It's Easy Being Green

U.S. News and World Report had some interesting facts about the amount of corn being grown and used in food products these days.  According to the magazine, U.S. farmers harvested about 13-billion bushels of corn this year which is the largest harvest on record.  That’s great for the farmers and the government subsidies that were handed out to them to increase the corn production.  However, there’s new concerns that we’re intaking too much corn in our diets.

Because corn syrup is such an economical sweetener, it’s used in just about everything.  Some estimates suggest that close to 10% of our daily caloric intake comes from high-fructose corn syrup.  It’s said that the average American consumes 42 lbs. of the sweetener every year, most of that in the form of sugary soft drinks.   That breaks down into 76,000 calories a year, enough to feed some men for 29 days.  Sugar is just as bad but some health experts say if you just cut one sugary soda or flavored water, per day, out of your diet you would cut 10lbs. of fructose consumption.

The problem isn’t just soda though.  Most corn is diverted as a feed crop for our nation’s cattle.  Cows fatten quickly on the grain but the resulting meat is much higher in artery-clogging, saturated fats.  It’s another reason why consumers should look toward grass-fed beef.  Researchers have also discovered that cows raised on corn are more susceptible to contracting a deadly strain of the E-coli bacteria.

With corn now feeding the ethanol market and the price of the commodity on the rise again, many companies are finding ways to turn away from the use of corn.  Back in October, Heinz announced it would stop using high-fructose corn syrup as an additive in their ketchup products.  It’s a way to keep the price down.  But Heinz researchers are now tinkering with their company controlled tomato varieties, looking for the sweetest bunch.  Heinz says they evaluate 700 new tomato varieties every year.  Jones Soda Company has never used the sweetener, instead turning to pure cane sugar juice.  The Dr. Pepper plant in Dublin, Texas is still bottling the drink under the original recipe, using real sugar.  I think the taste is amazing and if you happen to run across some bottles, you should snag some and try it.  In fact, most of the sodas I’ve come to like use real sugar, like the Mexican Coca-Colas.

If you’re looking for a fun and interesting assortment of soda you can’t find at your local grocery store, check out one of my favorite stores, Pop the Soda Shop.  They’ve got a great selection of the rare and unusual!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Spring can’t arrive soon enough here at the Half-Acre Homestead.  The first day of spring is March 20th, just two and a half weeks away but we’re already itching to get back out into our garden and get back to growing our own food.  One of the most missed garden items at the moment are those glowing orbs of goodness brought on by sunshine and warmth called tomatoes.

Some of the biggest tomatoes we've ever grown came off our Pink Brandywine plants that we bought at the Master Gardeners Spring Plant Sale. This is the type of tomato we miss in the winter doldrums.

Typically we just avoid buying store bough tomatoes altogether.  They’re horribly bland, watery and shipped in from destinations several thousand miles away.  If  I haven’t ever been able to visit the country where my food is coming from then it certainly doesn’t belong on my dinner table.  It’s not sustainable and doesn’t do me or the farmer in that country any good.

This has become a bit of a challenge the past few weeks though as my Homestead Hottie has started craving a nice big juicy tomato to slice and eat.  It could be a pregnancy thing but she always likes to slice tomatoes, sprinkle with Himalayan Pink Salt and eat away.  We love raw, fresh tomatoes in this house!  However, finding a tomato that isn’t foreign and isn’t terrible is an insurmountable task this time of year.

There wasn’t a single tomato grown in the U.S. to be found at Sam’s Club during our recent visit.  Some came from as “close” as Mexico while others heralded banners from Guatemala, Chile and other exotic South American destinations.  Thank heavens for produce labels that proudly display where a fruit or veggie has come from!

Our next stop was the local Schnuck’s grocery store where we found one brand of tomato grown in Florida.  These hulking, misshapen and truly red tomatoes looked like something you might pluck off an heirloom tomato plant out in the garden.  Each one was delicately wrapped in it’s own styrofoam net, protecting it from the bruising or beating it might have endured on it’s shorter truck ride from the sunny Florida coast.  They looked like a winner.  They were called UglyRipe.

