Twelve Days of Cooking: Day 6

                    Hey! Today is day 6 of the Twelve Days of Cooking. Today's post will be fairly brief because I have a lot of homework and three hours of rehearsal. I barely have time to fit in today's blog post.
               
                    I went to the Food Network website and found the section for healthy holiday recipes. After browsing for a bit, I found a recipe that you can make using a couple local ingredients. This recipe is for Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Pecorino Cheese. None of the other ingredients seem like they could be local, but they actually can be. There are lots of family-owned companies that sell cheese and other dairy products. If you look at the labels of the Pecorino Cheese you buy, I'm sure you can figure out if the company is local or not. Whole Foods, PCC and other natural markets will have a better selection of local cheeses than an ordinary supermarket. No matter which store(s) you have access to, check the labels! Finally, the pasta could potentially be a locally produced item. There are plenty of local companies that produce all things relating to grains. An example of this is Bob's Red Mill, which is located in Oregon (not within a 100 mile radius of where I live, but it's still very close). While Bob's Red Mill doesn't carry pasta yet (if they do I'm not aware), they sell a wide variety of whole grains, flours, flour mixes and more. Even if you can't find any locally grown ingredients for this dish, this recipe is a great because of its health benefits. It's not perfect, but it's much healthier than most holiday foods will be. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/whole-wheat-spaghetti-with-swiss-chard-and-pecorino-cheese-recipe/index.html

                    Over the holidays, I'm going to be staying in the Seattle area and doing fun holiday things. My family is hosting a Christmas Eve gathering for my extended family. I'm also going to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of the Nutcracker and go ice skating with a couple friends. My winter break agenda will hopefully get more exciting as break approaches. I really want to go see a few movies, like Les Miserables and Life of Pi. I'll hopefully get to do some Christmas shopping in the few days before Christmas and wrap lots of presents!

                    Please follow this blog, subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow me on Twitter, email me and comment your thoughts about local food or your holiday plans below! I'd really appreciate it if you share my posts with your family and friends. I want to make an impact on the food system and how teens view food, and you could help me do that by exposing my blog to more people. Stay healthy and happy holidays!