Growing Synergy

Eating from Florida 90 Challenge

growingadmin — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:46:30 +0000

When we went into our Eating from Florida 90 Challenge, we both learned very quickly that being prepared is key! The first week into our challenge, the two of us had some minimal fruits and veggies and a few cuts of beef – while that may work for some, it certainly did not for us. When you break down a meal, one usually adds seasonings, oils, condiments to flavor their food, and may add complex carbohydrates as a side (mmmmm……carbs). Thankfully, we had a lot of great people surrounding us and some great resources to find the best that Florida had to offer.

: Big Wheel Food Truck

Did you know that Florida grows rice? We certainly didn’t. Heather Lane from Semi-Chi was gracious enough to send us brown and white rice to get us through our challenge.

The Florida Keys hosts some fantastic sea salt from Florida Keys Sea Salt.

Crackerman Crackers provided us with crackers and sourdough breads. Check out his site http://crackermancrackers.com

We even waited for over a month to get our hands on blueberry syrup from an artisan in Sarasota. Thanks to the new cottage law, more artisans are able to create their products from home….the downside is that you have to wait to meet up with the person to get the product….it was worth the wait!

Tom West Blueberries

Olde Hearth Bread Company in Casselberry, FL has been curbing our need for carbs and our sweet tooth! They offer up some of the best chocolate chip cookies around.

Florida Fresh Meat Company supplied us with some of the most incredible beef from White Ranch that we ever had. This grass-fed ranch is located in Citra, FL and offers wagyu/angus and belted galloway beef….so tender, that you don’t need to bother using a knife.

The best part about doing the challenge in the spring is that we were able to work our way through so many different fruit and vegetable offerings, from the tail end of strawberry season–we each froze an entire flat!–to blueberry and blackberry season, and now we have the most gorgeous eggplants! We love this state!

Freezing Blueberries

growingadmin — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:04:57 +0000

For those of you that recently purchased Tom West Blueberries from Growing Synergy – Thank you! If you haven’t already demolished them like we have, you may want to save some for smoothies or baking throughout the summer months. We did a little homework to find out some of the best ways to freeze your blueberries.

Here are some tips from ehow food:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4843528_freeze-fresh-blueberries.html?fb_ref=like&fb_source=profile_oneline

Keep checking back on our Growing Synergy Facebook page for new sources of blueberries over the next several weeks.

Winter Park Dairy- Artisan, Raw Milk Cheese

growingadmin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:27:40 +0000

Growing Synergy has recently added Winter Park Dairy to its suite of offerings. This Central Florida operation was established in 2008 by David and Dawn Green, and is set in an urban environment within Winter Park, FL. Due to handcrafted technique each wheel of cheese has its own unique texture, flavor profile, and color.

The dairy is best known for its “Bleu Sunshine,” artisan produced, raw milk cheese aged at 60 days. Within recent years, the Green’s have created additional raw milk, cheese offerings. Growing Synergy carries the following cheeses:

Bleu Sunshine: The original raw milk artisan cheese of Florida

Florida Tomme: Raw milk, pressed alpine style cheese with a distinct parmesan flavor.

Black & Bleu: Raw milk, cracked roasted peppercorn infused blue vein cheese.

Cheese is available in both retail and wholesale/food service packaging.

Now offering Dansk Farms Honey

growingadmin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:46:11 +0000

You asked, and we listed – we are proud to now offer Dansk Farms Raw Local Honey.

Dansk Farms is a small, artisinal producer of high quality raw honeys in Winter Park, FL. The farm is owned and operated by beekeeper Joe Willingham who adheres to organic production standards, never using any pesticides, chemicals, or drugs on the bees or their hives. All hives are maintained throughout Florida including Cocoa Beach, Orlando, Arcadia and Winter Park.

Honey is available in both retail, and food service packaging.

Flank Steak Recipe

growingadmin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:27:37 +0000

Flank Steak

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup oil

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tsp. ginger (powder)

2 TBS. brown sugar

4 cloves garlic (crushed)

Mix well and pour over steak. Marinade over night in a large zip-lock baggie (this will allow you to move the marinade around the steak easier.). If you think of it, turn the bag a couple of times so that the marinade really gets coated on the steak.

Do not use the marinade for cooking. Throw away.

Grill or broil the steak on low heat.

Nine’s Mine Ranch Veal Burgers

growingadmin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:15:01 +0000

Nine’s Mine Ranch Veal Burgers

1 slice bread, torn into small pieces

2 tablespoons Q-Fresh milk

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Lake Meadow Naturals egg

2 Heart of Christmas basil leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon minced fresh Heart of Christmas rosemary

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 pound Nine’s Mine Ranch ground veal

4 (1 ounce) slices Beyond Organic Cheddar

½ pound Pure Produce Shitake Mushrooms

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 small onion

4 hamburger buns

Sauté garlic in olive oil, then onion shitake mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Mix the garlic, olive oil, onion and shitake mushrooms with torn bread into a bowl and sprinkle with Q-Fresh cream on top milk and Worcestershire sauce. Mix in Lake Meadow Naturals egg until combined. Season with Heart of Christmas basil and rosemary. Add fresh ground pepper. Mix in veal until evenly mixed. Shape veal mixture into four patties. Preheat a grill for medium heat. Lightly oil the hot grill. Grill Nine’s Mine Ranch veal burgers to desired degree of doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium. Place a slice of Beyond Organic cheese on each burger, and allow melting for about 1 minute before serving on buns.

