Summer to Fall...

My plans to write daily evade me this adventurous summer, 10 days already past since last post. Ah well.

I hate these posts to be so long and, thus, more tedious... but time is valuable as summer wanes and tasks seem to add up rather than get checked off the list. So I find myself having to play catch-up here.

Ready to pick!

This being mid-harvest it is our joy to have to eat all these fresh vegetables. A truly local, sustainable diet in a temperate climate limits the fresh vegetables that are available year-round, and I don't buy things out of season. The result of this is absolute bliss when eating these wonderful foods when they are in their prime. Corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers grace nearly every meal to our unadulterated delight!

Starting where we left off, Thurs 9/13. Starting with my daily Tea with some Humboldt Creamery 1/2 & 1/2, I had a Vege scramble to start the day. Lunch was Shakefork grain toast, with Cypress Grove Fromage Blanc, now one of my new favorites! Snacking on fresh cherry tomatoes and snap peas from the garden while a dinner of local grain fed beef stewed with Warren Creek potatoes and our own celery and carrots in the solar oven for dinner. I am delighted to have grown celery successfully for the first time! This dinner was rounded out with a cuke salad.

I have been home alone for a few days, but our hens refuse to slow down on egg production. This inspired me to boil up a bunch of eggs for quick meals or snacks. Therefore
Friday began with a simple boiled egg and Asian pear. Have I mentioned how lovely Asian Pears are? Pear flavor but always crisp and refreshing. Our young tree had its first real crop this year and we have been enjoying themn as a regular snack.
Lunch was my now favorite fried pepper, chevre, tomato and sliced cuke sandwich, using fresh pesto instead of mayonaisse on the bread. Decadently good.

Asian Pears

Ending this day with more of the wonderful grilled vegetables that are the ultimate harvest dinner.
 
Saturday, September 15 I was going off to the North Country Fair in Arcata. Did the many chores and cleaned up the leftover stew and beet gratin for breakfast. 
Finding local fair food is always a challenge. As in restaurants, the folks running the booth often do not know where the food is from. I didn't want one of the local Humboldt Hot Dogs (Sausages from Premiere meats), but found the Fish Tacos featured Local rock cod. Everything else in them could have been local (cilantro, cabbage, tomato, tortilla), so I went with that. At a friend's we dined on veggies & corn I had brought from home and sauteed local chicken breast.


Sunday in town we started with a toasted Los bagels Whole wheat bagel w/ Zimmerman black raspberry jam. Yum. I will have to make Blackcap jam next year, too!
One of the most reliable places in Arcata to find locally sourced ingredients is Brio Cafe, and there I lunched on a wonderful Chicken Pot Pie and salad.
After arriving home that evening we had a dinner of steamed vegies and poached local rock cod.
Monday breakfast was Egg & toast, lunch a cuke and tomato sandwich, then back to town where I grabbed Wildberries deli chicken kabob, marinated grilled tofu & Vegies. assured these were all from local sources. Went to a fabulous concert at HSU that night - Crosby, Stills & Nash. We are so lucky!
Tuesday I woke up in town & had simply Brio bread toast to start the day, but a filling lunch at Eureka Los Bagels - a toasted bagel w/ Cypress Grove fromage blanc & Fish Brothers smoked salmon. This was the first restaurant I went to where the person behind the counter knew what they had that was locally sourced, but was doing the Eat Local Challenge herself! 

Fresh canned Albacore

One of my tasks in town was going by the Marina and buying some fresh Albacore from the fishermen there. Every few years I get tuna to can. I put it up in 1/2 pints in a variety of 'flavors', some plain, some with Tamari soy sauce, Lemon-infused Olive Oil, jalapeno peppers, or herbs. I am sure the tuna can be caught more than 250 miles from our coast, but the Pacific Ocean is right here and here is where these fishing boats are based and I consider it local eats. 
That said, I had a truly fantastic dinner of grilled vegetables and tuna. I was lucky I remembered to save some before i put it all in jars!

