This is cross-posted at The Fink Farms Dirt.

A cabbage harvest in July?

In California, it works. (We planted late in a mild winter.)

That means just in time for outdoor Shabbes dinners, we have the basic ingredient for coleslaw.

But with this gem-like vegetable sitting on my kitchen counter, I couldn’t bear the thought of traditional coleslaw: cabbage shreds drowned in mayonnaise and sugar. I decided to celebrate the color.  The following recipe is adapted from several sources.

1 head of red cabbage, thinly shredded

1 small bunch of cilantro, chopped

1/4 large red onion, finely sliced

1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, thinly sliced

1 cup thinly sliced celery (preferably from the leafy tops)

2 large cloves garlic

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (a hot, honey mustard would work as well)

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of sugar, honey or agave syrup (optional)

Blend or whisk together the mustard, vinegar, mayonnaise, sugar, chopped cilantro and chopped garlic in a bowl.

In a large bowl, toss together the shredded cabbage, red pepper, red onion and celery. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss again. This slaw tastes best if it is allowed to chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

If served at a dairy dinner, a half cup of crumbled blue cheese can be added. It tastes great as a salad or as a garnish spooned inside a sandwich.

The dressing isn’t heavy, so the vegetables have a starring role.  The cabbage tastes peppery, so I didn’t add ground pepper or salt. It’s an explosion of color on a plate.

This entry is cross-posted at http://yourhealthisonyourplate.com .

I am pretty excited this morning, because today’s the day that the grounds manager from a small local college is coming over to spend a few hours helping me salvage a row of overgrown, antique quince bushes and convert a small corner of my yard into an edible garden.  I expect that we’ll be working pretty hard, so before he gets here I need to eat breakfast, and that’s what we’ll be discussing today.

Well then, what’s for breakfast?  In one word?  Protein.  In three words?  Not refined carbohydrate.  For more on why not, read here,  here, and here.    When I stayed in a youth hostel in Cairo, Egypt, many years ago, breakfast consisted of steaming bowls of mashed fava beans.  In Germany the breakfast tables were filled with plates of thinly sliced cheeses and meats.  In Israel, we ate soft cheeses, cucumber and tomato salads, and roasted eggplant.  Where refrigeration is less common, people typically eat the leftovers from dinner when they awaken. 

The six major categories of protein include meats, eggs, fish, beans, nuts and dairy.  Now I’m not saying you have to eat them all.  Just pick what you like from among all these choices.  Want some examples?  OK — here goes.

In the meats department, you could have a leftover hamburger.  Or ribs.  Or heat up some chicken wings from last night.  Yes, for breakfast.  In the Midwest, you know, a typical breakfast 150 years ago might have been a pork chop and a cup of coffee with real cream.  They didn’t have a diabetes epidemic then.  Want something more exotic?  Check your refrigerator.  Chopped liver maybe?  Anything goes, from aspic to venison, or veal, if you prefer. 

Don’t care for meat?  What about fish?  There’s smoked whitefish, catfish, tuna (straight from the can if you’re in a hurry), sardines of course, kippered salmon, leftover trout, cod or shellfish, though I expect the chances are slim that you’d find much leftover lobster.  Still…

Eggs.  My favorite, hands down.  Boiled, fried, scrambled, poached.  You can crack one into a little ramekin containing a spoonful of basil pesto. Put the dish into a water bath (loaf pan with 2 inch water) and stick it in the toaster oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes.  You cannot believe how extraordinary this recipe is until you taste it.

For really busy people, nuts are a mainstay of healthy breakfast eating.  When my children were younger, particularly the one who did not usually appear downstairs until 2 minutes before the bus was scheduled to come, I would run plastic spoons along the surface of the peanut butter and hand them over, calling them “peanut butter lollipops.”  A short time later, on my own way out, I would collect the empty spoons from the mailbox at the top of the driveway.  Peanuts not your thing?  Try almond butter, or cashew butter.  It’s not cheap, but then again you don’t have to eat it every day.  I also keep a jar of peanut butter at the office for the 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. hungries. 

Then there are the nuts themselves.  If you keep a bag of nuts in the car, you can eat a handful or two on the way to work.  This has to be the easiest way to eat breakfast!  If your excuse is that you don’t have time to eat breakfast, this is the way to go!  Don’t care for peanuts?  No problem.  Try almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, hazel nuts…did I miss any?  Buy a different kind each time, or make a trail mix from a few.  The more the merrier.  Don’t buy coated nuts.  Make sure to avoid salted nuts, especially if you have salt-sensitive high blood pressure.  You want to buy pure, unadulterated nuts.  I would also suggest storing large bags in the refrigerator or freezer to protect their fragile oils.  They will keep fresh a lot longer. 

