Beet Success **RECIPE ALERT**

I realize my re-experimentation with the Earthbox posts isn't really working. We've had many weeks of boxes for which I have not uploaded photos nor elaborated on how we use them. Part of me feels defeated, and part of me feels non-chalant: truthfully, we haven't done much with our produce except grill, eat in salads, or use as pizza toppings for a causal 4th of July get-together. In the end, they wouldn't have made for good posts. I probably would have lost readers.

However, there may be a few of you-- I'm looking at you, initial 3 or 4 early Loyal Readers-- who may remember my failed experimentation with beets detailed in one of last summer's posts.  For those of you who don't want to interrupt reading this entry to start all over with a different entry, suffice it to say I am not a fan of beets. Other than an amazing dish at Taxim in Chicago- and trust me, I've tried to find the recipe or at least a description-- I've never met a beet that I liked.

So, the more observant of you may have noticed that we've gotten beets in almost all of our boxes and are probably wondering how we've used them. As the BF is a big fan, they've gone with my best blessings to his fridge.

But they've sat there, neglected and unused. As we tend to cook most of our meals together, he hasn't really had a chance to use them on his own. Eventually, once the oldest batch was in danger of needing to be pitched, he proposed a solution that was both quick and shareable: Beet chips.

We've gotten good at making regular chips. I mean, really, who doesn't like potato chips in at least one form or another? With the abundance of potatoes that show up in the farm box, chips are both a non-labor intensive preparation as well as saveable future snack. Not that we've ever actually saved them. They're almost immediately consumed whenever we bake up a batch.

Beet chips are similar in may ways: easy to prepare, easy to store, easy to consume. And the best part of all? I ACTUALLY LIKE THEM.

So there you go! I'm sure the BF would like some variety in his beet preparation, but I'm happy if I only ever ate them in this form forever. And for those of you who are as beet-averse as me, go for the crispier, more carbon-covered ones. Normally I don't like burned chips, but for these, the crispier, the better.

As always, a few other notes before I grace you with the recipe. When it comes to any chips, but especially these, the thinner they are sliced the more solid and crispy they will be when out of the oven. If you have access to a mandolin, as we do, now is an excellent time to use it. Either the narrowest or second narrowest setting will do. If using a knife.... well, be careful.

Also, cooking times are approximate and should be adjusted based on your oven and how thin your slices are. We perfected the technique in my oven at 26 minutes. However, when making a batch in a different oven while on vacation, 26 minutes scorched them. We used a thinner slicer setting, but the oven callibration may have been different, too, and found that 15 minutes was perfect. Moral of the story: keep your eyes on the chips.

Enjoy! And if you are a new reader who likes beets, perhaps you'll like the cold beet soup earlier reviewed in this post. (See how I did that?)

Beet Chips

(serves 2-4, depending on your serving size)

Ingredients:
3 beets, de-stemmed

1 tbs olive oil or olive oil spray

Sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375. Prick beets with fork and place into glass baking dish with 1 inch of water; cover with foil. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until easily punctured with a fork. Remove from oven, allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel the beets.

2. Turn oven down to 350.

3. Adjust mandolin to the 1.5mm or 3mm setting. Slice beets onto plate or in bowl.

4. Line a baking sheet with foil; brush or drizzle olive oil lightly onto foil. Place as many beet slices as possible onto baking sheet without overlapping. (You may have too many slices to fit on one baking sheet, so you may need to repeat the process again a few times.) One by one, flip each beet slice over so they are coated on both sides with the oil.

5. Lightly shake sea salt on top of beet slices. It is not necessary to flip and salt the other side of the beets.

6. Bake beets for 15-26 minutes, depending on your oven setting. When chips begin to brown and curl up, they are ready. It is okay if some beets are not quite super crispy when you pull them out, as they will continue to bake a few minutes more out of the oven.

7. Enjoy!

A quick note- do not leave un-eaten beets out in the open for too long, especially in humid weather. They absorb water quite quickly and will turn limp and mushy. Store all uneaten beets in an airproof container for later.

Mama Mia! *RECIPE ALERT*

I started the Au Naturale diet to become a healthier person. Of course, it doesn't always work the way I intend. From all of my face-plants in the McDonald's drive-thrus on business trips to gorging on all-natural yet highly caloric homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs, my waistline continuously expands and contracts like a car tire on a hot day.

It seems like an oxymoron when you can eat local and organic yet still gain weight. But local beer is still beer. Pasture-raised meat is still meat- although leaner. And a pound of zucchini, as nutritious as it can be, is still a pound of food when eaten all at once.

