book review: Baking with Agave Nectar

i was recently at a friends house when i saw this great book Baking with Agave Nectar. she's letting me borrow it for the next few days where i have been making baked goodies non-stop.
we personally use agave, and lately many have been asking about canning w/ agave (of which i have no idea), but i was really interested in this book because the holidays are quickly approaching and my mother is diabetic...i would love to have her enjoy something without her blood sugar spiking while eating a "hippy" sugar.the book has a few pages introducing agave and the author's (whole food Chef Ania Catalano), personal experience with the product (and like my mother a diabetic). the end of the book contains a good little glossary and resource section, which honestly for how small the book actually is, Catalano really packs a good amount of info. and with over 100 recipes, Baking with Agave Nectar covers a pretty wide selection: vegan, gluten-free, breakfast goodies, cookies, healthy stuff for kids, pies/tarts, even sorbets and sweet sauces. What i love most is that there are a few recipes for crusts! so far i have made a few things- and i like them! that alone makes it well worth the price, especially if you are looking for ways to kick the sugar habit.

here is one recipe from the book:

ORANGE PECAN GRANOLA (vegan)
from, Baking with Agave Nectar by Ania Catalano

• 1c. oat bran, 1 c flax seed meal, 1c almond meal
  
• 1/4 c sesame seeds
• 1 3/4 c unsweetend applesauce
• 1c light agave
• 1 tbsp vanilla, 1 tbsp orange extract
• 2 1/2 tbsp cinn
• 1 tsp fresh nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4c canola oil
• 1 cup currant/raisins (or cranberries)
• 1 1/2c pecans (or something else!)

heat oven to 300. combine all ingredients except nuts. after add nuts and spread on a baking sheet (w/ oil). bake until slightly golden/1 hr, stir occasionally. remove from oven, add raisins and let cool. lasts 2 months.
PS: there is also a recipe for agave margaritas!-YUM more on that later!
and just in case you were interested in how agave is harvested, see below!

TV for the small business

i can't tell you enough how happy i am now that we have cable TV. i went for several years with only rabbit ears and old DVDs, but when you are running a small business, the television is a great sign of relief and relaxation...
funny enough however i have been completely entranced by shows whose premise have to do with the thing that i am trying to get away from-work.
lately, there have been a number of shows helping out the everyday small business, most are a little dramatic (you need the drama to keep viewers i guess), but i think they give certain perspectives, problems, solutions and ideas.

Mary Queen of Shops: is show is the newest of the crop, i have only seen a few episodes (i think that is all there have been!), BBC markets Mary as a Gordon Ramsay of the fashion industry, but as you will see below, i think otherwise. This show should be the one that most engages me, as Mary deals with retail stores, however it is only clothes and i sell more than that. The show is great however for merchandising and retail marketing ideas.

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: yes my favorite of the bunch-i don't know what it is about him, but i am into Ramsay. i think a big part of it has to do with his show where he visits struggling restaurants and sets out to inspire owners, staff and especially chefs. Ramsay also has clever marketing campaigns for some places and he has an eye for young people with talent.

Tabatha's Salon Takeover: Tabatha, a runner up on Shear Genius (think Top Chef for hair) will be on her 2nd season of this Bravo show that follower her 1 week hostage of a salon in dire straights. Tabatha is the closest thing to Ramsay as far as attitude, passion and energy...this woman is a drill sergeant! This show is pretty entertaining because the people usually in the salons seem to be the most dramatic and hilarious of the bunch (crying, yelling, and queens having a hard time getting off their throne). i can't wait until Nov 3rd when this show starts up again!

The Hotel Inspector: again another BBC import, this show follows Hotelier and Author Ruth Watson as she helps failing British bed and breakfasts . Not as "dramatic" as the other shows, Hotel Inspector has more of a proper English flavor and it moves at a slower pace as hotel makeovers take the course of months, not days. I still really enjoy this show however, even though i am not in the industry-i feel like i am learning something about my own business (and perhaps feeding my desire to one day own a small b&b).

master food preserver-week3

week 3 started out a little bit different from the prior weeks as we decided to venture out of going directly to class and instead ventured out to partake in the culinary delights that are San Bernadino.
leaving an hour earlier than normal, we traveled a few miles to one of two recommended Mexican restaurants (literally across the street from each other). weather (and the wanting of a cold Negra Modelo) lead our clan to Lucy's, a quaint, old-school establishment that had yet to see the modernist, hipster evolution that is quite the attraction in Orange County (which there are several that i LOVE). this was immediately apparent in the interior: reminiscent of a local late-night haunt w/ simplistic lighting, vinyl booths and plain decor. Lucy's is not really concerned with the "look" but rather serving you up with some damn-good cheese-covered, diet-is-over, yumminess that took your mind off the wall and kept it focused on the plate-the way it should be. we scarfed down fish tacos, nachos, and a curious but super yummy dish-the New Mexico Enchilada (which i guess is not really common in these parts), and yes some Negra Modelos.

(exhibit A: New Mexico Enchiladas)

simply put, Lucy's may be a little off the beaten path, but a breath of fresh air amongst the chains that seem to saturate San Bern.

which leads us (happily) to our 3rd week in MFP...and to another session of canning via steam/water bath. to make this clearer, there are 2 distinct methods of canning: water/steam bath or pressure canning. the 2 methods are distinguished by the pH (or acidity) of the particular food being preserved and SHOULD not be intermixed-this is a big-time no-no for any kind of preservation (unless you like getting incredibly ill).
last week, we focused our work creating jams (and jellys, conserves, butters) or items that have a high pH and the use of pectin, sugar and heat to preserve. because the fruit (some) has a high acid content, the combination of sugar and pectin allow a lower heat to be used and thus you can use a steam/water bath method. the "transition point" (my wordage), in whether to change methods (to pressure & higher temp) is determined by whether the product is above or below a pH of 4.6.
under 4.6 (acidic)=water/steam bath (lower processing temp)
over 4.6 (more alkaline)= pressure canner (higher processing temp)
now what do you do when something is 4.6 or 4.8??? well, as we learned from making stirred tomatoes, by adding lemon juice or vinegar helps bring the pH down. make sure you use pH paper to make sure of this.
i have to say, i was really excited about learning to work with tomatoes. from soup bases to pasta sauce, savory gifts...basically everyone eats tomatoes!

(ernest: prepping the tomatoes for blanching and other ingredients)

(testing the pH of the tomatoes-has to be lower than 4.6!)

(this week's snacks: preserved cherries and apple cobbler!)

again, i was hanging out at the snack area a ton-hey the apple cobbler was super good! i also had to gain a keen understanding of the complex flavors of the apple-pie filling that we were about to make...never stop learning!

(instructor Connie)

if you haven't had the chance to have homemade pie filling-WOW, you will never go back to that store-bought crap again. if you can do this, start making it now and you will have a great holiday gift.
the only problem with this class is that there seems to be a a little problem with planning the activities of the class: things always seem to be running behind a little and if it wasn't for Ernest bringing his bag of tricks, we would have been left peeling 30 apples by hand! even though we had the peeler, we were just getting the apples to process right around 9pm (when the class ends).

(the apples that would not be- RIP)

PS: we had to leave before the apples were finished processing, but we heard latter that when the apples came out of the steam bath, they exploded after the rings were taken off (rings are the "screw-top" part of the jar. there was apple-sugar mess everywhere and after waiting an extra 30 minutes, the class had to clean up a mess instead of take yummy apples home :(

review-Natural Products Expo West

i love March.
the first warm days of Spring, slightly warmer evenings, i start seeing berries in our CSA basket and best of all: Natural Products Expo West that happened over the past weekend.

(just the beginning: take a taxi or have some one drop you off)

this convention is the biggest (at least on the west coast) natural event this part of the country and i am always so very thankful that they choose to have this great event at the Anaheim Convention Center, literally 2 exits on the freeway away from the store, it doesn't get any better than that!

the economy and Expo West:
i have to admit, i was a little worried about the attendance numbers with the economy. my fears were quickly relieved though as there was absolutely NO parking by the time i arrived (about 30 min after the show started), just like always. personally i think the natural/green business is going to get a boost from the recession as people are really paying attention to where their money goes (on quality/health) as well as a distrust of big biz/imports (which i have to say was still present). single biggest thing that i noticed, or rather overheard were conversations where people mentioned that they were, "previously in mortgage/real estate/some other biz" but had recently starting doing something new. what i liked even more: a lot of these people were very happy about where they were working now.
Expo West is not cheap, and it's mad popular hence the place is usually at max capacity. what i happened to notice this year was there were several booths simply left empty, not a ton but enough no-shows to notice. paying for the booth is one thing, but if you factor in filling the booth, display items, staff, staff travel accommodations, rentals...well you have a lot of money going to the event.
vendors and such:
love going to this convention and overall, i would recommend trying/bribing/begging to get into this event, especially if you like to shop at Mother's Market, Henry's, Whole Paycheck etc...there are a number of great products and Expo West is the place where new products get introduced, manufactures present new items that will be released soon and where you the customer can simply TRY items without wasting $ on a game of, "well it looks good on the package".
i know i said this last year and i will say it again: there are some pretty obvious green/natural-washing examples here. A lot of the "big names" present at Expo West; you know, the people that take up the center, high priced areas of the convention floor...i started seeing this last year, and this year was no exception (hint: these are the names you have heard about forever, regular brand names). if you dont know already, many of the organic brands that we have come familiar with have actually been bought by conventional major food conglomerates (MORE on this to come). i heard later from a customer that Cargill (no es bueno) was even there-yikes!
i also noticed that there were no clear sections for "organics" vs. non-organics, making it confusing to those who are not paying attention.

(i dont know what he was doing, but he was having a great time!)

overall:

i love this show, yes there are things that need to changed (like clearly separating things like organics, fair trade, etc...) but i really like how Anaheim Convention Center is trying to walk the walk: use of biocompostables, good recycling, better food choices than most convention centers. again, this show is a must at least once if you can get in.
favorites:
because of my time constraints, i was not able to see the whole show, which totally sucked. but from what i did experience:
- Dalby Day skin oils. she was wonderful and SUPER nice!
-Togo Ware. they are coming out with some new goodies that we will be getting in very soon, LOVE them.
- soyrizo! LOVE it, COOK it...and they are coming out with a spicier version! plus they were cooking up some awesome tacos and had their full line available.

(this is one of 3 stations w/ soyrizo goodness!)

-Pirates Booty their booth rocked and they seemed like they were having a great time (see below)...lots of awesome new samples. good for one of the bigger guys (i am trying to find out ifthey are owned by some BIGGER guy).

(the lady pirate was an awesome sport!)

-Alter-Eco. LOVE them!! fair trade dried goods, totally yummy and they are coming out with some black quinoa (they also have red-very good). see them here soon.
-Juniper Ridge. LOVE these guys, they have the best display by far and the people that make up this great company are sincerely the most awesome and reflective of the products they make..LOVE-i just wish we sold them here!!

(need to get these mason jar drink dispensers-ASAP!)

(fair trade & organic at the push of a button!)

grossest moment:

i ate a cheese sample using a toothpick from the dirty container! by accident of course!

i will be sure to post some tips on doing Expo West in the next week on how to gear up, navigate the show and know what is what-stay tuned!