Our first challenge with the Dark Days Challenge. Soup and One Pot Meals. We had a look last week to see what the WEST came up with for this challenge. This week the EAST gets to show off their stuff. I see a lot of very creative One Pot meals out there. Enjoy!
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The SOUTH Region (MD, VA, NC, SC, GA) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily
Annie (MD) from AnnieRie Unplugged found herself with many eggs in the refrigerator and a one-pot meal challenge. She met this challenge head on with a beautiful frittata using all local and organic ingredients. Her frittata is loaded with onion, collard and beet greens. She also added baby swiss and topped off the whole thing with hydroponic tomatoes. She also used a unique ingredient to add a little bacon flavor – Bacon Jam! That sounds super interesting. Head over to her blog to find out about bacon jam and read more about her meal.
Susan (VA) from Backyard Grocery found herself uninspired for the one-pot meal challenge. She really wanted to challenge herself with something other than soup. Between fighting a back that was in spasm and trying to figure out what to make she was about to just give up. Then it snowed! Suddenly she found herself in the mood for stew! Using venison along with other ingredients, including a walk out back into their “backyard grocery” for turnips she came up with a beautiful stew. Susan also prepared a 2nd DDC meal this week – stuffed venison with mashed turnips. It looks delicious! Visit her blog for great photo spread and recipe for both of her meals!
Rebecca (VA) from Eating Floyd had already planned a mid-winter party and soup was on the menu, so it fit in perfectly with this challenge. While the rest of us were cooking up a soup or one-pot dish, Rebecca made 4 soups (count them…4) plus relish trays, pickles & relishes, condiments and other tasty treats for the party and I was very impressed at the LARGE percentage of local ingredient used! Tuscan White Bean and Kale Soup, Easy Cassoulet, Spiced Butternut-Pumpkin Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup. This is truly inspiring. Head over to her blog to see all the recipes and locally source ingredients. This is truly an impressive post.
With winter-like weather finally making its way to the DC area, Victoria (MD) from The Soffritto figured that her favorite way to warm up was perfect for this one-pot meal challenge. Italians call it pappa al pomodoro, but she calls it Heaven on a Spoon. Tomato Bread Soup. She worked hard this past summer to preserve many things and time to use some of those wonderful things; canned tomatoes, frozen pesto cubs and frozen chicken stock. Now there is room in the freezer (prime real estate she calls it) for some of the soup she just made. Click on the link to see her recipe and information.
Jessica (SC) from Eat.Drink.Nourish. made Pigs in a Blanket for her one-pot challenge. Don’t let the name fool you, this is not what you are thinking. This is the first time she has made this recipe in her own kitchen. She used a recipe of polish/Slovakian decent that has been passed down in her family through more generations that she can count. Now that is history. She visited a farmer’s market that she had never been to before and brought home some nice stuff. Go to her blog to read the details and find out where her ingredients came from.
Jackie (NC) From Southern Fried Goodness challenged herself within this one-pot challenge. She said, “No shopping for ingredients” and she made a successful meal. A wonderful chicken and cabbage stew. Her stew looks both feeling and tasty. She really came through using things from her pantry and refrigerator. Everyone went back for second helpings, including the friends they had over for dinner. Head over to her blog for her 100% made up receipt.
Ohio Valley
leader: Susy Morris from Chiot’s Run
Here in the Ohio Valley winter has finally arrived, we’ve had snow, freezing rain, temperatures down in the single digits – perfect for a one pot meal.
Margo from Thrift at Home wasn’t super excited about the one pot meal challenge because she likes a little more color and variety in her meals. Nevertheless she managed to make something called Bounty Rice in a big cast iron dutch oven. It seems like the perfect winter meal chocked full of things like: organic cabbage, bell peppers, home-canned tomatoes, organic garlic, ground beef, homemade yogurt, organic raw milk cheese, organic beets, organic cucumber dills, sour cherries, organic ww pastry flour, milk, organic eggs.
