Grass-Fed Beef versus Grain-Fed Beef

This month's Cooking Light Magazine has a wonderful (and honest) take on Grass-fed Beef, with all the Pros and Cons. Enjoy this read- and then come in to the West Side Grocery and try some of Hasting's Beef for yourself!


Note: We are working on getting set up to take orders on HALF a Grass-fed cow from Hastings, delivered to the Windmill Market for you, so stay tuned!

Grass-Fed Beef versus Grain-Fed Beef
If you've wondered about grass-fed beef, here's the skinny on price, quality, taste, and cooking. 
By Kim Cross, Cooking Light Magazine, April 2011

A large herd's worth of beef cattle has passed through the Cooking Light Test Kitchen over the past 24 years, almost all of it standard-issue, grain-fed supermarket meat. But with beef, as with everything in the American diet, change is afoot. Shoppers are seeing more and more grass-fed beef in regular grocery stores, along with meat from breeds marketed as special (like Angus), and meat from organically raised animals. The local/sustainable movement has been singing the praises of the grass-fed cow, while the grain-fed industry has been under attack by food activists. The grass-fed cow, which eats from a pasture and is not "finished" on a diet of grains and supplements for rapid weight gain, is said by its promoters to be better for the planet (less energy goes into growing grass than grain); better for the beef eater (less overall fat, and more omega-3s and other "good" fats); and better for the cow (critics decry feedlot practices as inhumane). In this article, though, we're looking not at meat politics but at three things that most cooks are acutely interested in: price, taste, and nutrition.

Recipes Files...

Below are the recipes from this week's Produce Club. Enjoy!


Roasted Tomato Salsa

Rick Bayless’ Grilled Salmon Vera Cruz with Lemon-and-Thyme-Scented Salsa

Zucchini Muffins

Sweet Potato and Zucchini Bread 

Crunchy Cole Slaw

Buying Local Stimulates the Local Economy

Something to think about when shopping local or not...

According to Mother Nature Network: "A 2002 study done in Texas showed that for every $100 that was spent in a chain bookstore, only $13 of it was put back into the local economy. But that same $100 spent at a local, independently owned bookstore put $45 back into the local economy. Think of that next time you're deciding to get your coffee from a large chain or the local corner coffee house."

Music This Weekend!

With the Windmill's WestSide Grocery having its grand re-opening celebration this weekend, along with a 92 ZEW Brown Bag Lunch, AND a Fairhope ArtWalk, good live music will be abundant. We wanted to share some more info about the performers with all those interested.

Come out and join us!

Friday, March 11

Joe Lewis 11:30 AM- 1 PM

(92ZEW Brown Bag Lunch)

Bay City Brass Band 6 - 9 PM

(Fairhope Art Walk)

Saturday, March 12

Jordy Searcy Noon - 3 PM

Sunday, March 14

Cathy Brumbeck Noon - 3 PM

The Bay City Brass Band
Motto: "We gonna take it as far as we can go!"


Bay City Brass Band was formed in 1997 by tuba player and band leader, Marcus Johnson. Marcus, at the time was also a member of one Mobile's other brass bands, the Olympia Brass Band.

"I felt there was a real need for a younger brass band in Mobile, one that could really stretch beyond the tradition confinement of just the holiday itself. Mardi Gras should be experienced all through the year."
Once formed, the Bay City Brass began to work to bring the Mobile Mardi Gras industry to the forefront and their special music to it's citizens full time.

"People come to the birthplace of Mardi Gras and want to experience the sounds and sights that we provide."



 

Joe Lewis
Music: Jazz

Music has been a driving force in Joe since early childhood. "There's always been a piano in our house.", says Joe. "Our father played and naturally the influence continued." His natural gift for music developed into an intense love for jazz. He performs on the Baritone, Tenor, Alto, and Soprano Saxophones, as well as Piano and Flute.

Joe has a long and varied career as a Music Instructor and Choir Director at the St. James Major Catholic Church. He is the creator of the "Music & Me" Summer Program, where he has lectured on the art of jazz, jazz history, arranging, composition, and the art of improvising. He was also the founder and the driving force behind the Akoluthia Institute of Music in Mobile, Alabama.

