Another beef recall.
When - when - are we going to stop this food industry madness? When will we go back to being responsible for our own food?
Oh never, I know. Not really for our own food, as in all the time, the only one responsible for planting, growing, harvesting, feeding, preserving, preparing, and anything else-ing, that we need to do for all our food. But we've got to break it down into smaller groups. Into regions, at least. None of this one-company-produces-billions-of-pounds-of-meat that go all around the country. And to the rest of the world, too.
What - don't they have cows in Asia?
Dude. I know they do.
Why do we continue to buy bags of loose greens when we know they've come from a warehouse that got lettuce from all over the country and piled them all together in a big bunch and stuffed them into bags?
When we know that if just one small batch of lettuce from one tiny farm anywhere in the country had a problem with their lettuce (say a minor e-coli bacteria-type problem) then every bit of the lettuce mixed with it and put in those bags, now has the same problem.
Why do we continue to buy it? Excuse me - why do you continue to buy it? 'Cause I can promise you, I don't.
Not even the organic stuff. I'll buy my own separate little head of lettuce and wash and tear it myself.
Sure I could still get sick, if I happen to buy the lettuce from the one tiny farm with a problem. But you won't. And neither will ten thousand other people around the country.
Put Big Ag out of business. Run - quickly - to your nearest CSA or Farmer's Market and buy all your food from them. Find CSAs that give you produce, meat, eggs, even milk. You'll probably need to join several to get everything that way. If you have to shop at a grocery store, shop at one that buys from local ranchers and farmers and buy the food that comes from the local source. Don't buy the food that comes from China or from the slaughtershouse six states away.
Do what you can. Just do it.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Leftovers and Veggies
I've been looking for recipes to use up my CSA veggie box. We're going to be gone for a few days and I want to be sure everything gets used. Must not waste the fresh veggies!
The cabbage has been here a week, so today is its day. I'm going to simmer it in tomatoes with some leftover cooked ground beef, along with garlic and basil. A sprinkle of parmesan should go nicely with that. I have some chard that has also been around a while. Hmmm. Do you think I can add the chard to the cabbage and beef? I bet it works!
When we get back, I'll bake the leeks in a bit of cheese sauce and we'll see if I can resist adding a breadcrumb/butter topping. Just a sprinkle? Please?
That leaves lots of bok choy, more chard, and a butternut squash. I have a marvelous recipe for Hot 'n Sour Soup that will use the bok choy and the chard, as well as the some of the leftover chicken and chicken broth in my freezer. That sounds like a winner.
Butternut squash needs no excuse. I might just bake it and eat it for lunch!
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
The cabbage has been here a week, so today is its day. I'm going to simmer it in tomatoes with some leftover cooked ground beef, along with garlic and basil. A sprinkle of parmesan should go nicely with that. I have some chard that has also been around a while. Hmmm. Do you think I can add the chard to the cabbage and beef? I bet it works!
When we get back, I'll bake the leeks in a bit of cheese sauce and we'll see if I can resist adding a breadcrumb/butter topping. Just a sprinkle? Please?
That leaves lots of bok choy, more chard, and a butternut squash. I have a marvelous recipe for Hot 'n Sour Soup that will use the bok choy and the chard, as well as the some of the leftover chicken and chicken broth in my freezer. That sounds like a winner.
Butternut squash needs no excuse. I might just bake it and eat it for lunch!
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
PCB in our Food
The CC Times had an article today about cleaning up the bay. For years, there has been a warning in place to severely limit eating fish taken from the San Francisco Bay. All the usual committees and investigations and political discussions have been going on and at last, a plan has been sent to a state board for consideration. Amid all the usual protests from industry, which does not want to pay for cleaning up the bay.
This kind of thing has always thrown me for a loop. In the first place, what industry, for whatever reason, has the right to pollute a source of food for a people? Where did they get this right? Why has government turned a blind eye and let them do this? How is it possible that people don’t see a problem with this?
PCB was banned almost 30 years ago. Go us. We did something right. But the damage from PCB did not fade into the sunset. It seeped into our soil and into our air and into our water. And it doesn’t go away for a long, long time.
So we are told to eat no more than two meals a month of fish from our bay. Pregnant women and children are limited to one meal a month.
But this is our food source. We should have access to all the edible species in our food source, with sensible conservation our only restriction.
Here’s the jaw-dropping paragraph:
“A coalition of business and industrial groups argued that rather than requiring costly cleanups, the water board should focus more on warning anglers not to eat too much fish.”
What!? How? How did we get to this? What is wrong with these people?
“Just don’t eat?” That’s your solution? Every person in that coalition should lose their business to a more responsible adult and THEY should have to live in such a way that most of their food comes from the bay.
