Eat. Live. Be. for a Better 2011 - Challenge Week 2

Eat. Live. Be. for a Better 2011 - Challenge Week 2 Topic:  Where do you turn for support/community in your healthy goals?

WOW a week has gone by already and here it is week 2 of of the challenge!  Last week was very busy as it was back to work after two weeks of vacation!  I did manage to start my organizing and used a lot of what I had in the house supplementing with only a quick run for fresh vegetables - no waste!   I have been pondering this week's challenge topic and have identified the following sources of support for my healthy goals:

• Bloggers like you!  Thank you so much for the comments, emails and general support!  You are the best!
• Magazines - I am kind of addicted!  Real Simple, Food & Wine, Cooking Light, Everyday Food, Edible Jersey, Whole Living body + soul, Bon Appetit, NJ Monthly... and I love food magazine websites with great search engines... One of my favorites is foodandwine.com.  I search "healthy" and "staff favorite" - you can't go wrong!  Cooking Light, Everyday Food and Epicurious have great searchable websites as well. 
• Perusing healthy cookbooks keeps me on track too.  One I recommend is Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. 
• Mark Bittman - I find his words very inspiring and I love his sensible approach to healthy eating.
• Family - my family is really supportive of my healthy lifestyle changes.  Thank you Matt, Ashley & Cailyn!

Eat. Live. Be. for a Better 2011 - Challenge Week 1

Sarah of sarahscucinabella.com and Cate of sweetnicks.com came up with the  idea of Eat. Live. Be. for a Better 2011 in which they will be competing to be the first to achieve a 40 pound weight loss.  Go Sarah and Cate!  They have invited fellow bloggers to join in with posts each Monday related to a certain goal related topic to keep everyone on track and motivated with their New Year's resolutions.  (The participating bloggers are listed at the bottom of the post.)

What are my goals? 

1)  Not to Waste Food - Yes, I am guilty of wasting food too often and it drives me crazy.  I have a tendency to go crazy at farmers markets and then stress about trying to use everything while it is still fresh.  I also apparently hoard DeCecco pasta, different types of vinegar and marinara sauce - although I make my own 99% of the time (marinara sauce that is, not vinegar)!  Expensive ingredients only needed for one recipe are also problematic.

My grandparents never wasted anything, not one string bean or pea.  Their garbage can was the tiniest one I had ever seen, unlike the monstrosity that is picked up with a fork lift-like arm from in front of my house each week.  I recycle what I can and really try not to waste but... well... I will work on it...

2)  Get Organized - which will help me with the first goal - take a look at my pantry - scary!  Anyone have any advice on this one?  It is kind of organized chaos and I know where to find things most of the time!... yes I need to work on it!  Oh, and I have a cabinet filled with canned goods too!  I will get the pantry organized and continue on to the other problem areas!

3)  Don't buy anything with more than five ingredients in it - words of wisdom from the great Mark Bittman -  "In a store, there are very few foods that have more than five ingredients that aren't junk food."    I already avoid buying junk food but will religiously stick to Mark Bittman's advice in 2011!  I won't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, MSG, artificial colors, hormones, antibiotics - ick!!!


In addition to these goals I plan on continuing changes that I have made in the past year(s):

• Buy organic and local foods
• Never eat fast food
• Eat vegetarian meals at least twice a week
• Limit wine, cheese and chocolate :(

Please feel free to join in next Monday!  Topic #2 :   Where is your support community? - Where do you turn for support/community in your healthy goals?  Share online support centers/ real life, etc. 

Please check out the following lovely blogs to see the other participant's New Year challenges. I am excited to see the other posts!

Sarah Caron -  http://www.sarahscucinabella.com/
Cate O’Malley -  http://www.sweetnicks.com/
Maris Callahan -  http://www.ingoodtasteblog.net/
Chris Arpante -  http://www.melecotte.com/
Faith - http://www.clickblogappetit.com/
Kristen -  http://www.dineanddish.net/
Emily - http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/
Jenna - FireMom - http://www.stopdropandblog.com/
Joanne - http://www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/
Casey  -  http://www.thestarnesfam.com/
Patsy -  http://www.friendsfamilyandfood.blogspot.com/
Tri-Fit Mom - http://www.trifitmom.blogspot.com/
Claire from Cooking is Medicine  www.cookiedoc.blogspot.com/
Allison from http://www.sweetflours.blogspot.com/

2010 - New Jersey Organic Farms

2010 was the year that I completely gave up buying conventional supermarket meats and eggs.  All of the farms that I purchase meats from are organic or use organic farming methods and treat the animals humanely.    The best meals begin with fresh, quality ingredients.  Once you make the switch to farm fresh you just can't go back - trust me!  We are lucky to have some really wonderful farms in New Jersey and I keep discovering more all the time!

