The Daily Telegraph has a lovely article on local food, the evolution of a CSA (community supported agriculture) group, and the abstract factors involved with farming, food security, etc. It’s well written and a joy to read (probably has a little something to do with that British dialect).
And visit the Swillington CSA blog for recipes that include measurements by the teacupful.
Posted in Agriculture, Community, In the News, Media | No Comments »
Authors of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences tested for carbon and nitrogen isotopes in 480 servings of beef, chicken, and french fries. From these tests, the authors could tell that the animals were kept in confinement, ate a mostly-corn diet, and maybe even ate their own poo. Very interesting. Check it out.
“Because the food chain has become so long now, and it’s a global industry, we want to know the origin of our food as consumers,” says Monahan. “Consumers nowadays want to know the story of their food.”
-Dr. Frank Monahan, a scientist at University College Dublin, from the Forbes article: “What’s Really In Your Fast Food?“
Speaking of long food chains. Source: Oklahoma State University Extension
Posted in Eating Out, Meat, Media, Status Quo | No Comments »
No photos today. Perhaps that’s a good thing because my meal doesn’t look very appetizing.
As I was making my breakfast smoothie this morning, I cooked some cream of bulgar for my sack lunch. Cream of bulgar is parboiled wheat berries that have been finely ground—similar to Cream of Wheat but better for you, since Bob uses the whole grain. To prepare it, you use one part cream of bulgar and three parts liquid. Today I used a combination of beef broth and milk for my cooking liquid. Once cooked, but still on the burner, I stirred in chunks of white cheddar cheese. Then I put a generous scoop of the creamed bulgar in my lunch container and then added a generous heap of cooked greens. Freshly cooked greens would be ideal, but lately I’m doing good to use these. They are tasty, thanks to the bacon fat, no doubt. One sec—I gotta take a bite of my nutritious mush meal. Yummmm…
My smoothie was quite good too. I make several servings at once and store them in the freezer for rushed mornings (which is to say, every morning). Blend up:
Wagon Creek Farm plain creamline yogurt
frozen cherries
a scoop of Ovaltine
a handful of pecans
a scoop of wheat bran from the Prairie Rose Permacultured Kitchen
flax seed meal
Yum!
Posted in Breakfast, Local, Recipe | 3 Comments »
When I pulled out the spent tomato and ground cherry plants, I found a blanket of ground cherries that were still good—thanks to their protective husks. I decided to make some ground cherry jam.
Because of my recent baking blunders, I made a point to work slowly and deliberately. My mind was craving quiet. Peeling off husks and then cutting each gold orb in half was a slow, quiet process. It was a sensory experience—as it should be in the kitchen, but is often lost in the mad dash to get a meal on the table.
It can be challenging to stay in the moment and lately I’ve noticed that more often than not, I’m mindlessly going about tasks (oftentimes “multitasking” myself into a frenzy). All that leaves my brain fuzzy and my memory fried: What did I do today? Was I really listening? I can find beauty and pleasure in most tasks if I slow down enough. It’s about taking time. So, that’s my goal: living mindfully and thankfully.
Back to the jam: all the quiet and calm helped me cope when it wouldn’t set! Oh, well. Now I’ve got plenty of ice cream topping? Any ideas out there? What to do with runny ground cherry jam?
Previous post on ground cherries here.
Posted in Flops, Local, Preservation | 3 Comments »
Hey, Oklavores! Support that Okie DIY spirit and check out Deluxe—an indie craft bazaar—on December 6th at the Farmers’ Public Market. It’s hosted by the OKEtsy Street Team and House of Craft. And oh-my-gosh, it’s going to be so awesome!
Crafty ones: get busy and fill out an application to book a booth. Applications are being accepted for a couple more days.
Posted in Events, Local | 1 Comment »
Several weeks have passed since I watched Fast Food Nation, and I still can’t get it out of my head. The movie weaves fact—from the nonfiction book of the same name—into a fabricated plot. It’s an odd format, but the message is the same: fast food drives the demand for massive amounts of cheap meat, resulting in a business model that necessitates inhumane “growing” and slaughter of animals, dangerous work conditions, exploitation of illegal immigrant employees, handling methods that contaminate meat (”there’s shit in the meat!“), and homogeneity. And all those issues are intertwined with even more problems. Right now I can think of obesity, antibacterial resistance, polluted air and water, so. much. trash., and communities dependent on a sole, disloyal employer—the cattle/hog/chicken processing plant. What would happen if the prices actually reflected these external costs? This seems to be a problem with our food and our fuel, huh?
The demand is there. McDonald’s serves more than 47 million people around the world every day. I can’t say I’ll never again eat fast food. I swore it off after reading the book and…well, it didn’t stick. It’s generally a problem of convenience and craving that requires a certain disassociation from my meal.
In last week’s food issue of the New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan addressed these issues and more in an open letter to our next president (our farmer-in-chief). Pollan’s sun-food agenda is informative and inspirational. Where can I sign up for the School Lunch Corps?
Edited to add: Pollan on Fresh Air
Posted in Eating Out, Meat, Media, Status Quo | 2 Comments »
Not a good night in the kitchen.
This is what happens when you add twice as much butter than the recipe calls for (unintentional, of course):
In my head 1 stick of butter was 1/4 cup. So, since the recipe called for 1/2 cup of butter, I added two sticks. When I was puzzled by the outcome of the cookies, I figured it was just another bad recipe. But, from Deborah Madison? I think not. While I was trying to fall asleep, it occurred to me that 1 stick of butter is 1/2 cup. Damn.
They are still tasty—just very crumbly and…well, buttery.
I have no idea what happened with the “tire brownies” as Matt calls them. I used whole white wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. I expected a dense brownie, perhaps, but not funky old tire nastiness. Bah.
Cardamom-butter cookies with iced coffee.
Cardamom Cookies
from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
:: 1/4 pound unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
:: 1/2 c powdered sugar, plus extra for tops
:: 2 T granulated sugar
:: 1 egg yolk
:: 1 t ground cardamom (a very divine, autumny spice)
:: 3/8 t salt
:: 1 1/4 c flour
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolk. Stir in the cardamom, salt, and flour. Divide the dough in two, roughly shape each piece into a log about 1 inch thick, then roll in plastic wrap or wax paper. Pull each log through your thumb and first finger to make it even and, if you prefer, longer and narrower. Refrigerate until firm or freeze until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 375˚. Cut the dough into 1/4-inch rounds or diagonals and set them on cookie sheets at least 1 inch apart. Bake until pale golden on top and lightly browned around the edges, 8–10 minutes. Cool. Serve plain or dusted with powdered sugar.
Good luck and enjoy!
Posted in Flops, Recipe, Sweets | 4 Comments »
The Fresh Greens blog recently completed the first rotation of all 13 writers, and these distinctive voices offer up witty and thoughtful discourse on a variety of topics. New posts debut every Monday and Friday.
In case you missed it, recent post titles include:
· The Other Solar Panel
· Generation Nowhere, or Generation Grown-up?
· Happy Hour
· A Letter to Wendell Berry
· Soon Comes the Winter …
· My Green Train of Mindfulness
· Mothering Sustainably
· The Madfarmer Says, “Eat Your Greens!”
· A Small Gathering of Locavores
· Walking OKC
· Feeding the Worms
· A Question to Ponder
· Corporate Food Products: The Other Side of Buying Local
· The Long House Gene
· And more …
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Once you start cooking, one thing leads to another. A new recipe is as exciting as a blind date. A new ingredient, heaven help me, is an intoxicating affair.
-Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (page 130)
I’m sure you were just as inspired as I was after reading the cheesemaking chapter in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She made it sound so easy! I finally garnered the confidence to give it a try and, indeed!, it is super easy.
Soft cheese are ridiculously easy to make, it turns out. The hardest part is ordering the cultures (by catalog or online). With these packets of cheesemaking bugs in your freezer and a gallon of good milk…soft cheeses are at your command.
-Kingsolver (page 139)
Ooops. I got so excited about acquiring some raw milk, that I didn’t think to order rennet or cultures until I had the gallon of milk at home—its fresh-from-the-farm factor dwindling in my mind as each hour passed. Kingsolver uses the New England Cheese Making Supply Company; if you can recommend a source closer to home, please do! Thankfully I found a basic recipe for goat’s milk cheese. The cheese was definitely edible; not mmmm-inducing, but edible. I was just happy it resembled cheese!
Lessons learned:
Salt, salt, salt. I don’t know if I messed up the recipe or what, but the cheese was bland. This was easily remedied by a generous dash of salt before serving.
Next time I’ll be sure to plan ahead and get some “cheesemaking bugs.”
It would be fun to experiment by adding different herbs.
Have a plan for the leftover whey.
1 gallon of raw, unhomogenized goat’s milk.
Farm-fresh goodness.
For larger curds, let the temperature rise above 190°.
Add the lemon juice and watch it curdle.
I’m using cheesecloth to make cheese! Brilliant!
Whey left from draining curds. From what I’ve read, whey is ideal for making bread or ricotta (Italian for “to cook again”). I didn’t have time for that, so I used it to water some acid-loving plants.
After 4 hours of draining…
Posted in Experimenting, Local, Recipe | No Comments »
