I managed to pull together another local meal the other night for One Local Summer.

The photo isn’t great but that’s chicken pot pie and stuffed 8-ball zucchini. The pie is from a local poultry farm and it’s delicious and a frequent meal at our house. In fact, there’s almost always one in the freezer. It’s a great dinner for those nights when I forget to plan something. In the winter I usually serve this with mashed potatoes but I decided to lighten things up for a more summery feel to our dinner so I stuffed these adorable 8-ball zucchinis.

I cut off the tops of two zucchini and scooped out the center. I microwaved the whole zucchini for a couple of minutes to soften them up and while they were cooking I sauteed some chopped up zucchini (the center from the rounds ones plus another small regular one), a couple of plum tomatoes and some onion. When the vegetables were soft I added some Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and then I stuffed the zucchini with this mixture. Put their little covers back on and throw ’em in the oven for about 15 minutes. Serve ’em up when the filling is piping hot. They were fabulous!

We’ve also been eating loads of local vegetables and eggs. I feel really good about adopting this lifestyle. What have you been eating that’s local?

We had a bumper share of cucumbers from the CSA this week so when I got home from work yesterday I decided to try making refrigerator pickles.

I took my inspiration from a recipe at Coconut & Lime but then I sort of made it my own. I used the jar that I usually make pickled eggs in and quartered up all the cucumbers and threw them into it.

Then I added 8 cloves of sliced garlic, a few handfuls of pickling spice, some salt and lots of fresh dill. I filled the jar halfway with water and then filled it the rest of the way with white vinegar.

Don’t they look pretty in the sunlight?

Now they are tucked away in the fridge. These were super easy to make. The hard part is going to be waiting a week until they are ready to eat!

As I mentioned last week, I signed up for One Local Summer. I figured with the CSA this would be a snap. But you know what? Eating local isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’m motivated and I’m trying but it’s the middle of July and I haven’t put a completely local meal on the table yet. Sigh.

This is the closest I’ve gotten. Swiss Chard Quiche, tossed salad and steamed kohlrabi. Everything is local except for the pie crust ingredients (although I did make the pie crust myself) and the cheddar cheese in the quiche. And it was delicious. The quiche was made with local organic eggs and milk and the dressing for the salad was made with herbs from my sister-in-law and the kohlrabi was a new vegetable for my family. We enjoyed it all.

The share we picked up yesterday including a huge amount of zucchini, both green and yellow, and cucumbers. Anyone got a good pickle recipe?

As I may have mentioned a time or two, I take great comfort in serving delicious food to my family and friends. While this may account for my current XL size, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t benefit from my extensive research in this area. So, allow me to show you what we had for dinner on Monday night.

Chicken Tomato Stroganoff

2 lbs boneless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 cans stewed tomatoes
salt, pepper, basil to taste
1 lb cooked pasta
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown chicken and mushrooms in olive oil. Stir in soup, stewed tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil. Bring to a boil and then mix with the cooked pasta. Pour into a casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Simple and certainly not fancy but very, very good. Maryse, you really missed out.