(Strawberry) Jam Session

I can't even begin to explain how excited I am every year for strawberries. We have a small patch planted in the garden which is good for nibbling whilst in the garden (none ever make it up to the house). In the future I plan to dramatically expand the fruit we grow but this year was not the year to do so. Therefore, I have been looking for a local source or organic strawberries and hit the jackpot with The Berry Patch. The Berry Patch is a no-spray/low-spray patch. This year the berry plants were only sprayed once, before they flowered. At $3/lb for pick your own (PYO in foodie lingo) these are a great deal. And, bonus, it is only about a 20 minute drive from my house! My daughter and I have picked 18lbs so far this summer. Well, I have picked 18lbs and she has eaten several more pounds while picking. Picking at the Berry Patch is really easy because they employ a flag system and ask that you thoroughly pick your flagged area before moving on. This means that you can pick a large quantity in a small amount of time as opposed to roaming around a large field full of strawberry plants and searching for good berries. Awesomeness.

Having access to amazing-tasting-inexpensive-practically-not-sprayed strawberries this year inspired me to make some jam. I have not done a lot of canning in the past and it is something I keep wanting to do more of. Having a 2yo means making a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and our jam consumption this year is at an all time high. I have some issues with store bought jam and buying locally made jam at the Farmers Market will run you $6 for 8oz. Not exactly budget friendly. So I started to research making strawberry jam.

The first few recipes I looked at had me a bit concerned. Most called for 5 cups of strawberry mush and 8 cups of sugar. 8 cups of sugar??? Just thinking about how sweet that must be made me feel a little queasy. Luckily as I researched I learned that you can use no-sugar pectin and still add a small amount of sugar. Making jam, as it turns out, is as much an art as a science. You can sweeten it with sugar, fruit juice, honey, etc. And you can vary the proportions of each. Below you will find the measurements I used. I think the jams taste awesome. I made 4 jars of strawberry and 4 jars of strawberry-rhubarb. I especially love the strawberry rhubarb jam. In the future I will experiment with different sweeteners, etc but for my first jam session this was a great start.

Methods and Measurements:

To start I washed and hulled about 8 cups of strawberries. Then I mashed them to yield 4 cups of mashed strawberries. I mixed 4 cups mashed strawberries, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water and 1 package no-sugar pectin in a pot on the stove and brought to a rapid boil, stirring frequently. Once it was boiling rapidly (i.e. the boil could not be knocked down) I let it cook for 1 minute. I removed from the heat and filled my mason jars. I used 12 oz jars and this mixture filled exactly 4 jars, leaving 1/4" head space. The jars were then placed in a hot water bath and boiled for 10 minutes (I had to adjust for altitude). Remove from water and let sit for 24 hours to cool and seal.

The strawberry-rhubarb was similar, just add one cup of chopped rhubarb.

Some notes: Next time I will reduce the sugar by 1/2 cup. The strawberry jam was still on the sweet side even when reducing the sugar called for in conventional recipes by 75%. Another thing I noticed was that my fruit rose to the top of the jars. To prevent this you can let the mixture sit in the pot after it is boiled for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. This will distribute the fruit better and start it setting. When you transfer it into the jar it should remain evenly distributed.

I think canning can be intimidating - all that sterilizing that needs to be done, the equipment you are encouraged to buy (not totally necessary by the way), the time involved. The truth is once you are all set up and do it once it becomes so much easier and if you have a lot to can it is easy to bang it out in an afternoon. Although, canning is not a toddler friendly activity so try and do it without a little one hanging on your legs.

So what are you waiting for? Plan your own jam session today!

Recipe Books and Binders

A friend recently told me that in an organizing book she read it recommended photocoping all of the recipes you like from your cookbooks and keeping them organized in a binder. Then donate or sell your cookbook collection to free up more space in your kitchen. Whhat? Get rid of my cookbooks? Seriously, what would I read before falling asleep at night?

However, this did get me thinking. I have a handful of cookbooks that I *love* and reference frequently. I have another (large) handful that I reference occasionally. And I have a few that I am not sure I've even opened. On top of that I have recipes printed and handwritten all over the place. They are in folders in my office, stuffed into cookbooks, used as scrap paper for my daughters artistic creations...in every room of my house one can find recipes floating around. It probably was high time I organized everything.

Side note: I love organizing.

Step 1: Create recipe binders. This was easy. I got one binder for tried and loved recipes and one for recipes to try. Then I got those write on tabs to separate everything into categories. 2 2" binders later all of my free floating recipes are organized.
Step 2: What about those cookbooks in the "never been opened" category? Yeah, time to open them. I should not have been surprised that there weren't too many recipes in them that I wanted to try so they are all being rehomed with friends or local libraries.
Step 3: Cooking Magazines. This is a whole other category of stuff in my house. I decided to only keep my all time favorite magazines, Eating Well, (which seriously, if you are not a subscriber, why not? I have never in my life been disappointed with a recipe from here, there are really few ads and the pictures are gorgeous. I'm just saying.) There are now in a nice magazine holder organized by season because that is how I reference them. From the rest I ripped out the recipes I wanted to keep, added them to the binder and recycled the magazines.

I must say I am LOVING my new recipe binders. They make life so easy and I also inserted a few lists in the front: "meals my husband likes" "quick and easy", etc.

An unexpected part of organizing my recipes was that it was a walk down my personal culinary history. I started gardening and becoming interested in cooking in college, so about 9-10 years ago. I remember the summer my roommate planted a tomato plant in our backyard and I was simply amazed that it actually produced tomatoes. The next summer I had turned the entire backyard into a garden (I tend to be over enthusiastic and unrealistic when it comes to gardening; it's only gotten worse with time). My gardening books are another collection of items I might consider evaluating sometime soon. But, I digress. Over the last decade my cooking, my thoughts on food, and my taste buds have seriously evolved and my cookbooks and recipes clearly reflect this evolution. There was that period of time that I did Weight Watchers and every recipe had "low-fat" ingredients in it. And those 5 Weight Watcher cookbooks. Then there was the evolution to eating the vegetables in my garden and the recipes that went with that... and then eating the vegetables grown locally, and then eating meat grown locally, and then eating only grassfed meat grown locally, and now eliminating as much processed food from my diet. There have also been phases. Exotic ingredients. Heirloom varieties of vegetables. Cooking authentic (fill in the location) food. Mastering the basics (this is an ongoing phase). Traditional French techniques (still working on those). And finally my culinary history includes Learning to cook with others in mind. In college I cooked for my tastes. When I met my husband I started to cook for his taste as well. When I had a baby I made baby food and researched childhood nutrition. And so on.

