My local food quest suffers no greater challenge than it does in January and February. I love fresh fruit, and as I don’t live in a citrus-producing state, the options are pretty sparse for local fruit.

The earliest harbinger of spring, however, earlier even than the asparagus and strawberries that declare the season’s coming with certainty, is rhubarb.

Rhubarb, which grows in varieties ranging in color from pale green to deep red, is technically a vegetable. However, it has been classified as a fruit in the United States since the late 1940s since it is primarily used as a fruit. Naturally quite tart, it is typically paired with sugar and other sweet fruits to create tangy, flavorful desserts.

Rather like this one.

These little cookies feature drops of tart rhubarb jam nestled in a soft butter cookie. The jam is easy enough to make: just a little sugar and vanilla and heat and soon enough, jam! I admit… I was hoping for a pretty red jam, but since the vendor selling rhubarb right now grows the green variety, it’s actually sorta greenish-brown. Oh well! It can’t all be gems and sparkles.

And then the cookies themselves! What a delightful discovery this recipe was. These cookies are bright and soft and wonderfully comforting. Plus, they whip up quickly into an easy, workable dough.

Once the dough is rolled out into balls, each one gets a big ol’ thumbprint filled with jam. And for a little extra fun, some sugar is added for a sparkly crunch before the cookies head in the oven for baking.

This recipe can be even easier! Don’t wanna make your own quick jam Get a jar of your favorite and use it instead! I see lots of batches of these cookies in my future… filled with all manner of pretty, fruity flavors.

Maybe I’ll get my pretty red cookies after all.

Rhubarb Thumbprint Cookies
Adapted from Farmers’ Market Desserts

4-5 stalks rhubarb, about 2 cups chopped
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c + 2 T granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
raw or other large-grain sugar

Chop rhubarb into pieces, then pulse in a food processor until relatively fine. Combine rhubarb, sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 15 minutes or until mixture is thick and jam-like. Spoon the hot jam into a small dish and set aside to cool while you prepare the cookie dough.

Preheat oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a standing mixer or other large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and salt until it is light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Mix in each egg yolk, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl between each addition. Add vanilla and mix well. On low speed, add the flour a cup at a time and mix just until combined, making sure that all dry bits are mixed in.

Set up two large cookie sheets. Make balls of dough about one inch in diameter by rolling them between your palms, placing them about two inches apart on the sheets. Once all dough has been rolled, use your finger or thumb to form a deep impression in the center of each ball. Using a 1/4 teaspoon, fill each impression with the rhubarb mixture. Sprinkle raw sugar over the cookies, focusing on the jam centers. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden-brown. Remove sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool, on the sheets, for 5 minutes, then transfer them to cooling racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container, separating the layers by waxed paper, for up to one week.

I’ve done a really bang-up job of giving a monthly update on my food budget, haven’t I I started in January, updated in February, and then… got busy. And it’s not that I haven’t posted other things. I have! I really wanted to tell you about this. And these. And my progress on this. Firsts of months came, and I thought, I should write a budget post, and then before I knew it, Fifteenths came by and it was no longer relevant.

If you’re new here, to ring in the new year I started meticulously tracking my food expenses, both for groceries and for restaurants, to get a sense of just how much of my money was going to local food sources rather than corporate, distant ones. Despite my lack of updates, I have managed to continue this tracking. You can check out my first post on the subject to see how I distinguish one type of purchase from another.

So without further ado, here’s a three-month update.

On the Grocery Dollars front, I’m making some interesting progress. Interestingly, the purple wedge (the one I’m trying to get rid of) has only reduced a little since January, about 3%. The convenience of a 24-hour store SO close to my apartment is, I confess, challenging to overcome sometimes. And oddly, there are some items I simply cannot find at the co-op. Brad’s preferred pickle relish. Instant tapioca. Our favorite sandwich bread. But look at the blue and red! Up from about a third to over HALF! Not surprisingly, I’ve got a lot more produce out of my garden in the spring months than I did in January, and the variety of food available at the farmer’s market has increased as well. Exciting!

And to the restaurants…

PROGRESS MAJOR. The chain restaurant wedge that currently occupies 20% of my food dollars It was 68% in January. It helps that May, in particular, included two trips to new cities where we focused on exploring local dining options rather than chains we recognized. But in general, since I saw the glaring discrepancy in January between my chain restaurant expenses and my local restaurants, I have been trying very hard to choose the latter when I can. And yes: I realize that the ideal, blue wedge of local restaurants serving primarily local food is still small. It’s something I struggle with. At least here, a huge number of the restaurants that focus on local cuisine are, let’s face it, really pricy. There are only so many nights a month when I can afford to dine at them. And these next three, while I’m spending the summer solo Even more of a challenge.