Wednesday started with tea and scrambled egg with Humboldt Creamery cottage cheese, a little chives sprinkled on top and an apple on the side. I lunched on simple toast from my Shakefork grain bread and chevre. Dinner, however, was special. As it was a homecoming mealfor my husband, who had been on a camping trip with our son. In honor of this we had grilled local grass-fed beef steaks along with grilled vegetables and some Elk Prarie Pinot Noir. A festive way to end the day.

Wild blackberry snacks!

Thursday was simpler fare, Bacon, egg and toast for breakfast, a fried pepper, tomato and chever sandwich for lunch. Dinner was the sage-seasoned Tuscan beans with Shakefork corn polenta, chopped fresh tomato, and fresh pesto. Another glass of the Pinot made it elegant.

Friday was tea Bacon and egg with polenta on the side and some of our own apple cider. Another classic fried pepper, chevre and tomato sandwich for lunch, and a company dinner of grilled local salmon, cuke salad, and corn on the cob.

Saturday, Sept. 22 began with a 'boogaloo' of solar cooked Lundberg rice (grown within 250 miles, but their office is out of the area), vegetables and egg, cider and an Asian pear.
Our company brought a loaf of Loleta bakery Tyrolean 9-grain bread, so our fried pepper sandwich featured that, along with garden fresh cucumber and tomato and Loleta Cheese roasted Garlic jack. MMMmmmm...
Another company dinner of a grilled locally raised pork roast, corn on the cob and the grilled summer squash, eggplant, peppers and onion, that I just cannot seem to get enough of.
This brings us to today!
Along with my daily tea we had a late Sunday breakfast of an egg and fried pepper sandwich on the Loleta bakery bread. A light lunch of corn fritters using the leftover corn cut from the cob, our eggs and a bit of Shakefork flour, salt and baking powder.
One more night with company and I will be making Chile Rellenos with Loleta Cheese Jack, Ancho peppers from our garden and eggs from our hencoop. With this is solar cooked Spanish rice, fresh salsa and corn on the cob (Which we will be having every night for a while!)


Ah yes, it is easy to celebrate the delicious abundance of local foods in our area, especially when you garden. Bon appetit!

We're Baaaack!

I've signed up again!
Rebel Localvore that I am, I created my own category - 'Extreme lifestyle'. My plan is to eat local foods for every meal with the exception of a very few ingredients: salt, spices, tea,  baking powder & yeast. If possible I will try to create meals that forgo much of those as well.

Again, I will chronicle my journey through the amazing bounty of our area. It all starts September 1.
To learn more, click here.

Some of our local bounty

2011 - Officially Localvorious again!

Well, we thought we'd sign up 'Officially' to the NorthCoast Co-op's Eat Local Challenge again this year.
 We eat local origin food as much as possible anyway, especially during the end of summer harvest, when dinner often is what came out of the garden that day. On top of this our freezer has a supply of local beef from a neighbor, chicken from birds we raised here, and locally caught fish, as well as canned local tuna in the pantry.

Of the levels available, I inadvertently chose 'Lifestyle Localvore' -

Lifestyle Localvore
For at least one meal per day, eat only locally grown,
raised, and/or produced foods with a few exceptions.
Exceptions may include: non-local spices, cooking
oils, vinegar, and spirits.

part of our 'garden salad bar'

I generally choose a more rigid level, but the type was small and the evening late and the link finicky. Ah well.
But I am content with my choice. If 2011 has been as intense for you as it has been for us, you will appreciate my accepting a lesser challenge.

Part of our inspiration was finally making it to the top of the wait list for ShakeFork Farm's grain share CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - learn more). We have always admired and wanted to support the CSAs in our area, but we give away flowers, herbs, & vegetables, not buy them... But the chance to get locally produced oats, wheat, barley, & more was perfect for our needs.

