Irish Stout & Beef Stew

What's one of the best kitchen purchase I've made in long a while? My Crock-Pot!

Boy do I love this thing. I don't know why I waited so long to get one.

Here is a dish that I adapted for my Crock-pot. I used to start this on the stove, then have it cook away in the oven. Doing it the Crock-pot was so much easier, just a little prep time. It came out tender and flavorful. Perfect for a snowy winter day.

Irish Stout & Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds grass-fed beef chuck cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup flour
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 1 pint of stout beer
• 14 oz. beef broth
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 2 inch chunks
• 3 carrots cut into 2 inch pieces
• 3 parsnips cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 small onion cut into thick half-moon pieces
• 5 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 10 oz. frozen peas, thawed
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat
2. Season the meat and dredge in the flour.
3. Shake off excess flour, and place into hot pan. Brown the meat on all sides.
4. Once browned, remove the pan from the heat and add the meat to the Crock-pot.
5. Add the veggies to the Crock-pot.
6. Whisk together the beef broth and tomato paste, then add to the Crock-pot.
7. Pour in the beer.
8. Season with salt & pepper (to your taste).
9. Put on the lid and turn the Crock-pot on.
10. Cook on LOW for 10 hours.

Alternatives

• My husband likes to add hot sauce to just about everything. This stew was no exception. I must admit it works. It might not be a very Irish thing to do, but try it. Just add a few hearty dashes for a subtle kick.

This is cross-posted as part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday.

A Win-Win Situation

I am always so excited and surprised by the diversity and quality of fine foods made by folks right here in Connecticut.

Last week the CT Specialty Food Assoc. held it's 9th Product Awards Competition. There were 237 specialty food items from CT-based producers. Categories ranged from dairy to beverages to confections to snack foods. The entries were judged by a 30-person panel that included chefs from the CT Dept. of Ag's Farm To Chef Program.

Sure it's a win for the producers but I can't help thinking it's a win for us eaters too.

A few of my favorites:

• Outstanding Bread: Wave Hill Breads placed 2nd & 3rd for it's 3 Grain Pain du Campagne & 3 Grain Petit Epi.
• Outstanding Dairy: Cato Corner Farm placed 1st, 2nd & 3rd for it's Black Ledge Blue Cheese, Brigid's Abbey Cheese & Bloomsday Cheese.
• Outstanding Product Line: Boxed Goodes tied for 1st for it's line of herbs, rice, snacks & soups followed by The Olive Oil Factory in 2nd for it's flavored oils.

Here's a complete list of all the winners. I hope to sample it all.

Mmm...I'm hungry!

Food Environmental Atlas

For the last few days I've been playing with a neat online tool one of my food blogger friends (Sophie of Late Bloomers Farm) wrote about called the Food Environmental Atlas. Put out by the USDA, the atlas details things like the availability of restaurants and grocery stores, health, local foods, foods eaten at home, and more. You can look at the entire US or get specific all the way down to the county level.

The above map is a look at the number of farmers markets in Connecticut. The darker color indicates a higher amount. I was surprised to see my county, Fairfield County, was among those with the most farmers markets.

How does your area stack up? Any surprises?

From The Garden Plot: The Plan

Just wanted to let you all know that my latest installment of From The Garden Plot is officially up on Local In Season. I love it when a plan comes together!

If you're like me and in the planning stages of your garden, feel free to share what you think you'll be growing this year. I'd love to hear from you.

Don't Eat That

Yup ... there's an app for that!

The Don't Eat That app takes reading food labels to a new level. It gives you access to 1500+ food additives, ingredients and chemicals. The database is stored on your iPhone so no Wi-Fi or 3G access is necessary. Just download and go.

You can search for ingredients by categories such as: harmful to children, banned ingredients, problem ingredients, carcinogens and allergies. Plus, with the Don’t Eat That app you can look up food ingredients that are not listed on U.S. food labels, but that are in fact GMO. It even has detailed information on E numbers for food additives named in Europe.

I love the back story of the app. It was developed by Dwayne Ratleff, who on his 50th birthday, decided to get healthy. A primary part of that was becoming aware of what he was eating. As he wrote on the Don't Eat That companion website: "I could not pronounce half the words on food labels and quickly realized that the ingredients on food labels tell us very little." Thus, he spent nearly 1,000 hours compiling a database using information from the Food and Drug Administration, the European Food Safety Agency, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the World Health Organization, and more. He doesn't claim to be an "expert". He researched the best sources available to put together a database with the best information available.

I don't really eat processed food so I don't have to read too many labels anymore, but I figured why not get the app. And while I've only just started playing with it, I definitely think at $1.99 it's totally worth the price.

Jamie Oliver's Wish

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” - Jamie Oliver

Chef Jamie Oliver recently won the 2010 TED Prize, a prestigious honor given every year at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference, where innovative thinkers gather to exchange ideas for bettering the world. The prize winner is given $100,000 and granted one wish, which the TED prize committee helps realize.

Jamie's wants to get people to reconnect with their food and change the way they eat. His prize-winning plan is to create an organization that will inspire a grassroots movement. This movement will establish a network of community kitchens; launch a traveling food theater that will teach kids practical food and cooking skills in an entertaining way and provide basic training for parents and professionals; and bring millions of people together through an online community to drive the fight against obesity. The grassroots movement must also challenge corporate America to support meaningful programs that will change the culture of junk food.

