2008

Are we going to get a 2008 one of these going? Let's get it rolling. I would like to hear some recipes.

eat local in the winter

I am not sure if anyone is still reading this, but I wanted to remind all of you about the winter farmers markets here in Eau Claire and that you can shop at Just Local Food. It is a great way to keep supporting our local farmers and everything that is good about that. At the one in November, we were actually able to buy some onions, carrots, and other veggies. I am sure that they are done now, but there is a ton of different meats to buy. There is beef, buffalo, pork, lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, and I am probably missing some. Tomorrow night, I am making all local meat (and onion, egg, and bread crumbs) Swedish meatballs. If you eat meat, you can really limit your trips to the big grocery stores for some/all of your meat all year long. You can get it at the farmers markets and Just Local Food. The markets also have honey, salad dressings, cheese, and other local items to pick from. An idea for Christmas is to make some northwest Wisconsin gift packages. We have honey, syrup, sorghum, lingonberries, cheese, beer, and jam already in ours for our families. I will be honest, it is not as nearly as expensive as I thought it was going to be, and all the money stays right here in northwest Wisconsin. Let's do our best to keep it going throughout the winter.

All markets are open from 9 AM - 1 PM each Saturday.
November 10 First Lutheran Church1005 Oxford Avenue, Eau Claire
December 8 St. Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church1 1/2 miles south of Brackett
January 12 Unitarian Universalist Congregation421 South Farwell, Eau Claire
February 9 First Congregational UCC310 Broadway, Eau Claire
March 8 Hope United Methodist Church2233 Golf Road, Eau Claire
April 12 Trinity Lutheran Church1314 E Lexington Blvd, Eau Claire

momentum

Come to think of it, yeah garbage totals do seem to be dropping. Just another consequence of eating locally.

The local food movement does seem to be gaining a good deal of momentum. The Foodlums of UWEC are very active lobbying for local food on campus and spreading the word in general.

I have dreams of creating a community garden, possibly near the downtown next summer. It may be a rental-type lot such as the one in Demler park, or it may be volunteer driven with a CSA aspect and/or to be donated to a local foodbank. Or both!

We picked some grapes along the river the other week and it made for some tart, delicious grape juice.

Peace,

Ben

Tomatillo Pork Chops and Education

I don't want to be thought as a "blog hog" (this is my last entry until another one comes up), but I wanted to add a couple things before the end of the Eat Local Challenge. First, if you have not seen the recipe book From Asparagus To Zucchini, you should take a look at it (I am not sure if Just Local Food still has any, but we bought ours there). There are a few recipes for everything you can think of. A couple nights ago, we had tomatillo sauce (tomatillos from Sylvan Hills Farm and are they good and fresh!) covered pork chops for dinner. On the side, squash (CSA) with local syrup and butter on it, some tomatoes (CSA) with bread (homemade) and Havarti (Nelsons) cheese.

Has anyone else seen a decrease in the amount of their weekly garbage due to the Eat Local Challenge? We have noticed it specifically in the last two/three months since a lot of the produce has started coming up.

I would like to encourage and challenge all of us "localvores" to think this winter how we can introduce eating locally to more people. I look at myself. Ten years ago living in Rockford, IL, I will be honest, I was eating a lot of frozen pizzas, stuffed jalapeno poppers, packaged pot pies, sixty-nine cent frozen burritos, not thinking about where my meat came from, organic was probably not in my vocabulary, nor was sustainable, etc. Did this happen overnight? No. Did they all happen at the same time? No. Was it from one experience or one person? No. How did I go from that person to who I am today when it comes to the type of food I eat and what I pay attention to? Simply, it was gradual and involved meeting different people and reading different articles/books, etc. I frequent the Phoenix Park Farmers Market weekly. Personally, I think as a community we do a better job at eating locally than a lot of communities. I would also argue that a decent percentage of the people who shop at the weekly markets are not really aware of all the positive aspects of eating locally. I think for a lot of the people, it is part of their habit or way of life. That is great. However, how do we reach more people? How do we do it? What is our goal? Do we have one? Are there measuring sticks? How do we get local food in cafeteria settings (hospitals, schools, prisons, nursing homes, etc.) How do we introduce it to kids so they ask for it at home? How do we knock down barriers?

