I know its been quite a while since I posted anything here, but I’ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter and a lot of time quilting now that the garden is done for the season.  My mind has moved to other areas of simple living and sustainability and I’m just lazy about posting – sorry.

BUT!  I found a great Friday giveaway at Sweet Home Quilt Co. and I get extra points for posting about it here!  So go here http://www.sweethomequiltco.com   and check it out!

I’m thinking about starting another blog dedicated to my quilting.  Should I?

Keep it simple!

Its hard to believe its been a whole month since I posted anything here.  I guess there has been nothing too eventful to share. 

My garden is pretty much done for the season.  I harvested my sweet potatoes on Saturday and was surprised how big some of them were – and then again, how small some were.  I baked some in the microwave with real butter, some turbinado sugar and unsweetened pineapple and even my skeptical husband enjoyed them!  They are stored in a basket in the garage – dark and cool – and it will be interesting to see how they fare once freezing weather sets in.  Then again, they may not last that long . 

I’ve really been enjoying my Twitter account, although I have slowed down on posting there, too.  It was really addictive at first.  I’ve recently been following some of the rangers in Yosemite National Park – bear videos, great pictures.  And then there is S**t My Dad Says.  The language is rather vulgar but the image of this crusty old guy telling off his live-in adult son is hilarious.  The son seems to take it all in stride.  Of course, I have found lots of quilt tweeters and that’s always lots of fun.

Speaking of my passion for all things quilty, I have been doing some serious stash organization.  Our guild is holding an auction next week and this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of old books and patterns and lots of fabric scraps.  I sorted out stuff my Mom can use, sorted for the auction and sorted a keeper pile.  Now I have to label and price all my auction stuff – this is as bad as getting ready for a garage sale!  Then I can sort and store the keeper stuff by color.  Tonight I will pre-wash a lot of fat quarters in preparation for making my first Quilt of Valor.  My goal is to document it here.  I’m really excited about this venture.  Its a good way for me to indulge my need to cut big pieces of fabric into little pieces and then sew it all back together and at the same time hopefully provide a little comfort and appreciation to a wounded soldier. 

We got some bad news at work yesterday.  The state is consistently cutting our monthly budget and by the time it is all said and done our agency will have suffered a 1.8 million dollar cut just this fiscal year.  We are a small agency and this is a huge hit.  So, three jobs will be sacrificed and those of us a little further up the food chain that will survive this first round of cuts will have to take days without pay.  Actually, this is the second round of cuts.  Two jobs were cut back in August.  Oklahoma is about a year behind the rest of the nation economically which can be both good and bad.  We haven’t suffered the loss of jobs and the bad housing market of the last year that other places have but I think it is catching up with us.  We are just beginning to feel it and we were told the next 1-2 years could be bad as far as job loss in our agency.  There is a good chance I will lose my assistant and will end up doing her job as well as mine.  Of course, I am already doing the work of one of the curators who refuses to do the part of his job he dislikes, but don’t get me started on that!!! 

We also got some sad news from an old friend of my husband’s single days.  He lost his 22 year old son in some kind of accident.  It wasn’t a car crash but has only been termed an “accidental death” at this point by the police.  They are still gathering information and from his emails they are getting some “surprising information about how he died.”  He was a college student and lived in another town away from his family.  So sad – so young.   My husband and 3 others who were all friends back then are taking off tomorrow on an 8 hour drive and then back on Friday after the funeral.  Would appreciate prayers for a safe trip and healing for the family that lost their son.

Go hug your kids.

