Blog

First of all, sorry about the long gap between entries. It's been a crazy few weeks around here.

It's summer and one issue that gets worse in summer (though it exists year round) is that people don't drink enough fluids. Dehydration can make people eat more (as they mistake thirst for hunger) and also can cause other health issues. The best thing to drink is plenty of water, but not everyone is comfortable drinking that much water. I drink a lot of water, but there are times when its just easier to drink a large amount of a flavored beverage.

Is the combination of older recipes and modern foods a recipe for disaster? It can be. Remember that many foods are being modified in today's society for a number of reasons. This can be genetically modified produce- not much of a big deal in cooking, or pre-processed foods- like Worcestershire Sauce which used to be made with cane sugar and now contains HFCS. It can be breads, cookies and cakes made with more preservatives, and things like relishes with HFCS instead of either no sugar or regular sugar.

A new study shows that 1 in 13 children have some sort of food allergy, and of those 40% have a severe reaction (hives or anaphalaxia) as opposed to the more minor reactions possible (see http://eating4living.com/content/may-allergy-awareness-month for a list of allergy and intolerance symptoms). These are diagnosed allergies as opposed to the more common intolerance's. That means that things like lactose intolerance are not covered by this study.

Tis the season.. for fresh wonderful greens, especially here in MI where the other fresh produce is almost here, but not quite yet. I know our CSA (Capella Farm) has been mostly providing greens the last 2 weeks. Last check I had 6 different types of greens still stored in the fridge in varying amounts. We use them all and they are all disappearing rapidly but they still need to be stored. And with one member of our household returning from England tonight after a 10 day trip, that means even more than there might be otherwise as fewer mouths are around to eat it all.

I guest blogged on Aroundtheplate.com at http://bit.ly/lt2ue6 and it went up yesterday. I have also been trying to do some other things to build my business and dealing with an issue posting the recipe I am about to post here because I wanted pictures to appear. If they don't, I've decided to post anyway and fight the image thing later.

The new Food Icon that replaces it can be found at: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

The last few weeks I have had several things come up that made me think about the greens that grow wild here in MI. While I was thinking about those, I got some additional reminders, and someone asked me for some nutritional information on them. Then I saw a bunch of them while out running yesterday.

So this year we are doing something a bit different as a source for fresh produce and joined a CSA- Community supported agriculture. Basically that means for a set price we bought a share of a farms produce for 20 weeks. That starts next week. The farmer just sent me the list for what to expect in our first box (season is running behind due to the cold):

Red choi

Yesterday was 80+ and sunny. Today its pouring and the temps are falling. We seem to not be getting much warm weather consistancy this year. Which is having an odd effect on the growing season. Talked to a local farmer, we're running about 5 weeks behind, yet some things we aren't getting at all. I'll be getting my CSA boxes starting on the 4th of June, so I'll start posting uses for some of the more obscure MI things here (like nettles- good in soup, but also good in other things).