The Next Craft Cafe - THIS Sunday, June 24th, 7 - 9 PM

Hi Everyone!! It is time for the next Craft Cafe...

Calling all green thumbs…the next Craft Cafe project is a small indoor/outdoor herb garden. Herbs are easy and fun to grow, good for your body (aid in digestion) and give all of your meals that extra pizzazz. This is an awesome project for those of us in the Rockies that find a hard time growing herbs outside with our limited growing season. Herb gardens are perfect for small spaces too, and are a lot of fun to create, so bring your kids. Any old pots, vintage milk cans, tin cans or interesting glassware would be great options to recycle into cute herb garden containers.

This workshop is on Sunday,  June 24th, 7 - 9 PM, Wild Flour Cafe in Banff (211 Bear Street in the Bison Courtyard)

Cost: For $30 you can pick a clay pot, stones, organic soil & fertilizer, 3 organic herb choices (options will include mint, thyme, parsley, sage, basil, oregano, rosemary) and a few items to make unique herb markers and decorate your pot.

Please sign up and PAY at the Wild Flour prior to the class. Advanced registration only. Please contact Tiffany if you would rather register using Paypal or Interact E-transfer.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Contact:
Tiffany oldesage@hotmail.com
Sheena sheenz6@hotmail.com

Weekly Recipe - My Swedish Pancakes (Using Whole Wheat Pastry & Barley Flours)

Have you ever bought something at a yard sale or thrift shop that you could not identify? I have a thing for cast iron pans. I love them, I use them, I give them to others and hope that they will love them. At this point, I have as many cast iron pans as one household could need, a 12", a 10", a square one with ridges for grilling, and a 9" crepe pan that is thin and super light for swirling around batter in the pan. I really didn't need anymore... then one day, I came across a cast iron pan with seven recessed circles in it. And when I flipped it over, a ribbed flower pattern on the bottom (I should take a picture of the bottom...). I had no idea what it was for. I thought maybe for eggs, but thinking of my egg poaching pan I knew the wells were too shallow. I am a bit of a kitchen gadget and equipment nerd but have been stumped before. Anyway, whatever it was for, I knew it was a specialty pan like my madeleine pan and my Nordic Ware mini bundt pan. I knew I would one day figure out what it was for and kick myself for not buying it. Especially since it was $3! Plus I thought to myself, it is so flat that I can store it under the lazy Susan in the corner cabinet where I store my pots and pans...

... which is exactly where it stayed until my birthday this past November. That is the morning that I woke up thinking I wanted to make a pannekoeken, a traditional Dutch pancake that is cooked in a skillet in the oven. I have eaten them, have a great Dutch cookbook series, but have never made them. And yes, my idea of fun, on my own birthday, is to cook something I have never made first thing in the morning. I am not a morning person, but I am skilled at breakfast making, and the thought of a hot pannekoeken was all the inspiration I needed. My daughters agreed and I jumped online to find a recipe for Swedish pancakes, BECAUSE the whole time I had been thinking about making a pannekoeken, I had been calling it a Swedish pancake. I had my countries and breakfast foods mixed up, hence the reason I didn't go and look the recipe up in my Dutch cookbooks! And am I ever glad I got mixed up. In fact, I believe that my Great Grandma Gerda, from Sweden, was looking down on me that day, because as I looked at the first image that popped up from my search for "Swedish pancake" I SAW MY CAST IRON PAN!! And, I started dancing around the kitchen with my wee ones, laughing, and brandishing the pan that I NOW knew was a Swedish pancake pan! HAHAHAHA. The reason that I had never know about this pan, since my grandmother, Harriett, daughter of Gerda, did make pancakes for me, is because she just made them in a regular pan. Which you can totally do. So, no worries if you don't have a "special" pan like me, you will be a-ok, and very happy that you followed the recipe for Swedish pancakes below. I have tweaked this recipe to fit our tastes and these pancakes are different than crepes, pancakes, and pannekoeken. They are richer, thinner, but moister than a traditional pancake. Give them a whirl. They made my birthday extra special and when I spoke with my grandmother Harriett on the phone, while I was making them, they made her happy as well. She has been losing her short term memory but when I told her I was making Swedish pancakes I could hear her voice change and it was like she was back on the farm as a kid. She was excited and it touched my heart because since my grandfather died she is never very excited. As I hung up the phone I felt happy to have made her day and happy to know we can now make pancakes that will always remind me of her.

Swedish Pancakes
By Tiffany Teske
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
I use organic ingredients whenever possible.

~ 3 eggs
~ 2 T sugar
~ 1 cup milk
~ 1 cup half and half OR buttermilk (you can use all milk but they will not taste as rich)
~ 3 T melted butter
~ 1/2 tsp sea salt
~ 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
~ 1/4 cup barley flour

Directions

1. Using a wire whisk beat the eggs, sugar, milk, half & half or buttermilk, and the melted butter for one minute.
2. Slowly add the flour while continuing to mix. When the flour is completely added blend for an additional 30 seconds.

3. Heat griddle or pan. When griddle or pan is hot, grease with butter or cooking spray. Pour pancake batter in a large circle for crepe size pancakes or small silver dollar size pancakes. They will cook quickly.

Flip when the underside is golden brown and the upper side has an opaque look. They are done when both sides are a golden brown.

4. Serve hot with maple or fruit syrup, powdered sugar, applesauce or, with Lignonberries.

My New Favorite Cookbook - Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

Peanut Butter Krispy Treats from the Cookbook Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

My friend, Jane, and I have been having fun exchanging cookbooks. It is a great way to find some new recipes and to check out cookbooks I might want to buy. The library is good for this, too, but when I exchange with Jane I get the added benefit of hand written notes and recipe recommendations based on what Jane has tried. My new favorite cookbook is Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. I can hardly begin to tell you why because I love everything about it from the writing style of Swanson to her use of obscure ingredients like agar agar, which I happen to have in my cupboard. It is the vegab marshmallow replacer in the peanut butter krispy treats recipe, seen on Heidi's blog, with pistachios included! We made these treats to take to Quin's friend's house the other day. The kids like them, but mom's LOVE them!


I have also made the Banana Espresso Muffins, which are amazing. I used decaf espresso so that my kids could eat them. The mini muffin version I made along with the regular sized muffins were a bit rubbery... sometimes, living in the mountains wrecks havoc on my baking... but the ones I made in the standard muffin cups were wonderful.



Banana Espresso Muffins

I will make everything I have made again, including the spring asparagus puree which can be used like traditional basil pesto. I am truly happy to know this recipe, since I am not a huge fan of jarred pesto, and I never have access to piles of fresh basil. I will be making this a lot.



Spring Asparagus Puree with pasta

I am so happy that Jane lent it to me Super Natural Cooking. I must get my hands on my own copy, as I want to try all the recipes. Also, it has so much valuable information about different flours as well as recipes for basic things like making your own aluminum-free baking powder and a good vegetable stock. I could go on and on. If you are the type of person, like I am, to curl up on the couch with a cookbook, and you love natural foods, you will appreciate Swanson's newest cookbook!

PS You can also subscribe to her blog, 101 Cookbooks, and she will send you a recipe a week! And if you want to look at this book online I found it here on Google Books!

A Neat Tip and A Book Review

I have been the proud owner of The Big-Ass Book of Crafts by Mark Montano for about two months now. I first saw this book in Kelowna last spring, and kicked myself for not buying it. Cheryl, whom I work with for the Recycled Art Program for the After School Program, owns it, and said she loves it, so I was inspired to special order it and to pay full price from our local book store, The Banff Book and Art Den. I have not been disappointed. It has a great name, I mean come on, many people have probably wanted to title a book like this but no one accept Mark Montano had the balls. He truly is a talented crafter so I guess I can forgive him for being the host of that completely shallow show, 10 Years Younger, and just concentrate on his work on While You Were Out. This book retails for $23.50 in Canada and just $19.95 in the US. It is chock full, about the size of a small phone book, of 150 crafts for the home, gift giving, your mom, or the yard. Some of the projects include:

-Subscription Card Artwork
-Fabric Wall Panels
-Silhouettes
-Luggage Tags
And tons more DIY projects that can be made new or using recycled materials. I LOVE this book. It has practical and simple projects that I really do want to make. And the photographs by Auxy Espinoza are vivid and inspiring.

And this leads me to my tip. There is a very small section of homemade and organic personal care products. One of the recipes is for Olive Oil Body Lotion. I was really excited when I saw this. I don't have dry skin, but it is because I use lotion all over my body every time I shower or bathe, every other day or so in the winter. I buy natural products that are free from chemicals, however, once and awhile when I try a new lotion, it is not the right one for me. I know this when after about a week of using it, my skin is itching because it is too dry. This means, I have an almost new bottle of lotion that I won't be using. Frustrating. Of course, I still hold onto these bottles, because I don't want to waste them. Once and awhile I give one away to someone staying at our house, but they still collect in my bathroom cabinet. Today, I decide to take the two bottles I have now, and to fix them up to see if the addition of Olive Oil would make a difference.

Here is the recipe and the steps from the book:
Olive Oil Body Lotion
by Mark Montano
You Need:
* 1 cup of body lotion (the book says any kind will do, because the lotion is used as a base. I would still recommend using a decent brand, as the cheap brands are not natural and contain harmful chemicals.
* 1/4 cup virgin or extra virgin olive oil
* Plastic or glass container or lotion bottle
* Optional peppermint or lemon oil (I use quality essential oils, since it will be absorbed by my skin)

1) Put lotion, olive oil, and scented oil in your container and shake vigorously.
2) Use all over your body and enjoy!

What could be simpler? I would not suggest using this on your face, especially if you add peppermint oil, but it should be fine on the rest of your body. I LOVE peppermint soap, so I did add peppermint oil to the bottle of unscented lotion I had. The other bottle already smells like grapefruit verbena, so I only added olive oil to it. I will keep you posted on how well this works, although I trust it will, as the people who have really dry skin usually turn to oil to soothe it.

The other body product recipes in this book are:
- Vitamin E Face Scrub
- Lemon Lip Shine
- Lemon Tea Sugar Scrub
- Relaxing Bath Crystals Body Scrub
- Crusty-Foot Balm
- Mark's Special Toothpaste

If you have never made natural body products, nothing could be simpler or more cost effective. I plan to add all of these to my repertoire as I run out of what I am using now. These items all make great gifts that you can dress up in beautiful packaging. How fun!

Special Tea for My Blossoming Belly

I made my own mix of tea yesterday. Raspberry leaf tea is recommended for pregnancy and I was given a recipe for one by my wonderful naturopath, Dr. Samantha Frey, of the Banff Naturopathic Medical Clinic. If you are looking for a naturopath in Banff, you should go to her. If you would like to know more about naturopathic medicine here is more info. Raspberry leaf is a uterine tonic and most of the other ingredients are rich in minerals.




I went to my local health food store to pick up the organic dried herbs I needed. There are several commercial raspberry leaf teas on the market but I wanted to try my hand at mixing my own. Nothing can be simpler than making tea. No cooking involved. You just get the ingredients and mix them together in equal amounts. I poured them all in a stainless steel bowl and mixed with clean hands. I love to do things with my hands when possible, instead of with a spoon. It makes me feel more connected. In the end for about $8 I was able to mix enough tea to overfill a medium sized canister, I believe it is about 110 grams of tea.
The ingredients are:
Raspberry Leaf
Nettles
Oats
Red Clover
Peppermint (some people add this on a cup by cup basis but I love mint tea)
Rosehips (these can be added if you want an immune boost, since they are high in Vitamin C)

Use 1 teaspoon per cup of water. The tea should be steeped for 15-20 minutes minimum, but can be steeped overnight for maximum mineral extraction. This is what I did, because I like strong tea and want to get the maximum benefits of it.

It is recommended by Dr. Frey that pregnant women start to drink this after 16 weeks. I am not sure why, since I have seen it recommended earlier. I am 13 weeks. I tried it, to make sure it is good, but will hold off on drinking it daily for a few more weeks.

Food

Ok, so I am thinking that Sunday night would be the perfect night for me to recount the new recipes, food, restaurants, etc for the week. And if anyone else would like to comment and share that would be great! I would like to talk about food, share pics, recipes, suggestions...

This was an awesome week! While shopping at Nutter's in Canmore, I found tamarindo, something our friend, Mariana, who has moved here from Mexico City had been wanting. She was THRILLED and we brought it home and she made a couple rounds of YUMMY margaritas :) A couple of weeks ago she made lime margaritas using a mix of limeade and lime sherbert. Oh so good!



This may have been the same night I made a black bean enchilada bake. Here is the recipe. I have been craving an enchilada bake since returning back from San Miguel, Mexico, on the 12th. This is a vegetarian recipe. I have been a vegetarian for 21 years, and will get into that more in a later post.

Quinlyn, my daughter, and I make crepes on a regular basis (I lived on them when I was pregnant with her) and we like to try all kinds of toppings and fillings. This week we went with an old favorite, banana walnut, and also tried fresh pineapple with yogurt. We always use real maple syrup. Since moving to western Canada we have a heard time paying 2-3 times more for it than we did in Quebec or Maine. When people come for a visit it is the one thing we ask them to bring. We scored big this week when we had friends from Ottawa who brought us a can AND a 750ml bottle arrived as a late (went to our old address first) Christmas gift (thanks, Shellen!)



I wsa able to get in some baking this week. Banana Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Bread (I took a hammer to the left over holiday chocolate from Bernard Callebaut, MMMMM!), Cranberry Walnut Bread, and my wonderful Ginger Oatmeal Cookies (will include the recipe someday).

Tonight we had Mushroom Fettucini using a recipe that came with our SPUD order this week. If you live in or near Calgary or Vancouver, SPUD (Small Potato Urban Delivery) is an AMAZING company that delivers organic food to your door, or the local health food store if you live in Banff, once a week. Check them out, we LOVE them!