Using our Herbs!

Wonder

Why are we growing an herb garden in the first place, much less cooking with the herbs we grow? What’s the point? How does cooking with our herbs answer the essential questions of the LULS project?

Growing an herb garden shows that we are taking responsibility and time to care for our herbs. In the end, our gift for that is making an awesome meal with our herbs! If we learn how to be responsible, we won't be so lazy to go out and recycle, save water and other resources. Plus we are eating healthier and organic. We can eat our food without worrying about eating food with pesticides! With all of this said, this answers the essential questions "Why aren't people living sustainably? And how can we convince them to do so?" People don't have the motivation to live sustainability, such as growing their own herbs mostly because they haven't been convinced as to why they should. They don't know that growing food is a benefit

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Process

The plants my group and I grew were cayenne peppers and lemon basil. We regularly watered them until they seemed ready pick. My friend Livy and I wanted to make carne asada tacos so we knew we wanted to work together. Then we added our friend Gabe who wanted to make salsa. All of our recipes needed cilantro, so we knew that was going to be our main herb. The salsa also needed cayenne peppers, but the ones we harvested weren’t ready to be picked yet so we bought some grounded cayenne peppers instead. Unfortunately when we took the cilantro home on Thursday it died after a couple of days since we didn't cook until Monday. So we also had to buy that from the store.

Ingredients for the Guacamole:
















Ingredients for the Carne Asada Tacos:

















Ingredients for the Salsa:


















Here is the "Taylor Gabe and Livy's Cooking Show!"







All in all, this was an amazing project. We all had doubts in our food, since we've never made anything like this before. And in my case, I've never cooked/made anything before without someone helping me 80% of the time. But we were wrong. Everything was delicious! The salsa was our biggest doubt, but it was actually the best one. We still have some salsa left over and have been eating every day since Gabe made it. As for the guacamole, it wasn't as good as the salsa because it was a little sour. As for the carne asada tacos, they were awesome! The carne asada which was marinated in lime, onions and red peppers was amazing. The only problem was the corn tortillas were very thin and bland. But other than that, it was so much fun and tasty. The funniest part was when I started peeling a lemon. I was paying to much attention trying to sound professional in front of the camera that I didn't realize that I was peeling a lemon. I didn't realize I was doing something wrong until I cut off a piece of peeled lemon.

Special thanks to my mom for the carne asada, and the guacamole recipe that she made herself.
For the tacos, I would like to thank Rubios. Rubios sells carne asada street tacos that I adore. I couldn't find their recipe online, but you can easily notice what’s in it if you look at one from Rubios.
And here is the recipe we used for the Salsa: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001776simple_salsa.php

This is I Believe- Colin Powell

Colin Powell- The American I Believe In.

Out of the three essays I read, this one I found very interesting. Colin Powell's parents were immigrants to America and they had a very strong love for our country. Throughout the essay, he speaks his opinion of what is going on in America now. The part that struck me the most was when he mentioned the Brazilian exchange students that went to eat at a fastfood restaurant, but then later realized they couldn't afford it. The manager of the restaurant gave them the food free and told them that he is glad that they are here in America. I loved reading that to see that we are a very giving and caring country.

I chose this one because my Dad is from England and he always told me "You are very lucky to live here. I don't even think you know how lucky you are." I understood what he said, and I did agree that I was lucky, but I never truly got to experience why I was so lucky. From hearing stories from my Dad's life in England and from visiting other countries, I could finally see what my Dad meant. This essay fully displays the benefits we have of living in America.

Amazing Blogs with Amazing Recipes.

Halloween Cake Balls

Like Charlotte, I am a big visual person. I cannot stand reading recipes for how to make something without a picture. I'm very glad that I was introduced to the Pioneer Woman today because hey instructions and recipes are amazing! I took a look at her cakes, and I was saying "awwwww!" after looking at her cute little Halloween Cake Balls. I like how she shows us what cake mix she uses so if people will know which brand to buy. But what really stood out to me were the quality of the pictures. They were nicely focused and at perfect angles. I can literally see the tiny little cake specks on the side of the bowl on on the icing. Though the presentation of the food is important, the quality and the focus of the pictures are very important to make it stand out.
What I also enjoyed was the humor she uses in her instructions. For example, one of the steps said "Then gently (I’m gonna be saying “gently” a lot today, so please don’t be hatin’) lift the cake ball out of the candy with a fork." That made me laugh.

Rhubarb Sorbet

The next website I checked out was Simply Recipes. What I liked about simply recipes, is not only do they provide the ingredients and the methods to make the food, but it provides background knowledge of what you are making. The person who posted the Rhubarb Sorbet Recipe talked about what drew him to the Rhubarb. While reading the post, I couldn't help but to think of our class. He used a lot of descriptive detail and focus. Here is a line from the recipe that stood out to me: "The flavor, so sour when raw that its pucker-inducing taste is only appreciated by a select few, is coerced into something floral and fruity when cooked."


I loved the pictures and humor in Pioneer woman, and I love the focus and detail from Simply Recipes. Now I'm hungry...

3 Recipes.

Carne Asada Street Tacos.
Ingredients:
Pieces Steak cut thinly.
Corn Tortillas.
Cilantro.
Diced Onions.

Guacamole:
1 Lemon/lime
Olive oil (optional)
2 Avacados
Cilantro
Grinded Cayenne Peppers
1 Diced Tomato
Garlic/salt
Lemon Basil

(My mom and I make Guacamole and this is our own recipe with Lemon Basil and the Cayenne Peppers added to it.)

( I thought this one was cool)
Basil Lemon-Limeade:

½ c fresh basil leaves
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2-3 large lemons)
1/2 c freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 large limes)
4 c cold water
1 1/2 c ice
Extra lemon or lime slices for garnish


Lemon Basil Muffins

1 Cup Unbleached Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Milk
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
3 Tablespoons Plum Flavored Baby Food
1/4 Cup Chopped Lemon Basil Leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the bottoms of 12 muffin pans or line with cupcake papers. Make a dry mixture by combining fours, baking power and sugar. Make a wet mixture by combining remaining ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir only until all flour is moistened. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into a muffin. Recipe makes 12 muffins.

Sustainability Visits- Adelaide Central Market

What is your name and your role here at the (farmers market, CSA, community garden)?
My name is Marion Warren and I am a shopper here.

Why do you choose to shop here/garden here/support this CSA?
I choose to come here because the food is a decent price for the great quality it is. Its nice to buy food that is made here in Adelaide and even some exotic food from other nearby countries like Tasmania.

When did you first start coming here?
I can't really remember. My daughter comes here a lot though, almost every Saturday.

Do you garden at home? Why or why not?
Yes I do. I have a pear tree, passion fruit, apples and peacharines (In America, peacharines are nectarines )

How did you find out about this place?
It's very well known. It's in the city and sometimes there are announcements of the central market. We just decided to take a visit down there one day and we found it very interesting.

What would be your advice to get others to do what you do?
Definitely garden your own food, it always tastes better and you can trust that its from your own backyard. As for the central market, I would give advice to buy here because there is a diverse amount of food and other produce. They even sell croc meat here. Plus there is less fat, sugar and other unhealthy ingredients that is sold at Woolworths or Coles (these are the most popular grocery stores in South Australia).
7. Does your daughter garden?
No, she doesn't want to. She doesn't have the time to constantly be taking care of it since shes always out and about.
8. If you didn't garden, would you go to the central market more often?
No, probably not. It's quite a drive to get there and its easier to buy at a grocery store where they have isle signs that say sauses, produce or dairy. The central market doesn't have those, there are just stalls set up everywhere and most people are selling the same thing, so it takes a while to go around the whole place and trying to find the best deal.
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What struck you about the location you visited? Was it what you expected, or very different?
The place was PACKED with people. The place was also underground which was really cool. It also had permanent stalls there which was different compared to most other markets. At first I questioned if it was a farmers market, which it mostly was. Some had locally grown food in Australia but some where grown on farms. So you get the best of both. I was also really surprised that the food at the market was cheaper than the grocery stores. Australia is a really pricey country, but after doing the currency differences with the US and Australia the prices were very close to our grocery stores.

Do you think you will start going to a farmers market more often? Or using a community garden? Or supporting a CSA?
I really want to visit a community garden and see what that's like. The Stein Family farm that Charlotte visited looked like so much fun and I plan on going there when I get a chance (probably summer time). But most importantly I want to buy from Farmers Markets. I personally know the difference in taste between store bought foods and farm grown produce. The food from the farm is so much better, and on the plus side it's healthier.

How do these locations fit into our essential questions of “Why Don’t People Live More Sustainably?” and “How Can I Convince them to do So?”
Well, the problem is that there are not enough farmers markets, community gardens or CSA's. It takes a long time to get to a farmers market (well at least for me since I don't have a local one). People probably chose to go to their local grocery store over a farmers market because of distance and time. We can convince them to limit their amount of trips to the store and take the time that they were going to use to go to the store and garden instead. We can definitely convince people to go to farmers markets and garden if they can taste the difference! This would be a test toward sustainability.