Farm Fresh Even In Winter

Winter can leave those of us who seek farm fresh produce craving the bountiful days of summer. Once the Farmer's Markets pack up for the season, most of us are left with the dull, flavorless, and expensive produce at the grocery stores. Not very appetizing is it?

But did you know that produce grows year round here in Texas (and in many other areas as well). But several gardeners head inside for winter and leave their gardens behind where greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, lettuce, beets, and onions could be growing. I too am quilting of abandoning my garden at summers end. It seems by then the plants and myself are burned out by the summer heat.

This is a great place for your local CSA to step in. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. By joining you are buying a share of a local farm and in return you receive a weekly portion of produce. And when I say, "produce" don't picture the stuff you see at your local grocery store in your head. Instead think of crisp spinach leaves harvested just an hour before you arrive, fresh tender baby carrots free of pesticides, and a few vegetables that you have never even seen before!

Check out localharvest.org to find a CSA near you. Several groups will give you a deal on the price if you volunteer a few hours of farm work (a great project for kids). And the owners are usually generous with recipe ideas for those new veggies you will be taking home. They will also offer tips for storing and freezing excess so nothing goes to waste.

For those of you who are local, I use Bill's Organic Gardens and they are wonderful people! Every week we receive a very generous portion of organic vegetables some of which have been new to me and I am a dietitian! This forces me to get out of my rut and eat a variety of vegetables and discover new favorties. Those of us in this group often exchange the new recipes we've discovered to help each other out. It's one of the cheapest and healthiest adventures I have ever been on!

I put off joining a CSA for a long time because I have grown my own garden since I was in college (think pots on an apartment balcony). But I know now that I have been missing out!

Bill (from Bill's Organic Gardens) has just expanded his land and crop so it's a good time to join. There is a link above to his website where you can get more information and contact him. You can always contact me for questions too. If you do join, be sure to tell him that I sent you!

For the sake of full disclosure I must tell you that I do have a financial relationship with Bill's Organic Gardens. But that financial relationship did not happen until after I became a customer and saw the quality and value. Now I am anxious to get the word out and Bill has asked for my help.

Warm Up To Melanie

I realized a moment ago as I curled up with one of my favorite comforting hot beverages on this snowy night, that I cannot keep this secret to myself. I must go now and blog this simple cozy recipe. Now!

Here is how you make a Melanie.

Warm raw milk on the stove just enough that it is pleasurable to drink. Be careful not to get it too hot and pasteurize it! (Gosh I wish I could see people's faces when they read that :) If it's boiling, you've gone too far.

Pour into your favorite mug and add a drop of pure organic vanilla. As you stir be sure to take in that soothing aroma. The smell alone is almost as comforting as being wrapped in the quilt my grandmother made for me. Almost.

This warm creamy beverage was named by my myself and my old best friend, Carly in Junior High after a beloved character from our favorite movie at the time. The character was genuinely sweet, not too sweet mind you, reliable, comforting, and nourishing. Okay, I must tell you that is was Melanie Hamilton from Gone With The Wind. Cheesy, isn't it? None the less, you will love it!

Getting What You Want

Years ago when I was in college studying to be a registered dietitian, I never dreamed I would work in a clinical setting. And when most people think of a dietitian they think of a lab coat adorned hospital dietitian. I had no desire to step foot in something so sterile and uncreative as a hospital although I knew it would be something I had to endure in graduate school. My goal was to get my registration and continue my master's degree in food science. After all, food is the best aspect of being a dietitian!

But the love of a good man (AKA my husband) swayed me to move far away from civilization (okay, maybe I am being a little dramatic) and into the country where the only work I thought I could do in my field was clinical. And to the hospital I went where to my surprise I enjoyed myself for a while. It was not the work that kept me happy but rather the extremely social environment that working at a large hospital provides. If you are looking for a social network that outperforms facebook, check out employment opportunities at your local hospital!

The hospital work kept me busy for several years but I rarely felt like I helped anyone. Providing diet instruction to patients about to walk out the door from a long hospital stay is hardly productive. How much can you remember from one 30 minute conversation? And am I suppose to relay enough information to live off of in that short time? Can I regurgitate my degree in so brief an encounter? I think not.

(Side note: I do feel like I was able to help those intubated and sedated who needed tubefeeding or TPN. It was not however an ideal setting for life-altering diet instruction.)

Eventually being a mother won out and I left that job missing the people I worked with but none of the work. But this past year seems to have brought new life to my career. It feels as though I awoke suddenly - although in reality it was not suddenly - and I was teaching a nutrition class where I had full control of the content, a voice into the community on health, a chance to do some writing on my favorite topics with the hopes of reaching a larger audience and a steady stream of folks at my door picking up food from the food co-ops I run out of my house (yes, that's plural. co-ops.) When did I take on a full time job? The phone began to ring, text messages on my cell phone collected rapidly, and my email in-box filled all while the door bell was ringing, dinner was buring, and a baby was crying.

