Just want to give you a heads up. I’m going to be offering a free demonstration of my “Cooking by Feel” method of food preparation on June 12th, from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. It will be held at The Creative Center in Greensboro, NC. You can see the calendar listing. I discovered I have a knack for being able to just grab things out of the fridge, willy-nilly, and end [...]]]>

Herbs and spices are what make an average meal extraordinary.

Just want to give you a heads up. I’m going to be offering a free demonstration of my “Cooking by Feel” method of food preparation on June 12th, from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. It will be held at The Creative Center in Greensboro, NC. You can see the calendar listing. I discovered I have a knack for being able to just grab things out of the fridge, willy-nilly, and end up preparing a delicious dish or meal. My goal, through the demonstration and classes, is to get people eating more freshly prepared food, with minimal time involvement, and make it so tasty they won’t want to go back to pre-prepared or fast foods.

I don’t have a clue what I’m going to fix, because what I’ll do is, the day of the event, I’ll grab stuff out of my fridge, load it up, take it to the site where the demo is, and I’ll prepare one or two dishes for people to taste.

I will make sure I have a wide selection of my most used herbs, as well as all my food fixers. You know those things that you add when you made it too salty, bitter, sour, etc. Other than that it will just be whatever whim I happen to have that day.

These demos are a lot of fun and you get to taste whatever concoction I come up with. I hope you’ll join me as I venture into in-person opportunities to learn healthy gourmet meal preparation.

Photo courtesy of Lisa Solonynko.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

My schedule has been such that I haven’t been able to shop at local farmer’s markets for quite some time. Recently I decided I needed to change that schedule and get back to supporting local food production.

Just today, after I’d made that decision, my husband showed me a documentary that was really interesting, but also a little disturbing. In the PBS series “America Revealed” near the beginning of episode one – Food [...]]]>

Buy locally grown food is tastier and fresher.

My schedule has been such that I haven’t been able to shop at local farmer’s markets for quite some time. Recently I decided I needed to change that schedule and get back to supporting local food production.

Just today, after I’d made that decision, my husband showed me a documentary that was really interesting, but also a little disturbing. In the PBS series “America Revealed” near the beginning of episode one – Food Machine – Yul Kwon visits the Shasta dam in northern California. He says that because of this one dam California is able to produce 1/2 of all food consumed in the USA. He also stated that if that dam were compromised in any way 1/2 of all food in America would stop being produced. There would be no water to do it.

Now I’d already decided to start buying locally, as much as possible. Now I want to call you to do the same. If you have a local farmer’s market, or CSA (consumer support agriculture), please start buying as much of your food from there as you possibly can. If we start supporting local food production, if something should happen to the dam in California we’ll be in a lot better shape.

That’s an important reason for buying your foods locally, but here are some others. The food is much fresher. If I put a zucchini bought at the store and a zucchini I’ve picked fresh from my garden in the refrigerator at the same time, guess which one lasts longer? Well, it seems pretty obvious that something fresh picked should last longer, however, I’ve had zucchinis still fresh in my fridge after 3 weeks, if they came from my garden. I’ve never had one last more than a week from the store.

This also means more nutrients, as some nutrients degrade as time passes. Locally grown food doesn’t have to travel long distances, so different varieties that have better taste can be grown, supporting our seed biodiversity. Plus they can grow unusual varieties if they know they have a market for them.

You’ll also know what has gone into growing your food. Now I wouldn’t walk up to a farmer and ask him how he grows his stuff. Get to know him a little, let him see that you’re not a threat (many farmer’s see a stuffy city person as not having any understanding about what they’re up against). Just casually ask about their thoughts on organic growing, etc., be non-threatening, and certainly don’t try to convert them when you first meet them.

Of course if you have some local organic growers you can always vote with your money. If non-organic farmers see that the organic farmers sell out faster and they sell more, then they’ll be interested, as that means a higher dollar to work ratio. I don’t know any businessman who’s not interested in that.

Of course growing your own and sharing your over abundance if you have it is the best way, but not all of us have the time, money, or space to do that. The next best thing is to try and buy what you need from within 100 miles of your home. I’m working on that.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I have to say I’m really tired of people trying to make their foods look healthy, when it’s really not. I’m not going to name names right now, because it is an industry-wide problem, and is especially bad when it’s foods that are being sold at natural and health food stores.

