Psst . . . Before we jump into the local food conversation, I just want to make sure you’re RSVP’d for our virtual book tour! It’s happening tomorrow, Wednesday May 9th at 6pm EST/3pm PST and we’d LOVE to have you there. It’s totally free and you can join from anywhere. All you need is your computer and an internet connection. We’ll be talking Naked cooking and are happy to answer all your questions. See you there! RSVP now.

This week, I want to introduce you to a concept you may or may not be familiar with: the CSA, or “Community Supported Agriculture.” A CSA is a great way to build a deep relationship with a local farmer and to ensure you’re eating seasonally and locally all summer long. It’s a step further than buying direct from the farmer. In a CSA you invest in the farm by purchasing a share at the outset of the season. This helps the farmer offset her costs while guaranteeing a market for her yield. In return for your investment, you get delicious, local, seasonal produce delivered on a regular basis throughout the season based on the farm’s yields. Talk about bridging the gap from farmer to eater!

Choosing the CSA that’s right for you is an art in and of itself, and can be a little overwhelming for the newbie. Luckily our friends at Farmplate have put together a guide for key considerations and have a tool to help you find a CSA near you. Enjoy today’s guest post written by Anna Villarruel, a senior at Dartmouth College and an Editorial Intern at Farmplate.com.

Eat Fresh, Eat Local: How to Choose A CSA

According to the USDA, CSAs, farmers’ markets, and other direct farm-to-consumer sales are spreading like wildfire. And now is the time of year when farms are signing up people to participate. For the uninitiated, CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture,” where customers essentially pay up front for a share of a given farm’s annual produce.

It’s important to do your research before signing on to a CSA, so here are some things to consider:

Variations on the CSA Theme

Some CSAs are tied directly to the farm, but others are run more like buying clubs where the CSA organizers buy from a number of different farmers, and you may be able to get fruit, meat, cheese and even fibers, like wool, in addition to vegetables. Some of these programs have a huge geographic range, which can be convenient if you want berries in the off season, but not all of the offerings always fit into a localvore’s diet.

Then there are Shareholder CSAs, Pick-Your-Own options and CSA workshares. Make sure you understand their policies so you don’t overcommit without knowing it!

Increasingly, CSAs aren’t confined to produce. Some non-farming options include community supported baking, fishing, edible gardening, food production and cooking, food retailers, restaurants, and even foraging. (Click on the links above for definitions from the FarmPlate glossary.)

Produce Selection

Each CSA farm grows a different mix of produce. Some focus on a small number of more popular items, while others provide a wider range of produce. To figure out which farm is best for you, think about what you like to eat. Many farms have a list of what they grow on their websites, and some even include recipes with your share. No matter how cheap the produce or how convenient the drop-off site, you don’t want a box of produce rotting in your fridge each week! CSAs often allow you to be creative and try new varieties of produce, which is part of the fun.

Share Size & Price

CSA farm shares vary quite a bit in price. Some are upwards of $500 while many are quite a bit less, especially if you have the option to purchase a half-size share. Do the math and figure out the per-week costs. How many people are you feeding? How often do you cook? What do you like to cook? And how does it compare to your grocery bill?

Talk to the farmer about how much food is included on a given week if you’re not sure, and ask if there are any changes throughout the season that you should be aware of (when kale season comes, will your refrigerator be full of the stuff?). You should always feel like you’re getting a good value.

Tip: If a farm only offers whole shares, split yours with a friend!

Convenience

Pick-up/delivery days and times vary by CSA farm. Think about how far you would be willing to travel on a weekly basis to get your share and what pick-up option would be most convenient and enjoyable for you. Choose the option that best fits your life as you live it. Convenience (or lack thereof) will have a huge impact on your experience throughout the entire CSA season.

Another thing to consider is how much time you want to spend on the farm. Some CSA farms offer a variety of ways to keep in touch with farmers through on-farm activities, newsletters and interactions during pick-up. If seeing the farm and participating in farm activities is important to you, then choose one that is close to your home; the likelihood of you actually making it to the farm is far greater when it’s nearby.

