Ferment It ... Get Cultured

{Get Cultured} All In It Together~~

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:26:59 +0000

This email came in the other day. It brought up much emotion;

Dear Central City Co-op,
     Several years ago, my husband and I were regular shoppers at your co-op. We remembered that you donated unsold produce from the co-op to local food pantries. In the past year, we have been displaced from our home due to flooding during Hurricane Ike and again in April of this year and are experiencing financial difficulties. We have been receiving food from area ministries for ourselves and our four children, but our oldest son has an autism spectrum disorder and digestive disorder that makes him unable to eat most of the processed food we receive from food pantries. Would you consider donating some of your extra produce to our family for our son’s needs? We would be happy to provide documentation of our family’s circumstances, if that would be helpful.
   Thank you so much for your consideration.
   Sincerely,
Familiar Face Co-op Shopper

So co-op is running really tight right now, we are relocating, prices are going up, shopping is going down, more undocumented produce is walking off wah wah wah. And we tallied that co-op donated 12 grand in food last year. So what’s a family to do? Cause even Jenny over at the Nourished Kitchen is struggling http://nourishedkitchen.com/food-stamp-challenge-week-1/ so I came up with a list of solutions.

1) Volunteer at Co-op, http://www.centralcityco-op.com/volunteer.html Struggling getting to our main location? Contact a partner co-op and see if they need help. http://www.centralcityco-op.com/locations.html
2) Go over to Last Organic Outpost http://lastorganicoutpost.com/ and contact Marcella about becoming involved. They routinely need folks to pick and vend at local markets, and markets are popping up so fast its hard to keep up.
3) Plant a fruit tree, plan your own garden now, don’t have space? Look over at your neighbors yard or hang around with these folks http://www.houstonurbangardeners.org/Home.html . Have more than you can use? Get yourself to our Green Market Gardeners Corner.
4) Get Some Chix, start an egg co-op: Get a few girlies, feed them your scraps, voila! eggs. Intimidated? take a workshop. (full disclosure, this is authors own workshop) www.doitourselves.info

Mostly we need to not freak out, and keep planning ahead. So this is what I sent back to them, it doesn’t solve everyone’s challenges, but its what I could do for them.

Dear Familiar,
Our system for donating end of day produce is not compatible for diff folks to come and pick up. Having said that, ll put you down for a large share every week until Jan 1st, 2010. It will be under my name, so sign out there. Pick up by 6:30, Wed. We can start next week.
We are all in it together doll,
Rowan

Got any better ideas? Send it to me. Wanna help? We need you for labor to get our new space ready.
info@centralcityco-op.org

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: vegetables

{Get Cultured} Can You Hear Me Now?

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:17:59 +0000

What happens when all one’s nutritional self care shuts down in response to personal drama and trauma (as in D I V O R C E)?

Previous cooking style: meals loaded with organic veggies, cooked and prepared at home, plates utensils and beverages, cloth napkins.

New and not improved cooking style: new mainstay dinner has become cucumbers and kraft sliced cheese with mayonnaise on a trisket, eating standing up, leaning over the sink, most probably late at night, oh and the 1/2 a bag of M&Ms chaser

I’ll tell you what happens, the body says NO. It may be down with the new game plan for awhile, but soon it will give you its feedback in largesse. The more you ignore, the more insistent it becomes.

Signs that Rowan’s body was OVER it.
    Bone Wilting Fatigue
    Rash O Rama
    Zero Memory
    Zero Tolerance for Stupid People
    Extreme Judgementalism
    Depression
    Poor decision making
    No stamina for Nia
    Crappy hooping skills
    And an overall Crabby Patty Countenance (to the max)

So watch gonna do, Rowan?
    Dandelion tea, one cup on an empty, every morning, no exceptions.
    Movement every day, no exceptions. Nia, hooping, platonic pool time with friends, whatever but lets have some movement!
    Lets try sleeping more
    Lets try being bitter less.
    Multi greens~ a Young Living product that floats my boat
    and some real nutrition, so meal planning and showing love to self through food.
    And cultures, at least a tablespoon a day.

And thats the plan. Did I miss anything?

Thanks for reading,
Rowan

And here is some good news, Jenny at Nourished Kitchen is having a give away on a super neat gallon kimchi maker http://nourishedkitchen.com/win-pickle-sauerkraut-kimchi-maker/#comment-2082 so get yourself on over there, and for sure check out the Morrocon Lemon recipe ( you can eat the peels!) Coooooool.