To accommodate the challenge, I need to make some yogurt, sour cream, and mayonnaise. Other than that, we're good to go, I think. Stay tuned!

So, let us begin.
One meal a day up to now:
Sept. 1: Breakfast - eggs from our hens, poached, on Loleta Bakery Sourdough with Loleta Cheese Pepper Jack

Sept. 2: Dinner at a friend's in town - Local wild caught Salmon, Brio Bakery bread, Arcata Farmers Market broccoli

Sept. 3: Breakfast ( at friend's. In town for Blues on the Bay) - Our eggs, Brio Bakery multi grain bread (Yum)

Sept. 4: Breakfast - same. We're sorry Humboldt Hot Dogs were not at Blue on the Bay this year

Sept. 5: Home again! Picked up some local Cod Cheeks at Eureka Natural Foods on the way home. Wonderful dinner of sauteed Cod Cheeks with my Fish Herb Blend (for which we grow lemon Basil & Lemon Thyme), garden salad & Brio Bakery Bread

Sept. 6: Lunch was a garden salad (literally) with home-canned local albacore tuna and dressing made from Napa olive oil (an exception) and my home made herbed red wine vinegar (see below).

Sept. 7: Just canned our favorite "Zesty Salsa" recipe from the Ball Blue Book, and used the leftovers for Breakfast - Huevos Rancheros of our eggs poached in Fiesta Salsa, over Loleta Pepper Jack on a Bien Padre corn tortilla. YUM!!!

Got Cukes?

Sept. 8: Lunch - Garden classic: Tomato & Cucumber sandwich on Loleta Bakery Sourdough. My all time summer favorite (when I don't have frying peppers).

Sept. 9: Brunch - cleaning out the fridge salad with canned tuna. Loleta Bakery bread on the side (end of loaf )

So far, so good. I should note that we generally drink water with meals. I do have tea in the morning, but not wioth breakfast and always with Humboldt Creamery 1/2 & 1/2 :^) Snacks here often consist of raw peppers or cucumbers or tomatoes, at least THIS time of year.
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Herbs & Garlic drying on the back porch

We have made red wine vinegar for many years. Nothing to it. Pour a bottle of inexpensive red wine into a clean glass jar. I use a gallon or 1/2 gallon jar, depending on what's brewing at the time. Add 1/4 c. Mother of red wine vinegar, cover the jar with a fine mesh cloth so it can breathe, but not big enough to let the fruit (vinegar) flies in. Keep in a warm, dark place. Occasionally add leftover red wine. In about 6 weeks you have rustic wine vinegar. I am happy to share Mother of vinegar (e mail me via Simmons Natural Bodycare), but you can use 1/2 cup of raw cider vinegar instead. Shake well before measuring or, better yet, just use the dregs in the bottom of the bottle. Bragg raw cider vinegar is perfect. For more information on making your own wine vinegar, see the 'Gang of Pour'.

We have many herbal vinegar blends that we make for cooking. I thought I'd pass one along here - a favorite base for salad dressing. We even made a gallon of this to use at the reception dinner for our daughter's wedding.
Again, the important thing is to use enough herbs when you are making the flavored vinegar - 1/2 cup dried mixed herbs to 2 cups of vinegar.

Recipe: For this blend use red wine vinegar with the addition of basil, oregano, garlic and black peppercorns. We use about 12 peppercorns and 6 cloves of garlic per 2 cups of vinegar. Let the mixture steep in a dark place and shake occasionally to mix. Taste after a week and, if it is not strong enough, let sit another 2 or 3 weeks. When it tastes right, strain and store in clean, tightly capped bottles.
To make the salad dressing, mix 1/3 herb vinegar with 2/3 good olive oil or a mix of olive and other salad oil, as you prefer. Enjoy!

Winter garden

Thought I'd check in with an update of sorts.
It has frozen completely several times here now. The garden is mostly empty and planted with a cover crop of legumes for green manure in the spring. Only the blackened, drooping tomato vines have not been pulled and the few winter crops.

We harvested the last mature cauliflower (see photo), as they do not do well in the rain. There are still abundant broccoli, swiss chard, kale, parsley and overwintering carrots.
We find we cannot grow lettuce until early spring, even in a greenhouse. I make sprouts in mid-winter for sandwich greens.

But we did just pick peppers, both hot and sweet, from the upper greenhouse. The lower greenhouse, with more sensitive squash, melons, and cucumbers died a month ago. The cellar is full of peppers (they keep a long time in baskets), apples and, soon, potatoes from Ferndale.

The pantry is stocked with canned and dried goods, the freezer with meat and berries and pesto. There is still a lug of tomatoes, picked green, ripening.

We are very fortunate here in our benevolent temperate climate.

Thursday - my "Friday"- night

I do volunteer Emergency Medical Dispatching for Southern Trinity Area Rescue (S.T.A.R.) one weekend a month and will be on call starting tomorrow at 5pm. So we tend to make pre-call Thursday our "Friday" night for R&R.
The day starts with the now common tea, pears, and Brio toast with chevre. I am jealous of you coffee drinkers as I have no loophole, only an exception, that lets me have my morning brew!

It's a work day, of course, but we get the orders out and shop work done by 1pm. So we get to work outdoors after trying out the Premiere chicken apple sausage for lunch, split and fried and in a sandwich w/ fried pepper Casa Lindah mustard. Yum.

We water and harvest and do remedial repair (literally baling twine and duct tape) on the broken branches of an apple tree. Hopefully the fruit will ripen, then we can prune the branches as properly needs to be done. Too many apples and too much wind is a bad combination for a young tree.
I also whip up another batch of mayonnaise. I am still amazed how quick that is! I may never go back to buying it.

Dinner is a local (Hydesville) lamb chop that we got from Eureka natural Foods. We grill it and serve it with w/ peach salsa made with a slightly under ripe peach from one of our trees, grilled vegies (see photo) and Brio bread. We toast to life with Elk Prairie Pinot.

Grilled vegetables are another of our favorites of summer. We serve them in big slices, as we did tonight, or cubed on skewers over rice or couscous. I marinate them sliced, in oil and vinegar (our home made red wine vinegar), minced garlic and rosemary, basil and oregano. Usually I add salt & black pepper, but I am still trying to stay away from non-local salt as much as possible, and black pepper altogether, for the month. There is nothing as wonderful as grilled eggplant. Absolutely the best way to eat it.

The peach salsa was peach, onion, garlic and green pepper, chopped small. To this I added 1 minced jalapeno, chopped parsley and a splash of my vinegar (where I would have used lime juice). Came out just fine.

Even without restricting it intentionally, most of what we have been eating has come from within Humboldt County only. We are blessed with a rich variety of local foodstuffs.

Eggplant challenge

One week behind us, not perfect, but not so bad either. Today I will have some time after work for an eggplant experiment.

Breakfast - one of our StarkCrimson Red Bartlett pears. They are slightly under ripe at this point, which makes them apple-crunchy. Still delicious, in fact I rather like them this way. They have a day or two of heavenly perfection between under and over ripe. I prefer under ripe to over, and with so many on hand we have to start eating them now! These are the pears for salad and fresh eating. The green Bartletts are the ones I prefer to can. Good thing, as I have many more of those.

Lunch - We go crazy with a pepper tuna melt. Leftover tuna salad (local canned tuna, homemade mayo, pickles & garden onion and parsley), a fried garden pepper with melted Loleta cheddar on Co-op Bakery sandwich bread. Wholly decadent. A bit of the left over coleslaw on the side and water and lunch is beyond perfection.

Dinner - time for my 'experiment'.
I have 2 'small side of medium' eggplant and the Rumiano Parmesan cheese as my inspiration. First I make a sauce, sauteing chopped garlic and onion in some Tehama Gold olive oil. To this I add chopped bell pepper, yet somehow refrain from adding any summer squash. I sprinkle this with some of my Italian Herb cooking blend (see my blog: All Mixed Up) and cook until soft and onions are translucent, then I add copious amounts of chopped tomatoes. All this is from our garden. A few stirs and I turn it to simmer and leave it to cook while I prepare the eggplant.
I still want the effect of breaded eggplant, but without flour or breadcrumbs. First I sliced the eggplant into 1/4" slices. I beat an egg with about 1/4c. milk in a small bowl and grated a bunch of the Parmesan into another bowl. Then I dipped the eggplant slices into the egg mixture followed by the cheese, with limited success. The cheese did not always want to stick. My answer was to put the cheesiest side down in the pan and sprinkle a bit more on top.
I layered these as I "breaded" them in an 8" square pan, overlapping slightly. When it covered the bottom of the pan I spooned a small amount of sauce over, followed by another layer of the dipped eggplant and sauce, etc., until the eggplant was gone. I got a robust 3 layers! Much more than I expected given the size of the eggplant. Over the top I spread the remaining sauce and sprinkled with more Parmesan cheese. Really more like making a lasagna using eggplant for noodles!
I covered the whole with foil and baked it at 350 for 35 minutes, until the eggplant was tender. I am happy to say it was delicious, even without salt.
Served with a cucumber salad (sliced cucumber, onion, chopped tomato and basil, with homemade vinegar/olive oil dressing) and the last of the Elk Prairie Pinot we would call it a success all around.

No sacrifice at all today... Town the next two days. We will see what that brings.

Fall is in the air...

Boy, you can definitely feel the seasons changing. Suddenly leaves are turning, not just drying up, there is a chill in the occasional breeze that is not just the fog sitting over the ridge. I'm chilly this 40º morning and I want Hot Cereal!
I see a problem here. No local oats, I haven't found local wheat or cornmeal. I could grind rice and toast it and make rice cereal... Naw. We will just have a brunch boogaloo full of rice, onions, summer squash, and eggs. Chopped tomato and Loleta Jalapeno Jack cheese on top, seasoned with herbs and "Ha-basco" Clendenen's cider on the side. However, I am getting tired of eggs & vegies. I will have to find time to make some yogurt soon. I'll pencil it in - Hah!

We are glad it is the Labor Day holiday,' we're moving rather slow and want to play catch - up today. Watering, tending critters, and checking messages, mail and garden. We stack more wood in the woodshed and then pick pears.
The ravens have been knocking our Red Bartletts out of the tree, and the green Bartletts are starting to fall on their own. Closer inspection shows them ready to pick and there are lots of them. And how!
After harvesting, sharing, eating, and throwing raven punctured pears to the chickens, we still have 4 lugs and 3 baskets of pears. Soon to be on the menu, I think!

All afternoon there's been stew cooking in the solar oven. When work is done, so is dinner! I pick a few ears of corn and some blackberries and we have an early supper of local range-fed beef, carrot, onion, pepper, garlic & summer squash stew, with a slice of Brio olive bread and corn on the cob. I use no butter or salt on any of this. Olive oil and herbs are the seasoning components, my Meat Treat blend in particular, as well as a shot of the red table wine as the liquid. To drink we have water and some of the Elk Prairie Pinot. Not bad.

And the blackberries? I take the last of our crop of small but delicious peaches, slice them, and cook them slightly with the blackberries and a bit of local honey to make a fine dessert with a bit of Humboldt Creamery cream or 1/2 & 1/2.

Delectable end to the day. Now I have to start thinking about pear recipes. Hmmmmmmmm...

Origins

I know we have a completely different take on this experiment, living in the rural part of the county, with a big garden, hens, home canned local food, and rancher neighbors. Sometimes I think we may have an advantage - but then I think of all that is grown at lower elevations such as Willow Creek and Orleans, Shively and other coastal areas, that comes to the Farmer's markets and I think, perhaps, those in town have the advantage.

