November 20th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Americans have expanded their Thanksgiving repertoire in recent years. While many of us have fond childhood memories of the classic Sweet Potato Bake studded with miniature marshmallows, our adult tastes now run more toward organic Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples with Pecan Streusel Topping or Curried Sweet Potato.
In recent years, winter squash has replaced sweet potatoes on many Thanksgiving tables. The two are interchangeable in many recipes (see Candied Butternut Squash and Butternut Squash Soup with Sage), and both veggies contain high levels of cancer-fighting carotenoids.
The beauty of winter squash is its many varieties, flavors and preparations. Registered dietitian Karen Collins, nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research, offers the following tips:
- Acorn squash is small, with a very hard rind. Your best bet is to cut it in half and bake it, without peeling it. Season with pumpkin-pie spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Butternut squash is sweet and moist, with a slightly nutty flavor. The skin is easy to peel, and you can roast cubes or add chunks to a soup or stew.
- Buttercup squash has a sweet flavor, but it can be dry. Use it in moist dishes to avoid drowning it in butter.
- Large squashes (like Hubbard) are also delicious and will provide lots of leftovers. Use what you need now, and freeze cooked cubes or purée.
- Spaghetti squash is a little lower in calories, fiber, and nutrients like vitamin C and potassium. Its preparation is unique, as strands of cooked squash are pulled from the flesh with a fork. As the name implies, it’s often served like pasta.
Photo:
Tags: acorn squash, buttercup squash, butternut squash, Christmas, holidays, Organic Food, recipes, spaghetti squash, squash, thanksgiving, vegetables, winter squash
Posted in Organic Food, Organic Food Recipes | No Comments »
November 20th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Virtually every supermarket and natural/organic food store is now offering sweet Thanksgiving deals on holiday sweet potatoes, including organic varieties.
My shopping trips have revealed mixed results. Some of the sweet potatoes have been blemish-free beauties, while others were moldy mounds.
When shopping for sweet potatoes, look for firmness, dark coloring and a smooth texture. Head to another market if the selection sports wrinkles, bruises, sprouts or decay. (Even if you cut away the decay, the flavor will be rank.)
Maintain freshness by storing fresh sweet potatoes in a dry, cool (55°F to 60°F) place, such as a cellar, pantry or garage. Do not store them in the refrigerator; they’ll develop a hard core and unpleasant taste.
Stored properly, sweet potatoes will keep for roughly 30 days. If you’re going to store them at room temperature, they’ll last about a week.
Never wash sweet potatoes until you’re about to cook them. Excess moisture promotes spoilage. When you’re ready to cook, wash them thoroughly. Whenever possible, leave the skins on, as they contain most of the vegetable’s nutrients.
Sweet potatoes with dark-orange flesh are moister, while those with lighter skins and yellow flesh are decidedly less sweet and plump. Yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes also require a longer cook time. Avoid mixing the two varieties when cooking, as you’ll encounter textural differences and uneven doneness.
Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission
Tags: Christmas, holidays, Organic Food, recipes, sweet potatoes, thanksgiving, vegetables, yams
Posted in Organic Food | No Comments »
November 19th, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
 A common trouble with organic food, and you don’t have to be an expert to guess what it is, is how to preserve and protect it.
For years, pesticides and chemicals have been seen as the guardians against food-borne illness, and food “going bad.”
All this probably goes double for meat products. So how do you protect foods, in this case pork, from spoiling, and making you sick?
Researchers have an idea, using vegetables.
Organic meat cannot contain contaminates. And traditional curing involves nitrates, a chemical preservative, i.e. an organic no-no.
So if chemical preservative aren’t allowed, vegetable-based nitrates from organic plants is being looked at as a solution.
Items being considered are lemon powder and natural vinegar, even lactic acid, the stuff in milk might work.
What’s spurred the desire to better preserve organic meats is people don’t realize organics usually don’t last as long as regular meat.
So they save them longer than they should, and often abuse them the same as traditional products. You can’t leave organic meat out too long.
But people often don’t realize this, meaning they increase contracting some sort of food-borne pathogen.
Via Newswise.
Image credit: The Pug Father
Tags: organic meat
Posted in Health, Organic, Organic Food | 2 Comments »
November 18th, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
 If you’re dying to crack open a can of pumpkin and whip up some pie, you might have your plans dashed.
Libby’s canned pumpkin, the brand everyone knows, everyone buys, says all the rain in the Midwest this year has made a mess out of the pumpkin fields.
Fields are too soggy to get harvesting equipment going, so lots of pumpkins are rotting with fungus, and soon to be plowed over.
But it isn’t all bad. Organic pumpkin growers in Oregon are filling in the gap Libby’s can’t supply, and raking in the profit.
Some retailers denied adequate shipments of canned pumpkin phoned up Farmers Markets Foods, a major supplier of organic pumpkin, and begged for product.
A spokesperson for the company says they’re shipping out organic canned pumpkin by the truckload.
You never know, maybe this will help shift consumers perception of organics, and they’ll stick with it after Libby’s re-supplies.
