New Hampshire-ites and Vermonters Take The Honors!

Image: GlennFay36, flickr

There are many reasons that Vermont/ New Hampshire area is such a special place to live. It is not only the smaller scale, living close to the land, local involvement and love of nature. It is also about the people who live here. Localvore menus are more than an awareness here and people actually walk the talk by supporting local farms and business, getting fresher, more nutritious food and respecting the land. One of my colleagues is eating nothing but locally grown foods for six months! And her diet if anything, is much healthier and scrumptious than the rest of us. When we launched the Localvore Thanksgiving Menu Contest we expected to be flooded with entries and unfortunately that wasn't the case. Two entries that stood out were from Pat, Coordinator of Upper Valley Localvores and Tammy from Happenings on the Hill. They will each be receiving beautiful natural beeswax candles from us soon. Check out their marvelous menus below. I think it's time to consider a permanent localvore menu at my house!

Winning Menu 1 From Patricia

SPARE THE TURKEYS! LOCALVORE THANKSGIVNG MENU:

Stuffed Acorn Squash (Individual baked acorn squash halves (from local farm) stuffed with sauteed local onions, celeriac, garlic, local butternuts or black walnuts (if available, otherwise non-local walnuts), day-old bread cubes (preferably a locally made bread), Honest-To-Goodness cider vinegar (Gingerbrook Farm), sage, thyme, nutmeg, plus shredded local cheddar cheese (optional), and chopped cranberries from VT Cranberry Co.)

Fresh Vermont Maple Cranberry Sauce (cranberries from Vermont Cranberry and local maple syrup)

Mashed Local Potatoes (with VT Butter & Cheese Creamery butter)

Sliced Local Carrots (with VT Butter & Cheese Creamery butter)

Kale-Apple Saute sauteed in local cider (local kale and Champlain Orchards apples and cider)

Onion Gravy (using local onions, butter, and flour from Butterworks Farm)

Maple Cornbread (Using Butterworks Farm cornmeal and flour, local eggs, local maple syrup and local butter)

Maple Apple Pie (using Champlain Valley Orchards apples and local maple syrup)

Squash or Pumpkin Pudding (using local squash, maple syrup, local eggs and Strafford organic Creamery milk, Butterworks flour, and non-local spices.)

Strafford Organic Creamery Smooth Maple Ice Cream (made from all local ingredients with maple syrup instead of cane sugar.)

Apple Cider from Champlain Valley Orchards, Maple Seltzer (from Vermont Sweetwater), Mint Tea (from dried garden mint)

Winning From Tammy:

Appetizer: Vegetable crudite - homegrown celery and carrots sliced with Maplebrook Farm (Bennington VT) mozarella.

Tomatillo salsa with chips - The salsa is made from hot peppers, tomatillos and onions grown in our garden. Served with tortilla chips.

Main Course: 1. Turkey - Stonewood Farm, Orwell, VT (purchased through the Rutland Area Co-op) 2. Bread Stuffing - Homemade challah bread (made with our own eggs) with garden grown celery, onions and parsley. 2b. Rice stuffing - made with jasmine rice, our eggs, raisins from the Rutland Co-op and ground beef from locally grown beef purchased from Ann Tiplady in Wallingford, VT. 3. Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic - From our garden this summer, mixed with local milk and co-op local butter. 4. Turnip - From the Rutland Farmer's Market 5. Whole Cranberry sauce - made with Vermont Cranberries from Vermont Cranberry Company in Fairfield, VT purchased at the Rutland Area Co-Op. 6. Broccoli - purchased from the Rutland Area Co-Op. 7. Baked spiced hubbard squash - Homegrown blue hubbard squash slathered with our own bee honey and covered with my mother's crushed hot peppers then baked until tender.

Dessert: Pumpkin pie with homegrown pumpkin, crust made with King Arthur Flour and our own chicken eggs. Apple pie - Apples from our backyard, crust made with King Arthur Flour.