Local Eating, Texas Style?

This week I'm visiting the great state of Texas. I'm sure Texas is lovely, but I'm trying to figure out what's so great about 110 degree temperatures. This Northern girl doesn't mind being dropped in a snow bank but introduce heat and I become a whole different (and quite frankly, rather unpleasant) person.

Prior to my departure, I spent some time searching the internet. I knew I'd be eating all my meals out this week so thought I'd see how easy it would be to "eat local" San Antonio style.

It's kinda hard.

Slow Food USA has a San Antiono chapter that is in development but no local representation at this time. Strike 1. I found a food forum where someone asked about local food choices in the city and the only response was from someone who was looking for the same thing. Strike 2. I finally found a site for a restaurant called Dough where they are members of Slow Food USA and promote local products. Problem is they're about a 20 minute cab right from my hotel. Not a homerun by maybe a ball?

Why on earth am I using sports analogies? What has come over me? Maybe my time in Texas is bringing out lots of testosterone or something. Who knows...

I had lunch today at a restaurant named Boudro's. I was sent there because they're supposed to have the best guacamole in town. And delish it was! It wasn't until after my very pleasant dining experience that I found online that they also promote the use of local ingredients. Darn. Missed opportunity to ask some questions. Well, lunch was great anyway. I had "Texas Tapas" which was corn pudding, jicama salad, pork tenderloin with pineapple, grilled Hill Country Jalapeno sausage, and smoked duck. Not to mention the fabulous guacamole made table-side. Their secret is using orange juice along with the lime juice and their special tomato sauce of fire roasted roma tomatoes with poblano peppers. Picked up a couple pointers for making guacamole!

I also found something for a restaurant called Citrus which appears to be right in the neighborhood. Their menu says, "We are committed to showcasing locally grown and seasonal produce, wild fish, and naturally raised meats.". This might be it folks! I've got my eye on the Texas Farmed Natural Chicken Breast with Honey Goat Cheese, Roasted Heirloom Potatoes and Long Beans. Um...... YUM!

So anyway, that's really all I could find. I've got my camera with me so I can take pictures of my delicious eats (and the Alamo) :). We'll see what tonight holds- hope I can talk some of the crew into trying out Citrus with me!

Healthy eating may kill my husband

Jim is terrified of healthy eating. But not for the reasons you would think. When he opens the refrigerator and sees fresh fruits and veggies, he starts to panic. He is deathly afraid of things spoiling. It's almost comical. He will worry himself sick over peaches going bad and then will reach for a bag of chips.

So after my exciting day of receiving my first Farm Fresh Delivery order, it dawned on me that I was getting ready to leave town. I left Friday afternoon for Chicago and got back late last night. I'm home today and tomorrow and then leave early Tuesday for a full week in San Antonio (yes, Texas is August. No, this is not for pleasure). So what to do with all this produce?

Well, dinner Thursday night for both Jim and myself was corn on the cob so that took care of that. But I could see that little basket of cherry tomatoes lurking in the fridge and could feel Jim's eyes on me saying "you're wasting our money on food we're never going to eat". I'll confess that popping a tomato in my mouth as a snack will never happen. I have major issues with texture and the slime of raw tomatoes just gags me. But I'm devoted to finding alternative uses for tomatoes that the whole family will eat (the kids have developed my phobia of slimy foods as well).

One thing I DO love is sundried tomatoes so I thought I'd give that a whirl. I inherited my grandpa's food dehydrator (at some point in time someone thought he was going to make his own jerky. Not sure if that ever happened). After a little checking it was determined that it would take about 10-11 hours to get these puppies into my favored state. I was concerned that using the dehdrator overnight would catch my house on fire and Jim and I would end up dehydrated ourselves but fortunately that was not the case! I think that generally people use Roma tomatoes for this but I had to use what I had on hand.


So anyhow, these things are DELISH! Before starting up the dehydrator I sprinkled them with a little salt and dried basil. That's what I had for breakfast on Friday morning- about 30 slices of sundried tomatoes! And it has opened me up to the possibilities of the food dehydrator; dried pineapple, fruit leathers, crispy vegetables, who knows?


The tomatoes have a shelf life of several months in the fridge so I'm sure we'll get through them in plenty of time. I realize that they DO lose some of their nutritional value in the process but I still see this as a great option for making different types of healthy snacks.



And the best part? Jim can rest easy, knowing that the shelf life of these little beauties has been extended. AND, making your own sundried tomatoes costs pennies on the dollar when you compare them to the cost of buying a jar at the grocery store. Ah, saving the world (and my husband's sanity) one day at a time. It's a tough job but I'm up to the challenge.