Or just use whole organic pumpkins to make pie. I’m an idiot, and I can’t cook, but even I know. Mash it up, add spices, done.
Via The New York Times.
Image credit: SweetSpot.ca
Tags: organic farming
Posted in Organic, Organic Food | 1 Comment »
November 17th, 2009 - Administrator
 Written by Lynn Hasselberger
Billions of people live in the kind of squalor that was eradicated long ago in the rich world. It is a global water and sanitation crisis that deserves our undivided The-issueattention NOW (well, yesterday, to be exact)… especially since there is a lack of political will to push through changes that could benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people. Here are just two shocking statistics:
- 884 million people don’t have clean water
- 40% of the world’s population suffer without a safe toilet, that’s 2.5 billion people!
Fortunately, there are organizations dedicated to providing sanitation and clean water to the world’s poorest people. End Water Poverty is one of them and I am committed to helping them raise awareness about the critical issues and motivating people around the globe to take action.
Here’s one easy way to take action and it will just take a minute or less! Sign the End Water Poverty Petition, urging global leaders to specifically address the lack of toilets. What happens when something as basic as a toilet is unavailable?
- Girls’ educations are ruined due to open, unsafe or no toilets at schools
- 4,000 young children die each day due to unsanitary conditions
- Communities become locked into circles of ill-health, poverty and despair
Want to do more to help? Put November 19th on your calendar: World Toilet Day. Celebrate the fact that you have a toilet — you probably even have two… or more! Organize a public big squat in your community–Here’s how: big squat movement for the toilet-less
 Spread the word about this day and the crisis any way you can. If you’re on twitter, follow @EndWaterPoverty @WorldToiletDay and @icount4myEARTH and join us every Wednesday to tweet about World Toilet Day and other world water crisis issues–be sure to use the hashmark #waterwednesday to help earn us Trending Topic status and to make @WorldToiletDay tweets virul. Simply re-tweet our tweets or come up with some of your own. Here are some sample tweets:
If you’re on facebook, join End Water Poverty’s group and invite your friends. OR copy and paste this entire blog entry into an email and forward it to friends, family and colleagues. For more ways to help, go to EndWaterPoverty.org
More facts about the world water crisis:
- More than half of hospital beds in Sub Saharan Africa are occupied by patients suffering from sanitation and water related diseases
- These diseases are the biggest killer of young children, killing over five times more than HIV/AIDS and twice as many as malaria.
- Young girls simply don’t attend as there aren’t toilets at school, or they aren’t safe or private.
- Other girls spend hours of their day walking to fetch water or caring for ill siblings and have no time for an education at all
- In Africa, an estimated 5% of GDP is lost to illnesses and deaths caused by dirty water and the absence of sanitation
- Climate change is making things worse, increasing pressure on water resources.
End Water Poverty is calling for:
- One global action plan for sanitation and water monitored by one global task force
- 70% of aid money for sanitation and water to be targeted at the poorest countries
- Water resources to be protected and shared equitably
 Success depends on rich governments protecting good water and sanitation plans from failure due to inadequate financing; and developing countries must commit to implementing these plans. Please sign the petition now and learn about other ways you can take action by visiting EndWaterPoverty.org. If you’re part of an organization, consider joining The End Water Poverty coalition.
4,000 children do not deserve to die each day because they are lacking clean water and sanitation. Together, we can help make a difference.
SIDE NOTE: To get a glimpse at our world water crisis, consider renting the award-winning documentary FLOW (for love of water) and sharing it with your family.
Tags: Lynn Hasselberger, sanitatiom crisis, toilet, water conservation, water poverty, world toilet day
Posted in Green Living, Health, Political Action, The Environment | No Comments »
November 17th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Listen up, fellow females!
As we race through busy schedules and cope with a troubled economy, most of us are skimping on simple pleasures and putting our needs at the bottom of the to-do list.
According to a survey commissioned by Edwards desserts, 90% of us have cut back on indulgences over the last year. In addition:
- 59% of survey respondents said they’re decreasing the number of events planned with friends.
- 35% are cutting back on even the smallest treats, such as manicures and desserts.
- 94% admitted they handle commitments and other people’s needs before indulging or treating themselves.
- 6% said finances have prevented them from treating themselves as often as they’d like.
- 32% said they have less free time than they did a year ago.
With the winter holidays fast approaching, enjoying a little “me time” becomes even more difficult.
“Self-pampering may seem like the last thing on your mind these days, but treating yourself to something special is so critical to relieving the stress of everyday life,” says Heather Reider, cohost of MomsTown Radio.
Bring Nature Indoors
Nurture your organic spirit by bringing nature indoors, Reider recommends. Cultivate a container garden—either a window box, urn, basket or round fish bowl.
Display indoors a Bonsai plant, orchid, robust green plant, herbs or tulips. These work well in chilly weather, providing lovely floral aromas and some welcome color on a dark, dreary day.
Playtime!
Take up an art or other creative project. Spend time painting, drawing, making jewelry or knitting.