Whatever you do, find a way to get some local produce into your house this summer, whether from a CSA, farmers’ market, farm stand or grocery store. Your diet, your dinner and your community will be all the better for it! USE FARMPLATE TO FIND A GREAT CSA NEAR YOU >

Related Posts:

• Cook from your heart, not your head – step 2
• Local, organic groceries right to your door
• Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms

It also means that it’s the last day of our crazy generous sugar-busting preorder bonanza. The preorder giveaway ends at exactly midnight, Pacific time, tomorrow, Thursday May 3rd. So don’t delay! Get out there to your favorite online retailer, buy yourself (and your closest friends!) a copy, send us proof of purchase, and we’ll hook you up with lifetime access to our new online 14-Day Sugar Control Detox program. Get the details & get your copy right here.

To get you juiced up for this exciting day of days, here’s a little fireside chat with me and Chef James. Some behind the scenes time (and dirt!) for your Naked Cooking enjoyment:

And there’s more! Next week we’ll be doing a live, online virtual book tour. It doesn’t matter where you live. As long as you have a computer with internet access, you can join us LIVE for our virtual book tour where we’ll be talking Naked Food, sharing some bonus tips and recipes, and generally getting down in the kitchen. Mark your calendars for Wednesday May 9th, at 3pm Pacific, 6pm Eastern. This is a live one-time event! No recordings, no re-dos. Don’t miss it! Click here for details & registration.

I can still remember sitting perched at the kitchen counter with my Dad, as he showed me how to peel off the individual leaves and scrape the yummy flesh with my bottom teeth. Such fond memories.

If you didn’t have the benefit of a Dad (or Mom) who loved fresh artichokes and wanted you to love them, too, here’s how I like to enjoy them. And yes, with a healthy dose of melted butter and lemon. Serious yum.

If you don’t know how to cook a fresh artichoke, well I guess you’re just gonna have to get a copy of The Naked Foods Cookbook, aren’t you? (our special preorder offer is still on so this is a GREAT time to buy if I do say so myself)

What’s your favorite way to prepare or eat fresh artichokes? Let us know in the comments below.

Pssst… Guess what? We’re doing a virtual book tour. That means no matter where you live, you’ll be able to join us LIVE as long as you’ve got a computer and internet access. Mark your calendars for Wednesday May 6th at 3pm Pacific time / 6pm Eastern time. More details coming soon.

In this weeks’ video, Chef James shows us a nifty trick for easily and quickly dicing a melon. It’s a great trick for the yummy Cucumber Melon Salad we’ve got in The Naked Foods Cookbook. (Do you have your copy yet? Check out our crazy preorder deal. Only two weeks left!)

Do you have any tips or tricks for easy melon slicing? Or a favorite melon recipe? We’d love to hear them in the comments below.

This is the title of a blog post I wrote over a year ago on sugar and its negative impacts on our health. Well, here we are a year later, and sugar is as omnipresent as ever.

Have you ever tried to completely eliminate sugar from your diet for a little while? If so, you know that sugar is hiding in just about every type of prepared food out there. Even the “healthy” ones. It is ubiquitous.

In my practice, I work with many clients who are struggling with sugar. Intense sugar cravings, major energy lows, and stubborn weight gain are the top three symptoms I see.

The one sure-fire strategy I’ve seen for dealing with all three of these issues at once is a 14-Day Sugar Control Detox. It’s intense, but it works. We’ve had 100% success rate with clients who’ve followed the protocol to a T.

I have extremely exciting news for you. Just this week, we launched an online version of this 14 Day Sugar Control Detox, complete with instructional videos, meal plans (all based on recipes from The Naked Foods Cookbook), grocery list, and all sorts of other great tools. Now you can guide yourself through this protocol on your own schedule, whenever and wherever you are.

And what’s even more exciting? This online program – which will be on sale starting May 4th for $95 – is available to you for FREE with a preorder of The Naked Foods Cookbook. Yup, you read that correctly. You get lifetime access to this program (and any future updates to it) for FREE with proof of purchase of our upcoming cookbook.

Call us crazy. Call us over-generous. We’re just so excited about both of these new products that we’re rolling them into one offer.

This is a limited time offer and expires at exactly midnight, May 3rd, 2012.

Read all the details, order your copy, and get access to your 14-Day Sugar Control Detox Program right here.

