Astro – The satellite television station – is now showing Jamie’s (The Naked Chef) American Road Trip on it’s Travel and Living Channel 707.
He’s in Navajo reservation in Arizona, encountering the country’s oldest culinary tradition, and was given a crash course in the tribe’s spirituality.

The Red Indians method of putting food on corn husks remind me of the time when beetle-nut husks were used in wrapping cooked food bought from stalls.
For generations now, tempe leaves are still used in wrapping fermented been curds. My neighbour, who operates cottage-industry, churned fermented cutup boiled tapioca from home, is wrapping the ready-to-eat delicacy in traditional sea-guava leaves.

I am surprised to see and know their traditional method of getting rid the bitter taste of corn by combining ash with the grains.
What surprised Jamie was that even though 40% of Navajo, Arizona residents were Red Indians or a mix of the race, not 1 restaurant belongs to them. Unlike the many Mexican restaurants stood along the highways amongst the modern fast-food outlets.
Even though spices between the 2 cultures used, such as chillies and garlic, are almost the same, Red Indians treasured and keep traditions close to their hearts.

I was engrossed with the show when long rods were prepared for rabbit-hunting. Then I quickly changed channel to a more subtle scene.
The sight of animals being slaughtered, killed or sliced will give me instant raised goose-pimples. That’s the reason much as I wanted to enjoy The Iron Chef Show, the professional chefs’ skill in knife-handling sends shiver in my heart.

Television opens up my world. The knowledge imparts and received is priceless. There’s just too many channels not to enjoy the google box.

Though I’m no couch-potato, I’m surely one of those who graduated from The Television University.

According to a press release, the 36-member Governors’ Biofuels Coalition said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it will likely allow higher ethanol blends, such as E15, and is a step in the right direction. At the same time, they urged the agency to move forward with the waiver as quickly as possible.

The Governors’ Biofuels Coalition first called for research and testing on the efficacy of utilization of intermediate ethanol blends – E13 to E20 – in 2005. Governors John Hoeven and Chet Culver, chair and vice-chair of the Coalition, acknowledged that the EPA signaled the possibility of allowing the use of E15 in all vehicles manufactured after 2001, reflecting the rapidly emerging capacity of newer vehicles to utilize a wide range of liquid fuels.

The two governors also called “significant” EPA’s announcement that it would initiate a fuel pump labeling process to ensure that consumers use the proper gasoline for their vehicles and equipment should the use of ethanol blends greater than 10 percent be ultimately approved. Although the EPA labeling initiative seems to signify that further research data expected by May will corroborate these early findings about E15, they urged that any labeling scheme should make access to E15 convenient and simple. They said it should encourage consumers to use blended fuel as part of their normal gas purchases, and one way to accomplish that is with blender pumps, which allow consumers to choose the blend appropriate to their vehicles at the pump.

Jointly, the governors said: “The EPA’s final approval of an E15 blend will help to attract the necessary private investment to support the next generation of biofuels, and will usher in an expanded role for advanced biofuels in the transportation fuels market. That will benefit the rural economy, the environment and the nation.”

Ethanol’s contribution to the American economy at the E10 blend level is well documented by a 2009 study. “In 2008, ethanol displaced the need for 321 million barrels of oil or roughly 5 percent of U.S. oil imports valued at $32 billion – money that stayed in the U.S. economy and supported 494,000 jobs,” said Governor Hoeven. “The move to E15 will not only expand the economic and environmental value of biofuels, it will diminish the impact of future gasoline price spikes on consumers,” said Governor Culver.

For fifteen years, the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition has provided national leadership on biofuels issues. The Coalition’s policy activities address all biofuels, including ethanol, biodiesel, advanced biofuels, co-products, and technologies yet to come.

Seeing as there was no box for the Thanksgiving weekend, we’ve been eating from this box for two weeks rather than the usual one. That being said, it was a good introduction of what to expect, along with a good warmup for us trying to find ways to use the box contents.

Actual usage & thoughts:

