June 2012 | Simple, Good and Tasty

Bones, Calcium, Controversy

Posted in Health on Fri, 06/29/2012 - 6:00am by Jesse Haas -

I hired a new doctor this winter and had a pre-visit questionnaire prior to my first appointment. Among other questions about my health, the nurse’s aid asked me, “Do you get a least three servings of milk or milk products every day.” To which I responded very confidently, “Yes.”

“That’s terrific!” she said.

I had just lied to a health professional.

Together We Can Create a Healthier Future for the Children

Posted in Out & About on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 6:00am by Leigh Ahmad -

Oneka, MN Elementary Students Run the Healthy Snack Cart

More than ⅓ of all American children and adolescents tip the scales and weigh in as obese.

SGT Book Clubs Kick Off Their Summer Reading

Posted in Book Club on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 6:00am by Lawrence -

This month, our book clubs are going in divergent directions with two excellent reads. We hope that you can make it to one of the meetings to discuss them, but even if that is not an option, we encourage you to look deeper into these great works.

In Minneapolis, the SGT book club that meets at the Linden Hills Co-op will be reading the Dirty Life. They will be meeting on Wednesday, June 27th from 6:30-8:30 in the Community Room. This extremely entertaining read has been previously reviewed by SGT writer Merie Kirby. Here is an excerpt from her review:

Raw but Cooked: Kinilaw

Posted in on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 6:00am by Tracey Paska -

Cooking is simply defined as the preparation of food, typically using heat. In a biochemical process called denaturing, high temperatures from various methods such as grilling, braising or steaming alter proteins in meat and seafood, making them firmer (as with egg whites) or breaking down tissue to make them more tender (as with tough cuts like shanks). But heat is not the only way of achieving this denaturation.

Farm to Fork, a CSA Series: Fattoush Salad Recipe

Posted in Farms & Gardens, Recipes on Mon, 06/18/2012 - 6:00am by Jeni Hill -

This is the first part in a bi-monthly series featuring the CSA vegetables we receive on a weekly basis.

It is sort of like getting a care package from your best friend...who happens to be a farmer. In February, my fiancée and I signed-up with Bluebird Gardens of Fergus Falls, MN to receive weekly half-bushel share boxes. We paid just $395 for the whole season!

Six Acres of Asparagus

Posted in Farms & Gardens, Recipes on Fri, 06/15/2012 - 6:00am by Lizzie Holzapfel -

If you are like me, you get excited during those warming days when displays of fresh asparagus start appearing in your local markets, and if you happen to stumble upon J & S Produce you might just think you’ve found a little piece of vegetable heaven. J & S Produce is a little farm fifteen minutes west of Spooner, WI, on highway 70, where farmer Joe Strenke has six beautiful acres of organic asparagus. I stopped there a week ago with my mom on the way up to our cabin near Hayward, WI and between the two of us we bought nine pounds of asparagus at $3.00 a pound. While Joe washed and bundled up our asparagus, which he had picked that very morning, I chatted with him a bit and took a look around.

The Latin Tongue: La Hacienda

Posted in Mexican Restaurant Reviews, Out & About on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 6:00am by Lawrence -

Sometimes I like to let the decisions come to me. We still have probably 25-30 Latin restaurants on our list to try. How are we to know what we want or where to go? This time, I let a little luck guide me. I had a few ideas, but as I drove to a meeting in St. Paul I decided that surely I would find something along the way. I decided to enter St. Paul from the crosstown/airport area, which left me driving down 7th street west. Almost immediately, I took in the names in a small strip mall between Davern and St. Paul avenue, and sure enough, the was something called "La Hacienda."

I drove on to my meeting sure that this was the answer and really hoping that it was not the same folks who own Taqueria La Hacienda in Minneapolis. Of course, Charles was game, so we convened around lunch time and were pleasantly greeted by the owners of this establishment.

Can too many farmers markets be a bad thing?

Posted in Farms & Gardens, News & Views on Fri, 06/08/2012 - 6:00am by Lawrence -

Sometimes things take you by surprise. When I found out that indeed, a farmers market was coming to my neighborhood, mere steps from my house, I was excited. However, the response to the Linden Hills Farmers Market was anything but unanimous. Call it naivite or what have you, but I could not believe how many folks were arguing about how this market would take from that market, blowing the "it isn't fair" horn, or living in some unrealized or unknown fear. So, I want to simply ask the question, "Can too many farmers markets be a bad thing?"

Great Grains: The Maize, Corn Debate

Posted in on Wed, 06/06/2012 - 6:00am by Amy Sippl -

This is the fourth post in the series “Great Grains” highlighting unusual whole grains and easy ways to incorporate them into your diet. Check out posts on bulgur, millet and rye as well.

Is it a grain or is it a vegetable? Is maize the same thing as corn? What counts as the “whole” grain form? Corn gets such a bad rap—Is it even healthy for you?

Eating to Love: The Challenge to Eat Responsibly

Posted in Health, News & Views on Mon, 06/04/2012 - 6:00am by Denise Kulawik -

I have a problem. I am a meat lover and a devotee of all things rich, creamy and sweet. Eggs are my favorite breakfast food. When I eat a Hostess Cupcake, I enjoy it immensely and without a trace of irony.

So what's the problem? Is there anything easier, gastronomically speaking, than to find a good cut of meat or low-cost dairy products or processed foods in the United States? Even consumers who balk at the worst and most cruel aspects of modern industrial farming can, with relative ease, find sources of grass-fed beef (humanely raised and slaughtered), free-range eggs, milk and cheese from benign family farms if they're willing to spend a few dollars. The world should be my oyster. Pun intended.