Eat Local Challenge
Family Farm Fresh is participating in the Eat Local Challenge!
The following is a blurb from their website. For more information, a direct link is provided at the end of the article.
Is it October already? This is an announcement for the 5th Annual Eat Local Challenge which takes place this month. It’s hard to believe that such a simple concept — eating as much food as possible from local sources — has taken hold to such and extreme level and has been celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. I’ve seen it, and I know that you have too — these days, everyone is talking about eating local. Many people are starting to see the wisdom in what we at the Eat Local Challenge have been discussing for a while, and it’s an exciting thing to watch.
Week One (through October 9): Taking Stock
We’ll take this week to reassess eating locally. Do the old eat local tenets hold up under a 2009 microscope? Where could we be doing better with eating locally? What should this month hold?
Week Two (October 10 – 16): Personal Challenges
How can we personally eat locally in a sustainable manner? What is the “low-hanging fruit” with regard to eating locally that we can easily change during this week?
Week Three (October 17 – 23): Friends and Family
Let’s take this week to move eating locally out to our families. Can we convince our kids to take local apples to school instead of out-of-season blueberries? Can we ask our spouses to eat locally this week?
Week Four (October 24 – 31): Taking it to the Community
Week four will focus on eating locally within our communities. We can host potlucks and eat local parties, we can check in with our schools to hear whether they are supporting local farmers with their buying decisions.
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/2009/10/announcing-the-october-2009-eat-local-challenge.html
A Healthy Fundraising Alternative
Family Farm Fresh now offers fundraisers!
Sell bags of fresh produce from local family farms. Show your students, staff and the community that you support healthy lifestyle habits.
The CDC’s (Center for Disease Control) School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS), conducted in 2000, reported that 82% of schools used food and beverages for fundraising activities. In these schools, the following foods were sold:
- Chocolate candy – 76%
- Candy other than chocolate candy – 63%
- Cookies, cakes, pastries and other baked goods – 67%
We offer:
- A healthy alternative to candy/cookies
- Educational nutrition facts based on current season’s produce
- Fundraising Coordinator to assist at your location
- 40% profit for your classroom/school/group
Contact us for more information, or to see asample bag:
Pam Estrada
559-798-0557 ext 102
A Chance to Make Things Right
During conversation with some of our Members, I get the impression that errors or problems are not reported because you do not want to complain.
I never consider it complaining. Some mornings there are over 100 baskets to pack. As much as we try to catch all of the issues, sometimes things slip past us. All feedback I receive is useful. Besides, Luanne and I like talking to our Members!
Here are some examples of how we use feedback:
• Ms. Brown says she received an ear of corn that is rotten. We did not see it while packing. It is noted and we replace the item. At this point, it is just a bad piece of produce and she was unfortunate to receive it. Later, Ms. White, Mr. Black and Mrs. Green also say they have rotten ears of corn. Now there is a trend to discuss with the Farmer. The Farmer definitely wants to know so he/she can research it and make a decision.
• During the conversation, Ms. Brown also says she goes to the store every week to purchase more onions & carrots. We can take care of that! Now she spends a couple dollars more and gets a bunch of carrots and extra onions delivered with her weekly produce basket instead of spending a half hour at the store.
• Mr. Black said he throws away his lettuce every week. He just doesn’t eat that much lettuce. Now it’s on his do-not-send list and he gets more the other items that he does use. Our goal is for you to utilize 100% of your basket.
Please give us the chance to make it right for you!
Pam
Summer Sweet Oranges
We are in the peak of Summer Sweet Oranges, also known as Valencia oranges. If you crave sweet and flavorful fresh orange juice, squeeze some of these jewels! You’ll get lots of juice from each one. This is the original sweet orange brought over from Valencia, Spain.
Even though the fruit is fully ripe, Valencia oranges obtain a green tinge in the warm weather. This is called regreening. When the fruit ripens on the tree, it turns a bright orange color that you are more familiar with. The warm summer weather makes the skin reabsorb chlorophyll as it hangs on the tree, causing a ripe orange to look partly green.
Fresh Valencia juice may be stored in the refrigerator overnight if tightly covered. There should be no loss of flavor.
Add some orange to your smoothies: ½ cup of juice, ½ cup of diced oranges, a peeled banana, some berries and ½ cup of yogurt.
Orange Marinade
Recipe #22685 from RecipeZaar.com
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup brandy (peach or apricot brandy is nice to use in this marinade)
1/3 cup honey
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Combine all ingredients together and mix well.
Barbequed Beef Steak with Orange Marinade
From allrecipes.com
2 pounds top sirloin, 2 inches thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
2 oranges, juiced
Make crisscross cuts on surface of meat on both sides, and place in a shallow dish. Reserve 1/2 cup orange juice. Mix remaining orange juice with garlic and ginger. Pour over meat, and marinate in refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
Preheat grill for medium heat.
