For The Love Of Local Food

On Superbowl Sunday a bunch of us local bloggers got together for a potluck feast. Our one common thread - a love of local food. The idea was simple: bring two dishes prepared with local ingredients, sample all the creations, then blog about it.

Party-goers

• Me and my hubby
• Sophie of Late Bloomers Farm and her friend Cecelia
• Kaela of Local Kitchen and her hubby
• Zoe of Nutmeg Kitchen
• Maureen, a personal chef, Your Simple Feast

For me the makings of a successful party are good food, good drink and good conversation. This party definitely had all three! I really expected no less. I mean when a bunch of food bloggers are getting together you know their will not be a shortage of delicious dishes to try. And, even though most of us only knew each other from our blogs and online personas, we eased right into lively chit-chat in "real" life. Plus, Lisa from Goatboy Soap thought our locavore potluck dinner was such a cool idea she donated some adorable favors!

On the menu

• To Start: Baked potato chips and onion dip, savory quinoa cakes, pickled spicy carrots, salad with squash and apples, mesculin salad mix, homemade dressing, potato leek soup, whole grain rolls and two kinds of butter.
• Main Course: Chicken scapariello, roasted vegetables, potato and dark greens kugel, winter squash and tofu curry and ricotta gnocchi in pesto.
• To Finish: Glazed berry tart, chocolate espresso ice cream, and coffee.
• To Drink: Local beers - Arch Amber from the Hartford Better Beer Company and Sea Hag IPA from the New England Brewing Company;Local wines - Cabernet Franc and St. Croix from Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Vista Riposa from McLaughlin Vineyards, and Rochambeau from Heritage Trail Winery.

The cool part was that nearly ALL the ingredients in the dinner were locally sourced! Stop by all the participant's blogs to read up on where things came from, get recipes and other great stuff!

Plans are already in the works for a summer potluck. My taste buds can't wait!