I have only been in the kitchen and garden for a decade. That's not very long. I can only imagine what will enhance my culinary experiences in the future.

Greens!

My first three CSA pick-ups have been overflowing with fresh greens. I like greens but my family has needed some convincing. My husband doesn't like the overwhelming flavor of some greens and my daughter is turned off by their texture (I think anyway. She basically told me that in 2yo language). So I have been searching high and low for some recipes to remedy these complaints.



I have found that, in general, cooking greens with a fat helps a lot for the taste problem. Bacon grease or butter sauteed with greens, garlic and onions seems to be a standby of a lot of recipes. We've done that. It is tasty enough for the husband. Of course I am not a *huge* fan of covering up all those flavors with lards. Another preparation that I prefer is a stir fry with the greens. To get the stir fry just right you need to add some crunch. This has been accomplished with the addition of sugar snap peas (in season now - and they crisp up so nicely when lightly stir fried), carrots (not in season but still reasonably priced for an organic produce at the supermarket) or almonds. Greens in a stir fry preparation have been my go-to the night before CSA pick-up the last few weeks. It is a great way to use up the last of those greens and it seems to satisfy most palates around here.

Rhubarb Muffins, Veggie Burgers & Asparagus Three Ways

I go through cooking phases. Sometimes, I love cooking and I can't get enough of it. Other times I am irritated that I am the only one in the house who seems to know where the kitchen is and I stop cooking for a little while.

Spring is a great time to be in a cooking mood. All the fresh vegetables inspire looking for new recipes and trying out new things. I also generally buy fresh locally grown produce in excess and have no choice but to cook it. (4 lbs of rhubarb? Why not, we haven't had rhubarb in a year.)

Springtime cooking this year has coincided with a bit of a health kick, as these recipes will reflect. Here are some recent winners that I have tried.

*A note about my lack of pictures: sorry, I suck. I am going to try much harder to start including lots more photos with my posts.*

Rhubarb Oatmeal Muffins
One problem that I always have with rhubarb is that it is frequently paired with cups upon cups of sugar. I searched high and low this year to find a rhubarb recipe that wasn't insane in the sugar department. Plus, I love rhubarb for its tartness - why hide that? This recipe is AWESOME. I have made it four times (this has something to do with the quantity of rhubarb I purchased at the Farmers Market last week) and each time the muffins have been seriously worth it.

The original recipe is here. Of course I have tweaked it and my version is below.

1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup safflower oil OR 1/3 cup applesauce (applesauce makes for a more binded, less crumby muffin)
1/3 or any citrus juice - I have used orange juice, juice from canned Mandarin oranges and apple juice with success
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 cup diced fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained

Topping
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsps chopped pecans or walnuts or you can leave the nuts out if you desire
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients; set aside.
In another bowl, combine egg, oil or applesauce, citrus juice and peel.
Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fold in rhubarb.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full.
Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over tops.
Bake at 350*F for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done

This recipe yields about 9 muffins. I find doubling it and filling the muffin cups more yields nice sized muffins, about a dozen.

Veggie Burgers
I have been craving homemade veggie burgers lately (and brussel sprouts, must be pregnancy cravings). My little brother and his gf came over for dinner one night and we made these veggie burgers. They were fantastic. I would recommend doubling the recipe and freezing some for later use. They are a bit time consuming to prepare so why not make extra and freeze some?

Asparagus, Asparagus, Asparagus
My excitement about rhubarb was shadowed only by my extreme enthusiasm for asparagus. It was asparagus with or for every meal for about a week. My favorite three ways to have asparagus:
#1) Roasted Asparagus. Just toss with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Roast for a few minutes at 425. Note: I think kosher salt is essential when roasting vegetables. You just don't get the same results with table salt.
#2) Asparagus Salad. This recipe is a favorite for its simplicity. The flavors blend together so nicely you will have a hard time not finishing the entire salad. My only regret here is that tomatoes and asparagus are not in season at the same time. But since my 2yo eats tomatoes (even the nasty ones from the store) like there is no tomorrow we always have tomatoes on hand.
#3) Cream of Asparagus Soup. And speaking of simplicity... when you have fresh vegetables it is so wonderful to prepare them simply and really let the flavor shine though. Here is a very simple cream of asparagus soup that comes together in about 20 minutes and it fabulous only with fresh delicious asparagus.

Happy Spring Cooking!

Banana Honey Ice Cream

I know, three posts in one day. Insanity.

Tonight I concocted a new ice cream primarily to give to my daughter as a less sugary dessert. I had a bunch of bananas that were getting pretty spotty so I decided to try and make banana ice cream with them. None of the recipes I found on the internet were what I was looking for so I just made up my own. I really didn't want to use any sweeteners but in the end added some honey because the banana and milk mixture just didn't seem sweet enough. Next time I will actually reduce the honey from 1/2 cup to 1/3 of a cup and see how that works. I froze the bananas before using them to release some more of the banana flavor. Make sure to peel them before freezing and then let them thaw a bit before processing.

6 small previously frozen bananas
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tb vanilla extract
1 tb lemon juice
1/2 cup honey (I used raw local honey)

Allow the bananas a few minutes to thaw and then process them in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients. Mix well and then place in ice cream maker. Makes about 8 cups.

I give my daughter about 1/8 of a cup of ice cream for dessert on nights that we eat dessert (maybe a couple of times a week). With this recipe there is 1 tablespoon of honey in every 1/2 cup. So in an 1/8 cup of ice cream there is... a little less than 1 teaspoon of honey. I am pretty happy with this in our attempt to reduce sugar intake.

WSJ Article: "What's really in a lot of 'heathy' food"

My father-in-law forwarded me this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal. The article is not very detailed but does cover make some good points about our perception of the food we are eating and what we are actually eating. It talks a bit about how many times the marketing comes before the science.

The part of the article that really caught my eye was about chicken. I know, more bad news about commerically raised and processed chicken. Since the article might not be available for more than seven days I am going to copy a portion of it:

"...roughly one-third of the fresh chicken sold in the U.S. is "plumped" with water, salt and sometimes a seaweed extract called carrageenan that helps it retain the added water. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says chicken processed this way can still be labeled "all natural" or "100% natural" because those are all natural ingredients, even though they aren't naturally found in chicken.