Allergic to nuts?  No problem.  Substitute sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Now let’s talk about beans.  Maybe there’s some lentil soup in your refrigerator, or a three-bean salad.  If you have refried beans, you could heat them up in the microwave with some cheddar melted on top.  Hummus and tahini are great choices for breakfast.  Scoop them up with slices of cucumber, celery sticks, carrots or even apples. 

What about a burrito?  Is it ok to eat a whole-grain tortilla for breakfast?  Here are your guidelines for eating grain at breakfast time:  If you are 1) diabetic, 2) pre-diabetic (at high risk), or 3) more than 30 lbs. overweight, do not eat grain for breakfast.  Can’t deal with that?  OK, maybe one serving once a week, like at a Sunday brunch, or on another special occasion.  Otherwise, stay away.  It’s making you sick. 

Why?  Because grain requires a ton of insulin to metabolize.  Even whole grain.  Worse, stripped grain requires even more insulin.  Stripped (refined) grain requires an absurdly enormous load of insulin to digest and metabolize.  Remember that insulin works less efficiently in the morning, and that learning to eat smart is all about learning to conserve your insulin.  So if you eat refined carbohydrate at breakfast time, not only are you wasting your body’s insulin, but you are wasting it at the exact time of day when it works worst.  That’s like hitting a man when he’s already down.  Don’t do it.  Eat plenty of fresh produce with your high-protein breakfast instead.  Especially vegetables.

Now, as long as you do not fit into one of the above 3 categories, you should feel free to incorporate some grain into your breakfasts — BUT it must be a whole-grain product. 

Lastly, let’s discuss dairy.  Last week’s post about yogurt works.  So does cheese, and milk.  Less well known, but just as good, are kefir, clabber, and so on.  Goat milk works, just like all the other mammals whose milk is consumed by humans, although not commonly in America.  What kind of cheese?  You name it, as long as it doesn’t contain the words “processed” or “food.”  If someone has to tell you it’s food, it probably isn’t. 

So what did I choose for breakfast?  Leftover guacamole, tomatoes, and 3 generous slices of jarlsberg (a type of swiss) cheese.  A cup of tea with real cream.  And 1 banana for good measure.  Now watch me garden! 

Sugar River Cheese, a kosher cheese company, has just announced that they now have parmesan cheese!  It took over two years to develop this cheese, with the characteristic flavor and  texture that makes parmesan so unique.

The parmesan is aged 10-18 (or more) months and is made traditionally, in wheels, by an award winning Wisconsin cheese maker.  As a kosher cheese, it is made with microbial rennet and starters, not animal-based rennet.  The cheese is made with premium rBGH free milk from small Wisconsin dairy farms and it is certified Orthodox Kosher by the Chicago Rabbinical Council.  You can buy the parmesan in wheels, retail pieces, shredded or grated.

Sugar River Cheese Company makes all of their cheeses with rBGH free milk.  Go to sugarrivercheese.com to find out more and to purchase online.

Related:
- Read an Interview with Sugar River Cheese Company’s founder and owner, Mark Rosen

By Rachel Gelman, Hazon Food Area Intern

There’s no doubt that including dairy in your diet can have a wide array of health benefits. Dairy staples such as yogurt, milk, and cheese offer a healthy dose of calcium, protein, and vitamin D. Consumption of low-fat dairy has been proven to help lower blood pressure, and the calcium that comes from dairy can increase bone density and has even been linked to weight loss. Plus, it’s absolutely delicious! But there are also some considerable reasons to choose organic dairy products over their non-organic counterparts.

First of all, dairy can only be certified as organic if the production animals consume certified organic feed and are managed organically. Therefore, buying organic and local dairy products not only supports organic farms, but it also supports fair treatment of the production animals. Organic dairy products can also be better for your health and the health of the animal. The chemical rBGH, or recombinant bovine growth hormone, is a genetically-synthesized hormone that some dairy farms inject into their cows to increase milk production. This hormone can have some serious health risks for animals. For cows, this hormone can lead to a 40% reduction in fertility, a considerable increase in the risk of clinical mastitis, and a 55% increase in the risk of lameness. Although there is no direct proof that rBGH is carcinogenic for humans, there’s been a lot of controversy within the environmental world as to whether or not this hormone is actually safe for human consumption. So it seems like organic and local is your best bet, not only for personal health, but also for the welfare of the animals producing your dairy products.

