It's Easy Being Green

The October sun sets over a packed Franklin Street on Evansville's west side for the 2010 Fall Festival

Feeling like I should be wheeled through my front door in a wheelbarrow, Homestead Hottie, Darling Daughter and I have happily returned home from our yearly trek to the West Side Nut Club’s Fall Festival.  Billed by the Guinness World Book as the second largest street festival following Mardis Gras, the Fall Fest is a mecca for all things fried and unusual to eat.

The atmosphere is frenetic even before you make your way down to Franklin Street.  The neighborhoods surrounding the event are packed to the gills with cars, each vying for a free parking spot alongside a curb or looking for the homeowner offering up their driveway at the cheapest price.  Once parked, hoards of festival goers stream down alleyways and sidewalks, many making what is considered to be a yearly and week-long pilgrimage to the midway rides, games and festival delicacies.

Stretching down four city blocks on Franklin Street, 126 different food booths await your temptations.  There is the local favorite of fried brain sandwiches to the unusual like Pig Lickers (chocolate covered bacon), Jalapeno Slushies or even a baked potato stuffed with alligator meat.  Some of the offerings seem downright disgusting and that is part of the event’s fun, seeing who can eat the most stomach twisting creation.  [Check out the 2010 Fall Festival Munchie Map here] For your information, I have not pushed myself to try the fried brain sandwich yet. I downright refuse to eat a Pig Licker (bacon should never be marred by chocolate) and unfortunately didn’t make it to an alligator booth to try out their offerings (I mean how bad can it be when it supposedly tastes like chicken).

Homestead Hottie and Darling Daughter plot the food booths to hit on the 2010 Munchie Map

What did we get to?  Darling Daughter loves mac ‘n cheese and I had it on good authority that the Fried Mac ‘n Cheese balls were a must this year.  Conveniently that booth also was offering the much talked about Eagle Egg.  The Fried Mac ‘n Cheese Balls were impressive in size (nearing that of a tennis ball) with a delicious looking golden brown fried crust.  I nearly burned my poor daughter’s tongue off with the molten cheesy interior and had to do lots of extra blowing before she could dig in.  While impressed with the oozing mac ‘n cheese interior, she was less impressed with the fried coating and tossed it off the to the side of her stroller’s tray.  I thought they were delish myself needing only a touch of a salt and pepper

The Eagle Egg is an inventive take on a plain old hard boiled egg.  Instead, the egg is peeled and dipped into a batter loaded with tiny bits of breakfast sausage and then plunged into a waiting bath of fryer oil.  Presented to you cut in half, the Eagle Egg was at the very least edible.  I thought a sprinkling of salt and maybe even some white gravy to dip the Eagle Egg into would have made it that much better.  I can easily see this making a breakfast buffet somewhere in America’s Heartland.

Our next mission was to find items that didn’t gross out Homestead Hottie and Darling Daughter.  If you enjoy a good corn dog every now and then, you can’t miss another yearly favorite: the Pronto Pup.  Made with a pancake batter instead of a corn flour, Pronto Pups are fluffier and sweeter than a typical corn dog.  Homestead Hottie liked hers but wished for a dipping sauce.  Darling Daughter wouldn’t even go for a bite and instead wanted to play with the stick.  As our side dish, we meandered down a booth or two to pick up a basket of Fried Green Beans.  It’s a personal favorite we discovered at last year’s Fall Festival and one we now seek out at other fairs.  Darling Daughter approved, wolfing most of her green beans down and sticking a stray one or two up her nose for good effect.

Homestead Hottie enjoys her first Pronto Pup and seemingly approves

Darling Daughter opts to not dig into her Momma's Pronto Pup but instead wants to play with the stick

Next up, the ubiquitous desert.  I desperately wanted to try the Fried Butter to get that curiosity out of my system but couldn’t locate the vendor on the map.  It was disappointing but probably better that way as my arteries will relish not having to pump even more toxic sludge through my system.  Homestead Hottie opted for a Fried Snickers Bar while I jogged across the finger licking crowd on Franklin Street to nab some Fried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.  Both deserts were amazingly gooey but good in a most sinful way, heavy enough to keep you sleeping with the fishes should you make your way into a body of water.

Our stomachs began to swell almost as rapidly as the dinner crowd was packing into the 89th Annual Fall Festival so we decided to pack ourselves back home.  Darling Daughter, amazed by the sights and smells, was worn out and yearning for her pre-bedtime soak in a warm bath.  Homestead Hottie and I were ready to loosen our pants and get out of the personal bubble violating crowd (don’t go if you’re a germaphobe, are grossed out by even grosser people pigging out or do poorly at handling many inconsiderate people in shoulder to shoulder crowds).  We usually like to hit the festival mid-week during the lunch hour when it’s quiet but the Fall Festival is a must-do, at least once to see what all the talk is about.

We had another great time blitzing the street fair.  We ran into some great friends, enjoyed some good festival food and clogged our arteries for some great causes in the process (all booths are run by non-profit organizations and are major fund raising activities for their year).

