Charro Beans with Roasted Chayote and Red Chili Corn Pone

June 30, 2009 / Ren

A traditional Mexican dish named for her charros (cowboys), charro beans (frijoles charros, cowboy beans) are pinto beans simmered with onions, garlic, chilies and tomatoes. I’m adding black beans, epazote and Mexican oregano and serving it a roasted, scooped-out chayote (Aztec chayotli) squash with red chili corn pone on the side..

Soak dried beans overnight, then drain, rinse and cook in fresh water until not quite done, about 1-1 1/2 hours. Set aside.

For the corn pone, mix together 1 cup of white or yellow stone-ground cornmeal with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of coarse chili powder. Add 1 teaspoon lard or bacon grease, then carefully stir in 1 cup of boiling water (filtered). Allow to stand long enough to soften and cool, then form into 1/2 inch cakes about 3 inches in diameter. Cover with a damp towel and set aside. (this corn pone is based on a recipe by author Crescent Dragonwagon)

Meanwhile, split and seed 1 or more chayote, drizzle lightly with oil, season with S&P and roast in a 375 degree oven until charred and tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Toast whole cumin seed in a dry skillet until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon lard or bacon grease, minced garlic, chopped onion and diced jalapeño and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and oregano, beans and the scooped out, chopped flesh of the roasted chayote along with enough of the bean liquor to just cover.

Simmer until beans are tender but intact, perhaps 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, reheat chayote in the oven or under the broiler and fry the pones in a small amount of butter until golden brown and crispy on the edges.

Spoon bean mixture into chayote shells and serve with hot corn pones and a roasted jalapeño.

Chayote is a good source of Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium and Potassium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Zinc, Copper and Manganese.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at cheeseslave.com

Nestlé Unit Denied FDA Requests

June 30, 2009 / Ren

(@marionnestle)

The Wall Street Journal reports that since 2006, Nestlé has consistently refused to allow FDA investigators to look at their safety records. The company doesn’t have to. All those pesky regulatory requirements are voluntary.

(The potential for) Death By Chocolate takes on a whole new meaning

Nestlé Unit Denied FDA Requests

By JANE ZHANG

The Nestlé USA plant at the center of a federal probe into an E. coli outbreak involving cookie dough refused to give inspectors access to pest-control records, environmental-testing programs and other information, according to newly released inspection reports covering the past five years.

In a September 2006 visit, for example, managers at the Danville, Va., plant refused to allow a Food and Drug Administration inspector to review consumer complaints or inspect its program designed to prevent food contamination. The inspector found dirty equipment and “three live ant-like insects” on a ledge but nothing severe enough to give the plant a failing grade.

A year earlier, officials at the Nestlé plant presented another FDA inspector with a list of things it wouldn’t do. “Among these are the refusal to review the firm’s consumer complaint file, refusal to permit photography, refusal to sign affidavits or receipts and refusal to provide specific information on interstate commerce,” the inspector wrote.

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Cookie-dough production at a Nestlé USA plant was suspended last week.

Healing Tomato Curry

June 29, 2009 / Ren

Tomato curry is one of the most delicious and nutritionally powerful healing dishes around. Start with homegrown tomatoes, just-dug onions, coriander leaves, garlic and red chili pepper..

Peel, seed and chop just-picked tomatoes and set aside.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Cook jasmine, aged basmati, or long-grain brown rice in bone broth, vegetable stock or filtered water with a spoonful of turmeric and another of black pepper. The piperine in the pepper increases the bioavailability of the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties of the turmeric.

Toast whole cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and coriander seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, about 5-10 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of raw, organic coconut oil to the pan and sauté the chopped garlic, slivered raw almonds, raisins, chopped curry leaves and chili pepper until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add reserved tomatoes, ginger, slivered onions and chopped coriander leaves and heat through, about 5 minutes.

Spoon tomato mixture over rice and garnish with yoghurt sprinkled with curry powder.

421,000 pounds of E. coli Contaminated Beef Recalled. Again.

June 29, 2009November 14, 2016 / Ren

SAO PAULO, June 16 (Reuters) – The world’s biggest beef processor JBS (JBSS3.SA) is under investigation by Brazil’s federal prosecutor’s office in a widespread corruption case that has targeted several companies in the beef industry.

Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of beef, and its cattle industry has come under increasing criticism from environmentalists at home and abroad for its role in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

The beef recalls are FSIS Class I, meaning that “use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”

Colorado Firm Expands Recall of Beef Products Due To Possible E. coli O157:H7 Contamination
Recall Release CLASS I RECALL
FSIS-RC-034-2009 HEALTH RISK: HIGH

Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Bryn Burkard

Editors Note: This recall release is being reissued to expand the June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products.

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2009 – JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colo., establishment is voluntarily expanding its June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today…

Less Than 20% Of Consumers Trust Food They Buy Is Safe and Healthy

June 29, 2009 / Ren

Spotlights Consumer Attitudes on Food Products in Light of Outbreaks and Recalls

Armonk, NY — – 24 Jun 2009: A new IBM (NYSE: IBM) study reveals that less than 20 percent of consumers trust food companies to develop and sell food products that are safe and healthy for themselves and their families. The study also shows that 60 percent of consumers are concerned about the safety of food they purchase, and 63 percent are knowledgeable about the content of the food they buy.

The survey of 1,000 consumers in the 10 largest cities nationwide shows that consumers are increasingly wary of the safety of food purchased at grocery stores, and their confidence in – and trust of – food retailers, manufacturers and grocers is declining.

“clean, safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled”

learn more

Healing Tomato Curry

June 28, 2009 / Ren

Oops! That article moved here

Heirloom Tomato Basil Sauce

June 26, 2009 / Ren

You might also like this post

Is there anything better (or easier) than tomato sauce made from the freshest ingredients? Not only delicious, fresh cooked tomatoes are are loaded with lycopene and vitamins A and C.

Start by peeling and seeding the tomatoes; bring a pot of filtered water to a boil, then turn it off and carefully blanch the tomatoes until the skins peel away, about 10-20 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the tomatoes into a bowl and allow to cool slightly.

Cut tomatoes in half and gently squeeze out the seeds. Diced the tomatoes and set aside. The skins and seeds can be saved for the stockpot.

Dice onions and sauté in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Moisten the onions with a few drops of balsamic vinegar and/or an ounce or 2 of red wine.

Add garlic and tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until most of the moisture has evaporated, about 20-30 minutes.

Add chopped fresh basil and oregano and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Use immediately, or allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to refrigerator or freezer.

Click on the closeup of the basil in the picture below and see if you can spot the perfectly camouflaged critter hiding in the leaves..

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

A Deadly Ingredient in a Chicken Dinner

June 26, 2009 / Ren

From the Washington Post

By Douglas Gansler

Friday, June 26, 2009

“Most people don’t know that the chicken they eat is laced with arsenic. The ice water or coffee they enjoy with their chicken may also be infused with arsenic. If they live on or near a farm, the air they breathe may be infected with arsenic dust as well.

Why do our chicken, our water and our air contain arsenic? Because in the United States, most major poultry producers add an arsenic compound known as roxarsone to their chicken feed. Inorganic arsenic is a Class A carcinogen that has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and declines in brain function. Recent scientific findings show that most Americans are routinely exposed to between three and 11 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended safety limit.

The poultry industry has been using the feed additive roxarsone — purportedly to fight parasites and increase growth in chickens — since the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1944. Turns out that the arsenic additive promotes the growth of blood vessels in chicken, which makes the meat appear pinker and more attractive in its plastic wrap at the grocery store, but does little else. The arsenic additive does the same in human cells, fueling a growth process known as angiogenesis, a critical first step in many human diseases such as cancer…”

Arsenic, Chinese Wheat Gluten, Antibiotics. What's in your chicken?

GM Corn, Arsenic, Contaminated Chinese Wheat Gluten, Antibiotics. What's in your chicken?

Three Sisters Succotash

June 24, 2009 / Ren

Uh'Be'Ka'Yad'Un'Na'

The Three Sisters (squash, maize, and beans) are the three main agricultural crops of some Native American groups in North America.

The Tewa and other Southwest tribes often included a “fourth sister” known as “Rocky Mountain bee plant”, which attracts bees to help pollinate the beans and squash.

