Simply in Season

Cooking through SIS

2009-10-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hurrah for Wendy Hammond, who, "Julie and Julia"-style, is cooking her way through all the recipes in Simply in Season!

Read about her ambitious project, and check out her reviews of SIS recipes on her blog.

Cooking Simply in Season for a crowd

2009-10-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Had a nice chat this evening with a woman in Indiana who’s going to be making SIS Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos for a group of 200. Wow!

Cooking for a crowd that size is quite a different thing from your typical supper for four or two or six, so we were brainstorming how to adapt the recipe to make it work. As we say in the SIS preface, recipes are meant to be "a theme on which to playfully improvise rather than a blueprint to follow precisely." And it simply wasn't designed for groups of 200 -- although it can and has been used to feed a crowd.

The cook had a bushel of sweet potatoes on hand, and thought of buying a french fry cutter to help do the chopping. That brought back fond memories from when I was growing up. Back in the days before cholesterol was invented, our favorite and fairly regular Sunday noon meal was hamburgers and homemade french fries. I don't remember that much about the hamburgers -- I think Mom cooked them under the broiler -- but I remember the french fries quite vividly! We had a cutter and a little deep fryer, and we ker-chunk ker-chunk cut and fried potato after potato.

Anyway, I think a french fry cutter might work really well. The sweet potatoes don't need to be in cubes -- just halves or third of the sticks should be fine. Toss with some oil and then roast in a single (or shallow) layer, stirring occasionally, until tender. The regular recipe calls for pan-frying, but you’d need an awfully big skillet for 200 people!

Other stories anyone would like to share about adapting a SIS recipe for a crowd?

My favorite use of the Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos filling is to panfry it in a tortilla, quesadilla-style. Must say, I really like this idea: Brush the tortillas with butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon before serving.

Come around to cauliflower

2009-10-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Fall is the season for brassicas, and during interviews on “Travel & Dining with Pierre Wolfe” and “The Happy Cook” recently I had to confess that cauliflower is one of those foods that my inner picky eater hadn’t come around to accepting – until about two weeks ago. I was thinking to myself, I still don’t like cauliflower, and then I realized that I was planning to buy some at the farmer’s market.

Well, fine, it’s one thing to enjoy it smothered in cheese sauce (a la SIS Broccoli Gratin, which also works with cauliflower) -- ya gotta start somewhere.

But Red Lentil Coconut Curry is also one of my favorite SIS recipes, and with it there's no sign of cheese, sausage, or bacon -- which is where I like to go for the "overpower" approach to preparing distasteful vegetables. (BTW, in that NPR link about beets it sounds like she's talking about Secret Chocolate Cake, although SIS suggests pureeing the beets rather than grating them.)

And then there are two new cauliflower recipes in the SIS Extended Version: the recipe for Autumn Tagine is online, plus Nutty Cauliflower Skillet below is a new favorite. It’s so quick and easy, and the spiced peanut butter (groundnut) flavors work beautifully with cauliflower.

The cauliflower gets coated with spices and sauce, so it doesn’t matter what kind you use, but I like to buy a pretty variety of white, orange, and purple – or even the incredible Romanesco, pictured right, which is almost too amazing to eat.

Nutty Cauliflower Skillet

1 tablespoon ginger root (peeled and minced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)

In large soup pot sauté in 2-3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat for 30 seconds.

1 head cauliflower (cut into 3/4-inch / 2.75-cm florets)
1 teaspoon each ground coriander and ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon each ground turmeric, paprika and salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Add and mix to coat.

1/2 cup / 125 ml tomatoes (chopped) or 1/3 cup / 75 ml tomato juice
1 cup / 250 ml peas or green soybeans (edamame)

Add tomatoes, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until cauliflower is crisp-tender, 8-10 minutes. If using green soybeans, add with tomatoes; peas will take just 1-2 minutes to cook.

2 tablespoons peanut butter
Stir in. Serve over brown rice topped with peanuts and chopped fresh cilantro (optional). Serves 4-5.

Here’s what folks are saying about SIS recipes:

Broccoli Gratin: "I rustled this up a couple of nights ago – a recipe I found on the net, which is very simple to make, and tasted fantastic. It turned out to be very light and delicious and the kids wanted more."

Red Lentil Coconut Curry: "I received this cookbook in December 05. It is now Spring 07 and I have cooked my way through it. I love it. This book has given me so much more confidence in my cooking abilities. I don't fret when friends come over for dinner because I know I have my SIS Cookbook in hand. … The Maple Parsnip Soup and Red Lentil Coconut Curry are two of our favorites!"

Secret Chocolate Cake: "It is very good and moist! I know it makes me a non-purist to use my [CSA] veggies to make cake, but ... I was really struggling with how to make the beets and decided to try this first..... If you don't have the book, you should! It is the best in season type of cookbook I've looked at. I checked many of them out of the library but this is the one I bought."

Radio interviews coming up

2009-09-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to talking about Simply in Season on a number of upcoming radio programs. If you're in the listening area, I hope you'll tune in!

Sunday, October 4, at 1:00 PM Pacific Time (live interview)
Travel & Dining with Pierre Wolfe

Tuesday, October 6 (taped interview)
WREL “The Happy Cook” / Virginia
Host: Dolores Kostelni

Thursday, October 15, at 9:00 AM PST (10:00 RMT/Colorado Springs)
KCMN-AM “Morning Show with Tron Simpson” (live interview)

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread

2009-09-26T11:55:00.001-07:00

My friends Zanne and Gerry have an enormous pear tree and end up giving away bags of pears almost every year. The moist, sweetly-spicy Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread from Simply in Season has become my very favorite autumn dessert (although do try the Pear Custard Bars, too).

I must admit that my gingerbread doesn't always turn out as beautifully as this picture from another friend in town, also made (I believe) with Zanne and Gerry's pears.

To make a double recipe in a 9x13 pan as shown here, allow a little more baking time.

Here's what others have said about Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread (most include links to the recipe):

Serve it for breakfast! "I can't think of a better way to start the day."

Recommended for students: http://studentkitchenproject.blogspot.com/

From the Musings of a Wine Country Catholic: "Made the cake last night, and the pears were transformed into wonderful caramelized gooiness. As with other recipes in the book, the pear cake one was simple and good -- whole wheat flour combined with regular flour, all elements coming together in about 3-4 steps, no special bakeware required."

Expanded edition released

2009-09-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hoorah -- the expanded edition of Simply in Season is out! Here's a press release about the new edition, which features 17 additional recipes. If you're in the market for a copy, ask for the expanded edition and look for the purple cabbage on the cover.

Expanded Edition of Simply in Season Released

SCOTTDALE, Pa. & WATERLOO, Ont. -- Cooking and eating local is in.

At least, that’s how it appears now that First Lady Michelle Obama has planted a garden at the White House and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture tore up the pavement outside his office to plant food.

In Canada, the province of Ontario has invested in projects that promote eating and buying locally, while people on the East Coast are participating in the second annual Eat Atlantic Challenge.

Like millions of other Americans and Canadians, they are discovering what readers of Simply in Season: Recipes that Celebrate Fresh, Local Foods in the Spirit of More-with-Less already know: Eating and cooking locally grown food is not only good for you, but a great way to show care for the planet.

The book, which has sold over 86,000 copies since 2005, has been re-released with 17 new recipes by Herald Press. In addition to hundreds of ideas for buying and cooking wholesome, fresh produce raised in or near their communities, the book also contains reflections and anecdotes on the meaning and place of food in our lives.

But it’s the practical and easy-to-use recipes that make the book a must-have for every kitchen where local foods are used. Home cooks can find recipes such as:

Autumn Tagine. A Moroccan stew named after the traditional heavy clay pot in which it is cooked. This colorful vegetarian version will have people asking for it time and time again.

Persimmon Pudding is a favorite in southern Indiana where persimmon trees are plentiful, and a delicious—and different—dessert using the plentiful persimmons that abound in produce stores everywhere in the fall.

Root Vegetable Crumble. The unique nutty sauce and crunch topping add flavor and texture to this comfort food. A perfect winter recipe as the days grow colder.

Fish Tacos. Quick and easy to make this is a truly versatile winter recipe. Garnish the tacos with the topping of your choice: cilantro, grated carrots, thinly sliced radishes, onions, tomatoes, avocadoes. Or complement with a cilantro cream.

Strawberry Spinach Salad. This springtime salad has endless variations. The only givens are spinach and strawberries—and even these can be varied by using peaches, blueberries, kiwis, or a combination of any of them. Serve with your choice of pineapple, peanut or rhubarb dressing.

Seasonal chapters are color-coded with recipe listings and menu ideas. A convenient glossary explains any terms with which the reader might be unfamiliar.

“Today the average food item travels more than a thousand miles before it arrives on our tables,” says co-author Cathleen Hockman-Wert. “We have become distant from our food, and not just in terms of geography . . . each food purchase we make is like a vote for the way we want food to be produced—and the world in which we want to live.”

And not only is Simply in Season good for the planet and consumers; it’s good for poor people in the developing world, too. A portion of proceeds from the sale of the book go to Mennonite Central Committee, the relief and development arm of the North American Mennonite churches.

Simply in Season is available from Herald Press (www.mpn.net/simplyinseason)or by calling 1-800-245-7894. Cost: $24.99 hardcover, $19.99 paper.

Praise for Simply in Season:

"A great introduction to seasonal eating." (Sustainablekitchen.org)

"An essential kitchen companion for all of us who love to get our food from our own backyard, local CSA or farmers market" Catherine Walthers, author of Raising the Salad Bar and Greens, Glorious Greens

"[Simply in Season] is more than recipes. It’s part mystic, part activist and part gourmand." Rebecca Sodergren, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"I’ve tried a few cookbooks that were advertised as ‘seasonal,’ but the only one to live up to its cover blurb has been Simply in Season." Green Living Ottawa

For more information, go to http://www.mpn.net/simplyinseason/

Simply Sustainable

2009-07-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

A new project is underway to follow up on Simply in Season. A new book called Simply Sustainable, to be published in 2010, will offer readers realistic alternatives to the choices we make each day. The wisdom and experience of contributors from around the world -- people like you -- can help us all care for God's good creation.

Your ideas are wanted!

Do you know of concrete things people can do to help care for the earth? It could be as sipmle as hanging your laundry in the sun -- no idea is too big or too small to offer to this project.

Categories of submissions include:

food
cleaning
energy conservation
fair trade
money and barter
recycling
physical, spiritual and menth health

Reviewers and testers are also needed.

To learn more, go to www.simply-sustainable.org.

Call for recipes: One more week

2009-02-10T11:29:00.001-08:00

Great to see some interesting new recipes coming in for possible inclusion in the new edition! We'll keep the kitchen open for one more week. If you have a recipe to send, please do so by Feb. 16.

Call for recipes: Now through Feb. 8, 2009

2009-01-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

Plans are underway to produce a slightly expanded edition of Simply in Season, with approximately 16 new recipes.

Those familiar with the initial production of this cookbook know that it was quite an involved process, with 1,600 recipes submitted to the project that were tested by hundreds of volunteer cooks around the world. We are NOT repeating this major process again. However, for a very limited time (now until Feb. 8) SIS friends are warmly invited to submit recipes fitting some specific criteria for possible inclusion in the expanded edition.

The hope is to add recipes for types of dishes or those using ingredients that are currently least present in SIS. For example, the Winter chapter has fewer main dishes than the rest of the chapters, so we’d especially like to add a few great recipes to that section.

Here are recipes we are seeking:

Great ways to use certain foods (especially main dishes):
cauliflower
celeriac
corn
green tomatoes
Jerusalem artichokes
kohlrabi
leeks
lima beans
peas
rutabagas
turnips

We’d also like to get good, reliable recipes for plum jam and kiwi jam (a low-sugar or honey version would be especially wonderful; and what's an easy way to deal with the plum stones?). Also, does anyone have a really good lettuce soup or celery soup recipe?

Selected recipes will reflect the qualities SIS is known for: using whole ingredients with an emphasis on seasonal fruits/vegetables, mostly simple/easy/practical for everyday use, nutritional, and delicious!

Please do not send a recipe verbatim from another cookbook or source. Recipes that are adapted (at least three changes) are fine.

Send your recipe by Feb. 8 to expansion editors Cathleen Hockman-Wert and Julie Kauffman at sisrecipes@yahoo.com. Please put the recipe title in the subject line and include your name, city/state/province, and e-mail address with your recipe. We welcome your comments about the recipe: how it was developed, how you use it, why you like it.

Your brief stories and reflections about food and faith, in the spirit of those currently in SIS, are also welcome for possible use in the expanded version.

Thanks for your interest in Simply in Season! We look forward to hearing from you!

Back again

2008-12-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

So what's a two-year hiatus in the scope of things? My blogging life was cut short by a combination of a new job and computer frustrations, but I'm back and hoping to check in again more regularly.

New ideas are being kicked around regarding the Simply in Season cookbook -- stay tuned for more details.

In the meanwhile, please join me for conversation on my Facebook group. Just search on "Simply in Season."

SIS Leader's Guide

2006-12-01T12:50:00.001-08:00

Looking for an exciting way to introduce others to everything that's good about local food -- and helping fellow Christians make a connection between their faith and food choices?

Simply in Season can be the center of a small group study, thanks to the new leader's guide by Rachel Miller Moreland. Designed for use by adult or youth Sunday school classes or small groups (and a great choice for intergenerational groups), this terrific new curriculum uses the cookbook as its textbook, offering plans for six core sessions and seven optional ones.

Each core session includes discussion questions, activities, a Bible verse and suggestions for readings from the cookbook, ideas for incorporating snacks and local resources, and a handout.

Download your free copy.

Or order the book version from Herald Press or Mennonite Central Committee.

Simply in Season Children's Cookbook

2006-11-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce that the new Simply in Season Children's Cookbook is finally available. It's gorgeous, it's fun, the recipes are 100 percent kid-tested and approved, and it's a wonderful way to introduce children to healthy eating.

Without a question, one of the best ways to encourage children to eat good food is to get them involved in gardening and cooking; it's amazing how much more appealing those vegetables can be to kids when they grew or harvested them themselves. Simply in Season Children's Cookbook is like the grown-up version in that it starts with descriptions of the fruits and vegetables of each season, but also offers tips on how to grow them at home.

Don't take my word for it -- take a look and see for yourself. And please let the rest of us know what you (and your children) think!

Scary chocolate for Halloween

2006-10-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

A quick note about the Pacific Northwest Regional Peace Gathering coming this Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 26-28, to Albany (Ore.) Mennonite Church. I'll be presenting a workshop on Saturday (last I checked, the posted schedule hadn't been corrected yet) and would be happy for folks to stop by.

What is a workshop about food doing in a peace conference?

We'll talk about what it means to "eat justly" today, and how we can make food choices that benefit, rather than harm, those who farm. It's pretty hard to claim to love our neighbors when buying foods that poison them. (Just this month a new study came out in Canada, showing that women who had worked on farms were nearly three times as likely as other women to develop breast cancer.)

One of the things I always talk about is that it's really important to take this food journey one step at a time. We can't expect to completely transform our eating habits overnight; it simply won't last. But we can work on one thing for a while, then another, and over time look back and see, wow, I really do eat differently than I used to.

For the last number of months, I've been working on a couple of areas. One is to transition away from refined sugar to use more local honey. (It isn’t hard – it’s just a matter of thinking about it. Here are some useful tips.)

The other is to wean myself off of cheap chocolate chips. Our family has completely switched over to fair trade coffee now (and we are fortunate to live in a town where many coffeehouses only serve fair trade coffee), but the switch to fair trade chocolate has been harder. I can so easily be lured by 99-cent bags of chocolate chips.

I was given a boost of encouragement yesterday on this when I did some reading again about the chocolate industry and child slavery. Talk about scary.

One of the most recent updates about chocolate – not encouraging news, alas – comes in an interview with a representative from Equal Exchange. If this issue is new to you, this link isn’t a bad place to start for an overview (use a page search to skip down to "Willy Wonka").

We can only hope that the recent sale of Dagoba to Hershey doesn’t result in farmers failing to get a fair price for their cocoa beans – the company founder and CEO says it won’t.

Global Exchange encourages children to make a difference with chocolate trade issues – a nice contrast to the groups who send children out to sell M&M/Mars or Nestle candy bars as fundraisers.

But beyond activism, at least the Halloween candy we hand out this year can be fair trade. The scary thing about Halloween shouldn't be the chocolate (this link includes a table of different fair trade brands and where they're available).

Those 99-cent bags of chocolate chips are cheap for a reason, and it’s anything but sweet. I find myself repeating this prayer (from Blessed Be Our Table) as I walk down the baking aisle:

Let me not seek a bargain that leaves others hungry.

Here are some fair trade Halloween links:

Global Exchange
Co-op America
The Green Guide
Organic Consumers Association
Catholic Relief Services

SIS in Ohio

2006-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Where the time goes lately, I don't know (actually, I do -- still adjusting to a new job here). But I wanted to at least make a brief note that I'll be in northern Ohio this coming weekend.

The purpose is to speak at Ohio Mennonite Women's annual retreat at Camp Luz. That's Friday evening (Sept. 22) through Sunday noon.

I'll also be signing copies of Simply in Season between 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 23) at the renowned Lehman's store in Kidron. I've heard so much about this wonderful, family-owned, distinctly modern old-time hardware (and much more) store but have never had a chance to visit. If you're in the area, please stop by and say hello.

Bazucchini

2006-07-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

There are zucchini and then there are bazucchini. Or should that be, bazookini?

No matter how you spell it, the idea behind this word coined by my friend Jean is that sometimes those enormous zukes hiding under the leaves transcend their zucchini identity and become something else altogether. I returned from my recent travels to find not one, not two, but three of these two-foot-long giants hanging out in our raised bed.

If you don’t want to use your bazucchini for weightlifting or self-defense, my approach is to cut out the spongy, seedy inner part and then use my food processor to coarsely shred the solid flesh. (Leave the skin on. A mix of yellow and green is especially pretty.) One serious zuke can yield about 20 cups of the stuff, and it’ll hold about a week in the refrigerator. These are my favorite ways to use it up:

1. Zucchini bread (the More-with-Less recipe on page 82 is one of the few versions I’ve seen that isn’t too sweet. I do like to substitute applesauce for half of the oil, and the addition of a teaspoon of coconut flavoring makes a nice change) or zucchini muffins, as a variation of SIS Berry Muffins, page 85

2. SIS Zucchini Yeast Rolls, page 87

3. SIS Zucchini Garden Chowder, page 93

4. Corn-Squash Bake from More-with-Less, page 234 (I freeze grated summer squash to use in this recipe during the winter. There’s no need to cook it then; just be sure to pour off the thawed liquid before adding it, to avoid having a soupy casserole.)

5. Zucchini-crusted pizza such as this one or this one made with rice

6. SIS Summer Squash Bake, page 136

7. SIS Crustless Zucchini Tomato Quiche, page 137

8. Variation of SIS Fruit or Vegetable Oven Pancake, page 62

9. SIS Zucchini Cookies, page 160

10. SIS Zucchini Brownies, page 161, or the zucchini variation of Secret Chocolate Cake, page 273

A non-SIS recipe that I like for using a lot of zucchini is this super-easy and adaptable crustless quiche:

Zucchini Quiche
3-4 cups coarsely grated raw summer squash
1 cup grated cheese (swiss, mozzarella or cheddar)
1/4 finely chopped onion (optional)
1/4 cup flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper and other seasonings to taste
Extra goodies (see below)

Mix together all ingredients and pour into a greased pie pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until set and starting to brown. Serves 3-4.

Adjust the extra goodies to your own taste. Some that I like:
-- Strips of roasted red peppers, crumbled feta cheese, and a teaspoon of Dijon mustard
-- Marinated artichoke hearts with sauteed sliced mushrooms
-- A big dollop of pesto
-- Peppers, cumin, oregano, cilantro, jack cheese

If bazucchini aren’t green enough for you, check out the recent Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article on many ways to creatively use all those wonderful fresh greens like chard, collards, and kale.

Postings on this blog will likely continue to be a bit erratic this summer, as I'm adjusting to a new job and new schedule. Cheers to all -- Cathleen

SIS in Indiana

2006-06-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 15, I'll be having a booksigning at the Mill Race Center Farmers Market from 10 a.m. to noon. The market is located at 212 W. Washington Street in downtown Goshen, Ind.

College Mennonite Church’s Hunger Concerns Ministry will host my seminar, “What So Great About Local Food?” that evening, July 15, from 7-8 p.m. at the church, 1900 S. Main Street, Goshen. The public is warmly invited.

Like always, there will be samples to taste -- including some by local contributors to the cookbook. Hope to see you there!

Simplest summer recipes

2006-06-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Chilled Tomato Soup, is at the top of my list of the easiest SIS recipes. Throw a tomato in the blender with some plain yogurt or sour cream, fresh basil leaves, and salt and pepper -- and presto! Not even any heating involved. Just don’t even think of trying this recipe with anything but a luscious, vine-ripened tomato. The red but flavorless things in the supermarket will not do.

I’ll be traveling and unable to check in for a while. In celebration of the official beginning of summer this week and hopes that yours includes at least a few lazy days, here’s seven other especially easy recipes to try from Simply in Season.

Seven super-simple SIS summer recipes
-- Squash and Basil Salad (p. 102) (use small, slender zukes less than 8” in length)
-- Spicy Roasted Eggplant (p. 119)
-- Fresh Tomato and Basil Pasta (p. 122) (again, do not attempt without good tomatoes)
-- Chicken Cacciatore (p. 143) (a crockpot recipe)
-- Beef Burritos (p. 147)
-- Campfire Salmon (p. 148)
-- Plum Tart (p. 153)

SIS in Montana

2006-06-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Anyone out there from Montana?

Friday, June 23, I'll be hosted by Mountain Valley Foods for a booksigning at the organic grocery at 25 Commons Way, Kalispell, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Come say hello and taste a sample recipe!

On Saturday, June 24, at 9:15 a.m. I'll be presenting a seminar, "What's So Great About Local Food?" at the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference annual meeting in Kalispell.

Dill, flour in my bread

2006-06-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Fresh dill has found its way into our farmers market this season. I love it added to Simply in Season’s spring Sausage and Greens Soup. To use my leftover fresh dill recently I made a couple loaves of Dill Bread, a moist, savory, company-quality yeast bread from the summer chapter. Paired with some good cheese and fruit, it makes a fabulous picnic lunch.

In my bread, I know where the sprinkle of dill comes from. Local herbs, fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs and even cheeses are all readily available at our farmers market and various nearby farm stands. A number of market stands sell wonderful artisan breads. But where’s the flour? Where does it come from?

I was struck by the account from the couple in British Columbia who “wasted away” early in their year-long experience of eating nothing but foods grown within 100 miles (see the article about them in USA Today or find your own 100-mile radius at 100-milediet.org):

We were unable to find any locally grown grains-no more bread, pasta, or rice. The only starch left to us was the potato. Between us, we lost about 15 pounds in six weeks. While I appreciated the beauty and creativity of James' turnip sandwich, with big slabs of roasted turnip as the ‘bread,’ this innovation did little to stave off the constant hunger. James' jeans hung down his butt like a skater boy. He told me I had no butt left at all.
Then came the May article in our local co-op’s newsletter, which researched the source of various foods in the bulk department. “It is difficult to trace the specific source of wheat because such high-volume commodities are blended from across the country, but flours at First Alternative come from U.S.-grown wheat; whole wheat high-protein flour is milled in San Francisco and white flour in Minneapolis. . . . Hard red winter wheat comes from Utah.”

Those 100-mile adventurers eventually found a (small) local grain source, but here you wouldn’t think it’d be so hard. Oregon produces a lot of wheat, mostly in the drier, eastern part of the state. In 2005 wheat was Oregon’s sixth highest value commodity, and it’s number three on our list of top export crops. According to the Oregon Wheat Commission, 85 to 90 percent of Oregon wheat is exported and most of it ends up in Asia.

You see, this is soft white wheat: the kind used in noodles, flatbreads and quick breads. The yeast breads we eat here use hard red wheat varieties that grow well further east.

Both the organic and conventional pastry flours from Bob’s Red Mill up the valley near Portland are made from soft white wheat from Oregon and Washington. The good folks at Oregon Tilth led me to Azure Farm, a 2,000-acre organic wheat and cattle ranch in the foothills east of Mount Hood. Their website tells the story of how the family stopped using chemical pesticides and fertilizers and gradually saw the soil increase in health. Under the name Azure Standard the business now markets a wide variety of organic products all over the country. But yes: they do mill and sell their own flours locally.

What makes our farm different from most other wheat farms is our growing practices. We’ve been growing organically for over 25 years, and are attempting to go beyond basic ‘organic’ (which only ensures which harmful things have not been used). We try to keep up with organic soil amendments that will actually improve our soil, and consequently improve the food itself.
You just gotta love it when farmers rhapsodize about their soil. Here’s another from the Pacific Northwest: “I'm positively giddy about the health of my soil.”

That was from a farmer with Shepherd’s Grain, an association of about 10 farms in Washington, Idaho and Oregon which are certified with Food Alliance. That doesn’t necessarily mean organic, but it does mean strong commitment to sustainable agriculture. (Check out the Hot Lips Pizza site -- which buys all their flour from Shepherd’s Grain -- for a terrific photo of these farmers.)

For people interested in reducing the distances our food has traveled, it’s just good to know there are options. Another example that’s been sticking in my mind recently was that other kitchen canister staple: sugar. In her book Full Moon Feast, Jessica Prentice describes how raw sugar is processed in Maui, shipped by tanker to California where it is refined, then shipped to New York to be packaged. By the time those little packets end up back on Hawaiian tables, that sugar has traveled more than 10,000 miles.

I’d like to know that my flour hasn’t had to go such distances.

I chatted recently with a friend who has been experimenting with growing wheat for his own family’s use at his home in the Oregon coast range. They’ve found that soft wheat works fine for the sourdough breads they like to bake in their wood-fired cob oven. ("Bread machines, no.")

When I listen to the process of sowing, harvesting and threshing the grain (then separating the wheat from the chaff by throwing handfuls from one end of a long tarp to the other) -- wow, I have to be grateful for the farmers and systems that bring me those precious bags of flour.

I’m going to have to think more about which I choose to buy. (And with sugar, a question is how much I use. Maybe it’s time to really experiment with using more honey.) Both flour and sugar are growing edges for me in my own journey with local foods.

Here’s a new hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, “Where Is Bread?”

SIS retreat in June

2006-05-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Join Simply in Season co-author Mary Beth Lind for a weekend retreat, "Healthy Abundance," in Lancaster County, Pa.

Coming June 23-25 to MCC's Welcoming Place campus, the weekend will be a time to:
-- Reflect on food issues.
-- Visit local farm markets.
-- Learn practical tips for in-season food preparation.
-- Hear from organic farmers and nutritionists.
-- Share questions and discuss solutions.

“Summer days as a child often found me sitting on the back porch with Mom and siblings shelling peas or peeling apples. Doing what we called BORING jobs. We would try to liven up the time by holding contests: who could shell the most peas in a minute; who could cut an apple into exact quarters. We tried anything to break the monotony of the job.

“Now I crave times like those. I love to sit on the porch and do “mindless” tasks. It is as I sit shelling peas or stand picking blueberries that my soul makes the long journey from my head to my heart and I come home to myself.” -- Simply in Season, page 84

"I now call these times REM for the soul," Mary Beth says. "Just as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is refreshing for the physical body, so to, these times of rapid hand movement but little mind activity are refreshing for the soul. As your summer gets busy, take a weekend for some REM for the soul and join a community of people trying to flesh out Simply in Season. Experience times of reflection, communal work, field trips, learning, and sharing of your own experience."

The weekend will start with supper on Friday evening and go through breakfast/brunch on Sunday morning. Here's the schedule.

For more information, telephone (717) 859-1152 (ext. 282). You can also download this flyer/registration form and mail it in by June 10th.

SIS in Portland

2006-05-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Sustainable Business Network of Portland’s
Think Local First Campaign presents:

What’s so great about LOCAL FOOD?

Thursday, June 1 at 7 p.m.
4312 SE Stark, Friend’s Meeting House
$5-$10 sliding scale at the door

Supporting local farmers and learning to eat with the seasons is a delicious way to help make a better world, one meal at a time. Join me to explore the many health, environmental, and community benefits of choosing local foods – while tasting simple new recipes for preparing them.

For more info see www.thinklocalportland.org or www.sbnportland.org.

Co-sponsored by: Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Foodfront Co-Op, Living Earth Gatherings

"That's My Farmer" market coupons

2006-05-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

I couldn’t be more thrilled about a pilot program taking place here in my home community of Corvallis. Would churches in your town be interested in doing something like this? Here’s a press release circulated by organizers last week:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

LOCAL CHURCHES GO OUT ON A LIMB

TO SUPPORT FAMILY FARMERS
Coupon Program Promotes Locally Grown Food,

Helps Low-Income Families

In a time when family farmers are going out of business in record numbers and fertile land continues to fall out of production across America, local groups are creating strategies to keep small farms in the Willamette Valley in business.

This spring, five Benton County churches adopted a coupon program to promote a handful of family-scale farms, keep parishioners shopping at the farmers’ market, and provide fresh produce to the needy.

The program is called “That’s My Farmer!” after a similar effort that has grown and flourished under the guidance of the Reverend John Pitney, a Methodist minister in Eugene. [The Eugene program especially encourages church members to join CSA subscription farms.]

“I see the faith community as one of the only consistently organized groups in our community,” said Harry MacCormack, owner of Sunbow Farms and one of eight farms promoted by this year’s coupon program. “Congregations are an important basis of support for small family farms.”

Last weekend, participating congregations sold more than $1,500 worth of coupons in their first sale of the season.

Coupons are sold after services and in parish offices, and then taken to the farmers’ markets or farm stands where participating farmers sell their products. Ten percent of proceeds are used to provide coupons to low-income families.

“This is an issue of food justice,” explained Sister Kathy Carr of St. Mary Catholic Parish in Corvallis, and one of the organizers of the program. “People across the economic spectrum should be able to enjoy fresh, nutritious produce all season long, and these coupons are a step in that direction.”

Participants say they hope some day people will feel a loyalty toward local farmers in the same way that they depend on a family doctor or a dentist.

“Small farmers need our constant economic support and commitment,” said project coordinator Liv Gifford of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO). “Locally grown food is a better choice for the environment and the local economy, in addition to just tasting a million times better.”

The coupon program evolved out of several years of dialogue at St. Mary Catholic Parish on community food security. Social justice activists launched the program last spring, adding a unique twist – 10% of proceeds were turned into coupons for families in need. This year, with the support of EMO’s Interfaith Food and Farms Partnership, the program has spread to five congregations across the county, reaching an estimated 7,000 people.

As of this week, St. Mary Catholic Parish, First Congregational United Church of Christ, First United Methodist, Monroe United Methodist, and the Corvallis Mennonite Fellowship are selling the coupons. Several others are about to join.

The eight farms – Gathering Together, My Pharm, Heavenly Harvest, Sunbow, Denison, Midway, Deep Roots and Bald Hill – send their coupons in to program organizers once a month for redemption.

EMO’s Interfaith Food and Farms Partnership is a two-year effort to support local farms, increase food access to the hungry, and raise awareness in faith communities.

“Most congregations of all faiths are involved in feeding the hungry, and this project expands that traditional role. Helping local family farms remain viable—a real bedrock of food security in a time of rising oil prices—and getting nutritious food to low-income families are very practical ways of loving our neighbors,” said Jenny Holmes, Environmental Ministries Director at Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Got all that? So you buy a booklet of six $3 coupons, redeemable for food at the eight participating farms (at the farm stands or the farmers' market). The cost is $20; the extra $2 provides free coupons for low-income families.

The coupon buyers get wonderful food (and as someone from my church observed, it's easy to want to shop at the farmers' market but having the coupons in hand will help her actually get out there on Saturday mornings). The farmers get more business. And lower-income folks get better access to fresh, nutritious food: everyone wins.

One hundred percent of coupon sales eventually makes its way to local farmers -- that's good for our local economy. Consuming more local food means less use of fossil fuels -- that's good for the environment. And all these things contribute to a healthier community.

SIS in Minneapolis

2006-05-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis, here I come! On the schedule:

Friday, May 12: Booksigning at the Ten Thousand Villages store in St. Paul, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Please come say hello and taste some sample recipes! The store is located at 867 Grand Avenue in Victoria Crossing West at the intersection of Grand and Victoria in the NW corner (same building as Bread and Chocolate).

Saturday, May 13: Mennonite World Relief Sale at Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park. Among the usual festivities -- an auction, children’s activities, food court, etc. -- I’ll be offering two cooking demonstrations from Simply in Season at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. I'm delighted to be working with Joetta Handrich Schlabach, author of Extending the Table, the second in the World Community Cookbook series, and we’ll both be available to sign books. (Not familiar with Extending the Table? Read what people are saying about it.)

Visit the Mennonite World Relief Sale home page to see photos of items being auctioned, including beautiful, hand-stitched Amish and Mennonite quilts.

Minneapolis just hosted the historic Passing on the Comfort traveling exhibit; it features 18 quilts and comforters made by North American women and sent to the Netherlands by MCC following World War II. For decades, the quilts were in the care of a Dutch Mennonite woman whose home had served as a refuge for Jews, hungry children and Mennonite refugees from Ukraine. Read about their story in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. The exhibit is now on its way to Manitoba.

Dandelions and zucchini brownies

2006-05-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking about those Locavores, and how I could stretch my own commitment-to-local-food muscles this month. My resolution of the day is inspired by the Simply in Season recipe of the week, Dandelion Bacon Salad.

Don’t know what it is, but I just haven’t made the leap to eating my own dandelion greens. There. I’ve said it.

The dumb thing is that I already know that I like the taste; I’ve bought them before at our farmers market. But somehow that’s easier, when they’re all neatly bundled up with a rubber band. Whether they’re pea shoots or garlic scapes (edible parts of the plant that don’t appear in supermarkets), dandelions or purslane (common wild foods), greens just look more appealing with a rubber band. Ah, the power of packaging, even at a farmers market!

Looking out my window at those dandelions and seeing “food” (eat it), not “weed” (root it out, kill it), is a stretch for me. Dumb thing number two: sheesh, we’ve got a bumper crop out there! I fuss about our peas that don’t come up while ignoring the veritable field of dandelions produced through no effort whatsoever.

OK. I pledge to make Dandelion Bacon Salad from my own dandelions this month. (How’s that for a baby step on the local food path?) And if I can’t make it from ingredients completely from within a 100-mile radius, I’m at least going to do some investigating into local sources. There’s already pasture-raised bacon in the fridge from our friends at Wood Family Farm, but the tablespoon of flour may present the biggest problem. More on local grains another day.

For more spring SIS recipes -- Vegetable or Fruit Oven Pancake, Sausage and Greens Soup, plus the one for Zucchini Brownies, a luscious favorite to file for later in the summer -- go to the recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Love the photos by Bill Wade (including this one).

There's also a terrific new Simply in Season review posted at Christian Book Previews.

Locavores

2006-05-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Three cheers and bon appetit to the Locavores: a San Francisco-based group of folks who have pledged to eat foods grown within a 100-mile radius of their home for the month of May. ("Locavores": "local eaters," in the linguistic style of herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores.) In 2005 the group chose August; they select a different month each year in order to experience “going local” when different foods are in season.

Anyone is welcome to join this culinary adventure: the Locavore community already includes folks from at least 17 states and four additional countries.

It’s fun to scan the list of Locavore participants just to see the range of goals these folks are setting for themselves. Some are going whole hog, so to speak, with vows to seek out even local salt, baking powder and spices; one person says even his dog is going to go local. Others begin more modestly with pledges to eat one local meal per day or to include at least one local food item per week in evening meals.

Several folks aren’t quite ready to give up coffee, chocolate or bananas. And others comment that they already buy many local fruits and vegetables but they’re pushing themselves this month to seek out local sources of a new food, such as grains, meats, or dairy products.

The Locavores exemplify one of the things I find most encouraging about this journey with food choices: it’s not an all-or-nothing deal. We all make food choices constantly, and therefore there’s always another opportunity to make choices that feel good to us. Anyone can take steps down the local food path; it’s not a lifestyle available only to purists.

Maybe we’ll choose good foods today and not so good ones tomorrow, but every time we choose products that are good for our local and global neighbors as well as our own and environmental health, we benefit.

How might you want to challenge yourself to eat more locally this month?

Depending on the situation I might quibble with the order of priorities when choosing foods to buy, but in general I like this version of the Locavore’s pledge:

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

More on Locavores:
Tips for the May 2006 Eat Local Challenge
Opinion piece, “Think Globally, Eat Locally”
Valley Food & Farm, locavores in Vermont

Hands that harvest: a day without immigrants

2006-05-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Thousands of immigrants are boycotting work, school and shopping today as they urge the nation to imagine “A Day Without Immigrants.” To learn about immigration issues, peruse the wealth of materials available on Mennonite Central Committee’s immigration education website.

MCC’s suggestions for action on May 1 include fasting, prayer, and participation in a letter-writing campaign.

A new MCC resource, "Loving Strangers as Ourselves,” offers biblical reflections on the topic.

See also:
May 2006 Sojourners article, “Blessing the Hands That Harvest”: How consumers and farm workers together can make a better meal.

“Justice on the Table,” a 25-minute video
http://www.moving-image.com/orders/justice/justice.html

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United)
http://www.pcun.org/

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers
http://www.ciw-online.org/

SIS at farmers' markets; Sojourners

2006-04-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

If it wasn’t cheering enough to see the great articles on food/faith in the May Sojourners, what a joy to receive a number of notes from farmers, asking about selling Simply in Season at their farmers market stands. Can this be done?

Why, yes! And if I may say so, a deep discount on bulk orders yields a tidy profit for such entrepreneurial farmers.

For details, contact Patricia Weaver at Herald Press: Patricia at mph.org (substitute @ for “at”).

Pumpkin chocolate cheesecake

2006-04-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Can't have an Earth Day Earth Dinner without dessert. But wait a minute . . . .

. . . Foods that are good for the earth can be just plain good, too, folks! Personally, I'll take real whipped cream and a pass on the carob -- especially if there's an option for fair trade chocolate (yowza, and check out Equal Exchange's new Organic Dark Chocolate Minis).

No offense, Russ, but here's another dessert option. ("Rustle the Leaf" shared by permission. Who woulda thought there'd be an environmental comic? The website even has lesson plans and e-cards -- take a look.)

Simply in Season Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake
1 cup / 250 ml chocolate wafer or graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon oil
Combine with a little water and press into the bottom of a 9-inch /1-L springform pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.

3 cups / 750 ml low-fat cottage cheese (don’t use non-fat)
12 ounces / 350 g cream cheese(softened)
1 1/4 cups / 300 ml sugar
1/4 cup / 60 ml cornstarch or arrowroot powder
Puree cottage cheese in blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into a bowl.

2 eggs (beaten)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix in. Remove 1 1/2 cups / 375 ml batter and set aside.

1 1/2 cups / 375 ml pumpkin (cooked and pureéd -- canned is fine)
1/4 cup / 60 ml brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Add to remaining batter.

1/3 cup / 75 ml baking cocoa
1 cup / 250 ml chocolate chips (melted)
Add to the reserved batter. Stir until thoroughly blended.

Pour pumpkin mixture into crust-lined pan then spoon chocolate mixture on top in small rounds; swirl together with a knife.

Bake in preheated oven at 325F / 160C until edge of filling is set, 60-65 minutes. Let cheesecake stand in oven with door closed for 30 minutes. Remove and cool on rack to room temperature, about 3 hours. Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Dining in Salmon Nation

2006-04-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

No plans yet for celebrating Earth Day this Saturday, April 22? No worries!

One simple but meaningful way to mark the day is by having an Earth Dinner: a meal of local, sustainably grown foods. A deck of cards from Organic Valley forms the basis of a dinner game in which participants learn the story of the food: how it was produced, where and by whom -- as well as the role food has played in the lives of everyone gathered around the table.

[Digression #1: I like the sample "Fun Facts" card which tells about rice and asks, "How do you prepare rice?" Most devoted users of the More-with-Less Cookbook -- the first in the series of which Simply in Season is a part -- will remember the rule of thumb (or rather, rule of forefinger) for adding water to the rice without a measuring cup: Use enough to immerse your index finger from "tip to middle of first knuckle."]

[Digression #2: Note that Organic Valley is not on this fascinating chart showing corporate ownership of many familiar organic brands. Did you know that Morningstar Farms is owned by Kellogg, Boca by Kraft, and Odwalla by Coca Cola, to name a few?]

[Cool map, eh? Listen to the NPR story about RAFT (Renewing America's Food Traditions) coalition's map of North America based on food traditions.]

For those of us living in Salmon Nation, a delightful Earth Day celebration meal could center on the Simply in Season recipe of the week, Asian Grilled Salmon – but drat it, the spring salmon run has been extremely low this year. And we really can’t blame the entire problem on that Einstein of a sea lion that’s been chowing down at the fish ladders of the Bonneville Dam.

Simply in Season notes that a number of organizations create lists of best/worst picks for seafood, based on which species are currently most abundant and well-managed. See samples from Environmental Defense and Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.

Recommendations can vary somewhat, but wild salmon tends to go on the "best picks" list while Atlantic or farmed salmon ("Atlantic" salmon can be raised in the Pacific Ocean, too) goes on the "worst picks" side.

For a quick rundown on issues related to salmon farming, go to the slide show at the Salmon Nation website: at the top of the page under "The Fish," select "Just ask: Is it wild?" Among its charges:

– The fish poop generated in densely stocked fish pens flows directly into the surrounding waters, creating an enormous pollution problem.

– Despite high use of antibiotics diseases spread rapidly, infecting wild fish that swim past the pens. A recent study in the Jan. 5 edition of The North American Journal of Fisheries Management provides more evidence that sea lice from fish farms are killing wild salmon.

– When farm-raised Atlantic salmon escape their pens, they compete for habitat with wild fish.

It’s great to see, though, at least one way of farming salmon that addresses all of these concerns. The 100-Mile Diet folks report on an innovative farmer who raises coho salmon in land-based – or to be more precise, barn-based – pens. Rather than fish waste going into the ocean, at this farm it fertilizes wasabi plants. "That's a sushi meal ready to go" – no complaints here.

Environmental Defense has also announced a new partnership intended to address problems with salmon farming. From their press release:

"In partnership with Environmental Defense, two major food purveyors have unveiled a new purchasing policy for farm-raised salmon that requires suppliers to meet tough health and environmental standards. . . . This collaboration marks the first time that two major seafood purchasers have partnered with an environmental organization and agreed on production standards for farmed salmon. . . . Among other changes, producers must meet a stringent health standard for PCBs and other toxic contaminants, take unprecedented steps to reduce potential impacts on wild salmon, use innovative production systems that do not discharge chemicals and metals into the ocean, and reduce their dependence on wild fish for salmon feed (conventional salmon farming consumes large amounts of wild fish)."

Whatever you choose, just don’t spoil your seafood dinner with the wrong wine. If you select a Northwest vintage, check the bottle for a "Salmon-Safe" certification label:

"Erosion and runoff from hill side vineyards can bring silt into streams, reducing the ability of native salmon to spawn and thrive. . . . Salmon-Safe helps vineyards protect and restore salmon habitat by planting trees on streams, growing cover crops to control run-off, and apply natural methods to control weeds and pests. . . . Look for the Salmon-Safe label . . . and get the satisfaction of knowing that your purchase is helping keep our rivers safe for salmon."

[Oh -- and please don't miss this whale of a poem. Them's good eatin'.]

Fast food, fair food, faithful food

2006-04-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

It is a week for sacred food. For those of Jewish faith, the weeklong observance of Passover begins tomorrow. And on Thursday, Christians remember the night before Jesus’ death: the night he broke bread, blessed and shared it, and passed a cup of wine saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

What better time to note a few of the ways faith communities are taking action to create more just, earth-friendly agricultural and trade systems.

'I'm Not Lovin' It'
The National Farm Worker Ministry and several other religious organizations declared March 31, 2006, the Day of Prayer and Meditation to Advance Real Rights for Farmworkers -- an event in the midst of the 10-day McDonald’s Truth Tour. The tour was led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, leaders of the successful four-year boycott of Taco Bell.

“We’ve been calling on McDonald’s to do what Taco Bell has already done; namely to work with the CIW to improve wages and advance farmworkers’ rights in its own tomato supply chain,” said the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches USA.

“McDonald’s clearly knows how to do better,” CIW said, noting that the fast-food giant recently announced an agreement to purchase only fair-trade coffee for over 650 of its restaurants.

[In other news, take a look at the Greenpeace campaign which links fast food to the trashing of the Amazon rainforest. This time the issue isn't raising beef cattle on what used to be forestland, but growing soy beans which are turned into chicken feed. "Every time you buy a Chicken McNugget, you could be taking a bite out of the Amazon."]

‘Revenge of the Acronyms: WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA and FTAA’
This Thursday, April 13, begins the Week of Action on Trade Justice sponsored by Presbyterian Church (USA). Activities include support for Co-op America’s “Adopt a Supermarket” campaign, in which consumers sign up to be what I think of as “holy pests”: people who keep pressure on supermarkets to carry and promote more fairly traded products, and who educate fellow consumers about why it’s important to buy these products.

2007 Farm Bill
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is planting seeds of preparation for the 2007 Farm Bill. Its Winter 2005 issue of Rural Life magazine offers a dozen visions of “a new farm and food policy for the American countryside.”

The Meatrix II

2006-04-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, the long-awaited "Meatrix II: Revolting" is here. Take a look.

SIS for kids: stories wanted!

2006-03-29T08:51:00.000-08:00

Oops. The Simply in Season recipe of the week list is a bit out of whack with the seasons. Not many places in North America have fresh strawberries yet, but do note that Strawberry Brunch Souffle is terrific served with thawed frozen berries and/or thawed frozen or canned peaches. Mmmm, mmm.

The first time I made Strawberry Brunch Souffle, back in the testing days, was with a family with two young boys, and I remember it was a big hit with all ages.

Helping children to eat healthy foods is a big challenge for parents, especially in a culture that surrounds kids with advertisements for sugary, fatty processed foods and where most playgrounds are inside fast food restaurants.

While the Simply in Season cookbook describes many great reasons -- for health, for the environment, for local and global neighbors -- for adults to choose local foods, a new Simply in Season children’s cookbook is in the works to bring good foods straight to kids.

Their stories and comments are wanted! Can you help us hear from children ages 6 to 12 about their favorite fruits or vegetables? Please ask them what they like and why.

More ideas of questions to ask: What is fun about eating a certain fruit or vegetable? Do you ever make food art with your fruits and veggies? What do you make? Do you have any stories about gardening or visiting a farm or preparing a favorite food?

Please include the child's first name and how old he/she is with each quote. We can't guarantee that every quote will be used in the book, but these comments will be a big help in shaping it. Please send them to Larry Guengerich: lrg at mcc.org (replace “at” with @).

Waiting time

2006-03-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

As of Monday spring has officially arrived, but I’m afraid the Simply in Season recipe of the week, Roasted Asparagus, will be, for most of us, mostly an exercise in wishful thinking.

Here in the Willamette Valley, the daffodils are up and the plum trees are all in pink but we're still only dreaming of most spring foods. An hour ago I wandered out to our asparagus bed from which my husband and I hope to eat for the first time this year -- very exciting, as we’ve never before stayed anywhere long enough to establish an asparagus bed -- but no, there’s not a sign of anything poking through the soil. Not yet.

True, a few spring foods are ready. Chives came up in the garden and our local farmers market -- held indoors between January and April 1 -- now offers bags of huge, beautiful spinach leaves: a nice change after months of hardy greens like collards and kale.

I've been in conversation with folks in Minnesota, where I'll be a guest at the May 13 Twin Cities Mennonite World Relief Sale. They're still having blizzards and we're not sure how many local spring foods will be available to use in sample recipes by May. Yet it seems like fresh greens are always the first to arrive. After the dark and grey of winter, eating those greens is like eating sunlight.

We’re more than midway through Lent, and in more ways than one it seems to me that we're still in the waiting time, with the promise of so many good things to come. I feel this way about Simply in Season in general. Producing the book has been like planting seeds -- seeds of ideas we hope will result in a better world -- and now we wait to see how those seeds will grow. Will these ideas be carried beyond our first small fields? Will we realize a harvest of changed attitudes, habits and lives?

To help the seed ideas take root, I'm especially excited by the work currently underway on a curriculum that uses Simply in Season as its textbook. Designed for use in small groups, Sunday school classes, youth and intergenerational settings, etc., the upcoming curriculum -- now being tested -- will help people explore in depth the contemporary food issues raised in the cookbook. Watch for more details about it in coming months.

Blessings to all in this time of waiting and new birth.

Pennsylvania to host SIS retreat

2006-03-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

Ever want to get away for a weekend and live "Simply in Season"? You're invited!

An April 21-23 retreat in Akron, Pa., invites participants to celebrate spring as they delve into the themes of the new Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) cookbook, "Simply in Season."

Participants in the spring retreat -- which will be led by cookbook co-author, nutritionist and gardener Mary Beth Lind -- will reflect on how food can nourish the spirit as well as the body. The event will revolve around spring recipes, discussions and activities inspired by "Simply in Season."

It is titled, "A Pregnant Earth."

"Don't you ever feel like the earth is pregnant?" says Lind, speaking from her West Virginia home in early March. "Spring to me always feels like that. I look out my window now and there's snow on the ground and it's melted around the trees. It's that sense there's life coming out.... There's a sense that something is alive there that's going to burst forth."

The retreat lasts from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. Participants will visit a farm, learn practical tips for in-season food preparation and hear from nutritionists and farmers. They will explore what foods truly are in season.

"Now, you can go to a supermarket and find everything. If it's in season anywhere in the world, it's in season in the supermarket," Lind said. "We don't even realize what is in season in our communities."

Most of all, though, Lind hopes the weekend provides opportunities, ideas and inspiration to take the themes of the book and explore how people can best fit them into their own lives.

"There's all different ways of fleshing this out," Lind said. "I really hope there's a lot of discussion and dialogue."

The retreat will be at the MCC Welcoming Place in Akron, Pa. The cost of $185 includes two nights of lodging, six meals, local transportation, an information packet and a personal "Simply in Season" journal. To register, call (717) 859-1152, ext. 282, or download a registration form. "Simply in Season" cookbooks are available at the MCC Online Store.

-- From a Mennonite Central Committee news release by Marla Pierson Lester

Kissable pizza, and new food-faith partnership

2006-03-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

Last week I mentioned a Northwest fast food chain, Burgerville, that features local ingredients. This is too good an opportunity not to mention a couple of other small restaurant chains in our area with a local flavor -- and as a January article in the Portland Tribune puts it, “There’s not a wallet-busting meal among them.”

Laughing Planet Cafe doesn’t have its website up yet (check later at www.laughingplanetcafe.com) but based on my visit to the Eugene branch, Alice’s Adventures in Sustainable Eating blog describes it well. Great, simple food.

The brand-new Hot Lips Pizza site includes a list of farms they support -- including, I was pleased to see, a personal favorite, Gathering Together. Hot Lips has earned widespread respect for its commitment to efficient use of energy and commitment to education. Gotta love this Willamette Week quote: “This is how a sustainable future tastes, one slice at a time.”

I’m happy to make a plug also for fine dining establishments that offer local foods. Some of the top chefs in the world are committed to Slow Food, a movement which celebrates the food specialties of each region. Here in Corvallis, Big River and Intabas are just two of the excellent restaurants with local food on their menus.

(Intabas deserves special mention for the owners’ exceedingly generous support of various food security initiatives taking place in this county. Just this past Monday Chef Intaba provided a delicious complimentary supper for community members taking part in a new project from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon; more on that below. Intabas’ marvelous flatbreads and pizzas -- baked in their cob oven -- are reason enough to eat there, but the idea of supporting such a good neighbor makes each dining experience there even more satisfying.)

Yet I think it’s especially important to support single-$ restaurants that serve local foods.

Last summer “Julie and Julia” author Julie Powell wrote a New York Times op-ed warning against the “temptation of economic elitism” in the local food movement. It has a certain point. Take, for example, the 2005 Smithsonian Folk Festival in D.C., which offered several tasting menus featuring locally grown ingredients, farm-raised meats, artisanal cheeses, etc. -- at $70 to $150 per person (tax, tip and wine included).

If people think sustainably grown, local food has to come with this kind of price tag, who would blame them for thinking this good food isn’t for them? But this is just what makes Hot Lips Pizza and the others so appealing. I could just about kiss ‘em.

Here’s a cheer and a prayer of blessing, too, for the local initiatives underway here in Oregon that strive to bring congregations and farmers together -- while also doing something to make fresh, local food available to low income folks.

The meal Chef Intaba provided this week was at a gathering for the Interfaith Food & Farms Partnership. Its mission: “To empower faith communities, farmers and neighborhoods to build rural-urban alliances and create innovative partnerships for just and sustainable food systems.” As I understand it, this project is being funded in part by a two-year grant. The hope is to develop pilot programs here in Corvallis and in the Portland area that can be used in communities across Oregon and perhaps beyond.

One way that farmer-congregation connections have been happening in Oregon is through the "That's My Farmer" project in Eugene. This will be the project's seventh year. Its main focus has been to try to encourage church folk to sign up for CSA (community supported agriculture) memberships; the goal is to have 500 households participating by 2007. Last year nearly 300 households took part -- keeping as much as $160,000 circulating in the local economy. Some $2,500 raised at the spring inaugural celebration subsidized additional CSA memberships for low income families.

Last year, the Eugene group also tried something new: selling books of coupons good for food -- including produce, eggs, meats, and cheese -- at numerous farms and farmers markets.

Thanks to the Interfaith Food & Farms Partnership, it sounds like this year Corvallis folks also will be able to buy farmers market coupons, with each $20 booklet containing six $3 coupons. The $2 additional "tithe" will benefit low-income community members.

What a wonderful, creative way to help neighbors, care for the environment, and keep food dollars at home.

For more information about the Interfaith Food & Farms Partnership, contact the project coordinator.

What's so special about sweet potatoes

2006-02-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos, is on my personal top 12 (or 13) list of favorite SIS recipes (narrowing it down to a “Top 10” is just too hard). It’s definitely my favorite meatless burrito. The combination of sweet potatoes and black beans is fabulous -- not to mention an excellent nutritional choice.

To make this recipe super easy and fast, don’t bother with the baking step; just warm a tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds, scoop in the filling, and eat.

(Having chopped onions in the freezer ready to go speeds things up, too. I like to chop 8-10 cups of onions at a time with the slicer attachment on my Bosch machine -- no weeping required -- and spread them in 9 x 13 pans, freeze, then transfer to gallon-sized zippered plastic bags. Break off chunks as needed and throw right into your skillet. The same process works well for garlic (use the large holes of a grating attachment), and fresh ginger root can be peeled, minced and frozen this way, too. In summer and early fall, seed and chop bell peppers to freeze like this as well; mincing hot peppers with a machine will prevent burning your hands. Recipes go so much easier when these initial chopping steps are out of the way.)

My only problem with this burrito is that, alas, there aren’t many local growers here that offer sweet potatoes. Thus it doesn’t seem like I get to make them often enough.

It reminds me of the sweet potato fries my husband and I treat ourselves to at Burgerville. This is a Northwest fast food chain with an impressive commitment to using local ingredients. It means that their menu changes with the seasons. Fresh berry milkshakes are available only in the spring and summer. Walla Walla onion rings appear in summer. And sweet potato fries are only around for a few months in the late fall/early winter. We like them so much that we have been known to skip the burger part of a meal and just go for the fries.

I’m always sad to see the sweet potato fries disappear from Burgerville’s menu. But there’s no denying that they wouldn’t be as exciting if they were available all the time.

In Simply in Season, one of the story contributors reflects on how the abundance and year-round availability of foods in North America comes with a downside (page 196). What is everyday by definition is less than special. Rather than delighting in each season’s edible wonders, we take them for granted -- even to the point where we feel entitled to them and disgruntled when we can’t get what we want when we want it. Appreciation sours into indifference or worse.

Returning to eating with the seasons offers a chance to get back some of the joy in food our culture has lost.

What do you say? Are there foods you eat only at certain times of year, and that are more special because of it?

The other food pyramid

2006-02-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the Simply in Season recipe of the week, Company Muffins, is the book’s only recipe that meets an impressive standard: it contains every single nutritional element in the USDA’s Food Pyramid: whole grains, milk and oil, yes; protein (walnuts or flax seeds and eggs), yes; fruit (apples and raisins), yes; vegetables (grated carrots), yes. So much goodness in a little muffin!

And based on seeing these muffins sampled at a booksigning, I can vouch for their taste. They're moist and just sweet enough. Kids go for them. I think baking them in mini-muffin tins makes these treats especially appealing.

While we’re talking about the nutritional food pyramid, it’s a good time to pass on the word about a new and different sort of food pyramid: one that encourages choices for a healthy environment as well as healthy bodies.

The Wild Farm Alliance Food Pyramid can be downloaded and folded into a paper pyramid to stand on your dining table as a reminder of how our food choices are connected with nature -- and how we can help to support sustainable farming.

The pyramid promotes eating foods that are:
-- Local and in-season
-- Organic and free of genetically modified organisms
-- Pasture-raised
-- Sustainably harvested
-- Predator-friendly
-- Shade-grown and salmon safe

Take a look sometime!

You’ll want a warm drink to go with your muffins (and maybe a good book). Fair trade would be a good topic for another day, but in the meanwhile I wanted to share this great Grist column on “green” coffee.

The local apple of our eye

2006-02-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

"Cheap imports may benefit United States consumers, but they're about as welcome as maggots to [U.S. apple growers].” -- Washington Times (Dec. 25, 1998)

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Curried Vegetable Bisque, is a wonderful soup with an unusual ingredient. How many soups do you know that use five cups of chopped apples?

With the Johnny Appleseed and “Mom and apple pie” folklore in this country, few fruits seem as “American” as the apple. So many of us might be surprised to learn that the United States imports most of its apple juice concentrate, and we may be keeping the doctor away with imported fresh apples soon.

Since the early 1990s China has been the world’s biggest apple grower. “Spurred by agrarian and land use reforms, and financed in part by the Chinese central government and Japan, Chinese growers initiated a massive apple tree-planting program in the late 1970s that continues today. By 1997, China produced more than four times as many apples as the United States. . . . When millions of Chinese apple trees began to bear fruit in the early 1980s, the Chinese government invested in equipment and an infrastructure to produce huge volumes of apple juice concentrate.”

Compared to foods like corn or wheat, in which farm machines can do most of the work, apples are a labor-intensive crop. High population countries like China can supply that labor cheaply, allowing them to sell more apples for less. “It is estimated that China’s average apple prices are about 40 percent lower than the world average price.” Lower costs of processing the apples into juice compound the savings.

As a result, U.S. growers are offered so little for their apples that it may not be worth picking them. A 2000 New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets press release describes the situation: “In 1998, juice processors only offered 3 cents per pound for juice apples from New York orchards. It’s estimated that growers’ costs were 4 to 4.5 cents per pound to harvest and market those apples. Historically, juice apple prices in New York have been 6 to 8 cents per pound.” At 3 cents per pound, the apples might as well rot on the tree.

China’s rock-bottom juice prices have led to accusations -- denied by the Chinese -- of export dumping: selling products abroad for less than the cost of their production. Most Chinese non-frozen apple juice concentrate is taxed with extra anti-dumping duties as high as 52 percent.

The U.S. Apple Association is calling on the U.S. Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission to extend for five years those import duties currently in place, arguing that “elimination of the antidumping order, and the associated duties, will encourage more Chinese apple juice concentrate to enter the U.S. market, causing prices to decline and harming the few remaining apple juice concentrate producers still operating in the United States. The loss of domestic concentrate producers would also force juice apple prices lower and put an even greater economic strain on America's apple growers.”

Lest this news tempt any of us Americans to start throwing rotten apples, we must acknowledge that when it comes to export dumping the U.S. is one of the worst global offenders. The case of subsidized U.S. corn undercutting farmers in Mexico is notorious: here are links to just a couple of articles about it from Oxfam and the New York Times; see also Mennonite Central Committee’s 17-minute video, “Corn, Coffee and the Cost of Globalization,” which may be borrowed through the MCC Resource Catalog.

Even when it comes to apples, Mexico is investigating reports of U.S. dumping of fresh Red and Golden Delicious fruit.

These days China is seeking to sell not just juice but fresh apples to the United States. American apple growers argue such a move would “cause depressed apple prices which would force a significant number of [U.S.] apple growers and marketers into bankruptcy.”

Many of us enjoy the fruits of our own backyard trees -- like the one patiently waiting for spring outside my office window. But I hate to imagine the day when our supermarkets carry nothing but imported apples.

It’s certainly possible. In the January/February 2006 issue of World Ark magazine, Brian Halweil of Worldwatch Institute cites the example of Britain:

“As recently as 1965, Britain was largely self-sufficient in dessert apples (apples for direct consumption, not canning or baking). This self-reliance depended in part on the production of a wide diversity of apples—there are over 2,000 varieties in the National Collection of the United Kingdom—that ripened and were harvested throughout the year. . . . British orchards are now dominated by two or three ‘commercially desirable’ varieties with a relatively narrow harvest season, crippling the potential to regain self-sufficiency. Today, only 25 percent of the apples eaten in Britain are home-grown.”

Here in Corvallis, just one woman at our indoor farmer’s market has been offering fresh local apples this winter. Hers is one of the tiny no-name market farms, or at least I don’t know its name. Besides two apple varieties she sells a few vegetables -- I bought parsley and a couple softball-sized heads of cabbage from her last Saturday -- plus apple cider and utterly delectable homemade apple handpies.

The first week I saw the handpies I figured I better try one, and as I stood munching it before biking back home in the rain, the woman came to ask me how I liked it. They’re trying to determine whether these treats are worth making to sell, she said. The implicit understanding: in addition to sales of fresh apples and vegetables, this family is looking for ways to make their little farm profitable.

The following market week I noticed that she’d taken the handpie price down a quarter.

Can of apple juice concentrate at a typical supermarket: $0.69-1.29
Half gallon jug of local apple cider from a farmer’s market: $3-4
Keeping local farmers in business: What’s it worth to you?

Simply in Season in Kansas this month

2006-02-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Simply in Season co-author Mary Beth Lind will be speaking at several events in Kansas later this month:

Thursday, Feb. 16, 1:30-3:30 p.m., Ten Thousand Villages store in Newton.

Friday-Saturday, Feb. 17-18, “Healthy Foods, Healthy Farms” sustainable agriculture conference at Kansas State University in Manhattan (Mary Beth’s presentation will be on Friday). The annual conference is sponsored by the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, K-State Research and Extension, and the Kansas Rural Center. For more information on the conference program, contact KCSAAC at (785) 532-1440.

Sunday, Feb. 19, First Manhattan United Church of Christ Church

Oil in our food (that ain't canola, or olive)

2006-02-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Dilly Mashed Potatoes, is the second in a row from the SIS “Hidden Treasures” list. It’s a favorite at our church’s Sunday noon potlucks. In the morning just scoop the mashers into your (lightly greased) crockpot, sprinkle with cheese, and cook on low instead of baking; it'll hold a few hours just fine. The pleasant tang from the plain yogurt and thin layer of melted cheddar on top give the illusion that the golden mash must be simply loaded with cheese -- when in fact the sunny color comes from mashing carrots with the potatoes. I could eat it every week.

Several folks wrote about other ways they sneak good foods into their cooking. "I put pureed pumpkin in my chili. The kids never know and it boosts the nutritional level," one person wrote. (A similar idea from Simply in Season is to add pureed winter squash to marinara sauces like Basic Tomato Sauce, page 168.)

Another person said, “In my vegetable soups I start with carrot juice -- I simmer all my herbs and spices in the carrot juice while preparing the vegetables for the soup. Also, a friend taught me to stretch my food dollars by making meat loaf using only half the amount of ground meat called for -- and replacing the other half with shredded carrots. Now my family prefers this version.”

It was great fun to be at Eugene’s first “green” home and garden show last weekend. By all accounts, the event was a stunning success, with a huge turnout surpassing that of typical home and garden shows in this area. Eugene has a reputation for environmental consciousness (or should that be “conscientiousness”?), so the only real surprise is that it’s taken this long for a “green” event like this to come here. But the high level of enthusiasm surprised even the organizers. Here’s hoping we’ll see more of this kind of event across the country in years to come.

Prior to the beginning of my workshop, a gasoline can on a table up front drew a number of puzzled inquiries. And it’s true: when we sit down to eat, we don’t place a pitcher of gasoline next to the orange juice and raisin bran.

The fact, though, is that fossil fuels play a major -- if hidden -- role in the story of our food.

In the United States conventional farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 17% of the country's energy supply. On average it takes more than a calorie worth of fossil fuels to produce a calorie of food in the U.S. -- maybe as much as 3 calories of fossil energy for every food calorie. This includes fuel for farm machinery and petroleum-laden chemical fertilizers.

(This is one reason why some folks promote vegetarianism. As noted in Simply in Season, most of our meat comes from animals raised in feedlots where they consume grains grown on conventional farms fueled by petroleum. By one estimate, it takes about a cup of gasoline to produce a quarter-pound hamburger patty. This, in turn, is one reason why some folks promote switching over to pasture-raised meats. When cows eat grass, they’re turning the energy of the sun into a food human bodies can use in a process that uses few or no fossil fuels.)

If our food is processed, even more energy is required. To produce a two-pound box of breakfast cereal, for example, it takes about the equivalent of two quarts of gasoline.

Then we have to get that cereal to us, meaning more energy used in transportation. One oft-cited statistic is that to transport one calorie of iceberg lettuce from Los Angeles to London, it takes 127 calories in aviation fuel. Consider that next time you browse your supermarket produce department with its array of internationally produced fruits and vegetables.

To be especially clear: All of us use fossil fuels, and I’m really not interested in trying to be a purist and forego its use altogether. But for unseasonal lettuce? And breakfast cereal?

My point is that I tend to be more aware of my use of fossil fuels when I debate whether to get into a car or take my bike, and when I adjust my house’s thermostat up or down a degree or two. I have been less likely to think about the presence of this limited natural resource in my food. Becoming more aware of the link now affects what kinds of food I eat and when.

During the workshop’s question/answer period, one person asked: What alternatives are there to processed breakfast cereals?

Aside from four pancake/waffle recipes and various egg and muffin recipes, Simply in Season includes two great recipes for homemade granola (if you’re shy about coconut, be sure to try Chunky Crunchy Granola, page 293, which reminds me of gingersnaps). More-with-Less Cookbook is even better in this area, with eight pancake/waffle recipes and 15 homemade cereals.

But my breakfast favorite is definitely Baked Oatmeal (294): a very kid-friendly recipe completely unlike the gloppy stuff you might associate with cooked oatmeal. Even busy households can have it fresh in the morning if you mix your wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls the night before. In the morning, throw on your bathrobe, stumble to the kitchen, stir everything together, dump it in the pan you greased the night before, pop it in the oven (remember to turn it on), and you’ve got a hot breakfast by the time you’re out of the shower. Leftovers reheat beautifully in the microwave. Enjoy!

Cake that can't be beet? and Northwest Passage

2006-01-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Secret Chocolate Cake, is among those on what I call the SIS “hidden treasures” list: recipes that sneak in extra nutrition and tend to fool people who claim they don’t like various vegetables.

While a can of cooked -- but not pickled! -- beets (drained) can be pureed in the blender in a flash for this recipe, the cake was chosen especially with members of CSAs in mind. In a CSA -- community supported agriculture -- subscribers pay a farmer of a share of the season’s produce. Each week they receive a box of whatever is ripe. CSAs are structured differently from farm to farm but most don’t give the subscribers a choice about what foods they receive -- leading to excellent opportunities to try new foods, and also the challenge of dealing with those that aren’t family favorites.

Yet this is part of the beauty of a CSA: repeated exposure to new foods, opening the door to developing some acquired tastes. Dietician Marilyn Tanner notes that it may take 10 to 15 tries for a child to accept a new food. (I like the article on the preceding link but find it a bit ironic that it's posted on a juice website -- considering concerns about children drinking too much juice in lieu of eating much healthier whole fruits.) Adults probably aren’t much different.

I figure, the first step is just to get comfortable having a new vegetable around the house.

Call me a dreamer, but wouldn’t this be the greatest scenario: Mom or Dad gets home from the farmers’ market and the kids see beets come out the bag and yell, “Yay! We’re having chocolate cake!”

Personally, I’m still not a big fan of your basic boiled or pickled beets. But aside from the cake, which is delicious, I learned in the course of creating SIS that I do like Shredded Beet Salad (page 245). I particularly like the flavor beet greens give to stirfries and soups like Winter Borscht (243). You don’t get those with a can.

No time for more this week -- I’m busy getting ready for a workshop at the Good Earth Home, Garden and Living Show, coming this weekend to the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene, Ore. The workshop is slated for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Cascade Stage, with books available from the University of Oregon Bookstore area near the Good Earth Cafe and Music Stage.

The plan is to share samples of Red Lentil Coconut Curry (206) and Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread (215) and to prepare on-site Red Taters and Green Grannies (253): my all-time favorite recipe title in SIS and an utterly easy but deliciously different dish I urge everyone to try. (Lovely with pork or sausage but also great with a cheese omelet or as a substitute for home fries. I prefer it as the main course, myself (occasionally directly out of the skillet), as I find I tend to ignore my eggs when I'm eating it.) It was great to bike out to the Corvallis Indoor Winter Market Saturday -- in only a dryish sort of rain -- and pick up lots of local produce from the good people of Gathering Together and Denison Farms.

Folks in the KLCC listening area may be interested in tuning in to the “Northwest Passage” this Thursday afternoon, Jan. 26, when I'll be talking with host Tripp Sommer about Simply in Season and the joys of local food.

Food, faith and sweet rolls

2006-01-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 17, Simply in Season and its predecessor, More-with-Less Cookbook, were cited in a Dallas Morning News article about what it identifies as the latest trend: “cookbooks with a spiritual spin.”

The combination of spirituality and food may seem as odd to some as a peanut butter and bacon sandwich, but for others the combination is awfully appealing (who knew that sandwich appeared in early editions of The Joy of Cooking? Check out that last link). The Dallas Morning News article quotes Jana Riess, religion book review editor for Publishers Weekly, a journal of the book publishing industry, who “links the trend to growing interest in simple, daily spiritual practices that are ‘hands-on.’ ‘What could be more hands-on than creating meals that will nourish other people?’”

A key concept in the Mennonite faith tradition (which undergirds the World Community Cookbook series of which Simply in Season is a part) is discipleship: the idea of putting faith into practice in everyday life. We believe that faith is much more than a collection of beliefs. It must be made visible in our actions: what we say, what we do, where we work, what we buy.

Given the ramifications of the choices we make about food every day, maybe it’s not so strange to think that what we put in our mouths can be as much of a faith statement as the words coming out of our mouths.

Last spring one Generation X Mennonite suggested that Mennonite cookbooks deserve critical scholarship for the way they “[influence] and even [construct] Mennonite history, theology and culture” (Matthew Bailey-Dick in “The Kitchenhood of all Believers: A Journey into the Discourse of Mennonite Cookbooks,” Mennonite Quarterly Review, April 2005).

You needn’t be a Mennonite, a churchgoer, a Christian, a person of any particular religion or faith to want to make a connection between what you believe and what you eat. It’s my contention that we all enact our values at the table. More on this another week.

Several curriculums explore the connection between food and faith:
Hunger No More (Christian and Jewish versions available) from Bread for the World

Just Eating: Practicing Our Faith in the Kitchen, Presbyterian Hunger Project
www.pcusa.org/pcusa/wmd/hunger/

Food for All (curriculum for children), Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Plus here’s the new review of Simply in Season from FaithfulReader.com.

* * *

It’s true anytime, but especially in the drear of winter there are few things more wonderful than fresh cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven. It’s my opinion that one of the most joyful tidbits in More-with-Less Cookbook is its advocacy of serving sweet rolls for desserts or snacks: they’re economical and satisfying, yet contain less sugar than cake or cookies.

Make your rolls with whole wheat flour -- or, better, with the Sweet Potato Crescent Roll dough from the Simply in Season recipe of the week -- and you’ve added a nutritional punch.

For a simple icing, beat together 1/4 cup of melted butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, the grated rind of an orange if available (better use organic in this case), and enough orange juice to make the desired consistency. Drizzle over the warm rolls.

Upcoming events

2006-01-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

I’ll be presenting a workshop on local food at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Good Earth Home, Garden and Living Show, coming to the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene, Ore. The University of Oregon Bookstore will have copies of Simply in Season available for purchase, and I’d be glad to sign copies. Look for the Cascade Stage. If you were a recipe contributor or tester, please be sure to introduce yourself!

* * *
Farming with Values that Last conference

Whole-farm pizza, mobile meat retailing, and healthy soil are just three of the workshops set for the 2006 Farming with Values that Last conference, Feb. 24-26, at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, Mount Pleasant, Pa., 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. This is the third annual such event planned by an ad hoc committee seeking to connect farming that works with faith that lives.

This year’s theme is “Models for the Journey,” reflecting the great learning that happens at this event as people of faith gather to worship, sing, share experiences and celebrate the opportunities within community-based sustainable agriculture.

David Kline, well-known nature writer and Ohio organic dairy farmer, will keynote the gathering with presentations Friday evening and Saturday morning. He brings a wealth of observations from his farm and insight from his life as an Amishman with extensive connections in the literary and agricultural worlds.

* * *
Voices Around the Table: Faith, Food and U.S. Farm Policy

Join the Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office in D.C., March 5-7, to explore farm policy's impact on rural, urban and international communities, and to envision the church's role in a food system that is just and sustainable for all.

The seminar includes biblical reflection, advocacy training, a panel on farm subsidies from across the political spectrum and workshops on everything from free trade agreements to genetically modified crops to hunger in the United States.

Early registration of $65 is due by Feb. 6. Visit http://www.mcc.org/us/washington/brochure.pdf for a brochure and registration information.

Take a walk on the wild (rice) side

2006-01-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Wild Rice Vegetable Bake, reminds me of a recent visit to the winter farmers’ market in Eugene. It had the usual selection of winter greens, squash, brussels sprouts, root vegetables, apples, local honey, and nuts. (Not to make anyone jealous, but one bonus of living here is the abundance of filbert orchards -- those are “hazelnuts” outside of Oregon -- and stall operators often give free samples. But I digress.)

As I turned the last corner, I was surprised to find packages of Oregon-grown wild rice. Just when you think you know what’s produced in your local area.

Turns out wild rice, North America's only native grain (and not a type of rice at all), grows well in the thick clay soil of the Willamette Valley. (The same thick clay soil has been a source of much frustration for neophyte gardeners like my husband Dave and I. “Use the Serenity Prayer and accept what you cannot change!” the local gardening columnist in Sunday’s newspaper advises. “Grant me the serenity to accept that, like diamonds, clay is forever; courage to add soil amendments; and wisdom to know when it’s time to start working soil in the spring!” Once again, I digress.) “Virtually all wild rice is grown in flooded fields,” one USDA source says. Huh. (I look out my office window.) Looks like my once-again flooded backyard is all set to go.

The Oregon Jewel Wild Rice website states, “The wetlands created for wild rice increases the biodiversity of the area, attracting all kinds of birds and other animals. The Lane County Audubon Society has placed [our] rice paddies on their list of birding sites. Testing has shown the water leaving wild rice paddies is cleaner and colder than when it entered.”

The majority of wild rice is grown where it originated, in southern Canada and Minnesota, but now also in California.

This article describes the history, production, and nutritional value of wild rice:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/wildrice.html

A second includes a description of the Native “rice moon” harvest, which began in late August to September:
http://frymybacon.com/articles/articles.php?article_ID=273

Winona LaDuke’s thoughtful essay in Sierra magazine includes the Anishinaabeg legend which tells how this Native people was introduced to wild rice -- by a duck.

According to this source, wild rice is "done" when the grains are swollen and cracked down the side. If it's opened and looks like popcorn, it's overcooked.

ChefShop.com sells Oregon Jewel Wild Rice.

(And another great Simply in Season recipe to try is Light Wild Rice Bread, page 287.)

Floods, Splendid Table, and freezer-burned berries

2006-01-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

Happy new year from a soggy Willamette Valley! We’re grateful the flooding here wasn’t any worse. The front page of this morning’s paper has a photo from one of our favorite local organic farms, Gathering Together, which had water going through a greenhouse and submerged fields, but seems to have escaped major damage.

“On the bright side, he figures the flooding probably did him a favor by eliminating some of the pests, such as moles, voles and gophers.”

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Apple Carrot Salad, is a good excuse to link to an ode to apples -- and other fresh, local food -- by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of “The Splendid Table” from American Public Media.

Picked right off a tree during a trip to Italy, the apple’s “lushness could have had angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus," Lynne says. "And I've had more than my share of food so good I've grinned for days, but nothing like this. This was like being plugged into the universe.”

If this sounds like the rhapsodizing of an elitist gourmand, read on. While taste is part of the equation, Lynne continues:

“My apple moment reshuffled years of attempting to piece together why Italy is what it is and how food plays in its identities. I am not talking gourmet moments, I am talking about connection. Where thousands of years of agriculture is the bedrock of a country, food is the connector and the identifier. It has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with values.”

Bingo.

Back to this later, but for now just a couple of notes:

I’m looking forward to presenting a workshop on local food at the Good Earth Home, Garden & Living Show in Eugene, Ore., Jan. 28-29. Details to come soon.

Also, a recent discovery:

This is the time of year when those fortunate enough to have them are using frozen berries and fruits out of the freezer. Our strawberry patch did well this year, and a couple of gallons of berries went into the freezer. We like them plain, half-melted, as a side dish, or of course they're great with cereal, yogurt, or ice cream. Chilled Berry Sauce, Sherbet, or Fruit Smoothie are all delicious year-round options, too (pages 319-321).

But recently I found a bag that had been punctured, leaving the thawed strawberries tasting “freezer-y.” Good for nothing but compost?

Not true. Turns out that if you mash them up, those berries taste great in the beautifully moist Strawberry Bread (page 34).

Lucky foods for the new year

2005-12-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note about the Simply in Season recipe of the week, Easy Homemade Sauerkraut. It was selected to coincide with the traditional New Years meal of pork and sauerkraut.

Growing up in Oregon, I had never heard of such a thing, but in my years in Indiana and Pennsylvania, I always enjoyed the pork or sausage with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes served at community suppers.

It’s fun to read about the folklore behind such traditions. Eating pork is considered lucky because pigs burrow forward into the ground, digging up treasures with its snout. Cabbage is said to be associated with good luck because it is green, like folding cash.

What’s more: “Cabbage, even sauerkraut, is supposed to help cure `the morning after the night before' making it an ancient remedy for another famous New Year's Day tradition - hangovers.''

I can’t vouch for that one, but certainly sauerkraut, that traditional winter staple, is known for its health benefits, even, it's said, by fighting cancer and avian flu.

Here’s an article about other traditional foods served at New Years around the world:
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/aicr_newyearfood.html

Or listen to yesterday’s “Marketplace” story about the growing population of wild pigs in the U.S. and the renewed interest in hunting these animals.

Best wishes to all in 2006! Happy new year!

Dreaming of a wet Christmas

2005-12-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

After a spell of unusually frigid temperatures, the Willamette Valley is back to its usual weather for this time of year: wet and grey. The only “white Christmases” I ever knew, growing up in Oregon, were the foggy variety.

It’s perfect weather for sitting inside with a book or DVD. And for soups, like the Simply in Season recipe of the week, Maple Parsnip Soup: a creamy, beginner-friendly choice for those new to this root vegetable.

This poem arrived on a homemade Christmas card today:

"Water Prayer" by Stuart Kestenbaum

And this morning, I awoke to rain, which makes
its own rhythm on the window, and the world is full
of these rhythms, rhythm of water, rhythm of the heart,
which sounds like an underwater pump, the lub-dub
of all it knows, which is making all I know possible,
and on the roof rain falls and turns to hail, then snow,
then rain again, running down the shingles to the gutters,
the gathering-up that makes rivers and lakes and oceans,
from cloud to drop to torrent, how nothing is lost.

On this shortest day of the year, blessings to all who paused here, and a wish for light in whatever darkness you know.

Fruit with a snap, crackle, pop

2005-12-13T08:44:00.001-08:00

It’s sweet!

It’s juicy!

It FIZZES!

And it’s coming soon to a school cafeteria near you. It’s already made it to a school cafeteria near me.

Researchers at Oregon State University here in Corvallis are involved in the development of a new product called Fizzy Fruit: fresh fruits, like grapes, pears or pineapple, are doused with carbon dioxide gas. The resulting carbonation gives the fruit a fizzy tingle in the mouth.

Schools in nearby Albany are the first to try out the new product. After a test run last week, Fizzy Fruit will replace dessert there for the month of January.

According to an article in the Gazette-Times, “As far as the students were concerned, the Fizzy Fruit was a hit, with many going back for second and third helpings.”

Eight-year-old Rachel [ ] popped a red grape into her mouth, bit down, and then burst into giggles.

“It tickles!” she said.

“It’s bubbly,” Sary [ ] said.

“It tastes good. It tastes like pop,” Alexandria [ ] said. “Oh my gosh,” she murmured as she popped a second grape into her mouth and felt it bubble up.

Karston [ ], 8, said he would rather eat fizzy grapes than regular grapes. “They taste like pop,” he said. “I like pop.”

What think ye? Will Fizzy Fruit encourage children to choose healthy foods? Could it help to wean us off our national addiction to sweets? Will the future see us lined up at Fizzy Fruit kiosks in malls and sporting events in place of those little ice cream dots? Or are we mostly feeding our love of all things carbonated? -- when kids are already drinking huge amounts of soda despite the accompanying health risks.

I suspect the debate is just beginnning. But in this area, like any other, we as consumers have enormous power. What will we choose to buy?

(Here's one industry article on that question.)

* * * * *

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Grape Pie, is another way of preparing fresh, dark purple grapes. One of my favorite quotes in the book appears on that page:

"The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine -- which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes."

-- Wendell Berry

All we really want for Christmas

2005-12-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason I was more than ready for the Advent season to begin this year. Normally I find the approach of Christmas is more like looking in those rear view mirrors -- always coming closer than I expect or am quite prepared for. But this year, I could hardly wait until Thanksgiving to start playing my Christmas CDs (especially this one -- and this one).

Maybe it's something about the year we've had. There's a yearning to celebrate. To light up the darkness.

(Gotta love the recent political cartoon by Steve Kelley. "Settle for an iPod," indeed.)

I'm fortunate in that my family doesn't have a tradition of a lot of holiday gift-giving, at least not among adults. In part I think our exchanges lost their appeal because most of us lean toward the side of the gift-receiving continuum that prefers getting items we want -- as opposed to preferring to be surprised. We find it too tempting to just go buy what we want when we want it. And when we found ourselves exchanging presents of cash and gift certificates, the process started to feel a bit, well, silly.

One option to consider is the "buy nothing" approach. Certainly many of the best gifts are those that cost little or nothing (and the link here offers ideas along with coupon PDFs for desserts, child care, back massages, etc.). I'm a fan of food gifts or consumables in general: regional specialties, homemade salsa, chutney or jams, cookie mixes in a jar, fancy socks (OK, you don't want to eat those). Or just an afternoon to play board games (this is my current favorite).

It's fun, though, to see other creative ideas for gifts that have something extra good about them. Here are links for places to start.

Co-op America’s “Green Gifts” catalog (which includes lots of special holiday discounts for places like fair trade organizations Ten Thousand Villages and Equal Exchange)

Grist magazine's ideas for the "trendy clotheshorse," "angsty teen," "self-righteous enviro" and more on your list.

Practical, fun and earth-friendly ideas from the National Resources Defense Council, Treehugger, and Sustainable Style.

Lots of gift-related links in the fifth Carnival of the Green (an entirely new concept to me -- so I'm new at this, so what).

Oh, yes, and then there's that list which mentions the "most intriguing gift ideas on MCC’s online store." It was an honor for Simply in Season to be included on Christian Century's 2005 gift-giving guide as well.

Other lists to recommend, anyone? Or care to share the favorite item on your gift list -- or wish list -- this year?

* * *

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Stuffed Acorn Squash, offers five different stuffing options. The lesson: pretty much anything goes when it comes to squash stuffings. Rice or bread, apples, dried fruit, mushrooms, sausage -- it’s all good.

Tasty as these five options are, I think my personal favorite squash stuffing is still the cornbread dressing from page 187 of More-with-Less Cookbook. No better way to use up half a pan of leftover cornbread.

I like to put a spoonful of chutney (a fairly sweet and syrupy chutney -- as opposed to something thicker -- works best) or maple syrup in the cavity of the cooked squash before piling in the dressing for the final baking step. Add a side of Wild Mushroom Sauce (SIS page 55) and you’ve got a feast.

Virginia booksignings Dec. 9-10

2005-12-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Simply in Season co-author Mary Beth Lind will be doing booksignings in the Harrisonburg, Va., area Dec. 9 and 10. On Friday, Dec. 9, from 2-4 p.m., she will be at the Eastern Mennonite University bookstore (go to the University Commons on campus). On Saturday, Dec. 10, from 12 noon until 2 p.m. she will be at the Dayton Farmers' Market Ten Thousand Villages store.

Eating: a political act? and leftover cranberry relish

2005-11-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Cranberry Nut Loaf, makes a pretty addition to any Christmas brunch. It’s one of several SIS recipes that calls for flax seed meal. You can skip this ingredient if you don't have it on hand, but it’s an easy way to add a powerful nutritional punch to your breakfast. Hooray for Omega-3s!

Whole flax seeds do not digest well because of their hard shell, so you need to crack it -- just wait to do this step until you’re ready to use it, as the cracked seeds quickly turn rancid. Check a natural foods store for whole flax seed in bulk and grind it as you need it in a blender or coffee grinder. Zip, zap, ready.

My favorite cranberry side dish these days is not the cooked sauce but a relish like SIS’s Cranberry Salad, made with raw chopped cranberries, oranges, sometimes nuts, lemons or apples. If you have leftover relish of this sort, try folding it into your favorite quick bread dough. In Cranberry Nut Loaf, for example, omit the orange juice, orange peel, sugar and cranberries and add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of Cranberry Salad.

(Recipe changes weekly. To get on our recipe e-mail list, go to the SIS website and click on "Register.")

* * *

The November issue of the MCC Washington Office newsletter, Memo, includes a few of my musings on eating as a political act. Several other articles from this issue on global food and farming are also available online.

Global food and farming issues will be the focus of Washington Office’s annual spring seminar, slated for March 5-7, 2006. Stay tuned for more information about “Voices Around the Table: Stories of Food from CAFTA to the Corner Store.”

(All) foods have a story

2005-11-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

When I was a little girl, I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books about life in the pioneer days. Two stand out as especial favorites. The first was Farmer Boy, and I think part of what I liked so much in this book was the description of everything they ate:

“Father’s spoon cut deep into the chicken-pie; he scooped out big pieces of thick crust and turned up their fluffy yellow under-sides on the plate. He poured gravy over them; he dipped up big pieces of tender chicken, dark meat and white meat sliding from the bones. He added a mound of baked beans and topped it with a quivering slice of fat pork. At the edge of the plate he piled dark-red beet pickles. And he handed the plate to Almanzo.”

Ruth Reichl, eat your heart out.

My other favorite book in the series was The Long Winter.

For those who don’t remember, The Long Winter recounts the year blizzards prevented the trains from reaching Laura’s little town on the South Dakota prairie. Supplies of coal and food dwindled until the community was on the brink of starvation.

When all the flour in town was gone, Laura’s Pa brought home seed wheat. Using a little hand-cranked coffee mill, the wheat could be coarsely ground, half a cup at a time, to make sourdough bread. Ma baked it in a cookstove fueled with hay twisted into sticks. And that’s how they survived that long winter, on bread and baked potatoes with salt and hot tea. Most of each day’s labor went into making each day’s food.

It’s quite a memorable story.

Today we tend to lose sight of the fact that all our food has a story, a story much longer than the last few chapters when the food makes its journey from supermarket to table. Rather than a story set only in our own kitchens, backyards and local communities, the story of our food is a national story and even an international story.

The first several chapters of our food’s story would explain where it was grown, by whom, under what conditions, and for whose profit. They would detail the story of the seeds’ origin, the planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying and harvesting. The next chapters would go into the transporting, storing, packaging, processing and marketing of our food.

By the story’s end, we would see clearly the impact of our food on environmental health, on our local economies, on our local neighbors who farm and on people around the world.

I recommend Northwest Environment Watch’s book, Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning. In it you can read much of the story of one familiar meal: fast-food hamburger and fries. The story of the burger begins with the story of grains fed to cows in a feedlot. The story of Idaho russet potatoes cannot be told without the story of water usage and salmon habitat.

An excellent introduction to the complex international story of our foods is Mennonite Central Committee's 17-minute video, "Food: A Plate Half Full." It may be borrowed through MCC's online catalog.

When we know the more complete story of our foods, then we are better equipped to make choices that feel good to us: choices that help our neighbors and leave a healthier earth.

With Thanksgiving coming this week, here is a prayer from a beautiful collection by the Iona Community, Blessed Be Our Table (Wild Goose Publications, 2003):

Loving Creator God,
We thank you for this beautiful earth from which our food comes.
We thank you for the long chain of people
who grow, harvest and transport it,
who sell, buy and prepare it,
and for those who now serve, share and eat it.
Bless the world and all its people, ourselves and this food,
to bring life and harmony
within your whole creation.
We ask it for your love’s sake.
Amen.

* * *

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Kale Potato Soup, is a soothing way to follow Thanksgiving feasting. “Starting with Advent, soon after a hard freeze, I begin to make kale-potato soup once a week,” the contributor writes, noting that kale sweetens after a frost. “This is warm, comfort food. It is green and fun to serve with a swirl of something red, like spaghetti sauce.”

(Recipe changes weekly. To get on our recipe e-mail list, go to the SIS website and click on "Register.")

Food that satisfies body and soul

2005-11-15T07:17:00.000-08:00

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Pear Custard Bars, makes me a bit wistful, as our area didn’t do so well with pears and apples this year. My husband Dave and I have been spoiled by some local friends who have a huge pear tree in their yard. It’s become a fall tradition to bring home a few sacks of their pears. We spread them across the utility room floor to finish ripening, and then spend a few evenings with a card table set up in front of the TV, peeling the pears and thinly slicing them to dry. No such luck this year.

But we still have a few dried pears left from 2004, and I took some on a recent trip to the East Coast. Airlines don’t give away meals in the main cabin these days, so I also grabbed a hunk of homemade oatmeal bread and a chunk of cheese on the way out the door. Not a bad lunch.

As it turned out, the woman sitting beside me opted to buy the $3 snack box offered by the airline. It contained:
-- Single serving of Name Brand tortilla chips
-- Single serving of Name Brand salsa
-- Single serving of fluorescent orange Name Brand cheese sauce
-- A Name Brand turkey stick
-- A package of Name Brand cookies

Please let me be clear: Under some circumstances I too would have bought the snack box. I strive to eat local foods, whole foods, minimally processed and packaged foods, but I’m nowhere near to being a purist. On the way to the airport for another cookbook-related trip not so long ago, I stopped at a fast food chain on the way because I had forgotten to plan ahead for a missed meal. The sandwich I bought tasted good and filled my stomach and I was grateful for it.

But munching on my bread and cheese and dried pears en route to Baltimore, I had to think about why that meal was so much more satisfying to me.

I knew it was healthier for me than those high-sodium snacks -- that felt good. I suspected that it was going to fill me up better -- also good, as I still had a long day ahead. For what I was getting, my sack lunch certainly was cheaper. Further, I knew the production of my meal had a lesser impact on the environment, compared to the resources and energy that went into preparing, packaging, shipping and marketing those snacks.

The heart of it is this: I knew and liked the story of my food. I knew exactly what was in the bread which I had made myself from mostly organic ingredients purchased at our local co-op. I knew something about the company, Tillamook, which produces the cheese -- using milk that is rBST-free. I knew our friends had not sprayed pesticides on their pear tree.

For me, all of these things go into food that truly satisfies, food that satisfies more than the most basic experience of physical hunger. When my choices have a positive impact on God’s creation and on other people, that feeds my spirit.

As Thanksgiving approaches, many people in this country will remember with grateful hearts how privileged we are to have access to enough food. It is my hope that more and more of us also will come to experience the joy of choosing foods that feed our souls as well as our bodies.

More next time on the stories behind our food.

People's Choice Awards!

2005-11-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

By the way, a humble WHOO-HOO to Ten Thousand Villages for winning Co-op America’s “People's Choice Award for Green Business of the Year”! As they put it, “Ten Thousand Villages is one of the oldest and largest fair trade organizations in the world and a pioneer among fair trade businesses in the U.S.” Ten Thousand Villages is a sister nonprofit to Mennonite Central Committee.

Placing #10 on the People’s Choice list is Equal Exchange, my favorite fair trade coffee company. Check their website for the fabulous Simply in Season recipe for Hazelnut Coffee Brownies: http://www.equalexchange.com/hazelnut-coffee-brownies.

Picky eaters

2005-11-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

One of the most delicious ironies of authoring a cookbook is that I was THE pickiest eater as a kid. Didn’t like anything good. Not corn-on-the-cob, not fresh strawberries, not peaches. (This last was a texture thing -- I claimed they tasted like frogs.) You can forget about vegetables -- I think potatoes (in various forms), cooked (but not fresh) tomatoes, and fresh (but not cooked) carrots pretty much composed my entire list of edibles. My survival apparently depended on macaroni and cheese and the occasional banana.

My mother thinks it’s quite a hoot to see me now: the most adventuresome eater in the family.

With such a background, I remain quite sympathetic to those with narrow parameters of acceptable foods. I just know that change is possible.

For me, the turning point in my eating habits was when I went to college and started eating in a cafeteria with my peers three times a day. I just got embarrassed by all the things I conspicuously “didn’t like” and started (while drawing as little attention to myself as possible) choking things down, no doubt with big glasses of water. And lo and behold: I found that I was growing to like cucumbers, green peppers, broccoli, grapes, melons, mushrooms -- and yes, corn-on-the-cob, strawberries and peaches.

Once the door was open -- once I learned that I might like different foods -- it was with great delight that I discovered foods I had never been exposed to as a child: asparagus, kale, sweet potatoes (without the marshmallows), rhubarb, butternut squash, parsnips, lima beans! I never could have dreamed how much more rich my eating life would become.

I think Mom did me a service in not making a big fuss about my pickiness as a child; I didn’t build up a lot of resistance that would get in the way later. As I remember it, she did insist that I drink orange juice for breakfast (which I grew to like) and I think we had the “two-bites” rule (eat two bites of everything before filling up on peanut butter), which is a good way to keep kids at least continuing to try healthy foods as they mature and tastes change.

But in general I continue to be all in favor of hiding scary foods. The SIS recipe of the week, Pumpkin Sausage Pasta, is on what I call the Simply in Season “hidden treasures” list: recipes that pack in the nutrition of vegetables but mask their appearance and/or taste.

HIDDEN TREASURE RECIPES

-- Zucchini Yeast Rolls (you don’t taste the shredded summer squash but it creates pretty flecks of green and gold in these soft rolls)

-- Sweet Potato Soup (people who say they don’t like sweet potatoes enjoy this pureed soup flavored with orange juice and tomatoes)

-- Dilly Mashed Potatoes (people think the golden color of these spuds comes from loads of cheese but it’s actually just a little cheese and plenty of whipped carrots)

-- Slow Cooker Enchiladas (shredded summer squash and carrots cook in a flavorful meat sauce; blindfold your family if you must and they’ll never know the veggies are there)

-- Pumpkin Sausage Pasta (a delectable creamy sauce provides the background for sausage and sage in this elegant dish; tasters can never guess that the base of the sauce is pureed baked winter squash or canned pumpkin)

-- Rhubarb Sorrel Crisp (sorrel -- a leafy green sort of like spinach -- adds wonderful lemon flavor to this dessert but disappears in the cooked rhubarb; the crisp can be made without sorrel but it’s well worth looking for)

-- Zucchini Brownies (moist with plain yogurt; the shredded squash vanishes)

-- Secret Chocolate Cake (moist with yogurt, applesauce, and pureed beets)

-- Green Surprise Dip (people tend to think it’s guacamole -- how easily we are fooled by appearances -- but it’s actually made of steamed chard, kale or spinach pureed with chickpeas)

(Recipe changes weekly. To get on our recipe e-mail list, go to the SIS website and click on "Register.")

On page 110 Simply in Season lists a number of ideas for tempting the taste buds of reluctant eaters and for encouraging children to eat healthy foods. What are some practices that work for your family?

Dinner co-ops

2005-11-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

Shortage of time is one of the greatest obstacles to eating well. We might want to choose fresh, whole foods but it’s easy to reach for highly processed foods or stop for a fast food meal when time is short.

Responding to the time crunch takes creativity. One of my favorite ideas is the dinner co-op or supper club.

A dinner co-op can take any number of shapes and forms, but the basic idea is that a group of people cook for each other -- allowing everyone to eat more home-cooked food but saving time (and often saving money) in the process.

Several years ago I was part of a group that came to be known as the “Monday Night Supper Club that Meets on Tuesdays” (see Simply in Season page 218 for my version of the most memorable dish of that experience, Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake). The supper club was made up of six single folks and one couple. Each week one person would cook and host an evening meal for the rest.

Meals were not fancy and neither was the atmosphere; as young adults with minimal furniture some of us barely had enough chairs to go around. On at least one occasion I recall everyone eating pancakes on the floor of my apartment with crates for tables, and for a while everyone needed to bring their own tableware. Everyone understood that it was fine to come, eat and then hurry off to other activities. Yet often we lingered over tea. For those who live alone, it can be difficult to bother with cooking, and it was nice to know that at least once a week we would have a “real” meal with others.

This past weekend I heard of another model. Six families in Portland get together once per month. They eat bring pre-portioned entrees, divide them up, and everyone takes them home for the freezer. Each portion serves about two adults; there’s no need to worry about having different numbers of small children in the different households. Most often the meals are toppings for rice, polenta or pasta, but casseroles, soups, enchiladas, lasagna, etc., also freeze well. What a better way to go than buying heavily packaged TV dinners! And what a nice way for parents of small children to get to enjoy more “grown-up food” with minimal effort. Make one meal, get six!

Co-op America offers several good tips for starting a dinner co-op:
http://www.coopamerica.org/PDF/CAQ60.pdf
http://www.thegreenguide.org/article/community/neighbors

This is a link to a dinner co-op website (with a completely different type of organization) that includes lots of recipes:
http://dinnercoop.cs.cmu.edu/dinnercoop/coop-info/intro-general.html

These links describe more ways that dinner co-ops can be structured:
http://dinnercoop.cs.cmu.edu/dinnercoop/coop-info/existing-coops.html
http://www.centerforsustainablecommunity.org/dinner-learning.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35836-2004May18.html

If you’re part of a dinner co-op, tell us about your experience. What works well for your group?

* * *

The SIS recipe of the week, Greens in Peanut Sauce, makes a delicious, easy side dish to a curry meal. Speaking of saving time: A few weeks ago I helped to make a huge batch of Red Lentil Coconut Curry (page 206) for the Oregon Mennonite Festival for World Relief. After we finished making the red lentil sauce, we realized that we had overestimated: this was too much! We decided to remove several cups of sauce before adding the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and cabbage.

We found that the sauce freezes well -- much better than freezing the completed dish, which would have resulted in mushy vegetables. It’s going to make a super-simple meal later: just add the fresh vegetables, cook and serve!

Next time, I’m going to make extra curry sauce to freeze on purpose.

(Recipe changes weekly. To get on our recipe e-mail list, go to the SIS website and click on "Register.")

Events in Portland, Pennsylvania, D.C.

2005-10-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

A number of Simply in Season events are coming in the next few weeks. Everyone is invited!

Saturday, Oct. 29, 4 to 5:30 p.m., Portland Mennonite Church (1312 SE 35th Ave., Portland, Ore.): I will be speaking on seasonal eating along with other local food representatives. There’ll be door prizes, samples, a cooking demonstration, and lots of fun. For information, call (503) 234-0559.

Saturday, Nov. 4, 9 a.m. to noon, Stumptown Mennonite Church (2813 Stumptown Rd., Bird in Hand, Pa.): I’ll be the guest speaker at the Women’s Fall Fellowship sponsored by Lancaster Mennonite Women.

Saturday, Nov. 4, 2 to 4 p.m., Provident Bookstore (Lancaster Shopping Center, 1625 Lititz Pike, Lancaster, Pa.): booksigning. Please come say hello! I’d especially like to meet anyone who contributed a recipe or helped to test them.

Saturday, Nov. 12, noon to 3 p.m., Potters House bookstore (1658 Columbia Road NW, Washington, D.C.) and then 4 to 6 p.m. at Ten Thousand Villages (915 King Street, Alexandria, Va.): Mary Beth Lind booksigning.

Saving time and stress in the kitchen

2005-10-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I attended the second annual Creation Celebration: a local ecumenical and interfaith event which invited the community to focus on environmental issues.

One workshop centered on sustainable living, and our leader from the Oregon State University Extension Service distributed handy little “UnShopping Cards” with the suggestion of keeping one next to your credit card. Before you make a purchase, the UnShopping Card asks:

Do I really need this?
Is it overpackaged?
How long will it last?
If it breaks, can it be fixed?
How will I dispose of it?
What is its environmental cost?
Is it a fair trade product?
Is it made of recycled or renewable materials?
Is it recyclable or biodegradable?
Could I borrow, rent or buy it used?
Is it worth the time I worked to pay for it?

The leader listed three primary things that get in the way to living sustainably: the time crunch, a disconnection between the spiritual and natural worlds, and materialism.

Certainly in our culture time is one of our main considerations regarding our food choices. Moving toward whole foods (rather than processed and prepackaged foods) and slow foods (such as brown rice which takes an hour to cook) may need to happen gradually. But that’s the great thing about food choices: we make them at least three times a day. We can move toward better ways of living bit by bit.

I tend to shy away from convenience foods, most of which are overpackaged (and thus with a high impact on the environment) and not so great nutritionally. But I have no qualms about trying to save time in the kitchen when I can.

The point for me is often about reducing cooking frustration and making this time as enjoyable as possible. You know the scenario: There’s no time to cook but it’s almost time to eat. You have no idea what to make. The first three dishes that come to your mind are an impossibility because you’re missing key ingredients.

How much better to help yourself out. Here’s just a starters list:

FIVE IDEAS FOR EATING WELL IN REAL TIME

1. Keep in your freezer bags of chopped garlic, ginger root, onions, green peppers and hot peppers. You can mince a bunch of any of these when you have time (and when they’re in season), or use a food processor for things like the garlic, hot peppers or onions. Then you can just pull out a spoonful of garlic and a cup of onion or whatever at a time as you need it, throw it right into the sauté pan, and you’re on your way.

2. Make your own do-ahead mixes. Simply in Season and More-with-Less have some good recipes for things like cookie mix or baking mix, but there are many other possibilities. For example, if I’m making cornbread, while I’ve got the ingredients out I measure out two or more sets of the dry ingredients, one batch at a time. I put the extra set(s) in their own containers, labeled, and then next time I make cornbread, all I need to do is stir in the wet ingredients and throw it in the oven. Recently I was making Dilly Bean Potato Soup (page 237), which uses several shredded vegetables. While I had my food processor out I shredded extra carrots and celery, sauted them, then put them in a freezer container with the correct amount of cooked beans. The potatoes wouldn’t freeze so well, but next time I want to make this soup, all I need to do is cook the potatoes and add my reserved ingredients with yogurt.

3. Plan menus. This is always the tough one and it takes discipline, but it’s the best way to reduce kitchen frustration. The last thing you want to be doing at the last minute is frantically paging through your recipe box and there are various tools and routines that can help. Some folks keep a list of meal ideas for easy reference. Some make a weekly routine: Monday is soup day, Tuesday is pizza, Wednesday is pasta, etc. It helps to keep cupboards and freezer stocked with basic staples. Keep a shopping list.

4. Invest in decent kitchen tools. Don’t get me wrong -- I’m the last person to say that you need the fanciest equipment -- but I’ve concluded there are a few things worth the investment. What those are will vary from person to person: here are two of mine. A few years ago I was hosting some especially observant guests who noticed me struggling with a cheap can opener. They thoughtfully left what has got to be the best hostess gift I’ve ever received: a high quality manual can opener. It doesn’t take a lot of space but works like a charm. I think of these friends every time I use it. More recently I found at a garage sale one of these top quality vegetable peelers. When I use it now I don’t know why I put up with cheaper ones so many years.

5. Move tools you don’t use out of the way. This is ridiculously simple, I know, but kitchen cluttter can be a major factor in kitchen stress. In my kitchen I have one drawer for utensils I use often (spatula, pancake turner, wooden spoon, measuring spoons in their own section) and another for utensils used only occasionally (potato masher, pasta server, ladle). It greatly reduces the amount of time I spend rummaging through drawers.

What are some of YOUR favorite ways to save time in the kitchen?

* * *

The Simply in Season recipe of the week, Frosted Persimmon Cookies, uses soft-ripe persimmons. The firm-ripe variety is like a cross between an apple and a pear. I was at a dinner Sunday that served firm-ripe persimmon matchsticks with fresh arugula and a lightly sweet vinaigrette, and it was marvelous. A similar dressing would be Simply in Season’s Two-Seed Dressing from page 46. Sliced persimmons also would be delicious in the Green Salad with Autumn Fruit (page 190), which includes a bit of shredded cheese (on a festive occasion I prefer Gouda), dried cranberries, and toasted nuts.

(Recipe changes weekly. To get on our recipe e-mail list, go to the SIS website and click on "Register.")

Another seasonal fruit discovery: Hardy kiwi fruit are the most fun thing to eat since the grape. They’re about the size and shape of a large grape, but under the smooth skin (which is fine to eat) is the sweet taste of the larger, more familiar kiwi fruit. They’d be a real treat in your lunch box. Look for them in your farmers’ market!

Experiments in local food

2005-10-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

It wasn't so long ago that eating foods grown near by was the only option, but nowadays the average food item travels more than a thousand miles before it lands on our tables. Yet it's exciting to see more and more people growing interested in knowing where their food comes from and the conditions in which it was grown. Motivated by a belief that local foods are good for the environment, for health and for local communities, many consumers are going out of their way to find local fruits, vegetables and meats.

I've been intrigued by news of recent experiments in which individuals follow in the steps of author Gary Nabhan. His book, Coming Home to Eat, describes a year-long attempt to eat nothing but foods grown (or found in the wild) within 250 miles of his Arizona home.

You'd think this would be much easier in my neck of the woods, the Pacific Northwest, but yow, from what I hear it still ain't easy. In British Columbia, one couple has been trying to survive on foods grown within 100 miles since March 21. It was hard enough, starting in spring when only a limited number of fresh foods are ripe, but worse, it took them a while to find a source of local wheat:

"We were unable to find any locally grown grains-no more bread, pasta, or rice. The only starch left to us was the potato. Between us, we lost about 15 pounds in six weeks. While I appreciated the beauty and creativity of James' turnip sandwich, with big slabs of roasted turnip as the 'bread,' this innovation did little to stave off the constant hunger. James' jeans hung down his butt like a skater boy. He told me I had no butt left at all."

Next fad diet, here we come!

As of their most recent posting in September, the couple was eating better, if getting rather weary of sauerkraut. I'm happy to take a pass on this kind of purist experiment, but their reflections offer excellent food for thought about food systems and our lifestyles.

More recently a major dining institution issued its own Eat Local Challenge: Bon Appetit Management Co., a national food-service provider, asked chefs to feature a lunch option made entirely of ingredients from within a 150-mile radius of their respective kitchens.

University of Portland kitchen staff decided that was too easy, so they opted to make every item on their lunch menu from local ingredients. What's particularly impressive is that they even decided to make their own salt by boiling down 25 gallons of seawater. Read about it in The Oregonian.

I have to wonder: how much energy went into boiling down that water? But then again, was this process any less efficient than it is where salt is commercially produced?

If nothing else, experiments like these certainly do a good job of helping us think about where our food comes from. And it makes me newly grateful when I pick up that shaker. Pass the salt, would ya?

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The SIS recipe of the week, Herbed Broccoli Sandwich, is seasoned with just a little salt in addition to dried basil, thyme and pepper. Topped with cheese melted under the broiler, it's a quick and satisfying meal after an afternoon of leaf-raking.

(Recipe changes weekly. To get on our recipe e-mail list, go to the SIS website and click on "Register.")

Simply in Season has a great recipe for Easy Homemade Sauerkraut for those harvesting big heads of cabbage these days, but it's also tasty in our Shredded Beet Salad, which couldn't be easier (and would go nicely with your sandwich):

Steam separately (or in sections of a steamer) until barely tender, about 5 minutes, 1 medium shredded beet, 2 shredded carrots and 1 cup / 250 ml shredded cabbage. Let cool to room temperature. Arrange in small piles on salad plates. Dress with favorite dressing or tahini dressing below. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).

Tahini dressing: Shake together in a jar with a tight lid 1/2 cup / 125 ml tahini, 1/2 cup / 125 ml oil (combination of canola, sesame, olive), 1/4 cup / 60 ml lemon juice, 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari, and water to desired consistency. (Tahini is a paste like peanut butter, only made with crushed sesame seeds.)

Welcome

2005-10-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a blogging experiment -- a place to share stories, information and ideas related to Simply in Season, a cookbook that celebrates all that's good about local food.