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Kelly's Eat Local Challenge: Week One

Editor’s Note: Kelly Reynolds, graphic designer, social media consultant and author of the blog Reynolds Report, is taking a personal Eat Local Challenge during the month of April and will be reporting weekly about her journey. Kelly hails from Phoenix, Arizona. 

by Kelly Reynolds

When I started my Eat Local Challenge, I knew it would be challenging. Boy, did I underestimate how much.

This past week has been interesting and difficult, but very fulfilling. With only one exception (chips and queso at a neighborhood restaurant), I've eaten only local, organic or all natural foods for the entire week!

My breakfasts have consisted of eggs, toast with locally made preserves or organic granola. Lunches have been mainly salads and dinners have been a lot of chicken, steak and baked potatoes. For this week, I haven't strayed very far from my comfort zone.

I have, however, visited some amazing local restaurants. Tuesday night, I had the amazing BBQ Bacon Blue Burger from Joe's Farm Grill in Gilbert, Arizona. The restaurant has been converted from the Johnston family's home to a place where fresh, delicious food is prepared right before your eyes. The produce and herbs come right from the family's farm, which you can see from the back patio, and all of their meat comes from inside Arizona state lines.

Another local treasure is Essence Bakery Café in Tempe, Arizona, where their motto is "Buy locally. Eat well. Preserve the planet." They purchase as much produce from local farmers and vendors as possible, serve grass-fed beef and free-range chicken and serve as many sustainable and organic products as possible. At Essence, I had the Roasted Chicken Club sandwich and, like at Joe's I could definitely tell the difference between fresh and local and the cookie-cutter, frozen food restaurants I frequented before the challenge.

I also tried some new recipes this week. As I mentioned before, I'm not much of a cook. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that I roasted my first chicken this week. I took the chicken, from Double Check Ranch in Winkleman, Arizona, out of the packaging, cleaned it off and realized that it still had a neck attached! I couldn't cope with cutting off the neck, so I called in backup (my dad) to help me out. After all of the drama was out of the way, I roasted it with herbs and spices and a locally-made chipotle plum sauce from Terra Verde Farms. It was delicious!

I ran into a couple hiccups along the way this week, though. I figured out that I need a backup plan.For instance, it may rain this Saturday and I found myself thinking, "What would I do if the farmer's market is closed? Where would I get my food for the week?" Also, one day I forgot my eggs for breakfast and had to settle for All Natural Melba Toast, which wasn't bad, but I wanted something local and didn't have a backup.

What do you do when your plans don't go as expected and you need a backup plan?

All-in-all I feel great about this week. I can definitely notice a change in taste and in my body from the all local and organic diet, and I feel amazing that I'm reducing my carbon footprint and supporting local farmers and businesses while doing it.

Goals for Week 2

1. Step outside of my comfort zone -- Try a new recipe, use that kale I've been too chicken to bring out of the fridge and buy new things at the farmer's market.
2. Develop a backup plan for when I forget my food or when a recipe goes wrong (probably from stepping outside of my comfort zone).

 

Taking the Eat Local Challenge in Arizona

Editor’s Note: Kelly Reynolds, graphic designer, social media consultant and author of the blog Reynolds Report, is taking a personal Eat Local Challenge during the month of April and will be reporting weekly about her journey. Kelly hails from Phoenix, Arizona. Thanks, Kelly! We look forward to hearing about how it goes.

by Kelly Reynolds

The journey to try an Eat Local Challenge for a month came about five months ago when I was developing my “30 by 30” list – a list of 30 things to do by the time I turn 30-years-old. I knew I had goals – some silly and some meaningful – and I wanted to write them down and accomplish them.

One of my goals was to become a locavore. I didn’t know for how long or when, but I’d do it.

Since then, I’ve done a lot of research and decided that starting this Friday, April 1, I will be a locavore for the entire month. At first, I thought, “Sure, I can do this. I’ll eat salad and chicken and beef from local farms. No problem. It might get boring – but I can do it.”

But then I realized that there’s so much more to being a locavore. I started visiting my local Arizona farmer’s markets more than just once or twice a month. I started developing relationships between farmers and other local eaters. And I realized that this is more than just eating local to prove I can do it.

I knew before going into this that it would be better for the environment and better for my health . I just didn’t know how much. I started reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” by Barbara Kingsolver and one passage from the first chapter caught me completely off guard.

“If every U. S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.”

