BUTTER GIRL GOES ORGANIC

Written for The River Current Publication, October 31, 2013 My piping skills could use a little practice; but hey, they're cute anyway...right? With Halloween (and little goblins) upon our doorsteps, I thought it would be a good time to have a little discussion about sugar.   I know, I know…someone has to take the fun out of everything, right?   Relax. I have many fond memories of Halloween when I was a child and then later created awesome memories with my boys when they were growing up.     I actually used to make a rather large production out of Halloween when my boys were younger.   Somehow the event turned into an anticipated, yearly tradition that always began with a festive meal which included steamy French onion soup (to ward off any ghosts or goblins), bread sticks shaped like gnarly fingers, eyeball pasta, pumpkin pie, etc.    Family and friends eagerly joined us, gathering around our table to share in this amusing dinner presentation prior to passing

Written for The River Current publication, October 24, 2013  I have recently started a new thing that I am fondly calling, Soup for Seniors .   The seniors in this case being my father and my mother’s sister, who recently relocated to the Marysville area.   Both of them live alone and are not exactly too frisky when it comes to getting around.   My thought is that if I take them a little care package offering a hearty soup, some sort of muffin or bread, and a fruit, that I will have ensured at least a couple of meals for them that they would not have to prepare for themselves. Another motivating factor is that I will be able to prepare some things for them that will be healthier than what they might be fixing for themselves from a can or a box….pretty clever, huh?   Making soup is typically an easy thing to do and as you know, one can never seem to make a small pot of soup!   This way, we all benefit from my efforts.   With the weather quickly cooling o

Written for The River Current Publication Nothing says fall like the arrival of apples.   My father called the other day and said that his apples were ready to be picked.   If you remember, it wasn’t so long ago that he called and said that his peaches were ready to be picked.   Tis the season for the enjoyment our favorite fall fruits! There are so many delightful things that we can make with apples…apple pies, cobblers and crisps, applesauce, apple cider, apple dumplings, apple cake, apple butter, caramel apples…the list goes on and on.   I even washed some up, sliced them real thin, submerged them in a simple syrup solution, sprinkled with cinnamon and then left them do their thing in my dehydrator for about 8 hours.  I shared some with my father and sent some to Zach at OU.  Both have contacted me since and requested that I please do that again!   Not only are these shiny fruits delicious to eat; but they are also a powerhouse of polyphenols, a potent antioxidant

Written for The River Current publication   Last week I had the cool experience of sharing some nutri-knowledge in my first ‘paid’ speaking engagement.   Yay me.   People actually listened (and laughed) as I spoke to them.   I had been invited to prepare a presentation on lacto-fermented vegetables.   I know, your eyebrows are raised and you are asking yourself…what in the heck is that? Fermentation is a buzz word out there in certain health-minded circles at the present time; but it is actually an age old art of preserving food that has been around for ages.   Actually, fermentation is documented as far back as 50 BC. In earlier times, people knew how to preserve foods for long periods of time without the use of freezers or canning machines.   This was done through the process of lacto-fermentation.   Lactic acid is a by-product of fermentation that acts as a preservative and naturally inhibits ‘bad’ bacteria and promotes the growth of ‘good’ bacteria; aka probiotics.