Southwest Foccacia Bread Recipe

This recipe will be in our cookbook that is coming out soon, look for it on our facebook fan page.

makes 1/2 sheet pan

2 pkg dry yeast
1 1/2 cups luke warm water
(mix together and set aside)

1 3/4 cups mashed potatoes
1 large red bell pepper, slivered
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 bunch Italian parsley,chopped
6-8 chipotle chilies, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Add yeast mixture to mashed potatoes that have cooled slightly. Add next 5 ingredients, mix. Then slowly add 5 cups of bread flour that has been sifted with 1 Tablespoon of salt. Add 2 cups at a time using a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook attachment. Keep scraping the bowl with a spatula. Put in a large bowl and rub with olive oil. Let it rise in a warm place for about 3 hours or until it is double in size. Punch down. Spread dough in a greased 1/2 sheet pan or cookie sheet. Brush the top with olive oil. Let rise again until double in size . Bake at 350 until golden about 25- 30 minutes.
This is great to serve with enchiladas or make panini sandwiches. It also freezes well.

Todays Food for Thought

Bobcat Inn

I was driving into town today from The Bobcat Inn and heard an interesting topic on a talk radio show. They were discussing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental problems associated with rearing cattle and other animals. Rajendra Pachauri, was recently re-elected for a second term chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The organization won a Nobel Peace Prize award in 2007 along with Al Gore. Pachauri told the Observor that people should start by having one meat free day per week then cut back further.
This is more than likely correct but I don't think anyone has the right to tell me or anyone else what to eat. Next, they will tell us to live in a small house and not drive a car. This is very disturbing to our agriculture base. My father is a rancher and farmer in Texas and this kind of propaganda will only hurt ranchers. A lady called into the program who raises pork. She was being funny and said her name was Mrs. Bacon . She said that her two pigs that she had raised were now in her freezer and she was being complimented by how good they tasted when she gave samples to her friends. The host ask her what made her pork taste so good and she replied it was what she had fed them. (corn and alfalfa and scraps) I can also relate this to grass fed beef since it is a pet peeve of mine. I know it is politically correct to eat grass fed beef if you are going to eat beef. It is lower in cholesterol and very lean. If you had a tasting and compared grass fed to corn and grain fed beef , the latter would win hands down. I do agree that it is nice to know where your food comes from and if it is fresh it will taste a lot better than if it was shipped and frozen.
I wonder if people were asked to stop eating chocolate for the planet if they would do so? I certainly would not. I cater to many people's special diets and I have never heard this being the reason a person is a vegetarian until now.

Fall Colors and Galisteo 22nd Annual Studio Tour

It was so much fun taking a country drive and heading to the small village of Galisteo last weekend. The weather unlike today was gorgeous. This morning it snowed and then turned very cold and damp. The cottonwood trees were at their peak of changing to gold. The art in this small village is incredible. There were 36 artist showing their work and there was all different mediums of art. I bought a retablo of San Pasqual from artist, Catherine Ferguson. I have it hanging in the kitchen at The Bobcat Inn. This artist had even painted her propane tank with ravens and a dark New Mexico blue sky background. Another well known artist , Priscilla Hoback had murals, monotypes and pottery sculptures. There are several other art studio tours happening this fall. La Cienega hosts theirs after Thanksgiving and Dixon will host theirs on November 7 & 8th. It is a great way to meet the artist and contribute to your local economy while getting some fresh air.

Visit Sagebrush Alpacas

There is this wonderful Alpaca ranch near The Bobcat Inn in Santa Fe New Mexico. Mary MacGyver is the owner and she gives tours on Thursdays :1:30-4:00PM and Sundays :1:30-4:00PM or you can call 505 470-4629 or visit them at http://www.sagebrushalpacas.com I recently visited their ranch and immediately fell in love. Alpacas are very special animals and are very intelligent. They are the only animal native to the Americas. There is also a ranch store with beautiful woven sweaters and other fiber textiles.

Outstanding In The Field

Outstanding in the field, a farm to table event will take place this Sunday, October 4th at 3:00PM in Galisteo , New Mexico. Tim Willms ,farmer and owner of the Talus Wind Ranch is co-hosting the event with David Sellers , chef and owner of Amavi Restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Unfortunately, the event is sold out.
Jim Denevan founded the Outstanding in the Field events in Santa Cruz California in 1999. He wanted to bring awareness to small organic farms. People have loved this event and now it is a national event. Their website shows all of the events and places that it occurs. I am hoping that they will do this again next year and I will buy my ticket early. A portion of the money is benefiting Kitchen Angels of Santa Fe. http://www.outstandinginthefield.com
The Bobcat Inn still has very limited availability for Oct. 3rd & 4th. We are the closest bed and breakfast to the event.

Bobcat Inn Commercial

Filmed / Edited by Grant MacAllister. Click here to e-mail Grant.
Music by Robert Sequoia.

©2009 Grant MacAllister

Slow Food Movement in Santa Fe...

Last in our series on Dining close to the Bobcat Inn:

Real Food Nation is our newest restaurant in the area. It is trying very hard to be a sustainable restaurant which buys locally and is responsible to the earth. They also pay tribute to the Slow Food Movement. I really hope they make it and come up with a few new ideas. They have 5 or 6 entree choices in the evening and most of it is prepared ahead of time. They use the kitchen in the other building and then transport the food to their retail location which is right next door. They use paper plates and baskets so that most things can be composted. I have tried two soups and they were both good. I also had rigatoni for dinner with eggplant and it had been sitting under the heat lamp too long, which was also my friends opinion. The panini sandwiches at lunch are good and you can also pick up your sandwiches and salads to go on your picnic here. We have had guests to pick up food and bring back to The Bobcat Inn to enjoy on our patio.