Days 6 & 7 - The Watched Cream Never Rises

Be good ya'll!

I've started into even more dairy adventures.  After the success I had with the mozzarella cheese and ricotta, I've decided to branch out into butter.  Apparently its just as easy to make as cheese.  The only problem is that I have to wait for the cream to rise to the top of my local raw milk.  I'm guessing it doesn't help that I open the fridge about every 5 minutes to check on it!

But... I've finally come up with a recipe that Rocks!

I found a bag of tomatoes left over from last summer's garden in the bottom of my freezer.  You would have thought I had just found a winning lottery ticket.  One hour later and I had a decent tomato sauce.

Gee...what to make with tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, local grass fed ground beef, mozzarella cheese, and a huge bunch of of local kale?

Noodleless Kale Lasagna of course!

So I chopped up the Kale and some cabbage into bite size pieces and sauteed in garlic.
Cooked the ground beef with a couple of tablespoons of Italian seasoning mix and onion (locally available this season at the Palafox Market)
Mixed 8 oz of ricotta, 4 oz mozzarella, two eggs and more Italian spices.

Layer 2 x
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 ground beef mix
1/2 ricotta cheese mix
small handful mozzarella cheese grated
1/2 of the greens

Finish with more tomato sauce and a handful of mozzarella cheese
I know - sounds great doesn't it - and it was

Day 5 - Gifts from Friends

Day 5 did not start well.

I had such a fun day Saturday with Amy.  But towards the end of the day I started feeling as though my cold had hit overdrive.  I've spent most of today in bed wanting comfort food.  Luckily I had some sweet potatoes left over from my fall garden.  Baked and mashed sweet potatoes filled the bill.

I was so please to have purchased some grapefruit and oranges from a gardener at the Palafox Market Saturday.  My first instinct with this cold is to run to the grocery store and pick up some bottled juice and canned soup.  This, however, has made me savor the fruit I've obtained locally even more.  I've made a single grapefruit last all day.

So I was particularly pleased to find fruit included in a gift of veggies from Joe and Amy.  When Amy came over yesterday, she not only brought local wine but also a huge bag of veggies.  I went through the bag today and found several excellent surprises.

The greens are beet greens.  Joe and Amy know this is one of my favorites.  Joe is great at growing beets, I've only had success once.  If you think fresh beets are anything like that yucky stuff in the canned food isle - please try them out for yourself.  They are ultra sweet and yummy.  Even the greens of beets are slightly sweet.  There were also more sweet potatoes (always welcome) but the real standouts were the Japanese Plums (loquats) and serrano peppers.  These are real treats in the winter.  Joe built an amazing greenhouse a few years ago and I suspect the pepper plants have been hanging out in there.  These will be great to spice up some dishes.  The loquats have been a great fresh addition as well.

There are few fruits available in the winter.  Most of our fruits in the supermarket right now are imported from Central and South America.  We are just started to get fruits from south Florida.  None of those could be considered local.  But what I've started figuring out from less than a week into this is that sometimes not having certain items makes you appreciate them all the more.  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to strawberries coming in from local growers in the next few weeks.  I may even try to go to a u-pick place and get my own.

Day 3 redux and Day 4

Day 3 redux

So on day 3 I didn't really cook anything different.  I had Day 2 leftovers for lunch and Day 3 leftovers for dinner.  I wanted to point out my Breakfast, however,  I think this is what is meant in the Bible about a Land overflowing with milk and honey.  I found frozen blueberries from last years garden, reheated with East Hill Honey, my homemade yogurt (best in the world), and add more East Hill Honey.  Yummy

Day 4

Started with a trip to the Palafox Market.  I missed out on some greenhouse hydroponic tomatoes by about  5 minutes.  I did an initial walk through of the market to see what was available.  Saw the tomatoes and made a mental note to go and get them.. By the time I got back they were gone and I was mad!  It may not seem like much but tomatoes from the supermarket are off limits so I got pretty excited by the thought of fresh tomatoes.  Made up for it by picking up some green sweet onions.  Also stopped by the booth of Green Cedars Farm and made arrangements for some lamb. It won't be available until the third week of March (about the last week of lent) but I'm sure by then I will be desperate for some alternate protein source.

