Recipe: Salsa Verde

Tomatillos a re fantastic and I was so excited when I grabbed some from Inglewood Farm at the Locavore Market. I loved making this salsa verde because in a month without citrus, the tomatillos had a bright citrusy flavor that was a great companion to fish or shrimp. I also served it up as a dip for some sweet potato fries and it was great there too.

Salsa Verde
Ingredients
1 lb. tomatillos
1/2 chopped white onion
pecan oil
Jalapeño peppers or other hot peppers, seeded and finely chopped
cilantro
wine, cane vinegar, or lime juice if available
Salt to taste

Instructions
Remove the papery husks of the tomatillos, as they are inedible. Rise the stickiness off the tomatillos and place in a baking pan. Place under the broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin. The tomatillos should look lighter and feel softer. 

Saute the onions in pecan oil in a small to medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. Once the onions are softer and more translucent, add the peppers and tomatillos. Use a blender or stick blender to puree. Add cilantro, wine/vinegar and salt to taste. (I used a dash of Pontchartrain Vineyards Ponchatrain Vineyards Roux St. Louis)

 Enjoy!

Almost a week in and I'm loving it

One of the things I love about the challenge is the variety of items we see in June, especially this year. We have a longer strawberry season, while blueberries are just starting to peak and the first peaches are on the way. Later we'll hopefully get some watermelon and fig--and that just some of the fruits and berries. Once you start eating seasonally, you cherish those seasons and know you're getting the absolute best produce at the peak of its season. Savor it now!

So far I've had two of my three allotted cheat meals--one at City Park's Morning Call when the foraging class was canceled due to bad weather and the other at Pizza Delicious. That one was at least partially local. So far my ingredient or "vices" cheats are coffee, bread and dried spices. These probably won't change during the month. Here's what I've been eating the past few days:

Day 3 dinner: braised goat over rice.

Day 4 breakfast: no time for anything but a quick breakfast on the go. tomato with goat cheese and cane vinegar.

Day 4 dinner: a cheat meal or more correctly a 1/2 cheat meal at Pizza Delicious: Mezzi Rigatoni w/ Local Greens Pesto--broccolini, yellow squash, confit tomato, swiss chard. I was too busy inhaling it to take a pic, but this instagram user did: http://instagram.com/p/aMsBInvURA/

Day 5 breakfast: carrot zucchini cornbread.

Day 5 lunch: summer salad and cornbread.

Day 5 dinner: baguette class at Gracious! I brought home my baguette from class and had it with a bit of goat cheese and strawberry jam...I'll definitely share more pix from class soon!

Day 6 breakfast: hashbrowns

Recipe: Braised Goat with tomatoes and coriander

 I grabbed some goat from Rouses local meats section and realized I had never cooked it before. So I did some googling and came across this recipe from The Oregonian's website for Braised Goat with tomatoes and coriander, which was perfect since I just snagged a bunch of coriander from my mom's garden. It took some editing since I didn't have a lot of the other ingredients, but the result was so yummy, its something I'll definitely add to my recipe bank outside of the challenge. I actually didn't have much broth on hand, just a bit of mushroom broth so use what you have or just use water--a good bit of the flavor will come from the wine anyway. I served it over rice because I already had some made and handy. I imagine it would go very well with some roasted potatoes and carrots. Overall it tastes like a condensed stew and the meat is very tender.



Braised Goat with Tomatoes and Coriander
adapted from The Oregonian
makes about 3 servings

1 to 1.5 pounds goat meat, cut into chunks
salt
1 tablespoon pecan oil
1.5 cups onion, diced
1 tablespoons garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or other available hot pepper)
1 cups tomatoes, diced
1 cup white wine (I used Ponchatrain Vineyards Roux St. Louis)
1 cup broth, plus water as needed
1 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 375. Pat meat dry with paper towel and season the goat with salt. In a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides; transfer to a plate.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and saute the onions. Cook until onions are tender and just beginning to brown. Stir in the garlic, & coriander cook for 1 minute more. Return the goat to the pot, then add the tomatoes and wine, broth and enough water as needed to barely cover the meat. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer on the stovetop then transfer the pot to the oven.
3. Braise in the oven, covered and adjusting the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. The goat is ready when the meat is tender and easily comes away from the bone, about 1.5 hours (more if there if you double the recipe or cut larger chunks of meat).
4. Stir the cilantro into the meat and sauce just before serving. Excellent served with rice and roasted root vegetables.

But why?

