Tip: Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit...

While picking up my loot from Central Bean, they gave me a great flier from the US Dry Bean Council (in the shape of a large bean, no less!) which had some great facts about beans. Not only can we get beans locally in Washington, they are actually a fantastic meat substitute. Check it out:

• A 1/2-cup serving of beans contains key nutrients, including protein, folate, manganese, magnesium, fiber, potassium, and iron.
• Beans are cholesterol and fat-free.
• A diet including beans may reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.
• Beans are comparable to meat when it comes to protein.
• One cup of beans has about 12 grams of fiber - about half of a woman's daily intake (meat has none)
• Beans are high in phytochemicals, compounds only found in vegetables. These antioxidants incapacitate cell damaging free radicals. 
• White beans contain 19 grams of protein per cup.

Since beginning this eating locally experiment, I've discovered preparation is the key to survival. With dried beans, you not only need to soak beans before using them, you also need to cook them before adding them to any recipe. (Trust me on this, I had a tragic hummus experiment that resulted in a near dead blender).

While it can be time consuming preparing beans, there are some short cuts I've stumbled upon:

 1 ) Quick Soak Beans
(1 cup of dried beans is more than enough for a dinner for four, and 1 cup of dried garbanzos is perfect for a weeks supply of hummus)
In a large pot, add 3 cups of water to each cup of beans. Bring to a boil, and cook at medium heat for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, cover and let stand for one hour. RINSE. 

Little known fact: Most of the compounds that cause flatulence are found in the soaking water. Beans are much more digestible if you rinse them after soaking.

2 ) Cook
Add enough fresh water to cover the beans, and simmer them until tender, approx. 1-2 hours.

Again, this may seem time consuming, but this is something you can do ahead! If you do a big pot of beans for quick use throughout the week, you can FREEZE them and use for quick meals later.

We tend to make enough for a week and refrigerate them in a tupperware. I then make one batch of hummus for sandwiches, and one batch for a quick vegetarian stir-fry later in the week.

Recipe : Hubbard Squash Soup

I have never used Hubbard Squash before, but I found a great recipe online that I modified slightly. The result? A delicious, creamy fall soup.

What You'll Need:

1 Large Hubbard Squash
5 Cups Vegetable or Chicken Broth
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Milk
1 Yellow Onion
4 Cloves of Garlic
2 Ribs of Celery
Honey
Butter
Fresh Thyme
Garlic
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

What You'll Do:

 Get your squash.

Cut the squash in half.
Drizzle with honey, dice butter in the hollows, add cloves of garlic and thyme sprigs.

Take out of the oven.

 Scoop 5 cups of pulp into a bowl.

On the stove...
Add diced onion, celery ribs and olive oil into the pan and saute until soft, then add the pulp, stirring to prevent burning.

Add...
Vegetable broth and more thyme into the mixture, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer for 45 minutes.

Add cream and milk to mixture, bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Puree in a blender until smooth. 

Serve!

Day 18 - Why are we doing this again?

It's been over two weeks since this project officially began.

Some days, this seems like nothing. On other days, I worry about doing this a whole year. Sometimes I get into a groove, and the simplicity of my patterns make me wonder why more people don't do this. And other days, ohhh... the other days.

Sunday I was in the kitchen all day preparing for the week ahead. This included baking bread (2 loaves), as well as whipping up a quick zucchini bread for fast breakfasts (1 loaf). Let's not forget about making hummus from scratch, for sandwiches throughout the week.

Some wise people, at this point, might say to themselves "stop while you are ahead". Wise I am not, and after all of that, I decided it would be a good idea to make pasta from scratch. Perhaps it was the exhaustion, perhaps it was too little flour. Still, the pasta ended up a sticky mess, which, after a long day in the kitchen, made me crumble into a pile on the couch, defeated.

Curled up on the couch, frustrated, my mind began to wonder why I started doing this in the first place. Who cares if we eat locally for a year? Why are we doing this? 

The question remained on my mind all week, especially since we found ourselves extremely busy.

After a lengthy meeting on Tuesday night, a large event on Wednesday night, and fighting a cold all the while, left me on Thursday thinking that all I wanted was to order in.

No dishes, no pots and pans, just a quick phone call and steamy piles of Thai food delivered to our doorstep.

Living locally, and our commitment to this project, meant that this wasn't really an option. Noodles filled with things from who knows where is pretty much the opposite of what we are trying to do. Again, I asked myself "why we were doing this?", then pushed the question aside. Despite my sore throat and body aches, my husband and I threw on our aprons and got to work.

