As if the journey to the winery wasn’t enough, we were also treated to a cooking demonstration by Mateo Granidos, a Yucatán born chef who infuses local Sonoma ingredients with flavors of his homeland.  He showed us how to butcher a leg of lamb,  make pickled carrots and turnips, and balance the flavors of real, fresh ingredients.  He even dazzled us in the kitchen with some chemistry as he used liquid nitrogen to make a lemon radish granita before we boarded the bus to return to the city.

If you have never tried granita, you should put it on your to-do-list.  It is simply a frozen and flaked concoction of fruit juice, a touch of sugar, and any other special embellishments that you might want to add, such as flower blossoms…or maybe even a touch of liquor (for the adult set.)  I love this strawberry granita from David Lebovitz - a perfect place for you to start, especially with strawberry season right around the corner.  Watermelon granita was also a huge hit with my cooking campers last summer, and it perfectly rounded out our delicious summer menu.

Mateo simply combined fresh lemon juice, a few tablespoons of sugar, some diced lemon blossoms and thin slices from 3 radishes into a stainless steel bowl.  Then, he whisked the mixture rapidly as his partner poured the liquid nitrogen into the bowl, freezing the mixture almost instantly.  If you don’t happen to have any liquid nitrogen on hand (smirk), you can pour the lemon mixture into a 9×13 baking dish and freeze over night.  Before serving, scrape the frozen mixture with a fork to break it into flakes.

Liquid nitrogen is non-toxic, odorless and colorless.  It is cold enough to cause frostbite, so it is important (for kids and beginners) to take proper safety precautions, such as wearing gloves and protective eye gear.  It boils immediately on contact with warmer objects, surrounding them with nitrogen gas.  It is well known for its use in making nearly-instant frozen desserts like ice cream.  The speed at which it cools food leads to the formation of smaller ice crystals which provides a smoother texture than other methods of freezing.

Liquid nitrogen isn’t just handy in the kitchen.  Your dermatologist is also likely to have a supply on hand to remove warts, moles or other potentially dangerous skin lesions.  It can also be used to preserve your gametes (aka. sperm and eggs) in case you want to save them for later.

Recently, members of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) were in San Francisco for the annual conference.  Every year, the Kids in the Kitchen section does a workshop with local children to inspire them to cook and eat healthy foods.  I was the co-chair for this section for two years, but ever since I returned to classroom teaching two years ago, I have been admiring their work from a distance.  Fortunately for me, the San Francisco conference was close to home, and I volunteered to photograph the workshop (and visit old friends!).  One of the recipes that they made with kids was nettle pesto.  I had never cooked with nettles before, so this was new to me!

Stinging nettles didn’t get their name by accident.  They are coated with tiny hairs, whose tips come off when touched, allowing several chemicals to be injected into your skin, causing a burning sensation.  That doesn’t mean that they should be avoided, however!  It is just the plant’s mechanism for self-defense.  But humans have learned a little trick to avoid the sting and enjoy the tasty goodness of the leaves.  Simply by blanching the nettles, (dipping them briefly into boiling water), the sting goes away, and leaves behind a wilted leaf similar to spinach.  Many people are fortunate to have this plant growing like a weed where they live, so it is handy to have a delicious recipe like this one available so they can make dinner from ingredients foraged right in the back yard.

I wanted to give a brief shout out to my friend Amber Stott, pictured below.  She is the founder and director of the California Food Literacy Center, an awesome new nonprofit developed to work with low-income families in the Sacramento area around issues of culinary and nutrition education.

Amber Stott, founder of the CA Food Literacy Center, teaching a student how to blanch nettles for pesto

 For more information about stinging nettles, don’t miss this great story on NPR: Taking the sting out of Stinging Nettles

It happens even to the best of us…Sometimes backyard chickens die.  But usually, it’s not the whole flock.  Occasionally, one will get egg-bound or will die from random causes.  Some chickens can be victimized by a rogue crow, raven, or hawk.  Even worse, raccoons or bobcats can terrorize flocks.  Yet I have to admit, it is even worse when the source of the tragedy is closer to home.

This is Barley.  She looks sweet, doesn’t she?