Now nearly half-way through my year of tracking, I’ve learned a few things about myself and my food-buying habits. The first is that there are some non-local ingredients I’m simply not willing to give up (yet?). Olive oil. Lemons, and more importantly, lemon juice. Sugar. Brummel & Brown. Unless I decide to completely up-end my cooking and baking habits, some of these things will always be in my pantry. On the other hand, I do pretty well with meat and produce, and rarely have them in my cart any more at the store. But I do grab the occasional avocado, a bag of sweet cherries, which most unfortunately, do not seem favored by growers in the Durham area, or a grapefruit.

The second thing I’ve learned, however, is that in most instances, it is even more satisfying to wait until something I want is in season.  The clamor that ensues the first day of asparagus is well deserved. Same for strawberries. My favorite vegetable of all, shelling peas, have a phenomenally short season, but I figure out ways to savor these tiny veggies every day of that time.

The more of my produce I buy locally and in season, the more I find I’m less interested in fruits out of their element and their time. I don’t need to buy apples when berries, melons, and peaches are nearby. I love celebrating the food that I have and arriving at the farmers market with a sense of anticipation about what might be there to surprise me.

If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: one of the biggest perks of living in hot, humid, far-from-home Durham, North Carolina is the immense support for local food amongst those who live here and in the surrounding cities and counties. With multiple farmers markets close by, dozens of restaurants that source their ingredients locally, and thousands of people willing to patronize them all, it’s no wonder these counties contain a vibrant network of farms, ranches, and community gardens.

One shining example of this community’s commitment to support local growers is the Piedmont Farm Tour. Hosted each spring over two weekend afternoons by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Assocation, forty local farms throw open the barn doors, as it were, and welcome in carload after carload of people eager to see the source of the food they buy each week at our region’s farmers markets. A couple of friends and I were some of those people.

While seemingly quaint, the farm tour takes massive coordination. Booklets are published weeks in advance so that tour-goers might plan their journey, learning a little bit about what each farm has to offer and determining which ones they want to visit. As usual, I WAY over-estimated the number of farms that I could possibly see in two, four-hour jaunts around the country-side, but I packed an empty cooler, a bottle of water, my camera (obviously) and set out to explore as many farms as we could see.

It’s amazing to me here how not far you have to drive to find yourself in truly picturesque farm country. Narrow ribbons of country roads seemingly tossed to the ground between expanses of trees and their accompanying power lines are often the only signs of humans for several miles. Once in a while, the red and white farm tour signs would point you toward a break in the trees signaling the entrance to a farm.

When making plans about farms to visit, we tried to include a variety of different kinds of farms, and fortunately, there was quite a lot of variety to choose from. A small-scale vineyard, a cheese-making dairy farm, a buffalo ranch, an herbal apothecary, a small-scale nursery, and a biodynamic orchard were just a few of the options available to see.

If the variance between each farm wasn’t enough, the farmers themselves were wildly different. Some were single-person operations, cultivating small areas of land and selling just enough food to cover their costs and provide a modest living. Others were staff members of larger operations, while still others volunteer their time to ensure the needs of farms with a charitable mission can meet their goals while keeping costs low.

Over the course of two afternoons, I was able to visit nine separate farms, each one unique and colorful and filled with purpose. Listening to growers talk about their food, I was struck by the incredible depth of knowledge that each of these people has about their land and their craft. It can be easy to forget sometimes, in a nation that still primarily shops in the gleaming aisles of grocery stores where an employee might know as much about the food on the shelves as they do about quantum mechanics (or perhaps less), that it takes immense knowledge, training, and work to run a small farm of any stripe.

I imagine it can be a challenge, living the day to day life of a farmer committed to local, sustainable food. Even in my tiny garden, I am sometimes amazed at how much work it takes to keep up with my plants in a way that is healthy for the plants, productive for my refrigerator, and permissible by my schedule. A whole farm I’m in awe of these growers.

