I don’t go to the grocery store very often anymore. I am lucky to have a variety of year-round farmers markets, local farm stores and independently locally owned markets that sell locally made food available to me. Generally going to the grocery store means that I am really really pressed for time, or desperately need something I can’t get at these stores like paper products. To save on gas, I might pick up some organic staples while I am there and make due for the week with what I have in the pantry and freezer. But I know that not everyone has this variety of Local Love available. So I wanted to talk about how the average person living pretty much anywhere, can eat organic and local and SAVE money.

Many months ago I had such an experience. We were actually still in Florida. I had just stocked up on frozen organic berries for smoothies and some organic meat ( which was on sale) and I was getting all my dairy to make cheese, yogurt and kefir for the week (not a farmers market week). The woman in front of me had her cart, which was not as full as mine, with frozen dinners, boxed lasagna, bags of frozen meals – where you add your own meat, soda and a few organic veggies (she was trying)– enough food for maybe a week of meals. I made sure to take note of her total just for curiosity’s sake. When my cart was rung up, my bill was only $2 more than hers. I had loads of fruits and veggies, grassfed beef, organic meats, frozen organic berries, eggs, dairy and pantry staples – things I would be using over the next several weeks. This really amazed me, because I have been told so often that eating the way we do, is too expensive for the average Joe or Joan. So much so, that I was actually starting to believe it.

This event has stayed with me all these months, and so when Andrew from Eating Rules asked me to guest post for his October: Un-Processed challenge (you can still take the challenge!!!), I enlisted the help of friend, fellow blogger and grocery store resister, Melissa from Alosha’s Kitchen to write a post about how eating locally and organic has reduced the cost of our food bills over a year by about 30-35%!!!

If you want to see how we did it, I suggest popping over to Andrews blog and reading all about it!

Learn how to  have fun in the kitchen and support your local community, while feeding your family healthy and nutritious meals that taste WAY better than pre-packaged fodder, for less than the cost of eating every meal out, or takeout, or from the frozen food section! Try it yourself and see what happens! There are several recipes in the post to help get you started! Enjoy and Have FUN!

(Sourdough crêpes with  real maple syrup, blueberries and red currants. Served with pastured pork sausage patties)

I love crêpes. I have never been a huge fan of pancakes, flapjacks or any other type of griddle cake. I think the reason for that being probably because most of the ones I had in restaurants growing up were probably made from a mix, and served with fake maple syrup.

(Image courtesy of ASKO Storhusholdning)

I started to really appreciate pancakes when I lived in Norway and enjoyed pannekake, a thin, crêpe-like pancake, served with butter and sugar mostly, and often jam. Sometimes with bacon on the side – which I liked to roll up in my pancake just to be weird. Where I lived in Trøndelag, you eat Norwegian pancakes rolled up. Although  I have also seen them served folded up like a crêpe as well. This was a revelation to me, because I found myself looking forward to pancakes in Norway.  I also enjoyed vaffler – Norwegian waffles, another breakfast item that I never liked in the US. But Norwegian waffles are delicious, light and chewy and served with brunost (a caramelized whey cheese) and jam, and a pot of strong coffee, black.

Image courtesy of Restaurant Leon

Now that I know more about cooking and ingredients, I know that European flours are very different from their American counterparts. For example, I learned from Julia Child’s Book, My Life in France, that French flour has a lot less gluten in it than US flour. So perhaps it was my gluten intolerance all along that kept me from enjoying American pancakes and waffles.

In the past year, as I have been baking with sourdough, I came across a delicious recipe for sourdough crêpes, that held my pannekake cravings at bay.

Sourdough Crepes. I was inspired to make these from another blog, Sarah’s Musings

I came across her blog post when I was looking for new things to do with my sourdough starter. With just two people in the house, I found myself struggling to use my starters every week. I have a whole wheat and a spelt starter. I usually make this recipe with my whole wheat starter, since I use my spelt starter more often.

