Gretchen Stinson - Columns

The column is called Focus on Food, yet I still felt like I had to have permission from my editor/publisher to talk about this month’s topic (I didn’t – she’s great and strives never to silence the genuine voices of her writers and contributors) but I felt like I did.

Because I am one of those people who likes to lift others, who likes to encourage other people to set goals, strive towards living out their vision and to chase their dreams, who believes in collaboration over competition, and who rarely likes to boast about their own achievements. But I guess it’s time I allowed myself a little bit of pride at how hard I’ve worked and share a bit about myself with you all.  

Ten years ago, I was teaching farm to table in my own backyard, having a cooking class on folding tables and a lemonade stand with quite a few of my homeschooled children’s friends and parents.  We all brought different food items that day and nobody knew what the others were bringing. For some, the ingredients were intentional, whether it was their favorite, or one they wanted to know what to do with, or something unusual to stump the chef. For others, just whatever they had at their house because they didn’t want to drag the kids into the store (Been there, yes?).

We began in the garden looking at what had been planted already. Then we planted some more seeds. We then looked at the compost bin and watered it. We plucked some already growing veggies from our then-city-backyard. I think we even snagged some eggs from the coop (Just seven hens, no roosters, back then…we had city ordinances). Then it was time to play with fire and knives.  What could go wrong, right? Kids from age 3 to 14, all helping chop and cook. We didn’t know what we were making at first. We gathered ingredients onto tables in groups of what would work together.  We then separated into groups of three to five kids. I bounced from table to table, and helped run the stove, while kids dropped off the radar if they lost interest. But there weren’t many, and it was mostly the youngest ones, and only for a break in a patch of shade on the grass, or a snack or sip of water, before they tip-toed back. The oldest ones stayed the whole time except a couple that had to leave to go somewhere else, but ventured back and said it was more important than their previously scheduled thing to be there, learning how to cook.  

Safety was practiced. Not a single one of those kids got hurt that day and every last one of them tried something new. They loved it (Did you know it takes over 30 times of introducing a particular food item before a genuine like or dislike is created? So, just keep trying).

And so, my dream was born. 

All the parents asked, “Why aren’t you a professional chef anymore” (I gave them the long story.  For all of you, maybe another time) or “Wow, you’ve really got a knack for teaching kids, you’ve done this before, haven’t you?” (I had, when working as a program coordinator for a non-profit that did after school programming for at-risk youth, albeit in a more traditional kitchen), and, mostly, “You should do this for a living.” Yes, maybe someday.  

We finally bought our farm, three and a half acres, which we would later name Serendipity Mini Farms (for many reasons), a little over six years ago.  It was perfect. Acreage, a house, a lot of free space for gardening and two addresses. One would eventually be residential and one for my business. It took a few years. We aren’t independently wealthy, there’s no generational inheritance, we were a single income homeschooling family, but we finally bought a portable building, to turn into a kitchen classroom. It was time. Oh, what an exciting time. I had been doing classes, mobile classes, knife skills and much more. I will never forget the day I told my three girls that I had bought the building that would eventually be my kitchen classroom. My middle girl shouted, “Alexa, play This Girl is on Fire (by Alicia Keys).” As they all danced around their mama in the living room, proud to see her hard work start to pay off.  We were all overjoyed.  

And then, a month later, I woke up and I couldn’t walk. I had spinal cord compression and cauda equina, as well as some other things. Suddenly, and after emergency neurosurgery, the surgeon said she did not know how I hadn’t been paralyzed permanently, and it would be a long recovery.  And it was…so long. It took months of hospitalization, inpatient rehabilitation and home health, a wound vac, physical therapy, and not driving for nine months. So very long, looking across my pasture, not being able to walk to my brand-new building. Eventually, first with a walker and a back brace and eventually with a cane, I made my way across…and I just kept going.  