Vendor of the Week: Farm Fresh Delivery

For those of you lucky enough to live in Indianapolis (thriving metropolis that it is), there is one way in which we are very lucky. No, not the Indy 500. No, not Brickyard either. Boy, you guys are WAY off.

We have lots of FARMS! Oh, whoopee! you're thinking... This town is a rockin! Well, the benefit of all these farms is that fresh, local produce (amongst other things) are very easy to obtain. The fact that farms exist within Indianapolis city limits used to make me think we had something unique here but I've been reading quite a bit about the Urban Farming initiatives in Detroit and am pretty excited about what they've got going on there!

But I'm in Indiana. So I'm going to take advantage of all that we have to offer! One EASY way that I've learned to take advantage of our moderately special status (gotta share the love with the Big D) is through Farm Fresh Delivery. I was just turned on to this program by a guy at work. I debated on signing up for a few weeks but finally bit the bullet. I wasn't hesitating because I didn't WANT to sign up, I was just worried that it would interfere with the highlight of my weekly social calendar: the farmer's market. But for the next few weeks I'm going to be tied up on Saturdays so this was the perfect solution.

So my first order arrived today. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, let me tell you that you just have to browse their website. I spent literally hours, going through all the options, vendors, etc. I ultimately settled on the small fruit and veggie bin because I wanted to be able to add in other items without totally blowing my budget. My fruit and veggie bin was $25 and then I was able to select an additional $10 worth of other products to get me to the minimum order of $35.

When I pulled in the drive today I was so excited to see the big green bin waiting for me (yes, they DELIVER for free!).




Don't hate me because you're jealous of my 1970's kitchen that you can see in the background. Green is an ugly color on you.

I was a little concerned, quite frankly, because I had ordered Banana Mango yogurt from Trader's Point Creamery as part of my order and it was 90 degrees out there today. I was very impressed with the packaging and everything was still cold (if not frozen) because they were packed in thermal bags with ice packs (you just return the ice packs, thermal bag and bin when they bring your next order).



When you place your order, you're able to see exactly where your products come from (or if they're not local, as was with my strawberries- they're organic but from California). And the REALLY cool thing was that last week I received an email with a listing of the contents of this week's fruit and veggie bin. There were a few things in there that didn't light my fire, so to speak, so I was able to go in and substitute all sorts of other choices for no additional charge. So my bin was 100% customized to my preferences. Super cool!

So I'm anxious to try some of my new goodies, especially the mushroom patties! And tonight I'll be having two years of corn for dinner (because I'm the only one home and I CAN, gosh darn it!).

So anyway, I love the fact that more options such as this are being made available to us. Yesterday I was talking about cost and agree with Michelle that the more demand we have, the more the cost of buying local will be driven down. The fact that Farm Fresh Delivery is a thriving business is evidence of the demand here in Indianapolis. Do you participate in something similar, like a CSA, where you live?

Would a chicken by any other name REALLY taste as good?

As I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I've been pondering many of the things my good BFF Barbara Kingsolver has said about heirloom vegetables and meat.

Does an heirloom cucumber REALLY taste better than one I get at the grocery store? Well, actually (and much to my surprise), it really does! That golden egg of a cucumber from last week actually tasted sweeter than its grocery store counterpart. I have to admit, I was shocked myself. Who knew? Well, I guess Barbara knew...

So would the same hold true for chicken? I wasn't sure. Several years ago, when Jim and I still lived in Detroit, Jim bought a chicken from the Arabic grocer down the street from us. He went in, picked out the live chicken he wanted, the grocer took it in the back, killed it, plucked it, and brought it out in a plastic bag, ready to go. THAT was a little too close to my food for me. And to be honest, I couldn't eat it.

So last weekend, as evidenced by my photos, I got myself this lovely little free range, antibiotic and hormone free chicken. It has been staring at me from my refrigerator since Saturday. I swear I saw it wink at me once. Except it has no head, of course. So tonight we cooked that little sucker up for dinner and I'll be darned, that thing was TASTY! Tender, full of flavor, and sincerely different than the bag of frozen breasts from Walmart to which I've become accustomed.

Don't get me wrong- I realize how ridiculous it is for me to be so intimidated by my food. But when you've lived as long as I have not knowing how to even debone a chicken, stuff like this can be a little intimidating.

So now I'm over this whole idea of eating this sweet little chicken that lived a full, glorious life, flitting around on some bucolic farm in Indiana. But this raises a whole new issue of eating local. Cost.

This was one pricey little bird. At $3.65/lb, she topped off at $10.91. There's enough of our meal left for lunch tomorrow but that's because both the kids are at their grandparents' for the week (I can hear my ears ringing it's so quiet around here).