For her second DD meal she went vegetarian (which may or may not be one of our future challenges). With Vegetarian Crab Cakes make from zucchini from the freezer and a host of other healthy ingredients. Add a salad and baked sweet corn on the side and you’re got yourself a great Dark Days meal!
Cristina from C & J Homemade missed a few weeks because she realized the Dark Days Challenge was a little harder than she expected. That’s OK though, she back strong this week with Cabbage, Chicken and Bacon Saute – she had me at bacon. I can only imagine how wonderful this tasted, I love cabbage, I love bacon and I love them together! She certainly came back to the DD challenge with a bang!
Jenelle from Delicious Potager (don’t you love that blog name?) made Asian Fusion for week 7 of the challenge. I must admit, a good stir-fry makes my stomach happy and hers looked fantastic, especially since it was made with venison.
For her second DD meal she almost ate it before remember to take a photo – now that’s some good Roasted Chicken with Shallots. Roasted chicken is probably one of the best Dark Days meal, you should be able to find local chicken easily in any part of the country. Side it with whatever vegetables you have at the moment whether fresh from the garden or from the freezer and you’re ready to eat. For Jenelle, this simple meal brought back lots of good memories – funny how food and flavors can do that.
For her one pot meal, Jenelle came in with Borscht made with venison stock. She’s getting so SOLE that she’s roasting up venison bones for stock. There’s something so beautiful about the ruby color of the borscht, something I’m definitely going to have to make soon, despite a funny childhood memory about it.
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LOWER NEW ENGLAND/MID-ADLANTIC (NY, CT, DC, NJ and Eastern Canada)
with The Other Emily, from Tanglewood Farms
This is the first week I have been so inspired to try a bunch of the recipes and meals posted by our Dark Days Dabblers! Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, elegant or simple, I know that as soon as I finish recapping our participants I’m going to be adding to my grocery/market list!
Angela (DC) from Bumblelush used the One Pot Meal as a chance to practice her lamb skills for Easter. She made a beautiful Crown Roast of Lamb with Root Vegetables, and I can’t believe how simple such an elegant meal sounds to make! After reading her post I feel prepared to try some of the more difficult cuts of meat, especially this one!
Because I have a lot of Appalachian roots, and I enjoy a challenge, I couldn’t help but want to follow Stacey (NY) from Fessenden Farm‘s lead. She posted a great recap of her experience with some particularly fussy grits. Despite the grits’ finicky directions that she was able to dig up on the farm’s website, she was able to complete them and they paired nicely with the rest of her breakfast meal.
Karen (NJ) from Prospect: The Pantry found a fantastic way to use the One Pot Challenge to her advantage in planning future meals throughout the week. She made a beautiful Sunday Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables and Cider, and from this one meal she was able to keep leftovers for other meals, including making stock from the chicken bones. I love the thrifty inspiration behind this, and as always her photos have made me seriously hungry!
I’ve been meaning to delve into frittatas, and Monica (NJ) over at Monica Tries to Cook has reminded me that I need to do so! Her frittata this week was full of swiss chard and smoked gouda (who can go wrong with smoked gouda?) and apart from the usual salt, pepper, and olive oil, everything she used was local!
Arlene (Eastern Canada) from Living my Dreamlife on the Farm has gotten off to a great start with the Dark Days Challenge. Her One Pot Meal was a delicious sounding Lamb Soup in broth. Her blog has a very detailed recipe that I think would cure anyone with the chilly winter blues.
The pigs in a blanket are called hollishkes and (made with beef instead of pork) are traditional dish for the Sukkot (Tabernacles) festival. Everyone in my house loves them but because they are so fiddly to make I only do them once a year.
oh I think the links got mixed up! I made chili for the One Pot Meal, but the roast of lamb sounds delicious. I love these recaps because I get inspired to try new dishes.
Here was ours (since I don’t see my region?): not terribly exciting, but tasty chowder in Maine: http://greenishmonkeys.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/dark-days-dinners-soup-one-dish-meal-challenge/