Posts under ‘challenge’

My Dark Days Challenge meal #17 was Yankee Pot Roast a New England favorite. (Notice it’s not called Red Sox pot roast, neighbors!) I use a few extra ingredients, not ordinarily part of this dish including garlic, wine, and tomatoes. I like to think of it as my own Bronx Italian Yankee pot roast. Food [...]

Dark Days Challenge meal #16. As I mentioned, a funny thing happened at Sport Hill Farm: last year’s crops were still growing! (Okay, maybe not growing, but definitely not dead. Certainly viable and edible. Very tasty even!) Patti let me forage these gifts from the Earth. I scored spinach, carrots, and leeks. So I made [...]

My Dark Days Challenge Meal #15 is a snack: microwave popcorn! I usually like to make my popcorn in a pot on the stove. I have one of those popcorn-making pots, with a crank handle that turns the paddles inside, so the kernels keep moving. I have to admit, sometimes I’m impatient and lazy, so [...]

My Dark Days Challenge Meal #14 is chocolate chili with cornbread. I really am liking this recipe. I adapted it from another recipe and like how it has evolved. Of course, it’s not as adventurous as this chili, but it has its own merits. Food sources for the chili: While digging in my freezer, I [...]

It’s my custom to eat pancakes and bacon on Mardi Gras. I belong to a tradition that typically celebrates Shrove Tuesday (the night before Ash Wednesday) with a youth group fundraiser consisting of all-you-can-eat pancakes and sizzling pork products. So this is my Dark Days Challenge Meal #13. Food sources: flour from Wild Hive Farm [...]

My Dark Days Challenge meal #12 was another simple meal that anyone could make: glazed pork chops and corn. I pan-seared the pork chops, then baked them in the oven, smothered with strawberry peach jam. HT to the can jam, open jars, and use it or lose it folks for the idea of using our [...]

My Dark Days Challenge meal #11 was a very simple meal that anyone could make. All of the main ingredients came from one visit at the Fairfield market. Food sources: pan-seared veal chop from Sankow’s Beaver Brook pan-fried potatoes, from Geremia Farms, Wallingford, CT flash-wilted greens (Mizuna, Arugula, and others) from Daffodil Hill Growers. (Flash-wilting [...]

Challenge Meal #10 is an ode to the versatile Frittata. Frittata is Italian for omelet. (I found it on Google Translate, so it must be true.) Frittatas are often advertized as a leftover dish, providing a medium for the disparate, small quantities of items in your refrigerator you can’t bring yourself to throw out. The [...]

Laura at Urban Hennery posted that she can’t continue as planned with blogging recaps of the Dark Days Eat Local Challenge. I admire her for even attempting it this year with so much going on in her life at this time. I completely understand that sometimes, something has to give. I mean, look around! While [...]

Challenge Meal #9 is Beef Bone Soup, in honor of the weather, my penchant for homemade soup, and the way the ingredients from the Saturday market at the Norfield Grange in Weston just fell together. It turns out that stock made from bones is exceptionally nutritious. According to Sally Fallon: Stock contains minerals in a [...]