I also read an article in Cooking Light that said grass-fed beef is lower in calories, contains more healthy omega-3 fats, more vitamins A and E, higher levels of antioxidants, and up to seven times the beta-carotene. In fact, if you switch to grass-fed beef for a year, you will save 16,642 calories, but it would also cost you about $300 more.

About a week ago, I started really planning for this locavore challenge and I realized that it will be harder than I thought. Sure, I can eat salad and local beef and chicken every day, but what about the smaller things? Where would I get salad dressing? Would I make it? How do you make salad dressing? What can I drink? Water? Local milk? What about side dishes? Am I stuck with local veggies?

It doesn’t help the matter that I’ve never been a very good cook, and tend not to stray far beyond my comfort zone. But, when I found this mantra I felt so much better.

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then organic.
If not ORGANIC, then family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then fair trade.
If all else fails, at least don’t eat at McDonald’s!

I realized that it’s ok if I don’t eat 100% of things grown at the Gilbert Farmer’s Market, as long as I’m making a conscious effort. But, I don’t plan on straying far – my goal is to eat and drink local and organic for the month (looks like I’ll be making a trip or two to Whole Foods)

So, as this journey begins, I’m excited and terrified at the same time. And, I’ll need some help from you. Have you participated in an Eat Local Challenge before? How’d it go? Where’d you shop? What were your biggest challenges?

Look for Kelly’s Eating Local Challenge every week. Follow her on Twitter @reynoldsreport or Facebook.

How to Order Your Thanksgiving Turkey On Facebook

The first year I attempted a local Thanksgiving, my best gathering skills only conjured up sweet potatoes saved, dirt on, in our basement for a month. It was a start.

In the last six years, I'd like to think my gatherer (however not hunter) skills have improved. But skill has nothing to do with it. You show up at the market every weekend, get to know the farmers and next thing you know, your pastured turkey is just one facebook wall post from your table. Far more than poultry and potatoes, what I gathered has been people. Friends. Farmers. Fellow cooks and locavores. It's a bounty that ensures that neither my table or my life will be empty. As my family celebrates this holiday, we have much to be thankful for in our connections to our food, not just connections on facebook.

Like the farmers who see my child at the market each spring, after a winter apart. They've watched her grow up from a baby in a front carrier to her current four feet tall — and knew it was their food she ate to get so big. They've fed her cherry tomatoes and peppers fresh from the ground and encouraged her love of vegetables in ways I never could. A few of them have even, in the cold late fall market days, wiped her nose for her, just as if she were one of their own.

I've watched my child pet the forehead of a bull in a pasture and hold baby chicks when we went to get our chickens.

A few of the farmers have become good friends, showing up at our table, our kids playing together as we cook and drink wine. We've celebrated holidays now, and family outings to the pumpkin patch. We've cooked the lamb they raised, possibly even the once tiny ones they kept warm in their laundry room during a wicked cold winter.

Each winter, I wonder how they all are and look forward to the spring ahead when we will see them — not just their produce — again. I rejoice at new methods like high tunnels that extend the season a month in either direction. Not just because the food is so good, but it's two months less I will not have to miss all these people.

Which is a whole lot to gather into your life besides sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Souffle
2 lbs washed, peeled and diced sweet potatoes (start with a bit over 2 lbs. to allow for peeling)
3 tbs. flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbs. maple syrup
1 tsp. orange extract
1/4 cup light sour cream
3 eggs
2 tbs. butter, melted

Steam the diced sweet potato for about 20 minutes until tender. Allow to cool before preparing the rest of the recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the sweet potato in a food processor and pulse until pureed. Add the flour through the extract and pulse to combine. Add the sour cream, eggs, and butter. Pulse to combine well, scraping sides as needed. Pour batter into a greased souffle dish. Bake for about one hour or until edges are puffed and center is nearly set. Allow to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes before serving for the best texture. It really does get better cold the next day.

ExpatChef, or Beth Bader, is co-author of the upcoming book, The Cleaner Plate Club: Recipes and Advice for Getting Real Kids to Love Real Food.

Five steps to local eating

 

by Jennifer Maiser, editor

This post is for the folks who are just dipping their toe into the local eating world. We already know that there are great reasons to eat locally, but what is the best way to get started? Below are the main ways that I tell people they can get started with local eating.

And what better time to try this than summertime?

1. Frequent your farmers market. Find a local farmers market, grab some reusable bags, and head down to find local, in season fruit and vegetables from local farmers. The great thing about farmers markets is that they are not only a fabulous place to pick up your food for the week, but they are a fun way to shop.