Producers must mention the added ingredients on the package -- but the lettering can be small: just one-third the size of the largest letter in the product's name. If you're trying to watch your sodium to cut your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, it pays to check the Nutrition Facts label. Untreated chicken has about 45 to 60 mgs of sodium per four-ounce serving. So-called enhanced or "plumped" chicken has between 200 and 400 mgs of sodium per serving, almost as much as a serving of fast-food french fries.

Adding salt water became widespread when big discount stores began selling groceries and wanted to sell chicken at uniform weights and prices. Plumping packaged chicken helps even out the weight. But that means consumers are paying for added salt water at chicken prices -- an estimated $2 billion worth every year, according to the Truthful Labeling Coalition, a group of chicken producers that don't enhance their products."

I have already been having a hard time eating chicken from the grocery store after the last article I read about arsenic in chicken and this additional information about the salt content is not making the matter better. No wonder Americans are suffering from weight problems - everything we eat is loaded with salt and/or growth hormones. Personally I prefer the taste of pastured chicken myself, and it looks like that is what we will be sticking with in this hosue.

Spring is Here! (Finally)

I know it has been a while since I posted. Besides the whole pregnancy excuse, we have just come through the most uninspired culinary time in Upstate New York: late winter/early spring. It is that time when you go to the market and there is nothing besides fresh lettuce (which is great to have in the winter but you know what I mean). Today was the turning point. At the market this morning I picked up asparagus and rhubarb, two signs that it is now officially spring and I am now officially inspired to cook again.

Most of the asparagus will be used as a dinner side for the week. Roasted asparagus. Need I say more? In the meantime I am looking for a good rhubarb-without-strawberries-and-loads-of-sugar recipe. Rhubarb is really tart so I understand why it is mostly paired with sugar and other sweet food but another spring inspiration is to start eliminating sugar from our diets, whenever possible.

So, sorry for the lapse in posting. But now that spring is here prepare to be overwhelmed!

Awesome Lasagna!

(will post pictures later)

Tonight I made the best lasagna I have ever made. I read up about lasagna in my Williams Sonoma Pasta book and followed much of their recipe and advice and it made a world of difference.

For starters I made my own spinach lasagna. This turned out exceptionally well. The dough was by far the best batch of pasta dough I have made yet. Elastic and shiny, perfect texture and amazing taste.

I also made a white sauce for the white sauce portion of the lasagna. In the past I have always used a mix of ricotta and mozzarella or parmesan cheese for the white part but using just a simple white sauce was perfect. I layered it with a red meat sauce and my green noodles. Quite possibly the prettiest lasagna I have ever seen (and that has to count for something!).

When I get a moment I will upload pictures. Just wanted to write about this before I forget how awesome it was and what I did to make it!

The Great Backyard Chicken Q&A Post

I have been getting a lot of questions about having chickens in your backyard. This post is an attempt to answer them. I should mention that I am by no means an expert on chickens but I have learned some valuable lessons in the past year.

Q: Is it a lot of work to have chickens?
A: No. But that answer is dependent on the set-up you use for your chickens. I have also found raising baby chickens to be considerably more work then getting laying pullets.

The work that is involved with having chickens includes feeding them, making sure they have fresh water, cleaning up their poop, and keeping them safe. For the record, chickens poop a lot. You need to have a chicken poop plan prior to getting your chickens. Chicken poop is very rich in nitrogen, making it a great fertilizer, but it *should* be composted first. We chose a coop design that makes feeding, watering, cleaning poop and keeping chickens safe very easy. Chicken "tractors" are portable chicken coops that you move around every day or so. You can build your own (just google coop designs and you will get a load of responses, or get a chicken coop design book from your library) or you can purchase one. We chose to purchase one because we did not have the time to build one. Our chicken coop is the Henspa and we have been very happy with it. There is an automatic feeder and waterer. It had taken our 3 - 5 hens about 6-8 weeks to go through a 25lb bag of chicken feed. The feeder holds almost the entire bag and has a seperate compartment for a calcium supplement (like oyster shells - necessary to maintain thickness of egg shells). There is also a waterer that attaches to the coop. The only problem with the waterer is that you have to train your chickens to drink from it. This was very easy with our hens last year (which we raised from chicks) but our hens this year (which we purchased already laying) have not been as easy to train. So for now I just keep a bowl of water in there for them that I change everyday. Really, not that much work.

In terms of the poop, the great thing about the chicken tractor is that it has an upstairs and a downstairs. The "downstairs" is the ground and the upstairs floor is chicken wire allowing all the poop to fall through to the bottom and therefore land on the grass. Move the tractor everyday and the poop gets nicely distributed on the ground, fertilizing the grass.

However, if you have only a small area for the chickens I would suggest a system where you can easily collect the poop and put it into a composter. For this I would recommend an Eglu which is a coop with a removable bottom that collects the waste.

Both the Eglu and the Henspa have a secure chicken run which keeps the chickens safe from predators but since you are moving them to fresh ground everday they are still "free ranging" (sort of).

With this coop design the next thing to think about is what you will do in the winter. Snow and ice piling up make it hard to move coops around in the winter. There are a few options - we actually choose to have chickens seasonally (although this winter we might keep them through the winter), therefore avoiding the problem of the winter. The Henspa can house the chickens in the winter but you would need to give them a larger area to go outside, have power close by to provide a heat lamp (if necessary) and for the water (or you could bring fresh water out every morning).

Q: Can chickens be kept in a backyard with something other than grass?
A: As far as I know chickens can be kept on any type of ground. Their primary source of nutrition is their feed, not grass, which can be supplemented with kitchen scraps. I have noticed that chickens are not really in it for the grass, they prefer the grubs, worms and weeds. Coincidentally they are one of the best natural means of tick control.

Q: Is it really cost effective to have hens for eggs?
A: This is a loaded question. The cost involved in keeping chickens are primarily their coop and feed. The coop can be built inexpensively if you have the time and materials. Chicken feed varies in price depending on what you want. Regular chicken feed is very cheap (around $8 for 25 lbs). Organic chicken feed is more than double the price. You can also look for local sources for chicken feed - maybe a farmer nearby makes feed. Of course you know exactly where your eggs come from and in my mind it is hard to put a price on that.

