Tag Archives: Eat Local Challenge
  Tonight we roasted a sugar pie pumkpin which was filled with baguettes, cheese, wine, cream and veggie broth … the end result was a creamy baked fondue. Served with Vampire Wine from the Central Valley and Grilled Aspargus drizzled with blood oranges, olive oil and sea salt. Very good! *All was local except the cheese – Wisconsin.
I was flying back from Madison and decided to pick up the breakfast issue of Saveur at the airport. I always love the photos in Saveur but I really never make anything in them. It is definitely more eye candy for me than anything else. I squeeled with delight, when I started flipping through the pages and the first one I stopped at was a recipe for Chilaquiles. I could not believe it! It clearly was meant to be! As a regular reader you know we really don’t do breakfast at our house, so I knew these dishes would clearly become dinner. …. after a long spin night, the last thing I wanted to do was cook something new for dinner. So, I took out the leftovers I had intended for us to have for lunch tomorrow, heated them up and this is what we got.
 my version … nicely spaced food
 Lenny’s version …. so very French & 5 star’ish VOTE for our Mashed Potatoes! Please!
* Local meal, everything was except the Panko Breadcrumbs and the chili peppers.
Lenny & I have been battling our first cold of the season. When we are run down we tend to turn to comfort food. I decided to make a dish we had in Boston earlier this year, Lil’s Chicken Cutlets. The recipe is really easy …. pound the heck out of a plump chicken breast, coat it in some egg and flour and then toss it in some crushed panko. Tonight I seasoned the panko with left over croutons and used grapeseed oil, which you can heat to a high heat without burning. They came out very light, not greasy and incredibly moist and juicy. Since we were really going for comfort I decided to make more of those fantastic celery root mashed potatoes, presented with some Harissa. The end result was a very “comforting” meal to help chase away our colds. We are also submitting these tasty mashed potatoes into Chowhounds (Chow, now) Food Fight for Thanksgiving Sides – Please vote for us!! * Local meal, everything was except the Panko Breadcrumbs and the chili peppers. the Eat Local Challenge. I cannot believe it is the last week of the eat local challenge. I had all all intentions of doing most of our shopping at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market but I got a late start today and I am coming down with a cold. So, I did one stop shopping at Whole Foods. 90% of the groceries were local and/or organic. A weeks worth of groceries including 3 bottles of sustainable wine and an additional dinner with dessert to take to a dinner party came up to $175.00 This week’s menu will include: Straus Yogurt for breakfast Fair Trade cafe lattes w/local milk Fresh baked Zucchini bread for breakfast & for a gift Cereal – Organic Steel cut Oats – Organic Chicken Stock – for the freezer Lasagna & two containers of Straus ice cream w/homemade toppings (dinner party) Merez Lamb w/roasted squash Lil’s Chicken with potatoes & grilled asparagus Salad with pomegranates and prosciutto Baked Pumpkin dish Fresh Fruit for snacking Roasted Almonds for snacking Zucchini bread for breakfast & for a gift Pumpkin Creme Brulee Homemade Meyer lemonade drink
We are both coming down with something and decided to blow-off our spin class last night. Instead we stayed in watched Planet Earth and ate chicken soup with fresh cranberry beans. I picked up these beans at the Farmer’s Market last weekend they were an impluse buy, their brilliant color caught my eye and provoked intrigue! I was really not sure how I would use them, until now. My goddaughter, Maggie, came over at the end of the day and we sat on the floor shelling them. I had a feeling we would only have a couple left, as she preferred to shell and then put into her mouth! I was quit surprised when we had a large bowl of them left. I warmed up some of that really fantastic Chicken Stock that I had put into the freezer last weekend, added some carrots, celery, onion and the beans. The end result was a very nice and hearty (thanks to the beans) chicken soup. Any other suggestions for Cranberry beans? Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge: Chicken from other meal – Organic & local Carrots, celery, onions & cranberry beans – Local & Organic from SF Farmer’s Market Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand
I was scrambling last Saturday while planning out our weekly menu, when I stumbled upon this recipe in Bon Appetit. We like mushrooms and we like soup so this was perfect to add to the planning. I am sitting here and I just don’t know what to say about this recipe. I definitely was not crazy about it. I am not sure it was the overpowering porcinis or that is really tasted like a forest. The entire time we were eating it, I kept thinking the roasted wild boar should be coming out of the oven. It was as if we were in the deep woods of Germany eating wild mushrooms in a dark but cozy hunting lodge. At least the gremolata definitely helped break up the wooded out doorsmen taste. Thank god for the wholewheat bisquits I made to go with it, or I would have starved …. We have leftovers, I may try it over pasta tonight, to see if that helps. Oh, Lenny thought it was good, he said her really liked it; but, did not have to see it in the house again. Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge: Mushrooms – Local Far West Funghi Onions & Carrots – Local from SF Farmer’s Market Veggie Stock – Organic Garlic – Local from SF Farmer’s Market Parsley – Local from SF Farmer’s Market Orange – Local from SF Farmer’s Market Flour – Organic & had on hand Milk – Local & Organic Butter – Local & Organic Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand
It was a cold and dreary day out this morning, so when we woke up we drank lattes, watched the news, read and just kind of hibernated. It was really nice as usually we are heading out for a bike ride or separately to ride bikes, meet friends or worse, do errands. It was really great to hang out with each other. After about 5 cups of coffee, we decided to make breakfast. We had this baguette and great hunk of cheese on our minds, which then wandered to some lazy breakfasts in Germany I had years ago, so I added some soft boiled eggs. There I go again, contradicting my feelings about the runny egg. Back to my first trip to Germany where I had a breakfast of soft boiled eggs and warm bread daily – it was sublime! I loved these breakfasts and this morning it returned to me, some 20 years later. Today’s breakfast was so good that it flooded my mind with these warm feelings of this first trip to Europe and my first German Breakfast. I decided then, that I don’t mind “runny eggs” as long as they are not raw and as long as they are not on pizza. Warm “runny eggs” with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, well, it is still sublime!
soft boiled eggs, warm crusty baguettes, cheese, blood orange marmalade & lattes …..(got to love natural light …. someone make a light bulb that does the same!) |
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Whenever we travel we always like to eat what the locals eat, no pizza (unless we are in Italy) or grilled cheese here – yes, I use to travel with people who would order these items no matter what country they were in, can you say “boring”! Even though I had been to Mexico before, on our first morning in 
Just a couple nights ago, I wrote about how we never really eat 