I began by making tortillas from scratch, while Dan worked on making Pico de Gallo from a giant yellow Heirloom tomato. For the filling, I used the beans and emmer I had pre-cooked earlier in the week, along with some diced bell pepper and a can of our beloved tomatoes.

We topped our burritos with grated cheddar cheese from Golden Glen Creamery and a salad mixture from one of our favorite stands at the market.

Once we started the process, something shifted. Instead of feeling resentful that we had to get to work, it wasn't long before we were both laughing, chatting about our days, and having a pretty nice time preparing everything. And the remarkable part?

We put everything on the table in less than a half hour. It was faster than ordering food, after all.


Why are we doing this? Well, the technical answer is that we are acting as guinea pigs to see it's logical and inexpensive to eat as locally as possible for a year. But there is a deeper undertone I'm picking up on. We want to feel connected not only to our food, but to each other. And the moments I share with my husband in the kitchen definitely outweigh any that we share in front of the television, and the flavors are far more delicious than dialing a phone number.

DIY : Freezing Tomatoes

After burning through a significant amount of our canned tomatoes, we started to worry again that we wouldn't get through the winter without running out. Not wanting to can another round without my mom's supervision, I decided to try freezing them. It was actually really easy, and if you are in Seattle, we found a 20lb box of #2 heirloom tomatoes for $25, which is a steal. I would highly recommend this to people short on time--what a great way to enjoy fresh, local and organic tomatoes throughout the winter without canning!

Step 1.

Buy your tomatoes! Now is a great time to find them at your local farmer's market on the cheap...be sure to ask if they have #2's!

Step 2.
Set up two pots. Boil one, put ice in the other.

Step 3.


Set up your work space for after the tomatoes come out of the water.

Step 4.


Once the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes in for 2 minutes. For larger tomatoes or heirlooms with quite a few rough patches on them, I'd leave them in for 4 minutes. You can tell they are ready to come out of the water when the skins crack or start to peel off.

 Step 5.


With a slotted spoon, transfer them into the pan with ice water. This makes the skins come off easier, and makes them easier to handle as well.

Step 6.


Put the iced tomatoes in a bowl, move them to your work space. For tough stems, I simply cut off the tops of the tomatoes and peel from there. Some stems will come right off. Cut off rough patches, and the rest of the skin should slip right off.

Step 7. 


After peeling, dice into large chunks, and transfer into freezer quality ziploc bags.


FREEZE! They will keep in your freezer for up to a year.

Recipe : Italian Meatloaf with Spaghetti Squash

This is a very quick and easy dinner, and while you can make it with non-local ingredients, everything in this meal was from within 250 miles of our doorstep. Find a farmer's market near you to get the freshest, best ingredients! It definitely makes a difference.

Spaghetti Squash Side:

What You'll Need:
(serves 4)

1 Spaghetti Squash
1 Cube of Butter
1/8 c. fresh sage
1/4 c. white wine
Salt & Pepper to taste


What You'll Do:

1 > Halve the squash
2 > scrape out the seeds and innards 

3 > Place hollow side down on oiled baking sheet
4 > Place in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes (put in at the same time as the meatloaf)

While it's baking, combine butter and sage in a medium sized sauce pan over med-low or low heat. Once the butter is melted, add the wine, bring to a simmer, and then turn the heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally.

10 Minutes before the meatloaf comes out of the oven, take the squash out of the oven. With oven mitts, turn the squash over, and with a fork, start scraping lengthwise, creating "spaghetti". Toss the spaghetti into the butter mixture, stir to coat and cover until ready to serve.

Italian Meatloaf:



What You'll Need:
(serves 4-6)


2lbs of ground beef
2 small carrots, chopped
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 c fresh basil, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
4 tbs thyme, chopped
2 eggs, beat
8 oz stewed tomatoes, chopped
3 tbs fresh chopped rosemary
1/8 c "porridge" from Bluebird Grains (you can substitute this for oatmeal)
1-2 tsp of salt
pepper
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
--
Inside of the pan, I like to add:
1/2 of a large eggplant, diced
2-3 diced yukon gold potatoes
3 small carrots


What You'll Do:

1 > Combine all of the above ingredients, adding a little of the olive oil and balsamic for flavor and texture
2 > Shape the mound into a loaf in a large, long pan that has been coated in olive oil and salt
3 > Add diced vegetables around the sides, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic
4 > Sprinkle with salt and pepper, olive oil and balsamic, and fresh rosemary
5 > Bake in a 375 degree oven for an hour

Day 9 - Home from Arizona

When we arrived home from Arizona, and it was the late afternoon and we were excited to be back in Seattle, which we now dubbed "the land of plenty". Not being able to eat locally in Scottsdale was eye opening. Dan’s family is very healthy in their eating habits, but local-to-Arizona it was not.

