Nature's Cornucopia in Mchenry,IL

I visited this store because of the large sign on the window that says "health food store" and because many websites related to organic products would direct me to it as a place that would be stocked with a variety of organic products. I was initially a little disappointed because most of the store seems to be actually dedicated to vitamins, herbs and other forms of holistic cures, which is something I am not very interested about. I wish they wouldn't mix the vitamin store with the food store, I think that taking so many integrators sort of contrasts with the idea of eating healthy and getting the best out of food, a sort of shortcut  that does not replace at all a varied and rich diet. There are contrasting opinions on the effectiveness of taking supplements, I don't think it is necessarily bad, but at the same time I don't appreciate how some of these products are advertised as some sort of "cure-all" for your problems. They have for example a nutrition consultant on site that for 95$ will give you a consult and prescribe the supplements that you need. It seems to me that a nutritionist should be recommending you a better diet first, supplements last. And the fact that he would recommend you the supplements in a store like this seems to me more like a way of selling more than a real doctor consultation.

 At the back of the store I found more food products: they have a large selection of gluten-free foods, including quinoa and buckwheat cereals, that I decided to try. I am sure I will also try some of their gluten-free flours once I get the bread machine. They have some frozen products, some of them gluten-free, others organic, including organic meats. I bought the chicken sausages, but they come from the the New York state, so they are definitely not a local product. They have slices of american cheese from the brand Horizon Organic, and another couple of cheeses that unfortunately are not organic. They also have some unusual finds like goat milk yogurt and many things from tofu dedicated to vegan eaters. The prices were quite steep, as expected, and I think I will only be going back for some of the most unusual products that I know I would not find elsewhere. I definitely did not like the vibe of the place, that seemed like a little bit of a mash of everything related to the adjectives "natural" and "healthy" that are so liberally and so mistakenly spread around to market so many different kinds of things.

Product Review: Organic Chicken from R-Family farm

Normally sized Chicken Breasts from R-family farm

Last week we bought a whole cut-up chicken from R-Family farm at the Woodstock Farmers'market. They had just killed them the day before the market, so you definitely cannot go any fresher than that! It has to be said that at 4.50 a pound it is much more expensive than any chicken you will buy at the store, but we are trying to reduce the amount of meat we eat per week, plus I could use the chicken to prepare three different dishes, thus making it last a little longer. Looking to other prices online it seems like it wasn't even that expensive for organic chicken, as I have seen some websites listing 6-8 dollars a pound.

I oven roasted the breasts, the wings and the legs, simply adding salt and pepper to them. Since I left the skin on while cooking I didn't even have to add any oil, but just a little bit of broth at the bottom of the pan as they were drying out a little too much. One thing I have noticed immediately is that usually chicken releases a lot of water and fat while roasting while this didn't have almost any. The result was crispy and full of flavor, which is what struck us the most: we are used to a pretty tasteless chicken, except from the taste of the herbs and spices that we add to it, while this chicken had a taste of its own. The meat was firm and juicy and did not fall off the bone as easily as a store bought chicken. 

With the back and the neck of the chicken I made a chicken broth that we ate the following day with tortellini, while I used the meat, together with some leftover breast, to make baby food for my son. We still have the chicken liver and I plan to make with it an Italian specialty, Risotto ai Fegatini,  that I hope my husband, the picky american, will accept to eat. I think that using all the parts of the animals is a way to respect the fact that we took their life, at least we are making the most out of it and not just discarding it and throwing it away.
I am posting a pictureof the chicken breasts because I wanted to show how much smaller they were in size compared to the gigantic breasts we find at the supermarket, but unfortunately I didn't put anything to the side to compare them with, so it is hard to tell. I will have to take a better picture next time.

Product Review : Organic Pork Chops from R-family farm

Last Saturday we bought pork chops from R-Family Farm at the Farmers' market in Woodstock, IL. They raise their own Berkshire pigs that are free to graze and pasture while also fed the organic feed that they make on their farm. The meat is slightly darker than the one you would find at the store and it's obviously more expensive, since we bought 4 pork chops for 15.00 $.
I cooked the chops in the pan simply seasoning them with salt and pepper, so that the natural flavor of the meat would be more clearly detectable. I have to say the chops were much more flavorful than the store bought ones and maybe also a little more firm and a little less fat than what we usually get. I also noticed that the meat didn't lose as much "water" while cooking. We were very satisfied with them and we would recommend them to anyone.

Woodstock Farmer's Market

Today we went to the farmer's market in Woodstock, IL. It is our favorite because it is close to home and because of the beautiful square where it is held. Usually we buy some berries or some fruit and then hang in the square with our son, listening to the live music while he learns to walk on the grass. We always saw it just as a nice summer family activity, but now I am determined to try to buy all my produce and all my meat either from the farmers' market, or from the various farm stands that are in the area. The goal is to reduce the amount of things I buy at the supermarket to a minimum, at least in the summer when it is much easier.
Today we bought:

• Raspberries
•  Apricots ( nice and small, like I remembered them to be when I was a kid, not those huge peach-sized tasteless things you find at the store)
• 4 Zucchini
• 1 "Italian Zucchini" ( It's a large zucchini with white stripes)
• 1 Box of "Dragon Tongue Beans" ( they looked like the beans that we use in Italy, but instead I found out you can eat them with the whole pod and you can have them raw, not bad!)
• 4 Pork chops
• 1 lb of Ground beef
• 3 lbs of Rump roast beef
• 1 Little bag of mini carrots

We spent a total of 55.00 dollars. So definitely more expensive than the store, especially if you consider that the pork alone was 15.00 dollars and the beef 20.00 dollars, but that is how it should be.

We got the pork from R-Family farm, they also have other animals and sell directly at their farm. We previously bought chicken from them and I was shocked to see the difference in size with the chicken you get at the store. The breast must have been a quarter of the size of what you would find at a supermarket. From the information I found on their website, their pork should be darker and stronger tasting than the store one, I will post something when we eat it.

The beef comes from Willow Lea Stock Farm which is a local farm with cows that are grass-fed for most of the year although their food is supplemented with corn and soy during the winter. We bought their meat before and it seemed definitely leaner and more flavorful than what we buy at the store. The prices of the meat though are definitely going to make us reduce the amount of meat we eat per week.

I was disappointed to notice that most of the stands only had plastic bags. We had our own reusable bag, but no one offered a paper bag for the produce, which would be recyclable and biodegradable.