Julie Marino and Pam Strahan, Photo by Rick Padden

The Moon Theatre Company will present “The Kitchen Witches,” a full-length comedy that joins two arch-rival cooking show hostesses on stage in the same TV show, yielding ratings that would put Martha Stewart and Jerry Springer both to shame. Written by Caroline Smith and directed by Don Kraus, insults rise higher than cake dough and a hilarious tale is whipped up in a savory show that is bound to please even the fussiest palate.

As a special treat, local “celebrities” will go onstage to judge a dessert contest between the two chefs. The line up is Dr. Ron Cabrera, Superintendent of Thompson School District, (Jan. 20);  Loveland Mayor Cecil Gutierrez (Jan. 21); Kendrick White, Principal of Van Buren and Big Thompson Elementary Schools (Jan. 22); Rick Padden, local playwright and co-owner of Kitchen Alley (Jan. 27); Loveland businessman Barry Floyd (Jan. 28); and Berthoud Mayor Tom Patterson (Jan. 29).January 20, 21 (7:30 p.m.), 22 (2 p.m.), 27, 28 (7:30 p.m.) & 29 (2 p.m.)

Tickets: $14 adults, $13 seniors and students and $12 for groups of 10 or more.

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Each month, the Colorado Department of Agriculture features a different commodity to highlight the variety and quality of products grown, raised or processed in the state. This month, Colorado beans are featured in our Pinto Bean, Vegetable and Tortilla Soup recipe.

Available Now…Beans

Colorado produces a wide range of bean varieties including pinto, light red kidney and black. In 2010, Colorado ranked eighth nationally in dry bean production with 125 million pounds, valued at $30 million. Beans are high in protein and fiber and low in fat, calories and sodium. A diet including beans may reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers. Look for Colorado beans at your local grocery store or at restaurants across the state.

Pinto Bean, Vegetable and Tortilla Soup

Chef Jason K. Morse, C.E.C., 5280 Culinary, LLC

Serves 8

• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1 Small Yellow Onion, diced
• 3 Ribs Celery with Leaves, diced
• 3 Carrots, diced
• 2 Zucchini, diced
• 1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 Tbsp. Garlic, pureed
• 1 Jalapeno, diced with seeds
• 4 6” Corn Tortillas, cut into thin strips
• 1 14.5 oz. Can Crushed Tomato
• 3 32 oz. Containers Vegetable Cooking Stock, low or no sodium
• Kosher Salt to taste
• 1/2 Tsp. Black Ground Pepper
• 1 Tsp. Ground Cumin
• 1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
• 2 14.5 oz. Cans Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. Masa Corn Flour
• 1/2 Bunch Fresh Cilantro, chopped, leaves only, no stems

Heat a large stock pot on high heat. Add the oil and heat, then add the onion, celery, carrots, zucchini, red and green bell peppers and sauté for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the garlic, jalapeno and tortillas and sauté for 1 minute. Stir to ensure the tortillas soften slightly. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer then add the seasonings and beans. Adjust seasoning to desired taste level. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the Masa on the surface of the soup and stir in to help thicken. Turn off the heat and add the chopped cilantro. Serve with grilled corn tortillas or garnish with shredded Pepper Jack Cheese and tortilla strips.

Enjoy with a Colorado wine, such as a glass of Pinot Gris from Garrett Estate Cellars, located in Olathe, Colorado.

Visit www.coloradoagriculture.com for a complete list of recipes.

Title: Busy B’s
Program type: Story time
Days and time: Tuesdays 10:30am

Description: Busy B’s is a lap-sit story time intended for babies and toddlers to enjoy with caregivers.  We will sing, read, chant, rhyme and play each Tuesday morning at 10:30 am in the Berthoud Community Library meeting room.  Winter session runs from January 3 through February 21.

Title: Sweet P’s
Program type: Story time
Days and time: Wednesdays 10:30am

Description: Sweet P’s story time is intended to support pre reading skills for preschool aged children.  We sing, read, write and play each Wednesday morning at 10:30 am in the Berthoud Community Library meeting room.  Winter session runs from January 4 through February 22.

Title: Family story time
Program type: Story time
Days and time: Fridays 10:30am

Description: Family story time is fun for all ages.  Meet us each Friday morning at 10:30 am in the Berthoud Community Library meeting room.  Winter session runs from January 6 through February 24.

Title:  Paws to Read
Program type: Participant read aloud
Days and time:  Fourth Monday Jan-April at 6:30 pm

Description: For children grades 1-5 who can read a book independently.  These gentle dogs offer a listening ear for children to practice their oral reading skills.  Call or stop by the Berthoud Community Library to sign up for a 15 minuet slot.  This program is offered every fourth Friday through April.

Title: Teen Games
Program type: Teen
Days and time: 1^st and 3^rd Thursday starting February 2 @ 4-5pm.

Description: Do you love to play games?  Do you play Magic the Gathering, D&D or do you love board games?  Bring your friends and hang out at the Berthoud Community Library on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursday of each month for games and snacks!

LOVELAND (Jan. 4, 2012) – McKee Medical Center is proud to announce a partnership with Spirit of Women®, a movement of women, hospitals and health care providers across the country that help make good health less about denying yourself things and more about treating yourself to great experiences and easy-to-use health news.