Sourdough is a great way to start baking bread in a more healthful and traditional manner. Many people with gluten, or wheat intolerance (not Celiac’s), myself included, have found that it is easier to digest wheat products that are sourdough. We love serving these  sourdough crepes with butter, berries, Brunost (Norwegian whey cheese), maple syrup or berries in syrup with either nitrate free bacon or pasture raised sausage on the side. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sourdough starter

2 eggs

2 TBS melted butter

¼ tsp salt

1/4- ½ cup milk

extra butter for cooking

METHOD:

Preheat your 8” or 10” cast iron skillet on the lowest temperature. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Once skillet is hot, add a tsp of butter to the pan and let it melt. Then add about 1/3 cup of batter to the pan. Tilt the pan in a circular motion to be sure the batter evenly covers the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes, and then carefully flip, cooking for about another 30 seconds. Repeat  – don’t forget to add more butter before each crepe. I usually heat my oven to 200F, and place each crepe once it is finished on a cookie sheet in the oven to keep them all warm until they are all cooked and we are ready to eat.

I guess now I will be playing around with recipes for gluten-free crepes and pannekake! If you want to follow my Gluten-free adventures more closely, and see what I am eating, that I don’t post about, be sure to follow The Leftover Queen fanpage on Facebook!

My friend Shannon over at Nourishing Days who blogs about real food, natural homemaking and sustainability features the food journals of bloggers who choose to make real food made from scratch and full of nutritious, wholesome, healthy and delicious foods. This week she is featuring my food journal. Thanks, Shannon! So if you ever wanted to know what a typical 3 days of 3 meals looks like in our household, please go check it out.

I have been wanting to sit down and write this post for days now. As I type this, we are experiencing our first rain in about a week, which means I can take time from the fevered pace I have been working at, enjoy a cup of teeccino (yes, I have finally made the commitment to quit coffee) and get typing! All the while out lovely little seedlings and plants are getting a nice watering!

Although it has been 2 weeks since I enjoyed this meal, the memories are still fresh in my mind. Maybe that is because Bistro Sauce is part of The Vermont Fresh Network, or maybe that is coincidental. I rather think not. Every single eatery I have been to from fine dining to order-at-the-counter places that are part of the Fresh Network have all been memorable.

I really must repeat what I have said before, Vermont is really ahead of the curve when it comes to local eating and the extremely important relationship between farmers and chefs. Without farms we would have no food. Vermont gets that, as do most Vermonters. Gosh, I love my new home state.

(photo courtesy of CrankyCakes)

So to end our fabulous first Foodie Tour of Burlington ( if you missed the first leg of the tour, you can catch up here ) and to celebrate Restaurant Week, Cheryl took us to Bistro Sauce to meet up with Lara, who we had met earlier to kick off Restaurant Week, at one of my all time favorite places, Applecheek Farm .

(photo courtesy of CrankyCakes)

We were really hot when we arrived from a day out in the sunshine, so we started with a local beer at the bar. I had nice and refreshing Switchback which also happened to go really well with my first course – a delicious baby greens salad with pears, aged cheddar and candied hazelnuts. Roberto had the olive plate with grilled bread and the ladies had the Caesar salad with anchovies. Everyone was pleased with their choices.

(grilled olive plate, brandade, baby greens salad, pork shoulder)

The next course was my absolute favorite – Brandade. It was a smoked haddock and potaotes mashed and then fried in a crispy crust, served with remoulade and greens. On top was a beautiful deep fried wild leek, or ramp. The smoked fish and potatoes had the perfect creamy consistency inside to juxtapose the crispy outer coating and the flavor was deep and delicious. Everyone else got the risotto with wild mushrooms and fiddleheads. It was good too, but I was so happy I chose the Brandade.

Third course was pork – Vermont pork shoulder laid on top of garlic mashed potatoes and local spring veggies with a pepita romesco sauce and jus. We all got the same course. Cheryl had some intel that this was the best dish in the course, and we all went for it, not regretting a single bite. The pork was absolutely tender, the potatoes perfect and the sauces divine. Very good course.

