Sunday, September 07, 2008

Back to food

After a few days of politics I need to clear my palate. Let's talk about food.

Anyone has been reading for a while knows that I've taken up reading about food and nutrition over the past few years. Last summer we planted a garden for the first time in over 10 years. We've started buying the majority of our meat--grass fed--from a local farmer. We're figuring in trips to the same farmer for eggs a couple of times a month. I've learned how to can and freeze.

There are still areas where I could improve, but I'm feeling better all the time about how and what we're eating. I still need to get to the bread baking. I need to learn to live without boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which have always been our main form of chicken. It doesn't mean I can't ever use them again, but finding them that are natural and truly free-range is very difficult. And expensive.

We're joining a local CSA for this winter. By next winter I plan to have made progress on the four season harvest. I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I am enjoying, except for her snarky comments about those of us who don't believe in evolution. She seems not to understand that most of us are totally cognizant of micro-evolution with a species. We just don't see the species-to-species thing. Throwing out that little annoyance, it's an enjoyable book.

3 comments:

Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake said...
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Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake said...

It is totally worth getting used to using chicken from a whole bird, instead of mechanically-separated boneless/skinless breast meat. There's just so much more flavor to poultry that's cooked on its bones, it's definitely worth the trouble.

Also, the minimal processing of whole birds means there's less opportunity for contamination at the packing plant.

GreenJello said...

I use the boneless, skinless chicken because I can't handle cutting a chicken, even if it's dead.

I couldn't even dissect a frog in biology. The cutting into it part just did me in. I could watch someone else do it just fine, but doing it myself was out of the question.

I would probably make a good vegetarian, except I love chicken too much. LOL.