Grass fed (and finished!)meats

I buy my beef and chicken from two great guys at our local farmers market.  But I was in search of turkeys and pork, so I went looking online. 

www.eatwild.com is a site that connects you with farmers that sell grass-fed and grass-finished meats, pastured animals and heritage breeds in your area.  Many of these farmers also offer their meats via mail.

Meat from animals that are pastured are higher in omega-3’s and lower in fat.  They don’t need anibiotics because they’re not jammed into feed lots living in their own feces and without grass (what most of these animals are supposed to eat!)  The benefits go on and on. 

I’ll give a shout out to my favorite beef family River Run Farms in South Carolina.  You can find them at farmers markets in Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, and Columbia, or they welcome you to come to the farm. Give them a call.

River Run Farms, The Olivers: Ray, Nancy, Les and Page, 187 River Run Drive, Vance SC  29163. (803) 492-9878. E-mail: riverrunfarms@live.com.

Prickly Pear Fruit

My parents have a small farm in rural South Carolina where we spend our Thanksgiving. At one time, this was a full working farm. My parents don’t live there full time now, so they just let things grow that are already there. I’m lucky that there are tons of things that don’t need tending –just me to pop in a few times a year to harvest.

Last year I picked a few prickly pear fruits and took them home to experiment. I ended up making sorbet that was amazing. I peeled the fruit, threw it in a blender and strained the seeds out of the juice. Added lemon juice and some agave syrup for a hot pink frozen dessert.

This year I got lazy. I peeled, blended and strained but didn’t feel like making the effort to stir the concoction every 5 minutes to make sorbet (I don’t have an ice cream maker, I was using the ol’ toss it in the freezer and stir every 15 minutes for 2 hours method). Instead I poured the prickly pear fruit juice into ice cube trays for later use.

Today was deemed a good day for later use! I popped 3 ice cubes of juice in to a glass. Added a squirt of agave syrup, a splash of lime juice and topped it off with seltzer water. What a fantastic, refreshing drink!

The picture is of the prickly pear in May.  All those flowers become dark purple fruits by Thanksgiving.

Prickly Pear

Bok Choy for the sinuses!

I’ve never cooked Bok Choy before and never even considered buying it. But once again our CSA has opened me up to new veggies. I found the recipe below and it is FANTASTIC! I put way too much ginger in (I never measure) and my sinuses were cleared instantly! WOW! SPICY!

If you’re looking for gluten-free, be sure to substitute tamari for the soy sauce and check the ingredients in the corn starch (or leave out the corn starch, I don’t think it really needs it!)

SWEET AND SOUR BOK CHOY

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 head bok choy, washed, trimmed, & cut into 1″ pieces
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 sliced sweet onion (I used half of a red onion)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Heat oil in large skillet, add bok choy and onion. Cook and stir over high heat 1 minute. Blend sugar, vinegar and ginger; add to skillet. Mix well. Cover and steam 1 minute. Combine soy sauce and cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Fun with Turnips

Our Fall CSA has started and every week we get another bunch of turnips. I had never cooked with them before, so they sat in the fridge until I was faced with 2-3 pounds of turnips asking me to not let them go to waste. I hit the web in search of a recipe. I found turnips for breakfast–and even better, you can make this the day before the big football game and it makes a wonderful tailgate food!

The only negative I found was that to make this, I had to dirty up a lot of dishes–grater for turnips, mixer bowl, pan for bacon, pot to cook turnips, mixing bowl, pyrex dish.

Oh, I also forgot to add the sugar to the turnip water and it all tasted great without it.

Turnip Souffle
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds turnips, peeled and sliced (about 12 small turnips)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (can substitute brown rice or millet flour)
2/3 cup milk (can substitute goat milk or unsweetened almond or rice milk)
4 eggs, separated
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (be sure to buy preservative-free bacon!)

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook bacon, set aside. Grease 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. glass baking dish, set aside. 

2. Place turnips, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and sugar in a saucepan; cover with water. Cover and cook until turnips are tender, about 20 minutes; drain well and mash.  Set aside.

3. In another saucepan, melt butter; stir in the flour and remaining salt until smooth. Add milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Beat egg yolks in a small bowl; gradually stir in 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Return all to pan; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in turnips; remove from the heat. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.

4. Spoon batter into a greased glass baking dish. Sprinkle with bacon. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe of the Week: Fall Soup

I hosted a brunch this past weekend and planned on making the following recipe.  Can you believe that the Harris Teeter wasn’t selling canned pumpkin?  AT ALL!  I even had the manager walk me around the store.  All they sold was canned pumpkin pie mix (right next to the pre-made pecan pie mix–people are so lazy these days!)  So I ditched the soup plan.  Turned out I had enough in my pantry, but already had an alternative lined up. 

This is a great Fall soup, freezes well, and is even better the day after you make it–the spice sets in.  You can also water this down more with coconut milk if you prefer it thinner.  And if you have leftovers, it tastes great as sauce on top of chicken. 

Pumpkin Coconut Bisque

2 tablespoons butter (or ghee or olive oil)
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic gloves, minced
3 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 1 /2 cups (about) canned unsweetened coconut milk

1. Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add pumpkin, broth, sugar, allspice and crushed red pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
2. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot (or better yet, use an immersion blender and do the whole pot at one time.)  Bring soup to simmer, thinning with coconut milk to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm soup before continuing.) Ladle soup into bowls. Optional: Sprinkle with nutmeg. 
   

