So What's the Challenge?

Last fall I was watching "The 100 Mile Challenge" on the Green television network and reading JB MacKinnon and Alisa Smith's book, "Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet". About that time we had a Bounty producer meeting and I got an inspiration. (Those who know me well, would call it "just another one of her crazy ideas".) At any rate, I thought it might be interesting to try eating from the CNY Bounty in much the same way that JB and Alissa and the Vancouver BC folks were eating locally. I mentioned it to one of the Bounty project advisory board members and she absolutely loved the idea. Since I was already both a Bounty producer and a consumer, she thought I would have a unique perspective. She thought it would be even better if I could start in the middle of winter and blog about it... and I thought my ideas were crazy. So in October I set up the Bountychallenge blog and posted a few comments to see how it would work. Then I sat back and tried to forget about the whole idea until...

January 1... It was the New Year - a good time to make resolutions to eat healthier, promote the local farmer, follow through on tasks left undone. It was mid-winter - that time of year that Becca thought would be good for a launch of the "Bounty Challenge". It was an exciting time for CNY Bounty. The producer protocol committee, of which I am a member, was finishing up their work on guidelines for producers. Becca came to dinner. The Chenango-Madison Bounty was now CNY Bounty and expanding. The new website and order processing system was about to go live. And I was missing my mom and big sister who have passed away. They both have birthdays around the new year and as I thought of them, I thought of the wonderful things that they had taught me to cook. I missed comfort food. You just don't get that same feeling with chicken nuggets!

So... I dove into the Bounty Challenge. I ordered, I cooked, I blogged. And after a week, I realized there was very little challenge to it at all. Unlike JB and Alissa, I did not have to go in search of local food. Here was the Bounty, already working with the farmers, ready to deliver just what I needed, right to my door. Sure, things changed some. No more running to the local mini-mart to pick up something on the way home because I forgot to get out meat in the morning. No more cardboard meals from cardboard boxes prepared in 5 minutes or less. I had to rethink what, when and how I cooked and ate. And I had to drag my husband along with me. Though I must say, he has complimented every meal prepared in the last three weeks. We are enjoying our meals and time spent together, and he is even joining me in the kitchen. Oh, why didn't I think of this earlier... (I love you Larry).

So there it is, the idea and how I came to start rather quietly on a venture that I thought would be quite a challenge and last about a week. But, that first week was so much fun, so easy and so full of good food and good company that I decided to try it for a second week, and now a third. I'm not sure we can go for a full year as JB and Alissa did, but we are headed into month two in the middle of winter and CNY Bounty has been our primary food source. We truly believe that as long as the producers have products to offer, we can do this and we will.

What does it mean that the CNY Bounty is my principle food source? Well, it means that I'm not grocery shopping regularly, and when I do, I'm trying to buy locally as much as possible. I do stray from strict 100%. I went to Walmart and bought 1 pound of carrots, a gallon of milk, a can of sauerkraut (McDonald's Farm is apparently out) and some candy. I eat lunch at work (school cafeteria) but my husband eats our Bounti-ful leftovers for his lunch. We go for chicken wings many Wednesdays to support our local American Legion and we ate at Colgate Inn on January 14 for the CNY Bounty website launch. This week, we were out of town for three days at the NOFA-NY conference in Saratoga Springs where Larry did a presentation on "Growing Organic Beer" to a full house! We couldn't eat from the Bounty, but nearly everything served at the conference was from organic farmers in New York. Please pardon us a bite at the Thruway rest stop and dinner Saturday evening at our favorite inn in Saratoga Springs.

And what is planned for this week? Well, my husband's birthday is on Saturday and the family is coming to celebrate with Sunday dinner. The menu: roast beef from Drover Hill, scalloped butternut squash and potatoes, a Waldorf style salad with Finger Lakes Fresh greens, apples, and Upstate Harvest cranberry cashew granola, and Whispering Pines Bakery white bread. Our daughters are bringing dessert, but were they not, I'm sure I could have whipped up a yellow cake with maple frosting that would have been about 90% Bounty. I'll post pictures - any chance to show off my grandkids.

So how about you? Are you ready to join me in the Bounty Challenge and eat for a week, a month, a year with CNY Bounty as your primary source of food? Would you like to blog about it along with me? If so, Email the Bounty at cnybounty@gmail.com. They will help us get connected. Can't wait to meet you.

