Homemade dried apples are such an easy and inexpensive way to sneak more fruit into your diet. Of course, nothing beats a fresh, juicy apple, but I like dried apples for their portability and versatility. A little bag of apples can be slipped into a small purse for an anytime-snack, and they make a great topping for salads. They’re also a fantastic way to preserve a large bounty of apples through the winter. The idea came from the book How to Sew a Button by Erin Bried, and I modified the directions to fit my needs.

Ingredients

 
- apples
- lemons
- water

Directions

Slice as many apples as you would like into pieces 1/4″ thick or less. They can be as wide or long as you like. You may also peel them, or leave the peel on. I chose to leave the peel on and they came out great.

Soak the apples in a mixture of equal-parts lemon juice and water. The lemon juice not only preserves the color of the apple, but it creates depth to the apple flavor without having to add sugar.

After soaking, place the apples on a cake rack on top of a cookie sheet. If you don’t have a cake rack (I don’t!), then just place the slices directly on the cookie sheet. I did not need to grease the pan – the apples came off fine on their own.

The oven should be preheated to 140 degrees F, and the apples should remain in the oven for five hours. If your apples aren’t on a rack, flip them half-way through. I found that my apples really needed about 6 hours.

The apples should be flexible and bendy. You can eat some immediately, or all of them if you just used a couple of apples. If you’re looking for long term storage, then after they have cooled, place them in a sealed jar for a few days.

Shake the jars every so often. Pasteurize them by freezing them in bags for two days, and keep them for up to 6-12 months in a cool, dry place.

Out to find ways to make life simpler, Ashley is tackling life one DIY project at a time. Learning as she goes, she also spends her days writing Indie Pretty Projects and creating for her Etsy shop.

wrap up: {diy} {dried apples} {food} {fruit} {living} {preserve} {simple} {snack} {winter}

hello, friends! boy do i have exciting news. for a short time only, you can watch fresh the movie for free online! (usually you have to purchase the dvd and a home viewing license for $30). which of course i did, because the trailer (see below) wrapped it’s arms around my heart and gave it a tug. anywhos, the movie is amazing and i’m so excited that everyone will have the opportunity to watch if for free!

featuring some of the biggest food heroes in the industry, watch as michael pollan, will allen and our favorite farmer joel salatin discuss the current food issues at hand and give us hope for the future. they have each witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture and seen the results of food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. watch as they provide sustainable alternatives and offer a practical vision for the future of our food and our planet. this film will touch your life in so many ways!

the trailer alone is enough to bring tears to my eyes (anyone else??) and the movie is all the better. hurry up and get to watchin’, the film is only available to watch for free through wednesday, february 1st 2012. visit fresh the movie to watch it now!

“I am a caretaker of creation, and what I’m supposed to do is leave it in better shape for the next generation than I found it. period.” -Joel Salatin

wrap up: {food} {fresh the movie} {industry} {inspiration} {issues} {joel salatin}

i was tempted to title this post ‘gmo’s and what you need to knows’, but you get the idea. :) there’s been a lot of buzz around gmo’s (genetically modified organisms) lately and rightly so, it’s a very important subject! GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed food and today i hope to give you the essential information on what they are, what you need to know about them, and how you can avoid them. let’s go!

what is a GMO?

GMO’s, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals that have been created through the gene splicing techniques of biotechnology. this (very experimental) technology merges DNA from different species which creates an unstable combination of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot naturally occur in nature, or even in traditional crossbreeding.

but why?

virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand the direct application of herbicides and insecticides (brilliant, right?). Nope. not only do none of these practices offer increased yield or enhanced nutrition, a growing body of evidence connects GMOs to health problems and environmental damage.

are GMOs safe to eat?

most nations do not consider GMOs safe to eat. in nearly 50 countries around the world (including australia, japan, and the european union) there are heavy restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. in the u.s. however, the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created the GMOs in the first place.

are GMOs labeled?

unfortunately, no. even though polls consistently show that americans want to know which foods contain GMOs, the biotech lobby has succeeded in keeping this information from the public.

what do GMOs do to the environment?

in short, a lot. over 80% of all GMOs grown worldwide are engineered for herbicide tolerance. as a result, the use of toxix herbicides (think roundup) has increased by 15 times since GMOs were introduced. GMO crops are also responsible for things like ‘super weeds’ and ‘super bugs’ which can only be killed with more toxic poisons. a major concern is that we don’t really know what the long-term effects will be, but we do know that once released into the environment, they cannot be taken back.

so, which foods might be GMO?

there are several foods that are especially at high risk for being GMO. they are:

- alfalfa
- corn
- flax
- rice
- sugar beets
- yellow summer squash
- canola
- cotton
- papaya
- soy
- zucchini
- milk*
- meat*
- eggs*
- honey and other bee products*
* these are also a major risk because of potential GMO contamination in feed and other inputs.

how can i avoid GMOs?

in the u.s., GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed food (think cereals, snack bars, snack boxes, cookies, processed lunch meats, crackers, etc).

