Eating Local in the Summer Is Easy

Despite the sweltering, miserable, suffocating heat of Mississippi in the summer, I still adore this time of year because I am able to grow a lot of my own food, watch hummingbirds (from a distance though because they're a little too much like big bees for my taste), and have daylight until after 8pm.  I also enjoy buying vegetables from an old man on the side of the road and going to the farmers' market.  Side note: This year, my husband and I are even running a booth at the market.  We bake and sell fresh bread.  It's...

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Soup for a Sore Throat

I was sick a few weeks ago.  Really sick.  Ed's band had a show out of town, so I was home alone for the weekend and wanted to cook something that would last until I was well.  My option: thaw out some chicken stock, throw some vegetables in a pot, and sit on the couch while it cooked.  It was pretty good, so I'm now (several weeks later) going to share the recipe. You will need: 3-4 carrots 1 onion 3-4 garlic cloves 1 turnip...

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Boardtown Organics: My Solution for Local, Free-range Chicken and Eggs

As you all know, I have sworn off non-local meat, and, although Sanderson Farms is a Mississippi company, that’s not quite what I was going for with “local.”  So far this year, my meals have been mostly meatless until recently when I got a deer, just about as local as you can get.  But I was looking around on Local Harvest and discovered a family farm just outside my door.  Boardtown Organics (Boardtown, by the way, is what Starkville was before it was Starkville) is a small operation just outside the city limits, but I don’t...

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Deer Meal #1: The Deerburger Steak

I know you’re all anxiously awaiting a venison update, and I’ve now got one to share.  About two weeks ago, we got our deer.  I bet she was pretty, but, when she arrived to us (and by arrived, I mean that I picked her up under an overpass in nowhere Mississippi around 7PM—I think this makes the experience so much better), she had already been processed and came in vacuum-packed packages of ground meat, steak, roast, and cured sausage.  I quickly thawed out one package of the ground meat (probably about 1.5 lbs. or so) and proceeded to make “hamburger”...

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Five Facts about Almonds

Since succombing to my cashew allergy, I have tried to eat more almonds. They're healthier anyway, right?  Well, I've learned quite a bit about them:

1. About 23 almonds equals one ounce.

2. There is even a tin you can buy that holds exactly one ounce.

3.  Almonds come from California. 4.  Almonds are first on the Mayo Clinic's list of super foods.  (To be fair, they are first because of alphabetical reasons, but, hey, it sounds good to say they're first, right?) 5.  One serving (one ounce/23 almonds) has half of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin...

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