Aitan Mizrahi is a Jewish goat farmer that started Adva Dairy in 2004, eventually merging herds with Adamah in 2009 to become Adamah Dairy. He has 46 goats in his herd and he uses the goat’s milk to craft kosher, organic, artisanal cheeses and yogurt, as well as teaching Adamah visitors how to milk the goats. All of Adamah Dairy’s products are sold through their CSA or at local farm stands and markets. I was lucky enough to get to speak with Aitan Mizrahi and ask him some questions about his goats and his dairy. The interview is below.

First of all, why a goat farm? What inspired you to start a goat farm?

It came together for me in 2004 as the Adamah fellow. By my mid to late 20s I started figuring out that I wanted to work outside, work with my hands, and be more involved with the Jewish community, and through Adamah I was introduced to goats and animal husbandry. I found working with animals more rewarding than working with vegetables because they had personality and they were just engaging. It also connected me to my Judaism in a way that I hadn’t felt before because I never really identified with the white collar academic Jew of the 20^th or 19^th century, I always identified more with the biblical Jew, the nomadic Jew. My dad’s family is Kurdish, Mizrahi, and so I always had this inkling of what it would be like to be outside with your animals and I think it was a combination of the Judaism and the work and just being involved with growing my own food and providing food for myself and my community.

How do you feel that the values associated with organic dairy might correspond with Jewish values?

What distinguishes a Jewish dairy farmer, at least a dairy farmer who identifies as Jewish and practices Judaism is that on Shabbat when other farmers are going out to milk and to save the milk and bottle it to convert it into cheese, we don’t use the milk, we pour it out. As a business it’s kind of radical to think that one day a week you pour out your product. We milk for the sake of the animal, her utters are filled with milk and it’s uncomfortable to have full udders for so long so it’s our duty as caretakers to milk her. Early on in the Torah it talks a lot about proper stewardship and the land, and proper stewardship includes caring for your domesticated animals and for their well-being. There’s also a lot in the Torah and in the following texts about not really polluting your body and taking care of yourself, and there seems to be an obvious connection here- eating healthy foods is a good way of taking care of your body as a Jew.

Do you think there is value in forming relationships with your animals?

There are some interesting dynamics of working with domesticated animals and the relationship and the responsibility we have towards caring for animals. Doing it in a respectful way and in a small scale way is important. When it gets to be 100 or 200 animals and you don’t know the animals personally there’s more room for error, and here on a small scale we have the ability to pay attention to the detail and be able to bring in variety.

Do you think it is important to choose organic dairy products over industrial? If so, why?

I would say one important value is that it gives the consumer the opportunity to know the farmer and know the animals. Whenever customers come and see the animals it really puts together some of the missing pieces about where food comes from and gives them a different relationship and value with their food. So I think the small-scale element and knowing the farmer is very important. A lot of Judaism is about learning and knowing, how much better to know and really be there and experience it. We hand milk our goats so there’s no interference between us and the animals. We’re really going to the source, and our animals eat whatever is growing in the woods. They roam the woods and they convert all of that local energy that’s stored up in the woods into liquid sunshine. If you have the choice, after seeing what’s out there in the commercial industry, why would anyone choose that. On a basic level it makes sense as human beings to make your own food and participate in food making, it’s a basic need that we all have and it’s a pleasure to be involved in that and be able to bring that to people.

“On our farm, the house is bedecked with fragrant lilacs and green branches we’ve cleared from the woods. Tonight, we’re making chévre blintzes drizzled with rhubarb sauce for a sweet supper…”

Are you salivating yet? Click here to read more about Shavuot on the farm from our friends at Ten Apple Farm.

Click here for a recipe for the deliciousness you see in the picture above.

When Alan Glustoff founded 5 Spoke Creamery in 2005, he put his years as a dairy technologist to work. Glustoff set out to make artisanal kosher cheeses that rivaled their non-kosher counterparts, and his success speaks for itself.  Today, 5 Spoke Creamery’s Kof-K certified cheeses are served in the finest non-kosher restaurants (including Per Se), sold in leading specialty food stores (like Zabar’s and Murray’s), and touted in major food publications (from Bon Appétit to Epicurious).

