Where did this come from? What's in it? What has it been exposed to? What was used to grow it or feed it?
These questions seem daunting and tedious. Wouldn't we all like to put food in our shopping carts or order it from a menu and trust that whoever put it there had the consumer's best interest at heart?
Naturally, producing our own food is the surest way to know exactly what we are eating. In this day and age, this just isn't practical for most people. Understanding ways to critique our supplies is the next best think to picking it out of our own garden.
In our home, the most recent foray into recreating a wholesome snack that we used to buy processed is granola bars. We call them granola blobs because I cheat and bake them in a cupcake pan. I know where each ingredient comes from and what it was made of. I cannot claim that for every food in our kitchen, but one by one we are replacing them and it is moving along at a good pace. Our next experiment I have planned will be homemade crackers and corn tortilla chips.
There are all sorts of ways we can locate healthy food. We can take the time to talk with the produce and meat managers at our grocery stores. We discuss their sources and procedures for selecting what they sell and label as "organic" or "grass fed". I am learning what the long words on nutritional labels mean - Google is my friend. We have found alternatives to a number of regular favorites in our cupboards, and once we got used to them, we still wonder how we ever ate the other stuff.
Here are some great links to find locally produced food in your area.
Now THIS is exciting: I’m tired of the mega-food producers hiding behind the cloak of food safety laws, licensing laws, zoning laws, patents and subsidies and a host of other government interventions that make us more dependent upon their services, rather than upon ourselves and our neighbors’ services. If this law passes, it will make small farmers lives easier, strengthen communities and improve access to real, clean food. Stop worrying about health department ratings, GMO labeling, and the validity of USDA “organic” certifications. Certify it yourself, by going to the farm and talking to your farmer.http://foodriotradio.com/2014/01/revolutionary-cottage-food-law-proposed-in-virginia/
Move over Campbell’s, I am now and forever more ruined and must insist upon fresh tomato soup. As I am racing to process tomatoes faster than the garden produces them, this week I took a day to try my hand at an old childhood favorite. Not only did it turn out well, unlike a few recent domestic disasters, but I was able to use several of my new kitchen toys to get the job done.
I used a number of different types of tomatoes for the task, the only requirement was each one be healthy and ripe. After cleaning 6 flat boxes (as shown in the photo above) of ripe tomatoes, I cut out the tops and sliced them into half, quarters or eighths depending upon their size.
With my new Victorio Food Strainer secured to the counter top, I began cranking. This machine magically separates the seeds and skins from the juice and pulp. It reminded me of the play dough plastic spaghetti making machine we used as children. What fun! Filling the hopper half full with tomatoes, then squishing and cranking, I emptied the juice and pulp bowl into the big kettle (Pop’s Pot) every time it became more than half full.
When I was finished straining the tomatoes there was more than 3 gallons of puree in the kettle. I took the opportunity to hose down the counters and wash the equipment as the longer it all sat, the stickier it became.
Next I broke out the instructions for my new food processor. I have never owned one before and after using it I’m not sure how I made it this far in life without one. Better late than never. This was one of those purchases where Cog was looking over my shoulder as I watched YouTube videos on how to make tomato concoctions and he began researching through Consumer Reports to find just the right one. Before I knew it, he had ordered me this.
After reading the how-to’s and do-not’s I proceeded forward with great confidence. Again, what fun. First I pureed several onions from the garden. No tears! Next after cutting it into large chunks I pureed a whole bunch of celery. As these liquified garden vegetables were created I added each to Pop’s Pot, which was now simmering on the stove.
I added a cup of white sugar (some recipes call for brown sugar, some white), 4 Tablespoons of canning salt and a few shakes of ground cloves. Bringing this to a gentle boil, I decided it passed the taste test. (Perhaps a tad more sugar next time?)
This recipe made 22 pints of soup. As it contained low acid vegetables such as onions and celery, it required 40 minutes of processing in a pressure canner once the gauge reached the appropriate pressure for my altitude.
As an added bonus Cog decided my staying up until wee hours to continue processing extra batches of chili in the canner had gone on long enough. This past week he duplicated my pressure canning set up, as described in my Chili is a Gateway Drug article, and bought another ceramic burner and 23 quart Presto pressure canner so I could run them in stereo when my batches were large enough to warrant. As you can see in this image below of the corn being processed, I needed to run the two pressure canners on different electrical circuits. So I located them on either side of the new kitchen setup.
I had to wonder if the laws of physics differed from one side of our kitchen to the other. Why would two of the exact same products filled with identical contents and turned up to the same setting at the same time reach the desired pressure at different rates? Always thinking out of the box, Cog surmised the amount of heat given off by the ceramic burners differed slightly, enough to cause the difference resulting in the two canners reaching their targeted pressure at different times.
