Phwew! Super busy here getting my a** kicked by my online Spanish class...
So our second 'whole diet csa' pick up was Friday, and once again got alot of delicious goodies, very little produce (as you may know we have been gettting POUNDED with rain and wind and general bad weather here), so I will do a brief overview of what is working and not so much...
WORKING:
I made home-made whole wheat bread from the organic stone ground wheat flour we've been getting!! I found a recipe at allrecipes.com for whole wheat bread, and one of the commenters mentioned that she uses all whole wheat flour, no bread flour, so i decided to give it a try. DELISH! and the thing that keeps amazing me about the new things we are trying is how EASY AND FAST it was!
SO, a tip: if you are tight on time during the week, carve out about 4 hrs on a weekend and prep foods for the week.
The bread took about 3 hrs, from flour in a bag to butter-slathered slices in our hands, only a few minutes of that time was hands on, the rest was just letting the dough rise. During the down-time I hard boiled eggs to have for snacks throughout the week (half I will make into red beets, the rest I'll leave plain) and made a pot roast, corn on the cob (GS), baked potatoes (GS) and roasted chick peas (GS from a bag of dried ones that i let soak over night and boiled for an hour in the morning, they are crunchy and delicious, plus nutritious and CHEAP!)
SO, another tip: to make local eating do-able and affordable, you will still need to buy some things at the store, and some things (like coffee) you can't get locally sourced. So learn to distinguish which items can be got on the cheap and which to spend the extra money on (extra money? what extra money?)
Bags of dried beans are SUPER CHEAP and a great way to fill out meals. They are MINIMALLY PROCESSED so no factory farming, and are good for you, versatile and EASY to prepare. Most you can just soak in water over night or while you are at work (or both), and when you get home from work, they are ready to go. They are also minimally packaged. So stock up on them, then hit the internet for recipes!
For coffee you may need to splurge (unless you are a tea drinker, which for, DOES NOT COMPUTE). Personally, so far the hardest thing for me about going local has been giving up my sugar-free french vanilla non-dairy creamer! Look for organic coffee that is labeled "sustainably produced" and preferably 'fair trade'. I will admit that I tend to buy the cheapest coffee i can find (my sister says she can see a skull and crossbones in the steam above my cup!) but now that I don't have my 'chemical creamer' I find I am not going back for a third cup, and so maybe I can afford to buy the good stuff.... I'll let you know...
A couple items I found in the organic section at Giant are quinoa (keen-wah) and TSP (texturized soy protein). These are both cheap, sustainably produced and organic (duh), PLUS super versatile and good for you (yes I know, not everyone is on the soy-train! If you don't want to ride that ride, I certainly understand, and please disregard any references to it in my posts. While the scientific jury is still out on whether it eating soy in moderation causes hormonal problems or not, we know this FOR SURE: FACTORY FARMED FOOD IS DEFINITELY BAD FOR US!). The quinoa I bought was sustainably produced and fair trade and cost about 2 bucks for a bag with like 20 servings in it! Again, hit the internet for recipes.
Quinoa is a gluten free grain, that can be used similarly to rice or pasta, and TSP is in ALOT of the foods you already buy at the grocery store, especially prepared foods that are supposed to be meat-like (READ THE INGREDIENTS PEOPLE!), and in the 'meats'at fast food restaurants. It can be used like ground beef, has no discernible flavor in my opinion, and can bulk up your meat dishes on the CHEAP! Again, it cost about 2 bucks for a bunch of servings, I use it in spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, tacos, chili, etc... is also minimally processed and packaged.
So last week went pretty well, I had to buy more GS produce than I would want,but NEXT YEAR I will have my canned and frozen goodies, so I will be better prepared. Definitely eating local requires advnace planning!
This morning I made whole wheat buttermilk pancakes with home made honey butter, my kids were in pancake HEAVEN!!!! They were so light and melty, almost crepe-like, in fact very crepe-like! And didn't take any longer or any more work than pancakes from a mix soooo....
OOH OOOH I want to mention the delicious CHEESES we got this week, made on a local dairy farm from raw milk! SOOOO AMAZINGLY FLAVORFUL! In fact, a chunk I grated up for tacos on friday is making my whole fridge smell intoxicating whenever I open it, I think I am going to make grilled cheese sandwhiches or quesadillas for lunch =)
NOT WORKING: I am still spending too much money at the grocery store =( This week I am planning more efficiently and I am hoping to avoid the store for at least 7 entire days (although I do need more yeast...).
Well this has been Faith Brown reporting from the front lines of local sustainable eating! I'm off to melt gooey cheesey sandwiches for lunch, and hopefully to start a batch of yogurt! Good day, and God bless!
PS I LOVE MY FREEDOM! THANK YOU VETERANS! Eating locally sourced food is one way to help make this country be self-sufficient, so DO IT FOR THE USA!
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