For the past 24 hours my kitchen table has been covered with a mound of seed packets, envelopes, and small paper bags. The other writers here at NDiN and I are organizing a private seed swap so we can share our excess between the (now) nine (!!!) of us. Since I’ve gotten the seeds out, eight inches of snow has fallen here on the lakeside and I’m finding myself more and more anxious for spring to get here. I’m excited to try out a potted garden this year and I can’t wait until the Farmers Market opens up again. Until then I’ll be daydreaming about having our own property again where I can grow a 4-season garden.

One of our lucky readers won’t be daydreaming – you’ll be planning how to extend your harvests throughout the next winter referencing The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses.

Using a random number generator, I got our winner!!

Comment number 32, Susan from Maine, will have the opportunity to learn about how to extend her crops through the brutal northeast winters!

Congratulations, Susan! Contact me via email (at whirliegigs at gmail dot com) so I can send a package your way!

Thank you all for joining and sharing your winter desires. It’s been fun to read through what each of you would like access to over the coldest months of the year. An interesting tidbit: Most of you desire to have the ability to grow your own greens – specifically kale, followed by spinach, then lettuces!

***

You can also find me at Unearthing this Life, on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and a smattering of other places on the interwebs.

***

Even though the weather continues mild, I’ve been enjoying doing those wintertime stick-to-your-ribs one pot meals (Okay, 4 pots, a jar and two bags). Soup, chili, lasagna, casserole. You can see from the lasagna link that I didn’t do quite as well two years ago at making it through the Dark Days from preserved foods, but this year I’ve managed, with a little help from my year-round CSA, to stay local, even with the vegetables, and at that I’ve only needed to resort to spinach, chard, and frozen peas. I made a wonderful vegetable soup in homemade chicken broth (recipe: see what you have, throw it in a pot. Simmer until yummy. I did manage to stick to just one pot for this one.) Ate it while watching the State of the Union, and I thought it appropriate that the First Lady just happened to flash on the screen as I shot this!

Meanwhile, The USDA has now officially declared Chicago to be Zone 6A– that’s a movement of four half-zones since I started gardening in the early 90s. But there’s no such thing as climate change. Or something. Just ask a gardener.

***

I write this post on one of those unusually sunny Winter days in the Willamette valley. I cooked my ‘challenge’ dish on a cold and sultry day, however so i made one of those slow cooked, bubbly, warm dishes: chilly! I usually make one pot/pan meals, though the kitchen still looks like a tornado went through it when i’m done. Not sure why that happens…. Oh right, i’m a terrible house keeper and tend to be lazy AND messy. Dang. This week i got some tasty local ingredients to play with and even got out my new-to-me cast iron to make a new chicken recipe. The goat chilly/stew turned out awesome and featured local (10 minutes up the road) goat meat, homegrown/preserved tomatoes and local dried chillies (plus regular grocery store onions, dried beans and salt/seasoning). Pocket had a no-bowl meal of the same goat meat, gnawing on two neck bones for 3 days, tapping into her carnal predator and nourishing her whole body from gut to silky-soft fur.

***

Here at Unearthing this Life we’ve been using up the remnants of a couple of duck that we prepared. I like to try to eat nose to tail, but can’t always get over the taste of organ meat. So when I was faced with two duck liver I thought using them in a beef stew would be a wonderful way to disguise their potential iron-y flavor.

I used up the last of the garlic I’d brought up with me from Tennessee and sautéed them with some other traditional stew veggies: carrots, potatoes, and a few leeks I’d stashed at the end of the Farmers Market in fall. The only thing that wasn’t local was the organic celery and the salt.  I got both the beef and duck from the butcher down the road who purchases all of his meat from regional farmers. Toward the end of “stewing” I added the chopped liver, hoping it would stay tender and wouldn’t fall apart. Okay, so it didn’t help the liver from tasting like iron, but it was tender.

The broth was great, the vegetables cooked perfectly, and the beef was wonderful. I think we all decided the stew was fabulous … once we each took the liver out of our bowls.

***

Don’t forget to check out the One-pot meals from our Eastern participants. If you’re joining us for the Valentine’s Day sweets challenge, be sure to check out the dates for your entries!

***

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 2^nd 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.

***

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.

