Below is a wonderful article from the New York Times about the direct link between meat consumption and the climate crisis. Everyone should read this article when they get a chance. Reducing meat consumption in your diet reduces more greenhouse gases than changing your car to a Toyota Prius!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/science/earth/04meat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=as%20more%20eat%20meat&st=cse
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Demand Sustainable Agriculture from Obama!
A wonderful petition is going around the internet, organized by organic farmers, chefs, and policymakers. It asks President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of Agriculture who will focus on sustainable agriculture, not a perpetuation of the current industrial mindset that has run ag policy in this country for decades! Please sign if you can!
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/
Also, on a somewhat related note, below is an open letter from amazing poet Wendell Berry & environmental activist/author Bill McKibben asking people to join them in DC in early march in engage in a peaceful act of civil disobedience against a coal plant. Please read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brune/wendell-berry-and-bill-mc_b_149948.html?view=print
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/
Also, on a somewhat related note, below is an open letter from amazing poet Wendell Berry & environmental activist/author Bill McKibben asking people to join them in DC in early march in engage in a peaceful act of civil disobedience against a coal plant. Please read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brune/wendell-berry-and-bill-mc_b_149948.html?view=print
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Honey Almond Fig-Swirl Ice Cream
It has been on my list since the summer, and this weekend I finally made my honey, fig, and almond ice cream. This is probably my most "gourmet" ice cream to date and has definitely taken the longest to make.
I started by honey roasting the almonds. I had a little more than a half a cup of organic slivered almonds, and placed them in a 350 degree oven until they turned slightly brown. While they were baking, I mixed together 1/2 Tbsp water, 1/2 Tbsp honey, and 1/2 Tbsp veggie oil. I brought there to a slight simmer and mixed in the almonds right after they came out of the oven. I then stirred the almonds for a few minutes until all the liquid was gone and laid them out to cool on a piece of foil.
I was mixed about how to include the figs. I couldn't find any fresh figs due to the season, so settled for organic dried figs. I was going to cut them up into little pieces and throw them in with the almonds but wasn't sure if the fig flavor would come out this way. I decided on making a fig-cinnamon jam that would then be swirled into the honey ice cream with almonds about half-way through freezing like I had done once while making white chocolate raspberry-swirl ice cream. This would not only help make sure there is plenty of amazing fig flavor in each scoop, it would also look pretty awesome! I cut about 15 dried figs into quarters and mixed them in a pot with 1 C water (much more water had to be added throughout cooking to fully rehydrate the fruit), a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3/4 cup sugar. This cooked over medium heat for a good while (45 minutes or so) until the figs completely broke down and made a nice jam consistency. To help break down the tough skins, I used a potato masher. The fig jam cooled in the fridge overnight.
Next came the ice cream! I used my standard recipe for the ice cream base but substituted honey for sugar and reduced the amount by about 1/8th of a cup since I didn't want the honey flavor to cover up the almond and fig.
Honey Ice Cream
2 C heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 C whole milk
2 egg yolks
5/8 C honey
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
I heated 1 1/2 C whole milk and 5/8 C honey over low hear, stirring until the honey dissolves. Then, I temper the egg yolks into the cream mixture by slowly adding about 1/2 C of the hot mixture into the eggs before pouring the whole thing back into the pot. Next, I stirred the mixture constantly until it reached about 175 degrees and was thick enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon. Once at this stage, I took the custard off the heat and let it cool down for about 1/2 an hour before adding the 2 C cream and vanilla. The custard went into the fridge witha piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming.
The next morning I anxiously put the honey custard into the ice cream maker. After about 10 minutes, the ice cream was almost done and I added the honey roasted almonds and let it church for about 30 seconds.
I was torn about how exactly to add the fig jam. I wanted it to kind of swirl through the ice cream and have heard of two methods of doing this. The first is to freeze the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours, then add the jam and swirl it with a knife. The second is to add the jam into the ice cream mixer the last few seconds and let it churn before freezing completely. I didn't want the jam to completely fall apart and blend completely in the ice cream since I wanted the honey ice cream flavor to still shine through. Even so, I added dollops of jam to the cream during the last few seconds of churning. The jam did spread out through the ice cream pretty consistently, but my worries were unfounded. I tried a little before putting it in the freezer and the flavor was out of this world! The honey, honey roasted almonds, and cinnamon-fig jam could each be tasted a little on their own but blend into a wonderful ice cream.
