Homegrown Happy Valley

As a child, I was a big fan of the Strawberry Shortcake doll. I would dream up different ways to serve strawberries to my Barbies and G.I. Joes with my Berry Bake Shoppe. Now that the first berry of the summer has arrived, I’m once again dreaming of strawberry concoctions. Fortunately my recipes have matured a bit.

Week Two marks the beginning of strawberry season. How will you use strawberries, and how are you doing on your personal Eat Local Challenge? Leave a reply and let us know (you can now opt to be e-mailed with follow up comments!)

HOT ITEMS OF THE WEEK:

• strawberries!!!
• rhubarb
• asparagus
• salad greens, spinach

ON THE MENU:

Day 1

Spring Panzanella (minus peas and shallots; added in Village Acres green onions as a substitute)

• Bread from Gaffron’s Sunrise Bakery
• Spinach, basil, and asparagus from Village Acres

Day 2

Creamy asparagus pasta noodles

• Saute onions, basil, spinach and asparagus in garlic infused olive oil
• Boil noodles (thin egg noodles bought from Tuesday’s State College Farmer’s Market)
• Add Meyer Dairy heavy cream (just by sight) to asparagus mixture and simmer, add some of the noodle water for thickening
• Fresh greens & radish salad
• Leftover Gemelli ciabatta

Day 3

Field greens with local strawberries, roasted asparagus, and hummus roll-ups (gluten free)

• Salad: Tait field greens with local strawberries and Tait Herbal Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Tait Asparagus: Roast and top with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Tait Collard Greens: Fill each leaf with a spoonful of hummus, roll up and enjoy (before you add your hummus, you can remove the part of the stem that sticks out from the leaf).

Day 4

Garlicky greens and omelets

• Village Acres greens and Vermont garlic cheddar (from a trip I took recently) mixed into omelets, served with Village Acres ham steak, and pan-fried potatoes (from Boalsburg Farmers Market) and Village Acres kohlrabi

Day 5

Local Beef Burritos with spinach and chard

• Brown Blue Rooster Farm ground beef mixed with Simply Organic seasoning
• Top with: Monterey Jack goat cheese (Three Belle Cheese), organic black beans, brown rice, spinach & chard mix (saute spinach and chard with garlic, olive oil and kosher salt), added some Piper’s Peck Golden Salsa and wrapped them in whole-wheat tortillas

Day 6

Scrambled egg and spinach burritos with field greens

• Burritos: Over the Moon eggs, Tait spinach, Tait green garlic, local extra sharp cheddar cheese. Saute finely chopped spinach with chopped up green garlic and olive oil and set aside. Scramble ten eggs. Just before fully cooked add shredded cheese and chopped spinach. Fill burritos with mixture.
• Salad: Tait field greens and Tait radishes with Tait Raspberry Vinaigrette

Day 7

Ciabatta pizzas with fresh green salad, radishes and strawberries

• Gemelli ciabatta, coat with olive oil, pasta sauce, left over Village Acres roast chicken, onions, basil and mozzarella cheese from Meyer Dairy
• Fresh greens from Village Acres, radishes and strawberries from Tuesday State College Farmer’s Market

SNACK OF THE WEEK:

Cuizoo’s Rhubarb Applesauce. Say what? Yes, rhubarb applesauce. Katie and I both made this.  Katie added strawberries, and I added more apples than what was called for just because I had a bunch of apples to use up. We both had great results and happy kids.

DESSERT OF THE WEEK:

Our friend rhubarb visits again! This time with rhubarb cake (from Village Acres’ newsletter). Topped this with a strawberry glaze and served with Meyer Dairy French Vanilla ice cream. Our snack doubles as a dessert as well - Katie poured warm rhubarb applesauce over ice cream and made sundaes.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Eat Local Challenge, Events, Farm, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.