Our Darling Daughter was amazed by all the big fair rides but still managed to stuff her face with Fried Green Beans while not even looking

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Is the price we pay for food really worth the impacts it will have on our life in the future?  I think it’s a question more Americans should be asking themselves as they cue in line for a meal at the drive-thru or pull in to the local convenience store as they nab 44-ounces of carbonated diabetic bliss iced in a Styrofoam cup.

If more Americans took the time to learn about how their food is made they would inevitably make smarter choices.  King Corn, a documentary highlighting the amazing influence corn has on our daily lives, is just another wake up call for people to change the way they think about the means in which they fuel their body.  I’m left wondering why a product that is nutritionally void for humans, deadly to the animals that eat it and is worth next to nothing on the open market is so beloved by our federal government.

As the harvest ramps up here in southwestern Indiana, more and more fields of Number 2 corn are meeting the combine this week.  I’m glad I watched the film King Corn, the brainchild of two college buddies, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis.  It has given me a new perspective on a harvest process that I used to think was quaint and steeped in tradition but now I know is anything but.  According to the Environmental Working Group, more than $50 Billion has been paid to subsidize corn farmers in the past decade. Between 2003 and 2005, 66% of those subsidies only went to 10% of our farmers.

The Global Development and Environmental Institute in a report titled Industrial Livestock Companies’ Gains from Low Feed Prices showed just how far those grain subsidies stretch in our food system.  Between 1997 and 2005, the industrial broiler chicken industry saved $11.25 Billion and the industrial hog industry saved $8.5 Billion from the very farm bill policies that keep corn and soybean prices below the price of production.

King Corn goes on to show the dramatic rise in human consumption of high-fructose corn syrup over the past three decades and the severe health consequences we as Americans now face because of it.  I highly recommend this documentary to anyone interested in learning the impacts brought about by what you might think is just a quaint field of corn.

If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of the DVD:

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If you’re like me, your ears perk up anytime you hear that a company is offering you to try their product for free.  That’s why I’ve been impressed with Kashi, every few months rolling out a new product that people can try for free.  I think it’s a great marketing ploy, especially in our current economic troubles.  Just a few weeks ago, Kashi was advertising a coupon to try one of their new frozen dinners for free so I decided to give it a shot.

I haven’t been impressed with the other two Kashi products I’ve tried with their free coupon system.  First it was one of their breakfast/energy bars which I thought was terrible and have never bought another one since.  Second it was their line of granola-like breakfast cereals.  Once again, I thougth I was eating a bowl of nuts, twigs and leaves from the forest floor and couldn’t stand the taste or texture.  So, I was a little hesitant as I popped my Kashi frozen dinner and in the microwave and watched it cook.

I really wanted to try the Lemongrass Chicken dinner but my local grocery store didn’t carry it.  So I ended up going with the all-natural Southwest Style Chicken.  Pulling the dinner out of the microwave left a pleasant southwestern smell which got my mouth watering and excited to try the meal.

The grilled chicken breast was seasoned with lime, cumin and a hint of chipotle and diced into small pieces.  The flavorings were definitely present but not even throughout the chicken.  The chicken was on a bed of fire roasted onions, corn, red and green peppers and Kashi’s 7 whole grains and sesame pilaf.  The mixed in vegetables were very tasty and the whole grain pilaf was actually very good.  I didn sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top of the dish and that made it even better and allowed the flavors to really pop.

The frozen dinner is a bit small and didn’t fill up my “growing boy’s stomach” but was so tasty I scraped the dish it was in to get every last little bit.  Kashi says they use only high quality, natural ingredients with no preservatives or artificial anythings, ever.  The Southwest Style Chicken contained 16 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.  When I have the money, I will probably give Kashi’s other frozen dinners a try.  I’m always looking for something to spice up the humdrum of my leftovers I usually take to work but get tired of running to the corner fast food joint to eat something totally horrible for me.

If you’ve tried the other dinners in Kashi’s new frozen line, let us know what your thought were!

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So I haven’t really announced to my readers yet that I’m getting ready to make a cross-country trek to a new home. I’m leaving Flagstaff, AZ after so many wonderful years and heading to Evansville, Indiana. I got a new a job there, the cost of living is much lower and I will have a long growing season to spur a quite productive garden. At least that’s my hope anyway! The drive is more than 1500 miles and we obviously can’t take perishable food on the road with us. So we’ve been dwindling down our supplies both in the cupboard and in the freezer. That’s led to some very uninteresting meals but also extremely low grocery bills. I knew we hoarded food for a reason!

Within our stash of food, we had several bags of frozen fruit. Two of those bags were a triple berry mix with raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. The third was a bag of strawberries. I’ve dipped into them on occasion to make one recipe or another but they were mostly unused. Not wanting to waste all those berries or give them away, we decided to whip up some quick batches of no-pectin jam. Pectin is that stuff you buy in the little box at the grocery store that gels up your fruit mix. I didn’t have any to begin with and really didn’t want to waste the gas driving into town for some so I found pectin-free jam recipes online (my canning book was packed away by my very efficient box packer).