Merrick Farm      Organic farm, grass-fed beef, CSA     Farmingdale, NJ (Monmouth County)

Griggstown Farm Market,    Poultry, eggs, pies, CSA   Somerset County, NJ

Podere di Melo,    European Style chickens,duck, pastured pork   Lambertville, NJ    Hunterdon County

Simply Grazin    Skillman, NJ  (Somerset County) (meat is available to non- members at Whole Foods stores in NJ, CT, NY)

Cherry Grove Farm,     grass-fed beef,pork, sausage, cheeses and eggs      Lawrenceville, NJ  (Mercer County)

Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse     Artisanal cheeses, breads, grass-fed beef     Milford, NJ  (Humterdon County)

CSA Box from Earthen Harvest, Jackson, NJ  (Ocean County)

2010 was also the year that I joined a CSA for the first time and enjoyed fresh organic vegetables for the entire growing season.  I miss my weekly boxes but recently discovered Suburban Organics which delivers fresh organic produce all year long.  I was very happy with the box that I received and will be ordering again!  

Suburban Organics Small Fruit and Vegetable Box

With all of the snowy weather we've had, I have been craving some nice warm cookies with a cup of tea.  I was inspired to make Snickerdoodles when I saw the recipe listed in Food.com's top 10 recipes of 2010 list.  Pretty darn good!    Oh, and the snow total in my town was 36" - quite a bit more than the "over 20" that I guestimated! 

Happy New Year!!!  May everyone have a happy, healthy, prosperous and delicious 2011!

Snowed In

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  We have over twenty inches of snow and our street is impassable but I have my family safely at home and a pork roast in the oven - life is good! 

Chloe isn't sure if she likes the snow!



View from our front door



A Visit to Bobolink Dairy

I have been out of the blogging loop for a while.  I have been suffering from the winter blues and it is only the first day of winter!  I hate the short days and cold weather which leave me a little (or a lot) uninspired...  I have been plagued with a number of odd occurrences lately including  keys locked in the trunk at a market, my wallet left at Whole Foods, being stuck in an elevator (yes only for a few minutes but long enough for a panic attack!) and a broken computer...  Equipped with a new motherboard, two weeks of vacation time, and my wits about me (hopefully) - I'm back.

Last Sunday Matt and I took a ride out to Hunterdon County to visit the new home of Bobolink Dairy.  The dairy recently moved from leased land in Vernon, NJ to its permanent home in lovely Milford, NJ.  The dairy specializes in artisanal raw-milk cheeses from grass fed cows and freshly baked rustic breads.  We attended the "Meat and Greet" which entailed a tour of the dairy and a tasting of cheeses, meats and breads.  The tickets were $5 a person and we sampled fabulous products and got to take home a loaf of fresh baked bread - what a bargain!  I also learned a lot!  Despite the rainy weather and the slip sliding through the mud, we had a great time.



Cave-Ripened Cheddar



Jean-Louise



Rosemary Epi



Nina and her husband Jonathan are the owners and they are extremely passionate about their work at the dairy.  The quality of their cheeses is attributable to the condition of the cows which live a stress free life out in pastures.  The domain of their website is cowsoutside.com - and that is just what you find at the dairy - cows outside.  The cows do not receive antibiotics or hormones and eat the grass in the fields, as they should.  Jonathan has a long history of making award winning artisanal cheeses.  He started out making his cheeses with ordinary milk.  Running his own dairy has given him complete control over the quality of the milk and its handling at every point resulting in the best possible cheeses. 