What makes Five Spoke Creamery’s cheeses different is that they are handmade from the raw milk of grass-fed Holstein cows that are free of pesticides and hormones. Because grass-fed cows get to roam, picking and choosing from a variety of grasses, herbs, flowers and weeds, raw milk from a grass-fed cow has a depth of flavor that cannot be duplicated.

In case you are wondering, raw milk cheeses are perfectly safe. They are made from unpastuerized milk and follow state laws requiring a minimum of 60 days for aging which eliminates pathogenic bacteria. In fact, the safety record for raw milk cheeses span many centuries, and over 70% of European cheeses are made from raw milk.

Not only are Five Spoke Creamery’s cheeses creamier and more flavorful than cheeses made from pasteurized milk, also they offer numerous health benefits that are inherent to raw milk, including:

•    Better digestion – Only raw milk keeps the enzyme phosphataze intact, which allows the body to absorb greater amounts of calcium and to digest lactose.
•    Stronger immune system - Raw milk has all the beneficial bacteria and lactic acids, which implant in the intestines and contribute to a stronger immune system.
•    Fighting allergies – Raw milk has a cortisone-like factor present in the cream, which aids in combating allergies.
•    The right fats - Grass fed, raw milk cheeses are one of the few foods that contain a perfect balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats, a ratio ideal for your health.
•    Cancer protection - Grass fed, raw milk cheeses are very high in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is among the most potent cancer fighters found in all foods.

On Sunday afternoon, April 25th, you’ll have an opportunity to learn more about raw milk cheeses and enjoy a sampling of delicious 5 Spoke Creamery cheeses at Say Cheese: An Introduction to Artisanal Kosher Cheeses with Alan Glustoff. The Upper West Side event, which is $72 (tax deductible), is part of Limmud Across NY:  A Day of Learning to Benefit Limmud NY. For further information or to register, go to www.limmudny.org/LimmudAcrossNY.

…during the winter

…on a day other than Saturday

Those of us organic, sustainable foodies in Chicago are keenly aware of the famous Green City Market which stays open year-round by moving into the Nature Museum November-April.  But for us who observe Shabbat, the Saturday-only schedule they keep in the in winter months is sad news indeed.

So I finally kvetched – kvweeted? – to all the Chicago farmers market Tweeps I follow about how Jews are blocked from farmers market goodness in the winter.

The good people at The Local Beet promptly directed me to 2 markets, The Downtown Chicago Farmstand (open daily) and The Logan Square Farmers Market (Sundays 10am-1pm).  So I ran- ok I took 2 buses- to Logan Square last Sunday.  Tucked away in the Congress theatre at 2135 N. Milwaukee Avenue (just north of Armitage), here is what I found-

First I found none of the baked goods nor meats were kosher – so this won’t be your stop for Passover matzah, lamb, cheese, or macaroons if you adhere to rules of kashrut.  But the produce is fresh, organic, and local.  The baked goods are created using local ingredients.  Everything is grown, stirred, canned, and baked with love. So here we go…

First stop? Logan Square resident, Sarah Marino, from Oak Park’s Reform synagogue, B’nai Abraham Zion.  She stood behind a table directing shoppers where they could find each item for their seder.  Brilliant!

Next? Mushrooms! wow- beautiful, healthy, gorgeous mushrooms compliments of River Valley Ranch.

Across the way, the incomparable Paula Jeremias of Tiny Greens is juicing wheat grass and clipping fresh sprouts- sunflower, broccoli, arugula (yum!), onion, alfalfa… any of these turn a bowl of mixed greens into a gourmet entree.  Not to mention sprucing up that seder plate – something other than parsley would be a nice change, no?

Moving on…past the artisan cheeses, french baguettes, herbal teas, macaroons (more on these later)… Apples! Baskets and baskets and baskets of beautiful, apples from Hillside Orchards in Michigan.

Next stop? Free Range eggs from chickens fed organic greens while living at Tempel Farms.

Across the way, is the lovely Anne Kostroski of Crumb with her homemade matzah made with eggs and honey from this market!  Sadly it is not kosher for Pesach – she explained to me this is something she’s made for her family seders for years, and finally this year she decided to bring it to the market.  It’s the BEST matzah you’ll ever eat, I promise. 1/2 dozen pieces are $4, Dozen is $8.  If you’d like to learn more about Anne and her matzah, check out Brad Moldofsky’s article This is NOT your Mother’s Bread of Affliction.

