Green Options

Editor’s note: This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally-friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on the Eco-Libris website.

Thinking about giving gardening a try? While the traditional growing season has ended in most parts of the US for this year, it’s not too early to start planning for next Spring. You may want to check out books on starting a backyard garden, and there are plenty of them out there. You may also want to find some of the books that offer suggestions and recipes for the produce you grow. And, if you need encouragement to grow organically, there are still more books on that subject.

If you want a book that covers all three of those areas, though, your choices get much more limited. Janette Haase’s From Seed to Table: A Practical Guide to Eating and Growing Green* not only provides readers with gardening instructions and tips, recipes and menus, and essays on the environmental issues surrounding agriculture and food production, but does so in a month-by-month structure that gives you the information you need when you need it.

For today’s edition of my can’t cook blog, I have something really simple and delicious to take a try at.  It is honestly one of the easiest meals you can possibly make, but still fantastic nonetheless–Spaghetti with Garlic/Cheese Bread.

If you are thinking, well that is just too easy meal, don’t give up on me yet.  I am going to show you how if you spend just a little more time with the preparation or variation, this can be a really great meal.

First off, cook up some spaghetti.  Even for a beginners cooking Blog, this pretty easy–Boil some water, toss noodles in the pan and cook until they reach al dente, or firm but not solid (just a hair under fully cooked).

Right here is where I would like to improve this dish.  First off, try whole wheat pasta instead of regular enriched flour pasta.  It is much better for you, and the taste difference in negligible.

Zinc is an essential mineral that carries out numerous functions in your body, including promoting a healthy immune system, protecting the liver from damage and it even helps you to heal from wounds. Find yourself deficient in this mineral and your libido will be screaming out to be fed. Zinc is vital for testosterone production, which affects sexual desire, vigor and stamina in both men and women. Zinc deficiencies in men can cause sexual performance problems, which can be embarrassing and uncomfortable for everyone involved. Zinc also helps to prevent PMS symptoms in women and plays an important role in the function of the prostate gland in men. Semen also contains zinc; not enough zinc in your diet and those little guys may be too weak to get to where they need to go. On the other hand, in Chinese Medicine it is believed that excessive ejaculation can reduce the amount of zinc in your body, leading to a loss of sexual desire. It’s a vicious cycle isn’t it? Zinc also allows acuity of smell and taste and a deficiency could lead to a loss of those senses. What a bummer it would be if you couldn’t smell and taste all the sexy food you have been working so hard on.

So how do you know if you are deficient? Some common signs of a possible major deficiency in zinc are acne, fatigue, white spots on your fingernails, hair loss, high cholesterol, prostate trouble, irregular periods, impotence and infertility. However, even a minor deficiency can affect your sexual desire and function, so taking the time to make sure you are getting enough of this mineral during the day can have a positive outcome on your romantic evenings. If you are concerned, there is an oral test that can be done at a doctors’ office, as well as a blood test to determine if you are zinc deficient. Vegetarians and vegans need about 50% more zinc in their diet then meat eaters. Since there is an array of plant-based zinc sources, there is no need to panic and since most Americans are believed to be deficient in this vital mineral, it’s time to eat up people!

Sexy Veggie Food Choices: tempeh, beans including lentil, adzuki beans, chickpeas and lima beans, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, nuts including cashews, pecans, pine nuts, almonds and Brazil nuts, honey, tahini, flax seeds, flax oil, peas, blackberries, kiwi, peas, summer squash, corn and sweet potato, oats and seaweeds including kelp and dulse.

Try this recipe for my “Just Can’t Get Enough Granola” to start boosting your zinc today.

For this post I am going to express one of my favorite simple recipes, and a very healthy one at that–Grilled Chicken Salad.

Now your probably thinking, this is probably too simple to be expressed on a Blog.  Well I disagree.  If a little extra time is spent with preparation, this can be one of those great easy meals, that you can remake again and again.  This meal is such a staple that in our house, we designate one night a week as Grilled Chicken Salad Night.

In order to make up this meal, you need to grab some boneless chicken fillets from your local grocer’s freezer.  Simply grill up the chicken over a charcoal or propane grill until the chicken is cooked through and crisp, but not burned. While cooking, cover the chicken with basic seasoning to improve taste. For my super delicious chicken salad, usually a little well done on the chicken makes for a tastier meal.

If you lack the potential to grill, chicken actually bakes well in the oven under steady supervision of flipping the chicken to ensure the chicken is baked all the way through.  To bake it use the same formula as you did for grilling, but just expect a little more production time.  In either case, slicing open the raw chicken at various parts will help cook the bird and let the seasoning soak in more.

I confess: rutabagas overwhelm me. Turnips come in a close second. As these hefty big root crops pile up on the counter here at Inn Serendipity, I realize I need an easy cooking plan.

Fall crops – from butternuts to beets – require taking out the big sharp knives, the cutting boards, and usually can’t go from garden to plate in ten minutes or less. (Case in point: the yummy, yet rather complex, Beet Burger recipe I wrote about last week). But there’s a reason for that: these types of fall vegetables are meant to store and be savored through the winter months, particularly here in through our Wisconsin winters. Tougher skins and harder insides hold up to seasonal and local eating booty through our lean Midwest growing months, providing the opportunity to still eat fresh year round.