Q: Do I need a rooster?
A: No. Laying eggs is ovulation for a chicken. It is a natural hormonal process. If you want fertilized eggs you do need a rooster. A rooster is also helpful in maintaining pecking order in a flock, and can keep hens safe from danger. However, with just one or two hens it is entirely not necessary to have a rooster.

Q: Can I legally have hens in my backyard?
A: You need to check local ordinaces for this one. Keep in mind, if you have an enclosed backyard it is unlikely that your neighbors will know you have a hen or two.

Q: What type of hens should I get?
A: This is completely a preference thing. I prefer brown egg layers, which tend to be heavier breeds that can survive a winter. Google can provide you with a lot of information and pictures of different breeds. Our hens right now are a Red Sex Link, a Partridge Rock and a Black Australoupe. We also have 4 baby chicks that are Rhode Island Reds.

If you have any questions please post. I am happy to answer or at least find an answer for you.

Oh Happy Day

Today we got our first... EGG!

Maybe I should backtrack. Last April we ordered a straight run of day old Barred Rock chicks. Over time we gave away all the roosters and a few of the hens until we were left with 4 hens. A managable amount for us and just enough egg production to meet our needs and have a few left over. But, for some unknown reason, the hens never laid eggs. We kept them until they were seven months old and it started to snow and then they, um, flew south. It was a disappointing experiment but we did learn some lessons. So this year I went in search of already laying hens and yesterday acquired 3 laying hens and 4 Rhode Island Red pullets, a week old (for my daughter).

This morning we were beyond delighted to find an egg in the nesting box. A few hours later, another egg. I have been waiting for eggs from hens for a year now and I am so excited to finally have some. This is one less thing that I need to purchase. (Okay, now I need to purchase feed but really I only need to do that once every few months, not once a week). Since my egg production has skyrocked with all the cooking and pasta making that has been happening lately these eggs couldn't have come at a better time. I am not sure that the novelty of walking out to the coop and collecting eggs will ever wear off.

Obama and the FDA

Hopefully this is a step in the right direction:

"Obama announces FDA picks, food safety measures"

Homemade Ravioli!!

Last week after making ultra thick fettuccine for pasta night I vowed that this week I would make ravioli. And so I did. I was very excited about making ravioli and the experience has inspired me to make more in the future and get it perfect. Even in it's first attempt non-perfect state it was pretty good.

For the Love of a Pasta Roller

Let me just say that it is essential to have a pasta roller for ravioli. The dough cannot be too thick and it would be nearly impossible to roll it out so thin without the roller. There are only about four or five pasta rollers available for purchase in the United States, ranging from $40 - $200. I researched them and decided that the Mercado Atlas 150 (coming in around $80) would fit my needs. The MA150 had consistently good reviews on the many websites I consulted. Unfortunately my first attempt to purchase a pasta roller was a failure. I purchased it from a bogus website and never received my merchandise. Luckily I had paid through Paypal and was able to get a full refund. Anyway, things were looking bleak for a ravioli making session this week until I finally decided to pay slightly more and go to a local kitchen supply store. At least I was certain to come home with a roller and therefore able to embark upon the ravioli making journey.

My Atlas 150 and My 2 Year Old
A pasta roller is unquestionably a fun piece of equipment to have in your kitchen. I opted for a model without a motor (anything I can do to burn calories while in the kitchen) and quickly realized that the absolute biggest advantage to using my pasta roller was that not only could my 2yo help out with it but she was actually very helpful and it was easier to cook because she was participating. She stood on her chair and cranked every single piece of pasta over and over for me, freeing up my hands to feed and catch the pasta as it rolled. And she had a great time doing so. Another bonus: since she was so involved in the cooking she ate really well at dinner tonight. She was so excited about the ravioli.

The Ravioli Making Process

Due to my irrational tendency to complicate things in the kitchen, I chose to do both a meat filling and a cheese filling in my raviolis. And not only that, I decided to make so much filling that I would never have to cook ravioli ever again. When cooking ravioli it is important to figure out how much rest time the various components need. The fillings generally have to be refrigerated for at least an hour so they stick together better. The dough needs to rest for at least 30 minutes so it relaxes and is easier to roll out. Given these parameters I started my fillings first. The recipes were from my Williams Sonoma Pasta cookbook (which I highly recommend if you are new to this whole pasta thing). After the fillings were started I made my dough. There are many different recipes for making dough out there. My friend Sue experimented with dough making this week and her recipe follows. Making pasta dough is one of those things that requires some attention to detail. No recipe can work the same every time. You need to get a feel for the dough to get it right.

Once the dough is rested and the fillings are ready it is time to roll out the pasta. At this point I always put my pot of water to boil because that can take a long time. With ravioli you don't want a rapid boil, something closer to a simmer is desirable. I rolled out my dough to two thicknesses - the #2 setting on the roller which I believe is 1/16" and the #3 setting which is a little thinner. Next time I do this I am going to try the #4 setting because I really like thinner pasta when it comes to ravioli. The #2 setting was much to thick, #3 was okay and if I can get #4 to work without breaking I think that will be the winner.

When I purchased my roller I also bought a round ravioli stamp. I wanted a pasta cutter but the store was all out of them. I believe, after using the stamp, that the cutter would be an easier tool. Of course, you could just use a knife but I wanted to cool edge.

Basically you roll the pasta out into a long sheet and then place very small drops of filling at whatever interval you need for your stamp or cutter or whatnot. It is important to not overfill your ravioli. I made this mistake with a few of mine and the center took too long to cook, overcooking the pasta. A teaspoon is really sufficient (and since I have six cups of filling left over you now know that I was not exaggerating when I said I made too much - a little goes a long way). Using your finger, put a cold water ring around your filling and fold over the pasta, sealing the filling. Work out any air bubbles that remain inside. Air bubbles will cause your raviolis to burst.

