Green Options » fresh

Healthier Fast Food? Try In N’ Out Burger

John Chappell — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:32:10 +0000

In N Out is a burger chain on the West Coast with locations in California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. They’ve been around since 1948 and have long prided themselves on good, fresh food. Their menu is delectably simple - hamburger, cheeseburger, fries, and shakes. That’s it.

If you’re a conscientious food consumer, eating fast food probably isn’t even on your radar, but at In N Out fast food isn’t synonymous with bad food or huge portions. The USDA recommends consuming no more than 6 ounces of meat a day (see website), and in an age when fast food joints are routinely putting half a pound or more of meat in their burgers, In N Out hamburger patties are a refreshingly small 2 ounces.

At In N Out, a meal of a cheeseburger and french fries is only 880 calories (800 total if you omit the Thousand Island-esque spread from the burger), significantly less than the 1000+ calorie combo meals pitched by other fast food franchises. You can look at the Nutritional Information for In N Outs’ various products. And not only is the above meal short on calories, but also on price. A cheeseburger, fries, and beverage will run you just $5.

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Cook More, Shop Less

Rachel Shulman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:39:14 +0000

With all of the attention being paid to the platforms of foodies like Jamie Oliver and Michael Pollan, you would think that Americans would cook more and rely less on fast- and processed-food.

The misperception that cooking is too time consuming turns out to be a major roadblock on our path to a sustainable national food system.

Cooking is not time consuming. Shopping for groceries, however, is.

One strategy for making cooking a part of your daily life is to maximize your cooking to shopping ratio.

Here are some tips on how to cook more and shop less:

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Organic Orange, Beet and Lemon Zest Salad with Delicious Toppings and Pairings

Lucille Chi — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:47:01 +0000

Here is a scrumptious and healthy alkaline rich beet and orange salad with refreshing lemon zest and your choice of protein and toppings.

Try silky light tofu, or organic cottage cheese, crumbled feta, or plain. To top it off try fresh thyme or rosemary. I happen to have a blood orange I threw into the mix, so get creative and treat yourself to this healthy root vegetable and citrus salad.

Below is the recipe and an example menu to pair this nutritious side dish with.

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Fast Fuel: Three Tips to Eat Healthy During the Busy Gardening Season

Lisa Kivirist — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:38:12 +0000

As our gardens start to deliver, as I harvest my first spring veggies this time of year, I always make the same resolution: This year I’m going to eat more fresh out of the garden.

It sounds obvious, but the truth of the matter is I always get wrapped up in the garden work, from watering to weeding, and food preservation, from freezing to fermenting, that I get too busy and loose sight of the key reason why my family started the garden on our Wisconsin farm and B&B, Inn Serendipity, in the first place: to savor and celebrate fresh, local, healthy food.

Once again this year, I’m on a mission to feast on the bounty, to not get so wrapped up in the process that I miss opportune feasting moments. As inspirational fodder, I researched this idea further, resulting in an article for the upcoming July/August issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine: Farm-style Fast Food: If the growing season has you too busy to prepare well-planned meals every night, follow these tips for healthy “fast-food” eating.” In addition to that article, here are a few more tips I found helpful:

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Help Your Favorite Local Farmers Market Win $5000

Levi Novey — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:07:52 +0000

It’s an experience many of us relish– taking a weekend stroll through the colors, sounds, and smells of a local farmers market and then choosing fresh items to take back to our homes, as well crafts, or maybe a cd from a local band. We know that the food will eventually fill our stomachs contently, or that another item we found will be a perfect and unique gift for a special friend or family member.

This summer you can show your support for your favorite farmers market, by helping it win a $5000 reward. Care2.com and Localharvest.org are sponsoring this great online contest. The $5000 top prize will be awarded to the farmer’s market that is voted the most popular by internet users like you.

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You Say Tomato, I Say Tomahto: Let’s Just Eat it Fresh

Lisa Kivirist — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:55:13 +0000

During this bountiful season of the tomato harvest, there’s a certain classification of recipes I turn to. No sauces, no stews, nothing that uses cooked tomatoes or anything I can make in January with my frozen tomato booty. Celebrate the final summer hurrah by savoring the fresh and relish those special recipes that can only made this time of year.

This Tomato Crouton Casserole fits that bill nicely — and can readily be a side dish or we even serve it with breakfast at our B&B. Recipe after the jump:

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Farmer Fast Food: Quick Spring Meal Tips from Busy Growers

Lisa Kivirist — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:53:03 +0000

And you think you’re busy? Zoë Bradbury has three thousand strawberry transplants to plant, two acres of row crops to sow including a diversified mix of everything from carrots to beets to lettuce, thirteen and a half tons of lime to work into the soil for organic fertilizer and a team of draft horses galloping in any day now. And don’t forget the experimental celeriac patch. Add in the role of accountant, office manager and marketing chief and you cook up the range of farmer responsibilities resulting in their annual crazy spring schedule.

The farmers’ market season may not yet be in full swing so we don’t see — nor appreciate — the flurry of farm activity going on across the country as growers get ready to keep us freshly stocked all summer. But Bradbury, a fledgling Oregon farmer starting her growing venture this season, along with thousands of small-scale, family farmers across the country, have been putting in long work days for weeks.

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