How completely arrogant and irresponsible they are. I’m furious. We should all be furious.
This kind of thing has always thrown me for a loop. In the first place, what industry, for whatever reason, has the right to pollute a source of food for a people? Where did they get this right? Why has government turned a blind eye and let them do this? How is it possible that people don’t see a problem with this?
PCB was banned almost 30 years ago. Go us. We did something right. But the damage from PCB did not fade into the sunset. It seeped into our soil and into our air and into our water. And it doesn’t go away for a long, long time.
So we are told to eat no more than two meals a month of fish from our bay. Pregnant women and children are limited to one meal a month.
But this is our food source. We should have access to all the edible species in our food source, with sensible conservation our only restriction.
Here’s the jaw-dropping paragraph:
“A coalition of business and industrial groups argued that rather than requiring costly cleanups, the water board should focus more on warning anglers not to eat too much fish.”
What!? How? How did we get to this? What is wrong with these people?
“Just don’t eat?” That’s your solution? Every person in that coalition should lose their business to a more responsible adult and THEY should have to live in such a way that most of their food comes from the bay.
How completely arrogant and irresponsible they are. I’m furious. We should all be furious.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Family dinners II
The hectic weekend is behind us and I can concentrate on getting caught up: filing, bookkeeping, writing, menu planning. Very slowly, my desk is becoming visible. At least, parts of it are.
Grandkids staying over always means more food than we usually eat and this weekend was no exception. I started with that lovely roast on Friday night, with the blue potatoes and white beets and celery and onion. I steamed the beet tops, too and I assure you, there was not one word of complaint from those 11 and 12 year old boys. They ate everything in sight and I had to finish filling them up with pumpkin ice cream layered with chocolate sauce and nuts.
Why yes, I did have some, too. Thank you for asking.
Friday night was sleepless and disturbing for Rick and I, because our 14 year Australian Shepherd had several coughing spells throughout the night. AND, my shoulder was killing me, probably from the yard work I'd done earlier. Around five a.m., we finally doped the dog and me, and we all got some sleep. The result of all this is that I slept late and awoke to find Rick halfway through cooking the pancakes. Tea was ready, and he poured me a cup while I threw some bacon on the griddle and started chopping up the leftover potatoes for sauteeing.
So that was our breakfast, along with lots of good butter and real maple syrup. The pancakes were amazingly fluffy and light. The bacon was turkey, which I consider cheating, but I had only a few slices of the Real Stuff, so I didn't get it out. I don't care for turkey bacon, so I had just 1 piece, but I made up for it by pouring maple syrup on my potatoes.
I love that.
Since breakfast was late and big, we all ate oranges for lunch and then went out for an early dinner. We let the kids choose, which is how we ended up at Chevy's and rest assured, there was not one healthy thing about the meal, except maybe for the black beans. I know. I should have had a salad, but I didn't want to. I get like that sometimes.
Things got worse on Sunday, when I made biscuits for breakfast, along with scrambled eggs, the rest of the potatoes and a few slices of bacon chopped up with the potatoes. I don't mean to honk my own horn, but the biscuits were GOOD. I used my low-gluten mix with a little sugar and baking powder, butter, and raw milk. I had three. I know better. But I had three. With butter and honey. I put organic blueberry preserves on one.
You can imagine that by now, I'm desperate. We were taking walks - a long one on Saturday and a slightly less long one on Sunday, but nothing even close to the calories I was consuming. Around 2:00, we all seemed peckish, so I made us each a large salad with lots of CSA greens, some olives, scarlet turnips, tuna fish and homemade croutons. Better. Not great. But better.
No dinner was needed. But we did have a martini.
Grandkids staying over always means more food than we usually eat and this weekend was no exception. I started with that lovely roast on Friday night, with the blue potatoes and white beets and celery and onion. I steamed the beet tops, too and I assure you, there was not one word of complaint from those 11 and 12 year old boys. They ate everything in sight and I had to finish filling them up with pumpkin ice cream layered with chocolate sauce and nuts.
Why yes, I did have some, too. Thank you for asking.
Friday night was sleepless and disturbing for Rick and I, because our 14 year Australian Shepherd had several coughing spells throughout the night. AND, my shoulder was killing me, probably from the yard work I'd done earlier. Around five a.m., we finally doped the dog and me, and we all got some sleep. The result of all this is that I slept late and awoke to find Rick halfway through cooking the pancakes. Tea was ready, and he poured me a cup while I threw some bacon on the griddle and started chopping up the leftover potatoes for sauteeing.
