Traditional Woodland Indian Dish

What I like about teachers is they also know how to cook or at least are inquisitive to learn. This recipe is from our Director of Student Teaching and Field Experience at the IUSB School of Education who says “this recipe is my take on a traditional woodland indian dish, I've made it hot and cold, I think I like the cold best”. I tried it cold and it was great!

Without any further adieu, here it is:

1 box uncle bens wild rice mix (i used the traditional long-cooking kind) - cook according to package directions and let cool to room temp.

Add:
1 cup dried cranberries
1 c. chopped pecans
Finely chopped green onions (according to your taste for onion, I used about 1/4 cup for a single recipe)

Dressing:
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
Grated orange peel (i put the skin of a clementine in the food processor to get a fine grind, and used about 1 tablespoon for a single recipe)
2 Tablespoons maple sugar (maple syrup works just fine here too)


Enjoy!

Dangers of Fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalists believe they alone have the "truth". They seek to inspire nations of the world to embrace their "beliefs" as a universal truth. History has proven that nowhere is there greater potential for harm then when destructive religious fundamentalism becomes part of government behavior.

Why The "Fundamentalist" Approach To Religion Must Be Wrong

It is this overwhelming seriousness about religion that seems to be one of the hallmarks of the fundamentalist. He is concerned not only with his own conformity to doctrine, but the conformity of the rest of society to it, too. Many fundamentalists will not hesitate to intervene in the political process to ensure that society is forced to conform to the behaviors their world view requires, if not accept that world view. The belief that they are right, without any question, justifies, in their own minds, taking upon themselves the right to impose their point of view, by force if neccessary.

Sound familiar?

By far one of the best discussions I've come across regarding the dangers of religious fundamentalism comes from John Dominic Crossan. I originally posted about this issue over at Bilerico Indiana.

Free Directory Service from Google

We all can use a little help now and then when on the run or in a hurry. This little treasure comes at ya from Google. Free directory service for your cell phone. What more can you ask for. How difficult is is? It's so easy even Ryan and Matthew can use it. Check it out for yourself:

Cider Creek Press Launch

Greetings! Welcome to the launch, of Cider Creek Press.

Inspiration for CCP came last fall from a trip I took with my family to visit my brother's home on the Common Place Land Cooperative . Common Place is a 432-acre rural land trust located in the rolling hills of central New York State. I’ll post more about Common Place later.

During our visit we made homemade cider with organically homegrown apples and an outdoor cider press, hiked, cooked, played music, laughed, danced, and hauled firewood (a lot of firewood) for their annual Winter Solstice celebration.

That visit combined with my interests in nature and wildlife, gardening, landscaping, home projects, arts and music, and activism is what led me to create Cider Creek Press.

I hope you will stop by again to see what’s cooking at the Cider Creek Press.

For now let me share with you a video clip of my brother (drummer on left) and his beautiful significant other Colleen Kattau as they perform "Mama's Cooking" live at the Lost Dog Lounge in New York State.