tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28683827578778420732011-07-30T07:57:19.524-07:00Eating locally, seasonally and creatively.Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-8355774603392768092009-08-25T11:45:00.000-07:002009-08-25T11:39:39.893-07:00

Discovering how to cook our favorite restaurant meals is one of my favorite things to do. Once I know how to make something at home, we no longer need to go out to get it. Though, sometimes going out to a restaurant is really a pleasure.Jason and I both love Thai food and whenever we have a dish we really like, we first try to figure out the ingredients while eating it and then research it to

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-89355644528494949452009-08-19T11:21:00.000-07:002009-08-20T17:05:26.272-07:00

I started back to grad school this week! My classes are all in the evenings, three days a week. I get home around eight and, needless to say, don't feel like making a complicated meal. I am trying to build up my database of really quick meals for my school days. I am also planning to plan a little better...is that like deciding to stop procrastinating tomorrow?Lately, I have been buying only

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-56133175069884340242009-08-12T12:46:00.000-07:002011-05-19T16:53:05.806-07:00

We went to see Julie & Julia over the weekend. It was a lot of fun to watch and, of course, made us want to eat lots of rich food and drink wine. We decided to try to find French cuisine that wouldn't break the bank. We didn't find a French restaurant that fit the bill, but fortunately, The Glenwood, one of our neighborhood restaurants, had a special of Scallops in Beurre Blanc. Yum! What

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-66584340735002701942009-08-11T12:25:00.000-07:002009-08-11T18:08:51.188-07:00

At some point before the summer is over, I will post more seasonally appropriate dishes. Really. The ingredients are all seasonal even though the cooking method may not be!I found this recipe a few days ago on a food blog I read regularly and knew I should use it for the chard I was getting from Moore Farms.Of course, I made a few changes to the recipe based on what we had on hand.2 slices

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-1844078681364884532009-08-09T09:39:00.000-07:002009-08-09T09:39:00.414-07:00

In another "who cares that it's summer" move, I roasted a chicken last week, but a few snafus with the camera delayed any posting. I also didn't take any pictures of the chicken because, well, how many pictures of a roasted chicken does one really need to see?Last week's chicken had the best flavor of any recent chickens! I stuffed the cavity with fresh sage, sun dried tomatoes, and chunks of

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-67935931756005856312009-08-06T06:46:00.000-07:002009-08-07T05:54:08.206-07:00

Call me crazy, but regardless of the summer heat, I crank up the oven at least once a week for homemade pizza (confession: it's more than once a week for the oven...I'm still roasting chickens). Fortunately for us, the heat tends to stay in the kitchen while the rest of the apartment remains at a comfortable level of coolness.One of our standards is a BBQ Chicken Pizza. This is one of Jason's

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-72789433323313349042009-07-30T15:17:00.000-07:002009-07-31T05:48:42.445-07:00

I have a plethora of green beans in the fridge! The recipe I used for the beans last night originally called for broccoli. Since we have been putting more effort into local eating, we haven't had broccoli. I admit I have been missing broccoli very much! I figured subbing the green beans in a broccoli recipe just might assuage my longing for broccoli.1/2 lb green beans1 tbsp butter (please don't

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-9477099804717022892009-07-29T03:27:00.000-07:002009-07-31T05:49:32.212-07:00

I get our new produce orders on Wednesdays. Many a Tuesday night finds us running low on fresh produce. I usually end up scouring the cupboards and fridge for things I can throw together to make a meal. This week I adapted another NPR How Low Can You Go meal - Dal, Chilean Style .Here's what I did:1 cup lentils4 red potatoes2 carrots1/2 large Vidalia onion1 Serrano pepper1 fresh tomato (

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-11761989219481487352009-07-14T11:52:00.000-07:002009-07-31T05:49:56.522-07:00

This meal was almost completely local! I love it! The only non-local thing (aside from olive oil and salt) was the chopped cilantro in the corn.The chicken is from Springer Mountain Farms in north Georgia. Though not organic, their chickens are "all-natural," meaning no antibiotics, no chemicals, no animal byproducts. According to their website, "the standards given for Organic production

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-54492872650442124632009-07-12T12:26:00.000-07:002009-07-12T12:48:40.154-07:00

This is another great way to eat summer squash. The patty pans are wonderful to stuff because of their shape, but you could prepare yellow squash or zucchini this way. Like I said yesterday, this vegan blog has some great recipes! I adapted this one based on our taste and what we had on hand. You could use just about anything and season it any way you want. I think a Mediterranean flavor

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-24853145039494318132009-07-10T14:22:00.000-07:002009-07-11T18:03:27.257-07:00

Not together, of course! The box we got from the farm yesterday had all kinds of goodies. Just look at these blackberries!Berries are difficult to transport, especially organics. By the time I got ours home, they had already started oozing dark purple juice, so I knew I'd have to use them immediately. Don't spoil your supper thinking about dessert just yet! We'll get to that.I stood in line at

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-45400449684841963472009-07-06T12:33:00.000-07:002009-07-07T12:56:31.880-07:00

This meal was as delicious as it was pretty. I ordered pork chops from the farm for the first time and they were a real treat. The pork comes from Riverview Farms in Ranger, GA. The order came with two chops that were enormous. I split one of them for this meal for me and Jason. I marinated the chops in a mixture of one tablespoon Dijon mustard and two tablespoons Caesar dressing (both store

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-91749323242598676472009-07-02T12:09:00.001-07:002009-07-02T13:02:13.301-07:00

Summer means burgers on the grill! If you are a meat eater and you haven't tried grass-fed beef, you are missing out on some great tasting stuff! We get ground beef from our CSA (Moore Farms and Friends). It comes from Cedar Springs Farm in Chickamauga, GA.You can immediately taste the difference in grass-fed meats. The first time we made burgers from this beef, both Jason and I kept saying (

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-66299722576563280662009-06-30T10:35:00.000-07:002009-06-30T11:42:32.237-07:00

This recipe was inspired by one I heard on NPR's "How Low Can You Go?" recipe challenge. The recipe calls for spinach instead of beet greens, but I wanted to work with what I had on hand. And I had some beets in the fridge with their tops still attached that I didn't even know I could use. Jason was out of town on a business trip, so it was the perfect time for an experiment that could go wrong

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-74954462195259494032009-06-30T10:26:00.000-07:002009-06-30T10:35:23.942-07:00

Green beans are tasty just about any way you use them! This recipe is a quick and easy way to to add some variety to this a great side dish. The sweetness of the sauteed tomatoes provides a great counterpoint to the earthy-ness of the green beans. Be sure to saute the tomatoes for the full 20 minutes to get the best flavor.3 tbsp. oil4 large cloves of garlic1 1/2 lbs. green beans4 fresh

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-20343364768826968722009-06-27T11:53:00.000-07:002009-06-27T12:32:17.606-07:00

This is a wonderful and easy way to use up your yellow squash if, like me, you don't really enjoy eating it! I've tried it the traditional Southern way - fried with onions. I've tried it on the grill - skewered and lightly seasoned. I've even tried it raw, dipped in hummus! But I've found that using one of my all-time favorite vegetables to mask the texture and complement the flavor of the

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868382757877842073.post-53835080530415577852009-06-01T08:17:00.000-07:002009-06-27T11:28:57.735-07:00

Our Local Food JourneyMy husband, Jason, and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) about a year ago. We joined for a number of reasons - organic produce, less transit time from farm to table, reducing our carbon footprint, supporting local business... just to name a few. Being paranoid in nature, I also wanted to secure a local source for food. Our world has been changing so much

Rebecca Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04656203879586206321noreply@blogger.com0