2 For 1 Posting 'Cause I Missed A Day

I know, I'm bad. Broke my goal, but oh well. Today I shall post two things. First one I'll talk a little about the 100 Mile Challenge and then I'll post a couple recipes (probably not with much to do with the 100 Mile Challenge ahaha)

Anyways, I was browsing the TV one day and came across a show called The 100 Mile Challenge. Curious, I watched it. Now, I caught the last episode, but they're very good about recapping the whole thing. The challenge is only foods grown, produced and sold within 100 miles of your home (this includes coffee, tea, pop, juice, wine/alcohol, possibly even spices etc.) Now, from what I grasped of the show, the hosts pick a town, go there, pitch the challenge and then families can sign up for 50 days, 80 days, or 100 days (although personal challenges by at home viewers can be anywhere from a week to a year etc.) The show then follows the families as they change their eating habits, shares what recipes they create as they go along etc etc.

The families are encouraged to roadtrip etc to find farms, farmers markets etc to find food, as well as to grow and make their own. Now, I know the website will be useless for most of you outside of Canada to use the food finder, but really, get a map, get a compass, use the scale on the map to get 100 miles (approx. 160km) and then put one end on your town, then draw a circle. That's your radius. Look at the town names in that radius, get on Google Maps and type in "farm" and "Farmer's Market." Now the 100 Mile Challenge site also lists retailers, stores etc that sell local produce, but those aren't hard to find. Especially if you ask around about stuff. Also, I don't know about the rest of you, but in my area, that's everything within about a 1.5 to 2 hour drive. I can get almost to Toronto going one way, and into the United States going another with this distance. Luckily for me, I live in a rural area and there's a small farm with a shop just down the road, as well as many others within a 30 minute drive.

The families I saw had good results. It takes a bit of time to get adjusted to the eating habits etc, but in the end a lot of them were enjoying the new eating habits, finding new recipes, growing and making the foods, going on the shopping trips, finding what they could substitute for things not produced in the area (ex. using honey instead of sugar) etc. Most of all I think they were enjoying finding that they were saving money, and also losing weight. I'm personally very tempted to talk to my parents and see if they want to do the challenge. Of course in this part of Canada, our growing season is May-October depending on the weather, so it gets a bit harder to find certain things once the growing season is done. I noticed too that once the challenge was over a lot of people's habits that they picked up again weren't HUGE changes back to their complete old ways, it was more like adding in things like coffee, orange juice, wine/alcohol not made in the area, and pop. Out of the 3 groups I recall that did it, only ONE really had a problem with the changes.

Anyways, even if you're not in Canada, check out the website - they share recipes, meal plans etc, and you can watch episodes of the show online. You can also sign up and share your own stuff if you take the challenge etc.

And now, Part 2 of the post - I shall share a couple recipes with you. One is BBQ and the other is baked in the oven. Now, they may seem like they take forever, but I kid you not they come from a book of quick/easy meals. The longest time involved with these is marinating, and/or cooking. Which is technically free time to do other things as well. So here we go! Notes in ( ) are from me about what we found when doing them.

Tangy Chicken Potato Bake
Feeds 4

1/2 Cup Italian Dressing (we used Zesty Italian, it's yummy)
1/4 Cup Honey Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp Fresh Copped Basil (or 1 1/2 tsp dried)
4 Boneless Skinless chicken breasts
4 Medium Unpeeled Potatoes cut into small cubes
Sprinkle of Salt
Sprinkle of Pepper

Combine first three ingredients in small bowl. Reserve half the dressing mixture in small cup.

Put chicken into large resealable freezer bag. Add remaining dressing mixture, seal bag. Turn chicken in bag until coated. Let sit in refridgerator for 2 hours. Drain (Letting it marinate is important! Mom skipped this step and the chicken didn't have much flavour in it. We also didn't drain the excess away, we just left it in the pan to flavour the potatoes.)

Put potatoes into a bowl and add reserved dressing, salt and pepper. Toss until coated. Arrange chicken in the middle of a 9x13 greased pan and arrange the potatoes around the chicken. Cover with foil and cook at 375*F for about 45 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink inside and potatoes are tender. (This recipe is tangy, but definitely not a HOT tangy, but it might have been different if we'd let it marinate longer, but I can't see it being much hotter. It's also a one dish dinner for the most part.)

And recipe #2....
Grilled Pork and Mango Salad
Serves 4

1lb Pork Tenderloin, trimmed of fat
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/4 Cup Hickory BBQ Sauce
8 cups Romaine lettuce, cut or torn
14oz Can of sliced mango in syrup, drained and chop (or use fresh. We bought the Europe's Best frozen stuff, but you can also use fresh mango)
1 cup thinly sliced red pepper

Sweet and Spicy Dressing
1/2 Cup Italian (or ranch) dressing
2 tbsp Lime (or orange) juice
2tbsp Liquid honey
1/2 tsp Chili Powder

Sprinkle all sides of tenderloin with chili powder. Preheat gas BBQ to medium. Place tenderloin on 1 side of greased grill. Turn off the burner under the tenderloin, leaving the opposite burner on medium. Close lid, cook for 25 minutes, turning occassionally. (It takes longer than this, so keep an eye on it and keep cooking until it's done. I think we find it takes about an hour, or so. Nowhere near what the cookbook says.)

Brush tenderloin with BBQ sauce. Cook for another 4 to 5 minutes until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of tenderloin reads 155*F. Remove to cutting board, cover with foil. Let stand for 10 minutes then cut into 12 slices.

Layer next three ingredients on plates and put pork on top.

For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and drizzle over top. Makes about 3/4 of a cup of dressing. (We make the pork tenderloin without the specific salad all the time. Or have a different salad on the side. Mainly because we always forget the peppers and mango hahaha. It's still very yummy. It's also not a HOT spicey.)