Pumpkin Ice Cream - It is never too cold for delicious

Traditional method used and then frozen in a freezer that is on a lower setting, making it scoopable! YUM

Traditional method used and then served immediately.  Like soft-serve.  Yum!

I'm not a gadget person.  I have a small electric hand mixer that comes out maybe 4 times a year even though I cook about 800 times a year.  I fail at knowing anything new and usually sit with a puzzled look when folks talk about such toys.  I'm the one who always thinks "WHY DOES ANYONE NEED THAT!?" (yes, sometimes in appalled anger) A mixer, sppfff, a spoon - I have 4 and they are easy to clean.  Well, I fell for the marketing trap of the Play and Freeze.  I wanted it and longed for it.  I called every store in the 15 mile area around me.  I pined for it but couldn't spend 30 or more dollars to order it.  Not finding it anywhere I gave up and shrugged off my "need" for it.  Jason kept insisting we could make ice cream with "just a can and a bowl"  but the initiative was never taken to make it.  UNTIL NOW!!! Yeah!

What you need for 1 quart (breaking it up into two batches cuts the time on it and it will keep in the fridge for a week easily):

• 1 pint /You will only NEED 1/2 of this but can easily use all to stretch your ice cream/ half and half (a local dairy and raw is best... but I know the system makes it tough) **{{also! you can make pumpkin pie sherbet or vegan ice cream skipping the cream}}
• 1 small can of pumpkin 15oz.  or a single 2 lb pumpkin cleaned, cooked, scooped and pureed(You can replace with sweet potatoes, a lot of folks that dislike pumpkin pie dislike ginger - I find it indespensible but? Personal taste, also sweet potatoes are more readily available.)
• 1/3-1/2 (My sugar amount- Jason and most peoples sugar amount) Cup vegan sugar or light brown sugar or maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• tiny bit of grated fresh ginger (use a fine grater and give it a swipe or two fresh is powerful, dry is often mixed with other nasties)
• 1/8 tsp or tiny pinch ground cloves (very strong so go lightly) 

• 1/4 -1/2 Cup of rock salt (it may say ice cream salt)  I got some for .99 cents and since it is only for speeding up the melting of ice because melting ice has more freezing capability and you don't consume the salt so you need not be as picky as if you're feeding it to others.

• A large CLEAN coffee can or quart mason jar.
•  A large bowl or pot which the ice cream can/jar fits well inside of with plenty of outside room for ice.

 The more fat there is in the milk, the quicker it will fluff and freeze, but I don't use anything fattier than half and half because it works really well in the play and freeze for traditional method (shown in photos) fattier cream could cut back active time.  **If you mix everything except the cream into the pumpkin (spices)  then put into the freezer for a few minutes taking it out only to stir and set up the rest of your situation, then it being cold will jump start the whole thing.  If you're making the vegan version I would recommend cutting back on any strong spices just a touch as this is a potent mix meant for flavoring the cream as well.  When storing it you may want to turn your freezer down a touch so it isn't so cold.  High settings on freezers just make ice cream into concrete. For vegan version you can stick it into the fridge and just come back to it later... taking it out of the freezer placing it on the counter for a few minutes to loosen the edges from your container.  Voila!  If you want a fluffy version continue below ignoring the cream.

Traditional method:
In a mixing bowl whip together your sugar, spices, cream and pumpkin then pour/scoop into the can or jar.  (or place in freezer to chill first) The bowl must be large enough to house the ice and the coffee can/jar.  Can/jar goes into the center of the bowl.  Surround the can with ice. Sprinkle 1/4 Cup rock salt over ice. Reserving some salt for next ice batch should your ice diminish before you have the consistency of ice cream you want. Now with the can/jar in the middle of the ice just agitate it like a washing machine.  Swishing back and forth or turning it in your desire direction mix it up.  Doesn't matter as long as it is moving and touching the ice. Ice level should be above the level of ingredients in the jar.

If you have the play and freeze just follow directions they include.  ( It is a pain in the poot to get ice cream OUT of it if you don't stop to stir it - you must stop a few times and stir it to remove the coldest from the walls) It will take about 20 minutes of active rolling to complete ice cream using half and half in the play and freeze.  It makes a fairly firm ice cream.