Succotash (from Narragansett msíckquatash, “boiled corn kernels”) is a food dish consisting primarily of corn and Lima beans or other shell beans. Other ingredients may be added, including tomatoes, green and sweet red peppers, and possibly including pieces of cured meat or fish.

Using local ingredients and flavors of the Southwest, my variation attempts to honor the spirit of these important food traditions..

Roast white and yellow corn and carrots in a heavy skillet with some good animal fat such as bison or bear if you can get it, or beef marrow or pork belly if you can’t. Cook until browned, about 10 minutes.

Add Lima or other beans, wild onions or leeks and summer squash, filtered water or bone broth and a fresh chili if you like, and simmer partially covered until beans are tender, perhaps 20 minutes.

Season with salt and smoked pepper and garnish with fried squash blossoms and toasted pumpkin seeds.

This post is part of Kelly The Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays

Orange Ginger Salmon

June 22, 2009 / Ren

Orange ginger salmon with black bean garlic udon..

Marinate wild Alaskan salmon in ponzu shōyu (citrus-based soy sauce) with slices of soft crystallized ginger and fresh orange pieces and juice for no more than 1 hour.

Preheat a heavy skillet over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch, shock, drain and set aside fresh udon noodles.

In a second skillet, sauté sliced scallion and slivers of red bell pepper in a tablespoon of peanut oil. Add julienned orange peel, sesame seeds and coriander. A 2 tablespoons of black bean garlic sauce and stir to combine.

Lightly oil then sear the salmon skin side up until rare, then turn and spoon marinade over the top and allow to bubble until medium rare, about 2-3 minutes.

Toss reserved noodles in black bean sauce and use as a bed to place the salmon on. Dust with shichimi tōgarashi (ground red chili pepper with nori and hemp).

The “People’s Department”

June 22, 2009 / Ren

President Abraham Lincoln formed the Department of Agriculture in 1862. Now known as the USDA, the agency is charged, in part, with

assuring food safety
protecting natural resources
fostering rural communities
ending hunger in the United States and abroad

The current administration is giving itself high marks – what do you think?

Are you optimistic that things are improving or is it big business as usual? How much measurable progress has been made in the last 10, 20, 50 or 100 years? Let us know in the comments..

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127078/markofwh1964%5B1%5D.avi

“clean, safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled”

Unser täglich Brot

June 21, 2009 / Ren

Before Food, Inc., Fresh The Movie and Food Matters came a film called Unser täglich Brot (Our Daily Bread), a behind the scenes look at industrial food production and high-tech farming.

Alternately beautiful and frightening and shot entirely without dialogue, the film leads us through a lucid dream-like look at the immense systems that produce our food. The crops, the animals, the people and the spaces..

I don’t think I moved an inch in my chair the whole time I was watching it, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Stunning!

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127078/brot_t4_hi%5B1%5D.mov

Additional trailers and information:

http://www.ourdailybread.at/

http://homevideo.icarusfilms.com/new2006/odb.shtml

Pindi Chana

June 21, 2009 / Ren

Spicy chickpea curry simmered in a tomato base with whole spices, potatoes and onions..

Canned garbanzo beans work well here- try to use an organic brand that comes in a glass jar or a non-BPA lined can.

Cut potatoes into 1/4 inch dice and sauté in ghee over medium-low heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium and add diced onion, whole cardamom, cloves, slit red chilies, bay leaf, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, curry leaves and cinnamon. Sauté until spices are fragrant and onions are golden brown, about 7 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes, garbanzos, turmeric, paprika and ginger and 1/2 cup of filtered water. Cover and simmer over low heat until beans are tender, about 30-45 minutes.

Serve topped with minced onion and accompanied with grilled flat bread.

Chocolate Cherry Scones with Clotted Cream

June 20, 2009 / Ren

Organic soaked wheat and malted barley flour, pastured butter, cacao nibs, fresh cherries and raw cream..

Pour fresh raw cream into a pan and let stand overnight. Heat the milk very slowly until the surface begins to wrinkle, and then continue to heat 1 hour over low heat. Do not let it boil, or you’ll have to start over.

Transfer the pan to a cool spot and allow to sit overnight. In the morning, skim the clotted cream from the surface and refrigerate until ready to use.

Soak 1 /12 cups of organic whole wheat flour in filtered water and homemade whey overnight. Just before preparing, stir in 1/2 of malted barley flour and pour into a glass mixing bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon Celtic salt and then cut in 4 tablespoons pastured butter. Make a well in the center of the mixture, then add 3/4 cup whole milk, a cup of chocolate cups and a cup of coarsely chopped, fresh pitted cherries.

Work by hand into a soft, slightly wet dough. Drop heaping tablesponsful of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Serve warm with clotted cream.

Sprouted Wheat Salad

June 20, 2009 / Ren

An all organic, raw, living salad of sprouted wheat berries, heirloom tomatoes, green onions, Anaheim peppers and garlic dressed with coarse salt and pepper, olive oil and basil hydrosol, with herbs and field greens..

Raw foods have profoundly higher nutritional value and are full of the life-sustaining enzymes that are lost when foods are cooked.

“Sprouts are a tremendous source of (plant) digestive enzymes. Enzymes act as biological catalysts needed for the complete digestion of protein, carbohydrates & fats. The physiology of vitamins, minerals and trace elements is also dependent on enzyme activity.”

“Being eaten whilst extremely young, “alive” and rapidly developing, sprouts have been acclaimed as the “most enzyme-rich food on the planet”.

Its really easy to sprout wheat..

Use 1 part organic wheat berries to 3 parts filtered water. Soak berries overnight, then drain thoroughly, rinse and drain again. Set on counter, away from direct light. I use a glass jar with a screen lid, but you could just as easily use cheesecloth and a rubber band.

Continue to rinse and drain 3 times a day for 2-3 days or until the sprouted reach 1/4 to 1/2 inch in length. Keep sprouts refrigerated and use within 2 days.

Ham and Eggs Redux

June 18, 2009 / Ren

Poached pastured duck egg on a thick slice of uncured, local ham with chili con queso and a grilled pepper..

Duck eggs have something like three times the vitamin B12 and twice the vitamin B6 and vitamin A of chicken eggs and are somewhat richer in taste as well. Skip the drive-through, poach an egg, grab a pepper from your garden and grill that with some real ham & see just how good you feel today!

“USDA’s proposed program could be compared to afinely crafted blueprint for a concrete blimp.”

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

Pickled Watermelon Radishes

June 17, 2009November 14, 2016 / Ren

There is some evidence that pickled vegetables help promote digestive health and lower cholesterol. Health benefits aside, pickling is a really easy and delicious way of preserving the season’s bounty for months to come..

The basic ratio (Ruhlman) for a pickling brine is 20:1, that is, 20 ounces of water (filtered) to 1 ounce of kosher salt. To this you may add antimicrobial spices such as garlic, cloves or mustard and (optionally) a little non-refined sugar.

Bring the brine to a boil then remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Mix in a few ounces of the liquid from a previous batch (if available) to intensify the flavor and color.

Pack the radishes into a clean jar and weight down (I’m using a bag of dried beans), then cover with brine and seal.

Keep at room temperature for about 1 week (or 3 days if you add whey) before transferring to the refrigerator.

While you don’t have to go through all the meticulous sterilizing that canning requires, it is important to use clean utensils and to use at least a 20:1 brine ratio. Properly pickled, your radishes will have a ph of around 4.6 and will keep for several months.

Breakfast Burritos

June 17, 2009 / Ren

“A chicken that in addition to grain has access to pasture and a natural diet of grasses, forbs, and insects produces eggs that are higher in nutrients. Pastured eggs have been found to contain less fat, less cholesterol, twice as much vitamin E, 40-62% more vitamin A and up to four times as much omega-3 fatty acids compared to the standard values reported by the USDA for commercial eggs. Pastured eggs also typically contain higher levels of carotenoids such as lutein and zexanthin.

The other great thing about pastured eggs is the taste! As soon as you crack one open you can tell-that deeply colored yolk carries with it an enhanced nutritional value, and a better, richer flavor.” LocalHarvest

Pastured eggs, chorizo, fresh peppers, onions and cilantro wrapped up in an organic paprika/cayenne tortilla..

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food," Hippocrates.

Dice Spanish chorizo, red bell and pickled jalapeno peppers, slice green onions. Sauté in pastured butter with a little Mexican oregano over medium-low heat until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat fresh tortillas on a dry comal or skillet.

Crack eggs directly into pan with vegetables- rather than sticking, they should float over the thinnest of layers of butter and fat rendered from the sausage.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the eggs onto themselves several times, allowing them to spread back out in between times until set, about 4 minutes.

Arrange mixture in the center of a tortilla (I’ve spread a little chili con queso on mine), fold the edges inward then roll up like a fat cigar. Pico de gallo makes a great side.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays

USDA: Candy Bars and French Fries Are Not Junk Food

June 17, 2009November 14, 2016 / Ren

Which of the following is considered a junk food according to national school nutrition standards?

A. Hi-C Blast – vitamin fortified sugar water
B. Poland Springs seltzer water – water with bubbles
C. French fries
D. Candy Bars

If you guessed A, C or D you’d be wrong. Believe it or not, seltzer water is the only item on this list banned as a junk food because it doesn’t contain any vitamins or minerals. Yup, french fries, candy bars, and Hi-C aren’t officially considered junk food. That’s just crazy when you consider that children ages 6-11 are four times more likely to be obese than children were a generation ago.¹ Four times! Today nearly one-third of all children are overweight or obese, placing them at heightened risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many other serious diseases.²

Time for an update! Sign our petition today — it will be hand delivered to Members of Congress June 24th:

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1878/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1925

The petition says: “Please update outdated nutrition standards immediately to ensure our schools provide healthy food for our children!”

In what universe are candy bars NOT junk food? The USDA’s school nutrition standards were developed in the 1970’s and are no longer consistent with nutrition science or current concerns regarding childhood health. For example, USDA does not consider candy bars, snack cakes, or french fries to be junk foods in schools. USDA standards don’t even address calories, saturated, and trans fats or sodium.

Right now Congress is discussing ways to reduce health care costs in America. Improving nutrition in schools is one no-brainer answer.

Sign on our petition and we’ll get it delivered to the U.S. Capitol next week. June 24th is Capitol Hill Advocacy Day for our friends at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. They’ve offered to deliver our petition along with your comments to our leaders in D.C. In fact, they have already arranged breakfast, lunch and meetings in-between with members of Congress on the Hill. Let’s make sure they have a huge number of names signed onto the petition along with comments from us to deliver! Our voices are key to letting Congress know that mothers and fathers care deeply about making sure our children can eat healthy food at school.

Sign the petition today!

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1878/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1925

*Can you also forward this email to five of your friends so they can sign too? The more signatures, we have, the more Congress will get the message that our children deserve healthy food.

Thank you for speaking up for all our kids,

— Joan, Kristin Mary, Donna, Sarah and the whole MomsRising.org team

P.S. Want to go help present these petitions on June 24th? http://fs2.formsite.com/OliviaH/FoodInc/index.html Or learn more about the Child Nutrition Promotion and school food? http://www.schoolfoods.org/resources.html

^1,2Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Statement Regarding Release of Estimates of Obesity Prevalence Among U.S. Children and Teens, http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/product.jsp?id=31611, Beyond Health Care – New Directions to a Healthier America, Robert Wood Johnson Commission to Build a Healthier America, p. 7. http://www.commissiononhealth.org/Report.aspx?Publication=64498

“We believe that federally funded nutrition programs should provide all children with the healthy food they deserve. This includes low fat and safe dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. Schools should be soda and junk-food-free zones and serve food that complements and furthers parents’ efforts to feed their children healthfully.”

Action Alert

June 16, 2009November 14, 2016 / Ren

Grist Magazine, June 10, 2009

“As the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill moves forward in the House, Big Ag interest groups are circling their plows and sharpening their pitchforks. Some of the largest corporations in the agribusiness sector-including the GMO-and-herbicide giant Monsanto-are pushing to control how agriculture would fit into the bill’s cap-and-trade scheme.

The main agent for their will is House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who has launched a veritable jihad to make sure the historic climate legislation hews to the interests of “production” (i.e., industrial) agriculture. Via Farm Policy blog, here’s an MP3 clip of Peterson’s latest harumphing on Waxman-Markey, in an interview with a radio program called Agritalk, which is sponsored by Monsanto, Syngenta, and Archer Daniels Midland.”

Is this the change that you voted for?

Don’t Let Big Agribusiness Ruin Food Safety Reform

Take Action

June 16th, 2009

Dear Supporter,

Here’s the good news: after countless recalls, including the disastrous peanut butter-related Salmonella outbreak this winter, Congress is finally considering Congressman Waxman’s food safety bill — the bill goes to the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. The bad news? You guessed it, big ag is pulling out all the stops to weaken the bill. Can your tell your Member of Congress you want a strong food safety bill?

Big ag will always have more money to fight these battles than we do, but we have something they don’t — thousands of activists who will contact Congress. Congress needs to hear from all of us if they are going to stand up to big ag.

Here’s what your Member of Congress needs to hear about the food safety bill:

1) The bill must include frequent inspections of food processing plants. The Peanut Corporation of America debacle showed that industry self-regulation just doesn’t cut it.

2) It must set strong standards for imports that are equal to the standards that apply to domestically produced food.

3) It must include sensible regulations that work for farmers of all sizes – that include flexibility, not one-size-fits-all rules geared toward the largest operations.

We won’t get many chances to fix our broken food safety system, so it’s critical that we stand up now and stop big ag from weakening Congressman Waxman’s food safety bill. Can you contact your Member of Congress today?

http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/t/741/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1122

Thanks for taking action,

Alex, Sarah, Noelle and the Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

‘Food, Inc.’: Attention Must Be Paid To Food Supply

June 16, 2009November 15, 2016 / Ren

Listen to the NPR Interview with Robert Kenner and Michael Pollan

The new documentary Food Inc. takes aim at corporate giants behind the U.S. food supply. As director Robert Kenner and food advocate and author Michael Pollan tell Steve Inskeep, they made the film in order to raise Americans’ awareness about where their food really comes from.

Pollan says he wanted to address “the pastoral illusion we’re spinning in the way we market food… You would think it comes from farms and that ranches with big hats are producing the meat.”

Cows are ruminants; they are designed to eat grass, not GM, pesticide-laden corn from giant industrial silos..

See more at www.cagefreefamily.com

In fact, say Pollan and Kenner, America’s food comes primarily from enormous assembly lines, where animals and workers are being abused.

learn more

Rabbit Fricassée

June 15, 2009November 14, 2016 / Ren

Local, pastured rabbit in a sauce of game stock, shallots, mushrooms, thyme and fresh cream..

Rabbit Fricassée

Break down a fresh rabbit by removing and splitting the leg quarters and removing the saddle, backbone and ribs and splitting the loin into 2 boneless halves. Be sure to examine the liver- it should look and smell perfectly fresh and clean. Clean kidneys and reserve with liver for another use (if you like liver, try frying rabbit liver & kidneys in butter and seasoning with plenty of salt and pepper- the taste is absolutely revelatory).

Lay the loins out on a cutting board. Use a piece of wax paper and the flat side of a meat mallet to pound the loin into an even thickness. Spread the loins with raw honey (heather, Tupelo or Guajillo work nicely) and season with fresh thyme, a little salt and black pepper.

Roll the loin up in lean, uncured bacon and secure with toothpicks about 1 1/2 inches apart. Cut between the toothpicks to form little loin fillets. Refrigerate.

Make a stock of the bones and trimmings, cold filtered water, celery, onions, carrots and garlic. Bring to a boil, skim the scum, reduce heat and simmer 3-4 hours.

Poach the leg quarters in the stock until tender, about 1 hour. Remove from stock and set aside.

Sauté the loin pieces in a little olive oil with minced shallots, mushrooms and garlic until browned, about 6 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Deglaze the pan with white vermouth and reduce.

Add stock and reduce.

Add fresh cream, thyme and homemade coarse mustard. Add reserved loin and leg pieces and gently simmer until sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning with sea salt and black pepper and serve.

This post is part of the Nourished Kitchen’s Clean Your Plate Recipe Challenge

Wild things: Why foodies are hunting for game (independent.co.uk)

Schmaltz, Gribenes and Chopped Liver

June 14, 2009 / Ren

Its hard to take a pretty picture of chopped liver, but this nutritional power food is one of my favorites.

Schmaltz is a Yiddish term for rendered chicken fat. Gribenes are the cracklings, a byproduct of schmaltz. Both are used in making this traditional chopped liver spread..

Remove the skin and trim the fat from a few joints of chicken and place into a heavy skillet over low heat. Cover and cook 15 minutes, then remove cover and continue to cook until all the fat has melted and the skin is opaque, about 15 minutes more. Pour off the rendered fat (this is the schmaltz) into a clean container and set aside. Transfer cooked skin to cutting board and allow to cool enough to handle.

Chop onions and mince reserved chicken skin. Cook in the same pan over medium-low heat, stirring often until well browned, about 15 minutes (these are the gribenes); add fresh thyme if desired. Using a slotted spoon, remove to a cutting board and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, hard boil and cool and peel a couple of pastured eggs.

Add reserved schmaltz to the pan, increase the heat to medium and add the rinsed and cleaned chicken livers. Fry until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove to the cutting board until cool enough to handle.

It is important to use only fresh, pastured chicken livers; what you find in the supermarket is generally full of chemicals and antibiotics.

Chicken livers are a good source of Thiamin, Zinc, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Phosphorus and Selenium.

Mound together the eggs, livers and gribenes and chop through as if you were chopping parsley.

To serve, pile chopped liver on top of toasted rye or sourdough, season with lots of kosher salt and black pepper and dress with chopped eggs and parsley accompanied by a selection of tidbits such as gherkins, olives and yellow tomatoes.

Blueberry Bliss

June 13, 2009 / Ren

One of my favorite summertime treats as a little kid was a bowl of wild blueberries with brown sugar and sour cream. So good.

Here’s a riff on that happy memory, with fresh Texas blueberries, crèma Mexicana, shaved piloncillo, toasted coconut flakes, melted raw cocoa butter and a sprig of fresh mint..

Rainbow Trout

June 13, 2009 / Ren

A densely nutritious, healing meal of panko and almond-crusted fresh Idaho rainbow trout, sautéed in coconut oil with scallions, coconut flakes and wild dulse, with gingered forbidden rice and bunapi mushrooms..

Prepare forbidden rice using a ratio of about 1 cup rice to 1 3/4 cup filtered water and/or vegetable stock. Add a teaspoon of raw coconut butter and another of fresh minced ginger at the end. Cover and keep warm.

Rinse, trim and pat dry fresh rainbow trout fillets. Coat in a mixture of crushed almonds, parsley and panko crumbs and sauté in coconut oil over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, sauté bunapi-shimeji mushrooms, coconut flakes, scallions and rinsed dulse until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Season to taste with black sea salt and Szechuan pepper.

Dulse is high in protein and contains all of the trace elements needed by humans.

To serve, dress salmon with vegetables and sriracha accompanied with rice and mushrooms.

Food, Inc. Opening Today!

June 12, 2009 / Ren

Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner uses reports by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser and The Omnivore’s Dilemma author Michael Pollan as a springboard to exploring where the food we purchase at the grocery store really comes from, and what it means for the health of future generations.

“Food, Inc.,” an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy. You’ll shudder, shake and just possibly lose your genetically modified lunch. — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Learn more

Cherry, Oh Baby

June 12, 2009 / Ren

From organic cherries..

to cherry Kombucha!

Kombucha is a probiotic culture of beneficial microorganisms, made by culturing organic black tea, sugar and (optionally) fruit juice. In use for more than 2,000 years, most kombucha drinkers report experiencing a general sense of well-being following consumption.

This particular batch has been made using the easy methods described at The Nourished Kitchen, and enhanced with the juice of fresh cherries.

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

Smoked Knuckle Bean Soup

June 10, 2009 / Ren

Dried beans are a great source of fiber, protein, B vitamins including folic acid and essential minerals. Rounded out with fresh vegetables and a smoked pork knuckle in a healing bone broth, it becomes transcendent..

