Green Options

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Ah, grassfed beef. Suddenly, it’s THE thing to eat. You’ve heard all about the complex flavor and the bonus of being able to find sustainable and filet mignon on the same plate. The moment has come. You carefully create your marinade or even just a salt and herb rub so you don’t hide the flavor. You’ve grilled a few steaks, you have your timing down. The perfectly seared finished filet hits your plate. You take that much anticipated bite. And …

It is bone dry. Overcooked. Gray.

Well, this whole grassfed beef thing is lousy, you say. I can’t eat that! What happened?

Shannon Hayes, author of The Farmer and the Grill, has your answer. Her latest book provides all the information you need to grill grassfed meats and poultry and avoid such disappointment when you transition to more sustainable meats.

Joel Salatin writes the book’s introduction:

As a quintessential devotee of pastured livestock, I am keenly aware that the most environmentally-progressive meat and poultry in the world will not sell unless the eater has a favorable dining experience. At the end of the day, taste and eating pleasure trump altruism every time. Healing the planet and keeping cancer at bay just don’t compare to the visceral bond connecting nose, palate, and pocketbook.

We’ve talked a lot about eating seasonally, for the taste, health, and environmental benefits. However, if you’re not a gardener or new to shopping the farmers’ markets, you might be unsure what’s available. For careful menu planners, this can be difficult. Wouldn’t it be easier if a cookbook was organized by season, offering recipes using produce commonly available during each of the four seasons?

Then my mom bought me Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert’s Simply in Season for Christmas this year. The concept seemed so logical, I couldn’t believe I didn’t already posses a cookbook organized by season. In fact, there are a few other seasonally-organized cookbooks, but my mom picked this up while they were on vacation this summer, knowing it would be right up my alley. She was right. This vegetarian/vegan-friendly tome is packed with recipes that are easy enough for most home cooks, even beginners, and look (and taste!) downright tasty. Right now, I’m planning both the Lemon Asparagus pasta and the Spring Quiche Trio for upcoming meals, and I’m positively salivating for June’s strawberries, so I can make the Strawberry Brunch Souffle

While I’m not a vegan, I’ve been a flexitarian for almost ten years. I do most of the cooking in our house, and we try to stay meat free as much as possible. Eating lower on the food chain is just better for our planet and our bodies, and I have a problem with the way industrial animal-based foods are produced. However, it’s easy to fall into a rut with what I cook in the house, particularly over the winter when local produce is virtually non-existent.

I’ve always been interested in vegan cooking, but I love cheese too much to give it any serious consideration. That is, until I found the Post Punk Kitchen online and subsequently received Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero’s Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. Moskowitz and Romero are no strangers to cookbooks. Their Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World was a best-seller, and Moskowitz wrote the cult-fave Vegan With a Vengeance. Forget the brown rice/tofu vegan health food of the 70s: Moskowitz and Romero take vegan food, modernize it with a hipster edge, and make it appealing to any cook, not just vegan cooks, straight from their Brooklyn kitchens.