You may have noticed that the Virginia Department of Agriculture challenged Virginians last week to eat local for one day. It was part of Virginia Farmers Market week, a special designation by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Blog reader Deb seemed to take that challenge to heart. Or maybe she didn’t hear a thing about the challenge and just wanted to enjoy some tasty local chicken, dairy and produce. She sent me this photo of her lunch yesterday with this description of what she bought on the market: “The chicken, cabbage and green apples for the slaw, potatoes and eggs for the potato salad and deviled eggs, green beans and red bell pepper, fried green tomatoes, corn on the cob and peaches for the cobbler. Barbara Kingsolver would be proud.”

She would indeed. I’m proud, and hungry, too!

I didn’t go all out like Deb, but I did buy a gorgeous head of white cabbage from the market on Friday and fried it up last night to go along with grilled pork tenderloin and big, fat slices of my neighbor’s tomatoes.

The whole house now smells of cabbage, but it’s worth it for one of my favorite side dishes. Cabbage is easy to cook, but I’ll post my method below for anyone who has never cooked it up before. Other ideas for fresh cabbage? Shoot me a message!

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I love Fourth of July weekend, but if I don’t see another hot dog or hamburger for a month, I’ll be a happy camper. Ditto that on pasta salad, potato salad and deviled eggs.

Well, I guess I could always force down a couple of deviled eggs.

If you’re like me and are ready to move on to more exotic flavors, perhaps this news is for you: Doreen Sidor, a personal chef who formerly taught cooking classes at Twist & Turns in downtown Roanoke, has opened up her own restaurant at 4210 Brambleton Avenue called Doreen’s Gourmet (in the former High Point Coffee building).

Not only does Doreen plan to sell gourmet meals to go, sandwiches, salads, coffee and tea, smoothies and more, she also wants to continue having cooking classes from time to time in her new kitchen. Keep an eye on our Foodie Calendar in each Thursday’s Inside Out for details about those classes.

Doreen is having an Grand Opening celebration at her new restaurant tomorrow and Wednesday night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event will feature free wine tastings from Valhalla Vineyards, free gourmet food samples and live music!

I’m betting there will be no hot dogs on the menu…

A few years ago, an acquaintance brought an appetizer like this to a cookout at my friend’s house. I can remember being awestruck over how beautiful it was. I could only assume that she had spent a great deal of time putting it together.

As it turns out, this Greek cheese torta is actually quite simple to prepare. I recently found a similar recipe in some Pampered Chef literature that might even be easier than the original version I had.

The white cheeses, green spinach and pistachios and bright red sun-dried tomatoes make for a lovely, colorful dish (Sorry I don’t have a picture). And of course, with all those ingredients, the flavor just explodes in your mouth.

If you’re heading to a cookout this weekend or next and you want to bring something a little different than the usual deviled eggs (not that I don’t adore deviled eggs), check out this recipe.

I always recommend that folks read recipes all the way through before they begin. With this one, you’ll see when you read it that the ingredients are going to be packed into a small to medium glass bowl, then inverted onto a platter to form a nice, round mound. You could make the torta ahead of time and leave it in the bowl until you’re ready to invert and serve.

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Tomorrow’s Front Burner column pays tribute to a lady who had her fingers in a lot of different pies around Roanoke.

I would say “literally,” but Lib Wilhelm’s granddaughter, Kristin Breakell, said her grandma wasn’t much for baking. She sure did know a lot about other kinds of cooking, though.

Lib, who died earlier this month at age 86, started catering out of her Roanoke home more than 40 decades ago. She didn’t stop catering until she was in her early 80s.

And in those early years, when her business was still getting started, she also worked at St. John’s Episcopal Church, The Shenandoah Club and the Patrick Henry Hotel.

But it didn’t take long for Lib to gain a reputation for her professionalism and her food. Her most famous recipe, a spicy cheese slaw, has been shared around Roanoke for years and will run with tomorrow’s story.

She was also the first caterer to start serving made-to-order shrimp and grits at parties.

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