased from the grocery.
• Lard. Yep, I said it. Such a bad rap. I ordered pork fat in my last Polyface delivery (5 lbs for me, 5 lbs for Penn) but it ended up coming in a 3 and 7 lb bags. So, I quickly (hahaha) whipped up some lard for use in baked goods that call for shortening and any other shenanigans I can get into. (So, the recipe said 8 hours in the crock pot would do it, but after almost 24, I ended up finishing on the stove. And buying a new crockpot.)
• Local food hunt and gathering. I recently read Joel Salatin's new book Folks This Ain't Normal (please read it), and I'm more motivated than ever to opt out of the existing food system. I'm getting really close to not needing Safeway anymore. (Even though they recently declared me a "VIP" customer. Oy.) I've found some new, and started using some old sources:
• Polyface Farm: Ordering almost all our chicken and beef here. In fact, finally bit the bullet and ordered 1/4 cow this year. And 10 chickens. For delivery the same day. Oh, and I'm going camping, so Jay's left home to deal with all that. Thanks, honey!
• My Butcher and More: Love this place! They have a price list on the wall for local meats verses non-local. And deal directly with lots of local farms. Our source for Bison, chicken breasts (now considered a treat), sausages (so far, Italian and lamb feta), and duck fat(!!!).
• South Mountain Creamery: Such a convenience! Delivery to our door of milk, cheese, granola, bread... even turkey products (whole turkeys, ground turkey, turkey jerky). They have other meats, but our needs are pretty much covered with the other sources.
• Farmer's Markets: There are 3 for me to choose from (aren't I a lucky girl?) in the Anne Arundel County area convenient to me. My favorite is the Riva Road market on Saturdays. More vendors, more produce vendors to pick from. But the Westfield market on Sundays is also a nice stop, not too many options, but I can get most of what I need there. The Downtown Annapolis market is nice, but a little more of a hassle with parking, and the furthest away.

There may be more, but I'm drawing a blank! There's Chicken Tikka Masala in my (new) crockpot and Naan dough rising... Can't wait!

I can't explain why I bought so much fruit knowing that I'd be out of town half of this week. Way too much fruit! So, inspired by Food in Jar's Skillet Jam, I got to work!

I used basically the exact recipe, except I used 3 peaches and 1 pear to get 2 1/2 cups of chopped fruit and subbed mint leaves for lemon verbena leaves (wish I was cool enough to have that on hand, but I'm not). Local honey was used, and bam! Just over 1 pint of jam in 20 minutes.

Bam = cook on high heat, stirring often for about 10 minutes, until it's cooked down and has gelled into jam.

Can't taste the pear, or the mint... but it's still delicious! Will definitely use this method again - I love that it uses honey instead of sugar, and that you could use a water bath to make it shelf stable.

Next time around, I'd probably use less honey to fruit and add scrapings from a vanilla bean or cinnamon. Maybe both... mmmmmm.

Hello there, blog world! It's been an embarrassingly long time since we talked.

It's been hard to get back here, as I've spent most of the last year decidedly opposite of my goals of eating locally. I set off to lose weight in the Fall, and since I really didn't have any idea how to do that - I joined Weight Watchers. The program worked great, but the problem really was that my diet was consisting of frozen and/or boxed processed foods. Breakfast - frozen WW breakfast sandwich, Lunch - yet another "frozen delight." Afternoons would be fiber bars or popcorn. Dinners, I might do better - making meals from Fat free this and reduced fat that. Sure, I'd through in some fresh fruit or veggies throughout the day as a snack... but not very much in my diet that one might be able to purchase from a farmer's market or directly from a farm.

The last few months I've pulled more and more away from the land of processed and frozen. Still not quite getting back to the local goals, but still, closer to real food. But the scale's been showing the changes. I kept meaning to jump back into locally sourced, but just wasn't making it a top priority.

Well, Hurricane Irene came to town recently, and it looks like she's giving me a jump start. With the power out multiple days, by the time we found a generator, our food was long gone. Completely empty deep freezer, side by side freezer currently contains nuts and coffee. Even the fridge looks starkly empty: soda, beer, a few things that were shelf stable: bbq sauce, homemade strawberry jelly, and almond milk.

Since we're more or less starting with a clean slate, I'm challenging myself to carefully consider the items going back into the house. I haven't quite figured out how to make local, whole foods work in a diet situation either, so that's challenge #2.