By far, this is one of my biggest ice cream successes to date! I guess the 4 or so hours of prep time payed off!
I started by honey roasting the almonds. I had a little more than a half a cup of organic slivered almonds, and placed them in a 350 degree oven until they turned slightly brown. While they were baking, I mixed together 1/2 Tbsp water, 1/2 Tbsp honey, and 1/2 Tbsp veggie oil. I brought there to a slight simmer and mixed in the almonds right after they came out of the oven. I then stirred the almonds for a few minutes until all the liquid was gone and laid them out to cool on a piece of foil.
I was mixed about how to include the figs. I couldn't find any fresh figs due to the season, so settled for organic dried figs. I was going to cut them up into little pieces and throw them in with the almonds but wasn't sure if the fig flavor would come out this way. I decided on making a fig-cinnamon jam that would then be swirled into the honey ice cream with almonds about half-way through freezing like I had done once while making white chocolate raspberry-swirl ice cream. This would not only help make sure there is plenty of amazing fig flavor in each scoop, it would also look pretty awesome! I cut about 15 dried figs into quarters and mixed them in a pot with 1 C water (much more water had to be added throughout cooking to fully rehydrate the fruit), a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3/4 cup sugar. This cooked over medium heat for a good while (45 minutes or so) until the figs completely broke down and made a nice jam consistency. To help break down the tough skins, I used a potato masher. The fig jam cooled in the fridge overnight.
Next came the ice cream! I used my standard recipe for the ice cream base but substituted honey for sugar and reduced the amount by about 1/8th of a cup since I didn't want the honey flavor to cover up the almond and fig.
Honey Ice Cream
2 C heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 C whole milk
2 egg yolks
5/8 C honey
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
I heated 1 1/2 C whole milk and 5/8 C honey over low hear, stirring until the honey dissolves. Then, I temper the egg yolks into the cream mixture by slowly adding about 1/2 C of the hot mixture into the eggs before pouring the whole thing back into the pot. Next, I stirred the mixture constantly until it reached about 175 degrees and was thick enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon. Once at this stage, I took the custard off the heat and let it cool down for about 1/2 an hour before adding the 2 C cream and vanilla. The custard went into the fridge witha piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming.
The next morning I anxiously put the honey custard into the ice cream maker. After about 10 minutes, the ice cream was almost done and I added the honey roasted almonds and let it church for about 30 seconds.
I was torn about how exactly to add the fig jam. I wanted it to kind of swirl through the ice cream and have heard of two methods of doing this. The first is to freeze the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours, then add the jam and swirl it with a knife. The second is to add the jam into the ice cream mixer the last few seconds and let it churn before freezing completely. I didn't want the jam to completely fall apart and blend completely in the ice cream since I wanted the honey ice cream flavor to still shine through. Even so, I added dollops of jam to the cream during the last few seconds of churning. The jam did spread out through the ice cream pretty consistently, but my worries were unfounded. I tried a little before putting it in the freezer and the flavor was out of this world! The honey, honey roasted almonds, and cinnamon-fig jam could each be tasted a little on their own but blend into a wonderful ice cream.
By far, this is one of my biggest ice cream successes to date! I guess the 4 or so hours of prep time payed off!
Monday, December 1, 2008
No Thanksgiving recipes?!
Fail. I wasn't able to cook anything for Thanksgiving. But I have a good reason! I flew home from Tucson to be with the family for the holiday and didn't land in Baltimore until about an hour and a half before Thanksgiving dinner. Even so, it was incredibly delicious! Who says vegetarians can't eat well on Thanksgiving?! My step-mother made a sweet potato casserole that was literally heavenly. There were a few veggie casseroles and about 4 types of stuffing. For dessert there was four types of pie. This is why Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday of all time. During the weekend I walked around Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel with Rose and it took every ounce of self control to not buy anything in the store...thankfully I walked away and didn't spend my life savings.
What were some favorite thanksgiving dishes this year??
I will be back soon enough with some more food! On the way: honey fig ice cream with toasted almond! (this has been on my ice cream to-do list for some time, so I really hope this actually happens soon!)
What were some favorite thanksgiving dishes this year??
