Recently, I took a trip to Gainesville, Florida in hopes of visiting my favorite college restaurant, Steamers. In true Florida style, this restaurant is located next to a convenient store and a Laundromat. Despite, the small kitchen and location, they have the best tempeh I've ever had! If you're not familiar with tempeh, it's created through the fermentation of whole soybeans using a Rhizopus mold as a starter. A dark brownish-to-black colored tempeh equals good flavor and that's exactly what they have at Steamers. Their flavor can also be attributed to the fact that their tempeh is homemade and not…

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Erika has run off to New Zealand, so she’s passed the blog-writing baton (or measuring spoon) to me. Stay tuned for a bio and photo. A few weeks ago, the kitchen celebrated Oktoberfest, an event which celebrates German traditions of eating, beer-tasting and lederhosen, among other things. Because we couldn't get it together on time, our Oktoberfest conveniently became the Novemberfest. Nonetheless, we couldn't wait to cook up traditional German dishes and taste exclusive dark beers, whilst (of course) discussing our next food-fest. We enjoyed dishes like hand-twisted pretzels, bratwurst, red cabbage, braised ribs, apple cake and deep-fried sauerkraut…

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Ah September. Summer's over and it's time to go back to school. Whether or not you're gonna have your nose in the books, maybe you know some kids who will. They've gotta get out, get active, and expend all that pent-up energy some way…which means they'll also need a little som'in som'in to snack on…for FREE! Last month we gave away CLIF Mojo Bars. This time around, we're giving away CLIF ZBaRs—a baked whole-grain energy bar made from 95% organic ingredients and loaded with 12 vitamins and minerals to keep those weary students active. Sign up to receive a CLIF…

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Recently, my department took a trip to work on two local farms. We started the day at Gospel Flat Farm. It's been owned by the same family for 25 years and they grow all kinds of different fruits and vegetables. They're part of the local school lunch program that's trying to get organic local foods into kid’s lunches. They also sell weekly organic veggie boxes to the community and sell their produce at the local farmer’s markets. While there, we planted some seedlings and spent some time picking weeds from the tiny carrot plants. We also got to harvest some…

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Al Chase and his partner Donna Benjamin. Together, they’re running the Institute of Culinary Awakening based in Portland, Oregon. Chef Al is a classically trained chef who’s worked all over the country creating and preparing meals. He’s worked in just about every type of eating establishment you could think of from fancy hotels to corner delis to private homes. While working in San Jose, he began to change his own eating habits and made the decision to go vegan. This means that he would no longer eat meat or…

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