crab cakes

I was lucky enough to get 6 crabs from Danielle (the fishwife) at plymouths farmers market Thursday. I ended up with 1 lb of meat and made 8 lucious crab cakes.We had 4 for dinner with a Salad from the garden and 4 went to the freezer.Danielles crabs were 2$ a piece so 8 large crab cakes only cost 12.00.It would cost me more than that for 2 small cakes in a restaraunt.So our meal last night was at a cost of 6.00 and a few pantry items the salad was from the back yard.It took a little bit of time to pick the crab meat I only do it once or twice a year but it is so worth it.The home made crabcakes are so fresh they really out do any I have had in restaraunts.Joe laughs because I swear I will never do this again while I am picking the crabs, but the next day when I make the crabcakes I always say it was worth it.

busy weekend

Yesterday I made ricotta cheese for a future batch of ravioli. Today I made 20 1/2 pints of sweet pickle relish and as soon as I can find some heads of dill I will make some dill pickles.I have yet to make a batch of dill pickles that are not mushy so I keep trying.Any good recipes?
I forgot to take pictures but lunch today was Blt's with foccacia bread from Marthas Stone soup and local tomato and lettuce.The bacon was not local.Tonight we had burgers on the foccacia bread with homemade ketchup and local lettuce and onions and the burgers were from dufort farms in Rehoboth,Really good juicy burgers. We went on a foraging walk at Colechester farm today with john Root from Amherst.About 25 people.I had seen him speak before but it was really fun to walk through the farm and see all the edible plants in their habitat.

yes we eat junk food!

We washed windows today and then I finally hooked up my wireless printer to my new laptop.The windows were easier. Needless to say I did not feel like cooking. So we had hot dogs. They were not local or grass fed I am embarrassed to say. But we still managed to add some local elements, a can of state of Maine baked beans,homemade sauerkraut and home canned relish.I have not tried grass fed beef hot dogs yet for a few reasons. They are usually frozen and there are only two of us and they don't have preservatives so they would go bad before we finished them.I think this is true anyways,I guess i need to investigate this. We did have local made cinnamon toast for breakfast and BLT's with local lettuce and tomato.

ravioli dinner and a salad pizza lunch

• Last night we had raviolis that I made with homemade lemon pasta and stuffed with ricotta and Atwells gold cheese from Narragansett Creamery RI.fresh local eggs and herbs from my yard.We also had a salad of all local ingredients.Lunch today was a pizza shell from Eva's in Providence with Naragansett Creamery's smoked mozzarella and Atwells gold along with some garlic.After it was baked I topped it with a fresh salad of local raw corn,shaved raw summer squash,arugula,olive oil lemon juice and some fresh shaved Atwells gold cheese.Atwells gold cheese is a hard cheese from Narragansett creamery that I use as a local alternative to Parmesan cheese. I try and keep these meals as local as possible without forfeiting taste.I could of used local grown whole wheat flour in the pasta and I do often,but I feel that the delicate taste of the filling and lemon pasta would of suffered from the substitution.Moderation in everything.

local lunch

Todays local meal was a simple one. Stuffed quahogs from the freezer and sauerkraut made last fall.The sauerkraut was made by me last fall with local cabbage. It is amazing to me how crunchy it still is. The stuffed quahogs were made a few weeks ago by me. Joe dug the clams and the chorizo i used was local the onions and peppers were from the freezer from last summer(local)the bread i used was just leftovers from the freezer. This is a meal showing how freezing and preserving can give you a local meal any time of year.

light summer meal

I really did not feel like dinner tonight with the heat.I made a fritatta so if it wasnt eaten we could have it for breakfast.I used a zucchini that was given to us some fresh spring onions from the Plymouth farmers market some fresh oregano and basil from the garden, fresh eggs from the market some hard cheese from naragansett creamery(Atwells Gold) I use this cheese like parmesean and some leftover rice.The perfect light summer meal.Trying to use zucchini more than just in bread. I did see a zucchini marmalade recipe that peaked my interest today so you may see that here soon.

getting back in to the swing of things

I am trying to get back to showing our local eating on a more regualr basis.Tonights is not totally local but it is close.We had meatloaf that i used all local ingredients except a yellow pepper,our salad was one we had years ago at Alforno in Rhode Island.Shavings of raw summer squash with raw corn, shavings of parmesean ( I used Naragansett creamery's Atwells gold) with lemon and olive oil. and rice that of course was not local.Try making the salad it is really great, fresh and crunchy.

First summer farmers market meal

Last Friday was the opening of the Marshfield farmers market for the summer. We bought lobster,strawberries(the ripest red I have ever seen and asparagus and some lemon marmalade.The lobster was so tender and we roasted the asparagus and the strawberries just as is. A perfect summer meal.

Slow food dinner

We hosted our slow food group potluck the other night unfortunately I was to busy to get any real good pictures of the food so my words will have to suffice. I made clam chowder and steamers,Then our guests all bought food, One bought homemade prosciutto made with local pork,(and people think i am crazy with the cheese) We will talk about that later. We had an asparagus pizza,roasted asparagus and a broccoli salad,buckwheat with sour cream,an Egyptian meat pie with filo dough,a dip with eggplant and roasted red peppers on cheesy bread,strawberry pie and strawberry tart and just plain just picked strawberries (yum) A Lithuanian cake made with polenta really moist and yummy and hen of the wood mushrooms found growing out of season in an undisclosed place that were marinated.We had some locally produced wine and a good time was had by all.

Homemade Cheese

Last year I took a cheese making class with the Queen of Cheese Ricky Carroll. We learned 7 cheeses in one day. I think I have finally mastered the mozzarella so I decided to try farmhouse cheddar. Joe built me a press with a pattern in Hobby Farm magazine. I bought milk from Christensen Dairy at the Pawtucket farmers market. I will not know how it came out for about 4 weeks I will post later.But the milk successfully became curds so I have hope.The picture with the black and lbs then 20 and then 50 lbs for 12 hours.

What to do with a grass fed brisket?

I lucked out and bought 2 grass fed briskets at the farmers market. They were from Plato's Harvest in Middleboro.Usually I would slow cook the brisket with prunes and orange juice and wine and other good things but I decided on corned beef. I corned the beef in a salt,sugar and spice mixture with some cure power. I let it sit in the refrigerator for 9 days in this solution. Then slow cooked it for about 3 hours. This was the best corned beef ever (if i do day so myself) so lean and yummy. No guilt with this meal. After the traditional corned beef and cabbage I made corned beef hash with eggs. This also was great. Now I have to decide how to cook the other one!

Local pork Sausage

Last night I made a spaghetti sauce for dinner using home canned tomato's local carrot,garlic,onion and green peppers(from the freezer) and a little bit of honey(ours).Then I made some whole wheat fettuccine from ww flour from Maine.I had bought sausages from Beaulieu farm in Fairhaven Ma. They were sweet sausages and the were Delicious, I have in the past bought pork from local farms and a few times I had pieces that were very strong and gamy but these were Great!!Also a salad of local greens &microgreens and a salad dressing with local cider vinegar and maple syrup.Tonight we had the pasta again with some three bean salad I canned this summer. This morning we had local oatmeal grown in Maine with local syrup and local dried cranberries. I am focusing on eating local as much as possible this week we have such a stockpile of food in the freezer and shelves of canned goods.

A local food sunday

Today has been almost a totally local day. We started the day with pancakes. They were made with whole wheat from Maine, Cornmeal from mass,and Rye from Rhode Island. Maple Syrup from Maine. Lunch was leftover chicken and dumplings, the chicken and carrots were local. Dinner was clam chowder,Hubby dug clams this summer,local potatoes from web of life farm in carver,onions also local. Brown bread with cornmeal from RI,Whole Wheat from Maine and Rye also grown in Rhode Island and local dried cranberries,not local was leavening and molasses.Our salad had mizuna from silverbrook farm in dartmouth,lettuce from red fire farm in Granby Ma.Dried cranberries from Plymouth Ma.Microgreens from E&T farm in Barnstable.The dressing was cider vinegar and maple syrup from Maine(bought on vacation) garlic. Not local olive oil and mustard. Dessert is a fruit crisp of razzberries we picked in Sharon Ma. this summer Strawberries from Plympton and Blueberries from King farm in Pembroke ma.(we barted clams for bluberries.)It is amazing how local a meal in February can be. I am surprised at how often I sit down and realize we had an almost totally local meal with out planning it. Anything I show from Maine was bought on vacation. I consider food I buy on vacation as local since I am transporting it.

winters famers market in Wayland mass

Yesterday we went to the last winter farmers market of the season at Russells garden center in Wayland ma. It was great tons of people,the freshest tastiest veggies. I bought lettuce, micro greens,kale,the biggest carrots I have ever seen and they are so sweet,parsnips,celery root,shallots,and a red onion. I also bought from Winter Moon farm from Hadley ma. Organic heirloom cornmeal that was ground that morning by pedal power, the corn was also grown on ma. This probably has to be the greenest food product I have ever bought. Things they had that I did not buy,fish,beef,pork,eggs,dressings,jams,honey,gelato and pastries. The pictures are from winter moons table.

homemade mozzerella

Today I made homemade mozzerella,the best yet.i used milk from the pawtucket farmers market.It turned to curds faster than any other time I have made it. Then I decided to try mozzerella sticks.They were very tasty.They were partially local, milk,egg,bread,the tomato sauce was not local.

celery root

I have been trying to really cook just from what we have at home since i stored,froze and canned so much this year. Today we had a soup of leeks,celery root and homeade chicken broth with whole wheat bread and olive oil. All was local except the olive oil.The vegtables from Platos harvest in Middleboro,chicken broth from a chicken grown in middleboro and the bread with whole wheat flour grown in Maine. After using the imersion blender we had a silky sublime soup.
It was so comforting and much healthier than potato look soup.This is a meal I will make again.
If you have not seen a celery root it is hairy,ugly blob but worth the trouble to scrub peel and chop.