• Callaloo – after inspecting pictures of it online, we came to the conclusion that this particular bundle we’d got was well past it’s prime, so was not used. However, odds are we’ll get it again in future boxes, and hopefully it’ll be in a fresher state so that we can actually use it!
• Lemongrass – used in the Thai dish as previously posted. The remains of the bundle are currently drying out in the fridge, so we’ve got the option of using it over the next few weeks or so.
• Green beans – used in both the Thai dish, and steamed then mixed with onion to be a side dish for our Thanksgiving meal. On both occasions the beans were tender and flavourful, so the Xtras box swap really paid off for us this time.
• Lettuce – used with the Cherry Tomatoes to make a side salad, also for the Thanksgiving meal. The lettuce stayed crisp and green in the fridge for much longer than we expected, and tasted like a leafier romaine. Another one to look forward to in future boxes.
• Corn – boiled as mentioned previously, and won’t be boiled next time!
• Cherry Tomatoes – a few eaten straight from the pot, the rest combined with the Lettuce for a side salad. The tomatoes were fairly tender while retaining a reasonable firmness, and the juices weren’t bitter like shop-bought ones can be. However, the flipside is that they were also not very sweet, which meant they worked best in combination with other salad vegetables, rather than eaten individually.
• Avocado – half was roughly diced and served as a side for the Thanksgiving meal, the rest was eaten with rice by June at some point in the last week. I personally am not a fan of avocado, so I’m taking June’s word that it was a good one (although the shop-bought ones are not dissimilar, I’m told, since Publix sells local organic avocados as well).
• Roselle – not used yet, so it’s slowly drying in the fridge. The problem with these flowers is that you need to plan to make something where they are the focal point, as they’re not easy to integrate into normal meals.

Ratings:

• Hits – Green Beans, Avocado, Lettuce, Lemongrass

• Near Misses – Cherry Tomatoes

• Total Flops – Corn, Callaloo

• Not Rated – Roselle (and Dill)

Final Opinion:

This was a good first box that we used a reasonable percentage of, although much of that was helped by the Thanksgiving meal and having two weeks rather than one. We’ll have to pick up the pace for the next box, since it’d be crazy to let this stuff go to waste. Roll on box two!

i have been looking for a good empanada recipe and this one comes close. i made it with pie crust, which was ok, but i hope to find empanada dough and try it again!

Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 pound ground beef, chicken or turkey
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes *optional
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup frozen corn, defrosted
• 1/4 cup shredded white Cheddar
• 6 store-bought (6-inch) empanada wrappers ~ if you can’t find empanada wrappers, try pie crusts or pizza dough
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preparation

In a skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. When the oil is warm, add the onion and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute more. Stir in the meat, spices, and salt and pepper, to taste. Saute, stirring often, until the beef has browned, about 10 minutes. Add the corn and the Cheddar and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Working with 1 wrapper at a time, scoop 2 heaping tablespoons of the filling into the center of the wrapper. Brush the edges of the dough with beaten egg, then fold the dough over to form a half moon, pressing out the air with your fingertips. Use the tines of a fork to pinch and seal the edges, creating a border about 1-inch wide. Repeat with remaining filling and wrappers. Transfer the patties to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake according to dough package instructions, or until puffed and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipe from Cooking for  Real: Bay Ridge Empanadas

I said it would all work out…and it did! Oh, the power of positive thought. It truly is what got me through the week — it was tough to try and stay positive, but just telling myself “You can do this, Jil” — was so helpful. Plus, as I mentioned before — you guys rock, and threw a lot of positive vibes in my direction! But now…it’s the weekend!! YAY!! I have NO plans. I am okay with that…lots of sleep is in my future. haha

I grabbed my usual skinny hazelnut on the way to class this morning. I probably could have gone for a larger coffee, and my body was pretty much yelling at me to stay in bed this morning…but I got a small because I knew that I would be heading back to bed the moment I got home. haha

Once, I got home…I did just that. Okay, so I made some breakfast first actually: yogurt mess: NF Fage, Blueberry flax, sunflower seeds and honey. I may not have crashed right away, but I did sleep — very soundly — from about 11-2pm. It was glorrrrious!

Purple yogurt mess! haha

For lunch, I split up some Trader Joe’s sushi. I had 4 around 2:30 and then the rest around 4pm.They were alright. They tasted fine they were a little … dry? though. I don’t know…I usually don’t by prepacked sushi, but I didn’t have any food in the house so I just grabbed them the night before.

I then got productive! haha I made a run to the bank, and to the grocery store. Lots of success at the grocery store — however, I was disappointed because I could NOT for the life of me…find the tahini. I wanted to make my own hummus (put that food processor to use!), but FAIL. I literally looked every place I could think that it “might” be…but nope. haha Oh well, another day…another store…I WILL find it.

My goodies (yes, I also got Febreeze and body wash haha):

The cashier literally DROPPED my sweet potatoes everywhere when she was trying to bag them. I internally cringed a little, but she felt so bad…all I could think to say was “Don’t worry about it they’re tough little suckers.” haha I’m lame.

I got home with every intention to do my laundry…but so did everyone else in my building. Laundry will have to wait…however, I did clean up my apartment and make a ton of rice!

For dinner, I used the brown rice, that I had just made, Laughing Cow, Salsa, roasted corn and spinach.

For dessert? Hmm…I’m thinking of digging into this sucker… Yumm. Dark Chocolate Dreams. One BIG spoonful. Yummm.

