Are Beef scares turning people into Vegetarians?

Are you afraid of Meat?

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2012/20120928e.shtml

With the current Recall of Beef from the XL Foods plant in the news lately it has been scaring consumers into being afraid of what they eat.   Is this a good thing?  I don't know but I think it's sad that the actions of One processing plant can take down the whole Beef Industry.

Personally I haven't bought any meat since the Beef Recall but for a couple of reasons.   I like to get hormone free meats when I can but I can't afford to buy a lot of meat right now so I haven't bought that much meat in general.  

Although I haven't bought any meat when I went to Whole Foods Market on Thanksgiving day there were a whole lot of people standing in front of the Meat Counter.   There was a huge sign hanging above the counter listing where they receive their meat from,  like local farmers like Baretta Farms for their chickens and other local farms and stores like Cumbrae meats for their other meat.

When you buy your meats at a regular grocery store you don't know where your meat is coming from so nobody is accountable until multiple people get sick.  

When I went to The Big Carrot Market to interview nutritionist Julie Daniluk for my documentary I also interviewed their PR person who told me they track all their vendors and can track back to the source of where they are getting their products at any time.  They have a relatively small meat section but their meats are generally from local suppliers such as Baretta Farms again or Yorkshire Valley.

There are some good Food Markets like Organic Garage in Oakville who try and go out of their way to carry quality safe products but since ever grocery store has to order their meat and produce from other suppliers can they always trust their sources but they are responsible and ethical enough to pull anything right away if there is a problem but it takes a bit longer for the larger chains to get it through their systems to make a change?   

Are people being scared into becoming vegetarians?  

The subjects of my EcoLoser documentary had decided to give up red meat as part of their monthly challenges a few months ago.  They say they don't miss the meat and they decided to give it up because of the amount of resources it takes to produce beef.    

But on the flip side..   what happens if everyone is scared into giving up Beef?   What happens to the local farmers who produce Beef and other products?   Will they be driven out of business?

Think of the Beef industry in Alberta, what if everyone stopped eating beef from Alberta?   

What would happen to their economy?

It's sad to think that ethical farmers may be driven out of business because of unethical processing plants.  

Things need to change in the food production industry.   Processing plants need to be accountable and transparent and be fined for any health infractions or shut down right away.    If they feel it on their bottom line things will change.   If their bottom line is increased by lax practices then we are in BIG TROUBLE in the future.

Have you changed the way you think about your food?  

Have you been considering becoming vegetarian because of the recalls?

Have you changed the stores you shop in?

Over the past year I have tried to make an effort to buy as much local, organic and hormone and pesticide free products as I can but something like E. coli can happen to even Organic producers if proper food handling practices aren't strictly enforced.

In a city full of condos we are at the mercy of these food providers as we can't exactly have a cow or chickens on our balconies.

We need to find a way to make people accountable for the food they produce and make sure that they are doing the right thing or they need to be shut down.

Sometimes I think I should become a vegetarian for the fact that I know it would be better for me financially,  better for the environment and also better for my weight, but unfortunately I love food and love variety in food and like the taste of beef and chicken and pork.   But I am going to be very careful in the future of where my food comes from and maybe buy less and maybe pay more for suppliers that have extra measures in place for food safety.

Be Safe... know where your food comes from and make sure you store and cook your food properly.

Thanksgiving Dinner for One

Thanksgiving was never a Holiday tradition in my family so I didn't grow up dreading or looking forward to Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner but because I don't have Turkey Dinners I like to have it sometimes.   The first time I had a proper Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner was when I was working at Sunnybrook Hospital.  They would make a full Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner available in the cafeteria of the Hospital for the Staff.   They would have 2 seatings to cover all of the staff.   It wasn't the greatest Turkey Dinner I ever had but it's where I gained a bit of a taste of it.

One year I decided it was time that I tried to cook a Turkey just to see if I could do it properly in case I ever had to make one for other people.   At the time it was just my mom and brother that were there to eat it so there was a whole lot of Turkey leftovers.  My mom never really liked Turkey either,  she liked the dark meat of chickens or chicken breast breaded or roasted on the bone to keep it moist.   I suppose she probably thought Turkey was a bit bland and dry.  Well I mastered my first Turkey roasting with flying colors.  I did it the easy way and bought a Butterball and just followed the directions.  It's pretty no fail if you can read cooking instructions.

Well now that my mom is gone I don't have family to share a Turkey with, but I still decided that I want to have that great Thanksgiving Meal anyway.   So what if I am only one person and it's a lot of work to cook a big dinner.   Well I think it's more messy than hard work.   My sink is full of dishes and my stomach is now full of my TURKEY DINNER FOR ONE.

