organic
Disclaimer: it isn’t really a cobb salad. I just looked at my husband while we were eating this delicious meal and asked, “What would you call it?”
To be honest I have no idea where this recipe came from. Wait, yes I do! I was trying to create a protein-rich meal on the cheap. I wanted it to include animal protein, but not at the cost of a grass-fed steak or anything like that.
No, this wasn’t our weekend Valentine’s Dinner. (Note obligatory Valentines reference.) Though I got a little creative with the plating as if I were serving something fancy!
Have I mentioned how expensive groceries are in D.C.? Seriously. We lived in Boston, not Kansas. I did not expect the prices to go up as we moved south. Everything is more expensive here, even parking meters. My penny-pinching grocery moves have definitely come in handy.
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February 14th, 2011 | frugal living, groceries, organic, recipe, Washington D.C., whole grains | 15 Comments »
Where do you begin when you’re trying to eat healthy? Should you ban all fried food? Start counting calories? I know, I know, how about using protein powders? It really can be confusing.
There are a gabillion dietary theories out there, and it may surprise you to know that I don’t believe any one of them is the answer. Nope, not Paleo, not South Beach, not veganism, not macrobiotics. That’s not to say these theories are wrong. I just don’t believe there can be one way of eating that works for everyone, all of the time. So tell your diet-crazed neighbor to take a chill pill.
You’re gonna find out what works for you!
Here are 8 ways that you, or anyone, can upgrade your diet starting today. And they’re simple, just like eating should be.
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February 1st, 2011 | dairy, detoxify, groceries, organic, public health, recipe | 15 Comments »
After a couple of really busy weeks, I finally scheduled myself a massage and facial. Oh, heck yeah. Not one or the other, but both! (The reason for such luxury? I received a gift certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition – those guys are awesome!)
I think I’ve only ever had one other facial in my life, maybe 10 years ago. This poor woman took one look at my skin and knew instantly. Clearly I haven’t been using the soy lemon chiffonade cleansing gel or red wine elixir potion or whatever the heck those expensive products are!
What do you use on your skin? I’ve been using Burt’s Bees products lately. Hmmph. Trust me, she wasn’t impressed.
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March 11th, 2010 | frugal living, organic, raw foods, skincare, try new things | 22 Comments »
Are you a vegetarian? Vegan? Carnivore? Omnivore? Raw Foodist? Macrobiotic?
Good.
As long as you’re eating real, whole food, I don’t have much of an opinion about whether or not you should eat meat. It’s really, truly, up to you. And I have more news: you don’t have to stick by your diet the way you do a religion. You can change! Every day if you want. It’s ok. What is your body telling you today?
Here’s my meat story.
I always ate meat of all kinds growing up. My mom made a great meatloaf, paprika-sprinkled chicken legs and thighs, and breaded pork chops. (For awhile in 3rd grade we were studying dinosaurs and I began to regard my mother’s steak dinners as “Stegosaurus” dinners, which ruined me on steak for a brief period. But that’s neither here nor there.)
Fast forward 10 years. In college I ate meat and lots of it. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with eating out, because when your food comes from restaurants you won’t find many vegetarian dishes. I ate a lot of chicken fingers, hamburgers, etc. You get it. I also ate a lot of Italian meats because my boyfriend at the time had a mother with a fridge full of gobbagool. God did my stomach hurt.
It was post-college that I started getting dizzy spells and feeling extremely exhausted. I don’t blame meat, but my diet certainly left something to be desired. Living alone, I sometimes cooked up my mom’s meatloaf recipe and ate it for a week as leftovers, and sometimes dinner was a pear and a piece of gorgonzola cheese.
I started doing yoga, finally. Why did I wait so long?? My yoga teacher talked about his raw vegan diet and the Italian grandmother in me thought, “No wonder he’s so skinny.”
