Old Mother Frieze and the View from Her Cupboard

Gradually we have switched over to eating as much organic and local produce and meat as possible. The factory farms are the agricultural equivalent of BP. They are only interested in making money regardless of the risk of genetically engineered food, the chemicals used in processed food or the inhumane treatment of animals. You do away with all that by buying locally grown and organic food.

I wrote a blog about this on the Tacoma News Tribune blogspot “In Your Neighborhood” a couple of years ago and was accused of being un-American and seeking to bring down capitalism. Now this guy is a Rightwing wacko who likes his Big Macs and I know that. Buying meat from the farmer down the road if you can or organic meat at Costco or your local market, if you’re lucky enough, ensures that fewer animals are leading miserable lives. Cooking from scratch or at least finding organic versions of processed foods is the most healthful and humane thing to do. And it isn’t that hard.

Safeway and Fred Meyer carry organic products and the more people buy them the wider the variety is. For a mainstream store, Fred Meyer is the best with an extensive selection of organic product, even in bulk, at reasonable prices. They carry organic chicken and some beef, although organic beef is expensive. Some, but not all, of the Costcos carry organic meat. If you can find a local farmer who raises beef cattle at least you will know how the animal was treated. If you are in doubt as to who factory farms treat animals you can find videos of it on the Internet, but it’s not for the faint of heart or queasy of stomach.

We are fortunate enough to get fresh organic produce delivered to our door by Terra Organics. They have farms all over. I have a friend who gets their produce down in CA. Smith Brothers Farms, based in Kent, WA, carries organic milk to our door, too. We shop at Marlene's Market in Tacoma where we enjoy meals in their deli while we shop the store. They make the best vegan chocolate cake you ever put in your mouth.

You can find coupons for organic foods on the Internet. Organic Valley has coupons for milk, butter, eggs, and other dairy products. If you visit the websites of organic products and email them how much you like their products you can get coupons for all sorts of things. I have received coupons for carrots, organic chips, dishwashing liquids, etc.

There are local health food stores and co-ops like PC in King County and Marlene’s in King and Pierce County. I don’t like Whole Foods because the CEO, John Mackey, is against health care reform. His opinion is that if you do your shopping at his store you won’t need health care. I have a sister-in-law who ate all organic and still got pancreatic cancer so you can still get sick, your chances are just less if you aren’t putting all the chemicals that come in factory farmed meat and produce and processed food into your body.

The best thing you can do for yourself and family is to cook from scratch and then sit down together. It does more for the body and spirit than anything else you can do. Yes, it takes a little longer, but it's worth it. That's the view from my broom and my cupboard.

Ghormeh Sabzi and the Kale Problem

My mother hates kale; hence I wasn’t raised eating it. “I love all vegetables,” she’s told me a thousand times, “except for kale. I hate kale.” So when some dull green leafy greens showed up in our Terra Organics box, the box of local organic produce that is delivered to our home twice a month, I had no clue what it was. Fortunately they enclose a list of what you’ve got. Oh no, not kale!

Being the spend thrift that I am I wasn’t going to let this stuff sit in the refrigerator and turn into a science experiment. I went for a culinary experiment instead. How to prepare the kale? I didn’t like the look of recipes I found on the Internet. Then I remembered one of my favorite Persian dishes, Gormeh Sabzi and reached for one of my favorite cookbooks, Maideh Mazda’s In a Persian Kitchen. The result was wonderful! I simply replaced the spinach or lettuce called for in the recipe with the kale and other leafy greens that came in our order. If you find the recipe below to be too spicy (I doubled Mazda’s and cooked it in the Crockpot instead of on the stove. Next time I'm going to triple it so there are left-overs), add yogurt to your serving at the table to cut the spiciness. You serve it over chelo, Persian prepared rice which I also include. Some Persian cooks dry the greens for use during the winter and fall or they can be purchased in a bazaar or Persian market in a box with directions.

Khoresh Gormeh Sabzi or Green Vegetable Sauce

1/3 C. dried black-eyed peas (I used lentils because that’s what was in the cupboard)
1 ½ C. water
4 T. cooking oil
1 lb. stew beef cut into 1” cubes (I made ours vegetarian)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
4 T. oil
1 C. chopped onions
1 C. chopped leek
1 C. chopped spinach
1 C. chopped parsley
2 C. water (because I didn’t cook any meat I used 4 C. of organic chicken stock)
3 T. lemon juice

Some recipes call for chopped lettuce. You will want to use leaf lettuce, not the dreadful iceberg. Following are the directions from the Mazda book. For my version, I just chopped it all up, put it in the Crockpot with the lentils and water and set the time for six hours. The Crockpot cost 8 cents to make a meal and you get to come home to dinner waiting.

