Sunday, December 21, 2008

Dark Days Eat Local Challenge - Week 5


Mmm.
Simple can be sooo yummy!
With the busy-ness of the season, a new puppy, frigid temperatures and icy roads, our local meals have been on the quick and easy side these past couple of weeks.

Above you see grilled bison dogs from Dreesman Buffalo Ranch in Tama, Iowa. We aren't big meat eaters, though I've slowly added more locally and responsibly produced meats to our diet over the past couple of years.
We broiled the dogs in the oven and they tasted great - not at all greasy, but perhaps a little tougher than the average dog. I thought they were delicious and so did my family.
The dogs were served in buns locally made at South Union Bakery. I had a heaping helping of non-local sauerkraut on my bison dog. I have plans to make a batch of my own kraut this coming season.

The crowning touch of the whole meal, however, was the roasted root vegetables.
Oh my goodness, I could eat these every day!
All the veggies - beets, potatoes and sweet potatoes - were from our CSA Small Potatoes Farm.
You know, it's pretty amazing how easy it is to find local sources for food. Since I first started trying to eat as locally as possible about 2 years ago, we've gone from sourcing maybe 10 percent of our diet locally to as much as 85-90 percent.
It takes effort, a willingness to eat somewhat seasonally, and a big freezer, but eating locally is certainly possible and highly rewarding.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want to try the beet, potato, sweet potato mix.
I need to find my mil sour kraut recipe to send to you. It's lost right now, but I had it out the other day with that intention

Anonymous said...

Roasted root veg makes any night a happy one - or any day. I had roasted sweet potatoes/turnips/parsnips with lunch today and was melting at the flavor.
You are really right about the local sources. I am in my first year of pure local, and it is a lot of research/up front investment, but once the system of contacts (which markets, the CSA, dairy sources, etc) is in place, it kind of becomes a routine. The preservation/storage is something I am learning, I am so thankful for the bloggers out here like you who are helping along the way and giving me ideas.... It is intense and intensely rewarding.