Eat Local Challenge: Day 7

June 7, 2012


Breakfast:
Zilch.

Lunch:
Leftover white beans from Day 3 plus rice that I made with an electric skillet at work since we don't have a stove.  For some reason I was unnecessarily proud of myself for my resourcefulness.

Dinner:
Diced yellow onion and anaheim peppers + chopped zucchini squash and eggplant sauteed with a crushed creole tomato (all local) in olive oil along with crushed cumin, coriander, garam masala, and local salt over a bed of brown rice. YUM!

Non-local Foods for the Week: Fruit Punch Crystal Light, oatmeal cookies, blueberrypie&peachicecream
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: -1

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Definitely going to try not to forget to take photos.  Otherwise the blog is super-boring.

Also, apparently, anaheim peppers are chili peppers.  Didn't know that when I rubbed my eye with my finger. OMGWTF burn.

Eat Local Challenge: Day 6

June 6, 2012

Breakfast:
None.  Again =(

Lunch:
Leftover okra from Day 2 and leftover roasted veggies from Day 4!

Dinner:
Local dish from High Hat Cafe: seared gulf fish with creamy, cheese stone-ground grits and marinated cucumbers and tomatoes.  Topped it off by sharing a slice of blueberry pie and peach ice cream with Jason.  Forgot photos again!


Non-local Foods for the Week: Fruit Punch Crystal Light, oatmeal cookies, blueberrypie&peachicecream
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: -1

Eat Local Challenge: Day 5

June 5, 2012

Breakfast:
None.

Lunch:
Tossed salad, tuna salad sandwiches, potato chips/crackers, and store-bought cake and cookies.  I was visiting some folks that are long-term friends of the organization that I work for.  I feel that it would have been bad form to deny their hospitality, so I indulged in another Off the Wagon meal =)

Dinner:
Boiled shrimp, crawfish, and corn on the cob.  Plus some non-local oatmeal cookies =)


Non-local Foods for the Week: Fruit Punch Crystal Light, oatmeal cookies
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: -1

Eat Local Challenge: Day 4

June 4, 2012

Breakfast:
Nil.  I want to either make or buy some local bread soon so I can try out some ginger pear butter from White Wood Farms that we got at Hollygrove Market last week.

Lunch:
Roasted veggie sandwich with "cowboy caviar" from Liberty's Kitchen, which employs local youth and teaches them food service and culinary skills.  I scheduled a lunch meeting with a friend/colleague and picked the restaurant before I signed up for the challenge.  I'm pretty sure the meal wasn't 100% local, but it supports a good cause!

Dinner:
Darnit!  I forgot to take photos again today.  I gave Jason instructions to roast local potatoes, zucchinis, and a Creole tomato (tossed with olive oil, local salt, and rosemary from outside our house) while I was at a meeting.  When I came home, we ate that with leftover white beans and rice and smothered okra from the last two days.

I commended Jason for cooking today, to which he replied with a snort, "Yeah, if by cooking you mean throw something in the oven," or something of that nature. =)


Non-local Foods for the Week: Fruit Punch Crystal Light
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: 0

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I'm going to have to be in the red for "Off the Wagon" meals this week since tomorrow I'm driving up to visit some folks in Hattiesburg, MS for work and the hosts will likely prepare lunch for us.  In an attempt to stick to the challenge, I'll carryover the balance into next week!

Eat Local Challenge: Day 3

June 3, 2012

Breakfast:
Another fruit salad of peaches and blueberries!  Yum!

Lunch:
Oysters from Drago's at the New Orleans Oyster Fest

Dinner:
Off the wagon meal: chips and dip, veggies from kabobs, (local) white beans and rice, Doberge cake
My friend Maria had a barbecue birthday party for her grandmother who turned 99 years old this weekend.  Yes, as in she-was-born-in-1913 99 years old!  Glad to have these off-the-wagon allowances -- though I actually brought the white beans and rice as a small mental gesture for my commitment to the challenge and to expand my food options since it was a barbecue (I'm a pescetarian).


Non-local Foods for the Week: Fruit Punch Crystal Light
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: 1

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I should probably start posting photos or something to make this blog more interesting. =)

Eat Local Challenge: Day 2

June 2, 2012

Breakfast:
I actually ate one today!  Fruit salad with peaches and blueberries.

Lunch:
None.  During my lunch break I went to Sankofa Farmer's Market for some produce and to take advantage of the ELC discount.  I was hoping that they'd have some prepared food for sale that I could eat, but the food truck only had meat products. =(

Dinner:
Stuffed patty pan squash (sans celery) and smothered okra with popcorn rice


Non-local Foods for the Week: Fruit Punch Crystal Light
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: 2


Rules Questions:
Referring back to my questions from yesterday, I've decided on items in my pantry/refrigerator that are fair game to be non-local unless I run out.  This includes mainly includes dried spices, herbs, and "staple items":

• sugar
• cinnamon
• oregano
• cayenne powder
• sage
• cumin
• coriander
• turmeric
• baking powder
• baking soda
• buttermilk
• butter
• thyme
• brown sugar
• bay leaves
• olive oil
• white vinegar
• soy sauce
• balsamic vinegar
• paprika
• celery seed
• corn meal

I also decided that my homemade cornbread from two days ago *would* count as 8 non-local food items (well, sans the items on the list above) -- because it's homemade and I have more control over the ingredients that went into it.  However, if I purchase a prepared food item, it would count as one.  This would be applied to meals in which I might make one all-local dish and get lazy and buy a non-local food to supplement (like a bread or salad).

Eat Local Challenge: Day 1

June 1, 2012

I'm participating in the NOLA Locavores Eat Local Challenge, which is a commitment to eating local foods during the month of June.  I signed up to go with the Strict Level, which permits up to 3 non-local food items each week and up to 3 "off-the-wagon" meals each week.  To keep myself somewhat accountable and to keep track of my exception allowances, I'll be documenting meals for the week.

Breakfast:
None.  I know, I know.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I don't eat it that often, oh well.

Lunch:
Off-the-wagon meal.  Great start to the ELC!  =)
Leftover lasagna, mac and cheese, green beans, cornbread

Dinner:
Local blueberries and plums
I had an evening work-related event today and none of the food was local except for frozen blueberries, which a guest had brought.  I ate a few plums as a dinner-snack when I got home.


Non-local Foods for the Week:TBA
Off the Wagon Meals Remaining: 2

I've started to do a little menu planning, and I'll probably make stuffed patty pan squash and roasted potatoes tomorrow and a ratatouille over pasta on Sunday for dinner.

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Rule Questions:

I've been debating whether or not to allow myself to consume non-local items that I've already purchased., such as butter, olive oil, and spices.  Although I'd like to adhere to the rules as much as possible, I don't want to buy additional local food items when I have perfectly good non-local items in my pantry/freezer.  To avoid being wasteful, I've been considering allowing myself to use non-local herbs, spices, and other items until I run out of them.  I know that some people are bending the rules a little bit on things like coffee (limiting to locally roasted and such), and I feel like this would be a somewhat reasonable bend as well.

I guess I'll be spending the first week or so pantry/fridge purging, which I probably should have done during the weeks leading up to the challenge.

Another rules question I've been debating is how to determine what is a "non-local food item" in the rules.  For example, yesterday (May 31st - the day before the challenge), I made a blueberry cornbread with local blueberries, everything else was NOT local (buttermilk, corn meal, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, butter).  If I ate that cornbread today, would it count as one non-local food item?  Or would it count as eight?

I'm thinking the latter considering our starter kit came with a cup of local salt, and they were selling local wheat flour at the kick-off party last night.  But the weak sauce in me wants to just count it as one.