I’m sitting here looking at the ingredients in a snack bar that is supposed to be a healthier [...]]]>

How can something be a health food if seven ingredients are sugar?

I have to say I’m really tired of people trying to make their foods look healthy, when it’s really not. I’m not going to name names right now, because it is an industry-wide problem, and is especially bad when it’s foods that are being sold at natural and health food stores.

I’m sitting here looking at the ingredients in a snack bar that is supposed to be a healthier way to stave off hunger until your next meal. These are the unhealthy ingredients – brown sugar, invert sugar, oligofructose, vegetable shortening, sugar, dextrose, corn syrup, fructose. If you look at that list seven of them are some sort of sugar.

Truly whole foods in the bar are whole grain rolled oats, almonds, freeze dried bananas, whole oat flour, and dried pureed bananas.

So really it is oats and sugar with a little bit of fruits and nuts mixed in. They’ve also added vitamins to make it more nutritious, but it doesn’t say where they come from or whether they’re in a form that is usable by the body. Often time they use the cheapest and least absorbable form of a vitamin, so it really amounts to nothing more than a filler with a fancy name.

In teaching this new class I’ve been finding so many foods with all kinds of additives, plumped up with fillers that really don’t do anything for your, or worse either add weight or cause you to crave more food. Some even dehydrate you and make you want to drink more of their product, all in the name of health.

The only way to be sure what you’re eating is to make it yourself. Then you know exactly what’s in it and how it’s been prepared.

It’s time for all of us to stop being mesmerized by they glitzy ads and ideas of time savings and look at our healthy and the healthy of our children. It’s time to start taking care of ourselves and each other, to start looking at not only what’s filling our stomach, but what that’s doing to us in the long run. How we can fill it more simply, healthfully, and create community while doing it. Time to slow down and return to our roots, live roots of the foods we used to eat. We need to be sure our children, and even we know what a carrot looks like, where and apple grows, what’s going to happen if we don’t take care of our environment by eating locally organically produced food.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I’m fixing one of my favorites tonight Barbecue Tofu Over Brown Rice. I only have approximate measurements, so I’ve listed them in the order of the amount [...]]]> It’s Celebration Time!

Tonight I’m having a celebration for the people who have been a part of my healthy lifstyle pilot program. All four of them made it to the end, with varying degrees of “success.” So, we’ll do a final weigh in and take measurements and then just have a nice healthy potluck together.

I’m fixing one of my favorites tonight Barbecue Tofu Over Brown Rice. I only have approximate measurements, so I’ve listed them in the order of the amount I put in. What I did was to look at a regular barbecue sauce and see what the ingredients were. Then I chose healthy, vegetarian alternatives to make something that I think tastes better than anything you can get in a bottle. This is definitely a “cook by feel” recipe, though. So, have some fun finding just the right combination of ingredients to make your tofu lip smacking good!

Barbecue Tofu

Feeds: 6

• 1 Pkg Extra Firm Tofu cut in cubes
• Sesame Oil
• 2 cups Tomato puree (I like Muir Glens and it has a safe lining in the cans now. It just tastes more tomatoey than others)
• 2-3 T. Molasses
• 1-2 T. Lemon juice or vinegar
• 3 T. Sucanat or honey (I prefer the Sucanat and this is just a little)
• 2 tsp.Powdered mild chilis (I make my own because I don’t eat garlic)
• 1 tsp. Salt
• Pepper
• Asafoetida (one to two small pinches!)

Brown the tofu in a tablespoon or two of sesame oil. Add enough tomato puree to make a good sauce. Then start adding the ingredients until you get just the right combination of flavors. It needs to be sweet, spicy, and have a little bit of a tart flavor to it.

I just cook up a pot of brown rice and we spoon it over the rice. It is delicious. Hope you have fun “feeling” your way through this one.

Share Your Experiment

I’d love to hear how it turned out for you and if you added or subtracted any ingredients.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Confused on how to say that, well I had to guess at how to spell it! It’s an expression I use all the time when I taste something delicious, and yesterday was one of those days. I was cleaning out all the winter weeds from the herb garden. In the process I had to dig up a few volunteers that had come up in the middle [...]]]>

Herbs taste good and make excellent photo subjects. Dill with morning dew drops.

