Local Food Connections

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago our oldest daughter, who is the undisputed Sauce Queen, gave me a bottle of Bar-B-Que sauce she purchased at a Farmer’s Market. She said it is the best and knew we would love it. Well, she was right.

About a week later, I was at the Excelsior Farmer’s Market and right between Mackenthun’s and Ridgeroll Farms, was the M&B Homemade Seasonings and Sauce stand. I was so surprised and pleased. It also gave me an opportunity to meet Brenda Snell, one of the owners. It is always great to see a successful family business and they show their pride in their product.

M&B Homemade Seasonings and Sauces offers a complete line of products. Their sauces

M&B Homemade Sauce

include Maple, Original, Sweet Garlic, Northwoods Hickory, Zesty, Fireworks and the Grand Finale. They also offer spices with a 14 All-U-Need Seasoning and a Cowboy’s Seasoning.

All of their sauces and seasonings are made with the highest quality ingredients, with no added chemicals, but a lot of love in their product. I am pretty picky about this stuff because I don’t like buying sauces with high fructose corn syrup as their first ingredient. Most ketchup already has that as an ingredient, so why add even more!

I know they are at the Excelsior, Minnetonka, Delano and Maple Grove Farmer’s Markets, but you can contact them if you want to know of other locations or they might offer a mail purchase.

Contact information: M&B Snell, Corcoran, MN – MBSnell2@comcast.net or call them at 763-221-6295.

I know they would love to hear from  you!

Take care,

Judy

Hi everyone,

My post last week discussed the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and their clean and dirty guides. Today, I have another link that discusses this guide in a conversation with Dr. Andrew Weil. His points are well taken and should be up for consideration in your eating and shopping.

Visit this link for Dr. Weil’s video on the EWG Dirty Dozen and Clean 15.

Another email from the EcoMetro Guide (a wonderful Entertainment coupon guide with a look to natural, local, and green resources) contained a new guide from the EWG that defined the pesticide levels in greater detail. This might address a couple of comments about vegetables and fruits.

Always good to have current information and resources to help you make the right food choices.

Eat healthy and take care,
Judy

Hi everyone,

Here in the Midwest, we are getting close to the wonderful part of the year with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables coming our way. I look forward to having a selection of local produce, as well as our favorite CSA, Crazy Daisy Farm

Now is a good time to consider the advantages of eating local and organic. The economy has dealt many of us a rough hand the past couple of years and I understand the need for having to carefully manage the grocery budget as well as anyone. However, there are a few areas where I won’t skimp and eating healthy food is one of them. It is a conscious decision on our part to spend a bit more on the best quality for our meals and not splurge on a meal out as often.

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Hi everyone,

We have a wonderful new market near our home… Fresh Seasons Market. Their philosophy is one of being a special place to shop, but providing quality and value. They have a superior produce department, their meat and seafood department carries only the best available. The deli and bakery sections are the same. Quality and value are the mandates of the store and when you throw in a caring, friendly staff – that is what it is about these days for us.

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Hi everyone,
It is April and dealing with a winter and short growing season will never be familiar to me. With that said, Chuck and I are SO looking forward to our visit each week to our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) – Crazy Daisy Farm.

This is our 3rd year and we can’t imagine not having those baskets of wonderfulness each week from late June through October. I remember the first year we signed up for a CSA share that it took me some time to locate a CSA that offered half-shares and was still available and that was in April. We made it under the wire and now, in addition to the wonderful produce, we enjoy a friendship with a great family. Bonus!

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Hi everyone,

Spring is here – Yea – Woot Woot and all the other cheers I can think from this gal who wants some warmer weather. Spring means that the trees will be donning their finery and look green and luscious again. The flowers will start to bloom, veggies will be coming soon from Crazy Daisy CSA and I can feel the warmth of sun cheer my soul.

I’ve been away from my blog because of some hand surgery, but am back in writing mode again. I also think the change of seasons helps with the change in writing attitudes.

Another thing I like about the spring and summer seasons is the emphasis on eating healthy. It just feels like the thing to do with the change of seasons. I would like to share a special resource for you to consider for those healthy summer meals.

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Hi everyone,

Wow…. I have been away from my blog for far too long. I hope the Thanksgiving holiday was a wonderful one for you. We were blessed to have a table filled with delicious food and family with us.

Finding ways to deal with leftover turkey isn’t that hard for me. I have lots of ideas and leftovers go pretty fast. What I did find in the refrigerator that puzzled me a bit was a bowl of cranberry sauce (the jelly type). This year, I didn’t make a from scratch recipe – time got a bit in the way with the other dishes I was preparing. So, I found myself staring at the dish thinking hmmm…. what to do with this?

Cranberries

Hi everyone,

Zucchini season for sure! We’ve had an interesting summer (or some say lack of) here in MN. I think the cooler weather has caused some crops to go on overload. I have noticed an abundance of zucchini everywhere.

Take a minute to read my article on zucchini – it might help you use up some of the extras you have sitting around now!

Here a Zucchini… There a Zucchini… There a Zucchini – 5 Ways to Use Zucchini

Enjoy….
Take care,
Judy

Hi everyone,

It is summer and that means zucchini. I enjoy zucchini and summer squash, but sometimes I want to try something new and different.

This week, I will post a few different ideas to use the bountiful crop that summer brings.

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Nothing like a summer trip to the Farmer’s Market or a basket from your CSA to get you cooking. I remembered a recipe in Prevention and personalized it a bit with all of the goodies in the fridge that I needed to use. Soup doesn’t need to be a cold weather dish. A lighter soup is refreshing because it isn’t heavy food to eat.

Fresh from the Market