The Real Food Solution

Eggs and Salmonella

2010-08-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Is Your Egg Safe?

Salmonella is a hot topic right now, but do you know how to best protect yourself? First you must have an understanding of where salmonella bacteria come from and how eggs are infected.

There are over 2000 subtypes of salmonella, the one that affects eggs and chickens is salmonella enteritidis (SE). The SE bacteria lives in the gut of chickens, turkeys, ducks, wild birds and rodents, it is transmitted to humans via contaminated foods of animal origin.

The outside of an egg can get contaminated by feces and dirt. The bacteria can spread to animals through contaminated water and food, from chicken to chicken and from contact with wild birds and rodents.

Stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs were implemented in the 1970s and have made salmonellosis caused by external fecal contamination of egg shells extremely rare. However, unlike egg borne salmonellosis of past decades, the current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs. The reason for this is that Salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed.

So what can you, the consumer do to protect yourself? Cooking eggs thoroughly will kill the SE bacteria, but there are other things that you can do to reduce your chances of getting infected.
Because eggs that are infected can not be easily identified, it is wise to buy the potentially cleanest eggs possible.

Commercial egg producers typically keep the chickens in cages with very little space to move which increases the likelihood of disease transmission.

Cage Free eggs are not much better, the hens are kept in chicken houses with no windows and no access to the outdoors, they are not in cages but are loose on the ground of the house but still in very tight quarters.

Free Range chickens should mean that the hens have access to the outdoors, but the US does not have clear regulations on the term Free Range and it is often interchanged with the term Cage Free.

Free Range Cage Free hens

Organic Eggs limit the chance of salmonella contamination in the chicken feed as animal byproducts are prohibited in organic feed. The label Organic also ensures adherence to more stringent animal welfare standards.

Pastured Eggs come from the healthiest hens. Hens that spend their days outdoors, foraging and living the most natural lifestyle have the strongest immunity and are naturally less likely to be infected.

Pastured Egg Laying Hens

There are ways to avoid salmonellosis, avoid buying commercial eggs. Support sustainable agriculture by buying Pastured eggs. To find Pastured eggs in your area Click Here

A link between pesticides and attention disorders?

2010-08-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

A link between pesticides and attention disorders?

Are Allergies Linked to Diet?

2010-08-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

A recent story on CNN shows that there may very well be a link between food allergies and our (SAD) Western diet. The article states that between the years of 1997 - 2007 food allergies increased by 18%. In 2007 3 million children under the age of 18 suffered from a food allergy. Scientists are struggling to find an answer as to why, particularly in industrialized nations like the US, these allergies are on the rise. Hospitals across the US are reporting rises in emergency room visits and the reasons why have been a mystery. One theory is that our Western diet has made us more susceptible to developing allergies and other illnesses.

A study done at the National Academy of Sciences compared the gut bacteria of two groups of children, one group from Florence, Italy and one from a small rural village in Africa. They found that the variety of flora in these groups was vastly different. The children from the African village ate the foods that they were able to grow, and had a mostly vegetarian diet. The Italian children had a more industrialized diet of sugar, animal fat and high calorie foods. The authors of the study conclude that these difference result in less biodiversity in gut flora in the Italian children.

The decrease in richness in gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in food allergies. Sanitation and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious diseases, but they decreased the exposure to other beneficial bacteria which may have opened the door to other ailments. "In a place where you can die from infectious diseases but, you don't get allergy, obesity, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and auto immune disease, the flora is different" Said Dr. Lionetti, Dept of Pediatrics at Meyer Children's Hospital at the University of Florence.

The speculation is that our immune systems are skewed away from fighting infections and towards things it should not be fighting, like environment and foods.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/03/food.allergies.er.gut/index.html

Maintaining a healthy gut flora may be more important that we have previously thought. A common condition is called disbacteriosis, an imbalance in gut flora. Ideally our intestinal track contains both good and bad bacterial. When the beneficial are in the majority we are able to fend off illness and pathogenic (bad) bacteria. But with a poor diet and the use of antibiotics our flora can get out of balance and that is when we get sick.