Related Posts

• Sweet Misery: How our sweet tooth is killing us 
• Underneath Cravings: What’s your body telling you?
• The Naked Truth: When food is comfort

In keeping with our theme of cooking how-to videos, this week Chef James shows us the secrets behind rolling your own sushi. We’ve got a great quinoa sushi recipe in The Naked Foods Cookbook (have you pre-ordered your very own copy yet?), or you can use any combination of veggies and fish you like. The finicky part is in the rolling, and once you know the tricks, you’ll be all set.

What’s your favorite homemade sushi? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Naked Wraps: Using Collard Greens for Your Burritos and Wraps
• Knife Skillz: Avocados and Mangos
• Naked Superfoods: Kale Arame Salad

If you’re ready to taste some real magic, go to your nearest health food store or Asian food market, and get some young green coconuts (sometimes also called young Thai coconuts). They will probably look something like this:

I’d recommend getting at least two, since you can’t really tell from the outside whether they’re fully ripe or not.

Once you’ve brought this beautiful naked food home, the next challenge is how to open the darned thing? Now, I’m a big ol’ wimp with knives, especially when you need to use them aggressively. And opening a coconut is no gentle act. In this video, I demonstrate how even someone as timid as me can make it happen. It might not be the most graceful coconut-opening you’ve ever witnessed, but here’s the deal: if I can do it, you can do it.

If you’re looking for creative ways to use coconut water and meat in your day-to-day, checkout The Naked Foods Cookbook. Available NOW for preorder from Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Yum! Enjoy and let us know in the comments below if you have any other great tips for how to easily open a young green coconut!

Related posts:

• How to Make the Perfect Omelet
• Veggie Substitutes for Highly Refined Carbs
• October Unprocessed: Easy Formula for Unprocessed Salad Dressing
  

I love this video because as much as I love eggs, and as many times as I’ve made them, omelets have always defied me. They stick to the pan or break apart at the last minute, and inevitably turn into a “scramble” (read: a big ol’ mess). Then I learned these tips from Chef James and now even I can make one! Check it out.

Do you have any tips on how to make the perfect omelet? We’d love to hear them! Leave them in the comments below.

p.s. The Naked Foods Cookbook, available for preorder NOW at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, has several super yummy omelet recipes. I know we’re biased, but we highly recommend them.

Related Posts:

• When an Egg is not an Egg: What’s on your breakfast plate?
• How to Poach an Egg
• Eating Naked: Photos of a week in the life

I was all set to write a post about the importance of chewing when her question landed in my inbox and caught my full attention. As riveting as it is, I think we’ll leave the subject of mastication to a future post.

What would you like to stop doing?

It’s a powerful question, and goes quite well with the slowing down I’ve been practicing with this pregnancy.

Clearing your life from the things that just ain’t working is just as important to vital self-care as eating your veggies or heading to yoga class. The mental freedom you gain, the creative space you open up, the self-love it affirms are just some of the delightful results.

What would you like to stop doing?

I’ll go first:

I’d like to stop biting my nails; it’s no example to set for the precious little creature I’m bringing into the world, and anyways it’s disgusting and unhealthy. I’d like to stop getting annoyed (read: rageful) at bad drivers. I’d like to stop putting other people’s needs before my own and realize instead that saying “no” is sometimes a bigger gift for everyone. I’d like to stop making silly excuses for not walking the daily mileage my midwife prescribed. And finally, I’d like to stop looking back and nit-picking at what I should’a/could’a/would’a done and just focus on what I can do going forward.

How about you?

What would you like to stop doing?

Share your stop-doings in the comments below.

And now… for the most important part. As Danielle writes:

….may we turn our “would like to stop’s” into done deals. Close your eyes and beam out from your heart great waves of liberating love to everyone reading this, that we may turn away from that which holds us back, and start doing more of that which pulls us forward.

I say a big YES to that!

———

If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend checking out Danielle’s new book The Fire Starter Sessions. Guaranteed to fire you up.

Related posts:

• The Business Case for Slowing Down: An open letter to type A’s everywhere
• True Naked Living: Your permission slip from the universe
• Underneath Cravings: What’s your body telling you?

I’ve had several folks new to the kitchen ask me how to poach an egg. You don’t need any fancy gear or ‘poachers’. In this video, I’ll show you how to poach an egg quickly using just your basic frying pan and a slotted spoon.

If you have any tips on how to make the perfect poached egg, please leave them in the comments below!