The farm tour gives this awe. It gives hundreds if not thousands of my neighbors the opportunity to put on their mud shoes (though I did see a few ladies wearing truly silly high heels) and dedicate an afternoon or two to learning about small farms and what they contribute to our community, our planet, and our collective palette.  It gives us a chance to meet farmers face-to-face, to learn about their craft, and to taste the food they have worked to hard to produce.

And if nothing else, the farm tour gives a chance to take a step back, take a breath, and simply enjoy the beauty of how our food is grown.

If you have one in your area, I highly recommend taking a farm tour: I think you’ll like what you see!

Brad left North Carolina this time last week for his summer internship in O-HI-O. Merh. I certainly have enough going on to keep myself entertained this summer in his absence but I must confess: it’s a lot of fun to cook when he’s around. Why Because nine times out of ten, he loves my food. And who doesn’t enjoy gushing compliments over something you just cooked?

But as I said, he’s in Ohio, crashing with one of his college roommates for the next three months, and as he is not quite the local-food-new-recipe-must-cook-cause-its-fun person that I am, I suspect his daily bread will not be made from scratch, if you catch my drift.

I, on the other hand, see no reason why I won’t continue to cook like I usually do (like an manic-foodie-control-freak), and this dish is a prime example.

You just can’t ignore the opportunity to make something amazing when you discover that something you’ve long-considered a thoroughly “exotic” food is in fact available at your farmers market. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the weekly market newsletter heralded their arrival.

Artichokes can, however, be kind of a bear to prepare. I grew up eating them exclusively the easy way: one leaf at a time until the heart was reached. But using them in a recipe Extracting the tender pulp that I normally obtain with my teeth I consulted the internet, but was honestly intimidated by the techniques recommended. Artichoke season here is short, and there is a clamor for them at the market. It’s extremely possible I won’t be lucky enough to get any more this season, so I decided not to risk anything and prepared them exactly the way my dad taught me to years ago: wrapped in plastic wrap, microwaved, and then peeled apart leaf by leaf.

I’ll be honest, this took a long time. If you’re looking to make this dip in a jiffy, you may wanna just go with canned artichoke hearts. But oh, the fresh ones are so. amazingly. good. And once I got through the first one, the process sped up.

The result was, not particularly attractive But let not looks deceive you: it was all I could do not to eat this by the spoonful before it resembled a dip.

But that’s not all! The last of my spring spinach was fresh off the plant, so I chopped it up so it would play with the artichokes.

And then the cheese. Always the cheese.

Once I (finally) had everything scraped/chopped/grated, the dip came together in a snap.

This photo isn’t winning any contests. Doesn’t the artichoke look like canned chicken Gross. Let’s add some cheese to make it feel better.

That’s more like it. At this point I could hardly keep myself from grabbing some chips and going to town, but I wanted to give these little dippers a golden finish. A final sprinkle of asiago and a blast under the broiler made these dips everything I wanted and more: warm, creamy, and full of fresh local vegetables and decadent cheeses. On a chip, of course!

Fresh Spinach Artichoke Dip
Adapted liberally from Alton Brown

4-5 medium artichokes (or 2 c canned artichoke hearts, drained)
3 c chopped fresh spinach, loosely packed
1-2 T olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 c parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/2 c asiago, finely grated
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c Greek yogurt
1-2 T milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne

Rinse artichokes under cold water and shake dry. Slice off the very end of the stem to remove any dry, brown area. Wrap each artichoke in plastic wrap and microwave each for 3-5 minutes, depending on their size. Carefully remove with oven mitts (they are superhot) and remove plastic wrap. Set artichokes aside for a few minutes to cool.

While artichokes are cooling, remove stems from the spinach. Roughly chop spinach leaves into pieces about an inch wide. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Once pan is hot, add spinach and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until spinach has softened, stirring often. Remove pan from heat, leaving the spinach in it.

This is also a good time to grate your parmesan and asiago!

Once the artichokes have cooled to the touch, remove the tough, small leaves from the stem and discard. You will then have to discard about one layer of leaves from the base of the artichoke before you get to the softer leaves. Peel all leaves from artichoke, scooping the tender edible part from the base of each leaf with a spoon and placing it in a bowl. Discard the tough portion of the leaf. Once all leaves have been peeled and you reach the fuzzy center, gently scrape the fuzz out of the heart with a spoon onto your discard pile. Add the heart to the bowl with the scrapings you’ve collected from the leaves. Continue with remaining artichokes until you have about two cups. Roughly chop up scrapings and hearts into small pieces.

