Grow Indie Test Kitchen: The Soyabella
The Soyabella and Fresh Hemp Milk
After that whole carrageenan scare about store bought soymilk, I decided to take matters into my own hands and start making milks at home. Crazy you say? No, it’s actually really easy (and saves a ton of money).
Enter the Soyabella—it effortlessly makes soymilk, raw nutmilks, soups, grinds spices, and even makes tofu. (Yes tofu!). It’s quite a powerhouse actually, and has been put through the ringer at the Grow Indie Test Kitchen, and hasn’t let us down once.
I first intended to just make soymilk, but the Soyabella makes it really easy to make raw nutmilks, so we gave those a try and were amazed (it’s kind of magical).
Check out our video to see the Soyabella in action:
There are two types of milks you can make—soy or all the rest. For soymilk, the Soyabella actually cooks the beans, and then grinds them (taking a total of 15 minutes). For raw nut milks, you simply soak the nuts overnight, put them in the Soyabella, and grind them up (this is pretty instant). I’ve even made Hemp milk without pre-soaking and they work just fine. The Soyabella’s filter makes a really smooth milk, so you get much better results than just, say, using a blender. You can also make a thicker milk by adding less water, and vice versa, depending on what you like. Then, just add vanilla extract, stevia, cacao powder, maple syrup, or nothing at all, and store in the fridge.
Tip: You can use the leftover almond pulp to make these tasty chocolate truffles. Leftover soy bean pulp can be thrown into veggie burgers. Nothing goes to waste with the Soyabella.
Cost: The Soyabella Soymilk Maker with Tofu Kit costs about $125, including shipping, and can easily pay for itself the first year.
I did the math, and you can have fresh organic soymilk for about .75 cents a liter, and fresh hemp and almond milk for about $1. Oh yeah, and you actually know exactly what’s going into your food, you can’t really put price on that.
Benefits: Making your own milk is also so much better for the environment, since there are no transport fuels or containers to throw away. That stuff really adds up over a year if you think about how much you drink every week.
Deal:
Use the code Grow Indie and receive a free One Pot Wonder recipe book by Elysa Markowitz with the purchase of a Soyabella Deluxe Soymilk Maker with Tofu Kit and Lid (model SB-132). Just add the book to your cart and use the code to get it for free through March 31, 2010.
Add comment February 7, 2010
Growing Your Own Cat Grass
It’s really easy to grow your own cat greens on a sunny windowsill, anytime of year. Not only do they grow super fast, but it’s just the bit of green you need to brighten up a bleak January. And, it’s so much nicer to grow your own, so you know for certain they are organic and pesticide-free.
Renee’s Garden Seeds makes a seed pack of Mixed Gourmet Greens for Cats, which features a great blend of organic rye, oats, barley and wheat grass that’s perfect for cats (and will prevent them from attacking your houseplants). So, I gave it a go and put them in a nice sunny window. They grew voraciously (i mean, like, Jack-and-the-Bean-Stalk speed once they sprouted) and within weeks I had bright green shoots that were so welcomed with all of our Zone 6 dormancy.
The packet made a lot of greens, so I was brought a few pots around to friends houses to liven up their winter after our last snowy day. My friend Marilyn’s cat Kato (the king of cats), pictured above, loved chowing down on his fresh pot of greens.
Although carnivores by nature, cats crave fresh greens to keep their digestion in check, which is why some tend to go after houseplants. It’s now been about three weeks since our cat greens sprouted and and they are still growing strong (despite a few mowings). It’s amazing how fast they grow. Kids will love watching it too, since it’s pretty magical in the dead of winter. I like to put mine in fun planters, and put them around the house.
Happy planting!
2 comments January 31, 2010
Beware of Carrageenan
As a vegetarian and all-around nice person to animals, I used to buy alot of soymilk, specifically Silk, thinking I was being pretty healthy. It’s organic, it tastes good, they make that tasty eggnog version at christmas, but I was recently enlightened about a very dangerous additive found in most store bought soymilks—carrageenan.
A natural food additive derived from seaweed, carrageenan is a proven carcinogen and has been found to cause all sorts of digestive problems for people, and was shown to cause intestinal lesions in animals (which we are). Turns out, carrageenan is a cheap additive that big companies are using to save costs, and putting us at risk. It’s found in many things too, not just soymilk, so check your labels. You’ll find it in ice cream, chocolate milks like Nesquik, diet sodas, yogurt, cottage cheese, even beer. Oh, and carrageenan is even used to de-ice airplanes. YUM.
Here’s a link to the full study. And, here’s an excerpt:
Wakabayashi and associates (72) demonstrated the appearance of colonic tumors in 32% of rats fed 10% degraded carrageenan in the diet for less than 24 months. The lesions included squamous cell carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, and adenomas. With exposure to 5% degraded carrageenan in drinking water, there was a 100% incidence of colonic metaplasia after 15 months.
100 percent— That’s 10 in 10, people. I’m not experimenting with that. On the positive side, I’ve learned that it’s actually really easy to make your own soy and nut milks at home, and a lot cheaper too. Stay tuned for more on that. In the meantime, check labels and if you need to buy soy/rice/nut milks, choose one that’s carrageenan free, like West Soy.
3 comments January 9, 2010
Storing Apples Over Winter
By the time I already heard it was almost too late—County Line Orchard, with some of the best locally grown, organic apples around, was having their annual one day, stock-up-for-winter sale. It was very hush-hush and unadvertised, and I was lucky enough to hear from my friend and homesteader Lala, who warned to get their early because all the locavores line up. The impending snowstorm had other plans, but while most of the Northeast was frantically running to the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk, we headed to Kempton, PA to stock up on bushels of organic, local apples to store. No apples from Ecuador for us this winter! And, think of the transportation emissions and carbon we were saving by buying local. And they were organic! It really didn’t get much better.
With proper storage, apples will keep all winter, and here’s a really easy way to do it.
Step 1: Get a Box and Some Newspapers
Cut up an old newspaper into smaller squares, large enough to wrap around the apples. Get a box to store all of your apples. Watch any cats within a 100 foot radius find the box and jump in. Get ready to wrap.
Step 2: Inspect and Prep
You’ll want to only store apples that are bruise and nick-free, so inspect them before wrapping. If damaged at all, use these sooner, and do not store.
Step 3: Wrap the Apples
Once you have your storage apples ready, put an apple in the center of a piece of newspaper…
…and wrap it up, pulling the sides up and to the top. Twist to lock it in, like this:
Step 4: Pack the Box and Store
Place the apples in twist side down, so the newspaper stays on. Fill the bottom, than keep layering on top until the box is full. Then, store the apples in a cold area of the house or root cellar. Not too cold though, you don’t want the apples to freeze (this bruises them). Make sure to keep them out of light too.
Apples with thicker skins store longer, but most apples will keep for at least two months if properly stored. And, then, next time it snows, you can make pie with your own local apples!
Add comment January 5, 2010
2009 Grow Indie Holiday Gift Guide
1. Super fun, handcut sterling silver Bumblebee Necklace by Skylark Studios, $85.
2. Envirocycle Composter/Compost tea maker, made out of recycled materials. This ingenious composter is really well designed (just roll it every few days), and features a compost tea collector spout so you get the best of everything. Plus, no assembly required! It’s also good for smaller gardens or city dwellers, $176.28 (shipping included)
3. The self sufficient Earth Box is an easy way to grow vegetables just about anywhere. Made out of recycled materials, the Earthbox is weed free, self waters, and can be moved to a rooftop or placed in sunny spots, for an instant raised bed. $59.95 (includes soil and fertilizer).
4.Terrariums by Greenbriar. These mossy little garden terrariums will have you seeing green all winter. Plus, they only need to be watered once a month, making it the perfect gift for even the serial houseplant killer (you know who you are). Set of 3, $34
5. Mantis Twin Composter. The cadillac of composters, the Mantis Twin holds huge amounts of kitchen scraps, churning out up to 25 cubic feet of compost. It features a large, double barrel that allows you to add scraps to one side, while the other side composts. $499
6. Grobal pots. Your plants will love these mod-inspired pots—plus they are self watering! $24.95
7. Champion 2000+ Juicer. The champion makes short work of your bumper crop of vegetables, and is great for juicing carrots, beets, greens and more. Plus, with no pulp tray, it makes cleanup really fast and easy. $275
1 comment December 14, 2009
Even more reasons to grow your own
Still getting up to speed after our whirlwind trip through Spain but wanted to share this great Mark Bittman talk I found this morning in the meantime. It’s a good reminder to be aware of where our food comes from, and the individual power we have as consumers. Check it out:
Add comment December 6, 2009
Chow!
Today, we are headed off to Spain, where it will be warm and the oranges grow wild. I’m writing a series of articles for Travel Indie, and will be trekking around Barcelona, Madrid, the ocean town of Castellon, and Valencia, traveling by high speed bullet trains (oh, la-la). When my friend Laurie of Fleur-de-lys farm heard, she immediately dropped off this classic James Michener book about his voyages through Spain, and it seemed a fitting start to our adventure.
Before I go, I wanted to share some garden pics of the fall garden and cover crops. Oh, and this too cute terrarium made by Abby, of GoodnPlanty. I got it at the From Scratch market last week, which featured tons of indie crafts, including my friends from the crafty coven, Z-town made.
I am in love with this terrarium!
My cover crop, Peace Valley’s Organic Soil Builder of vetch, winter peas, bell beans and cayuse oats, (pictured with Fritz the Cat above) is doing well. It’s even taller now, and grows like crazy once established.
And, here are the Red Oats I planted, also from Peace Valley (they have the best cover crop selection, anywhere). I planted these a little late, but with this mellow november, they have a chance (despite what Tim Stark says;)
There’s still plenty to forage, and we have a lot of Seeds of Change Utah Celery and Fedco’s Champion Collards to pick.
Until next time, chow!
Add comment November 17, 2009
Planting Garlic: Step-by-Step
It’s getting downright frigid here, and garlic planting time has snuck up on me. But this weekend, I planted Music, German White, Georgian Fire , and Bogatyr Garlic–123 cloves total–in my front yard garden. Above is a picture of some of the Music, on a fabulous Sara Smedley textile. Of all the vegetables I grow, garlic is one of my favorites. Plus it provides garlic greens and scapes for months before you actually harvest it.
When to Plant: The general rule is to plant garlic on the shortest day of the year, and then harvest on the longest day. Columbus Day is ideal for Zone 6. Garlic is a long season crop, taking 6 to 8 months to mature, so it’s best to plant it in the fall so it has time to establish.
Planting garlic is so easy, and you don’t need a lot of room. Here’s how to plant it in 6 steps:
1. Choose a sunny spot
Garlic likes full sun, but will also grow in part shade. Turnover your soil and add some compost to get the ground ready for planting.
2. Get a Digger. This is the tool you use to plant bulbs. It makes it really easy for planting garlic cloves. If you don’t have one, you can use a small trowel instead. (But the digger is so much more fun).
3. Break apart your cloves. Each clove of garlic will magically grow into a full head. I know, amazing, right? 
Just break the garlic head up and get your cloves ready.
4. Make a bunch of holes in the ground. Since I don’t have a lot of space, I plant my garlic pretty close together. The standard is to plant it about 8 inches apart, and make the hole depth twice the size of the garlic cloves you are planting. I love planting garlic as a border for my garden, and it helps to deter pests (and prevent munching critters).
5. Place cloves in the ground. Make sure to put the pointy part up, since this is where the green shoot will come up.
6. Then, cover up the hole with dirt, and you’re done. Before winter hits, apply a straw mulch to protect the garlic. Snow will fall, wind will blow, the ground will become frozen solid, but garlic toughs it out, and starts growing again in early spring, and will be ready for harvest around the fourth of July.
Getting garlic: Want to plant garlic but didn’t order in time? Try going to your local farmers market and either buy a few heads or ask if they’ll sell you some planting stock. Look for larger cloves, and whatever you do, avoid that poor supermarket garlic (it’s been treated with all sorts of anti-sprouting stuff).
