This is part 4 in the Almost Fit series on pasture-raised chicken. Part 1 is How to buy chicken without getting punched, part 2 is How to save money on chicken at the grocery store, part 3 is Demystifying chicken labels: From Organic to All Natural, and this is part 4. If you enjoy these articles, please consider sharing it via StumbleUpon. Thanks.
“Research is the act of going up alleys to see if they are blind” - Unknown
Finding locally grown and raised products can be a challenging proposition to say the least, particularly in metropolitan areas where going directly to a farmer may be more difficult. On the other hand, people looking for high quality food at an affordable price are also to be found in increasing concentrations in cities these days, so with demand, there may likely come supply.
What is your experience?
For us, though we live 20 minutes outside of downtown Portland, we’ve found nearly all of our local resources with a little persistence, a listening ear, and being willing to speak up a little when the subject arises, even among (oh, the horror!) strangers. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to Almost Fit. Almost Fit focuses on improving your health by eating real food in moderation. This post is a continuation of the series of photographs of What We Eat. If you enjoy this post, please consider subscribing. Thanks.
Breakfast/Lunch, Tuesday morning
- Omelette: Bantam (Banty) eggs (pastured), artichoke hearts, small amount of bacon (uncured Niman Ranch), onions (from our CSA), a few capers, small amount of mozzerella, a bit of tomato chutney, topped with fresh salsa.
- Roasted potatoes: Fingerlings, garlic, and cipollini onions (from our CSA), rosemary (from our garden), extra virgin olive oil, butter, salt and pepper, hot sauce (for me).
This is not a typical mid-week breakfast for us, but we have guests visiting this morning so April made a heartier late morning meal. This will likely be the primary dish for breakfast and lunch today, with a mid-afternoon light lunch before supper. For supper with our company, we may recreate the grilled Albacore tuna dish from last week.
Welcome to Almost Fit. Almost Fit focuses on improving your health by eating real food in moderation. This post is a continuation of the series of photographs of What We Eat. If you enjoy this post, please consider subscribing. Thanks.
Summer supper outside, Sunday evening
- Fusilli pasta with yellow squash, zucchini, and cipollini onions all from our CSA, swiss chard from our garden, and frozen shrimp, cooked in a good quality extra virgin olive oil (quality is key), 4-5 cloves of fresh garlic (CSA), half of a fresh-squeezed lemon, several tablespoons of homemade whole milk sour cream, tablespoon of locally made tomato and pepper chutney (farmer’s market), 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste
- Sauteed carrots (from our garden) in olive oil and butter, salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh organic avocado, salt and pepper to taste
Ed. note: April would like me to clarify that we would normally have accompanied this with a fresh salad from the garden, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be this evening. We eat salad. We promise. 
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to Almost Fit. Almost Fit focuses on improving your health by eating real food in moderation. If you enjoy this post, please consider subscribing. Thanks.
Summer supper outside, Friday evening
Photos of What We Eat #3
- Pizza number 1: Tomato, basil, and olive pizza: homemade olive oil bread dough, tomatoes from our CSA, basil from our kitchen garden, olives, and extra virgin olive oil
- Pizza number 2: Prosciutto, onions, and gruyere on a light béchamel sauce: Prosciutto with the fat trimmed, fresh lightly sauteed onions from our CSA, gruyere cheese, and a light béchamel sauce made from scratch. The one ingredient this is missing, believe it or not, is fresh pear. The light sweetness is a great balance to the saltiness of the prosciutto.
One sidenote: these pizzas look bigger in the photo than they actually are. Each was about 10-12 inches or so, which is about the size of a personal pizza at a lot of restaurants (not that I’ve actually eaten any of those. Heavens no.). Read the rest of this entry »
Summer supper outside, Thursday evening
Tuna melt on homemade artisan bread
- Grilled Oregon Albacore tuna, left over from last night’s dinner
- Fresh made mozzarella (from our local milk supplier)
- Yogurt with dill sauce (leftover)
- Fresh celery with tops, finely chopped (from our garden)
- 1 pickle
- Small amount of mayonnaise
- 1 small raw onion from our CSA
- 2 fresh tomatoes (CSA)
- Homemade artisan olive oil bread
On a 100-degree day that included wearing the kids out at the water park, April wanted something quick and easy. We would normally have had a salad with it, but sometimes, you just have to run with simplicity.
This was perfect with a glass of chilled white wine.
Summer supper outside, Wednesday evening
- Grilled fresh local Oregon Albacore tuna
- Cucumber in a yogurt and dill sauce (the cucumber is from our garden, the dill from a local farmer (via our CSA), and the yogurt is Nancy’s - another Oregon local product)
- Roasted beets and Fingerling potatoes (both from our local CSA)
- Blueberry and blue cheese salad with a light vinaigrette (all local produce)
Introducing a New Series: Photos of What We Eat
I’ve had several inquiries from readers on what exactly we eat at home, so rather than launching into some long diatribe on the subject, I thought I’d just show you.
