Spokavore Challenge Round 2

I really had the best of intentions when I signed up for round two of the Spokavore challenge. Round one was a lot of fun–even though I didn't make it to the end–and I was looking forward to giving it another shot. However, as the first day dawned, I found my self completely unprepared. I could give you all sorts of excuses about how I've been busy with this and that and how challenging it would be for me to limit my diet even more, considering I'm gluten-free and soy-free (more on that another day) this time around. But really, I just wasn't prepared.

So yeah, I was out before the challenge even started. But I wish all the other contestants luck! I'll be following everyone's progress as the week goes on.

Locavore 100 Mile Challenge: Day Three

Today's menu (sorry, no pictures):

Breakfast - rolled emmer with honey and blackberries and mint tea with honey

Lunch - leftovers from last night's dinner

Snack - two peaches, apple cider

Dinner - spelt berries with tomatillo, roasted garlic and jalapeno (not so good), chard sauteed with onion and mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, savory herb and (gasp!) salt and Earth Balance

That's right, I'm out. I made it until about 7pm today. I had just spent another hour and a half making dinner when I realized that although this has been a fun and very educational experience, I just don't have the time to do it. I can't spend over an hour making dinner every night. I'm driving down to Richland on Saturday for my best friend's wedding and I still need to finish making the 200 paper cranes I promised her. I have some long days ahead of me and I'm going to need that coffee. I was a total zombie today at work, not just because of the caffeine addiction, but general exhaustion.

So as I finished cooking my 100% local dinner tonight, all of this was going through my mind. I decided I was done and threw some salt and Earth Balance on my mashed potatoes. It was so good. I missed salt.

I wish the rest of the contestants luck - I know you are stronger than I am!

Locavore 100 Mile Challenge: Day Two

Today's Menu:

Breakfast - spelt berries cooked in apple cider with blackberries and honey and mint tea with honey

Snack - acorn squash seeds toasted with camelina oil and savory herb with roasted red and yellow cherry tomatoes (from Fresh Abundance)

Lunch - a combination of leftover spelt berries and carrots from last night's dinner and leftovers from yesterday's lunch of zucchini, tomato, etc.

Snack: 2 peaches, apple cider

Dinner - mashed baked potato, roasted garlic, corn and savory herb mixed together and rolled in emmer flakes and fried in camelina oil over a bed of sauteed onion, purple sweet pepper, green beans (FA) and bok choy (p.e.a.c.h.)

Another day is coming to an end. I'm pretty sure that if I can make it to the end of Wednesday I'm golden. As I mentioned before, I'm going to need some more cider and fruit. I've been eating two peaches a day and feel like I need more variety. I've decided to forgo picking up any legumes (at least for now) because I feel like I'm getting enough protein from the spelt, emmer and veggies (yes, veggies have protein too!). I'm really having fun in the kitchen! I'd been in a rut recently and haven't been too creative with my meals. This challenge was just what I needed to get me thinking beyond tofu. My mid-morning snack was so good. I left the squash seeds in the oven a little too long and some of them got a little charred, but surprisingly that made them taste better. And the tomatoes I roasted after reading about Monique's breakfast yesterday were fabulous. Little pockets of sweet juicy flavor. Tonight's dinner was an experiment that paid off. The flavor of the roasted garlic really came through and played well with the sweetness of the corn. It was just fine with out the salt, but I couldn't help but long for a drizzle of something like a balsamic reduction. Again, this meal was kid-approved. I'm so thankful my son isn't nearly as picky as I was at his age.

Foods I'm craving:

chocolate
coffee
bread of any kind
good vegan pizza
balsamic vinegar

Locavore 100 Mile Challenge: Day One

Today's menu:
Breakfast - rolled emmer with honey and blackberries and mint tea with honey
Snack - peach
Lunch - rolled emmer with zucchini, onion, garlic, comfrey and tomatoes sauteed in camelina oil
Snack - apple cider (I drank about three glasses through out the day - I may need more!)
Dinner (above) - garlic rubbed roasted acorn squash stuffed with spelt berries, carrots, garlic and onion sauteed in camelina oil with savory herb, drizzled with honey and a baked potato drizzled with camelina oil

Overall, my meals have been satisfying but I did wish for salt several times today. My son is not following these restrictions, but he did try some of my breakfast and liked it. He really enjoyed dinner too, but of course, he added salt and pepper to everything and had Earth Balance on his potato. While I was removing the seeds from the squash as I prepared dinner, I paused just long enough before throwing them out to consider saving them to toast. Can you toast acorn squash seeds? The internets tell me yes. I have those in the oven right now with some camelina oil and savory herb. Snacking is going to be my biggest challenge after caffeine, but at least I'll have toasted squash seeds tomorrow! I also roasted a garlic bulb and will probably throw in some tomatoes since the oven is already on. Looking at Monique's breakfast tomatoes earlier made my mouth water!

And Go!

The challenge has officially begun! For the next five days I will only be eating food that was grown within a 100 mile radius of Spokane. I spent the week preparing by researching local food, buying said food and weaning myself off coffee. That's right, like many other participants of this challenge, I have a nasty caffeine addiction. I realized early on that it could be my downfall, so I limited my consumption leading up to the contest. I have to be at work at 7am (so why am I up writing this?!) and coffee is my constant companion, but this week I'm having an affair with the local dried mint tea that I picked up at the Roots Market at Fresh Abundance on Sunday.

After stopping by the market on Sunday, my friend Amy and I drove up to Green Bluff where I picked up some apple cider, onions, peaches and honey. Add to that the carrots, acorn squash, dried mint, blackberries, comfrey, jalapenos and bok choy from the Roots Market and the zucchini, tomatoes, corn, chard, bell peppers and rhubarb from the Perry Street Farmers' Market and potatoes and garlic from the Spokane Farmers' Market, I'm in good shape so far. I only wish I'd known about the hazelnuts up at Green Bluff. The only allowable grain I've found so far is rolled emmer (farro) and have not yet identified a source for beans/lentils. Fresh Abundance carries camelina oil, grown and processed in Marlin, WA that is safe for the challenge. I picked up a bottle of that for almost $17. The price seems a little steep, but as a vegan, that will be the only fat in my very limited diet this week.

For breakfast, I'll be replacing my usual cereal of quinoa, hazelnut milk, fresh fruit and cinnamon with rolled emmer, honey and blackberries. I combined the remainder of the emmer I cooked up with some sauteed zucchini, onion, garlic, comfrey and heirloom tomatoes for lunch and packed a peach for a mid-afternoon snack. For dinner, I think I'll roast some of that squash.

There are still a few things I need to work on acquiring: more rolled emmer, China Bend wine (after much debate about yeast, this item has officially been added to the allowable list), more fruit and hopefully (fingers crossed), a legume.

My First 7vs7 Challenge!

The people over at Spokane Food Blog are organizing a challenge between local bloggers. The contestants will commit to eating only food that is grown or raised (but in my case only grown!) within a 100 mile radius for five days. That means no coffee, salt, olive oil, chocolate, tea or even tofu! I'm in, but I'll be honest, I'm scared. No tofu? No quinoa? No sugar?! I have a few ideas in mind, but this is going to be tough. Thankfuly, this area has a lot to offer agriculturally. It's time to do some research and probably cancel my produce box from Fresh Abundance for that week. It would be terrible if I lost because of a pluot from California!

A list of the other participants can be found on SFB.