Too Many Zukes?

If you're a gardener or a CSA subscriber, chances are high that you are inundated with zucchini right about now. This summer I've grilled it, hidden it in spaghetti sauce, made zucchini brownies, and frozen gobs of it for use this winter. After all that, I still can't seem to clear my crisper drawers of the stuff!

On the verge of anonymously dumping some on my neighbors' porches, I found a better option: Zucchini Pie. A cheesy, eggy, zukey recipe that calls for 8 cups of zucchini. Yes, 8 cups!!! Besides ridding myself of zucchinis for a couple days, this recipe tastes good too. It made two pies, so I did offload one on a neighbor. That seems so much better for neighbor relations than what I was about to do.

The recipe is from a cookbook called Simply in Season, "commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee to promote the understanding of how the food choices we make affect our lives and the lives of those who produce the food." Published by Herald Press, this cookbook is a great study in how to eat seasonally and reduce food waste. Thank you to my dear friend Rachel Maxwell-Wells for giving me this cookbook! You can find out how to order this book here http://www.heraldpress.com/titles/simplyinseason/.

But here's the recipe for those of you who might want to try before you buy. Enjoy!

Italian Zucchini Pie

Preheat oven to 375.

1/4 c. warm water
1 T. active dry yeast
Mix until yeast dissolves. Set aside.

1/4 c. milk
1 T. olive oil
1 egg, beaten
Combine in a mixing bowl or food processor. Add dissolved yeast and stir.

1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1 t. salt
1-2 t. fresh basil, chopped
Blend in.

2 c. bread flour (I added 2 T. vital wheat gluten to regular flour, worth a try with regular flour if you don't have the substitutions.)
Add 1/2 c. at a time to make a smooth but slighly sticky dough. Place in a greased bowl, trne to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and place in a warm place while preparing the zucchini filling.

1/4 c. butter
8 c. zucchini, thinly sliced
1-2 c. chopped onion
Melt butter in a large frypan over medium heat. Add zucchini and onions and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. each fresh basil and oregano (chopped; or 1 t. dried)
1 t. each fresh thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, savory, and marjoram (chopped; or 1/2 t. dried) (Just use what you have, don't worry if you don't have all of these!)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
Stir in.

5 large eggs, beaten
4 c. shredded mozzarella
 Combine in a separate bowl, then stir in zucchini mixture

Divide dough in half. Place each half on lightly floured surface and roll into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Place each into a lightly greased 10 inch pie dish.

4 t. mustard
1/4 c. parmesan, grated
Spread the pie crusts with mustard. Divide the zuke mixture between the two crusts. Sprinle parmesan cheese on top. Bake 18-20 minutes, until center is set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 

One Month In--Eating for Sustainability Pt. 5

This week I spent $150 in groceries, same as last week. I will keep tallying, but I'm feeling more and more confident that my average weekly bill won't exceed $200, even when I've transitioned to all organic or local. However, I am still amazed by the amount of food I am able to cull from the cupboards each week. This week I dug up some old pancake mix, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and pecans to concoct a dessert that was meant to be a bar cookie but turned into a cake. That was a fun kitchen moment with the kids, and it felt good to reduce waste. I can't help but think that developing creativity in the kitchen is as good for my morale as it is for the environment.

Which leads me to the CSA box this week. Most of it was easy for me to use: ground beef, a nut butter, salsa, bean dip, eggs, mushrooms, yogurt, apples. The one exception that forced me to get creative? Acorn squash. I still had one from a previous week, and they gave us two this week. I definitely don't love winter squash, but I couldn't put off using them any longer. One I baked and pureed. I used the puree in the cookie-turned-cake concoction. The remaining two became "Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash" from food.com. It was a heavy meal, but still pretty good. For winter squash, I'll take that.

By the way, I just learned that Fair Shares CSA is offering two-week trial memberships. Find more info at https://fairshares.org/trial-membership. If you decide to try it, please tell them I sent you because I'll get a $5 credit just for you trying it out!

This week, I've realized that it's not that hard for me to follow Michael Pollan's advice to:

• Eat only food that Grandma would recognize as food.
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, because that's where the least processed food is found.
• Don't eat food that won't ever rot, and try and keep the number of ingredients in a product at or below five.
• Eat mostly plants. When you do eat meat, eat meat that's been raised in humane conditions and given good feed.

In fact, our family eats this way a lot. We just needed this "food reset" to make it more consistent.
It does take planning, but it doesn't feel like a burden at all right now. Part of that is due to the easy, from scratch foods that have slowly accumulated in my mental recipe file over the years. (See below for two great recipes from friends.) And part of it is that I can cut vegetables a lot faster than I used to. But part of it is due to the fact that mindfully buying, cooking, and eating has integrated my values and my actions. Eating in a way that promotes the health of my family, the local economy, and the Earth actually lifts a weight rather than creating one. Once again, I'm thankful to have the means and the time to buy well, cook well, and eat well.

Recipes

Hummus

This recipe is from my college roommate, Salwa Rosen. The first time I ate her mama's version of hummus and taboulleh, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Mama Rosen's taboulleh was great, but the hummus took so much less time that it was one of the first things I ever consistently made from scratch. Now that I've started cooking my own beans, maybe I will shift from canned chickpeas to dried...

2 cans chickpeas, drained (juice of one can reserved)
3-4 T. tahini, or more to taste (tahini, or sesame seed paste, found in Middle Eastern section of grocer, or at specialty shop--it's a lot easier to find than it used to be!)
Juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste
About 1 t. of salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
A tablespoon or two of olive oil

Puree it all in a food processor or blender. Adust seasonings to taste. If too salty, add more lemon (and vice-versa). If too thick, add some liquid from chickpeas.

That's the basic recipe--so easy, so yummy, and so simple to vary. Have fun!

 

Versatile Vinaigrette (from Moosewood Restaurant's Simple Suppers)

Although this recipe is from a cookbook, I really want to credit my friend Pascale Perraudin (her recipe is very similar to the one below) for teaching me how to make my first vinaigrette. Knowing how to do that literally changed my life. It was so delicious and easy that I hardly ever buy salad dressing anymore (have you looked at those labels?!?!).

1/3 cup vinegar or lemon juice (Pascale got me started off using red wine vinegar)
1/2 t. salt
1 t. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 t. black pepper
1 c. olive oil

Whisk it all together. It will keep in the refrigerator for week. When cold, the oil tends to partially solidify, so let it sit at room temp for awhile before serving. Variations: Add fresh or dried herbs. Whisk in 1 to 2 T. of minced fresh herbs, or 1/2 to 1 t. dried. Allow dried herbs to steep in vinaigrette for at least half an hour.

Eating for Sustainability: An Experiment Pt. 4

Meals kept truckin' along this week, and I think I'm about out of the woods when it comes to heavily processed foods in my pantry. Super Bowl Sunday should take care of that once and for all, don't you think? As for my grocery bill this week....$150! Yes! And that even included a store-bought carrot cake for Kyle's birthday dinner, because, frankly, presentation just isn't my thing. All in all, I feel good about the food we ate this week.

Our CSA share contained lots of interesting items but the funny thing is, eggs and sprouts were the only totally unprocessed items.

Bread, cheese, eggs

Pesto (local ingredients from summer, frozen), Whole wheat gnocchi (frozen)

Old fashioned bologna, sunflower sprouts, minestrone soup (frozen)

I was really excited to see a frozen soup choice from Saint Louis University (SLU), but the family reported it was bland (it had seemed like the perfect thing to serve on a cold night when I had to leave for a meeting). I will try it myself before passing judgment. I really hope it can be spruced up, because one of the major issues for viable small-scale food systems is processing. The other biggie that I see is packaging. We need processing and packaging operations that accept product from small farms and distribute to local retailers. So, even if nutrition trumped flavor in this instance of locally grown and processed, I'm still glad that SLU has emerged as a leader to fill some gaps in St. Louis's emerging local food system.

 Most of my favorite dishes this week were meatless (as usual), but the carnitas made from a pork roast were divine so I'll include that recipe at the bottom. Another that I've included is Chick Pea Stew--really nice, and very inexpensive. Scroll down for recipes of dishes that turned out much better than this, this...dear God, what is that? Seriously, when I look at the picture below I feel sick (or like laughing hysterically), and I wonder why in the world my family ever requests that I cook more meat. I'm so sorry, cow--I wish I could've done you justice!

 Stuffed shells were much nicer, I must say--in both looks and flavor!

The sides that went with the carnitas were also lovely and delicious. I was very excited to learn that ricotta can be used with Mexican-inspired dishes and not just Italian. We like to mix it up a lot.

And finally, simple salads and roasted root vegetables (this week, just two kind of taters) have become staples around here. They're just so fast to put together, I like to have the greens, and the kids like the roasted veggies. No mutinies on these yet, so that's a good sign!

So, I'm wondering from those of you who have read this far (thanks!) and already minimize unprocessed food in your diet, what have you used to replace processed snack food like chips or energy bars? Do you have any gems that aren't too time-consuming to make, affordable, and/or purchased but you feel good about? We have been eating a lot of popcorn cooked on the stove, but I'm sure that will get old one of these days.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope your week ahead is full of fun food adventures!

Chickpea and Spinach Stew (from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone  by Deborah Madison)

2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1 t. paprika
1 t. fresh or dried minced rosemary
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1 c. peeped, diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
3 c. cooked chickpeas or 2 15-0z cans, rinsed
salt and pepper
2 bunches spinach, stems removed
garlic mayonnaise (the cookbook calls for making the mayo from scratch but I just mixed about 1/3 cup low-fat mayo with 2 big cloves of garlic that I put through the ringer with my mortar and pestle)

In a wide saute pan, heat the oil over high heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, paprika, rosemary, and half the parsley Saute for 2 minutes, then lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft, about 12 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas, season with salt and pepper, then over and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the spinach to the chickpeas, taste for salt, and season with pepper. Plate it up, add a spoonful of mayonnaise to each dish (this is key, kicks the flavor WAY up, and garnish with remaining parsley (also key, helping tone down the garlic breath!).

Oven-Fried Pork Carnitas with Guacamole and Orange Salsa (from Food & Wine An Entire Year of Recipes 2006)

I made this dish by the recipe, which used a lot of oil to cook the meat. It was good, but next time I will totally throw the pork roast in the slow cooker after marinating. Less fat, and less oil to figure out what to do with when it's all said and done.

1/2 c. tamarind concentrate
2 T. honey
2 T. sherry vinegar (I used white whine vinegar)
2 1/2 c. vegetable oil, plus more for brushing
2 1/2  pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
salt and pepper
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 Hass avocado, pitted and peeled
3 T. fresh lime juice
2 navel oranges
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 habanero chile, seeded and finely chopped (I just used a little jalapeno, that's what I had)
1 c. ricotta cheese
1 small plum tomato, chopped (I used up a little canned tomato I had in the fridge, drained)
1 jalapeno or serrano chile, seeded and finely chopped
12 flour tortillas

1. In a large bowl, mix the tamarind concentrate with the honey, sherry vinegar and 1/4 c.  of the vegetable oil. Add the pork shoulder, season with salt and pepper and stir to coat. Let the pork marinate at room temp for 1 hour. Drain the pork and pat dry.
2. Preheat the oven to 375. In a cast-iron skillet, heat 2 T. of the oil. Add half of the pork and cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until the meat is brown all over, about 6 minutes. Transfer to baking dish and repeat with 2 more T. of oil and remaining meat. Add two-thirds o chopped white onion and 2 c oil to the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for about 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender.
3. Meanwhile, wrap the garlic cloves in foil and bake for 1 hour, or until softened. (This seemed unnecessary--garlic flavor mellowed so much not sure how much it added to the guacamole. Next time, I'll just make my regular old guacamole which just mixes a little minced onion, some lime juice, S&P, and the avocado.) Let cool slightly, then peel the cloves. In a small bowl, mash the avocado with the garlic. Stir in 1 T. of the lime juice and season with salt and pepper.
 4. Using a sharp knife, peel the oranges, removing all the bitter white pith. Working over a bowl, cut in segments. Squeeze the orange membranes to extract the juice. (For this step, I just peeled a few "Cuties", and chopped them up. Much easier than what this step sounded like.) Stir in the red onion, cilantro, and habanero chile and the 2 remaining tablespoons of lime juice. (Again, I changed it up. Didn't use habanero--I want the kids to at least try things!)
5. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese with the tomato, jalapeno and the remaining one-third of the chopped white onion. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Brush the tortillas lightly with oil, then stack and wrap them in foil. Heat the tortillas in the oven until warm. Drain the pork on paper towels. Pork, ricotta stuff, and guac in the tortillas. Orange salsa on the side. Delish!

Eating for Sustainability: An Experiment Pt. 3

This week has been really enlightening. I know what's in my crisper drawers. I'm saving most things before they go to waste. And I'm using up pre-packaged snacks and meals left and right. I certainly don't feel like I've had to spend excessive time cooking, so that's fun. I feel good about getting a lot of highly processed food out of my house. And I created a few meals from scratch. Some of the week's best recipes are at the bottom of the post.

So what did we use up this week? Cheese and crackers? Check. Cans of tuna languishing in the back of the pantry? Gone. Trader Joe's mushroom risotto? Mmmmm, it rounded out an all pre-processed and pre-packaged meal. Spinach mushroom quiche took center stage for an easy, tasty...and mostly local dinner. Jack had the idea to make teeny-tiny little bites of fruit pies using some leftover pie crust and jars of jelly. And a spontaneous potluck with the neighbors resulted in a delicious, nutritious Indian feast. We were so hungry and it looked so good that I forgot to take pictures.

With all this culling of processed food and emptying of crisper drawers, you'd think my food bill would have plummeted. However, this week I spent a whopping $280 on groceries. Whoa!  I knew my earlier estimate of $200 was low, but that smarts. I still think my weekly average will be way below $280 and here's why:

• I stocked up on lots of things this week: yogurt, milk, butter, Velveeta and Rotel for the Super Bowl ...all the important things. 
• I factored in the cost of the pizza Kyle ordered one night to supplement a protein-lean dinner. What can I say? I knew when I left for my meeting that the kids were going to eat most of the leftovers before Kyle got home, and I hoped that he would have eaten a big lunch at work that day to tide him over. It's weird, he can eat one big meal and not need to eat for the rest of the day.
• I brought my kids to the store with me this week (yay for snow days!) and they helped me pick out cereal. Lots and lots of cereal. Three weeks' worth, easy. And yes, I let them each pick out one box of junk. 

 But back to eating better for less...

Here's our share from the CSA this week:

Spicy mustard, canned peaches, spaghetti squash, ground beef, potatoes, tofu, garlic, bread, apples, sundried tomato tapenade, and rice (yes, rice!)

CSA add-ons: pasta sauce, chips, buffalo stick 

We got our share of the hog this week! We bought it from Kami and Jamie, of Brook Cherith Farm about an hour south of St. Louis. I love their philosophy on farming, they model their farm after Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm. Joel Salatin is one of my heroes--he's a very successful farmer and businessman, kind to animals and humans, and a true steward of the land. If you're in St. Louis and looking to buy meat that has had a good life, check out Kami and Jamie's website.

Kami and Jamie of Brook Cherith Farm, so nice of them to deliver so close to home on such a blustery day!

Our share of the hog, excluding bacon and ham (that takes longer due to the curing). So far I've got lots of pork chops, spare ribs, roasts, and sausage. Can't wait to see how much bacon we get!

The cost of the pork averaged out to $5 per pound, and I'm just going to add this cost in each week as I use up the meat from the freezer. I've got a kitchen scale, so that's pretty darn easy. This week we tried only the pork chops, but they were delicious with a glaze made from some pineapple preserves in the fridge. Yeah baby, usin' stuff up! And happy to have a freezer full of happy meat!

This project is already so fun, and I've had lots of moments of gratitude as I prepare and eat good food with my family. I'm thankful to have the time to cook, and the means to eat well. Here's to next week, more good food, and a lower grocery bill!

 White Bean Soup with Pasta and Rosemary Oil

from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

The Rosemary Oil 

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
2 T. finely chopped rosemary or 2 T. dried
2 garlic cloves, sliced

The Soup 

2 cups cannellini, navy beans, or mixture
2 T. olive oil
1 T. chopped rosemary or 2 t. dried
1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 celery rib, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/3 c. chopped parsley
1 c. diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, with their juices
salt and pepper
1 c. dried small pasta
Fresh parmesan

Slowly warm the EVOO with 2 T. rosemary and 2 garlic cloves until the garlic begins to color, about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside until needed. (I didn't use all this on the soup, but it makes a nice dipping oil for bread too.)

Cover the beans with boiling water and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (I soaked these overnight instead.)

Heat the oil with 1 T. rosemary in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook until the onion is softened and starting to color in places, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and parsley and cook for a few minutes more. Drain the beans and add them to the pot along with the tomatoes and 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, then simmer, covered, until the beans have begun to soften, about 1 hour. Add 2 t. salt and continue cooking until the beans are completely tender, another 30 minutes or so. 

Puree half the soup to give it some body--or leave it thin. 
Cook the pasta. Strain the rosemary oil. Ladle soup into bowl and add some pasta to each. Drizzle some of the oil over each bowl and add pepper to taste. Cover with shavings of Parmesan. 

Serves 8 to 10 

Simple Egg Curry

from Gourmet Indian in Minutes, by Monisha Bharadwaj 

2 T. sunflower oil
1/2 T. cumin seeds
2 large onions, chopped
1 T. ginger-garlic paste
2 T. tomato paste (I used a little more of each paste, just to get more sauce for the eggs, it's delicious!)
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t chili powder 
1 t. garam masala
salt, to taste
8 large eggs, hard-boiled (can leave whole or cut in half)
Handful of cilantro, chopped

1. Heat oil in a large pan and add the cumin seeds. As soon a they darken, add the onion and cook to soften.
2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and tomato paste, and stir. Add the spices and salt. (I always have to add water here.) Blend until mushy. (Immersion blender comes in handy for this.)
3. Gently place the eggs in the curry and pour the milk or cream over them. Heat through and serve, sprinkled with cilantro.

Quiche

I think I learned this from epicurious.com, but not totally sure. The best way I've found to make sure you've always got a quiche that sets up well and is totally delicious is to follow two rules:

1. To each egg, add enough dairy to have 1/2 cup of egg + liquid mixture. You can use any combo of: milk, cream, sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese--depending on what you've already got and how rich you want the quiche to be.

2. Cook your vegetables before putting them in the pie to bake. It gets all the water out, so you don't end up with mushy eggy thingy.

I've found that I don't have to blind bake the crust, which saves time if you're in a hurry. Cooking temp and times can vary a little. Sometimes I consult a resource to see what temp to start and finish the quiche at. But this week I just threw it in the oven at 350 and watched it off and on til it looked done, not sure how long. 45 minutes, give or take? Quiche is a great go-to when I want an easy meatless dinner or to clear out my fridge. I just saute a bunch of veggies, mix some eggs with whatever dairy I have, and add any shredded cheeses that I can get my hands on. Then pour it in a crust and bake. Sit back, relax, and let the kids come up with dessert!

Eating for Sustainability: An Experiment Pt. 2

Last week I embarked on an adventure to track food expenses and cooking habits to see if I can cut costs while increasing consumption of local and organic food. My focus this week has largely been to use up as much perishable food already in my house as possible. Next week, the focus will shift to more accurately tracking expenses.

After some good math and some guessing, $170 is a rough estimate for last week's grocery costs.  That number seems low, and two dinners and a lunch out of the house may have factored into that. But I wonder--did simply declaring publicly my desire to cut food costs lead to less waste? I just read that Americans throw away 40% of their food on average, so I have to think that's possible. One thing's for sure--I dug deep in the crisper drawers this week because I did not want to have to report a higher cost this week than I originally estimated in part one of this series!

So...what did we eat this week?  Well, here's what we received from the CSA, and a good portion of it is gone already.

Acorn squash, blueberry jam, bagels, onions, mushrooms, eggs, popcorn, carrots, breakfast sausage, and chevre

Our meals broke down like this--

Breakfasts: Cereal, toast, oatmeal (nothing organic 'cept the milk, but all pretty healthy)

Lunches:

• Weekdays I eat leftovers and bits of whatever is in the fridge. I pack my youngest kiddo's lunches most days (sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, or leftover soups generally). I don't even want to think about what my high schooler eats everyday at school. Last I checked, it was toasted ravioli. Every. Day. Awesome. And my husband? I am pretty sure he eats lunch most days.
• This weekend for lunch we just snacked. Cheese, salami, fruit, peanut butter...can't remember but I know I didn't cook. It was great.

Dinners:

• A traditional lasagna, conventional in every way, including the ground beef. It was already cooked and half-eaten when the intention to eat better on less was declared. It stinks that the kids' favorite meal of the week is the one that I'm sort of embarrassed to record.
• Breakfast for dinner--95% of items from the CSA. 

  

  Spinach mushroom frittata

  

  

•  Spinach salad  + roasted root vegetables from the CSA. That was so yum. Except for the radishes--roasting was a last-ditch attempt to enjoy eating a radish. Still no luck. I really wish I thought to take a pic of this dinner. Much prettier than the breakfast!

• White Bean and Rosemary Soup and Homemade Whole Wheat Bread. The soup was a surprise hit--the kids even chose it on leftover night over quesadillas! The bread tasted great, but it cost about $4 to make. I thought homemade bread would be so much cheaper. Next recipe, please. On leftover night, we concocted a dessert that encapsulates the way we eat right now--a blend of hyper-local and completely conventional. We made apple-pear turnovers using store-bought pie crust filled with homemade apple-pear butter from my friend's bumper crop this summer. 

So there you have it. Week one of the experiment is over. I'm happy to report that we ate well, wasted little, and I know the contents of my refrigerator better than I have in a long time.

Eating for Sustainability: An Experiment Pt. 1

Is it possible to eat healthfully and ethically while on a budget? I can honestly say that I've never had to figure out the answer to that question. But I've wondered for awhile now about whether or not the local food movement is accessible to folks who can't afford to buy their meat from the farmer's market and who would balk at how much I pay each week for organic milk.  So...thanks to my sister-in-law's comment during a moment of New Year's susceptibility...here I go on a culinary and economic adventure:  I'm fixin' to track my food expenses and cooking habits to see if I can rein in my spending while strengthening my commitment to a healthy local economy, a healthy planet, and healthy (and hopefully tasty) food for my family. 

Currently, I would guesstimate that I spend $200 each week on groceries, for my family of four. Not all of it is local, organic, or unprocessed, but I do my best without making myself crazier than I already am.

•  I spend $50 each week on my CSA membership with Fair Shares*.  
• I buy organic milk at $6 a pop each week. 
• I buy pricey bread that has lots of fiber, $3-4 each week. And I'm hooked on expensive crusty bread. Maybe I'll learn how to make it myself.
• I'm an egg weirdo too, and spend $4-5 on a carton of free range eggs. 
• Sometimes I purchase a bag of chicken breasts in a moment of heavy-hearted weakness, but I purchase my meat directly from farmers as often as I can. Here in a week or two, I'll be purchasing 1/3 of a hog with a couple of neighbors. My cost will be about $300-400, but that should be enough pork to last me about a year. (Exception: BACON!! We are gluttons when it comes to bacon.) 
• Things like yogurt, cheese, lunchmeat, pasta, condiments, and canned goods are still beholden to big business from who-knows-where. Frosted Flakes and chips are concessions to my kids, who I feel bad for sometimes. But I'll be darned if I can force myself to purchase a package of Chips Ahoy. I'll make the cookies myself, thanks.
• I buy grocery store produce to supplement my CSA membership as needed. It's a mix of organic and non-organic. There's no real method to that madness--sometimes I can't bear to eat a strawberry that has been fumigated with pesticides, and other times I can't stomach the pricetag on the organic version. No idea why this varies each week, it just does.
• I will not track the cost of my adult beverage purchases. But I might talk about how much I enjoy cooking with a glass of wine in my hand.

So there you have it, a current snapshot of my shopping habits currently. From this starting point, I hope to be able to cut costs and continue to eat well. Who knows, maybe this will inspire me to forever give up bagged chicken breasts. Wish me luck!

*CSA=community supported agriculture. It's a food system in which consumers purchase subscription for a weekly allotment of food from a farmer. The consumers pay up front for a season's worth of food, and then they are at the mercy of weather and pests along with the farmer. If it's a bumper crop, good for everybody. If there's a drought, slim pickin's all around as well. Fair Shares is a multi-farm CSA here in St. Louis that includes meat, eggs, and dairy in the weekly boxes. It's been a really great way to get a variety of local food each week, and you can find out more about it at https://fairshares.org/

Grocery Store Angst

I watched a Jamie Oliver clip last week. About ground beef and the ammonia used in 70% of this country's ground beef to keep it "clean". I'd seen the pink slime video awhile back as well. I find Oliver's passion for and commitment to healthy eating inspiring. And, right or wrong, I react viscerally to his dramatic visuals--I'm not claiming here to have done any personal research into ammonia or pink slime. They just freak me out.

Ammonia in our beef

So, my commitment to choosiness when buying meat was pretty high when I went grocery shopping yesterday. Ground beef was on my list, and I didn't have time to go to the farmers' market. Walking past the meat section, I noticed they had some "ground in-house" beef. Emboldened by knowledge of ammonia, I pointed to it and asked about that. The butcher confirmed that they ground it in-house, but looked askance as he did so. Hmmm. So, what cuts of meat do you use, I asked? Turns out, they empty out tubes of coarse-ground lean beef, run it through their grinder for a finer rendering, and call it ground in-house. The higher fat version can more honestly be said to be made in-house--they grind up the fatty trimmings from meat they butcher on-site. Damn. Not what I wanted to hear.

