Showing posts with label CSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CSA. Show all posts
Posted by
Deanna Lack
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Last week I started a Green Smoothie Challenge. I am loving it!! Want to join me?
Here's the deal. I am all about some whole foods, which is why we are in a CSA again this year. Well, with a full share and only 2 of us consuming it, I am finding that I have a lot of leftovers, most of which can be canned, frozen or preserved in some way, but not so much the greens, which, being springtime/early summer, we are getting a lot of.
Here's the deal. I am all about some whole foods, which is why we are in a CSA again this year. Well, with a full share and only 2 of us consuming it, I am finding that I have a lot of leftovers, most of which can be canned, frozen or preserved in some way, but not so much the greens, which, being springtime/early summer, we are getting a lot of.
So, what to do with them? I stumbled on this green smoothie thing. The concept is, you drink 1 smoothie a day. You can use it to replace a meal (you'll probably want to, they're filling, but you can snack a little too). That's it. You don't deprive yourself, you can eat what you're eating, but here's the thing. Since this is basically whole foods thrown in a blender, you're getting all the fiber with whatever sugar is in it, which for me is killing my carb/sugar cravings (yay!), and because of the fiber you don't get the same spike in blood sugar levels that you would just eating junk or even juice. The ingredients are PACKED with nutrients, so that's awesome.
How to: The skinny is, you shoot for a proportion of 40% greens (leafy dark greens preferably - think kale, spinach, collards, mustard, turnip... I don't eat most of that crap except for the first two either, but I promise, you won't taste it) and 60% whole fruit, with a liquid - water, coconut milk, almond milk, you can even use teas sometimes, or regular milk, or yogurt. You can follow that challenge link above to get you started with great tips and recipes.
Recipes will follow here, or you can follow my Green Smoothie Board on Pinterest as I gather smoothie info and recipes from all over the web. Drink up!
Posted by
Deanna Lack
comments (0)
My hubby and I were in Franklin (a Nashville suburb) last week and I had the long-awaited opportunity to go to Franklin Farmers' Market. It is awesome!!
While I was there I ran into some very cool people from Colvin Family Farms, who sold me these white cukes. Some of them (the lower one in the picture) were "regular" white cucumbers but some were these super cool translucent glowy looking things that remind me of jellyfish and were delicious (actually they were all delicious). Unfortunately they can't tell me the variety, they say they only have one variety of cukes. So I'm not sure what causes this awesome but I love it.
I have an interesting story to tell. My doctor diagnosed me with Tension Myositis Syndrome... this syndrome is the result of repressed emotions causing actual physical symptoms in the body. Lots of cases of degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, and other things, are the result of TMS and not necessarily a physical process. The disease keeps people living in fear of pain. And I've had both chronic neck pain and fibro type symptoms, and they are getting better with treatment.
But, when we went to Nashville this weekend, my foot suddenly started hurting, just an ache I thought was arthritis at first, but after we walked for hours at Cheekwood Botanical Garden, I started to worry that it was a stress fracture or something... any pressure on ONE point on the ball of my foot caused excruciating pain. I hobbled around all weekend.
Then on Monday I started to wonder if maybe this wasn't a new TMS manifestation... once you "conquer" one of them, others frequently crop up. So I basically told myself I didn't believe there was anything wrong and started walking on it normally, even though it HURT at first.
Within a few hours the pain was gone. The mind is a crazy thing. If you have chronic pain you owe it to yourself to read up on TMS, because there is a CURE. Here's a LINK for you.
So, we are CSA customers at Miracle Mountain Farm here in Cookeville, and we are getting more produce than I know what to do with (huge head of cabbage... oh my....). I frequently have way more greens than my husband and I can consume, so I decided to take the 30 day Green Smoothie Challenge. I have so much produce, I figured, why not? And if it makes me feel great... well, great!
Follow me on Pinterest if you want to scope out some green smoothie recipes, in addition to my usual repertoire of recipes both healthy and not so much, and also jewelry, horses, animals, and art, and lots of other eye candy because I freaking love Pinterest. I'll be sharing recipes and ideas here too... also, I'll be posting some stuff here about what to do with all that zucchini, blackberries, and other goodies that nature is pouring down upon us right now.
Follow me on Pinterest if you want to scope out some green smoothie recipes, in addition to my usual repertoire of recipes both healthy and not so much, and also jewelry, horses, animals, and art, and lots of other eye candy because I freaking love Pinterest. I'll be sharing recipes and ideas here too... also, I'll be posting some stuff here about what to do with all that zucchini, blackberries, and other goodies that nature is pouring down upon us right now.
Green Smoothie, Day One
Around two cups of mixed greens: kale, beet greens, & collard greens (I think they're collard, not 100%... we're in a CSA and I don't always know what I have!), gently packed.
