The Servus Northerner Series Boot
Whether you wear boots to walk in the rain, work in a garden or to simply protect your feet from the cold and muddy elements, there’s one boot that does it all: the Servus Northerner Series Boot. Never heard of it? Neither did I until a few years ago when I bought a pair in a vet’s office in a small town in central Iowa.
Back then, I needed a pair of durable boots to navigate the fields and muddy roads of a farm and didn’t want a pair of boots that looked like they came from the children’s shoe department at Target. What I found was a boot that turned out to be great looking, comfortable, and durable….. and yet outside of the midwest farming community, many people haven’t heard of them. Read more 
“The Lovers Set down Their Spoons”
They weave through the tables – their rain coats billowing out behind them like the kites you and I flew on that terrible day that began our love. Your kite kept wrapping around mine, and at first I thought it was sweet, but eventually mine nosedived into the sand.
In 2014, the Iowa Short Fiction Award was given to Heather A Slomski for The Lovers Who Set Down Their Spoons, a collection of 15 short stories that are thought-provoking, captivating, and haunting. Themes of love, loss and regret are heavily emphasized with symbolism and metaphors used to convey the message in the narratives that vary in length from 2-29 pages. Read more
Pinto Bean Tostadas
A little lemon juice makes everything taste better. ~Virginia Sanborn Burleigh
Whole grain corn tostadas piled high with mashed and spiced pinto beans, chopped sweet tomatoes, chunky avocado pieces seasoned with tangy fresh lemon juice and salt, red onion, and a sprinkling of diced fresh aromatic green cilantro make for an easy and delicious meal. From start to finish, the tostadas take about 15-20 minutes to make. Serve as a lunch or dinner entrée or with extra toppings on the side, with a cup of soup, or with rice.
The recipe below makes 6 tostadas which is enough for 2-3 people but can easily be doubled to feed a larger crowd. Read more
Why Every Individual Counts
On this very special day celebrating our nation’s birthday, I want to write about why every individual counts. There are nearly 320 million of us in this country – that’s a lot of people – enough to have made me think from time to time that what I do or don’t do really doesn’t matter. After all, I’m just one person – does it really matter if I eat a piece of grilled chicken, a slice of bacon, an ice cream cone or not think about the food chain in this country? Yes, it does and here’s why. Read more
The French Mint: Les Anis de Flavigny
Sharing a candy with an aniseed in its heart is a demonstration of love.
More than 400 years ago (1591) in an Abbey in the Burgundy region of eastern France, a group of Benedictine Monks started making a hard candy from the anise seed, which comes from the plant called Pimpinella Asisum – a sprawling green herb plant with an aromatic scent, strong feathery stems, green leaves and tiny white flowers that produce anise fruits or what others called anise seeds. Known for their distinctive flavor, anise seeds proved to be the foundation for one of the world’s oldest hard candies: Anis. Read more
Joe’s Oat Patties
There is something deeply satisfying about eating a veggie burger on a whole grain spelt potato bun with a slice of crispy green lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, and ketchup with a side of cole slaw.
Until recently, I relied on frozen veggie burgers but now use Joe’s Oat Patties Mix to make my own veggie burgers. Made primarily of five organic ingredients: oats, quinoa, dehydrated vegetables, sunflower seeds, herbs and spices, Joe’s Oat Patties Mix makes a wicked veggie burger high in protein, fiber, and taste but low in sugar, sodium, fat, and calories. Read more
5 Burger Buns Worth Buying
It’s burger bun time! Until recently, trying to find a great-tasting bun made of wholesome ingredients was nearly impossible. The buns in the bread aisle or bakery section of the grocery stores tend to be white, contain unheard of things, and taste like a big, dry, chewy nothing. But, recently bread makers have taken notice and jumped in to fill the void by offering delicious and nutritious burger buns.
Among the offerings are buns made with sprouted whole grain (grains that have been allowed to sprout and are then dried and milled or turned into a mush) and simply whole grain (where all the parts of the grain have been milled), both of which offer a nutritious and tasty alternative to the white processed buns that have dominated the market. Read more
Vegetarian/Vegan Dining in Des Moines, Iowa
Vegetarian and vegan dining options in the Des Moines metropolitan area have greatly expanded in the past few years and now include several choices for those looking for fresh, organic, or just plain delicious food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Surrounded by farms in every direction, Des Moines is a casual city where the restaurant scene is best described as easy-going and informal so whether you’re looking for a coffee bar, cafe, fast food, or a white table clothed restaurant, Des Moines offers a wide variety of choices. Within these establishments, the emphasis is on fresh, delicious wholesome food – much of it local – so consider any of the following (in no particular order): Read more
Sunfood Super Foods: Nut and Trail Mix
I wonder if the person who invented trail mix actually thought of it as they were cleaning out their car and moved their kid’s car seat? ~TheRat
Trail mix has come a long way in the past decade. No longer is the choice between a monster sized container filled with peanuts, raisins and chocolate candy or just plain GORP (good ol’ raisins and peanuts). Today, the selection is vast with some of the best options offered by Sunfood Super Foods – a San Diego based company dedicated to providing nutrient-dense, non-GMO, raw, organic super foods to consumers, including two incredibly wholesome and natural trail mixes that also happen to be delicious. Read more
The Matt and Nat Hemlock Handbag (Vegan)
Live beautifully.
Matt and Nat (short for Mat(t)erial and Nature) is a Montreal-based company formed in 1995 to make products with recycled materials – plastic, nylon, cardboard, rubber, cork, and bicycle tires. Sounds strange? Maybe, but the products – handbags, wallets, backpacks, messenger bags, laptop and i-pad sleeves, briefcases, diaper bags, and more – are stunning, remarkably strong, extraordinarily useful, and very economical. Read more
Paddock Post 