Beneficial bacteria help to keep our digestive system healthy, they chelate heavy metals, carcinogens and toxic substances and excrete them out of the body, they protect the walls of the gut...preventing 'leaky gut syndrome', they produce enzyme to break down our food to allow for good nutrition absorption, they help to transport vitamins and minerals through the gut wall and they are the base of our immune system controlling pathogenic microbes. Medicines, vaccines, antibiotics kill off the beneficial flora and allowing pathogenic microbes to take over. Signs of disbacteriosis are asthma, allergies, skin eruptions,and chronic infections.

You can build up the beneficial flora in your gut by consuming kefir and yogurt as well as other lacto fermented foods (traditionally prepared sauer kraut, kimchi etc). In addition, you can keep those beneficial beasties happy and well fed by limiting sugar, processed foods, medications and antibiotics (when possible) and eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables daily. The fiber in these foods is considered a prebiotic carbohydrate, called oligosaccharides (specific sugar molecules and soluble fiber).

A healthy gut flora, with well fed happy beneficial beasties, is a critical key to maintaining good health.

Where to Start?

2010-05-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

I often talk with people who are ready to make a change in their diet, but really not sure where to begin. One of the biggest, and often hardest, changes to make is in breakfast.

The breakfast that we choose sets the stage for the rest of the day. When you start your day with refined carbs and sugar, you are setting yourself up for a tough day. An early morning blood sugar spike will set you off on a roller coaster ride that can carry through a good part of your day. The blood sugar spikes, triggering an insulin reaction which removes much of the sugar from your blood stream, which then triggers a craving for more sugar/simple carbs to pick you back up again. It is a vicious cycle.

A better choice is a breakfast that contains both protein and fiber. These two power houses will carry you through your morning with ease. Smoothies are a really quick and easy way to get a great healthy start to your day. A combination of plain full fat yogurt or kefir, some frozen berries, sliced carrots and some sort of green (blanched broccoli, kale, frozen spinach...etc)and a 1/2 banana will give you a fabulous start. Play around with flavors that you like, the sweetness of the fruit hides the vegetables very well! If your smoothie is too thick to blend easily you may need to add a little filtered water or milk to thin it out, but avoid juice.

Cheers :)

Swiss Chard Gratin

2010-02-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Serves 4
This gratin will convert those wary-of-green-vegetable eaters to greens lovers. A simple white sauce lightly coats Swiss chard leaves, and a topping of cheese and crisp breadcrumbs seals the deal. For a different presentation, bake in individual gratin dishes or ramekins rather than one large dish. Make up to a day ahead and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

Ingredients
2 bunches Swiss chard leaves, chopped (about 8 cups packed)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, more for the baking dish
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unbleached white flour
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Comté or Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tablespoon whole wheat bread crumbs

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place chard leaves in a saucepan with the water and cook over medium heat until leaves are just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Set chard aside. In the same saucepan, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. When butter has melted, whisk in the flour until blended. Whisk constantly for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk and reserved cooking liquid. Continue cooking and stirring until the sauce thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in half of the grated cheese. Stir in the cooked chard and transfer to a buttered 9x9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Serve immediately.

A Homegrown Revolution

2010-02-23T10:34:00.001-08:00

This is a wonderful example of what we can all do, in our own way, to ensure that our family is eating well!

Help Make A Change

2010-02-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

Healthy Kids Initiative....will it help?

2010-02-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Our First Lady Michelle Obama has taken on a big issue....kids and obesity, with her new Healthy Kids Initiative and a project called Let's Move. I applaud her efforts and I think she is partially on the right track.

The Healthy Kids Initiative is aimed at the "American plague of childhood obesity", which has caused our government to spend $150 BILLION per year on obesity related health conditions. Apparently our fat comes at a high price.

The initiative includes getting kids to move physically, by dangling a pretty little carrot called the "Presidential Active Lifestyle Award" for moving those little bodies for 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for six weeks....which is a good thing but is she missing the bigger picture?

Food is the issue. Moving our bodies is wonderful and beneficial but that alone is not going to stop this freight train of obesity. We have to change what we are eating and feeding our children.

Now to give fair credit to the First Lady, part of her initiative does address school lunches, which will target cleaning up 1000 school lunch programs per year and double the amount of produce offered in 10 years. Wow, that is a long process. I am anxious to see how this pans out. Did you know that school lunches are largely made up of surplus crap that the government subsidizes? Tater tots and chicken nuggets served at school teach our children to make poor choices. How is Big Agriculture and the Big Industrial Food Industry going to react to this new plan? Where is all the subsidized corn and soy going to go?

