If your repertoire for cantaloupe is limited to slicing and eating on a plate consider the following:

• Cantaloupe Based Organic Fruit Salad (made with Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Pineapple, Blueberries and Banana)
• Cantaloupe Ice Pops (made with Cantaloupe, water, sugar and mint leaves)
• Cantaloupe Martini (made with pureed cantaloupe, water, sugar & lime mixed with Vodka & Midori)

Not only are there many foods we haven’t tried but many different ways to serve the foods we now love. Go ahead, be fearless. Laugh at your mistakes and delight in your successes.

You can almost hear the non-organic food manufacturer’s.. “Well you didn’t ask if it contains hexane.”  Well, no, and I didn’t ask whether it contains arsenic either… just assuming that the food thing you produce is sort of safe to the point where I could consume any of it’s ingredients without worry. .. Anyway on a side note, Mother Jones which broke the story now reports that rumors have been generated that the meat industry funded the Cornucopia Institute Study which found this out. Anyway, stay organic and you’ll be fine. Also, here are some links if you want some additional information as well as an Organic Test Kitchen Post on how the food industry uses furniture shellac on apples to make them shiny:

• Soy Burger with a side of toxin (CBS News)
• Mother Jones Blog regarding the rumors of the meat industry funding the Cornucopia Institute Study
• Wikipedia on Hexane
• Organic Test Kitchen Post “Shellac On Your Apples (Refinishing To Bring Out The Luster In Old Food)“

Anyway, we bought a non-organic cabbage and compare it against it’s healthy organic cousin ( and no, I refuse to say head to head).

Well, the first thing we noticed is that the Organic variety looks more real, alive and fresh. The non-organic cabbage on the right looks like it’s had a hard life. Lots of chemicals and not enough clean living. Actually it looks like a tired old man and that’s a sad thing to see. But am I sure I want to eat that thing?

Yeah I’m sure that I don’t. … This guy has nothing to offer me but trouble. Nothing I can prove mind you, but he just makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, here’s some background on the life of some non-organic cabbages. First, growing up on these massive farms they are targeted by a variety of nasties including (the cabbage looper, diamondback moth, imported cabbageworm etc…). And these pests are smart. For instance “Most of the eggs of the foliage feeding caterpillars are laid on the under-surfaces of the leaves and the larvae, until mature tend to feed on the underside of the foliage..”. So to combat this “Insecticides should be sprayed in high volume solutions …” “… at high pressure…” and “… spreading and sticking agents should also be used to improve coverage.” (the complete page from the University of Kentucky is here). … And then after this war is fought the cabbage is sent to our local supermarkets.

Now, in contrast the Organic cabbage is one lucky beast. No artificial fertilizers and no insecticides. Living cleanly off the natural land. The living was good and it shows. Just look at this guy. Isn’t that one good looking head of organic cabbage? And these good looks go beyond being just skin deep. No chemicals on it, no chemicals in me and I like that. And this is especially important for cabbage which is probably the most commonly eaten raw veggie due to the invention of coleslaw (and actually for most people the ONLY raw veggie that will ever touch their lips). And, you know as well as I do, that the average cook is not going to do a great job of washing leaves prior to shredding (and they might not even wash it at all). … SO… I’d just say no to coleslaw unless it’s organic (you know, maybe this should be your “go to” volunteer dish).

Now you should go organic because you and your family deserve it.  Also, please learn to respect this blahsay vegetable on St Patty’s Day and throughout the rest of the year as well. After all, Broccoli, Kale and Cauliflower are just a few veggies that are nothing more than selective breeding of cabbage. Yes my friends, you may already love cabbage but it’s just a funky variety of it with a different name.

Now if you like this post and think of some else would too (or they make the cold slaw) please share it with them & help spread the word. Hopefully 2010 readership will continue to grow and provide some level of support to free up time to work on www.OrganicTestKitchen.com and another cooking site. And also, thanks so much for all your support throughout these years. Have a great day!

Now Della did not specify Organic “This” or Organic “That” in her recipe simply because everything was organically grown back then. But unfortunately, now we must, since we really have two classes of foods to choose from. One could say ”old-school vs. chem lab” but I won’t … so everything organic and please hold the pesticides.

