What’s your Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods “must”?

28 06 2010

One of the pleasures Dave and I have enjoyed since moving to Cleveland is the availability of a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods to shop at.  Whereas before we would stock up during our infrequent trips to these stores, the availability of having them nearby has made the novelty begin to wear off. However, as my brother puts it; “shopping at Whole Foods just makes you feel happy” :) The environment is great, but you can end up spending your whole paycheck if you’re not prudent!

Some products I love and plan to make a staple of our pantry. Namely the chocolate covered dunkers, decaf coffee and gnocchi from TJ’s.  It also seems that the 365 products at Whole Foods are pretty comparable to other grocery stores.  One of the issues as well as cost- how do you decide the trade-off between organic, fair trade or local products that are better for you, the environment and communities yet spending more for them? Since we weren’t able to get into a CSA farm share this year because of our move, we plan to participate in city fresh, a weekly veggie subscription here in Cleveland. I love this idea because with a normal farm share, you typically miss a couple weeks in the summer because of vacation.

We also plan to do some pick your own fruit, one of our favorite things to do in the summer. I’m a glutton for blueberries- we typically pick 40 lbs and freeze them to use through the winter.


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dinner insurance

19 11 2009

Ever since my mother-in-law encouraged me to think of November-February as the “cozy months” it’s helped me to think about all the things I enjoy about winter. After our CSA ended I was lamenting the end of fresh lettuce, herbs and all the other weekly goodies we recieved. However, after freezing everything we gleaned recently I am excited about ways to work in 5 fruits/veggies a day through SOUP! Check out our haul. We pretty much froze all of this stuff to throw into soups later this winter.

Tonight I made one of my favorite healthy/cheap/quick soups that I saw on The Biggest Loser a year ago- Tiny Turkey Meatball soup. This has been one of my quick go-to soups when I need something easy to make & it freezes well too. Which brings me to the title of my post- I don’t know about you but when winter hits my motivation to eat well mostly revolves around the amount of protein I get in a piece of pecan pie. It’s dark and cold & way too easy to hunker down with some take-out instead making cheaper and healthier options.  So here is a recipe that you can make, eat, freeze half and thaw when the craving for pizza hits for the third night in a row. For single people- you can freeze this in clean, recycled yogurt containers, it’s about 2 portions.

Here is the recipe with my less bougie mods below.

Yield: Serves 4, 289 calories/serving

Tiny Turkey Meatball Soup
Ingredients:

  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups low-fat salt-free marinara
  • One 15 ounce can low-sodium chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
  • 1-1/3 pound package ground lean turkey
  • Nu-Salt
  • ½ pound broccoli rabe, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 tablespoons grated pecorino romano

Instructions

  1. Heat a large pot over high heat with chicken broth, marinara sauce, beans and crushed red pepper flakes until mixture comes to a simmer
  2. While mixture comes to a simmer, season ground turkey with Nu-Salt and pepper flakes
  3. Roll turkey into about 40 meatballs
  4. Next, stir broccoli rabe into the broth and bring to a simmer
  5. Add meatballs to the broth, cover pan with lid and lightly poach the meatballs until just cooked through, stirring occasionally for about 6 minutes
  6. The broth should barely simmer
  7. Check soup for seasoning
  8. Ladle into 4 large bowls and top with pecorino
  9. Although no actual salt is called for in this recipe, please add it as you see fit

My modifications:
I use regular marinara sauce, and normal chicken broth. Instead of broccoli rabe, I throw in whatever greens I have- spinach or kale usually. I like the chickpeas in the soup, but tonight I used kidney beans because I didn’t have any in my cupboard. The chickpeas do add a nicer flavor but the kidney beans did in a pinch! I typically use parmesan instead of pecorino.  Enjoy cozying up with some yummy soup in the next couple weeks! What are some of your favorite/healthy recipes for winter! Post the links & share them to keep the strive for five going!


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gleaning

9 11 2009

This past Saturday, Dave and I scored a trunk-full of free vegetables from the farm we subscribed to! Though our subscription is finished for the year, we took part in an ancient practice called “gleaning” basically harvesting the leftovers from the fields. As we traipsed through the thick black soil scouting for cabbage, swiss chard and carrots we enjoyed the beautiful sunny day with reuben & his buddy ashy.

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yay! tractor!