But I started reading and thinking about my diet. Jessica Porter’s The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics got me onto whole grains and off dairy. Then John Robbins’ The Food Revolution got me off meat with its account of factory farm conditions. The China Study nudged me even further from animal product. It was simple. I did not want to contribute to my own poor health, I didn’t want to support this crazy meat factory industry, and heck – brown rice is a lot cheaper than steak!
That lasted for awhile and my health greatly improved. But here’s the thing. I don’t think it was because I stopped eating animal products – it was because I started eating real, whole, organic food.! Had I substituted my hamburgers with Boca Burgers and my ice cream with Soy Delicious, I don’t think I’d have had the recovery I did. Instead it was whole grains, dark leafy green vegetables, sweet root veggies and the like that brought me back to life, quite literally.
After learning about Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions I started reincorporating some meat into my diet. Sometimes it was with great intention – a small piece of grass fed beef purchased from a local farmer. Sometimes it was completely random, like bacon wrapped scallops hors d’oeuvres at an office party. Because they are SO good.
Basically, the pendulum swung back to center. It felt good to be able to enjoy food with my friends and not order the special vegetarian meal all the time. It felt good to enjoy meat again. And, well, I felt good. So here I am. I eat a little meat. And I try to make it the best quality, grass-fed or pastured stuff I can afford. That’s where I’m at.
Where are you?
For the omnivores out there, especially those who have found a grass-fed beef source, I encourage you to try this Beef Burgundy recipe. It’s so perfect for this time of year. If you haven’t had red meat in awhile, you’ll be shocked by how good grass-fed beef tastes. It’s better for you, better for the animals, better for the environment, and better for your local economy. So if you’re gonna do beef, do it right! It’s worth it. And if you don’t want to do beef, don’t. I have plenty of vegetarian recipes too. Every body is different!
Beef Burgundy
Recipe from The Nourished Kitchen
I used whole wheat flour instead of sprouted grain flour, and I doubled this recipe in a gigantic pot. It was great. Thanks Jenny!
Like this recipe? Help a sista out and tweet about it or review on StumbleUpon. There’s good karma coming back at you!
This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays hosted by Cheeseslave.
November 3rd, 2009 | digestion, farming, organic, recipe, vegan, vegetarian, whole grains, yoga | 23 Comments »
How’s everyone’s week going? I feel like it’s been a mighty productive one so far. In addition to my usual blogging, yoga teaching and health counseling clients I have been preparing for this weekend’s workshop, The Yoga of Food. If you live in the Boston area please come so we can meet face to face. It’s gonna be awesome!
Anyway, I’ve been meaning to post about how we stumbled on Land’s Sake farm last week in Weston, MA. I fell in love with their freshly picked organic veggies, including baby white and purple potatoes. But what on earth was I going to do with them? I haven’t cooked much with potatoes recently. (By the way, have you had purple potatoes? They have such an awesome, rich, deep color. Foodies and artists alike go bananas for ‘em, I’m guessing.)
I suppose I could have splurged for some grass-fed beef but, hey, this was a last minute thing and we were having company. $20/lb. for grass-fed meat is cool sometimes, but I’m no millionaire. So off to a veggie solution my mind went….hmmmm….what to do with potatoes?
How would you use purple potatoes to create a gorgeous summer meal?
I remembered a comment by Heidi saying that sometimes her summer dinners include steamed potatoes and green beans tossed with…something. I couldn’t remember what so I had to come up with something on my own. Pesto! A-ha! And then I one-upped myself. MINT Pesto!
Is this starting to sound good? It sounded good to me. Mint feels like a good way to perk up potatoes for a summer meal, doesn’t it?
Of course I still needed something else and since meat wasn’t happening I found a good veggie burger recipe and modified the heck out of it. Came out awesome with a smear of white miso and collard chiffonade. Fancy!
So I guess what I’m saying is…it’s definitely possible to impress your family and guests with an easy vegetarian meal. You probably knew that already. But I’m just sayin’.
