You have probably noticed by now that at Truly Organic Baking, we encourage more than just enjoying our healthy, sustainable organic products. That’s because it’s our goal to not only provide our organic products to our customers, but also to allow you to make eating organic foods of all varieties and brands part of your family’s lifestyle.

Food nourishes us and brings us together. When we are sitting around the table with our loved ones, we share more than just a meal. Eating organic foods together gives us time to talk and laugh, and to learn and teach. While eating together is a very important part of keeping us together, meal preparation can be just as important in establishing that sense of community.

Cooking together is a great way to make meals more fun. Rather than placing the responsibility of meals on one person, collective cooking gives everyone a chance to participate. When everyone literally lends a hand, it makes for a rewarding experience in which kids and adults alike benefit. Little ones can help with the simple tasks like washing vegetables or setting the table, and adults can show them the different parts of the meal coming together.

Collective organic cooking also makes it easier to host gatherings. Everyone can pitch in, even friends who claim not to have any cooking talents. Amateur chefs can exchange tips and recipes while providing live demonstrations, and your culinary-challenged friends can employ dishwashing skills, making final clean-up a breeze. (Just make sure you use environmentally friendly cleaning products!)

Before you plan your next organic meal, consider giving collective cooking a try. Brainstorm a variety of favorite dishes to cook up, or try the all-star menu featured below:

 

• Family-Style Fiesta Style
• Fish Tacos
• Organic Black Bean and Corn Salsa with Tortilla Chips
• Organic Guacamole (for tacos and chips!)
• Refried Beans and Spanish Rice
• Organic Salad Greens, Tomatoes, Cheese, and Sour Cream for toppings

 

This lineup will be sure to be a crowd-pleaser, and everyone can have a hand in making the organic goodies on the table. Use your own recipes, or look for organic versions online.

To get started, you can assign ingredients and tasks for the various dishes. Once everything is prepared, serve buffet-style and enjoy with your friends and family. You’ll soon understand the value of collective cooking, organic style!

For more information on the organic lifestyle and to check out an outstanding selection of organic products, visit us, Truly Organic Baking, at www.trulyorganicbaking.com.

 

To put it simply, yes. Organic foods are certified by the USDA once they have met strict growing and processing standards. While eating conventional unprocessed foods such as raw fruits and vegetables is better than eating boxed meals and unhealthy snacks, most of these foods are grown in environments that make them toxic to the body and the planet.

In some cases, organic food may cost more than conventional foods. This is due to the fact that non-organics are treated with a battery of chemicals to increase yield. Herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, rodenticides and fertilizers do “protect” the crops from a variety of issues, but all those chemicals end up seeping into the foods. Ultimately, the chemicals end up on our plates and in our bodies.

Certified organic foods are only exposed to natural or biodegradable treatments, and as a result, the yields may be smaller. To produce a large volume of organic foods, farms must plant more, purchase safer, more costly treatments and be certified in organic processing. These additional expenses are present in the end purchase.

However, you should not let this up-front cost discourage you from organic food, as by removing chemicals, GMOs and other undesirable substances, you are actually saving money. Pesticides, herbicides and other such toxins are created to destroy various parts of the natural cycle. When these chemicals are absorbed into your body by the food you eat, it can cause serious damage. By avoiding these substances, you are preventing future health complications.

In addition to being free of toxins, organic foods are more nutritious. In order for organic farmers to successfully grow crops without chemical fertilizers, fields must be planted with different foods each year. Crop rotation ensures soil will not lose nutrients due to continuous planting of one crop year after year. By nature, foods grown in rotating fields in soils free of chemicals will be much healthier.

The wide range of benefits of an organic diet is well-documented. If you are interested in learning more about organic foods, or how we make our products, look for our weekly blog posts. We want our customers to understand not only where our foods come from, but why we commit to baking responsibly using only organic ingredients.

The biggest value of organically grown food is the reduced impact on the environment. This is essentials for future generations to enjoy the bounty of the earth. The environmental disasters, such as the poisoning of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, clearly show what happens when big business is allowed to destroy the environment at will. While the current usage of pesticides and herbicides may not cause as blatant of damage as Hooker Chemical once did, they are causing significant damage, both to the environment and to our health. One has to question why cancer is one of the leading causes of death in America. A study discussed in the American Journal of Epidemiology (May 1, 2003) found a very strong link between private pesticide applicators’ exposure to Methyl Bromide and Prostate Cancer. Methyl Bromide is used to both as a pesticide and as a disinfectant for storage areas such as grain bins.

Under the United Nations, there is a new program slowly being implemented worldwide called Codex Alimentarius. The ultimate goal of this program is to set up a group of standards to which all food production will follow. While this might sound good, the horror is behind the curtains hidden from view. According to these new standards some of the worst pesticides which have been banned in both the United States and Europe are reintroduced into the food chain. These include DDT and Bromide Ion.

To make things worse, the new GMO foods have been genetically modified to internally produce their own pesticide. Unlike traditional pesticides where only the surface of the produce was affected, the GMO plant metabolically creates the pesticide and distributes it throughout the entire plant system. The dangers of both GMO foods, physically applied pesticides and herbicides not only are causing damage to the environment, but are also potentially hazardous to one’s health. We believe the value of organic foods should be measured by the health of an individual and the benefit to the environment.