Dark Day of Winter Eat Local Challenge Meal 1

I'm not sure why the photos seem to have a fuzzy tint to them. I'm still learning how to do this blogging thing. I know I'm not a great photographer let alone a food stylist. They might not be pretty but dinner was GOOD.

Tonight's dinner was the first meal in the winter eat local challenge. Dinner consisted of roast whole chicken, steamed green beans, buttermilk mashed potatoes and local wine.

The chicken came from Meadow Run farms ( 68 miles). The Chardonnay wine came from Blue Mountain Vineyards (71 miles).
The veggie are all locally grown purchased from the fair food farm stand. I didn't write down the names of the farms but they are all within 100 miles. The buttermilk and the butter came from Maplehofe Dairy (68 miles).

I did a simple chicken rub with seasoned salt and pepper, olive oil. Usually I stuff the cavity with lemon and fresh herbs and onions. Since I wanted to keep this local meal, I stuffed the bird with onion, parsley and a sliced apple. The chicken slow roasted in the slow cooker all day on low while I ran errands. I'm still renewing my love affair with my slow cooker.

It turned out fantastic and we pretty much decimated the chicken. Even my 5-year-old who is very picky about his chicken ate it up. The baby was quite content with mashed potatoes and green beans. The Huz's schedule enables him to have dinner with us this week and it was the perfect family dinner. It also came together really fast since the chicken was in the slow cooker. I cleaned the green beans and made the mashed potatoes right after breakfast this morning. Tonight I just tossed the potatoes into the oven to reheat.

I even have enough meat left over for a chicken salad sandwich for lunch tomorrow. After dinner, the chicken bones were tossed into a roaster and roasted at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. I then added in the usual chicken stock veggies and cover with water. My brown chicken stock is now simmering away on the stove top.

Next up Lamb Chops, roasted cauliflower and salad.

** all typos and mistakes are the result of posting and trying to play Thomas the Tank Engine with the baby.