Our August Potluck Dinner Meeting: Baking Gluten & Grain Free Fun Food with Suzanne Peters

by Aaron Zober

Our potluck dinner for the month of August focused on gluten and grain free fun desserts. As people are becoming more aware of Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity plus of the hybridization of modern wheat, there's a growing interest in learning how to bake gluten free foods. Additionally, gluten and grain free dishes are also GAPS, paleo, and primal friendly.  Suzanne Peters teaches classes about how to make gluten free treats. She shared her knowledge with the Weston A. Price Pasadena Chapter this month by showing us a demo at the Nature Friends Clubhouse. 

As always, the meeting began with the potluck dinner. Many people followed the theme by bringing their own gluten free dishes, such as hamburger patties sans buns, spaghetti squash, and frozen grapes. Therese Cardinali, who also has knack for gluten free baking, brought in some delicious lemon squares based on a recipe from The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook, but used coconut oil where the recipe called for grapseed oil and added organic low-glycemic coconut nectar instead of agave.  Also, Suzanne brought in some of the coconut flour muffins she'd later show a demo on for us taste.  She had both the sweet vanilla and the savory muffins made with homemade chicken broth, green onion, and garlic.   

After the dinner outside in the nice August weather, people gathered inside to watch Suzanne as she explained the secrets to baking the best tasting gluten and grain free desserts. Before getting into the demo, Suzanne gave us a little background about how she's been living a gluten free lifestyle and has become grain free as well more recently.  She read a piece from the Wheat Belly Cookbook about the problems the gluten from modern wheat is causing due to its hybridization.  Questions arose as to why wheat became hybridized. Suzanne explained that this was so the crops could grower fast and the farmers would have more yield.  It also made the wheat easier to rise for baking purposes.

Suzanne handed out a recipe on how to bake the vanilla muffins and began to show us the process she goes through. She had all of the ingredients and baking equipment laid out on the table.  Another important thing she emphasized is that every type of flour has different requirements on how to bake it.  The muffins she was making used coconut flour.  If she were baking ones with almond flour, the instructions would vary in terms of what and how much ingredients would need to be used.  

Suzanne said one of the keys to baking the vanilla muffins was to use six eggs, which are more eggs than are typically used for muffins. Along with the eggs, vanilla extract and either honey or money syrup are added.  Suzanne used honey, so the the muffins could be GAPS friendly.  

For oil, palm shortening, butter, or coconut oil can be used.  In the demo, Suzanne brought in palm shortening.  Many people weren't aware that the Spectrum palm shortening she was using is available at most Whole Foods Markets.  Palm oil, due its controversy, is often hard to find.  Others that had seen the product in stores were confused, because it says vegetable shortening on the container, leading them to believe it's made from genetically modified canola, soy, or corn.  But the product consists of 100% palm oil.  

After Suzanne mixed all the ingredients together, she then poured them into the baking cups.  She passed around the baking to emphasize the importance of using ones that are toxin free.  The cups she had were from If You Care and were unbleached and chlorine free.  She also showed the mold that the cups were placed in.  Suzanne used a aluminum mold and explained that aluminum is okay in this case, because the batter doesn't touch the aluminum as its protected by the cups that they're poured into.  

One final thing that Suzanne talked about when it comes to baking gluten and grain free muffins is how much batter to pour into the cups.  If you want to have muffins tops, then you need to pour the batter close to the top of the baking cup.  If you don't want the tops, then you can pour less batter into the cups, leaving some space in them.  

Many thanks to Suzanne for sharing with us the key to make great tasting gluten and grain free desserts.  As there's more demand for gluten and grain free products, it's an invaluable gift to not only to know how bake them, but how to bake them right. 

For those more interested in learning about grain free baking, Suzanne is offering a two part class.  The course will be held on Thursday September 19, 2013 from 7-9:15 PM a the Unity of Pasadena, located at 3053 Del Mar Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91107.  The cost is $35.00 ($10 of which goes to the cost of the materials).  Plus, you'll get to take home bread, cookies, and muffin recipes, a resource sheet for where to find the ingredients, and a small box of gluten free, grain free, sugar free sweat treats.  

Everyone that attended the potluck had great pleasure in seeing Suzanne give her gluten free baking demo.  

Have a great September and join us again on September 26th as we have another movie night. This time we'll be watching the documentary $tatin Nation, which explores the lies told about cholesterol and the dangers of the drug that have created a multi-billion dollar industry.

For a preview of what the documentary is about and what inspired director Justin Smith to make the film, listen to his interview on the Appropriate Omnivore podcast, which will be released on September 9 on the podcast page, iTunes, and Stitcher.  

Your Chapter Co-Leader, 

Aaron

Our July Potluck Dinner Meeting: Backyard Chickens and Primal Pastures - How Supporting Grass-based Farms can Save the Earth!

by Karen Voelkening-Behegan

On Tuesday night we welcomed some new faces along with our speaker Paul Greive, his wife, 6-month old son, and business partner, Rob McDaniel.  For our potluck dinner, Paul brought two dishes made with chickens from Primal Pastures. The rave reviews on Paul's tender, flavorful, smoked Cajun chipotle chicken made me wish I hadn't been at the end of the line!  We also enjoyed some pan-seared wild salmon, homemade salads, and a couple cold soups made with garden-fresh produce.

Our Potluck Dinner at Nature Friends Lodge in Sierra Madre

After a pleasant meal under the trees on the patio, we headed upstairs for a presentation by Paul and Rob.  The first half of their presentation was devoted to illustrating just how simple and economical it is to raise chickens in your own backyard.  We were shown slides of many styles of chicken coops, all designed to provide protection from the ground predators so common here in Southern California.  Both bobcats and coyotes are known for their massive killing sprees with the majority of their plunder being left uneaten. To address this problem, you can easily purchase or construct an inexpensive lightweight enclosure containing a coop and some open ground for the chickens to walk around in. 

Once the structure is in place, Paul and Rob advised us to let the chickens eat grass, bugs, and some occasional organic GMO-free feed as needed.  In keeping with the natural order of things, it's best to scatter any supplemental feed on the ground so the chickens don't wait by any trough to be fed.  Better to let them live out their omnivorous lives scratching at the earth and foraging for food as they were meant to do.

It’s important to make sure your coop and enclosure are lightweight for easy maneuvering around the yard.  Whenever your chickens need fresh ground, just move the enclosure over and give the old patch a chance to rest and regenerate.  This will keep the chickens on a fresh diet, provide fertilizer for your yard, and keep the whole operation odor-free.

Slide of a 1918 Poster from the USDA

Every night your chickens will return to their roost for nesting, resting, and laying their eggs!  You’ll get an average of one egg per chicken every other day for about 3 years, fewer in the winter and more in the summer.  But don’t worry about the non-stop egg production.  If you don't eat any eggs one week, you can always share your bounty with your neighbors.  They’ll just love your flavorful homegrown eggs with the dark yellow yolks! 

Finally, after decades of decline, backyard chickens are once again on the rise.  A century ago, they were commonplace, as shown in one of my favorite slides:  a poster from the USDA in 1918 stating that it was everyone's patriotic duty to raise their own chickens, two hens per person in every household!  In fact during times of war it was considered a matter of national security.  Personally I think that still holds true today.  The more diverse and less centralized our food system, the safer, healthier, and more secure we’ll all be.  And how hard could raising chickens be?  If everyone owned chickens at one time, it couldn’t be that difficult.  Paul says, “It's easier to raise chickens than own a dog!”

Chickens at Primal Pastures

If you’d like to start raising your own backyard chickens, find out the rules about chicken ownership where you live.  Paul and Rob also suggested checking out the website http://www.backyardchickens.com/, or just give them a call to set up a consultation.

During the second half of their presentation, Paul and Rob discussed the evolution of their farm from a dry, desolate, non-productive wasteland to plush green pasture in just 75 days. What made the difference was adding a flock of sheep and temporarily feeding them hay until the pasture regenerated.  The action of the hooves on the ground pressing in the manure, adding moisture, and working the soil brought new life to the land.  In less than 3 months, the grounds had recovered enough to support all the sheep.  The before-and-after slide slides contrasting the stark brown plots of dirt with the bright green productive fields showed a truly awesome transformation. 

View of Primal Pastures with
A Link to their Presentation

Some believe that Southern California might not be an ideal environment for raising pastured animals.  But Paul believes just the contrary:  “Take any marginal land in Southern California and farm it appropriately and sustainably, and you’ll have year-round productivity!”  Unlike other farms where productivity slows when animals spend winters in barns, here in Southern California, with proper care, our animals can lead happy, healthy, and productive lives all year round. 

Now that the chickens and sheep have done their work, Primal Pastures will soon add some turkeys and ducks to the mix.  It is Paul's and Rob's goal to diversify their farm as much as possible, with the aim of becoming completely self-sustaining.  Like the famous Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, Paul and Rob consider themselves grass farmers first.  The whole idea is to use the animals to create healthy grasslands via holistic management and natural intensive rotational grazing.

Primal Pastures Before and After

Primal Pastures has only been in business for 14 months, and already they’re a big success.  They follow the model of Polyface Farm, and use the same principles of holistic grassland management as taught globally by Allan Savory of the Savory Institute.  Paul's and Rob's farm also reminded me of a farm I visited in Texas late last year after the 2012 Wise Traditions Conference, the only farm in a drought-ridden farming community with productive green pastures.  The contrast between that farm and the surrounding ones was striking, and the message was the same:  To survive the drought, simply use traditional time-honored methods of natural grazing without adding any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics, or any other manmade chemicals!  The neighbors who once laughed at that rogue Texas farmer were now eager to learn his secrets, the same “secrets” shared by the owners of Primal Pastures.

Watching Paul’s and Rob’s slide show with images of fresh green pasture in the heat of the dry Southern California summer made me wonder why so many people believe that they're saving the Earth by not eating meat.  But the truth is, undergrazing is equally if not more detrimental to the Earth than overgrazing!  If it weren’t for those animals, our semi-arid grasslands would all be barren!  According to the Savory Institute, the monumental problem of ever-increasing worldwide desertification, starvation, and climate change is primarily due to the disappearance of large herds of grazing animals and the grasslands they nurture.

Sheep at Primal Pastures

In any case, I completely understand boycotting factory-farmed meat, but most people don’t realize that there’s another option.   Eating grass-fed meat is not only healthy and humane, but also helps lower our carbon footprint.  Animals grazing on grasslands sink carbon back into the earth where it belongs!  Grass needs carbon to grow, and any grass that’s being intensively grazed and regenerated on a regular basis will do plenty of growing and regrowing, week after week, month after month, year after year.  Active grasslands are said to use even more carbon per acre per year than mature forests!  Some even calculate that if everyone supported grass-based farming, we could completely reverse global warming within 10 years.

So if you really want to save the Earth with your food choices, then don’t just stop buying meat from factory farms, start funding their competition by supporting local grass-based farms; and seriously think twice about consuming the petroleum-based monoculture and often GMO crops of wheat, corn, and soy that feed all those poor factory-farmed animals and add carbon to the atmosphere.  You will be doing yourself, the animals, your local economy, and the earth a favor!

Paul Greive & Rob McDaniel
of Primal Pastures

Many thanks to both Paul & Rob for an inspiring presentation!  Primal Pastures is currently offering tours, consultations, and even classes on how to process chickens.  It's a skill that's highly encouraged for all those who care to stop depending on industrial agriculture.  After such a great presentation, I for one am very backyard-chicken curious!  

If you'd like to try some of the meats produced at Primal Pastures, they now deliver to Pasadena once a month.  Their inventory is always changing, so don’t forget check their farm shop regularly, and put their delivery dates on your calendar.

Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting our local farmers!  Now go out and Save the Earth: Eat grass-fed meat!

Your Chapter Leader, Karen

July 2013

References: 

An Inconvenient Cow by Matthew J. Rales

Cows Save the Planet by Judith D. Schwartz

Sally Fallon’s Review of Cows Save the Planet

The Savory Institute

How to Green the World’s Deserts and Reverse Climate Change, 2013 Ted Talk by Allan Savory

Our June 2013 Potluck Dinner Meeting - An Introduction to Kombucha with The Kombucha Mama, Hannah Crum

by Karen Voelkening-Behegan

It was nice meeting everyone after a hot summer day under the cool green canopy of the patio at Nature Friends Lodge in Sierra Madre.  We had a relaxing dinner at dusk with about 15 people attending.  As our group gets more and more knowledgeable about traditional foods, the meals just seem to keep getting better and better.  The day after our monthly potluck dinner meetings, I always feel my best and most energetic!   You just can't beat the variety and quality of the fresh, organic, pastured, nutrient-dense and homemade foods that everyone brings!

Last night, feeling good started right with dinner.  Our guest for the evening was Hannah Crum aka The Kombucha Mama and founder of Kombucha Kamp who brought us some refreshing and delicious samples of kombucha to accompany our meal.  I had the blueberry, lavender, and rose flavored "Love Potion" which was smooth, fruity, refreshing and not too sweet.  Best of all, it made me feel great and was good for me too!

After dinner and announcements, Hannah went right to her presentation.  We learned about the history of kombucha, which many have yet to agree on.  Did it start in China or Korea or Japan?  Did Genghis Khan drink it?  How did it spread across Eurasia?   Hannah believes that a Chinese origin is likely since the brew requires actual tea which originated in China.  One of Hannah's dream is to do an anthropological study of the origins, uses, and spread of kombucha across the globe.

For those who don't know what kombucha is, Hannah explained that it is a fermented sweet tea, produced by a culture created with a SCOBY, which stands for "Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast," and traditionally used as both a beverage and a health elixir.  The discussion then turned to the concept of consuming bacteria- and yeast-infused foods and the Human Microbiome Project.  As we're finding out more and more about our microscopic co-inhabitants (who live in and on our every surface of our bodies!), it is now known that we co-evolved in a symbiotic relationship with our flora.  In fact we not only can't live without them, but we have more microflora in our bodies than our own cells!  Our personal micro-biomes are as individual as our fingerprints and have a huge influence on our health, our moods, and even our personalities!  Replenishing our healthy micro-flora populations on a regular basis is key to not only great health but a great life.  As Hannah pointed out, some of the healthiest and longest lived peoples in the world consume lots of cultured foods, kombucha being one of them.  Hannah even mentioned a study showing that throughout human history, our most creative and inventive periods have always coincided with the times when we consumed the most fermented foods, thereby keeping our systems and societies functioning at peak level!

From there the discussion turned to a Question and Answer session covering topics ranging from how to make kombucha, the best temperature for brewing your "booch," how to experiment with different flavors, kombucha's use as a tool to ween from coffee or alcohol, the book Hannah is writing, new products Hannah and her husband are inventing to facilitate the brewing process, and much more.  We discussed topics as diverse as SCOBY hotels, the use of the SCOBY as a bandage to aid in the healing of wounds, and the many uses of old SCOBY mothers and the plentiful babies they produce.  We even tried one of Hannah's sweet and sour homemade fruit roll-ups formed out of fresh fruit and an old SCOBY.  Delicious!  In addition, Hannah showed us some SCOBY soap prepared by a friend of hers in Oregon, for which The Kombucha Mama is the sole distributor.  SCOBYs have so many purposes, they've even been dehydrated into leather and used to make clothing.  

The Kombucha Mama is truly an Ambassador for Kombucha, as she calls herself, and is on a mission to educate people about its many tasty, healthful, and versatile uses.   And apparently the word is spreading.  In some establishments, you can even order kombucha cocktails.  Imagine having a delicious health elixir mixed in with your martini!  

Thank you, Hannah for an inspiring presentation, and best wishes on your mission to spread the word about this delicious and health-giving beverage.  For more information about kombucha and the many related products and lessons Hannah offers, see the Kombucha Kamp website or contact Hannah.

Thanks to my new co-leader Aaron Zober for inviting Hannah to speak at our meeting, and thanks to all those who attended and shared in the potluck.  If you missed this meeting but would like to join us in the future, please check out our Meeting Schedule.  Summer is a great time to participate as we sit outside enjoying the cool summer evenings on the beautiful patio under the trees in the canyon.  Next month our special guest will be Paul Grieves of Primal Pastures talking about Backyard Chickens!

Have a great month of July, and we'll see you on the 30th!

~ Your Chapter Leader,  Karen

Our May 2013 Potluck Dinner Meeting - Intro to our Chapter & the Work of Dr. Weston A. Price

by Karen Voelkening-Behegan

Our May potluck dinner meeting included plenty of homemade entrées and side dishes, all made from organic or home-grown ingredients.  With over 20 in the crowd and about 6 "newbies" among us, we introduced ourselves over dinner and told how we found the Weston A. Price Foundation.  Common threads were our health concerns and everyone's improvements since adopting a traditional diet.  After a friendly and relaxed dinner on the patio under a canopy of trees, we moved upstairs for a slide show presented by fellow member, Sam Cooper.