Here is the beautiful organic Georgian Fire Garlic I ordered from Peaceful Valley this year.
So, get planting, as long as it’s in before the ground freezes, you’re good to go!
3 comments October 19, 2009
Make Your Own Dried Hot Peppers
It’s pepper time, and last weekend, I stepped outside to find this huge box of mixed hot peppers on my side porch. They were beautiful:
My friend Karen, of Skylark Studios, had one of those utopic growing seasons—bunches of red beets, hundreds of carrots, loads of tomatoes, and bushels of hot peppers. So many she didn’t know what to do with them all.
I was short on time (It’s been a bit crazy around here, with the Dine Indie Chef Tour kicking off last week), so I decided to dry a bunch, since this is one of the easiest ways to preserve hot peppers to store all year. Plus dried peppers are versatile, and can be used in tomato sauces, reconstituted to make mexican mole type sauces, muddled in a mortar and pestle to make your own crushed pepper flakes, or added to a soup or curry for a little kick. All you need is a dehydrator and a bunch of hot peppers. Here’s how to do it:
Wash the peppers and wear gloves, just in case (These peppers are hot people!) Leave stems on and do not cut them or your kitchen will be filled with hot pepper smoke (not fun, trust me).
Next, place them in a dehydrator. I have a retro convection oven/dehydrator I picked up at a yard sale in Provincetown, but the typical tray ones work great. Set it at 125 degrees and dehydrate for 8 to 12 hours. Sometimes longer depending on the size of your peppers.
Check to see if they are done. If they are crunchy, and break when you bend them, they are dehydrated. The peppers should be totally stiff, and will have darkened, like this.
Then, you just have to store them. I like to put mine in mason jars. If kept airtight like this, they’ll last up to a year. They also make great presents (you can even make your own labels and put them in fun jars.)
2 comments October 4, 2009
Easy, Amazing and Quick: Making Your Own Roasted Tomato Sauce
This was the weekend of tomatoes. Not mine, unfortunately, since the blight still did a number on my garden (although they are hanging in there). But, luckily, there were still a few farmers looking to unload their heirlooms, so I gave in and actually bought tomatoes this year. I went to Meadowview Farm after seeing an ad in The Merchandiser advertising heirloom tomatoes for $3 for 10 pounds. That’s right, three bucks. And once, I got there, they had 25 pounds of Paulina paste tomatoes for 10 bucks. So, I loaded up, and froze, sauced, and canned all weekend.
Tomatoes teach us many things, but one thing I learned this weekend, is that sauce making does not have to be as laborious as you think. After spending a good part of Saturday making sauce the “right” way, the roasted tomato sauce I made later, in a fifth of the time, was absolutely amazing, and so much easier. Forget about blanching, skinning and seeding,—this rich, rustico style sauce only takes three steps, and is perfect on anything from pasta to pizza. People will be amazed that you made this, really.
The Easiest, Quickest and Tastiest Roasted Tomato Sauce You Ever Made
- 10 pounds of tomatoes (I use a mix of paste and heirloom)
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- A dash of Balsamic Vinegar
- Basil, Parsley, Thyme, whatevah you like
- Onion
- Garlic
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Step one: Wash, core tomatoes and chop into 2 inch pieces. Put in a large roasting pan and add onion. Add dash of salt, pepper, balsamic, and olive oil. Mix in roasting pan and put in the oven.
Step two: Roast from one to two hours.
You’ll know when it’s ready because the tomatoes will have slightly browned edges, and the liquid will have condensed.
Step three: Place the roasted tomato mixture into a large sauce pan, add herbs to taste and mix with an immersion blender.
You can cook this down longer if you need to thicken it up, but if it’s roasted long enough, you won’t have to. The immersion blender makes short work of seeds and skins, and the roasting of the tomatoes brings out a the sweetness in them (which is nicely balanced with the balsamic).
I canned my sauce (a more complicated process) but you can also freeze this sauce to keep things simple.
That’s really all there is to it. Wish I found this secret before I spent hours skinning 35 pounds of tomatoes! Enjoy.
3 comments September 7, 2009