A dash of chemicals with your raisins?

If you have a food allergy, assume nothing is safe.  I made oatmeal raisin cookies last night for my husband.  He doesn’t have any food allergies that we know of –lucky dog!  I used regular SunMaid brand raisins.  The box says nothing about sulfides or sulfates, but most run-of-the-mill raisins are treated with these chemicals to extend their shelf life.  Now you know why those raisins never seem to go bad!

I finished the box off with the cookie recipe and have resolved to never buy them again.  They taste fine but my family doesn’t need any extra chemicals.  All future raisins will be specially marked non-sulfite/sulfate and organic. 

Beware of any dried fruits: prunes, craisins, cranberries, apples, pineapple…they sell everything as a dried fruit snack these days.  Check the packaging-if it doesn’t specifically say that the fruit has not been treated, there’s a good bet that you’re getting preservatives with your “healthy” snack. 

Wegman’s carries their own line and Whole Foods has some options.  Check with your local health food store.  Even if you’re not allergic to sulfites, tell the staff at the store that you are–they take you more seriously and will be more helpful in finding what you need. 

Also, those small boxes of raisins may be a convenient snack for your little one, but I encourage you to buy in bulk and split the raisins up into reusable containers to give as snacks.  Snack packaging is a waste in the production, shipping and finally that it ends up in the dump (even if you recycle the packaging, it takes energy to make that box into something else.)

Recipe of the Week-Kale

This summer, we signed up for a local farm’s CSA and look forward to the start of the fall crops!  Over the summer we enjoyed many vegetable favorites, but it also gave us the chance to try veggies that we hadn’t cooked before.  Kale was one of them.  I’m now hooked.

Here’s the recipe that I used for the kale.  I don’t add quite that much sugar and I add a tad more mustard–well, I really don’t measure anything and it always comes out tasting fabulous.  Kale is still in season in the South–try it today!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 small onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups Chicken broth
4 cups stemmed, rinsed, torn Kale
salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add mustard, sugar, vinegar, and chicken stock, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Stir in the kale, cover, and cook 10 minutes until wilted and kale begins to soften.
3. Salt and pepper to taste (I don’t think it needs either!)

Zevia

I was finally able to track down some Zevia soda this weekend.  Our Whole Foods doesn’t carry it, but Earth Fare does (on the other side of town!)  A friend picked up 3 six-packs, one each of the cola, lemon/lime and orange flavors.  These are zero calorie alternatives to diet sodas or chemical/sugar laden regular sodas.

The ingredients are all natural, there are no artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup or even everyone’s new favorite Splenda (mmm, would you like some chlorine with your sugar?)  The soda can not say it’s sweetened with Stevia because our wonderful government says that it can’t be marketed as a sweetener in the US–mostly because NutraSweet, Splenda and Equal would disappear instantly if that was allowed.  So the drinks are marketed as a health supplement.  I guess Coca-cola should be marketed as an anti-health drink.  I digress.  Back to the Zevia.

Two thumbs up for the Cola flavor.  I even had a self-proclaimed Diet Coke addict try it and she said it was do-able and gave her the caffeine fix she needed in the morning.  I thought it was perfect!  I didn’t get that terrible fuzzy feeling on my teeth that I get when I drink a regular Coke.  I’ll be purchasing more of this for myself and to give samples to clients.

The lemon/lime and orange flavors were so/so.  I would give them 3 out of 5 stars.  The in ital flavor was OK, but there was a distinct Stevia after taste.  I would prefer my homemade soda to these even if mine have a few calories from the actual fruit.  These could use a little more fiddling to get the flavor right.  My mother, on the other hand, LOVES them.  I almost didn’t get to try these flavors because she was drinking them so quickly.  I know what to keep on hand when she visits! 

There is a fourth flavor that I didn’t try but will seek out the next time I’m at Earth Fare: Root beer.  I have high-hopes for this one! 

I also think the company could easily add a ginger-ale.  I would be singing high praises to them if they could get the flavor right.  I would also hand them to every client as a great drink to keep handy for sick kids or anyone that may have an upset stomach. 

Locate a store near you that sells Zevia here.

Sulfite-free wine

This weekend I enjoyed Our Daily Red, an organic sulfite-free table wine.  It’s a great alternative for those folks that are allergic to the sulfites that are added to most wines.  And it’s great for the rest of that would rather not have more chemicals added to our foods than we really need.

Whole Foods carries a few and Trader Joes has their own wine from this label.  I encourage you to check it out–the price is right to try it for your next dinner party.

www.ourdailyred.com

Namaste Brand

Namaste is one of the only gluten-free brands that doesn’t substitue wheat for another allergen such as corn or potatoes.  The cake mixes are fantastic and I’ve never had a “Betty Crocker lover” not love these cakes too. 

The problem:  Most Whole Foods stopped carrying the mix.  I’ve asked at my local store and they tell me their distributor stopped carrying it.  You can buy straight from the manufacturer and it’s cheaper than from the store if you buy in bulk.  I got 30 pounds of the vanilla cake mix and add chocolate or spices to make chocolate cake and spice cake. 

Their normal recipe calls for eggs and oil, but if you’re a vegan, you can always substitue apple sauce.

Here’s their website:  www.namastefoods.com Not a fabulous site, but the products are good.

I’m not a HUGE fan of the brownies or chocolate cake, but the rest of my family loves it, so it may just be my tastes.