Easy Cookies for a Crowd

School events, holidays, potlucks and parties are busy enough without making yourself crazy with complicated baking. This cookie recipe is easy to modify and makes a bunch of small cookies. I usually make three kinds of cookies from one batch. Divide this dough into portions and add different ingredients and you'll have a batch of cookies for any occasion.

Tools: Blender / Vitamix or Food Processor or by hand, Oven, 

Baking Pans: 2 to 4 large cookie sheets - as many as your oven can handle at once

Yield: about 12 dozen
Baking time: 6 - 8 minutes. Assembly time including overall baking time, about 45 - 60 minutes
Oven 400 F (preheat for at least 5 minutes)

• 2 Cups Butter softened
• 1 T. vanilla
• 4 eggs large - beaten
• 1 1/2 C. Sugar - Mexican Moreno sugar, organic "white" sugar or light Brown sugar (or a combination)
• 3 to 3 1/2 Cups flour - unbleached white or add in some whole grain if you prefer, though the texture will change.
• 2 t. cream of tartar
• 1/2 sea salt
  
  Optional ingredients:

1. 1/2 C. colored sugar - roll teaspoon of dough in sugar before setting on baking sheet.
2. 1 C. Chocolate drops - add to dough or insert large drops on top of single cookie
3. 1 C. powdered sugar - when cookies are warm from the oven, put them in a paper bag and gently turn them in the sugar until completely coated. Repeat process again when they are cool if desired.
4. 1 C. dried fruits and nuts - add to dough
5. spices - 2 t. cinnamon, 2 t. ginger, 1/2 cloves for spice cookies. Adjust amounts to taste.
   
   Directions:
   Mix together dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
   
   In a mixing bowl whip butter with sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and beaten eggs and whip for a few more seconds until everything is mixed. Reduce mixer speed to low and pour the dry mixture in gradually. The dough will stiffen, so you may need to finish mixing by hand. Note that the dough should be just dry enough to roll into little balls. Don't add all of the flour at once. Put in enough to get it to a fluffy, soft texture that is more on the wet side than the dry.
   If you want to make more than one variety of cookie, divide the dough into portions and add the optional ingredients or plan for them depending upon the cookie you want.
   
   Drop by small spoonfuls on greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 6 - 8 minutes and remove onto a rack to cool.

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I Love Using My Vitamix! Vitamix is more than just a big blender. It's a powerful tool in the kitchen and a powerful tool for a healthy diet. Vitamix recipes and techniques enable you to eat up to 10 fruits and vegetables along with whole grains that are recommended by experts and you'll love the ease and simplicity of the Vitamix. I use my Vitamix several times a day to make whole food juice, soups from scratch, sauces. smoothies and more. If you're a foodie, you'll love how the Vitamix emulsifies sauces and gravies, grinds grains, purees vegetables & fruits and even mixes a mean margarita or frappuccino! Start your 30-day no-risk in-home trial today and you'll get FREE Standard Ground Shipping when you click this link! https://secure.vitamix.com/redirect.aspx?index.aspx?COUPON=06-003174 OR Call Brenda at Vitamix 1-800-848-2649 x 2305 code 06-003174

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Two Top Health Foods are Southwest Favorites. Try My Mexican Slaw

The New York Times ran a piece titled, "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating" by Tara Parker-Pope. The author details nutrition lists from noted nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden who wrote The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Cabbage and pumpkin seeds are 2 of the foods making the list of the "11 Best. . . " If your thoughts of cabbage stop at coleslaw, I have a recipe you'll love if Mexican food is a favorite. Not only is my Southwest Slaw nutritious, it tastes wonderful and it's beautiful! Serve it as a side dish or salad, or put it on tacos and tostadas (my favorite!) or even hamburgers. Be sure to stop by my website and try some of my other recipes.

Southwest Slaw

Time: About 15 minutes
Tools: knives & whisk or fork, salad bowl, (optional) Food Processor or blender such as Vitamix
Yield: 1/2 Cup per serving. Approx. 6 servings Yield depends on how much you put in the bowl.