Rinse, pick over and soak dried heirloom beans in filtered water overnight. If sprouting your beans first, allow 3 days for the beans to produce 1/4″ sprouts.

Bring chicken bone broth, water, knuckle and beans to a boil, then skim and discard the scum. Lower the heat to medium and let cook until a second layer of foam forms, then skim and discard it.

Add chopped onions, celery, mustard seeds, bay leaf and black pepper. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are tender, about 4 hours.

Remove the knuckle and allow to cool enough to handle. Trim away the excess fat, then dice the remaining meat and crisp in a pan as you would bacon. Add the meat, chopped tomatoes and tender lima beans to the soup and simmer another 20 minutes before serving.

Posted as part of Real Food Wednesdays

Roasted Asparagus with Capicola and Balsamic Grilled Peppers

June 9, 2009 / Ren

Fresh pan-roasted asparagus wrapped in balsamic grilled peppers and capicola, with basil leaves, pecorino Romano and black olives..

Wash and trim fresh asparagus, then steam until barely tender, about 4 minutes. Immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process and retain color and nutrients. Pat dry.

Lay out thin slices of capicola on a flat surface and place olive oil and balsamic marinated grilled peppers on top. Add whole basil leaves and asparagus and roll up jellyroll fashion. Secure with toothpicks.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat with just enough olive oil to prevent sticking. Pan-roast until the edges of the meat begin to crisp and the asparagus starts to brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Drain briefly on paper towels, then transfer to a plate and dress with pecorino Romano, black olives and freshly ground pepper.

Pattypan Squash

June 8, 2009 / Ren

Here’s a fast and tasty dish of seasonal patty-pan squash, heirloom baby San Marzano tomatoes, elephant garlic, red & green spring onions, fresh oregano, basil, Celtic sea salt and cracked black pepper. Sautéed in a little olive oil with pastured butter and brightened with a squeeze of fresh lemon..

Bisphenol A is in You

June 8, 2009November 14, 2016 / Ren

Chemical Fallout

A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report

Warning: Chemicals in the packaging, surfaces or contents of many products may cause long-term health effects, including cancers of the breast, brain and testicles; lowered sperm counts, early puberty and other reproductive system defects; diabetes; attention deficit disorder, asthma and autism. A decade ago, the government promised to test these chemicals. It still hasn’t.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently published the results of their investigation into the emerging BPA scandal. Highlights include:

FDA relied heavily on BPA lobby
BPA leaches from ‘microwave safe’ products
EPA veils hazardous substances
Plastics industry behind FDA research, study finds
Donation raises questions for head of FDA’s bisphenol A panel
EPA fails to collect chemical safety data
Hazardous flame retardant found in household objects
EPA drops ball on danger of chemicals to children
Warning: Bisphenol A is in you
Are your products safe? You can’t tell

Learn More

Support the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2009

Coconut Curry Chicken

June 7, 2009 / Ren

Yoghurt-marinated coconut curry chicken with jasmine rice, toasted cashews, raisins and creamed spinach..

Remove the skin and bone from fresh, pastured chicken (I prefer thigh pieces for this) and cut into large pieces. Marinate 4 hours or overnight in a combination of plain, whole milk yoghurt, coconut milk, turmeric, curry powder and black pepper.

To prepare, heat ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped onions, garlic, ginger, and cracked green cardamom pods, coriander, cloves, black pepper, shards of Ceylon cinnamon and a whole red or green chili that has been slit open with the tip of a knife. Sauté, stirring continuously until brown.

Add chicken pieces and all of the yoghurt marinade to the pot, and stir to comine with the onions. Thin with a little filtered water or chicken stock, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until tender, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash and rinse a bunch of fresh spinach, cilantro and parsley. Blanch in boiling water for several seconds, then purée with an immersion blender or food processor. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Meanwhile, prepare jasmine rice according to package directions. Remove from heat, add raisins and cover until raisins are plump and all the water has been absorbed.

To serve, ladle spinach onto the center of the plate, top with rice and spoon curried chicken over the top. Dress with toasted cashews and chopped parsley or cilantro.

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Chemical Fallout

A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report

Support the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2009