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Local food in a hurry?

Posted at 4:57 PM on January 18, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan (6 Comments)

I am a person who is easily distracted. It is just part of my nature and something that i am entirely comfortable with. This often means I am in a tremendous rush to get wherever I need to be. Just this week I thought... baby diapers? I can get those in the wash in the three minutes I have before we need to leave to meet a friend. Well, for those of you out there using cloth diapers could easily relate that: a) it takes much longer than 3 minutes and b) it is a job that should not be rushed! Twenty five minutes later we were on the road just in time for me to forget that I hadn't eaten lunch. This would not be a huge deal if I had remembered breakfast, or a snack, or any other part of my daily nutrition. I had to eat!

I drove past all of the chain fast food (haven't been in 6 years). I drove past a restaurant I know that serves food I can eat because it is all sit down table service. I drove past the co-op, and any number of options that could have provided a reasonable solution. What was I going to do? Suddenly I remembered that the glove compartment was filled with protein bars. Non-local, many hard to pronounce ingredients, but it got me through the crisis.

I realize now that the easiest way for me to cheat in this plan is those "emergency" situations. You know, the kind that come up at least once a day. I am looking at various recipes for making my own granola bars. It seems that the sticking point is going to be the nuts that many include. I don't anticipate an issue finding local dried fruits, or grains. We have the lock on a local honey of multiple flavors, so I am completely set outside of the nut requirement. Any ideas for a local source or a protein replacement? Keep me posted!

Comments (6)

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what about sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried and roasted soy beans?

Posted by marisa | January 19, 2008 2:28 PM

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Of course! I could do those with ease. I think the key to this project will be quick substitutions!

Posted by Sareen | January 19, 2008 2:38 PM

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Think you are on it. The convenience versus planning ahead. The old time fruit and nut thing was the autumnal gathering of apples by the barrel, walnuts etc... We used to dry fruit from our trees and grape arbor.

Does the diet allow venison? Buffalo is good but like a number of protein options it has a cost.

Posted by Mike Keenan | January 21, 2008 3:07 PM

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You can get grass-fed yak raised outside of St. Cloud at the Midtown Global Market!

As for local nuts, there is a company based here called Bergin Fruit Company that sells organic nuts at the East Lake Rainbow, for sure. You could call them and see if any products from from here. (612) 378-1234.

Good luck!

Posted by Kate | January 23, 2008 11:42 AM

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I didn't know Bergin was local! I will have to head back to the Rainbow to investigate. We actually do the majority of our shopping at Midtown (80%?) and go to the big stores about once a month at MOST!

Posted by Sareen | January 23, 2008 6:15 PM

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Instead of energy bars I used to feed my children these cookies (who would not rather have a cookie), I believe they are a Laurels Kitchen recipe from a magazine called A REAL LIFE that was published a few years ago.

Mix 1/3 c canola oil (I use butter or peanut oil, the peaunut oil almost makes them taste like peanut butter cookies)
2/3 c organic unbleached sugar or succanat
1/8c molasses
1 beaten egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1c soft or pastry whole wheat flour(also good with spelt or kamut)
3/4 walnuts (I usually skipped this or ground them up to disguise them because the precious angels will not eat nuts, even in brownies!)
1/2c rolled oats or multigrain cereal
1/2 c chocoalte chips

mix and bake at 375' for about 10 minutes (not to be boring but everything I used was organic).

It works well to substitute whole wheat pastry flour or soft whole wheat flour in just about any cookie or cake recipe.

Best regards, Vera

Posted by vera | January 24, 2008 12:02 AM