You are what you eat

Evil Dean Foods strikes again

One of the best known soy milks is the brand Silk, formerly owned by WhiteWave but for some time under the ownership of Dean Foods. Many health-conscious consumers bought Silk because it was labeled "organic." And it was--as much as industrial food can be called organic, anyway--until early this year.

But it seems that months ago, Dean replaced the "organic" label with the word "natural." In the food biz, "natural" has absolutely no meaning whatsoever, because the government has no definition of the term and no standards for labeling a product as such. Dean Foods, however, made sure not to tell anyone of the change, and many consumers--and the retailers who sell Silk--simply didn't notice the change. The UPC code is the same, and the packaging, except for that one little word, is still the same. And, of course, the price is still the same, even though conventional rather than organic soybeans are now used to make the product.

Dean Foods claims that it sent a form letter to distributors describing the change and blamed distributors for "not following through" with independent retailers. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, specialty stores have reported not noticing the change for 6 to 9 months.

The failure to change the bar code is, to me, evidence that Dean was intentionally hoping to fool people:

Jon Mellor, a spokesman for New Jersey-based GS1 US, the nonprofit agency that issues Universal Product Code numbers and bar codes, said changing products so they are no longer organic is considered a big enough shift to require new codes.

Apparently,

Supermarket executives and food processors expressed surprise at Dean’s actions, saying that even when a package size is altered, a new bar code is affixed.

It's really hard for me to believe that they didn't want people to keep on automatically grabbing the blue carton and for grocers to remain unaware of the change, since the bar code stayed the same.

Dean has re-introduced an organic soy milk in a green carton, according to the newspaper article. But if it were me--I don't buy soy products--I would be extremely reluctant to buy any product from Dean Foods.

Getting grass-fed beef from Melvin

Yes, it's that time of year. Tonight or tomorrow I'll be e-mailing Melvin to see when my half-a-cow will be ready and to tell him what cuts I want. We meet him at the meat processor's when we pick up the beef so we can give him his check. This year we're sharing the half with our daughter; we've discovered that a side of beef each is just too much. I'm going to beg for the tail, hoping that whoever is taking the other half doesn't want it. It makes incomparable broth. My daughter is letting me have the brisket, too, so I can make my own corned beef.

Melvin's is dry-aged beef, which is hard to find these days, and let me tell you, it produces a flavor and texture far superior to today's wet-aged beef. I think the fact that his beef is dry-aged explains why I haven't noticed the chewier texture everyone ascribes to grass-fed beef. Dry-aging reduces the weight greatly, and price is based not on final weight but on what's called the hanging weight; the weight of the beef we'll eventually get will only be about 60% of the hanging weight, but so what? The quality of the beef makes it worth every penny. The flavor of the beef is concentrated; compared to Melvin's beef, supermarket beef might as well be wet cardboard. The first time my daughter bit into some grass-fed beef, she exclaimed, "It tastes like a whole different animal!" Indeed it is in terms of the differences in omega-3 levels, conjugated linoleic acid concentrations, and other health benefits. It tastes the way beef tasted in my childhood.

A lot of people can't stand the thought of slaughtering an animal, but I guess I'm somewhat immune, having grown up a butcher's daughter who was quite used to seeing sides of cattle hanging in the walk-in cooler. I was raised around people who routinely butchered hogs and killed chickens, too. When I became a vegetarian, it wasn't because of the killing of animals, but because of the cruelty involved in feedlot-raised animals and of certain practices on hog farms and chicken farms. It was also because of the toll CAFOs (confined, sometimes termed concentrated, animal feeding operations) take not only on the animals, but on the environment. The pollution from these operations is horrendous and terribly damaging, with wastewater discharge being probably the biggest problem. When we were out west we passed several feedlots and they were awful to see--and to smell. So many animals in a confined area that they couldn't even really move, standing in their own excrement, eating an unnatural diet.

And if you think grass-feeding beef ravages the environment, particularly grassland, I hope you'll read this article that explains how grass-feeding can be healthy not just for humans and cattle, but for the environment as well. If done correctly, it could even--surprise!--reduce global warming gases.

Grass-fed beef has a lot going for it, and I like buying it from Melvin. His is a small operation, he loves his work and his cattle, and he continually improves his herd by careful breeding. He's "local," if you consider local within about a hundred miles, so that's good, too.

Do consider grass-fed beef. Your body--and your tastebuds--will thank you.

Bodega!

Have I already posted this? If so, sorry. I just watched it again and had to put it up.

 

 

Strata

Recently I had a dozen or more people here for breakfast after an overnight camping party. In the past I'd bought frozen quiches to serve, along with other breakfast fare, but I really can no longer stand serving processed food, especially to guests. I found lots of breakfast casserole recipes on the Internet and finally settled on this strata. Alas, I don't remember the source ...

Okay, so it puffed up more on one side than on the other, but I hadn't realized it would puff up at all, and it looked really lovely. It was a big hit, too.

A strata is convenient for feeding a large number of people as it's made the night before and left in the refrigerator until you bake it the next morning. It's layers of bread, veggies and meat, and eggs and milk or cream. I used a cup of cooked, drained spinach, but I didn't think it was enough. Next time I'll definitely use more veggies; I'll try broccoli and perhaps roasted red pepper along with the onion.

Even so, this dish drew raves from my guests.

Recipe:

20 ounces of crusty bread, such as French or Italian, cubed (leave the crust on)
8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled; or 1 cup or more cooked cubed ham
small to medium onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 cup (probably more!) veggies, solo or any combination of spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, etc.
3 T butter
3 1/2 C. half-and-half or whole milk
12 large eggs
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
3 T. stone ground prepared mustard
1/2 to 1 tsp. dried herb combination such as herbe de provence, bonnes herbes, or the like
2 cups shredded cheese, alone or combined, cheddar, Swiss, Gruyere, etc.

LIghtly oil a 9" x 13" baking dish and set aside.

Cook bacon, if using, until crisp; drain and crumble.

Satue the onion and garlic in butter until soft. Saute or steam any vegetables to desired doneness (you don't want them mushy; use a particularly light touch if using spinach).

Place half the cubed bread in the baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, half-and-half, salt, pepper, and dried herbs until foamy. Add the shredded cheese and stir to mix.

Layer half the veggies and meat over the bread. Pour half the egg mixture over the bread and veggies/meat. Repeat with another layer of bread, the rest of the toppings, and finally the rest of the egg mixture.

With clean hands, press down gently until all the bread is soaked. Place plastic wrap over the baking dish, press gently again, and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees; bake for 65-80 minutes, or until a sharp knife inserted comes out clean. Let cool for about 15 minutes before cutting into serving squares. It will still be very hot at this point.

This will make about 15 to 20 brunch-size servings. I served it with cheesy shredded potato casserole (brought by a generous and merciful friend), croissants, and fresh fruit, and I had a few leftover squares of the strata. The leftovers were good, too!

"Shopping" in the freezer

We've got a big chest freezer in the basement, but there's too much in it and I need to make room for the half a cow I've got coming in a month or so. Not only that, but the food should be used before it gets any older. Not only that, but why should I spend money at the supermarket when I've got an array of goodies right here at home?

So I'm planning meals around what's in the freezer (and pantry, as far as that goes, but I'm not going there right now). Last night is a case in point. Well, "planning" doesn't actually apply in this case; it was more of a spontaneous "let's see what's in the freezer that will do for dinner."

Anyway, it was a blowy, drizzly, gray, cold, nasty kind of evening, the kind that makes you say, "This is soup weather." I could have made soup very quickly in my pressure cooker, but I thought I must have something in the freezer. Foraging around, I found a container of beef bits frozen in home-made broth, one of beef stew, and one of minestrone. Voila! Dinner! I thawed them, mixed them together, added a little liquid and some barley--oh, and some leftover green beans from dinner the night before--and it was delicious. Jim kept saying how good it was. A little of this, a little of that ... Gourmet cooking it ain't, but it sure hit the spot on a wet, windy night.

