Local Menu Plan – Southern Ontario (Trying to Trust Spring)
 29 de Abril- 5 de Mayo
Spring?  Maybe it has arrived.  We feel it a little bit more each day.  In terms of planning our menu for the week  Cinco de Mayo should be an obvious meal choice (if it’s not obvious, it’s going to Mexican!).  However, I will still do my best to utilize local ingredients, which actually should be pretty easy, other than avocados, lime, and tequila….   Other than that this week is a little bit difficult to plan for. One problem is that some of our favorite winter storage vegetables (namely the leeks) have been disappearing from the market the last few weeks. That would be okay if it were accompanied by the arrival of Spring vegetables… but it hasn’t been! We’ve been waiting for an abundance of Spring greens but since they haven’t really arrived we have been somewhat unsure what to plan! So, this week’s plans for now are going to include things that we can plan on—cabbage and root vegetables like potatoes and beets!  Oh, one more thing,
the Beet and Red Cabbage Salad
from last week’s menu turned out great!
Desserts – I don’t plan desserts, they are just whatever sweet treat we have made recently, but these Chocolate Diablo Cookies from Chatelaine Magazine are amazing!
Also, an apology: last week we didn’t get to two of our meals… so we are eating them this week (which means that two days in this menu are identical to last week’s)! On Wednesday we didn’t make the planned meal because I didn’t feel like cooking… that was the day I ended up baking with My Assistant all day (yes, I realize this was ironic). Thursday I had a disaster (which I will write about in a day or two)….   And I’d love to hear from you if you’re trying any of these dishes, or what local foods you’ve been enjoying lately!  Share a link to a recipe that’s local for you below!  Try to think of what you could do for 100 Mile Monday this week….
Ok, the plan for the week:
| Monday | |
| Tuesday |
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| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday |
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| Saturday |
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| Sunday – ¡Cinco De Mayo! |
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April 29, 2013 @ 10:32 am
That Cinco De Mayo menu looks really delish – I am going to have to try those sweet potatoes for sure! I know what you mean about being impatient for local spring produce – I love cabbage but I’m really ready for spring greens, asparagus and rhubarb (the rhubarb in my garden is bravely poking itself out despite the cold weather we’ve been having this year but won’t be ready to harvest for a while yet).
One of my favourite desserts to make featuring fresh local fruit is a clafouti. Recipe here:
http://abundanceonadime.blogspot.ca/2010/07/recipe-peach-clafouti.html
I have been making it all winter with Canadian wild blueberries, in the summer it is fantastic with local peaches or sour cherries – hopefully we will have a real cherry crop this year! I also use local eggs I buy direct from a small-scale producer and usually local flour too (from Oak Manor). Although this dish is technically a dessert, we eat it often for Sunday brunch; the four of us can usually polish the whole thing off 🙂
April 29, 2013 @ 12:41 pm
Hey Karen,
Thanks! I haven’t made the sweet potatoes before but I liked the idea of being able to use local sweeteners. And your Clafouti sounds like a great dessert/brunch idea, and seems quite simple! And yay for Oak Manor! I’ve been loving their products! Thanks for sharing, see you around our online local food scene:)