It's the question that gets asked so often during ELC, usually when you say, "I can't eat that." Some people just don't get it. Why on earth would you want to limit yourself like that? I also get the, oh yeah, you did that last year. Cool experiment/learning experience...why are you doing it again?

One of the biggest reasons I do the eat local challenge every year is to remind myself to really think about the kind of food I'm eating. Where does it come from? Who grew it--what's their life like? Where did this animal come from--what's its life like? As a society we get so complacent and disconnected just picking stuff off the shelf without really thinking about what we are putting into our bodies. We are so wasteful without really thinking about the energy, resources and time that went into growing/producing food. I'm guilty of it too. And each year I do the challenge, I remember how much fun it is--but its also a lot of work. Why do we grab the crap off the shelf we know is bad for us? Convenience and cost. Even as someone who cringes at the thought of what that chicken's life was like, I still find myself at popeyes shamlessly craving that fried deliciousness. ELC is a chance to remind myself: you don't really want to do that.

It's also a time for me to appreciate the wonderful abundance we have in New Orleans. To really connect more with my community and its surroundings. Especially as far as big cities go, New Orleanians really take pride in their neighborhoods and sense of community and supporting local businesses. It's something you don't really see as much in places like Atlanta or Houston--especially not on the scale you do here. We all know, as a city, we have problems--lots of them. But that doesn't mean we can't appreciate what we do have. Its why we love where we live even despite the crime and the hurricanes and the oil spills and whatever disasters we face. ELC just really emphasizes to me  another reason why we're awesome.

I'm sure some of my facebook friends are already over my constant stream of food pix and posts. But its something I share in the hope that my posts inspire someone else to start asking the right questions about their food too....like this little kid:

Eat Local Challenge, Year 3!

I feel like I've become an old pro at this now. Three years ago when I did the first Eat Local Challenge, all I could think about was what I was going to have to do with out--now all I'm just so excited about what new technique or food I'm going to master this year.

Is it hard? Of course. Doing with out all the yummy things we take for granted isn't easy, but I'm such a nerd so new discoveries are so much FUN! Last year, I made ketchup and mozzarella for the first time. This year I'm really excited about the classes and the number of restaurants participating this year!! Such a big change from the first year!

I'm doing the strict-ish level. I never use all of the meal cheats allotted, but some of the ingredients I'm pretty lenient with, especially spices. Coffee is definitely one of my cheats. Anyway, I'm still on the lookout for a few things (garlic & hot peppers!) and haven't quite stock piled the pantry as much as I'd like, but here's what I've been throwing together so far:

Day 1, breakfast: grits (hollygrove) & breakfast sausage (cleaver & co.)

Day 1, lunch/afternoon snack: rosemary coriander baked fries (hollygrove).

Day 1, dinner: lamb steak (two run farm), blanca isabel purple rice (rouses) and green beans (hollygrove).

Day 2, breakfast: strawberry yogurt (greek yogurt from hollygrove & homemade strawberry jam)

Day 2, lunch: mixed veg (hollygrove) & purple rice (rouses)

Day 2, dinner: frittata! purple rice, bell peppers, red onion, garlic chives, goat cheese, shiitake mushrooms, coriander and a little cane vinegar splashed on top.

Day 3, breakfast: peaches (hollygrove) and creole cream cheese (rouses) and a little drizzle of bernard's acadiana honey.

Recipe: Homemade Ketchup

I will never buy bottled ketchup again. This was relatively easy and came out so yummy, this is exactly why I love doing the Nola Locavore Eat Local Challenge: new food discoveries.

Would I have ever thought to make my own ketchup on my own? Maybe eventually, but now I did it because I needed to and I won't ever look back!

I looked at a handful of recipes and got the idea: spice tomatoes, sweetener and just ran with it. I'm super happy with the end result. If you're not as lazy as I am, you would have done it right and removed the skins and seeds and extra water. I didn't feel like doing it and thought it was yummy and not so tedious and time consuming. A hand mixer/immersion blender makes the process super easy. Please excuse the vague amounts of ingredients--I just put stuff in the pot and made adjustments as needed.

All-local Nola Creole Tomato Ketchup

1-2 garlic cloves, diced
pecan oil
couple lbs of creole tomatoes, chopped
spicy oregano
salt
Steen's cane syrup
couple tablespoons of lemon juice

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat and sautee the garlic for about 30 seconds or until golden brown. Add the oregano and tomatoes and use a stick blender to puree the mixture. Add salt and a couple tablespoons of cane syrup to taste. Add in lemon juice. Cook the mixture down, stirring often until it thickens (about 20 minutes or so depending on the amount of tomatoes). Make adjustments to taste as needed. I used the stick blender again at the end just to make sure to get a nice smooth consistency. The sauce will thicken more as it cools. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. The info I've read on the interwebs varies, but I'd guess it can last about 3 weeks in the fridge and obviously longer in the freezer.