Once you have completed all of your raviolis place them, a few at a time, in gently boiling water. They are done when they pop to the surface. Add some sauce and serve. So delicious, and really quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Sue's Dough Recipe

four cups flour
four eggs
salt
sprinke of olive oil
cold water till it willingly forms a ball

Pile o' (Banana) Pancakes

Here is another one of our favorite, from scratch, recipes. When I make these I double the recipe and freeze a lot of them. When you are ready to eat them just put them in the toaster and breakfast is ready shortly thereafter. As usual, I substitute 1/2 the regular flour for whole wheat flour. I also add a little vanilla to the mix. I have been making these for years and I am never consistant with the amount of banana I add. One banana, two bananas, three bananas... I just use whatever I have that needs using. Another piece of advice - cook over a low temperature really slowly. Otherwise the outside cooks too fast and you are left with mush on the inside. Enjoy!

Food Concern: Genetically Modified Food

In the recent issue of Eating Well, my favorite food magazine, there was a short piece on GM Food. The article prompted me to blog about this issue as genetically modified food is something I am very concerned about and I feel that a lot of people are not well informed about.

A good definition of GMOs, from the World Health Organization: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.

Perhaps the most well known GM crops are Roundup Ready crops. Roundup is an herbicide primarily used to control the growth of weeds. In fact, Roundup is such an effective herbicide it will kill anything it is sprayed on, weeds and crops alike. The company that produces Roundup, Monsanto, created a genetically modified soybean in 1996 that is resistant to Roundup and it is marketed as one of their Roundup Ready crops. Other crops include corn, canola, and cotton. By planting these crops farmers are now able to use the herbicide Roundup without fear that their crops will be killed.

The story of Monsanto's success with Roundup Ready crops raises two concerns. The first one is the potential development of super weeds, weeds that are resistant to roundup. This can occur by cross pollination between Roundup Ready crops and other nearby plants. Conceivably a super weed would require the use of a more potent chemical to kill it. Certainly Monsanto will be able to counter that with another crop resistant to that chemical but one has to wonder when the cycle will stop. After all, the use of increasingly dangerous chemicals has very hazardous effects on the environment. Which brings me to my second concern: how safe is it for us to be eating crops that are heavily sprayed with herbicides? I feel the more we can reduce our exposure to dangerous chemicals (even in trace amounts) which have the ability to kill large plants, the better. My concern is compounded by this startling statistic: It is estimated that around 70% of processed food contains genetically modified ingredients. Read more information here and here and here.

Obviously super weeds and increased exposure to chemicals are only two of the many concerns brought about by GM foods. I recently saw a documentary about GM food and it showed how these foods are actually altered. I found this extremely interesting and thought provoking. The range of techniques used to transfer cells from one organism to another is discussed here. Of particular interest to me is the use of viruses. I guess it is common sense that if you want to invade a cell you would do so with a virus. It happens naturally everyday. With the creation of GM food, the desirable trait carrying DNA is inserted into a virus and the target cell is exposed to the virus. The virus invades the cell and replicates, leaving the specific DNA behind in doing so. Immediately upon viewing this I wondered the obvious - if we are eating food that has been exposed to a virus in an effort to transfer a specific genetic trait then aren't we also putting ourselves at risk for some part of that virus. I mean surely the sought after trait is not the only thing left behind by the virus. Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. These were just my thoughts immediately following the program and my further research on the topic has not answered this question. Maybe there is a way to extract all the viral remains from the cell and reproduce it with only the intended DNA strands involved. Is that what happens? I honestly don't know, but it is fodder for thought. I think this specific concern that I had while watching the documentary falls under the "unknown" category of concerns about GM food. The fact is that we simply do not know how the introduction of unnatural organisms (that is to say, organisms that would never have formed without the specific intervention of humans) will affect our health or the environment.

So why risk it? A quick overview of benefits and controversies can be found here. Some reasons supporters of GMOs give for using the technology include increased yields from crops and perhaps the introduction of more nutritious crops, especially in third world nations. However, I think it is clear that thus far the only benefits of GM crops has been one of financial gain for large corporations. As Lisa Weasel points out in the article that prompted this blog, "Between 1994 and 2005 there was a 15-fold increase in the use of Roundup..."

The issue of GM food is much deeper then what I have been able to write about here. Hopefully this is just enough to get you thinking, and questioning the food selections available at the supermarket. GM foods are outlawed in most European nations. Other countries have labeling laws regarding the use of GM ingredients. This seems to be a reasonable step we can take in the United States. I would like to know what I am eating so I have the ability to choose whether to eat it or not. If this is something that you are interested in, research it more and take appropriate steps by contacting your legislators and letting your opinion be heard.

Fodder for Thought

I want to comment on these articles but I need to wait until my daughter goes to bed tonight. Until then, here is some fodder for thought:

"It's Organic, but does that mean it's safer?"

"Food Problems Elude Private Inspectors"

Cinnamon Raisin Bread: Updated

It took us about three weeks to eat three loaves of cinnamon raisin bread. The bread is so delicious and has been requested by many friends and family members that I had to make another batch.

I used the same recipe for this batch but this time I increased the whole wheat flour to 4 cups, from 3 (so half whole wheat flour and half white flour). I will stick with this ratio in the future; it was perfect. I also added some cinnamon to the flour mixture for a little more cinnamon flavor. Once again this is a change that I will maintain in the future.

Some people have asked how I stored the bread. After allowing it to cool completely I sliced the loaves (I averaged 15 slices per loaf) and then froze the entire loaf. When we ate the last slice from a loaf I put the frozen loaf into the fridge. I almost always toasted the bread before eating it (with a little whipped cream cheese it is such an amazing snack). If necessary I could remove one frozen slice from the freezer and pop it right into the freezer.

The next time I made this I am going to attempt to make six loaves and my plan is not to double the recipe (because that would be an overwhelming amount of dough to work with) but to make the two batches back to back so as soon as I am done with one step from the first batch I will repeat that step with the second batch. This way there will be just a little more time in between my cinnamon raisin bread cooking sessions.

If you haven't tried this bread yet I highly suggest making it soon! It is a really good one.

Granola Bars

On baking day, which was this past Wednesday, one of the things that I made was Granola Bars. I looked at a lot of granola bar recipes and was interested in the different things used to bind the bars together. A lot of recipes I found used peanut butter as a binder. While I like peanut butter I prefer it in small doses so I stayed away from those recipes. In the end, I used Alton Brown's recipe and I am pretty pleased with the results. Of course I did make a few changes and I have a few suggestions as well.

