Here are a few recipes I've been using. They are all variations on recipes I found either online or in magazines. I have altered them beyond recognition though (plus forgot where they came from) so I am not adding attribution. If you recognize one of these and want me to attribute it, I will happily do so, just let me know!
Raw Milk Yogurt
This is the way it worked best for me so far. It made a nice, relatively firm yogurt, after I drained off most of the whey. The whey can then be used in the bread recipe that follows, or for cheesemaking or paneer.
I settled on 2 qts because that is what fits comfortably in my crockpot, which I use for conditioning. You can use whatever amount you want, depending on how you plan to keep it warm for 6-12 hrs. If you prefer that your milk not be heated this high, just warm it to 120. I found that the yogurt thickened up better when I heated it to 180. You can also add powdered milk or other things to thicken it more, but I don't think it needs it, and it kind of defeats the purpose of using what comes from the farm if I add powdered milk or other thickeners...
1. Heat 2 qts raw milk to 180 degrees F (I do this on the stove, but I read several other recipes that used the microwave. I use my regular meat thermometer.)
2. Immediately remove from heat, and allow to cool to 120 degrees.
3. Stir in 2 tablespoons plain greek-style yogurt (Make sure it says, "live and active cultures" on the package. After you make a batch, you can save some to use for your next batch, but I have read that after a few times of doing this, you will probably need to buy a fresh starter. I have been using my leftovers for the last 2 batches.) Mix well.
4. Pour into mason jars and close lids.
5. I culture my yogurt in my crockpot. To do it this way, put the jars in the crockpot and fill crockpot with very warm tap water (about 120 degrees, up to necks of jars). Put on the lid (if the lid won't close all the way, cover it with a towel to insulate the top. Periodically check the temperature of the water, and turn the pot on or off, or add cool water if required, to maintain approximately 110 degrees. I check every couple of hours or so, if I am awake and around. Otherwise, I check when i can, and err on the side of cooler rather than warmer. Too hot and your yogurt cultures will die, so try not to go over 120 degrees. If I do this late in the day, I just go to bed, and in the morning, voila! yogurt.
There are many other ways to do this: you can put the warm jars in a cooler wrapped in towels, and just check after 6-8 hours. You can put them in the oven with the light on (but the oven off unless you have a VERY LOW setting, like 110 degrees!).
6. Check After 6-8 hrs. Just tilt one of the jars a bit, and see if the yogurt has thickened. You will notice the whey separates from the yogurt. Once that has happened, it is done. I read that letting it sit longer won't make it thicker, just more sour tasting, so once it has set, it is done.
7. Pour off most of the whey (Save it! It has lots of other uses!), or ALL of the whey, and refrigerate both whey and yogurt. YOU DID IT! If you like thicker yogurt, you can pour it into a strainer lined with cheesecloth, and let it drain for a bit, until it is the consistency you like. Raw milk yogurt is naturally thinner than store bought yogurt.
8. To serve: top with honey, fruit, granola, cookie crumbs, whatever you like!
I have been using my yogurt as a substitute for sour cream. We also made a delicious lemon-honey frozen yogurt out of it (mix in honey, lemon zest and lemon juice; freeze in a metal bowl, stir every hour or so until as firm as you like.) I bet it would be a good substitute for cream cheese also, if you drained it well and added a little salt and some chives. It also makes fabulous salad dressing (recipe to follow!)
"Green Goddess Salad Dressing"
Careful, after you eat this you will only be able to kiss someone else who also ate this dressing! Lol!
1 Cup plain greek-style yogurt
1/2 C mayo (optional, if not used, increase yogurt to 1&1/2 cups)
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp lemon juice (omit if NOT using mayo)
1 tsp tamari (can substitute soy sauce)
1/2 tsp fish sauce (if you don't have this, increase tamari by 1 tsp. Fish sauce is super cheap and available in most grocery stores.)
1/2 tsp siracha, or more to taste (can substitute chopped spicy pepper of your choice, or tabasco)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh chopped chives
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
A few leaves of fresh basil, chopped
A chopped spring onion if you have one, bulb and green!
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Process all in food processor, until blended and as creamy as you like.
You can mess with the types and amounts of herbs, according to what you like. Just make sure they are fresh; dried ones DO NOT WORK in this recipe! If this recipe is too flavorful for you, just add more yogurt.