The government will also be setting aside $400 million in grants for convenience stores to develop a healthy foods corner and to encourage small town markets.

One thing that the government needs to examine is how it is that in the last 30 years our obesity rates have tripled? TRIPLED! Ironically when you look back in time, 30 years ago is when the government encouraged us to trim the fat. Big industrial food biz enjoyed an huge boom in low fat and fat free foods. Suddenly everything was labeled low fat and fat free and we ate it all up! We ditched the whole milk and started drinking fat free. We bought low fat/fat free everything, even cookies. So how then did we get fatter? We did as the government suggested, we adopted their new food pyramid. We went on low fat diets, passed on the artery clogging, cholesterol raising eggs and beef, we traded out butter for heart healthy low fat margarine, across the board we trimmed the fat, increased our grains & cereals.....and got fatter.

It is time to not only get kids moving and offer grants to convenience stores...we need to re-examine the food pyramid. Veggies and fruit should be at the bottom, they are the bulk of what we should consume daily. Cereals and grains need to be closer to the top with sweets, as these things quickly convert to sugar in our blood stream. We need more Real Food, not boxes of faux foods that are labeled fat free. Fat in our cookies is very clearly not the problem.

We need to stop letting big industrial food shove their hands into our pockets. We need to start subsidizing carrots and apples not corn and soy. There are some big fundamental changes that need to be made. Michelle Obama has great intentions, and I am sure we will see some small level of success, in the big picture we need to start with the farmers and work our way up the food chain. We need to make being a broccoli farmer worthwhile.

The Real Food Dilemma

2010-02-01T05:46:00.000-08:00

A friend and I were chatting recently about healthy food prices vs processed food prices. I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject here and open it up for discussion.

It is a sad reality that processed food IS in fact cheaper than whole food. Did you ever think about it or wonder why a pound of broccoli is twice the price of a McDonald's McDouble off the dollar menu? There is a very good reason for that and some people are just not *yet* aware. The price differences begin with food subsidies.

Big Agro has a deal with the government....we will grow corn and soy, but if the market price is below a predetermined dollar amount when we take it to market, the you will pay us the difference. That makes sense, right? I mean farmers have to make a living and the government is helping. All is good. This deal is appealing to a lot of farmers, everyone wants a little financial security. If I know that I will make a minimum of X dollars per bushel and potentially more if the market is good, it just makes good business sense to get on board and plant hundreds of acres of corn or soy.

Well here is where things get a bit off track; Fast forward a few years and we have an over abundance of corn and soy. The government has paid for it and now needs to move it. The classic supply and demand theory comes into play; we have a massive supply so the government needs to sell it cheap in order to get rid of it.

Enter Industrial food manufacturers. They are able to buy huge amounts of corn and soy and turn them into all sorts of interesting 'ingredients'. These ingredients are mostly used as cheap filler but also they are formulated to give a certain desired characteristic to the food item. Crunchy, soft, creamy, sweet etc. These commercially produced food items are really not food at all, they are faux food.

For a list of corn derived ingredients go to www.cornallergans.com

Most of the items listed you would never guess to come from corn.

So all of this corn and soy bought cheaply to be used as filler is what makes processed foods so cheap.

So lets go back to that McDonald's McDouble burger. Take a look at the ingredient listing:

Ingredients (Allergen statement in ALL CAPS.)

100% Beef Patty
100% pure USDA inspected beef; no fillers, no extenders. Prepared with grill seasoning (salt, black pepper).

Regular Bun
Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, yeast, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND SOY.

Pasteurized Process American Cheese
Milk, water, milkfat, cheese culture, sodium citrate, salt, citric acid, sorbic acid (preservative), sodium phosphate, artificial color, lactic acid, acetic acid, enzymes, soy lecithin (added for slice separation).
CONTAINS: MILK AND SOY LECITHIN.

Ketchup
Tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, water, corn syrup, salt, natural flavors (vegetable source).

Pickle Slices
Cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, alum, potassium sorbate (preservative), natural flavors (plant source), polysorbate 80, extractives of turmeric (color).

Onions
Chopped onions.

Mustard
Distilled vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice extractive.

Now the ingredient listing for the broccoli? Well...broccoli.

If you read through the ingredients on the burger you will notice a lot of subsidy ingredients, which help to make the product so cheap. Oh and don't forget that the beef itself was fed on subsidy corn!
Now lets look at the calorie count....390 calories on the burger and $1 worth of broccoli only has 40 calories. So, if you are hungry and only have a dollar, which food item is going to carry you through to the next meal?