UglyRipe claims their tomato is an heirloom, a derivative of the deeply ribbed Costuluto variety from Italy.  Sadly, the state of Florida wouldn’t originally let these tomatoes be sold because they weren’t perfectly round and didn’t have smooth skin.  In the eyes of these beholders, we thought they looked perfect.  We plucked about four of the “beauties” from their display basket and proudly paid our price at the check-stand, about $8.  Yes, exorbitant the cost but it is the dead of winter.  Fresh local greenhouse tomatoes are still at least another two months off.  Plus, our food dollars were still going to support a U.S. based farm operation.  With anticipation we hurried home and Talina got right to slicing open a tomato for a mid-afternoon snack to share with baby 2.0 in the womb (that’s two-point-oh as in version number two of our offspring following our Darling Daughter Everly).

I have to say on first taste, the UglyRipe did manage to win over our tomato craving taste buds.  The texture was firm and juicy with deep red flesh, much redder than you typically see in store-bought tomatoes.  The taste for me was mildly acidic with a hint of minerals.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the UglyRipe a 7.  It certainly is much better than the watery, tasteless, yellow-orange fruit labeled tomatoes at the local store.  It has more flavor, better texture and a beautifully imperfect shape with deep coloring.  It’s a monster-sized tomato too.  One slice will easily cover your hamburger patty.  But I give it a 7 because it still doesn’t live up to the freshly plucked, hot off the vine, perfect 10 creation that I grew with my own bare hands.  Nothing will ever replace that so here’s to hoping tomato weather arrives real soon.

What is you favorite tomato to grow? Leave a comment below and let me know.  We had a few standouts last season (read more here) and we’ll be trying some new varieties this year but that’s for a future post!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Monday kicked off a new week here at the Half-Acre Homestead with little to no bang.  Our week-long spell of sunshine and 60 degree temps came to an end today as heavy rain lashed at the side of the house for most of the day.  Tonight we’re supposed to plunge into the 30’s.  It was one of those stare out the window type of days with the exception of buttoning the hot boxes back up after they caught some afternoon showers.

Tonight was “Poulet de Troi Repas” though…that’s “chicken of three meals” en Francais if you don’t speak my language of love.  Yes, I studied French.  Four years of that daunting language stretched across both high school and college and what have I done with it other than gain an inside track into Julia Child’s mind.  It was a strategic move at the time living in the desert southwest.  Shun the language that made sense to learn and be the only guy in a classroom full of French speaking girls.  I was Jean Nate and if the name sounds familiar it is that famous shampoo in a bright yellow bottle.  How could I not have a fun and fancy free nickname for all those practice sessions in class…voulez vous…ok for this nerd that was wishful thinking.

Back to our chicken of three meals, this is an excellent way to use your resources to their fullest.  We’ve always been thrifty with our leftovers but since we became members of the Stonewall Farm CSA Program (community supported agriculture) we’ve made our yummy organic meat go as far as possible.  If you haven’t tried their meat or eggs yet, you’re missing out.  Let them know Nathan Ryder referred you and they will take good care of you. One whole chicken can usually be made to stretch over the course of one week creating three or even more dinners.  We usually start our chicken of three meals out the first night by roasting the bird.  Our favorite method to roasting isn’t the ordinary stick it in the oven and watch it brown.  No, we encrust our poulet in salt before shoving it into cook.  Homestead Hottie discovered this roasting method several years ago and we’ve never turned back.

You might think this will cause the chicken to turn out unbearably salty but surprisingly it doesn’t.  The salt hardens and forms a thick crust during the roasting process, locking in your chicken’s juice and preventing it from squeezing out into the bottom of your roasting pan.  The resulting skin underneath that roasted salt crust is the most amazing golden brown, crispy and downright delectable as it melts onto your tongue.  Tonight’s chicken had a French theme thanks to one additional ingredient:  Herbs de Provence.  This herbal blend contains lavender, the aromatic which on first whiff whisks you away to a sunny Mediterranean destination.  If this isn’t already a staple in your herb cabinet I highly recommend you buy some or make it yourself.

Ingredients:

- 1 organic, whole chicken (Evansville locals can get one from Stonewall Farms, tell em we sent ya!)

- 1 or 2 cups kosher salt depending on size of bird

- Herbs de Provence seasoning blend

- 1 large lemon cut into wedges

- 2 to 3 cloves of garlic

- Several sprigs of rosemary

Directions:

1)  Stuff cavity of chicken with lemon wedges, garlic cloves and several sprigs of rosemary

2)  Place chicken breast-side down in roasting pan and dust skin with Herbs de Provence.  Spear more rosemary sprigs through skin in several different spots.

3)  Pour kosher salt over the top of your chicken, patting in place to prevent salt from falling off into pan.  A light spritz of water can help the salt stick if your bird’s skin is dry.

4)  Place into oven and roast at around 400 degrees until internal temperature of the chicken reaches 180 degrees.

5)  Remove chicken from oven and use the back of a carving knife or wooden spoon to shatter the salty crust, scraping salt off the skin and into pan.  Voila!

Make sure to refrigerate leftovers and carcass for meal number two to be discussed in a future blog post. Bon Appetit!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Homestead Hottie’s pregnancy cravings are ramping up to full-speed these days.  Wait you say, you didn’t announce you were expecting.  You can get filled in on the preps for 2.0 by heading over to Harvest of Daily Life for the details.  As any loving husband should do, I make sure every one or at least most of those cravings are met with attentive detail.  When Momma is happy, everybody is happy!

A couple of days ago Talina got an insane craving for P.F. Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  With her nausea she’s been leaning toward light fare to fill her stomach as anything heavy leaves her feeling like “death” as she says.  Then came the Changs craving and of course, we don’t have one of our favorite restaurants within a quickly drivable radius.  That doesn’t mean I can’t attempt a clone recipe in our own well-equipped kitchen though!

This need for lettuce wraps also spurned a craving for Panda Express Orange Chicken, another one of our family favorites when we “splurge” on eating out.  Loving and cooking Asian food pretty frequently in our household, I’ve been anxiously watching work going on at the new Aihua International Market and so we made a family trip to see if they were open and to round up the necessary supplies for both clone meals and some future Thai cooking.

Aihua International Market just opened on Green River Road just north of the intersection at Lynch. It made for a perfect Sunday afternoon cultural adventure.

Much to our surprise, the parking lot was packed and the store was bristling with customers of several different nationalities all speaking several different languages.  You feel as if you’ve stepped into a completely different country right in little ‘ol Evansville, Indiana.  Walking through the automatic doors, you find yourself staring straight down the cooler case at all sorts of exotic fruits, veggies, herbs and roots neatly stocked and ready for your hot wok.  It’s a lot to look at and easy to get lost in, at least for a foodie like me.

Distracted already but I have to get back to the list: water chestnuts, crushed red chilies, arrowroot, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Kaffir lime leaves, galangal root and fresh lemongrass.  When it comes to organization, things are a little hard to find at Aihua.  If items are labeled, deciphering the labels is difficult and takes extra time.  Chinese characters stand out above the secondary English printed on many of the packages and it’s nowhere near as simple as grab and dash.  It’s more like hunt and peck, turning over every rock and leaf until you find what you’re looking for.  The rice wine vinegar and red chilies were located without much effort.  The rest required a tour guide and the staff was eager to please.