We ate this on salad, the next day on grilled zucchini, the next day on steamed green beans!! It would also make a scrumptious dip or sandwich spread! Again, have some mint gum handy!
My Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
I tried this with all whole wheat flour. It was delicious, but didn't rise very well, was SUPER dense and didn't hold up well to sandwiches (fell apart). If those things aren't issues for you, then just use all whole wheat.
3 Cups warm water or whey (110 degrees F)
2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast
2/3 Cup honey, divided
1 tablespoon salt
2 Cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached white flour for this, you could also use bread flour or bleached white)
6-7 Cups whole wheat flour, divided
3 tablespoons butter, melted
4 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (seems to help it rise and hold together better for sandwiches)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1.In a large bowl, combine warm water or whey, yeast and 1/3C honey; stir. Add the all purpose flour and 3C of whole wheat flour, stir to combine. Let rest for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in melted butter, rest of honey, and salt. Add vital wheat gluten and 3C wheat flour, stir until flour is mostly absorbed.
3. Now knead the dough for several minutes (3-5 mins; I do this right in the bowl) adding more flour as necessary to keep from sticking (may use up to another cup of flour, depending on the weather!). The more you knead, the better the dough will rise and the better the bread will hold together. The dough should still be somewhat sticky, 'the texture of a baby's bottom' as someone said online lol!
4. In another clean large bowl (or dump out your dough and real quick wash and dry the bowl you are using!) pour the olive oil, and turn and tilt bowl to spread it around, until well oiled. Put the dough in and then turn it to oil the whole surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel and allow to rise undisturbed in a warm place until doubled in size (about half hour, depending on weather and temperature).
3. Punch down the dough, and use a sharp knife to score in half. Place each half in a 9X5 inch loaf pan, and allow to rise again, until dough tops pan by about an inch (about 20-30 mins, depending on weather and temperature) Sometimes my dough doesn't ever top the pan by an inch, no matter how long I let it rest. That is just because the whole wheat flour is so dense and heavy. If you used mostly white flour, this recipe would make 3 loaves!
4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. If my oven is properly preheated, 25 minutes is exactly right. If I forget to preheat, then maybe 30. Do not overbake. The tops don't get glossy and brown, they pretty much stay the same, except they look dry.
5. Immediately remove from pans and cool on wire rack. Also immediately, use a big serrated bread knife to cut yourself a delicious slab and eat immediately with butter!!! And prepare to defend the warm bread from marauders!!!
6. The original recipe called for brushing the tops with melted butter to prevent the crust from getting hard, but I didn't notice any difference, so I don't bother with that.
Next time: whole wheat tortillas!
Gotta go now, the dog seems to be having some type of intestinal upset...=/
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Eyes on the Big Picture
Ah--the sweets of summer!!! Fresh peas and peppers from the garden, fresh green beans from our wonderful neighbor's garden, fresh eggplant and other goodies from the farm!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!! Our tomato plants are bending over with tomatoes, I'm sure we'll have some ripe ones by next week! Sometimes I just go out there and SMELL the garden!!! This must be how people have felt every summer since the beginning of time, when food is literally growing out of the ground! We are already planning to double the size of the garden for next year!
The grumpy-grocery-gusses (my kids and hub) have been up and down all week. My older son has been the easiest convert for sure: he loves the raw milk, is a buttermilk pancake junkie, and eats my home-made stone ground wheat flour bread like potato chips, slice after slice!
His brother has been tough. As an athletic type, he eats pretty much non-stop and he has had a hard time with the lack of convenience food junk. On the other hand, he LOVES veggies and will eat pretty much anything. He is a hands-on type, so I have tried to keep him involved in the processes of making the food. So far he has made yogurt, ice cream, tortillas, butter, and salsa, and even though he complains the entire time lol, when the food is actually ready he is always AMAZED that the ingredients turned into recognizable food!
I was going to have him grate cheese while I rolled out and cooked the tortillas the other day, and he didn't think that was 'fair' haha, so he ended up rolling out and cooking all the tortillas himself!!! And they turned out WAY better than the original batch I had made! And then when we ate them (we split one still warm off the griddle, but then had them with our fajitas for dinner) he definitely seemed proud. I had him make salsa completely on his own, and he kept griping that 'no way was this going to be salsa' until it WAS! And then we housed it all down with home- made tortillas!