So the issue I'm grappling with is the affordability of eating local, organic, and HEALTHY food options. I hate to admit it but a similarly sized chicken at Walmart would have cost less then $4. And it would have been already cooked. So when I sit down to pay my bills (and there's never quite as much in that account as what I think I need) it makes it difficult to justify an additional $6.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not bailing. In fact, I'm more committed than ever. I'm just trying to work out the financial aspects of all this. What can I cut from our monthly budget in order to make healthy choices for my family? It's pretty tricky, this little issue of finance! What hints and tips do you have for buying local on a budget?

Parental Abuse = Healthy Snacks?

I plan to be fairly brief with my post today. Over the last several days I've enjoyed stewing over my words, editing, adding photos and having a general all 'round good time with this.

But the unusual has occurred. And by unusual I meant fantastic. I am without children. Oh no, not just for the day. No, my friends, my children won't be back until NEXT SUNDAY!

In a crazy turn of events, my kids have gone to spend the week with their grandparents. Please understand that this is as much a treat for the kids as it is for me- at this very moment, word on the street is that they are embroiled (is that a word?) in water gun wars with their cousins in the front yard. Surely I'd have them doing some torturous task such as shucking corn for dinner.

So instead of carefully selecting my words today to make sure they convey my deepest sentiments, I'm going to crank out a thought I started having last night and then move on to my next initiative- clearing my house of every McDonald's toy, every plastic carnival prize, every arcade stuffed animal I can dig up. My theory is that the kids will be gone long enough that when they come back they'll forget that these items even existed. Wish me luck.

I'm also wondering if my theory holds true with food. I'm finding more and more that if I swap out the junk with a truly nutritious and flavorful snack, they're none the wiser. Before, when Emma claimed hunger, she would settle for nothing less than chocolate chip cookies (not to say that I obliged her, it's just that she had a very narrow definition of a snack). Nowadays, "I'm hungry" is often followed by "can I have some cantaloupe?" A request I seldom if ever refuse.

Kids are resilient little things. I know this for a fact. When we brought James home from the hospital he was literally wadded in a ball in his car seat. We had assembled the seat incorrectly, stress led to frustration which led to arguing, and we basically figured we lived close enough that we had to call it quits on figuring out the problem and just get the heck out of there before they deemed us unfit as parents. He survived. He's 7. He has no memory of this initial parental failure.

So I'm enjoying experimenting on my kids. Each week I sneak at least one "unusual" snack food in to the house, am careful to position it as some phenomenal delicacy (I do work in marketing, you know) and let the chips fall where they may. And much to my pleasant surprise, this is working! The latest snack treasure at our house? Dried figs. They can't get enough of them. Who knew?

So please, I'd love to hear what creative ways you've found to get your kids to eat healthy snacks or what your snacks du jour are- we're always looking to try new things!

In the beginning...

So every revolution has to have a beginning, right? When I think of a revolution, I tend to think of it as a "grass roots" sort of a thing, frequently romanticizing the people joining together against "the man".

But for every major uprising, there has to be some quiet dissent that eventually leads to the uprising. Quiet dissent, small grumblings, idea sharing, planning, we're talking lots of leg work here people!

I've been in a state of quiet dissent for quite some time now. I've been lurking in the shadows, gathering intelligence, so to speak. The great thing is that it's becoming increasingly easy to find leaders of this revolution. In fact, the subject of this blog really is mainstream these days.

So I just wanted to share a couple sources that I feel are the voices of the revolutionaries.

First of all, my interest in this revolution was sparked about a year ago by a very unlikely individual. Quick Szalkie family story here... last year we wanted to go on vacation to Lake Michigan over the 4th of July but waited WAY too long to plan anything. Literally days before we wanted to leave we thought we had a lead on a cottage rental. When it fell through, the owner gave us the name and number of a friend of hers who rented a little cottage on his farm. We reluctantly sent in our deposit, expecting an awkward, somewhat mediocre vacation. What we got was truly magical.

This farm in South Haven is owned by Fritz Grathwohl, a man in his 70's who basically has created an oasis of self-sufficiency: chickens (both to eat and for fresh eggs every morning), fully stocked pond, apple trees, peach trees, blueberry bushes, and more vegetables than you can shake a frozen Marquez burrito at. Not to mention the hiking trails, formal flower gardens, bee hives, you name it. It was my first adult experience of waking up in the morning and deciding what I wanted to eat based on what I could pull from the hen house or from the garden. Did I mention it was magical? This vacation inspired in me a desire to grown my own vegetables but also instilled in me such huge respect for those who grow my food for me. I'd see Fritz come home from work every night, get out the tractor, and get to work. Granted, he did it largely for pleasure, but this man WORKS!

