How to Make Almond Flour

3. September 2010 by admin.

Step One: Add sliced, blanched almonds to food processor

Step Two: Whizz ‘em up for a minute or two until finely ground.

Homemade almond flour

More?… HealthyIndulgences@blogspot.com

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Colorado Easy Eats Flour Club

21. August 2010 by admin.

Everybody should be able to eat local organic bread. The beautiful home bakers who have joined in our local organic flour club this year are living proof that having your local organic bread and eating it too is not impossible - yes even in this day and age.

Everyone should be able to access local organic bread has been my belief since opening Colorado Easy Eats at the beginning of this year. The local, organic food movement has been criticized as an ego-stroking pursuit of the upper and upper-middle class –people who can afford to shop in Whole Foods upscale markets or to pay the higher cost associated with small (read low volume - high local/quality) farmers’ market vendors. One thing is true: you don’t often see economically disadvantaged shoppers paying $5-$8 for a loaf of organic bread. They are looking for BOGOs to have enough to feed their kids until the next paltry paycheck

.

I can appreciate that predicament because I’ve been there. I’ve been unable to pay for fresh local goods and produce. My family instilled farmers market shopping in me throughout my growing years and it was frustrating having to choose between film for my college photography class and fresh local tomatoes.

So I thought to my little self. How could I make the biggest contribution to the local organic food movement without being an organic farmer or growing all my own food? (an admirable goal & romantic ideal actually being achieved by the steadfast urban, suburban and rural farmers at whose feet I worship.) My answer became: Find local organic flour, teach people how to make bread, create a new path from producer to local market that does not involve thousands of truck-miles, then get it to everybody who wants to boost their local organic eating, sustain local agriculture and back local business. This is for the family that is struggling to make ends meet, but is still wanting to live a healthier more grounded life.

So here is the easiest bread recipe ever:

AND

You can get Colorado Organic Flour in central Denver by clicking HERE

RECIPE: No-Knead Bread- Courtesy of Denver Post Food on Film 

This recipe first appeared in The New York Times, adapted from Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery. Makes one 11/2-pound loaf or two smaller loaves. Post columnist Diane Carman wrote about it in November of 2006. I have tested it at high altitude and adapted it further. - Food Editor Kristen Browning-Blas

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (Colorado Easy Eats’ Flour being just on the breaking point in protein content between an all purpose flour and bread flour has worked very well for me with this recipe many times - Terri Clauss)

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon yeast

2 teaspoons salt

11/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon warm water

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS:

2 cups grated cheese, any kind

Roasted garlic cloves

Sundried tomatoes

Fresh or dried herbs

Directions

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add water, stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour (blend in additions, if using) and fold it over on itself three or four times. Separate dough into two segments if making two loaves.

Generously coat 2 cotton or linen towels (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. (Use 4 towels for 2 loaves of bread.)

Put dough seam side down on towel or Sil-Pat mat and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8- quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic - I use my large Crock-Pot liner) in oven as it heats. You can bake two at once if two pots fit in your oven.

When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is OK. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid (don’t forget the lid is HOT!) and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Keep a close eye on the bread, as it will brown quickly.

Cool on a rack. Eat hot with butter or olive oil.

………..While I was at it, I decided to consider the time-poor working folks who can spend a little more money but for whom time is a precious commodity. For them I’ve created mixes that make it much easier to transition to eating local organic hence:

Colorado Easy Mix (pancakes, waffles, biscuits & muffins)

Colorado Easy Cookies Mix (sugar cookies & variations)

Colorado Cakes Mix  (gluten free pancakes, waffles, muffins & bread -  putting to good use a huge Colorado crop: millet)

Developing:

Colorado Corny Bread Mix & Oatmeal Cookie Mix

Each bag makes two batches not only one. Every recipe was created and tested here at altitude to insure great performance up here at 5280 and above. All the products are supported with more creative recipes and a gathering community through a lively website www.coloradoeasyeats.com and Facebook Page - Colorado Easy Mix Community.

Visit me Saturdays 9-1 at Denver Urban Homesteading Year-Round Farmers Market -200 Santa Fe Drive - Denver, CO

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La Famiglia

4. August 2010 by admin.

I’m realizing as I grow (older) how much my background has informed my lifestyle and way of thinking. La Famiglia – again with the Italian. When I would ask to go to a friend’s house on a Sunday I would get that repeated to me as if I were insane for even asking. Sunday was for LaFamiglia – the family.

One of my principles  is that the art you put on your walls the music you listen to or the food you put on your plate will have a more positive effect on you and your family if …
1st- you grew/made/played it.
2nd- somebody in your FAMILY grew/made/played it.

3rd- somebody in your community grew/made/played

it

I’m not ashamed to call Italians and Italian-Americans my larger family. I get a thrill when I hear someone tell me their last name and it ends in a vowel!  Everyone has a  right to feel a thrill and get a sense of “La Famiglia” when they interact with their neighbors as well.  The fact that often they don’t, is a tragedy. In my businesses as in life I always strive to honor the community by reminding everyone of how the family is supposed to feel.
Please come Italians, West Africans, Mongolians, Rastafarians, Scandinavians, Black Americans, Vietnamese, Hispancs, Indonesians, Andeans… enjoy the Denver family.

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And do it here.

30. July 2010 by admin.

Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth  David Korten

This book describes a new kind of economy: locally-based, community oriented, and devoted to creating a better life for all.

If we wish to contribute to such an ideal, our actions can be tested against the following criteria and although we may not be seeing results we, one can have confidence that we are contributing to the future success of the movement. Find in italics, my thoughts on who is acting and how right here in Denver, Colorado. If you know others to recognize, please add them to the comments on this blog.

1. Does it help discredit a false cultural story fabricated to legitimize relationships of domination and exploitation and to replace it with a true story describing unrealized possibilities for growing the real wealth of healthy communities.

Here is the false cultural story: Inviting someone to your home to buy sell or trade goods is likely to get you attacked.

I use craigslist, a beautiful online basic bulletin board for buying selling and bartering goods with your community, profusely. I have had only excellent experiences. I believe that the  unfortunate, harmful or dishonest encounters are rare and sometimes only urban legends. If you feel more comfortable, have a friend or neighbor nearby when you make buying/selling/bartering appointments, but don’t let fear stop you.

Is it connecting others of the movement’s millions of leaders who didn’t previously know one another, helping them find common cause and build relationships of mutual trust that allow them to speak honestly from their hearts and to know that they can call on one another for support when needed?

I don’t use facebook because I don’t want my information “out there” for any wierdo to get their hands on. This is the type of reasoning I sometimes hear when asking folks to connect with me through this popular social networking tool. I have made more beneficial connections in the last year  using social networking than in my entire life previously. It has only strengthened my face-to-face communities and opened channels to greater connection to others. Trust your intuition about anonymous friend requests and embrace the opportunities to strengthen and grow the web of human existence.

Is it creating and expanding liberated social spaces in which people experience the freedom and support to experiment with living the creative, cooperative, self-organizing relationships of the new story they seek to bring into the larger culture?

HaHo I say! A quiet little gem is growing. Handmade Homemade Market Club opens up a “suggested donation” pricing market every 3 weeks in Denver. Buy and barter handmade homemade creative productions from friends, neighbors and local creative types in many mediums. It’s all a cover for crafting beautiful community. http://denverhhm.wordpress.com/

1. Is it providing a public demonstration of the possibilities of a real-wealth economy

Same Cafe - Been there? Everybody eating healthy organic food is real wealth in my book. Healthy organic eating isn’t just for chi-chi upscale market shoppers here or in the vision of Colorado Easy Eats that brings Colorado organic flour and bake mixes to home cooks.

Is it mobilizing support for a rule change that will shift the balance of power from the people and institutions of the Wall Street phantom-wealth economy to the people and institutions of living-wealth Main Street economies?
Mile High Business Alliance has been supporting local businesses and shoppers for 3 years now. Our Denver main street businesses should be our number one resource. Gosh we might even have our own culture here. Big box stores serve a purpose best described as the “last resort” in our shopping lives.

Kudos to these and the many others in Denver who are creating real wealth right here in our own front yard.

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Simplify - I did - Doesn’t look like it

30. July 2010 by admin.

When I go into others homes I notice mess. I think they’re cluttery  and just not as organized as mine. When I look at my space it looks charming and neat. BUT I tried looking at my place like I was looking at another’s and discovered that MY place was, just as, if not messIER. I have also noticed that when I ask my children to clean their rooms, they can’t really SEE all the mess that is around so they say they’re done when it still looks like a mess to me. How can that be? I found the answer in one of my favorite blogs:

The Unclutterer:

Even though you might not focus on the things in your home and office, they still might be affecting you. An easy way to test this is to really “see” a room, clear all the clutter from it, organize the things that remain in the room, and then gauge how you feel in the clutter-free room compared with how you feel in other spaces. Do you want to spend more time in the clutter-free space than you did before? Do you feel calmer, less stressed when you’re in this space?

It seems counterintuitive, but it can be difficult to “see” the clutter in our spaces. We sense clutter, but as we move through our regular lives we lose sight of it. The following are ideas for how you can spot the clutter in your spaces:

• Invite friends over for a party. Knowing that people will be coming into your home helps you to imagine your place the way they see it.
• Invite your boss into your office for a meeting. It’s like a party in your home, but at work (and, sadly, likely less fun).
• Snap photographs or take video.
• Hire a home stager to come in and explain how he/she would clear your space to put it up on the market for sale. You might not follow all of the advice, but it will help you to see what others see.
• Have a friend with a toddler visit. Let the child roam through your home. Trust me, he’ll find every piece of clutter below waist level and touch it, pick it up, or try to eat it. (Obviously, monitor carefully.)
• Similar to the previous suggestion, have a friend with a labrador puppy spend some time in your space.