My husband is the most difficult case for sure. We pack his lunches for work each day, and finding local sustainable options has been a struggle. Not because there aren't lots of options, but more because he is super high maintenance lol! He is sqeamish about everything in general, and if he likes something one week, he is sure to be 'sick of it' the next. I had been making eye round roasts, slicing it very thinly, and making sandwiches out it, but then he 'couldn't eat another bite' of that, so I tried a couple other options for his sandwiches (ham salad='too strong', pb&j='needs meat', meatloaf='not good cold') but I am at a loss now. I have offered to make other items, but since he is on the road, he can't heat anything up. He is a body-builder, so he wants lots of protein in every meal. And he usually eats on the road, so he can't have a salad or anything that requires attention to eat. I had been packing him pasta salad (made with local stuff), but he quickly tired of that. Red beet eggs were popular for a week or two, but have now fallen out of favor. He is vocally unhappy with our decision to stop eating factory farmed meat, and now wants Boar's Head turkey breast again....sigh.
I confess it astounds me and upsets me to a certain extent. I feel like he should put aside his selfish desire for lunchmeat and focus on the bigger picture of eating food that is good for the body and the planet. I feel like he should appreciate the effort that goes into packing his lunches and shut the hell up and eat them. I feel like he should realize that he is so far disconnected from the cycle of nourishment that he only thinks of the end product and not the process of getting it to that point.
I guess maybe it is selfish of ME to expect him to get on board as whole-heartedly as I have, but we did discuss all of this many times, and have been trying to eat more locally and sustainably for a long time now. I guess he just doesn't feel as strongly as I do about it. Which is strange and uncomfortable for me, because I am used to our opinions being so similar. And also because I don't think this has been very difficult, and usually he is the one who thinks things are easy...
It is a struggle. I can't help but wish he would try a little harder. I'm sure he wishes I would try LESS lol!
Anyway, I am pressing onward. I am going to look for a locally, humanely raised turkey breast, although I know it is hard this time of year.
Other than my family hahahaha things are going along well. I made 4 loaves of bread (one batch of two loaves, then immediately made another batch of two loaves) on Sunday so I wouldn't have to make bread every other day. That was a big help. Then I made a batch of tortillas (SUPER DUPER EASY!) and my son made a batch a few days later (I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what went right and wrong with the first batch) so bread has not been an issue this week. My last batch of yogurt was awesome (again tweaked a bit) and lasted until, well, yesterday, so I am planningt to do another big batch this week. I broke down and bought one of those spout-on-the-bottom beverage dispensers to help me separate the milk. I let it rest in there overnight, then basically just drained the milk part off the bottom and stopped when it got down to the cream! So now I have 'skim' milk for CERTAIN PEOPLE and all the cream to make butter with.
We made some lemon-honey frozen yogurt with some of the yogurt, again soooo easy, and it was delicious!
I made some blueberry desserts with blueberries from the farm and some frozen ones my mom had given me, and I substituted the stone ground whole wheat flour for the white flour the recipes called for, and they turned out just fine!
Farmer gave out some recipes for various cookies made with the flour also, and I am hoping to have time to make some this week.
Oh and I substituted my yogurt for sour cream on my baked potatoes and I couldn't tell the difference!
I have been going to the farmers market every week also, to supplement the farm csa stuff. Mostly getting mushrooms,zucchini and honey, just avoiding anything not grown, at least, in state. I am definitely WAY down on grocery store purchases, but I am still buying things like lemons and avocados (bad I know, but soo delicious!) and coffee, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. Still, I feel like I am accomplishing something, making a drop in the bucket difference. And all I can do is my best, so that is what I am doing.
I promise by next week to get some recipes up here! And wish me luck with my lunch meat endeavors!
The grumpy-grocery-gusses (my kids and hub) have been up and down all week. My older son has been the easiest convert for sure: he loves the raw milk, is a buttermilk pancake junkie, and eats my home-made stone ground wheat flour bread like potato chips, slice after slice!
His brother has been tough. As an athletic type, he eats pretty much non-stop and he has had a hard time with the lack of convenience food junk. On the other hand, he LOVES veggies and will eat pretty much anything. He is a hands-on type, so I have tried to keep him involved in the processes of making the food. So far he has made yogurt, ice cream, tortillas, butter, and salsa, and even though he complains the entire time lol, when the food is actually ready he is always AMAZED that the ingredients turned into recognizable food!
