Pie!

Ok, I made this cherry pie about a week and a half ago, the cherries were local, but that was about it. But, it turned out so pretty, I had to post the pictures somewhere. Ever since cherries came into season, I had been dying to make a cherry pie, but we kept eating all the cherries before I could make it. I bought a pie crust mix up by Andrea's parents house, I don't think any of it was local, but I have never made a pie crust, so I thought I would just try it (even though it is sorta cheating). I realized afterwards that I did the lattice a bit wrong, but it looks ok! So, here are the pictures. And it tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself!

One Local Summer - BBQ # 1

So, this weekend I made my local meal without even realizing it.  Michael Lee and I were headed to my aunt's house for some swimming and I volunteered to make potato salad.  I have two young cousins (Hi Gavin! Hi Tommy!) who are allergic to several things so I decided to make 2 types of potato salad:  one with blue cheese crumbles, blue cheese dressing,  and sour cream (no good for kids allergic to dairy, but dang, I like my cheeses!) and one with red wine vinegar and olive oil.  I had a bunch of white fingerling, red skin and blue potatoes that I bought at Robin's  farmer's market down in Newark, DE, and I added some parsley, chives and dill from our backyard.  I am not a fan of dill, but I have to say, it wasn't bad. Oh, and don't forget salt and pepper.  That is always key. 

I was telling Robin about and she said, "oh, so is that your local meal?"  Yes!  I was planning on having a summer veggie meal for dinner the next night, so I didn't even realize that I had done one already.  Not to mention the several meals of leftover Tortilla Español I had.  Local eating just gets easier and easier.  

Finally, Michael Lee has enjoyed both zucchini and yellow squash this week.  This boy loves his vegetables.  It really makes life easy!

One Local Summer - Dinner # 5 (or breakfast or lunch)

Andrea is away for 2 weeks and I am living as a single mother (and let me tell you, it ain't easy - I don't know how other women do it). So, I decided that I was going to do something simple and quick that I don't mind eating five meals in a row. Plus, my friend John came down from North Jersey to watch Michael Lee for 2 days while I was at work, and he just got home from a vacation in Spain, so what better way to welcome him back than with my favorite Spanish dish - Tortilla Español (aka potato and egg fritatta)!

The eggs & portlet cheese (I know cheese isn't traditional, but I love to throw some on top) were from our CSA, the potatoes & onion were from the Headhouse farmers market (I am terrible at remembering the name of the place I am buying from). The olive oil is Goya. I love making this and I love eating it. Also, I love the picture because I realized after I took it that it looks like Pac-man.

Last but not least, Michael Lee has been enjoying local sweet potatoes this week. Next week it's zucchini. We'll see how that goes.

One Local Summer - Michael Lee's meal #1

Today we fed our five-month old a vegetable for the first time.  He has been eating (organic) rice cereal for a week and did really well with it, so we decided to go for it and feed him some carrots. Andrea bought these at the farmer's market (local & organic!) the other day and we just boiled them up, then chopped them up to a blob in the blender, added some of the water they were boiled in then dumped it all into an ice cube tray and froze it.  We didn't quite fill a tray, but close enough. This evening we heat up a cube & I think he liked it alright.  He ate it all at least.  He might still have some carrot on his nose though.  Babies are messy.

One Local Summer - Dinner # 4

We had the best dinner last night. Andrea ran to the farmer's market on South and Passyunk and brought home blueberries, cherries, peaches, carrots, corn and tomatoes. So, for dinner we had sliced tomatoes with basil from our garden and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, corn - that was really really good and sweet, and we had carrots and a squash (from another farmers market) that we marinated in garlic, olive oil and rosemary then grilled. It was the perfect summer dinner, nice and light for a really humid day.

Then, today for breakfast I did a repeat of my local breakfast from last week, fried egg w/ bread and butter - all local. (Although this time I included some fake bacon {aka facon} because I had a long hot bike ride into work & I needed the extra energy). Then for lunch I made a tomato sandwich and had a peach and some blueberries & cherries - again - all local & all REALLY good. With lots of delicious tap water. Yum! I swear with all this healthy, local eating and hot sweaty bike rides I will be back down to my pre-pregnancy fighting weight in no time!

Oh, and something ate all of our lettuce. It was just ready to be picked and now it is gone. All gone. I am pretty sad about it.

One Local Summer - Breakfast # 1

This is a tough week for us, we are only home for 2 days, it's not a CSA week AND due to both having to pack and unpack, a doctor's appointment (for the baby), work etc. no time for a farmer's market run. So, today I decided to use what we have and have a local breakfast. It worked out well and here it is 10:30am and I am not starving like I usually am. Hmmmm, local food just packs more punch, I guess. After a lot of thought (I am not so with it in the morning) I went with a fried egg (from our CSA) with Amish butter (also from our CSA) and some cheese melted on top (CSA again) and on the side a piece of toast (oat bread from the Reading Terminal - made locally) with more Amish butter and some homemade blueberry jam (made by a friend's mom & it was her wedding favor - it is so good!) then another piece of bread (not toasted) for the messy yolk. AND some local milk to drink (from Lancaster). It was delicious. It's cool what you can throw together, even if you think you don't have anything. Stuff will get even better once our garden stuff comes in! We have tiny tomatoes!!