Ugly Fruit Movement

Celebrity Chef and food activist Jamie Oliver is on a new mission to bring Ugly fruit back to your grocery stores.

There is a problem when 40% of all food produced in the world is just getting tossed out before it even gets to a consumer and it's madness when there is so much food insecurity in the world.

I bet you never really notice that all of the fruits and vegetables in a majority of grocery stores always looks almost perfect.  Well there is no such thing as perfection in real life.  People are flawed and so are fruits and vegetables.  That doesn't mean that the 40% of fruits and veg that are chucked because they don't look good don't have a value in life.  What if we chucked all the ugly people in the world?  Unfortunately society seems to be trying to make this happen with plastic surgery and the terrorist extremists that want everyone in the world to be like them.   The world is supposed to have everything in it.  Everything is connected in the Universe and there is a reason for the differences.

In France they have a grocery store chain that wanted to take action on all of the Ugly fruit or not so perfect end of day produce that they had before chucking it in the bin they decided to turn it into juices and soups that they would sell in the store at a discounted price.  Their sales went up exponentially.  So why don't more people adopt this idea?  I am sure there are economic reasons for this but what if we took all the produce that isn't picture perfect from the fields and set up a community co-op where people from lower incomes or people in need could access this produce at reduced prices.  Here's another stretch, what if we took those fruits and vegetables and gave them to Seniors long term care facilities to turn into juices and soups that would nourish seniors with dietary and other issues and customize the nutrients that they would get.   What if they had Vitamix blenders that they had a few Vitamix blenders on each floor to produce purees, soups, smoothies, juices etc for the patients?   Wouldn't that be better than the processed dead awful food that is served to frail seniors in these homes?

I saw firsthand the horrible food that seniors ate when my mother was in a facility for the last year and a half of her life.  I think the terrible nutrition probably contributed to the cause of her death.   I tried to bring her things sometimes but she didn't always want it.  A lot of seniors refuse to eat their food mostly because they don't like it or they have difficulties eating.  Soups and smoothies that taste good and are at the peak of nutrition could certainly help in these cases.   I understand why the institutions serve the processed food because their hands are tied on the actual funding they get to operate the facilities and the costs of storing food and the staff to handle it.   But what if food direct from the field was delivered to the facilities a couple of times a week and the produce was turned into soups and juices that could be frozen if there was excess?  Wouldn't that be a cost saving?  What if the government subsidized the process of farmers donating the food that would go to landfill to be donated to institutions of all kinds.. Schools, healthcare facilities and correctional institutes.   What if food banks got donations of the ugly fruits and vegetables to give to people in need?   If 40% of food is already going to the landfills before it goes to market and 40-50% of people in the world are suffering from lack of nutrition doesn't it just make sense to re-distribute this food?   It doesn't matter what the fruits and vegetables look like when they are blended into a soup or smoothie or even a puree because it's just all blended up and blemishes are all hidden in the blended goodness.   What if you wanted to make a tomato soup and you had a choice to buy wonky tomatoes at half the cost of the pretty looking ones?  Which would you choose if you were living paycheck to paycheck?

I take a lot of photos of fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and from the produce I buy at grocery stores and realized that I didn't have too many wonky fruit and vegetable pictures.  This means that this stuff never hits my food suppliers shelves.

I just sent an email to a local Organic Grocery store to think about getting on board of the Ugly Fruit movement.  What if you all sent letters and emails to the places you buy your produce from to tell them you want to see the ugly fruits and veg in their stores and you would go out of your way to purchase them if they sell them at a lower price.   How would this change things?  Think about it.   Wouldn't it be great if you could ship your leftovers to people in third world countries that don't even have a piece of bread to eat?  Well that might not be possible yet but this is doable if we all make a little bit of effort.

Join Jamie Oliver in his mission to bring Ugly fruit to your local markets and give them a purpose instead of letting them produce gases in our landfills.    If we don't think about doing this our whole planet could turn into a landfill eventually.    Try and watch the movie Soylent Green and see a science fiction movie about what they thought the planet would turn into in the future.

The Safeway in Alberta puts what it calls it's misfits on sale in their grocery store.
Would you buy this?
What do you think about this?  Would it work?  Share your thoughts below.

If you want to see this change tell your local grocer that you want to see this happen.  The more demand the more they will change.

Green Goodness

Have you given up on your New Year's Resolution Diet yet?  Forget the diet.   Diet has DIE in it.  Why not GO GREEN instead.  Instead of thinking about things you have to give up eating why not think about adding better tasting healthy things to your daily meals.  Green foods are powerhouses of Goodness and they can taste great if you know what to do with them. Get your Green Goodness on.