Brush grate with oil, and place steak on grill. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes per side, or until done. Remove from grill, and rest for several minutes.
Meanwhile, heat reserved orange juice. Slice meat, and transfer to a serving platter. Pour heated orange juice over the meat.
Sweet Corn is the highlight of Summer
Sweet Corn. Those two words simply mean summer is here. Grab an ear of corn, pull off the husks, rinse it and dig in. If you’ve never had corn sweet enough to eat raw, you don’t know what you’re missing.
I love corn for several reasons. It’s one of the easiest veggies to cook, my kids will eat it without balking, it freezes well and most importantly it tastes good.
Vine Ripe of Hanford supplies the corn for our weekly produce baskets. They walk the fields each morning looking for the silk strands that have started to turn color identifying a ripe ear of corn. Immediately after being picked, the corn is placed in cold storage until Family Farm Fresh arrives to pick them up.
Did you know there is one silk strand for each kernel of corn? Per FoodReference.com the average ear of corn has 800 kernels, always in an even number of rows. (Wonder how many people are going to start counting those rows.)
In addition to Sweet Corn, there are other varieties grown:
- Flint corn, also known as Indian corn, has a hard outer shell.
- Dent corn, also called field corn, is most often used for livestock feed. It is also used to make industrial products such as sweeteners, ethanol fuel and starch.
- Popcorn has a hard outer shell like Indian corn.
You can microwave, boil, steam or grill corn. When you grill corn, you can wrap the shucked corn in foil with seasoned butter or cook it directly on the grill to get a complimenting smoky flavor. Regardless of which option you choose, do not overcook your corn as it will cause it to dry out. Corn really doesn’t need to be ‘cooked’ just heated.
What is your favorite way to prepare corn?
Leave your comments below.
Does eggplant make you cringe?
Eggplant, also called aubergine, is part of the nightshade family that includes tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes and peppers. Nightshade does not mean they are ’shady characters’ (sorry about the pun, couldn’t help myself), it means they belong to the plant family Solanaceae.
Some people cringe at the thought of cooking eggplant. I think it’s mostly because they don’t know what to do with it. I’ve found that eggplant doesn’t have a strong flavor, is super absorbent and takes on any flavor that it’s cooked with. I do have to admit, before I started working at Family Farm Fresh I always passed over the eggplant in the produce isles. Now I look forward to it coming into season.
The American Eggplant is the most common, dark purple skin with creamy flesh. It’s perfect for Eggplant Parmesan! One time I substituted this variety for the noodles in our lasagna. My youngest, who to-this-day-still proclaims he hates eggplant, went back for thirds. (There are many lasagna recipes on the internet.)
Other varieties include Casper (small, oblong and white as the name implies) and Japanese (also oblong and has a beautiful dark purple color). Both are similar in shape to zucchini squash.
I usually peel then toss cubes of eggplant into a pan of other veggies such as squash, tomatoes, onion, garlic, etc. Pour the mix over some rice or noodles and the kids will never know!
Try this ”tested” recipe sent in by Member Gail Berk of Tulare. She said “It’s for people like me that hate eggplant.”
Hidden Eggplant Quiche (serves 6-8)
Adapted from Eggplant Quiche, Rodale’s Basic Natural Foods Cookbook
- 1 9″ deep dish pie crust
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 medium green pepper, chopped
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup olive oil, or more as needed
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 small eggplant, peeled and diced
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup half-and-half
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Prick bottom of piecrust with a fork and add a handful of dried beans to weigh down crust. Bake for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Discard beans.
- Turn down oven to 350 F.
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Add garlic, onions and green peppers and saute until they start to soften. Add eggplant, add more oil if needed. Saute for about 3 minutes, or until eggplant is lightly browned. Stir in tomatoes and cook until heated through. Drain mixture well and set aside to cool.
- Brown beef. Drain cooked meat well in a strainer, pushing it with the back of a spoon to eliminate grease. Set aside to cool. While meat is cooling, beat eggs together with half-and-half.
- When cool, mix meat with vegetables. Place half of the meat-vegetable mixture in cooled piecrust. Over this, layer half of the grated cheese, then remaining meat-vegetable mixture, and finally remaining cheese. Pour egg mixture over all. Place on a baking sheet to catch any drippings and bake for about 45 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
July 4th Deliveries On Schedule
The deliveries during the week of the 4th of July holiday will be on normal schedule.
Please note: The office will be closed Friday July 3rd. Please have all changes in by 3:00pm Thurs July 2nd.
Do you know about Winter Squash?
Winter squash, such as Acorn squash, are not grown or harvested in winter as their name would imply. Because of their hard thick skins, they have the ability to keep through the cold winter months, a quality that made this member of the gourd family a staple vegetable before the days of modern shipping and freezing techniques. This made them very useful in the days before freezers.
Unlike winter squash, Summer squash can be eaten rind, seeds,
and all.
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