You can read more about my delicious ‘goat chilly’ at An Austin Homestead. You may be wondering about my choice of meat. Goat isn’t overly popular here in America. But guess what: it’s the most popular meat in the rest of the WORLD. There’s great reason for that: goats are small, able to graze on non-ideal pasture (read sticks and blackerberry brambles), have a relatively high dressing percentage to their body mass, and have some of the most nutritious meat of any livestock. This article has a lot to say about the boons of eating goat meat, as does this one. What you’ll find when studying about goat meat is that it has lower calories than beef (and even elk, venison and chicken!), less fat and cholesterol, and is guaranteed not to have any growth hormones added as the USDA has not approved their use. Goats are easier on the land than their big boned beefy counterparts, and can often thrive in areas that would otherwise require massive amounts of irrigation and pastureland to grow larger protein critters. Due to its leaner meat, goat DOES have to be cooked more slowly to avoid tough texture. Read more about the fat and calorie comparisons of goat meat to many other popular meats at www.elkusa.com.

Another reason to raise goats: they’re really fun, personable and friendly. Along with my change, April came out with a 4 day old bottle baby Boer, and boy what a cutey she was! We plan on raising dairy and fiber goats, with an eye on edible breeds. Miniature Nubians have decent dressing rates, though Kinders are better. We’re only two people and a dog, so we’re less concerned with the larger amounts of meat from the bigger meat breeds. According to April some of her Boer goats can ready 300 pounds. That’s a lot of goat! Goats can be like family pets, and we can’t wait to have some around. We realize that butchering one of those cute little kids will be hard to do, but the nutritional benefits of eating homegrown and super lean meat far outweigh the sentimental drawbacks. For me at least (i’m still working on convincing the husband of that one.)

Now, keep in mind this is a post about what I have done, not what you should do.

So. Soured cream is not quite the same as sour cream. Well, actually it is, but while soured cream is soured by bacteria that won’t harm us, it can also have additional creepy crawlies growing in it if it’s been exposed to other sources of bacteria. Sour cream is cream that has had either lactic acid, or additional harmless lactose-eating bacteria added to give it a consistent and safe sourness.

Theoretically, soured cream was once regular cream, and assuming it was pasteurized (I don’t suggest doing this with raw milk) all of the harmful creepy crawlies were killed off in the process. After that, the cream was likely poured into a sanitized container and sealed. Assuming this container stays free of harmful creepy crawlies, it’s likely that the cream will stay fresh for quite long until it finally succumbs to the lactose-eating bacteria that is still present. I’ve been known to use slightly soured cream to make a particularly tasty topping for fresh fruit, and I’ve baked into bread, but there is one use for soured cream that surpasses all others…

Last summer I had ordered several containers of cream in anticipation of a big project, and unfortunately the project for which they were intended was forgotten… as were the containers of cream (I think they were behind a few other projects in the fridge, including the pickled radishes). By the time I discovered them, I found that I’d let over $12 of cream go to waste! Grrr…

After a brief brainstorming and a few google searches I had the perfect remedy, and it wasn’t feeding it to the chickens. Are you ready for this?

Salted Caramel Sauce!

I know, right? Soured cream doesn’t seem like the kind of thing to end up in a delicious ice cream topping, or drizzled over fresh strawberries, but it was a very successful experiment indeed.

Basically when making any caramel sauce, you bring sugar to the caramelization point (or sugar and water, depending on your method) and then you cut the caramelized sugar with a liquid – most often cream. The caramelization point is approximately 320º, and there are few harmful creepy crawlies that can live when exposed to temperatures half that temperature, so using soured dairy to cut caramel is (in my very unscientific experience) fairly safe.

I set about making “wet” caramel, which means you begin heating the sugar after moistening it with a bit of water. When it his 320º, instead of adding cream, I added the soured cream. It boiled and frothed and got super gooey and sticky and I was convinced I had ruined it, but sure enough after I stirred and stirred and stirred I was left with a thick and gloriously tasty caramel sauce that everyone should try at some point.

So tonight I decided I needed caramel sauce for a recipe I was working on, but we were out of cream altogether… but what did I find in the back of the refrigerator this time? An unopened container of sour cream! Divine intervention, that was.

I substituted sour cream for the soured cream that would have substituted for the fresh cream and within 20 minutes I was trying desperately to slap my own hand away from a cooling batch of delicious caramel. Seriously. I couldn’t stop licking the bowl. I was like a little kid. I’m still considering going back into the kitchen to see if I missed any spots…

Anyway, I wanted to share this recipe. I feel like it’s pretty indispensable when it comes to folks with sweet tooths. I think next time I may try it with buttermilk to see if there’s a difference in taste; will it be more butterscotchy? Hmmm…

Not-for-the-chickens Creamy Caramel Sauce 

The Players:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups sour cream, soured cream, heavy whipping cream – at room temperature, or slightly warmed
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt (sea salt, fleur de sel, whatever you choose – make it flavorful, though)

- Measure everything out ahead of time. Trust me. You’ll want your cream on hand precisely when you need it – not ten seconds later.