Still runny, but with plenty of solid pieces to mix in.

Starting to get larger amounts of solid frozen bits.

For the bowl method, you will also need to occasionally stir it with a spoon.  The walls will get the coldest first... so it can create an ice wall making it tough to mix in.  So stir pulling ice cream from the walls to the center and check for the consistency you want.  Once you have that... you have ice cream!
Depending on the fat in the cream and the salt in the ice this can take between 30 minutes and 55 minutes of constant motion! It makes a soft ice cream.

For saving the excess I recommend dialing down the freezer so it isn't crazy cold and turns your hardwork into concrete. To serve remove from fridge and let it sit out for a few minutes to release itself from the container.

My review of the play and freeze is that making the children do the heavy lifting portion of the ice cream making is genius.  The downside is having to stir it so often.  The quality of firmness is pretty rad as well.  Enjoy your ice cream adventures!

Sima (Finnish Lemon Mead)

This recipe is less sweet than many you can sweeten right before bottling by making a simple syrup from honey, agave, or sugar (fine sugars can be added directly to the bottle) and adding that to each bottle.

What you need:

• 4 Cups boiling water (dissolve honey in water)
• 2 and 1/2  Cups honey
• 4 lemons zest pith thrown out and then sliced thinly
• 1/2 tsp yeast in 1/2 Cup of lukewarm water to foam I just used Bob's Red Mill active dry yeast, not brewer's yeast or wine yeast - folks get really specific about what they use and why.  They are all yeast.  So it is up to your preference.
• 16 Cups water

• Food grade non-reactive (anything acidic requires a non-reactive container or it will taste metallic or worse) bucket - 5-7 (I did 6) days

Yield is about 8-10 20oz bottles

Boil 4 Cups water and add 2 and 1/2 Cups honey to it to dissolve.  Zest lemons keep zest.  Cut away the white pith, it is a bad kind of bitter - throw out the pith.  Slice thinly the lemon and expel any seeds as found. Then add to hot or warm water/honey mixture both the slices and the zest.  Stir and let sit.  Prep lukewarm 1/2 Cup of water and add 1/2 tsp yeast to it and let foam.  Once the honey/lemon mixture is warm-tepid (so it wont kill yeast) add it to the bucket and then pour in yeast water. Add 16 Cups lukewarm water to bucket and put either loose fitting lid on the mix or a tight fitting lid ONLY IF you are using an airlock.  An airlock will help pressure escape while keeping the environment save for the yeast to continue growth.  The yeast will turn the sugars into alcohol.  Woo!

Let your Sima be alone for the amount of time you choose.  Recipes vary from 2 days fermentation to months.  We did 6 days.  We may split up our bottles and let some stand longer than others and see what the taste and alcohol difference is.  It also can become champagne like in fizzy-ness.


Sieve, bottle, leaving an inch of room at least.  Put 3-5 raisins in each bottle let stand with loose lids overnight 12-24 hours then move to refrigerator as raisins rise in each bottle if using glass bottles leave lids loose in refrigerator for a few hours so that you can be certain yeast production has suspended (This is to keep the Sima from making bottle bombs from pressure build up).  You must wait until the fermentation process has stopped before closing the bottles securely.  1. the raisins are floating 2. the bottles are cold to the touch. Cold will suspend the yeast activity.   After one final 24 hours in the fridge these delicious bad boys are ready for your festivities!

***update***

We had one about a day after putting it up in the fridge.  Good, but a little zippy in the tang department.  The flavors definitely hadn't fully developed.  4 days later... more fizz, more mellow and middle sweet.  I love the soft sweet of this!   It is now the 28th  (original post on the 10th) and the Sima is amazing.  Fizzy, lightly sweet, lemon tangy and I highly recommend this one!!!  If you want it for the holidays I recommend allowing for this fridge time!!!

Quilting - Or as I like to call it - Quiet time away from everyone

 

I just got this one this past week, very reasonably from The Cherry Chic where others I have were gifts or just great finds.

