Natural Recipes and Organic Food

Last night I had the most wonderful meal. I dined on all natural, locally grown organic Vadalia onions, caramelized and set atop organic black eyed peas with fresh garlic. To accompany, there was some organic brown rice lightly seasoned with black peppercorn and a serving of organic swiss chard, gently misted with liquid aminos.

I enjoy eating healthy local organic foods but eating this way hasn’t always been easy. A time not to long ago pretty much everything I ate was conventional grown, full of pesticides and full who knows what else chemicals. Every time I sat down to eat I would wonder, “what am I really eating here?” Particularly with the genetic modifications that have been happening over the past few decades. When I eat a tomato, I want to eat a tomato not half of an Alaskan salmon, one one forth watermelon with a dash of actual tomato. All this so vegetables can grow bigger in colder areas.

It wasn’t to long ago that eating a simple meal like this was actually hard to find. Now that said, its true I could have found all of those ingredients at my local grocer. However, getting organic foods and local crops where pretty much out of the picture. That is, unless you grew them yourself. And I’ll tell you what, if you are a busy person like me who has the time for gardening and a general sense of natural living.

Well, as of the past few years, I have seen a huge change in the trends of major grocery stores that has made healthy living a lot easier. During this change, I have seen Organic items pop up all over place. The shelves of my local grocer now has a place on almost every isle for organic “health foods.” This is a great thing to see because it make my life a lot easier. Now living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to take away from my schedule.

I can find easy healthy organic choses every where now. All natural recipes can be found at local stores and at the touch of a button on the internet. Check out this great one I found just the other day:

Chick Pea, Ham and Orzo Soup

Ingredients:

8 ounces dried chick peas (also called garbanzo beans)
2 tablespoons olive oil or Organic Valley Butter
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped carrot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
10 cups homemade or unsalted chicken stock (or use a combination of stock and water)
1 meaty Organic Prairie ham bone*
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper
2/3 cup uncooked orzo
Organic Prairie Shredded Parmesan (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cover chick peas with water by three inches and soak them at room temperature 8-16 hours. Drain and rinse.

2. Heat olive oil or butter in a large, heavy pot over medium flame. Add onions, carrots and garlic and sauté them, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have begun to soften, 8-10 minutes. Add stock, ham bone and bring to simmer, occasionally skimming off the froth that forms at the top. Partially cover the pot and adjust heat so that the soup simmers very slowly. Cook it about 1 hour, or until the meat is very tender.

3. Remove ham bone, cool it slightly, cut off the meat, chop and reserve it. Return bone to soup pot along with cumin and oregano and continue to simmer until beans are fully tender, another hour or so.

4. Stir in reserved ham and salt and pepper to taste. Add orzo; simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Serve hot, with Parmesan sprinkled over each bowl, if desired.

Note: Use the meaty bone leftover from an Organic Prairie Hardwood Smoked Bone-In Spiral Sliced Half Ham.