As I filled my giant blue plastic Ikea shopping bag with leaves of deep green curly kale, and waxy purple cabbage I thought about the rules given to the Israelites in Leviticus to provide for the poor in their culture. Leviticus is a portion of scripture in the Old Testament where the Lord basically lays down some laws of how the Israelites are to govern themselves, take care of society and one another and honor him as their God. There are some things in there that strike most of us as strange when we read it because it is so outside of our cultural context.  However, when I was walking the rows of vegetables I had to wonder if and how this verse from Leviticus applies to Christians today:  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.“

While I do believe that scripture is the inspired word of God, I don’t take everything from scripture literally. Just like everything, it must be understood in context & how it applied to the culture at the time it was written and what the implications for today are. This process of study and interpretation is called exegesis. In this case, we don’t live in an agrarian society any more- so how are the poor able to gain access to healthy food?

photo

this bag was filled to the brim at the end of the day- isn't the kale pretty?

In biblical times, the options were; pick the left-over grapes from the vineyard, pick the left-over wheat from the fields. The issue wasn’t whether it was healthy, it was whether people honored the Lord’s desire for the poor to be cared for and if there was enough left for them to survive on.  Today, programs like WIC have changed what they offer to low-income families shifting from lots of cheese products and white breads to a portion of the monthly allotment going towards fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grain breads. While we often think of food as an indulgence, comfort or for heath reasons but food is also a justice issue.

While I plucked stems of broccoli from the tall leafy plants, I recalled a conversation with my friend Ashley from NYC about how the government provides subsidies for fast food restaurants in low-income neighbor hoods to attract businesses. Basically what this has done for people is put them on a fast-track for heart disease, diabetes, obesity and a slew of other health issues. Ashley also shared that because of this, people aren’t learning to cook or most likely how to shop for foods that don’t come in a box. I did a quick review of articles online to find out more about this problem & there were a few good links-

The Neglected Link Between Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity in Poor Neighborhoods

Poor Neighborhoods Lack Access to Fresh Produce

Food Apartheid- Banning Fast Food in Poor Neighborhoods

As we pulled away from the farm with our car smelling earthy from all the produce,  I was thankful that the bags and bags of fresh beets, carrots and broccoli will help ease our food budget for the next few months and help us to eat healthy. I felt like a pioneer as Dave and I processed the vegetables; peeling, blanching and freezing them to eat through the winter. We’re planning to make “stew-bags” of ready-chopped veggie mixes that we can throw in a crock-pot to cook and make soup or stew. I also felt convicted about my part of how to engage in a huge justice issue like providing healthy food to low-income families. While I have done things in the past to care for people in my neighborhood- food baskets at thanksgiving, donating to our church’s food pantry, buying from the city kids who sell the veggies they’ve grown at school at their boot-leg farmers market, I felt pressed with the need that there needs to be more done to care about this issue and get people involved.

Now that I’ve totally depressed you, I’ll leave you with this cute video of my son at the farm to cheer your spirits. enjoy!


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does the beet go on?

5 11 2009

I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons of buying a share in a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm since my first year of subscribing has now concluded.. The pick-ups from groundswell farm, my CSA stopped last week with a few hefty butternut squash and some kale as well but now I’m floundering in a sea of indecision of what vegetables to buy at meijer instead of just using what was sent to me in my share.

I kind of liked not having to make choices every week! And I’ve really liked making puns with the word beet. Maybe I should just asparagus you the bad jokes. o.k. I’ll stop now, really.

photo by Jonathan Harford

I wanna dance with the beet! o.k., last pun, I promise.

Here are the pros from my angle:

  • I liked supporting a local farm run by women and having it be close enough for us to visit and see where our food was grown. I thought this was especially great experiential learning for Reuben.
  • I liked eating seasonally and locally- stuff that was grown in Michigan, because it’s Michigan and not California, Argentina or anywhere else my fruits and veggies are shipped from.

     

    img_0589

    I really liked the Japanese eggplant in our summer shares!

  • I LOVED trying new veggies! Each week it was like digging into a treasure chest filled with deeply crimson carrots, pungent fresh dill, and crinkly green napa cabbage. I tried stuff I don’t think I would have normally bought.
  • I liked learning to be content with what I had and using what I had rather than feeling like I needed to buy more. I think being part of a CSA forced me to be a more creative and adventuresome cook when I was using what I had.
  • I did feel like I was doing something good for my community and for the planet.