Amy Moss came over for some milk fun this afternoon.  I've sourced out some local milk but can't find any local cheeses. Apparently there is a cheese producer over near Elberta, AL but its not carried in any local grocery store.  It is served at the Pensacola Bay Brewery.  I'm hoping to stop by there soon for local brew and local cheese.

Went by our local craft wine/cheese making shoppe (The Shady Lady) and picked up a cheese making kit. Guaranteed to make mozzarella or roccotta cheese in 30 minutes.  Amy Moss came over to help.  We broke out the Paw Paw's raw milk from McDavid, FL and set to work making cheese.  The first batch of Mozzarella went OK but didn't become a string-like as anticipated.  The rocotta  cheese came out great.  We decided to try one more batch of mozzerella cheese - It came out great!!.  I am officially a cheese maker!  Luckily Amy Also showed up with a couple of bottles of Smokey Plum wine by my favorite Vitner - Joe Moss.  I don't know how Joe made this wine but it is some of the smoothest local wine you could possibly imagine.  It is light smooth and mellow with the perfect balance of fruit.  Two Thumbs Up for this Hatton House vintage!

I think Dinner tonight will be leftovers, wine and cheese.

Lent Day 2

The morning started with some fabulous yogurt.  I had never made yogurt with unhomogenized milk.  Even as yogurt, the cream rose to the top.  The top layer was the richest yogurt ever.  The rest will probably be much lower fat.  It I was wise, I would have stirred it all together.  Still - a lovely surprise.

Next an omelet with sauteed kale and a full cup of Keen's Beans coffee.

Off to good start.

Lunch was leftovers from dinner last night.  I failed to point out that I did have some protein with dinner.  I had purchased a pack of humanely raised chicken prior to the start of the Lent experiment.  Not local but not totally evil!

Dinner tonight is way out of my comfort zone of cooking.  I'm worried that I will depend far too much on my old stand by of stir frying all my veggies.  So I decided to make stuffed collard greens.

I'm using a basic cabbage roll recipe that calls for rice, ground beef, spices, and an egg to stuff parboiled cabbage leaves.
Instead of the rice - I've boiled some turnip roots.  I chopped up half an onion (on hand before the beginning of lent) and mixed all of the stuffing ingredients together.  I parboiled some large collard leaves. Wrapped the stuffing in the leaves and covered it in a layer of that pizza sauce I purchased at Everman's yesterday (robustopizzasauce.com).

Here's the result:  Not the most lovely looking but tasty.

Day 1 Redux

Day 1 of the lenten locavore experiment finished strong.

A field trip to Everman's
Deciding I needed to expand my availability of local food products, I headed to Everman's in downtown Pensacola.  I was immediately dismayed at the lack of local products.  There were no local veggies in the grocery area at all!  I had a conversation with a nice lady who calmed me down.  She took me on a tour of the store to point out all the local products.  I'm still dismayed at the small quantity of local food items available.  But it is winter and many farmers have lower production during this time.  I was able to buy a small selection of items that were grown or produced locally.

As you can see I've hit several major food groups.

While I was there, a local farmer brought in some produce. I bought one of everything he had:  cabbage, kale, and collards.  I am growing collards in my garden but these were all very lovely.

I also settled on some Keen's Beans for coffee.  It is sourced from Costa Rica (one of my favorite countries) but is roasted here in Pensacola.  It may be a bit of a compromise but I don't think I could live without my coffee.

I included a bottle of Mardis Gras Red from Perdido Vineyards because it seemed to connect to the theme of this experiment.  In the future I intend to hit up my favorite winery for locavore beverages (Joe Moss).