- Place sugar and water in a medium sauce pan and stir to moisten the sugar and distribute the water. Heat this mixture over medium to medium-high heat, without stirring. I know you’ll want to stir it, but seriously, don’t. Agitation can cause the sugar to crystalize and then you’ll end up with a weird, chunky, sticky mess.

- If you’re concerned about crystallization, you can brush the sides of your pan down on the inside with water occasionally to keep sugar crystals from forming along the edge. I don’t usually do this, and I’ve only had it crystalize once… and I stirred it… A lot.

- Once the sugar begins to boil, place a candy thermometer in the mixture and slowly raise the temperature to approximately 320º, which is the point that sugar caramelizes.

- As soon as the sugar reaches the caramelization stage, slowly pour the cream into the sauce pan. The mixture will get super grouchy and sputter and boil and bubble. Using a wooden spoon or a metal whisk, stir quickly to incorporate the two liquids as they hit a mean temperature. If you get a big ol’ clod of thick caramel in the middle, remove the pan from the heat and work to scrape and scumble the clod around until it breaks up and begins to rejoin the rest of the liquid. If your sauce ends up kind of lumpy, fret not. Simply run it through a medium-fine mesh sieve (or even a colander would work) and it’ll turn out just fine.

- After the two liquids are combined fairly well, return the mixture to a boil just for a minute or so and then remove from heat.

- Add the vanilla and salt last, stir and then pour into containers. Keep the sauce refrigerated (though theoretically you could can it in a pressure cooker – or in a hot water bath if you’re daring and playing by ‘old school’ rules. Sugar is a pretty good preservative. Still, I don’t particularly condone the canning of dairy products via hot water bath!)

The sauce will thicken over the next few hours into a fantastic drizzley, sweet, sticky goo that is perfect for icecream, fruit, yogurt, bundt cakes… and spoons. I prefer spoons.

Being impartial to the whole process of Superbowl preparations over the past few years, I haven’t paid much attention to what the city has been up to.  Sure, I’ve heard bits and pieces now and again, but all in all I have more important things to worry about!  Over the past few weeks, it’s been getting harder to avoid as it’s been on the news, radio, and most other media outlets CONSTANTLY!  Excitement is definitely building as the finishing touches are made, not to mention the economic possibilities that many in the city are counting on.

This morning I had  the news on to watch the weather (crazy stuff going on around here!), and I caught another Superbowl story… yet this one was different than most of the others I’ve heard.  It’s actually really cool!

As clueless as I am about this whole process, I learned that the NFL gives each Superbowl host city 1 million dollars (I can’t even type that without picturing Dr. Evil from Austin Powers!) to be matched locally to renovate, expand, or build a youth center in a disadvantaged neighborhood to leave a lasting legacy of the impact the  “big game” has on the community.  The news journalist went on to explain all of the state of the art fitness and health programs the new Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center will provide for the community’s residents.  While I thought that was nice, I was even more surprised to hear the rest of the story…  The center will also include outside gardens, a greenhouse, and an educational kitchen.  These wonderful additions will not only be used to teach the families there how to grow their own local,  healthy food, but also how to prepare it!

While trying to research the facts more online, I noticed that most of the focus was on the sports/fitness/community center aspect of the building, but I’m still impressed by the fact that they’ve considered the importance of adding these tools for the city bound people of this neighborhood.  You can bet I’ll be keeping an eye out to see the outcome of this special project.  I’m in a rural suburb of the city, so I’m blessed with land to plant my own garden, as well as a car to drive me to get the things I can’t provide for myself.

So what do you think about “the big game”?  What are your thoughts about projects of this nature?

As I sit here huddled over my computer, I can’t help but long for my Tennessee winters, when it wasn’t unusual to be digging new garden beds in January; or getting ready to start indoor seedlings no later than the end of February. Admittedly, I just miss my gardens period. I’ve already committed myself to a patio garden for the spring and summer but I do wish I was outdoors getting different kales and carrots out of my own hoop houses this season. I’m envious of those of you that have the ability to do that.

Surely those of you that have garden beds and are eating locally are growing some of your own seasonal winter veggies. Right? Right?!