A couple of weeks ago I was bemoaning the fact that my tomatoes weren’t ripening.  Guess I should be careful what I wish for because now I have more beautiful Romas, cherry tomatoes and Best Boys than I know what to do with!  A good problem to have.  We have made two huge batches of salsa and as much as I love it, I know that if I make a third batch it will get old and will probably be wasted before we eat it.  Even making another round of the hot stuff won’t use up all the tomatoes we’re getting on a daily basis.  So today I went online in search of a frozen tomato sauce recipe.  I went to a great canning class last fall and came home with some recipes, but I don’t want to do the glass jar canning routine.  First of all, I don’t have the jars and lids and don’t want to spend the money.  And to be truthful, it really sounds like an awful lot of hard, hot work.  So, this is what I found today online that I think I’m going to try.  It’s  from Kalyn’s Kitchen on Blogspot. 

The most inspiring thing about my recipe is the flash of brilliance I had when I realized that you don’t have to peel the tomatoes. You can put them in a food processor and puree everything, and then when you cook them the peeling disintegrates into the sauce for brighter tomato color and more flavor. This method will produce a rather rustic tomato sauce which still has the seeds. You can always use a food mill to remove seeds when you defrost the sauce if you’re making something where you want a more pure type of sauce.

It’s important to use tomatoes that are well-ripened and it’s best to pick them the day you make the sauce if that’s an option. I’d estimate that it takes about 6-8 large tomatoes to make a cup of sauce, but make as much as you can because this tastes wonderful in the winter when you’re dying for the flavor of fresh tomatoes.

Put tomatoes in the sink and rinse well with cold water. Cut out stem area and discard. Cut each tomato into pieces about 1 inch square. (Don’t make the pieces too large or the tomatoes won’t puree easily.)

Using the food processor with the steel blade, puree diced tomatoes in batches and add to large heavy stock pot. The puree should be nearly all liquidized when you add it to the pot.

Turn the heat as low as you can get it and cook the mixture until it is reduced by at least one half and as thick as you want it. I usually cook my sauce at least 6-8 hours to condense it down to the thickness I want. Your house will smell delightfully tomatoey while you cook this. I like to use a rubber scraper to scrape off the carmelized tomato that sticks to the side of the pot as the level decreases and do that about once every half hour.

When sauce is condensed and thick, put into individual plastic containers and let cool on the counter for an hour or so. When sauce is cooled, snap on plastic lids and freeze. This will last for at least a year in the freezer.

When you’re using the sauce, if you want a more pure tomato sauce that doesn’t have any seeds you can put it through the food mill after it’s thawed. Freezing the sauce this way with no added seasonings at all creates endless possibilities for using it. Add garlic, oregano, basil, or any other seasonings you want when you use the sauce to create soups, stews, pasta sauces, or other dishes this winter.

I think I’m going to add onions and some garlic while cooking the tomatoes to eliminate that step later on.  This should make a great soup base and should be good in chili, too.  Ooh, maybe I should add those green chilis I have in the freezer that I grew last year.  Sounds like maybe I need to make two batches of the sauce.  One plain and one hot. 

My okra is coming along.  The first planting is yielding enough for a meal about every 3 pickings.  My second and third plantings are getting tall but aren’t producing yet.  They may not have enough time to actually produce if the weather gets cool early this year. 

I finally found the baby spinach seeds I was looking for (Noble Giant) and I need to get out and get them planted when all this rain stops.  Hopefully I learned a lesson from over-planting lettuce and Swiss chard.  A little goes a long way in a family trying to switch from canned to fresh veggies.  

Oh, I almost forgot.  I was going to share my Off the Top of My Head Salsa recipe.  I just throw whatever I have in the way of peppers, hot and mild, in the food processor; red and green bell peppers, banana peppers, pickled jalapenos are good, canned chiles; then throw in some fresh cilantro – not too much or it tastes a little grassy; green onions; garlic.  Process all that until it is just slightly chunky but not enough to liquify it.  Set that mixture aside.  Wash and chop your tomatoes into chunks and process those.  I don’t peel or deseed.  Then in a large bowl mix your pepper mix and tomatoes and if it is too hot add a few more processed tomatoes.  Add just a teaspoon or two of lemon juice.  I don’t add any oils or salt.  Why add fat?  And the chips we eat it with usually have enough salt.   The recipe changes  from time to time just depending on what I have in the way of peppers.  I was given two habeneros but haven’t had the guts to use them yet.  I barely touched my tongue to one and got a very hot surprise.   This salsa is better the next day – if there is any left by the next day.

So, give these recipes a try and let me know what you think. 

Keep it simple.

Here is a great article by my friend and manager of our food co-op pickup site, Chelsey Simpson.  She is the managing editor of Oklahoma Living magazine and does a great job of including local food items in every issue with recipes by local chef and founder of OKC Slow Foods, Kamala Gamble.  So read and enjoy!

http://freshgreens.typepad.com/fresh_greens/2009/07/show-and-tell.html

Have a great day everyone and remember to keep it simple.

I just found out my cholesterol is high.  I’m about (bleep) pounds overweight and I haven’t been exercising.  Guess its time to finally break down and start taking care of myself.  No more late night trips to Braums.  No more okra deep fried in oil.  No more fried chicken.  Its not like we eat a lot of fried chicken.  But this time of year we do LOVE our fried okra.  I occasionally indulge in breakfast from McDonalds – no more.  Too high in calories and fat.  Fast food in general is out.  I went to Fast Food Facts http://www.foodfacts.info/ and was appalled at how many calories are in a sausage McMuffin with egg.  And the fat content – wow.  Even my “healthy” Arby’s Market Fresh Chicken Salad sandwich is packed with bad stuff.  Sigh….

So, on with the new plan.  Exercise of some kind EVERY DAY.  And counting calories until I get a handle on what is low cal and what is not.  I know myself well enough to know that I can count food things and stay on a strict regimen only so long.  At some point, the looking things up in books and keeping charts gets old and I start sliding.  I hope increasing my exercise level from 2 days a week – sometimes – to 5 to 6 days a week will make a big difference.  My doc says 40 minutes 7 days a week to lose weight.  Totally unrealistic right now.  I will have to work my way up to the 40 minutes and 7 days a week is only do-able sometimes.  

So, I have 3 months to lower my cholesterol or the doc is going to suggest meds.  I don’t want to start taking meds for the sort of thing that can be controlled other ways.  I’m not willing to give up my liver at this point.   My future quality of life depends on taking care of myself now.  I don’t want to end up like my father who is pretty much chair bound because of his diabetes. 

Life just sucks sometimes.  But let’s look at it this way.  When I got the call yesterday, it could have been so much worse than just high cholesterol.  We just lost a co-worker to cancer.  I think I’ll count my blessings this time around and try to get my head on straight about all this.  I will pout for a while (like I said, I know myself pretty well) but what are my choices?  Eat like there is no tomorrow today and there will be no tomorrow a few years from now or nip this thing in the bud while I have the chance. 

Sigh……….

The local Sierra Club chapter is hosting a week of Sustainability on Film at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in September.  Check the website for details.  www.okcmoa.com/film  Its a great  lineup of films addressing issues such as commercial agriculture and its antithesis, the local foods movement, green building and the origins of Earth Day, among others.   It should be a very informative week. 

I think the information offered in the films will be important for people to know and I hope more then just “the choir” attends the showings.   So often the same folks show up to the same events and the general public still has no clue about the damage that has been done to our food system.  

While I am not a Sierra Club member – a little too liberal for my taste – I am an avid support of local foods and environmental stewardship.   Hopefully I can get my husband to go with me so he see why this is so important to me. 

Have a great day everyone.

Keep it simple.

It never ceases to amaze me.  How do they manage to pull this off month after month?