Preheat your oven broiler to high. Place the frying pan with the spinach back onto medium heat and add remaining olive oil to the pan. Add artichokes to the pan and stir well, cooking for 1-2 minutes. Add cream cheese in small dollops and stir constantly, allowing the cream cheese to melt. Add parmesan, 1/4 of asiago (set the rest aside), mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, milk, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and sea salt and mix thoroughly until cheeses have melted. Remove from heat. Transfer dip to one shallow baking dish or two smaller ramekins and sprinkle remaining asiago over the top. Place dish(es) under broiler for 4-5 minutes or until cheese has browned slightly and formed a bubbling crust.

Serve hot with tortilla chips or crispy baguette slices. Dip can also be refrigerated and re-heated later!

When we moved to North Carolina, I had some plans for our apartment on which I was unwilling to budge:

1. I would obtain a dining table and chairs.
2. I would paint some wall, any wall, some pretty color other than white.
3. I would grow some food on my dang porch.

Quick trips to Ikea and Home Depot made it easy to accomplish the first two goals, but it took me a couple of months to figure out the best way to complete the third. For one thing, I still, still, after two years of low-sun apartments in DC, struggled to get direct beams to my balcony for more than a few hours a day. To complicate matters further, the lovely lattices on our porch railings broke up what little sun that did reach the balcony: an excellent situation for lounging on the porch without getting too hot, but not so great for keeping plants alive.

Containers on the railings had to be the key. But alas! Every style I could find at stores in my area was designed with a bolt or a screw or some other attachment mechanism I’m sure our property managers would not appreciate.

But then.

I found them online! Two feet wide, six inches deep, and adjustable to whatever width of balcony railing you want to hang them on.  I bought some lettuce, some mums (to feel fancy!), and plopped ’em into some soil. By the tim spring rolled around, well, I had expanded my little fleet to the size it was when I first introduced this hodge-podge little garden last April.

I had high hopes, lots of seedlings, and a waaaaay too small watering can. But at the time, it was the only option in front of me for growing food, so I took my chances and hoped that something would grow.

Oh what a little time and a little experience can teach. It wasn’t long before I discovered I had a couple of problems dooming my tiny garden.

Not Enough Sun

No matter how I sliced it, no matter how precariously I perched containers on the corner pillar and bungee-corded them in place, on the best of days my plants were getting four hours of sun. Which was great for lettuce and tolerable for herbs, but not at all acceptable for sun-thirsty plants like peppers and tomatoes.

Not Enough Space

It’s hysterical to me now that I planted a zucchini in a 5″ pot. I confess, I was utterly naive about the size to which a zucchini grows. Having now spent one summer growing a zucchini in my community garden plot, I realize that the plant had no hope of fruiting. See the seedling on the right up above Yeah, this was my community garden zucchini after just a couple of weeks in the ground:

Yikes. Talk about a “what was I thinking?!” moment?

So this year, I approached my little balcony garden with a little less vigor and a little more knowledge.

The only successful plants I had from my little containers last year were greens and herbs, so I just decided to stick with those. Lettuce grows happily with only a half day of sun, and it’s handy to have some parsley growing on the porch for spontaneous cooking projects.

I feel so fortunate that I lucked into a community garden before the space-starved, sun-starved plants met their ends. At this point,  I could honestly get by with out growing anything on the porch at all these days. But these little troughs of soil are important to me. They help remind me that even with small amounts of sun and unfavorable planting conditions, it is possible for me to grow my own food. Those of us living in apartments and in cities need not be intimidated by the fact that we don’t live on acres of fertile land with plows and shovels and barns at our disposal. You can sow seeds in any patch of soil or sunlight you might have access to; you’ll be amazed at the harvest you’ll reap.

And I wanna help you get started! I’m giving away one set of these great little containers (which are flat on the bottom so they can also be used in a windowsill or on a porch) to someone who wants to grow something of their own. They won’t grow any huge veggies, but they are fantastic for growing greens, flowers, and herbs.

Note: The manufacturers of these containers have no idea who I am. I just really like their containers, want to share, and am feeling generous.

How to Enter CLOSED
Leave a comment on this post answering the question:

What are three things that you wish you could grow for yourself Or, if you already have a garden of your own, what are the homegrown veggies you never want to buy from the store again?

Leave your answer by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, April 29. Winner will be announced on Monday! (So sorry to my international readers, I can only ship within the US – shipping is so expensive these days!)