The trouble is that we have so many people in the US who are hurting financially and their only option is cheap food. It comes down to needing calories. We have forgotten that the purpose of eating to for nutrition. 78% of chronic illness, diabetes, many types of cancers, high blood pressure heart disease etc...are diet related. Our diet is literally killing us. Statistics say that 1 out of every 3 children born in 2000 will develop diabetes before high school! We are poisoning the future leaders of this great country.

So what do we do? How do we change this? Well there are a few things that we all can do. Fundamental change needs to occur at the government level. We need to stop subsidizing 'ingredient' crops and start subsidizing 'food' crops, broccoli, carrots, beets, greens, apples, oranges....these basic foods need to be subsidized so that farmers can make a living growing them. These foods need to be part of everyone's daily diet.

We as individuals can sway future of food buy realizing the power that we have. We are the purchasers and we vote every time we shop. We need to support organic, and start buying whole food items rather than packaged goods. Shop the outer perimeter of the store and stay out of the middle isles as much as you can. Around the perimeter is where you will find healthy foods in their natural whole form, produce, meat and dairy are all located on the outer perimeter, because they are perishable and need to be tended to frequently.

People are often quick to point out that organic is more expensive and yes it is, for now. It goes back to supply and demand. Many farms are converting to organic to keep up with demand, but it is a long process, taking about 3 years to purge the soil of chemicals. Then there is a bit of a curve where production is low until healthy soil is naturally built back up then productivity jumps back up to pre-organic rates. Until more growers are converted to organic, the produce sells at a premium....but the more we buy it the more growers will jump on the bandwagon.

Other important things we can do as individuals, is to support local farmers by purchasing CSA shares and shopping at farmers markets. The more we do this, the more it becomes a viable living for a grower and that in turn increases selection and availability.

It is said that a whole foods based diet costs about 20% more than a diet of packaged foods. In time that will change, but right now those of us who can afford that change need to make it. We are influencing the prices of food tomorrow.

A Pinch Less Salt Could Save Lives, Money - ABC News

2010-01-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

A Pinch Less Salt Could Save Lives, Money - ABC News

Interesting, but why does the author not address diet in general until the last paragraph of the article? It is not the amount of salt that we use on the dinner table that is the problem, it is the enormous amount of sodium in all of the processed foods that we Americans have grown accustomed to eating. A foundational change is what is needed here folks! Wake up and look at your diet. Are you feeding yourself and your family a healthy natural diet or are you filling up on processed 'food like substances'?

On the Right Path

2010-01-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

You know when you make big changes in your life and sometimes you are not sure what the end result will be? Well I have embarked on a dietary revolution of sorts, and I have dragged my family along, kicking and screaming occasionally, but we are making progress.

This all began last year, as I stood looking in my pantry... what did I see? Lots of pretty packages. Brightly colored, fun, exciting packages of what I thought was food. Granola bars, cookies, puff cheese doodles, neon orange tortilla chips, fruit gummies, frosted cereal, juice pouches etc. Fun stuff that my kids loved and scarfed down. Some of the pretty packages had great phrases on them like, Low Fat, , Whole Grain,, Low Sodium, Reduced Sugar, and Made with Real Fruit Juice...I am not sure what spurred a sudden new thought,perhaps a movie or a book, doesn't really matter because the thought was shocking and a little frightening. None of this food, in my pantry, was actually food. It was food substitute. Fake food. I was raising my children on fake food. How could that be?

I have done a lot of reading and soul searching since that moment, the moment I realized I was poisoning my kids. We have made tremendous stride towards a better way of eating. I have lost enough weight to be with-in 2 pounds of what I weighed on my wedding day 20 yrs ago, and that feels great. I think it is easy for me as an adult to embrace this kind of change especially when I can see the oncoming train wreck if I do not make a change. Kids are a bit harder to convince.