But one day when I came home after being out for a few hours, none of our chickens ran to the fence to greet me.  Instead, their bodies lie limp in their yard, unmoving.  Many of the chickens were missing and I feared that a bobcat had scaled the fence, killed our ladies, and took some away for a snack.

I worried that Barley might have had something to do with it…but hoped that it wasn’t her doing.  After all, she didn’t have any blood on her nose, and her yard wasn’t filled with feathers.  A little while later, when I let out our old dog, he started nosing around, and that’s when I saw it.  A chicken foot, sticking out of some loose soil.  After digging around for awhile, I found four more bodies – buried treasure, saved for later.

As angry as I was at Barley, I could only blame myself for the massacre.  I had recently let the chickens into a new part of the yard to eat weeds, and it just too tempting for the dog.  Instinct kicked in.  Barley had pushed her way through two layers of fencing to get to our girls.  Since then, we have reinforced all of the fencing and have installed an electric wire as an extra precaution.

The good news is that one of our chickens flew the coop and escaped the mayhem.  We have since gotten her some company, and are waiting for our new chicks to arrive in a few weeks.

These are our new ladies.  Aster is a Cuckoo Maran and Daisy is an Australorp.  We are excited to take advantage of their beautiful eggs in a couple of months.  In the meantime, I’d better get used to buying eggs again.

Please forgive me. I am not trying to jump on the egg-dyeing bandwagon.  I did that a few years ago… This time, I wanted to share an accomplishment by my eldest pride and joy.

My 12-year old daughter has been in 4-H for nearly 5 years and it has been incredible to watch her self confidence bloom.  Recently, we had our county Presentation Day, and my daughter and her friend decided to do a Natural Dyes project…and they won a Gold, the highest level award offered.

She’ll take it from here…

History of Natural Dyes

Natural dyes have a long history beginning with the usage of dyestuffs in China around 2600 BC. In 1856 William Henry Perkin discovered the first synthetic dye. Synthetic dyes slowly spread throughout the world making it hard to find dyes without the use of chemicals.

Method

We used two cups of dyestuff for every fifteen strings of natural yarn. First we individually boiled the dyestuffs with the 2 ½ cups of water. Then we added the fifteen strings of yarn to each pot of dye. We then let the yarn soak in the dye until it had a strong color. After, we laid the strings out on a baking tray to dry. We soon saw the once white yarn had turned into a rainbow of colors.

Materials

• beets
• brown onion skins
• turmeric
• spinach
• purple cabbage
• blueberries
• raspberries
• water
• stove
• 100% natural yarn

We then dried the strings on our trampoline.  Each color had it’s own texture – with turmeric being the most crumbly.  Cabbage-string was the softest.  If we were going to use dyes like this on fabric that we were going to wear, we would need to do something so that the colors wouldn’t wash out when we did the laundry.  But for now, this worked well and was a really fun project.

PS. We did the dishes (my mom didn’t have to!)

IACP Kids-in-the-Kitchen has teamed up with Green Ribbon Schools & DooF (‘food’ backwards) to host an exciting online culinary education project for kids ages 5-18. Joining the fun in our IACP Kids’ Digital DIY Kitchen is easy – and there are lots of great prizes!

Here’s all kids need to do:

1. Choose a food you’d normally buy in a store or order in a restaurant, then try to make it yourself.
2. Tell us about your kitchen adventure (in words, photos and/or video).
3. Share the fun with other kids on the Green Ribbon Schools website

Prize winners will be chosen at random — every kid who enters has a chance to win! We’ll also be featuring a few of our most distinguished entries on the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) website, where kids will get feedback from professional food writers, photographers, stylists and TV folks!

For project details and entry info, please visit our Digital DIY Kitchen page at Green Ribbon Schools

TO JOIN THE PROJECT RIGHT NOW…

1. Go to http://greenribbonschools.org
2. Click the “register” button on the upper right-hand corner of the home page. Students, teachers and parents should log into Green Ribbon School using the name of your school* (or child’s school*) – or use this info from IACP Kids-in-the-Kitchen:School/Organization: IACP Kids-in-the-Kitchen
   Location: San Francisco, CA
   Your Role: Student or Parent (Teachers logging in using IACP KIK information should choose the role “Parent.”)
3.  After you’ve registered, go to your “My Projects” page:
4.  Enter the Invite Code into the Join Project box on your My Projects page.
   Project Invite Code: tw9790-2253-5

This will take you to the “Results Page Builder,” where kids can start entering their submissions. You can use create individual pages for each student ­ or one page for your entire class.

