Fresh fruit is even better for you when you’re
not consuming pesticides. Photo courtesy
The Fruit Company.

“Organic” doesn’t simply mean that the food is chemical-free; it’s also produced in ways that are good for the planet. The USDA’s National Organic Program certifies products as organic based on farming, handling, manufacturing, distribution and labeling practices.

 
Some products may be more expensive than conventional foods, but see how you can save money with bulk organic foods.

Here are 10 reasons to eat more organic products—today and every day:

1. Nutrition without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. While no studies have yet proven that organically-grown produce has more vitamins and minerals, we know one thing they don’t have: chemicals.

2. No GMOs. Organic products are governed by the USDA’s National Organic Program. When you buy organic, you’re guaranteed that no genetically modified organisms are in your food. Here’s the scoop about GMOs in food.

3. No antibiotics. Humans consume unwanted antibiotics in conventional meats. Conventional cattle and poultry are shot with antibiotics as a matter of course, so animals in crowded feedlots don’t become ill. Conventional milk is loaded with rBST, recombinant bovine growth hormone, banned by all but three nations. If an animal in an organic herd becomes ill and needs antibiotics, it is removed from the organic herd to a conventional herd.

4. No chemical additives. Organic food is free of colorings, artificial flavorings and chemical preservatives. Natural, organically-certified flavors can be used, as well as natural preservatives such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C, from citrus).

5. No irradiation. Irradiation is used to color foods synthetically. Here’s more about food irradiation.

6. Government inspected. Organic farms and production facilities must be inspected by the USDA at least once a year.

Organic milk is free of antibiotics and hormones. Photo by Rob Waterhouse | SXC.

7. Environmentally friendly. There are no chemical pesticides to not sink into the water table (from which we all drink); the land is farmed sustainably to prevent erosion and other degradation of the soil.

8. Good for animals. Animal welfare is a key component of organic meat production. Here‘s the scoop on organic meat.

9. Good for the climate. Organic production watches its carbon footprint and emits less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that erodes the ozone layer.

10. Better taste. While there are no scientific studies on flavor, most fans agree that the pure taste of nature simply tastes better. Maybe it’s the halo factor of knowing that the food has been produced in ways that are better for us and our planet.

LEARN YOUR ORGANIC FOOD TERMS IN OUR ORGANIC FOODS GLOSSARY.

We made one box too many of pasta last night, thinking our guests would eat as much as we did. Now, what to do with all that leftover pasta?

If it hasn’t been sauced, there’s got lots of flexibility. Whether you have long form pasta (fettuccini, spaghetti, etc.) or short forms (elbows, penne, rigatoni, etc.), you can turn it into a completely different dish.

Leftover pasta is a delicious addition to soup.
Photo courtesy House Foods.

A spaghetti frittata. Photo courtesy
HonestFare.com.

 
WHAT IF THE PASTA IS ALREADY SAUCED?

Instead of simply reheating and serving, look for way to enhance the dish. For example:

 
Do you have a favorite use for leftover pasta? Let us know.
 
SEE ALL THE TYPES OF PASTA IN OUR DELICIOUS PASTA GLOSSARY.

Recently at the breakfast bar at our Whole Foods Market, we had a delicious tofu scramble that was just as satisfying as scrambled eggs—but so much more healthful. So in the name of reduced cholesterol and sustainability of the planet,* we’ve switched. Try it, you’ll like it!

Tofu is made in different firmnesses that suit different recipes—from silky smooth tofu for puddings and mouse to extra firm tofu that keeps its shape in stir frys. Scrambled tofu works best with a medium firmness.

As with omelets and scrambled eggs, you can customize scrambled tofu with your favorite flavors and vegetables. Cumin, curry and tumeric are a popular seasoning mix. Consider garlic, onion powder, and pretty much anything from the spice rack. Any fresh herbs work: Basil, cilantro, dill and/or parsley are our favorites.

You can add as many or as few veggies as you like. Bean sprouts, carrots, mushrooms, onions/green onions, snow peas, spinach, cherry tomatoes or any favorites work. And of course, many people welcome breakfast meats or their vegetarian equivalents.

Scrambled tofu: Yummy! Photo © Bigio | Dreamstime.

RECIPE: TOFU SCRAMBLE

Ingredients For 2 Servings

Turn your tofu scramble into a breakfast
burrito. Photo courtesy OhMyVeggies.com.

Preparation

1. SLICE the tofu into one inch cubes and crumble lightly with a fork or your fingers.

2. SAUTÉ onion, pepper and tofu in oil in a skillet for 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onion and pepper soften. Add the remaining ingredients.

3. REDUCE heat to medium and cook 5-7 more minutes as needed, until tofu is hot. Stir frequently; add more oil as needed.