Dressing Ingredients & Instructions:

• 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 crushed fresh garlic clove
• fresh squeezed juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  

Mix ingredients in the Blender or Vitamix on medium, increasing to high for apx. 20 - 30 seconds. Or, mix by hand with a whisk or fork. Pour into salad bowl.

Salad Ingredients & Instructions: (Salad amounts are very approximate)

• 1/2 head (or more) of red cabbage (or mix red and green cabbage), chopped for slaw.
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup or so of chopped green onion or finely chopped white or yellow onion.
• 1 to 4 fresh serrano or jalepeno peppers finely chopped. Use fresh mild anaheim chilis if you don't want much heat.
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup roasted and salted pumpkin seeds
• Optional: 1 ripe avocado (another food on the list), peeled and chopped

With a knife or using your food processor or Vitamix, chop the cabbage, cilantro, onion and peppers until they are the size you want for your salad (smaller pieces, like a chop-salad are best).

If you use a Vitamix, put the variable speed on 4 and after twice quartering the cabbage, drop it in chunks of 2 into the machine. Scrape out the chopped vegetables before adding more. Chop the cilantro into 1 or 2 inch pieces before adding to the Vitamix so that the stems won't wrap up.

Put the chopped vegetables into the salad bowl and toss with the dressing. Add avocados (optional) and sprinkle with Pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately. ¡Que rica!


For more of my recipes see my website.

Fall Harvest Chili Peppers

With National Hispanic month behind us and Dia de los Muertos (the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead) ahead of us, it's time to talk about the autumn tradition of drying and roasting chili peppers. In New Mexico, especially in communities around Santa Fe and Taos the centuries old Hispanic traditions of drying and roasting chili peppers is alive and well.

Even if you haven't developed a taste for authentic Hatch chilis, there are many wonderful dried chilis available in both mainstream and Mexican markets. Whenever I visit Santa Fe, New Mexico I always go to Jackalope on Cerillos Road for the best buy for chili ristras and wreaths and then to the Whole Foods grocery store for a visit to their bulk department where I fill up with enough dried green chilies to last the year.

I make Red Chili Sauce most every week and eat it in a variety of dishes. One of my most favorite things to make with my red sauce is a New Mexican dish called Carne Adovado. It's a beef pot roast cooked for hours in chili sauce until it falls into strings of deliciousness. If you want to try an entire New Mexican/Californian/ inspired dinner, try my Dinner Menu. It's easy to fit into a scheduled day when cooking isn't at the top of your list.

Note: My oil painting, Red Mesa is filled with the red tones of dried chilies. The original oil painting is 48" x 48" on canvas and is $4,800.00 framed.

Ask Cristina: Baking Artisan Breads

Hi Cristina, (via my website www.CristinaAcosta.com)
I read your article on artisan breads using a natural yeast starter. I have made breads for a long time using the Active Dry yeast and I am trying to make a starter, but it seems to die every couple weeks. I use the Fleischmann's Active Dry to make the starter and it seems to be okay for the first 3 or 4 times I bake. Near the end it starts to leaven sluggishly. By the 5th or 6th loaf, it doesn't leaven at all. What I do is I have about 2 cups of it total in the fridge. When I want to use it I take it out of the fridge and leave it for ~12 hours. I use 1 cup in my bread and I save 1 cup to continue the starter. I add 3/4 c distilled water + 3/4 c flour to the starter and shake it and loosely cover it. 4 hours later, I put it back in the fridge. Then I leave it for a week, until the next weekend. Is there something that is wrong w/ my methods? Your starter looks so successful; I don't know what is going on.
Thanks, Gillian

Hi Gillian,

I think the problem stems from your sourdough starter being created predominantly with a hybrid commercial yeast. For example, in nature (without the intervention of humankind) I've never seen a forest of all one kind of tree. The healthy forest of centuries old contains a variety of plants and animals that live harmoniously (or more specifically, symbiotically) together. Your commercial starter is in a sense, a Christmas tree farm compared to the old growth forest of a natural starter often referred to as Sourdough or Pain Levain.

Here's a line from Wikipedia that gives a little insight into your challenge. The text within parenthesis is mine. "The flour-water mixture can also be inoculated from a previously maintained culture. (A natural sourdough or levain culture that you buy or get from a baker.) The culture is stable due to its ability to prevent colonization by other yeasts and bacteria as a result of its acidity and other anti-bacterial agents. As a result, many sourdough bread varieties tend to be relatively resistant to spoilage and mold.

Because you begun with a commercial starter it does not include a natural relationship between a yeast and lactobacillus thus, it does not have the resilience and stability of a natural yeast starter. Since you're obviously excited about the process of making artisan bread, either find a home baker willing to give you some starter, or buy sourdough starter from King Arthur Flour company or other type of reputable baking supply company.

It's a simple process to rejuvenate the starter and then to make the bread, though by the length of the artisan sourdough bread recipe on my website, it looks a lot more complicated! I had to make a detailed yeast bread recipe that explained the concepts behind the choices of ingredients and techniques. Artisan natural yeast bread baking is actually far more simple than it is presented to be. Think about it, for centuries most bread was made by a village specialist or by the homemaker. These people did not usually have the resources to use high-tech measurements and temperature readings, and most people were illiterate then. They told time by the sun and had few dishes, yet the bread could be masterful.

A book I've enjoyed about the history of sourdough is World Sourdough's From Antiquity, by Ed Wood details his story as a botanist who did a project for National Geographic where he investigated the natural yeast baking process that the Egyptians used to feed the workers who built the pyramids.

So . . . have fun with a natural yeast bread starter and let me know how it's working. Send me a photo of you with your bread loaves.
Read more about my ideas for varying your bread recipe including making Chocolate Bread and more. Check out my list of recipes for everything from my favorite Key Lime Squares to the perfect mexican salsa recipes on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Farm Direct Foods: California Olives and Organic Olive Oil

I love buying food directly from farmers and ranchers, especially when I'm traveling. Local foods represent the culture and climate of their origin. When I meet the farmers and ranchers and buy their products I feel a better understanding for the area AND I get some really great food. It's a win - win!

I spent the past 2 weeks traveling and want to share with you my 2 favorite food stops on the I-5 freeway in Northern California. The Olive Pit and Heath Ranch.

• The Olive Pit in Corning, California (north of Redding, CA) is a 40+ year old family owned enterprise selling all things olive along with touristy gifts including jams, candy and nuts. You aren't meeting any farmers, but you can buy local olives and nuts. Sited in a old Denny's type of building, it's not a visually interesting store, though it is clean and neat. Order an ice cream or hamburger at the snack cafe, enjoy the very clean restrooms and a huge parking lot with RV spaces. Ask and the staff will show you the local olives and products, including organic olives and organic olive oils. There is also a selection of imported olive products. My favorite product is the Olive Muffuleta, an Italian style olive salad that includes bits of cauliflower, carrot, garlic, capers, peppers, onions and spices. It comes packed in either brine or olive oil (my favorite). Pour the Olive oil packed Muffuleta on pasta for an instant head-start on a pasta salad or hot entre. You can order online from them if you aren't up for a drive.

• Heath Ranch (south of the Olive Pit). 4814 County Road 99w, Orland, CA. 530-865-3472. This is a small ranch owned by Ron and Melanie Heath. From the barn behind their home the Heaths sell organic olive oil, oranges, local honey and whatever else they or their neighbors might be growing that time of year. This is a very small operation -- they don't have bathrooms (they do offer a porta-potty) or air-conditioning. They do have DELICIOUS homemade olives, fresh olive oil, oranges and honey that is well-priced. They don't have a website. Here's how to get there: From I-5 take Road 7 exit #671. Go East on Road 7 to Hwy 99w. Go South on Hwy 99W - 200 yards.

