Swine Flu

CNBC reported today on swine flu, media hype, and vaccine risks........
Great Video Watch it!
Click to Minute 2:10 in video. The ending puts the media hype in perspective!

FRIDAY FIX..........oops, make that Tuesday.....

Ok, I know I fell down on the job last Friday, and I apologize profusely. Stuff just got in the way, y'know??

Well, the dog days of August are upon us, and everything in my garden is looking pretty sad. Everything but basil, that is. In fact, I have a bumper crop! (At least SOMETHING grew. Apparently the cool, wet summer was to its liking.) Wow, it's absolutely gorgeous--deep green, and incredibly fragrant. It makes me happy.

But what to do with an overabunance of this green delight? Make pesto, of course. So, today I took a machete to it, brought a big bunch inside, and whipped up a batch. Don't let the picture worry you (my lovely daughter says it looks like puke). It looks better on pasta.

If you've never made your own pesto, think about giving it a whirl. (I use my trusty Cuisinart, but I suppose a plain old blender will do the job, too, although I've never made pesto with one. ) Just think of all those wonderful phytochemicals you'll take in--that is, plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties--hidden in such a delicious treat!

Here's my favorite pesto recipe. Serve it on pasta (I like Barilla Plus farfalle or rotini), spoon it on sliced tomatoes, use it a topping for grilled salmon....I think it's good on just about anything (except ice cream...although I've heard of basil being used in fruit sorbets, so why not??)

PESTO SAUCE

2 large garlic cloves, peeled

3 ounces imported Parmesan Cheese, cut up into 1-inch cubes

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves (you can also use part Italian parlsey or spinach leaves)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts (great source of Omega 3's!!!)

1 cup olive oil

With the processor running, mince the garlic by dropping it through the feed tube. Add the cheese and chop it by turning the machine on and off about 10 times. Add the basil, salt, and nuts, and mince them by turning the maching on and off about 8 times. With the machine running, drizzle the oil until it is well blended. Makes enough for 6 servings of pasta.

Note: Pesto sauce will keep for months if covered with a thin coat of oil and refrigerated. You can also freeze it (nothing better than garden-fresh pesto in the middle of January!)

TIP: Pesto sauce will oxidize when exposed to air. Adding a zap of fresh lemon juice helps. Also, using part spinach will help keep the color nice and green. Be sure to add sauce to pasta right before serving, not ahead of time, to avoid oxidation as much as possible. (Even if it turns brown it still tastes great, just doesn't look as pretty.)

VIVA ITALIA!!!!

Lisa

Friday Fix........

On Saturday, oops!! Well it is summer and it's easy to skip blogging. And........it's finally SUNNY! Here's a really good Zucchini Gratin recipe from 101cookbooks.com

Here's my Gratin.....

I've made this twice. The second time I made it I didn't have the fresh oregano and I really noticed the difference, so if you want to wow your friends get the fresh herbs! I also cheated and used Croutons because I was in a hurry and didn't have time to make the fresh bread crumbs. It was still delicious. Give it a try, there's lot's of local zucchini to be had.

Summer Squash Gratin Recipe

Be sure to slice your potatoes as thin as possible. They get all melty and creamy. Slice them too thick and you'll have trouble cooking them through because the zucchini cooks up more quickly. I use a box grater to shred the cheese here (as opposed to a micro-plane) - you get heartier, less whispy pieces of cheese which is what you want here. I'd also strongly recommend homemade bread crumbs here (see asterisk below).

zest of one lemon
1 1/2 pounds summer squash or zucchini, cut into 1/6th-inch slices
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups fresh (whole wheat) bread crumbs*
1/2 pound yukon gold potatoes, sliced transparently thin
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese, grated on a box grater (or feta might be good!)

Preheat oven to 400F degrees and place a rack in the middle. Rub a 9x9 gratin pan (or equivalent baking dish) with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with lemon zest, and set aside.

Place the zucchini slices into a colander placed over a sink, toss with the sea salt and set aside for 10-15 minutes (to drain a bit) and go on to prepare the oregano sauce and bread crumbs.

Make the sauce by pureeing the oregano, parsley, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, red pepper flakes, and olive oil in a food processor or using a hand blender. Set aside.

Make the breadcrumbs by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until the butter is wonderfully fragrant, and has turned brown. Wait two minutes, then stir the breadcrumbs into the browned butter.

Transfer the squash to a large mixing bowl. Add the potatoes and two-thirds of the oregano sauce. Toss until everything is well coated. Add the cheese and half of the bread crumbs and toss again. Taste one of the zucchini pieces and add more seasoning (salt or red pepper) if needed.

Transfer the squash to the lemon-zested pan, top with the remaining crumbs, and bake for somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes - it will really depend on how thinly you sliced the squash and potatoes - and how much moisture was still in them. You don't want the zucchini to go to mush, but you need to be sure the potatoes are fully baked. If the breadcrumbs start to get a little dark, take a fork and rake them just a bit, that will uncover some of the blonder bits. Remove from oven, and drizzle with the remaining oregano sauce.

Serves about 8 as a side.

*To make breadcrumbs cut the crust off 2-3 day old artisan bread. Tear into pieces the size of your thumb, and give a quick whirl in the food processor. I don't like my breadcrumbs too fine - and tend to leave the pieces on the large size - more like little pebbles than grains of sand.

101 Cookbooks http://www.101cookbooks.com/

YO DUDE! What's UP????

What's going on Obama? I thought you were more pro-environment, pro the people?
What the ......?

Per the Organic Consumer's Association.........

Now, the Obama Administration is putting two notorious biotech bullies in charge of food safety! Former Monsanto lobbyist Michael Taylor has been appointed as a senior adviser to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on food safety. Just what we need a lobbyist as senior advisor, no conflict of interest there!!


According to OCA

• While working as a lobbyist, Taylor authored more than a dozen articles critical of the Delaney Clause, a 1958 federal law prohibiting the introduction of known carcinogens into processed foods, which had long been opposed by Monsanto and other chemical and pesticide companies. (oooh, yummmy, I'd love some more pesticides in my food, wouldn't you?)
  

• When Taylor rejoined the federal government, he continued advocating that Delaney should be overturned. This was finally done when President Clinton signed the so-called Food Quality Protection Act on the eve of the 1996 elections.
• 
  

As for Wolff...

per OCA....

rBGH-using dairy farmer and Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff is rumored to be President Obama's choice for Under-Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety.

Dennis Wolff is the Secretary of Agriculture for the State of Pennsylvania. Wolff also is a dairy farmer and owns Pen-Col Farms, a 600-acre dairy cattle operation.

• Wolff has championed agribusiness interests as Pennsylvania's Secretary of Agriculture, including banning local dairies from marketing their products as free of Monsanto's rBGH

so, if you want to purchase milk without rBGH in it you can't identify it BECAUSE IT'S NOT ON THE LABEL!!!!

Per Wolff, (awwwe, he did it for us)
... consumers were "concerned or confused" about the labeling and said his department received "many calls" about it. Yet when a New York Times reporter asked him about this, Wolff couldn't provide any surveys showing consumers were confused and could not come up with the name of ONE CONSUMER who had complained.

(sounds fishy to me! politics as usual)
* Held one meeting of the so-called Food Labeling Advisory Committee and said they recommended the labeling ban. Yet the committee never voted on anything and never made any recommendations specific to dairy. Moreover, the group most affected by the rules and most opposed to them, the PA Association of Milk Dealers, was never even invited to the meeting.

Per OCA....

After 5 years of declining sales and several legal setbacks, Monsanto has finally decided to dump rBGH! Thanks to consumer pressure, major retailers, dairies, and cafes, from Kroger to Starbucks, have commited to sourcing milk from rBGH-free cows.

Several countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and the European Union have banned rbGH because of its impacts on human and animal health.

From the book: What's in your milk? by Samuel S. Epstein,M.D.

Monsanto, supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), insists that rBGH milk is indistinguishable from natural milk, and that it is safe for consumers. This is blatantly false.

• rBGH makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including mastitis, on its POSILAC label.
• rBGH milk is contaminated by pus, due to the mastitis commonly induced by rBGH, and antibiotics used to treat the mastitis.
• rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), which is readily absorbed through the gut.
• Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers.
• IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.
• rBGH factory farms pose a major threat to the viability of small dairy farms.
• rBGH enriches Monsanto, while posing dangers, without any benefits, to consumers.

I don't know about you but I'm fed up! No wonder every other person you meet has been touched by cancer. We all have to care about this stuff. The system is too big and too driven by corporate interests. Vote with your dollar! Don't buy the junk!!! Go to the OCA site and send a message about these new appointments. Click Here! and send a message!

These appointments stink. Sounds like the investment banking debacle! Do they all work for Goldman Sachs or Monsanto!!???&*&*

So whoopie, there's crap in the sunscreen that can give you cancer, gunk in the milk, cancer causing properties in artificial sweeteners, injected farmed fish, nitrates and nitrites in your cold cuts...........the list just goes on and on!

LET's wake up peeps!!! Send a message that you'd prefer your food products be free of cancer causing crazy crud.