I am not a fan of diets because you think about foods you can't eat all day long and then you feel deprived and want to eat those foods even more.  My New Year's Resolution is to eat more better foods to feel better.  People go on their crazy diets in January because it's the time of year when all of the high fat, high sugar and high sodium foods and alcohol start catching up with you.  You start to feel horrible and then there is the weather that makes you feel even worse.  It's cold so you don't go outside as much and it's dark so you don't get the much needed vitamin D.  And then there are the germs everyone is picking up from being stuck inside in dry heated and germ loaded stale air.  No wonder you feel crappy.  And then you get hit with all the after holiday cleanup and then the credit card bills..  Who wants to stick to a diet when you have to deal with all of this stuff.

Here's a better idea.   Eat more GREEN foods.

Start with Green Tea   

I love the taste of really good Green Tea.  It's high in antioxidants which are much needed in the winter.

Switch up your daily coffee for Green Tea or if you love your coffee then just add a cup of Green Tea to your day.  I drink a lot more green tea in the winter because it's very comforting and warm.   Some of my favourite Green Teas are NUMI  Organic Gunpowder Green which is what's in this cup of tea.

I also love Kusmi Detox Tea because it has a great lemongrass flavour.   I first tried the NUMI tea when I stopped into a coffee shop when I was at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah and it tasted so good that I grabbed a couple of packs to take with me.   I first tried the Kusmi tea at a consumer food show and learned that it's from France.  It's pretty pricey but it tastes great.  I know that Pusateri's and the Detox Market in Toronto carry it.   Try it and let me know if you like it.

I  decided to do this Green Post because I was watching the lovely super energetic Julie Daniluk healthy guru do a segment on the Marilyn Denis show.  Julie was making a hot green smoothie type of drink with spinach and I realized that I had spinach in my fridge that I needed to use so I decided to make a green Spinach soup that was kicked up with flavour and healthy things.

Here's my version of this GREEN SPINACH Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups of baby spinach washed

1 carrot

1/4 medium onion

2 green onions

2 garlic cloves

1 kaffir lime leaf

1 tbsp grated ginger

3 cups of chicken broth or water

1 bunch fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

hemp hearts for garnish

Directions:

In a soup pot boil the water or chicken stock.  I added some bouillon powder to water for flavour because I didn't have any stock handy but I didn't add much salt because the bouillon has a lot of sodium in it.

I grated the frozen ginger into the stock and added chunks of onion.   You don't need to worry about chopping because you will blend it after.

I added the cloves of garlic and then the seasonings of pepper and a pinch of salt.  You can add nutmeg or other seasonings if you like.

I took a vegetable peeler and just peeled strands of carrot into the soup.  Because it's think it cooks quickly.  You can use a box grater or microplane as well.  

I tossed in a Kaffir Lime leaf that I had in the freezer for some added flavour.  1 leaf is enough because you only want a hint of it.   Use it like you would use a bay leaf.  Let the soup simmer to extract the flavours and then remove the lime leaf.

Once you are happy with the flavour of the stock then add the spinach and parsley.  Cook until it turns an emerald green color.   Once it's the bright green color turn it off and either blend with a stick blender which is what I did.  Less cleaning up.. but if you don't have one then use a blender or food processor or your magic bullet.  Anything that will liquify it.

Pour into a soup bowl and top with a garnish of hemp seeds for added Omega 3's and crunch.   You can drizzle a bit of yoghurt or cream if you want a creamier texture but it doesn't really need it.  

Because of all the aromatic vegetables and seasonings this soup is packed with flavour and blending it will make it feel very hearty and smooth.

Let's move on to a Tasty GREEN GOODNESS SALAD

I made this salad after seeing a similar salad but using what I had in the fridge.

In an effort to eat more Kale and kick up my healthy vegetable quotient.   As I sit here with the sniffles and think I may be getting a cold.  I blame my subway trip with loads of coughing and gross people who spread their germs all over the subway.   This is the time to Green Load up on my body to fight it.

So here's my version

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Black Kale or whatever Kale you like

1 hard boiled egg

1 avocado

4 inch cucumber

1 green onion

1/2 cup cilantro

juice of 2 limes

1 tbsp olive oil

6 grape tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste and you can add hot sauce if you like it spicy.

Hemp heart seeds for garnish

Directions:

Strip the kale from the stems and chiffonade the leaves.. If you don't know what that means it's to cut into thin strips.  Wash and drain and add to a bowl and add a bit of lime juice and massage the kale until it breaks down and turns a bright color.   Set aside and make the dressing.

In a blender add the avocado, half of the cucumber, green onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper.  Add olive oil or water if you want a thinner dressing.  You can add lemon juice too.   Blend until smooth.

Mix a couple of tablespoons of the dressing into the bowl of kale.

To the salad add the grape tomatoes cut in half and cut up the remaining cucumber into half moons and add on top.  Cut the boiled egg into slices and put on top.

Add a bit more of the dressing on top of the garnishes and then add the hemp seeds.  You can mix when you are ready to eat.  

This salad will keep for a while so it will work great for a work lunch or potluck.

I didn't add any hot spices but I think if I do it again I will add a few chili flakes for a little kick.

You can add whatever vegetables you like or omit the egg and tomato for a truly green salad.   Make it your own way.   If you try this let me know what you did and if you make my version let me know what you think.

Holiday Hangover

Do you have a Holiday Hangover?

It's the start of a New Year and we are just starting into January 2015.  Did you notice that the ads for weight loss services and products started on January 1st?  There's no coincidence in that fact.   Everyone spends most of December over indulging in Food and Alcohol while being social and trying to keep up with all the social obligations that they have whether it's a work Holiday Party or a Traditional Family Dinner or even just a party with friends.  You either can't say No or you don't want to say No to events and food and drink.  But then the marketers cash in to your guilt after all the gluttony is over and you look at your expanding waistline and shrinking pocketbook and the total lack of energy you have after trying to be everywhere and eat everything over the Holidays.

Are you feeling the effects of a Holiday Hangover?  Here's the thing.   It's not your fault.  Well some of it is but really you just fell into the trap that is set up by savvy marketers.   Starting from our Canadian Thanksgiving in October the marketers start pushing the Holiday Decorations, the entertaining tips, the gifts you need to buy and all the food shows really ramp up all the perfect holiday events that you need to host or attend.   Yes I have fallen into that trap and probably perpetuated it myself as well.
It's hard not to fall into it.  Everyone wants a better life and to spend time eating great food and drinking with our friends and family and enjoying our life.  We are encouraged to make the Holidays the best they can be.   Well it's not always a great time of year for everyone.  For myself it's a rough time of year because I don't have a family and I don't have a job other than this blog right now so the pressure to buy gifts and bring things to parties and host events is high but I end up alone on the key holidays because people spend it with their families.  Depression is at an increased level for a lot of people at this time of year because they just can't keep up or measure up to what's expected in their life.

Then the New Year hits and you are expected to magically shed all the Holiday weight and achieve impossibly high goals by a certain time.  But you still have a Holiday Hangover.   You probably have a huge amount of holiday bills to pay.  If you go back to work you are probably overloaded with work that didn't get done while you were busy attending all the parties.   If you drink you may be getting over the Christmas and New Year hangovers.   Yes you feel like crap in more ways than one and those smart marketers are going to help you fix all of your problems.   They will sell you gym memberships, weight loss services and products and make you feel like your life isn't good enough as it is and you need to change into a NEW YOU.   Yes,  I have been guilty of writing articles about this in the past but this year I am going to tell you that it's not your fault.

As I look around my home and see all the remaining treats from generous friends and even companies and my own cooking and buying of treats for entertaining I realize that it's hard to start your weight loss goals while all of these things are still around your house.   But you don't want to throw them out because people have thought about you and brought you sweet treats or your secret Santa gift exchanges contained treats or you received hostess gifts.  It's really easy to just pick up a gift basket from Costco or a box of Chocolate from the drugstore because it can keep and you don't have to do anything with it.  Who doesn't love chocolate or cookies or candies or cakes?
 I made a few food gifts because I didn't have money to spend on gifts.

I hosted a small party because I realized that I accumulated a lot of food from attending all my food blogging events and I told my friends not to bring any munchie foods but one of my friends still brought a box of chocolate because it's what you think you are supposed to do.   My same friend dropped by on the weekend totting a box of Cinnabons to have with tea.  
So you see that food is still all around you and this is why your New Year's resolutions to lose weight fail a week into January.  It's cold out and you feel like crap and this food makes you feel better right away until the guilt and television reminders kick in and then you beat yourself up about it.

This year my resolutions are to no make a diet and weight loss resolution but to drink more tea with great health properties like Oprah's Chai Tea or Green Tea.   I am also trying to clean up my life by making sure I don't waste food and keeping clutter to a minimum.   My big goal is to get a job that pays enough to live the life I want while still leaving me time to keep up on this blog because I enjoy it but it's not supporting me at this time unfortunately.

I am working on getting rid of my Holiday Hangover and all the after effects of a couple of months of buying and doing things I shouldn't be doing.   But I am going to try and ditch the guilt and just move forward and try and spend less and eat better.

Ditch the Holiday Hangover and the guilt and just keep moving forward.
My advice to ditch your Holiday Hangover is to take more time for Tea..
Drink the good stuff and Detox and take the time to sit back and enjoy it and re focus where you are going in this New Year.

Enjoy 2015 and be prepared to do it all again next year.