Hope to see you there! subscribe to the blog, tell me that you have and there will be a “little something” for you when we see you at the show today!
Category: Local Food
Meet Julia! Baker and Chef of natural foods.
Meet Julia! We are sliding over into the culinary garden/kitchen and so Julia was called in to meet the gang. She happily accepted the invitation to be the local Baker in Botaniumus. Her Bakery will be inside the Knowledge Café. Izabella is very excited all the great aromas and goodies that will now be at the Café, all just in time for summer and sitting outside, enjoying a cold coffee and a “little something” with your friends. Naturally Julia is all about organic/natural ingredients, and supporting local farms/markets/vendors. She will be all set up soon and hopes to report from her new bakery then. It’s all good in every sense of the word!
Welcome to Julia, she is our spokes-creature for the week. This week topic continues to be SUPPORT your LOCAL folks. Find local Farmers Markets, Artist/Craft Fairs, and don’t forget about your local hometown merchant! If you don’t support them they may not be their next time you are looking for them. Remember, there is no food without farmers, there is no art without artist.
Tomorrow Julia will be posting her interview with Dirty Vegan Foods. DVF is a company that is here for all you vegan junk food lovers. They aim to please and try their best to bring back the snacky fun food you loved as a kid! Love all those memories and yummy foods? Tune in tomorrow for the healthy and still yummy version of them!
You went to the local market and now you are home…..
You have all this fresh fabulous food now ( plus a few greeting cards and a few gifts for yourself) – Now what?
Healthy cooking does not mean blah, expensive or boring. You just purchased food that is bursting with flavor all on its own so you are one step ahead already. Now we want to keep as much nutritional value as possible, and make the food as health and yummy as possible. As everyone knows, that means cutting the fat and so the calories. The Mayo Clinic is full of recommendations such as roasting instead of frying.. Here are more ideas from the Mayo Clinic website. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-cooking/NU00201
Using herbs and spices:Creating meals using spices and herbs is one of the best ways to add color, taste and aroma to foods without adding salt or fat. Choose fresh herbs that look bright and aren’t wilted, and add them toward the end of cooking. Add dried herbs in the earlier stages of cooking. When substituting dried for fresh, use about one-half the amount. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- Read last week and get your GROW ON for your herbs.
Baking: Besides breads and desserts, you can bake seafood, poultry, lean meat, vegetables and fruits. For baking, place food in a pan or dish surrounded by the hot, dry air of your oven. You may cook the food covered or uncovered. Baking generally doesn’t require that you add fat to the food. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- baking fish, chicken or veggies in foil with some lemon juice and fresh herbs is easy to cook and clean! Naturally it is good for the taste buds too.
Braising: Braising involves browning the ingredient first in a pan on top of the stove, and then slowly cooking it covered with a small quantity of liquid, such as water or broth. In some recipes, the cooking liquid is used afterward to form a flavorful, nutrient-rich sauce.
Broiling and grilling: Both broiling and grilling expose food to direct heat. To grill outdoors, place the food on a grill rack above a bed of charcoal embers or gas-heated rocks. If you have an indoor grill, follow the manufacturer’s directions. For smaller items such as chopped vegetables, use foil or a long-handled grill basket to prevent pieces from slipping through the rack. To broil indoors, place food on a broiler rack below a heat element. Both methods allow fat to drip away from the food.
Poaching: To poach foods, gently simmer ingredients in water or a flavorful liquid such as broth, vinegar or juice until they’re cooked through and tender. The food retains its shape during cooking. For stove-top poaching, choose a covered pan that best fits the size and shape of the food so that you need a minimal amount of liquid. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- try poaching salmon ever so easy and soooo good!
Roasting: Like baking, but typically at higher temperatures, roasting uses an oven’s dry heat to cook the food. You can roast foods on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan. For poultry, seafood and meat, place a rack inside the roasting pan so that the fat in the food can drip away during cooking. In some cases, you may need to baste the food to keep it from drying out. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- don’t forget you can roast veggies too!
