Maybe it’s the economic times, maybe it’s a desire to “green” my kitchen or maybe it’s the locavore movement, but this year I got a bug to try canning. Like many of the offspring of the first generation of women to enter the workforce en masse, I never learned this age-old preservation technique at my mother’s knee. Of course there’s the Internet, but I really wanted to watch it done firsthand before endeavoring to try it on my family (that whole botulism thing is a little scary). Happily, local mom Audrey Crane agreed to provide a tutorial for myself and another mom, Tara Frazer. Fortunately for us, Audrey is a veritable font of knowledge when it comes to canning (most of it self-taught, I was impressed to learn). After a couple of hours of low intensity work, and lots of chatting, we each had three beautiful jars of canned tomatoes. Inspired and feeling brave, I went home and later that night cooked up and canned a batch of peach jam. Though it came out a little dark (there are ways to counteract this but I didn’t bother with them), it tasted delicious and was really easy. It felt surprisingly empowering to have erased the factory hundreds of miles away from the eating equation. And what a great way to illustrate for my children where food really comes from. Now that the door has been opened, I find myself giddily pondering, ”What next?”

If you’re interested in learning more about home food preservation, the La Plata County Extension Office tomorrow (Sept. 2) is starting a three-day class in the mornings. See “Going Green with Food Preservation“ on the extension office’s Web site for information on signing up.

In keeping with my recent fetish with making stuff at home, I recently purchased a yogurt maker. I bought the EuroCuisine Yogurt Maker online from Williams Sonoma (price $49.95) because it came with a good recommendation but since found a slightly stripped down model from the same company that goes for $29.95 on Amazon (and there are dozens of other models on the market).

We go through A LOT of yogurt in my household, and I think this gadget has been well worth the investment. There’s a little work involved but not much: boil 4 cups of milk, cool, add yogurt starter or a cup of plain yogurt, pour into the jars and turn on the machine. About 8 hours later, you have yogurt. You can add flavoring either before or after “cooking” it. I’m still experimenting with different starters, which definitely affect the finished product. The starter that came with the machine produced very tangy yogurt, which I liked but the rest of the fam less so. The second batch I used a cup of plain Greek yogurt and the result was creamy, less tangy and a hit in the household. Aside from being healthy and tasting good, it’s fun to make. For older kids, I’m sure there’s a science lesson to be had in the process. And Wikipedia has a lengthy entry on the history of yogurt, which apparently stretches back 4,500 years. The culture of culturing, it seems, goes way back.

On the heels of the obesity report, why not talk about food? Healthful food, of course (which, I firmly believe, should still taste good). Increasingly you hear about cooking to the season, and if you’ve been to the Farmers Market recently you’ll know that the herb of the season is cilantro. I love cilantro but always have trouble using the whole bunch before it goes bad. This morning, apropos of nothing, I had a thought: why not make pesto with it? I love homemade pesto because it’s so easy yet seems so gourmet.

A quick search on Google proved I was not the first to have this idea. Below is one of the recipes (from Simply Recipes) that struck my fancy, but there are many variations out there. And here are a few suggestions I found on how to use it: as a spread for sandwiches or wraps (with avocado and bell peppers, maybe); mixed with rice, quinoa or pasta (add black beans or chicken to bulk it up); mixed with cottage cheese or sour cream as a dip; scrambled with some eggs; added to season sauteed or steamed vegetables.  Whatever you don’t use in a couple of days, you can freeze in an ice cube tray (pop cubes out once frozen and store in a sealed bag). Sounds quick, easy, tasty and nutritious — the harried parent’s hallowed four.

Cilantro Pesto

- 2 cups packed cilantro, large stems removed

- 1/2 cup blanched almonds (or walnuts or pine nuts)

- 1/4 cup chopped red onion

- 1/2 teaspoon chopped and seeded serrano (or jalapeno) chile

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- (I would add lime juice, to taste)

The Animas Museum on Saturday is holding an event intended to have kid appeal.

Outside the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. a living-history demonstration will take place that will include churning butter and baking using a fire pit and a dutch oven.

Bobbie Hamilton, administrative assistant at the museum, said all the recipes are around 200 years old and the demonstration will include reproductions of what people traveling in wagons would have had with them.

The museum will hold similar events in upcoming months, every last Saturday. Themes will include candle-making, quilting and sewing. Hamilton said the goal of the demos is to get more kids interested in the museum.

I was especially intregued by the idea of churning butter. Maybe it’s the economic times or the push to eat local, but I find doing things the old-fashioned way appealling. I was surprised to learn that making butter is quite simple (OK, with a food processor — not exactly the old fashioned way). Here’s a video that shows how it can be made in less than 5 minutes. I tried it at home, and it came out perfect the first time. Though my preschooler was asleep, I’m sure the next time he’ll enjoy watching how the cream whips to a firm lather then suddenly separates into liquid (buttermilk) and a big clump of butter.

The chef in the video argues that homemade butter tastes better than the store stuff. Maybe it’s psychological, but I would have to agree.

Women who are pregnant or thinking about conceiving should check out my colleague Dale Rodebaugh’s article in Monday’s paper about fetal neurological development. Dr. Jamie McGregor, an ob-gyn and medical school professor who will be giving a talk on the topic Thursday (see the article for details), emphasizes that everything a mother ingests — good or bad — can affect the neurological development of her child.

I hate giving expectant mothers anything additional to stress about, but I think there’s a lack of awareness of how true this is. A couple of years ago I read a fascinating article in The New Yorker about research indicating a possible link between adult disease and prenatal and early post-natal life. There is evidence to suggest that the child of a poorly nourished mother could be more likely to die of heart disease decades later. “Many doctors disliked the idea, in part because it undermined a decades-long public-health message that linked heart disease to adult behavior,” the article notes.

The surprising thing to me is how little emphasis is put on this by many ob-gyns. During both of my pregnancies, the docs seemed almost completely unconcerned with my diet, I suppose because my weight was in the normal range. It wasn’t until I switched to a homebirth midwife with my second child that nutrition became a major focus. I was made to keep a log of what I ate over several days, and it was scrutinized with a fine tooth comb (the verdict: eat more greens). While I was careful about what I ate with my first, I never went as far as to drink nightly kale or spinach smoothies with probiotics and added Omega-3s as I did with my second. My first child has always hovered around the bottom quarter of the growth charts while my second is in the top quarter. Sure a lot of that is probably genetic, but part of me has to wonder if those green smoothies didn’t help.

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