2. Choose five foods that you can source locally. A good way to get a feel for your local foodshed is to figure out what your area is best at growing. Choose five foods and commit to eating those locally for a while, so that you can get your locavore feet wet in a manageable way. Stuck for ideas? Try looking for local cheese, eggs, dairy, potatoes, in-season tomatoes, or root vegetables like carrots and onions. These are foods that commonly can be grown in many different climates.

3. Sign up for a CSA. The term CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it's a fantastic way to support a local farmer and get fresh, local produce at the same time. You pay a subscription (usually either weekly or quarterly), and receive a weekly box of produce of what's in season at the farm. Want to find a CSA in your area? Check out Local Harvest.

4. Pickle, can, freeze or dehydrate! One way to be a locavore year-round is to preserve food while it's in season. Is there a glut of blueberries at your market? Buy when they're on sale, freeze them, and use them for muffins in the dead of winter. Canning doesn't have to be scary, and many locavores are canning in small batches in their homes. Start small with a one of the ideas from preserving website Punk Domestics.

5. Can't find locally grown? Try locally produced. Many items like bread, pastries, coffee and jams aren't always sourced with local ingredients. The next best thing is to buy them from local businesses: coffee purveyors who source their beans carefully and roast locally, bakers who buy the best wheat they can and make daily bread in the next town over, artisans who buy citrus from a reputable farm and make a local marmalade. You're still keeping some of your dollars local and supporting local businesses.

Five Foods I Only Tried by Eating Local

by Expat Chef

It would seem like once you get to be an adult, and an adventurous eater at that, new foods would require a passport, extra bag fees and various immunizations. Truth is, that exotic vegetable experience was as close as a trip to the farmers market — or delivered in my CSA box. Here’s just a few of the new foods that have ruined me for the megamart.

1.     Heirloom tomatoes. Okay, the trend has passed. It’s so five years ago. But I’ll never be able to look at a store bought tomato again. Much less eat one. Even with my voracious appetite for all things veg, I still have roughly 500 more varieties to still try. Favorites from under 100 samplings? Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, German Stripe, Sungold Cherry, and the Technicolor kaleidoscope of tomatoes, Mr. Stripey.

 

2.     Kale, collards and chard. Unless you grow up a bit further south, the only greens you see are kale leaves used as a garnish on a buffet. Forget the chicken-fried whatever on top. Eat the kale, especially if it is the sexy purple kind or the kind with the little yellow flowers, or the luscious baby kale mix from my CSA. Best prep? For collards, a quick sauté with bacon. Kale chips are the family favorite, but kale and white beans with garlic are my pick. Chard can substitute for spinach, and tastes even better.

3.     Heirloom winter squash. I have a small problem with these. If you can call 300 lbs. of the stuff a “small” problem. You’ll need to ditch the canned stuff, get a sharp knife, and a few ethnic cookbooks (try Caribbean, Mexican and South American for starters) to understand just how many amazing recipes you can make with these. My picks? I’m a bit of a Francophile when it comes to winter squash. French heirlooms such as the Musquee de Provence and Rouge Vif D’Etampes (sold as Fairy Tale and Cinderella, respectively).

4.     Weed. Okay, I’m not in THAT kind of CSA. The feds won’t be knocking to take away my foraged goodness. The fact is, many a plant referred to as a “weed” is really an edible delight. Not ALL, mind you. So don’t head out to the yard with a fork unless you have an educated forager/farmer along for the meal. Dandelion greens would be the most familiar in this category, but hold the Roundup if you plan on harvesting your own. Other sexy salad greens disguised as weeds? Miner’s lettuce, pursulane, and some varieties of amaranth — also known under the far less sexy name of pigweed.

5.     Purple haze. Nope, no weed induced visions here. Wrong weeds. Purple just keeps showing up in new ways when I eat local. Purple cauliflower, carrots, bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatillos, tomatoes not to mention all the extra purple shades of eggplant that are not, well, eggplant-colored.

Expat Chef is Beth Bader, co-author of upcoming The Cleaner Plate Club: Advice and Recipes for Getting Real Kids to Love Real Food.

Giveaway announcement: How to Cook Everything App and an iPad

by Jennifer Maiser, editor

I was really excited last week when Mark Douglas, one of the founders of Culinate, emailed me to say that they had completed work on a new iPhone app which would house the complete contents of Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything.

I consult Bittman's book about once a week. Sometimes, it's just to find out proportions for things like handmade mayonnaise. Other times, it's to get new ideas for an ingredient or recipe. Since its initial publication in 1998, this book has become my starting point for much of my cooking.

