Favorite Posts of the Past

Readers,

If you haven't caught some of these posts, I wanted to make sure you had easy access to them. These are the posts that generate the most attention on our blog. Please take a moment to read them if you are interested and haven't gotten a chance to do so. Hyatt Frobose hit it out of the park with the post coming in at the Number One spot! Maybe that will convince him to write some more posts for you guys!!!

1. Does America Need a Fat Tax - 6607 pageviews
2. Extra Extra Read All About It - 4532 pageviews
3. Sweet Corn Vs Field Corn - 3966 pageviews 
4. Colorful Cauliflower - 2908 pageviews
5. Getting to Know Your Beef - 2601 pageviews

What has been your favorite post on the blog?

Enjoy,

Tera

Foodie Feature: Colorful Cauliflower

Today's Foodie Feature surrounds a vegetable I've wanted to try for a while now. I've seen it in the grocery store. I've been attracted to buy it because my blood runs PURPLE! I just didn't know very much about it, until now, so I finally decided to give it a shot!

Colorful Cauliflower

I went straight to a grower's website. Andy Boy produces this jewel-toned variation of regular snow white cauliflower in California and Arizona. Andy Boy is a family-run farm that the D'Arrigo family has kept in business by diversifying in several areas of vegetable production. There are no artificial colors or dyes added.

 

Green cauliflower is credited with having significant amounts of beta carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin A and is slightly sweet.  The Orange cauliflower is especially high in beta-carotene, with a slightly nutty taste and creamy texture. The Purple cauliflower is recognized for anthocyanins, also found in red cabbage and red wine. 

The color change is not a result of genetic modification of the plant, but rather long generations of selective breeding. According the USDA and several UK sources who all agreed, I found a lot of interesting things about the genetic changes that do occur in this fancy cauliflower. 

PURPLE - Anthocyanins are responsible for the color of many flower, fruits and vegetables and is also responsible for a gene mutation in cauliflower that allows for the abnormal purple color to express a phenotypical purple color in the curds. When talking about genetics, phenotype refers to the physical appearance that the plant or animal possesses.

ORANGE - Works in a similar manner to the purple, except for an increased amount of Beta-carotenes are present in these mutants! Think about carrots and sweet potatoes, they contain a lot of Beta-carotenes. 

GREEN - The lime green cauliflower is sometimes referred to as broccoflower. It is actually higher in protein than cauliflower and broccoli (the normal ones!).

 

 So, I have to give you my recipe for the evening and how I tried out my fancy new produce!!! It's super easy, delicious and if you don't like broccoli and cauliflower this way, well then you're just refusing to try it. It's that good!

Roasted Colorful Broccoli/Cauliflower

2 bunches of broccoli

2 bunches of colorful cauliflower (or white if you want to be boring!)

5 T. of Olive Oil (you can use butter, if you wish)

Sea Salt

Cracked Black Pepper

Minced Garlic

Parmesan Cheese

An oven

A knife

A cookie sheet

• Take the broccoli and cauliflower out, rinse it well and let it dry. The edible portion is the florets, so cut all those off and just give them a nice chop. 
• Make sure you cut your vegetables on a different cutting board than your meats!
• Drench in your oil, seasonings and garlic. I eye balled all of these because it's better to cook that way!
• Save the cheese for now.
• Heat your oven up to about 400. 
• Place your veggies on the cookie sheet and bake away! I baked mine for about 20 minutes or until tender and slightly crispy. 
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and give them a couple more minutes in the oven. 
• Serve with a nice lean meat and you have an amazing dinner!

 Pick some colorful cauliflower out at your local grocer. Give it a try and let me know what you think. My next recipe will be mashed potatoes with a purple cauliflower puree swirled in. Let's be honest - we could all use a little purple swirl in life!

Enjoy,

Tera

Oh Baby! Oh Baby! Let me tell you what I L-O-V-E!

This week is Valentine's Day and while I don't usually get into that holiday, I figured I'd throw a post out there for you!

These are a few of my favorite foods!

L -

LEAN BEEF

I bet I can count on my hand how many times I've purchased beef from the grocery store. My family raises cattle so we keep the freezer stocked with fresh, lean beef from animals that we have raised and had butchered.The hamburger that comes from home is my favorite, but that is also because we can formulate our own lean to fat ratio when making your own. There are 29 cuts of beef  that meet government labeling guidelines to meet the standard of being lean. My favorite is the Top Loin Strip Steak. Depending where you are reading this from, you may see this on a menu as a Kansas City Strip or a New York Strip. Either way, I'd take one Medium Rare if you're cooking tonight! Beef is produced in a lot of states, but the top ones would be Texas, Kansas and Nebraska.

O -

ORGANIC BANANAS

If you stay up to date with the blog and read this post, you'd know I was pulling your leg!  My O-food is Oranges. I love Oranges, they are probably one of my favorite fruits. I especially like those little bitty clementine oranges called Cuties! They're my favorite because you can peel them easily with your fingers!

V -

VEGGIES

I love my veggies. Since I can't get my favorite veggie, corn fresh off the cob, mainly because my dad raises the BEST sweet corn ever and there is no comparison to what is available in the can or frozen variety so I don't even bother. I'd probably have to say green beans or cauliflower are my favorite veggies. Cauliflower, for instance, is grown year round in many states and most of ours comes from California. It actually begins as a seed in a green house and after about 35 days the plants are transferred out into a field to finish growing.

E -

EGGS
I like eggs. I like them scrambled, hard boiled, fried, pickled or even deviled. I like the white part and the yellow part! They're a staple protein source at my house, especially on a college budget. Eggs are considered a food staple in our country and that is defined as an item that is found in a large majority of households. Eggs are found in 93% of households in the United States. Think about it though, eggs are the epitome of affordable and they have a lot to offer when you are thinking about nutrient dense food for a relatively low price. Did you know that you can find out exactly how old your egg is? To determine the age of an egg, if the carton you pick up has the USDA grade shield on it, the "pack date" must be shown. The "pack date" is a three-digit code representing what day the eggs were processed and placed into a carton. January 1 would be 001 where January 16 would be 016 and December 30 is 364.

What kinds of food do you L-O-V-E? You don't even have to follow the letters. Let me know!

Tera