Coalition news

The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has a new website and blog. One recent post covers the Presidential Transition Team Project, for which (Friedman School alum) Aimee Witteman is the contact person.

The Community Food Security Coalition's recent electronic newsletter announces the group's fall 2008 election results. The returning board members include the Congressional Hunger Center's Ed Cooney (a Friedman School overseer) and the coalition's president Molly Anderson (adjunct faculty and founder of the Agriculture, Food, and Environment program at the Friedman School), and new members include Laura Irizarry (another alum). As you probably know, the coalition's vibrant listserv is a leading source of information in community food security.

Fair prices for tomato pickers

In May, we linked to the Miami Herald's coverage of the struggle between Florida tomato pickers, Burger King, and a dirty tricks company hired by the fast food giant. Earlier this month, the Green Fork's Leslie Hatfield provided an update on recent developments in an article and accompanying video for the Huffington Post.

For Burger King, the Goldman Sachs-owned chain that signed with CIW [the Coalition of Immokalee Workers] last May at the US capitol building (but only after months of protests, a blog scandal and allegedly spying on CIW's partner group, the Student/Farmworker Alliance) the penny-a-pound increase amounts to an estimated $250,000 dollars per year. To put that in perspective, Eric Schlosser's November 07 op-ed "Penny Foolish" pointed out that "[i]n 2006, the bonuses of the top 12 Goldman Sachs executives exceeded $200 million - more than twice as much money as all of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in southern Florida earned that year."

More recently, organic grocery chain Whole Foods came to an agreement with CIW. That Whole Foods was beat to the table by such cheap, decidedly un-organic eateries as Taco Bell, McDonalds and Burger King may seem ironic to those who snidely call the chain "Whole Paycheck" and may expect that those relatively high prices might translate not only to the food being organic, but also fair. This is, in part, why we're seeing from food advocates a shift away from "organic," a label that has not only been co-opted by huge corporations, but also speaks only to a food's impact on personal health (and to a much lesser extent, ecological health, but only in its initial production and not, say, its shipping) toward the more inclusive term, "sustainable," which is also being co-opted by industry but at least, in theory, speaks to other aspects of food production, including labor.

Now, CIW is after Chipotle, the growing chain that has built a reputation for social responsibility in the organic and local food arenas, and whose "Food with Integrity" campaign stands to take a major hit in the credibility department if they don't sit down with the Coalition. But that could prove difficult for Chipotle, which released a statement last month (before things got really crazy, even) warning share holders that the weak economy, coupled with rising food costs, would likely amount to lower profits than last year's.

No one knows what the future holds, but as our economic system hovers over the proverbial "rock bottom," it seems like a good time to revisit our policies, both national and personal, when it comes to the money we spend. What is the value of a tomato, and why? What (from fertilizers and pesticides to labor to transport) went into it, and does its price reflect those inputs? Or has a market driven by speculation and subsidies installed a false cap on that price, creating a decidedly unsustainable system that benefits CEOs over citizens, puts the squeeze on smaller businesses and leaves the laborers to pick up the slack?

PANELLETS: The Catalan traditional treat for these days.

Panellets are the special sweet treats we Catalans have for La Castañada. A castaña is a chestnut and these days... your Halloween time... here in Catalonia it's typical to toast chestnuts, bake sweet potatoes and also bake panellets.
Remember I always tell you that here we don't bake sweets at home that much? Well, panellets are the exception! Even at kinder garden, kids learn how to do them!!!

The main ingredients are: almond, sugar and water. The basics for a marzipan. Some people also add some potatoes, but this recipe won't have any. Adding the potatoes will help get more panellets done in the same batch and it's basically added because almonds are not cheap and potatoes are. My recipe is done with no potatoes, if you want to add some, check proportions... I don't know how much you should add.
Last year (I love to say that... he, he) I posted about All saints day and promised that I would upload the Panellets recipe... better late than never ;D.
Believe me if I tell you that I normally don't bake, but I must have some kind of fever that when I enter the kitchen the oven seems to call me and I end up baking something in there. That's why I chose Lou Reed song: Take a walk on the wild side, being "the wild side" my baking "side" ☺!
This time I've performed 8 different kinds of Panellets... don't panic! It's easy because the basic dough is the same all the time and we will only add small doses of flavour to make the different kinds. I did chocolate ones, pine nuts, almonds, lemon, cinnamon, strawberry jam, coffee and fruits jelly.

Here in this post you will only find the: cinnamon, coffee, chocolate, pine nuts, almond and lemon. But will be enough to get the idea of how to bake them. So, let's put our aprons on and start the kitchen Feast!
Ingredients for the marzipan: 500 grs of superfine ground almond, 500 grs of superfine ground sugar and 100 grs of water.

Start the dough by mixing the ingredients. Even though you think you might need more water, don't add more because it wouldn't work. Your fingers will get very sticky but after a little while it will get better. Wrap the kneaded dough with transparent kitchen film and keep in the fridge for 1/2 hour.

*First kind* Meanwhile prepare the space where you will do the panellets: Clean the surface and have the following ready: 1 teaspoon of ground coffee, 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate, 1 teaspoon of ground Cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of strawberry jam, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of its grated peel.
*Second kind* Whisk one egg and prepare a bowl with 200 grs of pine nuts and another one with 200 grs chopped almonds.

Instructions: Take the dough out of the fridge and put it over a clean surface. With your hands knead it until you get this shape. Then cut in 8 parts.
Each of these parts will be one batch of panellets. Take the first one of the parts make a small hole in the middle and pour the teaspoon of cinnamon (for example). Knead until you get an homogeneous color and give it a cylindrical shape, and again divide in 8 equal parts. Once you have them, give the shape you want (I made a ball) and reserve.