I was going to have him grate cheese while I rolled out and cooked the tortillas the other day, and he didn't think that was 'fair' haha, so he ended up rolling out and cooking all the tortillas himself!!! And they turned out WAY better than the original batch I had made! And then when we ate them (we split one still warm off the griddle, but then had them with our fajitas for dinner) he definitely seemed proud. I had him make salsa completely on his own, and he kept griping that 'no way was this going to be salsa' until it WAS! And then we housed it all down with home- made tortillas!
My husband is the most difficult case for sure. We pack his lunches for work each day, and finding local sustainable options has been a struggle. Not because there aren't lots of options, but more because he is super high maintenance lol! He is sqeamish about everything in general, and if he likes something one week, he is sure to be 'sick of it' the next. I had been making eye round roasts, slicing it very thinly, and making sandwiches out it, but then he 'couldn't eat another bite' of that, so I tried a couple other options for his sandwiches (ham salad='too strong', pb&j='needs meat', meatloaf='not good cold') but I am at a loss now. I have offered to make other items, but since he is on the road, he can't heat anything up. He is a body-builder, so he wants lots of protein in every meal. And he usually eats on the road, so he can't have a salad or anything that requires attention to eat. I had been packing him pasta salad (made with local stuff), but he quickly tired of that. Red beet eggs were popular for a week or two, but have now fallen out of favor. He is vocally unhappy with our decision to stop eating factory farmed meat, and now wants Boar's Head turkey breast again....sigh.
I confess it astounds me and upsets me to a certain extent. I feel like he should put aside his selfish desire for lunchmeat and focus on the bigger picture of eating food that is good for the body and the planet. I feel like he should appreciate the effort that goes into packing his lunches and shut the hell up and eat them. I feel like he should realize that he is so far disconnected from the cycle of nourishment that he only thinks of the end product and not the process of getting it to that point.
I guess maybe it is selfish of ME to expect him to get on board as whole-heartedly as I have, but we did discuss all of this many times, and have been trying to eat more locally and sustainably for a long time now. I guess he just doesn't feel as strongly as I do about it. Which is strange and uncomfortable for me, because I am used to our opinions being so similar. And also because I don't think this has been very difficult, and usually he is the one who thinks things are easy...
It is a struggle. I can't help but wish he would try a little harder. I'm sure he wishes I would try LESS lol!
Anyway, I am pressing onward. I am going to look for a locally, humanely raised turkey breast, although I know it is hard this time of year.
Other than my family hahahaha things are going along well. I made 4 loaves of bread (one batch of two loaves, then immediately made another batch of two loaves) on Sunday so I wouldn't have to make bread every other day. That was a big help. Then I made a batch of tortillas (SUPER DUPER EASY!) and my son made a batch a few days later (I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what went right and wrong with the first batch) so bread has not been an issue this week. My last batch of yogurt was awesome (again tweaked a bit) and lasted until, well, yesterday, so I am planningt to do another big batch this week. I broke down and bought one of those spout-on-the-bottom beverage dispensers to help me separate the milk. I let it rest in there overnight, then basically just drained the milk part off the bottom and stopped when it got down to the cream! So now I have 'skim' milk for CERTAIN PEOPLE and all the cream to make butter with.
We made some lemon-honey frozen yogurt with some of the yogurt, again soooo easy, and it was delicious!
I made some blueberry desserts with blueberries from the farm and some frozen ones my mom had given me, and I substituted the stone ground whole wheat flour for the white flour the recipes called for, and they turned out just fine!
Farmer gave out some recipes for various cookies made with the flour also, and I am hoping to have time to make some this week.
Oh and I substituted my yogurt for sour cream on my baked potatoes and I couldn't tell the difference!
I have been going to the farmers market every week also, to supplement the farm csa stuff. Mostly getting mushrooms,zucchini and honey, just avoiding anything not grown, at least, in state. I am definitely WAY down on grocery store purchases, but I am still buying things like lemons and avocados (bad I know, but soo delicious!) and coffee, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. Still, I feel like I am accomplishing something, making a drop in the bucket difference. And all I can do is my best, so that is what I am doing.
I promise by next week to get some recipes up here! And wish me luck with my lunch meat endeavors!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
A Supper of Contentment...
Well we are back from vacation, it feels good to get resettled...
All and all, I felt things went well food-wise on vacation. We did eat out a few times, but I made some things and brought them down and we were able to eat most meals at the beach house.
I cooked up some italian sausage from the farm in advance and then brought a box of pasta and some spaghetti sauce to make a quick meal. I also brought eggs and homemade bread, homemade yogurt, farm fresh strawberries, zucchini, mushrooms, and milk, all local. I brought homemade pasta salad (the pasta was from a box, but most of the other stuff was local, like raw milk feta & veggies) and a 'taco' casserole I made up in advance and froze. Oh and I brought some ground beef, which is so versatile. I whipped up a delicious primavera with zucchini, canned olives, tomatoes, canned artichoke hearts, garlic and olive oil. Oh and some delicious snow peas sauteed in olive oil and garlic were a big hit too. And one night we grilled out, steak and marinated portabellos (slurp, drool). Oh and asparagus...
While shopping at a farmers market for produce prior to the trip, I encountered a common situation: people sellling stuff at a farmers market who are not farmers. I certainly don't expect every farmer to lug their goods to market every few days, often other people work the stands. But I am talking about the people who show up with a huge refrigerated truck packed with produce from around the world. When I see huge watermelons in early June, i get suspicious, but pineapples in Pennsylvania are a dead give-away!! LOL!
So I skipped that stand and headed for the ones with home-made signs saying what farm the stuff was grown on, with the addresses and usually the farmers names too. And I always ask, "So you grew this huh?" It's a good ice breaker and I usually get a little back story on the produce too. Don't get me wrong, if the person says they didn't grow it, that doesn't mean i WON'T buy it, it depends what they say NEXT lol! Often it is a friend or neighboring farmer, and that is fine, I just be sure to ask if the stuff is organic and local. And they seem to tell the truth, because I often hear that it is not organic, and then they tell me what was used on the produce, so that is interesting and good to know. (There is a link on this page to Farmers on the Square, which is a 'producers only' market, meaning the people selling it are the people who grew it.)
I do want to mention, which I prolly shoulda mentioned earlier, that I realize I am not the most knowledgeable person about local eating, or about farming, or about gardening, or baking, or yogurt making, or anything else really! I am just an average girl, trying to wean myself and my family off chemical-laden, over-packaged, factory farmed food.
But I know i am not the only person out there who realizes factory farming is bad, yet is unsure what the alternatives are, so I thought others might be interested in how I am going about figuring it out. I am by NO means an expert!! I do alot of research on the inter-webz, and try to use common sense, but other than that, I am just a grocery-store raised girl, tryin' to be a farm fresh woman lol!!!
My point is just that all my posts are just my own personal experiences, the path I am taking is NOT the only path to local eating.
I am a lil down tonight, what with the resistance raging in the kitchen and the sugar-free, non-dairy vanilla creamer in my coffee. BUT I am carrying on, trying to make little concessions in order to make larger-scale strides. I gave them all a guilt-inducing lecture about how I thought they would be proud of me for working so hard to help us eat better and protect our natural resources, and how I thought they supported me in this, and reminded them about the evils of factory farming, and I think that helped a bit. I also bought my husband some 2-liters of diet soda and some bags of crap for the kids, so that will get me another week or two of muffled grumbling.
On the upside, my garden is going NUTS right now!!! My heirloom tomato plants (4 different varieties!) over-grew their supports and we had to build new ones! Also some of them have tomatoes on them already! My potted zucchini has a baby zucchini growing on it! We pulled about 10 perfect strawberries out of the patch when we got home! We ate salads made of lettuce straight out of the garden for supper tonight! The peas are halfway up their trellises, and everything is looking healthy and bushy and delightful! (If you know me, you know I can't stay down in the dumps for long!) So in a few weeks I am sure I will have forgotten all about the trials and tribulations of the last week or two, and will have willing local eaters instead of mean, grumpy, detoxing kids and husbands....
I was going to make a batch of tortillas tonight, but the inspiration I was waiting for still hasn't materialized. Hmmm, maybe I should hit the sack now, and start fresh in the morning, "Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. May my supper be contentment; I'll breakfast on hope again tomorrow."
