Maybe you saw Monday's post, but I would REALLY LOVE if you went and voted for me every day on the Mrs. Meyer's Maker Semi-Finalist Website! All you have to do is click the heart next to my name (Landen M) and it records your vote! Thanks in advance! You are the best!
Now onto the actual post for today! I have been thinking a lot about food lately. This shouldn't surprise you, considering this is (mostly) cooking blog, but lately I have been thinking about the process of buying food. A few years ago, I started an Etsy shop and sold reusable produce bags (I actually sold a bunch of different things, but I closed my Etsy shop down a few months ago, and transferred it to an Instagram account if you want to take a look. I don't update it very often).
I always felt a little weird trying to explain what they were or how to use them, but I really believed in them then, and now. After I made my own, I got a little lazy and would think, "how much difference will my 12 produce bags and 4 grocery totes a week make?" Then I would remind myself that I go to the store at least 52 times per year, which comes out to 832 plastic bags that I didn't bring home. That is significant.
There are a lot of green living movements sweeping the nation right now, and I have gotten caught up in some of them, but I really feel like the ones that I have tried out have benefited my life.
Obviously the reducing waste movement is one of them, but the other one that I have been pretty fascinated by is the local food movement.
Does it ever strike you how weird it is to get oranges from half-way around the world when they are grown 30 miles away from you (well, maybe not you, but they're grown that close to me)? I usually don't think much about it, but a few months ago, I checked out a book about purchasing local food and not spending a fortune doing it. The author's words got me out to a farmer's market, and I kept having persistent little thoughts about what more I could do to go local.
Finally I bit the bullet and decided to do a CSA (a subscription box of veggies from local farm) a few weeks ago. We did one a few years ago, but I always felt like it was tough to use all the vegetables, and some of the vegetables just didn't appeal to me. On the other hand, there were a few veggies that I really came to love (red cabbage, kale, and colored carrots, to name a few). I got to try out new things that I would never have picked up on my own and had to figure out how to use them (scary, but fun!).
I finally figured that I needed to put my money where my mouth was, even if it meant making some sacrifices (local fresh food will more than make up for the sacrifice!). We have a small food budget, which meant some trimming in a few areas, because our CSA portion takes up a lot of it. One of the main foods that we decided to cut out is meat. We eat about 80% vegetarian anyway, but we decided that for the next 6 months, we will be eating vegetarian at home. Meat is expensive. And nice, organic, locally-raised meat is very expensive. So you will be seeing lots more vegetarian dishes.
The one great thing about vegetarian dishes is that they are usually super easy to add meat to! I will probably start suggesting what kind of meat to serve with a certain dish if you have meat lovers in your home. I am going to try to start adding vegan, gluten free options as well. Hopefully this will help anyone who has dietary restrictions!
makes 1 medium pizza
1 pizza crust
3 Tbs olive oil
1 large sweet potato, thinly sliced
1 large red potato, thinly sliced
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 Tbs white flour
1/6 cup whole milk
1/8 tsp garlic powder
sprinkle of salt and pepper (to taste)
2 Tbs shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
liberal sprinkling of rosemary
light sprinkle of coarse sea salt
Sprinkle of cornmeal for your parchment paper (optional)
Pour 1 Tbs of olive oil into a large frying pan. Heat over medium for 20-30 seconds, then, pick up the frying pan, and tilt it to spread the oil around. Add as many potato pieces to the pan as will fit and arrange them so that none of them are overlapping. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the potatoes begin to soften and begin to have brown spots. Flip them over and cook for another 2 minutes. Once they are soft, remove them from the heat and set aside. Repeat with remaining potato and sweet potato until all are cooked. Set aside.
Roll out your pizza dough on parchment paper or a silicone mat that has been lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.
In a frying pan, melt your butter. Slowly sprinkle the flour over and stir until it is completely mixed into the butter. Slowly add the whole milk, stirring constantly. Add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and parmesan, stirring to mix them in evenly. Heat through and remove from heat when the cheese is melted. Spread this white sauce over the pizza dough in a thin, even layer.
Put cooked potatoes in a single layer on the crust alternating red potato and sweet potato, overlapping slightly.
Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, rosemary and finish with sea salt.
Cook on a hot pizza stone in an oven preheated to 425°F for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are browning and the cheese is melted.
Enjoy!
I'm the same - 80% vegetarian! The only meat we eat in my house is chicken or turkey, and even then, it's maaaaybe once a week. Like you said, quality meat is expensive. And when it's $10 for 1lb of organic/free range/whatever chicken, I don't love the fact that that amount is about 20% of my grocery bill. Yay for more veggie recipes!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and I'm excited to see more vegetarian recipes! My husband (and his whole family) are vegetarian, so I only make vegetarian food at home.
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