-  purchase organic foods as much as possible. they will not contain any GMO’s (though there is potential for cross contamination from other GMO crops).
- look for the non-GMO project label.
- shop brands that participate in the non-GMO project, see a list of them here.

what else can you do?

- tell the fda to label genetically modified foods! sign the petition here.
- tell grocery store CEOs to refuse monsanto’s GMO sweet corn- sign the petition here.
- know what’s most important to buy organic by using this guide.
- know your labels - part 1 and part 2!

thank you to the non-gmo project for this great information, pictures and excellent resource guide!

wrap up: {environment} {food} {genetically modified organisms} {GMOs} {heath} {labels} {non-gmo project}

the highlight of my week? picking up our organic csa veggie box!

sure to inspire this week’s recipes are:

- 2 red bell peppers and bunches little green ones
- green beans
- cherry tomatoes and 3 large heirloom tomatoes
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 onion
- 1 bunch of spinach
- 3 baskets of strawberries (can’t believe their still growing here!)
- 6 ears of corn
- 4 zucchinis
- 1 bunch of carrots
- 3 heads of lettuce

getting this box of local organic veggies every week is truly the most rewarding food we get. it keeps us in touch with the seasons, eating locally and cooking different things every week. use local harvest to help find a community supported agriculture farm in your area!

wrap up: {cooking} {csa} {food} {local} {organic gardening} {seasonal} {veggies}

speaking of my odd liken to corn lately, have you all read animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kindsolver? i couldn’t help but think of it yesterday as i wrote about my seasonal cravings. this book has been one of my favorites for a long time, and it is one of the reasons why i fell in love with eating locally and seasonally.

it is the (true) story of a year in which the kingsolver family deliberately fed themselves on food grown within their community, and what they learned from the experience. it’s inspiring, entertaining and encouraging- and it is even jam packed full of seasonal recipes and weekly dinner planning ideas! if you haven’t read it, i (obviously) recommend it. if you’re not much of a reader, maybe you would enjoy visiting their website where you can still find recipes, resources and tips on finding local food.

wrap up: {barbara kindsolver} {books} {food} {local} {produce} {recipes} {recommend} {seasonal}

first csa box of august! local organic veggies and a yellow fleshed watermelon – yum.

wrap up: {august break} {box} {csa} {farm} {food} {organic gardening} {photo} {picture} {vegetables}

when i recently read why food waste matters by jonathan bloom (author of american wasteland) , i started giving thought to all the food we buy, eat and sometimes waste. we’ve all wasted food before. even me, who married a garbage disposal wonderful man who eats a lot, we still find rotten food in the fridge. whether it’s moldy leftovers in the far back corner or a forgotten veggie in the ‘crunchy’ drawer, we’ve all been there.

the truth is, americans squander roughly 40% of our food and throw away $1,300 to $2,200 of food a year (together, that’s $160 billion annually). and that’s a big problem.

why, you might ask? well beyond the obvious reason of wasting our money, there are also environmental, ethical and economic reasons why food waste matters. a huge amount of resources (mostly oil and water) go into producing our food. when we waste a large chunk of it, we’re also wasting those embedded resources. and, by sending this food to the landfill, we’re fueling anaerobic rotting which creates methane. that means we’re largely contributing to climate change. we could also be smarter shoppers and give our savings to help feed the hungry around the world.

the good news is, fresh supplies us with several tips on how to reduce your food waste, save money and support the environment. here’s how!

{plum ketchup by claudia pearson}

- plan your meals in advance (remember this great guide?). make a menu for the week and stick to it. it will make your life easier, your grocery bills cheaper and decrease your amount of wasted food.

- make just enough. serve sensible portions, clean your plates and have minimal leftovers (plus, maybe shed some weight!).

- check your expiration dates. try to consume food that’s close to expiring, but always check it before you throw it out. if it smells good, tastes good and looks good, you’re most likely fine to consume it.

- love leftovers? go ahead and make enough for the next day, but make the most of it. eat them for lunch or work them into your next night’s dinner, but make it a priority to consume them within 24 hours.

