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!

Locavore Challenge Days 2 and 3

Being a true Locavore is tough work especially when you thrive on variety! I have thoroughly enjoyed eating seasonally-available foods since spring but there are some things that are available year-round that I am not loving much anymore. I can not eat another egg! That feeling put me in a jam yesterday for breakfast. I HAD to have my Bob’s Red Mill muesli! Some may argue that I should have had Mu Mu Muesli because it is produced locally. However the ingredients are not local so I somewhat feel as though that doesn’t count, though I LOVE SUPPORTING LOCAL COMPANIES, PRODUCERS, ETC. And I will vouch that Mu Mu Muesli is delicious!

Being at work on my locavore diet has been challenging. I had to ignore my Cajun-spiced pumpkin seeds and my licorice. I am a grazer; I think it’s a product of being an athlete and bordering hypoglycemic. I generally eat 4-6 small meals a day. I found it SO odd yesterday that I didn’t need to graze. I was totally satiated by ¾ cup muesli with rice milk for breakfast and then 1 ½ cups of my quinoa with local veggies for lunch. Granted I did have a BIG cup of iced black tea and the caffeine could have been suppressing hunger. I didn’t even want my yummy gluten-free allowable chocolate chip cookies. When I arrived home from work yesterday, I had my local peach that I forgot to eat at work. And then I reheated the homemade chicken soup for dinner and made a beet, goatcheese spicy greens solely-locally produced salad. Gotta love the yellow and red/white striped beets from Wyllie Fox Farm! The goat cheese and spicy greens came from Monarch Farm. And Brent’s client tipped him with some local beer. I only had a few sips, but it was tasty! So, I’ve decided my five non-local ingredients can rotate by the day. Monday, my non-local five were: muesli, rice milk, quinoa, black tea, and the rice that was in the chicken soup.

Today, I had muesli again. And I had quinoa salad again for lunch. I had my peach at work in the mid-afternoon and two of my gluten-free cookies. Then I strength trained and was soooooooooooo hungry after the fact that I had to have some of my gluten-free pretzels with the baba ganoush. So, there goes my five non-local foods: muesli, tea, rice milk, quinoa, cookies, pretzels and baba ganoush! Oops-that’s seven! Good thing my dinner was entirely local: local chorizo sautéed with local red onion, over baked butternut squash with dried oregano from my herb garden and other spices (shhh…not local) like cumin and cayenne. I’m about ready to have a couple of slices of local cantaloupe and then to bed I go! I have leftover dinner for lunch tomorrow. But dinner might have to be a trip to Empire Brewery!

Local chicken soup with local beet medley, goat cheese, spicy baby greens salad!

Local chorizo with local green chard, local red onion, over local butternut squash!

Locavore Challenge Days 1 and 2

I am attempting to be a locavore for an entire week. I’m on Day 2 and it is HARD! I am partaking in the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA)’s Locavore Challenge. It’s happening for the entire month of September. You can choose to be a locavore for a day, a week, or a month. When I first learned of this challenge back in July, my intention was to do it for an entire month, but then I remembered that I had the Montreal Marathon in September. There’s no way I’d be able to melt into the magic of Montreal if I had to scout out only local food. Brent and I opted the challenge for a week.

If you would’ve asked me a week ago how much of my food is local, I would’ve confidently replied “About 90 %.” Wrong! I’m only now realizing this. So, for this challenge, we’re allowed to select five non-local foods to have in our food repertoire. That was easy for me: quinoa, brown rice (as athletic as Brent and I are, we need grains to sustain us), tea, my gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mix, and chocolate.

Day 1:
So yesterday, I started to prepare a homemade tomato soup. This was my first time peeling tomatoes! Oh my goodness, I was like a kid tying her shoes for the first time! Success! But then I started adding ingredients and looked at my spice cabinet, dismayed that so few of my spices are local. Fortunately in the locavore challenge, spices don’t count; they have a Marco Polo rule. After cooking though, I had to expand that rule to include ANYTHING that I use to season my food with (and sadly it’s a long list: vinegars, several spices (like asafetida powder), lemons, broths, yikes! At any rate, my homemade tomato soup was so delicious with a dozen fresh, local heirloom tomatoes (thanks to Wyllie Fox Farm). I wanted to have grilled cheese sandwiches with the soup. Ugh—Bread! And I can only eat sourdough; I get hives when I eat any other type of bread. Brent and I scoured the market looking for sourdough bread with flour that was made locally. The closet we could get was Vermont, but the vendor made us aware that there “could be some North Dakota flour mixed in there.” We’re trying. We used a local sharp cheddar cheese. Yum!

