In case you missed it, there was an article in last night’s Ann Arbor News, “Once-a-Week Vegetarianism” that you should check out: http://www.mlive.com/annarbor/stories/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1190731602161520.xml&coll=2

The article described the efforts of Josh Mugele and his daughter, Eleanor, to give up eating meat for one day each week. Eventually their project evolved into ‘Vegetarian Wednesday’ with an associated weblog: http://vegetarian-wednesday.blogspot.com/. The site offers very interesting discussion about the various reasons that folks are trying to move to a more vegetarian diet, as well as some hints and recipes.

Hats off to Josh, who by the way is a UM medical student (where does he find the time!). Eventually we hope to support Josh and Eleanor’s effort to raise awareness of the benefits of eating less meat by selling ‘Vegetarian Wednesday’ t-shirts on our website.

Let us know what you think.

Ellen

Good Morning!

If you didn’t have a chance to read the NYT article last week about Alice Waters and her new book, “The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons and Recipes From a Delicious Revolution” (Clarkson Potter, October) check out the article online: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/dining/19wate.html

Among other things, the article makes brief mention of the Edible Schoolyard project in Berkeley: “Her pioneering Edible Schoolyard project, in which schoolchildren grow their own lunch and teachers use gardens for science lessons and recipes for social studies, is thriving in Berkeley, has been planted in New Orleans and may expand to Pittsburgh and Brooklyn. But in more than a decade the concept has not permeated the nation’s thinking on education.” Well, it has permeated into Ann Arbor.

Ann Arborites should be proud of the local initiative called “The Agrarian Adventure,” online at: http://agrarianadventure.org/index.html . Look over their website and see what the Agrarian Adventure is striving to accomplish.

This organization is working out of Tappan Middle School. They are creating programming in the K-12 public schools that reveals to kids the very fundamental connections between the food they eat, their health, their environment, and their community. Among other activities, this organization helps to run the Tappan Food and Garden Club where the kids, parents and community volunteers maintain an organic garden and greenhouse. It is really quite impressive; take a walk over to the Tappan field and look around.

I am inspired by the wonderful people who volunteer their time and expertise to such a vital program for our kids and our community. I’m committing to volunteer with the Agrarian Adventure and I hope you will consider supporting this organization as well.

Their website isn’t up to date, so be sure to make it a point to volunteer or support the “Agrarian Adventure Harvest Dinner,” Friday, October 12 at 6-8pm. To volunteer or get more information, email: info@agrarianadventure.org

Ellen

Attached below for your interest is the list of ingredients for this weeks meals.

ingredients-for-sept-19-2007.pdf

In response to many requests for smaller portions and mildly seasoned foods, we are now offering new menus adapted for the preferences of kids and seniors. If you know seniors for whom grocery shopping and cooking is a challenge, please let them know about us. We’d be happy to help them out. We welcome your feedback on these new menu items.

Please also note that we are now offering gift certificates. A special meal makes a wonderful ‘Thank you’ or ‘Congratulations’ gift for a special occasion. You can order gift certificates directly from the menu page. Details are available on the FAQ page.

I look forward to seeing you when I make deliveries this Wednesday!

Ellen

Hi folks,

It’s been a long time since I’ve written. August was so busy. Now that school has started we are enjoying the return of our usual routine. I’m looking forward to offering you healthy, quick cooking, meal kits very soon. I’m sure you will enjoy the innovative new menus loaded with bright, tasty foods, especially the new Mediterranean entrees. Look for new side dishes we’ve developed using the bounty of late summer and early fall produce. As always, you can expect the finest quality fresh ingredients with emphasis on local produce and products.

In going through my recipes, I discovered a little treasure that I had forgotten about. Many years ago there was an article in Cooking Light magazine that described simple snack cakes that you can quickly make from scratch in a single bowl. These cakes are so simple to make because you don’t need to cream butter and sugar separately and then mix dry ingredients separately, etc. Using this special recipe, you basically just mix everything together in the specified order and in about 10 minutes your cake is in the oven. Only one bowl and one whisk to clean up. The downside is that they have a pretty high fat and sugar content. I have successfully replaced the eggs with egg substitute. Next I’ll try replacing some of the butter with canola oil or applesauce. If anyone experiments and comes up with a good ‘lite’ modification to the recipe, please send it to the blog so we can all try it.

Though I love to cook, I’m not usually an enthusiastic baker, but there is something about the start of school that always inspires me to bake for my kids. If you’re looking for a quick ‘scratch’ snack cake recipe this is the one for you. I’ve given the chocolate cake recipe below, but the article had several other recipes, that I’d also be happy to share if you’re interested [Blueberry-Pecan Cake; Spicy Molasses Cake; Black and White Cake; Rum Raisen Applesauce Cake; Pineapple Upside Down Cake].

Enjoy a wonderful week,

Ellen

Devil’s Food Cake Excerpted from Cooking Light (p. 104, 2001).

Makes one 8×8 cake

• 2 t all-purpose flour
• 5 T butter
• ½ C Dutch processed cocoa
• 1 C packed dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ t baking soda
• 1 ½ t vanilla extract
• ¼ t salt
• ¾ C all-purpose flour
• ½ C hot water
• 2 t instant coffee granules
• 1 T powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350º degrees.

Coat an 8×8” square glass baking pan with cooking spray, dust the pan with 2 t flour.

Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl. Cover and microwave at HIGH for 1 minute or until butter just melts. Add cocoa, stirring well with a whisk. Add brown sugar, stir well until mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring with the whisk with each addition until smooth. Stir in baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Lightly spoon ¾ C flour into dry measuring cups, leveling with a knife. Gradually add flour to the bowl, stirring just until blended (do NOT over stir). Combine hot water and espresso. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350º for about 25 minutes or until cake tester is clean. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.