Tag Archives: produce

Since moving here to East Bradenton, we have really been enjoying the many local farms and ranches. One we’ve been to several times is Hunsader Farm which is only 10 minutes away from our home. We’ve gone to pick strawberries and tomatoes a few times now, once the kids and I picked 22 pounds of strawberries for our housewarming party. We freeze them for smoothies, eat them whole, make sweet treats. I took great pleasure making home-made tomato sauce twice now, blanching, peeling, squooshing, cooking… So many dinners to eat up the fresh sauce. Love it!

Thought I’d share some of the love!

If you want to find local U-pick’s or Farmer’s markets in your area, just click HERE and HERE!

Common site with today's agribusiness. Image from propankitchen.com.

Factory-farm chickens.

I don’t even know where to begin.  The state of our food today so deeply saddens me, and concerns me. I worry about the future of food for our children, their children, so on. I believe that it’s our responsibility to make the world a better place for future generations and I’m afraid we’ve failed and are moving too slowly to recover our mistakes.  We are in such a deep whole, it’s going to be a difficult climb out.  I know there are movements that are working hard to make strides in the right direction, thank goodness.  Here at home we’re doing our best and constantly moving towards doing better, a little at time as to not get overwhelmed.

I’ve always been one to educate myself about the environment, where our food comes from, etc.  Years ago I read everything I could get my hands on about Factory Farming, how the animals are treated prior to getting to our table, how this industry effects our planet.  It’s appalling. One book I really took a lot away from was Mad Cowboy.  To read a story about a man, a fourth generation cattle rancher turn Vegan, was uplifting & inspiring. I believe everyone should be educated in the process of how our food comes to the table. I also believe that we shouldn’t have to be worried about what toxic chemicals or genetically modified crap is in our produce, it just shouldn’t be there. The Americans’ need for low food costs have COST us plenty more in quality of life and medical bills. We need to WAKE the heck up and start nourishing our bodies with food, good food, whole food. Can’t tell I recently watched Forks over Knives can you? Most of the information in this incredible documentary wasn’t new to me. Though the statistics were jaw dropping. I had myself convinced prior that as long as I looked for sustainable, grass fed, free-roaming, humanely slaughtered, wild, etc., animals than I could still eat them. I was a vegetarian years ago for ethical reasons and caved after my kids were born out of ease. I beat myself up a bit about this and would like to head back in that direction, though I find my will power has decreased since then. My husband and I are finally in a place that we’re ready to begin the big changes. Though compared to the typical American diet, we’ve done good, eating very little red meat, mostly poultry and fish, lot’s of veggies, etc. This isn’t enough. We know that.

As a people we need to seek out our local sources, grow what we can. We have to be in control of this, no one else is watching out for us. The government is supporting big industry, like Monsanto, unfortunately it’s all about big business. The small farmers are suffering. Go to your local farmers market on weekends, they’re spreading rapidly and can be found in most large and small communities now (Click HERE to find one near you). SUPPORT THEM! Join a CSA. Do whatever small part you can. I’m not one to throw in the towel because it seems hopeless, it IS hopeless if you do that. We the people must demand changes!

If you’re interested in learning more about your food, the future of food and what you can do about it, here are some links to articles, documentaries and groups that can help.

Food Inc.
Forks over Knives
Ingredients
Food Matters
The Future of Food

Slow Food, USA
Non-GMO Project
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (School Food – demand better)

Mad Cowboy (links to books & documentary)

Current Monsanto article – Washington Post

Tell Obama to Cease FDA Ties to Monsanto!
Watch This!

Anything written by Michael Pollen!

….

Well, somehow we survived the cruise. I’m not saying we stuck to our new Clean Eating program, we did not. But we didn’t go nuts either. I continued my herbal tea drinking, yes I gave up coffee to eat clean. You see, I was never an avid coffee drinker anyway, just my one cup in the morning and it had to loaded with cream and sugar. Well, no cream & sugar = no coffee, so done with that. I’m really enjoying the herbal teas, I have at least two a day, one with caffeine in the morning, at night a soothing herbal tea blend. For breakfast on the ship, we continued eating our egg white omelet filled with veggies, salsa on the side. I also found a wonderful whole grain bread I topped with lox, capers and a smidge of cream cheese (at home I use Greek yogurt cheese), squeeze of lemon, OMG, so yummy!

I tried to stick to a large salad most lunches, well, except those we spent on the islands when we ate local cuisine, I insist!

Here at the home front we are continuing to educate ourselves and experiment with healthy foods, super foods.  We have found that we all (PFkids included) really love some of the new items, and of course there have been those we don’t.  We are cleaning our produce upon arrival home from the CSE pick-up or grocery store and placing them up front & center in the fridge for easy grabbing.  The PFkids love ants on a log in their lunch, along with the Chobani yogurt.  Ezekiel bread products are a staple now, made with living sprouts, loaded with flavor and good things for the body.  We spread on a mixture of Chobani Greek yogurt combined with yummies like scallions, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, or herbs/spices, top it with sliced tomato and a side of egg whites scrambled with peppers and onion.  Or we load up our Steel Cut oats with cinnamon, warm skim milk and honey, maybe raisins or diced apples.  These are just examples of breakfast.  The kids are enjoying an Ezekiel English muffin with natural peanut butter, banana and honey.

Continuing to eat 5-6 small meals a day to keep our metabolism on high:-), lots of water with lemon and I just started a capsule a day to help cleanse my liver of toxins.  Gotta love your liver, it’s a work horse for you.

We’ll have to cover Mid Meals, Lunch and Dinner another time.  For now… Mangia!

…

It was perfectly said today by my friend Raffi, “So, you’re Skinny-fat”.  Yes, I am & not happy about it.

A little about me, I’m turning 39 next month, not sedentary, but don’t work-out regularly.  It’s getting increasingly more difficult to go into the gym following a period of not going.  I’ve always been little, still am,  so when mentioning that I need to lose weight, get fit to many friends and acquaintances, they look at me like I’m nuts. Well friends, size is deceiving.

Did you know that 32% Body Fat in women is considered obese?  I didn’t, I know this is a high number, but I found out that my little Size 4-6 body currently has 31.5% Body Fat.  HUH??  I knew it would be over 26% which is what I was last time I checked it, but, REALLY??

I wasn’t planning on realizing how un-fit I truly am when PFMan and I decided to start to Eat Clean this year and get in better shape.  (See our beautifully transformed fridge below:-). We are eating lean meats/protein paired with a healthy complex carbohydrate every 6 hours.  So lots of Chicken breasts, egg whites, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, salad greens, green beans, etc.  Every morning since Sunday we have had Steel Cut Irish Oats with Flax Seeds, Wheat Germ and Bee Pollen (two tbsp each), with half an apple diced up, and two scrambled egg whites, and I’m surprisingly liking it a lot.  This hard core diet is only temporary, an extreme to help our bodies dispose of the fat faster, then we get to add in many more healthy, yummy ingredients!

Yes, I’ve also added workout to the mix. Zumba, Pilates, Cardio, met with a trainer for strength training know how, etc.  To those who know me, I may even give Yoga a run, ha.

I’ve already lost 3 pounds since Monday night!  Heading in the right direction:-).
…

For more information on Clean Eating check out this websites:
The Eat-Clean diet
Eating Clean Magazine
Clean Eating Club
Oxygen Magazine for when you’re ready to hit the gym:-)

…

I’ve recently become obsessed with Blood Oranges. This most likely stems from my love of citrus fruits, especially lemons, and that I’ve been CRAVING every form of citrus in a crazy kind of way lately. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with their vibrant color and sweet flavor or that I found the most irresistible blood orange sorbet, made by Ciao Bella. It’s naturally non-fat and only has 60 calories per 1/2 cup serving, Yee Haw!!

When PFMan and I were in Italy this past April, we ordered orange juice one morning at Il Pirata in Vernazza, well when a red beverage arrived we thought it was a mistake, nope, it was blood orange and soooooo yummy.

Other ways to use blood orange:
They can be used to make marmalade, the zest can be used for baking. A popular Sicilian winter salad is made with sliced Tarocco (Italian variety) oranges, sliced bulb fennel, parsley and olive oil. They’ve been used to make Italian soda, my dad mixes blood orange soda with white wine making a refreshing spritzer. Citrus is in season now, so grab a blood orange and enjoy!

Look here on Simply Recipes for a list of dishes you can make using the blood orange.
…

St. Petersburg, FL just added another choice when deciding where to shop for food.  Fresh Market opened it’s doors on Wednesday October 13th here in St. Pete at 2900 4th Street North.  There was no shortage of patrons as the doors opened at 9a, the first 1000 customers received a complementary package of coffee in a reusable shopping bag.  There were several tasting stations and news crews to help celebrate the 100th Fresh Market store opening.

Fresh produce and alternative/organic products are not new to the St. Petersburg scene.  Rollin’ Oats (2842 Dr. Martin Luther King St N.) has been here since 1994 and was founded with the vision to create a locally owned and operated natural food store with a foundation based on quality products, affordable prices, and superior customer service.  There is also Nature’s Finest Foods, located at 6651 Central Ave.  They moved into this location in 1994 and in 1998 was purchased by the NRG organic supermarket group.

With Fresh Market we have a beautiful store with lots of eye appeal.  An good selection of produce, both organic and conventional, as well as select, hard-to-find fruits and veggies. I loved the blood oranges and meyer lemons, PFMan found some really cool peppers. A very nice meat and seafood counter, bakery, ready to eat items for quick dinners including fresh paninis.  A good selection of yogurts, organic dairy products and an abudance of gourmet items. The wine selection is small and the micro brews are lacking. For a better Microbrew list, make sure you go to Rollin Oats, Sheps Foodmart & Deli or Mazzaro’s.

I was disappointed not to see any Grass-fed beef* (available at the Saturday Morning Market) in the counter display, but I didn’t ask about it, so it may have been there or they may be getting it in.  I did ask about Free-range turkey’s for T-day and they will be taking orders and getting them in soon.

Overall, I’m very excited about the new market and it’s walking distance from my studio, so that’s a bonus.  However, I will not be forgetting about Rollin’ Oats which has a much better cafe’ and selection of organic produce and bulk bins, not to mention it’s a locally owned and run company!

*Find Grass-fed beef in your area at Eat Wild.
…

Worried about the intake of pesticides and other chemicals but can’t afford to go all Organic? The Environmental Working Group has released the Dirty Dozen list to make it easier for us to decipher which produce is the most contaminated. According to EWG calculations, you can lower your pesticide consumption by nearly four-fifths simply by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables or purchasing these Organic.

The Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists.