Simple and Delicious Split Pea Soup

Split Pea soup is an ultimate food. It is incredibly inexpensive, easy to make, relatively quick and has great protein, iron, fibre and other nutrients. Oh, and it's delicious.


6 cups       Water
2 cups       Yellow Split Peas (dried)
                 Olive Oil
2               Onions (medium - large), chopped.
1/2 tsp       Thyme
3 cups       Vegetable Soup Stock (I just use vegetable bouillon powder - 1 tsp per 1 cup water)
                 Salt and Pepper
                 White Vinegar

1. Rinse the peas. In a medium sized saucepan, bring the 6 cups of water to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and add split peas. Cook the split peas for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. When peas are soft and water has simmered down below the peas, drain the peas and put aside. Rinse the pan.
3. In the saucepan, heat the oil and add the onions. Sauté for a couple of minutes, and then stir in the thyme. Cook the onions until golden brown.
4. Stir in peas to coat, and then add in the veggie stock. Simmer for 15 minutes on medium heat.

5. Allow to cool a bit, and then add half the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Return to saucepan and mix.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve into bowls. Each person can choose the amount of vinegar they'd like to add - the vinegar just give it an extra kick of flavour. I would recommend just a splash.


Serves 4 -6
Enjoy!

Port Renfrew Trip

I just wanted to share some photos of our trip to Port Renfrew. 

Port Renfrew is a small community on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. We rented a beautiful cottage and brought Beans (our kitten). 

It rained the whole time we were there. But we got out in the rain a little bit. 

The West Coast is very damp. Whenever on the West Coast of the Island, the vegetation always stands out to me. It is quite different from Victoria or the Lower Mainland. It's truly got a rainforest feel. 

The landscape is also so unique and beautiful. You have to check it out... even if it rains a bunch!

Curt in front of the Port Renfrew Hotel/Pub

Venturing out in the rain

Tide Pools

The jagged rock formations at Botany Bay.

Curt and I went exploring on the slippery rocks 

The Cottage we rented. 

Beans checking out the scenery on the drive home. 

Beans with his Daddy on the way home. 

A little before this, we saw a pile of surfers. Good on them!

High Point Challenge - Week Three

Food Systems Pt. 1

 

The concepts of buying local, eating organic, "natural" and so on are nothing new. They're marketed to us everywhere. This is because it's the way food should work. With the introduction of chemicals, pesticides and hormones into our foods, there are lots of consequences, both to our health, and the soil and environment. Transportation of food, and the problems surrounding workers who grew and harvested that food in other parts of the world prompt us toward local eating. But we need to be careful also. Because the organic and local market is growing in popularity (for good reasons) we need to be careful not to fall for marketing tricks or half-truths. 

Growth

Common food is grown with pesticides and hormones. Pesticides are basically cheaply made chemicals that prevent or kill bugs and/or disease that would effect the plant. It makes farming and growth much easier when farmers simply have to spray their plants or add these things to the soil. It's inexpensive and allows quick easy growth. But what are the consequences?

Our health is affected by these chemicals, some of which are carcinogens, and others which have alternate health affects. These synthetically grown foods are devoid of nutrients that they would naturally carry, because they have been stripped away by the pesticides and by speedy growing times.

http://www.videojug.com/interview/pesticides-and-hormones

These pesticides, fungicides, insecticides and etc. are also detrimental for ecosystems. As they run off into streams and soak into the ground, they effect insects that are not enemies to the plants being sprayed, or they destroy the soil and strip it of the life that gives our plants nutrients. If birds eat affected insects, then they are affected at an even worse rate. These chemicals tend to cumulate, as they are stored in fat content within the animals. These pesticides will combine with others, depending on what has been sprayed where and the effects are unknown, as that would be incredibly difficult to figure out. Therefore, animals, insects and fish hold high stores of chemicals in their fat tissues. Since the 1960's and the introduction of pesticides before that, we, and the nature around us has been exposed to various chemical combinations. There are now traces of such things as DDT in our watersystems around the world. Just because we do not drop dead instantly doesn't mean there are not health effects. They may come later, after a build-up in your tissues reaches a certain point, for example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ64sV0nSVU 

For more on pesticides, I would recommend reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. It is claimed to be the book that began the environmental movement back in the 60's. I have it, so your welcome to borrow it, but you can also find it in book stores and libraries.

Production/Processing

Many foods today are highly processed. This is to either to make storing and keeping foods easier, to save money because preserved foods are typically cheaper, as they're processing involves many short-cuts and chemicals, and many processed foods are appealing... due to higher sugar, fat, or salt content. 

http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/processedfoods.htm 

What processed foods are regular in your life? 

The production methods used in the food industry are typically wasteful. They use lots of energy and resourcesCertain foods, especially meats are highly inefficient. It takes a lot of other energy sources and  resources to produce that food or meat. Here is an article I read in University:  (sorry, this was the only free one I could find... it should come out translated.)

http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://songshuhui.net/archives/1562&ei=e8dvT-btCsjWiAKh1omxBQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddinner%2527s%2Bdirty%2Bsecret%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26prmd%3Dimvns




Diversity

There are also problems surrounding the diversity of foods that now exist. As you will learn in this tedtalk, we have favoured certain types of plant species, we have lost so much of what was beautifully created. This is not just a problem with plant species, it is also with animals. There are essentially only the same of a very few breeds of cows, chickens and pigs that are being eaten, or really, are even living at this point. Which makes one beg the question: if there was a disease or sickness that, let's say, affected that type of pig, it could easily spread and effect all of those pigs because of the lack of immune diversity amongst them.


 http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/cary_fowler_one_seed_at_a_time_protecting_the_future_of_food.




Solutions

Buy organic whenever you can, and do your research. Some fruits and vegetables are grown with very little, or no chemical treatments. Here are some helpful articles:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#fbIndex1
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Save-on-Sustainable-Gallery-44032808?click=main_sr

Buy local - we'll be learning more about this in a couple weeks when I do "Food Systems Part. 2" It's better for you, better because there is less transportation involved, and better because you know that people were treated fairly when planting, harvested and so on, and that you are not taking resources from another part of the world (again, more on this next week)

Make your own: Instead of buying pre-made food, buy fresh ingredients and follow a recipe. The internet is filled with videos and articles telling you how to do things.

Eat lower on the food chain.


This week's Showcase


Thanks to Alison L for this week's submission. Alison reduced her plastic use by using cloth grocery bags, and storing bulk items in jars. She did some of her own research and found this article.

It was super neat to read and see. I feel this is something we can all strive toward. It is clearly possible with some determination and knowledge.

Alison's collection of jars that she uses to shop for, and store bulks in. 

CHALLENGE:


Use ideas from the solutions above and be creative. Take photos as you make changes toward a more sustainable and healthy diet this week.

Also, it's time to start thinking about the Sustainable Picnic Party that the Environmental Challenge will throw in a few weeks. Submit your photos and brief description of your progress throughout the week, as well as date, time and location suggestions for our picnic party, by 3pm NEXT SUNDAY. 


Thanks, and have a blessed and sustainable week.
Cassie

A Delicious Indian-themed Dinner

Palak Panner (Non-spicy)

                Olive Oil
2              Cloves garlic, minced
1              tbsp grated fresh ginger root
1              medium chopped onion
2              tsp cumin
1              tsp coriander
1              tsp turmeric
3/4 cup    sour cream
1             large bundle spinach, ripped into smaller pieces
1             tomato chopped
2 tbsp     chopped cilantro
8 ounces ricotta

1. In a medium pot heat some olive oil and sauté onions for about 2-3 minutes. Then add 1/2 of the ginger and the garlic. Sauté until brown. Mix in the spices and coat ingredients, and then add in the sour cream. Add the spinach a bit at a time (about 1/2 cups), waiting until spinach reduces each time before adding more. Once this has been done with all of the spinach, remove from heat.

2. Heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat, and add ricotta. Fry for about 5 mintues. Be careful that the heat is not on too hot, or the cheese will really bubble.

3. While frying the cheese, pour the spinach mix into a blender and puree with the tomato, cilantro, and the rest of the ginger. Add back to the pot and keep warm on low.

4. Add the ricotta to the spinach mixture, mix well. Serve with Basmati Rice.Serves 4.

Naan Bread


This was my first time ever using yeast. So needless to say, I was quite nervous.
I put the yeast and sugar in what I thought was luke warm water. Then I began to second-guess myself. I knew yeast was something you had to be very particular with, and it didn't seem to be foaming like I thought it should.

I found this online, once I began to panic. http://www.thekitchn.com/working-with-yeast-be-not-afra-72256. I found it useful, and decided to be brave. I knew that the water had to have been a pretty reasonable temperature, and the yeast-water was foaming/bubbling a little bit.

So I went for it. The naan didn't turn out like store-bought or Indian Restaurant Quality, but it was good. I think a few more tries will get me there.  Here's the recipe:



1tsp       sugar
1 tsp     dried yeast
2/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp     olive oil
1 tsp     salt
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Put the sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Add the water. Mix until the yeast dissolves. Put aside until mixture froths.

2. Put the flour in a large bowl, and create a hole in the middle.And add the oil, salt and yeast mix.

3. Using your hand, mix well. Add more water if the dough feels too dry.

4. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth.

5. Place the dough back in the bowl, and cover. Leave in a warm place.

6. Wait about an hour and a half (or until the dough has about doubled in size).

7. Preheat oven to 475 F. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and grease lightly. Turn out the dough on the floured surface again. Knead once more.

8. Break off the bread into six pieces. Roll the pieces until they are about 12cm in diameter, and about 1 cm thick.

9.Place bread pieces on baking sheet and put into oven. Flip naan every couple of minutes and brush with butter. When it looks browned, it's ready.

Enjoy!




Serve the Palak Paneer and Naan with a garden salad with your mix of ingredients, topped with my Apple Butter Vinaigarette

Apple Butter Vinaigrette

Apple Butter is absolutely delicious. I don't know how much of it is sold around B.C. This apple butter is from Ontario. We bought in on the farm where it was made, while on our road trip there. The ingredients are simply apples, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda- I wanted to discover more ways to use apple butter. Here's a vinaigrette that I created.


1/4 cup          Olive Oil
2 tbsp            Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp            Apple Butter
1 tbsp            Red Wine Vinegar
                     Fine Grain Sea Salt
                     Black Pepper

This would be enough to cover a salad that has about 4 servings.


Stay tuned for more apple butter experiments... I'm hoping to make apple butter icing soon.

High Point Challenge - Week Two

Plastic 

 

Watch this video. While it may seem a little silly, I think that the message it great, and it is actually really well done. 

Can't get rid of plastic, but can prioritize 


I used to think that plastic was nothing but pure evil and the world should be rid of it. However, after scanning through Stephen Fenichell's "Plastic The Making of a Synthetic Century",  I've come to appreciate that plastic IS here to stay, and it DOES have some very important uses. 
For society to go completely plastic free, it would be impossible. Many of our greatest leaps and strides (that even I can understand and am thankful for) have been made possible with plastic. Things like radar on planes and ships was made possible with plastic (polyetheylene) for insulation that is lightweight. And what about CDs, computers, or even space technology? Cars, Cameras, and medical advances? 
As much as I'd love to go burrow away in the forest from this technological world that we live in, and fend for myself off the land, I know that that is not the solution. I know I must be a contributing, influence-causing citizen. If plastic is sticking around, then our mentalities about it need to change. We need to avoid it whenever possible, and support alternate solutions. Plastic should only be used when necessary, and otherwise avoided. 




What plastics to avoid
Plastic is everywhere. Despite it's incredible functions, plastic will always retains it's status as a cheap material, and the common use of it reflects that. It is chucked and forgotten. But nothing happens in a vacuum. That means that we are paying for our excessive use of this cheap, highly functional and practical material. 


You want to avoid single-use plastics, and plastics that are unnecessary. 
We're talking plastic: 
Bags
Cutlery
Plates
Water Bottles
Tupperware/Food Containers
Packaging
Drink Containers
Food Wrap


There are tonnes of simple, cheap solutions for these. Sure, sometimes they require some extra effort, or extra money, but they are well worth it. You are saving the planet, you are using recyclable, healthy materials. What do I use for a water bottle? Typically just a mason jar I bought at the thrift for 50 cents, or an old jar that once housed some sort of food in it that I have kept. Cost is next to nothing, and I can reuse over and over, with no adverse effects.


Dangerous Chemicals/Health Effects


Plastic and the issues with it really reflect society these days. Instant, No thought to consequences, cheap, complicated, lazy. 


Our health is affected by plastic. We know that plastic chemicals leech. So, if we are drinking from plastic water bottles, eating from plastic containers, etc. they are only so many times you can do so before they begin to leech. 


There are always going to consequences when we introduce synthetic things into our world, especially into a relationship with our food. I think that's a simple logic to follow with a lot of the dangers we're facing today. 

Take a look at this:


http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/plastichealtheffects.html 



Something to be particularly strong about is bottled water. It is incredible that not only we insist on drinking "pure" water from plastic water bottles that we will only use once, but that will never, ever go away, but we also are willing to pay money for it, when it is provided free to us. What an incredible money-maker. I highly recommend watching the documentary "Tapped". While it doesn't cover too much about environmental affects of Bottled water, it will sure get you angry and shocked, for your health, and for your rights. 
Here's a website based off the movie, and it gives you more information.
"Tapped" is available on Netflix.


http://www.tappedthemovie.com/ 





 



Environmental Effects


Why are we so concerned about plastic? It's common knowledge that plastic never goes away. It doesn't biodegrade, the pieces only get smaller. All those subtances are still out there from the very first plastics. Unlike most things, that will eventually return to nature, plastic remains. Which means, the more plastic we consume and chuck, the more there is just hanging around the earth. The more chemicals there are leeching into nature, our food, our water. 
We have growing issues around plastic. Last week we learned about the Gyre. You were also able to see it in the video posted above. 
Landfills are filled with plastic. And it will sit there for eternity. There is something so tragic knowing that there are pieces of our beautiful earth, large pieces, that will be forever tainted with this material... and it will only get worse if we don't clean up our act. 
The pollution that comes from the production of plastic is another issue. All of those chemicals spilling out into the air is nothing you want to be around, nor does anyone else. The chemicals effect us, wildlife and vegetation. Plastic garbage is not only an eye sore, it's destructive. The production of plastic also requires a lot of energy and resources. 

Let's remember to priortize with plastic, and do whatever you can to minimize your use. I am not saying it's okay to use plastic, I am saying that we cannot get away from all of it. I do not like the substance, but I do have to appreciate some of it's uses. I know that I can still be passionate about making sure it is only used when completely necessary. We don't want anymore of this eternal material just ruining our earth. 
Recycling it is not enough. It does not justify it's use. Simply stop using single use plastics. We want the demand for plastic to be minimized. 


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=plastic-not-so-fantastic 



Challenge: 


Reduce plastic usage. Cut out plastic bags, cutlery, waterbottles, etc. 


Be creative and find as many ways as you can, there's lots. 


What were your solutions when you didn't use these plastics? What did you use instead?


Do some more research? Any shocking information you've discovered about the water or plastic industries? Any cool solutions you've seen?


 Submit entries to me at cassm163@gmail.com by Sunday at 3:00pm


THANKS!




This week's showcase: 
Amanda S! 


While Amanda didn't have photos, she gave me a description of what she's been up to, this includes:


Less packaging on her foods,
Hanging clothes to dry (dryer is an energy guzzler)
Walking whenever possible
and meal planning that allows her family to eat in more often. 
Great job on last weeks challenges Amanda! Keep up the great work guys. Remember, there's a prize at the end! :)

DIY Furniture Fix-up Before&After

I've been working on re-doing the bedroom, and have been dying to have matching night stands. One is white, one is brown... they were totally different and driving me nuts. Furniture is expensive though, I was looking at an average of $100/each for brand new ones!
I kept looking on Craigslists and Used Victoria, but to no avail, most people were only selling one, or mismatched ones (guess they were just like me... tired of the mismatch!)
Finally, I had found some online at IKEA that were $50. When I discovered, however, that there was no IKEA in Greater Victoria (doi!), I wanted to go with shipping, only $50 extra. That meant $150 for two, matching night stands, delivered to my door. I was going to do it, it seemed like a good deal!

But I couldn't. I'm no good at spending money. I'll wander around Thrift Stores and find things I like and decide that "x" items are still too expensive for my liking. I'm sure anyone else would just be happy with their find. I wanted to save that money. And I resolved while starring at them one day, that I was going to do it, I was going to attempt to paint that brown one white. 

A coupe of trips to Rona, and I was set... sanding paper, paintbrush and furniture paint. I sanded it down while Beans tried attacking the sand paper (careful not to get it in your eyes or inhale the dust, so I had to close him away). I could tell that it was ready once the area I was sanding would lose it's shine and would become matte. 

Next, I painted. Curt's dad used to paint houses, so thank goodness Curt was around. He reminded me to paint all of my strokes the same way. 

 Beans sleeping in the drawer 

After the first coat, I was grumpy. The man at Rona had said two coats would do the trick. It didn't look like that. You could still really see the brown through the white. No good. I persevered though, and after the second coat, it still didn't have a nice totally white coat. A third coat  was needed, but after that, it looked great.

   

Next I took some scrap scrapbook paper I had from a project I did for work, and cut it to fit into the drawer. Some scraps were tiny, so I made a funky little design with them. A little glue, and voila, a pretty drawer, and a white dresser. 

So how much did I save? Well, the nightstand had been my parents, and I got it when I first moved out, and needed furniture. So that was free. 

The sand paper was about $4 for a pack of 3. I only used one. So that's about $1.33

The paint was $20.00, but I used between 1/4-1/3 of it, so that's about $5 - $7

And the paint brush was $7. And it will be used over and over. 

The paper was free. 

So instead of spending $150, I only spent about $15.33 and got a spruced up, matching-enough nightstand. I encourage everyone to try to fix something up yourself. It takes more time, but I think the savings were worth it. 

And now with all the left overs, I can redo the other bedroom furniture, which just isn't nearly as white now, compared to my finished project. 

Stay tuned to see the before and after of the bedroom!