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I was tipped off to 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' on ABC by my sister and I am watching it now. Has anyone else seen it? I'll let you know my thoughts when I am through watching it.

Until then, a little food for thought. Two cookbooks to recommend that help you eat seasonally. The first I used last summer to figure out what to do with all the fresh veggies I was getting. It is organized by season. The second I found at the library last week and has indicators for which seasons the recipe's ingredients are available. Stock your shelves now or find your favorite cooking website to have at the ready for the fresh veggies ahead!

Where to buy meat

In January we placed an order for a quarter of a cow with Sunny Hill Farm. I have gotten some strange looks and comments for this. It is easier for people to pick up meat at a grocery store where the meat comes in neat little cellophane packages and no resemblance to an actual animal. Don't get me wrong, I am not likely to be out hunting anytime soon but it is reassuring to know where my meat comes from. I have actually seen the cattle at Sunny Hill and they look good. They wonder the pasture and are relatively clean. They are healthy looking animals that have had a good life and been cared for. Obviously animals are harmed in the making of my dinner but oddly enough, they did not suffer. I don't take lightly that an animal had to die for me to eat but I also know that they same animal would have never lived nor lived such a good and healthy life if I didn't eat meat.

My most recent order, as of yesterday, was half a pig from Rumbleway Farm in Cecil County. It will be ready in May. The cost will be $250 for just under ~75 lb of meat in various cuts. Pigs are animals that are highly intelligent and so the suffering that they withstand in traditional factory farms seems so much worse to me. It is interesting that you must treat animals humanely, unless you plan to eat them in which case you can perform a whole range of painful and awful things without anyone batting an eye. But, Rumbleway is a grass farm committed to raising animals in a healthy, sustainable way. It is nice to know where my food comes from even if it does mean looking it right in the face.

Just a note, Rumbleway also raises pastured poultry that is available starting April 23 and every other Friday after 3pm through the summer. We'll talk chickens another day.

Breakfast Time

This morning was a typical morning for breakfast. Oatmeal. I don't know why I have become cold cereal averse in my old age. I just don't find it filling enough. On industrious days I will make pancakes, eggs or muffins but most mornings are just oatmeal. It is tasty though and I have come up with lots of concoctions to keep it interesting. Here is my basic recipe with a few adaptions listed below.

Quick Microwave Oatmeal

1/2 c. quick oats
1 c. milk (I use dry milk and 1 c. water)
a sprinkle of cinnamon

Mix and cook in the microwave for 2.5 min in a shallow bowl. Use a deep bowl and the whole mess will boil over.

Post cooking additions that are very tasty:
1/4 c. dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, raisins, etc)
1/4 c. chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds)
1 T butter
1 t-T sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup or honey

For a fall treat I use pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, 1/8 c. pureed pumpkin and 1/4 c. cranberries

For summer 1/2 c. halved, pitted sour cherries, 1 T brown sugar and 2 T fresh cream. You can also throw in fresh peaches to this mix.

Now doesn't that sound like a great why to start the day :-)

The wonder and joy of eggs

It's Easter season and eggs are everywhere but are all eggs created equal? You know the answer to this or I wouldn't be asking the question. No, they are not. Try this little experiment. Buy three dozen eggs: 1 doz regular, grocery store eggs; 1 doz eggs marked free range; 1 doz local, farm fresh eggs. Crack one of each egg in a bowl and notice the differences. I am no egg expert but in the last year I have noted these differences. The eggs I get from Sunny Hill and other local farms are larger, the shells are harder, and the yolks are firmer and deeper orange. In fact the yolks recently have been so much deeper in color that my cookies, quiches and other items have been a brighter yellow color.

Eggs now make up one meal in our home every week. They are an inexpensive protein and the kids love them. But, chickens are very mistreated in the factory farming industry. So, these days, if I can't buy them locally, I don't eat them. Here, it really isn't good enough to be vegetarian because animals are still suffering greatly even if you are not eating them (just their bi-products). But, local eggs? They are in a whole different ball park.

Here is our quiche recipe. It is easy to adapt for whatever veggies you might want to add. If you don't like quiche, try frittata, scrambled eggs, stratta or whatever floats your little egg filled boat. In fact, if you have a great egg recipe, share it here.

Crust: buy a 9" pie crust or make your own
Mix 1 1/4 c. flour, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t sugar in a food processor
Add 1 c. butter 1 T at a time until the mixture is like course meal (butter should be cold)
Add 2-4 T cold water until the mixture just comes together.
Roll into a large circle, lay in your pie plate and finish off the edges as you would a pie.

Filling:

1. preheat oven to 425
2. drain 10 oz of frozen, chopped spinach (or 10 you cooked down yourself)
3. Beat 4 eggs, 1 c. yogurt or sour cream, 1 T flour, 1/4 t. black pepper. Stir in spinach
4. Place 1/2 c. slice mushrooms or tomatoes, 1/2 shredded cheese, 1/4 c. green onion chopped in the bottom of the crust.
5. Pour egg mixture over the top.
6. Bake 15 min. Decrease temp to 350. Bake 30 min more.

You can add whatever veggies or filling you want in the bottom of the crust. We recently have used: sun dried tomatoes, fire roasted jarred red peppers, cooked white/yellow onion to name a few. The cheese can also be whatever you would like: cheddar, swiss, jalapeno jack, etc.

Eating Out

I had the experience last week of eating out a lot more than I have in the recent past. It was fun, as it usually is, to go out (especially to have someone else cook AND clean up!) But, I found myself scouring the menu for the right thing to eat. We lucked out with the one Italian restaurant that I posted a few days back in that it served local and free range foods. However, that is not the norm. So, as I perused the menu my first thought was CHICKEN. It is healthier, right? But, really chickens and pigs are so ill treated that I just couldn't bring myself to either. There was not always a vegetarian option nor did I necessarily want a meat free meal. I figured, beef, might be ok health-wise as long as I was not picking a processed beef (like fast food burger) but that did not remove all the other beef factors that are scary and sad. I figured for one meal I would destroy our oceans I got a tuna salad sandwich, it was tasty and have my seafood watch list printed an in my purse for the next time I am dining out.

I know that Vegetarians have had similar difficulties in the past. Their diet is not one that is accepted everywhere and I am sure vegans and those with celiac's disease have an even harder time. Locavores, as a dietary lifestyle group, are sort of new to the mix so 'Locavore Friendly Foods' are not necessarily marked on the menu. Neither are free-range, organic or humanely grown. I imagine that in the not-too distant future we will see these markings popping up in more and more places. I hope so! It will make eating easier and more fun.

On a related but side note, shopping the grocery store is equally difficult. My list is half as long but I spend at least as much time at the store. It is hard to find the items that I am looking to buy, they are not necessarily in the easiest place to see and I tend to read labels to be sure that I am getting what I am expecting. But, just like the menu, more food are being marked for what they are. I try not to get lured into the pretty farm picture - caveat emptor. I saw a jar of pears, packaged so that you would think that they were a small production item, the farm on the packaging had a date that would lead you to believe that it had been around for at least a hundred years, but the location on the back? Made in China. You get the picture.

How Cows Can Save the Planet (Time Article)

Everyone is talking about it... How Cows (Grass-Fed Only) Could Save the Planet

Sun Chips

How cool is this? A 100% compostable chip bag SunChips.com