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy some time in my own little porch garden. Good luck everyone!

Spring (though it’s actually starting to feel more like summer here in NC) has officially begun. It seems like the trees were, just moments ago, blossoming in delicate flowers and poking little green buds into the cool air, but they are suddenly enrobed in lush, green leaves still blinking in their new-found sunshine. The daffodils and tulips have come and gone, and the light lingers a few moments more every evening.

But just in case there was any doubt:

The berries have arrived.

Glistening, ruby-red, and more photogenic than any berry I know, strawberries are the first fruit of the season to reach the farmers market in Durham. They’re the first float of the summer produce parade; it’s definitely cause for celebration.

And what better way to celebrate than with a classic, fresh, and simple strawberry shortcake?

Okay, okay, I know you might be skeptical about my use of the word “simple” when discussing a six-layer cake, but I promise, it’s really rather easy AND is so totally worth it once you have your first bite.

The cake itself is a “chiffon” cake. I’ve never really known what that meant, but now I feel inspired to make them again and again. This cake is spongy, similar to angel food cake, but richer in flavor and with a smaller crumb.

We start by separating eggs. The yolks will give this cake a definite cake-y texture (as opposed to angel food which, frankly, usually reminds me of eating a well-flavored cotton ball). The whites, on the other hand, make for a batter unlike any I’ve ever worked with before.

I haven’t spent a lot of time making meringues or even really using egg whites in their cloud-like form, but now that I’ve opened that can of worms in the last few months, I find myself utterly fascinated. This stuff is downright FOAM, people. Foam I say. I found myself reminded me of those elementary school days when we ridiculously “cleaned” our desks with shaving cream.

The whites, which are combined gently with the other ingredients, create a batter than is not even pourable, it must be spread. Like the shaving cream. I was tempted to scrap the whole dessert project and smear cake batter across the counter tops.

I didn’t, but seriously, most fun cake batter I’ve ever made.

I followed through with the original plan for dessert and voila!, out came springy, bouncy, tender layers of cake.

My layers weren’t perfect, weren’t even level, but that’s okay: it all evens out in the end. Plus it gave the final project a kind of folksy, put-together charm.

Next! While my little cakes cooled, the berries and whipped cream were on their way.

I chose to slightly sweeten my berries so their natural juices would release and soak ever so slightly into the cake. You could also try this without sweetening the berries, but I find just a little bit of sugar enhances the flavor without turning the whole mess into candy.

On the other hand, I tend to prefer my whipped cream a little on the un-sweet side. A little sugar, yes, but not so much that you lose the flavor of the cream. Mmmmmm I want more just thinking about it.

Be advised: if you try this recipe, you will not have as much whipped cream as you see in this picture. I um, slightly over-estimated how much I would need by, well, about double. The proportions below should give you enough for the layers of your cake without cups and cups (yes I really overshot it) of extra whipped cream.

Then up, up, up! To the moon with this cake! To Mars! Or at least to six layers. I confess, it did get a little precarious, but fortunately, the whipped cream makes an excellent glue.

Not to mention an excellent dessert.

Welcome back, strawberries! I am SO happy you’re here.

Supertall Strawberry Shortcake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Note: The original recipe was designed for two 9″ round cake pans, which would ultimately yield four layers. My batter might have fit into two 6″ pans, but I didn’t want to risk them overflowing. Plus, I like the ratio of cake-to-berry-to-cream with the thickness I got.

For the Cake
1 c + 2 T cake flour
1/2 c + 2 T sugar
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c + 2 T cold water
1/4 c vegetable oil
2-3 drops lemon extract
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks (or 3 medium egg yolks)
4 large egg whites
2 T sugar (additional)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Use pan coating to grease the bottom and corners of three 6″ round cake pans and set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F.

Sift together cake flour, the first measure of sugar (1/2 c + 2T), baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or another large bowl), beat the egg yolks, water, oil, lemon extract, and vanilla extract for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly combined. Pour yolk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Clean out the mixer bowl and wipe dry with a towel. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form, then add remaining 2 T sugar. Continue to beat on high until peaks are stiff.

Using a rubber spatula, fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter until no more egg white are visible. Then, add remaining egg whites and fold just until egg whites are combined and are no longer visibly separate.

Scrape batter into cake pans and spread evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is springy and a toothpick poked in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in their pans on a cooling rack for 15 minutes or so, then, running a knife around the edges first, flip the pans over to release the cakes. Place in the fridge to cool.