For dessert, we all decided to go light with homemade ice cream or sorbet. I went for the bay leaf. I remember how amazing this bay leaf custard was and knew this was a taste I would love. Roberto got vanilla bean, which he felt was not very impressive. Cheryl went for, I believe mango…but the craziest choice, was the cucumber sorbet that Lara opted for. It was totally refreshing.

(photo courtesy of CrankyCakes)

All in all it was a very nice night. For $25 per person, I also believe it was very much a steal. We had a 6 PM reservation, and by 7 PM, the place was packed full of happy diners with smiles on their faces. I would say it was a successful event for Bistro Sauce and a great evening for foodies!

(photos courtesy of Nourished Kitchen)

There is still a few more days to sign up for the Nourished Kitchen e-course! If you ever wanted to learn how to make your own cheese, yogurt or soft drinks at home, this is the course for you! If you want to learn how to shop farmers markets and make awesome seasonal, organic and local foods using the freshest and most nutrient-dense foods for you and your family, without breaking the bank – this course is for you! If you read my blog and wonder how the heck I have time to make all this stuff, and wish you could, this is the course for you! If you care about the foods you put into your body and want to make a commitment to REAL FOOD today -     Please sign up today and start your own Food Revolution!

photo courtesy of CrankyCakes

So we have been here officially on the homestead for less than a month, and already I have had the great opportunity to meet some awesome people, as well as reacquaint myself with some that we have met on previous trips to the area. I have certainly learned that people in Vermont love good food, and care about where their food comes from, they also care about their fellow Vermonters.

Vermont has just come off Restaurant Week . It is a big deal here – participating restaurants offer special, prix-fixe menus showcasing their chefs’ greatest dishes. Those menus will feature discounted, three-course “tasting-style” dinners (e.g. appetizer, entreé and dessert) priced at $15, $25 or $35 per person. 10% of the proceeds from event admissions, sponsorships and restaurant participation fees will be donated to Vermont Foodbank.

(Inside Sugar Snap, checking out the produce at City Market, with Cheryl outside of Sugar Snap and City Market!)

To celebrate Restaurant Week and all the fine food that Vermont has to offer, Burlington resident, fellow food blogger, Vermont Fresh Networker and all around Vermont local food expert Cheryl from Cranky Cakes offered to take Roberto and I to all her favorite foodie spots in and around Burlington, ending with dinner at Bistro Sauce in Shelburne, a participant in Restaurant Week, which I will talk about in an upcoming post . We were in for quite a day!

We started the tour off at Cheryl’s Residence, Burlington Co-Housing. It is such an interesting place, the grounds are full of acres and acres perfect for wildcrafting and gardening. She took us on a tour of the grounds where plants, berry bushes, and everything in between are growing, all over the place. Her partner Greg told us that at the height of summer, it likens to a real life Hobbiton with everyone outside working the grounds. All they need are some livestock running around, and I can totally see it!

But the tour must go on, so we headed out in Cheryl’s car. Car conversations revolved around food in the front seat, while in the backseat between Roberto and Greg, major comic drawing and illustrator geekness abounded. It was the perfect arrangement! Geeks unite!

photo courtest of CrankyCakes

Our first stop on the tour was Sugar Snap – an awesome little takeout joint, serving lunch and dinner. Situated right at the beginning of Burlington’s REAL Food Hub, The Intervale . Before hitting the ‘Vale, we needed to fortify ourselves. We hadn’t had lunch yet, so I went with half of their secret recipe chicken salad sandwich on sourdough. Roberto had the Dark and Stormy – ham, mustard sauteed portabellos, on a delicious roll. Cheryl and Greg shared goat cheese quiche. It was a very good start to the tour.