There are pictures of me holding insulation in place with a broom stick while holding myself up with a cane, and my husband stapling it in. I designed the layout of the building by candlelight and battery powered lights, as we had to have electricity installed. We hauled water, as we needed a new water main. We did most of the work with extension cords that ran across our farm from the house.  

It took far longer than we planned, but much less time than never. So many expected me to just give up, but an astronaut I got to hear speak at the Corpus Christi Science Museum once said to my kids and some of their homeschooled friends, (much like those in my backyard 10 years ago) …” Failure is Not an Option”.  

And I listened.  

For cooking classes, on everything from ants on a log to canning, from Cordon Bleu to sushi, and gardening tips alongside our upcycled farm projects from scrap materials and a small dose of ‘How-Not-To-Give-Up’ on your own goals, come see us at Everyday Gourmet, on Serendipity Mini Farm (You can find both businesses on Facebook). You can expect to see many community events, fun family outings, outdoor movie nights on the farm, health wellness workshops, and even some workshops from others, like writing, painting, fitness, and more. 

The beautifully decorated and serene space amidst the farm can also be rented for chess, books, poetry, science, or crochet clubs, or whatever it is you can think of. Private Cooking Parties, Dinner Parties, Kids Cooking, Couples Cooking, Moms Night Out…you name it. We even hosted a local 4H team for some classes to help prepare them for their Food Challenge. And, guys, they won!  

So, I am going to guess that all those parents all those years ago were right. I am pretty good at this and should do it for a living. We now have a space where we can Focus on Food. We can trim the veggies from the gardens and bring them to the tables and the stoves, but this time, they’re indoors and stainless. We have a nice, air-conditioned place to sit down (Unless you choose to go seek shade outside). Farm to Table…in my own (bigger) backyard.  

Everyday Gourmet, where we can all learn to cook gourmet (or any other way), Every Day.    

A place to Focus on Food.

It’s November! Time for cool air (Ok, it’s South Texas, so cooler air). It’s time for Tailgate Parties, Friday Night Lights, Chili and Cornbread, Apple Butter, Pumpkin Spice everything, and Thanksgiving.  

That’s right, it’s time for food. The “brr” months have so much focus on food and fun and festivities.  For many, that means stress. Whether it’s stressing about cooking it, or serving it, or how much of it you’re eating, it’s a 3-month span of time that ends in New Year’s Resolutions, and often many of those revolve around avoiding foods, or at least increasing activity. So, this month’s Focus on Food, is literally going to focus on food, except it’s going to throw a few substitution pointers out there, but not any that make it feel like it’s forced. Just tasty alternatives.  

But, before I make those suggestions, I want to say…one of the best things I ever had said to me by a longtime friend who is a Registered Dietician (hey, Jena!), was that it’s not always what you take away from your diet, it’s what you add. And I know from personal experience that if I want chocolate, and I avoid chocolate, eventually chocolate is going to find me and I’m going to eat all of it. But, if I have a small square of dark chocolate, when I am first craving it, then I’m done. I got what I wanted.  

But not if I’m hungry.  If I’m hungry and wait too long to eat, and then I get a craving for something like that, and it’s available, I may not be so sensible. So, I had to get used to living a life that meant adding in meals and snacks, and other healthy options, so that I wouldn’t break down and make bad choices in a moment of temporary ‘hangriness’ and weakness. That meant keeping almonds and pumpkin seeds on hand, eating protein scattered throughout the day, and consuming healthy fats, like nuts and avocados. This also meant increasing fiber, greens, and getting my daily water intake. Yeah, yeah, I know, boring. But I did it in the tastiest of ways, and lost over 100 pounds, and never felt deprived.  

I don’t know about you, but I love chips and dips.  Sometimes I still sit down with some. While other times, I substitute hummus or black bean dip for French Onion Dip or queso. More protein and fiber mean less glucose spikes, which means less carb cravings. Add some avocado and increase your healthy cholesterol. You can go one step further and dip mini bell pepper halves in your dip, or, like I taught some 4H kids in a cooking class recently, cucumber slices work as a healthy (and colorful) sub for dipping in a black bean dip. All the crunch and all the dipping power with a lot less guilt.  

I also like breaded chicken. My kids loved chicken tenders. I needed an alternative though, so I used some of my Sesame Ginger Pepitas and crushed them up and used them to coat a chicken breast.  Seared it in a little avocado oil and finished it in the air fryer. Crispy, flavorful, coated in protein and omega 3, and everyone was happy. Served with sauteed veggies, flavored with garlic and ginger, and it had so much flavor, that I didn’t miss having a starch with it.  

Speaking of starch, I love fried rice, and this is one treat I tricked my family into eating cauliflower rice with. Don’t get me wrong. There are times that nothing else will do other than a good Jasmine or Basmati Rice, but when you are adding all these other flavors like sesame oil, garlic, ginger, turmeric, onion, veggies, eggs, etc....you really cannot tell that it’s cauliflower.  So, use it when you can, because then you don’t feel so bad when you eat those Beef Tips and Rice with gravy and good starchy rice…or maybe brown rice if you can handle it.  

I realized lunches were a problem for me. We are so busy during the day. I homeschool my kids, which means lots of driving to different activities. I also run a small business…well, sort of two. Then all the sports, birthday parties, and social outings. Add in basically two full days devoted to getting ready for and then going to markets. Busy, busy. I would forget to eat. Then, by dinner, I would be starving. If there was a time crunch there, I would be susceptible to the kids and husband suggesting fast food. So, here’s one time saving tip for healthy eating. I started roasting a whole chicken every Sunday night. While it cooks, I hard boil a dozen eggs, and then I prepare a huge salad, and topping like black beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber, which I keep separate to keep the lettuce fresh. It ends up being kind of like a salad bar when I’m done.  With already cooked chicken, salad, some microgreens, roasted pepitas, and fresh dressings on hand, I was always ready to eat a healthy lunch. This helped me make better choices as the day wore on.  Plus, I had already gotten in my greens and protein in the tastiest of ways.  I could either have a nice salad or have all the fillings for a wrap. Then there was always salad prepped for sides with dinner.  

So that just left conquering the last battle-breakfast. Breakfast was always our farm eggs and some of my beloved tomatillo serrano salsa. Lunch was salad. Dinner started being healthier swaps for things I loved, and still love, just made healthier, or sometimes not the healthiest, but certainly not fast food. Dessert was fruit, or a square of dark chocolate, if I still craved something sweet. So, it really was just the battle of mashed potatoes. So, I sat down and thought about what I could substitute. There are options, and I knew I could make any of them taste good. So, I went to the store and bought potatoes. Because I had eaten my protein, fiber, greens and healthy fats, I decided Jena was right. It isn’t what we take out, it’s what we add in. So, I made mashed potatoes and had some. They were so good. But I didn’t feel the need to eat a huge helping or have seconds, because I had not deprived myself or starved myself. I ate well throughout the day and week, and when I wanted something, I had it.  

Enjoy the festivities this year. Eat all the things. Go to parties. Snack on the finger foods. Eat the desserts your friends lovingly prepared for the potluck. Devour your family favorites at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Make a resolution to keep enjoying your life, but to also make the healthy swaps and additions that help you enjoy your life for a lot longer. Remember that it’s not always what you take away, but what you add, that counts the most.  

Yes, that’s right. We are going to focus on food. Not diet. Not exercise. Not calories (or their deficits). Not macros. Not movement (even though that’s so important-the more you move, the more you can consume.) No long talks about glycemic index, or the importance of fermented foods, or locally grown ingredients, or why it is so important to eat what’s in season, or how sourdough compares to gluten free. The differences between dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and milk chocolate, or whether white chocolate is REAL chocolate, or about how my now 15-year-old told me when she was 4 that we needed to add more chocolate to our diets because “chocolate is a vegetable because it comes from a bean!”