Digital DIY Kitchen project description and guidelines

*Teachers can register their schools to be part of Green Ribbon Schools (which is simple, free – and includes lots of great benefits for students and teachers). If you love video and computer games, be sure to check out their amazing Healthivores contest!

NEED HELP WITH THE GREEN RIBBON SCHOOLS SITE? Get answers from GRS by using the site’s “help” and “contact” features.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROJECT? Please contact Laura Martin Bacon

Many thanks to Raffaella for today’s guest post about Valley Verde, a non-profit in San Jose dedicated to helping low-income families grow organic gardens.

Growing food and eating well

When I moved to California four years ago from Italy, I was excited to move to the birthplace of the organic food movement, and to raise my child in a place that is considered the fruit basket of the world. I was not expecting to see such imbalance and injustice in access to fresh vegetables and fruit. Low-income communities are drastically underserved when it comes to healthy food options. I started a journey exploring different ways to be part of real change. I wanted work that promotes justice and fairness and better food for all our children.

I found in Valley Verde a way to create a fair and sustainable society. Valley Verde is a non-profit organization in San Jose. The mission is to promote the cultivation of organic home vegetable gardens to encourage healthier eating and address food insecurity in the Silicon Valley. We provide low-income families with the knowledge and tools needed to grow and maintain their own organic vegetable gardens. The families receive one or two raised bed gardens, according to space and family size, an irrigation system, classes (about gardening and nutrition), seeds and seedlings, and a gardening mentor who will give gardening support for one year. The goal of the one year program is to empower the families with the vegetable gardening knowledge to continue their own gardens. Families who wish to share their knowledge can continue to participate with Valley Verde by helping other families learn the same valuable skills.

We started last fall with a group of 24 families in Gilroy and now we are recruiting new families in San Jose and Gilroy for the spring planting season. In order to support and expand the free services offered to the low-income community, we also started selling garden installations and maintenance services as well as “do-it-yourself” kits to residents of Santa Clara County who would like to start a garden.

To illustrate the impact of access to fresh organic vegetables, I would like to tell you about one of the participants in our program in Gilroy. A mother of two, her children would never eat beets, because she could only afford to buy the canned variety and they did not like the taste. Now that they grow their own, her children love beets, and the rest of the vegetables that they grow. We all know that fresh organic vegetable taste better, and are better for you and we believe everyone should have access to those benefits.

Valley Verde’s Executive Director, Raul Lozano, has a plan to start a real revolution in the Silicon Valley. With the help of corporate sponsors and donations, in 10 years, we want to provide free gardens to as many as 3,000 low income families.

I like to quote the eco-chef and food justice activist, Bryant Terry, who recently said: “Unless small start-ups, food incubators and local food movements are equipping the communities to become their own leaders, directors and ultimately self-sustaining, you’re just playing games”. This is our call to action!

Raffaella, Program Assistant at Valley Verde.

www. valleyverde.org
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I bet you don’t think about farms when you consider Halloween.  I certainly didn’t.  At least until recently.

About 6 months ago, our family joined a sustainable meat CSA with Tara Firma Farms in Petaluma.  You might remember that until last year, I hadn’t eaten meat for nearly 25 years.  But I began to eat it again conservatively from farmers that produce happy animals and care for the land.  We are very fortunate that such a farm exists so close to our home.  Visitors get to take a tour that covers many of the farm’s 300 acres, complete with meet-and-greets with many of the pastured animals – chickens, cows, pigs and turkeys.

Aside from getting some tasty and sustainable food for our family, I also enjoy the family friendly and community building events that Tara Firma Farm offers.

Instead of spending the evening stuffing our faces with candy, we enjoyed an evening at the farm, shared food with other sustainable food lovers, and carved pumpkins, which decorated the landscape with our collective artwork.