This is the first entry in this series on Almost Fit which is tentatively named, “Photos of What We Eat.” (The title’s a bit long, but it’s the best I have at the moment). Today’s photo is locally caught Oregon Albacore tuna, served with a variety of locally grown vegetables that came either from our garden or from this week’s CSA box. And while I am certain you are going to get tired of me saying this, it was truly delicious.
By way of disclosure, in this series I will say that not every meal is going to be perfect - I’m erring on the side of candor, even if it means the photo is little more than a fabulously lit box of macaroni. While we strive to eat seasonally and locally as much as we can, we do buy products that fall outside the bounds of those guidelines. We still buy things like coffee and balsamic vinegar, and if I want an orange in January, well, I buy that orange in January.
We make responsible choices, but we are also realistic: with two young children, sometimes convenience is the order of the day. It is increasingly rare, but on occasion we have been known to feed the kids a bowl of goldfish crackers and a “natural” fruit roll up.
Ah, to be well rounded.
Hope you enjoy the photos. Comments and questions are welcome.
This article is the third part in a series on buying chicken. Part 1 is How to buy chicken without getting punched, and the second discusses how to save money on chicken at the grocery store. In this part, I’ll describe how to interpret the dizzying array of labels that are used on packaged chicken, and give you my purchasing priorities based on what I’ve learned so far. If you would like to learn more, please consider subscribing to Almost Fit. Thanks.
As I’ve made clear in the previous articles in this series, we have opted to seek out locally farmed, pasture-raised chicken. It means a little more trouble for us in terms of turning the chicken into a meal, but we’ve decided it’s worth the extra effort. But it raises the questions: Why buy pasture-raised chicken? Why go to the trouble?
It’s more than just nutrition
In our family, cost, health, and the social implications are all part of our buying decision. In particular, I think it’s important to consider into whose pockets we as a family are pouring our money. I would much rather benefit a local, sustainable farmer supporting a family and a sense of community than a large, faceless corporation who will go to any length to acquire my money.
Certainly some corporations benefit the big picture and do good things - they provide jobs for an awful lot of families for example, and often provide products at an affordable price. But for the most part, the goal of a corporation is to increase profits by squashing competition, lowering costs by any means they can get away with, and convincing consumers that they are selling a product that the human race simply cannot live without.
I don’t buy it. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a quick note to let regular readers know that I’ve taken the weekend off to spend time with my wife and children, but I will be returning in a day or so. It is our anniversary this weekend, so we’ve arranged for a close friend to watch the kids while we have a quiet, candle-lit dinner with a view of the ocean.
I think that is a good reason to miss a post or two.
I’ll post the next installment of how to buy chicken without getting punched, as well as a startlingly good recipe for roasted chicken, in the next few days. Part 1 is here, and here is a link to Chicken part 2, How to save money at the grocery store.
Thank you for reading, and your comments are always greatly appreciated.
Best to you,
Metroknow
This is part 2 in a series on buying and preparing chicken. Here is a link to Part 1, How to buy chicken without getting punched. Or, you can skip ahead to part 3 which is Demystifying chicken labels: From Organic to All Natural. If you enjoy these articles, please consider subscribing to Almost Fit. It is free, as always. Thanks.
As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, we have taken our next step in seeking out real food: we are eliminating the purchase of meat and poultry from grocery stores by going directly to the farmer.
Of course, not everyone has access to local farm-raised chicken, so in this article I’ll describe how to save money at the grocery store when you’re trying to make better choices. This piece of the series evolved from a reader’s comment from the last post where the question of cost was raised. I think it’s important because it’s a common feeling among those of use trying to make “better” decisions on what we eat, that we’re going to have to get a second mortgage to be able to afford good food. Read the rest of this entry »
This entry is part 1 in the series, “How to buy chicken without getting punched.” (This part is supposed to be funny.) If you enjoy this article, please consider sharing it via your favorite social media, like StumbleUpon. Thanks.
A few months ago, I went to the local higher-priced grocery store to pick up some chicken. This particular trip to the store however, I got more than I expected: the chicken came free with a side order of attitude and the ever popular “shoulda’-said” chaser.
Here’s the scene: a local favorite shi shi fru fru store in Southeast Portland. The fluorescent light flickers slightly above a stainless, freshly hosed down meat slicer. The smell of fresh salmon and dill permeates the air like the aroma of a wet dog, only fishier and more dill-like. The butcher stands behind the counter, seemingly annoyed by my perplexed-but-friendly stare into the 8-foot glass case, his fingers twitching in preparation for the imminent smoke break or opportunity to slash something, I can’t be sure. (I swear there is a light saber somewhere in this story.) Read the rest of this entry »