Watch his acceptance speech. I know it's about 20 minutes long, but worth it. Great stuff!

Hungry Filmmakers Event

Don't know if I'll be able to go to this. And, to be honest, I'm not one to travel into NYC by myself at night. However I wanted to share the info because it sounds like a fantastic event.

What: Hungry Filmmakers
When: Tues. Feb. 23rd doors open 6:30, screenings go from 7pm-10pm
Where: Anthology Film Archives, 32 second ave, @ east 2nd st., east village
Cost: $15

Tickets are available online at Brown Paper Tickets.

Hungry Filmmakers showcases the work of filmmakers who are dedicated to furthering sustainable food dialogue in a social, friendly environment that allows for deeper discussion. Offering viewers a sampling rather than a full screening of each, the program includes ten-minute excerpts of each of the featured films. A post-screening discussion will be moderated by Kerry Trueman- editor of EatingLiberally.org

The next Hungry Filmmakers will showcase excerpts from;

• Fresh - Ana Sofia Joanes
• Mad Cow Investigator - Nancy Good
• What's On Your Plate? - Catherine Gund
• The End of the Line - Rupert Murray
• Fly on the Wall - Jenny Montasir

Proceeds from the event will be donated to the nonprofit organization Just Food, which works to promote access of fresh, seasonal, sustainable grown food for all New York City residents.

If you go drop me a line and let me know what you think of the films. I love a good food documentary! Happy viewing!

For The Love Of Local Food

On Superbowl Sunday a bunch of us local bloggers got together for a potluck feast. Our one common thread - a love of local food. The idea was simple: bring two dishes prepared with local ingredients, sample all the creations, then blog about it.

Party-goers

• Me and my hubby
• Sophie of Late Bloomers Farm and her friend Cecelia
• Kaela of Local Kitchen and her hubby
• Zoe of Nutmeg Kitchen
• Maureen, a personal chef, Your Simple Feast

For me the makings of a successful party are good food, good drink and good conversation. This party definitely had all three! I really expected no less. I mean when a bunch of food bloggers are getting together you know their will not be a shortage of delicious dishes to try. And, even though most of us only knew each other from our blogs and online personas, we eased right into lively chit-chat in "real" life. Plus, Lisa from Goatboy Soap thought our locavore potluck dinner was such a cool idea she donated some adorable favors!

On the menu

• To Start: Baked potato chips and onion dip, savory quinoa cakes, pickled spicy carrots, salad with squash and apples, mesculin salad mix, homemade dressing, potato leek soup, whole grain rolls and two kinds of butter.
• Main Course: Chicken scapariello, roasted vegetables, potato and dark greens kugel, winter squash and tofu curry and ricotta gnocchi in pesto.
• To Finish: Glazed berry tart, chocolate espresso ice cream, and coffee.
• To Drink: Local beers - Arch Amber from the Hartford Better Beer Company and Sea Hag IPA from the New England Brewing Company;Local wines - Cabernet Franc and St. Croix from Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Vista Riposa from McLaughlin Vineyards, and Rochambeau from Heritage Trail Winery.

The cool part was that nearly ALL the ingredients in the dinner were locally sourced! Stop by all the participant's blogs to read up on where things came from, get recipes and other great stuff!

Plans are already in the works for a summer potluck. My taste buds can't wait!

Cool News: The Natural Princess

Hello Los Angeles!

Through an agreement just reached with Transit TV, riders on the Metro Bus System in LA will soon get to enjoy watching The Natural Princess!

A fellow media producer on LinkedIn presented us with this wonderful opportunity. As a fan of the show and new member of the Transit TV team, she thought it would be a great match. We certainly hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship! And it just goes to show you the power of social networking!

Transit TV is a cutting edge wireless media delivery system. It is a market leader in transit vehicles and one of the largest digital out-of-home systems in North America. Along with in-house production, Transit TV sources content from companies producing some of the best program material in the country.

So if you're in LA, be sure to get on the bus and let me know if you catch one of my shows!

From The Garden Plot

I am excited! Why?

Well, I had a veggie garden last year - sort of. It really was my mother's garden and I was her helper; she did all the work. It was a moderate success and now it's my turn. This year I am on my own. I shall embark on my first vegetable garden.

Adding to my excitement is that Local In Season has asked me to chronicle my adventure, or possibly misadventure, on their site. The column is called From The Garden Plot and my first entry is up today.

I hope you will follow along. I'll need all the support and guidance I can get!

Beyond Organic

If you read this blog you probably are familiar with the virtues of organic food and farming. Well, yesterday I was reminded of my trip to Switzerland after watching a new video on Organic Nation TV about biodynamic farming. Founded by Rudolf Steiner, biodynamic farming is considered one of the initial forms of and significant contributors to the development of modern organic farming. In a nutshell, biodynamic farming goes a step beyond organic to create a closed-loop system of soil maintenance using cover crops, manure and herbal composts. Focused on balance and healing it looks at the farm as a living, breathing organism.

What Is Biodynamic Farming? from OrganicNation on Vimeo.

Closer to home, off the top of my head, I read that Warrups Farm in Redding is a certified organic farm that also employs many biodynamic practices. Also, Woodbridge Farm in Salem, CT is a certified biodynamic farm. If you know of any other local farms using biodynamics please add them in the comments section.