What is for Dinner?

Madison is such a great place for dining out. I'm always impressed with the amount of locally owned restaurants that we have in town especially during the economic struggles that we've seen across the country. There are also many restaurants in town that cater to the growing locavore crowd. A locavore being someone who makes a commitment to purchasing locally made or grown foods as much as possible. REAP is a local non-profit that helps promote this type of dining lifestyle. They created a Buy Local Buy Fresh program that partners farmers, chefs, and restaurants in order to get local products on our plates when dinning out. The restaurants and chefs who are involved in this program build relationships with local farmers to purchase their meats, eggs, vegetables and so on.

Here's a list of restaurants that are on the Buy Local Buy Fresh list.
http://reapfoodgroup.org/Programs-Events/buy-fresh-buy-local.html

Some of my favorite restaurants in Madison include Brassarie V, Crema Cafe, and The Greenbush Bar and they are partners in this program. It seems that this list has been growing recently with I believe the newest member being Monty's Blue Plate Diner...another wonderful restaurant. I have to believe that programs like this help keep our money in our community and have played a part in keeping the Madison economy strong this past year. Great locally owned restaurants featuring great locally grown food made by great local chef's...what could go wrong!?

Even with all of the great options we have for dining out, one of my goals during this challenge is to begin making more of our food at home. I think Mike and I do a pretty good job of cooking meals at home rather than eating out. This has helped us in keeping our dining budget under control and I like knowing exactly what ingredients are in my entrees and where they have come from for both health and environmental reasons.

Last night I made fresh pesto from basil that my mom gave me from her garden and some locally grown garlic. The recipe is so simple and you only need a small food-processor or a "chop-master" as I like to call them. This is the recipe I used and it turned out so delicious!

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano
  
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

We had the pesto on roasted vegetables last night and we have a whole jar that should last in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks so we can use it on pasta or just spread it on bread for a snack.

Last night I also made some home-made balsamic vinaigrette from Emeril Lagasse's recipe. It is much better than anything I've purchased in the store recently and I can't wait to have it on my lunch today! I did change the recipe a bit by adding less sugar and adding some water so it wasn't quite as sweet and oily.

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar, optional*
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup olive oil

In cooking more staples like sauces and salad dressings at home, I hope to reduce our waste (no more plastic salad dressing bottles) and when I use local ingredients I don't have to worry that my salad dressing was packaged and placed on a train or semi-trailer to travel hundreds of miles just to end up on my dinner plate.

Let's go crazy...Let's go local!