We took a drive through the Intervale, home to many of Burlington’s small farms and community gardens. It was once full of cows, then became more of an industrial center, but is now finding it’s roots again in the natural world. This is where Cheryl and Greg’s CSA, Intervale Community Farm (the second largest CSA in Vermont) is located. The Intervale has a lot of interesting events throughout the year, including Slow Food tastings on Thursdays…sounds like another reason to go to Burlington.

After that we drove through the Old North End, home to many ethnic restaurants and groceries – everything from Middle Eastern and African to Himalayan. This part of town is also home to the Sustainability Academy , in partnership with Shelburne Farms , is the nation’s first K-5 magnet school with a sustainability theme. From their website: “The goal of the Academy is to prepare students to be responsible citizens and agents for change, in their community and beyond. The Academy is an international model for using sustainability as a lens for place-based education and service learning. We maintain the highest expectations for academic and personal growth for all of our students and embrace the rich economic and cultural diversity of our community”. WOW. If I could only go back in time to be a student there!!!

(Roberto and Greg chatting it up in Bulk Foods – but likely not ABOUT bulk foods….Photo courtesy of CrankyCakes)

From the North End we headed to City Market a fabulous co-op full of local, organic and fair trade foods. Kind of like a Whole Foods, but owned by the community – even better in my book! I got some lovely and tasty souvenirs, including cheese from Doe’s Leap. Doe’s Leap, who recently broke my heart. It is a sad tale, indeed.  They advertised a most incredible internship opportunty on their website-  teaching interns about raising goats, goat healthcare, artisan cheesemaking and training herd dogs – all the things I want to learn. But unfortunately they are not offering the program anymore. BOOHOO!!! So I drowned my sorrows in goat cheese from their farm, instead.

I was also able to get some lovely local non-GMO cornmeal from Butterworks Farms, and some black turtle beans from another local farm, both in City Market’s extensive Bulk Food section! After all the shopping efforts, we needed a pick me up, so we left with some amazing Serchan’s Potato salad – a Nepali potato salad, made by one of Cheryl’s neighbors…of course! I swear she knows everyone who has anything to do with good food in Burlington!

(Lambs at Shelburne Farms, a delicious pit stop at August First, Red Wagon Plants, and Sicilian donkeys at Shelburne Farms)

We drove into downtown Burlington for a stop at August First, one of Cheryl’s favorite bakeries. We had been hearing about how wonderful their breads are, from Cheryl and Greg all day, so we were lucky enough to get the LAST baguette of the day to taste. We were lucky enough that they were already out of iced coffee, since the owner Phil then had to improvise by giving us a shot of delicious espresso, that we filled halfway with filtered water and then topped off with cream. YUM. I told him he should always do iced coffee this way. I put a drizzle of honey in mine and it was so good. We decided to catch our breath on their beautiful outdoor patio with the iced coffees and a chocolate, apricot and hazelnut scone, which was out of this world. The name August First comes from the traditional date for the early European harvest festival called Lammas, which celebrates the annual wheat harvest. Way cool.

At this point Greg had to leave the tour to go back home and draw…ah, the life of an artist…so the three of us dropped him off and continued on our way. First stop, plant heaven – Red Wagon Plants , purveyors of heirloom and specialty plants. It was perfect, since Roberto, this family’s resident gardener, had been wanting to go there anyway! We met the fabulous owner, Julie, and then took a tour of their greenhouses looking at all the beautiful flowers, and smelling the best chocolate mint ever! Going back there this weekend to get some for our garden, because we can’t stop talking about it!!!

(photo courtesy of CrankyCakes)

Then we walked over to the neighbors, Family Cow Farmstand , a raw milk farm. They sell their milk to the community and also have home dairy making courses. They had two sweet calves in the barn that after a bit of coaxing came up to sniff and lick us. Their tongues were a bit like a cat’s tongue – a little rough. But their fur was soft and thick. We spent a few minutes checking out their beautiful views and breathing in the fresh farm air.