My grandmother, Catalina Ortiz Acosta, was a strong proponent of olive oil. Despite living alone, she bought olive oil in a 2 liter can (and would use them up regularly). I love to dip my fresh artisan bread into the oil. If you're not up to baking your own loaves buy a good artisan bakery loaf.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Recipe: Traditional New Mexican Red Chili Sauce

Made from Pureed Dried Red Chilis
Cristina Acosta ©2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

My grandmother (abuelita) Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta's parents were born in New Mexico. She made chili sauce in the New Mexican style, a sauce of mostly puréed, dried chilies with spices. This sauce is the backbone of many Hispanic dishes.

Catalina was an artist who believed that anything worth knowing came at a price, and this sauce was her specialty. She was in her seventies before she would give me this recipe. In exchange for the recipe she insisted I wash every downstairs window of her house. While I scrubbed and polished, she sat in the backyard patio of her home in Playa del Rey, California, by the sea near Los Angeles threading a ristra of chilies from a new box of chili peppers that had arrived from New Mexico. After finishing a few windows I’d stop to visit with her and she’d tell me a little bit more about her recipe. It was certainly worth the effort.

If the sauce is too picante (hot), you can cut the heat by adding a can of stewed tomatoes or a thick tomato sauce to the blender. This suggestion would have been frowned upon by my abuelita who insisted that a proper chili sauce never included tomatoes. Nonetheless, if the mildest chilies are too hot for your taste, this method works.

My abuelita’s original recipe used to take hours when prepared with a food mill. I’ve adjusted the chili sauce recipe for quick and easy preparation. Use a powerful blender such as a Vita-Mix for best results.

Cristina's Traditional Red Chili Sauce

Tools: 1 ½ qt. or larger saucepan with lid. Powerful blender. Stove top.
Yield: Aprox. 3 ½ – 4 cups of sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 t. to 1 T. ground cumin

• 1 T. dark cocoa powder (unsweetened)

• ½ t. sea salt

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled

• ½ large onion (aprox. ½ cup) peeled. (use your favorite flavor of onion)

• 3 oz net wt. package of dried chilies: Use Chili California OR New Mexican OR Pasilla OR experiment with mixing varieties.

• 3 cups water or broth.
  

Directions:

1. With scissors cut off the tops of the dried red chilies and pour out the seeds. (Don’t worry about getting them all out.)
2. Rinse the dried chilies briefly to dust them off.
3. Put them in the sauce pan with the water, garlic and onion.
4. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. In the blender put the cumin, salt and cocoa powder. Add the hot chili mixture including the water. Put the lid on the blender and slowly “step-up” the speed of the blender from low to high. (Never start a hot mixture on high as it may explode out of the top of the blender.) Process the mixture on high for approx. 3 minutes or until very smooth.

This versatile sauce is ready to serve. It freezes beautifully. Use it over tamale pie, as an enchilada sauce, base for chili soups or over fried eggs and omelets. It's the key ingredient to Carne Adovada, a traditional New Mexican pot roast slow cooked in the red chili sauce.

Experiment with the sauce by adding ingredients such as: wine, dried fruits such as raisins, apricots, plums, ground toasted nuts or seeds (about ½ cup) , sweet chocolate and cinnamon.

Note: for a thicker sauce, add a few more chilies or decrease water a little.

Happy Cooking -- Cristina

I Love Using My Vitamix! Vitamix is more than just a big blender. It's a powerful tool in the kitchen and a powerful tool for a healthy diet. Vitamix recipes and techniques enable you to eat up to 10 fruits and vegetables along with whole grains that are recommended by experts and you'll love the ease and simplicity of the Vitamix. I use my Vitamix several times a day to make whole food juice, soups from scratch, sauces. smoothies and more. If you're a foodie, you'll love how the Vitamix emulsifies sauces and gravies, grinds grains, purees vegetables & fruits and even mixes a mean margarita or frappuccino! Read more about why I recommend buying a Vitamix. Start your 30-day no-risk in-home trial today and you'll get FREE Standard Ground Shipping when you click this link! https://secure.vitamix.com/redirect.aspx?index.aspx?COUPON=06-003174 OR Call Brenda at Vitamix 1-800-848-2649 x 2305 code 06-003174

Recipe: Key Lime Custard Squares

I love to cook for my family and friends! Initially I was inspired by my grandmother's artistry with a variety of ingredients and my mother's love of experimentation when she baked. As the oldest child of seven children, I did quite a bit of cooking for the family. Encouraged by my success (if my teenage brothers didn't eat it, the dogs would), I was continually trying new recipes. Now, I'm married to a lovely man who eats most anything I make, and encourages me to cook every day (Hmm... what's up with the everyday thing?). He loves food and has an adventurous palette. (And he often does the dishes!) With his encouragement I'm continually trying new things.

Key Lime Squares
Cristina Acosta ©2007, 2008

Put one bite of this sweet/tart desert in your mouth and you'll be able to see the long, flat horizon of blue-green ocean layered under the green topped islands of the Florida Keys. Not really. But it is a nice fantasy. Nonetheless, these easy-to-make squares will give you plenty of time to make plans for your next tropical vacation. The shortcake cookie base enriched with nuts supports the creamy tart key lime custard filling. Dress these up with a lime twist and a pretty plate for a dinner party or take them as is to a picnic and eat them with your fingers. Aloha! And recorridos felices! (Happy Travels)

Note: Click here to purchase this painting , The Pastry Chef, from the High Desert Gallery in Sisters, Oregon

Tools: Blender / Vitamix or Food Processor or by hand, oven

Baking Pan: 8” x 8” x 2”
Yield: 6 to 16 pieces, depending on size cut.

Time: Baking time, 30 minutes. Assembly time 15-20 minutes

Base and Topping

• 1/3 Cup real butter, chilled
• ½ finely chopped nuts or ground nut meal. (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds)
• 1/3 C. dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 Cup white flour

Filling

• ½ cup 100% unsweetened key lime juice, OR organic 100% lime juice, not from concentrate.
  
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 egg yolks

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter sides and bottom of pan

1. Combine all dry ingredients

1. With a blender, food processor or by hand, cut the butter into the dry mixture until the butter is in very small pieces and the mixture has a crumb like appearance.
2. Reserve ½ cup of the mixture for topping.
3. Firmly press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes
   

2. While the base is cooking, mix custard filling:

1. Mix the filling ingredients into a blender on low until the mixture is silky and well blended. (Don’t let the mixture get foamy.)
2. Pour it onto the cooked base.
3. Sprinkle the topping evenly across the filling.
4. Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
   

Serve the Key Lime Custard Squares at room temperature or chilled. Cut into servings after it has cooled. Refrigerate for ease of cutting into small squares or to transport (makes the dessert firmer).

I Love Using My Vitamix! Vitamix is more than just a big blender. It's a powerful tool in the kitchen and a powerful tool for a healthy diet. Vitamix recipes and techniques enable you to eat up to 10 fruits and vegetables along with whole grains that are recommended by experts and you'll love the ease and simplicity of the Vitamix. I use my Vitamix several times a day to make whole food juice, soups from scratch, sauces. smoothies and more. If you're a foodie, you'll love how the Vitamix emulsifies sauces and gravies, grinds grains, purees vegetables & fruits and even mixes a mean margarita or frappuccino! Read more about why I recommend buying a Vitamix. Start your 30-day no-risk in-home trial today and you'll get FREE Standard Ground Shipping when you click this link! https://secure.vitamix.com/redirect.aspx?index.aspx?COUPON=06-003174 OR Call Brenda at Vitamix 1-800-848-2649 x 2305 code 06-003174

Choosing Paint Colors Home Decor Licensing
Who is Cristina Press Philanthropy Hand Painted Ceramics
Cooking with Cristina

King Corn: When is Too Much Enough?

Too much of something sounds like paradise when there's a shortage. Which is exactly why there is now too much corn in the U.S.A. food chain. During the mid 1970's the opportunity to "feed the world" was the cause taken up by the United States government. They supported the growing of more corn so well, that corn has become the preeminent grain.

