Clean Cooking

for the

Holidays

Thanksgiving & why we celebrate it

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2024 occurs on Thursday, November 28. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.

For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. But the holiday is not without controversy. Many Americans—including people of Native American ancestry—believe Thanksgiving celebrations mask the true history of oppression and bloodshed that underlies the relationship between European settlers and Native Americans.

Growing
Organic & Natural
Foods

Whether you’re an avid gardener or just starting out, the idea of creating a garden using organic methods can seem overwhelming at first. But organic gardening is less daunting than you may think if you understand some basic principles; it’s about creating a more holistic, natural ecosystem and can be done right in your own backyard.

What distinguishes an organic garden from any other is the absence of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Synthetic chemical pesticides come from petroleum and other chemical sources while most organic pesticides are derived from plant, animal, microorganism, and mineral sources.

According to Mathieu Ngouajio, national program leader for organic agriculture at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), a successful garden begins with healthy soil texture and structure. Well-draining soil comprised of sand, silt, clay, and compost amendment is ideal. However, most backyards have a ratio that leans heavily to one side. Ideally, soil should have 50 percent pore space and 50 percent solid particles. To achieve this ratio, compost can be worked into the soil. The best garden soils have a loose, crumb-like structure that water, air, and plant roots can easily penetrate.

Soil fertility is the third component of healthy soil. The amount of nutrients in the soil, its texture, organic matter, and pH (the measure of alkaline), can all influence the fertility of soil. Organic gardeners often build the natural fertility by adding organic matter to preserve and improve soil structure and modify the soil’s pH balance.

An issue all gardeners face is unwanted pests. While some gardeners may turn to synthetic pesticides to tackle the issue, Ngouajio said that organic gardeners take a different approach—integrated pest management (IPM)—which combines biological, cultural, physical, and chemical strategies to control pests. IPM involves using the least environmentally harmful methods first and only using toxic methods as a last resort.

IPM methods include using pest and disease resistant varieties of crops, rotating crops each year, cleaning tools, covering plants, and introducing predator organisms.

Weeds are another nuisance for gardeners. Natural remedies for eradicating weeds include pulling them out, smothering them with mulch, introducing plants that grow faster and stronger than weeds, and burning them using a weed flamer.

Source: USDA

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORGANIC AND NATURAL

When given the option, how do you prefer to shop for your foods? Do you go organic? What about natural?

For a consumer, foods labeled “organic” and “natural” are advertised in a way to seem synonymous, when they’re not. Read on for the meanings behind these labels, as well as what you can look for to stay healthy while strolling the grocery aisles or at your local market.

What Does it Mean when Food is Organic?

The term “organic” has to do with how agricultural products – grains, vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy – are grown and processed.

According to the MAYO clinic article on Nutrition and Healthy Eating, organic farming centers around natural materials and practices. This includes using mulch to control weeds or compost to enhance soil quality, to name a few. Organic farming also involves healthy living conditions for livestock. Animals must have access to the outdoors, be fed an organic diet, and receive shots for protection against disease.

Organic farmers do not use hazardous treatments like sewage sludge or artificial substances for fertilizer, irradiation to preserve foods, genetic technology to alter crops, or growth hormones for livestock.

Beyond the nutrients cultivated in organic products, organic farming encourages self-sustaining resources. This establishes healthy soil for generations to come.

Organic Labeling

Products can sport an organic seal after passing through a strictly regulated federal certification program. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sets the standard for how organic food is grown and processed. Depending on where you live in the world, your foods likely go through a similar certification procedure.

Universally, there are a few ways a product can qualify as organic, but it takes a lot to be able to brandish the seal of certification. Let’s look to the Canadian Organic Standards for an example:

Products that contain over 95 percent organic ingredients may use the claim “organic” and bear the organic logo.
Products that contain 70 to 95+ percent organic ingredients may specify the percentage of organic ingredients, however, these products may not use the organic logo nor the claim
“organic.”
Any products that contain less than 70 percent organic ingredients may only identify organic ingredients in the list of ingredients. They are not permitted to use the organic seal nor the
claims “organic” or “contains X percent organic ingredients.”

At Nature’s Path, we are always organic. Our brands only use certified organic ingredients permitted by the National Organic Standards, a Federal Advisory Board established by the Organic Foods Production Act. Our products were the first USDA certified organic cereals available and we won’t stop advocating for improved organic standards and systems, like Regenerative Organic agriculture.

What Does it Mean when Food is Natural?

Foods labeled “natural” are different than those that are certified organic. As stated by the FDA, natural typically means that the product does not contain artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.

Know that the label natural has nothing to do with the materials or practices in place for growing and processing the product. In other words, a product advertising natural as their primary labeling is vague – you have no insight on how the product was tended to or how the animals were raised.

Source: Nature's Path

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Harvesting Clean

Foods

Tips on How to Harvest Your Vegetables in the Garden

The word “harvest” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon haerfest (“autumn”), though the season goes all summer and fall in the United States. The annual rush of vegetable abundance begins, with tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, and all the rest pouring from the gardens in a triumphant cascade, as when the winning wheels click into place on a nickel slot machine.