On another odd side note, this summer we decided to go back to La Fleur (the name of his farm). Unfortunately, his cottage had a long-term tenant in it but he offered to let us stay in his house with him. Yes. This is very odd. But this is how the Szalkie clan rolls. Once again, an awesome trip was had by all. My favorite moment? Waking up at 7:30 in the morning to the kids in the kitchen with Fritz, just finishing up the last of the three pies they were getting ready to bake with berries from his fields WHILE JIM AND I WERE STILL ASLEEP. The kids think we're related to him. I kinda wish we were.


So, in summary, I was awed by this soft-spoken man who rose at the crack of dawn to tend his chickens, check the vegetables, you name it, all before rolling off to work (as if he isn't eccentric enough, he teaches English to Mexican immigrants and German at a large corporation in Holland, Michigan). I left wanting to be just like him.

Another source of inspiration for me was the documentary Food Inc. My sister had been recommending it to me for several weeks before I finally got to it on Neflix On-Demand. I sat down to watch it with my kids and they were horrified by what they heard. They couldn't even concieve that the food they ate came from such inhumane, toxic environments. Maybe it's irresponsible to instill fear in my kids by letting them watch things like this. Or maybe it's called an education that will allow them to make good decisions. I choose education.

My most recent source of inspiration is my new favorite book of all time, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. To call this book inspirational would be akin to calling the Bible a good story. At the risk of sounding sort of stalkerish, I want to profess that I totally *heart* Barbara and her family. Granted, I ONLY know them from this book, but gosh, I want to be just like them when I grow up.

So the premise of this book is that her family is ONLY going to eat what they can grow or buy locally from neighboring farmers over the course of a year. Granted, they have a big, beautiful farm and I have a postage-stamp plot in Indianapolis but I'm so inspired by her that I'm actually ordering the cultures (as recommended by my new BFF Barbara; move over Dream Dinners) and I'm going to make my own cheese. Why on earth, you're asking, would you want to make your own cheese!? Well, the simple answer is because I want to know that I can. Even though it might not be practical for me to make my own cheese, I want to know that I could feed my family myself if I wanted and/or needed to.

I've told so many people about this book and everyone asks me if they can read it when I'm done. Now normally I'm a reasonably fair (and I'd like to think generous) individual. But when people have asked me for my book, I respond sort of like if they had asked if they could have my kids. Are you kidding? Give you my beloved book, with its post-it notes and dog eared pages, notes on the recipes, the beginning of my relationship with my new BFF? Let's not get crazy here, folks. You certainly may NOT borrow my book! But I'll lend you my kids if you're interested...

So I just wanted to share some of my sources of inspiration in case you're looking for inspiration yourself. Now, I can't guarantee that Fritz will invite you to stay in his house with him (althought it wouldn't hurt to ask) but I'm fairly certain there are other "Fritz-like" individuals out there. Just ordinary people living a quiet existence, respecting the earth, the food they eat and their bodies.

As I sit here on Friday night, I'm almost giddy with excitement. Saturday morning means one thing at my house- FARMER'S MARKET! My most favorite place in town these days! Can't wait to see what's in tomorrow. I bet it won't be canned peas.

Blame it on.... the microwave?

So let me set the stage here, if I may. The year is 1980-something. Sharon Borden has just remodeled her kitchen (no more avocado green for THIS modern gal!) and what is that we see? Why THAT, my dear friends, is the microwave!

I remember the first microwave accessory that came in to our home- a pot holder that hung from the microwave door that said, "Got more time for misbehavin' since I started microwavin'" (wasn't sure what that meant but was pretty confident it had to do with catching me in the act of naughty behavior).

That's right girls! We've been liberated from our kitchens! We can feed our families in just a FRACTION of the time and now we can have some serious fun! Quick! Everyone in front of the TV! We've got shows to watch!

And so began the era of microwaved hot dogs and Marquez bean burritos (check out the ingredients- I'll give you a dollar if you know what all that stuff is...).

Fast forward almost 20 years. I'm now a lovely new bride. But I'm no Betty Crocker. Not only have I not learned how to cook from my mom (but I'm mean with the microwave), but I'm also a liberated woman! I certainly don't cook for my lovely new husband! Noooo, we eat OUT! That's right, had it not been for Main Street Grill in Hamtramck, Michigan (image for the benefit of those of you not fortunate enough to have had a flashing neon sausage literally in your backyard) these lovely newlyweds might well have starved. My first experience in "food shame" was the night the waitress at our favorite restaurant said to us, "Don't you have a kitchen in your house?" No tip for you!!



