Comments on: What to eat in the New Year

By: josey

josey — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:58:34 +0000

OHMYGOSH! i am in heaven. this post is brilliant. really! i have a hard time communicating how i feel about food (even tho i’m somewhat obsessed with it. LOL.). i buy all my meat and veggies local, too. its just amazing to head over to the farmer’s house and pick up my roasting chickens and eggs. sounds weerd, huh? well, i love the sense of community and magical-ooey-connectedness-with-nature it gives me. all last summer i grew ALL my own veggies at my house or got them from the biodynamic gardens where i volunteered. it made me think and FEEL so much differently about food.

in addition, i’ve been roasting my chickens and then using the whole carcass and bones leftover to make chicken/bone stock. it makes amazing soup and an extremely healthful drink as well! (i use recipes for roasting and stock from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.)

btw, as far as food costs–you’re so right! however, i’ve noticed in the last several months, our grocery bills have actually been DOWN. my explanation? when you’re eating healthily, you’re well-nourished and you just naturally eat less. suddenly snarfing down junk at an expensive restaurant doesnâ€™t sound so pleasant, either. so…stick with a good diet (except have those cheetos once in a while. YUM! hehe!) and paying the extra for organic really isnt paying extra in the end

oh and another good book to read: Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck. awesome read!!

By: Joan

Joan — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:33:00 +0000

I complain about grocery costs and my husband will remind me that we buy quality items which are more expensive. Face it – junk food is cheap. A lot of times I use less meat than called for especially in pasta dishes and spaghetti. That’s my preference more than a cost saving measure.

By: Angie

Angie — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:40:19 +0000

Hey! I just ordered both of these books for our farming conference coming up in February. Glad to hear you liked them both.

I’ll have to be sure and buy a couple copies for myself!

P.S. There is nothing like real, organic, fresh chicken. Once you taste it, you will never be able to go back to the crappy stuff, as you know.

By: kookiejar

kookiejar — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:52:41 +0000

You have a great attitude about food. I need to follow that advice more often (I always beat myself up about eating Cheetos..even though I don’t do it that often).

Also, the flipping the chicken trick also works beautifully with turkeys…it’s harder because they are very heavy, but I’ve never dried out a turkey breast.

By: Beenzzz

Beenzzz — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:01:54 +0000

Organic chickens actually taste better to me. Derrick usually preps it and places it on a rotisserie on the grill. It’s very delicious! I refuse to touch raw chickens and I am always on the verge of going vegetarian.

By: Starshine

Starshine — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:19:28 +0000

Love the pierced lemon idea!

Thanks for that informative post. I like what Pollan says about “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Simple and true!

By: ML

ML — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:21:33 +0000

Yum – roast chicken My Mom taught me how to roast a chicken and I haven’t messed up yet. Sounds like a great cookbook! Enjoy.

By: C

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:32:35 +0000

J, you’ve got such a wonderful perspective on things. Of course, I’m talking specifically about the not feeling guilty for eating what we feel like and just moving on from there.

Love the tortoise story! My dad’s family in Trinidad had a few tortoises at home and we used to feed them all the fruit and veggie scraps too. Now, if I don’t put my scraps in the compost, they go to my SIL’s chickens (they eat everything) or to Hubby’s cattle.

P.S. Karen, a bunch of ladies at the school I worked at in TO got hold of Jamie Oliver’s cookbook online (I think the book somehow got out online and everyone was printing off copies). One of the teachers sent me the file, but I didn’t open it because: A) it was HUGE and I didn’t feel like waiting for it to download and B)I felt badly about trying to get a free copy even though I know he’s probably made a mint from others who have bought it. Guilty conscience? I think so! LOL!

By: Karen MEG

Karen MEG — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:28:05 +0000

I loved this post J! I don’t roast chickens very often…we tried Jamie Oliver’s recipe a few years back and smoked the whole house up for about 3 days, and since then have been reluctant to go there again. It’s a lot less effort just to pick up from the supermarket, all roasted and ready to cut.
But that sounds like a great cookbook, and this recipe, something I could actually do. And I agree, organic is so ridiculously expensive, but it does make a difference, I find especially with produce.
I am with you on the food philosophy. My hips and butt will love that too!
I got such a chuckle out of the tortoise story… too funny!

By: Don Mills Diva

Don Mills Diva — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:17:33 +0000

That was a great post – good times about coooking chicken. Just discovered your blog and it’s really great. I’ll definitely be back.

By: lalunas

lalunas — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:51:03 +0000

You really have to be well off $$$ to eat organic foods. Nice recipe for chicken. One day I will sneak over when you do this recipe and try some….

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:01:27 +0000

J
Thanks for the chicken cookin’ tips. I’ll have to remember to come here if I ever cook any for me!
I cook 2 whole chickens a month in the crock pot for my doggies. I just leave em in there for about 5 hours and they’re done.
Then I de-bone it (practically falls off the bone) and put it in individual containers in the freezer to thaw out on a weekly basis.
I mix it in with their dry food, and they don’t waste any time eatin!

Oh,…and what you said about “quality chicken” ….reminds me of eating chicken at grandmas back in the 60′s,70′s & 80′s! They raised their own chickens, and that’s hard to beat along with granny’s superb southern cooking skills of course!

By: Maya's Granny

Maya's Granny — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 09:49:26 +0000

Alice Waters started out as a Montessori teacher and when she opened her restaurant, she fed her customers like she had fed the children. I read once that she said that her work was based on Montessori principles. So cool

I really like the part about the grocery clerks saving the carrot tops for the tortoise!

By: amuirin

amuirin — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:34:27 +0000

My brother got ‘The Art of Simple Food’ for Christmas! It looked really interesting. ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ has been on my list for some time now.

I love your book posts.

By: Cherry

Cherry — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:30:25 +0000

What an excellent post!
I’m thrilled that you are enjoying your new cookbook and have solved your raw in the middle roasted chicken dilemma. A tasty, juicy, well cooked roast chicken is perfect on a day like today (stormy, cold and wet).

Bon Appetit!