Consider this Roasted Root Vegetable recipe my point of entry into the winter cooking season. Cooked in olive oil with some simple seasonings, this recipe showcases the distinct, hearty flavors of root vegetables. Potato recipes get temporarily bumped off the breakfast plate at Inn Serendipity this time of year as this flavorful, unusual recipe prompts folks to rethink their assumptions about rutabagas and other roots.

Roasted Root Vegetables (Vegan)

Cranberries, the cousin of blueberries, have long been valued for their ability to help prevent and treat urinary tract infections. Recent studies show that this berry may also promote gastrointestinal and oral health, prevent the formation of kidney stones, lower LDL and raise HDL (good) cholesterol, aid in recovery from stroke, and even help prevent cancer. Cranberries are a good source of vitamin C, a very good source of dietary fiber, and a great source of manganese and vitamin K. Cranberries are also a source of polyphenol antioxidants, which are being researched for their possible benefits to the cardiovascular system and immune system. Fresh cranberries are at their peak during the holiday season between October and December. When in season choose fresh, plump cranberries, deep red in color, and quite firm to the touch. Firmness is a primary indicator of quality. The deeper red their color, the more highly concentrated are cranberries’ beneficial compounds. When the season is over or if you can’t find fresh cranberries but still want all the nutritional benefits, simply look for dried or frozen cranberries at your local grocery store. The recipe included is perfect as a holiday side dish or throw over brown rice to make a complete vegan meal. Trust me, these are not your mother’s Brussels sprouts.

Soybean oil.  That’s it. That’s it?

Yes. After learning that Crisco got its name from crystallized cotton seed oil and waxing nostalgic about the big red-white-and-blue shortening can Mom used to keep in the cupboard for baking, I was shocked to find that a typical 32-ounce bottle of all-natural, cholesterol free Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil had just one ingredient.  Not cottonseed oil but soybean oil.

Soybean oil is another surplus crop more frequently used for whatever the processors, marketers, and packagers come up with. Cottonseed oil isn’t in the cooking oil or shortening ingredients.  It appears Crisco has given in to the cheap grain trend of government-subsidized crops making more of our food.  It’s probably better than fattier cottonseed oil that’s increasingly fed to dairy cows as a fiber source that converts to butterfat in milk.

Gluten free baking is not for the faint of heart or the timid of soul.  The tried and true baking results that come from the familiar use of wheat flour are substantially difficult to reproduce without our old friends, wheat, rye, and barley.  With some experimentation and a little tenacity, you can find a good gluten free flour mix, and still have some of the same baked treats you once enjoyed before you relinquished all gluten related items.

In my three years of learning to cook and bake gluten free, I’ve tried numerous combinations of flours and prepackaged mixes.  Some were pretty good, but most spanned the spectrum between OK and outright terrible. I looked for gluten free flours in recipe books, in online searches, and throughout the blogosphere, and finally found the best all purpose flour mix in a cookbook - Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts.

For centuries, pomegranates have been used to promote fertility, increase vitality and to lengthen and improve human life. Foods that resembled seeds or eggs were historically thought to be aphrodisiacs. It turns out, those ancient sexual beings were on to something. The pomegranate, with its abundance of seeds, is said to be a symbol of fertility. The seeds of the fruit were often compared to the seeds of life. Nutritionally speaking, the pomegranate offers your body an array of nutrients that will not only increase your overall health, but may just boost your libido and sexual vigor as well.

Pomegranates contain almost half your daily quota of Vitamin C, an antioxidant that is required for at least 300 different metabolic functions in the body. Vitamin C is also a protector from free radical damage and a facilitator of good circulation, which is vital for sexual health and pleasure. They also contain vitamin B5, the anti-stress vitamin needed for proper adrenal function, and vitamins A and E, which help to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Pomegranate oil is now being used in many menopause products to help reduce symptoms, as well as in vaginal creams to help eliminate dryness, which can make sex painful. Pomegranate juice is easily found at your local grocery store, often mixed with other super-fruits, offering you an antioxidant cocktail that is easily assimilated by the body. The seeds are great in cold salads, on (soy) yogurt with some nuts or paired with greens for a sweet and tart delight. Do something good for your body today and try the greens recipes below to increase your overall health and feed your libido at the same time. It doesn’t get much better then that.

Fall ushers in burger season on our Wisconsin farm.  Beet burger season, that it.  These veggie burgers are house favorites here at Inn Serendipity farm and B&B.  Something about the red color and texture of the beets that cause even the committed meat burger eater to savor the veggie side of the bun.

This is a very adaptable, forgiving recipe—feel free to modify and experiment with ingredients.   Carrots can easily substitute for some of the beets.  The burgers freeze well (and taste surprisingly good cold), so we usually make a triple batch in a jumbo bowl.

Here’s the recipe:

For my edition of the learning to cook Blog, I am going to start with something super simple:  Grilled cheese sandwiches, one the key staple foods of a child growing up in the Midwest.

But these culinary treats should not just be for moms and kids.  Playing around with the recipe some can turn this classic into a work of art, and I would like to show you how.

(Photo taken by Dan Tentler)

Now this is not the first time the guilty pleasures of grilled cheese have been toted on this site.  Kelly Best-Oliver spells out her enjoyment of grilled cheese and tomatoe shallot soup.  Robin Shreeves also encourages grilled cheese and tomato soup in her Thrifty Thursday Blog from September 2008.

However, both these Blogs do not improve the process of making grilled cheese to improve taste.  I like to think that Grilled Cheese sandwiches can be a real meal, an almost delicacy if you will.  That is where I, Jason Karnosky–the working food journalist come in.