Joe played with the U.S. Air Force Band in tours throughout the United States and abroad. He has backed up such performers as Arthur Prysock, Millie Jackson, Redd Foxx, the Manhattans, and The Dramatics. A regular at jazz festivals in Pensacola and Mobile, Joe has performed with jazz and blues greats like Ray Charles and Ramsey Lewis.

Jordy Searcy
Music: Blues/ Rock/ Surf

Jordy Searcy is a 17 year old Singer/Songwriter from Fairhope, AL. Having a musical family, his love for music was instilled at a young age. Playing the violin and singing in the best children's choir in louisiana at age 5, he learned much about music and songwriting. Jordy started piano at age 7, but never really stuck with it. His first "real" instrument was a harmonica he got on his 8th birthday. He played that until he was ten years old, and discovered the electric guitar. Listening to blues greats like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and B.B. King gave him a solid foundation to write music from, and he penned his first lyrics at age 12. Jordy has been writing ever since, and is currently working on his first full studio album, expected to be finished sometime in late 2011.

Influences: Jon Foreman, John Mayer, Switchfoot, Jack Johnson, Ruth, Nada Surf, The Almost, The Beatles, Needtobreathe

In New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges

New York Times Article we wanted to share...

By ISOLDE RAFTERY
Published: March 5, 2011
Image by Leah Nash for The New York Times

CORVALLIS, Ore. — For years, Tyler Jones, a livestock farmer here, avoided telling his grandfather how disillusioned he had become with industrial farming.

After all, his grandfather had worked closely with Earl L. Butz, the former federal secretary of agriculture who was known for saying, “Get big or get out.”

But several weeks before his grandfather died, Mr. Jones broached the subject. His grandfather surprised him. “You have to fix what Earl and I messed up,” Mr. Jones said his grandfather told him.

Now, Mr. Jones, 30, and his wife, Alicia, 27, are among an emerging group of people in their 20s and 30s who have chosen farming as a career. Many shun industrial, mechanized farming and list punk rock, Karl Marx and the food journalist Michael Pollan as their influences. The Joneses say they and their peers are succeeding because of Oregon’s farmer-foodie culture, which demands grass-fed and pasture-raised meats.

“People want to connect more than they can at their grocery store,” Ms. Jones said. “We had a couple who came down from Portland and asked if they could collect their own eggs. We said, ‘O.K., sure.’ They want to trust their producer, because there’s so little trust in food these days.”

Garry Stephenson, coordinator of the Small Farms Program at Oregon State University, said he had not seen so much interest among young people in decades. “It’s kind of exciting,” Mr. Stephenson said. “They’re young, they’re energetic and idealist, and they’re willing to make the sacrifices.”

Though the number of young farmers is increasing, the average age of farmers nationwide continues to creep toward 60, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture. That census, administered by the Department of Agriculture, found that farmers over 55 own more than half of the country’s farmland.

Recipe Files...

A perk of each Produce and Grocery Box is a short list of recipes for whatever fresh items are included in their weekly subscription. Hopefully they have helped our customers figure out what in the world to do with a rutabaga, or a bag of raw peanuts, or maybe just given them a delicious new recipe for spinach or sweet potatoes.

Well, we started feeling guilty hoarding all of these tasty ideas to ourselves, so we are going to be sharing them weekly here on the blog. Hopefully after a number of weeks we will amass a real file cabinet of recipes and ideas!

If you have a recipe idea, please share! We might even put it in next week's Produce Club boxes!

Rutabagas with Caramelized Onions

Braised Cabbage

John’s Slaw

Garlic Sautéed Spinach

The Delicious Dietician Southern Vinaigrette Dressing

Tales of Digging in the Dirt

Stories are endless these days of folks trading in their suits for shovels, their corporate jobs for digging in the dirt. I recently found a list of the ten best tales of local food, organic gardening, and folks trading it all in for greener pastures. The list was on the shelter blog, DesignSponge. I can't personally recommend any of the books reviewed below, but a few are definitely on my "to-read" list. The reviews are by Amazon. Click "Read More" below to see the full list...