You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Locavore Challenge’ tag.
Who said a local breakfast had to be boring?
Well my Locavore friends, we have come to the end. Sadly, the Locavore Challenge for Green City Market ended today (Wednesday) but that doesn’t mean that a Locavore Challenge for you has to end. You can keep incorporating local, sustainable foods into your every day menu.
This does not have to be hard. It can mean using Blue Marble cream in your coffee for breakfast, salad greens from Granor Farms for lunch and Heartland Meats beef hamburgers for dinner. Easy. Delicious.
Simple, right?
Today, to mark the end of the LC, I bought a crisp and sugary sweet sticky roll with pecans from Floriole.
For lunch, I had a burger (so did Ruthie!) from Sunday Dinner! In case any of you have had these heavenly burgers, I thought I would take a picture of the SD menu board for you. PS, the cheese used on the burgers is a cold packed horseradish cheddar cheese spread from Brunkow ($6)!
In order to be as Locavorish as I can, I stocked up groceries for the rest of the week. Gee, who said eating locally was hard?! Is it so hard to buy fresh croissants, chewy ciabatta bread, sweet cream butter, Michigan peaches, creamy horseradish cheddar cheese spread and sticky buns?! No. And I bet the stuff you buy at Green City Market will taste better and be better for you than anything you can buy at the Jewel.
Yesterday, I also had the pleasure of giving tours to kindergartners from St. Monica Academy. They were too adorable and believe me, as they were at our tasting table munching on Asian pears, grapes, pineapple ground cherries, purple carrots and cilantro, they made eating local look easy.
….And they were 5 years old!
For dinner, as a final hurrah, my friends and I ate lamb bratwursts with fresh, whole wheat bread from Bennison’s. As lamb grease dribbled down our chins, we both spoke excitedly about the amazing local dinners to come.
I can almost taste them.
I have decided to update this blog to include a section of recipes and meal ideas from local chefs and Chicagoans. Keep on reading Making Chicago Home for more updates on what to eat!
Dev xx
My post for Sunday is going to be pretty bland because I forgot my camera and do not really feel like reporting much! I ate a delicious Bennison’s croissant for breakfast and then headed to Arlington Heights with Tim to celebrate his 25th birthday with his family!
We watched the Bears play (what can be more local than cheering for your local team?!) and munched on Brunkow’s dill and garlic cheese curds and Brunkow garlic cheese on crackers.
For dinner, Tim’s mom fixed a delicious crown pork roast with green bean and sweet potato casseroles. Probably not local, but you cannot deny it was a tasty dinner.
Tim wanted a vanilla cake with Oreo frosting that I made from scratch. Ummm, it was not a local cake. Sorry!
Day 13 was spent catching up with this blog and the only thing I have really eaten is a Honey Crisp apple. I guess we all have to have a break day!
I have pictures…somewhere…but to tell you the truth, I probably will not post any.
Told you this would be bland.
Dev xx
I am going to admit it right now: I was not on my ‘A’ game Saturday morning. I was exhausted from Tim’s birthday dinner the night before, not to mention the crazy guys in my apartment building shouting at each other until the wee hours of the morning. Ugh.
Instead of coffee, though, I decided to pep myself up with Floriole’s ham and cheese croissant. That did the trick. It was still warm when they gave it to me and the Brunkow cheese was melty and rich. Yum!
Later during the day, I got word that there was a puppy belonging to one of the vendors at Green City, so I went over with Laura to see what was up and what we found was the most adorable Jack Russell Terrier puppy, Flynnley (sp?!). She is only 10 weeks old and the Burton’s Maple folks painted her little claws to match her collar (big awww!). She attracted big crowds and I had the pleasure of getting to hold her to show her off. I took lots of pictures that you can see if you “click to read the rest of this article” at the bottom!
The gorgeous flowers that Jerry and Jill from Stoney Run Fields gave me!
One of my favourite parts of Green City Market are all the kind volunteers, workers, vendors and shoppers who love chatting with you about sustainable food or their products. Jerry and Jill are two of my darlings and always make time to chat with me when I walk by their stall. They are so passionate about growing the most beautiful country flowers and I love listening to them talk about whatever! :-)
For lunch, Tim stopped by the market and we enjoyed Sunday Dinner’s delicious, local, sustainable and seasonal pre-prepared food. Tim ordered the delicious burger, made from Heartland Meats ground beef, topped with Growing Power’s baby green mix, Brunkow cheese and mayonnaise, all on a Bennison sesame seed bun. Tim said it was one of the best burgers he has ever had!
I had the lamb bratwurst, which was also so delicious, I am going to invest in some for this weeks’ dinners!
Make sure to check out more pictures of Flynnley on the next page!
Dev xx
For breakfast on Friday, I had a huge, crisp and juicy Honey Crisp apple from 1st Orchards and Greenhouses in Michigan. As one person aptly put it, Honey Crisp apples are the Mercedes of apples.