If you don’t know much about winter gardening I’m giving you the opportunity to learn from one of the masters. This week I’m giving away a copy of The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses. This fantastic tool will teach you how to use organic and sustainable techniques to grow your own food in the winter and how to extend harvests – and do it organically. You really can’t get any more local than your own yard!

But here’s the deal: I want to know that you’ll use this resource. I really dislike giveaways that don’t serve a purpose other than to get more readers and give away “stuff”. I blog to educate and learn (and sometimes make people laugh) and I’d love to know that someone somewhere is gleaning some helpful information from what I have to offer.

Instead of the typical “leave a comment” here, here, and here, I’m going to ask one simple, thoughtful thing. When you reply to this post to enter the drawing, I want you to tell me either what kind of winter crops you’d like to be growing or what kind of crops you’d like to extend using the techniques you could learn about in this book.

That’s it. As simple and easy as cake. I’ll announce the winner in my weekly post next Monday when I randomly pick a number. You’ve got until Sunday, January 29th at midnight Eastern to enter!

Now to go get a third layer of clothing on and reminisce about the gardens I left in warmer climes.

You can also find me at Unearthing this Life where I blarg about food, gardening, homeschooling, and parenthood.

***

I  (Emily S) have been fighting a nasty cold so I decided to go with a soup this week (actually a few soups.)  I used some frozen pumpkin and I still had some butternut squash that I had picked up at Boggy Creek Farm to use and I figured that would go well with the frozen pumpkin. I roasted up the butternut squash and some homegrown garlic and added it to the thawed pumpkin. I added coconut cream concentrate from Tropical Traditions, some homemade yogurt and milk. I topped each bowl of soup off with caramelized onions from the freezer. I love caramelized onions, heck I love onions. I love the flavor they add and the health benefits from them. Not being able to taste much of anything, I could taste the garlic and the coconut in the soup and it was very comforting.

The challenge for me this week was being too sick to put a lot of effort into meals. While the frozen pumpkin I used wasn’t local, it was from my parents garden and it was local to me when I was visiting them (I’m sure that counts for something). Basically I used what I had in the house. I also made a wonderful healing chicken soup and added loads of immune boosting dark leafy greens from the garden, ginger, turmeric and peppers. Everything was organic, and most of it was local. Both of these soups are what I needed this past week. I am feeling a lot better. Another soup is already in the refrigerator and it is full of more greens. I am going to make sure that I am completely over this nasty bug! Hand me another cup of garlic tea please!

***

Here at Chiot’s Run it’s been a busy few weeks. With the launch of my new cooking/food blog Eat Outside the Bag and the possibility of a move in my future our lives have been full throttle trying to get things done. Food never gets put on the back burner no matter how busy we are. My main strategy for keeping our plates filled with nourishing goodness by cooking up bigs pots of one dish meals and lots of soup. This challenge within a challenge was perfect for me! For my one-pot soup meal it simple was the theme. I had a ham bone that I simmered in a pot for a few days, then I removed the bone, returned all the meat back to the pan and added cubed homegrown potatoes from the basement. Then I ran out to the garden to harvest some frosty leeks and kale, into the pot they went along with some homegrown dried sage and a good dose of salt & pepper. About a half hour later we were enjoying steaming bowls of soup on a single digit Ohio winter evening!

My other go-to quick meal is eggs. We enjoy eggs often when we’re busy. Earlier this week we got home late after a long day of work and running errands and I needed something quick. Fried bacon, eggs, atop a bed of local arugula and other bitter winter greens made for a super quick healthy meal. To read more about this recipe and the ingredients head over and read My Plate: January 16, 2012.

***

This week’s one-pot Dark Days meal started with a craving. I woke one morning and thought “I must have curry”… Of course, curry isn’t grown particularly  locally, but I made due. I had quite a few organic varieties of curry in my pantry, as well as a can of organic coconut milk, so I figured I’d bend a couple of Dark Days Rules and use them in a quick curried root vegetable stew.

I was lucky enough that I had picked up some parsnips and a beautiful mix of orange and purple carrots from Tantre Farm in Ann Arbor the week before, and even luckier still that I had a couple remaining winesap apples in the closet, just past their peak. This was a super easy meal. Holy Cow.

I finely chopped a few cloves of garlic and sautéed them in the bottom of a large stewpot. I then chopped the carrots, parsnips and apples and tossed them in a pot, along with the can of coconut milk and two hefty tablespoons of curry.