Recipe: Shrimp and Grits

3 cups water
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
Salt
1/2 cup grits
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon pecan oil
1 medium tomato
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup white wine
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

In a saucepan, over medium heat, add the water, milk, butter and salt. Bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the grits. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook for about 1 hour or until the grits and tender and creamy, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent the grits from sticking. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese and heavy cream. Season with more salt if needed. Set aside and keep warm.
Puree the tomato in a food processor or with a hand blender. In a saute pan, over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the garlic, bell pepper and mushrooms and saute for 30 seconds, then add tomato puree and wine and let cook for about 2-3 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt, then add to pan and saute for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and add in the butter. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of the parsley. To serve, spoon the grits in the center of a shallow bowl and spoon the shrimp mixture over the grits. Garnish with parsley. 

Eat Local Challenge 2012 & A Southern Garden Party

I had so much fun doing the Eat Local Challenge last year, but this year I am definitely more prepared for what I was getting into. I've been freezing plenty of lemon juice from my trees this year because that was one item that was just too difficult to go with out last year. And WHEAT!!! I'm so excited we have wheat this year. I haven't baked with it yet, but I'm pumped to see what kinds of goodies I can whip up.

It's day three and it's already been an eventful challenge so far. Our anniversary was Wednesday and in our house, that means its party time. Of course, when we first set aside June 2 as the party date, I didn't initially realize its JUNE...which means throwing an all locavore party was going to be a challenge I hadn't completely thought through. But I ran with it and made the theme A Southern Garden Party and it came off fabulously.

We served shrimp and grits, fried fish and shrimp, fiesta dip with squash chips and grape tomatoes, a yummy cheese and fruit spread, lemonade, southern peach punch, strawberry soda and mint juleps. Our guests ran with the theme too and we had some great additions including red beans and rice, pecan butter cookies, pralines and lots and lots of local wine and beer. I'll be posting some recipes from the day shortly!

Recipe: Squash Fritters with Roasted Creole Tomato and Shiitake Mushrooms

As I've said before, I've really just been making things up as I go along this food adventure. Some meals are actually based on recipes...others I've just been making up depending on what I have on hand.

I didn't submit any recipes to the recipe contest because 1. I didn't really think I made anything of note of my own creation until well into the challenge. 2. I'm actually really bad at keeping track of what I use and the amounts when I'm just making things up on the fly. Even the amounts for this recipe below are a complete guestimation. At the time, I just did what looked right and then thought about how much I used of each ingredient after the fact and took a stab at it.

But this meal in particular was so yummy I wanted to share the recipe. I even shared it on ehow's Rachel Ray contest. So if you like it, go vote for it here: http://www.ehow.com/contest/rachael-ray/20400838/. I'll fully admit, I'm not a big Ray fan--I think I have a grand total of two of her recipes I've tried and liked--but I do like the concept of the contest: sharing meaningful meals. This whole Locavore experience has been educational and makes me feel more in touch with our community. This recipe in particular I was very excited about, so here it goes...

Squash Fritters with Roasted Creole Tomato and Shiitake MushroomsMakes 4-8 fritters
2 c. grated raw squash (I used patty pan and zucchini)
1/4 cup flour (I used corn flour)
2 eggs, beaten
3 oz. grated asiago cheese
salt to taste
2 large creole tomatoes, cut in thick slices
1 cup shiitake mushrooms

Pat the squash dry with a paper towel. Whisk together the eggs and flour. Add in cheese, squash and salt. Form fritter patties and drop into a greased griddle. (I made 4 really good sized fritters since it was a entree, but you could get more if you make them smaller.) Cook until delicate brown, turn and brown on other side.
While the fritters are cooking, place tomatoes on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Broil on high until the edges are crisp. Once the fritters are done, melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan and saute the mushrooms. Serve while hot with the fritter topped with tomato slices, sauteed mushrooms and a few sprinkles of cheese.

Getting back to my Guatemalan roots

So I was really excited when I got an email from Nola Locavores that they were loving the posts and wanted to know if I could put together a breakfast, lunch and dinner recipe post for the challenge... Then the excitement that someone besides my mom was actually reading the blog wore off and I had my oh crap moment. What am I going to do? I've just been making things up as I go.