This week we went and had dinner with my husband's Grandmother in her retirement home. Our menu choices were as follows: Lasagna or Fried Chicken. I was not really pleased with either option but one has to be flexible in life so I ordered a salad to start and the chicken with braised vegetables. I was pleased to see my 16 yr old also order a salad. When our salads arrived my 16 yr old was intrigued by the slice of yellow bell pepper on hers and mentioned that she had never tried it. I was proud to see her try something new and enjoy it. As we were chatting over dinner my husband said to our her 'I notice that you have been eating a lot of salads lately, what is up?' She replied, 'Well, mom doesn't buy any more junk food and I have to eat something....besides, I like them now'
Wow! Now that is progress! That is the little boost that I needed to keep plugging along in my battle against junk food.

When our entrees were set before us, my 7 yr old daughter looks at my plate with surprise and said 'Mom, I thought you ordered vegetables?' as I look down at the pile of corn on my plate masquerading as a vegetable and said 'I did, but it's ok' she shakes her little blonde head 'Corn is not a vegetable, corn is a grain' she says in disgust.

It is sinking in, no matter what they want me to think! I am winning the battle, one baby step at a time. As we work our way down this path to healthier eating, I am truly getting through to them that there is a better way! I think I will end up with the result that I was hoping for....kids who are more thoughtful about what they put into their mouths and who are actually aware of the differences between real food and fake food.

You Are What You Eat!

2010-01-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever really thought about that old saying "you are what you eat"? Really what does that mean? If I eat Cheese doodles will I turn into a giant neon-orange-fake-cheese-flavored snack? Can a Cheese doodle, or Cheeze cracker or bright orange tortilla chip or any other packaged snack food really be all that bad? Well keep reading and consider this.....

In the 1930's a researcher named Dr Weston Price traveled the world over to observe populations untouched by civilization, living entirely on local foods. While the diets of the populations differed in many particulars, they contained several factors in common. Almost without exception, the groups he studied ate liberally of seafood or other animal proteins and fats in the forms of organ meats and dairy products: they valued animal fats as absolutely necessary to good health: and they ate fats, meats, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains in their whole unrefined state. All privative diets contained some raw foods, of both animal and vegetable origin.

Dr Price found fourteen groups- from isolated Irish and Swiss, from Eskimos to Africans- in which almost every member of the tribe or village enjoyed suburb health. They were free of chronic disease, dental decay, and mental illness: they were strong, sturdy and attractive; and they produced beautiful healthy children with ease generation after generation.

Dr Price had many opportunities to compare these healthy so-called "primitives" with members of the same racial group who had become "civilized" and were living on the products of the industrial revolution - refined grains, canned foods, pasteurized milk and sugar. In these peoples he found rampant tooth decay, infectious disease, degenerative illness and infertility. Children born to traditional peoples who had adopted the industrialized diet had crowded and crooked teeth, narrowed faces, deformities of bone structure and susceptibility to every sort of medical problem. Studies too numerous to count have confirmed Dr Price's observations that the so-called civilization diet, particularly the Western diet of refined carbohydrates and devitalized fats and oils, spoils our God-given genetic inheritance of physical perfection and vibrant health.
-Sally Fallon
Nourishing Traditions

Makes you think doesn't it? Perhaps that seemingly innocent snack food is a bit more serious than we had thought? Here are a few facts: Heart disease and cancer were rare at the turn of the century and now, despite billions of dollars in research and huge advances in technology, these are the two leading causes of death in this country. There is a long list of chronic diseases that are affecting a large portion of our population....diabetes, obesity, allergies, ulcers, mental illness, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, digestive disorders, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, and chronic fatigue. Learning disabilities including dyslexia, hyperactivity and attention disorders afflict more than 7 million kids. These diseases were rare just a generation or two before us. Chronic illness affects nearly half of all Americans AND causes 3 out of 4 deaths in the US.

Perhaps if we look back at the diets of our great Grandparents we can make some headway here. Maybe it is time for us as individuals to make our health a priority.

Hey, I have a wild idea! Instead of packing a handful of neon-orange-fake-cheese-flavored snacks in your kid's lunch how about an apple?

Happy New Year ~ 2010

2010-01-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

January 2010 ~ A fresh new year full of hope and promise!

I have been giving a lot of thought to my new years resolution. Not the usual, go to the gym or lose 5 pounds, but a resolution with meaning. I want this next year to count, to have a positive impact on my family. Next year on Jan 1 2011 I want to look back on this blog and be able to see all that I have accomplished.

This year will be a growing year for me. Literally. I have been an avid gardener for years, but a year ago my family and I moved. We moved from a home where I had spent years painstakingly working the soil to be fertile and healthy... to a home with a mostly bare backyard. I was overwhelmed with the idea of starting over, so I did nothing. I did not grow anything other than some herbs and greens in pots. What a wimp.

