Happy Food Revolution Day!

Food Revolution Day…have you heard of it?  It’s an amazing cause and a great reason to celebrate (and enjoy delicious food) with friends and family.  And it's happening TODAY!

What?

Food Revolution Day was created by Jamie Oliver (aka the Naked Chef and my food hero).  It’s a day for people to take action and make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills.  It’s a opportunity for people to gather within their homes, schools, businesses, and communities to cook and share kitchen skills, food knowledge, and resources.  This day aims to raise awareness about the importance of good food and increased food education for everyone by focusing on three simple actions – cook it, share it, live it.

The first Food Revolution Day took place on May 19, 2012 with more than 1,000 events in 664 cities across 62 countries. 

Who?

Food Revolution Day is celebrated globally as an individual, or within schools, business, or organizations that want to take part in hosting or attending activities in their area.  Many of these activities can be organized by voluntary Food Revolution ambassadors who play a leadership role across the work in connecting individuals, schools, businesses, and organizations at a local level.

Why?

Cooking skills that were previously passed down from generation to generation, are now lacking in millions of people.  We need to get back to the basics by cooking and eating fresh local produce, sharing cooking skills and food knowledge, and joining forces within our communities to get as many people involved as possible.  Food Revolution Day is our opportunity to get the world to focus on the importance of good food and essential cooking skills, by rallying our efforts to empower people with better cooking skills and inspiring them to cook fresh from scratch.

Where?

Food Revolution Day will happen in kitchens of homes and communities around the world inspiring people to take steps towards a healthier lifestyle.

How?

Get in touch with your nearest ambassador, organize anactivity locally, or attend an activity.

Now go and enjoy Food Revolution Day.  Make a difference because this matters.

Source: http://www.foodrevolutionday.com/about-the-day.html

Roasted turnips

Last Saturday I received an amazing turnip from my CSA share.  I love turnip greens and have a few go to recipes, but I've never had much luck with the turnip.  I cleaned and chopped it and put it in the fridge hoping that I would find a use for it.

I was sitting at work and then it hit me - roasted turnip.  Recently I've been roasting every vegetable possible, so I was excited to give the turnip a chance.  It didn't disappoint.  I thought that it was delicious.  And incredibly easy.

Turnip (mine was rather large)
Olive oil (enough to lightly coat turnip)
Rosemary (also from my CSA share)
Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss chopped turnip with olive oil, rosemary, and salt until turnip is lightly coated in olive oil.  I put all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and just gave it a good shake.  Roast turnips until tender and browned, start checking on them after about 30 minutes.  Try not to eat the entire pan at once.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from localfoods.about.com

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

I realized that in the long months on winter, we've been slipping on serving vegetables every single dinner. I always feel guilty when this stuff happens. It's not intentional, but I still feel like I am missing an opportunity to make my kids a bit healthier and introduce them to nature's yummy foods.

Last night I decided to break this trend and pulled out a bag of frozen green beans. Feeling more inspired than the usual steamed with butter, I found a recipe for Parmesan Roasted Green Beans. Yum, right? Super easy, too.

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

Green beans
Olive oil
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place dry (since mine were frozen I patted them dry with a towel) green beans (ends removed) in a bowl. Add enough olive oil to just coat green beans and salt and pepper to taste. Spread on a baking sheet (as single layer as possible). Top with parmesan cheese (we love it, so ours got a pretty good coating). Place in oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Enjoy!

My boys (Jason included) each ate healthy servings. I've never seen them go after green beans like this. They've eaten them before, but not so willingly and happily. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the process and final result. I will take one next time and update this post. This will definitely become a regular in our house.

How do you get your kids to eat vegetables?

Labels

Lately the subject of food labeling has been popping up frequently. Either friends are interested in a cleaner eating lifestyle and have questions, the topic finds its way onto facebook, or it's in the news, either way it seems to be mentioned a lot lately. Those of us passionate about the organic lifestyle can spot marketing labeling lies a mile away, but for those that are new to the process, this can be one of the most confusing and intimidating things to learn.

I was trying to find information quickly about the subject, but was repeatedly routed to the confusing laws on government websites. Sure, at least it was a more trusted website, but reading through the legalize was overly frustrating. I decided to come up with a quick guide that will (hopefully) be easier to read and understand.

100% Organic - must contain (excluding water and salt) only organically produced ingredients and processing aids.

Organic - must contain (excluding water and salt) at least 95% organically produced ingredients and processing agents. Any remaining product ingredients must consist of nonagricultural substances approved on the National List including specific non-organically produces agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form.

Products meeting these requirements must display these terms and the percentage of organic content on their principal display feature. These product packages may contain the USDA seal. Agricultural products labeled "organic" cannot be produced using excluded methods, sewage sludge, or ionizing radiation.

Made with Organic Ingredients - processed products that contain at least 70% organic ingredients can use the phrase "made with organic ingredients" and list up to three of the organic ingredients or food groups on the principal display panel. For example, soup made with with at least 70% organic ingredients and only organic vegetables may be labeled either "soup made with organic peas, potatoes, and carrots" or "soup made with organic vegetables".
These products cannot be produced using excluded methods, sewage sludge, or ionizing radiation. The USDA seal cannot be used anywhere on the package. However, the percentage of organic content and the certifying agent seal or mark may be used on the principal display panel.

Any product containing less than 70% organic ingredients cannot use the term "organic" anywhere on the principal display panel. Although, they may identify specific ingredients that are organically produced on the ingredients statement on the information panel.

Natural - there are no regulations on the label "natural". This term can be found on any product. Beware of this word!

I hope this helps in deciphering labels. Good luck at the grocery store!

Information source: organicdeals.com

Growing avocado trees from the pit

Suddenly I feel like I might have a green thumb. I don't know why because I still kill every plant that enters my house. Anyway, I decided that I can grown avocado trees from the pits...in Ohio (in March). This does not sound at all like a failure, right?

The instructions seem easy enough, at least the first step. Insert four toothpicks into the pit. Put the pit in a glass of water with the point facing up and the water covering 1/3 - 2/3 of the bottom portion.

So, the first pit was a disaster. I ate the avocado at work and the pit was dried and peeling by the time that I made it home. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though! I inserted the first three toothpicks into the pit. I was surprised at how easily they went in. Now for the fourth. Darn it! It broke off IN THE PIT! Now what? Ok, I'll just insert another toothpick close to the first hole. A little wood stuck in the pit shouldn't hurt it from sprouting...right? Now I just needed to put them in water. Of course, I put the toothpicks too low on the pit and they don't balance very well at all on the glass. Now this thing has a million holes in it and it didn't look that great to begin with anyway.  Just more confirmation that as much as I like plants, we really have issues understanding each other.

I decided to break open a second avocado that night. I cut it up and froze for future smoothies. Now I had another pit to work with. Luckily I learned from all of my previous mistakes and I now have a nice looking pit semi-emerged in water. Fingers crossed that this thing sprout!

I started this pit experiment about a week ago.  I decided to waive my white flag and throw out the first pit.  It never seemed to recover from getting so dried out throughout my work day.  The second one looks no different, but I'm still hopeful that I will see it sprout in about two weeks.

I'll keep you updated on it's progress!

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