February 2014 | Simple, Good and Tasty

Five Surprising Places to Eat Local

Posted in Out & About on Fri, 02/28/2014 - 6:00am by Christina Vanov... -

Knowing which field a pig frolicked in before being turned into your lardon used to be the stuff of fancypants restaurants and Portlandia sketches.

But eating food grown or raised within a small radius of where one is currently standing is becoming more common in the Twin Cities, as the people who help feed us realize it can be good not just for health and planet, but also for the bottom line.

It’s easier for consumers to choose local, not only when grocery shopping or making a dinner reservation, but in all of the places they might want to grab a bite. Here are five surprising places to eat local in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

At work

Lifting Winter Blues: 7 Natural Strategies

Posted in Health on Thu, 02/20/2014 - 3:37pm by Jesse Haas -

It's winter. And in the Midwest, it's been kinda rough, with 42 days of below-zero temperatures and plenty of snow. If weathering the cold and gray is making you glum, here are seven ideas for boosting your mood and your energy so the next couple months don't feel so heavy.

Fortify yourself with vitamin D-3, the "sunshine vitamin." Low blood levels of vitamin D are linked to depression, as well as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, and cancer. This fat-soluble vitamin is the only vitamin that can be generated by the body in a super cool chain-reaction that is catalyzed when our skin is exposed to sunlight, specifically UV-B rays.

More Than a Box o' Vegetables: Tips on Choosing a CSA

Posted in Farms & Gardens on Thu, 02/20/2014 - 2:26pm by Elizabeth Millard -

Well-known farmer and author Joel Salatin once said, "Don't you find it odd that people put more work into choosing a mechanic or contractor than into choosing the person who grows their food?"

Let's change that.

There are many ways to create connections with local farmers, from shopping at co-ops to frequenting farmers markets that feature locally grown produce. But to really get to know the people who grow your food from seed to harvest, consider a community supported agriculture (CSA) share. (For a quick primer on CSAs, zip over to this article for a CSA 101 description.)

Tradition, Memory, and Cinnamon: Making My Grandmother's Beef Soup

Posted in Recipes on Mon, 02/17/2014 - 2:35pm by Laurie Jesch-Kulseth -

I grew up on a small dairy farm in western North Dakota, and I still get terribly homesick from time to time. Even though I've spent more of my life away from there, it still has my heart. It's still my home. One of the hardest parts of growing older is wanting those comforts of the past, but coming to terms with the fact that they'll never again be as you remember them. It's the pull of nostalgia, I suppose, to miss being that carefree kid running around the farm and seeing childhood friends, to miss regularly seeing my aunts, uncles, and cousins. To miss talking with my grandparents, who have all passed away.