Potatoless Shepard's Pie

Ingredients:

1 kg Lean Ground Beef
1 kg Lean Ground Pork
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 each red & yellow pepper chopped
1 large onion chopped
2 packs Club House Shepard's Pie Mix
2 Heads cauliflower 

Instructions:

• Brown all meat, with chopped onion, and peppers until cooked through and veg is softened.
• While meat mixture is cooking; wash and large cut up cauliflower, and either steam or boil in a small amount of water until soft.

• Add frozen veg to meat mixture.
• Add the 2 packs of Mix to 1 or 1.5 cups of water (depending on how much gravy you want) and mix until incorporated- add to meat and simmer.
• Mash cauliflower with a stick of butter (if you want creaminess) salt and pepper.
• Place meat into casserole pan, top with mashed cauliflower
• Bake at 350F for 30 mins or until golden brown and bubbling.

Who's Your Farmer? Cilantro and Chive Restaurant

So far with "Who's Your Farmer?" we've focused on people who USE farmers ... and that's ok! Because without these amazing people who use locally produced and sustained foods, our local farmers wouldn't be as famous as they are.
Keri visited Cilantro and Chive on Lacombe, AB, a few months ago and could not stop raving about them. So she left the owner a note (albeit a slightly tipsy napkin note) to contact her.
A couple weeks later she got an email from the dubious Rieley Kay, chef and co-owner.
He proceeded to tell her that not only were they a local restaurant, but that they source locally, and where possible use organic producers! WIN-WIN-WIN!

So we made an appointment to go visit and have a little chat. 
Below is the video of the interview, and the some really great information about Cilantro and Chive's origin, a list of farmers they use, AND a list of BREWERIES AND DISTILLERIES they use.  
You are welcome.

 

Keri, Earl's and the Beef Rant

Ok! Here's my take on the ‪#‎earls‬ beef issue. 

Earl's Restaurants LTD wants to use 'Certified Humane' beef. Great! Good for them! It's what consumers want. They want to know their meat is treated in a humane way while it was alive and slaughtered in a Humane way, with no antibiotics or hormones. 

While Alberta beef is definitely some of the best beef in the world. Alberta cannot provide a supply of 2 million pounds of beef per year due to a lack of paperwork. That's it! It's a lack of having the piece of paper and following along with bookkeeping, record keeping, and the logistical parts that are required with it. It's one of the cheaper certifications one can get. Alberta beef is raised in compliance with most, if not all of the regulations. Yet, not certified. So if the Alberta Cattle Producers want to make a change go through the process of getting certified! Then you can be a supplier of 'Certified Humane' beef. Here's the 53 pages of regulations that cover everything from records to feed to space to everything. So all you cattle producers that want to supply Earl's and any other company that will be switching over to 'Certified Humane' GET CERTIFIED! It's going to happen. You can't get on the train without the ticket! 

http://certifiedhumane.org/…/2014/02/Std14.BeefCattle.1J.pdf

Here is also the slaughter regulations: http://certifiedhumane.org/…/20…/04/2013.AMI_.Guidelines.pdf for it to be Certified Humane it has to comply with all the standards set forth. 

This isn't going away. It's in fact getting bigger. It's gaining momentum if you will. This is the way the world is turning! People don't want their meat to come from a feed lot where the animals are crammed into a tight space with a bunch of other animals, knee deep in mud and feces, getting rounds of antibiotics as 'preventative' (I have been there I have witnessed it with my own eyes. Don't tell me it doesn't happen). People want to know their food had a good life out on 'the Open Range', fresh air sunshine, grass, doing their animal things, being treated with respect and kindness.

Here's my advice: find your local farmer who raises animals in a way that's in line with how you want your meat to be treated. Raise your own animals. Source from reputable farmers. Go to the slaughter house or butcher shop and see how your meat is going to be handled and processed. Stop shopping at Walmart, Costco and other big name retailers who's meat comes from anywhere and you don't know how it's handled. 

As a consumer your biggest boycott can be just by knowing who your farmer is and how your food is handled. Wouldn't it be AMAZING if EVERYTHING everyone ate in Alberta came from ALBERTA? We don't boycott the fact our lettuce comes from Mexico, our peppers from California or Argentina, our garlic comes from China. So get on that boycott train! Actually support Alberta with YOUR money! 

Join a CSA, find a small Market Garden, Grow your OWN. Just do something that will actually benefit your province! Stop jumping on the stupid train of boycotts because some company you didn't actually know used an Alberta supplier and switched because that's what consumers want and you still buy your meat from the cheap bin or because it's on sale and it very well could have come from Mars. Use your head and shop with it! 

DO IT!