Happy Mission Monday! Fall is officially here. Just as leaves and wardrobes are changing so does your go-to meals. Shifting gears from summer-time recipes to hearty fall classics can be fun with the right spices! We want to hear what your favorite spice is that you use this time of the year to make your meals go from good to amazing. Our sweet teeth are partial to ground cinnamon. We hope you take a moment to play along on Twitter or Facebook. Today’s challenge: Share with us your favorite spice for this time of year for a chance to win a spice prize pack. If you’re playing along on Facebook, simply comment in our Mission Monday post before 11:59 p.m. ET tonight to be entered to win! If you’d like to play along on Twitter, simply tweet us your answer with #wildoatsmission #sweeps by 11:59 p.m. ET today to be entered to win! Good luck! Full Sweepstakes rules and details can be found here Twitter and Facebook.

I went to Italy to eat and Bologna was the place to be. However, when I arrived I was exhausted from travel, and I paced up and down the same street for two hours trying to find the only an internet café in town. It also didn’t help that I visited the city on a Monday, when many places are closed. I was also really hungry because the recommendation was to come to dinner with a very large appetite, as Bologna is known for gluttony; a place where a buffet of delicacies arrive at the table for you to pick and choose what you please like a queen.

So, there I was sitting on the stoop of a small family owned trattoria called Da Silvo’s at seven o’clock; my stomach was growling and the restaurant didn’t open until eight. Rats. There was no chance that I was going to get up and wander around for fear that I would never find my way back. I was half asleep when the front door finally opened. I picked out a small table in the back corner of the restaurant, trying to hide away from the pending crowd’s arrival as I was not in the mood to make conversation- I wanted to be alone and I came here just to eat.

First, as instructed by the waiter, I ordered only the appetizer and sweet courses because he said it would be enough food for me- but, I thought, he doesn’t know how much I can really pack it in! And, I couldn’t refuse the tantalizing fresh pumpkin tortellini with browned butter listed on the seasonal menu. I was in Italy and my waistline came second, not first.

But then, thinking I could handle it all being as famished as I was, the madness began. There was absolutely no sense in trying to hide. I was eating at the restaurant alone, yet the waiter proceeded to fill my tiny table with enough food for twenty people. I looked ridiculous. The couple sitting next to me actually laughed at me, well I guess with me, because there wasn’t even enough room to put my fork down, the table was crowded with so many large platters of food and bottles, yes bottles, of wine. They bring the buffet your table here so you can choose whatever you want and leave alone what you don’t like. Now, that’s royal treatment!

First, came an assortment of lightly fried zucchini, grilled eggplant and peppers. Then, marinated olives and crusty bread. Then a plate of shaved meat that looked oddly familiar. Firm, pink in color. Looked like deli meat from school lunch circa 1987, but fancier, on a pretty plate, shaved like ham. Smelled like…oh my god! It was bologna! I was eating bologna in Bologna!

I kindly asked the waiter in a sweet voice, “Excuse me, Sir, what is this?” pointing at the infamous forcemeat. I was desperate for him to say it, to say the word, but then, “This meat? It is pork meat.”

All the getting lost and waiting around and all I wanted was for him to humor me and say “Bologna!!!” But, in reality he wouldn’t ever call it bologna, because we were in Bologna. And it is a delicacy there, with tradition, fresh and made-in-house, unlike the overly processed bologna I know in America. In Bologna, it is has style, like most things Italian, with the special name of Mortadella.

The insanity continued and I grew saucier. More and more arrived- then the desserts! Bowls of panna cotta, homemade pies, ice cream and cakes filled my table once again, along with an entire carafe of limoncello. I was as stuffed as a tortellino when the table was cleared and I could finally put my fork down.

My heart was content. I had the best night sleep that night, dreaming gluttonous dreams. I had accomplished in Bologna what I had set out to do- I had opened the gates to food heaven. And, the buildup was oh so grand.

Have you ever wondered if there is a link between ADHD and the food that we eat? Some evidence suggests that ADHD, pesticides and preservatives may be connected. Recently, more studies and information has been popping up on the subject. For instance, the Journal of Pediatrics conducted a study about pesticides and ADHD in children that had people pondering the possible correlation. The study focused on 1,000 kids, 119 of which have ADHD. The children with ADHD were found to have high levels of pesticides in their systems, particularly organophosphates, which were first developed for chemical warfare.

Regardless of how accurate this study is when it comes to the population at large, it’s definitely “food for thought” on being more mindful of pesticides and choosing organic. But what about the additional toxins we are exposed to each day?

Specifically, many of us consume additives and preservatives and don’t realize the possible ramifications of these ingredients.  Some don’t realize that common food chemicals such as MSG (also sometimes labeled as “natural flavors”) are scientifically linked to a host of problems including headaches, nerve problems, anxiety, hyperactivity, depression, mental illness, seizures and even brain damage! Check out this amazing book, Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, to find out more about the dangers of common preservatives and food additives.