Tweet This Post

[Get-Cultured] What The Heck Is THAT and Why Do I Want To Eat It?

admin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:56:59 +0000

I am famous. For Reals. After working as the DO (director of operations for those who may not be down with the lingo) of Central City Co-op, I found I could go most anywhere in Houston and get recognized. Sometimes its funny, like when I run into Whole Foods to get dog chow and folks try to dodge me cause they think I am scrutinizing what’s in their basket, or the not so funny like when I got hassled at the Art Car Ball .

Random cute guy: “Hey. I know you!”
Me: “Really? Thats great!”
RCG: “Yeah, you’re the The Mean Produce Lady”
Me: no response, wounded then angry, retort opportunity lost.

So part of my skill set of being The Mean Produce Lady, shortened to TMPL for convenience, is knowing what to do with damn near any kind of veggie, cooked/prepared plain and unfancy but in a “good lets eat this, how much did you make” kind of way.

Case in point, I left kohlrabi at my mother’s for her to fix up, a week later, still there, two weeks later, still there. Now what? I took all the veggies that looked past their prime (but still edible), put them out on the counter. We had sad squash, kohlrabi, leeks, and broccoli that was flowering and looked weird but the stalks were good. I made squash quesadillas with some sprinkle cheese. I then sauteed the remaining ingredients, made some rice and folded the sauté into it to make a casserole type of jobbie that I baked for about twenty to get the flavors to meld and to have it kinda set up like a casserole.
So Susan’s eating and says, “Wow, whats this?” and I tell her roots and rice, featuring kohlrabi from the refrigerator and she say’s, “OH, I thought those were beets.”

Huhh?

So an idea was born. If I can teach my technotard self to videoblog (and I betcha I can can cause I can do anything on a mac) then what if I did a little videoblog entitled, “What the Heck is THAT and Why Do I Want To Eat It?” every Wednesday evening so that I can offer ideas about what to do with a large share? So this will be helpful/entertaining to folks in Get Cultured Co-op (now on Facebook!), folks in Central City Co-op (also on FB), folks who are wanting to prepare more “at home meals” but find veggies overwhelming, and possibly Kelley Moss.

So sign up to the right if What the Heck is THAT and Why Do I Want To Eat It? is of interest, and if not I’m sure the video blog post will be real boring and unhumerous and probably not right for you anyway. (Like who am I kidding? In one practice run I was so funny I made myself cry.)

Anyway, my launch for What the Heck is THAT and Why Do I Want To Eat It? is mid May.

Thank you for reading (and soon watching),
Rowan, TMPL

p.s. You might have noticed when I cooked for Susan that I really cooked, so where was the fermented food? I have to sneak it in, so I chopped up some Cheating Carrot cultured veggies (my very own recipe) and mixed it up with salsa, and put that on the quesadillas. Smooth, eh?

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: fermented, organic, vegetarian

Butt Shelf, You are on Notice…

admin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:30:59 +0000

I recently had a kindergarten class come and check out my back yard chicken setup, and someone took a picture of me from behind, I had two thoughts: 1) Holy Cr@p, I need to eat about four cups of cultured veggies right now, and 2) I am apparently wearing the wrong undies for those pants. Ejole!

And even worse I can’t believe I am gonna share this picture with you, dear reader.

Soooooo, I had posted all proud that I had defeated the adrenal fatigue and the tell tale butt shelf, but apparently I still have some work to do. Here is my recipe for success: Eat as much raw, fermented, unpasteurized, alkalizing and adrenal glad nourishing foods as possible. Simple, eh?

So if you wanna stop drinking soda, great. If you don’t, eat more cultures. Or at least thats what I did. I am not YOUR doctor, just someone who figured out that my body works much less hard if I give it easy access nutrition, which is pretty much the opposite of the Standard American Diet (SAD) And my body could use a break, so I am gonna give it one.

When I feel tired, strung out and overwhelmed, I follow my above guidelines (recipe for success: Eat as much raw, fermented, unpasteurized, alkalizing and adrenal glad nourishing foods as possible), I rest more, and I do more Nia.

And that’s what I know.

Rowan

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: chickens, vegetables, weight loss

Who Needs a Fancy Dehydrator?….. You.

