Local Growers Guild Plans Series of Events to Celebrate GOING LOCAL WEEK 2010

 

Mark your calendars! The Local Growers Guild will be hosting a series of events celebrating Going Local Week September 5-11, 2010 in conjunction with Local First Indiana. They will kick-off the week on Friday, September 3rd at 5:30 p.m. with an opening reception for the Local Growers Guild exhibit in the Community Voices Room at the Monroe County History Museum in Bloomington and will have other events and specials throughout the week. Stay tuned for more exciting details!

Indiana Specialty Food Creator Offers Outrageously Delicious Vegan and Gluten Free Specialty Confections and Products

 

To many of many of her friends and family members, Cara Matheis led an ultra glamorous life-- jetting about the country opening up new stores for the luxury clothing brand Burberry. But four years ago she made the move to South Bend, Indiana after marrying her longtime love and traded her high powered career for a more settled personal life.

"Relocating to South Bend forced me to recreate myself." she explained." While I enjoyed the work at Burberry, there were times when it just felt like a job. Towards the end of that part of my life there were many times when I didn't feel connected or enthusiastic about what I was doing. I knew it was time for a change. The problem was, I didn't know what the change was going to be."

After making the move to South Bend, the life-long vegetarian and recent vegan spent time in her home kitchen making healthy treats and shared them with her friends and family. She also took a job at the Carriage House Dining Room and Gardens in South Bend where she was employed as a temporary administrative staff member filling in for a woman on leave. When the woman returned to work, Cara stayed on at the restaurant which offers high style international fare in a breathtakingly beautiful atmosphere. "My job at the Carriage House helped me explore options in the culinary field. I discovered my passion. It was then that I decided to develop and sell my own line of healthy foods and specialty confections. "

Operating under the name Scarlet O'Cara, Cara has created an impressive product line. " All my items are vegan and gluten free. The best sellers are my raw bars. I've created 20 different ones including Mulberry and Cashew, Pure Protein, Chocolate Chia, Super Cranberry, Berry Medley, and Almond Crisp.  All ingredients are raw and all nuts are soaked and sprouted adhering to specific raw food practices.

I also offer chocolate chip and date granola bars, brownies, granola including Mango and Macadamia, Pomegranate and Pecan, Blueberry and Flax; raw truffles including Tropical Truffles, Cranberry and Pecan; cookies and mini-Bundt cakes (Hummingbird, Coconut and Chocolate). And I have herb infused salts, gluten free pancake mix and tea breads.

The pancake mix is a favorite of mine because it makes such light and fluffy pancakes--something that is fairly difficult to accomplish with a gluten free mix. I love to create new products and always have something new every week for my customers to try."

 

Cara's products can be found at the Purple Porch Co-Op, New Buffalo Farmers' Market, and the South Bend Farmer's Market. For more information contact her at scarletocara@excite.com  

Photos courtesy of Cara Matheis.
Photo One: Cara Matheis
Photo Two: Cara's Booth "A Dedicated Life" at the South Bend Farmers' Market

Best Ever Girls' Night Out at the New Day Meadery Tasting Room

Last Friday night was "Girls' Night Out" for me and two of my neighbors. We left the guys at home, put on our "we are looking really fine tonight" clothes, jumped into the GOING LOCAL mobile, and ventured down to Fountain Square for an evening at New Day Meadery's tasting room.

Once we settled down on the chic white leather sofas and were warmly greeted by meadery owners Tia Agnew and her husband Brett Canaday, we relaxed as Brett leisurely served us a flight of their meads and dry hard cider. As we sipped away admiring the beautiful interior of the room with its polished wood floor, pressed tin ceiling, exposed brick wall, and works from local artists, Brett provided a brief explanation of how mead is made, emphasized the meadery's focus on using only Indiana honey and fruits for their products, and provided us with a handout that included suggested food pairings.

We were so comfortable that it took every bit of energy we had to finally leave for dinner after we each purchased a bottle of our favorite mead. We were having such a good time that if not for our tummy clocks signaling an urgent need for a meal, we would have stayed right on those sofas all night.


If you haven't been there yet, add this venue to your summer must-do list. Tia and Brett have created such a fun and welcoming atmosphere. And an affordable one--a flight with 8 tastings is a mere $5.00 per person. Perfect venue for a group of friends, a first date, or an "...isn't it about time we had an evening out?". 

Just one more thing, if you haven't tried mead lately and think it's that overly sweet thick wine from way back when...you are in for a real treat at New Day Meadery. Most of their meads are dry and all of them, and my friends agreed, are wonderful. 

NEW DAY MEADERY
Historic Fountain Square
1102 Prospect Street
Indianapolis, IN 46203
(888) 632-3379
contact@newdaymeadery.com
www.newdaymeadery.com

Hours:
Tue-Thu 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat   11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Sun 12:00 noon - 4:00 p.m.

Photos: Courtesy of New Day Meadery

Stale Bread Goes Glam:Panzanella

While stale bread isn't necessarily the stuff that culinary dreams are made of, in the summer when I find myself with a few slices of day old crusty bread, I give it new life as panzanella salad.

The simple recipe is not without a bit of controversy. There are two schools of thought about how to handle the bread when making this salad. One says soak the bread in water...the other says use dry bread.

Where do I weigh in? Click here for my recipe and see.

Flower Canapes

 

The  lovely flower canapés in the photo were created by my friend Sue Arnold. Along with being a creative cook, Sue is a Master Gardener, Gold Level and is one of my "go to girls" when I need garden advice.

She's an active member of the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society, Indianapolis Museum of Art's Horticultural Society, Central Indiana Herb Society, Friendly Garden Club of Brownsburg; and is employed part-time as plant specialist at Madeline Elder Greenhouse at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. When she's not volunteering or working in her beautifully landscaped yard, she can be found sipping iced tea and nibbling on these lovely canapés under one of her shade trees.

Sue says it's important to understand that not every flower is edible--some are poisonous--so be sure to do your homework before serving them to anyone. Use only organically grown flowers that have not been sprayed or exposed to chemicals. Take care to not serve them to children, the elderly, or anyone with a compromised immune system. Also, use them sparingly as Sue has done in these canpes. I especially like to toss edible flowers in field greens salads that have been dressed with a raspberry or strawberry vinaigrette.

Click here for a very informative article about edible flowers including information about what they actually taste like--unfortunately, as pretty as they are, not all edible flowers are tasty!