Go Giants!

What was your family’s favorite Halloween celebration this year?

My daughter recently started middle school and has been busy with friends, homework and cross country practice.  Helping me make a meal is pretty low on her list of priorities lately, although she would rather take on that job than put away the piles of clean laundry that litter her bedroom floor.  Maybe that’s why I was so surprised when she offered to help me prep veggies for dinner this weekend.

Now that I have returned to work full time, my time is more precious than ever.  I only have the occasional chunk of time (between 4-H events, laundry, pet-care, chauffeuring children etc) to plan and cook meals.  While we were driving around on Saturday, my daughter pointed out a recipe for Shepherd’s Pie from the most recent Cook’s Illustrated magazine that looked good.  Although we didn’t have enough time to make it that day, I thought it would make a fantastic Sunday supper.  The challenge? Finding enough time on Sunday to get it all ready.

I can be pretty Type A, which serves me fairly well every now and again.  In this case, I have learned the benefits of prepping ingredients in advance, squeezing in some chopping and washing between other activities.  That afternoon, she and I peeled potatoes, chopped onions, carrots, scallions and mushrooms and stored them in some boxes that I purchased at a great deal from a small cafe that was closing.

This box is big enough that I can store several prepared ingredients in it together, separated by an internal bowl.  I grouped the ingredients that I would need at different phases in the recipe, so that it would be easier when I cooked the dish.

Most of the time, we store our food in glass lidded containers because I am concerned about BPA found in plastics.  Both types of boxes are clear, so I can see what is inside, and they stack neatly, preventing clutter and tumbling chaos when we open the door.

The verdict on this recipe was a full round of thumbs up!  My daughter was especially smitten by the mashed potatoes that smothered the top of the pie, but my son gobbled up the entire dish, digging on his plate for extra carrots.

What types of ingredients do you like to prepare in advance?  Do you have snacks ready for the kids to grab-and-go or do you focus on make-ahead meals?

My husband wishes I would learn to stay quiet…at least until I get tenure at my high school teaching job.

See, I have a tendency to rock the boat about issues that I am passionate about (remember the pie-eating-contest-fiasco from a few years ago?).  This time around, I had a hard time keeping my trap shut when I heard that Gatorade reps would be on our high school campus handing out free samples to our students during G-week.

Who doesn't love FREE?

When I tried to find out how this came to pass, I got the run-around, with several people shunting the responsibility to others.  Eventually, one of the coaches said that he had received a call from Gatorade, saying that they wanted to share their new “nutrition classes” with the athletes and hand out free samples.  Since he buys the drinks for his team, he saw no reason they shouldn’t come over.

I was suspicious.  Gatorade offering nutrition classes?  I would no sooner take a class on healthy eating from McDonald’s.  But I had some students do some investigating so that we could learn what these classes would entail.  When a student called Gatorade on my behalf, they said that they do not offer any such classes, and that “it might be something special that your sales rep came up with on his own.”  Clever guy.  It’s hard to imagine that his sales wouldn’t increase after he shares his products on a campus teeming with over 1000 thirsty students.  Students reported back that before practice, approximately 5 minutes were dedicated to student questions.  No nutrition workshop or teaching was offered…unless you call advertising “teaching.”  Students were, however, encouraged to drink the pre-game formula, the during-the-game-formula AND the replenisher after the game is over.  Woah – 3x the buying power.  And I thought ONE product is all we needed. I’ll say it again – clever guy.

Bringing free Gatorade to the coaches

When one student asked me “what I have against Gatorade,” I told him that we have a California state education code that is is intended to protect students and to ensure that they are not offered “non-nutritious” items at school.  The majority of the samples being served exceeded the legal limits on sugar, sodium and / or potassium.

Never one to shy away from a teachable moment, we talked about artificial colors and sweeteners and the benefits of eating food that grows on plants, and not foods made in plants (thanks, Michael Pollan!).  There is now a joke in class about my enthusiasm for coconut water, a natural source of electrolytes, as opposed to the colorful chemical concoctions that were being handed out on campus.  When I asked a colleague who runs marathons about her favorite sports drink, she agreed that coconut water was ideal because it was “real” and helped her to recover quickly after a long workout.

