Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?” — Dr. Jane Goodall I buy organic produce at the farmers’ market from small local producers who: grow a variety of crops […]
organic
The Ultimate Quick and Easy Lemon Curd
If you glance at my Instagram feed at the moment, you can easily surmise that lemons have come back in season here in Northern California. So far, I’ve started a few jars of preserved lemons, made fermented lemonade, started lemon extract, and last night—at 2am—made the lemon curd in this post. And took the pictures. […]
Food Politics and the English Language
With apologies to George Orwell… I work at an English factory (a small publisher) and in my past wayward life, wrote marketing copy on the side. So I know how powerful language can be—powerful enough to entice you to part with your hard-earned cash to buy things you don’t actually need and that might actually […]
Cauliflower “Couscous”
Click here to jump to the recipe I need to eat more vegetables. Going zero-waste certainly forced me to clean up my diet—I cut the POP (processed and over-packaged) “food”—but I do love sugar and I can buy that in bulk where I live 😉 My older daughter first made this cauliflower dish last year, almost […]
Kick the Can[ned Pumpkin]
Go here for cooking a whole sugar pie pumpkin in a pressure cooker. I can’t remember the last time I bought a can of food, including canned pumpkin. When we went plastic-free in 2011, we ditched all canned food. Cans are lined with plastic that often contains BPA, which according to the Environmental Working Group, […]
Simple Fermented Salsa with Live Cultures
Click here to jump to the recipe My younger daughter refuses to drink kombucha (referring to the SCOBY, “How can you put anything into your body that touched that!”). She won’t try sauerkraut (“What’s that smell?!”). She will eat sourdough, although somewhat reluctantly (“Why can’t we have a normal kitchen?”). But she scarfs down this. If […]
How to Make a Ginger Bug Starter for Natural Soda
I have posted pics of my ginger bug on Instagram a couple of times but without directions. When people then ask how to actually make the ginger bug, they probably want more guidance than “mix some ginger, sugar and water together and add more daily for about five days.” But really, that’s about all you do. […]
Clear-Out-the-Fridge Frittata
Click here to go straight to the recipe When we rely less on recipes and more on cooking methods, we buy fewer ingredients, waste less food and alleviate what-on-earth-will-we-eat-for-dinner-tonight stress. My kids sometimes complain we have nothing to eat (translation: we have no processed snacks) but when I look in the kitchen, I see possibilities. […]
How to Make Candied Citrus Peels
Click here to go straight to the recipe My younger daughter Charlotte loves mandarin oranges. While the peel to fruit ratio of these small, juicy, sweet oranges doesn’t quite hit 1:1, at three dollars a pound, I do pay quite a lot for peels. And although compost can save the world, I would like to […]