Potluck

My pledge for the week of August 2, was to hold a local and organic foods potluck as part of my Oregon Environmental Council internship. It manifested this past weekend at Laurelhurst park, when close friends of mine and a couple strangers got together to eat food that was organic and produced within 100 miles of Portland, Oregon. Putting together a meal with those restrictions proved difficult, but also rewarding now that I know how to find local and organic eggs, cheese, veggies, flour, and other foodstuffs at the grocery store.

My contribution to the potluck was a summer frittata and an attempt at honey cookies (I didn't end up serving them because I put way too much baking soda in them... bleck). Here are the recipes with detailed Portland-area ingredients:

Summer Frittata:

6 Wilcox Farms Organic Eggs (Aurora, OR)
Chard, basil, and summer squash from the garden
Provvista Organic Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Portland, OR)
Pacific Village Organic Butter (Portland, OR)
Organic garlic (Portland, OR)
1/2 cup Pacific Village Organic Milk (Portland)
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste

Sautee the garlic with butter in a cast-iron skillet for two minutes. Chop up the basil, chard, and squash, add them to garlic and sautee for about ten minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the eggs, black pepper, salt, and milk. Add in the grated cheese and the veggies from the skillet and mix together. Butter the skillet, pour in the frittata mixture, and bake for about 15 minutes or until firm (but don't over-cook it). When done, flip it onto a plate and sprinkle some more grated cheese on top while hot.

Honey Cookies:

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Organic Flour (Portland, OR)
1 cup Glory Bee Organic and Raw Clover Honey (Eugene, OR)
2 Wilcox Farms Organic Eggs (Aurora, OR)
1/2 cup Pacific Village Organic Butter (Portland, OR)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (this is the amount I should have put in)

Let the butter warm up to room temperature, then cream it with the honey in a large bowl. Add in the eggs and whisk it up. In a separate bowl, combine and mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add it into the honey and butter, mixing continuously. Form into one big ball and refrigerate the dough for at least one hour. Bake one-inch balls at 350 degrees for about ten minutes.

I'll admit, finding all these organic and local ingredients and the money to pay for them was initially frustrating. But I'm so glad I did it, because, like I said, I now know exactly where to find local and organic food staples. And if you're fortunate enough to have good soil and some space for a vegetable garden, you can better afford to buy local and organic by providing yourself with free produce from home-- as local, organic, and nutritious as it gets.

This potluck was the most fun and educational pledge yet. I encourage others to take the pledge and try making a meal from scratch with only local and organic ingredients. It's not only more nutritious and better-tasting food, but it's also produced with less than half the carbon emissions, using minimal processing, packaging, gas-powered delivery, machinery, and pesticides. You can take the pledge on your own, or for more information and moral support go to the Oregon Environmental Council's website: http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/food-and-farms/farm-fresh/pledge. For tips on how to make eating local and organic more affordable, read OEC's "Sustainability on a Budget:" http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/food-and-farms/farm-fresh/eat-sole-food-seasonal-organic-local-ethical.

Buen provecho!

(This blog is inspired by the summer internship I am doing with Oregon Environmental Council. Their website has a plethora of resources for becoming greener, from making non-toxic cleaning products to choosing more sustainable wines: www.oeconline.org/)