And there, Loyal Readers, is how a relaxing weekend away almost split a pair of jeans.

A few weeks ago, the BF and I got to escape to the wilds of northern Minnesota for a long weekend away. Northern Minnesota is glorious, with many of the 10,000 lakes within driving distance (I personally counted about 45). We used the trip as an excellent opportunity to go through two of the CSA boxes in our possession: one from our regular Sunday pickup, and one from a rescheduled pickup due to the trip. Unfortunately, in our rush to grab the second box and pack it up before we hit the road at 5am for a 12 hour drive, I completely forgot to take a picture. But it was very similar to week 2, which you can see below:

Yellow pepper, zucchini, lettuce, 2 tomatoes (one green), sungold tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, beets

Again, the cooking results from weeks 2 and 3 were nothing terribly fancy as we threw almost everything on the grill, along with pasture-raised chicken breasts from C&D Family Farms and Pirate Wurst brats from Crafthouse Market Goods. Seriously, it's hard to think of cooking anything indoors when the weather is amazing, and a front row seat to a glorious lake view only sealed the deal.  Lunches were leftovers or the BF's preferred vegan lunch meats on locally baked bread with the lettuce and tomato that you see above. And we passed many a lazy summer day away sipping on Surly beer, locally brewed in Minneapolis and only found in the Twin Cities. The BF loves Surly's Furious Red Ale, so we had to make a stop on the way up to grab provisions.

But man, was it a lot of food. When we were done just 4 days later we had gone through almost all of it, and by then I was swearing I would not drink alcohol nor eat my weight in food for the next week. So it goes to show: a lot of healthy food can still be a lot of food. More than once I was uncomfortable. But at least I was uncomfortable with food that won't have unintended effects on my body.

A few days after we got back, tired, without much in the fridge, and certainly not in the mood to cook, we threw together an easy pasta dish using Pasta Puttana noodles, the remainder of the veggies, and herbs from the back deck. Part improv, part slightly modified from a recipe online, it was light, refreshing, and flavorful. Not too boring, not too heavy on the oil, and quick to whip up, it was almost the perfect pasta primavera. Too bad we weren't drinking, because a crisp glass of Pinot Gris would have been the perfect accompaniment.

I raced to write down what we did before it slipped away forever. Note that we've made a few pasta primaveras since then and none quite measured up to this one. Although I'm sure they could have if I just took a minute to look back at what I wrote:

Pasta Primavera: (serves 2)

1 8 oz pkg seasoned garlic tagliatelle from Pasta Puttana
3 tbs olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 large yellow pepper, chopped
generous dash of crushed red pepper (if you like some spicy)
3/4 cup fresh basil
2 springs Italian oregano
1 spring hot n spicy oregano
freshly grated parmesean cheese

Directions:

Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil. If using dried pasta, add to water and cook based on package directions. If using a fresh pasta such as Pasta Puttana, continue to steps below while waiting for water to boil.

Heat oil over high heat in large pan; saute garlic for a minute- keep an eye on it or it will burn.
Add veggies, saute for one minute.
Add herbs & red pepper flakes, and toss all together. Turn heat down to medium and cook everything for 3 minutes.
Turn heat to low and cover to keep warm while cooking/finishing pasta.
If using fresh pasta, add pasta to water and cook for just one minute.

Drain and return pasta to pot. Pour contents of pan (including remaining oil) into pot with pasta, toss together.  Serve with fresh parmesean cheese.

It's That Time Again, Kids....

I am in heaven. Pure bliss. You know why? It's that time of year again, the time that all Chicagoans suffer 9 months of the year just to get to.

Yes, folks, it's summer.

DISCLAIMER: For all of you scientists out there, I realize that it is not yet officially meteorological summer. But I am sitting on my back deck, sun shining overhead, iced latte in hand, staring at my beautiful flowers, herbs, and veggie plants. To me, this is summer incarnate.

And of course the start of summer means the start of the outdoor Farmer's Market and Year 2 of our CSA from Iron Creek Farms. Unlike last year, when I obsessed over which CSA to sign with to the point where we missed  the first few weeks of the growing season, the BF and I were on the ball this year and signed up in time to get the full bounty. I am beyond ecstatic that my groceries will be organic and local for the next 6 months.

So what does that mean for you, loyal readers? For those who have been following my trials and travails since this time last year, you may remember my well-intentioned but ill-executed plan to keep you updated on what we received in the weekly box and how we used it. While pondering the blog post for this summery day I thought, what the hell, let's give it a go again. You know what they say: If at first you don't succeed, etc. etc.