Not that corn is a bad thing. I love eating corn tortilla chips, corn bread, and other dishes obviously made out of corn. I've even made a retablo in the Hispanic tradition of sacred art, titled La Conquistadora / The Corn Maiden. The indigenous peoples from the High Plateau south through the lands of the ancient Mayans, cultivated and revered corn. According to Michael Pollan in his book, Omnivore's Dilemma, Mayan descendants refer to themselves as the corn people. The phrase "I am corn walking" refers to the fact that the very substance of their bodies are mostly from corn.

The problem for us in the North is that corn has infiltrated every level of our national food supply in a way that isn't so obvious. After reading Pollan and seeing King Corn, I visualize us as corn swimming in corn. In the U.S.A. meat animals like cows, pigs and chickens are fed corn, and it has infiltrated most processed foods in the form of high fructose corn syrup and other corn derived flavors and enhancers used in the food industry.

The feature documentary movie, King Corn - You Are What You Eat, a film by Arron Woolf, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney is about this one food that has become so ubiquitous in our food chain that they dubbed it King Corn. Here in the U.S. we eat so much corn that the very carbon our bodies are formed of is according to carbon isotope studies, mostly corn (you'll see this test in the movie).

The Bend Film Festival Indie Reels in Bend, Oregon featured the film King Corn (April 22, 2008), along with a guest appearance by Curt Ellis. I went with my movie-buddy Judy Shasek.

In the movie King Corn, we follow Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney to Iowa where they buy an acre of land and grow corn. During his presentation after the film screening, Curt Ellis said that their intent was to learn about food and because there is so much corn, they decided on that grain. Following corn from the soil to the dinner plate, they share insights into the history and economics, environmental and health impacts related to the preeminence of corn in the average national diet.

By the time we've watched them take the first bite of a corn cob fresh from their field and spit it out in disgust, we realize that there is more to corn than we may think. Despite the way the subject plays out, King Corn doesn't try to scare us as much as to make us aware of what's going on in a folksy, affectionate manner. As easy going in tone as King Corn is, there is work to be done and if you visit the www.KingCorn.net website you can click on the"Take Action" tab to learn how national legislation affects the food on our plates.

I've been a fan of good food for all of my life and thanks to movies like King Corn, there is hope that other Americans will discover the connections between food and their quality of life on all levels.

Sharing that message, my daughter and I helped Elliot Sawyer with a little film about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup in the diet. Elliot Sawyer is a young film maker in Bend, Oregon with a message. He's out to get everybody healthy and make them laugh at the same time. He produced and directed the Anti-Nutri Funnel piece. He also acts in it along with Judy Shasek, my daughter Isabella Barna and me. It was fun to act in this piece. In real life we eat very little of the bad stuff. Click here to see Anti-Nutri Funnel.

Art & Science for the Good (Food) of Our Planet

Walking through the aisles of a natural foods store I'm lulled into thinking that buying the latest salty snack with the word "organic" plastered all over the plastic sack will save the planet. Yes, it's better than eating a GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) conventional product that's similar, but there's a lot more to saving the planet than falling prey to some marketer's labeling of an ultra-processed packaged edible as "organic food."

So what does this topic have to do with the creative life? More than you might think at first glance. Creativity and our willingness to embrace positive change are integral to changing the course of planetary environmental degradation. I got started thinking about this while drawing the chili pepper plant growing in my house. Though it's officially spring in Bend, Oregon, it is in the 20's and snowing today. Growing in the sunshine of our upstairs window, this perennial plant is an abundance of bright green leaves teamed with a few dozen slender, brilliantly red & green, small chili peppers.

I let the chilies ripen red and dry on the vine, then I crumble them over salted, roasted peanuts for an afternoon snack. Sometimes I put them in a salsa or red chili sauce. The unique thing about this chili plant is that it is native to New Mexico, the home of my paternal grandmother's ancestors. I like eating a food that enriched the lives of my ancestors for generations. You can buy seeds for this and other native plants at Native Seeds/SEARCH. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a non-profit that is striving to preserve the genetic diversity of our country's South West heirloom and indigenous food and utility crops. No matter how "organic" our food is, if we continue to lose biodiversity, our food supply can be easily jeopardized by diseases or other unforeseen problems.