This whole trip was pre-cursored with "if we can find local foods in AZ, we'll buy local foods in AZ, but I refuse to be that demanding daughter-in-law that turns her nose up at her in-laws generosity". And so on our trip, we ate healthy, we ate well, but we did not eat locally. It was impossible.

We had arrived in the peak of their "winter" time, when it is too hot for food growth. We attempted to find a farmer's market (most start in October), but none had opened yet. Only one bragged about it's year round bounty, and was touted online of being a great farmer's market with plenty of "vendors". We couldn't find it at first, because we kept passing this small, cement building that looked like a medical clinic. But that was it. Once inside, it was more along the lines of a health food store, though smaller and run-down. A tray full of peaches featured moldy, wrinkled orbs (but Organic!), the greens were wilted and everything else pretty much looked its age. In this single visit, our resolve to eat locally in Arizona was squashed.

After our 5 day hiatus, we were ready to be back to our local ways, and by the time we parked at home in Seattle, it was nearly 3pm, and I knew I would have to figure out dinner for us immediately. Before, on a night like this, I would simply call in our order at our local Thai restaurant and poof! Dinner would appear. Now, this is no longer the case. Everything takes time and thought, and a fridge full of nothing isn’t the most exciting palette to work with.

The meat part was easy to figure out, as we have almost a whole lamb in our freezer and several packages of very local beef. I decided to make lamb stew, something easy and fairly quick. I defrosted the lamb broth I had made also, and along with some of the fresh thyme from our small garden, it was the start of a delicious local meal.

Still, no meal in our home is complete without vegetables, and we were completely out. It's a Friday, I thought, I could go to the one Farmer's Market I know is open...in the Central District. Hmmm. That doesn't leave enough time to run my other errands, and it's right in the thick of traffic. So I found myself in a conundrum. How do you shop local when you are running out of time and need to grab something on the go?

There is an alternative that has been weighing on my mind. PCC, our local food co-op. I've sent Dan there on a mission for greek yogurt, which he proudly returned with. He reported back about other local groceries readily available, but it felt too easy to me. And since starting this journey, I've stopped trusting grocery stores as a whole.

But when I walked into the produce section at PCC, a lot of familiar names greeted me. Nash’s Organics. Rent’s Due Ranch. And in the bulk aisle, there was a bin full of Bluebird Grains, which is our go-to for a rice alternative.

In the dairy section, there were plenty of local options as well. Yogurt. Butter. Even local milk in a large, glass jar. Then something jumped out at me. Local eggs, for $2.99 a dozen. Organic. Local. Huh?

We’ve been spending $5 to $6 a dozen at the farmer’s market, treasuring each egg as if it was our last. In our desperation for finding a cheap, local egg resource, we have even considered getting a few hens for our backyard. Our very small backyard. In Ravenna. But why would we do that, or spend $5 a dozen each week, if we could just buy them each week at a store that is less than a mile from our home?

I'm still sorting this one out. After some research on Stiebrs Farms, I have found that they are, in fact, legit. They are located in Yelm, Washington, and proudly serve up dozens of Organic, Cage Free, Local eggs.

And PCC, I've got to hand it to you. You're doing a pretty amazing job at staying local.

Recipe : Fresh Kale Salad

I pulled this recipe out of a magazine, and gave it a trial run last night. I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I did! It was a great (new) way to eat Kale, which is full of beta carotene, vitamins K & C, lutein, and calcium. It was a great accompaniment to the lamb stew I threw together last night, a recipe on that to follow!

What You'll Need:

1 Bunch purple kale (the long stemmed kind)
1 or 2 large lemons
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Hard cheese to shave on top

How You'll Do It:

1. Cut the leaves cross-wise into thin strips
2. Coat with olive oil
3. Squeeze lemon juice on top
4. Toss with a little salt and pepper
5. Shave a hard cheese on top

It's so simple, but truly delicious.

Kale is very easy to find at farmer's markets year round in the Seattle area, as are hard cheeses. Click Here To find a farmer's market near you!