Anyway, here’s what we did. Since Della’s recipe like many in the day does not call out for specific measurements of ingredients we ran an experimental baking with a mini Apple Dowdy. This was put together and baked in a 5″x5″ x 1.5″ deep Le Creuset (a very fine baking dish by the way).

• Preheat your oven to 325F 
• Peel and cut into pieces 2 medium apples. One Macintosh and one Granny Smith (following the same path for taste, texture and tartness that we do for our Apple Pie).
• Place the cut apples in the baking dish, this just filled ours.
• Sprinkle the top with some freshly ground Nutmeg (allll-right pre ground if that’s all you have.
• Top this with a sprinkle of Cinnamon (Della tells us to use a little less than the Nutmeg so we did).
• Add a dash of Sea Salt.
• Take some unsalted butter and cut thin slices and place on top. She says to use about one teaspoon of butter per serving. We did our best but I think we put in some extra … mmm butter.
• Add a 1/4 Cup of Warm, but not Hot, Spring Water. Della called out 1/2 Cup for what we assume is a pie-sized dowdy. So we just cut it in half and added it to our little half-pint size version.

Make the Baking Powder Crust

• Take a Medium Bowl and add 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
• Add Two Teaspoons of Aluminum Free Baking Powder (you can of course use regular “Aluminumized” stuff, it’s your health, knock yourself out).
• Add Two Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter.
• Add 1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
• Add 1/2 Cup of Whole Milk.

The Build

• Stir and spread the Baking Powder Crust over the Apple Filled Baking Dish. Try to get about 3/4″ thickness.
• Try to cut a Big “S” in the center and little slots/breathing holes several places around it.
• Place in the center rack of the Preheated Oven.
• Let bake for 3 hours. Yes, THREE Hours.

After baking remove and let set before digging in (but make sure it’s still warm). Della recommends serving on a dish and pouring on some heavy cream that has been dressed up with a little sugar and nutmeg.

Well, what did we think? As far as being easy this recipe kicks butt. It was insanely simple and quick to put together. Then while it was baking the entire house filled with this warm apple/nutmeg/cinnamony smell. Very strong and like heaven. You could almost say that you’re going to make this just to make your house smell great for company or potential home buyers. Seriously, your house will smell that good … Taste. .. There was this starchy, buttery, appley thing going on and with the fat from the heavy cream it was some really good comfort food. The only thing we wished we had done differently was to warm up the cream to further enhance the warmness of the whole treat. Just wonderful.

Now like Della says, this dessert is definitely different from a tart or pie. It’s a dowdy and nothing but a dowdy. And she was also right about this being one homely thing (this is definitely an “Ugly Betty” when compared to an apple pie with an egg wash & sugar topping). But it’s something different and a great opportunity to shake up your repertoire. As far as variations we could envision serving with a good vanilla ice cream and possibly sprinkling the top with a cinnamon sugar to bring up the sweetness. Add walnuts? That might work. And also a rum/espresso topping could be very nice as well. In short there are endless possibilities to make this a unique dish that you could call your own.

Anyway, there you have it. Hope you enjoy your apple dowdy. And we’ll look into more forgotten recipes as time goes on. Enjoy!

But, like most natural foods Popcorn has been messed with. With popcorn you have your usual problems of modern mass production methods of spraying, fertilizing etc. which may be “not-good”. Let me put it this way, I just don’t want to consume any chemicals no matter how safe they tell me they are. So in terms of chemical purity the organic popcorn is of course the slam dunk winner. … But what about taste? Let’s take a look.

In this competition we pit the cheap supermarket brand of non-organic popcorn, premium non-organic popcorn and bulk organic popcorn. We popped all three in the air popper, let them come to an equal room temperature and tested. Here’s what we found:

Texture: This is a big part of the popcorn eating experience. For this we found the supermarket brand to be, not terrible, but definitely not good. It was sort of able to crumble easily. No chewy action going on. The premium non-organic stuff had plenty of chew..and in some bites too much of the chewy bordering on a polystyrene thing going on. But, the organic popcorn had more chew than supermarket and somewhat less than premium. .. Just right as they say..  So the other guys weren’t bad but the organic was slightly better.

