The Modern Hippy

In the photo left to right is catnip, oregano, curry(the short grey stuff), marjoram, and rosemary hiding in the corner.

     Planning my herb garden the end result, after all the dirty fun of course, was to have herbs to dry for cooking all winter long. Or at least until then ran out. So to save me money. So far, so good! I’ve dried so many herbs so far! Although, the end is in sight soon. The annual herbs are slowing because of the seasonal change. Margoram has already died, though that might be do to up rooting by an excited, energetic dog.
     I did some research about drying herbs. It seems that two weeks in the magic time listed by many people. I’ve added a few more weeks sometimes with those herbs like sage that are softer and more succulent. Don’t want mold to ruin anything. Hanging herbs on the wall or laying them out on plates, out of the way of the cat has worked best for me. Remember to keep them out of direct sun light. Store the herbs out of sunlight if you can. I have mine on a shelf in the kitchen. There is no direct light on them because of where the sun rises and where the window is.
     I’ve done some experimenting with drying herbs. Fennel is not supposed to dry well, but I left it out for almost a month and placing it in the jar I could still smell the black licorice scent. I have heard that sage doesn’t dry well. No problems so far. Cooking with both dried and fresh sage isn’t a lot different. Not a lot of flavor is lost with the moisture.
What I have noticed is that cooking with these fresh herbs requires a lot less. Sometimes the flavor is completely different that grocery store bottled cooking spices. Rubbed sage, even organic can’t compare to the stuff from my garden. It’s awesome! I can hardly wait until next year when I plant new and exciting herbs!

Soup Planned

     It’s soup season again! Though I prefer summer weather I love fall foods! Squash, corn, and soup are the foods for us in autumn. I’ve enjoyed two new soups made by friends and family in the last two weeks. For the whole summer, four different soups! All wonderful. I will be making my own renditions of the most recent soups over the next couple of days.

     The first soup I’ll be making is a Mediterranean soup with a chicken base, with tomato and clams for a different taste. My mom first made it two weeks ago. It was so good, it may become a favorite.

     The second soup, as made by a good friend, was a vegetarian black bean soup. It was spicy and thick. Rick even said that the way it was made he didn’t feel like he was missing meat. At the moment money is tight. Meat is expensive when compared to veggies or bulk dried items. Money saved is good. Nutrition kept is even better.

New Soup Goals

     Last year, I spent the fall and winter, and even a few summer days perfecting chicken soup. I discovered roast chicken makes the best stock and froze a ton of it. This years plans are to experiment outside the basic chicken soup. I want to add beans, use only stock, try vegetarian (for fun and financial). I want a soup to discover a soup I’ve never had before – or make a soup, I’ve never made before. It will be an exciting soup searching journey! Gluten-free of course!

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     This summer my parents have a zucchini plant. It was so cute when I planted it. And now, all that “hard” work paid off! It has produces so many zucchinis I’ve lost count. Not wanting to waste them and having fond memories of zucchini bread, I decided to make gluten-free zucchini bread. Four or more tries later, it is still the best zucchini bread ever! It just gets better with each loaf! Even people whom are not gluten-free nuts say it’s good!

     After searching for a few minutes online, I found one recipe that seemed to be the easiest to modify. This is the end result.

     Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread Recipe:

     Set oven to 350 degrees.
o 2 eggs
o 1 cup sugar, unbleached
o .5 cup of oil, safflower
o 2 tsp. of vanilla, fair trade
o .5 tsp. of baking soda
o .5 tsp. of cinnamon
o .5 tsp of salt
o 1.5 cups of gluten-free flour (I use Red Mills Gluten-Free All-purpose Baking Flour.)
o Pinch of Xanthan Gum, optional
o 1.5 cups of shredded zucchini, organic if you can
o 1 cup of chopped walnuts

     Mix the first four ingredients, then add the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Carefully, (slowly if you can) add the gluten-free baking flour and xanthan gum. Then mix in the zucchini and walnuts.
     Grease and flour a loaf pan. Pour, taste if you want and bake for up to 75 minutes, or until a knife comes clean. (I’d say tooth pick but that would be promoting disposable items which I would like to avoid.)

     Notes: Xanthan gum is optional because we don’t like the way it tastes. I’ve tried it with .5 a tsp, 2 pinches, 1 pinch, and a dusting that was so small it couldn’t be considered a pinch. People will tell you that it doesn’t have a taste. However, it does have a specific texture that it adds to whatever it mixes with – slippery, almost greasy. We don’t like it. The eggs in this recipe hold the bread loaf together well enough. It only becomes slightly more crumbly without it. So in my opinion, xanthan gum is only to be used if you don’t want to use eggs.
     Other notes: I have also substituted walnuts with almonds. It’s still good, but I prefer the walnuts. Oh and please excuse the odd bulletting, I don’t know what’s wrong with my word, it’s temperamental.

     I’m a little behind on updating about my lovely herb garden. It is thriving! I have rosemary, sage, margoram, thyme, oregano, lemon verbena, fennel, chives, basil, borage, and two kinds of mint.

     They have now grown enough for me to use them in cooking! I’m so proud of my little herbs – I feel like a mother. Haha.

     Here is my “baby” a couple weeks after planting. It’s so cute!

     The big one in the back is the borage. It is the fastest growing herb I have. The funny thing is I use it the least. At some point I will make a post about it – I use the flowers in tea, it’s good. More experimentation will occur over the rest of the summer. From what I’ve read, it will stick around and spread crazily. I must learn how to use it well. One good thing about it is my dad’s bees love it. So honey for us!

I love jam, love it, LOVE IT! But I only like it the way my mom makes it. She used raspberries and pectin and sugar to make it when I was a child.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a good jam in awhile and frankly, the only downside the Mom’s jam is the amount of sugar.

Visiting one of my favorite blogs today I found a recipe for“One minute, No-Cook Homemade Raspberry Jam” at Farmgirl Fare! Brilliant! There is no reason to “make up” for flavor, when the flavor is fabulous!
Thank you Farmgirl!

Straight from my parents home.
Note: The eggs pictured are from my parents chickens, there are different colors because they have different kinds of chickens. They vary in size because that’s normal. Each chicken is unique.

Having grown up on a mini-farm, not for profit, but for survival, money saving and hobby farm, I have been spoiled horribly. I was used to good eggs, with lots of flavor and different colors. It wasn’t until I was a little older and on my own, when my parents didn’t have laying hens for a while, that I saw how different healthy eggs are from mass-produces eggs.

The first thing I notices was the brown eggs were more expensive, I’m still not sure why. The second thing I noticed was they all looked the same and were just the same size. They also didn’t crack the same way. Growing up I had a hard time cracking eggs without breaking the yoke, or splitting through the inner membrane. I have since learned that healthy hens lay thicker eggs – and ones with brighter yokes.

I also learned recently that the mass produces eggs for $2 a dozen are laid by hens that are packed into tiny cages, get no exercise, possibly no natural light, and die around the age 1 ½ years because they have spent their lives doing nothing but laying eggs, standing in a tiny cage with their fellow fowl, then their bones give out. OH MY GOSH! I had no idea. To be honest, chickens are rather dumb creatures but that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve to live happy, healthy lives scratching in a yard, eating bugs. (Yes, chickens are omnivores, they shouldn’t be fed veggie diets, but oh well, nothing is perfect.)

So for those of us whom care what happens to our food producers, one must choose Organic. There is some confusion for me about free range with eggs and fryer chickens. One of them has free range regulated and one does not. So in the end the safe bet is organic, locally grown eggs (or chicken), because these little feathered creatures are regulated. They are supposed to get to run around outside, be feed decent food, and be happy, fun loving, egg laying chickens. One more caution is make sure they are actually labeled USDA organic. The word organic is not stringently regulated right now. With that little stamp, the farmers must follow certain rules which safe guard both hen and us.

If you are looking to go truly local, if you live near, or in a rural area, get your own chickens or find someone whom wouldn’t mind sharing. It does cost money to become USDA organic certified and tiny farmers may not have the money for the cert. So support them if they seem to treat their fowl well. Chances are they will be cheaper that the $4-5 a dozen eggs in the grocery store.

Happy Egg Hunting!

     In the last few weeks, while I have been away from my blog I have been doing a lot of cooking. Rick, wanting something tasty asked me to pick up some treats. Some of the gluten free treats were either not good or bothered him anyway. (It appears that chocolate is not a good choice right now. I have heard that it is hard to digest for people whom have issues already, like Rick and my own mother.)
     I will admit that I tend to pick things up that esthetically pleasing. So we checked out the cute, simple paper bags labeled Namaste Foods. They make all sorts of things. So far we have tried the pancake mix and now the vanilla cake mix. The pancake mix, titled “Waffle & Pancake Mix”, is awesome. It isn’t overly sweet, the texture is decent and they smell great! Though I don’t eat regular pancakes, due to them making me feel ill (too much sugar and additive), I love these! With butter and honey they are perfect! The only difference I noticed was they don’t rise as much as regular pancakes.

     The “Vanilla Cake Mix”
was our experiment today. I was a little nervous because the dry mix didn’t smell wonderful. However, once in batter form it smelled good and tasted good. (Yes, I know you aren’t suppose to eat raw eggs, but well I love batter.) Once cooking, it filled the apartment with lovely aromas of flour and vanilla. It was great, lighter in texture than I expected and not too sweet. Rick loves and said that all it needed was whipped cream. I liked it a lot as well. The only thing I would change is maybe add honey and vanilla extract to the batter. I would have added vanilla, but I couldn’t find my gluten free extract today.

     So, though we have only tried 2 products, I like Namaste Foods . They seem to have good quality ingredients, and actually taste great!

Why you should think twice about indulging in this delectable sin

     Over the last weekend Rick and I ran across some good things on-demand. We watched Walmart – The High Cost of Low Prices and a couple of episodes of Bill Nye about breakfast and dinner foods and their poor effects on our world.
     One of the most shocking, that I had never heard about was chocolate and child/slave labor. Because of what I learned, I will no longer buy chocolate that is not labels “fair trade”.
     Let’s cover a couple of basics: What is “fair trade”? Fair Trade USA defines it as having the following principals: fair price for the farmers, fair labor conditions (no child labor!), direct trade (gets rid of middlemen), democratic and transparent organizations (farmers and workers decide democratically how to use/invest revenues), community development, and environmentally sustainability. Sounds great! It is the way it should always be. Unfortunately, this is the exception not the norm.
     Where does chocolate or cocoa come from? The biggest exporter is Cote d’Ivoire, a western African country riddled with poverty. Other countries export including Ghana and Papua New Guinea. Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) produces 43% of the world’s cocoa. Because of the poverty in this country and other surrounding countries, children often go looking for work so they may send home earnings to their families for survival. Sadly, in Mali, where many of these children are from, the children are tricked (or kidnapped) into traveling out of the area for promised “jobs” in Cote d’Ivoire and are sold into slavery. There they are sent to farms to grow cacao (sometimes cotton, coffee and other exports). They are give very little to eat and beaten if they do not work well enough. These boys vary in age between 9-16. These working children also can include the farmer’s own children. The farmer’s rarely receive fair compensation for the exports so they cannot pay tuition for their kids to go to school.
     Why child labor, why poverty, why unsafe conditions? One reason is the price for cocoa is not stable but can fluctuate, and has been below the cost of production for many years (though it does seem to be on the rise). Poverty is a cycle often goes unbroken because the parents of the children cannot afford to send their children to school either for general education or for a vocation. Sometimes by sending their kids away, they are hoping that the children will learn a trade and be able to help by sending money home.
Many of the parents are forced to sell their kids hoping that the new situation would be better than the old.
     Since most of these people are born into poverty it certainly cannot be their fault. They should not have children working from very young ages in but what is the solution?
     Let’s remember that often with exporting there are the “middlemen”. How much money do they get? How can these people deal with farms that have slaves? How do we stabilize the cocoa price to keep it above the cost of production? What about the chocolate industry on our side? Did you know that Hersey’s and M&M/Mars control two thirds of the US chocolate candy market? Shouldn’t they take responsibility and buy only from fair trade farms? That would hurt their profits of $13 billion. Billion. I think they can spare a few more dollars. For many years they argued that is was not their problem. Then in 2001 after some unflattering media, they decided to change a little. They released their plans to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and slave labor in their industry. I’ll leave my sarcastic comments about large companies and media for another post.
     Great! It is wonderful that they are trying to do some things, even if they were forced by bad media to do it. Should you buy that Hersey bar you love so much? Probably not. If you want to ensure that, you are buying slavery-free chocolate look for something labeled fair trade. While you are at it, go to your local food co-op. They probably carry it already and then you are supporting a local company whose end desire isn’t better stock options.

     Now let’s think about where chocolate can be found. M&M’s of course. The winter treat hot cocoa. Cake, cookies, fudge, even cereal sometimes. All that chocolate (though to be fair much of it is highly diluted) comes from somewhere. Think of all those little arms swinging machetes to cut down the cacao pods for your Valentine or Easter present. What happens if a clumsy child has an accident with the machete? Do you think they are given drugs and their fingers sewn back on? How long do you think they can last if they are crippled? Do you think they have access to wheel chairs and soft blankets? All for that chocolate bunny or chocolate covered almond. How is the taste of child blood spilt for your pleasure? Creamy?

     I feel tainted. I have chocolates in the pantry that I may not be able to eat. I know the damage is done with those – they have been made already, packaged and are far away from Africa. Can I eat them and enjoy it? Nope. It sickens me that we spoiled westernized fat asses know nothing about what is in our food or where it comes from, who handles it and even how old they are.
     I cannot do anything about the chocolate in my cupboard, but I can do something about the chocolate I bring home. No more Dove seasoned with slaves sweat and tears.

Link and sources:

Chocolate and Slavery
The Chocolate Industry: Poverty Behind the Sweetness
U.S. Legislative Initiatives to Stop Abusive Child Labor

     I listed the third link because I thought it was interesting. It was written by Senator Tom Harkin on Iowa. While I think it is wonderful that a senator is taking it upon himself to look beyond our boarders and the middle east, I question all politicians. It is highly suspicious that any man or woman would want to be in charge of making rules. However, they are sometimes the means to our own ends. They write the laws we ask them to (and sometimes ones that we don’t). More research is needed on my part about his plans and laws and others related. While it would be great to say that we should stop importing things tainted with slave labor – we must also consider the repercussions for those whom break the laws. It is pointless to have a law and it not provide a means to enforce it. Hersey’s and M&Ms/Mars will have no reason to stop importing tainted cocoa if they face no serious repercussions.

     It seems, though not confirmed by tests as of yet, that Rick has a gluten allergy or sensitivity. On Valentine’s Day he had shredded wheat for breakfast and felt horrible all day long. After that, he refused to eat gluten, and has taken great pains to avoid it. And surprise, he feels much better. In fact, he says that he feels better than he has in three years.
     Even if the tests come back without a definite ruling of “You are gluten intolerant, or have celiac’s ”, chances are he will continue to avoid it. That may happen because it has been two weeks since he has knowingly ingested gluten.

     So the grocery list has changed just a little. Because of all the rules and regulation that exist in the food labeling world I have to learn some new things to watch out for. I have to double check simple things like spices because sometimes things like wheat protein or something like that is added. Ridiculous, irritating that there are some many things that are not as they appear. Why can we not just have spices without fillers?
     Luckily, my mother has been doing the mostly “gluten-free” or GF thing for many years, far back beyond the days of finding Bob’s Red Mill products in many grocery stores. I’ve borrowed a book and will write a review once I am through. Luckily, in the last few years a lot of research has been done and many more gluten-free products have become available.

     Check back in a few weeks as I update The Modern Hippywith wonderful recipes and stories about my new cooking ideas.

     I have never made egg drop soup before, and actually never liked it at the restaurants. Rick on the other hand, loves it. The last time we made it, Rick was the one whom did it and I just watched. At the time, we were not eating totally healthy so we used the flavoring packet from Top Ramen. We will not be doing that ever again. Can you say MSG?

     All the recipes that I looked up had chicken stock listed as the base, but I didn’t have chicken bones to make chicken stock and will not use anything else that I do not make. I looked up how to make veggie stock and made that. It was so much better than veggie stock that comes in a can. Of course, it gave the soup a different flavor and because of the half jalapeño I added to the stock, a little bite.

     You will need the following:
• 4 cups of veggie or chicken stock
• 2 eggs
• Sea salt
• Green onions (I didn’t have any left after making the stock so there are not green onions.)

     Bring the stock to a gentle boil, add the chopped onion, taste, add salt, taste. Gently whisk the two eggs in a separate bowl. This next part may require two people. Turn off the heat just before you add the eggs. Hold a fork around 8 inches above the stock and gently pour the eggs through the fork. Stir the stock as the egg is poured. It is supposed to slow down the flow and create the little ribbons. I did not get the perfect little swirly egg ribbons as you can see in the picture, not sure why. It does not affect the way it tastes in my opinion. And Rick really liked it. If you make this on occasion and have any tips feel free to let me know!