Next to Anne is the Elgin-based, Dennanne Farms.  They have the most extraordinary soaps- seriously, get your clean on at with Denny & Anne Bukala while grabbing yummy honey to make your own homemade matzah.

After the sweet, is the savory of Herbally Yours.  I picked up a bottle of their Rosemary Garlic vinegar and have enjoyed the best salads all week.  Their Basil Oregano Vinegar is ridiculous (and award-winning).  And, of course, these herbs and more can be purchased from them sans vinegar.  Just ask.  He LOVES his product and the herbs and will insist you taste everything he’s got.  And it’s all amazing.

So that’s all that’s safe for Passover – not counting the matzah – but I wonder if the love and care put into this matzah could possibly be considered worthy of kosher status – just minus the official man officially supervising the love and care…so I had to mention it.

One more worth mentioning, but not kosher for Pesach, Macaron Chicago – Beth Jacob handcrafts these little lovelies and ohhhhh that Mayan Chocolate one is out of this world delight.  When shopping Sunday morning, stop by, grab a box or two (or 5), to munch on while cleaning and prepping Sunday night and Monday afternoon.  You will be so happy you did!

So this was late posting- sometime technology gets the better of me (like spilling soda on my dear little mac – thank goodness for the computer fix-it saints in that basement shop around the corner from me).  Hopefully you’re reading this as you sip your morning coffee Sunday thinking “gosh I wish I could go to a farmers market this morning instead of Whole Foods”.  Go! Enjoy!

Avi Rubel is the North American Director of Masa Israel Journey, the umbrella organization for immersion programs in Israel for young adults (18-30). When not sending people to Israel, Avi can be found making cheese, bread, kombucha or fermenting or pickling all kinds of goodies in his Brooklyn apartment and recording his adventures on his food blog, Make Cheese Not War. In the weeks after the Hazon Food Conference, he shared some of his thoughts about his experience with Hazon in California.

Click below to read his posts:

• Preserved Lemons from Joan Nathan
• The Food Conference

Other posts of interest, especially to Brooklynites like me might include:

• Kombucha the Brooklyn Way
• The Bees and the Bees
• Women in Cheese in NYC

Enjoy! and thanks, Avi, for sharing.

I’m sure that like me, many of you cannot get Hanukah cooking and baking out of your minds!  I will be making potato leek latkes, homemade apple sauce and some chewy ginger cookies tonight.  As you can tell, I’m in full holiday mode!  Anyway, if you are looking for a break from the holiday food maddness I have a great recipe for you!

My birthday was about a month and a half ago.  As much as I enjoy eating out I really wanted to cook my birthday dinner at home with my boyfriend this year.  We decided our main course would be homemade pizza – something neither of us had ever made.  I had heard it was very easy to make but having never made any type of yeast-based bread, I was a bit nervous!

I looked into a few recipes and ended up using one based on a recipe from one of my favorite food bloggers.  I will say that this recipe didn’t make quite enough dough for me.  I think next time I will try this recipe.  The most fun thing about making your own pizza is that you can put anything you want on it (and it can be as healthy or unhealthy as you’d like)!  We were especially proud of our pizzas since the vast majority of the ingredients were local and organic.  I hope you enjoy making your own pizza.  Feel free to leave comments with your favorite topping combination!

Dough:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast

3 1/2 cups flour (we used whole wheat but you can also do a combination)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

If you have a mixer with a bowl you can make the dough easily with it.  If you don’t, have no fear!  I don’t have one and mine turned out great.  I also don’t have a pizza stone.  Definitely use one if you have it but a cookie sheet works just fine.

In the large bowl add the warm water.  Sprinkle on the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Stir to dissolve completely if needed at the end of 5 minutes.

Mix in the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar until combined.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place (75-85°F) until it doubles in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If you don’t have a warm spot in the house you can heat the oven to 150 degrees, and then turn off the oven. Place the bowl of dough in this warmed oven to rise.

Preparing the Pizzas:

Preaheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 mins.

Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.

Prepare whatever toppings you’d like.  Here are the toppings for the pizzas in my picture at the beginning of the post:

Pizza on the right:  Pesto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes (they were still in season at this point), balsamic caramelized onions, parsley

Pizza on the left: Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, balsamic caramelized onions and mushrooms.