There is a great energy and movement here in the Chippewa Valley. At the same time, it seems that there is a history of eating locally and/or having local producers. That is a huge advantage. Many areas of the country do not have that. With the energy, history, and existing conditions, it seems that we are ripe for a powerful local food revolution here in the Chippewa Valley, if it is not already happening. Let's keep this thing rolling!

local soup and bread

This weekend consisted of processing our last 25lbs of tomatoes bought at the Farmers Market on Saturday (salsa and tomato sauce). Saturday evening, we had a potato and leek cream soup (Cooking Light magazine's all-time best soup recipe) and jalapeno cornbread (throw some of Wisconsin's finest local butter or local honey on that, and I'm telling you, you will be making it again the next night). All made with local food. If you want to get flour, etc for homemade local bread, we highly recommend Just Local Food in Eau Claire. They have it from a company in MN.

Looking for the most local beer? Head out to Northwoods, buy a growler, and fill it up. Refills are only $6. Like Davin who lives across the street from me said, it is like going to Just Local Food and getting your milk.

Middle Eastern Bison Casserole - Chippewa Valley style

Our family is really enjoying this month taking eating locally up a couple of notches. I am not sure if most people in west central Wisconsin realize it, but it is like we are living in the Garden of Eden when it comes to the variety of different foods and drinks we can get locally. Thanks to our CSA, the farmers market, and our Demmler Gardens plot, I don't remember the last time I was in a grocery store other than Just Local Food (and for me, that is a good thing).

I wanted to share a meal we had earlier this week, Middle Eastern Bison Casserole. It was supposed to be a beef casserole, but we used bison instead. The recipe is from the American Heart Association's Low-Salt Cookbook. Also, we are doing our best with eating everything within 100 miles, except we decided to still use spices that we already had. In addition, we use the flour from Just Local Food that is from MN to make homemade bread. I think it comes from closer to 200 miles away than 100. Other than that, we are doing well. We have been eating homemade pizzas about once a week too. Fresh basil, homemade dough, tomatoes, peppers, local cheese, etc. Last weekend we bought 50 lbs of tomatoes at the farmers market. The cost....only $16. We were able to make a ton of tomato sauce for pasta, pizza, soup, etc. Just a reminder, this will probably be the last weekend with tomatoes at the market.

I would also like to recommend the book "Grub". A great read and some decent recipes in it, also.

Enjoy!
- 14.5 ounce can no salt added tomatoes, well drained (we used tomatoes from our plot in Demmler Gardens)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onions (our plot again)
- 2 teaspoons sugar (could use honey)
- 3/4 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice or nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces lean ground beef (we used bison from the Phoenix Park farmers market)
- 8 to 10 ounces eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices (from out Sylvan Hills CSA)
- 4 ounces low fat cream cheese (a local dairy, Crystal Ball, if I remember correctly)
- 1/2 cup fat free or low fat plain yogurt (homemade from Castle Rock milk)
- Whites of two large eggs (from Just Local Food), egg substitute equivalent to one egg, or one large egg.
- Paprika
- I would also recommend adding some Sylvan Hills garlic to this.

- Combine tomatoes, onion, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
- Cook beef in pan for three minutes, or until brown, stirring constantly. Put in colander and rinse with hot water to remove excess fat (sigh). Stir into tomato mixture.
- Put eggplant slices in one layer in casserole dish and top with beef mixture.
- In food processor or blender, combine remaining ingredients except paprika and process until smo0th. Pour over beef mixture and sprinkle with paprika.
- Bake for one hour, uncovered, at 350 degrees.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 10 to 30 minutes for eggplant to absorb liquid. If serving after only 10 minutes, use a slotted spatula.

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I will leave you with this word...lagom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom

Thanks. Eric Anderson

Soups On

I felt like a chapter out of Man, Woman, Vegetable... the other day when we had company coming, and what I thought I had in the pantry I had not. I was frantic trying to think of what we would serve our guests, while keeping with the local challenge. So with a few leeks, zucchini and pata pan squash on-hand, I got busy. I found some frozen chicken broth I had saved from a chicken I bought from some Amish folks awhile back, dug some ground beef out of the freezer that we had gotten from Dan Sommerfeld, sauteed my veggies, and threw in some fresh thyme from our CSA box. I even found a rogue potato still in our garden and some hearty tomatoes still hanging on to add to the mix. Delicious beef vegetable soup for all. For dessert: mashed apple compote from local orchard apples. The best part was knowing where every single ingredient came from. I love this month!