The good news is that we can do something about this by choosing more simple foods. Buy organic and read the labels thoroughly to help eliminate pesticides, additives and preservatives! You can take control of your health and the health of your family. It’s easier than you think!

Cranberries are definitely something you want to eat more of.

They are one of those “superfoods” that contain so many antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds that it would be a nutritional crime to just wait for Thanksgiving to eat them – and especially in canned “cranberry sauce.”

Of course, that jellied side dish is what cranberries mean to many people. But canned cranberry sauce,” unless it’s organic, typically contains high fructose corn syrup. So here we have an amazing health food served in a form that’s been deliberately adulterated with a distinctly unhealthy ingredient.

But there are a variety of ways to get the most that “real” cranberries have to offer (and which will call for a bag of whole berries):

• Add some chopped berries to your pancake or waffle batter (cranberries are best chopped using a food processor).
• Throw a few whole berries into a fruit smoothie. Yes, there’re tart – very tart. But if you’re making a smoothie with honey or a sweet fruit, it balances out the tart taste.
• Add some chopped cranberries to your turkey stuffing.
• Any cookie recipe will be even more delicious with some chopped cranberries in it. Just note that the chopped berries will contain a lot of moisture, so you may need to reduce any liquids in the recipe.
• Mix some chopped cranberries into a fish marinade, and include them when you cook the fish. The tart flavor – like lemon juice – compliments every fish dish I’ve used them in.
• A sprinkle of chopped cranberries goes really well as a salad topping.
• Add a few of the berries to oatmeal as it’s cooking. If you use instant oatmeal, just add a tablespoon of chopped ones.
• Make your own raw relish. Put a bag of whole cranberries and a peeled orange (if it’s an organic orange, you can include the rind – just make sure it’s washed well.) into a food processor and mix till the berries are chopped. Transfer to a bowl and add around a ½ cup of sugar. Mix well and chill for at least an hour.
• Add some chopped cranberries to a baked apple recipe.
• And last but not least, make your own cranberry sauce. You’ll find a recipe on bags of whole berries. If using all that sugar isn’t for you, stevia makes an excellent sweetener for cranberries, since their tartness diminishes its licorice-like aftertaste. Cook over low heat till the berries pop. And if your sauce looks too “saucy” don’t worry. It will thicken as it cools.

Also, any recipe with walnuts seems to be especially compatible with cranberries. And when you use these wonderful berries in their whole form, you’ll be getting the maximum amount of their healthy compounds.

Wednesday’s Inaugural meeting of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (or GACSA), was a three hour informational and aspirational feast that left me with much to chew on. Describing itself as “a voluntary, farmer-led, multi-stakeholder, action-oriented coalition committed to the incorporation of climate-smart approaches within food & agriculture systems” that aims to “enable governments and stakeholders to make these transformations in ways that bridge traditional sectoral, organizational and public/private boundaries,” GACSA is off to an ambitious start.

The founding members include 14 Countries (Costa Rica, Ireland, France, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Niger, Norway, Philippines, Spain, U.K., U.S.A., and Vietnam), a host of Research & Conservation Organizations (including the Center for International Forestry Research, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature), Trade Organizations (International Coffee Organization & International Fertilizer Association), Consumer Organizations (Organic Consumer Organizations) and the all-important World Farmer Organization, among many others- 46 in total, though the Alliance hopes to expand it’s ranks quickly.

So what, exactly is, Climate-Smart Agriculture? A concept initially proposed by the U.N’s FAO, it began as an overarching look at how to adapt all forms of agriculture to the changing climate; what it continues to evolve into is quite inspiring.

The three pillars of CSA are:

1. Sustainable and equitable improvements in agricultural productivity and incomes (alongside waste reduction)
2. Greater resilience of food systems & farming livelihoods
3. Reduction and/or removal of greenhouse gases associated with agriculture (including the relationship between agriculture and ecosystems),where possible

GACSA aims to build upon these pillars with an initial “action-focus” on knowledge, investment and enabling environment; identifying and filling knowledge gaps, sharing and promoting research, brokering relationships between partners, developing metrics to evaluate successes and putting their money where their mouths are- many of the founding members pledged 20-60% of their operational budgets toward these ends. (I repeat-20 to 60 percent!)

Speakers, including U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack,  addressed the need to change the narrative on agriculture and climate change, to put in place practices that enable the sector to be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem.

In the U.S., this includes the launch of a soil-health initiative, as healthy soil is shown to store more scarce water (crucial as drought continues to plague the nation) and capture more carbon. This is no news to organic farmers or activists, who have long decried over-tilling, chemical use, and other soil-depleting practices, but the alliance is hopeful in yet another way- there seems to be a spirit of humility and communion around a subject we are so used to seeing be partisan, heated, and divisive. The level of conversation has been elevated, and I for one am gladdened and grateful. For, as Vilsack quoted Abraham Lincoln, “the best way to predict the future is to create it,” and regardless of where one comes down on the sticky subjects around the margin- a sustainable, equitable and nimble food future benefits us all.