Local! It says it right on the door!

Nom nom nom.  Loving all this local food.  

For breakfast I had some scrambled eggs and some leftover french toast.  I needed a big breakfast for the adventure that Stephanie and I were going to go on! 

We drove down to Saylorville and went on a HIKE. 

That was not her walking stick

 

Yes a hike.  

It was rough terrain.  

We traversed the rough terrain with our walking sticks in hand.  

Found some gems...  Ew! There were dead fish all over the place.

On to food...  I had a quick kitchen sink salad just like the one from yesterday.  

Dinner was on-the-go.  I got a lot of flack from some friends for my dinner today... I went to Z'Mariks in West Des Moines. I know it's locally owned because my friend Tess's friend owns it! 

PLUS it says it right on the front door!  Locally owned and operated.

And it was Mac and Cheese Monday.  Yum.  Large mac and cheese for the price of a small.  

I was planning on bringing half home...  

Eating Local Day 4: Amish Friendship Bread French Toast

I was tempted today twice... by the same person!  My coworker Emily got Domino's pizza and they talked her into parmesan bites... mmmmm. And then she texts me during my break to pick up two giant boxes of Dots on my way back because she was having a MAJOR CRAVING...  Ugh.

But I did make some yummy food today that I'm excited to share, and I made a MAJOR DISCOVERY.  More on that later. 

For breakfast I was in a rush, so I was happy to have the spinach/strawberry smoothie.  I gave it a shake and it was a delicious glass of local-ness.

For lunch I had a kitchen sink salad that was outstanding! Spinach, green onions, carrots, chicken, egg, quinoa, strawberries and some Gino's salad dressing.

I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have any popcorn yet, and wondering where I could pick some up... When I picked up my own bag of popcorn.... I might as well throw it away I guess...

BUT WAIT!

It refuses to rotate... Just turn your head already!

Iowa popcorn! Pops like a champ because it's made in Iowa! Or something like that...

That will make a great snack whenever I scrape the burnt quinoa off my big pot... ahem....

Dinner was the show stopper for sure though.  I had a loaf of Amish bread in my freezer, and I talked myself into saying it was locally made.  I made it locally before I started this... So there.

This is my project! I don't need to explain myself to you! 

I whipped up 1 egg with 1/2 cup milk and 1 teaspoon of sorghum and dipped the bread in the mixture and threw it in a pan with some butter.

So buttery and sweet that it didn't even need syrup! Which is good because I haven't tracked down any Iowa maple syrup yet.

Eating Local Day 3: Made Locally!

This morning I trucked down to the Downtown Farmers Market to pick up my CSA and try to not spend a whole lot more money....

I was only half successful...

I did get my CSA, but I also bought some Paul's Grains Quinoa, Paul's Grains granola (KILLER) and a Breakfast THANG from Tacopocalypse. 

The lovely Miss Emily Carlson of WHO-TV fame was flipping tortillas like a pro.  (I guess they'll give anyone a job...)

When I got home I whipped up a spinach and strawberry smoothie.  I have a bunch of spinach and greens left from last week because I spent half the week in Ames and didn't open my CSA 'till Thursday.  I'm hoping it keeps in the fridge.

I just snacked on the granola and some raisin bread for lunch.   My Breakfast Thing was pretty filling.

Then I made some dinner to bring with me.  Local beef, spring garlic, spinach, green onions and a tomato simmered down with some water.  I let that thing simmer for over an hour.

Tossed it with my homemade pasta and it was an easy local dinner to bring to work.

I also got a special treat.  My AWESOME coworker Dave's wife Emily, also of TV fame... sent a slice of peach pie for me!  Made in her kitchen, just a few miles away! :)

There is no picture of that because I inhaled it.  (oops)

Eating Local Day 2

So far the only sad moments came at work when I failed to pack a sufficient snack and was met with a sign that said "Free Ice Cream in the Freezer". grrrrr. 

Needless to say, it wasn't local.

My yogurt didn't cut it yesterday, I'm a breakfast girl, so I cooked Paul's Grains oats I got from Tallgrass and added some honey I got at the farmers market and some Picket Fence milk.  I'm gonna venture into the world of sorghum soon.  Wish me luck.

Lunch created itself in my brain when i saw a nice juicy burger in the page of Women's Health.  I don't have any buns, and I'm trying to work with what I've got, so I whipped up some tortillas with my local flour, a few drips of oil (freebee) and cold water.  I've been making homemade tortillas since I was a little kid, so they're pretty much by feel nowadays.  I made enough for two burger sized tortillas and two big guys that I threw in the fridge for tomorrow. 

I'm starting to really plan ahead and build my "pantry" with basics like homemade pasta and tortillas so I can whip together a meal quickly if need be. 

The burger was juicy local beef that I just salted and peppered because the jazz was coming in the toppings.... or should I say Sass. 

I topped my burger with some greens from my CSA, local Swiss and some Russ and Frank's SASSY BBQ sauce.  I love this stuff. 

It's finger-licking good. 

A glass of milk rounded out the meal quite nicely. 

Dinner is leftovers from yesterday.  I brought them to work in case my dinner plans fell through last night, so they're still there. 

