Loco for Local!

My little cousin - bringing in local produce by the (sustainable) truckload!!

Last week Chris and I dined on local foods with individuals who gave us our introduction to the lifestyle of eating locally.  About a year ago I received an invitation from my co-worker, Cookie, (who by the way is an amazing person fighting cancer), to come to a local foods meal and discussion night.  "How neat," I thought, and promptly volunteered to bring a dish made with local milk from a popular store - which I thought was from Kansas.  After doing a little research, I purchased milk from the Iwig Family Dairy, a dairy in Kansas.  Cookie smiled when I talked about choosing Iwig's over my original choice, and was happy I learned more about the source of my milk through my own internet research.

For this year's meal, we were much more informed.  Here's the local menu, and I'm happy to say, my addition came from my friend's apple tree and a local wheat farm.

• Garden greens, beef and bread crumb casserole - another "from the heart" creation of Chris's.
• African Peanut Sauce - including home grown sweet potatoes, yummy!
• Semmel - A hard roll made from Hudson Cream whole grain flour.
• Baked turnips, beets, winter squash, and pumpkin.  Brushed with olive oil and spices.
• Apple Cake - It was voted "the best" by Cookie's husband, Dave.  Yahoo - I can cook, er, bake.

Try making your entire meal from local products sometime - it's a fun experience.  The first time we did it was mid-December, talk about a challenge!