Homesteading In The Pacific Northwest
Showing posts with label Eat Local. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eat Local. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Seasonal Cooking ... Asparagus and Bacon Quiche

It's May and local asparagus is abundant.  I'm not going to try to grow my own; I don't have much growing space so I think this is one I'll pass on.  Fortunately "The Local Guy"  brings beautiful, pesticide free asparagus in from Yakima, so I can have all I want.  I had some of this for dinner last night and I'm going to blanch and freeze the rest.

This is one of my favorite recipes using asparagus and has become a family favorite.  The first time I made this for Mike and his son, Brian, Mike was sure that Brian wouldn't eat it because "Brian doesn't like quiche".  Well Brian not only liked it, but consumed so much of it that Mike was starting to guard the last piece that he had staked out as his own.

Asparagus and Bacon Quiche

Ingredients:

9" pre-baked pie crust
3/4 cup raw asparagus cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used a leek this time)
1/2 cup cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Colby)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cream or half and half
1/2 tsp grated spice blend (it's my own mix in a grater jar; Spice Hunters Garlic Herb Sensation is close)

Place the asparagus, onion, bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust ...


Lightly beat the eggs, cream and spice blend in a bowl and pour over the ingredients in the pie crust ...


Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes ...





Enjoy!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Eat Local...Another Option....

It is November and out little local produce stand has closed for the season....and it's Olympia Local Foods to the rescue! This is the brilliant brain child of Tom and Celia Husman, owners of Tachira Farm ...easy, one stop shopping for local produce, dairy, meats and many more goodies!  It almost seems too easy.  I place my order online between Friday morning and Tuesday morning and pick up my order on Thursday afternoon.  And every week my order seems to get a little bigger as I try new products...


This is the order we picked up yesterday.  I love knowing that my cage free, organic eggs came from Yelm, the carrots from Shelton and the squash from Olympia ...all of my order was from a less than 50 mile radius of our home!


Last night I made a stir fry of chicken, peppers, onions and kale...tonight a bean soup with chard and carrots...

Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Eat Local...Buy Local....

There has been a lot of talk in the news and on the internet lately about eating local and the high cost of eating well.  I thought I would share my local answer to both problems....


The S and S produce stand is about four miles down the road from our home.  Note that the sign says that they take EBT Cards (food stamps). 



A beautiful display of pumpkins at the entrance to the produce stand.



This is Steve, owner of the stand in front of his fruit displays.  He buys as much of his produce locally, organic if possible, and direct from the growers to save money; a savings he passes on to his customers.  This year the stand opened on April 2 and will stay open, as Steve puts it "Until I have to wear long johns four days in a row."



These are a local wild mushroom available only after the first rains in the fall.  There are considered a gourmet delicacy and sell for $12.99 a pound in the stores.  Steve buys his direct from the forager and prices them so we can all enjoy a few.


Mostly local salad greens.



Many varieties of new crop, Washington State apples.




"Day Old" produce available for $1.00 a bag.  All still perfectly wholesome, just not as
pretty as the fresh stuff.



This was my haul for the day...I'm going to do some canning.  All for $29.75!!


In Michael Pollan's book, "Food Rules", Rule #19 says:

"It it came from a plant, eat it;
if it was made in a plant, don't"

I can't say it any better than that!

Deb