The Oklahoma Food Cooperative is truly a thing of beauty.  Its an all volunteer organization (well, they may have one part-time paid employee now, I’m not really sure to be honest with you).  It was the brain child of Robert Waldrop, a permaculture/local foods guru.  Don’t you just hate that word?  Let’s say “local foods expert.”   The co-op is an on-line ordering system where members have the opportunity to select from fresh food, health and beauty items, live plants, jewelry, music CDs, and on and on – grown and made by Oklahoma farmers and producers.  The order cycle opens the 1st of every month and closes the 2nd Thursday.  Producers then have one week to put the orders together and on the 3rd Thursday, every producer in the state – and this is a STATE WIDE organization – brings their packaged and labeled orders to a central distribution center in Oklahoma City.  A mass of volunteers take in the orders, segregate them by pickup sites and by 3 p.m., the products are out the door.  They arrive at individual pickup sites around the state where they are sorted by yet more volunteers.  Members arrive around 5 p.m. and pick up and pay for their orders.  By 7:00 p.m., the locally grown food, locally produced soaps, handmade brooms (of which I have been the lucky recipient), bedding plants, reusable tote bags, and on and on – have all gone to happy homes.  All this is accomplished in one very hectic but extremely organized day. 

The commitment of the volunteers is astounding.  They believe so completely in the value of a local economy, sustainable agriculture and the concept of bringing farmers, producers and consumers together that they make the necessary personal sacrifices of time and money month after month.  So I would like to say a big THANK YOU to Bob Waldrop and his team of committed visionaries.   Here are a few links for more info.

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/

http://www.bobwaldrop.net/ 

http://twitter.com/bobwaldrop

http://twitter.com/oklafoodcoop

Keep it simple.

http://www.squidoo.com/nomogmo#module27649182

gotta rush out the door but found this series of articles that looks like good information on GMOs.

This is a sobering article.  All the more reason to re-skill so we know how to germinate our own seeds, or know the person who did.   I especially like his recommendation to buy starter plants that are locally grown.  I tried starting my own tomatoes from seeds and, as you know, had bad results.  But the plants I bought from a local greenhouse have done very well.   It will take some time, but Americans can relearn the skills of home gardening.  I have certainly learned what I will and won’t grow next year.  Just because I grew lots (and lots and lots and lots) of lettuce didn’t mean we would automatically ate more lettuce.  So, next year…..not so much lettuce, definitely no Swiss chard, lots more okra planted sooner, less squash, plant the tomatoes directly in the ground – not pots – and lots more peas.  My few plants didn’t even produce enough for a meal.    So, read this article and let me know what you think.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html?emc=eta1

Keep it simple

We’re on vacation in Colorado.  We started our trip in Cuchara – about a 10 hour drive from home.  A VERY long day in the car.  We are borrowing a condo from some friends.  It is located on what used to be a ski resort.  When the resort shut down years ago they sold off the condos.  This one is right on the slopes and you look out the deck and see the ski runs and ski lifts that are all still in place.  The night sky is unbelievable.  My husband, the amateur astonomer, is having the time of his life.  He got up about 5 a.m. yesterday to watch Orion rise and a bat dive bombed his head!  My son was standing on the same deck the day before and a hummingbird flew right into his face. 

From Cuchara we drove to Ouray to visit friends who own the Christmas House B&B.  If you are looking for a great couple’s getaway, this is the place.  Ouray is situated in a steep valley surrounded by tall mountains covered in pine.  I tell them they live in a postcard.  They serve gourmet breakfast, too.  Today the guys are taking the jeep road to Lake City and the wives are driving the highway to meet them later.  The jeep would only fit four and the road is pretty scary in places, so we are taking the easy route. 

I’ve been meaning to blog daily on the trip and post pics of the beautiful scenery we are enjoying, but we didn’t pack the cable to download from the camera (duh!)   We all brought our individual laptops, though!  Good grief, we’re a bunch of yahoos.  So, this is the first chance I’ve had to post anything.  I’ll try to post a little on Twitter, too.  I’m hooked on it!  I am Locavore55. 

Have a great week everyone.  I’ll post some pics when I get home.

Keep it simple.