Beyond that? I let it sit. When the root veggies were softened to my liking, I added some sea salt to taste (also not local, wah wah) and dinner was ready! This was almost shamefully simple, guys, but what’s not to love about something simple AND tasty? My only complaint is that I didn’t have anything to brighten up the taste much. It was very muted and perfect for a cold winter evening, but it was lacking the *KA-POW* that some chilis or a kaffir lime leaf would’ve offered. Ah well!

What’s even better about this stew is that all of the left over tidbits like apple cores, parsnip butts and carrot snibbles make excellently tasty treats for the sheep! Everybody was happy, and they enjoyed their Dark Days meal as well.

***

MNLocavore has a very important post to read, all thoughts of actual recipes aside. She brings up the theme that comes up again and again–local food is still an urban, and largely middle class, phenomenon. Even highly motivated, educated rural, small town, and suburban eaters will struggle with this. Even farm families will struggle with this. The larger food system simply does not support locally sourced food, and the barriers to small merchants providing this sort of food are enormous. Read it. Then think about what you can do to help make a change.  Her one-pot post (pea soup) is here as well, and again, well worth the read.

Sanborn Sanctuary, which actually does appear to be a farm that has managed to meet our criteria made a scrumptious looking “overcooked ham” and some split pea soup. I’d love to hear more about local food issues among farms in their area! The internet-wide conspiracy to get me to make noodles is afoot, with Rubus Raspberry (note the new URL and the stylish new look!) making chicken alfredo with, yes, homemade pasta. Our Happy Acres made a one pot meal (chili) and some sweet potato gnocchi, which look amazing. (Also– is it my imagination, or did you grind your own flour?).

Lotta folks missing in action! As soon as you dig out, send us some recipes!

***

This week’s ‘one pot meal’ challenge didn’t stop Methylgrace from using just about every pot in her house, it seems! I love how she turns a simple soup into a day long affair with an arsenal of pots, pans, cookie sheets, cooking methods and culinary magic. I’m also jealous that she had chicken feet in her stock. Some might cringe at the idea of boiling up chicken feet for consumption, but they have some of the most concentrated gelatin and tons of other healthful properties.  Farming mom made one of my favorite one pot meals: fritatta. She used her yard eggs and a bunch of other delicious homegrown and/or locally sourced ingredients. Her hubs may have coined the meal ‘egg pizza’ but she and i know fritatta is much better for you than most any pizza could be. She baked her fritatta in a cast iron pan and made a ‘crust’ of sorts of potatoes: a technique i usually use too! I just got some cast iron for Christmas, so i’ll try my next ‘egg pizza’ in cast iron! Bee Creative had a nice wander in some enchanting snow and supped on some tasty garden-soup for lunch. Snow definitely makes soup taste that much better!

***

Not From a Box’s Teresa is detoxing for the next couple weeks so her entry in the challenge is a very austere beet and roasted garlic soup from Whole Living. It sounds so good and I have all the ingredients on hand, I’m making this as I type!

Julie from D.I. Wine and Dine made something I could also relish–a vegan curried vegetable pot pie–yum! She loves the ability to pan fry or bake in her cast iron skillet and decided for the challenge to do both. Most of her ingredients were local, except of course the coconut milk that makes the dish vegan. She wonders–does anyone know if coconut milk or dairy has more of an environmental impact?

Over at Stoney Acres, Rick has been exploring potato recipes, with a Baked Potato Soup and Baked Potatoes Stromboli, for which he graciously shares the family dough recipe. He says in general they are having trouble sourcing local pasta and meat. But for this meal was able to use 100% local ingredients. These sound like satisfying meals for winter days!

Toni from Itsjusttoni’s decided to make a family favorite—Potatoes and Cheese—using many homegrown SOLE ingredients instead of a box mix they have used in the past. She’s amazed at the selection of local cheeses she can find in Mexico, which sound mouth-watering. You know the resulting dish was a triumph when someone asks “is there leftovers?”

Lynda over at Cortina Creek Farms made a wonderful Chicken and Failed Dumplings A’ La Lynda Lou out of an “ornery old bastard that wouldn’t quit bothering the hens.” Although I’m a vegetarian, I (Sage) may be sending Lynda a couple of my roosters to re-educate! And in my opinion having too many dumplings is not a failure Lynda!