As it is the start of the growing season, our box isn't super big as of yet, but still filled with quite an array of goodies. Oh, and as a quick side note: our experiment with a full share in the Fall/Winter box was still a bit stressful for us last year, so we decided to stick with the half-share this year. It should hopefully be just enough for us to use for the week, while still providing some extras to freeze and store for the winter months.

Week 1: (L to R): sweet potatoes, sungold tomatoes, basil, tomato, beets, radishes, leaf lettuce, spinach

How we used it isn't terribly exciting, but I'm not complaining. As much as I love trying out new recipes with exciting, fresh ingredients, sometimes its just nice to enjoy the raw veggies in their purest form.

From the above selection, we made a few salads with spinach, lettuce, radish, and tomato; sweet potato chips; and simple cooked sweet potatoes with just a little butter. The Sungold tomatoes were so sweet we ate them straight as a mid-day snack for work. And the basil, which is easy to keep alive and fresh in a glass of water, is being used in Aunt Florence's pesto recipe, which freezes beautifully in small containers for whenever the mood strikes us.

Today we picked up this week's box, and while there are some repeats, we've got big, exciting plans for some others... which I will save for next week's post. I'm such a tease! But one has to create intrigue, no? Stay tuned. Also, please let me know below on how you would have used the above box. You know what they say: Curious minds, etc. etc.

Stove Top Popcorn *Recipe Alert*

In my previous post I mentioned that there is an equally easy, yet much healthier way of making microwave popcorn than the PFC-laden bagged stuff that you can buy at the store. It's called Popping Popcorn Yourself.

Well, isn't that what I'm doing, you ask? Buying bags and popping it myself?

No, it's not quite the same. I'm talking about buying plain, simple, unpackaged popcorn kernels. Go to your local Whole Foods and you can find them in the bulk foods section. Fill up a container and voila! You will probably end up with more kernels, and at a cheaper price, then buying a box of 5 indivdually wrapped, artifically flavored other stuff.

There are two ways of cooking this popcorn. The most healthy of which is to just put it in a brown paper bag, throw it in the microwave, and pop it like you would normally. Or, if you don't have brown paper bags, put it in a bowl and loosely cover. But not too loosely: my first attempt landed a ton of pieces of popcorn all over the microwave. That was tedious to clean up... and by clean up, I mean eat straight out of the microwave.

The second way is much tastier, almost as easy, and you get fewer unpopped kernels when you're done. In fact, we've made it on more than one occasion where there were no unpopped kernels at all. (It's strange how excited we got: it was like we won the gold medal in popping. Yes, we're nerds.) Granted, it's not quite as healthy as the air-popped version since it involves oil, but it's healthier in that you don't get bag chemicals leeching into the food. Also, the flavoring is all Au Naturale, as opposed to "butter flavored topping". I hate those qualifiers. They make me shudder.

So without further ado, below is the recipe, if you can call it that. More like a technique. And if you're the kind of person who likes their popcorn adulterated, like us, I've included tried-and-true topping methods. Go pop a pot and enjoy.

Stovetop Popcorn

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. of peanut oil (or other high smoke-point oil)

1/3 cup organic popcorn kernels

3 Tbsp. butter

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp. paprika (optional)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

1. In a 3-qt. pot heat the oil on medium-high.  When heated, put three individual kernels of popcorn in the oil and cover.  Once you hear all 3 pop, your pot is hot enough.

2. Turn off heat, pour in the remaining kernels and cover.  Remove from stove and gently shake back and forth while counting thirty seconds. This insures the kernels are all evenly dispersed and coated in oil.

3. Turn heat back on to medium-high, place pot back on stove and wait for popcorn to pop.

4. After popping has stopped, pour popcorn in to large bowl slowly, sprinkling with salt to taste periodically during transfer. 

5. When pot is empty but still hot place butter inside to melt.  Pour butter over popcorn.  Add paprika and/or garlic powder if desired.  Cover with saran wrap and shake to distribute butter, salt, and paprika more evenly.

Information Overload: #howdoesthisworkagain?

I'm still trying to figure out this whole Twitter thing. After obsessing over what my handle should be (and for those of you who forgot and have not yet started following me.. *ahem cough*... it is @AuNaturaleFood) I then decided to sign up for a personal account (@Jor_Cohen, in case you wanted to follow me there, too, but I find that I'm mainly sticking with @AuNaturaleFood). And to date, I still haven't quite totally mastered how/when to use hashtags or how to write in only 140 characters. Hey, I'm verbose.

One thing I did jump on was finding others to follow. It's not that many yet, per se, but seeing what Slow Food USA or Michael Pollen has to say is fun. It can also be a bit of a mind screw, though, when you sign up for things like FDA recalls.