All and all, I felt things went well food-wise on vacation. We did eat out a few times, but I made some things and brought them down and we were able to eat most meals at the beach house.
I cooked up some italian sausage from the farm in advance and then brought a box of pasta and some spaghetti sauce to make a quick meal. I also brought eggs and homemade bread, homemade yogurt, farm fresh strawberries, zucchini, mushrooms, and milk, all local. I brought homemade pasta salad (the pasta was from a box, but most of the other stuff was local, like raw milk feta & veggies) and a 'taco' casserole I made up in advance and froze. Oh and I brought some ground beef, which is so versatile. I whipped up a delicious primavera with zucchini, canned olives, tomatoes, canned artichoke hearts, garlic and olive oil. Oh and some delicious snow peas sauteed in olive oil and garlic were a big hit too. And one night we grilled out, steak and marinated portabellos (slurp, drool). Oh and asparagus...
While shopping at a farmers market for produce prior to the trip, I encountered a common situation: people sellling stuff at a farmers market who are not farmers. I certainly don't expect every farmer to lug their goods to market every few days, often other people work the stands. But I am talking about the people who show up with a huge refrigerated truck packed with produce from around the world. When I see huge watermelons in early June, i get suspicious, but pineapples in Pennsylvania are a dead give-away!! LOL!
So I skipped that stand and headed for the ones with home-made signs saying what farm the stuff was grown on, with the addresses and usually the farmers names too. And I always ask, "So you grew this huh?" It's a good ice breaker and I usually get a little back story on the produce too. Don't get me wrong, if the person says they didn't grow it, that doesn't mean i WON'T buy it, it depends what they say NEXT lol! Often it is a friend or neighboring farmer, and that is fine, I just be sure to ask if the stuff is organic and local. And they seem to tell the truth, because I often hear that it is not organic, and then they tell me what was used on the produce, so that is interesting and good to know. (There is a link on this page to Farmers on the Square, which is a 'producers only' market, meaning the people selling it are the people who grew it.)
I do want to mention, which I prolly shoulda mentioned earlier, that I realize I am not the most knowledgeable person about local eating, or about farming, or about gardening, or baking, or yogurt making, or anything else really! I am just an average girl, trying to wean myself and my family off chemical-laden, over-packaged, factory farmed food.
But I know i am not the only person out there who realizes factory farming is bad, yet is unsure what the alternatives are, so I thought others might be interested in how I am going about figuring it out. I am by NO means an expert!! I do alot of research on the inter-webz, and try to use common sense, but other than that, I am just a grocery-store raised girl, tryin' to be a farm fresh woman lol!!!
My point is just that all my posts are just my own personal experiences, the path I am taking is NOT the only path to local eating.
I am a lil down tonight, what with the resistance raging in the kitchen and the sugar-free, non-dairy vanilla creamer in my coffee. BUT I am carrying on, trying to make little concessions in order to make larger-scale strides. I gave them all a guilt-inducing lecture about how I thought they would be proud of me for working so hard to help us eat better and protect our natural resources, and how I thought they supported me in this, and reminded them about the evils of factory farming, and I think that helped a bit. I also bought my husband some 2-liters of diet soda and some bags of crap for the kids, so that will get me another week or two of muffled grumbling.
On the upside, my garden is going NUTS right now!!! My heirloom tomato plants (4 different varieties!) over-grew their supports and we had to build new ones! Also some of them have tomatoes on them already! My potted zucchini has a baby zucchini growing on it! We pulled about 10 perfect strawberries out of the patch when we got home! We ate salads made of lettuce straight out of the garden for supper tonight! The peas are halfway up their trellises, and everything is looking healthy and bushy and delightful! (If you know me, you know I can't stay down in the dumps for long!) So in a few weeks I am sure I will have forgotten all about the trials and tribulations of the last week or two, and will have willing local eaters instead of mean, grumpy, detoxing kids and husbands....
I was going to make a batch of tortillas tonight, but the inspiration I was waiting for still hasn't materialized. Hmmm, maybe I should hit the sack now, and start fresh in the morning, "Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. May my supper be contentment; I'll breakfast on hope again tomorrow."
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Dissension in the ranks...
Sigh. Well I figgered it would happen sooner or later, honestly I thought it would've been sooner, but a mutiny is in progress!!!!
