Thursday, November 17, 2011

November 2011 meeting

We had a blast at our November meeting! Lots of laughs!! Glad Janis could join us and hope to see Cass and Saki next month!! Amy made us her delicious Chicken and green bean Mexican soup.

We also talked about other tips for eating well. Get a CSA (I ate so many vegetables this summer!). Throw flax seed into everything (smoothies, meatloaf, etc.). Buy veggies in bulk and then set aside a day a week or every other week to chop and throw stuff into easy to heat containers that are labeled with cooking directions; then even if the hubby is home first he can throw it in the oven. Janis, what was the supplement you recommend that you throw in smoothies?

We talked about how to do it on a budget. If you have tips, send those out too! Some of the group buys industrial organic stuff at Costco -- which has added ALOT the last few years and sells it at a reasonable rate. I forgot to mention a great buyer's co-op I am part of, AzureStandard.com. I like to get bulk things like rice, crackers, oatmeal, soup, spices, tea, etc. there. They sell perishables there too, but I've never gotten them. The prices are much cheaper than at the natural foods coops because you cut out the middle man. They deliver once a month to various locations, one of which is the Cambridge First Baptist parking lot (so my parents pick stuff up for me :). I haven't found a place yet in Minneapolis :( But for a site all you need is total sales of $500 a month... If we pulled enough people together...

We also talked about the hidden costs of food, and how we vote with our dollar. We tell corporations and our government what is important to us based on where we spend our money. Something for us all to think about...

If anyone has a wonderful recipe, please email it out! I think we're all always looking for healthy meals (well, maybe not Grace :).

We've also decided that it would be great to visit Anderson's Farm in Arkansaw, Wis. (Amy and Janis might do it as a homeschool trip in the spring.) Apparently, their practices are modeled off of those of Polyface Farms, which is featured in Omnivore's Dilemma. Their stuff is free-range and grass-fed, and very sustainable. We all like the sound of that! Their prices are reasonable for organic pork, chicken and beef, and they do deliver to a few sites in the Twin Cities area each month.

WINE
Elizabeth brought a bunch of wine left over from our Organic Meal at her place. Among them were two from her family's vineyard bottled by Northern Vineyards: Edelweiss and Prairie Rose. She also brought a chardonnay from Organic Vintners of Boulder, Co., and Our Daily Red's 2010 California Table Wine.

Next year we are all going to pick grapes at her family's vineyard!

BOOKS

For December, we are reading The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. We will meet on our regular day, which falls on Dec. 21. There are a bunch of us with December b-days, so we'll have an extra little celebration! (Becky Dec. 18, Elizabeth Dec. 20 and me December 23).

We decided to push Javascotia by Benjamin Obler to February. He'll be attending our February meeting.

We haven't yet decided what to read for January.

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