Kate

Save Time - Shop Bounty.

I just looked at the clock. I've been up just about an hour. In that time I've had my cup of coffee, checked my Email, planned my menus for the week, did my grocery shopping, and told the world about it. Zero miles on the car.

Now, let's compare to shopping at the local Walmart.
20 minutes there. 20 minutes back. 20 minutes in the checkout. One hour's time. No coffee, no Email, no meal plan, no groceries, no blog and 20 miles on the car (a gallon of gas). Not to mention the other $50-100 I would have spent on stuff I don't need.

Bounty Monday - Creative Shopping

No work today. Yeah. Love my job, but there is so much more of my life to enjoy and so little time to do it in. At least I have time to get my Bounty order in before the noon deadline. Here it is.

Bread - White Whispering Pines Bakery
*Loved this so much it will be in every order.

Flour - Pastry Gianforte Farm
* Apple pie or cobbler with last week's remaining apples. Cookies for Larry.

Butter - Queensboro Farm Products
* For the bread, cookies, and pie crust, and just because.

Apple Cider - Red Jacket Orchards
* Gotta have our juice in the morning. May use it in the cookies. Wish someone had oatmeal to offer.

Milk Unhomogenized - Evan's Farmhouse Creamery
* Been a long time since I drank whole milk. I have some cooking ideas!!! Read on through the week.

Chicken Half (cut in pieces) - Quarry Brook Farms (divided)
Salad Bouquet - Finger Lakes Fresh
Dressing - Sweet Country Italian Ramona's Dressing
* Planning baked chicken and biscuits with a salad on the side. Will use the rest of the chicken later.

Pork Chops - Ingallside Meadows Farm
Bitter Sweet Hot and Spicy Mustard - Foothill Hops Farm (yeah, us!)
Yams - Mizrahi Manor
Baby Pac Choi - Finger Lakes Fresh
* Pork chops, sweet potato fries with mustard dip, steamed pac choi

Stew Meat - Drover Hill Farm
Marinara Sauce The Pasta Shoppe
Basil - Finger Lakes Fresh
Onions - Mizrahi Manor
Potatoes - Red Lambs Quarters Organic Farm
* Sounds like beef stew to me. Where are the carrots? Off to Moshers in hopes they are open in the winter.

Carnival Squash - Heritage Farms
* Squash and chicken soup using the remaining chicken

Jack Be Little Pumpkins(4) - Heritage Farms
* Plan on stuffing them with extra sausage from last weeks order. We'll see what else is in the kitchen.

Sauerkraut - MacDonald Farms
* Hoping it is in stock. Still have Drover Hill hotdogs and bratworst from last week. Just waiting for the sauerkraut.

Not worrying about breakfast this week. Still have lots of granola, yogurt and cornbread left from last week. And we have our own bantam chickens. The eggs are tiny but abundant, and oh so fresh.

Bounty Beer Braised Barbeque Beef Brisket

I am really enjoying this. It's been awhile since I've spent so much time in my kitchen, mixing and measuring (or not measuring). A wonderful Sunday night supper tonight. Barbeque beef brisket, baked butternut squash, apple and greens salad with raspberry vinaigrette, and fresh bread. My husband loved the meal. Good thing, because it was so hearty there are plenty of leftovers for his lunch another day. He's eating outside his comfort zone - he wouldn't choose squash on his own - yet, he enjoyed it immensely.

If you haven't yet noticed, I enjoy cooking with beer. Comes with the title of "Hop Queen" I guess. So when I decided to cook the Maple Avenue Beef Brisket today, it had to be beer braised. I chose Saranac's Mocha Stout for its rich color and coffee flavor which I love in roasted meat.

Creating a salad with the few fresh vegetables available on the Bounty at the beginning of January was a challenge. But the Finger Lakes salad bouquet and the fresh Crispin apples from
Split Rail Apple Farm inspired me to try my hand at a raspberry vinaigrette. No recipe, just mixed up some things I found in the kitchen. Sweet result!