Spring Delights

Confused on how to say that, well I had to guess at how to spell it! It’s an expression I use all the time when I taste something delicious, and yesterday was one of those days. I was cleaning out all the winter weeds from the herb garden. In the process I had to dig up a few volunteers that had come up in the middle of other herbs, and managed to break a stem off the oregano.

While preparing a salad for lunch I pulled out all the fresh herbs I had just gathered from the garden and proceeded to add some to the salad. Yummo-schmumo. There is nothing that will perk up a salad like the addition of fresh herbs. I added just fennel, oregano, and parsley, but it made a taste sensation that is missing throughout the winter months.

Winter Doldrums

During the winter I’m relegated to using dried herbs, but they just don’t carry the punch of fresh. No matter what way I dry my own surplus, when I get to use my first bit of fresh it’s like an explosion of flavor that I’ve not had for many months.

Herbs that are amazing additions to salads include – fennel, oregano, lemon thyme, tarragon, basil (all the different flavors), rosemary, parsley, salad burnett, and marjoram.

Share Your Favorite Salad Addition

I’m sure I’m missing a few great additions. What do you add to your salads to make them unique? Please share with us all in the comment box below.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I think most of you saw the write up about Coke and Pepsi having to change their formula to stop using a carmel color that was contaminated with a known carcinogen. How many other foods are compromised in some way? Many more than we would like to acknowledge.

I’ve talked some about GMOs and how if you eat anything with non-organic corn, [...]]]>

Eating with awareness has a new meaning. You need to know if there are toxins lurking in your food.

I think most of you saw the write up about Coke and Pepsi having to change their formula to stop using a carmel color that was contaminated with a known carcinogen. How many other foods are compromised in some way? Many more than we would like to acknowledge.

I’ve talked some about GMOs and how if you eat anything with non-organic corn, soy, canola, or cottonseed oil you’re probably eating GMO food. Now they’ve started with sugar beets!

We all got a good scare when they came out with the findings about BPA and I would have thought that all organic, natural, or “health” labelled foods would have changed can their lining immediately. It wasn’t that easy, though, and until last fall all the canning companies were still using a BPA plastic lining. I was shocked because I had been carefully buying organic tomato puree, only to find out that I was still getting BPA until just recently.

Unfortunately the canning companies were in a bind, as certain foods will leach the metal in the can into the product if you don’t line it. Tomatoes were especially problematic. They were researching frantically trying to find a product that would work under canning conditions and they finally found one last fall. So, at least for now, your organic tomato products are safer.

How can you keep up on all of this? Well it is definitely a task and one that I’m not perfect at, but you can visit the web site for Center for Food Safety, as well as download the app for you iPhone or iPod. Another site is Environmental Working Group. They also have an app that lists the dirty dozen; the 12 most pesticide laden foods, and the clean 15; those foods you don’t have to worry about buying organic (although it’s nice to support organic farmers as much as possible).

I know there are numerous other sites that have excellent information, as well, and as I find them and look them over for accuracy and non-sensationalism I’ll post them here. In today’s world eating healthy means more than just quitting junk food. It means being vigilant about what is in everything you put in your mouth.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Guest post written by April Gibbs

I’ve never been turned away at a party for bringing cupcakes along. See, I’m really into baking cupcakes and I come up with all kinds of awesome varieties for baking them. I’m always looking for the next big great recipe too!

I’m not quite sure what got me on my cupcake baking kick a few years back, but I’m glad that I did because I’ve never looked back and my coworkers [...]]]>

The office would love these!

Guest post written by April Gibbs

I’ve never been turned away at a party for bringing cupcakes along. See, I’m really into baking cupcakes and I come up with all kinds of awesome varieties for baking them. I’m always looking for the next big great recipe too!

I’m not quite sure what got me on my cupcake baking kick a few years back, but I’m glad that I did because I’ve never looked back and my coworkers love it when I bring them with me to work. One thing I want though is an apron to wear while I’m making these, so I looked online for one and saw the site www.debtsettlementfamily.com/calculate. Even though that’s not what I was initially looking for, I decided that I could really use their help, so I’m using it.