I will be back soon enough with some more food! On the way: honey fig ice cream with toasted almond! (this has been on my ice cream to-do list for some time, so I really hope this actually happens soon!)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies
This weekend I am flying out to Austin, TX for the fellowship mid-field retreat. There we will get to see our fellow fellows, decompress from our experiences so far, continue some conversations that were started during training in September, plan ahead, and hopefully relax some as well! It is really hard to believe that the first half of the field placement has gone by!
We were asked to bring in something (creative) to help describe our life in our field placements. After much brainstorming (although it seems obvious at the time) I decided to bake something! I thought it would be great to use an ingredient that is pretty special to Tucson and I decided on mesquite flour. The mesquite tree grows throughout the Southwest and is everywhere in Tucson! It had pods that can be ground up into flour. Thankfully, our Mennonite friends had some extra mesquite flour lying around and I found this amazing recipe online! (it was from a random google search and I don't remember exactly where it was from, sorry!)
Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup mesquite flour, sifted if clumpy
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups natural cane sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375°F, position the racks in the upper half of the oven, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar until of a consistency like thick frosting. Beat in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times. Stir in the vanilla until evenly incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in 3 increments, stirring between each addition. At this point, you should have a moist, uniformly brown dough. Stir in the oats and chocolate
chips by hand, mixing only until evenly distributed.
Drop 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for about 10 minutes, until golden on both top and bottom. Don’t overbake these; if anything, underbake them. Cool on wire racks.
Makes 2 to 3 dozen chunky, medium-large cookies.
The mesquite flour has a nice sweet and grainy taste to it, unlike any other flour I have ever had. It adds a really nice texture and flavor to these amazing cookies (it is also supposedly very good for you too!) I was unsure how all whole-wheat and mesquite cookies would turn out but I guess that ton of butter and sugar helps out! Hopefully they will be a hit with my fellow fellows!
There is a great group here in Tucson called Desert Harvesters, that has it's own mill and travels around Southern Arizona so people can mill their own mesquite pods. This is a really great thing because not only are people exposed to a healthy, incredibly local food (right from their backyard!), it has also been a way for people who have trouble affording healthy food to help feed themselves and maybe make a little extra income by selling the flour to their friends and neighbors.
My actual work at the Community Food Bank for the fellowship has been going great (and slightly exhausting) I have been traveling all around town (Phoenix 3 times in the last week!!) interviewing people for the document I am helping to write on Southern Arizona's local food system. I am focusing specifically on sustainable agriculture & government and community responses to hunger. I have interviewed tons of people already, including someone from Desert Harvesters, two organic farmers, a State Representative, someone from a WIC clinic, a teacher at a school garden, and many others. My job basically consists of talking to amazing, talented, bright people with tons of experience, learn from them, and write about it to share with the community. I can't really think of a better job than that! I expect the interviews to come to a close soon and then the writing will begin. If anyone is interested in reading what I write as it comes along, let me know. I will need editors!!
We were asked to bring in something (creative) to help describe our life in our field placements. After much brainstorming (although it seems obvious at the time) I decided to bake something! I thought it would be great to use an ingredient that is pretty special to Tucson and I decided on mesquite flour. The mesquite tree grows throughout the Southwest and is everywhere in Tucson! It had pods that can be ground up into flour. Thankfully, our Mennonite friends had some extra mesquite flour lying around and I found this amazing recipe online! (it was from a random google search and I don't remember exactly where it was from, sorry!)
Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup mesquite flour, sifted if clumpy
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups natural cane sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375°F, position the racks in the upper half of the oven, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar until of a consistency like thick frosting. Beat in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times. Stir in the vanilla until evenly incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in 3 increments, stirring between each addition. At this point, you should have a moist, uniformly brown dough. Stir in the oats and chocolate
chips by hand, mixing only until evenly distributed.
Drop 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for about 10 minutes, until golden on both top and bottom. Don’t overbake these; if anything, underbake them. Cool on wire racks.
Makes 2 to 3 dozen chunky, medium-large cookies.
The mesquite flour has a nice sweet and grainy taste to it, unlike any other flour I have ever had. It adds a really nice texture and flavor to these amazing cookies (it is also supposedly very good for you too!) I was unsure how all whole-wheat and mesquite cookies would turn out but I guess that ton of butter and sugar helps out! Hopefully they will be a hit with my fellow fellows!