Our Speaker for the Evening, Sam Cooper, the Urban Forager

Sam gave a lively presentation based on Sally Fallon's introduction to traditional diets and the work of Weston A. Price. Incorporating his own experiences, he did a great job condensing Sally's all-day talk to 1.5 hours, presenting with both passion and humor.  It was a perfect night for beginners to get an introduction to nutritional and health aspects of selecting and preparing food in a traditional manner.  Favorite topics included healthy fats, fat-soluble vitamins, sprouted nuts, seeds, and grains, raw and fermented foods, grass-fed and wild meats complete with organ meats, and plenty of pastured dairy, both raw and cultured.   We also reflected on the damages to our health caused by the highly processed and denatured Standard American Diet (SAD) with nutrient-poor foods, chemical additives, and improper preparation techniques.  Sam's personal experiences also highlighted the dangers of MSG, and how he was able to achieve a much healthier weight after he dropped processed foods and adopted traditional ones.  Sam's take-home message:  Don't be a food evangelist, just shoot for a ratio of 80 percent to 20 percent traditional foods to nontraditional foods, and you'll see a huge improvement to your overall health!

Thank you, Sam, for taking ownership of Sally's presentation and bringing to life the valuable messages of Weston A. Price.  As one inspired participant put it, "I like real good food that's good and real!"  

Best wishes to Sam as he moves back to Arkansas with plans to start another chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation.  With his experience, enthusiasm, and great presentation, he's sure to be an excellent leader.

Don't forget to mark your calendar for our next potluck dinner meeting on Thursday June 27th, when we'll learn all about Kombucha with Kombucha Mamma, Hannah Crum.

~ Your Chapter Leader, Karen

Recap of April 2013 Potluck Dinner Meeting - Our 3rd Anniversary, Our New Chapter Co-Leader, & American Meat

Theresa Cardinali & Karen Voelkening-Behegan showing off
Terry's 3rd Anniversary cake for the Pasadena Chapter of the
Weston A. Price Foundation. 

With 15-20 people in attendance, we all enjoyed another tasty meal in true potluck style.  This time the selections comprised mostly cold foods including a variety of salads, some sauerkraut, raw cheeses and meats, and some fresh fruit.  The one warm exception was a flavorful mixed grass-fed meat stew prepared by Aaron Zober in the spirit of our film of the evening, American Meat.  For dessert, upon special request, Theresa Cardinali prepared a moist and raw honey-sweetened gluten-free carrot cake to celebrate the 3^rd anniversary of our 1^st chapter meeting on Earth Day 2010.   Thanks, Terry for another great dessert!

Aaron Zober, new Co-Leader of the
Pasadena CA Chapter of the
Weston A. Price Foundation

To further recognize our 3^rd anniversary and the steady growth of our chapter over the last 3 years, I also announced that our chapter will be welcoming a new Co-leader, blogger and host of the Appropriate Omnivore weekly internet radio show, Aaron Zober.  Aaron will be a wonderful addition to our chapter leadership, as he is very devoted to our cause, hard-working, and well-connected with many folks in the Real Food community.

Welcome aboard, Aaron, and congratulations on becoming our chapter’s first Co-leader!  We will post more about Aaron and his work with our chapter in the months to come!

Finally after a relaxed and friendly dinner hour, the group convened to the community room upstairs for the film, American Meat.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it for its compassionate message of hope.  Unlike many films full of doom and gloom about the woes of conventional farming and the dangers of the Standard American Diet (SAD), this film provides thoughtful interviews of farmers on both sides of the fence!  It explains the simple economic truths of both conventional and traditional/sustainable farming models, and offers a very inspiring message:  Positive change is underway, and we can continue to move forward towards a better future simply by encouraging more young people to take up traditional farming.  The whole idea is to re-establish a nationwide system of community-based sustainable agriculture.  For more on the film, please see the trailer.

Thanks to all who attended our Third Anniversary meeting!

We hope to see you at our next chapter meeting, and don’t forget to attend the upcoming March against Monsanto happening in locations all around the world on May 25^th 2013.  Let’s keep Real Food alive!

Your Chapter Leader,

~ Karen