For the Strawberries
12-14 oz strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved
2 T sugar

Sprinkle sugar over strawberries and stir gently to dissolve sugar. Allow berries to rest for 10-15 minutes so that juices begin to release.

For the Whipped Cream
1 c heavy cream, very cold
2 T confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
1/2 vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer, which has preferably been in the fridge for a few minutes to make it nice and cold. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Assembly
Once cake layers have cooled, carefully slice each layer in half using a good bread knife or layer slicer. Cake will be very spongy, so slice slowly. Place one layer flat-side down on a serving plate or cake stand. Place berries flat side down over the cake, with the tips of the berries barely sticking out over the edge. Spread a layer of whipped cream over the berries, just enough to fill in the gaps between berries but without spreading down the sides. Whipped cream layer should cover the berries just enough so that the tops carry a thin layer. Add the next layer of cake, strawberries, and cream and continue. Once the top layer of cake is applied, spread the top with a generous coat of whipped cream. Top with a heap of berries and refrigerate until serving.

Serve either by slicing vertically (which is precarious), or by lifting each layer of cake onto a plate.

Just to re-cap, I started the new year with a goal: I wanted to learn just how I spend my money on food. Do I trade it with local culinary artisans National corporations?

After some debate over which delineations mattered, I made a list of categories into which I would divide my purchases —  both for groceries and for restaurants — and began the semi-tedious task of tracking every single receipt. My first month of tracking gave me some results that were expected, and some that surprised me.

Here are the results for February:

On this front, the numbers are almost identical to January. I did have a few extra runs to the big box grocery store close to my apartment this month, and to be totally honest, I’m not exactly sure why. Other than I must have really planned meals poorly that week. My goal for this month is to only hit the grocery store once a week, which should save food dollars, gas dollars, and time dollars. Yes time dollars.

But look! Grocery dollars may have been the same, but restaurant dollars show major improvement! I had friends in town one weekend and my parents in town for almost a week, which gave me opportunities to go outside my normal restaurant box and show off Durham’s local flavor. We’ll see how it keeps up when I am not entertaining guests…

So on goes the tracking. And finally, as promised, if you want to track as well, I’ve uploaded the spreadsheet I’m using. You can download it at the link below… it’s pretty smart and makes all your numbers turn into graphs. Poof! Time to get excited.

Food Dollar Graphs

Happy tracking!

Fair warning: if you didn’t know I was a moderately obsessive, detail-oriented, and rather analytical, you certainly will be the end of this post.

I love cooking and baking. Taking photos of the process, digging through shots to find the best ones to tell a recipe’s story, and sharing them with you. I get a thrill from planting seeds that, after a few weeks of sunshine and water, will produce food. And my weekly trip to the farmers market is a cornerstone of every weekend.

But part of my intent in starting this blog was to challenge myself toward a lofty goal. I’ve spent the last couple of years trying to buy locally  (or grow myself) as much as I could, but I’d never really tracked how I spent my food dollars exactly.

The new year gave me a great opportunity to step. it. up.

I wanted to see just how much of my money I spent in a local food versus, well, non-local food. Easy enough, right?

Eh. It turns out it’s not quite so simple.

As I actually began smoothing out the wad of receipts in my wallet to enter totals on my fancy-pants spreadsheet, new questions developed: is there a consequential difference between buying groceries at a regional corporate chain and a national corporate chain Is it important to distinguish between a locally-owned franchise offering a corporate product and a regular old chain restaurant How do I value the food I grow myself Should I track the food as I eat it, or as I buy it Should I focus on only the food’s source, or the economic impacts of the food seller on my community?

After much deliberation, I think I found something that works. Is this the system you’d use Maybe not. But for now, for me, this breakdown is specific enough to identify areas of improvement, but general enough that each pie graph isn’t seventeen colors.

Grocery Dollars
Spent on foods that are coming home to my pantry, fridge, or freezer

Self-Grown: Food from my garden plots and container garden, grown by me! I estimate the prices based on what I would pay at the farmers market for the same product.

Direct from Producer: Food purchased primarily at the farmers market, pick-your-own farms, or local food artisans. The more of my food I can swap for cash directly with the person who made that food, the better.

Co-op/Local Independent: I’m fortunate to have access to a grocery store co-op; the store is collaboratively-owned by members of the community, and any surplus profits are divided amongst the many co-owners each year. This co-op places a major emphasis on selling products that are locally, sustainably, or organically produced.

