Homemade Eggs Benedict

February 25, 2012 by

Now that my boyfriend learned how to make hollandaise sauce for Valentine’s Day, this was inevitable. Quick — word association: You hear “hollandaise,” you think _________. Yes, Eggs Benedict.

It meant a quick trip to Nature’s Bin for milk and English muffins. Only one option for each: fat-free skim milk straight from the farm, and organic whole-wheat muffins with flaxseed. A little more expensive than I like to get, but knowing I’m not polluting my body is worth the extra dollars.

Here’s the lineup, from bottom up: English muffins, organic spinach, Black Label bacon, sliced avocados, sliced roma tomatoes, all topped off with poached eggs (free range brown, of course) and drizzled with whole-wheat hollandaise. Served with bowls of mixed fruit (strawberries, blueberries and grapes) and organic green tea.

How’s that for an easy, healthy start to the day? As soon as my boyfriend posted this picture on his Facebook, a friend commented that they’d pay $12 for this at a restaurant.

So, who wants reservations at B&B Cafe?

Filed Under: breakfast recipes, Food Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Health Dept. Raids Farm, Destroys Harvest

November 12, 2011 by
Here’s the scene: You’re invited to a “Farm to Fork” picnic at a sustainable, organic community supported agriculture (CSA) farm, where you can tour the grounds and talk to the farmers who have grown and raised the fresh food you’re about to eat.
Sounds lovely, right? It probably was — until the heavy-handed health department crashed the party and destroyed the harvest.
Two days before this “Farm to Fork” dinner was planned for October 21 at Quail Hollow Farm in southern Nevada, the Southern Nevada Health District caught wind of it and did what the government does best: intervened without reason. Officials told Laura and Monte Bledsoe that, because the picnic was a “public” event, the farm owners needed to obtain a “special use permit” or face a hefty fine. For the sake of the party, the couple agreed to jump through the legal red tape.
But it didn’t end there.
SNHD inspector Mary Oaks showed up during the picnic for the inspection that the permit required. She deemed all of the food unfit for consumption because:
·      Not all of the food packages were labeled (which is not necessary if food is consumed within 72 hours)
·      Some of the meat was not USDA certified (Meaning it didn’t have all the required GMOs and chemically processed preservatives?)
·      The vegetables were cut and therefore considered a bio-hazard
·      The owners could not produce receipts for the food…that was raised on their own farm.
Oaks demanded the food destroyed and soaked in bleach, refusing to let the family keep it for private use or even feed it to their animals.
After destroying the entire meal, the Bledsoes remembered the emergency phone number for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund posted on their fridge. When the general counsel reminded them of their constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure, they asked Oaks for a search or arrest warrant. Unable to produce either, she vacated the property, calling the cops on her way out.
The local police arrived, baffled at the cause for the call. Oaks could not present a reasonable reason for citation, so the police apologized and left.
So the USDA allows unapproved synthetic nutrient additives in organic foods while the SNHD destroys perfectly organic farm-raised harvests? If this doesn’t infuriate you, you’re not paying attention. The government wants to keep us under its thumb by controlling our food sources and pumping us full of chemically processed garbage, rather than risk us discovering sustainability and taking care of ourselves with food fresh from the garden.
I, for one, echo Laura Bledsoe’s call:
I KNOW that it is imperative that we stand up for our food choices.
I KNOW that local, organic, sustainable food produced by ourselves or by small, family-owned local farms is indispensable to the health and well-being of our families and our communities, now and in the future!
If this work were not so vitally important, the “evil forces” would not be working so hard to pull it down. We will be victorious —  we must be; our grandchildren’s futures are at stake!
Raised on a farm myself, I don’t eat beef or eggs unless I know the farmer who raised them. The government is NOT going to tell me what’s safe and unsafe to eat — just look at the poisons the USDA allows, even in organic food. If you really knew the ingredients in every item you buy off the shelf, you’d turn bulimic quick.
Wake up, America, and take a closer look at what you’re putting into your bodies. Are you going to bow down to the USDA and ignore unfounded tyrannical raids like this? Or are you going to learn how to live sustainably so you can provide for yourself when SHTF?
If you really want to take action, start here.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
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