Their presence also raises ethical issues about where to draw the line between business and education.  I understand that the athletic department needs funding for equipment, transportation, coaches etc.  However, they should not be selling out or trying to get sponsorships from companies that don’t comply with the law.  Students and athletes require exemplary nutrition – and chemically formulated compounds hardly qualify.

What’s really going on?

Every 4 grams of sugar in your beverages = 1 teaspoon.  We are an educational institution first and foremost.  If we allow sugary beverages to be handed out on campus, it looks like we endorse the consumption of beverages that contain up to 10 spoonfuls of sugar.  But heck – elite athletes claim that sports drinks have hydration benefits, so it must be true, right?   Gatorade has its own institute to conduct and publish research and to educate sports health professionals and athletes on sports nutrition and exercise science. “Perhaps one of Gatorade Sports Science Institute’s greatest successes was to undermine the idea that the body has a perfectly good homeostatic mechanism for detecting and responding to dehydration—thirst.”  It’s no wonder that an analysis by Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that over a quarter of American parents believe that sports drinks are healthy for children.48  Too bad they aren’t taking my biology class!

Just a few of the Gatorade samples handed out on campus

People have been so brainwashed by marketing campaigns about what they “need“ that they may ignore what their bodies REQUIRE from a nutritional standpoint.  Younger children have more body surface area than adults, and so they can become more easily dehydrated during an equivalent workout.  Need a rule of thumb?  Try this…

Salt replenishment may be necessary for younger children after a 60 minute-long strenuous workout, and for adults after 90 minutes.  Don’t be fooled into thinking you need to drink your sodium! 

Nancy Clark, a registered dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition suggests that athletes eat a handful of whole grain salted pretzels or crackers, eat some orange slices and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and replace salts and water lost through sweat.

When I told my friend Susannah, a nutritionist and school-lunch-reform colleague, about G-week, she rolled her eyes.  Like me, she promotes nutrition from real food.  She says, “athletes are the ONLY ones who MAY benefit from drinking sports drinks, and even then, it’s not the best way to hydrate and replenish electrolytes.”   She also turned me on to this interesting article, The Truth about Sports Drinks, which I highly recommend.

Want to make your own affordable electrolyte replacement drink made out of real ingredients?

P.S.  I invited Miguel Villareal, our food service director, to campus to take a gander at G-week.  He met with our principal, and after discussing the state education code and what is best for our students, they agreed that Gatorade would not be welcomed back on campus.

When I sat down to write this post, my first inclination was to apologize for the long delay between posts.  But then I thought again.  I am a high school teacher, and have devoted the summer to my children and improving my lessons for the upcoming year.  Nothing to apologize for.

Right after school ended, we went up to Oregon for my sister’s wedding. It was beautiful.  The wedding.  AND Oregon.  And best of all, I had a great time on the road trip up there, even though I worried that my kids might declare World War 3 in the back seat.  Thank goodness for audiobooks.  (We highly recommend anything narrated by Jim Dale, in case you were wondering.)

The kiddos atop Crater Lake

Once the school year begins, life gets crazy.  Time slips away, we forget the warm weather of summer and start to miss the flavors from the summer-time farmer’s market.  Inspired as ever by Joel Salatin’s book, Folks, This Ain’t Normal, I decided to preserve some of our summer…in jars.

I searched some of my favorite blogs for a recipe, and decided to try this recipe for Honey Strawberry Jam from Simple Bites.  It appealed to me because it used flavorful honey instead of sugar – and required less added sweetness than the majority of other recipes I saw.  And aside from the time it took to core the berries, it didn’t take very long.  It would have been more fun to do with a few friends…(mental note for my upcoming tomato project!)

I used a whole flat...

Lots of strawberry tops for our chickens to enjoy...

Filling the jars...

The final product

I have been inspired – both by this project and by Joel’s book.  I’d rather open my pantry to find staple ingredients than trek to the store.  And I love the feeling of supporting farmers that I know and the good work that they do.  I can hold them near when I preserve their tasty goodness, and thank them each time we enjoy a meal.