Follow same procedure for the First kind panellets.

To make the almond and pine nuts ones, get the egg whisked and the bowls with the pine nuts and almonds ready.
Have the marzipan ready in balls (pine nuts) and in little croquettes (almonds). Moist your hands with the egg, take the marzipan 8th portion of the 8th portion (doubts here?) and spread the egg all over with your hands, then take a handful of pine nuts and rub carefully against the marzipan ball, don't press too much, don't let too loose. Once the nuts get adhered to the ball, reserve. Follow same procedure for the almond ones.

Baking Time.- Preheat oven at 250 or more if you can and turn the upper heat on at maximum.
Bake them by colours, don't mix, just eight by eight. Place some oven paper on an oven tray and put, for example, the coffee ones. Place in the upper rack. Don't do other things while panellets are in the oven, just look at them! Baking, can take only 30 seconds, or a bit more, or a bit less... Just watch them carefully and when they start getting some colour, take them out.
Don't manipulate them, they are soft now, reserve and let them get cold. Go for the next until you have them all over your kitchen counter. Once cold present in a golden or white beautifully worked kitchen paper and have with sweet wine.

I'm sending the Coffee Panellets to Meeta and her Monthly Mingle: Coffee and Tea. Hope you like them, darling :D. You still have time to send your recipes over her blog, just check the terms and join the party!

Buen provecho! Bon profit!

Possibilities are endless... you can do them with: orange, figs and rom, coconut, walnuts...

Gone for Lunch!

Food assistance in the new stimulus plan?

The lead article in the most recent Foodlinks America newsletter says that food assistance benefits might be included in a new round of economic stimulus.

Another Stimulus Plan Under Consideration

Congressional leaders are contemplating a new and bigger stimulus package to help pull the U.S. out of its economic doldrums. Regardless of the Presidential vote outcome, Democrats in the House and Senate are expected to return to Washington, D.C. for a post-election, lame-duck session to try to jump-start the sagging economy.

The new economic stimulus plan will likely contain provisions to directly aid low-income Americans. “We have to prop up consumption,” said Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), chair of the House Financial Services Committee. Two likely elements of any bill would be an extension of unemployment insurance benefits and a temporary increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamp benefits. Both actions would channel money to people who would probably spend the money in the slumping retail sector, spend it all, and do so almost immediately.

The $107 billion stimulus measure passed in February 2008 provided tax rebates to most households but did little to influence the economy. The House passed a $60 billion stimulus bill in September that would have boosted SNAP benefits to 105 percent of the Thrifty Food Plan, but it failed in the Senate. A companion Senate measure was proposed that increased SNAP/food stamp benefits 10 percent, added $450 million for the WIC Program, $50 million for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), $30 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), and $60 million for elderly nutrition, but it was never brought up for a vote.

A new package “may have to be larger … in light of the events that have transpired since we had our legislative action on the floor,” stated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Consequently, lawmakers are beginning to discuss a $300 billion deal to help forestall any further economic collapse.

Presidential candidate Barrack Obama has been huddling with congressional Democrats fashioning the plan. “We should extend expiring unemployment benefits to those Americans who’ve lost their jobs and can’t find new ones,” he said. Obama’s policy staff also backs money for road and bridge construction as a relatively easy way to create jobs, address infrastructure needs, and pump funds into the economy. The Republican candidate, Senator John McCain, though not completely rejecting Democratic proposals, prefers making expiring tax cuts permanent and lowering corporate taxes instead.

Although President Bush had previously threatened to veto any new stimulus bill, Administration opposition is softening as the economy continues to sour. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke agreed on October 20, 2008 that, “consideration of a ‘well-targeted’ fiscal package by the Congress at this juncture seems appropriate."

Other articles in the newsletter from TEFAP Alliance cover the new WIC vouchers, school food priorities, and farm-to-school programs.

ACRE program in the 2008 Farm Bill

Some pretty good writers are trying their best to explain the new revenue-based ACRE farm program option in the 2008 Farm Bill.

But it's not working. This material just does not seem to cross the barrier between the outside air and the interior of my skull.

I feel like one of the king's subjects in the children's fable about the king's new suit, which is supposedly invisible to foolish people. People refuse to admit that the king looks naked, for fear that others will think them a fool. I wonder if the same thing is happening with the ACRE program. Will people think me foolish, if I just admit that I cannot understand this program?

Here is the explanation by Zulauf and colleagues in the new version of Choices Magazine from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA):

The direct payment program pays farmers a fixed dollar amount per historical base acre. This dollar amount does not change with market prices or with production on the farm. Like direct payments, counter–cyclical payments are based on historical production. In contrast, marketing loan payments are based on current production. Both the counter–cyclical and marketing loan programs are price–based programs. Congress specifies the marketing loan rates and counter–cyclical target prices in the Farm Bill. These fixed support rates essentially establish a floor or lower bound on the per unit value of the crop, as payments are triggered when market price drops below them. The creation of a floor reflects the policy objective of traditional price support programs, which is to assist farmers with managing the systemic risk of chronically low market prices that extend over a long period of years. A systemic risk is a risk beyond the control of an individual producer. The combination of direct payment, counter–cyclical, and marketing loan programs will be referred to in this article by the acronym DCP+ML.

In contrast, ACRE’s policy objective is to assist farmers with managing the systemic risk of a decline in revenue of a crop over a short period of years. Revenue is defined as U.S. price times state yield. ACRE’s policy objective is implemented by establishing the following revenue guarantee for each state and crop combination (crops are barley, corn, upland cotton, oats, peanuts, pulse crops, rice, sorghum, soybeans and other oilseeds, and wheat):

(90%) x (2–year moving average of U.S. crop year cash price) x (5–year Olympic moving average [excludes high and low values] of state yield per planted acre)

A state revenue payment is triggered for a given crop and year when actual state revenue (state yield per planted acre times U.S. crop year price) is less than the state’s ACRE revenue guarantee. This difference is the state’s ACRE payment rate. For any crop in any year, the payment rate cannot exceed 25% of the crop’s state revenue guarantee.

ACRE’s state revenue guarantee cannot increase or decrease more than 10% from the prior year’s guarantee. Over time, the guarantee will follow prices and yields up and down. Thus, ACRE’s revenue guarantee is not a floor, implying that ACRE will not provide protection against chronically low prices.

Receipt of an ACRE payment also requires that a farm’s revenue for the crop and year be less than its benchmark revenue for the crop. The latter equals (1) the product of the farm’s 5–year Olympic average yield per planted acre times the 2–year U.S. average price, plus (2) the farm’s insurance premium if the farmer bought insurance for the crop.

The ACRE revenue protection payment is made on acres planted to eligible crops, but total planted acres covered by ACRE are capped at the farm’s total base acres. Total payment a farm receives from ACRE is the sum of (1) 80% of the farm’s current direct payment, (2) ACRE revenue protection payments, and (3) marketing loan payments at a 30% lower loan rate.

This discussion focuses on ACRE’s basic features. Additional details on ACRE are contained in the appendix.

Hmm, that's clear as ... mud. But perhaps it is just me.

Choices, incidentally, is the agricultural economics profession's outreach publication for lay people. We write even more densely for each other.

Here is Anthony Schutz at the Agricultural Law blog:

Basically, ACRE payments are triggered when state revenue per acre falls below the target revenue for the state—what is called the "ACRE program guarantee." [§ 1105(b)(2)(A)] That trigger is not, however, complete until the farmer has an individual revenue shortfall as well. That shortfall occurs when the farmer's actual revenue falls below the target revenue for that farmer—what is called the "ACRE farm revenue benchmark". [§ 1105(b)(2)(B)]

Both the ACRE program guarantee, and the ACRE farm revenue benchmark are calculated from history. That is, state shortfalls and farmer shortfalls are judged in relation to what revenue could reasonably be expected to be. To calculate what the state and the farmer should expect in terms of revenue, we need a measure of historic yields and historic prices. That, in turn, will give us a per acre revenue number that we can compare to the revenue the state and the farmer actually generated per acre.

In order to get the yield, the statute says we look at the past five years' production average, calculated without the highest and lowest values. We do this for the state in calculating the "ACRE program guarantee" under § 1105(d) and we do it for the individual in calculating the "ACRE farm revenue benchmark" under § 1105(f). Then we find price by looking at the average market price for the preceding two years under § 1105(d)(3), which is incorporated to the farmer's benchmark calculation under § 1105(f)(1)(B). The average market price is determined by looking at the average price received for a given commodity on a national basis during the 12 months occurring after harvest—the marketing year.

Well, Schutz does also say, "I find this statutory text difficult to parse and would welcome a discussion with anyone who cares to parse it with me. " If you'd like to "parse it" with Schutz, as he says, you can find the text of the law here (.pdf). Have fun.

The ACRE program is voluntary, and participation requires farmers to give up a portion of their reliable direct payments. Given the complexity, and the scattered references throughout these explanations to reduced revenue under certain price and production conditions, I am willing to guess that few farmers will adopt the ACRE program.

Like the swindlers who convinced the king they had provided a fine royal suit, because nobody would admit they couldn't see it, perhaps the main contribution of the ACRE program was to provide the illusion of reform and policy development in a Farm Bill that really had little of it.

Breakfast in America: Muffins... Cupcakes or simply Madalenas

♫ Take a look at my girlfriend, she is the only one I got... ♫ Take a look at my Muffins, they're the first ones I baked ♫

Supertramp is there on the left side column to take you to America! Taking the jumbo cross the watter... You get to Muffins' land. Turn player on!

Our daily kind of breakfast is: Café con leche - Coffee with milk (my morning drink), Digestive Tea (my husband's drink) and Milk with Nesquick (my daughter's drink) and then I have 3 cereal cookies, my husband only takes one and my daughter has a bowl of chocolate cereals.
Do you understand now why we Spaniards need a good lunch to keep with the rest of the day's schedule?

But, all of a sudden, I'm seeing all these wonderful cookies and muffins and cupcakes in the blogosphere and this tremendous desire grows in my brain and tummy... A crave for Muffins! I've seen Susan's, PG's, Emiline's, Deeba's, Val's, Ivy's ... you are all contributing to where-has-my-waist-gone?

There I go to the search of the Madalenas recipe and this is what I found:
A recipe in a Spanish magazine caught my eye. But then once I started to follow it I saw that there were some things in the recipe that were wrong... so I had to improvise... And the result was SUPER!!!!

Ingredients for 12 muffins: 180 grs of flour, 25 grs of ground cocoa, 150 grs of sugar, 1 baking power, a pinch of salt, 2 eggs, 1 banana, 1 big golden apple, 1/2 a stick of cinnamon, 1 table spoon of butter, 125 grs of yogurt, 8 table spoons of sunflower oil, 100 grs of chocolate chips.

• Peel the apple, take away its heart and cut in dices. Put the butter in a sauce pan and when it dissolves add the apple, 20 grs of sugar and the cinnamon. Cook for 8 minutes at low heat until it softens. Take away the cinnamon and use a food processor to get a fine texture. Reserve.


• Take a big bowl and have the cocoa, flour, rest of sugar, baking power and salt. Mix it all.


• In a second bowl, whisk the eggs until they rise a bit, add the apple sauce (only when it's not hot), the yogurt, and the oil. Mix it all carefully. Peel the banana, smash with a fork in a plate and add to the mixture. Mix it nicely.


• Put together the two bowls mixtures and stir until you get an homogeneous paste. Add the chocolate chips and pour the paste into the muffin molders.


• Preheat oven at 180ºC. When you have achieved the desired heat, place the muffins in the middle rack and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. My pudding shape one needed 10 more minutes.

They only lasted for 2 days!!!

Do you prefer a frugal breakfast and a fulfilling lunch? Then maybe you should try this Noodle Paella with Duck :D

Just for Fun!!! ☺☺☺

Girls and Boys... I'm happy to introduce you to Mr. CyberPotato!!! Run to your kitchen, ask your mom or dad to help you and do your own!

There's few ingredients involved and this could turn a boring rainy afternoon into a funny game!

It all started when I went to Emiline's blog and saw that she participated at the Domestic Violence Awareness Event at Diary of a fanatic Foodie. I wanted to participate in this one so badly... I gave for granted that it would last until the end of October (that's what happens when you give things for granted... you miss them!). You can see here the round up, it was last Monday!!!! Sorry Heather, maybe next time ☺

Anyways, it was a great scape for my creativity and that is why nearly everything involved in this post is purple.
During my youth, I had an experience I want to forget that drove me to spread the word... Not that anybody beated me... it was more of a psychological miss treatment... I won't talk about it. Isn't it nicer to love and be loved?
So, the ingredients for this Warm Purple Potato Salad are the following: 3 medium purple potatoes, 4 medium monalisa potatoes, some lettuce, some carrots strings, some black olives, thick sea salt and extra virgin olive oil (feel free to dress it the way you like it better).

• Prepare your purple potatoes puree with some butter, chicken stock, olive oil and salt (or the way you usually prepare it)
• Boil the monalisa potatoes, and when they cool down cut them in thick slices. Chop the olives. Clean and wash the lettuce and carrots.
• Present your dish with the potato layers and the salad in front :D

Girls, women, chicas... if you suffer from a Violence situation, please, ask for help and scape from it! Don't put up with an abuser! Things will get better :D

FNS opposes limitations on foods eligible for food stamps

A student recently pointed out this 2007 document (.pdf) from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), arguing that the Food Stamp Program -- now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- should not have further restrictions on eligible foods. [Update 10/23/08 4:30 p.m.: sentence corrected to clarify the date of the document].

I really do not know whether the list of eligible foods should be narrowed, but I had some questions about the reasons given in the document. Here is the agency's list of reasons, along with my own observations and questions. To make the discussion concrete, let us ask how well these arguments serve to justify including caloric soda and candy with food stamp eligible foods.

1. No clear standards exist to define foods as good or bad, or healthy or not healthy.

This is a traditional food industry slogan, used when it helps to put off criticism, but entirely ignored whenever it suits a marketing message. What the industry hopes is that nobody will ever call a food "bad" or "not healthy," but that consumers will believe the industry's exaggerated health claims for fad foods. That history does not implicate FNS, of course, but it takes the shine off the argument. Would it really be so difficult to justify defining eligible foods in a way that left out caloric soda and candy?

2. Food restrictions would pose major implementation challenges and increase program complexity and costs.

Currently, there is a code in the retailer's inventory system identifying whether a product is eligible or ineligible for food stamps. Checkout staff must already be trained in subtle distinctions. For example, rotisserie chicken served hot is ineligible, but dressed and ready-to-cook chicken is eligible. In what sense would administration be more difficult if caloric soda and candy were ineligible?

3. Restrictions may not change the nature of participants’ food purchases.

The FNS document discusses the fact that many participants are unconstrained or "inframarginal," because they contribute some of their own income to their food budgets, and hence can use food stamp benefits to free up cash resources to spend as they wish. It would be ineffective in some cases to prohibit soda and candy. But, by this argument, aren't the current restrictions that food stamps must be used only for food already equally ineffective for such consumers?

4. No evidence exists which indicates that food stamp benefits directly contribute to poor food choices and negative dietary outcomes, such as obesity.

FNS writes, "While poverty is associated with obesity in some population groups and Food Stamp Program participation is closely linked with poverty, the independent effect of program participation on obesity is unknown." What priority does FNS give research with strong methodology on this question?

There are additional good reasons for not restricting food stamps to just healthy food. Advocates for low-income Americans are highly worried that additional restrictions would discourage participation by eligible families. Discussion is welcome!

Fast Food Facts update

Ken at Fast Food Facts and the Fast Food News blog has updated the format of his online search output, to look like the familiar nutrition facts panel on packaged food. This allows readers to see the information in a format that many have already learned to absorb fairly quickly.

It is wrongly said, sometimes, that consumers know these nutrition facts well already, but simply lack the willpower to act on the information. I always learn new stuff from a good tool like this.

From a search of Burger King sandwiches, ranked from most to least by calories, here is a Whopper with cheese without mayo.


A regular Whopper with cheese has 800 calories, 18g of saturated fat (90% of the daily value), and 1,450 mg of sodium (60% of the daily value).

If you choose the Chicken TenderCrisp Sandwich for better health, you get more calories and much more salt. Did you know that already?

More Fall Inspiration.

picture source / Bildquelle: Model Couture

Pizza wasn't born in Italy!!!

Special dressing today: Gerry Rafferty and his Baker Street... what a great song! Feeling melancholic? Turn player on ;D

Listen carefully to this: Pizza wasn't invented by Romans!!! Well, yes, kind of... but where did they find inspiration? Here in Catalonia!!! He, he, I'm true and honest here. This is what I was told when I was at last year's Alimentaria! Professional cooks and chefs said so... why do I have to put their words in doubt?

Hey Italians... I want to hear your voices!!!! Will you let a catalan say so? :D

The story starts when Romans came over here to colonize... among other things that would make this post too long, they "shared" their culture and civilization with us but they also learned some "small little things" from us, such us: COCA DE RECAPTE. Or, the old 0.1 Pizza version.

Before and after the oven.

In plain words, this is some bread with anything that's handy and seasonal: veggies, fruits, and fish/meat on top. Instead of making it round, we give it a rectangular shape... no grated cheese on top ;D, but mainly the Coca/Pizza is the same. To make this one I used My garden tomatoes (late ones... took ages to turn ripe), some seasonal sweet grapes, roasted aubergine (eggplant) and red pepper and also salty preserved anchovies.... Mmmmm think about the contrasts!

My first try wasn't good enough but taught me some tips that I will share with you in this, my 3rd try.

See what I mean? Too large to fit in the oven tray. The dough makes it for 4 rectangular pieces and here you see half the dough. We want to get a thin dough layer, so that it gets crusty. The oven time wasn't enough (15 to 18 minutes) I had it for nearly 30 minutes and got what I wanted! Oh, and also, this last time I bought the flour and yeast at my street baker's!!! He is supposed to be the best at it, right?And to the recipe!

Ingredients for 4 servings: There's some ingredients you need to have already prepared in your fridge, such as the roasted peppers and eggplants, also a can of salty anchovies, some white sweet grapes and 2 ripe tomatoes.
For the dough: 250 grs of flour, 60 grs of extra virgin olive oil, 5 grs of salt, 8 grs of yeast, 120 ml of mineral water.

And also: Olive oil, sweet red paprika, salt and black ground pepper.

• In a big bowl, pour the flour (use a colander to have it loose and without lumps). Make a small hole in the center and pour the yeast, the water, the salt and the 60 grs of olive oil. If you dissolve the yeast in hot water before adding it, will ease the process.
• Knead the dough well and let it rest at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes. Cover it with a clean kitchen cloth.
• Get all ingredients ready and sprinkle with flour the space you will use to work with the dough.
• Preheat oven 190ºC to 200ºC.
• Use the roller pin to get the shape you want. And prepare a dressing with some olive oil, some paprika and the black ground pepper. I'm giving you no size... just make it to fit your taste. Use the dressing to brush the thin dough and just then, place all ingredients on top.
• Once decorated, pour a bit of extra virgin olive oil on top and a pinch of salt.
• Place in the middle rack of your oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes... keep an eye on it!

Leave some for the rest of the family!!!

In my 3rd try I also brushed some of the leftover dressing on top.

Enjoy it :D

This is my entry for Ben's I Love Baking monthly Event :D. You have a whole month ahead to send him your baked dishes ;D

Things the food industry doesn't want you to know

Adam Voiland offers the list in U.S. News and World Report, along with a wealth of links to the supporting evidence, based in large part on a recent perspective article by Marion Nestle and David Ludwig in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

1. Junk food makers spend billions advertising unhealthy foods to kids.

2. The studies that food producers support tend to minimize health concerns associated with their products.

3. Junk food makers donate large sums of money to professional nutrition associations.

4. More processing means more profits, but typically makes the food less healthy.

5. Less-processed foods are generally more satiating than their highly processed counterparts.

6. Many supposedly healthy replacement foods are hardly healthier than the foods they replace.

7. A health claim on the label doesn't necessarily make a food healthy.

8. Food industry pressure has made nutritional guidelines confusing.

9. The food industry funds front groups that fight antiobesity public health initiatives.

10. The food industry works aggressively to discredit its critics.

Greens of Wrath

A student points out Barry Estabrook's new article in Gourmet. It argues that new food safety measures for vegetables -- designed to prevent outbreaks like the recent troubles for spinach, tomatoes, and peppers -- may have unintended consequences.

But good intentions have gone badly awry. In the name of food safety, farmers have reshaped the landscape in ways that, according to critics, have reversed two decades’ worth of environmental conservation. If the new policies are adopted by the federal government—and some say that it is only a matter of time—they will have profound ramifications for small, sustainable growers in postage-stamp fields thousands of miles from California. And there is scant evidence that the standards have actually addressed the real problem.

The article argues that misplaced efforts to prevent cross-contamination from animals have motivated destruction of ponds and woodlands near agricultural land. An accompanying photograph shows a lonely tree in an expansive crop field, all that remains of a windbreak in Salinas County, California.

Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launches!!!

FOODBUZZ

24 MEALS, 24 HOURS, 24 BLOGS

LAUNCH!!!


Do you live in another planet? If the answer is yes... ok, you might not know about the Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launch. But, if you live here in this Blue Planet... there's no excuse for you! Come join the Community, come and take a look at the recipes, participate in its events... no time to get bored :D. Have a dip in its site!

I'm proud to say that one of the 24 Meals and Blogs is Spanish Recipes!!! If you want to check the Spanish Menu that contributed to the event, follow this link!

Foodbuzz... I wish you a long and productive life, full of joy, recipes, meals, success, good food, good times... Thank you guys :D

Le Style de Paris.

Scans from the recent German GLAMOUR magazine. The topic is French 'Vogue' editor Carine Roitfeld's personal style and outfits.
I have to say her style is very inspiring for me, plus the model deffinately is a younger version of her!

Arroz Negro - Black Rice - My third and definitive try! Step by step Instructions.

