Beyond Organic Foods, Wine and More

Veronica Benton — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:40:39 +0000

I live in the beautiful Central Coast in California. I consider myself highly blessed, even a bit spoiled. Why? Because we live out in the country and with the weather in California we have access to fresh organic produce year round directly from the farmers. Not all farmers are organic, but I have two favorite places that I go to. They are both sustainable and extremely reasonable. We also have tons and tons of great wineries and tasting rooms. We moved here originally because of the wineries, because there was much less pollution and of course we were ready for a new start. The more time I spend getting to know the place where we live, the more I realize what a true blessing it has been. On Friday night, I had the opportunity of going to one of our favorite wine tasting rooms, Casa Dumetz to learn about beyond organic foods, wine and more.

Casa Dumetz‘s winemaker and owner Sonja Magdevski will have a special speaker at her wine tasting room in Los Alamos every Friday night. The speakers are usually entrepreneurs, authors and artists who will have the opportunity to talk about what they do. My family and I went to Friday’s event which was titled “Know your Farmer.” The event featured Marcie Jimenez from Jimenez Family Farm in Santa Ynez.

Marcie spoke about getting to know your farmer, how important it is to ask questions like: “Do you use chemicals?” The event was very informative and Marcie’s knowledge and passion for what she does was very obvious. One of my favorite quotes from the night was that “people have lost touch with their food.” How true that statement is, we have lost touch with what real food is, what it should taste like and how it should be grown.

I know that I’m super duper blessed for living here in this beautiful area of California. If you are in another part of the country however, you shouldn’t feel deprived from having access to organic produce. Contact your local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), they are all over the United States, check them out, support your local farmers and most importantly get yourself educated on how they grow their produce.

I truly hope that we go back to basics in regards to the way we grow our foods, the way we store them and how we eat them. I hope we learn to have complete control over what we eat and I truly hope that the taste for real food, ,the way nature intended becomes something that is more in demand than junk food and fast food. I also want to mention how much I admire Sonja for her commitment to bringing these great events to her wine tasting room. What an amazing thing to provide to the community, to authors and entrepreneurs. Her place is packed on Friday nights, she is a very smart, charming and a savvy business woman who bases her business mostly on relationships, the way it SHOULD be.

Roasted Lime Chicken

Veronica Benton — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 22:37:02 +0000

This roasted lime chicken has been a family favorite for years. It’s healthy, it’s not made with any butter and it’s delicious. I always giggle when I hear someone assure me that the only way to get a delicious golden roasted chicken is to coat it with butter. I have proof that this is not the case. The great thing about this recipe is that you can use this chicken to serve it over salads, or with a side of steamed veggies and brown rice. It’s soooo good and SIMPLE to make.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
1 lime
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Cut the lime in 4, in the shape of an X but without cutting all the way through

rub chicken with salt and pepper and insert lime in the cavity of the chicken.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes or until it has this beautiful golden tone. Your chicken is done, Slice, serve and enjoy!

Here is your baked chicken

Eating Clean – Vitality Detective

Beyond Organic Foods, Wine and More

Roasted Lime Chicken