Pink Prickly Pear

In which we eat like hearty farmers.

Those of you subject to my relentless stream of porcine uploads on Facebook, know that we spend one morning a week at Green Gate Farms in East Austin.  Mini-Pear takes an art class (nestled under the trees, adjacent to the most adorably ramshackle red barn) while her brother and I wander the farm, free to commune with baby piglets, free-range chickens, goats and a very friendly horse.  Their farm stand was on hiatus for the first few weeks we were there, but I did manage to buy the most delicious eggs.

It is really something to arrive at the farm and know that the gorgeous, organic vegetables you are going to take home with you are being picked right now!  

I was going to just get a few things from the farm stand, when Farmer Erin let it slip there were still a couple of CSA shares available.  You know I jumped on that opportunity!

So, Friday's share included:

Okra

Cucumbers

Sweet peppers

Japanese Eggplant

Basil

Garlic

Mizuna

Serrano peppers

Little hot red peppers 

Zucchini

Chez Pear has always been an eggplant-free zone, based purely upon Mr. Pear's unfounded, yet vehement opposition to the poor unsuspecting vegetable.  He has however, always maintained that he will "eat wot he is gived", so I decided to forge ahead and use the eggplants, basil and hot peppers on Friday night in Pud Makua Yow.  I don't think I've ever seen dinner disappear so fast!  Who likes eggplant now?!?!  Who was talking about it the next day?!?!  

Thought so...

On Saturday, I used the cucumbers and a sweet pepper in a cucumber salad we took to a cookout with friends.  Sunday night, the mizuna got tossed in a green salad.  Tonight we'll arrive home from Mini-Pear's theatre class to a hearty vegetable stew waiting in the slow cooker, incorporating the okra, zucchini, garlic, and other local vegetables I picked up at Wheatsville at the end of the week.  I was crazy to only sign up for half a share!

So I bought new running shoes.  Yawn.  Not news.  But running shoes made in the USA?  That's some news.  Some good news.  I took them out for an inaugural run this morning and my feet are very, very happy indeed.  And no, they weren't outrageously expensive or hideous or anything like that.  Thank you, New Balance. 

Last night I watched enough of The Future of Food to thoroughly freak myself out a bit regarding genetic engineering.  I fell asleep at about the halfway point, so I'll try and finish it tonight, but I somehow doubt I missed the happy ending.  And then this morning, while D'anjou napped, Mini-Pear and I watched King Corn about High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Having watched the stuff about genetically modified foods made the information about the pervasiveness of HFCS even more alarming.

Afterwards, I guiltily ransacked our kitchen cabinets.  HFCS is in everything, isn't it?  Well, maybe it is in a ton of stuff, but happily, I didn't find any at our house.  MSG made a surprise appearance in a package of Planters peanuts (we also had a bag of peanuts from Trader Joes with three ingredients - peanuts, peanut oil and salt), but no HFCS!  I even checked things that seemed like the perfect candidates for a little hidden sweetener - bread, barbeque sauce, a box of crackers...nada.  It's reassuring to see that we weren't going to have to make any big changes to our diets or shopping habits.  I mean, I wasn't a total rube...we're former vegans at our house, but I've certainly become a lot more relaxed about our food and I had suspicions that my new (over the past couple of years) mantra of "everything in moderation" might have let some unsavory ingredients in the back door. 

I do think I will exercise a little more moderation in the meals I eat outside of the house though. 

Fretful Mother

I thought we were avoiding BPA contamination once we switched to stainless steel water bottles last year, but apparently it's canned food that is the predominate route of exposure.

Damn.  I eat a boatload of fresh fruit and vegetables, but I supplement heavily with canned goods.  Not that I crank open a tin of creamed corn (ick!) and call it a night, but I use organic canned diced tomatoes by the case. 

Back in the days of yard sales for food, I suspect our BPA exposure was significantly lower.  Who would buy a can of beans, I snorted, when you could get ten times the amount of dried ones in the bulk aisle for the same price?  Fast forward a year or so, debt repaid, and the security of a regular paycheck again, who the fuck has time to plan ahead and soak beans all night long?  As a matter of fact, screw tinned beans!  Let's order sushi!

Fretting doesn't accomplish much.  It's Action Time!  Here's my BPA free strategy:

Meal planning!  I don't have a pressure cooker to get a jump on the evening's beans, but with a little forethought, I can prep them the night before in my slow cooker.

Put 'em on the glass!!! In the spirit of Ma Ingalls, I'm going to can my own diced tomatoes, the old fashioned way, in glass jars in a big pot.  I'll have room to grow my own organic tomatoes at our new house, but I'll probably supplement with tomatoes from the farmers market when they are in season, plentiful and cheap!

Write some letters!!!  As usual these here United States are late to the party.  Industries in other countries are voluntarily (and sucessfully) reducing BPA contamination of food.  It can be done, so why aren't United States manufacturers doing the same?  Write your legislators and demand safe food for your family.  Safe alternatives are available.  It's unconscionable to continue to expose us to unsafe levels of contaminants in our food.

Support companies that are doing the right thing!!! Actually, there is at least one company that uses a "custom made BPA-free can" - Eden Foods.  I checked my preferred grocery store in town and they carry a limited selection of Eden Foods.  You can be sure I'm going to ask them to stock a wider variety of Eden's safe food for my family.

Got any good ideas to add?  Use the comment section.