Day 2:
Breakfast was easy. We had local eggs, with local goat cheese, with chives from my herb garden and leftover local eggplant parm (oops the tomato sauce was not local, but I guess that can count as a seasoning?), and the semi-local sourdough bread toasted. Lunch was my yummy quinoa, corn, cucumber salad. And the corn and cukes were local! Dinner is cooking in the crockpot right now. Homemade chicken and rice soup with a local organic chicken, wild rice, local carrots, celery (shoot that’s not local either, but it is organic!), local garlic, and lots of chives and parsley from my herb garden!

Two days almost done! Five to go! Stay tuned! Definitely contact me if you’re up for this challenge!

Simplicity: A Lifestyle

Isn’t it crazy how complicated we make our lives through technological advances? The things that are supposed to make our lives “easier,” can in fact make our lives less meaningful. Think of all of your acquaintances; they all have mobile phones, right? And many, if not all, have Blackberries or other email-functioning mobile devices. This is just one example of how technology dominates our lives.

Americans are seduced into thinking that we need these items in order to be satisfied. Think of how many young lives are sucked up by video games. Think of how many miles are put on our vehicles. Think of hours used in cyber world.

I challenge you all to try to simplify your lives some. Go back to basics. Spend time “in person” with your close friends as opposed to skyping with them! Encourage your kids to “go outside and play.” Play with them! Fly a kite!

This reflection was inspired by a new Canadian friend that Brent and I met in Montreal. Francois owns a Bed and Breakfast. He and his wife Isabelle opted to make this their career so they could spend more time with their two children. Francois mentioned several facets of their lives that I admire and each facet revolves around the notion of simplicity. Here are just a few.


1.) His children are given a choice to either go outside and play or play an educational game on the computer (no Wii in this family)! They choose outside almost every time!
2.) The family owns only one car and they use it sparingly.
3.) Many of their friends take holidays to far-away places like Cuba. They stay close-to-home generally.
4.) They bring LIFE to their home with COLOR as opposed to material objects. One immediately feels at peace merely by looking at the walls.
5.) The family takes strolls through parks together.

Don’t let technology interfere with your life. Yes, I am usually writing about food and encouraging you to feed yourself this nutrient or that nutrient and I’m also telling you to avoid this toxin or that toxin. Remember though, that relationships are of primary importance to your health. So too is nature. You can experience both by simplifying your life a bit. Turn your computer off now and go get a coffee with a chum!




A Clutter-Free room makes a Clutter-Free Mind!

I have Converted...to a Container Gardener

If you told me last summer that I’d be growing a container garden of tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, mint, parsley, basil, cilantro, sage, lavender, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, and chives, I’d laugh hysterically. I do not have a green thumb at all. But, I’m attempting to develop one. This summer, I grew all of the above. Some of my growing was successful; some was not. For those items that were not successful, I’m learning what to do next year and I’m eager for the challenge. I’m open to ANY suggestions on how I can transform this thumb of mine into a bright-and-shining shade of green.

My Outdoor Garden:

Tragedy # 1: I was way too enthusiastic! I planted my bell peppers, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs the second week in May. We had two frosts in May. During the first one, Brent and I carried the plants indoors. YIKES! What a workout. During the second frost, we were away, which resulted in the deaths of my pepper plants, parsley, and cilantro.

Tragedy # 2: Mr. Groundhog. He had quite the obsession with my zucchini flowers. I sprinkled my dog’s fur around our plants, put up ugly windmills to frighten him, sprayed vinegar, etc. I didn’t ever see him again, but my zucchini never did grow (I should probably mention they were free as part of the Finger Lakes Wine + Herb Tour…I’ll decline the plants next time).

Tragedy # 3:

Not enough drainage. I was intelligent and drilled holes in all my plant pots...and lined the bottom with pebbles for helpful drainage…except Brent did not properly drill holes in my plum tomato pot…I got three lone tomatoes from that plant!

Tragedy # 4:

Beatles! They’re back and they’re big and gross! They love my basil. Oddly, they would go through phases; one week they’d munch away, the next week they wouldn’t. I was still able to make tons of pesto, so this was the mildest of tragedies.

