Why do I love my farm share? Let me count the ways:
1. A variety of fresh, organic vegetables:
(From left to right: parsley, beets, scallions, garlic, Swiss chard, garlic scapes)
What is a farm share? You may know it by a different name: Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. When you buy a farm share from a local farm, you purchase a weekly “share” of the farm’s crop yield for that particular season. A share usually includes vegetables and may also include fruits, eggs, or other products. Peter and I chose an organic farm because I prefer to eat organic produce whenever possible; however, CSAs come in all shapes and sizes.
I was prepared to post a typical Jessie picture of pretending to eat a raw-but-should-be-cooked vegetable, but decided that a picture of my mouth hanging open was not the classiest choice.
I’d also like to point out that I’m wearing my “Hypota-moose” shirt in the above picture.
“Work it, Jessie!”
2. Supporting my local farmers. Buying a share in the season’s crops upfront helps farmers with their cash flows and ensures they are being paid a certain amount for their crops. The quantity and variety of crops you get will vary from year to year, depending on the weather and on what the farmer chooses to grow.
With many CSAs, you can meet the farmer and see your veggies growing right on the farm.
This farm is Upper Forty Farm in Cromwell, CT. The farm even grows flowers!
3. Being exposed to some new veggies.
Ok, I’ve had garlic scapes before; but, I’m willing to bet some of you have not! Garlic scapes are shoots from young hard-neck garlic bulbs that are often thrown away (!) Since discovering them a few years ago, I’ve enjoyed them each spring. My favorite way to eat garlic scapes is in pesto (try this delicious recipe).
4. An abundance of fresh salads, like this Caesar salad with homemade dressing:
How ’bout I call it:
Caesar Salad with Homemade Dressing
… ?
…Nah! Too boring!
Crisp Caesar Salad with Creamy Coddled Homemade Dressing
(let’s hear it for unnecessary adjectives!)
Adapted from Allrecipes
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breast
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary (or dried. You know, whatevs you got.)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 large head lettuce of choice, washed and torn into smaller pieces
Parmesan cheese, shaved
Croutons:
4 slices bread
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Dressing:
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 can anchovies, rinsed to remove excess salt
1 egg
Prepare your chicken marinade by combining olive oil, garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, and a pinch each of salt and pepper:
Add chicken and marinate for at least one hour.
Grill chicken for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through (center of chicken should be 165 degrees F). Alternatively, you can bake or pan-fry the chicken. Set aside to cool.
Cut your bread slices into 1-inch cubes. Place on oiled or Silpatted baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese and the Italian seasoning you received as the most awesome wedding favor ever:
Feel free to shave your Parmesan cheese at this point, so that you can make sure it still tastes ok.
Let’s get a closeup:
Mmm … oh, were we making croutons? Bake bread cubes at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes, turning once halfway through.
For dressing: Roughly chop five anchovy fillets. Reserve the remaining anchovies for adornment of your finished salad. Combine chopped anchovies, garlic, canola oil, mustard, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, and lemon juice.
Like a traditional Caesar dressing recipe, this recipe calls for a coddled egg, where the egg is partially cooked in water. For food safety reasons (and because I twisted his arm asked him to), Peter pasteurized the egg in his sous-vide machine prior to coddling. For those of you with a sous-vide machine (and I want to meet you!), cook at 135 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. For those of you without a sous-vide machine, you can try pasteurizing eggs in a saucepan on your stove if you have excellent temperature control, or buy pasteurized eggs by checking out this site. For those of you who wish to take their chances with regular eggs, just be aware that eggs can carry salmonella – you have been warned!
To coddle egg, from recipe: “Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Carefully lower egg into water; remove from heat and let stand for 1 minute. Remove and set aside to cool. Crack open the egg and with a spoon, scrape out all yolk (even the runny white). Use a wire whisk and whip in a small bowl until very frothy.” Combine egg with the rest of the dressing and mix well.