Everybody’s workin’ for the weekend…and it’s finally here! Enjoy everyone!

Peace, Love & Munchies.

Government subsidies are killing us without us even being aware of it. U.S. government subsidies to individual and co-op farmers are allowing foods to be produced which nutritional science clearly shows to be detrimental to our health. Political forces are at play while America’s health is being ignored and destroyed.

If you drive through Iowa on an interstate freeway and look to your left, you’ll see corn fields for as far as the eye can see. Typically, if you look to the right, you’ll see soybean fields for as far as you can see. The following year, if you were drive through you would see a switch where soybeans would be on the left and corn fields on the right. Each year, the farmers alternate fields.

Why are corn and soybeans the predominant foods being grown? Because U.S. Government subsidies make it far more profitable for farmers grow them. If they were to grow other crops such as peas, wheat, barley, etc, they would unable to compete in the open market with these crops and risk failure as an enterprise.

Corn and soybeans are subsidized because they are popular political foods. Corn is used predominantly from these fields to produce ethanol, an energy source touted to help reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The excess corn is then used to produce corn oil and sweeteners such as corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. By doing so, the government is helping the farmers to compete in the open market and by extension producing a cheap source of sweetener for other food manufacturers. While many in Washington may feel that this is a help to everyone, it puts our health at grave risk.

Packaged food manufacturers from cereal makers to candy bar makers benefit from a cheap source of sweetener. This in turn decreases overall cost of these foods in the marketplace; an apparent win/win. However, nutritional research shows that these cheap sweeteners and cheap oils are putting our health in peril. The over-consumption of low nutritional value sweeteners and partially hydrogenated oils which are found in these cheap manufactured food items wreck havoc on our nutritional and biological systems.

High fructose corn sweeteners are almost single-handedly responsible for diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and Syndrome X which are all prevalent problems in our health care system today. While these subsidies are definitely responsible for lower food costs, many would argue the food produced is not food but junk food.

Inadvertently, the U.S. taxpayer unknowingly financially supports the demise of their own health. An over-abundance of high glycemic index foods such as high fructose corn syrups causes a reactive blood sugar spike, insulin spike, and then hypoglycemia. The lower blood sugar phase causes you to feel famished causing you to look for more sugary foods to consume — the cycle starts over. This leads to insulin resistance and then to diabetic or pre-diabetic states.

The health solution is obvious: stop eating the high fructose corn syrup. However, since the subsidies continue, the food choices for most Americans in their local supermarket make it costly and difficult to purchase healthy food. And so, for the vast majority of Americans, they continue this cycle of poor food choices.

The political solution is not so obvious: stop subsidizing poor food choices. With the pressure most lawmakers feel to help the “average American” and especially the American Farmer, it is unlikely this most appropriate solution will be chosen.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_W._Page

If you’ve never had a proper succotash, you are missing out.  Use this recipe as a tasty side for grill meats or eat it alone.  The black eyed peas make it a hearty stand-alone vegetarian dish (less the bacon!).  I believe succotash has roots in native American culture.  While the original wasn’t much more than corn and beans, this version that I’ve been working on over the past year or so has the advantage of our modern day global pantry.

Tom’s Old School Sufferin’ Succotash

3 pieces of bacon, chopped
1 medium onion chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 cups frozen corn
1 small tin of black eyes peas, drained
1 lb fresh okra, chopped (or 2 cups frozen)
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Start off by get your ingredients prepared (washed, measured, chopped, etc).  Heat a saute pan on medium and cook down your bacon until golden brown and fat has been rendered.  Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to keep the garlic from burning.  Add in the corn and cook for 5 minutes.  Add in the okra, spices and brown sugar and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the okra is tender.  If you are curious why you add sugar- the answer is because fat and sugar make everything taste good and you’ve already added bacon to the dish!  Add in the black eyed peas and cook until warm.

As you would any recipe, taste before serving.  Add salt, pepper (red or black) or sugar as needed to balance flavors.

The weatherman said a chance of snow flurries today.  We had one and a half inches of flurries.  The roads were terrible this morning.  The plows were not ready for the snow today.

Once we had finished harvest we got to work on fall tillage.  Very little had been done before this week.  Since we did not have to wait for either a dryer or the line at the elevator we could keep going as long as machine and bodies held together.  Monday and tuesday were an example of what craziness  can happen when you see the end of field work coming in the forecast.

The weatherman was predicting a change to below freezing weather.  That meant we had to get the rest of tillage done before the ground freezes.  So after keeping the tractor going most of monday, I caught three hours of sleep and started the tractor rolling at midnight.  When I needed fuel at 5:30 a.m. dad started rolling.  After my school bus route I got back in the tractor and rolled until noon.  Dad kept things going until 11:30 p.m. tuesday.  That was a long day for both of us.

