That is, there aren’t any tomatoes that have been altered by the insertion of insect DNA, though of course going back to Gregor Mendel, the act of hybridization is a form of modifying produce, too.
Even though they are not GMOs, many conventional tomatoes are grown using fertilizers adjusted to get larger fruit size and sacrifice taste and nutrition. Not to mention the pesticide residues used in conventional farming practices.
Even though they do not appear on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen Plus list for high pesticide levels, and they are not GMOs, tomatoes are still an item I always try to buy organic.
One of the things I love about our neighborhood is that there are fruit trees and bushes planted on the public byways for all to enjoy. Within a block of our house we can harvest plums, blackberries, and cherries as they ripen. My 7-year old daughter and I picked a bucketful of tart cherries this week and made them into a delicious, healthier, non-traditional version of a cherry pie.
Did you know that cherries are chock full of antioxidants, have anti-inflammatory effects, and are helpful in dissolving the uric acid buildup of gout? Good tasting and good for you, too! I love cherry season.
But I’m not super good at following recipes, and this can lead to trouble when it comes to the science of baking. Mostly I stray because I want a slightly different outcome than the recipe-writer does. Looking back over my baking posts, most of my baking experiments turn out really well… except for those that don’t. But here is one that came sailing in with flying colors: Cherry Pecan Pie.
When I think about creating a new version of a classic recipe, I first ask myself what I like and don’t like about the original concept. Thinking about it, there was not much I liked about traditional cherry pie other than the crust. So that was a place to start.
Fresh cherry pie with pecans, oatmeal, and coconut
I hate the thick gel-like stickiness of regular cherry pies (not to even mention the food dyes, thickening agents, and other questionable additives to canned or prepared cherry pie filling), but I’d never made a cherry pie before and guessed that people heat and add things to thicken the cherry filling so that the pie crust underneath doesn’t become too wet and mushy during baking. I didn’t want to pre-cook my cherries, and I didn’t want to add even corn starch to my pie, so I needed to find something that would absorb some of the cherry liquid while not congealing into a traditional “cherry pie filling” goo. I thought: oatmeal. Mmmm… or coconut flakes. I love the combination of cherry with coconut. I’ll use both!
I also don’t like that basket weave of pie crust you often see on cherry pies, so I switched that to more of a crumble crust like the one my mom puts on her homemade apple pie. Hers is made from wheat flour and cold butter; I switched to oat flour. Just because.
Another thing I’m not so fond of about store-bought cherry pies is their lack of texture in the filling. The cherries are too soft and mushy, and the whole thing is too smooth. I thought chopped pecans would add that chewability I wanted. Mmmmm… pecans with cherries and coconut? It was already sounding great.
I halved the amount of sugar called for in some cherry pie filling recipes and thought we ended up with a perfect amount to leave a hint of tartness while not being overly sweet. You could use any natural sweetener you prefer, or leave out the sugar all together.
Locating in the back of the freezer a pie crust I had made from scratch during one of my bouts of major domesticity was a treat. As a bonus, I discovered that I had lined a mini tart pan with pie crust and nestled it inside the center. Perfect for making a special cherry pecan pie to freeze and save for when my son returns from summer camp.
After it cooled, we agreed that our hand-picked cherries made an excellent cherry pecan pie that’s more toothsome and less sticky-sweet than a traditional cherry pie, and we loved it! The pecans add an addictive crunchiness and the coconut gives an unexpected but delicious flavor. Let me know if you like it!
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Cherry Pecan Pie
1 pie crust
4-5 cups pitted fresh cherries
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 stick organic butter, frozen or very cold
Preheat the oven to 450 F. Drain the pitted cherries and then mix them with the sugar, oats, coconut, and pecans until well blended.
In a separate bowl, cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly. Place the pie shell on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow. Now, scoop the cherry mixture into the pie shell until it is mounded (do not add any liquid left in the cherry bowl to the pie). Sprinkle the flour-butter mixture over all and place it in the 450 F oven for 10 minutes, then drop the temperature to 350 F and continue to cook for about 40 minutes or until the crust is browned on the top. Remove from the oven and cool before slicing.
I’m always appalled by the toxicity of our everyday products, and none might be more toxic than our packaged household cleaners. Not only does your skin absorb these chemicals on contact (always wear rubber gloves when using cleaners!), but they leave lingering chemical scents that we now associate with “clean” but are actually toxic air pollutants.
Our standard cleaning brands — from 409 to Chlorox to Pine Sol, et al — are full of chemicals designed to kill bacteria and dissolve grease and grime. They arrive bearing heady loads of artificial fragrances to encourage you to sniff deeply and bring those chemical molecules down deep into the crevices of your lung tissue where they can affect your thyroid and hormones, cause cancer or reproductive issues, and contribute to respiratory problems like asthma.
My favorite all-around cleaning solution is white vinegar. I pour some vinegar into a spray bottle and then fill it with water (about a 1-to-9 ratio). I keep this mixture handy to clean counters and tabletops as well as linoleum and wood floors. I also use vinegar to remove offensive smells from jars and rust stains on porcelain.
Yesterday I listed the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen Plus, the annual list of the conventionally-grown produce most contaminated with pesticides. Those are the ones that you most want to buy organic.
Today’s list contains the fifteen least contaminated fruits and veggies. These you can feel pretty safe buying the non-organic, conventionally-farmed version because it won’t be loaded with pesticides.
With all of the special pricing on berries I’ve been seeing in grocery stores lately, it seems like a good time to review the Dirty Dozen when it comes to pesticides on your produce. Choosing organically grown options of these most contaminated fruits and vegetables will substantially reduce your pesticide intake.
The Dirty Dozen Plus is compiled each year by the Environmental Working Group as one of the many public services they offer for conscious consumers. Pesticide exposure can have detrimental effects on your nervous system, and you never know what can tip you across your personal tolerance threshold and into hypersensitivity reactions or autoimmune responses. Our modern world is toxic; we’re lucky to have the independent analysis of the EWG looking out for our public health as the government does not.
The EWG found the most pesticide contamination the the following dozen plus fruits and veggies.
Apples
Celery
Sweet bell peppers
Peaches
Strawberries
Imported nectarines
Grapes
Spinach
Lettuce
Cucumbers
Domestic blueberries
Potatoes
Green beans
Kale/greens
Sweet corn (because unless it says “organic,” most domestic sweet corn is unlabeled GMO corn and unsafe to eat)
That is, there aren’t any tomatoes that have been altered by the insertion of insect DNA, though of course going back to Gregor Mendel, the act of hybridization is a form of modifying produce, too.
Our standard cleaning brands — from 409 to Chlorox to Pine Sol, et al — are full of chemicals designed to kill bacteria and dissolve grease and grime. They arrive bearing heady loads of artificial fragrances to encourage you to sniff deeply and bring those chemical molecules down deep into the crevices of your lung tissue where they can affect your thyroid and hormones, cause cancer or reproductive issues, and contribute to respiratory problems like asthma.