Rice is my favourite ingredient ever, I love it cooked in all possible ways, I could never get tired of eating: paellas, stuffed red peppers, black rice, seafood rice, stuffed calamari, fried rice... I LOVE it! This is why I've been trying and trying until I achieved a perfect Black rice's cooking result!
I must say that attending to the cooking classes has been the key in achieving "perfection" ;D. I followed Iker Erauzkin's recipe and just made some minor changes.
First, we need high quality ingredients: fresh squids, recently bought veggies, Bahia or Bomba rice. Choosing the right rice is so important here! Take a look at the size and shape. Don't know if you can find this kind where you live, but if you want to try the recipe... this is the rice to have.
This is white gold for me ;D
Second, be patient! You will spend some time in the kitchen... therefore, make yourself comfortable: Have a cold beer or a good glass of wine, the radio or your favourite CD on and some nuts to get the energy to cook :D

Get yourself organized: This is a 3 Steps dish... 1.- cook a light fish stock, 2.- stew the squids and 3.- cook the black rice. So, first you want to have the stock started, after goes the stew and finally the rice.

The following pictures will show you the order.

arroz negro

Are you ready? Then, these will be the ingredients for 4 servings: 2 big onions, 2 leeks, 1 garlic head, a bunch of parsley, 4 ripe tomatoes, 2 pimientos choriceros or ñoras or their meat paste (3 full teaspoons), the ink of two cuttlefish (ask your fishmonger or buy it in your supermarket in small packages), olive oil, 2 liters of fish stock, 600 grs of cleaned squids, 8 shrimps and 400 grs of rice (I also measure it by handful... I used 7 this time), maldon salt and normal salt. For the fish stock: 1/4 of the head of a monk fish, 1 leek, 1 carrot, 1 onion and salt.

Pull up your sleeves and to the work!!!

1. Start the stew: Peel and cut the onions, the leeks the garlic head (in half and don't take peel away). Pour enough olive oil to cover all the casserole's surface and throw the veggies in. The heat should be low. Add some salt. When the vegetables are tender and soft add the tomatoes cut in half, the bunch of parsley, the ñoras or pimientos or the 3 teaspoons of their meat and the cleaned squids with their legs.
2. Start the fish stock: In a different pot place the cleaned monk fish head, and the veggies cleaned and cut. Cover with water (aprox 3 liters), add some salt and bring to boil. Take the white foam away and boil for maximum 30 minutes. Strain and reserve.
3. Continue with the stew: When the squids have left all their water and the tomatoes are nearly dissolved (this could take aprox 30 to 45 minutes), add the cuttlefish ink and the 2 liters of the fish stock you just prepared. Cook with the heat low until the liquid reduces half its volume.
4. Separate the ingredients: Strain the black liquid in a big bowl, pick the squids and reserve in a different plate and take all the veggies aside.
5. Start the rice: Place a big pan and heat some olive oil. Fry a garlic clove in that oil and when it starts changing its colour, remove. Low heat. Take the veggies and leave their peels in the plate, as well as the garlic and parsley. Take the rest and fry in the garlic oil. Stir. Medium heat. Add the rice and mix it with the veggies. Stir for 20 seconds or so. Add some of the black liquid you have reserved and stir, when it gets absorbed by the rice, add more. High heat. This is very similar to the risotto cooking... the liquid is added little by little... if we do so we will achieve a perfect rice consistence and texture: mellow, creamy and flavourful! Add the squids to the pan too and keep on adding liquid until you get the desired rice texture. It could take 17 to 20 minutes depending on the heat, pan, rice, water used for the stock... many things!!! Just keep on stirring and taste to see. Add more salt if necessary.
6. Clean the shrimps. Get a sauce pan with high heat and pour some salt in it. When hot, add the shrimps and cook only 30 seconds per side. Peel and leave their tail on.
7. Prepare the dish with the black rice and the shrimp on top, or any other way you like. Sprinkle with maldon salt.

It seems a difficult dish but it's not... it's just a question of getting organized... so worth the effort! I wish I had the biggest pan to cook for you all♥

My Fall Inspiration.

What is your favorite style for fall?



picture sources / Quellen: Model Couture, Foto Decadent

Broccoli's Hot and Spicy Soup

Nobody has ever complained at home about eating broccoli or cauliflower or any kind of vegetable. My daughter eats all kind of veggies since she was a baby and teaching her palate has enabled her to enjoy so many dishes.

Some of her school companions that came invited for lunch would always tell me... Ugh, I never eat green things... or, I don't like broccoli... or, I always eat chips and pork meat... or, what are these small red pieces here? are they peppers?... or, I only like egg's yolk...

To avoid getting into trouble with them or listening to their complaints and getting annoyed, I always made macaroni when a friend of my daughter came for lunch. I'm not their mom and it's not my business to teach them to eat properly.

But today's recipe is not a macaroni's one, it's a new broccoli one I found in a magazine and thought... why not? let's give my boring steamed broccoli a hot twist! And I tell you that it was a wonderful idea!
Again, I'm trying a new ingredient in my kitchen: Flax seeds which according to wikipedia:

Flax seeds contain high levels of lignans and Omega-3 fatty acids. Lignans may benefit the heart, possess anti-cancer properties and studies performed on mice found reduced growth in specific types of tumors. Initial studies suggest that flaxseed taken in the diet may benefit individuals with certain types of breast and prostate cancers. Flax may also lessen the severity of diabetes by stabilizing blood-sugar levels. There is some support for the use of flax seed as a laxative due to its dietary fiber content though excessive consumption without liquid can result in intestinal blockage. Consuming large amounts of flax seed can impair the effectiveness of certain oral medications, due to its fiber content.

They couldn't be healthier!!! I'm sending this recipe over to Kalyn's kitchen and her World Wide known Weekend Blogging Event which this week is hosted by: We are Never Full - Amy and Jonny's shinny, creative and amusing blog! Get over there for the round up next week :D
Important notice: you will have to prepare a special oil for this dish 2 days ago! Really easy, don't miss the recipe because you feel lazy to prepare it... You can use it in other dishes too :D

Ingredients for 4 servings: 1 broccoli, 1 medium/big onion, 1 glass of cream (nata líquida), 1 spoontable of flax seeds, 1 garlic clove, olive oil, black ground pepper and salt. Ingredients for the special oil: half a glass of olive oil, 1 red hot pepper, 2 drops of tabasco and a pinch of oregano.

• Prepare the oil for the dressing: half glass of olive oil, add the red hot pepper, the tabasco drops and the oregano and wait for two days until you use it.
• Clean and wash your broccoli and save a couple or 3 small bunches to decorate the plate. Mince the onion and garlic.
• Pour some olive oil in a pot, enough to cover its surface and add the onion, stir and cook at low heat for 5 minutes and add the garlic. When fragrant add the broccoli and cover with 1 liter of water. Cook for 35 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.
• Use a food processor to blend the ingredients and when you get a fine puree add the cream, taste and add salt and pepper accordingly, cook for 5 more minutes and it's done.
• Boil the bunches of broccoli you reserved in salty water for 8 minutes.
• Prepare the plate with the soup, the broccoli bunches and the Lax seeds on top.
• Pour some of the hot spicy oil you prepared as a dressing.

Cook it yourself and enjoy!

You have now the first dish of the menu... would you like to try this as a second?

Food stamp benefits when inflation is high

The benefit level in the Food Stamp Program -- now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- is updated every year for food price inflation. The update occurs in October based on the Consumer Price Index in June. It is somewhat in the eye of the beholder whether to think of benefits as lagging by 4 months (counting from the start of the year) or 10 months (the average for the year) or being "15 months out of date by the end" of the year (with italics for emphasis). The lag in the benefit update does raise greater concern in the last couple years, because food price inflation has been higher recently. Here is a revised report on the topic by Dottie Rosenbaum at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.


A somewhat offsetting consideration is that the Thrifty Food Plan has been increasing in recent years at a rate higher than the overall food price inflation measured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This has the effect of raising the food stamp benefit faster than the overall rate of food price inflation. Mark Lino at USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion said the reason for this pattern in 2004-2005 (.pdf) was because the Thrifty Food Plan is weighted more heavily toward fruits and vegetables, milk, and lean meats, which experienced faster price increases. I imagine similar trends have continued more recently.

What if checkoff programs were voluntary?

An interesting article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics this May used experimental data from an economics laboratory to address the following question: what would happen if legal concerns prevented commodity checkoff programs from using the federal government's power of taxation to collect mandatory payments from producers?

It is generally assumed that advertising budgets for campaigns such as "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" and "Pork. The Other White Meat" would collapse if the producer payments were voluntary. The article by Kent Messer, Harry Kaiser, and William D. Schulze points out that certain clever types of auctions might enhance contributions even if they were voluntary.

For example, under a plan called the "provision point mechanism" (PPM), producers would offer voluntary payments, but they would only really have to pay if the total voluntary payments exceeded a fairly high threshold. If the threshold is not reached, everybody gets their money back, and the advertising campaign never happens. This mechanism seems to generate higher contributions than traditional voluntary payment plans do.

As an aside, readers of this blog will not be surprised that I disapproved of this paragraph:

One might question the social importance and magnitude of under-provision of advertising for generic commodities. However, contrast the public health impacts from the types of foods associated with the majority of branded advertising, such as soda, beer, chips, and candy, to the types of foods that now benefit from mandatory generic advertising, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, chicken, pork, beef, and milk. Not only do the generic commodities comprise the key nutritional elements of the United States Department of Agriculture food pyramid but these commodities also tend to be low in fat and salt (in comparison to branded snack foods and restaurant meals) and represent the bulk of what might be called the components of a healthy diet. If generic advertising for agricultural commodities collapses because mandatory programs are declared unconstitutional, the "Dancing Raisins" will be gone and the vast majority of ads for snacks will be for chips, cookies, and candy. Given important health problems such as obesity, juvenile diabetes, and osteoporosis, the under-funding of generic commodity advertising has serious public health consequences.

Years of previous coverage here (and here) cast doubt on the claim that checkoff advertising is largely consistent with federal dietary guidance. The dancing raisins comparison is misleading, since a tiny fraction of checkoff advertising is for fruits and vegetables, while much of the funding is for high fat beef and pork and cheese. I don't think there even is a federal checkoff program for raisins. Raisins are not mentioned in Becker's CRS report (.pdf). Perhaps those ads were from a California state level board? If you believe that the checkoff programs are mostly about skim milk, not cheese, you've been hoodwinked by the public relations. I am not sure where the "low fat" comment came from -- federal dietary guidance gives greatest importance to saturated fat rather than total fat, and the products covered by checkoff programs are disproportionally high contributors to saturated fat in U.S. diets, compared to foods not covered by checkoff programs. And, how could lower checkoff advertising possibly lead to obesity? This is a very, very bad paragraph.

I think the agricultural economics literature on checkoff programs would be stronger if it were less baldly apologetic on their behalf.

Walnut Pie - My first Pie!!!

Would you call this a Pie? The catalan recipe said "Pa de pesic" which translated would be Bread of pinch. However, the ones I bought in the shop are spongy and more inflated than mine. The taste wasn't bad at all, but there's a lot to do with the texture, the recipe had 2 teaspoons of yeast... maybe I should add a 3rd one on my next pie :D.
Following the recipe has been the easiest! No complicated steps, handy ingredients, the best choice for my 1st pie!

