9 APR 2015 :: Introduction - and a recipe!

It looks like I have found the blog title for food issues... it is a constant reminder that we cannot live without food, and we need water to create food, and seeds, and land, and air... 

I don't know how the content of this blog will develop. The issues concerning our food supplies are great, and little people (most of us) don't have the power to change what is happening in government and farming and commerce.  What we can do is to try to grow our own food, as much as possible, and learn how to make it last through the best recipes and preservation techniques.

For many years I have been trying to discover the best ways to preserve different food.  The idea, to me, is to recover the ways it was done before we had electricity for refrigerators and freezers.  Solar power may help to create better food storage that isn't dependent on someone else providing it...or the equipment needed to process food for long-term storage.

I like to collect as many ideas about food creation in urban areas as I can because big cities don't have the land space to grow a lot of food, and when neighborhoods start community gardens on vacant lots, they get lost to future development.  Roof gardening is a great concept, but buildings need to be reinforced for the added weight to the roof activities.  All of these things need to be explored.

GMO practices are taking over our food supplies, which means we need to make sure heirloom varieties don't disappear.  We need to learn how to make and save our own seeds...the smallest containers (or space) needed for different plants...new ways to grow food of all sizes, from herbs to tomatoes to trees.  I don't know how much we can accomplish in the area of GMO food, because a lot of damage has already been done, but we have to try.  The documentary GENETIC ROULETTE is worth watching.  Rodale has always been a leader in organic farming methods.  Permaculture seems to be the current rising force for permanent investments in healthy, organic, food sources.

I hope we can find ways to share our wisdom, but I have to figure out this blogging process on the way to that destination.

I decided to add a recipe that I use in my own kitchen.  Hope you enjoy it, and that I can provide more low-cost recipes in the future.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us



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I don't know how healthy this quick and tasty (in my opinion) dressing recipe is, but it came from my family history. I don't know its origins, but it has been a stand-by for hard times in my kitchen.


HOMEMADE FRENCH DRESSING

Equal parts of white granulated sugar, cider vinegar, oil, and ketchup, with added garlic cloves, and a "marinating" period before use.


That's how I learned it as a child...watching my mother make it.
-----  In my adult life, I have tried it with white vinegar instead of cider vinegar, sliced garlic cloves or garlic salt instead of cloves, and spiced ketchup instead of regular flavor.

I'm not sure what else I might try as I make it in the future, but I do like the cider vinegar, several cloves of sliced garlic that let it fall into a salad as you pour it, and Heinz ketchup (they have a jalapeño flavor of natural ketchup now, which works really good in this recipe).  I use safflower oil now, but have used canola oil in the past, and maybe vegetable oil.

Glass vinegar bottles are really nice for this recipe, but plastic vinegar bottles work fine.  The small size bottle works for 1/2 cup portions of the main ingredients; a full recipe is usually 1 cup of the main ingredients and fits in the large vinegar bottle.  Since the recipe is made with equal parts of sugar, vinegar, oil, and ketchup, you can make any amount you want.

I recently used this dressing for a HEATED pasta salad meal because I needed to sauté some veggies before I added the pasta and canned beans.  It worked out great!  I loved it, and plan to do that again soon.