FIRST KITCHEN BLOGS

I am like a proud mommy all over again. After 3 months of daily watering, weeding and watching I finally birthed my first tomato harvest! Granted, only one of the two plants that I started off with survived (hail storm in July…) but still, I am happy! The tomatoes are big beefy “mortgage lifter” heirloom tomatoes. Supposedly they got that name when the man who first bred them used the profits to pay off his mortgage…I have a looooong way to go until my gardening is that profitable ;-).

For now I am enjoying the fruits of the harvest, literally. The mortgage lifters are sweet and earthy tasting. Supposedly they are good cooking/roasting tomatoes. Since I had about 10 in my first harvest I decided to eat a few and cook a few so nothing would go to waste.

I made a fresh tomato sauce that is easy to freeze and take out as an alternative to canned sauces. It is a good recipe to make on a Sunday or a day that you don’t have to rush out of the house, as it takes a few hours to simmer. Here’s the scoop:

Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce

Makes about 3-4 cups

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time 2-3 hours

You will need:

5-6 large tomatoes , chopped (I used my heirloom tomatoes but any beefy variety will be fine, could also use double the amount of Roma tomatoes as they are much smaller)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped (*optional…could substitute a number of different vegetables such as green pepper, red pepper, mushrooms, etc)

¼ cup olive oil

1-2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 large handful of fresh basil, stems removed

Directions:

Chop all ingredients, set aside.

In large and deep saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until transparent (~2 minutes). Add zucchini and garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt. Bring ingredients to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and cover. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring every so often. 

After about an hour, add brown sugar and basil (mixture will be more sauce like now as the tomatoes will have cooked down and formed a liquid). Cover and simmer another 1 hour.

Remove

from heat and let cool for ½ hour. Place sauce in Tupperware and put in freezer.

May also use right away with pasta. You could add ground turkey or beef to make a classic meat sauce or pour it over roasted/pan seared chicken as an alternative or eat simply with noodles and parmesan cheese.

That's amore!

So what is the difference between organic and sustainable?

We were a little confused about this. How about you?  We certainly want to buy foods that are healthy and help save our environment so what does this all mean?  We did a little research to try to sort it out. 

In theory, something that is organic should be sustainable, right?   Or sustainable should be organic?  The two are often used in conjunction with one another but they are not necessarily the same.

Here are a few key differences:

 Organic is regulated, but not necessarily small or local.  Organic products are regulated by the USDA and must meet specific guidelines in order to be labeled organic.   It means growing food without the aid of synthetic pesticides, growing livestock without administering antibiotics or hormones.  Organic, however, does not necessarily mean small or locally grown.  Many corporations have jumped on the organic movement by using organic practices because they see the consumer demand for it.  Now organic products can be available anywhere, any time.  For example, we can have citrus or asparagus in cold weather climates in the middle of January.   So while organic maybe healthier for you and environment, mass production and long distance shipping still uses many non-reusable resources.

Sustainable agriculture is local. Sustainable farms by definition are not large-scale mass producers. Sustainable practices use local resources and tend not to move food farther than 200 miles from the site of production- another words, bringing the farmer closer to the consumer. 

 In theory it means using limited resources, minimizing waste and implementing farm practices that lessen the impact on the environment. For example, rather than relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, it means more reliance on methods such as crop rotation, animal manure fertilizers and/or biological controls to manage insects, and weeds.  So while sustainable products may not necessarily be organic, sustainable agriculture is a method of farming that minimizes environmental damage and depletion of resources. 

The moral of the story- stay educated on your food choices and how they are grown or manufactured.  It is our consumer dollar that influences the way in which our food is produced. 

Do you have any comments or questions about organic or sustainable production??  Let us know!