Roasted Sweet Potato Risotto

The days may be getting longer, and warmer, but it is still winter and some comfort food is in order.  This recipe, adapted from REAL SIMPLE magazine, turned out so well that I thought I would share it.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil 

1 medium onion, finely chopped

kosher salt and black pepper

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 cup Arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (2 ounces)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

3 1/2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock, heated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400, toss the sweet potato pieces with 2 tbsp. olive oil, spread on baking sheet and roast until tender and starting to brown, when ready begin step 2.

2. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3 to 5 minutes

3. Add the sweet potatoes and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 minute.

4. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until absorbed.

5. Measure 3½ cups of water. Add ¾ cup at a time and cook, stirring frequently until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next.  It should take 25 to 30 minutes for all the water to be absorbed.

6. Stir in the Parmesan and oregano.

Enjoy!

Going Locavore

As I posted earlier I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and have truly been inspired.  Her book has reminded me of what I know in my heart to be true, love your neighbor as yourself and for me that means voting with my wallet to support local farmers and businesses.
So, we are going locavore.

The Locavore’s Pledge
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

Consider these quotes from Kingsolver's book, "Buying your goods from local businesses rather than national chains generates about three times as much money for your local economy" and "if every restaurant got just ten percent of its food from local farmers, the infrastructure of corporate food would collapse".  Those are pretty powerful incentives to me.

Generally "Local" means a 100 mile radius from your home.  If you want to calculate yours here is a great site www.100milediet.org.  When I looked up my 100 mile radius I realized that I hit the local food jack-pot.  My 100 miles includes western Massachusetts, all of CT, Hudson Valley New York, Long Island NY, the eastern edge of Pennsylvania and most of New Jersey (yes, the Garden State).


Making the change to Locavore in February in New England seemed an impossible challenge but I have found that it is not as hard as I thought it would be.  My first step was to shop at Whole Foods, a store I love but often skipped since I bought into the its too expensive hype.  Yes some things are more expensive but many things are not and it is always a good idea to be a savvy shopper no matter where you go.  The thing I like about Whole Foods is that they label all local foods which makes it much easier.  


The second thing I did was to sign up for local milk delivery through  Hudson Milk Company
www.hudsonmilk.com.  Not only can we get fresh, local, glass bottled milk but we can also order eggs, butter, cheeses, breads and meat through them as well.  So far we have been getting milk, butter, eggs and amazing grass fed ground beef.  My husband told a neighbor on the train that we had switched over to milk delivery, and the neighbor exclaimed "you know that is twice as expensive!".  When my husband related this exchange to me, I was very happy to report that in fact a half gallon of delivery milk was the same price as a half gallon of organic milk in the supermarket.  So much for its more expensive - it is very important to do your own research!


Probably the biggest change we will be making is in our produce.  We have just signed up for the spring (I love to hear that word) CSA with Gazy Brothers Farm www.gazybrothersfarm.net.  This farm participates in our town's Farmer's market where we can pick up our produce during the season, it will be delivered to us in the off season - how great is that!  Again, I thought that this would be more expensive too but when I actually did the math it was obvious that this will actually be a big savings for us.  A 10 week share is only $200 which comes out to $20 a week for an entire box of produce.  Try buying that much produce from your local grocery store for only $20.  The best part is that 100% of my food dollars will go to the farmers, our neighbors.  You may not realize, but on average, farmers today receive only 19 cents on every food dollar spent, that is a lot of money on gas and middlemen.  


So far, we have not switched over completely - it is February after all and I am still using up what is in the pantry but I feel really good about the changes we are making.  The kids are also really excited and I am glad we are teaching them the importance of where their food comes from and about how to make educated choices.  I will keep you posted on our progress!


If you want to find out how you can eat locally, please visit Local Harvest. www.localharvest.org

Count Down To Spring

This has been a winter for the record books.  Living on the Long Island Sound usually protects us from extreme snowfall but not this winter.  Personally, I am done with the snow.  The other day while driving my son saw a tiny patch of grass and exclaimed "Look Mom, Grass!  I forgot what it looked like!".
That pretty much sums it up.  I really can't wait for spring.

If you want to count down with me visit:
http://mycountdown.org/Other/Spring/getwidget/