(The Intervale, view driving through Shelburne Farms, The “Barn” at Shelburne Farms, The Inn at Shelburne Farms)

Our last stop before dinner was Shelburne Farms . This is truly an incredible place, and if you come to visit, a definite stop on our tour of Northern Vermont. I think at this point Cheryl was realizing what a lover of farm animals I am, so she knew that no matter how tight our time was, we had to make this stop.

(photo courtesy of CrankyCakes)

Shelburne Farms is an amazing place that we literally just touched the surface of. Our main focus on this trip was the animals – cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens and donkeys. We met some really cute friends along the way . So cute that if we had brought our truck, I might have had to smuggle! Shelburne Farms offers cheese tours, wagon rides, snowshoeing in the winter, hiking trails in the summer, a sugar shack, a farm store, a farm eats stand and even an Inn – where you can stay or enjoy a rather swanky meal. I will certainly enjoy going there time and again.

I hope you enjoyed the first leg of the tour with me. Join me next time for dinner at Bistro Sauce in Shelburne. If you still want more, and believe me, you so do, you can check out Cheryl’s take on the day here, at Cranky Cakes. She has a great blog!

As a blogger, aspiring to bring my readers better food, more interesting stories, and drool-worthy photos of my creations, I look to other bloggers who do what I want to do, but do it better. They are like virtual mentors whose posts I pour over, and get excited about when I see them in my inbox. They are the bloggers whose nearly every recipe ends up in my “to make” box.

One of these bloggers is Jenny from Nourished Kitchen.  To me, she is a marvel – she makes delicious, nutrient dense foods, using practices our great grandparents did – making fermented vegetables, cultured dairy products, and using real butter, full fat raw milk and real bacon! While raising a family AND managing her local farmers market! I have been working to eat more and more this way over the past months, and I always look to Jenny’s delicious blog for inspiration. She is a wealth of information and really one of the most gracious bloggers I have been in contact with.

So it is with excitement that I am announcing her awesome e-course! After hearing over and over again from her readers a need for a simple, but thorough way to better incorporate local foods and back-to-basics, traditional cooking into their kitchens, she began work on this e-course. Through this interactive 12-week program Jenny will show you the ropes to making delicious , good for you food that won’t break your back, or your budget, that is usually local, organic and in season. This is the time to start your own Food Revolution, faithful readers! If you aren’t convinced, take a look at these amazing dishes:

Are you drooling yet? If so, here are the details on the e-course! Don’t forget Class begins June 1, 2010, and registration closes on May 31st!!! So you need to act fast!

What You’ll Get

• 12 Comprehensive, Multi-media Online Classes
• Video Tutorials Teaching You How to Cook Real Food
• Digital Workbook to Take Notes & Develop Your Own Recipes
• Charts Outlining Seasonally Available Foods
• Fact Sheets and Handy Tips Analyzing the Value of Real Food
• Online Discussion Forum for Members Only
• Menu Planning Tips & Sample Meal Plans
• Sample Shopping Lists and Equipment Recommendations
• SPECIAL BONUS: Discouts & Coupons from Companies I Trust

Get in now!

You’ll Learn How to:

• Shop for whole, unrefined local foods in season.
• Maximize nutrition and minimize cost.
• Plan meals that will help you stick to your food budget.
• Bake organic whole grain bread for a fraction of the cost of store-bought.
• Save a mint making homemade yogurt, cheese and pickles.
• Make use of cheaper cuts of meat with slow cooking.
• Make healthy homemade soda for just pennies a gallon.

