Maybe I Should Be a Vegetarian?

I have so many conflicted feelings about eating meat. On the one hand, I hate the thought of animals dying for my food. On the other, I love meat and I do believe that humans were meant to eat it. I have solved this inner conflict for the most part by commiting myself to buying humanely raised meat exclusively. I even joined a meat CSA where all of the meat comes from small, organic farms. I haven't had an issue with any of the meat, in fact it has all been delicious. The only thing I have been having a hard time with is the chicken. You see, it came with its head and feet still on, complete with little eyeballs. Now, I have always said that people shouldn't eat meat if they couldn't witness the slaughter themselves and then turn around and eat the animal killed. I have even witnessed a chicken slaughter in person and ate chicken pot pie for dinner. But every time I think about cooking that bird, every time I pull it out of the freezer and look into its eyes, I am overcome with sadness for the life lost. Some might say it is just a chicken, and to give thanks to the bird and get on with it, but I haven't managed it yet. It keeps getting put right back into the freezer. I am in the midst of the Eat Local Challenge, and am running out of protein so pretty soon I am going to have to suck it up and cook the bird. I guess I have to wait for a day when I am feeling brave!

The last of the summer berries...

Last Tuesday I was having one-of-those-days with my two year old and ten month old boys. We needed to get out of the house and do something fun fast! I am currently participating in the Eat Local Challenge, so one of my regular one-of-those-days outings was out - the Starbuck's drive-through. Cookie for the boy, coffee for me and NPR on the radio. Everyone is strapped in and no one is getting into trouble. We decided to make the 30 minute drive to the Berkeley Farmer's Market, and I am so glad we did! I put the baby in the stroller and the Boogie walked alongside, holding the strap. We shopped, I bought the best iced coffee I have EVER had from Blue Bottle Coffee and then we bought a pint of beautiful little strawberries. The Boogie insisted that we sit right down on the curb to eat the "baby strawberries". I got maybe three berries, he ate every single one! Since then he's been bugging me to go back to the farmer's market for strawberries. Well, today is market day again, so off we went. And again he ate every single strawberry in the pint! I am sad that we probably only have a few weeks left of these delicious little berries. I guess we'll have to go to the market every week until they're gone.

More Canning

I am on a roll! Today I canned several jars of Grandma's bread and butter pickles and a few jars of tomato flip. I can't wait to make a nice roast this winter to put the tomato (TOMAHTO) flip on. Yum!

Eat Local Challenge - Day One

Yesterday marked the start of the newest Eat Local Challenge, which I have decided to participate in. My rules this time around are as follows:
1. I will buy only local produce and meat/dairy products
2. I am not giving up coffee, but will buy only from local roasters
3. I will buy all pasta, bread and baked goods from local sources
4. I will make as many bread and baked goods at home as I can
5. I am not giving up seasonings, spices and sugar, but I will limit them to what I already have on hand in my cupboard
6. I will cut back on eating out, and will primarily eat at restaurants that focus on serving local and organic foods (we'll be visiting Chow a lot).
7. I am not giving up alcohol, but will limit it to what I have on hand, or I will buy locally produced wines.

Day one was easy, it was way to hot to do anything so I stayed home with my boys and ate what we had from our CSAs. No problem!

Apples Galore

We have an old apple tree in our backyard which has been VERY prolific this summer. I've been working hard to keep up with the tree, but despite my best efforts our backyard smells like a cider mill. On Thursday evening I picked about 40 pounds of apples to put up. You wouldn't even know I had touched the tree if you looked at it. I decided to make apple butter for my first round of apple canning. I found a nice recipe on Culinate and got busy. I made 16 jars of apple butter. I also had two weeks worth of green beans in the fridge from my CSA so I decided to make some Dilly Beans too. Only 5 jars of those. I can't wait to see what they taste like! I've never actually eaten a Dilly Bean before. Now I have to find a good recipe for Apple Chutney and something to do with all of the figs and grapefruit!

I am looking forward to next year when the Boogie and maybe even his brother can help me with the canning. This year I did it at night while they slept.

Jam!

I was reading the Bay Area Bites blog the other day and there was a post about a company called We Love Jam (www.welovejam.com. The author of the post was writing about this amazing Blenheim Apricot jam they had gotten from this company. It is all hand made, even the jars are washed by hand, and old fashioned (which ALWAYS appeals to me). I also read that Food & Wine had written about it recently. I had to find out for myself so I went to their site and ordered a jar. The price was hefty and I was only allowed to order one jar due to very limited production. Well, it came today and yes, it is AMAZING. The texture is like velvet and it is perfectly sweet and apricoty with a hint of anise. It is like summer in a jar. It was hard not to sit down with a spoon and eat the whole jar. Now I am torn between eating it and saving it. I won't be able to get another jar until next summer! Darn! I guess I will just savor it slowly (and hide it in the back of the fridge so I don't have to share it!).

I'm Back!

I've been gone for awhile. I guess you could say I got sidetracked by life with my two little boys. I am recommited to posting at least twice a week from here on. While I was gone I have started a few new food related things. I have joined a CSA (farmfreshtoyou) that delivers local produce to my door every week. I have also joined a meat CSA which ensures that all of the meat products that my family eats have been humanely raised and slaughtered. I have also stopped buying as much prepackaged foods. I've been making crackers, yogurt, jam and cereal at home, among other things. I figure this not only reduces waste it is also a big step in the direction of a completely local diet. I kind of freaked out a bit after all of those food recalls. I'd rather take the extra effort to make things myself at home.

Here's the meal plan for the week:
Monday - Pizza made with leftover ingredients from the weekend (made by the Boogie and me!)
Tuesday - Lemon pepper pasta with tomato sauce and tuna, steamed green beans
Wednesday - Peppers stuffed with Spanish rice and ground chicken, salad
Thursday - Veggie and cheese fritatta (made with leftover veggies from the previous week's CSA delivery)
Friday - Out for dinner at my parents house to celebrate my sister's 31st!
Saturday - Out for dinner with an old friend (leftovers for the Boogie)
Sunday - TBD