Sauteing: Sauteing quickly cooks relatively small or thin pieces of food. If you choose a good-quality nonstick pan, you can cook food without using fat. Depending on the recipe, use low-sodium broth, cooking spray or water in place of oil. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- our saute pan is used just about every day. Sauteing some opinions with mushrooms is one our favorites to add to almost anything.
Steaming: One of the simplest cooking techniques is steaming food in a perforated basket suspended above simmering liquid. If you use a flavorful liquid or add seasonings to the water, you’ll flavor the food as it cooks. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- do you have a rice cooker? If you do then start using it- adds no heat to your kitchen, and is basically another type steam cook method.
Stir-frying: A traditional Asian method, stir-frying quickly cooks small, uniform-sized pieces of food while they’re rapidly stirred in a wok or large nonstick frying pan. You need only a small amount of oil or cooking spray for this cooking method. The gang of Beauties and Beasties add- It is so easy to have a high ratio of veggies here and only a little meat.fish, or tofu, so the calories are small and the bulk factor is large.
Enjoy your local food and have a good time feeding yourself, your families, and your friends.
Is being a strong advocate for local food political?
Local Markets, Farm Markets, and local food continued.
“The best food is that which feeds body and spirit.”
Read these few paragraphs and please answer our 1 question poll at the end of the article. Thanks
Again, the focus is on a really interesting thoughts, and words, from Local Harvest.org. This is from their May 25, 2011 newsletter.
“Welcome back to theLocalHarvest newsletter.
While spring came achingly slowly to my part of the country this past month, I spent a lot of time pacing in front of the window looking out at heavy gray skies. The soil being too wet to dig, I had extra time for rumination, much of which revolved around what LocalHarvest most values.
In last month’s newsletter I said that in this period of budget cutbacks we as a society need more public dialogue about how to make sure that everyone has enough good food to eat. My article struck a chord with many. With a number of others, it hit a nerve. There was plenty of emotion to go around Readers from across the political spectrum wrote in to voice their frustration or support, aimed variously at the federal government, the media, Wall Street, liberals, conservatives, the system at large, and the poor. In addition, a number of people wrote to express their disapproval of LocalHarvest being vocal about the federal budget process. These writers argued vehemently that I should stay out of politics.
Most people don’t give a hill of beans what we write about, but others absolutely want our work to reflect at least some of what they hold dear. This is particularly true for some of our members, the 25,000 people who list their businesses in our directory. Partisan politics is something we have always avoided in the newsletter because we know that our members’ leanings cover the entire political map and then some. Steering clear of particular political parties or heads of state is relatively easy, but avoiding politics all together is impossible. Being a strong advocate for local food is itself quite political, given our current food system.
We stand behind our belief that having an adequate and steady supply of good food is a basic human right, and that those with plenty have a moral obligation to look out for those who do not. There is ample room for discussion and debate about how far that obligation extends and how it gets paid for.
Meanwhile, the rest of our manifesto reads like this: The best food is that which feeds body and spirit. This food can best be found at a farmers markets, through a CSA, and in your own backyard. Cooking fresh, unprocessed food and sharing it with people you love is one of life’s great pleasures. We support farms which place primary importance on building healthy soils, protecting the ecosystem, fair treatment of farm laborers, humane treatment of animals, and a sustainable life for the farmers. Protecting biodiversity on farms and seed saving are both good ideas. Genetically modifying crops is a bad idea, as is the current approach to farm subsidies. Local and regional food systems are of vital importance in this changing world and should be encouraged on every level. There is plenty of work to be done to strengthen and expand these systems, work in which each of us can play a role. Onward!
As always, we appreciate hearing what you think.
Take good care and eat well,
Erin
Erin Barnett
Director
LocalHarvest”
We at Botanical Beauties and Beasties agree “that having an adequate and steady supply of good food is a basic human right, and that those with plenty have a moral obligation to look out for those who do not. There is ample room for discussion and debate about how far that obligation extends and how it gets paid for.” How do you feel about it all?