I do have a passion for growing, preserving, and making our basic foodstuffs. From applesauce to vinegar, I love to experiment with food in a way that this challenge allows me to indulge.

The original Humboldt Localvore challenger was Megan Blodgett.
She challenged herself in a much stricter way than I am, with my "Loophole" level.

Read the excellent BLOG of her 2007 challenge eating only Humboldt county foods: My Month of Local Food.

LocalCarnivore...

My husband has been known as a cheeseburger aficionado, so the way to best engage him in this project was via the local ingredients cheesburger. But we will come back to that...

A busy day today, business, canning (tomatoes, as mentioned and turkey stock from a bird we ate just before the challenge started, but never got to the apples), farm chores and afternoon babysitting of our granddaughter.

For lunch I had a cucumber and tomato sandwich on Co-op Bakery bread. My favorite, but sans mayo... I used Lindah's Hot & Sweet mustard instead. I LOVE this mustard... but something was lacking, so I had to make some mayonnaise.
I have not made mayo in a looong time, and then only by hand with a whisk, but I did not have the time. So I brought out my trusty Joy of Cooking (the latest edition - I have 4) and the blender and made a pint + of mayonnaise so easy & fast I couldn't believe it. Cool!
It is done thus:
Place in blender:
1 large egg at room temp
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt
dash cayenne
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 c. vege. oil (I did not want to use flavorful olive oil, so I used organic safflower, the other salad oil I keep around.)
Blend on high with lid on until combined well and slowly add 1/2 c. vege. oil followed by 3 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice, white wine vinegar, or a combination therof.
When thoroughly blended slowly add:
1/2 c. vege. oil and blend until thick, scraping down sides of blender as needed.

That's it!
This done and an extra pint size jar at hand. I started some sour cream as well by putting 2 cups heavy Humboldt Creamery cream and 2 Tblsp. of their cultured buttermilk in it and shaking vigorously. After sitting, covered, 24 hours in a warm place it should be thick, delicious, sour cream.

Dinner was our special all-American LocalVore cheeseburger with a side of coleslaw. I made the burgers the same as always, with local to our immediate area organic grass-fed beef, my "Meat Treat" herb blend, garden onion & garlic, but without salt or Worchestershire sauce mixed in. We melted some Loleta Sharp Cheddar on top and served them on Brio Bakery focaccia with garden lettuce & tomato and the new homemade Mayo. The coleslaw was the shredded cabbage & carrot classic with chopped parsley, all from the garden. The dressing was the American classic as well, with a twist: Homemade mayonnaise & red wine vinegar, local milk, honey, and - my exception - salt.
We paired it with the rest of the bottle of Vinatura Red Table Wine. It was much better with a stout burger to balance it.

To meet the challenge as closely as I can, I'm mostly cooking without salt and not adding any at the table. As much as possible, I have been seasoning exclusively with herbs and condiments.
My personal opinion is that most food is really just a vehicle for a good condiment and, because of that, I have always made a lot of them. I also keep good store-bought ones in the pantry. I am delighted that Fred's Horseradish and mustards are from our bio-region. One of them will work it's way into the menu before the month is out.

Federal recognition for Local Food

One thing I like about the Localvore Challenge is making one really aware of the wide variety of food that IS available in their region.
The benefits of this for our health, both physical and economically for the community are full of potential, as evidenced by this recognition by the President and his administration.