3 cups of a mixture of: 2 bananas, frozen fresh strawberries, 2 small peaches
I added a teaspoon of chia seeds
2 tablespoons of frozen 100% apple juice concentrate
2 cups of water.
Go Vitamix go!
Assessment: I'm getting a little bit of aftertaste of greens (probably the beet greens and collards), but all in all I think I can handle this, it's pretty yummy. Not really pretty, because the red strawberries + greens makes it kinda brown, but good. With no added sucrose, so yay! I think it's gonna fill me up just fine, too, but we'll see.
This made way more than I can drink. I put it in the fridge in a mason jar to keep it from oxidizing; should keep till at least tomorrow.
If you're doing the green smoothie thing I'd love to hear from you and trade a few recipes.
Posted by
Deanna Lack
comments (0)
You can buy this easy to do Indoor Lettuce Growing Kit from Pleasant Hedges on Etsy
The more I learn about the food industry, the more depressed and alarmed I get. Really, the more I think about it, food shouldn't be an industry at all. Maybe specialized foods? But when you get right down to it, the main motivation for the people putting food on your plate is not your well being, it's their bottom line. Their profit. As a result, walking through the aisles of the grocery store yesterday, surrounded by all the flashy colorful packaging, I felt like... well, a consumer. One who consumes. Without thought.
"Agribusiness" or "corporate farming" is done by megacorporations encompassing not only the farm, but the whole chain of food processing, from seed supply to agricultural chemicals, processing, transport, etc. These companies have powerful lobbies in Washington to keep the status quo. They supply convenience, but often not nutrition or taste (beyond the taste of high fructose corn syrup). There are myriad reasons I think this system is a serious problem, which I'll go into at a later date.
But is there an alternative? Well, sure. You could buy a couple of acres, quit your day job, and grow all your own food. (Honestly, I'd love to). While that's not an option for everybody, there are small efforts you could make in that direction - put a tomato in a pot on your patio this year, or grow some lettuce indoors. It'll save you money, and then you'll know what you're putting in your body.
Any others alternatives? I have a few suggestions. First, find out if there's a farmer's market near you. If you're in Tennessee, check out http://www.picktnproducts.org to find out who's got fresh (often organic) produce for very reasonable prices. Other states may have similar sites, which you should be able to find through a simple Internet search.
Or, you could join a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you buy a share in a farm at the beginning of a growing season, and the farm contracts to supply you with fresh produce for a period of time. Length of time and products vary, and many CSA farms are certified organic, or often organic but not certified (the process of certification is a pain). Some of them you pay for the entire year up front, and some you can pay monthly or weekly. What can you get? The variety is astounding: fresh eggs, meats, produce, honey, and more. Then you arrange to pick up your basket usually on a weekly basis. I am definitely doing this this year, though I haven't chosen a farm yet. You can go to http://www.localharvest.org, type in your zip code, and find farms near you participating in this program, see what they're growing, visit their websites. If you still need reasons to support local agriculture, check out this post.
Buon appetito!
"Agribusiness" or "corporate farming" is done by megacorporations encompassing not only the farm, but the whole chain of food processing, from seed supply to agricultural chemicals, processing, transport, etc. These companies have powerful lobbies in Washington to keep the status quo. They supply convenience, but often not nutrition or taste (beyond the taste of high fructose corn syrup). There are myriad reasons I think this system is a serious problem, which I'll go into at a later date.
But is there an alternative? Well, sure. You could buy a couple of acres, quit your day job, and grow all your own food. (Honestly, I'd love to). While that's not an option for everybody, there are small efforts you could make in that direction - put a tomato in a pot on your patio this year, or grow some lettuce indoors. It'll save you money, and then you'll know what you're putting in your body.
Any others alternatives? I have a few suggestions. First, find out if there's a farmer's market near you. If you're in Tennessee, check out http://www.picktnproducts.org to find out who's got fresh (often organic) produce for very reasonable prices. Other states may have similar sites, which you should be able to find through a simple Internet search.
Or, you could join a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you buy a share in a farm at the beginning of a growing season, and the farm contracts to supply you with fresh produce for a period of time. Length of time and products vary, and many CSA farms are certified organic, or often organic but not certified (the process of certification is a pain). Some of them you pay for the entire year up front, and some you can pay monthly or weekly. What can you get? The variety is astounding: fresh eggs, meats, produce, honey, and more. Then you arrange to pick up your basket usually on a weekly basis. I am definitely doing this this year, though I haven't chosen a farm yet. You can go to http://www.localharvest.org, type in your zip code, and find farms near you participating in this program, see what they're growing, visit their websites. If you still need reasons to support local agriculture, check out this post.
Buon appetito!
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