August 2009

Recipe: Yellow Watermelon Gazpacho with Crumbled Feta

Adam Anderson, former chef at Lucia's (currently at Whole Foods), creates Simple, Good, and Tasty recipes on a regular basis, using the ingredients from our Harmony Valley Farm CSA boxes. Here's his latest.

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Simple, Good, and Tasty Dinner at the Strip Club TONIGHT

Tonight's the night for the August Simple, Good, and Tasty dinner at the Strip Club, sure to be another terrific local food experience with friends. For the 50 of us lucky enough to have signed up first, Here are the details:

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September Local Food Dinner Announced: Potluck and Pig Roast on 9/13

For September's Simple, Good, and Tasty local food dinner, we're trying something a little bit different - the biggest, best, funnest local food potluck and pig roast that the Twin Cities has ever seen. SGT will provide the pig - you bring your family, friends, and a dish to share. This is a great, inexpensive opportunity to meet local food enthusiasts, cook up your CSA/farmshare bounty, and eat great food.

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Nina Planck Discusses Real Food

This 6 minute video, filmed in 2007, features the terrific Nina Planck describing her relationship with food, the science behind dietary advice, and why it's better to eat real food than poor imitations. Planck is practical and personable. I'm a big fan of her approach.

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The Health Care Debate on Fat is a Bunch of Baloney

If you’re following the national shouting match on health care reform, you may have noticed a hue and cry against fat people. If you Google the phrase “obese people should pay more for national health care,” you’ll see a slew of articles, blogs, and comments on the subject. Many people who say “amen to that” are being pretty judgmental. They characterize obesity as the self-imposed condition of slackers who refuse to change their willfully poor food and exercise choices. Commentators describe payment as punishment and health care as burden. As in, thin people are being punished by having to pay for fat people’s choices.

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Garlic Festival Just Stinky as it Sounds

My family and I had a fun time at the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota's Garlic Festival this past weekend in Hutchinson, MN.

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Michael Pollan's Food Rules

Here's an excellent video of a radio interview with Michael Pollan, conducted by WNYC.org in May of 2009. In the clip, Pollan discusses his latest project - an attempt to collect food traditions - along with the perils of fast food. It's a 4 minute video, packed with all sorts of good things. Check it out.

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Harmony Valley's Farmshare This Week

Here's a list of the great foods that came in our Harmony Valley CSA box this week, along with notes and a picture directly from Harmony Valley Farm to help us figure out what to do with everything. I posted my initial reaction to this great farmshare bounty last week. The food is really amazing (local, organic, sustainable, and delicious) - so much better than what you'd find in most grocery stores - even if it can be a bit overwhelming at times.

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Okay, Now I'm Completely Overwhelmed!

Our kitchen counter, covered with this week's farmshare bountyMy kitchen counter, covered with this week's farmshare bountyWhat am I going to do with all of this stuff? It's taking over my kitchen! My fridge is still nearly full from last week's Harmony Valley vegetables! My fruit share includes an entire bag full of apricots! I've been eating salad greens and sautee mix non-stop for weeks! I don't know if I can eat another basil vinaigrette. And now that there are tomatoes - blessed, delicious tomatoes - it occurs to me that nobody else in my family will touch them.

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Galactic Pizza Serves Pies With a Conscience

We've entered the period of summer when local produce gets so plentiful and bold that it almost becomes overwhelming. Farmers market tables bulge with color and are rivaled only by the swell of the crowds that flow between them. It's the pinnacle of the season for anyone that enjoys gastronomic adventures at home. I often find myself returning from a farmers market with bags full of vegetables and no idea how I’m going to use them all.

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