Thankfully when Lee stopped by to get some pralines to satisfy his sweet tooth, he said something that stuck in my head and finally set off that spark, "Don't be afraid to try something different--everybody's done the yogurt and fruit variation for breakfast."

That at least got me thinking about eggy breakfasts. I really had my breakthrough when my mom and I went to the Crescent City Farmer's Market and I picked up some green beans. She suggested I make some caites (I have no idea if I spelled that right and endless Googling has left me still clueless. My mom didn't even know how to spell it.)

My Mami Olga always made them and mom was super exited that I was going to make some since we haven't had them since my grandmother passed away a few years ago. She promptly invited herself over for dinner "to make sure you make them right, Yanna."

With the caites or envueltos de ejotes (wrapped green beans) as my inspiration, it was easy to build the other meals that would fit in. The green beans are usually served with rice and salsa and whatever meat you can afford (or none if you can't). I liked the simplicity of the veggie option for lunch. Since I would already need a salsa for the beans, huevos rancheros was the logical option for breakfast. For dinner, I did caldo or caldito, another staple my grandmother made with whatever veggies and meat she had handy--sometimes it had chicken, sometimes it had beef... maybe some yucca, carrots, green beans, garbanzo beans, potatos...it depended on the season.

So I made the caites for day seven dinner. I'll probably do huevos tomorrow morning with the left over salsa. Whenever I actually get around to buying something other than seafood, I'll definitely make some caldo.

Another fun experiment today was dessert. Canillas de leche!! It's been a while since I've had these because we usually only get them when my aunt comes back from Guatemala (with entire Tupperware containers full of candies). I never thought about making them until I was brainstorming sweets that I could make without flour. My mom was REALLY excited to be the official taste tester for these and I know my aunt will be psyched to know I've learned how to make them. Special props to my mom for helping me with the translation since all of the recipes I found were in Spanish and mine is quite...er...I think rusty is putting it mildly. Check out the recipe post on Crumby.

Here's the rundown for the day. Hopefully I'll get around to posting the candy recipe on Crumby soon.

Breakfast: Coffee. What? Who needs food when I can just have that heavenly deliciousness.

Lunch: Mom and I stopped at Mat and Naddie's and FYI, they're really only doing a dinner option for Locavores, so I did my best since we were already there. I'm not 100% if the rice was locally sourced. The veggies were actually from Florida but considering the rest of the options it was as close as I was going to get. The shrimp was great. We also split the blueberry peach cobbler.

Dinner: Caites or envueltos de ejotes. I'll do a full recipe step by step soon.

 

Dessert: Canillas de leche

Cheater, cheater non-local food eater.

So, I can definitely see weekends posing a problem. When I decided somewhat on a whim that the Eat Local Challenge would be a cool and educational experience, I guess I was just thinking more about what I cook and not really what I eat when I go out. I have a tight group of friends that I consider family and hanging out with them this weekend totally caught me off guard--I just didn't think about how this would affect those situations. The weekend caught me by surprise and I'll have to plan how to better handle them in the next few weeks.


I got to hang out with one of my very cool girlfriends who wanted to go see the Freret Market around the corner and grab some lunch. She wanted to check out this very cool little uptown cafe, Tartine. I was really curious and wondered if  if there was anything I could eat and just either wing it or not eat anything there or whatever. Of course, when I got there everything looked so delicious...and I cheated...and it was mmm mmm good. I'll say this, cooking every meal myself for 30 days with just local products is completely achievable theoretically...but actually keeping up with my friends and living life and eating only local foods? I just don't think its possible for me without serious planning and awkward social situations.


We also had an engagement party for two of our very cool friends getting hitched this November (for which I will be making a super kick ass groom's cake and I'm totally pumped about it). I at least brought a bottle of local wine for myself and even brought some of the pecan macarons I made, but a dinner that does not make. Had I not already cheated for lunch, I would have felt better about picking at food. When all was said and done, I grabbed some cheese and strawberries but it felt weird not partaking in the food.

Even today, my mom and I went to the Oyster Festival and I grabbed some delicious raw oysters, but pretty much everything else was not doable because of all of the extras that went into the dishes. No poboys, no fried oysters, no Drago's char-grilled Parmesan cheesy goodness. 