A favorite is a whole cloth styled boys blanket covered in airplanes. (If you look really closely you can see how angry Jason is, while simultaneously sleeping)

Gee's Bend - Made from Old Work Clothes

There are a lot of these past skills that in this economic climate can not only be handy, but could yield warmth, profit, or just livability for your family.  Some of the best quilts were made without quilting frames (structures which keep the designs taught while hand stitching) and made out of retired clothing for a second life (FREE FABRIC, since you've already purchased it).

Gee's Bend

I have had quilts around my family and everyone agrees they are sometimes gorgeous, and always a lot of work - but it seems no one was making them anymore.   Why was that?  If so many people knew of folks who make quilts but then they pass away and then what?  In twenty years time would we be a nation known for our quilts, and Jazz and become one of all things past and longing.  When the younger generation is older what will they make when they don't have to?  Text messages?  The new grannies will have hands withered and curled from swiffering and texting. Not to send you away too quickly, but this is a nice, very short listen. 

The best quilts there are seem to have been born from those groups of hidden people, and those people are as diverse as the quilts themselves.  Long coveted are Amish wares.  With good reason they are a closed culture (respectfully of course - meaning you are born into it, but it is difficult to get inside of as an outsider) and closed cultures are the only ones that can keep traditions strong.  They maintain the values and knowledge of elders and generations past.

Amish made

Amish made

Have you ever winnowed wheat?  Me either.  Woven a basket?  I've done that... but I'm not skilled or diverse in my over under construction.  These are things people knew and shared.  Days filled with just living and loving.  Quilts carrying a lot of that living and loving and sharing with them which is so much of the attraction to them.  It seems most American families have or had someone in them that loved to quilt.  It may have been written off as a hobby not thinking too much about why they did it, when they started or who had taught them.  It was born out of necessity and now is seen as a frivolous activity.  When you can purchase any color and any pattern of any kind of fabric specifically cut for ONLY quilting then it seems it has be reduced by our being spoiled.  But the quilts were an Amish woman's only means of artistic expression, and a major source of income for Southern Black families during the civil rights movement when Black Americans were losing their jobs based on tumult and prejudice.  Born out of old work clothes, dress scraps and patience some very beautiful forms of subtle resistance, shelter, utility, income, safety, and communication.

I think it goes without saying that we are a spoiled nation and since the last major economic shift have been more in the Have category than the Have Not.  So to remain a Have and to stay far from the Have Not, some basic skills may be necessary.  Cooking, you are here - so you're obviously all over that.  Let's see what else you may need?  I made a list of what I feared most and would wish to prevent and what to protect.  I then thought how best I could be prepared for those things.  Not in any rash the sky is falling way, but more like a Boy Scout.  One of those was that I feared not being able to obtain basic things my family may need.  Food, clothing, linens.  So I have chickens, ducks on their way, been canning like mad, I made certain Jason has nearly 20 pairs of jeans,  I'm making myself a quilt a little to get comfortable with a needle (handquilting - just in case of no power).   I found that preparing for these maybe less than likely fears yielded really positive results.  Not just a bounty of tomatoes in my cabinet, but a real sense of accomplishment.  I could know that should the supply chain breakdown either through people freaking out, the broken system breaking further, or whatever shenanigans, I'd have something warm to wear and for every can of tomatoes a week's worth of food and if no power (fridge) a couple day's worth.  People did this.  They prepared for more life, they lived more life and were happier. Studies have proven we get more miserable with more things and more money and better jobs, and that experiences make us happiest.  A dinner in with friends or a trip makes us happier than buying a pair of heels or a car. 

So then the only answer is to do something for you that you can't believe you accomplished.  Of course you got that job, you worked at it, you went to school for it, you had to pay the rent.  So what do you NOT HAVE to do, that you really have to do?  For you it may not be quilting.


This is one I am working on.  It is just the beginning, but the making it is fun... so we'll see.

