Local and Seasonal

If you’re into food at all, you’ve probably heard some buzz about eating local and seasonal. What’s this all about?

Well, there are a lot of good reasons we should be eating local:

- Food is fresher, therefore tastes better and is more nutritious.

- It eliminates the nasty green house gases caused by all the fuel required to transport it to our plates from whatever far off place it is grown. These days it’s quite common for our food to travel upwards of 1000 miles to reach our plates. The US uses more fuel to move our food than we do to fuel our personal vehicles.

- It supports your local economy and farmers in your community.

Here’s where the seasonality comes in, the more we eat out of season the more we rely on food grown in different climates that has to be transported to our local grocery stores.

How good are those strawberries in December anyway? Probably pretty tasteless. They have to be picked before they ripen so they won’t spoil during transport, plus the varieties sold are chosen for their ability to hold up to travel conditions and their attractiveness, not taste.

I’m kind of a food romanticist, I guess you could say. When you eat seasonally you get that anticipation leading up to the first fresh fruits and vegetables of a new season and it just heightens the enjoyment of them when the time finally comes. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, and you begin to really appreciate the seasons and what they bring. My mouth is already watering at the thought of fresh asparagus soon to come here in Oregon.

There are a bunch of great ways to get local food into you diet, but you’ll likely have to venture outside the grocery store. Small and locally owned stores offer better choices, but large chains usually only contract with large producers and distributors so finding local stuff can be tricky. Here are some great places to shop for your local goods:

- Food co-ops – these are member owned grocery stores set up, like all co-ops, to create a mutually beneficial relationship between suppliers, the co-op, and it’s members

- CSAs – short for Community Supported Agriculture, these are basically subscriptions to farms, you pay so much per year or season for a share of the harvest and at the stated intervals (weekly, biweekly, even monthly) you receive a collection of produce or other farm goodies (some include locally raised meat, eggs, etc., but most common is produce)

- Farmer’s Markets – we all pretty much known what farmers markets are, they vary in size and you can find them on just about all days of the week so if you work weekends, like I do, there’s a farmers market for you, too! Market season is just getting started, many open the first week of May. If you’re located in the Portland Metro area, this weeks issue of Food Day provided a listing of local markets, which they’ve made available on their website.

Local Harvest is a great website that allows you to find CSA’s, Co-ops, Farmer’s Markets, even restaurants specializing in local food. Go check it out!

The Plantae Kingdom

If you are anything like me you forget about many wonderful ingredients when planning a meal. For one, eggplant always slips my mind. Did you know eggplant is a fruit and that it is native to India? It is closely related to the tomato and potato, being in the nightshade family. Most specifically eggplant is a berry. I think it is the most giant berry I've ever seen! You might have seen all different types of eggplant, but here is the low down. Commonly seen are the Japanese and Italian eggplants which are normally purple and sometimes tethered in color. The white eggplant is where the name came from, in relation to it's egg like shape. So often this fruit is peeled, but really the skin has excellent flavor and texture when it is fresh. As the eggplant ages, the skin becomes tougher and achieves that nasty bitter taste that we tend to steer clear of. So when you're at the market choosing an eggplant here is what to look for. You want a glossy, smooth-skinned, firm and heavy eggplant. Stay away from those with brown spots or bruised skins. Also, the best eggplant can be purchased in season ranging from August to September. If you want an eggplant when it's out of season or if the skin feels a bit tough definitely peel it. Oh the possibilities of this vegetable that is a berry!