The Farmer's Market is tomorrow morning again! Where did this week go?  I wonder what kinds of new treats they'll have. 

Eating Local Day 1

Today is the kickoff for my eating local adventure! Hazzah!!!

I started the morning with some Kalona SuperNatural Vanilla Yogurt.  The aftertaste took some getting used to... I wish I would have had a little granola to put on the top or even some fruit, but for now I'm stuck with veggies in my CSA (It's not all bad... read on).

Before the gym, I whipped up some homemade pasta.  Top to bottom this took me 33 minutes.  SO simple.

I mixed 2 cups of flour with 3 eggs and 1/2 t salt.  (Salt is one of my freebies, but the rest were local.)

I kneaded it in my Kitchen-aid and rolled it out in my handy-dandy pasta roller.  Thin, thinner and thinnest, and then into strips. This was EASY.  And it gave me 3-4 servings of pasta! 

For lunch I put a local chicken breast in the oven covered with some Russ and Frank's Sassy BBQ sauce.  This stuff is DIVINE.  My mom turned me onto the stuff, it's my new favorite BBQ sauce.  More on that sometime soon.  I'll have to make a meal centered around this stuff.

I threw some of the dried pasta in water for less time than you might think.  Just a flash!

I sauteed some spring garlic and kale from my Cleverley Farms CSA (@dirtfarmerlarry) and tossed it with some chopped BBQ chicken and my pasta and then topped it with some Milton Creamery Swiss cheese from the Cheese Shop.  Baked for a flash to melt the cheese... mmmm.

Dinner was the Chimichizza from local restaurant Gusto Pizza.  It's right across from the station and super delicious.  The pizza has Queso Blanco, enchilada chicken, mozzarella, cheddar-jack, green pepper, yellow onion, cilantro and tortilla strips. 

Snacks today included some raisin bread my grandma made (she's a local lady!) and a boiled egg. 

Here are a few tips I learned while prepping for day 1:

• Wheatsfield in Ames labels the Iowa food with a green label, so it's easy to find! That's how we discovered the Kalona Yogurt.  
• I bought local wheat flour at Tallgrass... I thought it was white, but it's delicious all the same.
• Fresh pasta takes hardly any time to whip up, and even less time to boil
• You can freeze fresh-dried pasta

NOLA BBQ Shrimp

I live in Iowa, and we know how to BBQ 'round these parts... But when I lived in New Orleans we did it a little different.  BBQ Shrimp wasn't at all what you would think of.  It was this soupy buttery spicy deliciousness that you dipped crusty bread in and picked out from under your nails for days.  

Looking forward to my local eating challenge, I'm remembering the regional foods of places I've lived and visited.  NOLA was second to none. The po boys, char grilled oysters, daiquiris... ahem... 

This was a recipe my roommates Ally and Jess made every once in a while, and I had to whip it up myself.  To be honest, this took me 15 minutes top to bottom.  Shrimp are so quick to cook up, so it's a perfect quick meal.

Heat some oil in a pan and cook up those shrimp on both sides.  

Look how pretty pink they get! 

Remove those puppies from the pan and saute some garlic.  Once that's nice and fragrant (2 mins or so) add the wine and let it simmer down to about half.

Add the butter, paprika, cayenne, Worcestershire, salt and pepper and let the butter melt down.

Once it's melted, add the shrimp and stir it all up.

Serve with some crusty bread and a big glass of that wine. (You have to drink the rest of it anyway)

I thought the other day how brilliant it would be to sell wine in 1 cup increments or less for cooking and recipes that don't require the whole bottle... and then I kicked myself.  Leftover wine=happy cook.

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp (adapted from foodisluv.blogspot.com)

2  servings
¾  pounds of raw shrimp. You can buy it deveined and peeled… I prefer to do that post cooking.
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 ¼ cup dry white wine divided… (1 cup for your glass and ¼ cup for your shrimp)
¼ cup of butter
½ teaspoon paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon pepper
salt and pepper

Eating Local Comparisons

100 days of eating local is coming up soon! I'm thinking of starting as early as next week!

I've been cleaning out my fridge and trying to look at what I'm eating, what I won't be able to eat and what I could have been buying local all this time. 

I looked at a day of eating yesterday:

Breakfast
English Muffin with butter - I could have eaten a piece of toast from a local bakery. I even bought a loaf of rosemary bread at the market.

Lunch
I made a salad from some Cleverly Farms spring mix, an egg, nuts, raisins and an olive oil and balsamic dressing.
I could have gotten some local eggs. I'm going to have to get creative with my salads because my usual mixins might be tough to hunt down.  I know we have nut bearing trees here in Iowa, but where can I snag some? I also don't know what I'm going to do as a dressing... Maybe some wine mixed with olive oil? I'm allowing myself olive oil because I've read that sunflower oil and soy oil just aren't good for you.  What do you put on your salads that you could get local?

Dinner
I had dinner at my friend Elizabeth's house.  That's going to be a tough one.  100 days of not mooching off friends.  I will need to think on this one. 

Snack
Orange leaf! I'm really going to miss my chain frozen yogurt restaurants.  Then again, 100 days of Picket Fence Creamery ice cream isn't going to kill me...