I ran out of honey so I ended up substituting maple syrup and molasses for about half of the honey. I think the maple syrup added a nice flavor and the molasses cut down some of the sweetness. Some of the criticisms of the original recipe are that it is too sweet. I didn't find it to be so with my substitutions. For dried fruit I used apricots, prunes, dried blueberries and craisins. One of the reviewers also mentioned that these were expensive bars to make. I didn't do a financial analysis of the recipe but considering that you pay anywhere from $3-$6 for 6 commercially made granola bars I think that these were pretty cost effective.

One problem with homemade granola bars can be that they do not stick together well. It was true that some of mine crumbled but I just put those into an airtight container and have been eating them with yogurt for breakfast. It is really yummy granola. To help with the sticking I pressed the granola bars down with a fondant roller (any smaller roller would work) before, during and just after cooking. I also let them cool off for a long time before cutting. In the end I individually placed them in snack bags and they've been a great on-the-go treat.

Best EVER Beef Stock

I was going to go to sleep but I just had to post quickly about the beef stock that I made today since it is the best beef stock I have ever tried.

The recipe is of course from trusty AllRecipes.com. But, as with all stocks, you can really substitute a lot of the ingredients. For example, I didn't have any celery today so I tossed in some celery seeds. I also didn't have any parsnips. The addition of parsnips in stocks is a worthwhile one if you have them on hand. A word to the wise though, be careful with parsnips. A little bit goes a long way. And parsnips will really sweeten up a stock.

I think the most important ingredient that I added to my stock today was the beef bones (and not just because these are clearly the essential ingredients - I believe they were of a superior quality and that accounted for the final result). When we got our 1/4 cow this fall we got all of the soup bones. They have been in the freezer for months and I have been meaning to make a beef stock with them. Oh My Gosh they added soooo much flavor to this stock. There was still quite a bit of meat on them so when they roasted up in the beginning the flavor from this meat really came out.

Basically I could go on and on about this stock but I encourage you to just see for yourself. You can purchase soup bones from your butcher. I have seen them also in the meat cases in the past but since our investment in bulk meat last fall I haven't spent too much time at butcher counters recently. I have also asked farmers at the farmers market for soup bones in the past and they have handed them over free of charge. Hey, it's worth asking.

"Homemade" Dinner

For tonight's dinner I made quite possibly the most homemade dinner I have ever made. For the first time ever I made my own pasta with a mushroom cream sauce, salad with homemade dressing and homemade italian bread. I was feeling all proud of myself but then I realized that homemade is a pretty relative term. Although I made my own pasta it is not like I grew and ground the wheat for flour. I didn't press my own olives or make the cheese in the salad. Basically my idea of "homemade" falls in-between Sandra Lee's version and that of a frontier woman. But, still, the dinner was pretty awesome and worth the effort that my few extra "homemade" steps took.

Make-Your-Own-Pasta
A girlfriend of mine, Roxanne, casually mentioned that she had stopped buying pasta because it is just so easy to make your own. Little does she know that her remark has been residing in the back of my mind for sometime now and I have just been waiting for the right opportunity to make my own pasta. (Roxanne also makes killer egg rolls. She made them recently for a get together and I played the pregnancy card to eat way more than my fair share. They are also on my list of things to make...but, I digress). Late last night (okay, who am I kidding, it was 7:30 and I was about to fall asleep) I was browsing through my cookbooks looking for something to read (seriously, I read cookbooks when I am not in the middle of another book) and lo and behold there was a yet unopened one: "Mastering Pasta, Noodles, & Dumplings". I read much of the book and decided that I was going to make pasta for dinner tonight, come hell or high water. Only I had a few problems. #1: I burnt out the motor on my food processor last week (think smoke and fumes) and haven't replaced it yet and #2: I don't have a pasta roller. I considered the alternatives - go out and buy a pasta roller and a new food processor or make everything by hand. Well, I abhor driving and I love kneading so I chose option two. I was also on this homemade-high and thinking I could take on any dough. Dummy.

Actually the pasta came out really good but it was way too thick. I even had my husband help me roll it but he gave up after a minute or two. Unless you like thick pasta, buy a pasta roller and save yourself a s**tload of time and energy. Oh, and to add to the patheticness of my rolling out pasta was the fact that I am so short I generally stand on a stool to knead or roll out dough. So there I am, laboring away over this freaking dough on a little tiny kitchen stool. Quite the sight. Despite my minor set backs I highly recommend making your own pasta, even if it is just once. I also made italian bread using a recipe that has been a go-to for me for a long time. It is really easy - do the dough in the bread machine, shape two loaves, let them rise and bake.

Now my big plan for the rest of my life is to make one pasta dish, from scratch, every week and one batch of Italian bread every two weeks. I will just freeze the extra loaf for use on the in between weeks. Add a salad and viola! Homemade dinner in under an hour.

Here is the pasta recipe I used (from Williams-Sonoma Mastering Pasta, Noodles & Dumplings):

Fresh Egg Pasta Dough
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
+ I added about 1tb of italian seasoning to the flour

-Combine dough in food processor (assuming you haven't recently burned out the motor in yours)
-Turn out dough on lightly floured surface and gently knead it.
-Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes under a large bowl (this prevents it from drying out)
-Put dough in your pasta roller following manufacturers instructions (assuming you have one. Otherwise start rolling. Stop, beg family members to help, roll more, stop, decide you wanted to make thick pasta all along and cut dough with a pizza cutter using the edge of a cutting board as your guide).
-Allow pasta strands to dry for 10-20 minutes.
-Boil for 1-3 minutes (or, in the case of thicker pasta, 7-9 minutes)

The mushroom sauce that I made to accompany the pasta was really fantastic (who am I kidding? I have never tasted anything made with real heavy cream that wasn't fantastic) and so very easy to make as well. Also from the same cookbook:

Fettuccine with Mushrooms & Cream
In a frying pan melt 2tb unsalted butter.
Add 10oz sliced mushrooms (I mixed baby bellas and white mushrooms), 1tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp ground pepper.
Saute until the mushroom juices evaporate, about 10 minutes.
Add 1 cup of cream and allow to thicken, about 5-10 minutes.
Stir in 2 tb freshly chopped flat leaf parsley.
Taste, die and go to heaven.

Next week: Ravioli

Pile 'o (Homemade) Pretzels

Y-U-M.

Today's experimental make-your-own snack of the day is pretzels. I looked at quite a few recipes on the internet and went with this one, although I did tweak it a bit by adding some whole wheat flour to make it a little healthier. My recipe is below.

