Local Strawberries

While at the farmers market we met the lovely people of Rogers Farm. Rogers Farm is where we got our strawberries for the strawberry bread. However, in mid-may we noticed that they were not selling strawberries anymore. We decided to ask them if they were going to have strawberries for purchase and learned that you can go pick strawberries at their farm on saturdays. So of course, we had to do this!!!! Below are some pictures from our afternoon out in the strawberry fields! We ended up getting 12 pounds of strawberries for 12 dollars!!!! Try finding a deal like that at the grocery store!!!!!!!!! Of course we couldn't eat all of these so we did store some in the freezer.

Strawberry fields!

Ben picking his first strawberry

I'm a little excited about the strawberries!

I just couldn't resist, I had to try one!

12 pounds of strawberries later

Ben going home with more strawberries then he could dream of!

Eat Local Challenge

Ok we have put this off for far too long! During the month of May we participated in the Eat Local Challenge. At first we thought this would be really difficult but since it was the start of summer the farmers market had a lot of variety to work with. Also, instead of just picking recipes on a whim we focused more on what was in the recipe and if we could purchase it at the farmers market. We are very lucky to have awesome family that has given the both of us cooking magazine subscriptions and cook books that also focus on eating in season. So in short, we had an awesome time doing the Eat local challenge and we made all of our meals 50% local or more. I would have to say that during the challenge the majority of our meals were around 85% local. Now we have taken the things we learned during the challenge and have made them a part of our "foodie" life. One of the things we found helpful was buying local meat. We are fortunate here at UF to have a meat processing center on campus. The prices are on average 1/2 the price/per pound then meat found at the grocery store. However, the UF meat center only sells beef and pork. We did find chicken that is semi-local (within a 100mi of our home) and fish (again, we're lucky we live by the gulf).

Since it took us awhile to write our recipes from the eat local challenge, we decided to just put the pictures up:) If any of the food looks yummy to you, feel free to e-mail us and we can e-mail it to you! Here's our yummy meals from the eat local challenge!

Flank Steak in a red wine and onion marinade (our first local meat purchase)


Homemade pizza (local sausage, dough, and tomato sauce)



Pork Ribs with an asian marinade (local ribs and they were oh so yummy!)

Some light reading...

Here are two wonderful articles from the NY Times that came out this week on eating healthier and organic (from your very own yard). Enjoy!

Organic garden
Meat

Did you miss us?

So we've been a "little" busy and have been slacking on posting about food and some of the favorite meals we've made recently. But don't worry we've might have been slacking on posting but not on cooking! Here are some things we will be posting on:

The Eat Local Challenge
Eating FRESH local meat
Strawberries-Hand picked!
Peaches- Hand picked!

The entire month of May has been so enjoyable! We participated in the Eat Local Challenge and learned how easy it is to buy foods locally. EVERYONE should not only try it but do it!!!!!! Its easy to find a local farmers market near you. Not only do you get wonderful FRESH food but you will also learn about the food you are buying and you might pick up a recipe or two along the way.

We look forward in sharing our Month of May food adventure with all of you soon!