And even though I was a successful restaurant, hotel, and private chef, we aren’t going to talk about working in restaurants, or for billionaires. Even though I have a mini farm, I’m not going to talk about meat chickens, brown eggs, mischievous goats, and how and why garden tomatoes taste better. I am a homeschool mom, but we aren’t going to focus on how Home Ec is definitely part of our curriculum. I teach cooking classes, but I’m not going to write endlessly on how to prepare the perfect … whatever. I won’t go on and on about making Spinach Gnocchi in Rome. Or seeing the 30-year-old Pecorino Romano cheese aging in the caves underground in Tuscany. Or shopping for cheese in Cherbourg, France, and how it compares to shopping for cheese in Wisconsin. Or how the daily Pike Place Market in Seattle compares to the weekly Madison Market on Capitol Square, and how it compares to the monthly Kingsville Farmers Market.  

Why? Because we are going to talk about all of it. Yep, I’m going to bounce around from one thing to the next, and bring you with me, as if you’ve been with me on my many past culinary travels, or maybe as if you’re going on my future ones. And, how it all relates to back here in South Texas.  Because “First we eat, then we do everything else. (M.F.K. Fisher). It is literally the thing that sustains us. The thing that keeps us alive. 

Food is the thing that nourishes us, either with comfort or with nutrients. “Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate” (Alan D. Wolfelt). Seriously, have you ever been to a funeral and there not be food for the family after? We make chicken soup when someone is ill. We deliver casseroles when someone is recovery from surgery. We bring ice cream after break-ups.  

But also true is “Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is" (Irish Proverb). We have cakes to say 'Happy Birthday'. We bake cookies for those we love. We send brownies to the bake sale. We have pizza parties for the youth baseball team at the end of the season. We bring oranges for halftime at the soccer game. We have an entire name for the type of food-based party we have for football games. We celebrate weddings with food. We celebrate engagements with food. We celebrate promotions with food.  We hide diamond rings in desserts. We bring all the favorite dishes to the family reunion. I mean, we have a whole entire holiday based around gathering together and sharing a feast made from the harvest.  

Why even bother entering the kitchen if you don’t believe that “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all" (Harriet Van Horne). Nobody wants half cooked chicken, crunchy rice, sauceless pasta, bland spaghetti, or dry pot roast.  

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience” (James Beard, one of the greats). But it’s true. Everywhere you go, everyone you meet, has to eat. And nobody truly wants to eat boring, repetitive, flavorless food...in silence, surrounded by beige brick walls, on hard seats. We want to be comfortable in our surroundings, surrounded by either vibrant or relaxing ambience (depending on the vision of the host), light music, hearty laughter, smiling faces, and flavors…whether they be exciting and new, or comforting and familiar, depending on the desire of those who wish to savor the food in front of them. So, maybe we will talk about the best restaurants in town, and what they are best for. Not necessarily fancy, or expensive, but why they are the best at what they do. Or, why they’re different at what they do. And who the 'they' are….

And ultimately, my favorite food quote…. while I know it doesn’t only apply to food… “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it” (Oscar Wilde). This well-traveled, well-educated, vastly experienced former professional chef turned mini farmer/homesteader/cooking instructor, who is also diabetic but still enjoys her food, but also celebrates a 5.8 a1c and a 100+ pound weight loss, absolutely knows that whether you’re craving sourdough and microgreens, grass fed beef and butter, homemade blackberry cobbler with slow churned vanilla bean ice cream, or red wine and chocolate, that they are equally as important as each other. And that it’s true when they say, “everything in moderation”, and by golly, if you want it, just have some, and then maybe go for a walk.  She is willing to tell you all about her craving for cheese and her recent “homeschool field trip” to Wisconsin just to get some of the best but then brought it home and promptly made cheese omelets with her farm eggs, and quesadillas and tacos for dinner, because she still lives in South Texas. 

Focus on Food.  Because everything else is just what comes after.