Dark Days: Christmas Dinner

I've cooked a few meals that qualify for the Dark Days Challenge, but this is the first time I have got around to posting any of them. For those of you who don't read food blogs on a regular basis, the challenge is in it's 4th year and runs from December 1st, 2010 to April 15th, 2010. The objective is to create one meal per week that focuses on SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) foods in an effort to draw attention to the fact that even the coldest seasons supply a bounty of choices for those maintaining a locavore diet.

Everything here was purchased at our local farmer's market, except for the salad dressing which is Ken's Lite Accents Honey Mustard. It's the one dressing that all of us agree on, so we continue to purchase it in the grocery store. The roast is a 3 pound sirloin tip from our friends at Da-Le Ranch with a Cranberry-Maple Rub from Just Spice. The beautiful roasted tri-colored carrots are from our neighbor's at Suzie's Farm and the potatoes, salad greens and watermelon radishes are from Maggie's Farm. I can't really remember which stand we bought the onions and red bell peppers from, but I'll try to pay attention to that on our next trip.

We also had a side of beets from Suzi's Farm, that we made following the Orange Beets recipe from one of my favorite blogs called "Susan Can Cook." The orange juice and zest we picked up from another random booth at the market. The flour, sugar, salt and pepper used were all bought out of the bulk bins at OB People's Food Co-op and the butter was purchased from Spring Hill Cheese Company. 

Honestly, this was by far the best Christmas dinner I have ever made! I think it was because I kept it simple instead of making everything I could possibly think of. But nothing was lacking and we were so stuffed afterwards that we had to settle down for a long winter's nap!

And of course a big THANK YOU to all of the farmer's who made this meal possible!