This year I plan to put in 600 square feet of garden space. Since our soil is so hard and full of rocks I will have to build raised beds, truck in soil and compost. No wonder I have put it off!

There are other things on my list this year as well, learn how to make soap, dust off my sewing machine and have a go at that. I'd like to add a few more chickens to our little flock of three...which also means building a larger coop. I'd like a couple of ducks as well but that means building a duck house and pond. Bees would be awesome too!

My biggest goals (or resolutions if you must) is to continue to fine tune the family's diet and to grow more of what we eat. I am transitioning my family over to a whole foods diet, foods that resemble what our great grandparents ate, whole grains properly prepared, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, cheese, meat and full fat raw dairy. By 2011 I want to have a preservative free pantry. We have made great progress but still have quite a ways to go.

I will chronicle my progress and include photos and how-to's along the way. I will also share recipes for those who need a little inspiration in moving towards a healthier whole foods based diet. Cutting out preservatives and nasty chemicals is a transition that we can all make!

Enjoying Summer's Bounty

2009-09-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

I came across this wonderful recipe while looking the the Gourmet web site. They offer lots of great seasonal recipes! I am a big fan of eating locally and seasonally. To really appreciate the beauty of summer sweet corn it should only be enjoyed when nature intended us to enjoy is...those long hot days of summer.

Zucchini, Corn and Basil Fusilli with Bacon

6 bacon slices
1 lbs of fusilli
3 ears of fresh corn, cut off the cob
1 1/2 lbs zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 (5-7 oz) container of basil pesto
Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish

Cook bacon in a 12 inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Discard drippings from pan.

Meanwhile cook fusilli in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 Tbs salt per 6 quarts of water) until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, then add vegetables to pasta in pot and cook. partially covered, for 2 minutes. Drain.

Add pasta with vegetables to skillet along with pesto and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water and toss. Season with salt and moisten with additional pasta water if needed.

Top with crumbled bacon and a generous amount to freshly ground pepper.

Recipe by Melissa Roberts photo by Romulo Yanes

It's Strawberry Shortcake time!

2009-05-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

I just love this time of year! With all the lovely warm season fruits coming into season, and in my house strawberries are a favorite. Strawberry shortcake is a classic Memorial Day treat and an easy way to get the kids in the kitchen for a little fun. Kids are amazed at how easily the luscious whipped cream comes together, for a little fun add some chocolate powder to the whipped cream for a special chocolate strawberry treat!

Strawberry Shortcake
1 pint fresh strawberries
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 package prepared shortcakes *Bisquick has a nice recipe on the box if you prefer a simple bake-your-own version
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Remove stems from berries and slice them. Place in a meduim sized bowl and toss with sugar. Let the berries rest for 30 minutes. Using a chilled mixing bowl whip the cream until it begins to thicken, add the sugar and the vanilla (if adding chocolate powder now is the time) Whip to fluffy peaks (about 2 minutes on med/high)
Pile berry mixture on top of shortcakes and top with the freshly whipped cream. Enjoy!

In a Dinner Rut?

2009-05-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Are you bored with dinner?

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about this common dilemma. It is so easy for busy peple to fall into a dinner time rut, relying on the same old things week after week. My friend was saying that he and his family needed some help, they cook the same menu over and over and he is not only bored with it, but he would like to move his family towards some healthier food choices. I had a simple aswer for him....join a CSA!

What is a CSA you ask? Community Supported Agriculture. This is a wonderful thing on so many levels, first of all you are supporting local family farms. Gone are the days when your salad traveled by truck 1,500 hundred miles to get to you. That is silly. Most regions have smaller scale family farms who need your support, so it makes sense to minimize your carbon footprint by purchasing as much as you can, as close to home as you can. Secondly, you recieve a lovely box of fresh produce each week. Produce is picked when it is ripe and ready to eat, boxed up and delivered to you. Since you will only get what is currently in season, this forces you to think out side the box a bit because you get to play with some new foods, breaking you out of your rut! Are you tired of baked potatoes and a romaine salad with your dinner? How about some sauteed kale and a salad featuring fresh from the earth carrots and spicy arugula? Are you tired of apples, oranges and bananas? How about cherimoya and kumquats instead? Most CSAs also provide you with great recipes featuring their seasonal produce.

