Related Posts

• Slow Money - Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato, Corn, Black beans, Tomato

  Slow Money   Are you familiar with the Slow Money movement?  The movement focuses mainly on the benefits to our economy based on farmers’ markets and similar venues.  Quoting from their website: “Today, people are hungry for real alternatives to faster and faster, bigger and bigger, more and more global. Investing in local food systems is a way to begin fixing our economy and our culture from the ground up.”  “We are building a movement of individuals who … are choosing a constructive, hopeful course of action. Slow Money … is built on the premise that … we need not only new technologies and new policies, but also new sensibilities and new behavior, without which the words sustainable and transparent and accountable and socially responsible and metrics and impact will mean little in the end.”   Principles of Slow Money We must bring money back down to earth. There is such a thing as money that is too fast, companies that are too big, finance that is too complex. Therefore, we must slow our money down — not all of it, of course, ...

• Chicken Cacciatore

  Bob's kitchen boasts Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market as well as our onsite retail store Forland Family Market's fresh food. Dedicated customers like Bob fall in love with fresh and support local farms. Dedication of our customers is realized as local farm numbers rise. This week 7 new farms will be at the market. Summer season is ramping up quick as we see blueberries, blackberries, peaches, strawberries, squash, zucchini, beans, new potatoes, sweet corn, lettuce, vegetable transplants, flowers, herbs, and so much more that is new to the season. Gulf Seafood, especially fresh shrimp is always here as well as eggs, chicken, beef, pork and lamb. Fresh baked is a treat as well as locally roasted coffee. Food staples are plentiful! Include fresh to your kitchen this week! Here's Bob..    Recently I had the opportunity to meet an author online through Facebook and we friended each other. Her name is Sophie Patrick and she specializes in writing books about healthy living. One of her books is entitled, Healthy Eating Made Easy: 50 Simple Tips for Healthy Living Through Clean Eating.  A ...

• Saturday Night Farmers’ Market Pizza

  Why a Farmers’ Market? Farmers' markets are one of the oldest forms of direct marketing by small farmers. From the traditional "mercados" in the Peruvian Andes to the unique street markets in Asia, growers all over the world gather weekly to sell their produce directly to the public. In the last decade farmers’ markets have become a favorite method for many farmers throughout the United States, and a weekly ritual for many shoppers.  Shopping at a farmers' market is a great way to meet local farmers and get fresh, flavorful produce. [Paraphrased from Wikipedia] While the reasons to shop at a farmers’ market are numerous, one of the most important is what happens to our local economy.  When you purchase from a local farmer at a farmers’ market, approximately 90% of the money stays in the community.  By contrast, when you shop at a well-known chain box store, approximately 7% stays in the community.  That is not a typo, only 7¢ out of every dollar remains in the South Baldwin County communities when you shop at that big, impersonal store that ...

• 18/21 Rule and Other Advice I’ve Read That Actually Makes Sense

  18/21 Rule and Other Advice I’ve Read That Actually Makes Sense   Health advice is abundant.  While it reflects a worthwhile trend to having access to more information about health, some articles I’ve read are not very helpful.  Ubiquitously, advice in articles frequently say for better health, “Lose weight” and it is given as casually as “Floss Teeth.”  To get ready for bed you should brush and floss your teeth and lose twenty pounds.  Hmm, I’m exaggerating, of course, but such casual advice is not helpful and unnecessary.  In the same type of advice, articles frequently relate how many calories in a meal and how many grams of protein and how many grams of carbohydrates.  I don’t know about you, but my life cannot be centered around perfection and following healthy advice all the time.    However, there are some suggestions that I’ve found are helpful and actually make sense for our less than perfectly ordered lives:   18/21 Rule To explain this rule, here is a personal example.  My granddaughter is a cheerleader for her high school that’s located in Mobile.  During the fall months, ...

• Ain’t it awful? convenience food that is... Try the Recipe of the Week: Summer Vegetable Stir Fry with Pasta

  Ain’t it awful?   Something interesting with a disturbing purpose is going on with refrigerators.  Have you looked at new refrigerators lately?  Do so and you will see that all new refrigerators come with an expanded freezer section and a smaller refrigeration section.  Have you noticed that grocery stores are adding more freezer space?  Also, have you noticed that grocery stores are stocking less frozen produce like fruit and vegetables and are stocking more frozen ready-made meals and frozen meal packages?  Refrigerators are changing in order to hold stacks of frozen ready-made meals purchased from grocery stores that are expanding their inventory of frozen meals.   The Norman Rockwell scene of an All-American family having dinner together is all changed.  Mother, Father, Sister, Brother come into the kitchen, pick out what they want for supper from the freezer, microwave it, and sit down for their particularly selected meal, often straight from the package rather than from a plate.  I’m not making up some fantasy, it’s real.  The worst part of all this is what’s on the back of the packages from which they ...

• Follow Me To The Market

  

  Follow Me To The Market I could never resist a farmers’ market. I enjoy checking out what the local vendors have brought to market, taking some time to meet them and then planning a menu. Right here in our own backyard, Baldwin County has a real gem in the Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermen’s Market in Foley.   It’s Summertime and the living is supposed to be easy. So, something easy that doesn’t require a lot of prep time is high on the list. Four vendors helped create the dinner menu tonight: SHRIMP on the GO, Forland Family Farm, Sweet Bee Farm, and Mood Rock Baking. On the Menu: Sesame Seared Tuna (SHRIMP on the GO and Sweet Bee Farm) Sweet Corn (Forland Family Farm) Curried Brown Rice Grilled Peaches (Forland Family Farm) Lemon French Macarons (Gluten-Free) (Mood Rock Baking) The tuna, sweet corn and peaches can all go on the outdoor grill. Sesame Seared Tuna ¼ cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons sesame oil 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar Up to four Tuna steaks ½ cup sesame seeds 1. In a bowl, stir together the soy sauce, honey and sesame oil. Divide into two equal parts. Stir ...