With the temperatures turning cold fall tillage will end soon.  How long the snow holds that off is unknown.  Our forecast is for temperatures to be between 10 and 25 degrees for the next several days.  Normally  that would mean tillage would end friday or saturday.  Now, who knows.

Almost all of the corn east of here is out,  west is a different story.  Some folks are waiting for the cold to harden the ground so that machinery will carry.  It sure is good to have our corn out of the field.

Michael

Bad news…

We’re all gonna die.

Good news…

We get to live until that happens.

We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about our death, but we try to circumvent the inevitable by aspiring to some greatness that will last longer than our bodies.

It seems we are not too inclined to focus on the bad news while we are making the most of the good news.

And that is probably best, otherwise things could get a little maudlin and we might forfeit our aspirations as pointless, miss out on a lot of action words, and just sit around waitin’ for the reaper to harvest us like corn.

It may seem like Corn doesn’t do much.

It just stands there and waits for the bad news.

But the thing we don’t notice about corn is that the whole time it’s standing there waiting for the bad news, it is quietly aspiring toward goodness with the good news.

Corn does not aspire to Greatness. It doesn’t try to be a rock star, attempt to write a great novel, acquire the nobel prize, or seek honorable mention from peers in the corn field.

It just aspires to goodness.

If all the corn in Nebraska decided to aspire to Greatness one day, separate itself from the rest of the corn, stand out as a leader among corn, and claim territory in the archives of history as an individual ear of corn with exception, then what would happen?

I’ll tell ya what, we’d have a bunch of self centered, egomaniac, scared-to-die corn stalkers running around and a whole lot of people would live without the goodness of tortillas and nachos, that’s what.

But no, Corn knows what the deal is.

It does not aspire to greatness.

It does not seek the transient accolades of seeming special, does not live in some illusion that it is better than the field it grows in, or superior to the people who eat it.

Corn is wise in it’s social standing and sagacious in it’s true purpose in nature. It does not need Greatness.

But humans, on the other hand seem to need a bigger goal.

They like their mythology. They are attached to their beliefs in the afterlife, and work very hard to assure that the bad news won’t make them disappear from the field forever.

And again, that’s probably best.

But I think we can enhance the good news by learning from Corn about goodness.

Goodness outlives Greatness.

Greatness has individual brilliance, intellect, power, and social significance.

But Goodness is at the heart of the matter when it comes to the good news.

These Black Bean Spring Rolls use a Latin inspired filling in a very Asian rice wrapper. These are perfect at room temp. You can make them ahead and serve them as a unique party appetizer or as an amazing vegan lunch.

Filling:

1 cup black beans drained and rinsed
1 cup sweet corn kernels
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 cup diced avocado
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce minced (minus seeds) plus 1 TB adobo sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Wrapper: circular rice wrappers, 8 inch diameter.

Mix up all the ingredients and chill for 4 hours or over night for flavors to blend.

The rice paper wrapping technique is simple to learn. I use a 9 inch pie plate to wet my wrappers. It helps me from making a mess. Soak rice wrappers in hot water for 10-15 seconds. Transfer to your work surface. I use my extra large wood cutting board. Also, keep a clean kitchen towel next to you in case you drip water.

Fill with 1/4 cup of filling and roll. Work one at a time and keep a clean towel handy to sop up drips. Rice wrappers require patience and technique, so if you’ve never used them before, they are scrumptiously delicate. You’ll get the hang of it after the 3rd one. Refrigerate them if you’re going to eat them later, but I think they are tastiest at room temp.

…when you are trying to get to class on time.

My transit ride into school today was ridiculous. I should have sauntered into my lecture right when it was beginning, but no…I was 30 min late. And when your class is only 50 min, it hardly seems like it was worth the effort to even go out there!

But before we get to that, let’s check out breakfast on the run.

It started with a glass of Happy Planet Tropical Tango.

I downed that while I gathered items for my “to-go” breakfast.

I packed up some yogurt, topped with peanut butter and homemade pumpkin butter into my handy dandy thermos, and brought along the granola and muffin because I couldn’t decide which I actually wanted in the yogurt!

I also grabbed a Cashew Cookie Larabar, as I wasn’t sure how long I’d be out of the house today (never consumed).

So back to the transit debacle. The train was normal, but when I got off to get the express bus to campus, the line up was insane. This bus comes every few minutes in the morning, and I waited at the station for 25 min, during which two busses came (the first was too full before I could get on). Then we get onto the school endowment lands, and it is a parking lot. Turns out all of the trolley bus wires were covered in frost, and the trolley buses lost power and couldn’t go any further onto campus (the bus I take isn’t a trolley bus). So it was a complete mess. Someone failed and de-icing those lines – here’s hoping they get it figured out tomorrow, since it’s going to be another cold one tonight.

