Eating Local - Panzanella

My family has decided to learn how to eat locally. We're not taking an exclusive Eating Local challenge or boycotting any big-box stores, but we are trying to progressively ease ourselves into a more local food life. We've been shopping almost exclusively at the local farmer's market or roadside stands for fruits and vegetables, and we've bought all our milk and eggs and nearly all our cheese from Wright Dairy, a couple of cities away, and we've been making our own bread (which is made a ton easier by my parents' recent donation of their old bread machine). And we've planted our first garden, after a few years of talking about it. It's even growing itty bitty plants!

I'm a vegetarian, so eating from the farmer's market isn't a huge jump for me. But eating only in-season fruits and vegetables could be a challenge. So far the only things I've missed are potatoes and onions, which I've had a hard time finding. But this is the time of plenty for so many other crops, we've truly had it pretty easy so far. You're likely to hear a lot more complaining in a couple of months when all my meals feature kale.

I'm going to start posting the best recipes we've used or manufactured to fit our farmer's market haul each week. The biggest problem with my recipes is that I don't usually have measurements to offer - I just make what looks right. If you're adventurous enough to wing it with me, I'd love to hear how yours turn out. This one is from our very first day of eating local. Thanks to my brother and his girlfriend for the inspiration!

Farm Fresh Panzanella
Cut a hearty bread into cubes. We used around half a loaf of homemade wheat, and it served three. In a cover-able bowl, mix bread with oil, sage, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cover the bowl and shake to coat all bread cubes evenly. Then toast them on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 or until crisp - it took me 15-20 minutes.

Take a large bunch of swiss chard and cut stems from leaves. Dice stems and coarsely chop leaves. Keep them separate.

Melt 2TB butter and 2 TB oil in a hot skillet. Add a good handful of chopped onion and about 1 TB of minced garlic, and cook 30 seconds. Add chard stems and cook about 5 minutes more. Then add a bunch of fresh snap beans - we probably used 1.5 cups or so. Add about 1/2 C white cooking wine and cover.

Meanwhile, husk and remove silks from 1 cob corn. Rub with butter, cover in foil and roast at 450 for 15 minutes or until tender. Cut corn from cob.

When the green beans in the skillet are bright and nearly tender, add your chard leaves and stir until wilted.

Combine croutons, corn and chard mix. Serve hot.