I chose to follow that particular account because in my Au Naturale world I have become keenly interested in how things like conventional farming and overprocessing endanger our health. Especially since I found the below article:

A Second Chance for Faulty Food? FDA Calls it 'Reconditioning'

Um... ew? I don't think I can ever look at a carton of chocolate ice cream the same way again.

I thought it best to have a head start on FDA recalls so I could analyze and post as need be... but I never realized how many would show up in my twitter feed on an almost daily basis. At one point, I had 6 FDA recall alert posts in just 24 hours. In those particular examples many of the recalls have to do with the occasional peanut or other allergen showing up in a food that isn't supposed to contain it. But it's all a scary reminder that mass processing and toying with nature can have some unintended consequences.

Speaking of unintended consequences... the information overload continues for me outside of the Twitterverse as I now read any and every article that smacks of processing. Join me! It includes such articles as:

Microwave Popcorn Bag Chemicals Ruin Vaccine Efficacy

Whoa. I've read that the chemicals will leech into the popcorn itself while microwaving, but this is a new twist. It also brings up the general issue of PFCs in our food and in our bodies.... but as I like to say, that's another post for another day. Also another post for another day? An alternative to buying microwave popcorn: a recipe just as easy and equally as delish! Stay tuned for a recipe alert... although I don't know that it is so much a "recipe" as a technique.

Ooh! How about another fun (fun=scary) article?

CDC: 9 out of 10 Americans Eat Too Much Salt

While that statistic is hardly news, what I found most interesting is how salt ends up in so much processed food, and especially in foods where you don't expect it to exist at all. In the past I, along with many others, used to think that we Americans simply had a heavy hand with the salt shaker. But it explains so much to know that even when you're not manually adding it yourself you could be ingesting an overload. It could explain the continually high blood pressure rates in people who try to watch what they're eating. And it could certainly explain why, after cutting out the processed foods, I've noticed the changes in my own body that I wrote about in this post.

So in a post originally dedicated to my Twitter travails, I apologize for including you in my subsequent information overload. Unless, that is, it inspires you all to go on an information, fact-seeking mission yourselves. In that case: you're welcome!! Enjoy. Become smarter.

P.S. After all of this, please don't forget to follow me at @AuNaturaleFood. Do it now! Seriously, my self-worth is getting wrapped up in how many followers I have. It's the equivalent of getting excited when people "like" your Facebook posts. Sad, I know.

WATCH THIS NOW!!!

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, and I realize that posting a video link is kind of a cop-out. But if there is anything you should learn from my Au Naturale quest, learn this.

I've waxed poetic, or at the very leat mentioned, that food labeling can be deceiving when it comes to where or how your food is raised; not the least of which in the misleading advertising around where your eggs come from. The food industry, in it's never-ending quest to capitalize on trends, is using buzz-words that lead unknowing consumers to think they are buying one thing when they are really buying another. My eyes could fall out of their sockets the number of times I've rolled them in response to some store or restaurant that pats itself on the back by making you think they are selling the most humane and organic stuff, when really they're just selling something slightly better, but with an asterisk.

I love this video because it's short, sweet, and to the point. Still think that "cage free", "free range" and "pastured" chickens and eggs are all the same thing? Please watch this. In only 5 minutes you will learn exactly how mislead you have been by food industry marketing. Then go out and learn more about from where your food comes, and that your best intentions, through no fault of your own, may not be achieving the goal you desire.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2233336974

Post Easter Gluttony **RECIPE RE-POST**

As I try, and fail-- and fail miserably, mind you-- to avoid the mini Evil Bars of Doom filled with Easter candy delights that have crept up all over the office this past week, I am reminded of some better Easter treats that have been patiently waiting in the back of my freezer since this time last year.  Yes, loyal readers, it's the return of the Au Naturale Creme Eggs.

As a reminder and disclaimer, when I say "better", I mean in terms of Au Naturale-ness. Not in terms of healthy. There is nothing healthy in these, but isn't that what makes them taste so good?!?!

I did also try-- and fail again-- to find online a hilarious photo someone had posted on Facebook a while back: it showed a grocery store rack with a Cadbury egg display and a typed sign below saying "As per UK regulations, all of these Cadbury Eggs are certified free-range." Tee hee.

So, here again, for those of you who want the gluttony without the fillers, is the link to the homemade Creme Egg recipe. And yes, I realize I should have posted this a week ago. See the previous post for why I won't apologize- resolutions, people!

http://aunaturalefood.blogspot.com/2011/04/who-needs-cadbury-recipe-alert.html

Enjoy! And happy Easter/Passover to all!