If you've seen Food Inc., you've undoubtedly seen a few scenes with one of America's most well-known farmers (at least nowadays), Joel Salatin. Joel is a revolutionary farmer in so much as he has stuck with more traditional methods of raising and growing food. While he's applied a few basic modern tools (such as low-power electric fences) most of what he does on the farm has been passed down to him by his father. I've seen a few videos of him talking now, and he's so passionate about his quest for better food and accountability in the ...

So, this is actually a timely story, given my recent efforts to purchase more local food. The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control has recently shut down a local Chilliwack company that produces raw (i.e. unpasteurized) milk due to contamination with faecal matter. I won't argue whether or not that faecal matter is of concern, since I don't know the levels that were found or how they relate. The owner of the business is obviously upset with the government interference: But Home on the Range owner Alice Jongerden said the health agency has never contacted them with concerns, or ...

I said the other day that I wasn't going to make any New Year's resolutions, and for the most part that's true. One thing I'd like to do this year though is to try and eat as healthy as possible. For starters, I gave up soft drinks the other day completely. I'm sure I'll still have a rum and diet coke from time to time, since it's been my drink of choice for around 12 years now, but I'm going to try not to drink any type of carbonated beverages around home for the most part if ...

Now that I have a blender, I've been experimenting with a few variations of a low-carb protein shake at home. My best iteration so far is a chocolate and banana flavoured protein shake. Here's how to make it: 125 ml of normal or unsweetened soy milk 6 ice cubes 2 tablespoons of whey protein isolate 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder 1 cap-full of banana extract 3/4 of a teaspoon of stevia sweetener 1/4 teaspoon of Xanthan gum Put all of that in a blender and chop/mix it all up. It's actually pretty tasty. Nutritional info: 227 calories, 6.8g ...

Today was an odd day. It was the first day back to work in about two weeks now, which in itself was a lot of fun, given what we have on our plate. Prior to that though I had to go a few tests down at Chilliwack General Hospital as a final follow-up to all that garbage I went through with my c. diff. infection years ago. Thankfully everything checked out ok, and I think I can finally put that whole health saga finally behind me. That said, I got nothing but sympathy for anyone who ...

I've been reading a lot of food/cooking related books lately. No real reason, just haven't had too much else around to read. I actually stumbled across an 1,100 page culinary manual on the internet a while ago, and have slowly been absorbing it. In addition, I've been passively thumbing through various cookbooks I have around the house looking for dishes to try making over the next few months. Last night I made myself a little roasted chicken for thanksgiving and watched a few movies by the fire. After the chicken was done, I decided to make my ...

A few months ago I picked up a pretty cool cook-book called the Low-Carb Gourmet. It was written by a Vancouver chef, and most of the recipes in it came about from some professional recipes used in some local Vancouver restaurants. I haven't had a pile of time to create many recipes from it yet, but one of the ones I have used a few times is a really great recipe for Flaxseed muffins. I can't really say that I'd eaten a lot of flaxseed in my life prior to making these, so first thing I did ...

The kids and I cooked up a beer-can chicken on the weekend, and it was pretty awesome. Whenever I cook chicken though, I always think of the swedish chef from the muppets.

I'm interrupting my photo entries for a quick post about my home garden. As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided the other day that I wanted to try growing a few things on my patio. I used to help my grandma with her garden when I was a kid, and I have fond memories out in the back of her house playing in the dirt. My patio in Chilliwack is about twice the size as my patio was in Vancouver, so I'm definitely sure I have the room now to grow a few vegetables. ...

I was thinking about setting up a little garden on my patio. Obviously, I don't really have a lot of room out there, so growing things like potatoes are out of the question (not that I'd grow potatoes or anything). I could grow some herbs maybe I guess, but I'm not really sure when they grow best. I'm also thinking about putting a little compost bin outside so I can make some healthy soil for all my plants here. Any thoughts?