This is just the beginning of my pine burr quilt, and not sure when that will be done, but it will be fun to just keep plugging away at it.  The real deal pine burr quilts are nearly three dimensional being made of 1,000 -7,000 little triangles.  They often are made of small squares of the burred circles and then joined together after several squares are made then backed with cloth little to no need for batting (the inner layer) as the mass of fabric makes these quilts very heavy.  Some are made of one solid concentric circle of burrs that goes right to the edges of the quilt.  Making it nearly like a carpet in heft.  It is Alabama's state quilt.  (Do other states have state quilts?)

Here are a few great things to check out if this interests you:

Amish quilts The Revere Collection

Amish and a few Mennonite Quilts

Quilts of Gees Bend
the official site - they have since signed some sort of deal with Pottery Barn to have replicas made, although I feel really bittersweet about this since I enjoy the quilters of Gees Bend doing well - but I don't enjoy the thought of the Chinese slaves that now have to make the quilts. I say buy the real deal, make your own or scout out an old timey quilt! 

Gee's Bend samples images

The Quilts Of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces From a Lost Place book 


Gee's Bend: The architecture of The Quilt book

The Code Quilt by Nora Renick Rinehart and Nellie Kurz  What the specific meanings of quilt patterns were during the underground railroad and the hankie code used by the queer community.  Very interesting read.

International Quilt Study Center   A different quilt each month list is fun to go through.

Beautiful photos A lovely time capsule.  The whole site has great photos, this one just happens to be Quilts.

Storytime  So beautiful to listen to, something soothing about hearing other's stories.

Organic Cherry Bomb Pepper seed giveaway!

First 10 people to write me, call me, facebook me with their addresses gets some seeds from my Cherry Bomb pepper plants. Sweet and hot - the perfect pizza pepper!  For your harvest next year!  Each 1-3 seed(s) will yield a little pepper plant for starting in your hot house, your balcony, your garden next year.  Each packet has approximately 20-30 seeds maybe more. These will keep at least through the next season if kept nice and dry.

 

 

After the lucky 10, the rest of the seeds I've baggied will go to seed libraries here in Portland, OR. Hoping all share their bounty.

Ginger Ale and Candied Ginger

I post a lot of things that use a lot of sugar.  I effing love sugar.  Because it is delicious, but also because people love it.  For as much as people want to be healthy, they really just want to bathe in sugar.  Which is probably the best way to use sugar since it's got some mean scrubbing power.

So here is a good use for that sugar which isn't bathing so much in it as it is getting a dose of it.

I way over purchased the ginger since I'd never made ginger anything really.  I'd had it grated over things but that was about it.

So I used a spoon turn bowl side down to peel the ginger.  A spoon will get into most nooks and crannies of ginger root.  If there is a little skin left on, no one will care much.


What you'll need:

• 1 Cup ginger (sliced, which will be one fat root)
• 1 Cup VEGAN sugar (vegan sugar, if you're a steady potlicker you know that it isn't bleached with bone char - which contains very high amounts of THE SPICE - so use this in the sickeningly sweet things and you're safe from phantom migraines, etc. )
• Just enough water to boil the ginger and have it moving around the pot freely (4 Cups approx. Could be more.)
• Reserved 2 Cups vegan sugar for adding to the ginger pieces to coat after they've been boiled and then remaining sugar to the water once the pieces have been removed.

Spoon scrape ginger clean and then slice it thinly.  Save peel for adding to water once ginger slices are removed. Bring water to boil and add ginger - add 1/2 Cup sugar to water and boil until a piece of ginger can be gnawed without too much effort but with plenty of firmness to be candy later. Take out large ginger pieces straining them over the pot and moving to a colander so they can be sugared liberally and then shaken of loose sugar.  Add to the water your skins and boil. The water will start to turn darker.  Strain skins and add other 1/2 Cup sugar to the syrup/water.  Check ginger in colander, it may need a new shake and a new coating of sugar.  Place onto a clean flat surface after shaking colander.  Spread Ginger pieces out and sprinkle with sugar again if needed. Allow to dry.  Ginger should firm up and can be placed into containers later for gifting*.  Back to your syrup add all remaining sugar from the sprinkle sessions and check syrup for sweetness and viscosity by allowing to cool once all sugar is dissolved and dipping a spoon in the still warm mixture.  It should coat the spoon but give up freely like warm honey and run into the pot from the spoon like a thin mouse's tail.