Taste: Supermarket…Not bad but really not-good. Premium and organic, very close and both good.

So the organic barely nudged out a win with regards to the eating experience … both organic and premium were good (just don’t waste your time with the supermarket brand). So with taste being about equal you have two other factors to consider.  The first is cost, premium is cheaper. The second is chemical residues, the organic is a purer food. Now when I did the math the amount of money saved on a bowl of popcorn wasn’t even pocket change. So I asked myself, if someone came up to me and said they’d give me this amount of change to swallow the tiniest amount of chemical would I do it? You know my answer, go organic and call it a day already.

Now if you still can’t make up your mind why not peruse the University of Kentucky’s 2009 Insecticide Recommendation for Popcorn (seriously, this is not to say all non-organic popcorn has any of these chemicals by the time it gets to you, this is just for information to give you a flavor for the world of popcorn agriculture).

 Anyway, after the run and a quick dip in the ocean I sat down with my puzzle and cakes. .. And the first thing I noticed was that these non-conventional ones were thicker. They were also pretty pale looking vs the organic ones which have a nice brown freckling. Took a quick look at the ingredients just in case .. “Whole Grain Brown Rice, Salt.” OK, at least no names that take a degree in chemistry to pronounce. Then I took bite. … Not-Good. My teeth crushed through this Styrofoam-like texture. Like I said, Not-Good…

 So I saved a few to bring back home to do a fair side by side comparison (it was easy to not eat them all). Here’s what I found…

• The Organic Rice Cake (Lundberg) had as mentioned a specked color that struck me as less processed when compared to the lily white conventional brand.
• Confirmed that the Lundberg was a little bit thinner.
• Bit into both. The Lundberg Rice Cake had some mass to it. There was something there. It also had much more of a crunch than the popular conventional brand.
• The flavor of the Lundberg was clearly superior. It had an interesting and pleasing combination of flavor notes vs the conventional which had only one flavor … bland. The Lundberg also had a nice salt note going on while not being really salty. Checked the ingredients .. Sea Salt vs Conventional Salt.. figures.
• Noted that the size of the individual rice puffs in the Lundberg were smaller than the conventional. Aha! Less “poofing”! Meaning that the conventional had more air and less rice! To confirm checked the weights.. A Lundberg had a weight of 18.5 g per cake. The conventional 9.0 g per cake. So the conventional was all air and less than half the rice.. This explains why they are thicker and also why their texture is like an insulating material (both contain maximum air)

 You know, two of the most favorite ingredients of the conventional food crowd are air and water. Both are incredibly cheap and both give the consumer less for what he paid for. So we give Lundberg the Organic Test Kitchen Seal of Approval for both Quality and Nutrition. It not only gives you more of what you want but also excludes the nasties such as chemical residues that you want to stay away from.

 Spread the word and share the post! Some related links are:

• Lundberg Rice Cake Page
• Review of Organic Sesame Corn Thins

Shopping List:

• Half dozen medium Organic Russet Potatoes
• Refined Corn Oil or other oil that has a smoke point well above the temperatures contained in the recipe
• Sea Salt

Recipe

• Put Corn Oil in a Sauce pan and place on a high heat. Monitor the temperature using a thermometer (most use a candy thermometer)
• Peel the 6 Russet Potatoes
• Cut the potatoes into fries
• When the oil is up to temperature carefully (VERY CAREFULLY) add the fries I use a wire thing that I can ease them in without splashing. Oil can splatter, burn and injure you. Be Extremely Careful! If you are unsure how to cook with extremely hot oil don’t.
• Cook the fries in the oil until they start to become cooked. About 6 minutes. What you’ll notice is some of the edges begin to brown.
• Remove the fries from the oil and transfer to a bowl. Some people like to use a paper towel. No thanks. The oil seems to fall to the bottom of the bowl pretty nicely.
• Let the fries begin to cool and drain for a few minutes. Then using a fork or wooden spoon scoot them over to a second clean bowl. 
• You can then set these aside for quick finishing later or do it up now. .. Note: do not cut your potatoes and store without the initial cooking. What happens if you do is that the potatoes dewater and this water causes severe spattering once it hits the hot oil.
• The next step is the higher temperature frying to brown and crisp the outside. You need the high temp to really get the water inside the fries steaming out (If the steam is being pushed out of the fry the oil can’t get in. If the oil can’t get in then you have nice non-soggy fries instead of the limp grease sticks that you could have bought at the fast food place).
• Turn the heat back on and get the oil up to about 400F
• When at temp, CAREFULLY add the fries
• Cook until light brown on the outside (or more if that’s how you like them).
• Remove from the oil and place on a serving plate.
• Sprinkle with sea salt, toss and serve immediately.

 These really aren’t that much trouble to make and you can easily time them with your main course. A great combo is to make some fish & chips. Check out the fish recipe below when you’re ready to take that step.

 Most people feel that natural food is tasteless, boring and say they would rather die a few years earlier than have to such things … When they start pontificating, moaning and groaning just make some Almost Organic French Fries. It will be worth the quiet you’ll get while they’re stuffing them in their mouth.

 If you like this recipe then why not share it? Or go to the upper right and subscribe to get the next post automatically. Here’s some related posts:

Related posts:

• Wikipedia Info on Smoke points of Oils
• Fried Fish Recipe
• Buying Fish

Shopping list:

• 1 Medium Organic Rutabaga
• 2 Medium Organic Yellow Onions 
• 1 Bulb (not clove!) of Organic Garlic
• 3 Medium Organic Carrots
• 1/2 Bunch of Organic Swiss Chard
• 1 Pound of Organic Spinach
• 1/2 Bunch of Organic Collard Greens

 Recipe

• Fill a Large Saucepan 1/3 Full of Spring Water
• Set on a high heat and cover
• Start Washing, Peeling and Chopping the Veggies. Remove all tough stems
• Take the greens and put in a pile on the cutting board
• Using your chef’s knife, cut re-bunch and cut until you have a small-ish pieces
• Chop your other veggies into fairly small pieces as well
• Add your tough to cook veggies first to the now boiling water. This would be the Rutabaga and carrots. Note: BE CAREFUL when adding veggies to boiling water. The water could splash and you could get badly burned!
• Add the other non-greens
• Finally add your greens
• Once the boil has been reachieved cover and cook for about 13 minutes. Cook to your liking. I like the veggies done but not mushy.
• While this is cooking peel and chop your bulb of Garlic. Set aside.
• When the veggies are done pour through a strainer. BE CRAREFUL. No small children underfoot and use some sort of safe hand protection.
• After you poured the veggies through a large strainer
• Add the garlic on top of the veggies
• Using a large metal spoon mix the veggies together. Be Careful not to get a steam burn. When you encounter the greens use some sideways action to try to tear them apart (they tend to get tangled)
• When cool enough to eat put in a serving bowl, sprinkle the top with Feta Cheese, add some Olive Oil and Sea Salt and toss together… Wonderful! Enjoy!
• After goofing-off from eating what you made transfer the rest to a large storage bowl
• Let cool and then place in the frig (covered of course).
• Then when you want a fast veggie fix take out what you need and prep. It’s cool and good in the Summer and come the cold weather just heat up a serving on the stove with a little water before adding the Cheese, Olive Oil and Sea Salt.

 Let’s face it, you’re probably more likely to have your veggies if you cook a bunch ahead of time and dress them up with some Feta, Olive Oil and Sea Salt. And this is less expensive and infinitely better than all those pre-packaged disasters known as convenience dishes “found in your grocer’s frozen food isle”. Give this recipe to your favorite microwave dinner junkie and if they’re trying to loose weight advise them not to use a pound of cheese and a gallon of oil. Worse case is that when you visit you’d have something decent to eat.

 However, one of the challenges of eating this way is making certain you are getting an adequate intake of protein (you need to consult with your nutritionist or doctor before doing this). And this is especially a concern if leading an athletic lifestyle. For instance, I enjoy resistance training using free weights and machines. Getting the proper amount of protein during recovery is essential. 