Large-Scale Corporate: Big box grocery chains. All of ’em. We debated the merits of regional chains compared to national chains, sustainable-focused versus conventional, but since my goal is to minimize my shopping at all of them, I lumped them all together.

So how’d I do?

Not too shabby! For my first month of tracking, I spent only 18% of my money at large-scale, corporate grocery stores. With one of these grocery stores (a 24-hour one at that) less than a mile from my apartment, it’s very tempting to just run over there when I need something, ya know, RIGHT NOW. As the seasons change and more produce becomes available, I hope to reduce that purple slice even more.

Restaurant Dollars
Food I buy at restaurants, coffee shops, campus eateries and the like.

Sources Local Food: Restaurants with a strong emphasis on sourcing local ingredients and omitting menu items that are extremely out of season.

One-of-a-Kind Independent: Those hole-in-the-wall local gems unique to your town. These restaurants don’t necessarily source local ingredients, but they provide plenty of local flavor and support restauranteurs willing to take a risk on opening their own place.

Local Owned, Corporate Product: A sort of catch-all category for those eateries that aren’t really independent but do still seem different from corporate chains. Franchises owned by a local businessperson. The little convenience store in the student center (a danger zone – lollipops shouldn’t be available this close to my office).

Large-Scale Corporate: The big national chains. The same menu in Vermont and California, in January and June.

How’d I do on this one?

Ruh-roh. Though I knew this was coming, I’m still stunned by how big that purple pie is. Here’s the thing. Most of the really local restaurants are, let’s face it, EXPENSIVE. Or fancy. Or sit-down-y. Usually, all three. When we eat out, we are rarely looking for any of those attributes. On a brighter note, we have a gaggle of one-of-a-kind, independent restaurants here in Durham, and we are getting better at choosing those places for our meals out than the chains we became accustomed to in college. It’s a work in progress.

What does this mean?

It means it’s a start! Every month, I’ll make a new set of graphs and try to figure out how to improve. Ideally, the blue and red pieces of pie will grow, gradually pushing out the purple. Now I’m no fool: I know there will be challenges. Sometimes, the only place to eat in an airport is a chain. Also I don’t see myself forsaking burrito bowls at Chipotle. Or driving 20 minutes to the co-op instead of Harris Teeter when I’m halfway through cooking a meal and realizing I’m out of some key ingredient.

But the simple act of tracking has already made me think twice about how I spend my food dollars. Do I need to buy cheese today, or can it wait until a farmers market run on Saturday What can I learn to make myself out of ingredients from local growers that can replace something I currently pull off the shelf at the store?

For what it’s worth: I think our individual choices matter. Just as each vote contributes to an election, every dollar spent on local food contributes to an economy that supports a vibrant network of farms, farmers markets, co-ops, and new local restaurants. As more and more people have taken an interest in where their food comes from, new farmers markets are popping up all over the place, local sections are appearing at even the largest of grocery stores, and more restaurants are proudly stating where their food was grown. It’s truly exciting.

Stay tuned! We’ll see how February goes, and I’ll be back with more graphs in a month.

What is important to you when deciding which food to buy?

Once upon a time, in a time not so long ago, a boy and a girl dreamed of eating hot, homemade breakfast every day. They did not hate the yummy but mundane breakfasts they had grown accustomed to, but as the season grew colder, the yogurt and oatmeal of summer days excited them less and less.

One day, while replenishing their stores at ye olde supermarket, the boy decided to see what treasures were held in the depths of the frozen breakfast aisle.

“Alas!” said the boy, upon gazing at the scroll of ingredients, “Even the scribes don’t know these words!” Indeed, the script upon the package seemed to suggest the meal was more chemical than food.

Suddenly, the girl had an idea.

“What if, instead of wasting all this packaging and filling our bellies with low quality food, we make our own frozen breakfasts#8221;

The boy’s eyes lit up at the thought, and they escaped the chilly aisles before succumbing to the tempting packages within.

The first step, they knew, was to procure some containers that were just the right size. So they rode their chariot to the Pyrex outlet to round up a dozen 1-cup containers, each one made of glass and accompanied by an airtight lid. They were safe for the freezer, the microwave, and their incredible dish-washing machine. A perfect find!