But….there were also some things I didn’t like:

  • Farming is a crap-shoot. Never in my years of eating was I more aware of how weather affects what I eat, what is available and why it might cost more. This was good in the sense that it heightened my awareness of how I’m connected to my food, but we had a cold spring in West Michigan, this meant some pretty skimpy shares those first few weeks. It felt like a bummer having paid for a share and not wanting to buy more but realizing that we needed more than a small head of lettuce and some chives to get us through the week.
  • Which brings me to the other part of that! Overabundance! August hit & we had more produce than we could handle even though we split the share with some friends! I actually think this helped me get back into being more intentional with strive for five I couldn’t help but eat a ton of veggies every day because they’d go bad otherwise! And you, dear blog readers, know I HATE wasting food. So, this was a good and a difficult thing.
  • Dave and I are forgetful people and we travel a lot. I know this sounds totally lame that we would forget to pick up our share, but if you remember my post about how I stole veggies from a homeless shelter this caused a lot of stress this summer when we would be scrambling to pick up our share. It was nice splitting the share with friends because on the weeks we traveled, they just got our share, or we invited another friend to enjoy it. But it did feel a little silly paying for veggies that we weren’t going to eat on the weeks we were gone. :(

Overall, I think I will participate in a CSA again. My friend in Cleveland told me about a weekly CSA where you can just pick up a share on the weeks you’re around. This would totally fit my lifestyle better, but I do understand the need of farmers to have people to pay upfront for logistical reasons and to know how much they’ll need to plant in the spring, not to mention having the cash to pay for seeds.

So, are any other CSA members in this weird place of having to transition back to buying veggies yourself? How do you ease the transition? I went to Meijer to get some green peppers this week and as I gazed at the glistening produce section at my new friends the lovely leeks,brilliant beets and cowabunga cabbage i just needed an excuse to use the word “cowabunga”, I felt so overwhelmed. I wanted to buy it all and have tons of veggies in my fridge again! Help me!


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reverse robin-hood

1 10 2009

Recently I stole took some food from a homeless shelter here in Grand Rapids. Not just a little, but at least four or five full bags.  Some homeless guys even offered me some bananas which I also accepted.

I was on my way to book club to discuss “The Memory Keepers Daughter” when I remembered it was Wednesday & that neither Dave nor I had picked up our share of veggies from our CSA (community supported agriculture) farm.  My friend Sarah was pulling out of off of our street when I realized this and started to exclaim “shizzle-shizzle-shizzle!” I really do try not to swear- having a toddler who repeats everything is great motivation to be mindful of what I mutter when I’m frustrated. I checked the dashboard clock-It was 6:20. Our pick-up is supposed to be from 4-6. grrrrr. After realizing Dave can’t pick them up because he’s watching two toddlers I angrily realize:

  1. We will have no fresh veggies for the week. (We committed to using what we had while we did the CSA and not buying more).
  2. Worse- our friends who spilt the share with us will have no fresh veggies for the week or will have to buy more. This seems worse than us not having any veggies.
  3. I will be incredibly late to book club which I’ve been looking forward to all day and this has now thrown me into a state that looked something like this:
I wasn't wearing a suit, I was just seething.

I wasn't wearing a suit, I was just seething.

I was looking forward to unwinding with friends during a pleasant evening but now all I could think about was getting our produce. Some of you remember that I REALLY hate wasting food. In this case, I knew that the farmers would donate our share to a local homeless shelter in Grand Rapids, but in this case it wasn’t food I was wasting but my money and the money of my friends who had also paid for the vegetables. So what would you have done?

Thankfully my friend Sarah agreed to drive me to the pick-up site to see if the farmers were still there. After searching for the new pick-up location where I hadn’t been to in a few weeks I see both of the farmers trucks parked on the street with crates of veggies (empty? half-full?) hoping I can still scrounge what’s left of our share. Just as I run up to the window of one of the trucks, the other pulls away down the street and our famer lady tells me “all the food is in the other truck, she’s dropping it off at God’s Kitchen shelter- you can still probably catch her.” I jump back in the car & Sarah & I head off towards where we think the red pickup truck is heading.

follow that truck!

follow that truck!

Sarah & I drive past the men and women milling around outside the shelters, keeping our eyes peeled for the red pick up truck. We wait outside the shelter that farmer girl said she’d be at. No luck. I ask a security guard about a veggie drop off. no luck. I run inside and ask the people inside about a veggie drop off (one of whom happens to be a former boss of mine & was trying to be chatty- I was too stressed and driven on my quest for kale to stop and talk). no luck. Sarah drives me around  the blocks a few times where the homeless shelters are. no red pick up truck. I’m getting angrier by the minute, embarrassed that Sarah is seeing me in such a state and annoyed that we’re late for what was supposed to be a relaxing evening.

As we’re driving around the block again, we spot the red pickup coming out of a gated parking lot. “There she is! Follow that truck” I yell as Sarah pulls to the curb & I jump out of the car and run over to catch farmer girl. “hey, I missed our share pick up- did you have anything left?” I pant as farmer girl eyes me like a crazy person. “It’s all in there” she tells me as she juts her thumb towards the open garage door. “take whatever you want.” I thank her and then jog to the open garage door where some guys are milling around. All the produce is in bags on the cart.