We all miss our chemical-laden goodies, I won't lie, me included. Dave is really craving soda, and the boys claim there are never any snacks or convenience foods for them now that school is out. They are sick of hard-boiled (farm fresh!) eggs and roasted chick-peas for snacks, and want junk food. I admit it is tough to plan in advance every bite everyone is going to take in a day. Breakfast has been pretty easy, but lunches the kids can make themselves and lunches to pack for Dave have been hard. I am going to work on that, maybe whip up some stuff and freeze it for the boys to microwave for lunches while I'm at school. I could make bean and cheese burritos and freeze them, put together a pizza they could bake, stuff like that.
It is just going to require some more strategic advance planning on my part.
I have been making batches of granola to keep around for easy snacking, we've been putting on the yogurt, yum yum! But granola will only shut them up for so long....
The other day I had a bunch of cream skimmed off the milk, and Isaac and I made a batch of butter. That was fun, he didn't get it at first, and was annoyed that he had to keep shaking it, and was all, "where is the butter going to come from?" and then when he saw the butter start to form in the jar, he was amazed. That was pretty cool.
I used the whey left over from my last batch of yogurt to make the bread yesterday, and that turned out well. Of course, according to Farmer, it was a very good day for baking bread, apparently the high humidity helps the dough to rise.
We are heading to the beach for a week for vacation, I am doing my best to plan meals around local stuff from the farm, but I did go to the grocery store and buy some convenience items, like chips and cereal, because I just don't have time to make enough food to last a week, and I won't have all the supplies I will need down there. Sigh.
BUT I am perservering, letting the griping go in one ear and out the other, and reminding everyone that the sacrifice of convenience pays off in environmental soundness and our health. Plus, as long as I put the home-made yogurt into the bowl, sprinkle the granola on top, and cut up some strawberries to go with it, then hand it to them with a spoon, they do consider that "convenience" food lol! They are just lazy!
Ok, off to flip the laundry and work on my español!
I'm standing strong in the fight for local, sustainable eating!!!
We all miss our chemical-laden goodies, I won't lie, me included. Dave is really craving soda, and the boys claim there are never any snacks or convenience foods for them now that school is out. They are sick of hard-boiled (farm fresh!) eggs and roasted chick-peas for snacks, and want junk food. I admit it is tough to plan in advance every bite everyone is going to take in a day. Breakfast has been pretty easy, but lunches the kids can make themselves and lunches to pack for Dave have been hard. I am going to work on that, maybe whip up some stuff and freeze it for the boys to microwave for lunches while I'm at school. I could make bean and cheese burritos and freeze them, put together a pizza they could bake, stuff like that.
It is just going to require some more strategic advance planning on my part.
I have been making batches of granola to keep around for easy snacking, we've been putting on the yogurt, yum yum! But granola will only shut them up for so long....
The other day I had a bunch of cream skimmed off the milk, and Isaac and I made a batch of butter. That was fun, he didn't get it at first, and was annoyed that he had to keep shaking it, and was all, "where is the butter going to come from?" and then when he saw the butter start to form in the jar, he was amazed. That was pretty cool.
I used the whey left over from my last batch of yogurt to make the bread yesterday, and that turned out well. Of course, according to Farmer, it was a very good day for baking bread, apparently the high humidity helps the dough to rise.
We are heading to the beach for a week for vacation, I am doing my best to plan meals around local stuff from the farm, but I did go to the grocery store and buy some convenience items, like chips and cereal, because I just don't have time to make enough food to last a week, and I won't have all the supplies I will need down there. Sigh.
BUT I am perservering, letting the griping go in one ear and out the other, and reminding everyone that the sacrifice of convenience pays off in environmental soundness and our health. Plus, as long as I put the home-made yogurt into the bowl, sprinkle the granola on top, and cut up some strawberries to go with it, then hand it to them with a spoon, they do consider that "convenience" food lol! They are just lazy!
Ok, off to flip the laundry and work on my español!
I'm standing strong in the fight for local, sustainable eating!!!
Monday, June 6, 2011
slow but steady...
We've been rolling along here, slow and steady, figuring out how to get our sustanence from local sources...