Next, the girl made a trip to the weekly gathering of farmers to collect onions, potatoes, sausage, and eggs so that they might create the perfect breakfast. This way, their breakfast could not only be hot and homemade, but also would support the produce of local farmers and ranchers. Except for the boy’s preference of Egg Beaters, which she used in his half of the breakfasts, she succeeded in finding everything else she needed and began the trek home.

Finally, it was time to cook. The girl pulled out her trusty frying pans, cutting board, and chefs knife and set to building the feast.

Each container was tenderly constructed, and it was just a short time later that the cups were complete.

The girl carefully stacked the cups in their own frozen chamber. And with just a couple of hours every couple of weeks, their stock could be replenished easily to match their every breakfast wish! Bacon instead of sausage Crumbled biscuit instead of potatoes Extra eggs The possibilities were endless.

The boy and the girl could now satisfy their every craving for a warm and filling breakfast without having to tolerate myriad preservatives and chemicals unknown.

And they ate breakfast happily ever after.

Breakfast Cups

Makes 12 portions, each about 3/4 cup of breakfast-y goodness

1 batch Breakfast Potatoes
1 lb ground sausage
6 eggs (or 3 eggs & 1/2 bottle of egg beaters if you’re at my house)
1 c medium cheddar cheese, grated
3 T salsa
black pepper and seasoned salt

Set out 12 small, freezer safe containers, each one about 1 cup in size. Prepare a batch of Breakfast potatoes and set aside. In a medium frying pan, cook sausage until cooked through and lightly browned, being sure to crumble the sausage into small bits. Drain off grease and pour sausage into a colander over paper towels to drain further. Set aside. Scramble eggs (or egg beaters) the way you like them! I scramble mine in a bit of butter, seasoned with seasoned salt & black pepper, followed by some medium salsa for a little kick.

Divide potatoes evenly across your containers, followed by sausage, and finally doing the same with the eggs. Top each with a bit of cheddar cheese. Place lids on containers and press out as much air as possible.

Store in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for a couple of months (not that they’ll last that long). If frozen, remove lid and microwave for 60-90 seconds to reheat. Refrigerated cups will need about 30 seconds.

And now, for something completely out of the blue, a fresh berry jam.

No, I’m not so far behind that I’m posting recipes I made this summer.

Seriously. I went to the farmers market last week, and nestled between the butternut squash and dark, leafy greens sat some of the most fabulous raspberries I have ever seen.

I talked a lot about strawberries when I started this blog, just as they were ripening here. One might assume from so much strawberry talk that they held the highest honor in my berry kingdom.

But oh.

Raspberries.

Be still, my heart.

Luscious, tart, and totally worth the seeds that will get stuck in your teeth.

There is little to complain about with the North Carolina growing season. It’s long, it allows for multiple plantings of cool weather plants, and an enormous variety of fruits and vegetables grow here quite happily. But I have been stymied ALL SUMMER, waiting for baskets of brilliant red raspberries that would never arrive.

Until November, apparently.

Grown under passive tunnels that gather warmth without requiring electricity (as greenhouses typically do), these gorgeous gems of fruit are coming into their own when most other berries have long since disappeared from the market stands.

How does one prolong this ephemeral bounty of fruity bliss I froze about half a quart, made some delicious dessert with the remainder (coming, promise), and pulled out my canning gear for quart number two.

This was teensy batch of jam, but a delicious one. Inspired by the major success I had with Strawberry Vanilla Jam, I decided to dress up the standard raspberry jam I’ve made before with just a little bit of almond extract. To great effect, I might add.

With just a pint and a half produced, it certainly won’t last until next November. It will, however, transform many a quart of plain Greek yogurt into perfectly sweetened raspberry yogurt for the foreseeable future. Breakfast, here I come.

Awesome Raspberry Jam

4 c fresh raspberries, rinsed and shaken dry
2 c white sugar
3 T lemon juice
2 tsp almond extract

In a large pot (no smaller than 4 quarts), combine raspberries and sugar. Mash berries and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice and almond extract and stir. Heat until boiling, stirring regularly. Once jam is boiling, set a timer for 8 minutes. Stir constantly while jam boils. Near the end of the process, place sterilized jars and lids on a towel near your stove. After jam has cooked, stir rapidly until foam disappears and pour jam into prepared jars. Apply flat lids and rings immediately and let jars sit until “pop!” of the lid indicates the jar has sealed. If jar is partially full, store in refrigerator. Full jars should be stored in a cool, dry place.