My first batch of triple berry jam worked out great. I found a recipe that basically is nothing but 4 cups of fruit and 4 cups of sugar. Boil it until it gets to 220 degrees and then can it in sterilized jars. Pretty simple! But my next batch of strawberry jam wasn’t working out so good. After an hour of rapid boiling I could not get the temperature to climb above 203 degrees. Getting worried I headed to the world wide web to do some SOS searching on what to do. Luckily, I stumbled across Laura and Barb’s blog called My Sisters Kitchen. Their blog post on making jam without any added pectin informed me of a temperature correction formula if you’re above sea level. At 7500 feet, I definitely needed to correct down on a boiling point for my jam!

I quickly rushed back to my kitchen and began putting my strawberry jam into sterilized jars. Those two saved my day! I could have been waiting for strawberries to boil until they absolutely could boil no more and turned into some strange gooey concoction that would have made for a dish washing disaster! Check out their blog. They seem to have a lot of wonderful recipes and life experiences to share. I’m going to add them to my frequent list!

What have you done to avoid wasting food?  Have you found yourself making changes due to rising food prices?  Share your hints and tips with our other readers.  For some time we’ve been using a whole chicken right down to the bones for several meals.  For more on that, read The Art of Resourcefulness.

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By now, just about everyone has heard about the mysterious dilemma plaguing our world’s pollinators.  Honey bees are dieing off in vast numbers and no one is truly quite sure why they’re vanishing.  Some scientists have started hypothesizing what is behind the drastic decline in bee populations.  Some have speculated cell phone signals, a virulent disease and even pollution as a cause.  Now one group of researchers is looking into the bee dilemma with a unique, grassroots approach:  The Great Sunflower Project.

The project is led by Gretchen LeBuhn, an associate professor at San Francisco State University.  LeBuhn says she’s interested in broad areas of conservation and the bee is one of her most interesting subjects.  If you sign up to help LeBuhn’s research project, they will send you a packet of wild sunflower seeds.  Once you plant them and have sunflowers, the researchers will email you a particular weekend that you are supposed to head out into your garden and watch your sunflowers.  Twice per month you will plant yourself in your yard so you can record how many bees visit your sunflowers within 30 minutes.  Then you record the data and send it back to the researchers.  The goal is to find out where exactly bees are in trouble and what areas don’t seem to be impacted by the mysterious death.

I think the project is a great way for anyone who understands the impacts of bees on our life.  It’s said that one out of every three bites of food has been visited by a native pollinator and if they totally disappear, we’ll be in some major trouble.  Just think about the things you can learn by participating in this research.  If you have children it would make for a great summer project, something for them to focus on come away with a feeling that they’re helping to make a difference too!  If you want to sign up, visit the Great Sunflower Project website and join the research.  Hopefully together we can make a difference!

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Would you believe that it is possible to have a floating greenhouse in New York that actually produces food? Well it is and the full scale greenhouse operation on the Hudson River in New York has once again opened its doors for all to see. The project is called the science barge and is a prototype of a sustainable urban farm. It also serves as an education center. Last year, more than 3,000 school students made their way through the Science Barge.

So what makes the floating greenhouse so special? Inside the greenhouse they grow tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce with zero emissions and no runoff into the Hudson River. The barge is powered by solar, wind and biofuels and harvests irrigation water by filtering from the Hudson River and catching rainwater. The developers say the Science Barge requires 7 times less land and 4 times less water to grow than conventionally grown crops. In a city like New York, land has skyrocketed to the point that it would be nearly impossible to grow food in town. Riverfront barges could be the answer to the dilemma. Some studies have also suggested that there is enough rooftop space in New York to grown enough food for the entire city.

What are the hopes? The non-profit group New York Sun Works wants to demonstrate that it is possible for cities to reduce their global footprint by looking at ways to provide their own food. They say most land in cities is contaminated and shouldn’t be used to grow food anyway. That’s why they think they’re hydroponic growing system is the best, most sustainable way to grow! If you’d like to learn more about the project or how to visit, head over to The Science Barge website.

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Okay, maybe you’ve decided you want to live a healthier lifestyle but going vegetarian just isn’t looking to good to you right now.  How about going Kosher?  Apparently there is a new movement in the world of Kosher food and people are buying it a lot lately.

You might be asking why would people buy Kosher food if they weren’t Jewish?  The answer is pretty simple.  Kosher food is supposed to be cleaner and more friendly when it comes to killing animals for meat.  Jewish law says pain has to be minimized when the helpless animal arrives for slaughter which is music to those ears who love a good steak but want the cow to be coddled before death.  For those who are trying to wean themselves off meat and maintain a vegetarian diet, look for labels that say “Kosher pareve”.  That label indicates the product was made without any meat products.

If you’re interested in learning more about Kosher food, head over to the Chabad Kosher Guide.  Be on the lookout for those “K” or “parve” symbols on your next trip to the grocery store and go Kosher!  You can join the 75% of the public purchasing Kosher products who aren’t Jewish.

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