Native Seeds/SEARCH describes themselves thus: "The Native Seeds/Search Seedbank houses, for future generations, the seeds of crops and wild plants traditionally used as food, fiber and dyes by prehistoric and more recent cultures inhabiting the arid southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. . . approximately 2,000 different accessions of traditional crops grown by Apache, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Gila River Pima, Guarijio, Havasupai, Hopi, Maricopa, Mayo, Mojave, Mountain Pima, Navajo, Paiute, Puebloan, Tarahumara, Tohono O'odham and Yaqui farmers. Over one-half of the collections are comprised of the three sisters -- corn, bean, and squash. An additional 48 species of crops and wild crop relatives wait in frozen storage, including amaranth, tepary bean, chile, cotton, devil's claw, gourds, melon, sunflowers, tobacco, teosinte, watermelon and wild beans."

The "Three Sisters" of corn, beans and squash are the crops that the American Indians considered necessary to support a settlement. Honoring these indigenous crops and that American Indian heritage along with the Spanish heritage of the American Southwest, I painted a Santos style retablo of my Madonna, Guadalupe with the Three Sisters: Corn, Squash & Beans.This retablo is part of my Hispanic Culture Sacred images series.

If you live anywhere in the American Southwest, or if like me, you have a sunny window, I encourage you to look through the www.nativeseeds.org website. They sell heirloom seeds, baking mixes, spices, art, goat milk soap, even Christmas ornaments by Hopi artist Gerald Dawavendewa and others. Another thing they do that is so generous both individually and to our planet is their Native American Outreach program where they give a certain amount of seeds to American Indians for their gardens, along with Adopt A Crop program to keep those seeds viable. They also have a Cultural Memory Bank Project that pairs the knowledge of the geneticist with the folklorist to conserve not only the plant, but how that plant was nurtured and utilized. Art and Science together for the good of our planet. Now that's creativity!

How To Cook Your Life - Bread and the Creative Life

Reading has always been one of my loves. Surprising to me is that the list of good books I think have been the most important in my life, changes over time. Not only because a new book has usurped an old favorite, but because a book I read many years ago and may not have thought of as life-changing or "good" (in the Great American novel sort of way), gets on the list. With the perspective of time, my understanding of a book changes and I realize the important positive impact of that particular book.

The Tassajara Bread Book (pub. in 1970) is this kind of book. When we were young teenagers my sister, Alisa Acosta, and I taught ourselves how to bake from this book. Alisa focused on popovers and other such things. I delved into bread making. Edward Espe Brown's detailed, concise directions coupled with his intellectual and spiritual generosity resulted in a book that touched so many people that it became a international bestseller.

I long ago lost my copy of that cookbook and had mostly forgotten about it in a everyday way until I saw the Indie film, How To Cook Your Life, with zen chef Edward Espe Brown, author of The Tassajara Bread Book and other books. Ed Brown (that's how he was introduced) made a guest appearance last night (April 1, 2008) at the Tower Theater in Bend, Oregon. The film, How To Cook Your Life, was shown as part of the Bend Film Festival Indie Reels screenings.

Ed Brown introduced the film, then when it was over, he answered questions from the audience and told stories. His sense of humor coupled with his wisdom had us laughing and enlightened within minutes. He was a lot of fun. I had hoped to thank him for his work in person, but the receiving line was more than I was willing to wade through.

The Tassajara Bread Book inspired and opened me to my love of cooking, and by extension life. Creating food with my hands puts me in touch with the land and elements that combine to create that food. A loaf of live dough ready for the oven embodies the cycle of life. Edward Espe Brown's writings planted the seeds of spirituality, environmental sensitivity, and a life-long love of food. His cookbook is not only a artistic inspiration, it is a political inspiration. The Tassajara Bread Book gently put me on a path that made the connection between the spiritual and practical accessible.

I highly recommend watching How to Cook Your Life. It will be available on Netflicks in May 2008.

Edward Espe Brown's writing inspired my artisan bread baking hobby. I now focus on a natural yeast starter that absorbs the life in the air around us. Read my artisan bread recipe on my website.

