Gone Local Day 1

First Day

I don’t have much local food at hand because I have been waiting for the Farmer’s Market which is on Saturday in order to purchase produce.  I ate some homemade bread but the flour wasn’t local but the butter was from Cache Valley. We purchased local flour for future meals from Lehi Roller Mills, however, we are not sure if the wheat was grown in Utah. So if I want to be completely Local, I would need to not eat wheat or grow my own. But it’s my first day and I’m learning so I’m going to make this allowance.

We headed out to the Murray Farmer’s Market to get produce for the week. We decided to go there because their prices are cheaper than those at the downtown Farmer’s Market. Also it focuses strictly on produce and not on crafts.  Not only are my husband and I eating local but we are also on a budget. Planning meals in advance is key! Lots of planning is needed for an all local diet. Many people adored our dog and we were able to get most of what we needed but there was no garlic and how can we cook without garlic! We then made a snap decision to go to the other Farmer’s Market downtown with an hour left. We are happy that we went because we saw our good friend that works for the Downtown Collective that is behind the Farmer’s Market. We also found our garlic but for a high price of a dollar per garlic. We needed celery for a homemade vegetable stock and we found local eggs for $4 a dozen from Clifford Farms and Anthony got pork shoulder to smoke and smoked bacon from them as well. On the way home, I had a craving for raw apple cider from Farnsworth Farms. It really is the best apple cider/juice that you will ever have in your hole life.  This farm is two miles from our house and when we walked in, we found loads of produce and it's practically in our backyard. Another thing we found was garlic and it was really cheap. We drove to 2 farmer's markets and could have gone just down the street! Farnsworth also has a pick your own option for their apples and peaches. We will be coming here much more. I told them about the Eat Local week and they didn't even know what it was.

When we got back home, I was quite hungry so I made a caprese salad.

Here are the ingredients and where I got them:

• 3 sliced tomatoes - a friend grew them
• A handful of basil -  from the garden that I shredded
• Mozzarella - from Epicurean Chefs that also provide butter and quail eggs) from the Farmer’s Market and local honey in place of balsamic vinegar.
• Honey from the Harmon’s on 11400 South because they have an amazing bulk isle now! It’s the cheapest way to get local raw honey. Whole Foods also has local raw honey as an FYI. This is replacing balsamic vinegar since there isn’t any completely local honey. You can try Slide Ridge mead vinegar. Do know not all of the honey or ingredients are sourced locally but is as local as it gets for vinegar.

We then started working on stock to have for soup for the week. Soup is a great way to make your dollars stretch and eat carb free if you’re also on a diet.

      Here is my husband's recipe:

• Lots of water – we eyeballed what looked good
• A bunch of celery, chopped and leaves removed – purchased at the downtown Farmer’s Market. Only 1 celery vendor in the whole market!
• A small bushel of carrots peeled - from farmer's market
• 5 medium onions - from farmer's market
• Half a bunch of parsley – given to me free from the Farmer’s Market!
• 2 Bay leaves – we have our own bay tree that we grow in the shade outside and take indoors for the winter
• Herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary) – picked from our garden
• 10 cloves of garlic (a whole head) - Farmer's Market

While that was cooking, we started on dinner which was fresh made fettuccine and marinara sauce.

For the pasta

• 350 grams white bread flour (Lehi Roller Mills)
• 4 eggs (Clifford Farms)
• tsp salt (Real Salt)
• We put in water but it was too elastic. We will try it again without water next time so we recommend trying it without water.

Combine the ingredients together and knead for 3-5 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap (I use biodegradable plastic wrap from biobag) and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out as flat as possible. Make thin quarter inch strips with a knife and put the strips aside. Fill a pot with water and let it come to a boil. I like to salt the water. Let it boil for a few minutes until it is al dente. Strain and put aside.

Marinara sauce - cook this while you're refrigerating the dough.

• 1/2 Tbs of butter - Cache valley from Smith's
• 1 large onion - Farmer's Market
• 8 tomatoes - Friend's garden
• 1/4 red jalapeno - we used a whole one and it was too spicy! We did put in the seeds too
• 1 red pepper - Farmer's Market
• 1 yellow zucchini - Farmer's Market
• 2 cloves of garlic - Farmer's Market
• Tsp of fresh thyme - from our garden
• TBS of fresh oregano - from our garden
• 2 fresh bay leaves - from our garden
• 1 TBS fresh basil - from our garden

Instructions

1. Slice onion, peppers and zucchini.
2. Crush garlic
3. Cook onions and garlic until translucent and soft.
4. Add peppers and zucchini
5. Blend tomatoes, pulse for a few seconds
6. Add tomato to pot, add salt to taste and all herbs except basil and simmer for 20 minutes
7. Put two ladles of the mixture into the blender and blend until smooth and thick
8. Pour blended mixture back into the sauce and simmer until desired thickness
9. Add basil just before serving

We didn't have any made yet but we would have put in a cup of fresh stock. We would have also added a small glass of red wine. We actually forgot that we had made some from our neighbor's grapes but used it the next day in a soup. If you have cheese on hand, feel free to grate some on top. We did!

My husband made a comment that he now understands why one person went to work and another did the shopping and cooking back in the day. Making everything from scratch is labor intensive. We did both. We both went and shopped and both cooked. It was really fun but exhausting too. It's great to have each other's help. I'm also trying to not drive my car which is going to take more time. I think at first it's more difficult but if we made ready meals on the weekend and got all of our big tasks done like baking bread, making stock, etc, then it's easier to eat local throughout the whole week.