Today I found a mystery container--you know, the kind the label has fallen off of, and you sort of peer at it and say tentatively, "Well, it could be chili ... looks like some kind of beans in there ..." I thawed it out, and it turned out to be black bean soup with corn and squash. Seemed to me I had some frozen  black beans somewhere or other ... Yep, I located them. I thawed and mashed them, added them to the thawed soup, jazzed up the spicing (a little more garlic, some jalapeno pepper, and most definitely some cumin), and heated the whole thing up, simmering some of the liquid away. Black bean burritos for dinner tonight. Oh, and there were some roasted tomatillos, too, which will become salsa verde.

I still have quite a few of last year's tomatoes in the freezer, so some homemade tomato soup is in order shortly, and no doubt some spaghetti sauce as well. Not to mention chili, especially if I still have some grass-fed ground beef left (I really need to take inventory!).

There are some leeks left in the freezer, so I got a jar out to thaw in the fridge, having leek-and-potato soup in mind, especially given the bonanza of potatoes we harvested this year. I'll serve it with a beef recipe of some sort--haven't decided that part yet.

Chickens. I have several whole chickens in the freezer, and the very large, tougher ones (free-range chickens can be tougher, especially when they're allowed to get quite huge) will make terrific soup stock that can be frozen--that'll take up a lot less space in the freezer. I think I'll roast a smaller one and serve that with some of the ginger-carrot soup taking up space down there. Our carrot crop is all but non-existent this year, due to neglect on my part (the weeds took over), so I'll make do.

I noticed some frozen cabbage soup--the kind in a tomato base, often called Jewish cabbage soup, and I'm thinking that would go well with sauerbraten. Don't you think? Last year's beef needs to go, too, after all.

After I take inventory, I'm sure I'll come up with a dozen more ideas for dinner. And I'm hoping to do that before my next trip to the supermarket, believe me. In economic times like these, who needs to spend a fortune at the store when the freezer is well stocked?

"Glorified sauerkraut" source found

Last year I ran across a recipe, torn from a newspaper and stashed in one of my mom's old cookbooks, for something called "Glorified Sauerkraut." I had no idea who wrote the column that the recipe appeared in, but I did try the recipe, and it was surprisingly good.

Well, in one of the amazing things that sometimes happens when you write a blog, the granddaughter of the recipe's originator, Cindy Christenson, left a comment on that post:

That column was written by Judd Arnett of the Detroit Free Press. The recipe was my grandmother's - I still make it every Thanksgiving. Judd was a very good friend of my parents', Barb and Jim Jones, and we had him over one holiday dinner, maybe in the '70s.

Judd Arnett was a columnist my parents never failed to read. Talk about nostalgia!

I just want to thank Cindy for writing in and solving a mystery, not to mention giving credit where credit is due.

It was great to hear from you, Cindy!

Easy ways to preserve your harvest

When you think of preserving foods from your garden, do you think of arduous hours of canning, perhaps of blanching and freezing and all that entails? Lots of people believe that food preservation is hard work and time-consuming, especially if they're new to the processes involved.

But with some vegetables, it's quite easy to put up food for the winter months.

Take tomatoes and peppers (both sweet and hot), for example. Tomatoes can be cored and tossed into a plastic freezer bag, sealed, and popped into the freezer. While the texture when thawed will not be like fresh or even canned tomatoes, frozen tomatoes can be used in soups, chili, spaghetti sauce, and all manner of dishes in which the tomato taste rather than texture is the goal. If you thaw the tomatoes in the microwave, the skins will slip right off.

Same with peppers. They can be frozen whole; big bell peppers can be halved if you like (perfect for stuffed peppers) or even chopped. For cooked dishes, they're wonderful. If you're more ambitious, you can roast the peppers (learn how here), put them in a plastic bag, and freeze them. Don't bother skinning them: when you thaw them, as I do in the microwave, the skin will come off easily. Roasted sweet peppers make a good salad dressed with a little olive oil, while roasted hot peppers can be stuffed or used in dishes like chili or burrito fillings, to name just a couple.

Few people grow leeks, it seems, but we do. All you have to do with leeks is slice or chop them after thoroughly cleaning them (they tend to be pretty gritty) and pack them into can-or-freeze jars. Don't put them in plastic! The aroma of leeks will escape into every corner of your freezer.

Onions can also be peeled, sliced, and frozen without blanching.

Eggplants can be roasted whole in the oven after pricking them all over with a fork or using a sharp knife to make small slits in the skin (no expoding eggplants, please!). Just place in a 375- or 400-degree oven for 40 to 60 minutes, perhaps turning them once or twice. When the eggplant collapses and has a few charred spots, it's done. Scrape out the flesh and place it in freezer containers. I usually chop the flesh, but you don't have to. You can make baba ghanouj in midwinter out of your own eggplant.

Another way I like to preserve some of my veggies is as soup. I made a quantity of asparagus soup minus the cream, which I add after I thaw the soup base and am re-heating it. I did the same with carrots last year, making big batches of ginger-carrot soup. I've also frozen leek-and-potato soup (using our own home-grown potatoes as well as leeks), again omitting the cream. Broccoli soup also freezes well; it turns into cream of broccoli soup when you're ready to eat it and add the milk or cream (and some cheese, if you're like me). It should go without saying that this method is particularly easy and efficient if you've already planned to make soup for dinner anyway--just make a bigger batch and freeze some.

So don't throw out that excess of veggies! While many vegetables must be pressure-canned, pickled, or blanched and frozen, some may be frozen without blanching, others can be roasted and frozen, and some can be turned into soup . . . soup that will be mighty welcome on a cold January day. And you'll feel good about eating food in the winter that you grew last summer.  

Does this mean I'm famous? Sadly, no.

Okay, Ron Krueger of the Flint Journal interviewed me for a story about this very blog. Apparently it came out on September 18, although I wasn't aware of it until today. Bizarrely, his name doesn't appear on the on-line article, but he tells me his byline did appear in the print version.

There are a couple of minor inaccuracies, but otherwise it's a pretty solid piece.

If you want to check it out, here it is:

http://www.mlive.com/food/index.ssf/2009/09/fresh_is_best_for_local_blogge.html

I tried to dissuade him from interviewing me, but eventually agreed to talk to him. Still don't know if that was a good decision ...

A surprise in the garden

No, I'm not talking about the small rabbit I startled, nor the toads either (the latter are most welcome; not so much the former).

I'm talking about a new harvest of green and yellow wax beans. I'd given up on them ages ago. They weren't setting any fruit, there were almost no blossoms, and the leaves were turning yellow and then brown--this at a time when I should have still been gathering much more than we could eat. I'd planned to can some, but I didn't get around to the really big first harvest and, shamefully, had to consign much of it to the compost pile (I hate waste, so this made me feel extremely guilty, I assure you).

To my amazement, when I went out a couple of days ago to pick peppers, which by the way are all too plentiful in our garden, I thought I spied some bright yellow over in the bean row. Today I went out and sure enough, there they were, lovely yellow beans. And plenty of green beans, too, in the next row over. Some were actually too large to be usable. I doubt if there's enough time for those to dry into bean seeds, but I left them on the plants just in case.

I'm delighted by this late harvest and looking forward to some fresh home-grown beans at least one last time.

Meanwhile, I can't keep up with the eggplants and peppers! And I've still got a row of potatoes to dig. Maybe tomorrow ... if I'm not pickling or roasting peppers and blanching and freezing eggplant.

With a garden, you just never know what surprises await you--both delightful and otherwise.

Oh, the shame

You know it's been a bad year for the garden when you have to stop at a roadside stand to buy zucchini.