The End of the #BloomChallenge

I cannot believe that August 31st is already here!

I was just emailing with a local restaurant about some of Bent Arrow’s garlic and wrote “August has been a blur.”

It really has. And, it is not just because of our creation and implementation of the Bloom Challenge to consume only local food. But, time does fly when you are having fun, and we really did have a lot of fun with this challenge.

Like I mentioned when we introduced the challenge at the start of the month, eating only locally produced food and food that we grew has been something we were interested in for a while. I like to push myself and see if things are possible and, honestly, when we jumped into the challenge I didn’t think too many of our habits would change. Especially because it is August. I figured, this time of year, we already eat a lot from the backyard and we meal plan pretty well.

Turns out, a few new habits were created and we are kind of loving them.

Lunch Time:

We have meal planned really well for years… for dinner. Lunch has never really had a plan. Adam typically goes out and I would just eat any left over’s from the night before or heat up a little frozen meal.

Now, we both are eating lunch at home and need to have a plan. I had started prepping big batches of egg salad, making homemade bread for sandwiches or soups to help get us through the week at lunchtime.

Adam has enjoyed eating lunch at home (and saving the extra 7ish bucks a day) so much that he says he would like to keep this habit up. I like that because it’s kind of nice to have a midday “date.”

Snacking:

I am a snacker.

I work from home, which probably contributes to this. So, when I am taking a moment away from my office I tend to wonder into the pantry. Hummus, pita chips, nuts, candy, cookies, cheese sticks, granola bars, whatever were my favorite things to munch on in between emails.

But, because I couldn’t buy or eat any of those things this month I was staring at a very bare pantry. It made me snack on fresh things like snap peas or peaches.

And, I learned to love to make popcorn on the stove top. So much so, that I don’t think I can ever go back to processed microwave popcorn. I will write about my stove top popcorn process and favorite ways to jazz it up in the coming weeks.

… But, truth be told, I am excited to have hummus and nuts back in my life.

Shopping:

The time spent at the grocery store was very minimal. And, so was cash. We spent less than $80 on groceries and farmersmarket.com orders this month…

… Note: This is not including booze. And, my Blue Apron mishap.

Carbs:

I mean, hello.

What’s not to love?

Adam and I were talking last night and he said that he thinks we ate more carbs this month than we ever have. He might be on to something. I made 3 loaves of sandwich bread, a rosemary garlic foccacia bread, pizza dough, pie crust, a loaf of sour dough bread and a loaf of French bread in the last 31 days.

And, tonight to cap it all off? I made pasta.

I know what you are thinking. Carbs are bad. Yadda Yadda.

But, Adam and I both weigh 8 pounds less than we did on August 1.

There’s something to be said about the nutritional value of things when they are homemade and local. Adam says he just feels better.

That’s a habit I can happily keep up with.

We really enjoyed ourselves this month and were pleasantly surprised by all we learned about new meals for our family, other local growers and producers, and local restaurants. This past week I managed to visit two locally sourced restaurants. Spoke and Steel in Indianapolis and The Crest in Columbus, Ohio. The Crest even had raised garden beds in the parking lot. Doesn’t get better than that!

Tonight we capped off a great month with my homemade pasta and just burst cherry tomatoes with garlic and basil served with some homemade toasted French bread with tomato butter. Starlight Red from Huber Winery will also help make the close to a memorable August– always my favorite month of the year- even more special.

Here is what we ate the last TWO weeks… last week’s update got away from me. I told you it was a blur!

Monday: B- Scrambled eggs with veggies; L- chicken, tomatoes and cucumber; D- steak, squash and grilled peaches with goat cheese

Tuesday: B- eggs; L- corn soup; D- Pork burgers and tomatoes
Wednesday: B- Traders Point yogurt, , D- Blue Apron Ramen Bowl with chicken, beans, cucumber and tomato
Thursday: B- Trader’s Point yogurt and peach, L- left overs from dinner, D- Blue Apron Lamb Dish
Friday: B- Eggs, L- pesto, mozzerella and tomato open face sandwich, D- Stuffed Peppers

Saturday: B- Trader’s Point Yogurt; L- Pesto, mozz and tomato sandwiches, D- out at a friend’s house
Sunday: B- Pancakes, L- burgers with sliced tomato and pickles, D- Blue Apron cod with summer succotash

Monday: B- Eggs with veggies, L- Left over stuffed pepper, D- Homemade Bucatini at spoke and steel
Tues: B- Eggs, L-Caprese Salad, D- chicken with tri colored potatoes and carrots

Wed: B- Eggs, L- left over chicken D- Short Ribs with beets and goat cheese
Thurs: B: Eggs with veggies, L- Tomato and cucumber sandwich, D- Pesto Chicken omelette and tomatoes

Friday: B- Eggs with veggies, L- egg salad and rosemary Parmesan popcorn, D- guest at my Uncle’s house
Saturday: B- at my Uncle’s house but with our eggs we had his homegrown sun dried tomatoes, L- The Crest: green salad, lox toast with cream frèche and poached egg; D- Guest at my uncle’s house
Sun: B- guest at my Uncles, No L, D- Tomato Pie (I wish I had gotten a photo… SO good!)
Monday: B- Eggs with veggies, L- Egg Salad Sandwich, Burgers with tomatoes, pickles and roasted okra

Tuesday: B- Yogurt, L- Egg Salad sandwich, D- Baked eggs with herbs and garlic with homemade french bread

Wednesday: B- French bread and butter, L- Egg Salad, D- Homemade pasta with just burst tomatoes, garlic and basil with French bread with tomato butter

Thanks so much for joining us in the fun! Get excited for the next #bloomchallenge!