By creating meals based on what arrives in your CSA box you will break out of your rut. You will try new foods, try new recipes and have fun in the process!

Go to www.localharvest.org to find a CSA near you.

Creamy Shrimp Risotto

2009-04-25T07:34:00.001-07:00

This is a wonderfully simple and elegant meal, inspired by Gourmet Magazine.

Once you understand the concept of risotto you can let your creative juices flow and improvise on it in so many ways. There are two important factors in making a successful risotto, using the correct type of rice and stirring frequently. There are three categories of rice; long, medium and short grain. Risotto is made with Arborio rice, which is short grain. Arborio, like other short grain rice, contains more starch than medium or long grain rice and that starch contributes to the creamy texture of the finished risotto. The second factor is frequent stirring. Stirring your rice helps to release the starch in the grains.

The method is quite simple, sautee your aromatics (typically onion or shallot)in butter, stir in the rice to coat in the butter, add wine and stir until absorbed. Begin adding hot stock 1/2 cup at a time, stir and let the rice absorb the liquid before adding more, repeat for about 18 minutes until your rice is al-dente. At this point you can add any other elements you would like, blanched veggies, cooked meats herbs and seasonings. In the last couple of minutes stir in a small palm full of nice parmesean and a chunk of butter. Add a little more stock to thin as needed.

Lemony Risotto with Asparagus & Shrimp
Serves 4 as a main dish- 45 minutes start to finish
3 c. reduced sodium chicken stock
2 c. water
3/4 lb asparagus trimmed and cut to 1 inch pieces
1 small onion finely chopped
4 Tbs butter (divided)
1 1/4 c. Arborio rice

1/4 dry white wine
3/4 Lb med. shrimp peeled & deveined
1 Tbs lemon zest
1/3 c. grated Parmesan (set aside small amount for garnish)
3 Tbs chopped flat leaf parsley (set aside small amount for garnish)

Directions:
Combine water and stock, bring to boil. Add asparagus, simmer until slightly tender then remove from pot to cool. Keep broth at a low simmer and cover pot.

Sautee onion in half of the butter with a pinch of salt in a 4 qt heavy saucepan over medium heat, stir occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in Arborio to coat with the fat, cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add wine and simmer stirring until it is absorbed.

Stir in 1/2 cup of hot broth mixture, stir until absorbed. Continue adding more broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting it absorb into the rice before adding the next 1/2 cup. After about 18 minutes, the rice should be creamy but still a bit al dente, (about the consistency of thick soup) there will be lfetover broth, you will use it later.
Add the shrimp, stir and let cook 2-3 mins or until cooked through.

Stir in asparagus, zest, remaining 2 Tbs butter, Parmesan and parsley. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Garnish with a little parsley and a sprinkle of Parmesan. Serve with crusty bread.

Quick Delicious Dinner Idea

2009-04-23T14:53:00.001-07:00

Is dinner time a rush of craziness at your home? We all have nights when we are just too tired to put in much effort, yet we always want a nice meal at the end of the day.

Here is a quick and flavorful meal that you can whip up in less than 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Asian Noodles with Chicken & Broccoli

1 lb chicken tenders

1 lb fresh broccoli florets

1lb dried udon noodles (fettuccini works well too)

1/2 C. oyster sauce

3 Tbs hoisin sauce

1 1/2 Tbs seasme oil

2 tsp Chinese garlic-chile sauce

1/2 C chopped green onions

2 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:
Cook chicken tenders in a pot of boiling water until done about 4 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. Tear into bite sized pieces when cool.

Drop broccoli into boiling water, cook until just tender (4-5 minutes). Remove with slotted spoon to colander and let drain then set aside in bowl.

Drop noodles into the same boiling water, cook per package directions until tender. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water then drain the pasta into colander and rinse with cool water.

Mix together 1/2 cup of cooking water with hoisin sauce,oyster sauce. sesame oil, garlic-chili sauce. Toss together the sauce mixture with the noodles, chicken, broccoli and, 1/2 of the green onions. Add more of the cooking water as needed.

Garnish with the reserved of the green onions and sesame seeds.

