Day 4 Buy Local Challenge

Of all weeks to arrange dinner dates, the week that I am trying to eat strictly local meals would not have been my ideal choice. Luckily, I have awesome friends and family, and so the two meals out I am to share this week, will be at appropriate restaurants.

Tomorrow, my fiance and I will be going on a double date with my younger cousin and her new beau. She asked if we would be interested in going out with the two of them to One World Cafe- a great vegetarian/vegan restaurant that I had introduced to her earlier in the year.

Tonight, however, I met up with an old college friend. Without even having to say anything to him about the Buy Local Challenge, he had already taken into account my vegetarian diet and suggested a restaurant himself: Soup'R Natural

As found on their website, the family owners of Soup'R Natural pride themselves on being

"a community restaurant featuring fresh and natural foods, like the herbs and vegetables growing outside our restaurant and the local eggs, meats, and ice creams selected from farms just a few miles away."

How appropriate was his choice!? I arrived earlier than I expected, so while I waited, I snapped some shots of the outside and their garden. For our meal, I had some homemade lemonade (delicious!!!) and I ordered their Feta Melt Pita- a large portabella mushroom stuffed with tangy feta cheese, in a whole wheat pita. It was served with tri-color potato chips and a mini pickle. It was fantastic, I will definitely be going back for their local fountain milkshakes!





Before all of this local eatery fabulousness, I began my day with breakfast: a peach/pineapple smoothie. It was made from 1 whole fresh, local peach; 1 c pineapple chunks (not local); 1 Tbsp Flax seeds; 1/2 cup cottage cheese (not local); 1/4 granola; 3/4 cup yogurt...ugh, I'm stuffed just thinking about how much food I put in there! It was yummy, though; a great start to the day

My lunch was a bit less substantial, and a lot less local. I finished off the local musk melon (a.k.a. cantaloupe), and ate some cereal (not local).



After work, I made a quick stop at the farmers market before heading out to dinner. I didn't plan on it, but I bought a Graham Pecan Toffee Goodness bar- or called something to that liking- from Rare Opportunity Farm, a farm from Westminister, MD. It was only $1 and it was amazing! I ate it before I could get a photo! Atwater's, a local restaurant that cooks with local foods, sells Rare Opportunity jams.
I then proceeded to the stand of Three Springs Fruit Farm, from whom I frequently buy produce. Today, I bought a zucchini (for my zucchini mock crab cakes), and a small basket of blackberries. These two totaled $4.75. The zucchini will be used for one meal, though I can maybe I can stretch it into two; the blackberries will provide snacks and small additions to meals for a few days.

Looking back, I ate a lot of food today- and that wasn't even all of it! I had frozen yogurt from Tutti Frutti: a mix of flavors- Taro, Pomegranate, Mango, and Pistachio- with strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, granola, and nuts; and more of my Salazon Chocolate bar. Mmmm, that's okay- I already know I wont have time to pack a healthy lunch for tomorrow.

Yummy Salazon Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt!