Author: Gail Nickel-Kailing

Local Farm and Garden at Risk? You Are Needed…

One hundred years ago, the Helena Commercial Club, a local service organization, published a booklet promoting the Helena Valley as a “Land of Opportunity for Real Farmers.” Today the Valley is “growing” 5-, 10-, and 20-acre residential lots instead. We no longer hear the rousing enthusiasm for local food grown just minutes from the city limits.

Lentil Tacos – High Protein, No Meat

Tacos are a favorite treat for children and teens every where – and don’t forget the adults! How can you offer a tasty alternative that they will love as much as the traditional beef or chicken taco? The easiest way is to make the lentil fulling just as you would the beef filling and add the same toppings. Easy peasy!

Taco Tuesday will still be your favorite quick meal for the whole family.

Jacob’s Red Lentil Soup

The Biblical story of Jacob and Esau and the lentil soup resonates with many as a story of human weakness and trickery, where a younger brother tricks a hungry older brother into selling him his firstborn birthright for a bowl of soup. But is it that simple?

Eating History: Lentils, Dry Peas, Beans, Chickpeas

Lentils (those tiny little legumes often displayed in the “healthy grains” section of the supermarket) are not commonly on the dinner plate in most American households, even though they are a key element in the healthy – and highly recommended – Mediterranean diet.

Pita, Not Pizza – Avoiding a Baking Disaster

I recently avoided disaster, thank goodness! It was Saturday – and we have homemade pizza every Saturday or every other Saturday. So I stirred yeast into some water, let it sit; next added flour and salt. After kneading for a bit, I covered the bowl to let it rise.

Then… Life got in the way. It was not to be Pizza Night!

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread…

Bread was truly the “staff of life” for both the peasant and the nobleman for centuries. In the Middle Ages, for example, a majority of the population – mostly peasants – ate 2 to 3 pounds of bread a day. Today, even with government recommendations of 6 to 8 ounces of “grain equivalents” a day, most Americans are eating about half as much bread as they did just 40 years ago.

A Lesson in Diversity – The Potato

Around 100 years ago there were hundreds of varieties of vegetable and fruit seed available to the farmer and home gardener. By 1983 those varieties had been reduced by more than a factor of 10.

Or in the case of potatoes, by a factor of 1000…