Instead of taking notes in class (our prof puts them all online afterwards anyways), I just enjoyed my breakfast. I went with the granola – I’m sure my crunching was annoying to those sitting around me, but meh, not my problem

After class I went on another bus adventure (this time it went smoothly), to BC Children’s Hospital. I have finally scored a volunteer opportunity with a dietitian! I have a friend who just completed her RD, and she got me in contact with some senior dietitians at her hospital who had projects I could potentially work on. I’m doing some work with one of the Renal Dialysis Unit RD’s, putting together 72-hour emergency disaster kits for their dialysis patients. They are like the emergency kit we should all have, but designed to have foods the kids can eat in case they can’t get to dialysis due to an emergency/disaster (like an earthquake). It was really interesting, learning about the aspects of an acute renal failure diet, plus I was able to meet up with my friend at the Starbucks for coffee. And by coffee, you know I mean a green tea latte

I left the hospital around 1 pm, and because it was such a beautiful, crisp, sunny day, I decided to walk the 20+ blocks back to the street where I needed to catch my bus. Strangely, lunch hunger crept up on me just as I was walking towards Whole Foods. I know, crazy how those things happen I took it as a sign I should grab a bite to eat.

Although the hot/salad bar was soooo tempting, I’m saving that monetary splurge for after my last winter exam. Instead, I grabbed a sandwich and a spritzer.

This is the Sea To Sky Sandwich (named after the highway between Vancouver and Whistler) – chicken, brie, greenery (can’t remember what it was), and basil pesto on foccacia bread. I had it grilled up, because sandwiches are always better grilled.

Once my belly was happy and full, I hopped back on the bus and made my way home.

I watched the hockey game (win!), and waited around until I was actually hungry for dinner.

Mom made a roast beef pot pie. Homemade pastry crust is one million times better than store bought, hands down.

With some corn.

And a scoop of apple/craisin/pecan salad.

Enjoyed while watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation with my sister

And someone brought home this box of Timbits.

I may have consumed a few this evening.

And now it’s that time where I say goodbye and head off to sleep. Or at least read a bit. Big group presentation tomorrow – once that’s done, I’m so close to being free! Night.

Sometimes I get really sick of meat. Chicken, beef, pork, all of it. When this happens, I often make a soup, but other times, I just feel like something different.

Today’s something different is “Corn & Cheese Souffle,” from the Country Kitchen Cook Book.

I’ve never made a souffle. If a proper French Chef were to assess this dish, he or she would probably say that I still have never made one. However, the Country Kitchen Cook Book says this is one, and for the purpose of this blog post, I will take their word for it.

CHEESE SOUFFLE

1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 c. milk
1 t. salt
cayenne or paprika
3/4 to 1 c. American cheese, grated
5 eggs, separated

Make a white sauce of the first 5 ingredients. Remove from fire; add cheese and beat until it is melted. Add beaten egg yolks. Cool slightly. Fold in beaten egg whites. Pour into buttered baking dish and bake in a pan of hot water, in a very moderate oven (350 F.) for 50 minutes. When done, an inserted knife comes out clean.

CORN AND CHEESE SOUFFLE: Add 1 c. canned or cooked corn and 1 T. butter to cheese souffle.

This was super easy. It took a bit over an hour to make, 55 minutes of which were spent in the oven. I used cheddar cheese, American cheese being against my religion (Foodieism, if you must know.) Other than that, I followed the recipe, using canned corn. (It is December, remember.)

To make a white sauce – a cooking basic back then, but not so now, in the age of “cream of” soups – you melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat, then whisk the flour in slowly, continuously whisking until smooth. Then you slowly add the milk, continuing to whisk the mixture through smooth and until thickened. Add your seasonings (salt, etc.) and you are done!

This is delicious. It is fluffy and custard-like, cheesy without being goopy or stringy. My long-suffering husband and I, after finishing our sad little Banana Salads, dug into this with gusto, actually finishing the thing in one sitting.

He suggested adding bacon and sauteed onions. I heartily agree with the bacon suggestion, and I could go along with the sauteed onions. I put my foot down at his suggestion for adding canned mushrooms, however. It is possible to take these things too far, you know.

I could probably eat this once a week, if I were a farm hand who worked off several thousand calories a day. It is comfort food of the highest caliber, and perfect for a dreary December day.

Definitely worthy of Cookbook Obsession.

