…and we need the food to be fresh. Living meat, fowl and fish, vegetables and fruits, or foods prepared to stay “fresh” longer; humans need these to survive. We live in the countryside now, near wildlife and farms – all things being born, living and dying, and in between. All this life sustains life for something else. We are having a wonderful time discovering our local farm fare and sharing fresh recipe ideas for these favorites.

In learning about our human DNA – the haplogroups of mother’s maternal line and dad’s y-DNA and then trying to learn every other ancestors’ as well, I ask how we are related to each other, and how are we related to what we eat? We can’t eat something “foreign” to our digestive systems – we shouldn’t.

I loved reading that in the plant world, the daffodils are the most closely related to us. But the daffodil is a terrible poison, you must not let your pets or anyone consume the leaves, flowers, bulbs – they will make your horribly sick. You become sick quickly.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&sxsrf=ACYBGNS3hVO4l3_fFTRP3XHZGKp0OhlXgQ%3A1572277916511&ei=nA63XYXtHtC-ggex2pbQBw&q=are+daffodils+poison&oq=are+daffodils+poison&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.594356.600975..601305…0.0..0.158.1148.12j1….3..0….1..gws-wiz…….0i7i30j0i67j0i20i263.FzMuLEMRo_o&ved=0ahUKEwiFq87Vp7_lAhVQn-AKHTGtBXoQ4dUDCAs&uact=5

We would never eat something so toxic. We would protect ourselves and our families.

So why do we eat sugar? With sugar, the evil effects are not so easy to see. Is the child just having a bad day? Does it have ADHD? Or sugar overdose? I still cannot believe how many Americans fill their children with every kind of processed sugar and then make them addicts with the pills to treat KSROD (kids sugar rush overdose) – aka ADHD. In most countries, no one would diagnose this until all sugar and foreign substances had been removed from their diet. Like food coloring and everything from there on out. But the makers of Fruit Loops would not be happy with this.

Sugar even has weird (in my read) DNA

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180711105722.htm

I cannot make any excuses about eating meat. I dearly love all my vegetarian friends, family and acquaintances, but I remain a carnivore. Most of my recipes relate to using meats in cooking.

I believe sitting down to a 12-ounce steak is wrong – I won’t share the adjectives I might use to describe that. But a 12-ounce piece of meat, or two, will transform pounds of vegetables into lovely dishes with sauces and gravies and soups. And eating the broth is most nutritious.

The wonderful tomato has a new DNA story and is “bursting with genes” as the NYT describes it.

Green tomatoes are famous fried, but I like braised – slow cooked, with spices and rich meats. Small and medium green tomatoes, any variety, especially heirloom and beefsteak gently cooking with sauce and tender beef.

Ground chuck makes a wonderful base for any stewing sauce for the slow cooker. No matter what meat you would cook with — turkey, chicken, pork, beef, lamb or goat — using a pound or so of ground meat will give you a delicious base for any sauce you make.

A bit of apple or dates will slightly sweeten a dish – cut back on cane sugars.

I am also cutting back on frying and although all meats will look a little washed out when stewed and braised, the lower heat will draw all the flavors out and give the foods a rich full flavor.

Pour some extra virgin olive oil to coat a slow cooker, add crumbled ground chuck to cover the bottom. Place green tomatoes, strips of London broil or other tender beef in the cooker. Add a few peeled garlic cloves, they are so good for you.

If you will not be making an expanded sauce, then add a few dates or raisins. At this time — or any time of year — add some apple or a dusting of cinnamon or cumin, or some of each.

A no-cook pre-packaged sauce that will give you these warm fall flavors is Saffron Road’s Moroccan simmer sauce. Of course for Moroccan, you would sometimes want lamb to truly enjoy more of the cuisine. With whatever meats, adding a touch of mint and yogurt later will make leftovers brand new!

So how much DNA doe we share with tomatoes?

“…For example, people and tomatoes share as much as 60 percent of the same genes. Lemaux has been speaking about genetic engineering for a decade as he and her colleagues delve deeper into plant breeding…”

https://www.farmprogress.com/did-you-know-people-share-many-genes-tomatoes

Music and Food

I had been sharing some songs for blog and I have not done that in a while – But here is some autoharp music for food!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow shows the magic of autoharps (see more unusual songs on autoharp below)

Magnificent story about DNA being found in ancient mud bricks

Not hominid DNA – NOT YET! 🙂

“…Near the river Tigris, outside the ancient city of Kalhu, known today as Nimrud, a brickmaker once prepared a clay brick for the construction of a new palace dedicated to his king Ashurnasirpal II (approximately 883–859 BCE). Little did he know, that almost 2900 years later, this insignificant clay brick would serve as a unique time capsule revealing details of the flora from this specific area and time, through the modern-day investigation of the ancient DNA hidden and preserved for thousands of years…”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-38191-w?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR2IVX1X-Yhqr5OswAa76lP77QlXyVbN-MXgBqkRbzkRzqUaMOsWrH_H5VQ

SMALL BUSINESS

https://chesapeakesbounty.com/

Eat it fresh, eat it local. Please share with us the names of local farms near where you live and we can add them to the list of communities with local meat and produce available.

Southern Maryland

Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission

https://www.facebook.com/SMADC.MD/

Home

https://www.monnettfarms.com/

https://www.cardinalcreekplantfarm.com/

from Facebook pages

https://www.facebook.com/bipfarm/

https://www.facebook.com/MKONOFARM/

https://www.facebook.com/Fairfield-Farm-935876703121107/

The Battle Creek Beef London Broil was melt in your mouth

https://www.facebook.com/battlecreekbeef/

NATURAL ANGUS BEEF

And the Calvert County Farmers Market Association

https://www.facebook.com/CalvertCountyFarmersMarketAssociation/

I have given a review of my slow cooker before. This is the only slow cooker I know of with three heat settings plus the keep warm setting. I have an extra insert for preparation and marinating. If you know of another super slow cooker do let us know so we can share its name here.

https://www.kitchenaid.com/countertop-appliances/slowcookers-and-multicookers/slowcooker-and-multicooker-products/p.6-quart,-ceramic-insert,-standard-lid.ksc6223ss.html?cmp=kad:kasa_ppc:google:ps:txt:txt:cpc:smartshop:na:na:1750642716:67332785406&gclid=CjwKCAjwo9rtBRAdEiwA_WXcFmopmDVrLcULEeWZ7xROltk9V0ebpJuRdjX-246igdClHDdsibfBLxoCeRsQAvD_BwE

The low heat setting is really low! Really!

This is KitchenAid and I found it by using Google and asking for the best slow cookers. Really slow.

I did not use Wikibuy at that time but this is another online shopping must. Wikibuy is part of the Capital One family. So if you look for online shopping, see if Wikibuy has a suggestion or two. I did not like one of their suggestions, they sent me to an ebay seller’s page who was super cheap but the seller had terrible feedback and was a “bad” seller. So hint number three is, check seller ratings and product ratings. Find the product you want and then google the item again – and use Google!

For the more exotic: