Dark Days: Two Local Meals

Posted on October 29, 2007

As I opened the window to write this, I realized that we truly are entering the dark days of winter. It’s nearly 7 a.m. and the sun has yet to light up the night sky, let alone peak above the treeline. I was spoiled (or perhaps not so) by the summer when the sun was bright in the sky before 6 a.m. … of course, Will and I slept less then too.

I joined the Dark Days Eat Local Challenge maybe two weeks ago, but got around to cooking my first two meals this weekend. Playing catch-up, you know? It wasn’t so bad actually, and I found that if I keep it simple, it’s easier.

For my first meal, prepare yourself … it was a little odd. I started out by making a steak, tomato and cheddar quesadilla. The tortilla was made by a local store that is committed to local ingredients (they even have their own dairy) – Stew Leonards. The tomato was from my mother’s garden. The cheddar came from Cabot — a co-op of cheese producing farms in Vermont. The meat was not local. I had some extra slices of tomato, so I whipped out some fresh mozzarella (made by Stew Leonards. It’s very cool to watch them make it.) and layered the two with some Massachusetts basil. I drizzled that with my non-local imported olive oil and sea salt. Yes, I know that quesadillas and tomato caprese salads generally do not go together, but it all tasted good!

For my second meal, I did a quick breakfast before we headed off to my stepson’s football game on Sunday (don’t get my started on why I am not that fond of 8 year olds playing football with that level of competition …). I whipped up some scrambled eggs for Will and Shawn (Connecticut eggs, I might add) and an over-easy egg for me. That was paired with some Massachusetts Chicken and Apple sausage from Al Fresco (yummy) and some Vermont bread toast with non-local butter. Not bad for a breakfast on the fly … and I managed to do a decent job of cooking it all, despite my challenges with breakfast.

Read the full post at Cucina Bella, a family cooking blog.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Dark Days: Two Local Meals”

  1. Kim on November 2nd, 2007 4:21 pm

    I LOVE Al Fresco sausage! Cabot, too. Good old New England local eating…

  2. Patti on November 3rd, 2007 9:41 am

    Both of those local meals sound good. And a 200-mile radius is pretty generous for local, I’d say.
    We make quesadillas often, with leftover beef or chicken.

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