She never won the corn eatin’ contest with her technique, but they sure enjoyed watching her …

or maybe .. ‘Sandra was sure it was her strict vegetarian principles that made her so popular with the boys’ …

Dear Henrietta,

Why must you be difficult? I gave you a very nice bath in vegetable broth, kosher salt, brown sugar, and pepper corns the night before your Big Day.  I wanted to prep you and make sure you looked and tasted Good.  I have learned my lesson that we should all be nice to the turkey and respect her wishes when a certain joint does not want to budge.  I deserved my punishment and I am very sorry that I could not continue to carve you the way that you wanted to be carved.

Much Love,

Ashley

Can you guess what happened? I was in the middle of carving Henrietta when the carving knife slipped out of my right hand and cut the tip of my left fore finger.  Blood was gushing out everywhere but luckily it didn’t add any extra flavoring to the turkey.  Cold water did nothing.  It just kept on bleeding.  Mom, Dad, Kim and Drew rushed into the kitchen and I immediately got my strategic analysis of what I should do next.  Kim suggested I put a rubber band around the tip of my finger to stop the blood to at least get through the next course.  I’m sitting at the dinner table next to my Aunt Geri, who has twelve great-grand children (very long story), with my elbow on the table and my left fore finger pointing up as I’m eating the first course. In that moment, I decided to make a toast.

“I’d like to welcome you to the 2^nd annual Thanksgiving dinner at our household.  It’s a little more dramatic than last year, but it was only done for the good meal that you’re about to eat.”

Mom and I slaved all day in the kitchen on Thursday working on the turkey.  Henrietta brined the night before in a large pot.  We were a little nervous that she wasn’t going to fit in there because she was just a little too wide, but her legs were sticking right out at the top so we covered her with saran wrap and let her soak through the night.  Around noon the next day, we took her out, propped her right up in the sink, rinsed her and patted her dry with paper towel.  Then I stuck my hands underneath the skin and coated her with the truffle butter Mom made the day before.  In the midst of all this, Dad came into the kitchen and caught me in the act with my hand up a turkey’s butt and snapped a picture.  Then, he sent it to Kim and Drew with the title “Turkey in the Now.”  I was not amused.  I was a little scared that I wasn’t using enough butter on the turkey.  My hands  were  slimy and covered in butter.  As much as I love truffles, putting my hands anywhere near my mouth was not an option since they were on a raw 15 lb female turkey named Henrietta.

She was good though.  My grandmothers, Granny-My and Oma, are very particular about their turkey’s and have very high standards that are hard to beat almost always.

“The skin needs to be nice and crisp,” Granny-My says.

She took a bite.  “That skin is so crisp and that meat is so moist!”

You know it must be good if she says that.

Aside from the turkey, we made the corn like I said in Week 1 except I used whole milk instead of heavy cream and added chopped cilantro for more flavor.  I preferred it this way.  Heavy cream is just a little much for my stomach.  I’d take two bites and be full.  With whole milk, I finished two servings.

Turkey Rating: 1-5, 1=Bad, 5=Excellent

Taste: 5+, It was cooked perfectly where the skin was very crisp and the breast meat was incredibly moist.  Extra points for a terrific gravy- nice and thick, a little salty, but not too much.  The turkey stock added extra turkey flavor.

Flavor: 3.5, Couldn’t really taste the truffle flavor in the turkey- After all, I did use my hands to lather the truffle butter underneath the skin so it’s only natural for me to want to taste the flavor.  The butter helped keep the skin nice and crisp, though.

Do-Ability: 1=Hard, 5=Easy

3- it took a long time to prep and there were many steps to follow.  The gravy was simple and makes sense so because of the gravy, the points were raised in this category.  Mom made the turkey stock a day ahead and poured it into the roasting pan after we took the turkey out.  Then we added some butter, flour, shallots and white wine.  After, we let it simmer until it thickened.

All’s Well End’s Well with Full Stomachs

Recipe: Roast Turkey with Black Truffle and White Wine Gravy

From:  November 2008 Issue

Guinea Pigs, what did you think?

**Note missing cord for my camera- hence no pictures.  They will be up soon.

I called Dave Morris to learn about his farm and dealer operations. He returned my phone call from his tractor. This season, the weather won’t wait. If you get a few good days, you grab them and hit the fields – a story that’s still being repeated all over the Midwest and central plains in the U.S.

Dave and his family live in southeastern Minnesota, farming corn and soybeans. His two brothers and two nephews farm as well. And Dave is a second-generation DeKalb dealer.

“My dad Gene started the dealership in 1988,” he says. “He called it Morris & Sons, because all three of us boys worked in the business from time to time. At the time, we farmed all the land together; my brother Danny also milked the cows and by brother Mark and I had the pigs.”

By the middle 1990s, however, Gene Morris was thinking about getting out of the seed dealer business. Sales were down, and the family could see that the seed business was moving increasingly to the computer. Dave volunteered to buy a computer and order the seed for his father. “That was the first time you could order seed online,” Dave says. “And from then on, each year Dad did a little bit less and I did a little bit more.” By 2000, Dave had built his shop and storage shed, had the DeKalb seed delivered to his place, and began supplying the customers of a small dealer some miles away who had quit the seed business along with their original customers.

By the time Dave began managing the operation for his dad, major changes were underway in the seed business. Monsanto had purchased DeKalb, and then introduced Roundup Ready soybeans, followed by Roundup Ready and YieldGard corn. “The business prospered,” Dave says, “and my part-time job with the dealership soon became a full-time job.

When the new technology seeds were introduced, he says, a lot of farmers were skeptical, doubtful that the seeds would perform as described. “Some at first believed that fertilizer was responsible, but after a time, there was no doubt that traits and breeding were improving yields dramatically,” he says.

Ten years ago, 150 bushels of corn per acre was considered a good yield. Now, he says, 220 to 240 is now what farmers are striving for, and even 200 bushels isn’t good enough. “And it’s our expectation that we’ll hit an average of 300 bushels an acre by 2030; at least that’s what Monsanto says and I have no reason to doubt it, given past performance.” People want the technology and they see the benefits, he says. “Their only hang-up is the price.”

The technology is critical, but Dave also points to something just as important that contributes to his business success. “We’re a family business,” he says. “My brothers and nephews and I all share combines and planters and sprayers. My wife Cathy does the bookkeeping and the accounting, and a lot of other things as well.

“But more than that, we know our seed customers by name. They’re not just a number on a wall on an entry on a spreadsheet. Every grower, no matter how much or how little they buy, is a part of our business. And they know that.”

A lot of Monsanto employees are involved in helping Dave Morris and his family succeed in their business and serve their customers. In future posts, I’ll be talking with a number of them to find out what they do.

They say soybeans and pesticides did it.
But the ecology is much more complicated.

When I was young, the farm fields
of rural Hunterdon County New Jersey
spawned legions of Ring-necked Pheasants.

At age 10,
I walked the fields with my father’s short haired pointer
nose to ground, followed their scent,
with his rigid stance marked for me the grassy patches
where nature bred the birds to rest,
camouflaged by the fall browned grasses,
lie low, concealed,
to avoid my gaze and shotgun blast.

My greatest concern then, to abide
by the State’s two bag limit.

At age 14,
Thanksgiving afternoon, my responsibilities
as defensive end completed,
I walked the farm fields with my own dog,
an English Spaniel,
to flush out a fresh one to supplement the turkey.
Marinated in a tomato sauce, seasoned by red wine
I loved to dip the fresh baked Italian bread
in the juices of my plate.

I lost this in my college years.
Returning for brief Thanksgiving vacations
left little time for dogs and guns,
walking the fields.
Perhaps, as an educated man,
I lost the sporting urge.

When settled eight years later,
needing the land again
to rescue me from the business world,
where at times I was the hunted, if not fair game,
I called my father about Thanksgiving morning.
Asked him if he wanted some company going out.

Surprised to hear from his professional son -
he thought perhaps I thought myself – too important.
Too sophisticated, for his sporting world.

It was then that I learned
what twelve years had wrought.
“I will be picking up the birds about 5 o’clock
Wednesday evening, if you want to help.”
No more wild hens to produce
the ring necked cocks so ardently sought.
Not one to be found in this now, semi-rural area.

Innocently, it was not new homes,
but corn and soybeans culprits.
The hay fields of this community
disappeared with the milking cows.
Fixed rows of food staples
replaced the grassy scenes
where hens with their broods
could move with stealth and ease
find abundant insects for which they foraged.

No cover between precise rows of corn
pesticides applied
to keep both insects and weeds at bay
surprisingly, no threat to the brown birds,
just the insects which disappeared.

Food and shelter gone
they were homeless, needy,
orphans in a habitat only slightly changed
to the naked eye.

Now the next day the hound would be catching
birds in his mouth from whom the instinct to be flushed
had been bred, or who were too indolent
to want to escape.

This discovery clouded an otherwise bright autumn day.
My walk through the fields preoccupied with hope
that I could find one I could respect.
That like the birds of old
could run as fast as other birds could fly
would take a sporting chance at escape –
would challenge me, my reactions,
my 35 year old aim.

So now no longer gamebird,
colorful penned up long-tailed beauty
visited by school children in yellow buses
carving pumpkins on the picnic tables
no sporting chance -
it is no wonder this walk
has lost its allure
now, in New Jersey, this hunt
has turned a young boys’ sport
who will never know the difference,
unless they looked deeply in my eyes.
Even the dogs have lost interest.

Ray Brown

According to E&E News (subscription required) as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “considers whether to allow more ethanol to be mixed into gasoline, critics of the fuel are concerned Congress might step in to set its own mandates for higher ethanol usage.”

…but sometimes good ideas just don’t pan out. Breakfast this morning was a perfect example.

We had leftover cherry pie filling from the cheesecake my mom made on the weekend, and I thought it would make the perfect oatmeal topping!

So Coco-Choco-Cherry Oats were born.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup milk (finished off the carton)
• 1 tbsp Ruth’s Chia Goodness
• shredded coconut
• splash of coconut extract
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• cherry pie filling
• Artisana Cacao Bliss

With a glass of Happy Planet Tropical Tango.

The cherry pie filling just never really melded well with the rest of the bowl of oats. I don’t know if it was the sweetness or what, but I ended up scraping most of it off. Perhaps if I had dried cherries, or cherry preserves? Oh well.

School was school, you know how it goes. I had a lecture, then the usual 3 hour break, which I spent enjoying my lunch, working on some assignments, catching up on emails, and playing a few games (it can’t be all work on your lunch break).

I brought with me:

Leftover pizza (corn, spinach, artichokes, onions, mushrooms)

Veggies – carrot & cucumber – with hummus for zee dip.

Plus an ambrosia apple and an Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffin for snacking.

Full meal deal.

See that notebook in the corner? Proof I was being a good little student. See that Diet Coke? Proof I need more sleep

Our group met up to pound out the rest of our discussion points for our paper, and I finally feel confident we’ll be in good shape not only for our presentation on Thursday, but for our paper as well. Definitely a bit of weight off my shoulders.

We ended a little early, so I was home in time for dinner. Too bad lasagna was being served

I considered my options while my family ate, then put together a quick little supper, more pleasing to my tomato-hating palate.

It started with a hearty bowl of split pea, ham, and barley soup (topped with a little cheddar, per my dad’s suggestion).

Then I nabbed the leftover Caesar salad and garlic bread from my family’s dinner. I may not like the main dish, but hello sides!

Green, garlicky, good.

It has gotten mighty chilly here, which means we have beautiful sunny weather, but I’m constantly trying to warm up. A nice mug of hot chocolate with fluffy marshmallows was just what the doctor ordered.

I just finished watching the Biggest Loser with my sister, and am considering bed time. I really should try and get a good night’s sleep – I’m finally getting some volunteer time in with a dietitian tomorrow, so I want to make a good impression. Only 3 more days of class! And Happy December everyone. Night!

A reader left a comment on my last post about letting go of everything eating disordered:

“Well, you still do drink diet coke, and you’re not even diabetic. Isn’t that still part of ED behavoiior?”

Whoops. Busted!

First of all, let me make it clear that I have never said I’m totally recovered yet. Yes, I still have my vices. I still have things to work on. I still have instinctual thoughts and behaviors that are very much part of my eating disorder. I guess I didn’t make myself clear enough, but when I said to make a “complete turnover”, I realize that it is quite impossible to make that change all at once. I’m still in the progress of losing each smudge and traces of ED, but I have no doubt that one day, I will make it. I want to destroy every part of ED inside of me. Time will tell.

Taylor from Joy of Food wrote something with which I agreed:

“I think it can be hard to know for sure you’re recovered, until many many years later……So does that mean I’m not fully recovered? Who knows, all I know for sure is I’m happy, healthy and ED can get lost. ”

Tee hee hee! I love that mentality. In a way, recovery itself can be a major stress factor if we’re going to continue debating over whether this or that is truly ED or not, etc. We just have to keep in mind the ultimate goal: To be happy, to be healthy, and to tell ED to f**k off (I wish smileys had a middle-finger).

But the most exciting thing was this hunky baby:
 Extra sharp VINTAGE cheddar cheese…aged a minimum of 2 years!!!
I can’t believe I received a whole brick of this amazing thing! I was ecstatic! I nibbled on it right away, and the taste was fan-freakin-tastic!
I knew I had to come up with a recipe worthy of this lovely cheese. I turned to something else kind of vintage:
 Leftover carved turkey. Not from Thanksgiving (I already ate them all), but snitched from the dining hall (Shhhh…). Anyway, I hope this dish did the cheese justice:

Leftover Turkey Enchilada with Fruits and White Cheddar

• 3 corn tortillas
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1 slice turkey, diced
• 1/2 Granny smith apple, diced
• small handful raisins
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 mini-bottle of pear, honey, and ginger preserves
• Mango-Habanera salsa
• 1/2 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese
• 2 stalks green onion, chopped