It all made me go look at the June calendar when I got home today to see how many outings I have this month. One obvious event is just going to have to be an exception. Weddings are a one time thing (usually) so I'm just not committed enough to a voluntary experiment to not eat at someone's wedding. But there are also multiple other birthday and surprise parties that I'm just going to have to plan in advance to either eat before, bring something with me if I can, or just try my best to stay as local as I can. If I can at least just support local businesses and companies, I think that's just going to have to do for me when those social situations just don't work out to stay with completely 100% locally produced and sourced foods.

When I initially saw the post "This is going to be difficult" on the locavore page, I thought yeah, but not impossible. Well, guess what--it is hard. We're just coming up on week one and I already strayed an entire freaking meal and I imagine as the month stretches out it will either get slightly easier because you've adjusted better or its going to get really really hard to do without the things we take for granted. At least now I really know the things that are going to kill me if I ever get trapped on a deserted island!

Anyway, here's the rundown for Saturday and Sunday:

Day 4, Breakfast: Thank god I finally grabbed some yogurt! This was so refreshing to have just some fresh peaches and Ryal's goat yogurt with a little swirl of honey.

Day 4, Lunch: Cheater alert! I didn't want to take a picture because then there would actually be evidence, but if you get a chance in July, go check out Tartine on Perrier, uptown. The sandwiches were great, the specialty drink of the day was amazing (and has inspired a cocktail idea for the Old New Orleans Rum recipe contest), AND the bread was PERFECT! Just the way good bread should be, crusty on the outside but chewy and delicious on the inside.

Day 4, Dinner: I should have planned the night out better. Wine and macarons for dinner was not a good idea, but this baked sweet potato when I got home at one or two-ish in the morning was great. Even during the rest of the year, it is one of my favorite go-to I really don't feel like cooking quick eats. Baked in the oven with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and usually I do some Romano cheese, but to keep it local I used some asiago instead.

Day 5, Breakfast: Did I eat breakfast? Oh that's right, I didn't just coffee and a pint of milk. Sometimes I'm just not a breakfast person.

Day 5, Lunch: Oyster Fest! Mmmm... oysters... need I say more?

Day 5, Dinner: Gator nuggets and sweet potato fries!

Hope everyone else is making it alright!

Baking, oh how you brighten up my day!

I was pretty bummed this morning. The baking powder free sweet potato pancakes didn't turn out so great. The texture was a gross gelatinous mess. I broke down and added in some baking powder to try and salvage the second half of the batch. Wow. Totally different. 

If I would have thought about it ahead of time, I would have tried incorporating whipped egg whites to get a bit of air into them...but I forgot. In my defense, I hadn't made coffee yet, so I can't be held accountable.

Anyway, the whole experience got me pretty down and wondering whether I was actually going to make it these 30 days without making more concessions than I'd like to. After today's situation, I figured I'd implement a new rule going forward: If something isn't turning out right, and I have the chance to fix it, I'm going to salvage it any way I can. At the end of the day, I feel better about adding a little something extra to make a dish work rather than pitch it because I don't like the way it tastes.

Plus, I'm just ready for my husband to be back home. We've never been one of those needy couples who are attached at the hip. We do our own things and we do things together and it works. The first few days he was out of town, it was kind of nice...sadly quiet...but I got stuff done and kept myself busy. Now I'm over the novelty of being home alone. Plus I need my dishwasher. I don't like this cooking AND cleaning business. What's that line about hearts grow fonder?

Anyways...where was I? Oh right, baking. I really do love baking. It makes me happy, even when I don't feel like being happy. I made some pecan macarons today. They're awesome and seeing those little feet come out the oven just really made my day, especially since this is the first time I've ever made them. It totally restored my faith in being able to do this.

Here's the rundown:

Breakfast: sweet potato pancakes. The beautiful ones on the left have baking powder. The sad ones on the right don't.

Now, I couldn't really care if how my food looks if it tastes good, but let me tell you, the baking powder pancakes didn't just look better, they tasted WAY better. See those pretty little air pockets? Totally changes the texture and taste of the pancakes.

See? No pretty little air pockets meant these pancakes were a floppy gelatinous mess: 

Lunch: leftover sauteed veggies and rice.

Afternoon Snack: sweet potato chips I made. They were just okay. Slices needed to be just a bit thinner and cooked just a few minutes longer.

Dinner: wait....did I eat dinner...Oh thats right I had the leftover pancakes.

Dessert: Caramel Pecan Macarons! I'll be posting the recipe and a detailed review on Crumby hopefully this weekend.

Magical moment: that first glance of those beautiful little feet on the macarons. Totally made my day.