VARIATIONS

Add your favorite ingredients to customize your tofu scramble. Some ideas for starters:

Cheese and soup are no strangers, from a grated Parmesan garnish on minestrone to a layer of Gruyère in French onion soup.

But soft cheeses have their place as well. Today‘s tip is to consider how to use them in your favorite soups…and beyond.

Fresh cheeses also have a place in salads and other everyday dishes. As you peruse the list below, think of how you can add them to everything from eggs to vegetable dishes.

Depending on the texture, fresh cheeses can be crumbled, diced, sliced, shredded or, in the case of very soft cheeses, scooped/spooned.

A scoop of fresh fromage blanc, flavored with herbs, makes an impressive (adnd delicious!) soup garnish. Photo courtesy BigFoto.com.

WHAT ARE FRESH CHEESES

Fresh cheeses are those that are not aged (some are aged for a very short amount of time) and do not have a rind, which is a result of aging.

Jennifer Meier, an About.com Guide, has grouped fresh cheeses by similarity of texture. When cooking with fresh cheese, you can typically substitute the cheeses in every group for their group-mates. We’ve adapted her groupings (here’s the original article).

GROUP 1: SALTIER FRESH CHEESES WITH A DRIER, CRUMBLY TEXTURE

Queso fresco, ready for soup or salad. Photo
by Claire Freierman | THE NIBBLE.

GROUP 3: MILD, CRUMBLY FRESH CHEESES THAT DO OT MELT

GROUP 4: SOFT, SPREADABLE CHEESES

This group of spoonable, smooth cheeses looks similar to sour cream, and each makes an excellent soup garnish. Some might wonder why they are classified as cheeses. The answer is in the recipe: Production techniques differentiate between what is cheese and what is cream.

GROUP 5: SOFT CURD CHEESES

This last group of fresh cheeses doesn’t work well with soup or salad. But the cheeses are very versatile in other recipes.

 
MORE ABOUT FRESH CHEESES.
 
DISCOVER MORE OF OUR FAVORITE CHEESES IN OUR GOURMET CHEESE SECTION.

While some people are allergic to them, there are enough peanut lovers to make this “nut” (it’s actually a legume) the overwhelming nut of choice in America.

Although peanut butter makes up a large percentage, 67% of American nut consumption comprises peanuts. Almonds are second at 13%, with the remainder filled out by pecans (4%), pistachios and almonds (each 2%) and other tree nuts (12%).

Yet, the grand winner in the nut category is not an actual nut, but a legume—a botanical group that includes alfalfa, beans, carob, clover, lentils, mesquite, peas, soybeans and climbing vines like wisteria.

Peanuts actually grow underground,* as opposed to true nuts, which grow on trees (and in recent times have engendered the differentiating term, “tree nuts”). Tree nuts are packed with protein and other excellent nutrition; legumes, as a group, provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom.

Today’s tip covers ways to use this nutritious nut/legume in cooking.

*As the budding pod begins to enlarge, it grows down away from the plant, into to the soil.

The most common way to eat whole peanuts is as a snack. But add them to your recipes as well. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

TYPES OF PEANUTS

There are four categories of peanuts; if you taste them side-by-side, you’ll notice subtle flavor differences.

 
Peanuts are grown mainly in southeastern U.S., Texas and Oklahoma; New Mexico grows the small crop of Valencia peanuts.

Thai beef salad. Photo by Nathalie Dulex |
Fotolia.

WAYS TO USE PEANUTS

There’s a world of peanut-liciousness beyond peanut butter, which is terrific in baked goods, sauces, and delicious peanut soup (try these peanut soup recipes). Many Asian cuisines add nuts to cooked dishes, from curries to stir frys.

 
We love the Thai Beef Salad recipe below. It’s just one example of how to add peanuts to dishes; serve it as a first course or main course. The recipe makes six first-course servings. Is from The Peanut Institute, which has many more peanut recipes.

Ingredients For Dressing

 
Ingredients For The Salad

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together all the dressing ingredients except peanuts. Stir in peanuts just before mixing with salad.

2. COMBINE the beef, cucumbers, snow peas, bean sprouts, peppers, cabbage and onions with dressing.

3. ARRANGE salad on lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with peanut garnish. Serve.
 

A BRIEF PEANUT HISTORY

Today, peanuts are grown in tropical and subtropical regions around the globe, but they most likely originated in South America. When the Conquistadors returned to Europe from Mexico in the early 1500s, peanuts went with them.

Traders brought peanuts to Asia and Africa, and the versatile legume made its way to North America on sailing ships in the 1700s. Yet, peanuts were not grown extensively in America; harvesting techniques were slow and difficult. Until the Civil War, the peanut was a regional food in the southern U.S. (It’s the “goober” in the famous Civil War song, “Eating Goober Peas”; and why Nestlé calls its chocolate-covered peanuts Goobers.)

