Target's Archer Farms offers organic overload

One of the hardest parts about switching to an organic diet is finding affordable options in a convenient place. But with a couple minutes to browse the isles at a local Target, it becomes a little easier.

The in house Archer Farms brand offers enough reasonably priced options to have a four-course organic (or mostly organic) meal at your kitchen table. Even on a Target shopper's budget.

Here is how to make that a reality:

For an appetizer, there are several options with the first being blue corn tortilla strips with either hummus or salsa. Or try a variety of crackers (everything from Italian herb flat bread crackers to multigrain crackers are offered) with cheese. A healthy but not organic option is fresh baked baguette with sun-dried tomato garlic and balsamic dipping sauce. Each option will run about $5-7 with all the fixings.

Organic farms does not offer salad for the second course. Instead, try a bowl of organic tomato soup. Make it a little fancier without breaking the bank by using some of the appetizer options -- sprinkle either some crumbled chips, crackers or cheese on top. Or accompany it with a piece of bread. The second course will cost about $5.

For the main course, Italian food is the way to go. Archer Farms makes a delicious 100-percent organic spinach and feta cheese pizza on a whole wheat crust. Or try the burgundy marinara sauce with pasta. If you must have meat, cut up some turkey to add to the top. The second course should run about $7-12.

The dessert options are a little more limited. The triple berry pie is delicious but it's not certified organic despite a number of organic ingredients (including frozen blueberries that are also sold on their own). But to top off the meal in an organic way, try a chocolate chip peanut trail mix or mixed fruit trail mix bar. Or maybe an apricot, pomegranate, strawberry, raspberry or tropical real fruit strip. Dessert costs about $3-5.

Wondering what to drink? A $3-4 box of organic fruit sangria tea of course. Archer Farms also offers bottled spring water and bottled sparkling water in a number of flavors.

And even if you don't want a whole meal, Archer Farms makes an abundance of delicious food and drink for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just browse the food isles of Target (it doesn't even have to be Super Target) the next time you need highlighters, makeup or toilet paper.

Until next time, happy eating.

No shortage of good salad options around town

Salads are an important ingredient in a healthy eating lifestyle. And with Tucson based Chopped and Core, there is no shortage on tasty greens.

Chopped has one location at 4205 N. Campbell Ave and another at 2829 E. Speedway Blvd. At the restaurant, you can choose for preselected salads like my personal favorites the mediterranean (romaine lettuce, feta cheese, red onion, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, roasted red peppers, with feta cheese vinaigrette dressing for $7.25) and the southwest chicken (romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, avocado, black olives, tortilla strips, tomatoes, black beans, with salsa ranch dressing for $8.95)

Or you can create your own delicious dish starting at $6.75 for your choice of lettuce (iceberg, romaine, spinach or spring mix), five toppings (with more than 40 possibilities ranging from anchovies to jicama to snowpeas), dressing (with over 20 choices ranging from classic chunky bleu cheese to ranch to reduced calorie roasted garlic vinaigrette) and a ciabatta roll.

For another two bucks, you can also choose a protein (with nine choices ranging from grilled chicken to shrimp to baked tofu ) to add another dimension to your greens.

At the Core cafe located in the University of Arizona student union, the process is similar but for $5.49, you can fill a bowl up to the brim with everything from alfalfa sprouts to red cabbage to wasabi peas. And for an additional $1.25-$2, you can add one of eight proteins. Then you select one type of greens (baby spinach, iceberg, mescalun greens or romaine) and finish it off with a dressing (with 24 choices ranging from creamy pepper and parmesan to poppy seed to serrano grape).

Sounds like good eating to me.

Be cautioned that these green staples are night for night owls. Chopped closes at 8 p.m. while Core closes Monday-Thursday at 8:30 p.m., Friday at 7 p.m. and weekends at 6 p.m.

If you’re not into all the options, some of the best salads with pre-determined ingredients can be found at the Paradise Bakery and Cafe, 7109 N. Oracle Road and 845 N. Park Ave. Try the chopped BBQ chicken with romaine lettuce tossed with ranch dressing, corn, jicama and black beans topped with diced BBQ chicken, diced tomatoes and pepper Jack cheese.

Both the traditional Caesar and Greek hit the spot too.

But in a hurry? Most fast food places serve salads but the awards for the best tasting go to McDonald’s premium southwest salad with grilled chicken and Wendy’s garden sensations chicken BLT salad. Both run about $5 and some change.

Remember a key thing about salads is that just because you’re eating one, doesn’t mean that you are eating healthy. Dressings and proteins can add enough calories and fat to make a salad almost equal to a hamburger or fries so choose toppings wisely.

Until next time, happy eating.

Las Vegas strip offers healthy options

LAS VEGAS — The Venetian is known on the Las Vegas strip for breathtaking architecture and of course, the ultra trendy night club Tao. But did you know it also has healthy gourmet cuisine?

The Venetian is home to the Canyon Ranch Cafe, which is a take off of the Tucson-based health spa. From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, the cafe serves healthy foods like fresh produce and even turkey meatloaf, all for a moderate price by strip standards.

At the Canyon Ranch Cafe, you can sip on some Tazo tea for $2 or on a strawberry-banana-apple smoothie for $5. For an entree, try buttermilk battered chicken with sweet corn sauce, which gives you 385 calories for $16. Top it off with homemade ice cream for $3.

B&B Ristorante, which is owned by Food Network celebrity chef Mario Batali, also offers healthier dining inside of the Venetian. The restaurants claims to use mostly organic items that are imported from Italy for its dishes, which includes goat cheese tortellon with with dried orange and wild fennel pollen for $24.

Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant offers a California-cuisine menu that "changes daily based on the freshest organic produce," according to lasvegasrestaurants.com. It offers a vegetarian tasting with artichoke cannelloni, basil cous cous, squash timbale and portabella carpaccio for $29 or surf and turf filet thermidor with crisp potato cakes, sauteed spinach, scampi shrimp and lobster sauce for $49.

Spago is located inside the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.

At the Wynn, a swanky hotel that boosts a lot higher limit tables, there are also organic options often available at its nine up-scale restaurants.

Also on the strip near the Wynn, tryout the Captial Grille located inside the Fashion Show Mall. Or for organic sushi Hamada of Japan is open from 5-10 p.m. at the Flamingo.

Looking for something a little less sophisticated? If you can't make it to a local health food store like Rainbow's End, which is a half-mile from Las Vegas Boulevard, you can find some casual but organic dining off the strip like the Go Raw Cafe.

With two locations in Las Vegas, there are a number of interesting options like the gimmie the beet cheese burger with fries for $10.88. The menu says its a "veggie burger made with beets, carrots, sunflower seeds, and parsley, served on living bread with hand prepared catsup, mustard, mayo, onion, tomato, lettuce, sprouts, avocado and almond cheese."

Evos, a "feel good fast food option," is also open in Henderson, Nev., with two other locations coming soon. Also coming soon to Vegas is Pizza Fusion, which offers organic pizza as well as
"gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and lactose-free items" including sandwiches and wraps.

Or if you're looking for something a little less healthy, try the numerous buffets across the city like millions of tourists do daily. Here's a historic look at the Vegas buffets:



Until next time, happy eating.

Is water really organic?

Antibiotics and anti-convulsants are not what you would expect to find in your $1 bottle of natural spring water. And when you take a gulp of tap water, you also probably would not expect to be sipping on mood stabilizers and sex hormones.

But you probably are — despite your expectations for something promised to be "nothing but pure refreshment," as Pepsi-Cola's Aquafina non-carbonated water claims.

But a recent five-month long investigation by The Associated Press found that pharmaceuticals — including the antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — are present in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.

The Associated Press also reported "the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose." And the water companies believe that makes the water safe for consumers.

Scientists are unsure of the longterm consequences however.

How does it get there?

"People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue."

How does it get into bottled water?

Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co's Dasani are "both made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs" according to a July 27, 2007, report from Reuters. Yes, that's a fancy way to say it's bottled tap water.

So is your water really organic? Well, no one really seems to know.

A question posted on the unscientific Web site Yahoo! Answers received 35 responses from average people who were split between whether it is or it isn't. Here is what some of the posters said:

• "Organic if its not been touched by humans, and inorganic if it has been messed with." — Billy C.

• "Water (H20) is inorganic — made from two elements hydrogen and oxygen. It contains no carbon atoms as organic compounds do. We can find organic matter and critters in our non-sterilized water, and we can find water in organic critters (including our own organs); but pure water is inorganic." — Dr. B

• "It's organic unless its purified and infused with minerals and vitamins that aren't organic. But plain old water is organic (natural and untampered with)." — Boozemuse22
  

The United States Department of Agriculture has declined to rule on allowing water to be certified as organic. So who knows these days?

Here is what professional magicians/comedians Penn and Teller have to say on a part of the water craze:



Until next time, happy eating.

Organic ranch leaves ingredients to be desired

In preparation of becoming an amateur organic food expert for my Field of Greens blog, I have been trying a little bit of organic everything. And its yielded some interesting taste experiences.

One thing that I absolutely love is the mixed baby lettuce from Trader Joe's, which is where I stock up on moderately priced organics just like most of the eco-friendly public. It tastes delicious except when you add organic ranch.

I am a ranch dressing addict. On everything from carrots to fries to pizza, I feel the need to drench it in ranch dressing in order to fully enjoy it – unless of course, that ranch dressing is organic. I'll pass on that.

For some reason, organic ranch just doesn't taste right to me. It's weird.

I've tried to give organic ranch a shot. But unfortunately, Organics brand ranch dressing from Safeway and Trader Joe's house brand – even the kind that comes in little cups with the baby carrots – just don't do it for me. Or my three roommates.

The bottles of organic ranch go untouched while Hidden Valley's light ranch dressing, or even the kind that has even less nutritional value, goes fast. We have yet to try Hidden Valley's new organic line.

"That's really gross," one of my roommates said after I made her do a sampling of all the organic ranch dressings I could find (and well, afford too). The good ol' Hidden Valley ranch finished miles ahead of the organics as did packets from Burger King and Jack in the Box.

How could they taste so different? I decided to look no further than the label.

The organic version includes organic soybean oil, water, organic fresh buttermilk, organic white vinegar, organic cane sugar, organic egg yolks and sea salt. And there's less than 2-percent of some other stuff including xanthan gum.

The "real" ranch dressings have much more. Among the more than 20 ingredients – some with names that I can only manage to give a good guess – are buttermilk, sugar, salt, sour cream, garlic, onion and distilled vinegar.

So while organics have been very good to me, I have to agree with media arts and political science senior Grace Clark, who I interviewed for Prices steer some healthy eaters away from organics. Here is what she said:

"Though I try to limit how much processed food I eat, I'm still partial to flavor over healthiness," said Clark. She recently bought organic tomato soup at Sunflower Market, a farmer's market, but did not like the taste compared to brands available at regular grocery stores.

"With time I'm sure my taste buds would grow sensitive enough to appreciate the delicate flavors of organic soups," she said. "But I'm not patient or wealthy enough to train them in that respect."

And that's why for now, the organic ranch will sit in the refrigerator, untouched, until someone decides to finally toss it and make room for another bottle of real ranch.

But I'll still take organic vegetables any day. Even with a little dirt.

Until next time, happy eating.