Friday was a big day because I had to finish up my shopping for my friend’s birthday on Sunday. Since I was trying to stick with the local theme, I found a hilarious card by a local artist who goes by the title Rovenko. You can find her stuff on Etsy.com, but if you want to buy from a local store, then you can find her stuff at Paper Boy on W. Belmont.
Since I was on the run practically the whole day, I did not have time for a full lunch. Instead, I opened the bag of dill and garlic cheese curds I bought from Brunkow Cheese of Wisconsin from GCM, and snacked on those. Later, I had some delicious sweet corn on the cob from 1st Orchards.
Perfect Corn on the Cob:
For perfect corn on the cob, bring your water to a boil first then add the corn for only three minutes! It is not necessary to keep the cobs in for five because if you boil them too long you start to break down the sugars into starch and the corn starts to lose its sweetness. Drain the corn and then slather on Nordic Creamery’s sweet cream butter (it is lightly salted) and eat immediately while still steamy!
Dev xx
Day nine, or Thursday, started really early and ended very late! Since I was up at the crack of dawn, I made myself raspberry yoghurt, sprinkling the very, very last of the season’s raspberries atop of organic Wallaby vanilla yoghurt. Now, Wallaby is not local, so this is cheating a bit, but I must say that it was bought before the Locavore Challenge and had to be consumed before I had to write a post titled, “When good yoghurt goes bad”.
Part of the LC is to not let anything go to waste.
For lunch, Tim and I decided to head over to our favourite spot in the city, Bittersweet, located on 1114 W. Belmont Ave. in Lakeview. I have told you guys this before and I will tell you again that Bittersweet is, by far, the best lunch in Chicago. Oh yes, yes, yes…we all coo over the Bourgeois Pig and do flips over Al’s deli sandwiches (not technically in Chicago proper, but close enough!) but Bittersweet does everything right for a good price, great location and even more amazing pastries.
So, as you can see from the above picture, I started with the matzo ball soup. The matzo dumplings were tender and flavoured with chicken fat. They came in a bath of vegetable soup with chicken stock and was a light and delicious first course. That is one of the best things about Bittersweet: You never leave the cafe feeling like there is a brick in your stomach. Everything satisfies your hunger without making you feel like you have be rolled down the street afterward!
For my main dish, the chicken dijon salad was just calling my name! This sandwich, which obviously has mayo in it, also has a generous helping of dijon mustard, making it a more complex chicken salad. Pair that with the diced carrots and celery thrown in the mix and put it on freshly baked wheat bread and you have yourself a thick sandwich that tastes zesty and sweet.
For the finale, may I suggest the lemon and chocolate Parisian macaroons? A French favourite, and something that is hard to find not in a rolled coconut form, these Parisian macaroons are made from blanched almonds and egg whites. The filling is made of egg whites and butter. However simple these may seem, do not be fooled: Bittersweet has put a twist on these classic favourites by flavouring them with lemon and chocolate! At first, the crunchy shell breaks under your teeth, but then you sink in to a chewy interior, making these macaroons crispy like a cookie and moist and crumby like cake.
The chocolate ones are not to be missed. They taste like brownie edges and have a rich taste that will stick to the roof of your mouth!
In addition, they have a ton of gorgeous little sugar cookies shaped into cute objects, like the Crayon above!
Bon appetit!
Dev xx
I know I should have updated yesterday, but I had such a fun, full and busy day that I just had to take a break and put it off until today (and I still will have to post more tomorrow about Day 8 AND 9!!!
In honour of Melon Fest, there were chefs and mixologists at Green City Market handing out samples of melon salad with goat cheese and melon soups. Sound good? Yes. Sound safe? Yup. But then there was this renegade chef who was handing out samples of his goat cheese and dill ice cream in a watermelon corn soup (picture above)! Goat cheese dill ice cream!? Come again? After I took my first bite, all I could think of was that my tastebuds were confused but happy. I thought the dish was perfect.
Can anybody identify the chef in this picture (the man on the left!)
Ten points goes to the reader who can identify the chef on the left in the picture above. Someone needs to give this man props for his weird and wonderful creation!
The inside of Cafe Brauer
On Wednesday, I was incredibly honoured to give a Green City Market tour to the chefs who attended Chefs Collaborative’s Summit. I am so thankful to the amazing and hard-working Laura Watkins, marketing and communications coordinator at GCM, for letting me give the tour!
Before the tour started, Rich Hawley, another awesome GCM employee, took me around to each vendor and I found out some interesting and fun stuff that makes them unique! Since this is stuff I did not know before, and information that really impressed the chefs on the tour, I thought I would share it with you!
I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time Wednesday afternoon and am very, very thankful that Mark, who works with Green City Market, invited me along to the Chefs Collaborative lunch at Cafe Brauer.
Cafe Brauer, as I learned, is an example of Prairie style architecture that originated in Chicago!