If you get the chance, Bobolink is a great place to visit.  Their cheeses also can be shipped and would be great for the holidays.  They are also at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC on Fridays.  I brought home the Jean-Louis (amazing!) and the world's best cave-ripened cheddar.  The breads are also fantastic.  We brought home the Rosemary Epi and the Cranberry Walnut.  I froze them and have been indulging on delicious hunks warmed in the oven - so good!  I grew up in Hunterdon County and it is so nice to see that one of the old farms is being preserved and worked by such nice, passionate people.  We are also fortunate that we have some of the world's best cheese right here in NJ.  

The Last CSA Box of the Season

I have had several requests to review my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Basically the idea behind a CSA is that you team up with a farm before the growing season starts by purchasing a share or perhaps a half share depending on your family size and needs. I purchased a full share for $675 which is a share for 4-6 people. The farmers get some up front cash and a stable customer base, the share purchaser gets boxes of ultra-fresh vegetables throughout the growing season. The purchaser shares in the bounty of the farm but also bear the risks of a potentially bad season. Well the end of the season has arrived and this morning I retrieved my last box from the front porch - *sigh*. Winter is now officially imminently upon us.

While it was a great beach and tourism season here at the Jersey Shore, it was one of the toughest growing seasons in many, many years due to the lack of rain and excessive heat over the summer. The fall brought extremes in temperature between warm and cold. All of these conditions affected the crops and we actually missed two weeks of the CSA (24 weeks instead of 26). Some of the crops were not able to withstand the adverse weather conditions.

I would say that a CSA definitely is not for everyone. You have to know going in that farming is extremely weather dependent. We had our Tuesday night delivery rescheduled for Thursday night a couple of times. It was hard to use all of the fresh vegetables between Friday and the next Tuesday's delivery. Also, you may receive quite a lot of a vegetable that you don't necessarily love or know how to prepare. Think lots of radishes! Well, I made radishes every which way and learned to really like them! Radish greens are fantastic by the way! You also have to know that you can't rely on the box for all of your vegetable needs. You have to supplement from other sources. I wish that salad greens were available for more weeks and I also wished for more fresh herbs. Those were the items that I purchased regularly during the season.

Sometimes I felt that communication from the farm was kind of lacking but their business is farming not PR. There were a couple of instances of computer problems which delayed the receipt of the emailed weekly newsletter. Also since I never have actually seen the farm, I feel like I am missing a connection to it. I think that it would be nice to have a day to visit but again they are farmers not tour guides...

The passion for farming was evident in the quality and freshness of the vegetables.  I enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to use certain vegetables. I also tried mizuna and kohlrabi for the first time this year. My particular CSA delivers and they somehow are able to stealth in without making a sound - they must double as Santa's elves! Overall I feel that my investment paid off. When you think of all the ways that you can spend (blow) $28 dollars in a week (which would be even less in a better growing season), isn't a box of fresh organic vegetables for your family a good purchase? Can't a family easily spend that at a fast food restaurant, on a takeout meal, or on a few cocktails? You have to be patient, flexible and creative and you will really enjoy a CSA share. Would I participate in a CSA again? Absolutely! 

Shares are limited so now is a good time to contact a CSA in your area if you are interested in joining for next season.

What was in the boxes?

Salad Mix
Mizuna
Scallions
Beets
Spinach
Broccoli
Strawberries
Summer Squash
Cabbage
Chives
Sweet Corn
Cantaloupe
Sweet Peppers
Sweet Potatoes
Cauliflower
Swiss Chard
Collards
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Eggplant
Turnips
Winter Squash
Zucchini
Green Beans
Hot Peppers
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard Greens
Onions
Snow Peas
Potatoes
Radishes
Rutabaga

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Quick Huevos Rancheros

Okay - while this is by no means traditional huevos rancheros since hey there is no ranchero sauce, it is quick, Mexican-inspired and really, really delicious!    I cooked the eggs sunny side up in a mild olive oil and put the lid on for the last minute to set the tops a little.  I served the eggs generously sprinkled with fresh ground pepper over top of Trader Joe's all-natural Salsa Autentica.  It is not chunky or thickened and is the perfect consistency to serve with the eggs.  I also turned to Trader Joe's for the black beans on the side.  They are already seasoned with onions and peppers and are a really nice and healthy alternative to meat on the side.  Vegetarian refried beans would be good as well.  A few Garden of Eatin' tortilla chips and some slices of avocado for good measure. Voila!  A fast, tasty and healthy weekend breakfast!  Oh, and of course the key is farm fresh eggs.  Happy Saturday!