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:42:59 +0000

Well, Stephanie asked the question (see comments)… “What besides yogurt, do you use your fancy dehydrator for?”

Here’s why you need a fancy dehydrator: Synergy. Ever notice that eating fermented foods gets easier when you have the right equipment? Same thing happens when you add a dehydrator to your kitchen mix. I happen to have an Excalibur nine tray, which I LOVE, and I kinda fell into by accident.

“It was Christmas time in early 2000’s and iPods were hot. My stepbrother wanted one, and my parents subscribe to the mentality of each kid getting the same value gift, so my sister Blythe called me all jazzed and said we have a $400 budget (or something like that) I personally couldn’t think of $400 worth of anything that i wanted, but I had been running around with Pat Greer so Blythe had seen how Pat had 6(!) of the Excalibur nine trays, and had just purchased 3 more dehydrators that are the size of small outdoor A/C unit . So she said, “What the hell, get a nine tray.” So I did.

So in the seven years since then, how has a dehydrator influenced my health, eating, and life? The biggest impact has come from the ability to have dandelion tea EVERY DAY (watch out if you spend any time with me, cause I’m gonna get you drinking it too). See, I had a wicked rough back injury in 2005, and took much medication as I healed. As a result my adrenal glands were CHEWED, and I went from having an hour glass figure to that square hips and back end, otherwise known as the butt-shelf.
Look around, who has the butt-shelf? Folks who are on the edge and look like they might be drifting towards diabetes, and this was certainly my case. Enter the dandelion.

When I first started looking for a way to restore my adrenal health I first thought of nettles, but then I saw nettle’s close cousin, the dandelion. I have access to miles and piles of fresh seasonal dandelion from my job at Central City Co-op so I dusted off the Excalibur and began dehydrating like a wild woman. I know the secret to recovery with herbs is a consistent repeated action, otherwise known as “slow and steady wins the race.” So in the beginning I didn’t really consider how much to dehydrate, I just got busy. And I got drinking.

The hour glass figure returned, and soon other folks were noticing. I then became the dandelion tea hook up, so now when dandelions come in season I dehydrate five bunches every Wed, and I do it Oct – March.

And because I’m frugal, if the dehydrators going how else can I utilize the extra heat and airflow? The top of the dehydrator will stay warm, so you can dry dishes, make kefir or yogurt (cover with a loose kitchen cloth) and here is my favorite, keep your crock of culturing veggies close by, your veggies will culture fast (in my experience half the time, even if the dehydrator is only on a short time) and delicious.

I use tons of herbs in my cooking, cultured vegetables and health, so it is great to be able to dry cups and cups of dill, basil or oregano that I freaking grew myself. Occasionally I dry fruit, and my friends the Jays dry apples and pears for their dog Blaze as a snack. OOOH, and I almost forgot when I have tons of bananas I make the fruit leathers which are fantastic as snacks for when I am funning around.

So for me an Excalibur smokes the round cheapos, and has so paid for itself in the money I haven’t spent on convenience food or in medication to regain my health. Not to mention the quicker turn over time with my cultured veggies.

And thats what I know,
Rowan

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: dandelion tea, dehydrator, fermented food

“Oh No! What Happened Here!? A Fermentation Gone South”

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:01:59 +0000

So what happened? Why did my fermenting foods project, yogurt making bonanza, end up as curds and whey? Any Guesses?

Here is what I did: I super cleaned my VitaMix and my gallon jars with my top secret super cleaning routine, heated the milk to 100 ish degrees, added the yogurt cultures, blended in the VitaMix some more, and placed in my clean one gallon jars. Here is a special note, dear reader, if you are like myself and have more than one size and diameter of one gallon jar: perhaps you should check to see before you start cleaning if the jar you are planning to use is the short and squat one gallon jar as opposed to the taller one gallon jar that, yes, you guessed it, does not freaking fit in the Excalibur. Aye Carumba!

So after I wasted more time shuffling and cleaning jars with the super secret process I pulled all the trays out of the Excalibur, placed jars in with a kitchen towel secured over the mouth with a rubber band, fired that bad girl up to 105, set the timer for 12 hours and told her I would check her in the morning.

Cr@p! What happened here? My ratio was off of inoculating yogurt to milk. As in, use more than one tablespoon of starter yogurt for an entire gallon of milk, Rowan.