So that was our breakfast, along with lots of good butter and real maple syrup. The pancakes were amazingly fluffy and light. The bacon was turkey, which I consider cheating, but I had only a few slices of the Real Stuff, so I didn't get it out. I don't care for turkey bacon, so I had just 1 piece, but I made up for it by pouring maple syrup on my potatoes.
I love that.
Since breakfast was late and big, we all ate oranges for lunch and then went out for an early dinner. We let the kids choose, which is how we ended up at Chevy's and rest assured, there was not one healthy thing about the meal, except maybe for the black beans. I know. I should have had a salad, but I didn't want to. I get like that sometimes.
Things got worse on Sunday, when I made biscuits for breakfast, along with scrambled eggs, the rest of the potatoes and a few slices of bacon chopped up with the potatoes. I don't mean to honk my own horn, but the biscuits were GOOD. I used my low-gluten mix with a little sugar and baking powder, butter, and raw milk. I had three. I know better. But I had three. With butter and honey. I put organic blueberry preserves on one.
You can imagine that by now, I'm desperate. We were taking walks - a long one on Saturday and a slightly less long one on Sunday, but nothing even close to the calories I was consuming. Around 2:00, we all seemed peckish, so I made us each a large salad with lots of CSA greens, some olives, scarlet turnips, tuna fish and homemade croutons. Better. Not great. But better.
No dinner was needed. But we did have a martini.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Family dinners
My grandsons are spending the weekend with us, which means I get to cook for 4 people instead of 2. That's actually easier to do.
I've got a roast thawing out and some BLUE potatoes from the CSA box, along with celery and white beets. I think all those items will be wonderful roasted together. The beet greens will add more color and nutrients to the meal; I'll give them a quick steam.
I've been busy and this is actually the only meal I've got planned out for the weekend. But I'm not worried because when I cook (for just the two of us) I usually make extra (because it really is easier to cook for four - or six). Those extras are even now in my freezer. It's just a matter of deciding what to thaw and heat. I have plenty of veggies still, and LOTS of salad. I think one meal may be a main dish salad of some kind, maybe with tuna fish and cheese on top.
I'm thinking of making a loaf of bread, but first I simply have to get my baking mix made: that delicious mix of various flours that we use for everything. Then I'm going to spend some time in the sun. I've been outside a bit already, and it's a wonderful day!
I've got a roast thawing out and some BLUE potatoes from the CSA box, along with celery and white beets. I think all those items will be wonderful roasted together. The beet greens will add more color and nutrients to the meal; I'll give them a quick steam.
I've been busy and this is actually the only meal I've got planned out for the weekend. But I'm not worried because when I cook (for just the two of us) I usually make extra (because it really is easier to cook for four - or six). Those extras are even now in my freezer. It's just a matter of deciding what to thaw and heat. I have plenty of veggies still, and LOTS of salad. I think one meal may be a main dish salad of some kind, maybe with tuna fish and cheese on top.
I'm thinking of making a loaf of bread, but first I simply have to get my baking mix made: that delicious mix of various flours that we use for everything. Then I'm going to spend some time in the sun. I've been outside a bit already, and it's a wonderful day!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Vegan Valentine
My friends' daughter, Nicole Spiridakis, has an article out on NPR with great recipes for a vegan Valentine's Day.
Check it out!
Check it out!
New Vegetables
Ever had romanesco? Me either.
I got a couple of these pretty veggies in my CSA box. Romanesco are FRACTAL veggies. But that's just how they look.
These aren't the kind of thing most people will pick up if they see them in the store. Most likely, they'll say "are you supposed to EAT that?" and they'll walk on by. And that's if you even see them in the store. I don't believe I ever have.
But they're good. I cut them into eighths and steamed them. Real simple. Sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on them and that's all they needed. These were bursting with flavor, but I have to warn you: they were in my CSA box, so were just harvested. Although they did sit in my frig for a few days.
Bascially, anything you can do with broccoli or cauliflower, you can do with romanesco. If I get more, I want to make a quiche with leeks, kalamata olives and feta cheese. Sounds good, no?
I got a couple of these pretty veggies in my CSA box. Romanesco are FRACTAL veggies. But that's just how they look.
These aren't the kind of thing most people will pick up if they see them in the store. Most likely, they'll say "are you supposed to EAT that?" and they'll walk on by. And that's if you even see them in the store. I don't believe I ever have.
But they're good. I cut them into eighths and steamed them. Real simple. Sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on them and that's all they needed. These were bursting with flavor, but I have to warn you: they were in my CSA box, so were just harvested. Although they did sit in my frig for a few days.
Bascially, anything you can do with broccoli or cauliflower, you can do with romanesco. If I get more, I want to make a quiche with leeks, kalamata olives and feta cheese. Sounds good, no?
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