Instead of buying a whole Turkey, even if it's a small one it's still way too much food that would go to waste since I only like the white meat anyway.   I could make Turkey stock but there is really no point in wasting a whole Turkey.  I decided to pull a Turkey Breast out of the Freezer and just place it on a bed of vegetables in a roasting dish and seasoned it with stuffing flavours since I skipped the stuffing.

Ingredients:

I cut up the following and added it to the roasting dish.

2 Carrots
1 Parsnip
2 small onions
3 garlic cloves unpeeled
1 celery stalk

and spiced the whole thing with the following.

Salt
Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Sweet Paprika
Rubbed Sage
Bay leaves
Olive Oil
Parsley

and I added a cup of water so that it would make some sauce in the bottom of the pan from the drippings.

If you have the skin on the Turkey that's even better to retain moisture and add flavour to the Turkey Gravy.

I cooked it until the vegetables were cooked and the Turkey reached the proper internal temperature as indicated by a Cooking Thermometer.

I took the Turkey out of the oven when it was done and set it on a cutting board to rest.
Then I took the vegetables and reserved them in a bowl.  You can covert the bowl with tin foil to keep it warm if you need to.

Then with the left over juice in the roasting pan I put it on the stove and added a tablespoon of flour and a cup of water.   Bring to a boil and stir until it thickens and add seasonings to taste if needed.

I also made frozen peas... I won't explain that since they were just boiled.. I think you can figure that out.

I also made cranberry sauce from frozen cranberries.   The directions are on the package, although I never follow them.   I just kind of eyeball it so that I can control the sugar.

And I took a shortcut and made some Pillsbury biscuits.   I supposed if I had a bigger kitchen and more room to put things I probably could have made biscuits from scratch but they were a minor part of the dinner so that's where I saved the time and effort.   Although homemade biscuits are always infinitely better.

And there you have it... THANKSGIVING DINNER for ONE.

You don't have to wait for other people to enjoy your dinner the way you want it.   If you want a traditional family style meal figure out a way to modify it and make it for yourself.

If you are creative you can eat what you want without waiting for anyone else.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.     Now go and Eat some Turkey.

Here's the leftovers in Mason Jars ready for another meal.

Rocco DiSpirito feels at home in Woodbridge, ON

Last night Celebrity Chef Rocco DiSpirito was on hand to sign his new Cookbook "Eat this now" Italian at the Chapters/Indigo Bookstore in Woodbridge, Ontario.

I have been watching Rocco on his own shows and on many of the daytime talk shows making lots of tasty dishes.   I decided to drop by and meet Rocco and pick up one of his cookbooks at his book signing.

Rocco was right at home with a mostly female and Italian background crowd.  Rocco spent the time before the actual book signing flirting with the women,  talking family with one woman and giving the men a call to action to be better boyfriends and husbands.   He circulated the crowd sharing stories, info and cracking jokes in Italian.   He is a very personable guy and seemed to enjoy entertaining the crowd and at one point said he loved it here and said he should move here.   I think he would be right at home in Woodbridge, ON and I am sure he would have a lot less hectic life than in New York.  He even mentioned how easy it was to get around here.   I guess in comparison to New York rush hour I guess you could say that.

The reason he was there was to promote his new book "Eat this now, Italian" where he travelled to Italy to learn from the Italian grannies on their techniques to making real Italian food.   He then deconstructed some of the recipes to try and lower the caloric values for each dish.  He called it a "labour of love" and I think this journey began with the influence of his Italian mamma whom he learned how to cook authentic Italian dishes from that started his career.

I didn't pick up that book because I am pretty much a traditionalist when it comes to Italian food.   Fresh, simple ingredients cooked properly and not overdone.   Less is more in most cases of real Italian food.   Something like a Caprese Salad,   (Tomatoes, Buffalo Mozzerella, Basil and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper)   that's it.   It really doesn't need deconstructing so I skipped that book but picked up one of his previous books that has a variety of recipes and other comfort foods like Mac & Cheese which is hard to make tasty and reducing the calories.   That's the recipes I need help with.   Or the things like chocolate chip cookies.    Italian food seems easier to me because it really is healthy if you just bump up the vegetables and cut the portion sizes and just modify a few things.

Once I finally got to Rocco to get my book signed he said "did I meet you before", I said "No" I don't think so".  He said "you look very familiar".  I said who knows...maybe facebook, twitter.    I know I have never met him directly before but maybe I have seen him at some food show or something in the past that I don't even remember.   But I think I would remember meeting Rocco don't you?  Maybe a past life thing.....  who knows.... maybe I look like someone or everyone is starting to look familiar after he has met so many people.   Either way... I suppose it's nice to have someone say that you look familiar as if they know you already.

If I ever run into Chef Rocco again I will definitely say we have met before and hopefully I will be able to tell him some of my favourite recipes from his book.