I managed to acquire eggs from a coworker. She's raising Silkies and Americanas (so jealous!) so the eggs I'm buying from her are either teeny tiny or green. This batch is full green. I'd been buying several dozen at a time from Polyface, but this is much, much more local and nice to really know the person caring for the animals. Still hoping to raise my own, but that continues to be another story.

I talked (begged) Polyface into allowing me to order after their cutoff date, so today I'll be picking up some meat:

• 4 lbs ground beef
• 1 broiler chicken, cut up
• 1 lb bacon
• 1 whole Freedom Ranger (new breed of chicken they are "trying out" this year)

While I don't think this is enough to cover the next 5 weeks until the next Polyface delivery, my coworker had also given me a lead on a really local farm that produces beef, pork and chicken. I'd like to try them out too! I do love Polyface, but we don't care for their pork products, so it would be nice to find a source we prefer. Supporting a more local, small farm, definitely a bonus!

I'm a bit at a loss though for the main transition plan... The diet-friendly meals call for things like 99% fat free ground turkey breast and boneless, skinless thinly sliced chicken cutlets. Reduced fat cheese and fat free milk. Not something I'll solve today, so I suppose I should just try to work through it one step at a time. If anyone's still out there, I'd love thoughts on how you do it!

Pretty much the first thing I did after arriving in Colorado, was visit the Crested Butte Farmer's Market. I visited last year, and remember it being pretty great... but what I didn't remember was how this tiny town's market puts all the Maryland Farmer's Markets I've visited to shame. Seriously, Maryland... we need to step it up! Their brutal winters and extremely short growing seasons hasn't limited them... what's our excuse?

I figure those who are in Maryland might be a little miffed at this point... so, don't take my word for it! Here's a picture tour from the market! (Warning - this post is picture heavy! Give it a minute... it's worth it!)

Can't beat the location!

My mom could not have been more excited about these Fava Beans! She's been on the lookout for them earlier in the season in Florida and now here... It's apparently the last week for them, so she loaded up!

Baby squash! So cute!

Circle A had 4 kinds of garlic?? Yes, please! The Spanish Roja was quickly dispatched into spaghetti sauce last night. The cloves had a beautiful red color, and the flavor was amazing!

Fresh apricots! I never did find any at home.

Freshly made crepes... because every farmer's market has that...

They even have the dreaded kohlrabi.

Kids love beets? These kids do!

Not pictured... the bluegrass band, the smoker BBQ station, the massage booth, the jewelry and other art... And all dogs! This area is dog crazy! It's awesome.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go have goat cheese and pumpernickel bread for breakfast.

I'll leave you with the sunset from my first night here.

I mentioned the other day that my canning was a success... I wanted to share the recipe, because while I haven't tasted this batch, we did taste them in class and they were awesome.

This recipe comes from my canning instructor, Marla Luther who got it from a USDA canning book.

Recipe: Reduced-Sodium Sliced Sweet Pickles

So, those monster zucchinis...

The left and right ones are just over 1 lb each. The middle one... 2 full pounds!

Finally, I shared this on Facebook the other day, but I wanted to share it here too... A beautiful triple lily I had no idea grew in our yard.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday on Food Renegade.

One of my lovely readers asked me about what's needed to get started with canning, preferably without spending tons of cash. I thought it was a great question, and one I should address here!

I'm not known for just dipping a toe into a project, but in this case, I actually did. I didn't buy every available option and gadget... and turns out, I've got enough!

I have two books, Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English (which I already discussed here) and Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Ashley's book is charming, and makes canning approachable... and the Ball book is chock full of recipes for ideas and inspiration.

As far as supplies, if you want to order online I'd suggest Amazon. (This is no surprise to those who know me, I love Amazon. ) There are, of course, other options if you'd prefer to price shop or buy from a traditional store.

I bought this water bath canner and I've been pleased with it:

Granite Ware 21-1/2-Quart Steel/Porcelain Water-Bath Canner with Rack

You'll also want to get one of the nice kits they have out, something like:

It's cheap, it looks cheap... get it anyway. You'll thank me later!

Back to Basics 5-Piece Home Canning Kit

I haven't ventured into the world of pressure canners, but if you know you definitely will be doing that, you can save some money and just buy the pressure canner. You can use it as a water bath canner as well, as long as you don't seal it! One word of caution, and PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!!! If you have one of the glass top cooktops, you'll probably want to stick to water bath canning. The weight of the pressure canners can damage your stove!

