Self-reliance

Living out here, you learn to adjust or do without. Case in point: bread. The quality of the bread in the grocery stores is unmentionable--gooey wonder-type sandwich bread not worth eating, or fake whole wheat ready to burst into (or perhaps it already has right there on the shelf) an impressive display of mold.

So I've learned to bake my own, which is rather easy, given the altitude lets dough rise in no time at all. My favorite bread recipe is the often discussed New York Times no-knead bread, which I've made plain and with anise seed. One of the women in the hiking group has made it with orange juice and pecans (easy to get since we grow them out here), and she heard of someone making it with beer. Here's the link to the recipe on one of my favorite blogs: http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/one-for-the-sling-files The moist springy texture of the bread is just superb. The recipe calls for hours and hours of letting the dough rise, but at this altitude, I can start this one in the morning and have hot bread for dinner.

So this bad-bread situation inspires adventurous cooking, and when a recent visitor mentioned english muffins and even looked up web recipes for me, well, I figured it was time to try them. I didn't know that english muffins are a yeast bread that you bake on a skillet like stout pancakes, did you? Have to tell you these are dense, but wonderful. Here's the recipe: http://www.cooksrecipes.com/bread/english-muffins-recipe.html They take some time, since I only have one skillet, but the results are worth it to me.

Frozen food is also a challenge, since the distances don't allow you safe transport in the ice chest. Just forget frozen pizza or popscicles or ice cream (except natural foods brands through the co-op). So I was pleased to find a Central Market recipe for a frozen mango treat, mango being one of my favorite foods and fairly easy to get cheaply here. Since the occasional street vendor will have 15 mangoes for sale for $10, I make these whenever I can.

1. Scoop out the flesh of 4 mangoes (reserving the 2 side shell skins or "boats" of each mango), and put flesh in a blender with 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice to taste. Blend until smooth.

2. Spoon the mixture into the 8 reserved mango skin shells and freeze. Ready to eat in an hour or so.

3. After frozen, these can be wrapped and kept in the freezer, taking them out an hour before eating to thaw a bit.

And I've found a way to make smoothies for breakfast! If fresh fruit isn't available, I use frozen which I've found can get a little thawed on the way home from the city grocery store and refrozen without much trouble. I hear you don't lose too much nutritional value with frozen fruit, an added bonus. Here's what I do:

1. Put a ripe, peeled banana in the blender. Blend on high until liquified.

2. Put your choice frozen or fresh fruit in there too. Mango and raspberries are my favorite, but just about anything will do. Drained, canned apricots lends a rich smoothness to the drink.

3. Put a large dollop (1-2tbsp. or so) 0f plain non-fat yoghurt and blend. I buy a case of Nancy's brand through the co-op and keep it in the freezer, thawing only a quart container at a time. Nancy's seems to retain its texture through this process with just a tiny bit of fatigue.

4. Add milk, and blend. That's it. Not terribly sweet, but just sweet enough with the right fruit. You'll get a hang for the proportions quickly. It is all a matter of taste.

So good food is here, you just have to make it yourself. Good pizza (inspired by Steve and Becky Smith), good bread, good smoothies, good frozen mangoes. I've even made my own version of one of Houston's best tacos, black bean/chicken/plaintain, yum. Since fresh herbs are hard to get, I have to adjust using dried, and Mexican spices are incredibly cheap compared to those from U.S. companies. A limitation for me is the lack of good, really good cheese, but the co-op had started carrying some New Mexico goat cheese, and I'll give that a try.

It makes sense to steer towards the foods that are plentiful here--mango, avocado, peppers and chilis, and Mexican zucchini. Does anyone have a good healthy zucchini recipe which doesn't call for exotic cheeses or lots of sugar or fat? Would you send it to me?