Carefree Gourmet

Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet

Graham Kerr is charming.  No doubt about it.  He is funny, caring and handsome.  Yes, he is in his 70’s and still married to his lovely wife, Treena, for more than 50 years.  Pam remembers watching the Galloping Gourmet with her mom back in the 1970’s. I was pretty young and don’t have the same fond memories, but I do have great respect a husband and wife team that produced over 450 shows, travel the world learning and sharing about food, and growing together through life’s ups and downs.  Yes, Graham and Treena worked side by side and still do.  For the show, The Galloping Gourmet, Graham was in front of the camera and Treena was behind the scenes, calling the shots as the producer.  It was actually Treena’s idea that Graham leap over a chair and onto the kitchen set.  She felt that Graham had to entertain not just educate!  And she was right!  Graham was a hit!

Like many folks traveling on the road of life we find ourselves heading at mach speed in a direction that may not be in our best interest in the long run.  Graham and Treena faced this with two life changing events… a major car accident and Treena’s declining health.  And so what did the two do?  They took action!  They changed their lifestyle, their eating habits, their focus.  Did they leave their love of food behind?  No, they simply (and I say that tongue in cheek) changed how they interacted with food.  This took education, experimentation and time.  The result?  Healthier lives and better relationships.  Something most if not all of us would like to do ourselves.

So if you missed our radio interview this week with Graham Kerr (and Treena in the background), listen to the archived show.  We think you will enjoy hearing their life story – which has been full.  And I also recommend that you visit their website http://www.grahamkerr.com it is full of great information and recipes. Finally, pick up their latest books, Recipe for Life How to Change Habits that Harm into Resources that Heal and the companion cookbook, Day By Day Gourmet.  They have a simple concept to share with you that I think you will find worthy and doable.  Enjoy!

Fresh Food from Green Truck

Pam and I interviewed the general manager of Green Truck on our radio show Carefree Food Bytes last Friday afternoon.  If you missed the live show, you can listen to the archive.  I highly recommend that you do.  Not just because I am a co-host, but because Green Truck is proving you can be a responsible business (to people, the community and the environment) and still make a profit!

Green Truck offers organic, locally grown foods for sale from its restaurant on wheels – yes an old fashioned catering truck.  They do the heavy lifting – food prep from their base site and the two-man crew assembles the food and takes your cash for a nice profit.  Consumers get fresh, healthy foods and Green Truck gets a nice return.

Green Truck truck’s are green too.  Not the color… no, they run on vegetable oil, are washed with water that was used during food prep and they serve on compositable paper goods.  Yes, they are leak proof!  The are cornstarch laminated.  They purchase their foods from local, organic farmers and so their menu does change a bit if ingredients are not readily available.  Their menu is also seasonal, yes, we do have seasons in Southern California – for fresh foods at least!

Their goal is to feed people healthy food and educate.  Educate on what?  On eating in a healthy and sustainable way – yes you too can order green paper products, and the more you do, the less they will cost the consumer.  And they are educating folks that being green doesn’t mean being broke.  Green Truck runs in the black, even though their trucks run over $100,000 a piece – still cheaper than running a restaurant!

They currently have four trucks in Los Angeles and one in New York.  They are looking to have Green Trucks in every state.  If you are interested in a franchise business with green truck simply visit their site at www.greentrucktogo.com and fill out an information request form.

Want to try out some of their food?  Sign up for their twitter and facebook sites to get daily tweets and updates on their locations everyday. I for one and going to find them this week…. I hear the Mother Trucker vegan burger is the BEST!

A Clean Kitchen Counter

Pam and I interviewed public health inspector, William Kimura from the City of Pasadena on Carefree Food Bytes last Friday.  I was expecting some pretty grim stories of creepy crawlies in the kitchen… but Mr. Kimura was much too polite!  I lost an acrylic fingernail in a vat of pasta salad while working for a catering company in college.  You should have seen my friend and I searching through spiral pasta, olives and tomatoes looking for that bright red fingernail!  (When you work in food service, you wash your hand constantly!  Not good for fake nails!  After that incident, I had them removed deciding it was better to have battered fingernails than have someone choke on a fake one!)

We have all heard the stories about restaurant atrocities, seen the U tube videos of employees messing with our food.  But did you know that our homes are also a place where we can become sick?  I learned a couple of really important facts from Mr. Kimura.

1. Anti bacterial soap has to be on your hands fro 20 minutes to work!  Forget that!  Simple use soap and hot water (as hot as you can stand).  Now that is a way to save money!
2. Sponges should be sanitized every 2 days by either running through the dish washer or soaking in a bleach mixture.
3. You can sanitize your counter tops/sink by using 1 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of hot water and only after cleaning your counter, spray with the mixture and let sit for 15 minutes.
4. Cutting boards should be hardwood without lacquer and bamboo is ok to.  Both are better than the plastic boards.  Sounds like the best thing to do is to have a separate cutting board for meats and sanitize it with bleach/water mixture after each use.  Not sure how well the wood will hold up, but at least you won’t be transferring bacteria to your fresh produce or breads.
5. Don’t use your plastic water bottle more than twice if you aren’t keeping it really cold when full of liquid and sanitizing it after each use.

Off to sanitize my kitchen counter!

The Suprising Power Of Family Meals by Miriam Weinstein

Pam and I interviewed author Miriam Weinstein, author of  The Suprising Power of Family Meals on our radio show Carefree Food Bytes on July 17th (if you missed it, it was archived and quite an interesting interview!)  What was once simply a regular part of life, the family dinner in America, is disappearing to the detriment of our children.  What is most important is the ritual of getting together as a family on a consistent basis.  Parents stay better connected with their children and children learn language skills, manners, develop self confidence and in studies that Weinstein covers in her book demonstrate that children are likely to do better in school, stay away from drug and alcohol use, and show lower teen pregnancy.  Also, children learn to COOK!

Pam and I are continually surprised to come across so many young adults that have limited or no experience cooking.  They are intimidated with the kitchen and preparing foods.  Pam and I learned to cook from our mothers and older sisters.  We had a rythum in the kitchen working together.  We learned, laughed, licked the beaters of cookie dough, sampled new recipes….and prepared many a meal together for ourselves and guests that taught us so much and created so many fond memories.

Author Miriam Weinstein

So start this ritual again if it is missing in your home.  Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect.  If one family member can’t make it, still have the dinner.  Create consistency.  Create an opportunity to share with your family over a meal.  Whether that meal be made from scratch, a comibination or a pizza delivered.  Just do it!  The rewards are endless…