When/If I buy one, this is the one I plan to buy:

Presto 23-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner

Because I have the glasstop stove, I'll have to get something like this (or someone should build me my outdoor stove!)

Camp Chef Explorer Series EX-60LW 2-Burner Modular Cooking System, Black

If you wanted to buy locally, True Value and Ace Hardware are your best options. I bought my jars from True Value recently, and they had other supplies there as well. For some reason, those stores seem to stock more of the canning supplies than the larger big box hardware stores.

So, as you can see, between the books, the water bath canner and the kit, you can get started for about $60 with all new materials. There are cheaper ways to do it, but it's not a huge upfront cost either.

I haven't tried this, but I've heard yard sales and thrift stores can be a good source of used jars. Just check that there are no chips or cracks, particularly on the top rim. You'll need to get new lids (they are not reusable) but other than that, you're all set!

If others have things that they love and want to recommend, please do!

There are some days when I feel like I will never "get it right" with this local food thing. (Please do not talk to me about kohlrabi until at least next Spring.) It can be hard... running to multiple markets, farms, farm pickups, etc.

Well, yesterday was not one of those hard days. The stars aligned for me, I guess.

I left the office a little early because my day ended with a conference call that I could just as easily take from the car. I rolled into the community garden just before 5 to do some much needed watering. Weird transition from work to farm hand... but after a quick 911 call to one of the coordinators to figure out how to turn off the electric fence, I was in business.

Watered two rows - one each zucchini and pattypan squash - 90 seconds for each plant. Watered myself a little too, thanks to the 90+ weather we've been having. (Mother Nature, it would be lovely if you turned down the heat a bit, and gave us some rain. Thanks much.)

I was on the very last plant when a gopher ran out from under the plant - wet and scared. Not sure who was more scared though!! A nice reminder that while I might be alone in terms of other people, you're never fully alone outside!

Then I went in search of the promised pickling cucumbers. I think they meant prickly! Ouch. My goal was to pick 4 lbs for my low sodium pickle chip recipe from canning class. Yum. (Recipe to come.) Turns out, I can't judge weight very well in a field. Ended up with 8 lbs! Also, 3 of the largest zucchinis I've ever seen. I'll post a picture soon, I promise - you have to see these to believe!

Once I got home, I set about pickling those 8 pounds of extremely fresh cucumbers. Thanks to my food processor, the chopping was almost completely eliminated. And by 8:30, 8 beautiful pints of freshly made pickles were sitting on the counter. Horray!

CSA pickup tonight, and they promised NO KOHLRABI.

For the record's sake, here's what I would have gotten this week at the CSA (week 6) had I made it over there...

4 pounds combo of the following:

Photo by fooddesign @ photoxpress

• kale
• turnips
• kohlrabi
• green head cabbage (1 head maximum)

• 2 1/4 pound zucchini
• 3/4 pound carrots
• 1/2 pound peas
• 1/2 pound Swiss chard
• 1/4 pound lettuce
• 1 bulb onion
• 1 bunch bunching onions
• 1 head garlic

Mmm... sounds good, right?! But, alas, I had to work late Tuesday night. It's actually been quite busy around here, as evidenced by my lack of posting. Though I really enjoyed it, I welcomed the end of my canning classes. I will very much welcome the end of the intense course I'm taking to help with work. That should free up quite a bit of time!

In the meantime, skipping last week's share may have paid off. I'll pick up a double share on Tuesday, and the CSA is taking the following week off to catch up on farm chores. Since working at the community garden, I have a new appreciation for all the work that goes into raising food... so if they need a week off, I'm more than happy to step back and let them have it.

Speaking of the garden... holy cow, is that more than I anticipated! There are some very dedicated souls who spend most of every weekend out there. Even if I could hack hours and hours and hours in the sun, I'd never get anything else done in my life! I'm getting out there when I can to help, and I'm learning quite a bit! (Even more than how hard farming is!) The garden boss asked people to come out and harvest zucchini and cucumbers today... I'd love to do that, since my last canning class covered pickling but if I go over there, I'll spend a couple hours working and then not have time to actually do the pickling! It's a dilemma.

I haven't been to a farmer's market in weeks (no need with 2 awesome sources of produce that's already paid for!!) but I do miss it. Two news ones have opened for the season, so I definitely need to get over and check them out!

Well, I think that's it for me! Time to get out and do stuff