Okay, on a positive note, I did get over a dozen yummy tomatoes, plenty of parsley, a lot of basil, and a decent amount of mint.

My Indoor Garden:

My little herb box contained chives, thyme, tarragon, mint, and sage. I have a separate lavender plant and a separate rosemary plant. All get plenty of drainage and sunlight. I think I didn’t tug enough at the roots of my chives, tarragon, or thyme seedlings before planting them because they didn’t live very long.

What I love about indoor herb gardens is that I can attempt to grow all year long! I better re-pot my lavender soon too because it is outgrowing its pot!

All in all, a positive experience. And few things are as therapeutic as digging in dirt, especially after a long day at work!

Sadie's fur and this flower windmill did seem to scare the groundhog away!

My window herb box looked so lovely until the chives and tarragon kicked the bucket!

I suspect that this gigantic beetle ate my basil. Here, he/she's munching on our grape vine!

Isn't this tomato a beauty? I'm so psyched that I grew this!

You Ain't Gonna Find a Cucumber Like This at Whole Foods

I remember when I first discovered Whole Foods; it was the summer of 1999, a few years before I began my adventure into holistic nutrition counseling. I was in complete awe of the fruit and vegetable arrangements; the beauty of the peppers in orange, red, yellow, and green stacked to perfection astounded me. I had a friend who lived near Whole Foods and was completely irritated to learn that she couldn’t get Crisco there; I thought the concept was kind of cool and that was before I even learned that Crisco was nothing more than trans fat grossness!

So at first, I thought Whole Foods was pretty darn awesome even though it didn’t quite welcome those with budgets like mine; I was a graduate student after all and absolutely agreed with the nickname “Whole Paycheck.” As I began to learn the differences between organic and conventional vegetables and fruits, I developed an aversion toward Whole Foods. I could not BELIEVE that they made people believe that because they shopped there, they were eating healthier foods, when in fact, the majority of their food was pesticide-laden conventional foods. Yes, they do offer plenty of organic, but it’s not all organic.

At any rate, I recently bought the most delicious, organic cucumber I have ever had. Where did I get it? I bought it from my CSA, Wyllie Fox Farm, for $1.00. It was so big that I was able to use it in two different salads. Try this recipe. So delicious. And to think, you can get such a gorgeous cucumber for less than a cup of coffee, isn’t that great?

Brent shows off our awesome cucumber!!!

Shannon’s Dilly-Wonder Salad:

Ingredients:

SALAD

- 1 cucumber sliced thinly (or in the case of a cucumber as big as mine, you only need half)

- 5 cups baby salad mix

- 1 cup shredded carrot

- ½ cup chopped dill

DRESSING

- ¼ cup lemon juice

- 4 Tablespoons olive oil

- ¼ teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt

- 2 Tablespoons agave nectar

- Ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix the salad ingredients together. Toss in the dressing.

I Heart My CSA

Each spring, I get super-psyched about my “CSA season,” which typically runs from June through November here in the Northeast. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture; its structure connects conscientious consumers to a local farmer. As a CSA member, you purchase a share of the farm and in return receive an abundance of seasonal produce every week throughout the CSA season.

I have been a member of three different CSAs: one in New York City, one in Easton, PA, and my newest CSA in my newest city of residence, Syracuse. I feel amazingly gratified to be able to say that my CSA, Wyllie Fox Farm, just received its USDA organic certification! The USDA has many specifications for farmers who choose to become officially organic and the process of becoming legally organic is so arduous that many farmers choose not to apply for the certificate. In order to become USDA certified organic, a farm has to refrain from using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers; they can not use plastic mulches, they can not use non-organic transplants; they are not allowed to use any synthetic materials in their washing, handling, and storing of the produce; the list goes on and on. But Jamie and Maggie Edelstein work very hard to meet the USDA certified organic specifications.

Here is an example of a large share! So many greens! And rhubarb!

(wait until you find out what I did with THAT!)

Brent and I had the great pleasure of visiting the farm and celebrating their certification. They’re totally GREEN! For example, the plastic that they use for their high tunnels is recycled; it came from farmers who no longer need high tunnels. The farm equipment appears archaic, but hey, it does the job; they feel no need to get the “latest and greatest” farm equipment.

We are thrilled about our CSA! We’re splitting it with a friend so it’s only costing us $275 a season. $275 for 20 weeks! That comes out to $13.75 a week. What a deal for the freshest, local, organic produce!