When you get your beautifully picked eggplant home, what to do? The most common and successful cooking methods are broiling, baking and frying. I'm sure many of you have had Eggplant Parmesan portraying the frying and baking method. Maybe you have been lucky enough to have some broiled eggplant on a sandwich? So delicious! Last but not least Babaganoush! This dish requires baking and grilling of the eggplant. All these are delicious, but lately my favorite way to prepare eggplant is just by adding it to sautes. As long as there is salt and liquid in your dish you will find much flavor present. Let the eggplant soak up the flavors of the dish. Recently, I made a tomato based eggplant soup of onion, garlic, roasted eggplant and fresh basil. It was very simple and hearty. I just sauteed the onions, garlic and basil with a bit of salt and pepper added in my tomato base and when it was bubbly hot, dropped in the cubed and baked eggplant. It was a big hit with the fam! Also try adding eggplant to pasta dishes. It's meaty texture and absorption qualities will amaze all. Pictured below is a bowl of quinoa linguine topped with an eggplant marinara, artichoke pesto and a chiffonade of basil. For another idea to utilize eggplant try eggplant rolls.

Five Delicious Nights and One Fabulous Morning

After a long day at work, why in the world would you want to go home and cook when it's easy as 1-2-3 to stop at a fast food joint and pick up a cheap, easy meal? Why try a new recipe when you can pick up your favorite #4 at Mickey D's?

BECAUSE you care about your body and what you put into it. Fast food is full of high-fructose corn syrup, corn force-fed beef (that's another post) and sugar sugar sugar!

We at The Foodie Foursome know better than anyone how indredibly taxing it is to go home after a long day of dealing with food at work just to be faced with it again in the kitchen. But we also know that unless you're feeding fifty, making a wholesome, healthy dinner isn't too hard.

Here are 5 easy dinner ideas for your work week and one great breakfast idea to wake up to on Saturday morning:

Monday Night

Red Lentil Coconut Curry Soup and Naan

I picked up this recipe from coworker and fellow blogger, Meagan. You can find the recipe at her blog Meagan in the Kitchen. The soup takes about an hour to make, but there is plenty of down-time in between to do some chores around the apartment. And instead of buying spices in expensive jars, go to the bulk bin at your grocery store and get exactly how much you need!

I bought the healthiest naan I could find at the market, and cut it into quarters before toasting it until warm and soft. Yum!

Tuesday Night
Brown Rice w/Vegan Sausage and Sun-Dried Tomatoes with Collard Greens and Refried Beans

This is so easy! Start your brown rice, then get a big pot of water boiling on another burner and add your greens. Also add any spices or seasonings that you like. When you're about 10 minutes out on both the rice and greens, saute some cut-up sausage in a pan with a few sun-dried tomatoes and pop some beans into the microwave (you can be healthier and use black beans instead). Then, voila! Dinner is served.

Wednesday Night
Tempeh Stir-Fry over Bulgur

Cook the tempeh according to package instructions, and in the meantime follow these easy instructions to make bulgur. If you've never had bulgur before it's a lot like brown rice, but with a nuttier, crunchier taste and texture. Before the two are done, chop up some colorful peppers and red onion and saute in a pan. I like to add a touch of teriyaki sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Then throw it all together and dig in!

Thursday Night
Pan-Fried Tofu, Balsamic Brussel Sprouts and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Peel some sweet potatoes and throw them in a pot of water. Let them cook and make the brussel sprouts. After that's gotten into the oven, mash the potatoes in a kitchen-aid or with a hand mixer, and add a little milk to soften and salt and pepper to taste. Then throw the tofu on (it won't take long) and one more dinner in the books!

Friday Night

Easy Stir Fry Salad

It's Friday, therefore it's simple. Stir-fry vegetables. Put said vegetables on a bed of lettuce. Add cheese if appropriate. The end!

Saturday Morning

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins with Fruit and Yogurt

For those of you who are lucky enough to have weekends off, treat yourself with this easy breakfast. Make the muffins the night before, and be sure to wrap them tight so they don't dry out. When you wake up the next morning refreshed from your week of healthy meals, cut up some fruit. Try to make sure it's organic and in-season (get it at your local farmer's market if possible!). For the yogurt, I like Nancy's Organic Nonfat Plain Yogurt. I'll top it with whatever I have on hand: honey, cinnamon, granola, whatever! And don't forget the coffee.