The Spirit of Women Hospital Network combines educational events with entertaining activities. Following those lines, McKee has announced its first Spirit of Women event that coincides with National Heart Month. Men and women are invited to Art for the Heart, a painting and heart education event at Studio Vino in Loveland on Feb. 16. Cardiologist Randall Marsh from the CardioVascular Institute of Northern Colorado will speak to the group about reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease with regular exercise, smoking cessation and moderation of sodium and alcohol. And, of course, Studio Vino will lead guests in creating their own heart paintings to take home.

According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 81 million people are affected by at least one form of cardiovascular disease. “Heart disease has become a national epidemic,” explains Sheryl Fahrenbruch, coordinator of McKee Spirit of Women, “but we can begin to take small steps today to lower our risk tomorrow.”

Art for the Heart is 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Feb. 16 at Studio Vino, 426 N. Lincoln Ave. in Loveland. Admission to the event is $15 and pre-registration by Feb. 13 is required. Please call (970) 203-6631.

If you are interested in joining Spirit of Women to take advantage of more entertaining and education events, applications are available online at www.bannerhealth.com/mckeespirit. Or, you may call (970) 203-6631.Lifetime membership is $20. Membership is free to people over 65. Upcoming 2012 events feature topics such as digestive health; the most recognized brain disorders and their treatments; shoulder, hip and knee pain; and the basics on appropriate insurance coverage.

ABOUT MCKEE MEDICAL CENTER

McKee Medical Center is a fully accredited, private not-for-profit facility with 132 beds. It serves as a community medical center with services including emergency, oncology, heart, orthopedics, inpatient and outpatient surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, rehabilitation, intensive care, lab and medical imaging.

ABOUT BANNER HEALTH

Headquartered in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the country’s largest nonprofit health care systems. Located in seven states, Banner Health owns or manages 23 health care facilities as well as physician practices and nationally recognized research centers. To learn more go to www.BannerHealth.com

U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee

On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

Throughout 1890, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge.

On December 29, the U.S. Army’s 7th cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under the Sioux Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it’s unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which it’s estimated almost 150 Indians were killed (some historians put this number at twice as high), nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.

The conflict at Wounded Knee was originally referred to as a battle, but in reality it was a tragic and avoidable massacre. Surrounded by heavily armed troops, it’s unlikely that Big Foot’s band would have intentionally started a fight. Some historians speculate that the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment’s defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876. Whatever the motives, the massacre ended the Ghost Dance movement and was the last major confrontation in America’s deadly war against the Plains Indians.

Conflict came to Wounded Knee again in February 1973 when it was the site of a 71-day occupation by the activist group AIM (American Indian Movement) and its supporters, who were protesting the U.S. government’s mistreatment of Native Americans.  During the standoff, two Indians were killed, one federal marshal was seriously wounded and numerous people were arrested.

For more events of the day, visit History.com

For more about Wounded Knee with photos, visit About the Wounded Knee Massacre at Illinois.edu

For an account from a Native American viewpoint read Mary Black Bonnet’s story at Life as a Human  or click on the photo above.

Office of Price Administration begins to ration automobile tires

On this day in 1941, the federal Office of Price Administration initiates its first rationing program in support of the American effort in World War II: It mandates that from that day on, no driver will be permitted to own more than five automobile tires.

President Roosevelt established the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply in April 1941 to “stabilize prices and rents and prevent unwarranted increases in them; to prevent profiteering, hoarding and speculation; to assure that defense appropriations were not dissipated by excessive prices; to protect those with fixed incomes from undue impairment of their living standards; to assist in securing adequate production; and to prevent a post-emergency collapse of values.” The OPA (its name was streamlined in August 1941) was responsible for two types of rationing programs. The first limited the purchase of certain commodities (tires, cars, metal typewriters, bicycles, stoves and rubber shoes) to people who had demonstrated an especial need for them. The second limited the quantity of things–like butter, coffee, sugar, cooking fat, gasoline and non-rubber shoes–which every citizen was allowed to buy. (As a result, of course, the black market flourished–studies estimated that 25 percent of all purchases during the war were illegal.)

Japanese occupations in the Far East had made it impossible to get rubber from plantations in the Dutch East Indies, and what little rubber was available went straight to airplane and munitions factories. Because no one had yet figured out how to make really high-quality artificial rubber, the OPA especially wanted to encourage people to care for the automobile tires they already had. Ads urged people to put less wear on their tires by driving in carpools. (“When You Ride Alone You Ride With Hitler!” said one poster; another announced, “To win this war…more people have got to enjoy riding in fewer cars.”) To conserve rubber (and gasoline), the national “Victory Speed Limit” was 35 miles per hour. Meanwhile, scrap-rubber drives collected old raincoats, garden hoses and bathing caps.

Rationing and recycling–collecting items like tin cans and used cooking fat for reuse–was a way to make ordinary citizens feel like they were part of what one ad called a “fighting unit on the home front.” During the war, the OPA rationed almost every commodity it could think of, but by the end of 1945 only two rationing programs–for sugar and for rubber tires–remained in place. Tire rationing finally ended on December 31, 1945.

For more events of the day, visit History.com

Unlike the present, everyone sacrificed for the war effort in the 1940s. Read more about rationing here, Rationing on the U.S. Homefront

Bathory’s torturous escapades are exposed

Vincenzo Mazzie sits on Santa's lap

Despite the chill that closed the Berthoud Community Library Monday December 19, participants enjoyed the Polar Express party that featured a reading of the Caldecott award winning book by Chris Van Allsburg. Santa made a special appearance and brought a unique kind of cheer to the event with a game of “Santa says”.