Bounty Beer Braised Barbeque Beef Brisket

1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 lbs Maple Avenue beef brisket
Sea salt
12 oz Saranac Mocha Stout beer
2 Tbs Foothill Farms Spiced Northern Brown mustard
1/2 cup Ye Olde Landmark Tavern Barbeque Sauce (not from Bounty but local)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and dry the brisket. Rub sea salt into the meat. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Place the meat in the skillet and turn to brown on both sides and ends to seal in the juices. Remove meat to roasting pan. Stir beer, mustard and barbeque sauce into meat juice in skillet. Simmer a few minutes to disolve mustard and barbeque sauce in the beer. Pour over brisket. Place in oven and cook slowly for 3 hours, adding water if necessary to reconstitute sauce - Sauce will thicken and blacken - watch carefully.

Baked Butternut Squash -Wash and dry exterior of squash. Cut in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Place cut side down in shallow roasting dish. Cover with foil and roast 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Scoop flesh from shell and stir in a dollup of butter, a bit of honey, and salt and pepper.

Finger Lakes Fresh Apple Raspberry Salad.

Tear salad greens into collander, rinse and pat dry. Arrange on salad plate. Thinly slice Crispin apples over the greens. Dress with Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing below.

Kate's Kitchen Raspberry Vinaigrette

1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs malt vinegar
3 Tbs* homemade raspberry jam (thanks to my daughter Reinele)
1/2 cup water*

Stir together and pour generously over fresh greens and fruit. *If I had thought of it, I may have reduced the jam and used the Red Jacket Orchards Raspberry Apple Juice instead of the water.

Meal rounded out with another slice of the Whispering Pines Bakery white bread.

Yumm.

I can't believe it's time to order from Bounty again tomorrow. What shall I buy?

Quick Bounty Buttermilk Cornbread

My cookbooks didn't have a corn bread recipe either. Guess I'd better go get Mom's cookbooks out of storage so I have recipes for real food.

I'm a lazy cook, so after looking up cornbread recipes on the web, I came up with this recipe for...

Quick Bounty Buttermilk Cornbread

Cream together...
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs

Stir in
1 1/2 cup New Hope Mills Buttermilk Pancake Mix
1 cup Gianforte Corn Meal
1 cup water

Spread in a lightly greased rectangular baking pan (mine was 8x13) and bake at 350 degrees about 25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Serve warm.

Yummy and oh so easy.

The Great Chili Experiment

I guess I've never before had a kidney bean that tasted the way it was supposed to. I have always just opened a can of the red beans from the store. There I found a gooey icky sauce and bland, salty beans with very little flavor and texture, most of which came from the skins. But, take a cup and a quarter (you get 5 cups in the 2 pound bag) of Gianforte Farms kidney beans, prepare them right, and you have a nutty delight with just enough body that you can actually chew and oooh, taste it.

I wish my mom and big sis were still alive. They would have known what to do with dried beans. To me, they were totally foreign. I looked in the five different cookbooks on my shelf, and not one of them told me how to prepare these beans. So thankful for the Internet. I guess I knew they had to soak overnight and then simmer a long time, but I felt much more confident after reading it on the web. I also learned a few things about doing it right. Don't cook your beans in the same liquid that they soak in. Drain and rinse. Some of the hard to digest carbohydrates leech into the soaking liquid - easier digestion means less bean music later. There is some disagreement as to when to salt your beans. I took the advice that salting after cooking results in softer beans and less gas. My beans were easy to chew with just a little crunch - a nice mouth experience. My affinity for salt left my tastebuds a little disappointed, so I added a good dash of my hops and beer infused sea salt (watch for that in the Bounty this summer) and was pleased that I did.

Before I left for work in the morning, I opened a bottle of Middle Ages Brewing's Syracuse Pale Ale. Not to drink, no, I poured it over my dry beans. Hint - pour slowly. When the beer hits the beans, it reacts with the sugar in the beans and foams. I added just enough water to cover the beans and let them soak while I was at work. When I got home, I drained and rinsed the beans, opened another bottle of beer, and set the beans to simmer. Oh, the beans simmered in water. This time I drank the beer. Eat and drink local!