What to do? Well, I walked away from the butcher and threw a package of veggie crumbles (soy-based fake ground beef) in my cart. I don't love this option either. I'm sure I'll write about my soy conundrum someday, but my neighbor is on her way to take me to the farmers' market and I need some ground beef. Thankful to have a farmers' market nearby, thankful to have the means to shop there, and thankful to have time to cook healthy food for my family. But what about those who have to buy ammonia-laced pink slime because it's fast and it's cheap, and they have little time or money?

Waiting for Peaches in mid-Missouri

March 13, 2007

Alice Waters, the famous restaurateur and advocate for local food systems, works everyday to increase the availability of locally grown food in her neighborhood. She works to catalyze what she calls a “Delicious Revolution” by seducing people with the outstanding flavor of food that is locally grown. This food is so delicious that citizens become loyal to local foods for the flavor and fun as much as because of their social conscience. I have been seduced by the Columbia farmers’ markets, which delight my taste buds and stoke my passion for supporting the local foods movement. Last summer, I bit into the juiciest, tastiest Red Haven peach, and I knew why Saturday is Farmers’ Market Day at my house and why I love the local food systems movement…it truly is a delicious revolution.

There are so many reasons to frequent a farmers’ market. Most obvious, it supports local farmers and local economies, helping them stay afloat in the age of international agribusiness. Plus, it’s nice to put a face to the food; if I’m concerned about the way my food is grown, I know who to ask. Buying locally grown food also contributes to cleaner air by reducing the number of miles food travels from farm to table. This should not be overlooked. In this country, food travels an average of 1300 miles from farm to table, and the transportation sector, which moves food and other goods, now surpasses industry in carbon emissions. A reduction in air pollution is positive for all of us, but could particularly be so for our neighbors in urban centers who live with the chronic health problems caused by poor air quality. In cities like St. Louis, which still have a high degree of racial segregation, African-Americans are the most likely to live in neighborhoods with poor air quality (like those along highway corridors) and are thus most likely to suffer from chronic asthma. In southern Boone County, where most of us are white, we can act against this environmental racism, this unequal burden of befouled air, by buying locally-grown food.

This idea is absurd if we consider only our personal trips to the farmers’ market. But let’s consider our collective impact. According to the USDA, the demand for local food is currently so great that over one billion dollars were spent at farmers’ markets in 2005; this is up 7% from the year before. In Missouri alone, the number of farmers’ markets has doubled in the past decade, going from 53 in 1997 to over 113 today. I don’t know how many pounds of carbon were not released into the air because of farmers’ market sales, but I do think these markets must be making an impact on urban air quality and public health.

Supporting local farmers, cleaning up the environment, even caring about distant neighbors: I can’t remember which of these reasons compelled me to first visit a farmers’ market, but I do know why I go back, week after week during the growing season. It really is the taste. There truly may be nothing quite as seductive on a hot summer day as a locally-grown peach, with so much juice that it drips down your arm as you eat it. The area farmers’ markets are now opening and I look forward to seeing you there (see below for area market information). In the meantime, let’s keep our fingers crossed that the late freeze didn’t wipe out all the peaches.


Boone County Farmers’ Market
I-70 at exit 125, in Columbia
256-1999
Sa 9a-1p (open now) MW 4p-6p (beginning May)

Columbia Farmers’ Market
Next to the ARC recreation center, corner of Ash and Clinkscale Streets
449-4769
Sa 8a-12p (open now) MW 4p-6p (beginning May)

Jefferson City Farmers’ Market
427 Monroe Street, Washington Park Vivion Field parking lot
634-6482
TF 4p-6p (beginning May)

Cole County Farmers’ Market
Hwy 50 to Jefferson City, exit Highway 179, one block south to Missouri Blvd, east to K-Mart parking lot
392-3088
Sa 2:30p-4:30p TF 4p-6p (beginning May)

Jefferson City Downtown Farmers’ Market
On High Street between Jefferson and Monroe, one block from State Capitol
536-2712
W 4p-7p (beginning May)

More MO farmers’ market information: http://agebb.missouri.edu/fmktdir/index.htm