After the Civil War, the demand for peanuts increased rapidly. According to PeanutsUSA.com, by the end of the 19th century, the development of equipment for production, harvesting and shelling peanuts, as well as processing techniques, led to the expansion of the peanut industry. Twentieth century labor-saving equipment resulted in a rapid demand for peanut oil, roasted and salted peanuts, peanut butter and confections.

Soba noodles typically are served on a flat
plate like pasta; but here, it’s swirled into a
stylish dome. Photo © Lulu Durand | IST.

Unless you live in an area with good Japanese restaurants, it may be difficult to find a dish of soba noodles. But if you check in a natural foods market or online, you should be able to pick some up and cook your own.

Soba dishes are appealing party fare, from bowls of noodle soup meant to be slurped with gusto, to a mix-your-own cold soba noodle salad with four, six or more optional ingredients with which to customize one’s dish.

Soba is the Japanese word for buckwheat; the thin noodles are made from buckwheat flour. As with all pasta, soba noodles can be served warm or chilled (think cold sesame noodles and pasta salad). Here are some popular recipes:

HOT SOBA NOODLE DISHES

 
COLD SOBA NOODLE DISHES

 
Soba salad, cold soba mixed with vegetables and sesame oil-soy sauce dressing is a contemporary fusion concept served outside Japan. House Foods, makers of premium tofu and organic tofu, has provided the recipe below, which uses traditional Japanese ingredients.

But you can extend the fusion with western ingredients: hard-cooked egg, julienned ham and cheese, strips of roast pork or poultry, leeks or red onions instead of green onions, sliced red radishes…anything goes.

In fact, one conceit for a soba noodles party is to have each guest bring a creative ingredient to mix in.

RECIPE: SOBA NOODLE SALAD WITH TOFU

Add optional asparagus and/or snow peas, diagonally cut, for another dimension of flavor. Adjust the ingredients to suit your taste. For example, we prefer more red bell pepper and green onions on the salad, and less sugar in the dressing.

This recipe serves 6.

Ingredients

 
For The Dressing

Uncooked soba (buckwheat) noodles. Photo © Maria Lapsha | Fotolia.

Preparation

1. TOAST sesame seeds: Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add sesame seeds; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant. Immediately remove seeds from hot pan to avoid over-toasting.

2. COOK noodles in a large pot, following package directions. Drain and rinse well under cold water. Set aside and refrigerate.

3. SPRAY oil on a nonstick pan and grill tofu. Set aside and refrigerate.

4. WHISK together the dressing ingredients.

5. TOSS together noodles, cucumber, red bell pepper and optional asparagus and/or snow peas.

6. Add tofu strips and mix well.
 
 
RELATED RECIPE

Try this recipe with conventional wheat noodles: Japanese somen noodles with dipping sauce.

Toss asparagus into everyday favorites, from
eggs to pasta and rice. Photo courtesy
California Asparagus Commission.

Low in calories, delicious, and as inexpensive as they’re going to get: This is the season to have as much asparagus as you desire. Incorporate them into everyday dishes such as eggs and pasta, or make something more special-occasion like risotto. Steam them for a snack. Whatever you do, cook them al dente rather than soft.

Adding asparagus to a recipe is easy: Just grill, sauté, steam or stir-fry the spears.

For pasta and risotto: For a seasonally exciting change, cut asparagus into bite-size pieces, sauté or steam and mix into cooked pasta, risotto or plain rice. You can use the pasta sauce of your choice, or simply toss with good olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. For more complexity, combine asparagus with mushrooms and/or other green vegetables, including broad beans, broccoli, green beans, spinach and spring peas.

For eggs: Mix al dente cooked and cut spears into omelets or scrambled eggs, or add whole spears to Eggs Benedict, between the Canadian bacon and the eggs.

For salad: Add asparagus to your favorite salad recipe, or create a composed salad of asparagus, beets, hard-cooked eggs, mozzarella and any other appealing ingredients.

Grill or steam asparagus and braid them with strips of smoked salmon or prosciutto: a stunning first course. Photo courtesy Payard | New York City.

 
ASPARAGUS TIP

The thickness and size of the spear has nothing to do with the tenderness of the asparagus. Tenderness is a function of how the plant was grown and how fresh it is—the longer the time since harvest, the less tender.

However, the bottom of the stalk, where it is cut from the ground, is tough. It should be removed before cooking.
  

Turn stale donuts into a trifle. Photo courtesy
MonutsDonuts.com.

What happens when you find yourself with a dozen stale donuts? We received two large boxes and forgot to freeze the leftovers. When we returned to them two days later, they were stale.

Smart money might say: through them out or feed them to the birds. We thought: How many ways can we repurpose these donuts?