The loose cooking method that Bittman uses is perfect for farmers market shoppers, as you can often substitute seasonal ingredients or get ideas for items you pick up at the market. I am happy that Culinate chose to tackle the big job of getting this book into an iPhone app because now I'll be able to consult it while I'm shopping.

Culinate has made three copies of the app available to Eat Local Challenge readers. 

To enter the drawing, go to the Facebook fan page and leave a comment telling us what your favorite Bittman recipe (or adapted recipe) is.

Also, awesomely, Culinate is giving away an iPad. Any winners of the iPhone app will be entered into a drawing for the iPad which will occur in May. 

If you want to purchase the app directly, you can do that here.

Drawing details: Drawing will close at midnight PST on Wednesday, April 21. To enter, you must leave a comment on the Facebook fan page with your favorite Bittman recipe. If you do not use Facebook, email us with your name and you will be entered. We will select three contest winners at random. One entry per person, please.

A teenager eats locally in Minnesota

Editor's note: The highlight of my week was to receive an email from Nicole F., a 17-year old teenager from Plymouth, Minnesota. She took on a week of eating locally in March, and wrote about it on her blog, An Experiment in Eating Locally. I asked her to summarize her project here, and for more information, you can check out her site. Thanks, Nicole!

As a junior in high school, the concept of eating locally had never occurred to me. I knew about eating organically and nutritiously. I knew about recycling and composting. But I had never considered eating locally grown food until I read Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This book offered me a challenge and I gladly accepted.

I soon began my own experiment: one week of eating locally grown food versus one week of eating food only from Target. The experiment is to figure out which is better based on economic factors, nutrition, lifestyle factors, accessibility, variety, and locality of food.

I live in Minnesota and, as I found out, chose the worst possible time to start my experiment. We are at the end of a long, cold winter.

The week began by calling four co-ops that were recommended as most likely to be selling locally grown food. The first place I called had only potatoes, tomatoes, and green cabbage. The second and third told me to come back in three weeks. The fourth place I called, Seward Co-op in Minneapolis, was just slight of a miracle. They named 12 vegetables that were locally grown.

I was thrilled and began my shopping adventure.

Seward Co-op labeled every item as local, organic, or gluten free. The produce items were labeled by place of origin. Locally produced items were labeled by distance to the farm. I credit the success of my eating locally to this co-op.

I chose to purchase local meat from an independent farm. Early Saturday morning, my dad and I traveled an hour by car to Sunshine Harvest Farms. The farmers gave us a great tour of their six-acre farm. We met sheep, ducks, and my favorite, Swissy, the milk cow. We bought ground beef, two whole chickens, lamb, and steak. All animals were grass-fed and had wide-open pastures to graze.

My family ate locally every meal for the next week. It was a strict and thoughtful diet. We ate everything from local honey to local beets. It was more work than expected, but also more rewarding. The hardest part of the eating locally week was the planning and time spent on every meal. I needed to bring my lunch to school every day and there was no such thing as a quick dinner.

It was a love-hate relationship: I loved how it forced me to eat healthier and I felt great about helping my local economy and the environment. However, it was difficult to find locally grown food in Minnesota in March and took a lot of effort.

This week I have begun my Target diet. This diet has also had its ups and downs. I love my fruit and variety, but I am eating food from over 5,000 miles away, which I now feel guilty about.

All in all, I found that with sacrifice, it is definitely possible to eat locally grown food in Minnesota. I know that come summer and fall, Minnesotans will have even more variety of choices. Through this experiment I am going to choose local food labels. I have empathy for the struggles and triumphs of the small farmer. Now, I have more knowledge and experience in eating locally grown food than the average teenager.

You can read more about this project on my blog: An Experiment in Eating Locally.

Dark Days Challenge: The "almost Spring" breakfast

by Jen Maiser, Editor

If you're not a Californian, you may want to avert your eyes from this post. Before you hate me too much for the fact that there is asparagus -- local, delicious asparagus -- on my plate this week, please know that I completely acknowledge and never, ever take the local bounty of our area for granted . 

The last couple weeks have been spectacular in the market here. This is my absolutely favorite turn of season all year. We've seen artichokes, avocados and asparagus come into the market. 

Last week after going to the Saturday market, I posted the following status on Facebook: 

"Finally unpacking my market bags properly. Avocados, pork tenderloin wrapped in pancetta, radishes of all sorts, brussels, green garlic, goat cheese, red and green cabbages, bloomsdale spinach. It's good to be a San Franciscan."

It's ridiculous.

My eat local meals have been easy, lazy and delicious. I've been eating large bowls of cabbage with sesame dressing -- using this dressing from Pim. And brown rice topped with avocado and greens. And omelettes and scrambled eggs and poached eggs and fried eggs. 

My Dark Days meal this week was Sunday breakfast: Roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, poached eggs, and ham slices. As you can see from the photo taken after my meal, I ate up every last bite of it.

The farms who helped make my dark days meal perfect this week are:

• Zuckerman Farm. Asparagus.
• Little Organic Farm. Potatoes.
• Soul Food Farm. Eggs.
• Fatted Calf. Ham.

Dark Days Challenge: Sunday night dinner, solo.

 

by Jen Maiser, Editor

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend -- mostly puttering and trying out some new projects. Usually when I do that, my Sunday night meal is quick and thrown together as I am tired of being in the kitchen at that point. But last night, I stayed in the kitchen, rearranging things, filling spice bottles, chopping up ginger to freeze in small portions. By the time I had cooked the meal above, I had lost complete track of time. I sat down to eat around 9.30, pleased with all I had accomplished.

The brussels sprouts that you see are proof positive that I lost track of time -- they are a little, uh, darker, than I intended them, but were still delicious. I halved them, then parboiled in salty water. Once they were partially cooked, I threw them in a sautee pan with some duck fat and tossed with preserved lemons I'd been gifted by Anita.

The steak is a flat-iron steak that I marinated earlier in the day with garlic, (non-local) fish sauce, chile peppers, and a lime. I then threw it on to my grill pan for a couple minutes.

The gratin is made of potatoes, leeks and king trumpet mushrooms. It was very simple and delicious. The entire meal was a terrific way to wrap up a quiet and productive weekend.

The farms who helped make my dark days meal perfect this week are:

• Massa Organics. Duck fat.
• Swanton Berry Farm. Brussels sprouts.
• Little Organic Farm. Potatoes.
• Eatwell Farm. Leeks
• Far West Fungi. Mushrooms.
• Prather Ranch. Flat Iron Steak.
• Straus Dairy. Milk.

Dark Days Challenge: The journey of a duck

by Jen Maiser, Editor

The story of this week's Dark Days meal begins in October.

Greg Massa of Massa Organics -- our local amazing brown rice farmer -- announced that he would be selling ducks at the farmers market and I panicked because I was scheduled to be in Southern California during the weekend that they would be sold. Greg's ducks held the promise of something special. The October sale would be the debut of his ducks -- I wrote about Greg and the role that the ducks play in his farm for Serious Eats.

I'd been dating a man -- E -- for a little while. Things were new and fresh and interesting, and I enjoyed spending time with him. When the duck sale was announced, I called E. "Would you mind going to the Berkeley Farmers Market," I asked, "and picking up a duck for me?" I explained that I had reserved the duck and that it would be under my name. He happily did the favor and I returned from the Southern California weekend to find my duck awaiting my return in E's freezer. I began to make plans for it.

As these things sometimes go, we broke up a few weeks later. As I took stock of what things we needed to return to each other, I remembered the duck. The other things that I'd left at his apartment were replaceable -- a cookbook I love but could repurchase if necessary and a couple of other odds and ends. But I couldn't leave the duck.

We arranged to meet one cold night at a BART station, and swapped possessions and I took ownership of my three-pound, sustainably-grown duck, wrapped in a canvas bag and frozen solid.

I didn't have a chance to do anything with the it until this week. I had never cooked a whole duck, truth be told, and decided to use a very simple Mark Bittman recipe to roast it. It came out decently for a first attempt, and I can't wait for the next time that Greg sells them. The next time, I will try a confit or something a little more adventurous.

I ate the duck for my dark days meal with a side dish of sauteed shredded brussels sprouts, and another of wheat berries tossed with walnut oil, parsley, satsuma mandarins and feta cheese. I later used the duck carcass for stock, and rendered out some of the fat.

As I enjoyed this eat local meal in the "dead of winter" (a ludicrous phrase, I realize, from a woman sitting in San Francisco), I reflected on what's really important in my life. Some relationships are fleeting, and end abruptly. But others -- like my relationships with my farmers -- are lasting, important and steady.

The farms who helped make my dark days meal perfect this week are:

• Massa Organics
• Full Belly Farm
• Tory Farms
• Eatwell Farm
• Glashoff Farms
• Achadinha Cheese
• Swanton Berry Farm