To assemble: Slice chicken. Divide lettuce, chicken, Parmesan cheese, reserved anchovies, and croutons between four large bowls. Drizzle with creamy coddled dressing. Top with fresh ground black pepper, if desired.
***
Now that I have completed my dietetics program, I’ve had some questions from readers concerning what I’ll be doing next year. Well … remember when I was in my nutrition research rotation way back in January? What I didn’t tell you at the time was that I began research for my Master’s degree during that dietetic rotation. I know, I know … why did I keep a secret from you, my dear reader? At the time, I had not yet been accepted to the University of Connecticut‘s graduate program, and so I thought it would be a bit premature to go into specifics.
However, here we are! I met with my mentor (a post-doc in my new research group) last week and we are full steam ahead! For those of you who are interested, I will be studying fats and bone health (Yes, vague, I know. The project is still shaping itself.). As I hope to complete my Master’s degree early, I know this upcoming year will be a busy one.
What does this all mean to YOU, dear reader? As I work to get my Master’s research off the ground, you’ll see less of me this summer. I’ll be around, reading and posting – just not as often as before. Life always comes first, does it not? :)
Toodle pip for now!
Q: Have you ever joined a farmshare/CSA? What’s your favorite go-to summer meal?
Hi, everyone! Thanks to all of you who offered your thoughts about my apple recipes from last week: it appears that many of you have strong opinions about cooking in a microwave! ;)
Sometimes I do use the microwave when I’m in a rush. Even for things like oatmeal. While I prefer to make it on the stove, sometimes the microwave is just so much more time-effective!! (Lauren)
Microwave for cooking? No. Never. Reheating, always. (Valerie)
Microwave? No, everything cooked in a microwave sounds plain cheap to me. I even re-heat my food in the oven or stove. Takes longer, but I feel it tastes much better too!! (Christa)
For the most part, I prefer to use a stove or oven for cooking and re-heating (unless I’m running short on time!), but I do have a few select recipes for the microwave. In one of my food science classes, we experimented with cooking meat and veggies by various methods, including baking, frying, steaming, and microwaving. The result? The microwaving method turned out the poorest product by far. The veggies were limp and the meat was greyish – not the most attractive food for any picky eaters. Microwaved apples, on the other hand, are pretty tasty :) Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Next up: remember when Peter built his sous-vide cooking device and I asked for suggestions on what we should cook sous-vide next? We’d like to try all your suggestions eventually, but in the meantime, we both wanted to try Denise‘s idea:
Sous vide??! I’m impressed….. and a bit scared LOL How about sous viding *grin* ribs??
Great idea, Denise!
With Maddie's watchful eye.
Peter picked up four ENORMOUS short ribs at Stew Leonard‘s, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, then cooked them in the sous-vide device for 36 hours!!!! Hey, if you want to get it done right, you have to be patient :)
How did they turn out?
Served with a side of sauteed kale, Peter-made picked cucumber, and whole grain bread (unpictured), these short ribs were tender and somehow more flavorful than braised short ribs, even without sauce. Yep, I’m a sous-vide convert :) I’m looking forward to trying more of your suggestions!
****
On an unrelated matter, my friend Tanya recently had this request:
Maybe you can write a post or give me some advice on this– I know a decent amount about nutrition, but my husband (weird!!!) doesn’t and is just starting to get interested in learning. Because it’s so intuitive to me at this point, it’s difficult for me to teach him in any sort of methodical or useful way. I assume you have some suggestions? (P.S. last month he tried to tell me that his enormous chocolate chip muffin bought at a street cart was (a) healthyish and (b) ~300 calories. So we’re starting at that super-basic level.
Great question, Tanya! As someone who studying to be a registered dietitian, I sometimes forget that not everyone has had the privilege of learning about nutrition in classes and in practice. Before delving into this fascinating topic, I want to emphasize a couple of things: first, nutrition is not JUST about food – the field of nutrition encompasses anatomy, physiology, psychology, genetics, environmental and social influences, and much, much more. Complicated. Suggestions that I offer will not work for everyone, but having good, solid guidelines can be helpful when individual counseling is not possible. Second, I am not attempting to help anyone lose or gain weight. If you are looking to do either, STOP! Meet with your friendly local RD so that she or he can help you come up with a healthy eating plan.