Chickpea Miso Burgers
4 cups cooked chickpeas (I used canned, sue me!)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
2 Tbl. chili powder
1 cup clover sprouts (or other green veg)
2 eggs
2 Tbl. tahini
S+P
white miso
Combine all ingredients in food processor. Shape handfuls into patties and place on a dish, not touching. Refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the meal. When ready to cook, heat butter or oil in a skillet on medium heat. Cook patties on each side for about 5 minutes. Top with white miso.
Mint Pesto Potatoes
2 lbs. potatoes, cut into 1″ pieces
4 cups fresh mint
1 cup olive oil
1 cup walnuts, pan toasted
1 garlic clove, crushed
2-3 Tbl. lime juice, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
S+P
Steam potatoes until tender. Rinse under cool water so they don’t over cook and set aside. In blender, combine all other ingredients except oil. While blending, pour oil slowly in via the feed tube. Toss pesto with potatoes to coat.
This post is part of Cheeseslave’s Real Food Wednesdays, Nourishing Days’ Food Roots, and The Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter Thursdays. Whew!
And don’t miss Katie’s contest to win a Saladacco Spiralizer! Turn your veggies into gorgeous pasta with that bad boy.
August 12th, 2009 | farming, frugal living, organic, recipe, vegetarian | 19 Comments »
For months I’ve turned green with envy at those of you who have brilliant farmers markets practically year-round. Ours have just begun recently in the Boston area and this year I have my own table at the local market. Cool, huh?
I’ll tell you the coolest part – all the different people. At the market in the middle of the day I see kids with their pregnant moms, older folks going for a stroll, recently graduated college seniors who haven’t started work yet, local business people…it’s really very nice. I give out recipes that use fresh produce and talk to people about health counseling. As the crowd gets bigger each week, I’m planning to give some free yoga classes too! But right now I think people are just starting to remember about going to the market because it’s early in the season.
Anyway, the other coolest part of the market is obviously the fresh produce! I love just sitting there all day next to it. The farmers were kind enough to donate some items for my table display, and then before I packed up to leave I bought a few bags of goodies to make for dinner.
I had an interesting conversation with one woman who was lamenting that none of the farmers were organic this year. We talked a little about local vs. organic but she seemed set on only buying organic. I later asked one of the farmers about it and they assured me that they used no chemicals or pesticides but simply were not certified organic because of the expense! USDA organic certification isn’t free, so lots of smaller farms don’t think it’s worth it. Lesson learned – talk to your local farmers and ask about their farming techniques. Next week if I see that woman I’m going to tell her to go ask some questions!
It’s been really cold up here the past week, so when I finally got my chance to hit the produce stalls, the fresh basil and tomatoes spoke to me and said, “Make sooooooouuuup” So I did. I had never made tomato soup before and I kind of just made it up as I went along. It came out really yummy! Try this recipe but use what you have on hand…I think it’d be difficult to go wrong.
Farmers Market Tomato Soup
3 tomatoes, halved
2 whole cloves garlic
4 Tbl. olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cups vegetable broth
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
1 handful fresh basil, finely chopped
s+p
Use 3 Tbl. olive oil to coat tomatoes and garlic. Place on sheet in oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, chop onions and celery. In a soup pot, heat remaining 1 Tbl. oil and saute onions with salt until soft and golden. Add celery and cook a few more minutes. Pour broth into pot and add cloves, parsley, s+p. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
When tomatoes are done and garlic is starting to turn golden, add to soup. Continue simmering another 10 minutes or so. Using an immersion blender to blend into soup as smooth or chunky as you like. Top with fresh basil.
Have you ever made tomato soup before? What’s your favorite recipe?
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.
June 12th, 2009 | Boston, Farmers Market, organic, recipe, vegan, vegetarian | 22 Comments »
I like to plan. I like lists and calendars and reminders and to-do lists. My Franklin Covey planner is always within arm’s reach. So you can imagine how I go about making dinner, right? Recipe, grocery store trip, list, check, check, check.
