LOCAVORE CHALLENGE DAYS 5-7

NOFA knew what they were talking about by labeling this Locavore adventure I’ve been partaking in as a “challenge.” It was a heck of a lot more challenging than I would’ve ever imagined it would be. How do I grade myself? A solid B +. As you saw in my previous entry, I did cave in and had gluten-free pretzels. I also had to alternate my five cheats each day; without that switch up, I don’t think I could have completed the challenge. So to summarize the final three days of my locavore challenge…

Day 5:

Day 5 was a rough day at work. Super-busy insanity. For breakfast that morning, I had my non-local muesli; this time, I ate it like oatmeal so that I wouldn’t have to waste a cheat on rice milk. I brought a local egg and cheese wrap with a non-local brown rice tortilla to work with me; that was to be my brunch, but I didn’t even get to eat it until 3:00 PM and followed that with a succulent local, organic peach. Brent and I went to Empire Brewery and I had a delicious local free-range turkey sandwich with sautéed onions and peppers and chipotle mayonnaise; let’s call it a Philly Cheese Steak-Shannon style! And I had a most delicious local beer called Golden Dragon.

Day 6:

Day 6 was by far the most difficult day. I had local eggs with local cheese and a non-local piece of toast for breakfast. For lunch, I had local purple string beans dipped in babaganoush. At 4:30 PM, I had to rush to the airport for a flight from Syracuse to NYC. I had a local peach while I was waiting to board. After boarding the plane, we all learned that our flight would be delayed for an uncertain amount of time. That uncertain amount of time turned into turned into three hours. Needless to say, I was starving when I arrived at JFK. I didn’t find anything local at the airport, but I did find two healthy and organic options. An organic chicken sandwich, and an organic fig and pistachio bar. Both options made me happy.

Day 7:

I didn’t get much sleep the night before, so I opted for black coffee in the morning as one of my non-local cheats. I met my friend Judy at the Union Square Green Market and we shared a rosemary-garlic sourdough baguette with local honey chevre. That was absolutely delectable! We then shopped for all kinds of local veggies that we would later roast for dinner along with homemade pesto from basil picked out of her garden. I forgot how scrumptious and appetizing roasted veggies were. I’ll be roasting away all fall and will have recipes to share. Locavore Challenge completed!

If you ever in Syracuse, you must go to empire Brewery; they source a great deal of their food locally and have damn good beer!

Hot peppers growing in Judy's Bedstuy Brooklyn garden! So pretty!

It's amazing to me how heat alone can add so much flavor to vegetables. Judy and I roasted these veggies at 475 degrees for 20 minutes. What a super fast meal. Roasting makes onions so sweet and eating onions prepared this way doesn't make your breath smell!