At this point I feel like a real tool because:

  1. I’m at a homeless shelter. Obviously these guys are worse off than me losing a few bucks on some squash and beans. Even though I’ve paid for what I’m taking it just feels greedy and wrong.

    Grand Rapids has many homeless shelters to provide meals, programs and housing for people on the street.

    Grand Rapids has many homeless shelters to provide meals, programs and housing for people on the street.

  2. I’m worried that they’re going to think I’m stealing from them. Or that they’ll think I’m a nutter for rifling through bags of turnips and potatoes.
  3. I hadn’t brought any bags with me so I had to ask farmer girl who was kind enough to give me some.
  4. I’ve inconvenienced Sarah & will now have to explain to my bookclub why we were so late.

But the part where I felt like the biggest tool was when the homeless guys were so generous to me. They kept telling me “take it all! take as much as you want! we get tons of this stuff all the time!” waving their hands over the whole cart of produce. I kept explaining why I was there & that I had missed our farm pick-up which just sounded lame & like I was some kind of vegetable addict jonesing for my next fix of beets. It was so humbling to have people who have little to nothing offering me even what few things they had. I kept trying to tell them “no, no, I’m just going to take what I paid for. This stuff is really good, I want you guys to enjoy it. Which made me feel like even more of a tool because if I really felt that way I would have just told Sarah to drive straight to bookclub instead of making her drive me on a wild eggplant chase.

As I packed up the bags of produce I introduced myself to a guy named Doug who lived there and we chatted about what kinds of produce we enjoyed and how nice it is to live in Michigan where so much food grows. As I finished I thanked him & the other guys who had come into the garage to see me take bagfuls of their food. I trotted back to the car with the bags dangling from my arms and as I climbed in to her car Sarah, looking slightly frantic asked me “where did you go? I grabbed a tissue to blow my nose and you were gone! I thought you got in the truck!” Then I felt like even more of a tool because I had scared my nice friend who thought I was taking rash measures to get my veggies than is normal.

Later, when I got home after an enjoyable evening at bookclub and brought in our bags of produce I told Dave my reverse robin-hood story. “Wow, that’s pretty tenacious. I’m not sure I would have gone through all that just to get our veggies.” Dave grinned as he loaded the carrots into our crisper drawers in our fridge. Thank the Lord I had cooled down by then because if not for the Holy Spirit acting like muzzle on my mouth, I think I would have gone off on Dave and whacked him over the head with a leek.

So, what kind of stuff motivates you towards crazy tenacity? Saving money? Food? Getting exercise? Spending time with someone you love or your family? Hot cheetos? What would you have done in this situation? Let it go? Take the veggies?


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be still my beeting heart

1 09 2009

This spring Dave and I signed up for a share of groundswell farm to see what it would be like to participate in community supported agriculture (CSA).  It has been really enjoyable to buy veggies directly from the people who grow them, including one of my favorites: beets!

must be my Lithuanian heritage that gives me an affinity for beets!

must be my Lithuanian heritage that gives me an affinity for beets!

I tried this recipe last night cooking up this bad boy beet: roasted beet wedges. I did cook the beet in the microwave for 15 minutes covered in a little water because really, who has an hour and 1/2 to wait around to roast a beet?  It was so yummy with just the salt, olive oil & rosemary! It’s also been fun to be able to take Reuben to see where our food was grown.  Part of signing up for a membership was committing to working on the farm for three hours- which we will probably do sometime in the next month.

backing up the tractor at groundswell farm

backing up the tractor at groundswell farm

One of the reasons we decided to do a CSA share was that this past January I turned over a new spinach leaf leaf and committed to the goal of eating 5 fruits/veggies a day- going with the American Dietetic Associations recommendation of “strive for 5″ (catchy isn’t it?) to try and be healthier, lose weight and be more mindful of what I was consuming.  The thing that really got me thinking about food was the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver that my book club read last August. Other than ancient scriptures, this was probably in the top 3 most influential books of my life, I highly recommend it especially now when there are so many fresh crops available!

Because of being part of a CSA I’ve had the opportunity to try new veggies that I’d normally ignore in the produce section of Meijer. Each week we have loved trying new things like Chinese cabbage, okra and varieties of carrots like these red beauties pictured below. I’m also amazed how different some vegetables taste when they’re fresh from the ground rather than having been carted across the country. What are some of your favorite summer fruits or veggies?

it's a vegetable rainbow!

it's a vegetable rainbow!

beautiful & delicious red carrots- we eat them with the skins on.

beautiful & delicious red carrots- we eat them with the skins on.


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