Except when the Farmer’s Market has FINALLY arrived in Boston! Every Tuesday and Wednesday from now until I think October, Copley Square is bustling with fresh veggies, homemade goods, and Red Sox fans dressed up in suits for their day job. Other markets in the area will open soon, but Copley is the first.
I had this dilemma: the gym is near the Farmer’s Market. If I went to the gym first, I risked missing out on the best picks at the market. But if I went to the market first, I had to bring all my veggies to the gym locker room. It’s a nice, clean, cool locker room. I went to the market first. See, always planning.
But as you know, at the Farmer’s Market you’re never sure what they are going to have until you get there. It’s gonna be fresh and wonderful but planning is less important than just going and seeing what looks good. I navigated through the stands, picking up green curly kale, collards, garlic scapes, arugula and…wait, now what are these?
Beautiful reds, pinks, purples and whites stood out among the early season’s greens – Easter Egg radishes! And the embryo of dinner formed in my head at that moment.
Just like beets, radishes have gorgeous greens that are often overlooked. In fact, radishes themselves are often overlooked. I knew them from the supermarket salad bar as a kid – ick!! To me, those tasted like onions, something with a sharp bite. But fresh lovely radishes like these cooked up in some butter are tender and sweet, with plenty of health benefits. This recipe took about 15 minutes total because I had some leftover brown rice already cooked.
Easter Egg Radishes, from tips to tops
1 bunch fresh radishes, with greens
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
3 Tbl. organic butter
1 Tbl. olive oil
1 garlic scape, chopped roughly (or 1 clove garlic or 1 small shallot)
2 cups cooked brown rice
3 Tbl. lemon juice
S+P, to taste
1. In a small pan, dry toast walnuts. Set aside. Wash and chop radishes into pieces of about the same size, and chop greens separately.
2. In a large pan, heat butter over med heat. Add garlic scape or chopped garlic or shallots. Cook for a few minutes, until browned. I included the entire garlic scape and the green ends turned nice and crispy in this stage.
3. Add radish pieces to the pan, mixing to coat in butter. Add S+P. Add a splash or two of water and allow steam to help them soften. When soft and color from the skin begins to bleed into the whites of the radish, transfer contents of pan to a bowl and cover.
4. In same unwashed pan, add leftover brown rice. Stir to coat in remaining butter/garlic flavor and heat. Add S+P. Remove from pan and set aside.
5. In same unwashed pan (this is good for dishwashing time later!), add olive oil and chopped greens. Sitr and add S+P to taste. Allow greens to wilt but not to the point of mush.
6. Prepare plate with greens on the bottom, a scoop of rice, then radishes and top with walnuts and some lemon juice. I used the horrid kind from a yellow squeezy thing bc that’s all I had. Oh well! It was still delicious!
Don’t forget to enter to win your free bag of Massa Organics brown rice. Enter here!
May 23rd, 2009 | Boston, Farmers Market, organic, quick and easy, recipe, spring, vegetarian | 9 Comments »
My earliest memories of brown rice are from my mom’s kitchen, served as a healthier alternative to white rice. She said she LIKED it better. I didn’t believe her. All I wanted was Rice-a-Roni the San Francisco treat I saw advertised on TV with that cute little jingle!
But brown rice it was.
Most people don’t have particularly gourmet ideas surrounding the humble whole grains of brown rice. But I’m going to change that for you today! Oh heck yes I am. Not just with some outstanding recipes, but with a review of the finest brown rice you could be lucky enough to taste. And not just one of you, but FOUR of you are going to win a bag of this fantastic organic product. At the end of this post I’ll tell you how.
Excited yet?
I ran into Greg Massa on Twitter. One of my foodie friends (looking at you, Heidi Robb) mentioned the company and I had to see what it was all about. Here’s the coolest thing about Greg Massa and his wife Raquel: they are biologists turned farmers who Twitter and keep a blog! That’s my kind of farmer! Just kidding, all organic farmers are my kind of farmer but I have a harder time meeting or having a conversation with them from my urban dwelling.