Mixing the dough and letting it rise was easy (in fact, my gf Kelly has a recipe for bread machine pretzels which would be even less work but I couldn't find her recipe this moring before making the pretzels). More challenging - or, really, time consuming - was rolling out the pretzels. I think my rolling technique needs some work. About half way through I decided to 1/2 the dough balls (at that point I had divided the dough into 12 balls so these were 1/2 of that). This helped a lot - smaller pretzels but much easier to roll out. I never achived the "pencil" width that the recipe called for but at least with less dough to roll it was easier to get the dough thinner.

Regardless, the end result was fantastically delish. My 2yo said "oooh, perfect" when she saw them come out of the oven.

I added butter and salt after the pretzels were cooked. I'd imagine they would taste even better if you added that before cooking them. However, I am planning on freezing most of these for future eating and I wasn't sure if they would freeze well with butter and salt already on them. Next time I make them I will try buttering before cooking and compare the results.

Here is my tweaked recipe:

(starting in a kitchen aid mixer)

• 1/4 ounce or 1 package active dry yeast, dissolved in:
• 1 1/2 cups warm (105-115F) water

Let dissolve for 5 minutes and then add:

• 2 tb brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Stir to dissolve. Next add the flour, slowly:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup bread flour
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Remove from mixer and knead by hand for 8 minutes (really, I set a timer. It is important to knead for a long time and if I don't set the time I severly overestimate how long I have been kneading for). You can also use the bread hook attachment for your mixer and do this step in there. I just love to knead dough.

Put in an oiled bowl and cover with a moist towel. Place in a warm location (about 75F) for one hour, or until doubled in size. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces. Roll...roll...roll...twist.

Now, this next step is important. Before placing on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper did the pretzel in 2 tbs of baking soda dissolved in 2 cups of warm water. This allows the outside to brown nicely. Make sure there is not a lot of excess water on the pretzel and place on cookie sheet. Allow to rise another 15-20 minutes. Bake at 425 for 8 minutes. Add butter/salt/honey/cinnamon/whatever-your-heart-desires before or after baking. Enjoy!

Saturday Mornings

As a stay at home mom I find that my days are not very scheduled. The only day of the week that I have a steady commitment is on Saturday. Every single Saturday morning, without fail, I go to the Farmer's Market. I am really lucky to live in a place that has an awesome Farmer's Market year round. I often hear people complain that it is difficult to get locally grown produce in the middle of winter. But looking around at the market today I have to disagree. There was a large variety available and right now it is mid-February. Today, at the market, I saw: carrots, many varieties of winter squash, onions, potatoes, beets, celeriac, a wide variety of greens, dried beans, apples and pears (they have been in cold storage since last fall) amongst other things. I know that in another month the pickings will be slimmer but in two months or so the first of the years veggies will start showing up and then it is months of veggie bliss to look forward to.

It did make me think about what I would do if I didn't have the market so close to my house. Besides growing your own veggies and storing them you can look in the supermarket for locally grown produce. If you don't see any talk to the manager. Tell them you are interested in more local options. Additionally some CSAs have winter shares available - although they are usually just a box around Thanksgiving and another around Christmas. But still, that is better than nothing.

Another option is to grow your own veggies in the winter. Looking at the price of greens this morning ($7 for a 1/2 lb) I decided it would be worth my time to start growing my own greens. Lettuce and spinach are fairly easy to grow indoors in pots and they grow quickly. You can also continually harvest the outer leaves as needed, extending the production time of the plant. I have to look through my seeds and see what I have left over from last year but I am sure I have spinach and wouldn't be surprised to find lettuce. Plus, I'd imagine it is close to the time that you start to see seed packets available in stores. I will post pictures of my indoor greens growing endeavor as it happens.

If anyone has any tips about growing other vegetables indoors during the winter I would love to hear them.

The Sky Is Falling

Last night my husband forwarded me this article from MSNBC. It was an interesting read and I wanted to comment on some of the points in the article.

Arsenic in Chicken
The article, That Chicken Dinner Could Make You Sick, starts off discussing campylobacter, a bacteria commonly found in chicken that is responsible for making many people ill. The information was frightening but what really got me was this: "Conventionally raised birds may also contain arsenic, a known carcinogen. “About 70 percent of broiler chickens in the United States are fed arsenic at some point,” says David Wallinga, M.D., director of the Food and Health Program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a nonprofit think tank focusing on farming and food policy, in Minneapolis. Farmers add arsenic to chicken feed in order to fatten their flocks — birds go from hatchling to slaughter in only six weeks — and to give the birds their pinkish hue. And the practice is actually legal."

Arsenic? Really? Arsenic is poison. It can be deadly. According to the EPA: Non-cancer effects can include thickening and discoloration of the skin, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting; diarrhea; numbness in hands and feet; partial paralysis; and blindness. Arsenic has been linked to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate. The article goes on to say "The average person ingests an estimated 8.1 micrograms of arsenic a day from chicken, according to a study from the USDA. And when you add that to the small amounts of arsenic you can be exposed to from other sources, such as drinking water, dust and arsenic-treated wood, a steady diet of chicken could quickly become risky."

It seems to me that you really need to weigh the benefit of eating this leaner meat with the potential health risks conventionally raised poultry poses.

The USDwho?
Chicken purchased at the store contains a plethora of dangerous bacteria, sprinkled with some poison and laced with antibiotics. All of these things can cause short and long term health risks for individuals and the population as a whole. So who is protecting us from these dangers? The USDA? Nope. Time and time again we are reading that while the USDA might be well intentioned they lack the authority to actually protect us. This situation is no different. The article details the pathetic steps that the USDA takes to protect us from bacteria contamination in poultry but sums up the USDAs role with this paragraph: "The USDA claims it has broad authority to enforce regulations and take action against rogue plants if necessary; but, in truth, it is limited in its ability to permanently shut down repeat offenders. In 1999, the USDA tried to close a Supreme Beef meat plant in Texas because its meat failed the USDA’s salmonella tests three times in 11 months. Supreme Beef sued the USDA, claiming that the meat could have arrived at the plant already tainted by salmonella, and the law applied only to sanitary conditions within the plant. A 2001 court decision agreed with Supreme Beef, in effect curtailing the USDA’s power to make good on its threats. Critics blame the Bush administration for not appealing the decision to the Supreme Court and a Republican-dominated Congress for caving to the meat lobby and refusing to support proposals to bolster the USDA’s authority." I say thanks, but no thanks.