Your yield should be very amber and potent.  For soda -Ginger Ale- I like to make a slurry with a tiny amount of carbonated water and the ginger syrup and then pour the rest of the carbonated water into the slurry mix, this way you wont lose a lot of carbonation mixing the two together.

*I usually gift them before they've hardened but beware that moisture will collect in the container from the ginger.  You have leave them to air dry indefinitely and once dry package them.  I like mine both soft and new and crisp and "aged."

 The cut and peeled ginger, with a cup of sugar.  The peeled parts will be stewed in water until it becomes syrupy.  The sliced pieces in front will be boiled,  strained and then coated in sugar.

The peeled ginger slices boiling. You can see how light the water is now and watch as sugar is added and the water starts to carry a golden color from both the ginger and the sugar.

Separating the boiled ginger from the water.  This water will be the base that we add the peeled parts to in order to make a syrup.

The syrup is poured through a strainer so there are no bits left.  This is what you mix with sparkling water to make the ginger ale.  Once the syrup can have a spoon dipped into it and run off like warm honey it is strong enough.  The amount of syrup that you use in each drink is the kicker.  You can keep the syrup in your refrigerator for a very long time due to the high amount of sugar it contains.

The real deal! It will be a bizarre gray/yellow/green when mixed.  Like fog.  Best of all ?  No "NATURAL FLAVORS."

Carrot cake

I think the best carrot cakes are made with a nice blend of spices not just cinnamon.  Cinnamon is surely a king spice but I believe a good carrot cake is a lot like a tea bread or spice cake (the base of most Christmas or European styled fruit cakes).  I'm not a big raisin fan and thankfully neither is Jason's grandmother who requested the cake for her 90th birthday - sans raisins.

Preheat oven to 350

Cake recipe:

• 4 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/4 cups olive oil (do 1 and if you need more then do it up!)
• 1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar or unrefined
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg 
• tiny pinch of ground clove
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots (I use a lot of carrot in my carrot cake this will average about 2-4 carrots depending on size)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (as raw and unpasteurized as you can find)

Combine eggs, vanilla, oil and sugar beat lightly.  Combine all dry ingredients and finger toss.  Combine wet to dry and fold together until well blended but no need to whip too hard (cakes can fall when you whip in a lot of air).  If you spoon your batter into muffin cups then you can bake for 20-22 minutes.  If you want a big cake then it will take 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  I use a springform pan buttered and lightly floured with whole wheat. Bang out any excess wheat and it should slide right out.  Wait until thoroughly cooled before icing or it will melt right into the cake.  This cake is a really good one to wait until the next day to eat because it will be a little more moist and the spices will be a little stronger. But who can wait?

The cream cheese icing is a recipe of yogurt cheese:

• 1 container of whole milk yogurt (hung in a clean kitchen towel to drain for 4-8 hours)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 Cup or less room temp softened salted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegan sugar or unrefined
• 1 and 1/2 tsp of arrowroot powder (this just thickens your icing the more you use the thicker it will be)

Once yogurt cheese has become dry and lovely from hanging.  Put into bowl along with vanilla and butter (if the butter is softened you can blend this immediately if not wait for butter to soften). On a low heat or in a double boiler (I use a saucepan and just remove from the heat as needed anytime there is fear of sticking) put sugar then crack egg over it and stir briskly to keep egg from sticking or cooking through.  You want the egg to foam and stay liquid.  Let sugar egg mixture cool.  Add to the butter, cheese, vanilla  and mix together using as much arrowroot powder as you'd like to get the consistency you like.  I like my icing to be soft peaks. Like whipped cream.  Once you refrigerate the icing it will act much like purchased icing.  You can even pipe it from a bag.  I prefer to just slap it on with a paddle.

Delicious.

Plum vinaigrette (salad dressing)

plums poised and ready to make salad awesome

Super simple summer fare.  A handful of little red plums get jazzed up into this beautiful drizzler.