Beautiful Spring Leeks

2009-04-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

It is spring time and that means it is time to open up our menus to embrace new spring veggies. Leeks are a wonderful spring vegetable but usually play a supporting role rather than take center stage; still they are a great fresh addition to the dinner table. Leeks are sometimes called "the gourmet's onion". They are related to onions and garlic, but they have flat leaves instead of tubular ones and look like a giant green onion. They're easy to grow and delicious, with a taste all their own, yet similar to a mild onion.

The link below is a great video from Gourmet.com showing how to properly clean a Leek. As they grow dirt gets trapped in between the layers and they need to be cleaned in a careful way. Once cleaned, they can be added to many dishes, just as you would use an onion, to impart that lovely fresh flavor. How to Trim, Cut, and Wash Leeks

Here is a terrific recipe featuring our new friend the Leek. Serve this on a cool spring evening with a loaf of crusty bread and a nice bottle of wine and you have a wonderfully simple meal!

Mussels w/ Leeks and Herbed Wine Sauce
3 pounds mussels
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbs butter
2 leeks, white parts only, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
Several sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/4 cup white wine
a handful freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley to garnish

Directions:
Rinse the mussels under cold running water and scrub with a vegetable brush. Pull off the stringy mussel beards with your thumb and index finger as you are washing them. Discard any mussels that have broken shells.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil & 1 tablespoon butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 5- 6 minutes. Add the mussels and stir it all together. Add the white wine. Cover and steam over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until the mussels open. Stir occasionally so that all the mussels are in contact with the heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and a drizzle of olive oil to the sauce remaining in the pot and stir to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

Learning how to be a better cook....

2009-04-15T12:20:00.001-07:00

One thing that I have come to realize over the years is that many of us are frustrated in the kitchen because we are stuck in a rut. We fix the same boring meals over and over because it is what is familiar; we know how to prepare it and how long it will take. When trying out a new recipe there are so many unknowns...how long with this take? Do I have to go to 4 different stores to find all of the ingredients? Will my family even like it? Nothing is more frustrating than a wonderful looking recipe filled with difficult to find ingredients. Yet, we are mesmerized by an endless line up of cooking shows with dynamic Chefs who whip up extraordinary meals. These TV Chefs have a way of making it all look so simple that we find ourselves inspired to try these recipes…. and once again we find ourselves running from market to market in search of Crème Fraiche, Pancetta or Manchego cheese. Why do we do this to ourselves? Simple, it is our desire to become better cooks. That desire overrides our common sense which, had we been listening, would have told us not to attempt this recipe.

So often we get caught up in the recipe and overlook the technique. The technique is really what we need to pay attention to, not flashy ingredients. Learning basic techniques is the key to becoming a better cook, with a good understanding of the technique used in a recipe you are really free to play with it and make it your own. Let yourself experiment, use the recipe as loose guide and utilize ingredients that you have on hand to make it your own. If you do not have Manchego cheese what else can you use? A better question is… what kind of cheese do you like? Do not be afraid to take recipe and make it your own, make it fit your budget, your tastes and what you have readily available. It may not be exactly the same, but that is the fun part of cooking. Take what you see on TV and turn it into something simple, relevant and comforting rather than something difficult and stressful. This will help pull you out of your cooking rut and help you to enjoy your time in the kitchen more.

Deviled Eggs. Do you love them or hate them?

Below is a typical Deviled egg recipe…one which I hate.
Let me show you how I make it my own.

Ingredients
6 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoons yellow mustard (Dijon is preferred at my house)
1 teaspoons sweet relish (I use diced green olives, ham, green onions, capers, jalapeños, diced bacon…whatever I have on hand)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika, for dusting (I always top with chopped bits of whatever I added inside…makes the dish much prettier and then people know what they are eating)

Directions:
Place eggs in a large wide saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Cover and take off heat and set timer for 20 minutes. Remove eggs and run under cool water for a few minutes and then cool in refrigerator. Remove shells from eggs and slice in half lengthwise. Separate egg yolks and place into a bowl. Place whites on a separate plate. Add mayo, mustard, relish and salt and pepper, to taste, to yolks and mash together with a fork until creamy and smooth. Using a large star tip and resealable plastic bag,(if you do not have a star tip, just scoop your filling into a ziptop type baggie and snip off the tip to easily squeeze the filling into the egg white halves.) pipe the yolk mixture back into each egg, enough to fill yolk holes completely. Dust tops with paprika. Refrigerate. Serve cold.

This is just a very simple example of taking a basic technique and making my own recipe around it.