Local Food This Week

For several years now, I've documented some of the local foods that we purchase through local bounty posts. A couple of years ago, I would pick up beautiful and interesting foods each week from the farmers' markets or local farms. Those veggies/fruits might have been a nice addition to a meal that we were having, but they certainly weren't the bulk of what we were eating. Over time we've slowly added more and more local foods into our kitchen and onto our table. So instead of showcasing just one local food every now and then, I thought you might like to see what we now buy and how we use it. My meals are not glamorous. We do eat differently than a lot of people. I'm not a food blogger by any means, nor do I desire to be. But, the meals are real and hopefully they'll help inspire you to use more local foods, too. 

This week I picked up from the Community Farmers' market...

our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) basket which contained-

 carrots, kale, radishes, swiss chard, and strawberries (from Sunny Point Gardens).

We also picked up...

 honey, coconut oil, beef stew meat (from River Cottage Farm)

2 bags of Meg's Black Bean cookies (from Festina Lente- these are gluten/dairy free and delicious)

lard (from Stoney Creek Farm)

pulled pork (from Hillbilly Grillers)

lettuce (from Need More Acres)

rhubarb (from Summer Garden Memories)

 asparagus (from Crooked Creek Farms)

1 Community Farmers' Market sticker to go on our new to us car

 

 Using those ingredients along with some others, here are a few of the meals, desserts, and snacks that we've eaten this week...

 {pulled pork from Hillbilly Grillers, mashed potatoes made using coconut milk, chipotle Tabasco sauce, salad- lettuce from Need More Acres, carrots and radishes from Sunny Point, homemade dressing using honey and olive oil from River Cottage Farm)

 {pork meatballs- pork from the 1/2 pig we purchased in December from Crooked Creek, sweet potatoes, asparagus from Crooked Creek, strawberries from Sunny Point)

 {Sausage and Kale soup- kale from Sunny Point, sausage from Stoneycreek that we had in the freezer, homemade chicken broth using chicken bones from Crooked Creek, and potatoes}

 

 {Strawberry and Rhubarb crisp- strawberries from Sunny Point, rhubarb from Summer Garden Memories, topping made with gluten free oats, honey from River Cottage, raisins, cranberries, vanilla, and salt that I buy from River Cottage}

 

{Beef Stew- beef stew meat from River Cottage, carrots from Sunny Point, potatoes, garlic,

 rosemary and thyme from the backyard}

That gets us to Tuesday where I picked up a few more things 

from the O'Daniels' at the Sky Farmers' Market. I bought...

potatoes (I really needed these earlier in the week since I used non-local organic potatoes in so many meals), beets, bratwursts, and more kale

 {leftover shredded meat I had in the freezer from a roasted chicken from Crooked Creek, certified gluten free rice, lettuce from Need More Acres, homemade salsa using tomatoes I canned last summer from Need More Acres, cilantro from the backyard, and avocado}

{green smoothie- banana, orange juice, spinach from Festina Lente, and frozen strawberries}

 {a favorite of mine: bratwurst and beet greens from the O'Daniels, organic sweet potatoes, organic apples}

 {juiced kale and carrots from Sunny Point, beets from the O'Daniels, organic lemon, organic apples}

 {eggs from the backyard, spinach from Festina Lente, Applegate organic bacon, tomato from D&D Family Produce bought at the market the week before}

 I'll see what I can come up with next week after our trip to the market!