"What we've got to do is change how we think about, for example, getting local farmers connected to school districts because that would benefit the farmers delivering fresh produce."
-President Obama, Health Care Forum, August 20, 2009

"There are so many new producers cropping up in America. Their best opportunity to expand is a local market. It's enhanced if they can be joined together with other local producers so sufficient quality and quantity can be established for schools, hospitals, jails and other purchasers."
-Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, The Washington Post, August 26, 2009

With that in mind it is off to breakfast on Lundberg brown rice with garden vegies and some melon I bought (ours are not quite ripe) at Arcata co-op from Newsom (?) farm in Orleans. May have apple cider, may have water.
Lundberg's is actually in Butte county, right on the edge of Tehama & Glenn counties - just over our bio-region line, but it was indicated to me it was OK even so. Rice is a pretty basic staple.
I cook brown rice in our solar oven and keep it around to eat whenever. We love it always, but the long cooking time gets in the way sometimes - no?
The easiest solar oven recipe ever - 2 c. brown rice, 4 c. water.
place in covered pat or glass casserole (my favorite) in pre-heated solar oven.
Cook until all water is absorbed. Voila!

Today I hope to can applesauce (Clendenen's Gravensteins) and tomatoes after I get the orders out, so it is a food oriented day all around.

1st day ends

Well, we've ended the day - food wise, at least.
So far - OK, but a bit of fudging until we can get to town tomorrow and clarify some things.

Lunch was easy. I had a salad from our garden with dressing made from our homemade red wine vinegar and Napa olive oil (will get more local oil in town) with Albacore tuna I bought off of the boat out at the marina on Humboldt Bay and canned last year.

The photo is of the marina at Woodley Island on Humboldt Bay.

Dinner was a house vegetarian favorite (never did defrost any beef), Tofu Tias. These are a tofu burrito that has converted some very anti-Tofu types to gladly eating bean curd - at least in this guise.

As part of the challenge I was told that spice mixes I made myself were OK, and the Tia spice is all mine. I have a fondness for premixing herb and spice blends for my cooking. See my post "I'm All Mixed Up" for some of my favorites. This one is derived from a favorite dish from Toby's Tofu Palace in Eugene, Oregon (and at the Oregon Country Fair). We experimented until we came up with a blend that mimicked the original close enough for our taste.

TOFU TIAS:
Take firm tofu and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and let sit to drain. I use a wooden bowl, but I think a colander might be better.
Chop some onion and garlic.
Sometimes green pepper as well.
Saute these vegetables in oil, then add tofu cubes and fry until lightly golden. Sometimes they don't turn, but just keep sweating. No matter, it's good anyway.
Sprinkle with the Tia Spice at the rate of 1 Tblsp. spice per pound of tofu.
Stir and cook a bit then add a shot of tamari soy sauce.

Serve in heated tortilla with shredded lettuce, green onion, chopped tomato, sprouts - whatever. Top with salsa and a dollop of sour cream if desired. Enjoy!

TIA SPICE
NOTE: All measurements are very, very approximate!
Mix together about 50% nutritional yeast, 25% chili powder, then add onion powder, garlic powder,dried parsley, tumeric, salt, & white pepper.

Our Tias used Tofu Shop tofu from Arcata, Bien Padre tortillas from Eureka, lettuce, tomato and homemade salsa from our garden. On the side was a cucumber salad and corn on the cob - all from the garden. And a splash of that Diablo Sauce (we like to live dangerously!) We drank water.
The ingredient that may have been a no-no was the Tamari Soy Sauce. I buy it from the bulk dispenser at the co-op, so it is in an unmarked bottle. I have no idea at all as to its point of origin, so will find out tomorrow.

Did have a glass of nice Napa wine. A bottle or 2 of Humboldt, Mendocino, or Lake Co. wine will have to wait until I get to town as well.

Not, perhaps, a perfect start, but quite acceptable, I think.

I see tomorrow, having to eat on the road, as being a much bigger challenge. We'll see.

One day down - 29 to go!

Taking the Challenge

We have signed up to offically participate in our "local" (out on the coast. - 1 1/2 - 2 hours away) Northcoast Co-op's annual September Eat Local challenge.

For the entire month we will strive to eat only those foods produced in our northern California bioregion. Fortunately this is a large and varied agricultural area.

This new blog is to chronicle this culinary adventure, recipes and pitfalls alike. Stay tuned!