It’s mid-February in Upstate NY and I am still eating 50% of my meals from my local farm markets. There are lots of new ways to extend the growing season; high hoop greenhouses for example create growing conditions for cold weather greens and vegetables. I enjoyed quite a few salads this past week. I added some of the delicious smoked salmon I buy at the Glens Falls farm market. While the salmon itself isn’t caught locally, it is smoked locally. My money is going to a local business which is one of my goals with this experiment.
Greens, carrots, pea shoots and smoked salmon – local. There is some avocado in there but still achieved my 50% goal.
I began mixing up my breakfast routine. Yogurt 5-6x a week was getting boring. I started making oatmeal again and created a caramelized apple topping to make it yummy. The recipe is super simple. It just needs to sit overnight so if you want to eat it for breakfast you need to prep it the night before.
Recipe:
1 cup oatmeal (not local – yet!) 2 cups milk (Battenkill Valley Creamery) handful of dried cranberries and 1/2 tsp cinnamon (not local). Combine in a container and pop in the fridge overnight. In the morning, pour it into a pot and simmer until thick and creamy. Don’t forget to keep stirring because it can easily burn on the bottom. While the oatmeal is cooking, melt 1/2 Tbsp of butter (Cabot creamery 116 miles) in a saute pan. When it’s melted, add 1-2 Tbsp sugar (USA produced available at Hannaford and Price Chopper). Stir until the sugar melts. While that is happening, chop apple (Saratoga Apple Glens Falls and Saratoga markets). When the sugar and butter are combined, add the apple and a little bourbon barrel aged honey (Pleasant Valley apiary Glens Falls market seriously this stuff is divine and sends the apples over the top) saute. Cook til apple is to your liking. Pour it all into a bowl and enjoy!
We had a dinner party to attend this past weekend and I was bringing an appetizer. I wanted to bring a 100 mile appy and I wanted easy. I picked up some Nettle Meadow goat cheese spread (Glens Falls and Saratoga markets), carrots and kohlrabi (Glens Falls and Saratoga markets) and loaf of bread to turn into bruschetta (Rock Hill bakery Glens Falls market). Easy peasy and except for the olive oil and herbs for the bruschetta it was all 100 mile! It was also healthy and delish!
One unusual addition to the Glens Falls market is a fishmonger. Pura Vida Fisheries sells at the Glens Falls farm market and it’s prompted me to eat more fish. This week we grabbed some homemade clam chowder and swordfish and artic char. The swordfish was from Boston and while the Artic Char is a farmed fish it is sustainable https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/groups/arctic-char/overview?q=Arctic%20Char&t=ar
Hubby had the swordfish with shredded red cabbage drenched in lemon juice – a fave of his. I made a slaw type salad with the leftover carrots and kohlrabi from the party to accompany my artic char.
The message I hope to send with my blog is the importance of recognizing your values and living your life according to them. It’s so easy these days to sound off about how society is going about it all wrong. And since the only person we control is ourselves, I encourage you recognize the issues that are important to you and lead by example. I believe a local economy with a strong agricultural foundation is important. That’s what I value. What about you?
Robin Schneider Larkin 