Let's Eat!

More than anything else so far this diet has made us expand our cooking creativity and pushed us to experiment a bit more. We've always been used to substituting ingredients when we don't have what the recipe calls for, but this has really forced us to a new level. Straight substitution isn't always possible so often we've really had to find new ways to get flavor. And perhaps even more than finding flavor, we've taken on making from scratch the foods that used to easily come from the store. It feels in a strange kind of way like pioneers, everything we want to eat takes thought, preparation, and of course time. But, now about three weeks into our experiment, the preparation time seems to be paying off: our food is tasting better, each success feels bigger, the effort even seems easier and it is increasingly clear that the best way to eat locally is to just always have great food around. We barely even miss any of the simple staples like baking soda, sugar, condiments, or canned tomatoes and beans. We feel like we've come a long way in these three weeks so here's a quick run-down of some of our highlights in the past week.

Fresh pasta with alfredo sauce.

So not exactly an experiment in new flavors, but this was our first attempt at making pasta from scratch. Using the red fife was a bit tricky, it is thinker and can't be rolled out as finely as regular dough, but it worked and the flavor was terrific! Mixed with some raw sheep's parmesan we found, butter, cream, and egg it really made any dried pasta seem pretty weak in comparison.

Real Ranch Dressing

Why ever have it from a bottle when a little bit of milk, yogurt, sour cream (all from Hewitt's Dairy) blended with a hand mixer and some fresh chive, garlic scapes, and a touch of salt gives you the real thing in about 5 minutes. It gets better the longer it sits. A few days is perfect.

Herbal Ice Tea

We found some great local teas - mint and chamomile. Nice with some honey added when you steep the tea. Simple but delicious!

Spicy Tomato Sauce

This was Dave's proudest feat of the challenge so far. Didn't even miss the olive oil! Slow cooked some onions in butter, red wine, red wine vinegar and a bit of smoked chipotles (from Kawartha,these have really been a gift). Add to it about 6 chopped tomatoes and some porcini mushroom broth. Simmer it down for a good few hours. Sweet, spicy, and full of flavor. We put this on top of a black bean burrito casserole we made the night before with some sour cream. We also ate it on top of homemade wheat crackers with a hewitt's dairy chevre (another great find that will become a staple).

Preparing food from scratch like this has also made us more careful to use every drop of food we have, leaving nothing to waste. Vegetable scraps are saved for stock, water from boiling beans or mushrooms is saved for soup or sauces, extra dough is made into dumplings or crackers. When you have quality ingredients and you have put a lot of effort into preparing your meals, you don't want to waste one bit! What a lovely gift it has been to gain this appreciation for what we consume and where it comes from.

These are just a few examples of our recent culinary feats, and we hope to have a lot more to report to you soon. So take some chances yourself, try an all local meal and see what kind of kitchen confidence you discover. We'd love to hear your results too!