In recent months, I’ve been reading and talking with people about the advantages of becoming a locavore*, a person who eats food grown, farmed, or produced locally. I’m giving it a try here in Whatcom County, Washington.

Here’s a beef sausage recipe I created as a substitute for chorizo in a recipe for Caldo Verde from the Winter Harvest Cookbook.

This recipe is reprinted from Winter Harvest Cookbook by permission of the author, Lane Morgan (p. 68). (Read my review of the book.)

I’ve enjoyed learning about winter vegetables and how to cook with them. One of the best resources I’ve found is a cookbook by local author Lane Morgan called Winter Harvest Cookbook

This recipe uses hazelnuts to add some complexity to both taste and texture in a simple side dish. It’s a good example of how you can use just a few simple locally grown ingredients to create a memorable finished dish.

Amazon.com now is offering the vegetarian version of my 2012 Holiday Dinner Menu Plan as a Kindle book.

Today was the launch of the first Whatcom Locavore e-book, available through Amazon’s Kindle Store!

Holiday Dinner Menus with recipes, shopping lists, and schedules have been created to make it easy to serve local foods to your family and friends this year. Three 5-course menus are available with beef, salmon, or vegetarian entrees. $4.95 each + tax (download immediately).

Using your crockpot can help make meal preparation simple and easy. This recipe is adapted from Best of Bridge Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Eating as a locavore (a person who eats only locally grown food as much as possible) means you’ll be preparing meals at home most of the time. This slow cooker cookbook can help save time.

This recipe is extremely flexible and makes a small quantity, so you can try it many times with various ingredients.

Crispy pickles make a nice treat as a side dish, condiment, or snack and the variety of flavors and possible combinations of ingredients are limitless.

Caramelized onions add a sweetness to savory dishes that is hard to beat. If you want to make people hungry, start sauteing some onions. Works every time!