Cook peas in 1 ½ C. water on medium fire for about 20 minutes. Heat oil in 2 qt pot. Add meat, onions and seasoning and sauté until the meat is browned. Meanwhile in a frying pan heat oil and add chopped green onions, leek, spinach, and parsley and sauté for 10 minutes. Add 2 C. water and lemon juice to the meat, cover, and let simmer for about 30 minutes. When meat is tender, add cooked peas and vegetables 15-20 minutes before serving. Serve over chelo which if you’re clever, you started at the same time as the khoreshe. However, if you use a Crockpot, all you have to do is come home and make the rice.

Persian Rice or Chelo

I learned to make Persian rice from a Persian who learned from his mother. Measuring is not part of the process. You can use any long grain rice, but basmati or jasmine is best. I can only make Persian style rice in large amounts. If you have left-overs you can always find uses for it.

Step One

In a 6 qt. pot pour basmati or jasmine rice into a large pile.
Fill pot with cold water.
Rinse rice to cut down starch. I rinse it three times.
Place pot on stove on high with a lid. When the lid begins to dance fish out a grain of rice with a spoon and put it between your teeth. If it is half cooked you’re ready for Step Two. Generally speaking it will have been on the stove for about 10 minutes and should be ready.

Step Two

Drain rice in a colander and return the pot to the burner with the heat turned down to 2.5-3 or medium low.
Melt ¼ C. butter in the bottom of the pan
Pour the drained rice back into the pot and cover with a folded tea towel.
Place lid on top of the tea towel, being careful to fold the points of the tea towel up onto the lid to prevent them from catching on fire.
Set the timer for 30 minutes.

Step Three

After 30 minutes remove the pot from the stove and set in sink. Run a little cold water on the base of the pan to stop cooking.

The result will be steamed, fluffy rice with a tasty crust on the bottom of the pan. This is generally reserved for guests or in the case of our house, fought over. This process is not as complicated as it may sound and once you've filled your house with the smell of cooking basamati you'll be hooked.

Stimulating the Economy

My daughter-in-law Ana and I were talking about how it’s ironic that as a nation we got ourselves into this economic mess by living beyond our means as individuals and a nation, being willing to believe deceptive people and institutions who enticed us to spend more than we should and now being willing to spend our precious dollars is supposed to be how we get out of the mess. I’m afraid I’m not doing much to fuel the economy other than buying food. Signing up with Terra Organics is my way of stimulating the economy.

We received our first delivery of organic fruit and vegetables from Terra Organics two weeks ago and today the fresh shipment comes to the front door. For five years I have been trying to convince Ana that throwing away food is the same as throwing away money and finally I am beginning to see the fruits of my nagging. In the past she has been willing to buy huge quantities of fresh food and then allowed it to spoil in the refrigerator. I could not convince her that even if it was a better deal than buying a smaller amount that she was wasting her money by not then actually cooking whatever it was before it spoiled. At first I demurred from cooking produce purchased by the kids, thinking that they’d been purchased with a special meal or meals in mind. When throwing out large amounts of broccoli, etc became a habit I began using as much of what they buy as I could because I was poor enough, long enough to know that it would be just as easy to throw money in the storm drain in front of the house. Whether it was the recession or my nagging, Ana seems to be taking the hint and trying to actually cook the things in the refrigerator instead of dreaming up what she wants and then going shopping.

I admit that I can find shopping recreational although I pursue my sport at Goodwill not Nordstrom’s. I haven’t been 100% good about not purchasing anything but food, but there’s been many times since September that I’ve been tempted and caught myself. Border’s sends me emails, but book stores are like a cocktail party for an alcoholic. It’s best if I don’t go in. I’m staying out of Target because that place is evil. There’s a siren song in there that pulls money out of my wallet! Last night my husband was rolling up the coins in his piggy bank. “Are we going out to dinner tomorrow,” he asked. “Nah,” I told him. “We’ve got vegetable soup left from tonight and a fresh box coming from Terra Organics.” We’ll find something special to do with the money like take Amy to a movie or Gabriel to a Rainer’s game. We’ll get it into the economy sometime. Are you saving or spending right now?

Stimulating the Economy Locally

It may seem to make no sense, but even with the economy the way it is—maybe because of the way it is—I chose to sign up for home delivery of fresh organic produce from Terra Organics of Tacoma. This is in addition to our home delivery of organic milk from Smith Brother’s of Kent. Because we are a big family I chose to receive a large box of produce every other week, but leaving the option open of adding another box on the alternate weeks. Our first box arrived last Friday and it was like Christmas unpacking the treasure of Nature’s bounty.

Granted, some of the items were not local, but as Spring comes to the Northwest more and more local items will be added to the box. Terra strives to find the most local and best value produce to fill its boxes and includes recipes as serving suggestions. I have long been an advocate of planning meals around what is on sale. Now we plan them around the box from Terra Organics. Yesterday the fava beans went into the crock-pot with other vegetables and meat for stew.

I like to think that I am helping out local farmers and the local economy by buying from Terra Organics. I’m not purchasing a vehicle, large appliance or other electronics. Except for bills and the occasional inexpensive gift which I keep an eye out for at all times, our money is going to food these days. My value is giving our family the best possible food within our means and keep our dollars in the community.