And in the midst of the chaos I realized that I had my dream job through these various outlets. Now what the heck do I do with this mess?

Last fall I stopped blogging, cut out a few other extra activities, and shut my self in for a while to regroup. If this was what I love, I had to find a way to make it work without sacrificing my family along the way.

After much brainstorming and planning, the new year is starting off with co-ops reorganized in a way that they can manage themselves without the need of constant emails and text messages. And other responsibilities have been realigned as well. My dream job may have snuck up on me and caught me off guard but I think we are back on track now. And I think it is safe to say you can expect more posts soon!

Happy New Year everyone! I pray you too are starting the year off regrouped and energized!

More Good News For Those in Dallas

Let's be honest, meat from animals raised in a pasture without the use of hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified grains is expensive. Have you seen the prices at whole Foods and Sprouts (I'm talking to the city folk, not us locals :)? As some of you know, purchasing the whole animal has saved this frugal housewife a ton of money!

Going directly to the farmer is an option for you guys in Dallas and Fort Worth as well. Many of you have asked about purchasing a whole animal and transporting it back to the city. I looked into it and here is the deal.

I spoke with Jerica from True Fields and she explained a few options you guys have. First of all you can purchase a whole animal from her with the perk of a price break. You can then have it processed at the place they use out here which puts a road trip in you near future. For some of you that might be a bonus. After all, fall is beautiful in these piney woods and you might have a dietitian who is an old friend that you want to see that lives near by;). Transporting the meat in an ice chest on dry ice will be sufficient for food safety.

Another option is to pay to have the animal transported to a facility near you and have it butchered there.

All this effort is worth it though. Not only do you have the advantage of speaking directly to the farmer and learning all about how the animal was raised but you also have the choice of how it is processed. What cuts of meat would you like? How do you want it cut? Are there any specialty items you want?

And the convenience of having high quality meat in your freezer cannot go unmentioned!

True Field's contact information is on their website, truefields.com. They will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Texas Daily Harvest

You may have heard me talk about this dairy in my nutrition class or read about them on my blog. Now you can check them out for yourself. Their website is up and running now so pop on over, texasdailyharvest.com. You might be surprised to find that a store or farmer's market near you is carrying their delicious products. Archer's personal favorite is their Greek yogurt. My new favorite is their Gouda cheese that I tried for the first time last night. I made a cheese soup with the organic Gouda, fresh raw cream, homemade broth, and veggies. You can't do better than nourishing and amazingly tasty food! Don't forget, if you don't see your local store listed on Texas Daily Harvest's website, you can always ask your store to carry their products. Sprouts, Whole Foods, and small health food stores are always looking for high quality local products.

Click here to receive the Texas Daily Harvest newsletter. A certain dietitian that you know is writing articles for their newsletters ;).

Enjoy the harvest!

Real Milk For Everyone

A new bill is in the works that would allow raw milk to be sold at farmer's markets, farm stands, and to be delivered. Under current law raw milk can only be sold at the farm. I know for us that means driving at least 1 hour there and 1 hour back. And in my book that's a little difficult to add to our weekly excursions to say the least. That's why we have set up a milk co-op where we take turns driving out to the farm.

This law will help support local farms and in effect the local economy. And as an added bonus it allows the consumer easier access to real unprocessed food. Why do they make it so hard in the first place to get food that doesn't say General Mills or Nabisco on it?

For more details and to find out how you can help click here.

Butter 'Em Up!

I don't know about you but I have not had much luck making butter in a food processor. Maybe I'm just not patient enough or perhaps I just can't take that loud noise long enough for the butter to actually form. But the benefits of homemade butter made from farm fresh cream are worth my effort. Omega 3's from grass fed cows, fat soluble vitamins, and brain building cholesterol linger in the heavy cream awaiting transformation. Note to dairy friends: there are several of us that are willing to pay for farm fresh butter made from the raw cream of grass fed cows! Please fill this niche.

Until a dairy takes on this endeavor I must endure. Or put the children to work. Last week I set my cream out for 8 hours to sour (Think probiotics. Cultured dairy products are awesome, not scary. I promise). I then placed the cream in a clean glass jar and screwed the lid on tight. Very tight.

After that, I handed it over to the kids. They rolled it back and forth, took turns shaking the jar, and even fought over it. Did you know that making butter actually encourages crawling? Archer would play with the jar and as it rolled away from him he would go after it. Yet another great thing about butter! We even took it outside and rolled it around the yard. We had butter in no time at all!











I guess I should have taken a picture of the butter when we were finished, huh?

For the sake of food science I must tell you that the constant shaking and moving of the cream causes the fat globules to stick together and form butter. After your butter has clumped together place it in a clean glass dish. Pour a little water over the butter to wash it and then press the butter with a spatula, paddle, or wooden spoon to remove excess water. We store our cultured butter on the counter so it's ready to spread.