Good News for Fast Food Eaters
The fact that I refuse to let my daughter eat any fast food (nor do I consume any) has been the source of much snickering and laughter amongst my friends. While my reasons for this are the subject of a different, future, post, for now I will let them have the last laugh. According to this article the fast food industry has taken laborious steps to safeguard their customers health by testing their meat hourly and standardizing the temperature to which they cook their meat. As well they should - financially, they have a lot to lose should there be an outbreak of food poisoning that is traced back to their restaurants. Too bad the government has no financial motivation to keep us healthy...

What can you do?
The place that I felt this article fell short was at the very end in suggesting ways the consumer could protect themselves. The two solutions they list - cooking your meat to a safe internal temperature and contacting your local representatives to make changes on a national level - are great but they missed the best option of all. Know your farmer. Buy locally raised produce from a small farm that adheres to "organic" principles (even if they are not certified organic) and feeds their family the same food that you will feed your family. We purchased all of our poultry (4 turkeys and 6 chickens for the year) from an awesome local farm, Windy Willow Farm. Farmer Gwen is a close friend of mine and she and her family are dedicated to farming in a safe, sustainable manner. The poultry (including the turkey we had for dinner last night) tastes awesome and we were able to visit the farm at any point last summer to see how our chickens and turkeys (and pigs and veggies) were being cared for.

I am lucky to have a good friend who is an awesome farmer but you don't need to be friends with a good farmer to get safe food. No matter where you live I guarantee that there is a small farmer raising good, safe food the old-fashioned way somewhere near your house. And trust me, this farmer wants your business. Your chicken might cost a little more per pound but think of all your could potentially be saving in future health care costs. A great source to find local farms is Local Harvest. Still can't find a local farm? Find your nearest farmer's market and contact them. They can direct you to a farmer you want to talk to. Turning a blind eye to your food sources is what has enabled our current state of affairs. Start visiting farms. Know where your food comes from. Next time invest in a farmer who cares about your health.

I invite everyone to share their favorite farms in the comments section. In addition to Windy Willow Farm, we are big fans of Homestead Farm and Sweet Tree Farm for our family's meat. Thank you to the farmers who are working hard to keep our families safe!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Growing up, I have fond memories of eating Pepperidge Farm Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread. It has always been a comfort food for me. A nice treat, especially yummy when toasted with butter. Not surprisingly my daughter also loves a slice of raisin bread in the morning. Recently my husband noted that the bread has HFCS in it. No! I guess I had never really checked the label of the bread since it had been such a staple in my life. Sure enough, he was right. 4th ingredient from the top (although, it was a bit challenging to figure out what number ingredient it was since the first ingredient, Unbromated unbleached enriched wheat flour, is followed up by a bracket containing all of its ingredients, nine in total). And thus began my search for a recipe to make my own cinnamon raisin bread.

When it comes to cooking and looking for recipes I try to keep two things in mind - 1) cook a lot and freeze the extras, and 2) find a recipe that has been reviewed and has high ratings. There is no reason to waste time, energy and food on a recipe that will not deliver. Therefore I was psyched to find Cinnamon Raisin Bread from Allrecipes.com, one of my favorite sources for recipes. From the get-go this recipe makes three loaves of bread, and with a rating of 4 1/2 stars and almost 300 reviews I knew this was the one to try.

I find that making bread in large quantities can be intimidating and it seems like it takes forever because it has to rise twice but, as I remembered today, for me kneading bread is amazingly therapeutic and two year olds love to play with dough. And of course it is always wonderful to smell bread in the oven baking.

In the end these loaves of bread turned out really nicely. I substituted 3 cups of whole wheat flour for the white flour to make the recipe healthier (next time I will try doing 4 cups) and I also omitted the butter at the very end. I sliced all three loaves when they cooled off and I am freezing two of them. The plan is to just take a slice from the freezer as needed and toast it. I will follow-up with this entry and let you know how well the bread freezes. And now I need to go freeze the remaining slices of Pepperidge Farm raisin bread to the birds.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Ever since reading The Omnivore's Dilemma I have been trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup. This is really difficult to do. HFCS is in everything. Really, look in your fridge. I bet at least half of the products in there contain HFCS. I was so surprised to see that it was in many bread products (including bread crumbs!) as well as things like ketchup, salad dressing and cereal. Recent reports about mercury in HFCS have pushed me to a new level. Even very small amounts of mercury can be very harmful to children. You wouldn't believe all the toddler foods that have HFCS in them! Even I was surprised. So I have started to think of every snack that my daughter eats and find a recipe to make it from scratch. It is simply unacceptable for her to consume products that are potentially laced with mercury. And so irresponsible on the part of the companies manufacturing these products.

If you have any good recipes for the following items, let me know! As I cook up these snacks I will post the recipes I used and my thoughts about them. Here's what I will be cooking up: Granola bars, Fruit filled breakfast bars, Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Crackers, and Pretzels

Additionally, if you have a great snack (that freezes well) for kids, let me know!

Don't Feed Me Fodder

Welcome to my blog! Here you will find my thoughts about the current state of our food, and food supply. You will also learn about my attempts to feed my family as little conventionally produced food as possible.

Growing up we ate almost all of our food from the supermarket or local restaurants. I remember my grandmas both gardened but my parents did not. It wasn't until my freshman year of college that my roommate grew a tomato plant and I was instantly hooked. It amazed me that you could grow your own food right in your backyard (I mean, I *knew* you could do this but it just wasn't they way that I was raised). Each year I planted a larger and larger garden and became increasingly interested in different vegetable varieties and gardening methods. I learned to seek out locally grown food and became very interested in where our food comes from. That interest became something of an obsession when my daughter was born, in 2006. I was very concerned about the food that she ate and over the last two years I've increasingly attempted to grow and make more and more of the food that my family eats.

I know many of my friends see me as something of an extreamist. Maybe. But it is hard for me to feel or act differently when everytime I open the paper I read of more food recalls, increasing links between what we eat and poor health and the outrageous state of farms, farming and farm policy in our country.

This has become something dear to me and I hope my blog can help others see that it is not *that* difficult to make small food changes in your life that will make a big difference in the overall state of food affairs. Happy reading!