I used a dressing jar for easy measurements.  These you can find at Goodwill or Salvation Army for maybe 50 cents.  They were big in the 80's when those dressing packets were all the rage with moms who also seemed to be addicted to Crystal light.  Those dressings always had some lying name that sounded sweet and wholesome but was really just loaded with MSG.  Good Seasons or Good Seasonings... or Super Longlife-if-you-Buy-Our-Crap powder.  I dunno.  But the JAR is helpful.  On it there is a mark for Vinegar, Water (I never use that measurement for water but instead the herbs, spices, wine or fruit preserves measurement), and Oil.  You then can blend up to your heart's content without much going awry. 

If you don't have one.  That's okay.  A container that you can reliable close tight so that you can shake it vigorously is in order.  Like a mason jar or a little jam jar.

The measurements if you don't have the specialized jar are:

1 heaping tsp raw sugar or vegan sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt or 1-2 pinches
5 one inch plums or 3 two inch or so on... (this mix is for the sweet-tart blushy colored plums so you may not need sugar at all if they're very sweet)
1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar (not Bragg's brand, others that contain the mother may be fine)
1/2 Cup Olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt or 1-2 pinches
1/4 Cup of sweet sherry or a favorite red wine
1-2 TBSP plum preserves (this will make the vinaigrette a tad more instantly infused so you wont have to wait 1-3 weeks for the infusion)

Chop up plums and add those last to the mix and shake vigorously. Done, you're amazing.
This is delicious on cole slaw instead of whatever wet white stuff some folks like, and greens.  It doesn't end there, but I'm tired can you take over?

Coming to a mouth near you...

Potlicker editorial: Differences disappear the closer you are to the land

My dad was from a truly different generation.  Born in 1914 in a small mining town in Arizona, he endured the great depression, the second world war and many other hardships.  He had a very strong pragmatism that developed from his upbringing, and so did most of his friends from the same era.  Through his later years, my dad returned to the cowboy life he loved so much throughout his youth, and I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with him on his ranch during the hot Arizona summers (my parents separated when I was very young).

When I was younger, I never really thought about my dad's political bent.  By today's standards, he was probably a staunch conservative, as he was fiscally restrained, believed in hard work over hand outs and owned more guns than you could count.  But, somehow, he didn't seem closed minded or judgmental about the way other people lived.  When he spoke with people, it was usually about his horses or cows, the weather, the past, or some thing that might have happened that day while he was out on the land.  He had some amazing stories, and I would listen to them with complete attention.  That was another thing about my dad -- when he spoke, you listened because it mattered.

As an adult, I have been steadily trying to build my life so that I may live much closer to the land, as my dad did, and even more as my ancestors did.  I have been learning and doing as much as I can to be self reliant, understand natural systems and the ways people made due when food or water was scarce.  This has in turn lead me to read all sorts of blogs, forums and magazines with information about primitive living, homesteading, native crafts and traditions, food preservation and so on.  A curious side effect of this effort was discovering that people of all walks of life are interested in going back to the land, and that the closer you get to actually doing it, the less things like conservative and liberal seem to matter.   Living a subsistence life means preoccupying yourself with things of substance like meals, conservation of money and natural resources, family, and learning.  The more primitive the life, the less room there is to think or even know about fads, celebrities and even politics.  The land becomes a unifying force for people and when you depend on it for your survival, it's hard to tell a hippie from a CEO.  In nature, all people are equal and nature always holds the winning hand.  Civilization gives us the impression that we are above this truth, that we can conquer nature through our science and innovation, but this fallacy is contradicted every time a natural "disaster" happens.  Nothing we have created can withstand these forces.  In antiquity, people knew this and respected its awesome power.

Now, we're at a critical juncture in human history where increasing resource scarcity coupled with high population density is straining the very complex systems we have put in place to hold ourselves above the ever-rising effluence we have created.   Once those systems break down in earnest, we will be thrust violently into the world we're trying to escape.  When the store shelves are empty and there's no gasoline, what are people going to eat?  At that desperate moment, a Monet painting becomes less valuable than a crust of bread, and celebrity is nothing but a reminder of the hubris we once had.  Politics evaporate as well, and what is left are human ethics forged in the moment.  Do you share your food with the starving person next to you, or not?  Do you teach those around you what wild edibles are available, or do you keep it to yourself so it is not consumed by everyone else?  In moments of crisis, ethics and ideals are not generalized in any way.  They are hyper-specific and based on circumstance.  The differences that divide our country now would disappear in a heartbeat if the systems we depend on stopped working, and those who would seek to control our behavior know this.  They depend on it.

