Saturday, January 28, 2012

Centennial book presentation to ASU Alumni and Friends











So many of our Historymakers are connected with ASU in so many ways. They either graduated from ASU, endowed the University, taught at ASU, coached at ASU or contributed to the University in some capacity.
The Historical League has been asked to talk about the Historical League's Centennial book to ASU Alumni and friends at the University Club. Arizona Recollections and Reflections - Presentation by Zona Lorig, Ruth McLeod, and Joan Robinson, Arizona Historical Society -Thursday, February 9, 12:00-1:30 p.m. - Tempe Campus, University Club- RSVP by emailing Gwyn.Goebel@asu.edu
Celebrate Arizona's Centennial at ASU's colloquium luncheon with the co-editors of Arizona Recollections and Reflections, an Arizona Centennial Historymakers Commemoration. Presenters will highlight the contributions of twenty Historymakers(tm) connected with Arizona State University including Bill Kajikawa, Eugene Grigsby, Barbara Barrett, and Eddie Basha.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Clearance on Holiday Merchandise from Childrens Holiday Party



Remember those beautiful centerpieces and Holiday Shoppe gift ideas at the Childrens Holiday Party? They are now on sale with a big reduction in prices. January 28 from 10 am - 1 pm at Coulter Estates in the clubhouse. The garage sale is on East Montebello just south of Phoenix Baptist Church at Bethany Home and Central.

Support the Historical League and the good things it helps provide for the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Quinoa with Pesto and Sun-dried Tomatoes



Quinoa - a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such

as beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds.

The Incas, who held the crop to be sacred, referred to quinoa as chisaya mama or 'mother of all grains', and it was the Inca emperor who would traditionally sow the first seeds of the season using 'golden implements'. During the European conquest of South America, the Spanish colonists scorned quinoa as 'food for Indians', and even actively suppressed its cultivation, due to its status within indigenous non-Christian ceremonies. In fact, the conquistadores forbade quinoa cultivation for a time and the Incas were forced to grow wheat instead. (From Wikipedia)

A tasty pesto sauce with very nutritious ingredients, this recipe is a twist on classic Italian cuisine.

Quinoa with Pesto and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup (packed) sun-dried tomatoes
  • 2 cups (packed) chopped fresh basil
  • ½ cup hemp seeds
  • 2⁄3 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon freeze-dried wheatgrass powder (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 4 cups cooked quinoa
  • 2 cups (packed) baby spinach, cut into chiffonade (aka extra thin)

Directions:

  1. Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in some hot water for 30 minutes or until soft. Slice thinly.
  2. Use a food processor to blend the basil, hemp seeds, both oils, wheatgrass powder, nutritional yeast, sea salt and garlic into a pesto sauce. In a large bowl, toss some of the pesto (use as much as desired) with the quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Serve cold or gently heat.

Recipe modified from Julie Morris, Superfood Cuisine: Cooking with Nature’s Most Amazing Food

Makes 4-6 servings

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms


Delicious and tasty - wonderful for parties or just yourself.

We also love the Stuffed Mushrooms, page 27, in Tastes & Treasures cookbook.


Ingredients:
12 medium baby bella mushrooms (each about 2 inches wide)
One 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese
Spices: garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray and set aside.

Remove mushroom stems and set aside. Place mushroom caps on the baking sheet, rounded sides down. Bake in the oven until slightly softened, 12 - 14 minutes. Leave oven on.

Meanwhile, chop mushroom stems. Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat on the stove. Add stems and cook and stir until soft, about 3 minutes.

Place cooked stems in a medium bowl. Add spinach, cheese, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. onion powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Pat mushroom caps with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Evenly distribute spinach mixture among the caps, about 2 tablespoons each. Bake in the oven until filling is hot, 8 - 10 minutes. Enjoy!

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

AZ Centennial Quilt displayed at AHS Museum































Want to see a work of art? Visit this fabulous hand made quilt that celebrates Arizona's Centennial. It will be displayed at the Arizona Historical Museum at Papago Park until the end of January. Don't forget to look at the back of the quilt. Carolyn Mendoza and Maureen Biles were very impressed with the details of this amazing Legacy Project.
While you are at the museum, check out the great books in the lobby gift shop. Recollections and Reflections An Arizona Historymakers Centennial Commemoration is a wonderful gift idea with it's great stories of the people and businesses that help build this state.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Historymaker Navajo Code Talker Keith Little (1925-2012) Memorial Fund



League Member Renee Donnelly has been communicating with Keith Little's widow, Nellie, who said "Keith's life-long dream was to provide a legacy for the amazing story of the Navajo Code Talkers and to pass their story on to future generations through the Navajo Code Talkers Museum and Veteran Center."

Donations made in his honor should be send to www.navajocodetalkers.org or NCTF Museum PO Box 1266, Window Rock, AZ 86515.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pam Stevenson and Quilts - Pieces of Time

Quilts tell so many stories- just ask the families who have inherited them. During the war, this Red Cross quilt was used to raise funds for the war effort. The Baltimore quilt with it's detailed workmanship has been auctioned several times with over $30,000 at last trade.

Historical League member and author Pam Stevenson shared stories of several quilts that make up the Grand Endeavors Quilts Book. Photos of several of these quilts are framed in the large board room at the AHS Museum.

Jackie Berkowitz presented Pam with a Centennial ball cap after her fascinating presentation.










More about the Program and Pam Stevenson -

It traces the history of Arizona through women who recorded pieces of their lives in their needlework. Beginning with Mexican women of the 1860’s through Hopi women of the 1990’s, this program introduces women who pioneered Arizona through the quilts they stitched. The colorful patterns of women’s quilts added a spot of brightness to their homes and their lives. Arizona Quilts features quilts discovered by the Arizona Quilt Project, which documented the history of Arizona quilts made before 1940. The results of this five year quilt research were recorded in the women’s history book, Grand Endeavors: Vintage Arizona Quilts and Their Makers, co- authored by Pam Knight Stevenson. The television documentary, Arizona Quilts: Pieces of Time, written and produced by Pam Knight Stevenson is also based on the Arizona Quilt Project research. Pam said that the Arizona Quilt Project documentation is archived at the AHS Papago Park Museum and the quilt photos in the board room are from that collection.

Pam Knight Stevenson is a journalist, historian and fourth generation quilter. Pam served nine years on the board of the Arizona Quilt Project, a non-profit organization created to document the history of quilts in Arizona. Besides the book and television program noted above, Pam also produced Hopi Quilts, a national PBS television documentary that traces the history of quilting on the Hopi mesas. She also produced the video Quilt preservation: Protecting your Quilts for the Future for the Phoenix Museum of History.