The first woman I found stocking the shelves couldn’t speak English and apologized profusely that she couldn’t help me.  It was cute and I could tell she felt really bad so that didn’t stop her from flagging down the woman who seemed to be running the ship.  As she determinedly breezed past, dark chin length hair perfectly quaffed and not moving an inch as she headed toward the store room, she quickly whipped her hand to the shelf without even looking and grabbed the only tiny, elusive bottles of sesame oil they had to offer.  That’s anther check off the list.

Now to find those water chestnuts, I flagged down a tall Asian man wandering about the aisles.  He intently tried to understand what a water chestnut was, trying to correlate in his mind the proper translation so he could lead me to the right spot on the shelf.  After a couple minutes he enlisted the help of a pre-teen Asian girl, her white fuzzy ski cap bouncing between aisles crammed with shoppers as she scurried about.  She had the matriarch of the store, now back and standing strong at the register, translate and tell the man where to take me for water chestnuts.  Check!

Realizing the young girl was my lifeline to finding the other unusual ingredients I needed, I quickly tracked her back down and spewed out my laundry list of ingredients.  She led me from one corner to the next, quietly reading my list back out-loud as she pointed and plucked the items from the shelves.  Kaffir lime leaves were tucked away in an unlabeled bag, hidden in the cooler like a treasure only available to those who seek it out.  I felt like I belonged in an underground club as she measured two handfuls of the aromatic glossy green lime leaves into a smaller sandwich bag for me.  Then she grabbed a stalk of fresh lemongrass and finally showed me the galangal roots and let me pick which one I wanted for our soup pot.  Check, check and check.

Now I know to look for my fresh ingredients by sight next time and not by hand-written sign. From top to bottom: glangal root, lemongrass and Kaffir lime leaves

Standing in line at the checkout, a tiny, older Asian woman was purchasing a cardboard box filled with all sorts of noodles and vegetables.  When it came time to pay, out came a credit card.  “You pay with card?  Where you’re cash?” the matriarch demanded.  The customer said something unintelligible to which the owner replied “You know better!  Cash better!  Next time!” as she pulled out a credit card triplicate form and began rubbing an imprint on the counter.  The dread hit me as I only had a dollar bill in my pocket but that was before I spotted a small, hand-written sign that said cash only under $10.  Knowing Homestead Hotties love for Tiger Balm, we quickly grabbed a tube to bring our total above the $10 mark.

Darling Daughter Everly had a blast taking in all the different languages and foreign items displayed throughout the store.  The biggest kick came from a tub of live blue carbs (really crab but that’s how it was spelled) crawling over each other and looking for a way out.  The Asian women adored little miss Everly and her bright red hair and even gifted her with a special magic wand-like lollipop at the check-stand.  Her grin was priceless and so was the fun in finding some real culture here in Evansville.  Oh yeah, the dinner of Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Orange Chicken turned out pretty damn good too, except for the fact that nausea kept my Homestead Hottie from really enjoying it too.  There’s always leftovers!

I would encourage any international foodie to stop by Aihua sometime and don’t forget to bring cash.

Nothing like a magic-wand lollipop to make a girl's day!

Popularity: 15% [?]

If you’re looking to become more self-sustaining, growing and preserving your own food is an excellent way to achieve that goal.  Not only is it probably one of the easiest ways to achieve your sustainability, it is also one of the cheapest.  For some reason, I had always imagined home canning to be a bygone era but reaching back I could vividly remember one of my Mom’s old high school friends canning her own jams and jellies frequently when I visited.  Maybe I thought, it’s not that far out of vogue.

As Homestead Hottie and I looked for more and more ways to make our life more green and self-sustaining, food preservation seemed to be a logical next step following our entry into growing some of our own food.  Home food preservation does take time but the end results are so worth it and will save you a ton of money in the long run.  You won’t have to rely on a run to the grocery store for a canned good but simply walk into your kitchen pantry.  Check out this video as I show you how we turned a bumper crop of green tomatoes into a half-dozen quart jars of our own, homemade pasta sauce.

If you didn’t catch my post on how to ripen or use all those end of season green tomatoes,  click here.