Random ramble: I definitely need to get to the store/farmer's market/wherever and get some yogurt. My morning meals have been entirely too fatty and I'm not really much of a breakfast person anyway. Hopefully some of my bananas will ripen soon. I'd like to get my hands on some rice flour too, because this corn flour business is going to get old real fast...like it pretty much already has. I mean, I'd like to stick as local as possible, but sometimes a girl just needs baking soda, or chocolate, or pasta. I'm going to challenge myself to go as long as I can without them, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

Wait, no pasta? What did I get myself into....

Today is only day two of thirty. Day two and I'm already looking for pasta. I mean, yes of course I have gone more than two days without eating pasta, but I guess just knowing that I can't have it unless I make it means I'm thinking about it...and if I'm thinking about it then I want to eat it.

Technically, since I did join in at the Beinville level, I can have "limited" amounts of flour. So I had this crazy notion that I could use limited amounts of my not so local wheat flour and half it with some corn flour. That'll work, right? Wrong....um gross....and lets just leave the failed pasta experiment at that. I'm sure by the end of 30 days, I'll have just used the dang flour to successfully make pasta (the way its meant to be, with delicious all purpose, gluten filled wheaty flour). I mean, using local eggs has to count for something, right?

However, after the failed experiment, in my crap!-what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-eat-now moment, I actually ended up making something quite glorious. Basically I just winged it with what was in the veggie drawer and it was awesome. Vegetarian and totally yum. I'll definitely try recreating it, maybe with the addition of a bit of chicken.

Anyway, here's the breakdown for day two:

Breakfast: fried egg, grits, corn bread and of course, coffee. That's right, in your face stinky husband of mine (who is convinced its impossible for me to wake up early on a work day)...alright so maybe that's mostly true, but today was different. I actually woke up early enough to bake corn bread muffins from scratch, take care of the pets, get ready and get to work on time. :D

Lunch: uh....so I ate it and didn't even think about taking a picture until I had cleaned my plate dry, but it was just left over crawfish etouffee and corn bread. The baking powder free corn bread actually came out pretty decent. I just separated the eggs and whipped up the whites and folded them in at the end.

What's for Dinner? Deliciousness, that's what! (okay, I'll admit, I say this probably more often than necessary...but it was!) Summer squash, shitake mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes sauteed in a bit of butter with garlic chives, sage, thyme and shallots all served over my new favorite rice, Jazzmen.

Magical Revelation of the Day: Garlic Chives!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I thought about using some of the garlic I bought at the berry farm, but I used a whole head in last night's etouffee (they're pretty tiny) and I only have two more heads and who knows where or when I'll pick up more. I decided to just dress up the veggies with some herbs from the garden and used a good bit of the garlic chives I picked up at Rouses. WOW. I took that first bite and I couldn't believe I hadn't put any garlic in there. According to Wikipedia, "the flavor of garlic chives is more like garlic than chives." I can now attest to the validity of that statement.

Ugh...now I have to go do the damn dishes. I hate when my dishwasher is out of town. :(

I'm a locavore...one down twenty-nine to go.

So I got through the first day of the eating local challenge.

Here's the breakdown:

Breakfast: corn grits, coffee. I used locally grown and milled grits, some butter I made from Kleinpeter milk, Avery Island salt. Exceptions: obviously coffee isn't locally grown, but I did use locally roasted coffee and local milk and sugar. I used a dash of fresh ground pepper in my grits.

Lunch: Fruit and Mixed Green Salad. Ingredients: local kale and other mixed lettuce, peaches, berries, pecans over a bed of Jazzmen rice with pecan oil and Meyer lemon dressing. (Lemon juice came from my stash of frozen juice.) Exception: dash of pepper.

Afternoon Snack: Local blueberries, pecans with a small drizzle of honey.

I'm starving and I'm still at my mom's and not home yet snack: homemade pickles from Ridemore Berry Farm.

Dinner: Crawfish Etouffee. Ingredients: local crawfish, garlic, butter, red onion, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, corn flour, parsley and salt. Exception: dash of cayenne pepper. I used this Emeril Lagasse recipe as a guide and just kind of made it work with what I had.

Magical Moment of Reflection: I must have consumed copious amounts of etoufee during my lifetime in New Orleans, but this is the first time I ever actually made it myself. Even if I don't make the 30 days or have to bend the rules a bit here and there, branching out and making new things and having new experiences will make this experiment a complete success, regardless of if I use items that aren't strictly local.