Sauteed swiss chard with shiitake mushrooms
Goodness help me, there has been so much going on that I almost plum forgot to post up my recipe for last night’s dinner! I had sauteed swiss chard with sauteed mushrooms and this delicious Pappardelle’s Southwestern pasta I scored from the Arlington Heights farmers market.
Sauteed swiss chard with shiitakes
- Coarsely chop 4-5 leaves of swiss chard (no worries, it will sautee down!)
- Chop up shiitake mushrooms into bite size pieces
- Heat up olive oil in a pan for about a minute on high heat
- Throw in your mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes
- Then toss in the swiss chard and cook for another 1 1/2 minutes.
- Salt and pepper your mixture while it is in the pan
- Serve hot!
The pasta is so delicious and flavourful that all it really needs is to be cooked properly then tossed with some of Nordic Cream’s sweet butter and topped with freshly ground pepper – enjoy!
Dev xx
WAIT! Don’t reach for the Bisquick! Instead, splurge for something local and tasty. Raspberry whole wheat buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup and vanilla whipped cream! Too much? Nah! This is the best way to use the LAST of the season’s raspberries (mine were from Mick Klug and were very tart!).
Here is the recipe:
Raspberry Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup of Ted’s Organic Whole Wheat Flour (avail. at Heritage Prairie’s booth at Green City Market!)
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 c. buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp. veggie oil
- 1 of Mary’s eggs!
- 1/2 c. of raspberries
DIRECTIONS (makes 4 large pancakes!):
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Mix in the oil and buttermilk
- Whisk the egg until fluffy; add to the mixture and whisk until egg has been incorporated
- Stir in raspberries
- Add veggie oil to a pan and heat on medium
- Cook pancakes!
FOR THE VANILLA WHIPPED CREAM:
- 1/3 cup heavy cream (mine is from Blue Marble!)
- 1 Tblsp. sugar (or 1 Tbslp. maple syrup)
- 1 tsp. Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract
Whisk together until the heavy cream thickens!
What a great way to start the day! In other news, tomorrow is GREEN CITY MARKET DAY! I am volunteering from 9-11 am and hope to see you there! It will be a HUGE day for GCM because it is Melon Fest and Chef’s Collaborative National Summit. The latter includes book signings, chef demonstrations, tastings and a discussion on how farmers markets strengthen local food systems!
More to come… stay tuned!
Dev xx
I have BIG news for all of you Locavores looking for a coffee fix. No, the beans are not from Chicago, but at Metropolis Coffee Company, they are roasting small batches in the heart of Chicago! That is about as local as you can get when it comes to coffee and it is worth it!
Where can you get this coffee?
At Dollop Coffee and Tea in Uptown. What an underrated little gem! Located in a brownstone that juts out into the intersection of North Clarendon and West Gordon Terrace, Dollop welcomes you with soft, melodic indie music and exposed brick walls. The decor is not at all planned or even pretentiously mismatched. No, instead, this adorable coffee house looks organically designed with the wall art and antique furniture probably being added piece-by-piece by an owner who has a love for varied styles.
The barista was really patient with me and even let me try a “shot” of Metropolis’ French Roast coffee (I do not drink coffee, but I had to research it)! It was smoky, very fresh and had a sweet finish on the back of the palate.
I chose the iced chai as my first drink because a. it’s hot outside and b. I love chai! What a good choice! The milky, cinnamon-infused chai was gone before I knew it!
For breakfast I had a croissant (Bennison’s) with Stover’s jam. For a light lunch, I had a 2 egg scramble with goat cheese from Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery. This is the ultimate light, airy and delicious lunch and the protein kept me going for hours! I am telling you guys, you HAVE to try the Prairie Dropseed Goat Cheese from Prairie Fruits Farm. For only $5, this round of goat cheese is versatile, has a creamy and crumbly texture that melts in your mouth and a rich flavour that is hard to find. Oh, and please do not make the rookie mistake of peeling off the mould covering: it adds to the flavour and is, indeed, edible. I PROMISE you won’t keel over and die. Believe me!
The best part of the day, though, besides the food and amazing coffee shop, was hanging out with Green City Market volunteer and new Chicago resident Ruthie! We met at Green City and had a lovely afternoon as I showed her Southport Ave. and its bounty of cool shops and restaurants like Candyality and Deleece. Man, I love Lakeview!
Stay tuned tomorrow for more Locavore fun and a restaurant review of … you’ll have to visit to find out! :-)
Dev xx
PS, 2 days until Green City Market Day!!!!!!!!!!
Fight the temptation, Locavores!
These delicious pumpkin doughnuts are from Bennison’s Bakery but they are not local quite yet: the pumpkin used in the recipe is (gasp!) not local!!!
They are, however, absolutely to die for and are available now at Bennison’s location in Evanston! If you have to cheat for something sweet, cheat for something good! Like these puppies!
Dev xx