***

Jennifer here, bringing lots of news from the “Midwest” group. I’ve got a few one-potters to share that sound super nourishing, and some meals that just look darn good. This week I’m starting with Dog Hill Kitchen who ladled a gorgeous bowl of Sausage and Greens Soup. She even included her homemade apple and anise sausage! If you have the chance, you should check out her walk-through of making sausages. Small Wonder Farm keeps on impressing me that she can pull off so many local meals considering the number of allergies she has to work around. Her one-dish meal was a beef pot roast with carrots, potatoes, and garlic (mmm, garlic!), and served with peaches straight of the canning jar. Not to be outdone, the previous day she served up another local meal with one of my favorite dishes: German Potato Salad. If any of you are familiar with Shapiro’s Deli in Indianapolis and the recipe they use, head over to Small Wonder Farm and give her some advice. 20-Something Allergies also has a lot to contend with but she still manages to pull it off with a well-rounded meal. Roasted chicken was prepared to optimal crispy skin deliciousness. But it gets better: brussel sprouts, green beans, and potatoes each prepared with duck fat were served as sides.

The Local Cook has been working on a Back to Basics series on her blog, but she still has time to cook up a really great looking dish. Lamb steaks were plated with collards cooked in garlic and served with a baked potato and herbed butter. She makes a good point about cooking locally, “start where you are” and use what local ingredients you have access to. Lastly is Mother’s Kitchen – serving up her week 7 meal. Not only did Cynthia get my attention with her lemon-y whitefish, but she served it with pickled brussel sprouts (say what?!) and Potatoes Anna. Now I know my goal for this week: to find local fish!

***

Next week the “East” Contributors will be sharing the results of their One-Dish Meal. To stay current with other challenges be sure to visit the Dark Days tab at the top of the blog.

I have learned a lot over the past few years about herbs and foods and characteristics that are helpful, but I have also found that my best intentions haven’t prepared me to fight these colds.

I want to grow elderberry bushes so I can make immune boosting syrups and tinctures and even wine. I want to grow calendula and chamomile, horehound and stinging nettles. I want to grow sumac and dandelions and ginger. I know I can grow these things. I have a few growing now. It just takes time and I have to realize that I can’t do it all overnight!

Even though I can and will grow these things, it isn’t practical to think I can grow and make my own “everything” all at once. I need to step back and realize that I can (and should) buy some of these wonderful dried herbs and fruits and just start making the tinctures and syrups and throat lozenges so when I am hit with a cold I am prepared. When my bushes and trees and herbs mature I will then know what to do with them and be thrilled I can use my own.

Drying some horehound to make throat lozenges

There are a few things I did during this last cold that helped me to fight it off faster. I drank hibiscus tea and I also drank garlic tea. Garlic is chuck-full of great antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. I cook with garlic a lot, but drinking the garlic tea is another way to get it into your system and help fight off the effects of the cold or flu. You can read about garlic tea right here at Not Dabbling in Normal.

Along with losing my appetite I also lost my sense of taste and smell. To help get me through this cold I made a healing chicken soup that I know helped nourish me and get me through this much quicker. I made a bone based chicken broth and threw in ginger, onion, hot peppers, dark leafy greens (kale and chard and spinach), turmeric, and garlic along with basil, oregano, thyme and parsley. I wasn’t really thinking about taking photos while I was sick, so the photo you see below is the second batch of soup I made when I started to feel better.

This past week I got together with a culinary group I belong to. The theme this month was “soup.” One of the ladies brought an “Immunity-Boosting Winter Soup” and it was the first soup I ate that night. It was so much like the one I make, but hers included freshly harvest dandelion greens.   We talked about her soup along with the ingredients and the properties that each ingredient has. I was thrilled to know I was on the right track with my soup.

What went into my healing soup?

• Ginger – works on congestion & great for nausea
• Spinach/Kale/Chard – full of vitamin C, and A, folate and potassium
• Hot peppers – help to relieve pain and stimulate endorphins
• Turmeric – antibiotic properties
• Garlic – an expectorant, natural antibiotic
• Red Bell Pepper – high in Vitamin C & A

The immunity-boosting soup that my friend made also had a pinch of cinnamon (infection fighter), calendula flowers (immune stimulator), dried thyme (antibiotic & expectorant), astragalus root (help to strengthen the immune system) and dandelion greens (high in vitamin C & A and many trace minerals and is especially high in potassium)

I am back on my feet and the fog has cleared. I attribute that to the things I ate and drank. Now I better start making a list of things I would like to order so I can get some syrups and tinctures made up to help keep my immune system in tip-top shape.

Do you have any herbal or home remedies that work for you?

disclaimer

Sincerely, Emily

You can also read what I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily