Have you ever been stung?

Stung by bees I mean. I have been stung on a few occasions in my lifetime. I do not appreciate it and it hurts. I would also say that when bees decide to come and hang out with me outside and dine on whatever I am having I am none too pleased. However, I respect bees for their ability to pollinate our world. 

We enjoy many foods because of the bee population. My favorite food that is directly linked with bees is raw honey for all its fantastic health properties. Raw honey is a great sweetener that is pretty versatile. The best honey to choose is a local brand. Local bees mean local pollen. One of the tricks I use when I am feeling my sweet tooth starting to take hold is I heat up some water, put a few tbsps of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar with a single tbsp (or less) of honey in it. I drink it in about 8-12 oz. of water. It is a nice substitute for tea and its a bit of sweet and sour. In my experience it helps me curb the need for other sweets. It is a great drink before bed.

Bee pollen is also touted to have extremely positive benefits to the body. Whether that is to reducing allergic reactions, enhancing energy, and what I found out today while doing a bit a research sexual health. I think I will go for that drink once I wrap up this post...

The reason I decided to talk about bees & honey today is that although many of us have been stung and may have a fear of bees. We need to know that bees are disappearing. What does this mean for our food supply? There is a documentary that is called The Vanishing of Bees. Check it out. It only takes a minute.

Water - its what your body is thirsty for!

Today I wanted to do something that seemed special. I have been meaning to get to the "Spa" for some time now and so I thought today would be as good a time as any to make up some refreshing water. You do not have to tell me how dull water can be. I try to get my intake just like everyone else I know. So today to make it more appealing I decided to infuse my water with cucumbers. I peeled a cucumber and then sliced it and tossed it in and filled up the pitcher. Pretty easy.

Now why do I call this Spa water. Well when I see my wonderful esthetician, Alycia Tischler she always has a lovely pitcher with cucumbers. Sometimes next to the glass of water sits a packet of Emergen-C (get some free samples) if it is cold and flu season. It sets the tone. The Spa is about health and revitalization of the skin. Her water isn't plain tap water. Its got a little something something. If I had had strawberries, lemons, oranges or other tasty fruits I would have tossed those in, but I had a cucumber and I am pretty chill and if I can deal with what I got I do.

Another fantastic choice is putting a bit of high-grade essential oil into your drink. You MUST be extremely careful that you know that the source of your essential oil is 100 % pure plant & therapeutic grade before you would ever put it into your beverage I use Young Living products not just something from the co-op (and I love my co-op)! I use the peppermint oil in my water for the gym because it aids in digestion and peppermint helps with concentration & focus. When I feel like I need a bit of a detox I use lemon oil in the am. I have ordered some tangerine because that is also very refreshing and mixes things up. These oils are great for taking on a plane when you are stuck with that airplane air. It infuses something special into the water you are taking in. One drop goes a long way. These oils have many uses and they aren't cheap so I consider it an investment in my medicine cabinet when I purchase one of them. Regardless, you do not need fancy oils in your water, just toss in some fruit or herbs like basil or mint. Make it fun. Make sure you like the way it tastes otherwise you won't want to drink it.

How much water should you be drinking? Well it depends on how much you weigh. Take your weight and divide it by 2 and then you will have the number of ounces you need to take in on a daily basis. So if you weight 200 lbs divide it by 2 and you would need to drink 100 ounces of water a day. This does not include your coffee, sodas, or tea.

Water is so good for the body. In a book by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D. called "Your Body's Many Cries for Water" he says that many of our health problems stem from the fact that we are all dehydrated. He says you should not treat thirst with medications. "You are not sick, you are Thirsty!" Check his book out. While you do that I am going to go finish the rest of my water...its calling my name.

If you are in the Twin Cities area and are looking for an esthetician set up an appointment with Alyica at 612.355.5250 her salon is in Uptown. She really is fantastic!

Finishing things off

It is a few days before I get to pick up my next CSA box and here I am feeling a bit lazy about turning the remaining food into meals. I checked the fridge and before I even bothered to put thought into what I could do with the fabulous veggies I had awaiting me I began chopping them up into more soup. (Not that I am regretting the decision I made, but I just realized that the celeriac would have made a tasty gratin dish or fritters...)


I cannot seem to help but make soup. It is still wet and rainy here and we have not dared turn on the heat. Doing so would admit defeat to the inevitable winter weather that will be heading our way. Instead as I write this post I am wrapped in a nice blanket with an electric heater at my feet.


Now I cannot honestly say this is the most exciting soup I have ever made. In fact I think it tastes "healthy" - not in a bad way, but in a way that makes me feel really good about eating it.


Ingredients:


2 Celeriac
3 Parsley Root (looks a lot like parsnips)
1 Carrot
1 Leek
3 Cloves of Garlic
5 Red Radishes
2 Small Green Cabbages


The first thing I did was chop everything up into similar size pieces. I do this so that everything cooks at the same speed.


1. In a stock pot I sauteed the garlic on low with a few tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and the Leek
2. Then I tossed in all the other veggies and covered them with chicken stock (maybe 4 cups or so)
3. I put a timer on for 15 min. and upped the heat a bit and headed back into the office.
4. When the timer went off I walked back into the kitchen. Added some salt, cracked pepper and another bit of EVOO and turned the heat off and covered the pot.
5. I took a phone call and let the soup chill out for about 10 min
6. I then took out my immersion blender and proceeded to blend the soup up. It was really thick and so I added some water to thin it out. During that time I tasted the soup and added some dill weed and I grated fresh ginger into the soup


Servings - About 10 

Note - this soup is not sweet. It is a bit tart and I think that I what I like about it. It is also very filling. I think this soup would be paired nicely with some corned beef. Maybe because the of cabbage in the soup? It might also be a nice baby food!


Let me know what you think. Do you have any recommendations on herbs that would add some pizzaz to these veggies? Let me know.

Annual CSA Meeting

I just returned from our annual CSA meeting with Harmony Valley Farm. What does CSA stand for? Community Supported Agriculture. The reason I wanted to post a little something about CSA's is that they are really important to the local, sustainable, organic movement that is going on these days with respect to eating good healthy food. When you join a CSA you are helping a Farm by creating a relationship, a commitment. The bonus is that when the farm is really productive you get loads of produce and you reap benefits. If the farm suffers from draught or other casualty then you share in the loss. That way the farm is able to use the money from the members of the CSA to buy the needed materials to plant the year's crops, packaging, wages and other production costs. Our CSA has been doing (CSA) this since 1992 (or 1993 I don't remember what Richard, our farmer said this afternoon, but it has been significant).

I belong to this CSA with my husband, his sister & brother-in-law. We share the weekly food boxes that we get. Actually we pick up a box of veggies every other week and it tends to work out really well. Our CSA offers Coffee (its darn good we give it as holiday gifts), Cheese, Veggie, Meat, & Fruit shares. We only get the Fruit and Veggies, but after today's meeting as well as last year's annual meeting the other members are so Ga-Ga over the cheese share we might break down and get that because these people were practically drooling.

At the annual meeting Richard, Terri, & Andrea (the Farm's mastermind team) met with members in person to discuss what is working, what isn't working, feedback, and costs. They know that the members are what keep their farm going and they respect the relationship. This CSA is doing so well they cannot accept many new members each year. They have a pretty high retention rate. But, one of the areas that is still hard to manage is member education. Sounds silly right, but there are some basics that people tend to either forget or fail to read over when they get their weekly newsletters from the Farm.

What are the basics you ask? Well:

- If you don't cook often or eat out more than not then join a CSA might be a really hard transition as you get quite a lot of veggies (the picture above is an example of a box of weekly veggies)
- This CSA tries hard to give you all sorts of veggies that you may never have encountered before. For example, in the photo we have 2 large Celeriac roots. How many times have you eaten that in your life?
- You need to be cognizant that you are picking up the correct share(s) for that week
- Leave the boxes at the site so that they can be reused
- If there are bonus items on the veggie front then those items are not for the fruit share people but the veggie people
- If you take something from the "swap box" you should be swapping something out!
- Check off your name on the list so that you tell the site coordinator you got your goods...

These are pretty simple "rules" but there are many times when someone is missing a box of veggies or coffee or whatever and the last few people to the site feel pretty awful. Read the fantastic newsletters and emails from the Farm. So one of the ground rules to know is if you join a CSA you have to pay attention to the time, pick up your goods as soon as possible, especially if its a hot or cold day. You do not want your tasty goodness to freeze or wilt.

However, part of what is so great about CSA's and all the produce you get is that you can freeze or can whatever you do not get to for our terribly long winters. You can make lots of soup (see other blog post) or can beans, pickles, tomatoes, sauces...

So my question to you...how many of you are part of a CSA? Do you love it? What do you love? What do you have a hard time with? Do you know your farmers? Share you knowledge with us!

Check out these links to find a CSA near you.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml
http://www.localharvest.org/

Harmony Valley is located in Viroqua WI about 3.5 hours  from the Twin Cities. They deliver local, organic, sustainable food every week to the Twin Cities!

How about a soup off?

Okay so actually it wasn't really a cook off event. Last night I presented a class about soup. Why soup? Well I have loved soup from a very early age.  In fact my after school snack was always a can of soup. Many people think this is weird, but it was my staple - its warm & comforting and soothed my soul. Usually something from Campbell's  - nothing quite as good as what I am capable of making now, but none the less my favorite thing to eat at the time! So back to the class...

I had 7 lovely ladies + an itty bitty gentleman (can you see the little one in the pic?)! They are fabulous people so not only was it fun to teach the class to these individuals it was a delightful time filled with laughter and love - all the sorts of things you want in a kitchen and infused in the food. Really the care, attention, and playful atmosphere cannot be beat.

The goal of the class was to help the participants understand how to experiment and add their own flair when making tasty soup. They learned not to take recipes so seriously and just cook up what they have on hand. We also talked about how quick, easy, & healthy soups can be!

What else did we talk about?

-Colors! Eating green, white, red & orange foods and what that means nutritionally & energetically speaking
-Blending
-Storage (plastics, glass, stainless, etc)
-Best type of pot to use
-Discussed a bit about organic, local & the environment

What recipes were featured?

-Carrot Ginger Soup
-Creamy Coconut & Lentil Soup
-Heirloom Tomato & Chickpea Soup (check for the recipe from earlier in the week)
-Creamy Kale Soup

After we made the soup we sat down to do a taste test. While everyone was deciding which soup was #1 they discussed what they learned from the class. One of the main things that the class enjoyed was that they had to go and buy their own groceries at the store. Many of the items on the list were not items they would usually pick up so they felt like the excursion was one of the best aspects of the class. Check out my website (navigate to the events page) as I am scheduling Grocery Store Tours. Check back every so often for all updated events.

How many of you out there love soup? What is your favorite soup to make? Please share!