Enjoy your week of eating well! Unless you actually want to be eating something like this, then be my guest...

The Simpleton: Part One: Belly Timber

Gourmet doesn’t mean complicated. It doesn’t mean expensive. It doesn’t even mean time consuming. Gourmet means respect. Appreciation. Understanding of food.

Understanding comes from curiosity. Making the conscientious decision to care about what you are about to ingest into your body. Your blood, bones, muscles, skin. Health is a direct effect of what goes into your mouth and down the hatchet.

Simple is better.

Simple ingredients, simple travels, simple preparation.

Unfortunately, we live in an age where simple seems to solely describe how food is prepared. More specifically, how long it takes to prepare. We can thank the 1950’s for this––TV dinners, Hamburger Helper, box cakes, pancake mixes, canned soups. The list could go on forever.

But take butter for example. Butter today comes in several forms. Salted. Unsalted. Sweet Cream... (That’s actually all I know off the top of my head). I find it slightly fascinating that butter has to be labeled as unsalted. We got so used to the companies adding their own salt to the butter that they had to specify that of which is the regular product. (Same concept goes for organic products, too.) Anyway, as most know, salted butter is generally used for immediate consumption, like on toast or sandwiches, etc. Unsalted butter is generally used in cooking and baking. This is so the salt level can be controlled.

Though some people would prefer just regular unsalted butter on their toast or sandwich or muffin, many people like the sensation of a little salt. But, what about this concept: add your own salt. Smear on your butter. Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt over the top. It tastes just as good. Maybe even better. It has a slightly cleaner taste.

Portland restaurant, Belly Timber, on SE Hawthorne, exposed me to this novel idea. They serve their bread with a side dish of “unsalted” butter and two little piles of salt seasonings. They mix their salt with various combinations of herbs and spices breathing new life into your typical ol’ bread and butter.

Sprinkling on your own salt to unsalted butter allows you to control your own salt levels, as well as affording you the opportunity to experience a mind-blowing array of different types of salts. I won’t lie, I’m not sure I’d be able to tell Kosher salt from grey salt, but I’d like to try.

The idea here is to slow down and simplify. Respect the time it may take to prepare a wonderful dish, even when the ingredients are few and basic. Appreciate the outcome, especially when ingredients are void of guise and you can taste their real flavor. And then, only then, will understand the pleasure and joy that comes from eating gourmet.

"Globally inspired. Locally sourced."

My husband, Jared, and I enjoyed a long overdue night out last week in celebration of his bonus check from work. (In all seriousness, I cannot remember the last meal we ate out together.) I had scored a $50 gift card for West Linn’s five-0-three restaurant for just $25 thanks to Fox 12 Oregon (it was there restaurant of the week a few weeks back), so we decided to venture out and try something new. I didn’t know anything about it prior to dining there, other than it’s location (right next to my favorite grocery store, Market of Choice) and what I’d seen on Fox’s segment.

I was delighted to find a menu that listed meat exclusively from local sources (with good reputations), Draper Valley chicken and Carlton Farms pork, as well as fresh Pacific salmon and house made fresh ice cream and sorbets. Their menu changes frequently to take advantage of local seasonal offerings.

They offer a full bar of premium liquors which we found to be reasonable in price for an upscale restaurant ($6 for a Tanqueray gin and tonic), though the specialty drink menu may have been a bit overpriced. The wine selection was good, though I wished for more by the glass choices and better prices (some selections were $11 a glass). My husband is not a wine drinker so ordering a bottle isn’t very practical.

We started with the fried oysters, Jared’s choice. I can’t do oysters, not their fault, I just can’t. He really enjoyed them, said they weren’t greasy like others he’s had. They were served with house made French fries, which were perfect, and a “Cajun remoulade,” a.k.a. tartar sauce. The basket lined with newpaper made for a whimsical presentation, reminiscent of street food. I found it charming that Southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy was listed on the same menu as lobster and rock shrimp risotto.

I ordered their seafood special, Pacific salmon with green beans and potatoes in a buerre blanc. The one critique I have is that their buerre blanc wasn’t very “sauce”-like or flavorful, it almost seemed as if my meal had just been drizzled in melted butter and nothing else. The salmon was perfectly cooked, however, and the green beans were very fresh and cooked to just crisp-tender. My husband thoroughly enjoyed his andouille sausage jumbalaya, seasoning was just right, not too spicy or too mild, and the portion was generous.

We decided we had to order dessert, too many temptations to say no to. I opted for the lemon panna cotta, Jared tried the raspberry sorbet. The panna cotta was creamy with a wonderful lemon flavor, but not too tart. His sorbet was so good, and a very generous portion for the price.

Aside from one misstep, for which they comp’ed my dessert, we had a very enjoyable meal and I won’t hesitate to return. I’m excited to see more and more restaurants take advantage of the wonderful diversity of local foods our region offers. Check out five-0-three or one of the Portland area's other wonderful restaurants offering sustainable, local, or vegetarian menus this Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day!

What's my impact on the Earth?

Find out your contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by calculating your carbon footprint. My favorite place to find out my footprint is at The Nature Conservancy website.

My carbon footprint is 7.7 tons of CO2 emissions per year. The United States average per person per year is 27 tons. The average per person worldwide is 5.5 tons. Why is mine lower than the average? I believe it's for a few reasons:

1. My boyfriend installed all compact-flourescent lightbulbs in our apartment. It was $30.00 to "re-bulb" our apartment, but they claim to last up to 8 years, and save $1,200 in energy costs (and CO2 emissions!).

2. I don't eat meat.

3. I rarely drive - my commute is to and from work (2 miles round trip)...and the occasional trip downtown. Is that sad?

My boyfriend's carbon footprint is 23 tons of CO2 per year. If you take away all his trips as a flight instructor, his number goes down to 16 tons. Time for a job change? :)

A car can get you a lot farther than eating meat will

The facts are in and yes, this is true. That steak you ripped into last night is causing more CO2 emissions then your gas-guzzling vehicle. According to the UK Guardian, fabricating 1 kg of meat (2.21 lbs.) results in more CO2 emissions than taking a three hour drive while leaving all your lights on at home. Meat production accounts for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The following pie chart explains this idea:

Large parts of each greenhouse gas can be designated straight to agriculuture production. Yes, agricultural production does include some plant-based crops, but most of them are genetically modified and grown for livestock. Notice the lime green sections on the nitrous oxide and methane, directly connecting to agricultural by products. Methane is caused by mass amounts of belching and flatulent cattle, probably due to the fact that we like to feed these animals undigestible fodder like corn and soy, simply because we like fat. The nitrous oxide is from the harsh fertilizers and pesticide compounds used to clear-cut and tend to the livestock's food. Let me just mention that all of the categories in the chart can be connected to livestock production.

Look at the transportation fuels sector in the CO2 chart and think about how that taco meat got on your plate. I will not go on to explain how each area relates to red meat production because that is just depressing and I hope you get the point. I am not asking for everyone to be vegetarian or vegan or completely change your lifestyles. All I am asking is that you re-evaluate your dinner plate or just start buying grass-fed organic beef. Every little bit helps! Don't forget, "eat your colors."

Go Vegan For the Earth!

Hey all! This Earth Day do something for yourself and the earth by going vegan for 1 day. To some this might be a weekly occurence, a fact of normality, yet to some this seems impossible! Don't worry it is not impossible. If you are really worried that you will starve the whole day then take a couple minutes today to plan. A plan never hurts. Here is a perfect and easy menu for a vegan. Start your day off with your favorite cereal with a bit of soymilk, or maybe oatmeal. If you do not fancy cereal maybe some whole grain toast with peanut butter and jelly and a big bowl of fresh fruit. For your mid morning munchies, snack on a bit of fruit and nut trail mix or popcorn. When lunch time rolls around treat yourself to a BBQ tempeh or tofu sandwich with lettuce, tomato, onions, veganaise and mustard. If you are not the sandwich type maybe a quick and easy canned vegan soup accompanied with a salad? Oh and for dinner, my favorite meal of the day! Have a grand fiesta of tacos substituting refried beans and rice for the ground beef. Top with your favorite veggies and maybe some vegan sour cream and guacamole? MMmmm. If you still feel like this, "vegan for a day" thing is just too challenging for your mind to wrap around then support one of the area's great vegan restaurants. Here are a few of my favorites. For comforting bar grub go to the Bye and Bye. Try the Chili Pie or the Weeping Tiger Sandwich. Maybe a giant burrito from a food cart excites you, go to El Nutri Taco and nosh on the Chipotle Tempeh Burrito. If you want to impress that certain someone over a beautiful meal being surrounded by a tranquil ambiance, go to The Blossoming Lotus and try the Black Bean Quesadilla. If you have a sweet tooth after dinner visit Via Delizia for some yummy sorbetto along with an amazing cappuccino or visit Back to Eden for a cookie and some soft serve. Also, visit Portland's vegan grocer, Food Fight. Here you will find many fun products and ideas to test out. There it is I have given you many delicious and exciting vegan ideas for Earth Day. You can do it, I know you can!!!

Reading for a change!

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“Who is John Galt?”
– Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Hearing these words makes me want to curl up with a blanket, listen to the rain pitter-patter on the window and dive into a really good book. More and more, books are becoming the go-to entertainment in a down and out economy. Someone who can’t pay their mortgage, take their kids to the movies or just wants to avoid life altogether can easily pick up some old literature or spend a few dollars on modern day authors like Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephenie Meyer and Chuck Palahniuk. The romance alone in some books can sweep you away from reality from hours (I know from experience!). But in this day and age when being “green” and keeping close tabs on how you are contributing to keeping the environment clean, is there a place for books?

Let’s take a quick time-out. The mere idea of taking books out of my life is heart-wrenching. I’m a book junky. In my life, I’ve given away a lot of books (which I regret), bought a TON of books and lost a few. When it comes to books, I have hoarding tendencies – and my book buying habits have created a list that is too long to keep up with on my work schedule. Besides representing intelligence for me, books are memories. When I pick up a book, I am reminded of where I was living when I read it, what subjects I was taking in school, who I was dating and most important what ugly clothes I thought were cool (anyone shop at Rave?).

All of my cookbooks (and Mr. Nutcracker and my brother)

My fiction books, old school books and randoms

Novel writing books (ha) and language books...
still haven't learned Arabic yet.

In efforts to be green and against all of my reservations, I decided to do some research on the book publishing industry. And I wasn’t happy or surprised at what I found. There are at least 4 billion books produced annually in the U.S., which means that at least 30 MILLION trees are cut down to make those books. And these figures are from 2006! Ugh, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. So what are publishing companies doing about this?

Luckily, they’re doing something. Go to http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/ and take a look around. There’s a treatise slowly being signed by publishers that will proportions of recycled paper to at least 30% by this year; Random House, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic and Hachette Book Group are among those. Most of these publishers are moving up their percentage of recycled paper usage at least 25%...which is awesome! The thing that makes me happiest is that they are aware and they taking proper steps towards creating a green publishing industry. I doubt the industry will switch to all recycled paper for several more years, if not decades, but it’s a start. And that’s all that any of us ask: to care.

Okay Kyrie, stop sticking up for publishing companies just because you love buying Harry Potter in hardback. Seriously. You may be asking, “what are YOU going to do to be more green? Stop buying books?” Now that I am more cogniscent of how much paper is used to make books, I will definitely curb my book-buying habits. And in the meantime, I’ve found a ton of great resources for both you and I to slow down our paper consumption and reduce our carbon footprint.

