Category Archives: Food

The Incredible Pastured Egg

4 Replies

Corn is going to be the death of us. About seven years ago, I was told to change my diet for health reasons. In particular, I was told to significantly reduce my intake of omega-6 fatty acids and increase the omega-3s. Where do these omega-6 fats come from in the American diet? Predominately from corn, which is massively subsidized, making it cheap to feed to all kinds of animals and incorporate into all kinds of food products, thereby passing it along to us.

The solution is to avoid foods from the agribusiness behemoths and opt for small farms producing grass-fed beef and pastured eggs. Which brings me again to the recently opened Whole Foods Market. Until the opening of their new store, it has been near impossible to find a pastured egg in northern Delaware (If you know of another source, let me know). Except for the occasional dozen from down-state friends or buying them while on vacation at the beach, I’ve pretty much avoided eggs. Whole Foods sells pastured eggs from Vital Farms in Texas, a producer that received a top-score five-egg rating from the Cornucopia Institute. Pastured eggs address the omega-6 problem while being a much healthier food choice overall. Bring on the Omelettes!

Velveeta Underground

2 Replies

During the holidays, eating habits go to hell in a hand basket! We decided to make a sinful (to us) dinner the other day with a menu including porterhouse steak, baked potato with sour cream, and broccoli with cheese sauce.  So what was that recipe for the cheese sauce?  The way my mother made it, it involved Velveeta (that liquid gold of processed cheese).  Off to the grocery store!  I spent fifteen minutes browsing the cheese aisle.  There were rows and rows of Cracker Barrel, Boars Head, Cabot and even Kerrygold, but no Velveeta… I finally used my iPhone to Google ‘what aisle is Velveeta in?’  Turns out it’s in the pasta aisle (thank you Google).  It’s the only ‘cheese’ that doesn’t require refrigeration.

A little more research revealed that Velveeta is a ‘pasteurized process cheese product’.  That’s something that doesn’t rise to the standard of ‘pasteurized process cheese food’, much less real cheddar.  And the Velveeta underground?  Another bit of Velveeta trivia:  About 5% of the population buys about 75% of all Velveeta sold in the United States.

Christmas Brussels & Bacon

3 Replies

Getting ready for Christmas dinner tomorrow at my brother David’s house.  Asked his wife Teri what we could bring and we were assigned vegetable side dishes.  My particular contribution will be Brussels Sprouts.  Before you start signaling with a finger in the throat, I want you to know that this oft-maligned vegetable is really something special when treated with a healthy helping of olive oil and bacon.  Everything goes better with bacon… Here’s the recipe!

It’s interesting that more and more produce sections are selling sprouts on the stalk.

Ojai Berries

2 Replies

Every time we visit Ventura County, I have the urge to move here.  If I were to pick a location, it would probably be the town of Ojai.  In addition to the weather, beautiful scenery, and a very laid back, semi-reral lifestyle, Ojai is in the center of southern California agriculture. We visited the Ojai farmer’s market this morning and were amazed at the overwhelming variety of produce.  I would give almost anything to have one third of their variety within driving distance of Wilmington.  All of it is organic, and all was picked over the past few days.  I counted eight varieties of pepper and nine varieties of tomato on one table. It’s enough to make a man turn vegitarian!

Chance of Showers Today

1 Reply

I couldn't have any...

So, Ash had a wedding shower today, although attendance was impacted by the blizzard.  I couldn’t go because it was a chick thing, but I was asked to make a dish (by my wife).  It really looks good.  Maybe I can make a single serving for the Superbowl.  A lot of presents left my house for the shower.

Pretty wrapping!

This is what they looked like in the back of the car.  I hope they have plenty of pot hangers and such in the kitchen.

Porchetta

8 Replies

The New Year Tradition

That’s right… A picture of meat!  A roast pork of some kind is an annual tradition at the Robinson compound.  We cover all the bases for lucky New Year foods.  In addition to the “wonderful, magical animal”, there’s black-eyed peas (from my mother’s side) and sauerkraut (from Marianne’s mother’s side).  This was the first year for porchetta, though, and it was an excellent recipe.