Eating Local

For the next few months I'll be a blogger for Eat Local America sponsored by the National Co-operative Grocer's Association and for my own co-op's Eat Local Challenge blog (not up yet, but will be launched when the challenge starts in August and will be used in our newsletter). I might cross post some of these on this blog, but that seems kind of like cheating.

I started my local challenge on June 1 and I'm trying to eat 80% of my diet from locally grown foods or at least locally owned businesses. {Really I'm aiming for more than 80%, but I'll claim 80% in case I'm being too optimistic for a vegan in Minnesota in early June.} And our co-op defines "local" as from MN, WI, IA, ND, or SD.

One thing that became very clear today was that I will need to plan ahead. Today I didn't have dinner planned and I came home at 5:30pm when we were going to a Twins game at 7:00. And we were out of toilet paper and I had to get to the bank before it closed, too, just to complicate things. I ended up eating cold beans with last year's garden pesto and a roll from the New French bakery in Minneapolis and cookies from Country Choice in Eden Prairie, MN. Not the best dinner! The boys enjoyed the aforementioned beans on a hotdog buns with cream cheeze and romaine lettuce. They loved it, but it did look a little odd.

Yesterday's menu was great:

• Steel cut oats (Welcome, MN) with SunButter sunflower seed butter (Fargo, ND) and maple syrup (Cumberland, WI)
• Leftover potato salad (WI, MN, IA, backyard)
• Leftover barley salad (MN)
• Leftover cannellini beans with pesto (far away beans, with backyard pesto)
• Corn chips (MN)
  
• Roasted parsnips, beets, and ramps (WI & MN)
• Sauteed beet greens with cremini mushrooms (MN & WI)

Today's menu was clearly not as well designed after lunchtime:

• Toast from 3rd St. Bakery (Duluth, MN) with leftover potato salad (WI, MN, IA, backyard)
• Leftover roasted parsnips, beets, and ramps (WI & MN)
• Leftover beet greens and cremini mushrooms (MN & WI)
• Leftover barley salad (MN)
• See my lunch box below
  
• Country Choice cookies (MN owned)
• New French Bakery roll (MN owned) and leftover beans with pesto (backyard pesto)
• Tofu tacos (IA grown soybeans, far away lettuce, taco shells, salsa, onions)
• Spud puppies (WA)

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