5 Tips on When to Harvest

Harvest in the early morning after the dew dries. This is when vegetables are at their juiciest and most flavorful. Produce will keep longer and not become limp from heat; this especially applies to leafy greens like lettuce and chard and herbs such as parsley and basil. It also applies to crisp fruiting vegetables like peas, anything in the cabbage family, broccoli, and radishes.
Once a crop starts producing, check the garden every day! Zucchini can grow from 2 inches to 2 feet very quickly, and you want to pick them at 6 to 8 inches. Beans do not wait for anyone. If you don’t keep picking beans once they get started, they’ll simply slow down. Or, if you let those cucumbers grow as big as baseball bats, the plant will assume that its reproductive period is over.
Bigger is NOT usually better. This is a common novice mistake. Big beets, beans, or okra pods will only taste tough and woody; big radishes will turn into balls of indigestible fiber.
Be gentle when you pick. Never yank fruit or vegetables. Stems and branches are easily broken, inviting disease. Use two hands to pick; hold the stem in one hand and pick with the other. If the crop is ripe but doesn’t easily pull by hand (such as eggplant), use scissors, pruners, or a knife.
Not all fruits and vegetables ripen the same way. Pears are picked when they are still hard! Watermelons, squash, and cucumbers must be fully developed before being picked. Tomatoes, apples, and peaches can ripen on or off the vine.

If you’re growing your own, you have a major advantage over grocery store produce because they often need to pick well before the vegetable has reached peak flavor and nutrition.

Source: Almanac

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Plates TOGO

5 Tips of Quick & Easy Holiday TOGO Plates

You grew organic and natural clean foods. You even managed to find organically grown meats. And you made a clean and healthy meal for your loved ones for the Holidays! It was a smash hit: absolutely delicious. They would just love to take a plate home. Follow these quick and easy Tips for making your TOGO Plates.

5 Tips for your To GO Plates

Pack your TOGO Plates into Recyclable and or Reusable containers.
Remember Napkins & Utensils.
Remember TO GO Bags.
Consider allowing your guest to make their own TO GO Plates so that you do not pack foods they won't eat and will waste.
Include a gift of Organic Seeds so they can grow thier own Clean Foods.

Fitness & Exercise for the New Year

Storing & Preserving

Leftover

All good things must come to an end, including the holidays. But leftovers from your holiday celebrations can help stretch out your holiday cheer.

When the party is over and you’re cleaning up, it’s important to assess the safety of the foods that are leftover. If perishable foods (meat, poultry, cooked foods, cheese, cut up fruits and vegetables) were out for more than two hours, they should be discarded. If you kept hot foods hot (above 140°F), with chafing dishes, warming trays or slow cookers you will want to refrigerate any leftovers right away. Perishable foods that were not out for more than two hours, or that were kept on ice also can be saved.

Prompt storage can prevent pathogenic bacteria that cause foodborne illness from growing in your leftovers. These bacteria have no odor and can’t be tasted or seen.

Leftovers should be stored in shallow pans or containers so that they cool down quickly. The quicker your leftovers cool, the less time they spend in the “Danger Zone” (40–140°F). Most leftovers will keep for about four days in your refrigerator.

As you are putting food away, ask yourself if you can finish the leftovers in 4 days. If not, go ahead and package them for the freezer. Most cooked foods will keep their best quality for 2-4 months in the freezer. To protect your foods from the drying effects of the freezer, package them in heavy duty plastic containers, freezer bags, aluminum foil or freezer paper.

Source: USDA

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Leftover Recipe FAVS

BACK to Clean Cooking & Eating

37 Leftover Turkey Recipes

While turkey breasts are great for small gatherings, we think it’s worth roasting a whole Thanksgiving turkey just to make these leftover turkey recipes. Cooked turkey lasts for a few days in the fridge or a few months in the freezer, which means you can have a towering sandwich stuffed with bacon and blue cheese and a cozy bowl of turkey posole. Build some epic post-Thanksgiving nachos and treat your family to shepherd’s pie. If you’re not sure what to do with leftover turkey beyond simmering some really good stock, scroll down to make a plan. Below you’ll find all of our best leftover turkey recipes so you can give that extra meat the second life it deserves.

Leftover-Turkey Melts

Maybe you’re thinking you don’t really need a recipe for a turkey sandwich. But this is no average assembly of leftovers and bread. Inspired by the tuna melt, it boasts punchy alliums and briny pickled peppers, plus the requisite molten American cheese. Begin your weekend’s journey into turkey leftover recipes with this one.

Clean Cooking

for the

Holidays

Growing Organic & Natural Foods

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORGANIC AND NATURAL

What Does it Mean when Food is Organic?

Organic Labeling

What Does it Mean when Food is Natural?

Harvesting Clean

Foods

Tips on How to Harvest Your Vegetables in the Garden

Organic & Natural Desserts &

Your MENU

Plates TOGO

5 Tips of Quick & Easy Holiday TOGO Plates

Storing & Preserving

Leftover

Leftover Recipe FAVS

37 Leftover Turkey Recipes

Pancit Sotanghon

Spicy Cabbage Salad With Turkey and Peanuts

Grilled Turkey Cuban Sandwiches

Turkey Panino With Cranberry Sauce

Dark Meat Turkey Chili

Grilled Turkey, Bacon, Radicchio, and Blue Cheese Sandwiches

Barbecue Turkey Sandwich

Turkey Posole

Cheesegiving

Turkey Salad With Cabbage and Herbs

Turkey Club With Fried Stuffing

Turkey Torta

Day-After Turkey Stock

Barbecue Pulled-Turkey Sandwiches

Gravy Mayo

Growing
Organic & Natural
Foods