Meal Planning Monday and some Hot Links—8/4/08

Saw the movie King Corn over the weekend. Have you seen it?  I knew that corn syrup was bad and that corn was bad for cows, but this just puts it all into perspective. We probably have fast food a couple of times a month but I'm rethinking even that. It's also interesting to see the movie now that gas and food prices are skyrocketing. The best part about watching the movie is that I think it finally won over J. to my way of thinking about what we eat.  He came with us to the farmer's market on Sunday even though it was his birthday.

Speaking of meals, I wrote about greening school lunches for my Normal Green column over at Tonic Gen today. Please check it out—I included some cute bento pictures to entice you. I'd love to hear your comments about what you do to pack eco-friendly lunches for your kids.

Also, check out Jr. Chefs of America. It's a cooking show by kids for kids who are standing up for good food. This is so right up my alley it's not even funny.

Take a peek at more Stuff People Send Me.

Now that that's out of the way, here's what I've got on deck this week:

THe [*] indicates locally grown or sourced items.

• Monday—Caldo de Pollo (Mexican Chicken Soup, except today it's made with turkey*). We'll add hunks of corn on the cob*, fingerling potatoes*, cilantro*, tomatoes*, and lime to our bowls of soup.
• Tuesday—Barbecue Chicken* (leftovers), baked beans, salad* (we've been eating our backyard cherry tomatoes and cucumbers in our salads...yummy!)
• Wednesday—Grilled blue cheese* and tart apple sandwiches* and Cream of Cauliflower* Soup
• Thursday—Pasta with broccoli*, garlic* and anchovies, salad*
• Friday—(Family Movie Night) Take-out, something vegetarian
• Saturday—Dinner out
• Sunday—Grass-fed beef* meatloaf, rice**, green beans

What are you cooking this week? And, if you do family movie or game night, what do you like to cook?

**Everyone asks me about where I get local rice. I live in Northern California and we are lucky that Lundberg, a large producer of all kinds of organic rice, grows and packages their rice and rice products here.

Comments

[Asianmommy.com]

We're traveling this week, so I won't be cooking. Yay!

[jenifer]

i love lundberg rice! and if i remember, you buy miltons bread too? we are heading down to sel mar to try out there restaurant next month!

[Mary]

King Corn! I went to the Mountain School where the makers of King Corn went back in high school. You should look into the Mountain School when your kids reach high-school age because it is the kind of thing they'd love. Basically it's an academically rigorous semester program for high school juniors located on an organic farm in Vershire, Vermont. In addition to attending classes, students do approximately 4 hours of farm chores per day and grow most of the food that they eat. They also take care of the animals and all of the meat comes from the farm. In addition, we gathered eggs daily from the chickens, made cider in the fall, and produced maple syrup in our sugar shack in March. We also assisted in animal births during lambing/calving season. There are only 45 students (but there are 18 faculty members) and the class sizes are no higher than 9. The teachers emphasize hands-on learning and more often than not classes were taught in the woods (Mending Wall took on a whole new meaning when I had to try and rebuild a tumbled-down stone wall). Anyway, it was an amazing program with amazing food and great experiences. Oh, and did I mention that Ruth Reichl's son and Alice Water's daughter both went there too?
Check it out!
http://www.mountainschool.org/
P.S. sorry for the mini-essay, but it really is a fantastic place :-)

[mothergoosemouse]

Haven't seen it, but it sounds fascinating. Have you read Fat Land? Interesting discussion of food prices, the corn crop and corn syrup.

[Lisa]

Nice menu. I really like the variety. Usually for family movie night, we grill pizza, which is the closest I can get to the paper thin crust we love (I'm from the east coast). But when I've got the time and am feeling ambitious, we tie the food to the movie: homemade egg rolls for Mulan; moroccan chickpea stew for The Lion King; sushi for Kiki's Delivery Service--you get the idea. It's been a great way to talk about food & culture. The African Stew was probably the sleeper hit of the year.

[kp]

I also pack bento lunches for my kids. I was slightly horrified visiting my childs school around lunch time and seeing that all the kids were served lunches in disposable styrofoam containers. It was so unnecessary and wasteful. I am now obesessed with packing cute bento lunches for both of them, and they love it!

[Stefania/CityMama]

Lisa, I love that you theme the meal to the movie. Great idea!

[Karen]

we are so winging it this week...

our Lebanese mezze was a hit so we did it again on Sunday. Tonight is something with chicken. Wednesday is khoreshte kadu (Persian stew with zucchini). Thursday is looking like kaarage and that's as far as I've gotten. Friday is our Family Night and the girls usually help me make pizza. We've been experimenting with making a super thin crust. I think this week we will try your fresh-made tomato sauce.

[Dayna]

Viva la revolution!
...And everyone's pocketbook. Isn't it great how movies like that, books like Omnivore's Dilemma, and posts like this open an eye or two? Hurray!

[Karen]

Speaking of greening school lunches - have you heard of Children's Choice school lunches? We just got a flyer from my daughter's school. I plan on packing her lunches but this is a nice alternative - compostable meal trays, local organic produce, rBST-free milk, hormone-free meat and a healthy snack choice. The website says they provide lunches to Bay Area schools. www.ChoiceLunch.com Wouldn't be great if more schools utilized vendors like this one?