So now I’m more patient with the kids and more aware of how to keep our spaces clutter-free and peaceful

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Cool Stuff

15. July 2010 by admin.

USDA CHICKEN CENSUS/SURVEY at market Saturday, July 17, 9-2.  The government finally gets serious about studying us backyard farmers!    This Poultry 2010 study of backyard chicken farmers will occur in four major US cities: Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.  Urban chicken owners in these cities will be asked to participate in the study by completing a brief survey about their chickens.  Participating will: (a) help poultry experts at area universities and the USDA develop educational information for the benefit of chicken owners, (b) evaluate the potential impacts of diseases that affect chickens and humans, and (c) determine trends in urban chicken ownership.

 

Participants must own chickens and live on less than one acre in the greater Denver metro area, bounded roughly by 120^th Avenue on the north, 470 on the east and south, and Indiana/Youngfield/Union/Kipling on the west.  Each participant will get a $10 certificate to use in Denver Urban Homesteading’s Farmers’ Market on that Saturday.

 

Participation is anonymous and no names or addresses are collected.

 

 

CHICKEN/FARM ANIMAL ART OPENING FRIDAY, JULY 16, 4-8!  By architectural illustrator Bob Scholten who has been drawing, painting for 50 years.  Tired of the rigidity of straight lines and prescribed shapes he Bob returned to the farm images of his youth and began drawing and painting chickens, pigs and cows.   The exhibit harkens to the days when people grew their own food, raised their own animals, and took responsibility for their own welfare.   

 

 

CLASS:  Slaughtering Chickens, Lunch and Farm Tour, July 18

 

A real hands-on course taught by a farmer on her family farm in Ft. Morgan. You will learn how to humanely kill, scald, gut, pluck and store for freezing a chicken.  Class includes lunch at the farm and a farm tour.  The farm has pigs, cows, a dog, cats, chickens and a way cool root cellar filled with home canned goods.  And if you want to go down to the creek one of the kids will take you.

 

Class held on farm (car pool from Denver) on Sunday, July 18, 2010 from 9-3.  $55

More…

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Wednesday Tip - Aluminum Free Baking Powder

8. July 2010 by admin.

Simple Recipe for Baking Powder

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon corn starch (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined.
2. Use immediately, or add the optional corn starch.

Cornstarch will absorb any moisture from the air and help prevent the baking powder from reacting and losing its leavening ability before it is used. Store in an airtight container.

 

Without the optional cornstarch, this recipe yields one Tablespoon or three teaspoons of baking powder.

If the additional cornstarch is used, use 1 1/3 teaspoons of the mixture for every teaspoon of baking powder called for in the recipe.

To make larger amounts of this recipe, remember to keep a 2:1 ratio in mind. Use two times as much

cream of tartar as baking soda. If cornstarch is to be used, it should be used in an amount equal to the baking soda.

Making baking powder at home is a simple activity that produces satisfying results. By using it, the home baker can be sure that it is both fresh and aluminum-free.

Compliments of www.Suite101.com

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Friday LOCAL fun July 9-11

8. July 2010 by admin.

KidsPatch

11:00AM - 5:00PM

Thursday - Sunday

McNichols At Civic Center Park KidsPatch is an event series dedicated to new children’s creativity, presented since 2008 at numerous events in Europe and the USA. Each program consists of a series of workshops for kids (ages 5 - 12), related to the fields of contemporary music, graphic art, performance and new media. It is a 100% participatory program that utilizes an intuitive, inventive and forward-thinking approach to children’s creative education within the context of arts and culture.

Old South Pearl Street Music Festival - Blues and Brews

When:

Saturday, July 10, 2010 12:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Where: Old South Pearl Street

Cost:

$5.00

The Old South Pearl Street Festivals are sure to please your ears as well as your taste buds with 8 bands performing Bluegrass and Blues music respectively, food vendors from the neighborhood including Pearl Street Grill, Hansons and Moe’s BBQ to name a few. A

number of micro-breweries will be on hand to quench the thirst from the summer heat, breweries to include: New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Left Hand Brewery, Wynkoop Brewery, Ska Brewing, Deschutes Brewery and more.

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Saying “no” Hearing “no”

8. July 2010 by admin.

We don’t like it. We don’t like to say “no” and disappoint our children, our spouses, our colleagues associates or neighbors. We don’t like to disappoint or cause sadness. That is a good thing.

I would assert that “yes” though usually perceived as a positive (read good) thing, sometimes it isn’t. This week I was the recipient of a “no”, had to give a “no” and have a dozen “yesses” or “nos” hanging over me. Possibly the waiting is the worst part. I THINK I want a “yes” but what if I get a “NO?” Here is where many of us go awry of the best path and plunge into the depths of despair and anger.

I’m finding that both “yes” and “no” are equally positive. They are directives that guide my path to my highest good. To avoid the shock and ensuing “what am I going to do now?” panic. I’ve been generally doing better at laying out equally joyous plans B and C. This way, if plan A gets a “no”, it’s joyfully right on to plan B. If I have to tell somebody “no” I trust that their next “yes” will be an even greater opportunity.

Arms and heart wide open today to guidance from (as my son has dubbed it) “my loving spirit”

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Rooting Blueberries

2. July 2010 by admin.

How to Root Blueberry Plants From Cuttings — powered by eHow.com

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