So every time I read or watch anything about our food industry I become a believer in organic produce, free range chicken and grass fed beef. However, I don't know why I don't continue with the cause...can't really say if its too expensive or I get lazy or the images of the horrific documentary fades in my memory. But for right now I am on the band wagon. I watched the documentary Fresh last night...oh yeah I really know how to celebrate Easter...nothing like eating a ham and then watching pigs being slaughtered later in the night. Woot woot!

And although the entire documentary brought up good points I found a few facts especially interesting and worth sharing. Did you know?

• Produce that was grown in 1950 had 40% more nutritional value. Due to over processing the nutritional value has decreased. Food has become cheaper but has less nutritional value. So our parents had to eat pretty much half the amount of broccoli that we do just to get the same benefits. Grrr...
• The number of American farmers has dwindled and is continuing to do so and we are getting more and more food products over seas. Not that I have any desire to be a farmer but I like the idea of the idealistic American farmer. Grrr again. 
• The most sustainable form of food production is the medium sized organic farm. We have spent all of this time, money and energy on industrializing agriculture but medium sized organic is really the way to go. Watch out Farmers Market here I come on Friday afternoon. 

So tonight I made grilled chicken kabobs with romaine lettuce...and oh yes both the chicken and the lettuce were organic. Phew day 1 down!!! What? 27 days and it becomes a habit, isn't that the saying? Damn that sounds daunting. Now if my goal was to drink a glass of wine a day that just sounds so much more possible, but organic eating very intimidating. Guess I better do a field trip to Whole Foods this weekend to see what I can conjure up.



Let me start by saying I love grilled romaine. I know that some people are of the opinion that lettuce shouldn't be grilled but they are just wrong. I am of the opinion that everything should be grilled. Do you remember all of the cancer scares surrounding bbq food a few years back? It seriously almost had me in tears because I love charcoal. I actually remember having a little friend growing up who would full on eat charcoal briquets and although at the time I thought that was very strange and somewhat disgusting now I kind of get it. I have a gas grill but seriously I love charcoal!!!

So with this recipe you make a dressing consisting of olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh oregano ( I used dried because I couldn't find fresh), shallot, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt. Drizzle the dressing on the romaine and grill the lettuce 1-2 minutes. With the rest of the dressing add the chicken that you cut into chunks and then toss in breadcrumbs. Thread the chicken on skewers and grill for approximately 10 min. I have always found it hard to tell if chicken is done on the bbq so when its on a skewer it is a little easier to test doneness.

Finally serve the kabobs over the grilled lettuce and sprinkle with additional vinegar and oil and some Parmesan cheese. This recipe was almost like a fresher lighter version of Caesar salad without the dressing. Ya know I expected to like it because otherwise why would I have picked the recipe, right, but I REALLY liked it.

Now for my randomness since this my blog...did you know that the Arabs invented caramel? It was a depilatory for women in their harems....hmmm wonder how it became a food item? People this is a food blog please get your mind out of the gutter.