I hope that everyone had a great holiday! As I mentioned, we had a delicious dinner and have really enjoyed the long weekend. We also had many local breakfasts, lunches and dinners this week that I won’t bore you with. And of course, we finally opened our first jars of dill pickles – mmmm mmmm good.
I’m going to keep this brief as we’re going to get a Christmas tree shortly and I need to find the decorations!
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The Middle:
With 21 squash in her garage, Anne (Green Leanings) is set for at least part of the winter. After cooking an unexpected local Thanksgiving last Sunday she froze 1/2 the turkey and made stock and soup with the rest. She spent her actual Thanksgiving at her mom’s house with another local turkey and all the sides. And then yesterday she finished off the week by sleeping in and then making a local brunch and dinner.
Continuing her run of local meals in bowls, FarmMom (Children in the Corn) served up ham, bean and vegetable soup this week with a side of biscuits. This week they also enjoyed a casual Thanksgiving with family, ordered chicks and ducklings for spring and offered a tour of her root cellar.
With her daughter home from college, Penny (Penelopedia) ate out more than usual this week. But she still managed a mostly local Thanksgiving. No apologizing for the things you didn’t have time or budget to find! This is a challenge and as such we do what we can, and make up the rest!
Turk-a-leekie soup graced the stove at Valeree’s house this week (Cincinnati Locavore). If you’ve got leftover bird this looks like a delicious and straightforward way to use it up. I might even have to make it myself tonight – although mine won’t be so local as celery doesn’t grow here and I don’t have any leeks on hand. Oh well…
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The East:
Kim (Yankee Food) mad a fabulously local Thanksgiving using a wide range of ingredients, she even found New Hampshire wine! They’ve managed to finish off most of the leftovers, with the remainders going into soup yesterday. She included ground cherries on her cheese board – we had these in Florence but no one could tell us what they were in English. So cool to see them pop up on her blog! Now to find somewhere to get them around here.
While most of her meal might not have been as fresh or local as she’d have liked, Peg (Orchards Forever) made sure her contributions were. The pumpkin cheesecake and apple crisp both sound delightful!.
Adding to the local holiday trend, Christy (Farm Dreams) made not only a local Thanksgiving feast, but a lunch as well. The butternut squash soup looks great, as does her herb rubbed turkey.
Ed (The Slow Cook) wins the prize for Turkey dinner I most wish I’d been invited to! His local feast started with a 31 lb. turkey he killed himself and went from there. It included enough dishes to feed an army and it all looked amazing.
Starting with eggs and steak for breakfast, to a full Thanksgiving menu to dessert of apple bread pudding, Wendy (Happily Home) had quite the busy day. Just goes to show that eating a meal that’s 100% Maine is possibly even in the dark days of winter.
With her farm in full swing this year, Danielle (Touch the Earth) managed an almost 0 mile Thanksgiving Feast. From a 17 lb. turkey she raised herself, to stuffing, squash and ciabatta bread, it was an impressive spread. She’s also got a great post up about starting small when it comes to farming.
Nicole (Farm to Philly) offers a great pumpkin creme brulee recipe which sounds like something I should try with the small pumpkin on my counter. Her turkey was a bit dry, but everything else was wonderful. And yes, I agree that while I love the holiday, I’m glad it’s only once a year.
The Purloined letter enjoyed two Thanksgivings. One with friends, and a second local one on Friday. They started the feast with pumpkin soup cooked in the shell for lunch. Then followed it up with a full blown turkey dinner and a crustless sweet potato pie.
Sophie (Locavores) hosted a Thanksgiving that was a mix of local and “worldly” foods. For being only 3 months into her efforts as a locavore, I think she did a pretty good job of finding local fixings in CT.
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The West:
In lieu of a Thanksgiving recap, Anita (Married with Dinner) posted a review of local shopping options in her area. She discusses who’s doing what and who isn’t doing anything as far as sourcing and signing local foods.
While still battling a cold, Donna (Chocolate Crayons) still managed to work a variety of local foods into her Thanksgiving menu. Her efforts included making her own sparkling grape juice to rave reviews.
With slimmer pickings and fewer farmers, winter has come to Seattle and Laura (Hello, Sunshine) is feeling just as much as I am. Her meals this week were mostly local salads for dinner and home made juices in the morning.
Making the most of her CSA bounty, Ellen (The Daily Grind) shared a mostly local Thanksgiving with friends and family. She also enjoyed some no knead bread both for turkey day and after. I actually found the recipe through a link on her blog earlier this week – thanks Ellen!
Remember the 38 lbs. of tomatoes that Melinda (Elements in Time) harvested? Frost a couple days later at least means she won’t have any more. While her Thanksgiving wasn’t local, at least she had pumpkin pie from her own garden for her birthday – Happy Birthday Melinda!
While the timing didn’t fall into place exactly as she hoped, Katrina’s (Kale for Sale) local Thanksgiving met with rave reviews. She even managed to convert more than one Brussels sprout virgin to the love.
Jennye at Wool Fairy celebrated local with a potato sorrel soup this week. The recipe actually calls for leeks, but since none were at hand she used the sorrel instead, to cheers from her kids. I haven’t been brave enough to try sorrel yet, but maybe I should.
Marcia in Wyoming sent in two meals this week:
Stuffed chicken breasts: Homegrown chicken breasts stuffed with chopped apples (from that zucchini trade again!) shredded cheddar cheese and Italian flavored bread crumbs, cooked in a butter/white wine sauce.
Calibacitas: Homegrown frozen sliced zucchini and yellow summer squash, homegrown frozen chopped green bell and chili peppers, chopped onion from the root cellar, homegrown frozen corn, homegrown minced garlic all cooked in a little olive oil/butter mix and then topped with shredded cheddar cheese.