thousand hills cattle company

Culinary-minded Taylor Ellingson kicks off one of Simple, Good & Tasty's new sections, Make It Local, in which our writers attempt everyday dishes and drinks with the challenge of creating an all-local recipe. With spring and summer brunches just ahead, it seemed only fitting to start with a drink that features food on a stick. 

Let's be honest — it's just not brunch without a little somethin' somethin' to take the edge off from last night. Whether it's a mimosa, a Summit Saga, or a Bloody Mary, the proper drink turns breakfast into brunch. So in preparation for your next stretch of mid-morning lounge time, challenge yourself: can you make a Bloody out of only local ingredients? Here's my attempt.

Step one: the drink

A typical pre-dinner conversation in our household might go something like this:

  Me: What do cows eat?

Four year old: Grass!

Me: Are you sure it’s not corn?  

Four year old: No!  Cows eat grass!

  Father: Where does this meat come from?

Four year old son: It was a cow

Father: Where did we get it?

Four year old son: The farmer grew it and then the butcher killed it

Scanning the titles of recent blog posts from Bill Marler's terrific, food-safety-focused Marler Blog gives us just a glimpse of what lurks below the surface:

July 5 - Unnamed Egyptian Fenugreek Seed Grower Responsible for 4,200 Illnesses and 50 Deaths

July 6 - Four French, including baby in a coma, linked to E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak in Lilie

The parks are closed and it is that time of year to take a road trip. Sure, you could go to Wisconsin or the Dakotas, but consider this: a weekend full of farm tours, small towns, rivers and lakes. Let me be your tour guide (something I am in no way qualified to do, by the way) as I point out the myriad possibilities presented by the "Eat Local Farm Tour".

I’ve always been lukewarm about solstice celebrations. While the winter solstice almost seems like a cruel joke – “welcoming” sunshine and longer days as we brace ourselves for four more months of blizzards and frigid temperatures – summer solstice is more joyful, but still is accompanied by that nagging thought in the back of my head. Wait! Summer has barely started – already we’re celebrating its peak? What about all my big plans of farmers market trips, bountiful garden harvests, dinner parties… 

Before I begin, allow me to offer a wee disclaimer: I’m not Irish. Not even a little bit. But I did go to Notre Dame, have never met an Irishman I haven’t liked, and love drinking holidays, which, when you think about it, is basically any holiday if you want it to be.

I also like holiday foods and the fact that my kids are still young enough to get swept up in my concocted celebrations and thereby more likely to try new things to eat. This past Mardi Gras, I made a lovely jambalaya for my family and since it was food for a fest, my kids gobbled it up. Had I made jambalaya on a random Tuesday night, you’d better believe I would still be eating the leftovers.

On Valentine's Day, my husband and I were guests of Chowgirls, best known for catering, at their inaugural fine-dining event, the Locavore Love Affair, held in the Rosalux Gallery next door to Chowgirls' kitchen and office in NE Minneapolis. I've enjoyed meals catered by Chowgirls before, so I was especially glad for the opportunity to check out their new venture and talk to founders Heidi Andermack and Amy Lynn Brown.

If you had told me, even two years ago, that one day I would open up the crisp white butcher paper of a package from Clancey’s Meats and Fish, gasp at the stunning beauty of a couple of beef short ribs and run for my camera, I would have told you you were nuts. If you had told me that I would decide to write my next article about short ribs solely because the picture was so fantastic, I would have told you you were double nuts. If you had told me that while I was going all Richard Avedon on the short ribs, I would simultaneously be cursing myself for not having bought more of them, I would have paused, shrugged and agreed that it sounded like something I might do.

A locally-produced film has been stirring up plenty of controversy in Minnesota’s agricultural and education communities. “Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story” is a documentary produced by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum about pollution and water contamination in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.

How many times have you unsuspectingly picked up an amazing cookbook, tuned into the Food Network, or flipped through a copy of Bon Appétit and found yourself with a rumbling stomach and watering mouth? Well, this month’s Simple, Good and Tasty book club pick is just about guaranteed to put you in the same state.