Finally, these tips are NOT designed to restrict your diet; instead, they are for readers who are interested in a few, general tips for healthy living. I offer this information to give you knowledge – I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be informed when I make healthy living choices :) These tips may seem intuitive, or you may know them already. Nevertheless, I believe that reading a short list of the most important healthy changes you can make may help some people take that extra step and try them.
Here they be:
(1) Eat a lot of WHOLE vegetables and fruits in as many colors as possible.
(2) Choose WHOLE GRAINS.
(3) Follow the New American Plate.
(4) Move.
Let’s go into a little more detail:
(1) Eat a lot of WHOLE vegetables and fruits in as many colors as possible.
Why “whole”? Whole produce gives you fiber and many micronutrients in the skin – much more than any juice or soft drink. Fiber keeps you full for a longer time. Ever notice that a glass of apple juice doesn’t keep you as full as an apple? Studies show that people who drink juices and soda eat just as much at meals as those who choose a non-caloric beverage instead. Over time, those liquid calories add up.
Why “colorful”? Fruit and veggies of various colors have different phytochemicals that do wonderful things for your body! For example, tomatoes have lycopene, a phytochemical that has the potential to protect against some cancers. (For a more complete list, check here.) So, as we say in our nutrition classes, “Eat the Rainbow!”
How many servings? As many as you can eat (comfortably). These servings include fresh, frozen, canned (watch the salt!), and dried (no sugar added, smaller portions).
(2) Choose WHOLE GRAINS.
I go into more detail about how to find whole grains in this post. This tip is tricky because manufacturers know that people are looking for whole grain products, so they disguise their refined-grain product as healthy. The low-down:
* Look at the ingredient label. Is EVERY grain listed proceeded by the world “whole”? No whole, no go! That “15 Grain” bread? Chances are the bread contains no whole grains.
* If you are buying an item with no nutrition label (like a muffin at a coffee shop), ask someone behind the counter or (if you are able) check the shop’s website. Many restaurants are posting ingredients and nutrition info. online.
* It’s A-Ok to eat refined flour products (like that chocolate muffin) – just make sure they are a “sometimes” food, rather than an “always” food. Moderation, people, moderation.
(3) Follow the New American Plate.
The basics: Look at your 9-inch plate: to enjoy a healthy plate, fill half of the plate with non-starchy veggies and fruit (that would be your lettuce, carrots, broccoli, peppers, etc.), one-fourth with starch (brown rice, whole grain pasta/bread, potato, starchy veggies like corn, peas, etc.), and one-fourth with lean protein (chicken, lean beef, pork, fish, tofu, etc.). This setup will maximize your veggies and fruits, while minimizing animal protein. ( … I realize by writing that last bit about meat, I will incite indignation from some people. While meat can be a part of any healthy diet, smaller portions will maximize your health – and allow more room for fruits and veggies! Also, I realize that the short rib in my sous-vide photo is enormous! Peter put the whole rib on my plate for photography purposes – I later removed some rib for a more appropriate portion ;) )
(4) Move.
Last note: Knowledge of portion sizes is an essential part of any nutrition education. Instead of offering confusing info. about portions, I’m going to defer to this excellent site, where you can play a game that teaches you all about portion sizes: Portion Distortion.
Please feel free to ask me any questions about these four tips :) Now, to turn the tables on you: it’s been a while since I’ve gathered YOUR tips for healthy living (check out the “Reader Tips” tab on the top menu bar for previous lists: “Healthy Snacks” and “How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep” ). So, tell me:
Q: What is/are YOUR simple tip(s) for healthy living? What guideline(s) do YOU follow?
and
What do you do to motivate yourself for exercise? Whenever I don’t feel like exercising, I tell myself that I only need to start exercising. I find that once I start, I want to keep going!