Where to Purchase:

Nines Mine Ranch Veal: www.GrowingSynergy.com

Herbs: www.HocFarms.com

Mushrooms: www.PureProduce.com

Hamburger Buns: www.OldeHearthBreadCompany.com

Beyond Organic Cheddar: GrowingSynergy.MyBeyondOrganic.com

Oriental Beef Stir-Fry with Chuck Steak

growingadmin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:18:31 +0000

Oriental Beef Stir-Fry with Chuck Steak

Prepare the marinade the night before. Pour over steak and marinate overnight, refrigerated, in a covered stainless steel or glass bowl.

1/4 cup rice wine
1/4 cup teriyaki or oyster sauce
2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
You may want to add ∏ Tbsp of raw sugar or brown sugar
1 # of Deep Creek Ranch Chuck Steak, cut into strips

Stir-fry cooking goes very quickly, typically taking less than 10 minutes to complete the dish, once you start to cook. Start cooking your rice before you begin preparing vegetables. Prepare and chop all vegetables prior to heating the pan.

oil to cook
prepared vegetables to stir-fry
brown rice

Pour off marinade and reserve. Meanwhile, heat a wok or large frying pan. Add 1 Tbsp. oil. Add meat and stir fry until rare to medium-rare (the meat will cook a bit more in the second step).

Remove meat from pan, wipe clean, add another tablespoon of oil and stir fry the vegetables. Add vegetables to the pan according to the time required to cook, starting with onions and carrots, and ending with fast-cooking greens and water chestnuts. Return meat and reserved marinade to the pan toward the end of the cooking time.

Deep Creek Ranch- Vegetable Beef Soup

growingadmin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:19:27 +0000

Deep Creek‘s Family Recipe

Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 # Deep Creek Ranch Stew Meat

2 tbs olive oil

3 large tomatoes diced

2 tbs Worcestershire sauce

3 garlic gloves

1 tsp dried oregano

3 ½ cups of water

4 medium potatoes cubed

2 turnips cubed

6 medium carrots sliced

1 medium zucchini halved & sliced

I cup sliced mushrooms

1 medium onion chopped

4 green chilies chopped

1 tsp brown sugar

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a resealable bag, add Deep Creek Ranch stew meat, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat beef.

Brown beef in oil in a Dutch Oven. Stir in tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for ½ hour.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour (or until meat and vegetables are tender).

Should yield ~ 8 servings depending on size of vegetables.

Growing Synergy now offers local proteins to restaurants, retailers and consumers.

growingadmin — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:06:36 +0000

Growing Synergy is proud to offer local proteins from the following Central Florida farms, ranches and value-added artisan companies:

Deep Creek Ranch: Pastured beef and lamb

Nines Mine Ranch: Pastured veal

Lake Meadow Naturals: Cage-free eggs, broilers, stewing hens, poussins

Latitude Foods: Grass-fed milk and dairy

Farm Jerky: USDA Choice and Deep Creek Ranch Beef Jerky

Click Here for a complete retail list: GS_Retail Sales Sheets

We take weekly orders by Monday at 8:00 a.m., and deliver on Thursday’s and Fridays.

To place an order or for questions contact Trish Strawn at trish@growingsynergy.com or 386-216-2442.

Sirloin Steak Recipe

growingadmin — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:08:06 +0000

Here is one of Trish’s favorite Sirloin Steak Recipes, found on www.onlygrassfed.com

Because a sirloin steak tends to be a larger steak, you are going to experience several degrees of doneness. If it’s medium rare in the center, it’s going to be medium near the surface and on the edges, so be careful not to overcook your beef.
Marinade
1 – 2 tablespoons of unfiltered, organic extra virgin olive oil
For Sauteing
“Secret” Herbed Seasoning Salt (or coarse unrefined sea salt), crushed (see recipe below)
Preparation

Marinate the steak by rubbing it all over with unfiltered olive oil and let it sit covered at room temperature for 2 hours. If you prefer to keep your beef refrigerated, let it marinade over night but allow it to come to room temperature before throwing it on the grill. The enzymes in the olive oil help tenderize the beef.
Pre-heat your grill or cast iron pan to medium heat. Rub the crushed seasoning salt into both sides of the steak.
Sear the steak over MEDIUM heat, a few minutes on each side.
Reduce the heat to low, turn over your steak and take turns cooking it for another 5 minutes on each side or until the center reaches your desired temperature (see our cooking temperatures chart <http://onlygrassfed.com/cooking-tips/cooking-temperatures.html> ). Cooking times vary depending on the thickness of your steak, so be careful and use a meat thermometer.
Take your steak off the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.

“Secret” Herbed Seasoning Salt Recipe
Mix together the following ingredients and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

2 tbs coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons fresh, finely chopped thyme
1 tsp each of fresh, finely chopped parsley, sage & rosemary
3 garlic cloves chopped

When you are ready to use this salt, take out the amount you plan to use and crush it with a rolling pin to release the flavors and break up the salt grains into finer pieces. Store whatever is left over in the refrigerator.