Next there is a pound of ground beef from Hastings Farm in Bay Minette, AL.  I can already tell that getting a variety of protein will be hard to source locally.  Everman's doesn't carry any local meat chicken.  I produce my own eggs.  Soon I'm going to hit up some of my favorite anglers/spear hunters for fish.

One of my favorite finds was the raw milk.  Paw Paw's raw milk from McDavid, FL.  Now before anyone chastises me about raw milk, you should  know that I'm mainly using it for yogurt.  The yogurt making process requires a heating of 185 F.  This is plenty to pasturize the milk - you have to for yogurt to be sure that only your bacterial innoculant is active.  There's quite a bit of debate about raw milk.  Some say it is easier to digest, others say it is a health hazard.  You can't buy it for human consumption.  This milk was labeled for "pet food".  However, it is obviously intended for human consumption.  If you want to buy this local milk and are worried about contamination; it is easy to pasturize you own milk.  Just heat carefully (lots of stirring) to 161 F for 15 seconds (or 145 for 30 minutes).  This is a much lower temperature than industrialized pasturization and will leave proteins much less affected.

Thanks to my brother Rusty Pritchard for the gift of a Yogotherm for yogurt making.

It turned out great!

Next a jar of pizza sauce.  I know - strange.  But it is locally produced in Mary Esther, FL and should provide a lovely tomato flavor.  Not in season but I'm all for canning and preserving.  Plus its another chance to support a local business.

Finally I want to mention the honey.  This is a really local product from East Hill Honey.  I was really pleased to find something produced that near.  Its raw honey pollinated from local flowers.  The health benefits of this are enormous - plus it tastes great! I did a side by side comparison with some storebrand stuff I still had.  The local raw honey is vastly superior.

All in all a decent haul from Everman's.  Should hold be over until the Farmer's Market this weekend. (I hope).

Dinner - stir fry of cabbage, collards, and Kale with a few sweet potatoes from my garden.  Paired up with sweet red wine.

Day 1 of Lent - Ash Wednesday

So I flippantly said I would be a locavore for the days of Lent. Made the decision on Mardis Gras and took no actual preparation.

Day 1 - Ash Wednesday
Crawl out of bed and head towards the coffeepot - stop, remember my locavore announcement.  Stare at coffee bag - there's no way I can call this local.  Great - just Great.  This is starting off Great!  Walk to the tap and get some water - that's definitely local.

Out to the hen house to collect the morning eggs (Thanks Girls!) and head back in for breakfast.  Pause at the coffeepot again with the rationalization wheels turning.  The WATER is local.  Brewed coffee is mostly water - Right?  Shake it off - Drink some more water and start breakfast.  Here I'm doing fine until I reach for the olive oil to fry my eggs.  Definitely not local.  Boil my eggs - again - water is local.  Walk past coffeepot again and now swear it is laughing at me.  Caffeine withdrawal starts to set in.

In the shower I make some rational (or rationalizing) decisions.  If I have food products already open or that will expire before Lent is over - I will go ahead and consume.  Anything not opened yet or will not expire stays in the cabinet.

Good decision - I can make coffee today.  Bad decision I have about 2 days of coffee remaining at my current addiction level.
So I did what any good addict does - try to make it last.  Today I've had only half my normal caffeine intake - do not get in my way.

After all this dithering I'm almost late to work - not to worry, I'll just buy lunch at the UWF cafeteria.  Stop - they aren't locavore.
Back to the garden - Lettuce not large enough, not enough time to cook collards, all I have is swiss chard and carrots.  So Lunch will be raw swiss chard, purple carrots, and a boiled egg.  Not bad - swiss chard tastes fine raw.  Its nice and chewy so you take longer to eat it and feel satisfied.

Luckily I have time after work today to stop by Everman's and desperately try to find some more local products.  I just have to survive until this weekend until the Farmer's Market.