But surely, with the addition of two baby Szalkies to feed, Mom and Dad would have mended the error of their ways and found good, nutritious ways to feed their little brood, right? Alas, it is not so.

Enter the era of Walmart. If you read my post yesterday, you will recall that I commented on the huge grocery chain who so willing takes my money. Well, not only do they take my money, they also employ my husband. That's right, this revolution is up against a Walmart store manager.

And for several years, I allowed aforementioned Walmart store manager to do all our grocery store shopping. It took me all that time to realize that my family didn't see a fresh vegetable unless maybe we tripped over it if it fell out of those little spray bins on the outskirts of the store (an area we didn't frequent). Cooking dinner involved pulling some processed, sodium laden delicacy from the freezer and.... voila! We have dinner, folks!

So finally Mom stepped in. I still wasn't so sure about this whole "fresh cooking" thing. And quite frankly, time is at a premium at our house, as I'm sure it is at yours. Enter Dream Dinners. Let me just say, I LOVE Dream Dinners. Dream Dinners really did bring FOOD back to my family. For those of you who are not familiar, Dream Dinners is a commercial kitchen where you assemble all your meals for the month after their staff have done all the prep work for you. They have a new menu every month and, quite frankly, the food is GREAT. On average you'll spend about $3/serving for dinners. Not the cheapest option but you are putting REAL food on the table.

But how does Dream Dinners fit in to my thoughts on sustainable living and reconnecting with my food? Well, as much as I hate to admit it, it doesn't. I know for a fact that their chicken is packaged expressly for them by one of the huge poultry producers out there (more on that some other time). Yes, we eat real vegetables but they come frozen from whereabouts unknown. Am I prepared to break up with my BFF Dream Dinners? Not yet.

And so here we are, July 2010. I just picked up my dream dinners order today (sadly, I no longer even do the assembly but pay $15 each month to have them assemble for me). It's great to go down to my freezer every Sunday, pull a few meals, let them defrost in the fridge and always have something on hand for the week ahead. And I'm pleased that we're eating more wholesome meals as a family.

But now it's time to get serious. First, I'm going to contact the Dream Dinners corporate office and ask some questions about the food they sell- do THEY even know where it comes from? I'm not holding out even an inkling of hope that I'm going to get the answers I'd like but again, I'm not ready to break up with them just yet.

But there are new options on the horizon! I've got two specific things here in Indianapolis that I'm particularly excited about and will share those in the next couple days.

And to close for today...I just want to share what I'm up against. I was going to be late getting home from work today so dear hubby was on dinner duty. When I walked in the door, he was cutting open a TUBE of beef for his beloved Hamburger Helper. "What about a vegetable?" I asked innocently. Peas. From a can.

The Why-For?

As a busy working mom and wife, finding time to live a truly intentional life that is socially responsible at the same time is a challenge. I constantly find myself cutting corners and doing things that I know are lazy because, quite frankly, I'm just tired.

This blog is about my journey to live a more intentional life, starting with a revolution in my kitchen.

So why the kitchen? Well, everyone knows it's the center of the home. It's where everyone comes together at the end of the day. But it's also the place where we spend less and less time as the years tick by- fast food, processed food, frozen food... they've taken over our freezers and our cabinets. Gone are the days (for most of us) where a successful year meant a full pantry of canned beans, tomato sauce, jellies.

So how do I really think that a kitchen revolution can change my life? First of all, I'm going to help my family become healthy. I'm sickened when I look in my cupboard and see cheese puffs and pop tarts. I cringe when the eyes of my five year old light up at the sight of sugar frosted cereal. And I hate handing over my money to a huge grocery store chain, knowing that the farmers who produced the food I'm going to eat are barely making a sustainable living.

Next, I want to bring my family closer together. I want to be able to spend time with them, teach them skills (mom will be learning right along with them) and teach them how to make good choices.

Finally, I want to teach my children about being good citizens of this earth. Are we taking more than we give back? Do we make responsible choices with the food we eat? How can we translate the responsibility we're learning towards our food to other aspects of our lives?

My mind is just overflowing with topics I want to cover here but need to take this one day at a time. Speaking of one day at a time, what exactly prompted me to start this blog today?

TODAY we brought in our first cucumber from the garden. This may sound trivial to many, but the fact that someting is growing in my yard, something that I actually WANT in my yard, is a revolution in and of itself.

My kids carried it in to the house like it was the proverbial golden egg. We laid it gingerly on the cutting board (after washing it, of course), brought out our biggest knife and laid into that baby. I knew we had reached a measure of success when my husband ate a slice and said, "Hm. It's actually good". Let the revolution begin.