Thanks Judy Shasek for inviting me to see this movie. Judy is a creative powerhouse. Among her projects is Generation Fit, an innovative learning/wellness outreach program for kids.

Note: Photo of Edward Espe Brown is from the PeacefulSeaSangha.com site. More info is also available on the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center page.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

March 2008 Newsletter from my Website

Dear Friends,

The days are getting longer and it's almost time for the Vernal Equinox. More sunshine is on its way! To get through the rest of winter I recommend more chocolate! I visited Oaxaca, Mexico last month and along with enjoying the wonderful arts, crafts and ancient pyramids, I discovered a recipe for you, Chocolate with Water (Chocolate con Agua). Oaxaca is renowned for chocolate, and much of it is consumed as a beverage.

Along with traveling, I am fortunate to be able to share my art with the staff and patients at St. Charles Hospital in Bend, Oregon, through March & April. My art exhibit at St. Charles Hospital is of mostly my large-scale oil paintings from my Animal Spirit series. Deer, coyote, raccoon, raptors, other birds and animals visit my garden year round (despite living close to town). I long ago gave up typical gardening so that I could support the wildlife with feeders and water features to make up for the diminished forage they have since development in the area took off. I photograph and draw the animals before painting, only creating paintings of animals I’ve actually encountered.

On the wall near the hospital chapel hang 4 of my Madonnas. One of those paintings, Guadalupe with Tear is also featured in The Business Journal of Hispanic Research, a bi-annual publication of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. The periodical supports credible, peer reviewed research on Hispanics. They are changing the business environment for the better!

The change of seasons always inspires some people to paint their house. A journalist recently interviewed me for a national article about home exterior paint colors. If you’re feeling ready for a color change, I have a few choosing paint color tips on my website.

Live Happy,

Cristina

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Creative Chili Cookies

Kathy Southwick sent me this picture of her version of my Hot Chocolate Cookies. In my recipe I describe these chocolate and chili pepper cookies as thin. Along with the picture, Kathy shared that though she originally shaped the cookies the way the recipe described, she tried rolling dough balls in granulated sugar, resulting in a rounded thick cookie with a sparkly finish. She assured me, "These are great! One bite and I'm ready to party!" She suggested that serving them with margaritas is even better.

Not only are her cookies great (and yes, they do taste good with margaritas) -- even better is her creativity and confidence in the outcome. I like her idea so much I added Kathy's suggestion to the original recipe. I love it when I know that I've inspired someone to have fun and be creative.

See more of my original recipes on the recipe page of my web site.

January Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! The rush and fun of the winter holiday season is behind us and I'm tired of cooking and eating! On that note, my gift to you is a recipe for Brown Sugar Beauty Scrub. Stir fresh mint and orange zest together with simple ingredients and you are in for a calorie-free treat that will leave you refreshed and ready to act on your inspirations.

The New Year is also a time for resolutions. Team inspiration with imagination to discover and create resolutions that have power and meaning for you. When I make resolutions and plans I like to think about what has positively inspired me. Sometimes inspirations are famous people or events. At other times inspiration is closer to home.

Close to my home and heart is my sister, Alisa Acosta. She recently celebrated her 5 year anniversary after undergoing treatment for cancer. Her dedication to all aspects of good health in the ensuing years inspires everyone who knows her. In the tradition of the Ex-Voto, I painted a Madonna titled La Sirena Verde/The Green Mermaid to celebrate her life and gave it to her during the Christmas holiday. Thank you Alisa for all that you are!

A resolution needs a plan, and a plan involves a practice. Whether that practice is spiritual, physical or fiscal depends upon your resolution. As an artist I've learned that when I consciously practice a creative act, my attitude (and my day!) is often better. I don't have to pick up a paint brush or write an article to be creative. Some days, it's not practical. My practice it to pay attention to beauty in all forms. It's a practice that keeps me connected to myself and the world around me. Those connections are the waters in the well that feed my inspiration.

Though it's about creating a plan for a home project, I want to share with you an article I wrote, Plan for Success. The principles are basic to any successful plan. I'd love to hear from you and learn about your inspirations.

Live Happy,

Cristina