Today was family day. We were woken up by the clucking of the chicken "Princess" who returned back to us after she left us for the night. What a rebellious chicken. Hangs out during the day, gets fed and hits the town at dusk. Well, we decided to buy some more food for the chicken but if she is not going to lay at least one egg, we are going to go separate ways. I think having a chicken around both of us realized that it really might be a fun idea to have some chickens. Not yet but one day.
We went to the Farmer's market mainly to go out and enjoy the weather. Today we tasted some different local wines and learned from a winemaker that he is in the process of turning his vineyard into an organic vineyard. We had a really interesting conversation and since we have been doing some research, we actually understood what it takes for a winemaker to make such changes. Such as planting peas, as a natural weedkiller. Peas have the ability to fight weeds, I just read about it few weeks ago. It also takes at least 3 years for winemakers to be pesticide free in order to be called "organic". We tasted the wine and really liked it. We located it later that day at Co-op and the price was decent. The wine is called, Snake River Winery. Not sure if it was the actual winemaker at the Farmer's Market but he was a really friendly and humble guy. Can't wait to buy a bottle or two.
"On the slope of a valley carved by the majestic Snake River, sits the Arena Valley Vineyard. Southwestern Idaho's ancient riverbeds provide the unique cobbled soil that allows us to grow a diverse range of grape varietals."
We moved on to another wine stand and I don't remember the name of the wine, but I remember the taste and it was probably one of the worst wines I have ever tasted. Maybe a good thing I don't remember the name.
The third stand we stopped by was the Three Horse Ranch wine stand. I did a little research on organic wine last week, recommended by a friend Greg Likins. While doing my research I came across an organic winemaker namely the Three Horse Ranch, I have seen their wine in organic stores before but never really had interest in organic wine. Their website is very detailed and has a lot of great information about sulfates and organic grapes. I learned a lot from their website, if you want to learn about organic wine go to their website they have a section about the "Going Organic". Therefore I was even more excited to chat a little with the lady at the stand. I tried their Riesling and ....wow! Wonderful taste and quality wine. So, we decided to buy a bottle at the Co-op wine store. Today they had a wine tasting at Co-op as well and sponsored French wines. Tonight for dinner we opened the Riesling and both liked it very much. We both enjoy wine and like to drink in with dinner and special occasions, we will not buy ONLY organic wine but will def. buy more of the Three Horse Ranch. This calls for a visit to their vineyard.
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| Three Horse Ranch Riesling |
Today I would like to do our first review of a restaurant mentioned in a previous blog. We went to the Boise Fry Company.
In an effort to make our entire process green, natural, sustainable, insert other environmental buzzword, we use all natural, local, and whenever feasible, organic products. We produce little to no waste. We use Energy Star appliances and lights. We recycle our peanut oil in cars. We’re just trying our best to make as little impact on your cholesterol and our planet as possible.
The place is very small and has a tiny patio. It reminds me of a small, hip, fast food restaurant. They server burgers (vegetarian, beef and bison burgers) and a side of fries. When I asked the guy who took our order, if their beef is organic or hormone-free he said they are NOT, and he suggested the Bison burger. So, we ordered two bison burgers. Bison meet was interesting and well seasoned and pretty good. You can def. tell that it is not beef, it tastes a little different but really good. The burger toppings looked very good and fresh. We ordered yam fries as a side dish and I was excited to try their exotic sauces.
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We paid $7.49 for a Bison burger and a large portion of yam fries for $4.79. I feel it was a little bit overpriced, it was def. worth the visit but for about $20 we probably would had a much healthier lunch. It was worth to try Bison (wrongly called Buffalo by a lot of people here in the US). Their sauces are interesting but 50% off them tasted just like mayo. Our favorite was pear, thai and spicy fry sauce. The blueberry ketchup I was the most excited about turned out to be just plain and not so exotic at all. The staff was friendly and it was pretty busy and a little too small, we got lucky and were able to get a table on their patio.
Later that night we might some puff pastries. We still had some frozen phyllo dough left over from last week (we made Greek puff pastries with feta & spinach last week). Some of you who know me know HOW much I love sloppy joes, now that we are eating organic - sloppy joes is not an option for me anymore. I do miss it a lot. Therefore I decided to make my own organic sloppy joes.
We purchased natural frozen turkey few weeks ago. I added organic onions, zucchini, tomatoes and organic pasta sauce. After it was all nice and done, I added plenty of organic ketchup (yes, Heinz makes organic ketchup and it is just about $2.40 for a smaller bottle it's smaller than other ketchup bottles but plenty for us, available at WINCO) I am impressed...It turned out to be soo good and I don't think one can tell the difference between the original Manwich Sloppy Joes and my organic turkey version.
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| Organic turkey Sloppy Joes with cheese |
We had a little bit left over today and decided
to put it into our puff pastries.
The pastries are also natural/organic. Made from organic onions, natural Tillamook cheese, organic tomatoes, organic spinach. All the ingrdients are put together in a blender and put on the phyllo dough. Add a little bit of sloppy joes, choose to put my organic sloppy joes version to keep it mostly organic and natural. This dinner cost us about $3-$4 total. (For the entire family). Amelie has been eating all her food without a fuss. I don't know if it has anything to do with the organic food or that she is slowly becoming a better eater. I must say it does taste a lot better.
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| Organic Puff Pastries with spinach, cheese and sloppy joes |
Today we went to the grocery store and wanted to buy some grains for our guest chicken and on the way to the store, just in front of the entrance we found $40 on the ground. I felt bad for the person who lost it, because I know how tight money is, but where does anyone return money to? We went and bought tons of organic food at Winco. We bought organic cereal, natural snacks and cookies from Kashi, dressing, organic bread, soup...I don't remember all but I was surprised how many organic items Winco carries. What an eventful day! I don't think I have ever found money before and it came in really handy.
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