- use the freezer. if you’re going out of town, can’t finish a jar of pasta sauce or just have too much food in your fridge, stick it in the freezer. you can freeze just about anything (even eggs!) so utilize your freezer to cut down on waste.

- learn to compost. by keeping food waste out of the garbage (even carrot ends and fennel fronds!) you’ll significntly cut down your environmental impact. you can compost anywhere, even if you don’t have a garden!

helpful sites: portion calculator, tips on how to freeze everything, how to compost

resources: fresh, why food waste matters

wrap up: {compost} {cook} {environment} {food} {kitchen} {leftovers} {simple} {waste}

today i wanted to do a follow up to our first labels post last week and talk about a few of the more specific labels that we tend to run across nearly every time we go to the store. what do they all really mean? hopefully, this will help clear up some of the confusion between what’s misleading and what’s good information.

free range. the “free range” food label can be found on meat, dairy and eggs, but this progressive way of farming is not always as it seems. what consumers may not know and won’t see on their “free range” foods is that the USDA regulations only apply to poultry. therefore, “free range” beef, pork and other non-poultry animals were fed grass and allowed to live outdoors, but their products are not regulated by the USDA. another misconception consumers have about “free range” is that these products are also organic. unless it’s labeled free range AND organic, free range animals may be fed non-organic feed that could contain animal byproducts and hormones.

fresh. the “fresh” food label can be very misleading to consumers, by making them think their chicken was killed the day before, or their “freshly squeezed” orange juice was prepared that day. the label “fresh” simply means that it was not frozen or is uncooked, but many of these products are allowed to be chilled, kept on ice or in modified atmospheres to keep them from spoiling.

white calf

all natural. the “all natural” stamp is one of the most abused and misleading food labels used by food manufacturers today. many of these so-called “all natural” products use citric acid, high-fructose corn syrup and other unnatural additives, but still get to bear that positive label. always check the ingredients list to know exactly what’s in your food.

whole grains. chances are you’ve seen the label, “made with whole grains,” pop up on bread, crackers or rice products now more than ever. the reality is that many of these whole grain products are actually made with refined wheat flour and maybe a small percentage of whole grains. in order to check the validity of the whole grains label, check out the listed ingredients. unless “whole grains” is one of the first ingredients on the list or if you see “enriched wheat flour,” it’s likely that your product contains a small percentage of whole grains.

farm fresh eggs

cage free: the label “cage free” does not mean there are any standards or auditing mechanisms behind it. As the term implies, hens laying eggs labeled as “cage free” are uncaged inside barns or warehouses, but generally do not have access to the outdoors. They have the ability to engage in some of their natural behaviors such as walking and nesting. there is no information regarding what the birds can be fed. forced molting through starvation is permitted, and there is no third-party auditing.

free range: while the USDA has defined the meaning of “free range” for some poultry products, there are no standards in “free range” egg production. typically, free range egg-laying hens are uncaged inside barns or warehouses and have outdoor access. They can engage in many natural behaviors such as nesting and foraging. however, there is no information on stocking density, the frequency or duration of outdoor access, or the quality of the land accessible to the birds. there is no information regarding what the birds can be fed. forced molting through starvation is permitted, and there is no third-party auditing.

apples with peanut butter and granola

certified organic: the animals must be allowed outdoor access, with ruminants—cows, sheep and goats—given access to pasture, but the amount, duration and quality of outdoor access is undefined. animals must be provided with bedding materials. though the use of hormones and antibiotics is prohibited, surgical mutilations without any pain relief are permitted. these are requirements under the national organic program regulations, and compliance is verified through third-party auditing. currently, there are no federal or state programs to certify aquatic animals, including fish, as organic.

certified humane: the animals must be kept in conditions that allow for exercise and freedom of movement. as such, crates, cages and tethers are prohibited. outdoor access is not required for poultry or pigs, but is required for other species. stocking densities are specified to prevent the overcrowding of animals. all animals must be provided with bedding materials. hormone and non-therapeutic antibiotic use is prohibited, while surgical mutilations without any pain relief are permitted. compliance is verified through third-party auditing. 

were you familiar with the meaning behind these labels? i knew many of them, but still learned quite a bit about the specifics while doing research for this post. to me, this is a great testament to eating local if at all possible. talk to your farmers, ask for a visit, and see what the animals are like and what the growing conditions are like for your fruits and veggies. it’s easy to have fun getting to know where your food comes from, and if you have children, what a fun lesson for them to learn!

resources: eggindustry, meat and dairy labels

wrap up: {all natural} {food} {free range} {fresh} {labels} {simple living}