The Lesson Overview

Lesson #1: What is Real Food & Where to Find It
Lesson #2: Eat Whole Grain
Lesson #3: Homemade Sourdough Bread
Lesson #4: Homemade Salad Dressings
Lesson #5: Prepare Seasonal Vegetables
Lesson #6: Make Real Pickles
Lesson #7: Roasted & Slow-cooked Meats
Lesson #8: Stocks, Broths & Soups
Lesson #9: Easy Homemade Yogurt & Cheese
Lesson #10: Soda & Soft Drink Alternatives
Lesson #11: Naturally Sweet Desserts
Lesson #12: Menus & Meal Planning

Check out Jenny’s eCourse here, watch a promo video, and find out how to register.  Class begins June 1, 2010, and registration closes May 31st!!! Every weekly course is at your leisure, at your own computer screen, and they’re all supported by a forum where you can ask Jenny and other participants questions.  There are limited spaces available.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Nourished Kitchen’s online eCourse, so I will be earning a commission from any sales made after clicking a link in this post.  This e-course it taking the blogosphere by storm, with many affiliates, so if you’re going to sign up for Jenny’s course (and you’re not one of her faithful readers), it would be appreciated to start here with my link.

United Irishmen Flag

Well it’s better late than never, I say. Just think of this post as a jump start to next year’s celebration!

These last few months have been very exciting for me. I recently discovered that along with my new found English ancestry (and a few other Northern European ancestries) and in the company of millions of other Americans, I may have some ancestral roots in Ireland. I am still learning about where it comes from, which has been a very fun process for me and has revived in me my love of anthropology and population migrations. I am not sure how much I will ever really know about my heritage, being adopted with no ancestry history, but it looks like there is a strong Northern Irish connection from all my research so far. So this year, I decided that I want to explore these cultures in my ancestral line through the foods of these lands, and St. Patrick’s day seemed like a good place to start, in good company.

I am not Christian, so for me, my St. Patrick’s celebration is not religious or political, but more of a general Celtic heritage and cultural celebration. It should be no surprise that I have Celtic ancestry, as I have always loved Celtic music (even teaching myself to play the fiddle) and culture, and Scottish and Irish desserts have been among my favorites for years. So I felt like even with its religious roots, this would be a good a time as any to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of Ireland with so many others!

Some Irish Feast Ingredients: Fresh Organic Eggs, Organic Cream and Guinness plus Homemade Buttermilk and Whiskey and Aquavit Soaked Raisins

I wanted to celebrate by cooking some semi- “traditional” dishes, and to challenge myself by cooking with Guinness! So the menu is as follows :

*Guinness Stew
*Sautéed Cabbage in a Mustard Glaze
*Brown Soda Bread
*Guinness Ice Cream

Everything is made from scratch, including the buttermilk in the soda bread. The meal turned out great, and I would certainly make any of these dishes again, for St. Pat’s or any other day.

Brown Soda Bread

I was inspired by several different recipes for this meal, and it all started with Jenny’s Brown Soda Bread Recipe .

As many who follow this blog know, I have been tweaking various bread recipes these past many months, so that the flour can be soaked for at least 12 hours before baking ( to find out why click here ). Jenny is a master at this kind of cooking, even recently being featured on CNN for her Real Food Challenge . When I saw her soda bread recipe, I knew I had to make it.

Guinness Stew

From there, the idea for an Irish feast began. I didn’t have a lot of time this year to research “corning” my own beef brisket , so to speak (maybe next year). So I decided to go with something a bit more in my comfort zone – beef stew with a beef and Guinness broth.

I love sautéed cabbage, and since it was on sale at the grocery store, I decided to grab a head and figure out what to do with it later. As I was cooking the stew, an idea for a delicious spicy mustard and honey glaze was concocted in my mind! I will definitely be making cabbage this way again!

Creamy Guinness Ice Cream without white sugar

I had also been wanting to try this recipe for Guinness Ice Cream for about 2 years. However, I did modify it, to make it more healthy by omitting the 2 cups of sugar called for in the original recipe and using date sugar and maple syrup to sweeten it, instead. I also omitted the brown bread, however I may have to add it in the future, because it sounds yummy!

This was a wonderful celebration to begin to connect with some of my ancestral roots and share it with my awesome and supportive family. Thanks Guys! Hope my readers enjoy this menu as much as we did! Recipes under the cut…

Read the rest of this entry »