Pressure Canning Tip: Food safety rules state that flour and butter/dairy products should not be included in recipes for items that are canned by either water bath canning or pressure canning. While these methods do make foods safe for long term shelf life, they are unable to kill food borne pathogens which hide in and can survive within flour or dairy ingredients. For that reason, to err on the side of caution, I have left out the roux for the tomato soup recipe.
A roux is simply a thickening agent, in this case to make your tomato soup creamy. It is equal parts butter and flour. A tablespoon of each of these can be quickly whisked together in a sauce pan before adding a jar of tomato soup to heat up and in minutes you have creamy homemade soup. I have substituted gluten free tapioca flour for all purpose and it works fine.
Do you have a variation to this recipe? We'd love to hear from you.
The content on this page is for discussion purposes relating to health and well being only and is not intended to be medical advice. Links and sources provided are for informational purposes and do not represent an endorsement of a person, product or treatment.
The pagans claimed red clovers had magical properties to ward off evil and bring good fortune. With it's many nutritional and medicinal benefits, red clover has mainstream and alternative sources singing its praises.
Red clover is consumable and an excellent source of food when foraging. You can eat the flowers fresh and use them in salads and even garnishes in iced tea or other drinks. They can be dried to make tea or store for later use.
Red clover sprouts are very similar in size and light, crunchy texture to alfalfa sprouts. Also easy to grow as small microgreens, the young versions of the plant are packed with multiples of the nutritional value found in it's mature state.
Alternative medicine has used red clover as a cancer remedy for ages in various natural herbal formulas with purported widespread success. The Canadian nurse Renee Caisse used red clover in a formula for an herbal tea (referred to as Essiac tea, her last name spelled backwards) which was originally approved for as a treatment for dying cancer victims. When she later faced charges for medical fraud for claiming success against cancer, 387 people came to testify they were cured by her formula. Privately, Caisse went on to successfully treat terminal patients for more than a decade.
It is important to note that red clover contains coumarin, a powerful blood thinner. It should not be used if a person is taking prescription anticoagulants, but as such is often included in various herbal recipes to promote blood purification and to prevent clots.
More Information:
The use of red clover as an herbal remedy goes back centuries, and the plant enjoys a history of both topical and internal applications. As a topical aid, red clover is often an ingredient in liniments and balms, for relieving the pain of both eczema and psoriasis, for sores, burns, and as an aid against skin cancer. The pain-relieving properties of red clover are likely due to the presence of the anti-inflammatory compounds eugenol, myricetin and salicylic acid in the flowers. Salicylic acid also demonstrates activity against eczema.http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/12/healing-properties-red-clover/
The red clover herb is a perennial plant that is native to central Asia, Africa and most of Europe. As a member of the bean family, red clover has a long history of being nutritious cattle fodder, as well as a medicine. Due to its many beneficial uses, it has been naturalized in Australia and North America.http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/red-clover-herb.html
Based on its traditional use for cancer, researchers have begun to study the role of isoflavones from red clover in cancer prevention and treatment. Preliminary evidence suggests these isoflavones may stop cancer cells from growing or kill cancer cells in test tubes. Researchers theorize that red clover may help prevent some forms of cancer, such as prostate and endometrial cancer, because of the herb's estrogen-like effects, it might also contribute to the growth of some cancers, just as estrogen does. Until further research is done, doctors cannot recommend red clover to prevent cancer. Women with a history of breast cancer should not take red clover. http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/red-clover
Rene Caisse gave her formula to at least 2 trusted friends and the four herbs in the recipe are well known as: Rumex Acetosella (Sheep Sorrel), Arctium Lappa Root (Burdock), Ulmus Fulva Bark (Slippery Elm Bark), Rheum Pamatum Root (Turkey Red Rhubarb). Rene Caisse added a fifth herb, Red Clover, when it was in season. For completeness we have added Red Clover, a plant with many healing properties. As well as being used for cancer patients, Red Clover is renowned for promoting a more positive outlook and increasing energy levels. http://www.hwize.com/essiac/rene-caisse.html
Red clover has been traditionally used in folk medicine to treat inflammation of the skin, whooping cough and respiratory conditions. Herbalists suggest drinking a tea made with red clover, steeped for five to 10 minutes to ease coughing due to colds or the flu. A poultice made from a strong red clover tea can be placed on skin irritations associated with eczema or psoriasis to ease discomfort and speed healing. Red clover contains coumins, which have a mild blood thinning property and are believed to help chronic degenerative disorders.http://www.livestrong.com/article/237456-what-are-the-benefits-of-red-clover-tea/
Native bumble bees are known to be better pollinators of red clover than honey bees. Honey bees, with a shorter proboscis, can not reach the nectar in the long flowers of red clover, so they will go to other flowers if available. Since bumble bees nest in the ground, it is to a grower's advantage to leave some wild areas near the field for habitat. Honeybees can still help seed yield, and many growers contract with beekeepers to place hives in their fields.http://www.oregonclover.org/clovers/redclover/