I found a cute little apron on sale from Anthropologie that was exactly my style. So I had to buy it before it sold out! It fits in perfectly with the rest of my kitchen decorations, which is really lucky and makes the purchase that much more worthwhile!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Servings: 2-? (the more you cut up the more you feed)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Directions: Chop up some of each vegetable and put in a serving bowl. Sprinkle cumin seeds, balsamic vinegar and [...]]]> I was looking through all my old posts and was shocked that I had never shared one of my favorite salads! So, here’s the recipe for a delicious, quick salad. This is especially great during the summer when your lettuce has bolted.

Chunky Salad

Servings: 2-? (the more you cut up the more you feed)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes
• Snow Peas
• Jicama
• Avocado
• Cumin seeds
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Olive oil
• Celtic Salt (Opt)

Directions: Chop up some of each vegetable and put in a serving bowl. Sprinkle cumin seeds, balsamic vinegar and Celtic salt over it. Drizzle a little olive oil on and toss lightly.

Can be served as is or put a rounded heap on a beautiful single lettuce leaf.

You can use other veggies as substitutes. These are my favorites though. You can toss in some fresh basil or other Italian herbs you enjoy for a little different taste.

Bon appetite!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Blanching is not a lengthy process, but I felt that if I could just clean them up from the garden, allow them to dry, and then freeze them without any processing it would help preserve even more [...]]]> Harvest Abundance

Last spring I had a bumper crop of snow peas. So many we couldn’t possibly eat them all. I decided to try freezing some of them to see how they did. I’d always read that you needed to blanch vegetables before freezing them.

Blanching is not a lengthy process, but I felt that if I could just clean them up from the garden, allow them to dry, and then freeze them without any processing it would help preserve even more nutrients.

Of course I’m not trying to freeze to keep something for eternity either. I had preserved them to use in the winter. The only thing is I forgot about them, as my freezer got packed full of more and more stuff.

Blanched

I found them just a few weeks ago, when my new crop of peas had just been planted. They’re only about 3” tall now so have a long way to go. First I brought out a bag of blanched peas. I thawed them and used them in cooking. I have to admit that snow peas are not my favorite frozen vegetable. I used them in a stir fry, but think they would go better in a soup or stew. They were limp as could be and had nothing left of crispness like fresh peas.

Un-blanched

Next I opened one marked un-blanched. Absolutely no difference in taste, but they were actually a little less limp than the blanched.

Bottom Line

Bottom line is that I didn’t really like either. I now realize that shelling peas are really the only ones that hold up in the freezer, so if I have a bumper crop this year I’ll find some unsuspecting friend to foist them on.

Share Your Experiences With Freezing Foods

What have been your experiences with freezing various fruits and vegetables? Which have worked out well, which have been a fiasco, and why?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Suddenly frozen dinners look good, just because they’re easy. But gourmet they’re not. When you are in culinary “hell” restaurants like Portland, Oregon Italian restaurant, Pastini, are there to save the day.

With authentic, yet affordable Italian [...]]]> It happens to everyone. You’re on a roll. Everything you cook is better than the last. You come up with a new culinary invention every day. Then one day you walk into the kitchen and the inspiration is gone. Your muse has gone on vacation.

Suddenly frozen dinners look good, just because they’re easy. But gourmet they’re not. When you are in culinary “hell” restaurants like Portland, Oregon Italian restaurant, Pastini, are there to save the day.

With authentic, yet affordable Italian food, those desert (not dessert) days of lackluster dishes can come to an end. Lucky for you they have locations in the surrounding areas of Bend, and Corvallis, too.

Ziti with Winter Squash and Gorganzola Sauce. Looks delicious.

What wanton gourmet wouldn’t enjoy seasonal specials, such as Ziti with Winter Squash and Gorgonzola Sauce, especially if the ingredients come from local sources? The fresher the better is my motto.

If you have special dietary needs, Pastini has a gluten free Italian restaurant menu to ease your concerns about whether dishes are safe to eat.

Should you ever find your muse has left you when a big shindig is about to happen you can always look into Portland Italian catering. Of course if you’re not in Portland or one Pastini’s other locations, you’ll just have to do the best you can with your local catering. However, make sure you make up a list of things that are important to you, such as, local ingredients, affordable prices, gluten free options, or anything else that is important to your particular affair.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites