What is the beef about grass-fed meats?

“The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths, than all the wars of this century, all natural deaths and all automobile accidents combined.” Neal Barnard M.D.

To get down and dirty, consider just the basic facts.  Let’s envision happy and healthy cows, chewing away at a field of green grass, plenty of room to roam, fresh water and birds singing.

Okay, now let’s flash over to the way most beef is “finished.”  Humongous fat cows standing shoulder to shoulder in a bog of their own excretions, full of antibiotics and hormones, while eating corn that will explode them if not slaughtered in a timely manner.   It is not pretty but it is true, grain fed beef cows are slaughtered within a few days of dieing of system shut down.

This malnourished, chemically and fat saturated beef is what most of America eats. (66.7 pounds per person, per year, to be exact.) Kind of explains why obesity and disease is running amuck, so to speak.

Now, grass fed meats are a whole different kind of animal. Their meat is lean and nutrient rich. In fact, grass fed beef has 1/3 the fat and calories that grain fed beef have. The fat that they do have is mostly the “good for you fat.” This is translated into Omega 3 fatty acids, which are the heart healthy fats that are vital to every cell of your body. The pastured cows get this from the grass that they eat that has Omega 3s in the chloroplasts.

Another glowing fact to grass fed livestock is that they need no antibiotics to keep them healthy. They are living much the way their ancestors have for a gillion years, with plenty of grass and room to roam. Hormones are not given to this livestock either, resulting in a slower growing animal, but much healthier. This explains why grass fed meats are a bit more expensive, but well worth it.

This ancient form of farming is also excellent for the environment and the surrounding communities. No one can argue that, if you have driven by a massive feed lot.  You smell them miles before you get there and miles afterwards. All that waste is going into our rivers, oceans, land. Not good.

So step up America and take back your heritage and health, eat pastured meats. Check out eatwild.com for more information on this issue.

Red Wine and Blue All American Burgers

This burger recipe is perfect to celebrate our independence day. Make some purple potatoes and a green salad with strawberries in it for a beautiful plate exploding with color and health.

The Red Wine Chutney

Can be made up to 3 days ahead of time. It is good with cold meats and cheeses as well as on burgers.

6 to 8 red onions sliced

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup red wine

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Get out a nice big skillet and toss the oil, onions and sugar together in there and cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, till caramelized and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Pour in the red wine and vinegar and simmer uncovered, till the liquid has been reduced to a sticky mixture, about 10 more minutes. Set aside to cool then put in fridge till you want to mau on it.

The Burgers

½ cup of finely chopped onions

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)

1 pound of ground grass fed beef or lamb

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons of dry breadcrumbs

1 large farm egg

½ cup of blue cheese

Combine onions through egg in a medium bowl and squash it all together with your hands till well blended. (I recommend you wash your hands first.)  Divide mixture into 8 equal portions and shape into thin patties. Sprinkle the blue cheese over four of the patties, putting the most cheese on your personal burger. (Just kidding)  Top those cheese sprinkled patties, with the remaining, lonely patties and press the edges together to seal. Place in fridge to rest and relax.

Meanwhile, lightly coat your grill racks with a little oil and heat up your BBQ. (These burgers can be cooked under the broiler in the oven too, if you don’t have a BBQ or it is pouring outside.)  Place the sizzling patties on the grill and cook about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  Remember, lean meats are better a bit on the medium rare side. Serve on onion buns with red wine chutney, arugula and whatever else tickles your fancy. Celebrate America’s return to its grass roots.

Being a Revolutionist by Eating Beet Greens

Beet green nests with farm fresh eggs

“Perhaps more than any other, the food industry is very sensitive to consumer demand.” Michael Pollan

It arrived a few days ago. It was wrapped in a plain brown wrapper and burgeoning with possibilities. “It” was my CSA package from R-evolution Gardens farmed by Ginger Salkowski. CSA stands for Community Supported Agricultural, which is a subscription service that a farm will present a glorious array of their best veggies, once a week, to subscribers, during the gardening season. In return, the farmers get a lump of money up front to help with spring start up costs like seeds and fertilizers. In the last twenty-five years CSAs have been spreading their roots deep and wide in the United States.

This concept was actually started by those witty Europeans. The concept is easy. We the consumers, who vote with our dollar, subscribe to a CSA so that we can support a small local farm. Now that farm grows their produce and meats in a manner that makes everyone happy, the veggies, the fruit, the bugs, the animals, the people and the earth; all happy. In return, we get not only beautiful organic food but a clean and vibrant environment to live in.

20 years ago, small family owned farms were on the critically endangered species list. Large corporate farms picked one food to grow, such as potatoes, and did it in HUGMOUGOUS amounts, with lots of pesticides and cheap petroleum fertilizers. This monoculture farming practice produces cheap food by at a great price. We almost lost our small farms, our environment and an enormous amount of different types of vegetables, fruits, and meat animals. This CSA trend is a grass roots, supported by you and me, movement to bring back small farms. Now doesn’t that feel good? We are part of a revolution!

I personally love being part of that revolution. When my CSA arrives, I am rubbing my hands together, wondering what is in that brown paper wrapped present. Then, I am thrilled with the challenge to use all of the gifts in the present before the next one arrives. One of the biggest challenges for me has been the beet greens. Now, why would that be a problem? I guess I was so dazzled by those sparkling beets in their bright red and gold hues, that the beet greens just wilted, sadly ignored, in the fridge.

I have vowed to use every one of my beet greens this year. Now beet greens are right up there on the charts in nutritional content and deliciousness. They are sweet, unlike some deep leafy greens, so you can use them in everything. Scrambled eggs, soups, salads, stir fries, quiche, you name it, beet greens can go there. Beet greens excel as much in nutrition as they do in taste.

This dish is open for interpretation. You can add whatever you find in your CSA or garden. Add a healthy sausage and you have a main meal.

Spring Garden Medley

1 bunch of baby carrots

1 bunch of baby beets and their greens

1 bunch of kale

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 spring onion, sliced

1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 -2 tablespoons of your favorite vinegar

¼ cup of feta cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of fresh garden herbs of your choice,

I like tarragon in this dish.

Hand full of nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the carrot and beet tops off and scrub them till nice and shiny. Save your beet greens and put them in a jar of water like a beautiful bouquet, while they wait.  (This will get them all perky.) Put your roots in a small baking dish and toss them in one tablespoon of olive oil and bake till you can poke a knife through them, about 45 minutes or so. When they cool, cut them into halves. Some people like to remove the skins of the beets, but I like them and they provide more nutrients.

Wash the greens and chop them up into bite size pieces. Now, heat the remaining olive oil to medium high in a skillet that has a lid. Throw in the garlic and onion and sauté for a minute or two till they become translucent and aromatic. Then add the greens and herbs and sauté with the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and put the lid on and simmer, stirring here and there for about 8 to 10 minutes, adding a bit more vinegar when needed. When the greens are done, add a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a pretty bowl and artfully put the carrots and beets in the dish. Sprinkle the snow white feta cheese and nuts on the top and serve with pride. This dish is saving America’s farms.

This next dish has become my hubby’s and I favorite breakfast lately. It is such a great way to start you day, with a big helping of veggies.  You can throw any ole’ green in there as well. A few chopped up cooked potatoes are also really good in here.

Eggs in Beet Green nests

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 bunch of beet greens, chopped

1 bunch kale, chopped

½ onion, chopped

2 -3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 to 3 pieces of Canadian bacon, chopped up

2 to 4 farm fresh eggs

Heat up a biggish skillet on medium heat and add the oil.  Then toss in the onion, Canadian bacon, and garlic and sauté for a few minutes or so, then add the greens.  Sauté for a few minutes then put a couple tablespoons of water in the pan and put a lid on it. Lightly oil another skillet and fry your eggs to your liking, stirring the greens all the while. Divide the greens between two plates and make a nest in the greens. Nestle the eggs in their nests and eat up! So yummy.

The Most Devilish Cookies

Once in a while a good girl just has to go bad

This recipe had been lurking in the back of my mind, like a vampire, waiting for me to weaken. Finally the perfect opportunity presented itself for the dark one to emerge. My daughter Chelsea came home the other day and said, “Mom, let’s bake some cookies, something you have never made before. Oh, and I am going to take most of them back home, so don’t worry about get stuck eating them.”  Oh, thems was the pivotal words! This impossibly delicious cookie recipe that had been nibbling at my consciousness, seized the opportunity and rose up. I knew exactly what I had to do…. drumroll …. Make “Magic in the Middles.”

Now, I want to reassure you that I don’t think all the time about what I am going to make or write about next….just most the time.  I had seen these cookies on a blog some months earlier and was ever so haunted to make them. There is absolutely nothing good about these cookies but the taste. And, oh momma, do they taste good! Well, I take that back, they have a few other redeeming values; they are wickedly fun to make and see people’s reactions on the first bite. So do I have you hooked? Read on, you poor unsuspecting soul.

Okay this is how it went..….we baked up a batch of them. Annnnnndddd ate them all. I must admit we had help from hungry hubby and young son one (24.) They both can eat like elephants. But still, WE ATE THE WHOLE BATCH!      So daughter and I had to bake a second batch for her to take home to promised friends. Those she guarded with her very life and ran out the door with them still warm, leaving hubby and I to mindlessly drool and paw through the cupboards looking for something to soothe the desire. We didn’t find it.

So here is the damaging evidence……

And here is the recipe;

Magic in the Middle Cookies

By King Arthur flour

Chocolate dough recipe

1 ½ cups of white whole wheat four

½ cup of Dutch processed cocoa powder

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of sea salt

½ cup of sugar

½ cup of brown sugar

½ cup of butter, softened

¼ cup of peanut butter

(chunky or smooth up to you)

1 or 2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 large farm egg

Peanut butter filling

2/3 cup of chunky peanut butter

2/3 cup of powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get out your tools of destruction. In a mediumish bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, soda and sea salt. In your mixing bowl, whip together the sugars, butter and peanut butter till frothy.  While the beaters are going slowly add the vanilla and the egg. Then, slowly blend in the dry mix to the wet mix till all smooth and irresistible. Okay, now for the filling, in a small bowl smoosh the powdered sugar into the peanut butter the best you can till it is well mixed.  Now for the really really fun part, roll the peanut butter mixture into smallish balls about the size of a grape, (to be called PB balls).

PB Balls waiting for their coats

Scoop a walnut sized ball from the chocolate batter into your hand and make an indentation in the center with your fingers and insert one of your PB balls into the center.

Then work the chocolate batter up over the PB ball and press the edges together to make the PB ball disappear.

Going going

Almost Gone!

Gently roll the cookie ball in your hands to smooth it out, then roll each cookie in cocoa powder or white sugar and place on your greased cookie sheet. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to gently smoosh the cookies flatter.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes until they are set and you are being wafted with the scent of chocolate. Cool on a rack and try not to eat them all so you can amaze your friends. Enjoy this little devilish delights!

If Life Gives you Lemons……

“For mad scientist who keep brains in jars, here’s a tip: why not add a slice of lemon to each jar for freshness?” Jack Handy

Just love those lemons!

My mother returned from L.A. recently, with a very large box of lemons, picked fresh from her brother’s tree. They are beautiful to behold, large, glossy, organic, (if you don’t count the smog film on them) and free! My imagination began to fill full of lemony food dreams like sorbet, bars, cookies, vinaigrettes and classic lemon grilled fish. Oh but there is so much more to do with a lemon!

There is something about lemons that is so sunshine, smiles and Clark Kent. But don’t let this benign beauty fool you, they happen to be the super hero among fruit. They are good for everything. Need a face cleaner? Lemons mixed with aloe vera work great. Need an antibacterial? Lemons! Or how about a cure for scurvy? (I know that is a real problem these days.) Yes, lemons. How about need to get rid of the smell of garlic from your hands? Lemons. Scrub the toilet to clean and disinfect? Lemons once more. Okay, that’s enough; I think I’ve proved my point, that lemons are capable of leaping buildings.

Lemons, as you can expect, are blazing with nutritional goodness too. They are super charged with vitamin C and are a bonzer of an anti-inflammatory, so consequently helps battle a million different diseases. Lemons also have this readily absorbable special power compound called limonoids, that are like kryptonite to cancer cells. Limonoids actually stay in your body for up to 48 hours after eating them too. Pretty super.

Here just a few tips and trivia on this marvelous fruit.

~Bring lemons up to room temperature and roll them on a hard surface before juicing them. (You can stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds if you are in a hurry.) This will get so much more juice.

~Rub lemons on your cutting boards to clean, deodorize and disinfect.

~You can run lemon peels through your garbage disposal to kill bad smells crawling out of there. (Makes the house smell good too!)

~A squeeze of lemon in your food will make the flavors pop.  Try it in your favorite soups, salads and meats. It is a great way to reduce your salt intake.

~Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon in a cup of water to drink, first thing in the morning and it will aid in digestion and give your liver a boost.

~The aroma of lemons lifts the spirits, calms anxieties, centers the mind and helps improve the memory.

~ Squirt lemon juice on apples or avocado to keep from oxidizing

So next time you look at that garden variety lemon, remember that there lies a super hero full of surprises.

This recipe is delicious on any white fish. Hubby came home with rock fish, fresh off his fishing pole, so that is what we used. Rock fish is also called red snapper or snapper by a lot of restaurants and fish mongers. Make sure that whatever fish you use, does not smell fishy or is the least bit slimy when you buy it. Make sure and use organic lemons, particularly when using the zest.

Lemon Fennel Rock Fish with Lemon Tzatziki

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

¼ cup of lemon juice

2 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons of fennel seeds, crushed

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

A few cranks of pepper

½ teaspoon of salt

4 nice fillets of rock fish

Mix together all the ingredients except the fish in a ziplock bag, (that doesn’t have holes, unlike yours truly). Add the fish to the marinade and set in the fridge for an hour while you prepare the tzatziki, scrub the grill and dance in the sun. When the time is up, heat up the grill or the broiler in the oven, after you have brushed the grill rack with oil. Cook the fish just long enough to find a spatula, about 6 to 8 minutes. If you are cooking on the grill, keep the lid closed. Serve with the tzatziki, a wedge of lemon, and whole wheat couscous.

Lemon Tzatziki

1 cup of non-fat plain yogurt

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

About 1 cup of a fennel bulb, grated

1 cucumber, peeled and grated

2-3 garlic cloves, pressed

Spoon the yogurt into a piece of cheesecloth that has been placed in a collander and let drain for an hour or so.  This step can be skipped if you want; it just makes a runnier tzatziki. Place the yogurt into a small bowl using a rubber spatula. Add everything else to the yogurt and stir well. Serve with the fish and eat with life!

Cookies for Trash Bash!

“C is for cookies!” Cookie Monster

Every year on the third Friday in May, our local recycling center, Cart’m, holds the party of the year for our community. It is something to behold. People, running around dressed in junk like bubble wrap, milk jugs, old life preservers and paper bags. Beer is the favored beverage, served in recycled jars. The trash art show is a testament to the fantastic things one can do with garbage. The music is blaring rock and roll, the food is hot dogs, nachos, chili and cookies.

Jesse Just in her fantastic plastic bubble wrap!

This whole affair is put on with help from the community for the community. Everyone puts their best foot forward and volunteers to do something to help out.  I elected myself as the provider of cookies this year.  The order was for 12 dozen cookies, so I dusted off my most wicked cookies recipes and stepped up to bat.

Now, cookies for me are just about the perfect dessert. I LOVE COOKIES! And I had an excuse to bake 12 dozen! The only shadow on my whole party was the fact that I should probably stick to tried and true recipes. (Oh well.)  I chose to make the ubiquitous but ever faithful Chocolate Chip cookies, recipe right off the Nestlé’s bag.  Then came the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, and right on the heels of that was Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Chunkers, and my all time favorites, Oatmeal Raisin.

Now finding the perfect oatmeal raisin cookies recipe has been a life long pursuit. I know you know what I am talking about, if you are an oatmeal raisin cookie freak. This recipe is the best one I have come across so far, tweaked a bit by yours truly to be healthier. If you have a better one, please share it with me!

Trash Bash Oatmeal Cookies

½ cup of butter softened

½ cup of applesauce

1 cup of brown sugar

½ cup of white sugar

2 farm fresh eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 ½ cups of ww pastry flour or

White whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

¼ teaspoon of baking soda

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of cardamom

½ teaspoon of salt

3 cups of old fashion oats

1 cup of raisins

½ cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter, applesauce, and sugars together till all creamy and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs, and that luscious vanilla till well blended. In a separate bowl, combine everything else, except the oats, raisins, and nuts. Whisk that up till it is well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the creamy ingredients just until it is mixed all together, then add the rest of the list, and mix some more. VERY IMPORTANT: taste the batter.  Then taste it again. Should be wonderful. Stop here so you can actually bake some cookies. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet with a wet spoon, and press the cookies flat. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes till golden brown and aromatic. Then take out the recycling to celebrate! (With your mouth full of course.)