Sunday, November 25, 2007

Cranberry Salsa and Other Oklahoma Treats


Deep Fork River Bridge
Originally uploaded by FreeWine
We enjoyed some great Oklahoma flavors at our Thanksgiving meal this year.

Through our new Oklahoma Food Coop membership we got some uniquely wonderful Cranberry Salsa from Cocina San Pasqual (formerly Bloomin' Botanicals) in Perkins, Oklahoma. It had this amazing sweet and spicy flavor that was accented with pinon nuts. Ingredients: fresh cranberries, chiles, pecans &/or pinon nuts, orange juice, cranberry sauce, coconut syrup, lemon/lime juice.

The big hit of the meal was the Sausage Dressing Dianne made to go with the turkey. If you have never had sausage dressing, try it soon. Don't wait for Thankgiving to try this simple but excellent dish.

Hope you had Happy Thanksgiving!

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Shop local!

Friday, November 09, 2007

New Roller Derby League Launching in Oklahoma

Roller Derby in Stillwater

The Central Oklahoma Roller Derby Association is in the process of starting a Roller Derby League with four teams in the Payne County area and they want Oklahoma women that are 18 and older to join up.

Roller derby is an extreme contact sport consisting of two teams skating around a fast track while one team member tries to pass opponents for points. There is already a prominent league in Oklahoma City as well as Tulsa.

http://tornadoalleyrollergirls.org/ - OKC Area Roller Derby League

The girls on the four Tornado Alley Roller Girls Teams - Cell Block 9, the Victory Dolls, Homewrecking Harlots and Valkyrie Vixens - range in age from 21 to 48. Each team can field 14 girls at a time.

http://www.greencountryrollergirls.com/ - Tulsa Area Roller Derby League

Wanna Play? - The Tulsa area Roller Derby League has Team Tryouts Scheduled for Thursday November 15, 2007 from 8pm to 10pm at B.A. Roller Sports, 551 West Oakland Place in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma or any Sunday morning 10am to 1pm.

Like to watch? - The Green Country Roller Girls will be sending a few players down south to Dallas, Texas on November 17th, 2007 to compete against the Death Row Rumblers during the Dallas Derby Devils' Give Thanks For Derby event. Visit the DDD website for ticket information.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Tulsa Bike Share Program - Yeah Tulsa!

The Tulsa Townies bicycle project was launched in August 2007 by Saint Francis Health System to promote an active and healthy lifestyle in the community. This project is the first bicycle program of its kind in northeastern Oklahoma. Three of the four bicycle rental stations are located at the Tulsa River Parks trail along Riverside Drive at 19th and 41st streets and at Riverside Parkway and 96th Street. The fourth is located at the Sand Springs River City Park at 2500 South River City Park Road.

Patrons have the option of checking out a bike from four kiosks called, Cyclestations™ located in Tulsa at 19th Street and Riverside, 41st Street and Riverside, 96th and Riverside and in Sand Springs at 2500 S. Sand Springs River City Park Road. Although there is no cost to check out a Tulsa Townies bicycle, a credit card is needed for identification purposes and to help prevent theft. Patrons may return their Tulsa Townies bicycle at any one of the locations regardless of where the bicycle was originally checked out. Patrons must be at least 18 years of age to ride a Tulsa Townies bike.

http://www.tulsa-townies.com

Proud to be an Okie Without E-Coli

Red tail Hawk
October Road Hawk Toenail
Originally uploaded by FreeWine
Dianne and I have really been enjoying our new membership in the Oklahoma Food Coop (http://www.oklahomafood.coop). It turns out that this is a great time to explore more local, less corporate food alternatives.

Agricultural giant Cargill Inc. said on Saturday it is recalling over 1 million pounds of ground beef distributed in the United States because of possible E. Coli contamination.

The recalled products have use/freeze-by dates of Oct 19 through Nov 3. Most will have the USDA establishment number of EST 9400 inside the USDA mark of inspection.



We've participated in a couple cycles of orders and deliveries now. Picking up in Jenks is a bit of a drive from Okmulgee. However, we usually find we can schedule our pickups concurrently with trips we already need to make to nearby Tulsa.

Favorite Items from the Oklahoma Food Coop

My favorite Oklahoma Food Cooperative items are often the baked goods. Supermarket cookies simply cannot compare to Gypsy C.O.W. (Chocolate, Oatmeal Walnut) Cookies from The Prairie Gypsies. I simply love the Chocolate Chip Pecan Flapjack Granola from Earth Elements Farm. Despite my sweet tooth, I wish there were more salad green available like the excellent Romaine Lettuce we bought Sunrise Acres.

We didn't save any cents per pound through buying our ground beef from Kastl Farms, but we found their Oklahoma hamburger to be leaner and richer in flavor than what we were used to and we were quite pleased to NOT be participating in the Cargill meat recall described above. The Made-in-Oklahoma Beef Italian Sausages we got from Natural Farms is one of the most exciting products to hit our diet in quite sometime. We are using them in loads of entrees, they are a nice change of pace from pork sausages. Soon we plan to try the Buffalo Burger Patties from the Wichita Buffalo Company. How's that for Oklahoma eating?


Think globally, eat locally. Here's where to start: http://www.oklahomafood.coop/!

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