Ingredients: 200 grs of butter, 200 grs of flour, 150 grs of sugar, 100 grs of peeled walnuts, 2 teaspoons of yeast, 4 eggs.

• Smash the walnuts with the help of a food processor. Reserve.
• When the butter is soft and tender, mix it with the sugar until you get an homogeneous paste.
• Add the eggs, one by one, while whisking manually or with the food processor.
• In a different bowl mix the flour with the yeast and the walnuts and add to the eggs/butter/sugar mixture. With a silicone spoon or spatula mix all ingredients until you get an homogeneous paste.
• Preheat oven at 180ºC. (only with the lower heat).
• I used a silicon mold and poured all paste inside. This molds are great because the stuff never gets adhered to its walls.
• Bake during 30 minutes aprox. Depending on the oven and mold it could vary.

I'm sending this Pie to Ivy from Kopiaste to her Sweet Pies Event! Do you also have a pie you want to share? Or any birthday parties to attend and no recipe? Tired to bake the same pie always? Head over to Ivy's and find the best selection there :D

Eww.

Does anyone know who makes the black studded Boots on the right?
They are so beatiful, it's abnormal.


picture: http://jakandjil.com/

GAO reports on food labeling

A report (.pdf) by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that federal food label regulators are not keeping up with the growth in food products.

FDA’s oversight and enforcement efforts have not kept pace with the growing number of food firms. As a result, FDA has little assurance that companies comply with food labeling laws and regulations for, among other things, preventing false or misleading labeling. Specifically:

* FDA does not have reliable data on the number of labels reviewed; the number of inspections, which include label reviews, has declined. For example, of the tens of thousands of foreign food firms in over 150 countries, just 96 were inspected by FDA in 11 countries in fiscal year 2007—down from 211 inspections in 26 countries in 2001.

* FDA’s testing for the accuracy of nutrition information on labels in 2000 through 2006 was limited. FDA could not provide data for 2007.

* Although the number of food firms in FDA’s jurisdiction has increased, the number of warning letters FDA issued to firms that cited food labeling violations has held fairly steady.

* FDA does not track the complete and timely correction of labeling violations or analyze these and other labeling oversight data in routine reports to inform managers’ decisions, or ensure the complete and timely posting of information on its Web site to inform the public.

GAO does offer up some solutions. See the recommendations.

Smashed.

Shirt: AA, Leggins: Vero Moda, Heels: Dior, Watch: Michael Kors

3 Ingredients, 3 dishes... this is the Royal Joust!

This coming Royal Joust will be my number 9... and nine is my favourite lucky number ever! Also the predominant colours are green and orange... again, my favourites! You don't have to be Merlin to guess who is going to win this month ;D

When Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy and Chewy chose the new ingredients for this month's Joust, I had absolutely no idea on how I could combine them! See what she thought of: acorn squash or local pumpkin, orange and sage. This would be my first time using sage and pumpkin.

But browsing through some food magazines and books, inspiration came! This is why I love this Event, it has me thinking all the time until I "see" the dish in my head.

I wanted to do something really special. My purpose was to perform not only one dish but three, playing with the ingredients' relevance. Since now I'm alone for lunch time, and here in Spain, lunch is an important part of the day, I cooked the dishes in small portions... just for me... tapas size :D

Let me introduce you:
Pumpkin and orange aromatized Cous cous, with pumpkin chips. Get the recipe here.

Bicoloured Puree with caramelized orange. Get the recipe here.
And Autumn Salad. Get the recipe here.
I consider self-criticism a healthy habit so here is my opinion on my dishes :D

The Cous cous turned out to be great, maybe lacked a bit of salt, but that was it. Concerning the chips, it seems that pumpkin absorbs oil a lot, so frying them wasn't a good idea (... since this was my first time using pumpkin...). Next time I will roast it. Aromatizing the cous cous with the fresh orange juice was daring but nice.

The Bicoloured puree was superb! But I would have added some Iberian acorn ham on top if I had... that would have been glorious! The sage aromatized olive oil used for the cooking of the pumpkin gave such a genial touch to the puree... really nice!!!

The Autumn Salad tasted great with the orange vinaigrette and the salty pumpkin seeds: different textures, different colours and different flavours... mmmmm.

The Royal Foodie Joust is one of the events I like the most! If you still haven't heard about it... which I doubt... please take a look at some of the former winners and their winning dishes, the Joust's knights and ladies! High level cuisine!!!

Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy with her Creamy Gorgonzola, Fennel & Pear Tart

Peter of Souvlaki for the Soul, with his Halvas

Kittie of Kittens in the Kitchen! with her dish Seafood, Sesame and Cilantro - A Trilogy!

Peter of Kalofagas with his entry of Apricot and Pistachio Cake

Valli of More Than Burnt Toast with her Citrus Spice-Rubbed Baby Backs Ribs.

Heather of Gild the Voodoolily with her Lentil Fritters with Venison Chorizo, Eggplant Sofrito and Cinnamon Aioli

Dharm from Dad~Baker & Chef with his dish: Chicken Pilaf with Pomegranate, Mint and Pistachio

Emiline of Sugar Plum with her Chocolate-Chipotle Bizcochitos

Ley from Cilantro & Lime with her entry of Mushroom Paneer.

Enjoy the recipes and hope to see you in the nest Royal Joust!!!

October 12.

On Sunday, my best friend and I woke up at like 5 am and went to the fish market in Hamburg. The dealers there do not only sell fish, but also other stuff like clothes, bags, jewelry, plants and grochery. Afterwards we made a short boat trip on the Elbe river and then my friend invited me for breakfast in a very noble cafe. They make the best breakfast i ever had in my life!