Summer around our house is the time to enjoy food. Even when we were dating we would try new recipes and explore for new food stops. Living in Texas hasn't stopped the tradition, here's a bit of our summer food adventures.
Part I: Food Inc. and Michael Pollan's Food Rules
Yes, we've watched Food Inc., and enjoyed it in a thought provoking way. If you haven't seen it, watch it. I know that there are those out there that say the film didn't "tell the whole story," but if anything, it gets you thinking about the food you eat and where it comes from. C's mom sent us the book Food Rules awhile ago, but with the luxury of free time during summer we finally got around reading it. Go get it!!!! We read it cover to cover for Family Home Evening and quite enjoyed the humor and simplicity.
What we took away from these were this:
1 - Eat real food - like the kind our grandparents would eat (or at least recognize).
2 - Eat more plants and watch labels - you never know where the corn syrup is hiding.
3 - Eat local and organic - were feasible.
Part II: Farmer's Markets (FM) and Sprouts
{Dallas FM}After discovering the 3 points mentioned above, we began exploring the local farmer's markets. In the beginning of the summer we started with the McKinney and Frisco markets. Our exploration took us to the Dallas FM. Wowza, that place was amazing and we only explored 1/5 of it! It is open all year and the farmers come from within 150 miles of Dallas. We love FMs because you get fresh produce (usually for cheaper than the grocery store) and you are supporting locally grown food. Example: about 5 cups of the plumpest, most delicious blueberries - $3!
Eating organic meat can be expensive, but much better for you (no hormones, added antibiotics, etc.). Since moving to Texas we have discovered Sprouts Farmers Market (sprouts.com), a grocery store kind of like Whole Foods but less glitzy and very affordable. Sprouts sells wonderful organic beef and chicken with no added hormones -- and the best part is that generally once a month they put it on sale for a steal of a deal! The organic meat tastes better to me and I don't feel sick after eating it like I have with other meats in the past. (Now this is not to say we eat all organic, because we don't. We still like our Ball Park Franks!)
Well all of this fresh food, if not eaten, goes bad. Our solution: the Food Saver! The Food Saver allows you to vacuum seal and freeze most foods. It just requires minimal preparation and our freezer is holding peaches, corn, cauliflower, zucchini, blueberries, strawberries, chicken and beef. All to be eaten later this year when the produce is out of season.
(NOTE The deal of the year(!): We began investigating what kind of food saving device to purchase and the Food Saver brand was recommended. So we looked online and Macy's had the one we wanted on sale from $179 to $139. So we thought, lets see if they have it at the store so we can start pricing it out and put it in the budget. We go to the store, they don't have it there but the cashier says they can order it for us with no charge for shipping. She looks up the sku number and tells us total it will cost us $58. C and I looked at her and said, "Come again, how much? Are you sure it's the same one?" "$58 and yes it's the same one." Sold to the 2 people with dropped jaws!)
{The FoodSaver in all it's glory! We should have taken a picture with food . . . ironic!}This summer I have been unpacking our house and getting things organized (watch for an up coming post on this). One day I ended up in the laundry room with the food storage. I feel like I have the responsibility to make sure that my family eats healthy, semi-fresh, good food (even from the food storage). In July when we were in Denver we picked up a couple of books on how to use your food storage in your everyday menus. (Not Your Mother's Food Storage Bray/Barker and Practical Preparedness Monson.) Pretty much the jist is that you store the basics of any meal and you learn to make things from scratch with those basics. We're still working on the logistics of our food storage, but it is slowly coming along.
Part IV: Recipes of Good Eats!
With our goal to eat more fresh food we've come up with some good menu items and snacks. One of our favorite new farmer's market inspired meals is portabello tacos. We grill up a portabello mushroom or two, slice it, and put it in a tortilla with all the taco fixings; fresh and delicious! We've even ventured into making our own corn-syrup-free granola bars - quite tasty and very hearty. (Recipe @ http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/04/11/homemade-granola-bar-recipe-no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-in-these-bars/)
{Yummy granola bars}
So to you fellow Foodies out there, until next time, we're eating on Cloud 9!
B + C
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