Ask the Food Fairy!

Two awesome moments for you today:

First, there is a new website called Gluten-Free Girl Recommends, which has reviews of a variety of different products by Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl. So far I’ve learned about a really fantastically tasty brand of oats, and been urged again toward a really gorgeous and fantastic source of dried heirloom beans which I cannot wait to start featuring in our boxes. With names like Black Calypso Beans, how can anyone resist? Not to mention all the other great information about gluten-free bakeries and the like, which are so far nowhere near me but are always nice to read about. $40 Gourmet recommends Gluten-Free Girl Recommends! (ow, now my brain hurts)

And second, GOATS. Who doesn’t love goats? Which reminds me, I need to tell you ALL about the goat farm I visited… but not just yet. Not until I upload the pictures, anyway! Meanwhile: the New York Times tells all about a girl whose goat sent her to college. See, it was from Heifer, one of the nonprofits that PeaceMeals donates to. Some folks in Arkansas adopted a girl named Beatrice’s family through Heifer, and bought them a goat. And they sold the milk, and that let them afford to send Beatrice to school. And then she did a fantastic job in school, and went to college. And so on. Read, read, it’s adorable! And inspiring. And goats.

It wasn’t easy, but I planned next week’s menus! There is some tasty and weird stuff going on this time:

Sample menus for the third week of July, 2008


Basic $40 Box

Spice-filled zucchini bread (7 breakfasts)

Cumin-spiked grilled tofu (4 meals)

Stuffed purple bell peppers (6 meals)

Ceci bean soup with paprika oil (4 meals)

Organic purslane-basil salad (4 sides) [Purslane appears in both boxes
this week; it's a mild, juicy herb with fat leaves that offers more
omega-3 than flax seeds!]

Premium $60 Box

Chia Delicious cereal [crazy-sounding, but tasty and super-nutritious!] (7
breakfasts)

Naturally-raised sausages, and organic purslane salad with feta and
organic cherry tomatoes on the side (4 meals)

Citrus-dressed white bean salad with manouri cheese (6 meals)

Tofu in spicy red curry sauce (4 meals)

More interesting posts to follow

Four winners, actually, for the four copies of The Diet Cure. From the RSS feed, Sharon; from subscribing via email, Yael; from new customers, Dana (that’s my brother!) and Patricia!

Congratulations, and thanks to all who entered! Buy A Friend A Book Week happens four times a year, so you’ll have lots more opportunities to enter and win cool books if you stick around!