So I ended up with curds and whey, which is still a fermented food, but not the yogurt I was hoping for. The curds, the white on the top has a similarity to lebne (a Lebanese style, I think) which is a fermented cheese that has the taste and texture of a cottage cheese/sour cream blend. I love this style of cheese on chili, yes.

So don’t throw it away! Bake a potato, make chili, bust out the onion soup packet and some chips, this is still definitely edible and most probably delicious, just different from the original intent.

And what to do with the whey? Well almost anything according to Sally Fallon of the Weston Price Foundation.

So keep fermenting your food, and don’t give up if your result is different than your desired result.
Be brave, get cultured!
Rowan

p.s. feel free to share your own learning curve.

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: fermented food, live-cultures, yogurt

“WHAT! You Bought a $400 blender?!!!!”

admin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:54:59 +0000

That’s a direct quote from my frugal yet prosperous sister. The year is 1997, I have about fifty cents to my name but I am anxiously awaiting my new (refurbished) Vitamix. Im post divorce, depressed, and able to keep anything but smoothies down due to stress.

Enter the VitaMIx. I know people who have ‘em, they are all over The Farm, I’ve used em for years, so I decide to take the plunge.

So I am outside gardening, weeding, and talking to my sister Blythe on the phone and I see a BOX that the mail carrier had shoved in a hedge. WHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEE, I am so jazzed I cant even speak, just whooping and making a bunch of noise, Blythe’s asking me what’s wrong, but I mostly don’t hear it because I am trying to rip into the box, and finally it penetrates that she is concerned when I hear, “Are you ok, did you see a snake?”

Thats some passion, right?

So I tell her I bought a VitaMix and she is APPALLED, “What, you bought a $400 blender?” I know my sister and there is no way I could explain this to her satisfaction, so I tell her its a good idea for me and just to wait and see.

Since then I have used it daily, and for a brief time Blythe and I lived together, and guess what Slick Rick took with her when she moved? So then who had to buy another $400 blender. Me.

What Am I going to use the VitaMIx for today? I will make a smoothie with some fruit, kefir, frozen berries, Protein plus from Young Living, and what ever else calls to me.

Later I am going to use it to make yogurt: heat up a couple of gallons of milk (1/3 gallon at at time in the VitaMix) , then i will add yogurt to them, place in 2 one gallon glass jars,slip those into the dehydrator with a rubberbanded kitchen towel over the mouth of the jars, set the excalibur timer for 12 hours at 110 degrees, yehaw, we got yogurt.

I might decide to live on the edge and add some powdered milk, it’s supposed to make yogurt mad creamy, and we have some left over from IKE.

And what do I do with all this yogurt? I feed to the dog and my mom!

Supah Love,

rowan

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: kefir,, VitaMix, yogurt

The Stove Had To Go…

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:44:59 +0000

My home was built in 1927, the kitchen is small, a feng shui no no. So I deported the oven/stove, moved the fridge to where the oven had been, voila! A spacious open kitchen, or at least better than it was.

One point I had not foreseen, how were my roommates and partner going to cook? Because I would have sworn they only stepped in the kitchen to get water, make a PBJ or were in transit to the garage. Apparently they were secretly cooking when I was not home, making elaborate meals and feeding friends, or at least thats what they told me after the fact. I am more inclined to believe that it was more of a, ”what, we have to have a stove, all kitchens have a stove, wait, where did the microwave go?”

So my friend and best buddy Pat gave me a hot~plate that belonged to her dad, another friend rewired it after it sparked one day when he was over, and we were in business.

So what is in my kitchen?

Things that cook:
hot plate,
second hand convection oven,
a mammoth crock pot for enchiladas,
and a newly acquired waffle iron (I heart waffles!)

Things that do not cook:

Excalibur nine tray dehydrator
VitaMix
Green Star Juicer
Jack La Lane Juicer
Orange juicer
fridge (duh)

Acutriments in my kitchen that is use in my “high raw lifestyle”:
colanders
sprouter
mandolin
crocks
knives
jars & lids.

I am thinking I know more than the average bear about different products, either from my experience, Pat’s feedback, or bitching and gritching from folks at Central City Co-op, so I will post what I know.

Supah Love,

Rowan

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: cultures, Excalibur nine tray dehydrator, fermented food, kitchen, Vita Mix