Nurture Your Organic Spirit
Photo courtesy of Fotolia/Edwards
Tags: Health, organic spirit, relaxation, stress
Posted in Health | No Comments »
November 17th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Steven Trudell, PhD, and Joe Ammirati, PhD, know their ’shrooms.
Authors of the recently released Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, Trudell is an affiliate professor of forest resources and lecturer in biology, while Ammirati is a professor of biology who specializes in mycology (the study of mushrooms). Both teach at the University of Washington.
The profs wrote this book because mushroom guides are plentiful, but they could never find one that focused on the Pacific Northwest—an area with diverse and abundant mushrooms. In 352 pages, with more than 460 photos, they cover the geographical area, fungi basics, mushroom collecting, fungus ecology and mushroom poisoning.
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest makes a great gift for organic mushroom aficionados. It regularly retails for $27.95, but Amazon is currently offering the book for $18.45 (a 34% savings).
Tags: books, mushrooms, Organic Food, organic gardening
Posted in Organic Food | No Comments »
November 16th, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
 I love chocolate, and the darker, more bittersweet the better. I like my chocolate to be mistaken for topsoil.
So Green & Black’s is a dynamite choice. Here in New Jersey, you can find it in the organic sections of most supermarkets.
Green & Black’s, a British company with markets in Europe, North America, and Australia, is chocolate muddy happiness.
And despite the tough economic times, Green & Black’s continues to grow, and has been sought after by many big corporate suitors.
Green & Black’s buys premium quality cocoa from local Mayan farmers in Belize, and their candy bars are both organic and fair trade, meaning they buy directly from farmers, no middleman, so growers get higher payments.
When the company started, owner Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth Foods, positioned the brand as a luxury, rather than just another organic earthy-crunchy food product. And it was a good idea!
Now, Green & Black’s is a globetrotter, doing business in places like Canada, the United States, and New Zealand, and last year it posted $100 million in sales.
And currently, Cadbury, yes, the makers of those crack-like addictive chocolate eggs, owns a portion of the company, and now Kraft Foods is looking to buy them, both companies have interest in Green & Black’s to bolster their own organic image.
Ha! I’m actually running out right now to snag a Toffee. Rawr!
Via The New York Times.
Image credit: SlashFood.com
Tags: Organic Chocolate
Posted in Organic, Organic Food | 1 Comment »
November 14th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Blood oranges are my favorite citrus fruit, largely because they’re a seasonal treat.
First grown in Italy and Spain, they’ve made their way to the United States and are now grown in California and Texas. Peak season is November to May (California) and December to March (Texas).
Our weekend recipe combines blood oranges and red beets for a savory, yet sweet, salad. All of the ingredients should be available at your local natural and organic food store. If you have trouble finding blood oranges, you may substitute navel oranges.
Red Beet and Blood Orange Salad
Serves 4 (about 1 cup salad per serving, plus 1/4 cup dressing for later use)
Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup berry-infused red wine vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Salad
2 medium fresh beets (about 10 ounces total), stemmed and scrubbed
4 large Romaine lettuce leaves or 4 cups loosely packed field greens (about 4 ounces total)
2 blood or navel oranges, peeled and cut into sections
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 ounce chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Peel beets under running water to prevent staining of fingertips. Drain on paper towels, and cut each beet into eight wedges.
- Place beets on foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil (from the dressing ingredient list), and toss to coat well. Arrange in a single layer. Bake 10 minutes.
- Stir beets and cook 10 minutes longer, or until just tender. Remove foil and beets from baking sheet, and place on wire rack to cool at least 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine salad dressing ingredients in a jar or container with lid.
- Arrange lettuce on a large platter; top with remaining salad ingredients and beets.
- Shake jar vigorously, and evenly drizzle one half of the dressing over salad. Refrigerate remaining dressing up to 3 days for later use.
Check out:
Recipe and photo courtesy of Pompeian
Tags: beets, blood oranges, Mediterranean diet, oranges, Organic Food, recipes, vegetarian
Posted in Organic Food Recipes | 3 Comments »
November 13th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
The traditional Mediterranean diet demonstrates how natural and organic foods can improve your health.
Characterized by daily consumption of olive oil, fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains, it discourages consumption of processed foods and meat.
Much of standard Mediterranean fare contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which support brain, heart, skin and eye health. Olive oil should replace vegetable oil, whenever possible.
“If you are going to cook with oil, doesn’t it make sense to cook with one that contains more omega-3?” asks Chef Nick Stellino, author of numerous cookbooks, including Dine In! and Nick Stellino’s Mediterranean Flavors.
The following guide, courtesy of the International Olive Oil Council, shows you how to substitute organic olive oil for butter (and margarine):
- 1 teaspoon butter = 3/4 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter = 2¼ teaspoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter = 1½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup butter = 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup butter = 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2/3 cup butter = 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup butter = 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup butter = 3/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cups butter = 1½ cups olive oil
Tune in tomorrow for our Mediterranean-inspired recipe for Red Beet and Blood Orange Salad.
Photo courtesy of Pompeian
Tags: Health, Mediterranean diet, Organic Food
Posted in Health, Organic Food | 4 Comments »
|
|
please Share the Love