 One solution to this is to use a protein supplement. I use several but one of the staples is something called Riceotein TM. .. Reading from their label here’s what they say about themselves .. “Riceotein TM is the most complete, great tasting vegetarian protein, high in essential amino acids. It is essential for building lean muscle. It is excellent for hyper-sensitive people that are prone to allergies normally associated with products such as soy, milk, egg, wheat, corn or yeast. Riceotein TM Brown Rice Protein is made using low temperatures and our exclusive certified organic  process.”

 Nutrition: 1 Scoop is 114 calories with 22g protein, 2g fat, 16.8 mg sodium, 0g cholesterol, and 6g carbs. .. We like the excellent levels of protein and the low fat content.

  Certifications: USDA Organic, VEGAN Certified, Non GMO and Third Party Tested Gluten Free TM. All Good.

  Taste: ….(here’s where you hear the sound of screeching brakes) .. In two words.. Not-Good. It seems that the brown rice has a flavor that can’t really be overcome by the vanilla flavor or stevia. And this taste test was of course done bare naked with a scoop of the stuff mixed with spring water. .. So we did a little testing in the spirit of the label that states “Mix 1 scoop in your favorite smoothie, juice, water or food. Can be used to fortify vegetarian meals. Riceotein TM may be added to your cereal, baked goods and fruits or salads. .. ” All the results of food we added this to .. alright..but not great..

 Here’s my take on that… One of the major philosophies of Organic Test Kitchen is that in addition to our food being pure and untainted by chemical residues etc that it should also have knock your socks off with good taste (hey, a calorie is a terrible thing to waste, if you consume one it had better be damn good). .. In the flavor department this stuff is lacking at best. But as an organic protein supplement, this Riceotein TM rocks. .. So what do we do? Well, we resolve this conflict by just sucking it up and making a Riceotein TM drink, maybe dolling it up a bit (we usually add some yogurt to thicken things up/add a tang and to also put in some honey) and just drinking it. It doesn’t taste the best but it’s not that terrible. Then later when I take the time, effort and love to create some awesome tasting food I can really enjoy it. .. Have I tried Riceotein TM in every dish as a fortifier? Absolutely not. .. And I won’t. Given it’s flavor it’s most promising addition taste-wise would probably be in baked goods. But… how would the heat from the oven degrade the protein? Who knows? And one scoop is pretty hefty to be adding to a salad or whatever. .. Nope, for me I’ll just add this to some sort of drink that’s easy and love the fact that I’m getting a pure vegetarian protein without any of the bad stuff. From this perspective I LOVE Riceotein TM.

Related Posts:

• The manufacturer’s (Bio International’s) website for what it’s worth.. News Section with some great organic articles (but cannot find Riceotein there)

 This is West Soy’s brand. One of those beverage products that comes in a box that needs no refrigeration.. And this is nice especially if you’re roughing it with a backpack in the middle of nowhere. It has this plastic tab kind of thing with a foil seal underneath. Just flip back the tab and then peel back the foil and you’re good to go. And after you’ve quaffed your first serving the plastic tab reseals the whole darn thing.

 Nutrition: For a 1 Cup Serving we’re talking 130 calories, 8g protein, No Cholesterol, 3.5g fat and 18g carbs. Not bad. But what about taste? Not too bad.. To be honest I was expecting this to be a total taste disaster. But no. Not bad.. You can taste that Soy-ish taste a bit (you know that subtle flavor of tofu). So ok the taste is acceptable but for me not good enough to want to drink this stuff by the glassful. And this being the case we decided to play around with it a bit.

 The first test was a very basic smoothie. Took four strawberries and quartered them. Tossed them into a blender. Poured a little of the soy milk in. Pulsed it to sort of smooth it out but to still leave some chunks that will give a little flavor zing when you chew them. .. The results.. Awesome. It came out thick, creamy and delicious. Nice!

 The second test was to make some gluten free pancakes. So took out this mix that someone gave me (to poke fun at me for being gluten free) and made some up with this soy milk.. And these were good as well!

So the bottom line we give this product a thumbs up and it’s a recommended buy. .. See you guys in three weeks..(kidding). 

Related Link:

• West Soy’s Soymilk Page