Step One on the way to avoiding GMO's (chicken pot pie)

I am a biology instructor. While that doesn't make me an expert, it certainly helps with the understanding of the new it topic in the news: gentically modified organisms, which are commonly called GMOs. 

A GMO is a biological organism, such as an animal, plant, or bacteria, that has been altered at the genomic level, in its DNA. The implications of this technology is phenomenal. From blue jeans to insulin to your favorite cereal, all are made or influenced by GMOs. It's an amazing concept really, take a little piece of DNA from a bacteria resistant to round-up that is put in corn and voila! Round-up ready corn. And the same concept applies to all GMOs. 

Now the question is, what does that mean for us Americans (who don't have labeling on GMOs like most of Europe), and our diets? I'll let you think on that for a while.

Meanwhile Chicken pot pie using local and GMO free ingredients! The only way to guarantee you are eating a GMO free diet is to eat organic or from local farmers you have talked too. Most local farmers will tell you what they grow and how they treat their crops. If they won't, don't buy from them!

You will need:
1 carton Pacific cream of mushroom soup (it's GMO free!)
2 large carrots, diced (buy organic or local)
1 potato, peeled and diced (organic or local)
1 cup peas (organic or local)
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup corn (organic or local)
1 cup milk, divided (organic)
1 cup flour (organic)
1 tbsp sour cream (organic)
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vinegar
1/4 c. shredded cheese
2 cups cooked chopped chicken, preferably local
Olive oil or organic cooking spray

Here's How:
1. Mix the flour, 3/4 c. milk, parsley, vinegar, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375.
3. Mix soup, remaining milk, and sour cream in a bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. 
4. Coat an 8x8 baking dish with oil. Add in chicken cream mixture. 
5. Top with biscuit mix.
6. Bake for 25-35 minutes until biscuit is brown and cooked through. 
7. Serve warm with a salad or fresh fruit.

Enjoy!

Everyone can cook (Pot Pie)

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to cook. She cooked with her grandmother, who let her make a mess of the kitchen. She cooked with her other grandmother, an amateur gourmet. She cooked with her mother, and her friends. And she slowly grew up and was finally allowed to cook on her own. With the help of her family and friends, the girl had been able to make cornish game hens, biscuits, and scrambled eggs. She made wonderful food. But by herself she made raw chicken, split quiche, and burned pizza. But slowly, she became a good cook. Until one day she realized, I love food. It is pretty much all I talk about! So instead of boring her family and friends, the girl made a blog. This blog. For all to read (and hopefully not be bored!) And she realized that given enough time and patience (and a fool proof recipe) anyone could cook! So here is a recipe for pot pie that anyone can make...it's comfy and warming...it's easy (really!) and you don't even have to make the crust from scratch (though I won't stop you from trying).

Pot Pie (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
2 ready-made refrigerated pie crusts (Pillsbury tastes best)
2 c. mixed frozen vegetables (Cascadian Farms)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (Campbell's)
1 8 oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. chopped cooked poultry (leftover maybe?) Try chicken, pheasant, turkey, etc
2 tbsp Italian herb blend or herbs de Provence
butter or cooking spray

Directions:
Grease a 9" pie pan with butter or cooking spray (do not use margarine)
Place one pie crust in the pan.
Microwave (or cook) mixed vegetables until soft.
Mix all ingredients except pie crust in medium bowl.
Place filling in pie pan.
Top with 2nd crust. Slit to vent.

Option 1: Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.
Option 2: Cover with plastic wrap, then with foil. Place in freezer up to 4 months. Bake, from frozen, at 350 for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Option 3: Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate up to 3 days, bake as in option 1.

Serve with spiced apples (ok...you don't have to...)

Enjoy!

Let's Eat Tomatoes! (Chicken Pizza)

How many of you see those tasteless tomatoes in grocery stores year after year? You wait, with excited anticipation for that first Brandywine to appear in the local farmer’s market every summer. Tomatoes are, without a doubt America’s favorite food. And yet, did you know that the fresh tomato industry uses slave labor to pick those balls of red that can actually bounce off a counter and survive unharmed? Not only does the U.S. fresh tomato industry, which supplies 1/3 of the U.S. tomatoes every winter, use 100’s of pesticides banned from many other crops, they pick the tomatoes with slave labor! 7 cases of slave labor have successfully been tried at court over the last 15 years in Florida, where many other cases have also been ignored. According to Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland (p xvi), if you, as a consumer, have eaten a fresh tomato from the grocery store, fast food restaurant, or food-service company in winter, you have eaten a fruit picked by a slave.

So I ask you for this: that you wait each year for those wonderful ripe summer tomatoes, and ignore the gassed balls of pseudo-tomatoes each winter.

Please make note that pasta sauces and other canned tomatoes in the winter are fine, as they are produced by a distinctly different California based industry.


And now a recipes for winter using those canned tomatoes :)

Chicken Pizza (serves 4)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. chopped cooked chicken (I used chicken thighs)
1 c. shredded cheese (a four cheese blend is different and good)
1/2 c. tomato-basil pasta sauce
1/2 carrot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp diced onion
1/2 c. shredded spinach
1 refrigerated pizza crust
1 tsp olive oil
pinch of dried oregano

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Spread pizza crust on cookie sheet.
3. Brush crust with olive oil, and dust with oregano.
4. Top with carrot, garlic, and onion.
5. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven.
6. Add, in the following order, the remaining ingredients. Sauce, chicken, spinach, cheese.
7. Bake for 5-10 more minutes until cheese is melted and crust browns.
8. Slice and serve!

Enjoy!


For more information check out:

"Tomatoes" by Thomas Whiteside (the New Yorker, January 24, 1977)
"A Matter of Taste: Who Killed the Flavor in America's Supermarket Tomatoes?" by Craig Canine (Eating Well, Jan/Feb 1991)
"Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes" by Barry Estabrook (Gourmet, March 2009)

Snow=Soup (Fennel Pesto Chicken Noodle Noodle Soup)

It's snowing! They are calling for a total of 24 inches by Thursday. We have about 4 right now. It's so pretty, it's fun to play in. Our dog, Rags, loves the snow. He runs and runs in circles. Into the snow, out of the snow, around us (on us). Its perfect. And cold. Which means soup. So here is the recipe I made for a classic favorite that I love. I hope you enjoy eating it as much as I did!

Fennel Pesto Chicken Noodle Noodle Soup
1 12 oz can chicken broth
1 1/2 c. water
1 tbsp prepared pesto (or 1 tsp pesto concentrate)
1/4 c. diced fennel (the white bulb part)
1 4-6 oz chicken breast
1/4 box (3 oz) stelline noodles
splash white wine (optional)

In a pot, add the chicken broth, water, and chicken. Slowly cook on medium heat until the chicken has cooked through. Removed chicken. Add remaining ingredients. Boil 7 minutes to cook the pasta through. Meanwhile, chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Add back to the pot. Serve Immediately.

Enjoy!