Things to Do - Local Food

(All photos above taken at South Mountain Creamery's 2010 Spring Festival)

I've completely bought in to buying local (just like crocs for children and Mad Men). As I've mentioned in previous posts, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals scared the hell out of me, especially when it comes to carnivorism (which, according to Wiktionary, is a real word). Luckily the DC area has some great options for locavores.

My absolute favorite place to buy meat (lamb, pork, chicken, and goat) is Fox Hollow Farm in Gaithersburg, MD. The farm is super small and family owned; you can even go out back and visit the animals (I know I sound obnoxious, but if the idea of "visiting" your food freaks you out, you probably shouldn't eat meat). My kids love to run through the field and say hi to the goats (pictured below). The farm delivers to neighboring communities in MD (but not VA). Call ahead as they tend to sell out of top products (esp. the broiler chickens, which are SO SO yummy).

When I don't have time to drive to MD, we have meat and dairy delivered through South Mountain Creamery. We visited the Creamery last spring for their annual spring festival (pictured above) and enjoyed seeing the cows and chickens everywhere. Plus P could spend forever "driving" a tractor.

Regarding other options, we've joined Arganica, but haven't activated our membership yet. And in the summer we have veggies delivered through Great Country Farm's CSA, which entitles us to free activities at the farm all summer - the kids love the slides and giant bouncing pillow; we love all the you-pick options. And on weekends we frequent the farmers' markets on Courthouse and Columbia Pike, especially when Cibola Farms has a booth.

What about everyone else? Do you buy local? Where do you go?

MONDAY LINKS:

*There's a new local mom blog and it's pretty awesome (and funny), make sure to check it out here when you have a chance!

*Six Ideas for Exploring Nature with Kids

*I sort of love this.

*So this is interesting. What do you think?

*Nostalgia.

*USA literary map. I want one.

*Poufs!! (you know you want one)

*Great photos of Israel.


(Photo taken at Fox Hollow Farms)

Things to Make - Cooking with Seasonal Veggies (tomatoes, eggplant & squash)

This summer, we joined our first CSA (a half-share at Great Country Farms). So every week, on our doorstep, we receive one bin full of yummy veggies and fruit. In the last few weeks, such deliveries have meant a large amount of tomatoes, eggplant, and squash/zucchini. So what to do?

For the squash and/or zucchini, Real Simple published a great/simple recipe, that's a little different from most squash recipes I've found. - spaghetti with zucchini, walnuts, and raisins (I know it sounds like an odd combination, but even my husband liked it, despite the lack of meat).

For the squash/zucchini and tomatoes, allrecipes.com has a tomato/squash casserole recipe that's quite yummy. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/tomato-zucchini-casserole/Detail.aspx

For just the tomatoes, often they're wonderful to eat as is (and so so much better than what you buy in the store) but if you want to jazz it up a little this Cooking Light recipe for tomato granita is really yummy.

Regarding the eggplant, I LOVE eggplant parm, but I hate all the steps to make it, so in an effort to make things easier, I created my own simple recipe (with help from my mother-in-law) that I find somewhat addictive. Here it is:

Darcy's Easy Eggplant Parm

ingredients - 1 medium/large eggplant, 3 fresh tomatoes, olive oil, breadcrumbs, shredded parm cheese (or, i like to use the parm, assiago, fontina, provolone blend from trader joes called "Quattro Formaggio")

1. Cut eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds and generously apply salt to the pieces. Let sit about half an hour and then pat dry with a paper towel (i know it sound silly, but this keeps the eggplant from getting soggy)
2. Brush slices with olive oil (lightly) and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes
3. Remove eggplant slices from the oven and assemble them into stacks with the tomato (cut into round slices), breadcrumbs (about a tablespoon), and cheese (i.e. eggplant, tomato, breadcrumbs, a light smattering of cheese, then repeat. So that each stack has 2 eggplants and 2 tomatoes).
4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted but not burned.

See, so easy, and somewhat healthy, right? Okay so cheese is bad, but at least no frying occurs.

How about everyone else? Any other suggestions for seasonal produce? I'd love to hear them.