So, onto the rice.
This is good stuff, folks. It’s been written up in Saveur Magazine and a whole boatload of newspapers in California. Here’s why: it’s delicious. And the sustainable farming practices in place at Massa are equally as appealing.
Massa Organics has a hard rule against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and does everything possible to positively impact the air, water and soil. They capture and recirculate the irrigation water and instead of burning crop residue built their own house out of rice straw. These folks are the real deal! So let’s applaud Greg and Raquel for doing the right thing – which we can assume may not always be the easiest thing!
When I was barely old enough to hold a pencil my mom would give me one and let me draw endlessly on a pad of paper. Such a simple thing held so much wonder, so much potential for creativity and expression. I felt much the same way when Greg Massa offered to send me a sample of his brown rice! It’s is the perfect food to create so many meals around. I could eat it every day and never run out of awesome recipes to try.
Why not start your week with a big pot of brown rice? Soak it for at least a few hours or overnight. This technique makes any whole grain easier to digest and gets rid of phytic acid, which can prevent mineral absorption in your body. Simply soak in a bowl of water with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar, then drain and add fresh water to cook. I love this cooking method, which treats rice more like pasta.
Then, serve it differently every day for a time-saving menu plan. Here are some recipes I enjoyed with Massa rice, and at the end of this post is your chance to win your own bag of Massa Organics brown rice.
Brown Rice Fritters
These are easy as pie, just mix rice with egg, fresh oregano and a few other things and fry ‘em up! Totally delicious. Serve with mixed greens for an easy meal. Since this recipe came from Saveur, go check it out there!
Veggie Fried Rice
1 Tbl. organic butter
1 onion, peeled and diced
4 scallions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
(Other veggies to add: brocolli, peppers, sliced cabbage or bok choy, bean sprouts or whatever you have on hand)
4 cups cold cooked rice
2 eggs, whisked
2 Tbl. soy sauce
1 Tbl. mirin
This recipe cooks up fast so have all your vegetables washed and prepared ahead of time. Heat butter in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Whisk mirin into eggs and pour into wok. Scramble until cooked but still loose. Add onions and any other raw veggies that need time to cook. Keep mixing for about 5 minutes as veggies soften and onions brown. Add cooked rice and veggies you want to keep crisp like bean sprouts. Continue to stirfry. When heated through, add soy sauce and serve.
Brown Rice Pudding
3 cups leftover brown rice
1 can organic coconut milk (or milk, soymilk, almond milk, etc.)
1/2 cup raisins
4 Tbl. maple syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbl. dried coconut
2 Tbl. tahini
Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Stir over heat until most of the liquid is absorbed and everything is well mixed and warm.
So, do you want to win a free bag of Massa Organics rice? Leave a comment below this post for your entry! For extra chances to win you can do the following:
1. Sign up for my RSS feed
2. Sign up for my newsletter
3. Follow me @MPfennighaus on Twitter and retweet this post
4. Follow Greg Massa @MassaOrganics on Twitter and retweet this post
5. Stumble this post
Let me know in the comments how many entries you’re completing. Contest closes on June 4th at 8am EST. Winners must provide a US address to receive their rice!
This post is part of Cheeseslave’s Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival!
May 20th, 2009 | farming, organic, recipe, sustainability, vegetarian, whole grains | 53 Comments »
Finally, last weekend Max and I took our first trip to a local farm! So awesome. It felt like another world. I mean, I didn’t have any cell phone coverage out there. Crazy, right? It was worth it though. Even when buying the most expensive eggs at Whole Foods I wonder…gee…does this company debeak their chickens? Am I eating eggs from chickens who are stuffed 10 to a cage and never see the light of day? What about the milk I’m buying? Has this cow been fed hormones and antibiotics to keep her producing milk constantly, even while preganant? Is that the kind of business I want to support?
I digress. But seriously, this is what I think about when I shop. That, or I’m thinking damn I forgot my reusable bags again!
So we’re driving down a dirt road past a sportsman club and lots of trees, wondering where this farm is…then, well, we saw the cows! Big, brown, furry looking things. Cows are furry? Did you know that? I did not. They were all hanging out, eating grass, covered in mud. Everything smelled kind of…good. Earthen, sort of. Max assured me that this was only because it’s still cold in Massachusetts. In the summer, the smell would probably shoot past “earthen” to downright “stinky. Ah, well.
Inside the barn everything was on the honor system. We bought fresh eggs and milk, beef and pork and left a check in the jar. Simple stuff. They also had yogurt, duck eggs and goose eggs! Maybe next time. I’ll admit the prices were a bit higher than at the store, but not by much and the freshness can’t be beat. This is quality food that I can feel good about. When was the last time you thought THAT about a Subway $5 Footlong?
So, in honor of Fight Back Fridays I want to say thank you to Misty Brook Farms in Barre, MA for raising animals with care using organic practices. Interested in finding a farm near you? Try LocalHarvest.org and RealMilk.com.
Ok, ok I can hear what you’re thinking: “Go to a farm, is she crazy? i don’t even have time to go to the bathroom!”
So for you folks, you’re in luck! It’s time to join your local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for summer shares! Joining a CSA allows you to experience farm fresh foods without ever seeing a dirt road. They truck it in, and everyone subscribed goes and picks up their share once a week at the local dropoff point. For anyone in Boston interested in a CSA, please email me and I’ll give you the deets about one in Central Square or one in Medford. For all my lovely readers outside of the Boston area, check out LocalHarvest.org to find a CSA near you.
Finally, if farm-hopping sounds crazy and a CSA is too much commitment, I urge you to look for your local Farmer’s Market. This summer I’ll be spending a lot of time at the Medford Farmer’s Market but there are markets all over the place. Go look. Seriously. Prices at the market are always good and the food is fresher than the stuff that travels on planes, trains and automobiles to get to the supermarket.
If you haven’t already entered to win a Kripalu vegetarian cookbook, what are you waiting for? Enter by April 8th at 10:00am.
March 26th, 2009 | Boston, dairy, farming, groceries, organic, spring, try new things | 15 Comments »
As if all apples are created equal! Please. I think we all know a thing or two about organic produce vs. conventionally grown stuff.
For starters, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. These are no good for us or for the environment. Here’s something interesting: google “umbilical pesticides.” Scary, no? What else…hmmm…what about genetically modified foods? The most common GMOs are corn and soybeans but GM versions of other foods exist for sure. Check out this handy chart.
In response to CulinaryWannabe’s recent comment on this post I am very intrigued by The Environmental Working Group’s new guide to buying fruits and veggies. Here is a downloadable PDF you can keep in your purse to remind you of what produce is best bought organic, and which are ok to buy conventional if you have to. Thanks to Marion Nestle at Food Politics for this link!
I am going to print this puppy out and take it with me next time to the store. It’s a great way to know where to cut a few pennies, like maybe go ahead and buy the cheaper, conventionally grown broccoli if it makes sense for you.
Related to saving money, I am happy to share that I will soon be spending a lot more time focusing on health counseling, cooking and yoga because I was laid off from my job in advertising yesterday. It’s never easy to lose a job but in this case I think it’s a blessing. There’s so much I want to do in this field…I’m off to the kitchen right now to start a new recipe…! And now’s as good a time as any to announce that I will soon be moving this blog over to a wordpress platform and new business site. This is just a warning that’s it’s coming soon but when it’s ready I will make it abundantly clear to change your RSS and email subscriptions. I LOVE the community that has begun to grow here, so I hope you all join me for the next leg of the journey 
March 11th, 2009 | farming, groceries, organic, public health | 17 Comments »
