after the salmon opener to the grilling season i thought it was prudent to turn to meat!
scrounging from the fridge i topped the 100% grassfed organic burger with carmelized onions, garlic, a titch of jalapeno and topped it with organic valley feta and eventually doused it with worcestershire sauce.
the flavors mixed perfectly!
Warning Signs: How Pesticides Harm the Young Brain: “The risks are not confined to children growing up in farm communities or inner-city public housing.” The Nation
i remember soon after odin ( née eric snowdeal iv ) was born almost 16 weeks early his doctors told us gravely that if he lived the first week the single greatest threat to survival was hospital-acquired infection and even worse antibiotic resistant acquired infection. sure enough within 2 weeks we were already dealing with bugs in his system. luckily for us, and odin, he survived. many are not as fortunate.
so whenever i see news on antibiotic resistance, it’s very personal. and i really can’t imagine what it’s like in a neonatal intensive care unit 9 years later as the situation continues to worsen.
frontline is doing a piece positing the question, “has the age of antibiotics come to an end?” prompted by the cdc sounding the alarm and warning “urgent health threat” and “potentially catastrophic consequences”. more people die in the US each year from antibiotic-resistant infections than from HIV/AIDS. every year. i don’t even want to know the exact number of premature infants that die every year.
we know non-organic agriculture plays a role in developing drug-resistant strains of bacteria and that non-organic agricultural accounts for 70% of antibiotic use ( including, shamefully, “antibiotics of last resort” ).
the national organic standard does not allow antibiotics use in the production of organic foods.
please folks, think about the choices you make and the implications they have. there is a high cost to cheap food.
Plesant Ridge Organic Hot Lunch from Gracie Hallberg-Cain on Vimeo.
an alum of odin’s school, the pleasant ridge waldorf school, made this video on their all-organic-made-from-scratch hot lunch program for her senior project at the sister school youth initiative high school.
it’s a remarkable video that shows the power of teaching children well about the importance of knowing where their food comes from and how it’s grown and prepared ( and enjoyed )!
i’m happy that odin believes this is “normal” and sad that it’s not.
excellent news that the american academy of pediatrics released a clinical report that finally highlights the benefits of organic food, including lower exposure to pesticides for consumers and the workers who produce the food, lower exposure to drug-resistant bacteria and lower overall environmental impact than conventional farming and recommends that, “…Pediatricians should incorporate this evidence when discussing the health and environmental impact of organic foods and organic farming..”
as the organic trade association press release notes this is a major milestone for organics since the pediatric party line has historically been that there’s no difference that makes a difference between organic and conventional foods.
if anything, the AAP clinical report soft pedals the research on pesticide exposure in particular. the pesticide action network also released a report, “A Generation in Jeopardy: How pesticides are undermining our children’s health & intelligence” that reviews dozens of recent scientific studies on the impacts of pesticides on children’s health. the emerging evidence of links between pesticide usage and childhood health harms are impossible to ignore.
it’s hard for me to imagine how anyone can read the 44 page report and not decide to purchase organic food ( and all the more so now that we know GMOs have unleashed a pesticide gusher ).
fall is here and the temperatures are dropping and sometimes you just want some good old fashioned warm comfort food like, say, cheeseburger soup. and, of course you could use something like cheddar cheese but if you really want to nail the nostalgic comfort in comfort food, you’re typically going to find a processed cheese like processed american cheesein the ingredients list.
for those of us who aren’t into the emulsified, extruded processed cheese world, the geniuses at organic valley ( *cough* my employer *cough* ) have come up with a 100% real, unprocessed american cheese! it has all the mild, melty american cheesyness you expect but it’s actually made from nothing but 100% real, organic cheese. imagine that!
so i thought i’d give it a try in this taste of home cheeseburger soup recipe, simply substituting the processed cheese with ov american singles. i also doubled the amount of ground beef, because, well, why not 🙂
and wowza. it’s really, really, really(!) good. definitely going to be in our regular soup rotation from now on.
slightly modified directions from the taste of home cheeseburger soup recipe:
ingredients
1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced peeled potatoes (1-3/4 pounds)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 package ( 8 ounces ) ov american singles
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
directions
in a largish saucepan, brown beef, drain and set aside. saute the onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until tender. add the broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil. reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. add flour; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. add to soup; bring to a boil. cook and stir for 2 minutes. reduce heat to low. stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts. remove from the heat; blend in sour cream.
nicholas kristof writes a very nice op-ed in the new york times about organic valley yamhill, oregon producer bob bansen, “where cows are happy and food is healthy”. don’t miss the great video that accompanies the article, “milk of human kindness”.