E-Books
There are tons of sites that offer e-books for free or for a nominal fee. And best of all – no paper! My favorite website is http://www.ebookwise.com/. For those who have iPhones, check out Stanza (free), Classics ($2.99), Free Books ($1.99) and you can even get the Twilight Series for $9.99 a book. Cool!

Kindle
The wireless reading device runs from $250.00 to $500.00, depending on the model. Buying books on the Kindle cost about $10.00 each, and there are half a million books in the Kindle database.

Magazines
Most gossip columns are appearing on regular news websites these days, but if you’re looking for a celebrity fix, go to or download the “People Celebrity News Tracker” on your iPhone for $1.99. For free beauty tips, visit http://www.free-beauty-tips.com/. AND to know which beauty products are earth-friendly, go to http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com (thanks for the link Amanda!).

Printed Materials
If you’re looking to get materials printed for your business, community events, newsletters and the like, go to http://www.gregbarberco.com/ and check out their options and pricing.

With all these options now available to you Mr. or Ms. Reader, what’s stopping you from discontinuing your People subscription and just checking Perez Hilton every day? Nothing…so get on it! I’ve now made an executive decision about my writing career: if I ever do get published, I want my books to be made with 100% recycled paper…even if that means my royalties go out the window. How about that for dedication?!

In honor of Earth Day, I’ll leave you with a funny quote from one of my favorite TV shows (not books) about how clueless people can really be about doing what is right for our environment:

“Well I could put the trash into a landfill where it’s going to stay for millions of years, or I could burn it up, get a nice smoky smell in here and let the smoke go into the sky where it turns into stars.”
-Charlie, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Regress to Progress.

Buying local, buying seasonal, buying natural, buying consciously––this is sustainable. This is organic.

People used to do it. Now, they’re at it again like it’s a new concept.

Using reusable bags, baskets and caddies to carry out grocerie­­s––this shouldn’t be so difficult to do. Many stores give five-cent credits for each reusable bag used. Why not charge five cents for every disposable bag used?

Let’s say goodbye to plastics.

Foods processed with ingredients that don’t properly metabolize within the body should be banned. Or at the least be labeled with a green sour faced Mr. Yuk sticker.

Let’s drink more tap water. Let’s reduce the amount of imported goods we consume. When it’s out of season, it’s out of season. If it doesn’t grow here, let’s consider how it got here. Let’s try living off the fat of the land.

The real point here is thinking before acting. Taking the extra 30 seconds to read ingredient information on packaged goods. Keeping reusable bags (the tiny ones that crumple up into balls) in your handbags and car for unplanned shopping trips. Trying to drive less, or driving strategically. Giving your business to grocery stores that carry local products. Or buying straight from the source.

We live in a progressive city. We’re surrounded by crops, orchards, dairy farms, vineyards, distilleries. We’re loaded with farm-to-table restaurants. Let’s support them. We’re nestled right between the great Pacific and the rolling Cascades. We have hunting and fishing. Let’s regress back to our roots. Back to Stumptown.

P.S. Happy Earth Day Week!

Earth Day 2010

Everyday is Earth Day for The Foodie Foursome, but we especially love this time of year because it creates something that drives the progress of living green: awareness! In honor of a great day dedicated to preserving our beautiful earth, we will be sharing "green" ideas and information all week. Until then, check out http://www.earthday.org/ and submit your pledge to make a difference under "Billion Acts of Green".

Here are some logos and cartoons to print out (on recycled paper of course!) or put on your own blogs. Happy Pledging!

Introductions

Hey all!

We've started a blog to keep track of our adventures in eating and living a sustainable life in a world consumed by styrofoam and McDonalds. In a bike-friendly city with fresh local Northwest ingredients like Portland it's not that hard to do! But we still are conscious of what we put in our bodies and how we treat the earth...and by sharing that with you, we're hoping that you'll learn something too.

Before we get started, take a look at our bios on the left side of the page under "Pages". The blog will slowly get to where it needs to be, but bear with us in the meantime - and enjoy reading!

-The Foodie Foursome