First: If the donuts are not rock-hard, there are ways to revive them. The first is 20 seconds in the microwave; the second is to place two slices of white bread in a plastic bag with the donuts for several hours or overnight. The moisture from the bread will transfer to the donuts. The dried bread that results can be turned into bread crumbs, croutons or toast.

Or, turn your stale donuts into a different recipe entirely. Here are some suggestions for starters:

A Monte Cristo sandwich on a donut: Swiss cheese and prosciutto (but any ham an cheese will do). Photo courtesy ThatsSoMichelle.com.

 
There are other options we passed by, such as deep-frying the donuts and grinding them into flour for brownie batter. But don’t let that stop you.

Today’s tip is to try Asian pears. But don’t expect a creamy European pear texture or even a juicy apple texture, from the fruit that is also known as “apple pear” and “Korean pear,” among other names.*

“Asian pear” is the generic name for more than 25 different varieties† that originated in Asia. In ancient times the fruit was cultivated in what are now China, Japan and Korea.

Asian pear is not a cross between apples and pears, as a name like “apple pear” suggests. That name was conferred because its shape and crisp texture are reminiscent of some varieties of apples. Don’t expect any apple flavor, either: The Asian pear is a true pear, of the genus Pyrus.

Asian pears. Photo courtesy Baldor Foods.

Although the outside appearance of each variety will differ, all Asian pears are crunchy and moderately sweet. Thought to have originally come to the U.S. via Chinese immigrants, Asian pears are now grown in California, Oregon and Washington, in addition to orchards worldwide.† Some of the most popular varieties grown in the U.S. include Hosui (Golden Russet Brown), Kosui (Golden Russet), Nijiseiki or Twentieth Century (Yellow-Green), Shinseiki (Yellow) and Shinsui (Russet Brown).

*Names include apple pear, Asian pear, bae (Korean), Japanese pear, Korean pear, li (Chinese), nashi (Japanese; also nashi pear, nashipati or nashpati), sand pear and Taiwan pear. Asian pears are cultivated throughout East Asia, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

†The species include Pyrus pyrifolia, Pyrus ussuriensis, P. × bretschneideri, P. × sinkiangensis and P. pashia. Unlike the creamy flesh of Western pear varieties,

Asian pear varieties grown in the U.S. often
have a yellow-brown hue with a tinge of
green. Photo courtesy The Fruit Company.

Chilled or cooked, Asian pears can add interest to any meal. The Asian pear is not baked into pies or made into chutney because it has a high water content and a signature grainy texture. It is commonly served raw and peeled, but we also enjoy them:

 
THE HISTORY OF PEARS

The pear genus is believed to have originated in present-day western China, in the foothills of the Tian Shan mountain range. It evolved into a diverse group of more than 20 widely primary species in Asia, and spread along mountain ranges in prehistoric times to the Middle East and then to Europe.

There is firm evidence of prehistoric cultivation of pear trees in the Stone Age (beginning around 9500 B.C.E.), the period that begins with the rise of farming with stone tools and ending when metal tools engendered the Bronze Age (approximately 3500 B.C.E. to 2000 B.C.E.).

As far back as 5000 B.C.E., Feng Li, a Chinese diplomat, became engrossed in grafting pears and other fruits as a commercial venture and switched careers.

Early colonists brought the first pear trees to America’s eastern settlements, where they thrived until crop blights proved too severe to sustain widespread cultivation. Fortunately, the pear trees brought west to Oregon and Washington by pioneers in the 1800s thrived in the unique agricultural conditions found in the Pacific Northwest.

Here‘s more on the history of pears from the Pear Bureau Northwest.

Sashimi tacos at Haru restaurant in New York
City. Photo courtesy Haru.

Given our love of fusion food, we were delighted to discover these sashimi tacos at Haru restaurant in New York City.

You can make them full size or in miniature for appetizers and hors d’oeuvre. At Haru, the sashimi tacos are available in:

 
Of course, you can make “California roll” tacos with avocado, cucumber and crab stick or your other favorite sashimi.

We made delicious tacos with bay scallops and seaweed salad. With a standard taco size, some “salad” helps to fill out the base. If you can’t find seaweed salad, a mix of shredded daikon and carrot is equally delicious; and shredded lettuce always works!

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BUY sushi-quality fish and dice into 1/4″ to 1/2″ cubes.

2. MOISTEN/TOSS with sesame oil, rice vinegar and a bit of wasabi powder. Taste and add soy sauce if the mixture needs a hit of salt.

3. PREPARE and fill taco shells. Here’s how Guy Fieri makes shells from wonton wrappers for his tuna taco recipe.

4. GARNISH as desired.

 
DO YOU KNOW YOUR SASHIMI?

Check out the different types of sashimi in our Sushi & Sashimi Glossary.