Eat. Drink. Better.

My bookshelves creak with the weight of my amassed food preservation resource collection.  As we grow over 70 percent of our food needs on our Wisconsin farm and B&B, Inn Serendipity, the how-to behind stocking up has always been area of personal, passionate research.

But as you can see, I’m already overloaded with info.  Do I need another food preservation book?  Not really, until I read Sharon Astyk’s latest book:  Independence Days:  A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation, a new release from the fine folks at New Society Publishers.  Lots of books, those on my shelves included, successfully detail the “how” of food preservation, from water bath timings to prolific pickling techniques.  Independence Days freshly blends “how” with “why,” serving up a modern take on stocking up and why this plays a vital role in our future survival as a planet.

Astyk’s approach, blending practical information and big picture context with a hefty dose of personal anecdotes and essays, nurtures readers into realizing they are doing more than creating a January supper when one puts up tomatoes in July.  We’re collectively part of a larger, strategic, hands-on revolution in kitchens across America to change the way we approach food, sustainability and life.

Here’s a sampling of fresh, inspiring perspectives I harvested from Independence Days: Read the rest of this entry »

“Whoever consumes this chocolate will manifest optimal health and functioning at physical, emotional and mental levels, and in particular will enjoy an increased sense of energy, vigor and well-being for the benefit of all beings.”

Above is the intention fused into Intentional Chocolate. We are all familiar with the power of positive intention, yet did you realize it could be infused into chocolate? The blessing of food with an intention has been practiced for thousands of years within spiritual traditions and sacred ceremonies which place a certain positive form of energy into the food that is then offered for consumption.

Dr. Dean Radin, PhD, Senior Scientist at The Institute of Noetic Sciences and author of Entangled Minds and The Conscious Universe shares:

“The mood-enhancing effects of the focused intentions embedded in Intentional Chocolate were successfully demonstrated in a statistically significant, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment, and published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.”

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Soybean oil.  That’s it. That’s it?

Yes. After learning that Crisco got its name from crystallized cotton seed oil and waxing nostalgic about the big red-white-and-blue shortening can Mom used to keep in the cupboard for baking, I was shocked to find that a typical 32-ounce bottle of all-natural, cholesterol free Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil had just one ingredient.  Not cottonseed oil but soybean oil.

Soybean oil is another surplus crop more frequently used for whatever the processors, marketers, and packagers come up with. Cottonseed oil isn’t in the cooking oil or shortening ingredients.  It appears Crisco has given in to the cheap grain trend of government-subsidized crops making more of our food.  It’s probably better than fattier cottonseed oil that’s increasingly fed to dairy cows as a fiber source that converts to butterfat in milk.

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For centuries, pomegranates have been used to promote fertility, increase vitality and to lengthen and improve human life. Foods that resembled seeds or eggs were historically thought to be aphrodisiacs. It turns out, those ancient sexual beings were on to something. The pomegranate, with its abundance of seeds, is said to be a symbol of fertility. The seeds of the fruit were often compared to the seeds of life. Nutritionally speaking, the pomegranate offers your body an array of nutrients that will not only increase your overall health, but may just boost your libido and sexual vigor as well.

Pomegranates contain almost half your daily quota of Vitamin C, an antioxidant that is required for at least 300 different metabolic functions in the body. Vitamin C is also a protector from free radical damage and a facilitator of good circulation, which is vital for sexual health and pleasure. They also contain vitamin B5, the anti-stress vitamin needed for proper adrenal function, and vitamins A and E, which help to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Pomegranate oil is now being used in many menopause products to help reduce symptoms, as well as in vaginal creams to help eliminate dryness, which can make sex painful. Pomegranate juice is easily found at your local grocery store, often mixed with other super-fruits, offering you an antioxidant cocktail that is easily assimilated by the body. The seeds are great in cold salads, on (soy) yogurt with some nuts or paired with greens for a sweet and tart delight. Do something good for your body today and try the greens recipes below to increase your overall health and feed your libido at the same time. It doesn’t get much better then that.
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The Mediterranean diet is not only good for its more well-known reasons — protecting against heart disease and cancer. According to a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the Mediterranean diet, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and fish, may decrease risk of depression.

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It’s easy enough to eat local in spring and summer. Your garden is booming, CSA’s are in full effect, and farmers markets abound! So how can you make that bounty last into the winter, when fresh produce is a little more scarce? Here are some DIY solutions!
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One leaf on the maple tree turned bright orange. The apples on our trees now droop with bounty. The local drive-in went to weekend-only hours and starts movies around 8:00 pm because that’s when it gets dark now here in Wisconsin. Deep sigh. Yes, those bittersweet signs of fall are in the air.

My advice on how to deal with this transition? Throw a potluck party celebrating the abundance of summer while you still can. Call it post-gardening season therapy. There’s nothing more cathartic than feasting with friends, savoring and reminiscing about the bounty of this year’s harvest –- while undoubtedly starting to plot for next year’s growing season.

Here’s a mini-cornucopia of ideas to get you started. For more detail, check out my piece in Hobby Farm Home magazine: The Community Table: Celebrate your local bounty with a potluck meal of regional fare.

1. Focus on Fresh Bounty

Tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, salad and spinach greens. Read the rest of this entry »

In the 1930s, Americans still ate mostly local, seasonal food prepared in traditional fashion. That was all soon to change. The national highway system enabled goods to travel across country quickly. Refrigerators and freezers were becoming commonplace in ordinary homes. Madison Avenue found new advertising techniques to convince consumers to buy processed, packaged foods. Old traditions were dying out fast and the unique flavors of the different regions of the United States would soon find competition with the blander, more uniform flavors of chain restaurants.

The Work Projects Administration assigned writers to document local recipes and food customs from all over the United States in an effort to preserve a moment in history — as well as employ writers who would otherwise have starved during the Great Depression. The writings were to have been collected in a single volume called America Eats, but with World War II, the economy improved and writers no longer had to be dependent on the government for employment. The notes and essays sat in storage for many years. Mark Kurlansky, author of many acclaimed nonfiction books, including Cod and Salt, selected several of the writings from America Eats for the The Food of a Younger Land. Read the rest of this entry »

Give me a piece of paper and pencil and I might choke out a few stick figure drawings for you. I’m not much of an artist in the traditional sense. But give me a chunk of cheddar, some beer, fresh veggies and other local ingredients from my home state of Wisconsin, and I transform into the artistic ninja of my kitchen here at Inn Serendipity Farm and B&B. Give me a palette of local, homegrown flavors and I can channel my inner culinary muse.

Case in point: Wisconsin Melting Pot Cheese Soup, my recent entry into the Wisconsin State Fair’s “Cornucopia Challenge” culinary contest, featuring ten different Wisconsin-produced ingredients. This recipe below garnered a third place white ribbon in this culinary contest category sponsored by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation’s “Ag in the Classroom” efforts to promote Wisconsin products.

Ready to take on your own private “Cornucopia Challenge,” creating your own signature dish featuring your local fare? Here are four tips to get you thinking creatively about combining your area’s flavors into a state fair ribbon worthy dish: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been living in Poland for ten months now. When I first got here, a few food ideas stood out to me that I thought were cool. After ten months, I have picked up a couple more as well. Hope you enjoy the food tips Poland has to share. Read the rest of this entry »