While the beans were simmering, I browned a pound of Drover Hill ground beef. There was almost no grease to drain away. But since I was going to put all the beans into the chili, I poured the tiny bit of grease into the bean pot to add flavor and keep the pot from boiling over. Back to the beef... of course, green peppers are out of season. Luckily I had some chopped peppers and onions that I had put away in the freezer this summer. Added 1/2 cup of these to the beef and simmered briefly. Tomatoes - oh, what a year for tomatoes. We managed to get a few fresh out of the garden before the blight hit, but not enough to can. So I begrudgingly took a 28 oz can of whole canned tomatoes out of the store panty and added that to the meat. 2 Tablespoons of chili powder, a good dash of red pepper flakes, and a little black pepper. Drain the beans and add them to the pot. Salt to taste. Simmer to blend flavors and enjoy. The result was incredible. The nutty flavor of the beans, like I said, was new to me but I truly enjoyed it.

We ate the chili with the white bread from Whispering Pines bakery because I totally forgot about making the cornbread. I can't say enough about how fresh that white bread was even on the third day after delivery. Yummm - It will definitely be on every Bounty order.

There is just enough left over chili to eat with the Drover Hill hotdogs on another day for lunch. Maybe I'll make the cornbread for that day.

Bounty Delivery - Right to My Door

Our biggest CNY Bounty order arrived today. The salad bouquet from Finger Lakes Fresh looks so fresh - crisp, green, edges sharp, not curled and brown like in the grocery stores. These greens are grown hydroponically and come with the roots intact to even better preserve their freshness. I'm sure they will make a scrumptious salad.

Didn't get the marinara sauce that we ordered. Sometimes the orders just outpace the website I guess. Well, I did wait until the last minute. I'll know better next time.

I loved the meat we have purchased before from Drover Hill. Trying the hotdogs this week. They are some of the best looking hotdogs I've ever seen. Better even than Hoffmans. I like Drover Hill bologna, so I'm sure these will be great. I'll let you know.

The beef brisket from Maple Avenue Farms weighed in at 1.7 pounds. Just right for dinner for two with left overs for a lunch. We like squash, but always find that the squash in the grocery stores are too big for us. I am not so creative with leftover squash, so we always waste a lot. The butternut squash in our Bounty order was called "Small" and it is just the perfect size for our dinner. I'm glad that I won't have to deal with the guilt of waste.

Oooh, the loaf of bread from Whispering Pines is so light and fluffy and perfectly golden brown. I baked blue ribbon bread when I was in 4H and this is so much better than that ever looked. I am humbled. The strawberry tarts from Whispering Pines are also beautiful with little star cutout centers to let the filling show and the star laid on top as an accent. Good tasting fresh food that is pretty. It doesn't get any better than this.

Mondays - Time to Order from the BOUNTY

It is Monday and therefore time to get my Bounty order in before the noon deadline. I don't know why I procrastinate so. I can order anytime between Friday and Monday noon and I always wait till the last minute. It's the middle of winter. Not much in season. Looks like Circa and La Maison Blanche are on vacation (nothing in their stores this week). Lots of stuff out of stock because I waited till the last minute. It will be a challenge.

Today I'm ordering: (Just about $100 for a week's worth of breakfasts and dinners with leftovers for lunches.)

Capellini Angel Hair pasta from The Pasta Shoppe
Marina Sauce from the Pasta Shoppe (for the capellini)
Oregano from Heritage Farm
Sweet Italian Sausage Links from Ingallside Meadows
Salad Bouquet from Finger Lakes Fresh

Kidney Beans from Gianforte Farm (making beer chili)
Ground Chuck from Dover Hill Farms (for the chili)
Corn Meal from Gianforte Farm (to make cornbread)
Sharp Cheddar Cheese from Jewitts Cheese House (to grate over the chili and maybe the pasta)

Old Fashioned Bread from Whispering Pines
Hotdogs from Drover Hill (making chili dogs with the leftovers)

Beef Brisket from Maple Avenue Farms
Small Butternut Squash from Lambs Quarters (side dish with the brisket)
Old Fashioned Strawberry Tarts from Whispering Pines Bakery

Bratwurst from Ingallside Meadows
Sauerkraut from MacDonald Farm (out of stock as I submitted order - first come, first served!)
Crispin Apples from Split Rail Apple Farm


Breakfasts:
Yogurt from Evans Creamery
Maple Pecan Granola from Upstate Harvest
Buttermilk Pancake Mix from New Hope Mills
Raspberry Apple Juice from Red Jacket Orchards