There is a great group here in Tucson called Desert Harvesters, that has it's own mill and travels around Southern Arizona so people can mill their own mesquite pods. This is a really great thing because not only are people exposed to a healthy, incredibly local food (right from their backyard!), it has also been a way for people who have trouble affording healthy food to help feed themselves and maybe make a little extra income by selling the flour to their friends and neighbors.
My actual work at the Community Food Bank for the fellowship has been going great (and slightly exhausting) I have been traveling all around town (Phoenix 3 times in the last week!!) interviewing people for the document I am helping to write on Southern Arizona's local food system. I am focusing specifically on sustainable agriculture & government and community responses to hunger. I have interviewed tons of people already, including someone from Desert Harvesters, two organic farmers, a State Representative, someone from a WIC clinic, a teacher at a school garden, and many others. My job basically consists of talking to amazing, talented, bright people with tons of experience, learn from them, and write about it to share with the community. I can't really think of a better job than that! I expect the interviews to come to a close soon and then the writing will begin. If anyone is interested in reading what I write as it comes along, let me know. I will need editors!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Pumpkin Pancakes & Apple Cider Syrup
I think I have mentioned how terribly I am missing autumn before. I miss the cool breeze, the changing leaves, and the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Thankfully I have access to the spices since the first two are impossible to buy in the desert.
I had some extra pumpkin and had this urge to make pumpkin pancakes for a while, so on Sunday morning I made them for our lovely wonderful guests from CA! The recipe is from allrecipes.com, (one of the best recipe sites, btw!) To top off this delicious breakfast, I threw together an amazing apple cider syrup.
Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
The pancakes were wonderful and fluffy. I was unsure what the wheat flour and pumpkin would do to the texture but they turned our really well. The pumpkin pancakes weren't very sweet so it was a good thing we had the syrup on hand! The combination of pumpkin, spices, and apple cider was really amazing. Expect some more pumpkin/apple cider combinations in the future!
I had some extra pumpkin and had this urge to make pumpkin pancakes for a while, so on Sunday morning I made them for our lovely wonderful guests from CA! The recipe is from allrecipes.com, (one of the best recipe sites, btw!) To top off this delicious breakfast, I threw together an amazing apple cider syrup.
Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat flour)
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
Directions
- In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
- Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
The pancakes were wonderful and fluffy. I was unsure what the wheat flour and pumpkin would do to the texture but they turned our really well. The pumpkin pancakes weren't very sweet so it was a good thing we had the syrup on hand! The combination of pumpkin, spices, and apple cider was really amazing. Expect some more pumpkin/apple cider combinations in the future!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Wine Tasting & Pumpkin Carving
Yesterday afternoon/night my friend Carmen & I went wine tasting in Tucson! We heard of one place from a friend, but when I looked online I could find nothing about it. But fate was on our side when I found out about a "Spooky Halloween Treats" tasting at CataVinos. How could you not go to that?! The owner, Yvonne, was amazingly kind and taught us all about how to taste wine and the reasons for doing the certain things. Like, did you know that when you swirl a glass of wine counter-clockwise you can smell the alcohol more, but if you go clockwise you can smell the fruit? I didn't believe it at all until I tried it, and whoah! Its crazy but true! The wine names and/or labels were all "spooky" in nature, like "Big Red Monster," or "Evil," and a reisling in a bottle the shape of a black cat! They were all delicious and I plan on going back there at least a few more times before I head back east!
So, I officially cant do anything political because of the fellowship, which is funded by the Congress in the Farm Bill. But I will just post this picture of a pumpkin I "found" (and..umm...didnt carve, thanks to the help of www.yeswecarve.com) because I thought it was awesome..and I will...umm...post a McCain pumpkin as soon as I find one...to be..fair and balanced? Yeah, thats it! On a completely unrelated note and an entirely different pumpkin! I baked the seeds with cinnamon and brown sugar, and saved some others for planting next year in DC!
So, I officially cant do anything political because of the fellowship, which is funded by the Congress in the Farm Bill. But I will just post this picture of a pumpkin I "found" (and..umm...didnt carve, thanks to the help of www.yeswecarve.com) because I thought it was awesome..and I will...umm...post a McCain pumpkin as soon as I find one...to be..fair and balanced? Yeah, thats it! On a completely unrelated note and an entirely different pumpkin! I baked the seeds with cinnamon and brown sugar, and saved some others for planting next year in DC!
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