Imagine what life would be like if people were simply living and focused on things of substance instead of what Brad and Angelina were wearing.  I believe our future may well hinge on this proposition.  If we don't take a step back and work intently to rejoin the land and work with it instead of against it, we are going to incur a level of human suffering that has never been seen before.  A homestead or natural living space is a gift to future generations.  A nuclear power plant or dammed river is a curse to them.  Will our legacy to our children's children be Swiffers or the knowledge necessary to make a broom from what wild things grow around them?  Will they be expert video gamers or have the self reliance to find food anywhere they go?  Which is the greater gift?

On the land, we are all united.  On the land, we are all one people trying to not only survive but thrive.  And, contrary to what civilization tells us, thriving is not owning a sports car or a swimming pool; it's knowing that no matter what -- you can provide for yourself and your loved ones, and that future generations will thank you instead of shaking their heads in disbelief at your shortsightedness.
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The author of this Potlicker editorial is Jason DuMars, musician, writer, artist and activist.  He has been an active supporter and promoter of local, seasonal eating, community development and sustainable living.  In 2007 he was a leader in the groundbreaking "World Without Oil" alternate reality game and his contributions have been included in school curriculum associated with the project.   Jason is usually behind the camera for Potlicker posts.

Peach gaspacho

Before mixing together blended ingredients

I like to force on summer usually but this one has snuck up on me.  May wasn't cutting it, June just didn't feel right and then all of a sudden I was sweaty and irritated but berries started to appear. AAAAH There you are summer.  I was mad at you but I can forgive you for all the fruit you bring.  Until I'm sick of that too and then we will be on the outs again.

Gaspacho doesn't take much effort at all.  Best of all it doesn't take much cooking at all.  Recipes without the stove are a favorite.  This one requires light stove top activity.  When you use mango, peaches or any delicate fruit it is best to let it sit overnight and have the fruitiness infuse the entire soup.

This recipe yields approximately 5 cups.  It fed 4 people with veggie and fruit sides well.  It will feed 2 people like kings.

• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 3 ripe peaches (the sweeter, peachier the better)
• 1 jalapeno
• 1/2 Medium onion
• handful of cilantro
• salt to taste
• sometimes I'll add some pepper seeds to up the heat
• fresh zucchini slices on the side
• avocado slices on the side

You can add garlic if you wish at any point (simmer it with the tomatoes if you want it a little more mellow) I did not this last time, and it was delicious without it too.

 Cut tomato in their middles the top and bottom facing out and the side on the cutting board and the knife slicing the other side which should be facing up.  By slicing it in half this way you can expel the seeds with one light squeeze.  I'm not too nutty about the seeds remaining, survivors will be eaten at no real cost.  But it is best to not have a very seedy gaspacho.  Roughly chop tomato pieces and put into a pot with a little olive oil enough to prevent sticking and cook just until the tomato has softened and turned bright red-orange.

Finely chop onion and jalapeno, rough cut cilantro and peaches.  These all go into the food processor until small bits remain (which is fine).   I pour everything into a container with a sprinkle of salt and put it in the fridge.

When you are getting ready to eat it just take it out of the fridge for an hour or two and serve it up with avocado slices and big fat salad. This soup travels really well for potlucks. Crostini is awesome with it. Toasted tortilla wedges too.

Cheese Sticks

These are mostly bread and seeds if done right on.  They use egg for a binder for the seeds but you can do olive oil instead although I believe the egg is nicer and it isn't dominant.  It is just one egg, OR you can use just whites (2-3) and save the yolks for something else, for all of them.

These fall under the "A little bad for you" category only because cheese when it becomes crispy is pretty broken protein.  Melted it is okay with just the casomorphins being the only exciters in it as long as it is WHOLE milk cheese and not radically aged. Aged cheeses (harder cheeses like asiago, pecorino, parmesan) have a lot more casomorphins - the stuff that makes you overeat cheese.  It is very hard to find really good cheese (cheese that doesn't rely on it high content of casomorphins or rely on artificial/"natural" flavorings- not already present in the cheese) Low fat cheeses and skim milk cheeses being absolutely terrible.  Better to have the small amounts of whole milk cheese aged forever than to have fresh skim milk cheese.  The process by which cheese is made is a process of breaking the protein.  But like most things the closer you are to the source and the closer the control you have the better off you are.

So for this I used sharp raw milk cheddar from Greenbank farms (Preston, WA -find local cheeses near you!) at present it just relies on the cheese tasting good as is and they don't screw with it and a small amount of it goes A LONG way. Also for vegetarians, Greenbank uses vegetable rennet.  No matter what size chunk of cheese I buy it is best to chop it up immediately into shared dinner portions (for the entire meal not to be monopolized by any one person).  I'll have one chunk for an entire large pizza a little chunk for burritos and so on... often getting several meals spaced over the course of weeks for a cheesed meal here and there.

You can get nuts and use something IN place of the cheese on these as well.  The basic bread is vegan.  You can roll it that way with your own spin using a spicy pepper center or a cinnamon filling.

Ingredients:

• 2 slightly heaping Cups unbleached white flour (you can do a whole wheat version by doing 50/50 or 75/25 whole wheat -white but adding a touch more yeast to help the heavier whole wheat rise well)
• 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
•  1 package of yeast or 1 heaping tsp  (adding a touch more yeast if doing more whole wheat than white wheat so it will help the heavier wheat rise well)
• 1 Cup warm water (you may need a standby 1/4 - 1/2 Cup warm water for later when mixing)
• 1 tsp vegan sugar or granulated
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 tsp or more of each favorite herb if dried,  Unless your herbs are especially potent then cut in half -1 TBSP of each if fresh
• (basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme nearly anything)
• 1/2 tsp salt

• flaxseed
• poppyseed
• cheddar cheese

approx. 12 large cheese sticks

Method:

Add yeast to warm water until frothy (5-10 minutes)

Add all dry ingredients to each other and finger sift/stir.  Add water/yeast and stir into a silky ball adding water as needed.  Olive oil a bowl and drop dough into it.



Let the dough rise for 15 minutes, max - too much longer and the dough which is still trying to rise while you work it will become unruly, you want the dough to be "young" and not too puffy or with too much elasticity as you'll need to work with the dough through a few steps to form the twists and with that time throughout the manipulation it will continue to mature and puff. So effecient quick moves and not too much nit picking.

Take the still young dough place onto a floured surface, flouring top slightly working in a little flour and then roll out trying to work it into a rectangle of about 3/4 of an inch in height.  Cut down the middle with the back of a knife or a bread cutter.  Take to a non-porous surface and coat top sides in  well beaten egg (or your replacement), beat just enough to break the white from keeping the egg bound.  Cover tops well leaving plenty for the other sides.

 Cover one egged side with flaxseed, and the other egged side with poppyseed.

After well covered in seeds flip over letting seed sides lay on surface and coat the "bottom" not top sides in your remaining egg (or your replacement).  Take your cheese that you've portioned out and grate it.  Cover one of the top egged only sides in the cheese to get coverage you like, too much cheese and it just spills out and wastes during cooking.  So some "holes" in the coverage are fine it works out in the end.

Preheat oven to 400.

Once cheese is on, flip other dough egged only side touching the cheese so the two sandwich the cheese in the middle.

From the top view of the dough find the center with the dough vertically oriented and cut horizontally in half.  Then cut each half into six pieces.  I goofed on the first set and had one giant one when it could have been two.  This recipe will make 12 large cheese sticks.

Place each piece after two twists (or more if you're a master and don't spill cheese) on a lightly olive oiled baking sheet (really not much oil is needed at all, and once oiled it is good for both batches and doesn't need another coat).

Bake each set at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden.

Serve straight from the oven when possible.  Watch as your family thinks you are a genius.  Oh, and you are.