Feeling good about groceries (and a recipe to share)

Now see? This is just another reason why I'm so glad I started blogging.

Hearing from all of you about your grocery shopping budgets and philosophies not only made me feel good about what we're doing, but it also gave me a lot of great ideas for how to save more, or do things differently, if necessary.

Thanks, guys! Really. Your thoughts were all very, very reassuring - and helpful!

One of the most interesting responses to yesterday's blog post came from my friend and colleague Deborah Stein. Debbie sent me a chart from the USDA, showing what the gov't considers to be the amount a family should/could spend on home-cooked meals per month.

Couple things I took away from this chart:

• It's the government, and they notoriously UNDERestimate how much it costs to feed people (hello, food stamps?) so whatever they say here is right, I know to add way more.
• It's from 1994, and everything has gone up a thousand times since then, so again, I add more money to whatever they say.
• Look how ridiculously low the "low-cost" level is. And the "thrifty" level? Debbie tells me that that's the level they base food stamps allotments on. Seriously? Seriously, gubment?! That's ree-dic. Sometimes I just can't believe how much our society seems to hate poor people.

So, based on that - we are doing awesome!

Anyway, I wanted to give something back to you all for your thoughtful and helpful responses. So in the spirit of feeding our children healthful, tasty, inexpensive meals, here's a recipe I made that was quick, delicious, inexpensive and a huge hit with the kids, me and Lester, too:

Homemade Sloppy Joes

Yummy in everyone's tummy!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 carrots, coarsely grated (2 cups) [ I used shredded carrots, because it's easier.]
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced [ I used a little more garlic, because garlic = yum!]
• Coarse salt and ground pepper [Regular salt and pepper worked just fine.]
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3/4 pound ground turkey (93% lean, dark meat)
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 whole-wheat hamburger rolls, split

Directions

1. Step 1

   In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium; add carrots, onion, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Step 2

   Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add turkey; cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Step 3

   Add tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 12 to 14 minutes. Serve on whole-wheat rolls.

Easy-peasy! I served these with baked potato wedges (just sliced potatoes, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked for 15-20 minutes at 450-degrees, turning once during baking) and salad greens.
 
Huge hit! Clair now can even say, "More soppy joe, pees!" That's how much she liked it.

(Note: The recipe was a smidge too sweet for my tastes, even with me adding more vinegar and more Worcestershire [I like my sloppy joes twangy!] so next time I make these, I'll add less brown sugar.)

 And Janna, I know this recipe won't help you so much, but I'll try to find something meatless to share just for you! Xxoxx!

 Happy eating, all!

What I gleaned from my day on the farm

On Saturday I had to go to a "glean" at a local farm to cover it -- journalist-style -- for a client.

The glean was pretty awesome. The group I was covering, Gather Baltimore, goes to farms and -- after working for an hour or so doing something the farmer needs, like removing stakes and ropes from harvested crops -- gets to go through the "leftover" harvest and pick perfectly useable produce to donate to soup kitchens, homeless shelters and inner-city farm stands.

A photographer and I spent two hours in the cold with the 50 or so volunteers, documenting the glean. We also spent time talking candidly with the farmer - George Zahradka, a man in his 40s whose whole life has been spent farming, and who makes pennies on each head of broccoli or bunch of kale he sells, but works seven days a week, bending and pulling and tilling and irrigating, all so we can eat his hard-earned bounty.

George taught me a lot about the brainwashing of today's consumer, who has been made to believe that potatoes with dirt on them are less desirable than those that are squeaky clean (it's actually the opposite, he says, and hellooo? Potatoes come from the GROUND) or that cauliflower should be snow white, when really it's so much better for you when it's been sun-kissed and has a tinge of yellow. Who knew?

This quaint little farmhouse sat toward the back of the 72-acre-portion of Zahradka Farm. Much to my dismay, the farmer and his family do not actually live in it. They rent the land from the county -- at a cost of nearly $150,000 a year!

And look! Here I am, in front of that little farmhouse. (There's my trusty reporter's notebook on the ground - just like old times!)

I was so humbled by the experience of being out there on that farm; I can't wait until my kids are old enough to get out there with me and work the land a little bit. It certainly makes you respect a whole lot more the people who break their backs to get us good food to eat. And it also gives a whole new respect for the food itself.

As an example, the farmer gave me a gorgeous head of caulifower -- one with a touch of gold from the sun. I admitted to one of the volunteers later that I actually didn't know what to do with it. We didn't really eat cauliflower much growing up, and when we did, it was frozen in a bag and mixed with broccoli or other veggies. As a result, I kinda considered cauliflower a throwaway vegetable, puny and tasteless and not all that exciting.

But the volunteer gave me the easiest and most delicious recipe for roasted cauliflower, which I tried last night. It's just chopped cauliflower, tossed with olive oil, garlic powder and little salt and pepper, and then baked in the oven for 30 minutes on 400-degrees.

It was soooo good, and so easy -- I can't believe I've been ignorant to this for so long! And I explained to the kids that a farmer grew this cauliflower just so people like us could eat it. And that he works really hard to make sure his food is delicious and healthy. It made me feel good to talk to the kids about where the food came from and to actually KNOW the man who grew it.

We are grocery store people; I don't know if that will ever change fully. But I really do want to do more active supporting of our small local farmers -- and more active eating of the delicious real foods they grow.

Maybe a CSA is in our near future!