I made yogurt last week, boy was that EASY! My sister said, 'As easy as putting a cup in the grocery cart?' LOL ALMOST! The recipe I used was for raw milk, since that is what I have. The only ingredients for plain yogurt were milk and yogurt culture (don't worry, that just means a couple tablespoons of already existing yogurt!) I used Stony Field Farms greek style plain yogurt, and my yogurt turned out, well, YOGURTY! I ended up straining some through cheesecloth (easy to find in the baking aisle of the grocery store!) to make it thicker for my kid, since I didn't use any type of thickener. Don't get me wrong, it is thick like regular yogurt, but had alot of whey (that clear-ish liquid that you will sometimes see on the top of yogurt) and he didn't find that appealing. Some recipes call for powdered milk, gelatin or pectin, but I want to use the raw milk I get at the farm, so I found a recipe that didn't use thickener, and honestly, it doesn't need it. After the yogurt was set, I mixed some strawberry jam (also from the farm) and a drop of vanilla extract into a cup of it and it was DIVINE! Now I have a coupla mason jars of it in the fridge, which should last a week or two.
My other kid had a friend sleep over last night, and his friend is a big milk drinker, so I made sure to inform his mom about our new milk sitch. She was fine with it, but I was a little nervous about him trying it, I guess I was afraid he would turn his snoot up at milk from a jar, but to my mild surprise he loved it! In fact, he drank us out of house and home last night and this morning, thank goodness I am getting more tomorrow! LOL!
My bread making is keeping me extremely busy, I won't lie! First of all, my family eats an entire loaf as soon as a batch comes out of the oven, so there goes half of all the bread I make! And secondly, I am trying to make bread for my sister also (she is also a paying member of the csa, so it is fine!) because she is a very busy lady with a full-time job and two little ones. So last week I think I made bread 4 times? or maybe it just felt like 4 times.... Anyway, I bought a huge stainless steel bowl for mixing the dough in, because even the biggest one I had was not doing the job very well! I am now going to go online and find a bread maker.... Yeah, it may be cheating, but last week my family ate 6 LOAVES of bread! Soooo....
Making butter is still fun, again, trying to keep enough of it on hand is the difficult part. Each time I get milk I skim off the fat on top, but I am not very efficient at it, so I don't get as much as some of the people I read about online. For instance, one lady said 2 gallons of milk (raw milk, which is what I am using and what I am drawing my comparisons to) should yield about a pound of butter, but it hasn't worked out that way for me. I would estimate I got about half a pound out of 2 gallons of milk. Again, my skimming isn't the most efficient, I am considering one of those sun tea jugs with a spout at the bottom, so I could just let out all the milk into a seperate container and have the cream part left inside as someone suggested. Unfortunately, all I have been able to find so far are plastic ones; I am looking for a glass one.
On the upside, the byproduct of butter making is BUTTERMILK! I had enough to make a triple batch of whole wheat buttermilk pancakes the other day! WoooHOOO!!!
Lunch meat has been a challenge. My hubby packs his 'lunch' 4-5 days a week, and when I say lunch, i mean at least 2 huge sandwiches, plus sides! So we used to use a pound or tow of store bought processed lunch meat a WEEK! The first week of the csa, I roasted an eye round, sliced it super thin, and it turned out great. The next week I tried a different roast that (hahaha silly me) LOOKED similar to the eye round, but wasn't. I roasted and sliced it the same way, but it just wasn't right for cold sandwiches. It had too much membrane running through, and he found it unpleasant cold between bread, hard to bite off, etc.
So this week I went back to eye round and so far so good. I am going to go check what that other roast was for clarity, one moment please....Thank you for holding! It was a bottom round. The meat itself was tasty, and would be fine hot with a fork on a plate, where you can see what you are biting into, and can cut off what you don't want.
I am looking forward to poultry season I admit!!!! LOL! I will never take another turkey sandwich for granted, I vow!
So local eating-wise, I do feel we have gotten over a few of what I percieved to be big hurdles. The subsequent issues that have come up make complete sense to me NOW, since they are obviously what humans have struggled with for all of their existence: spoilage, convenience, seasonality, etc.
But I am finding alot of zen in the process, I really am. I am feeling a connection with and appreciation for our food, for trying to provide and prepare it for my family. I am also enjoying NOT using factory farmed food, because I feel like by not ingesting the products of horrific cruelty, my body feels more in tune with the universe... (sorry, there I go again lol!). I admit it is an intangible benefit, and one that is hard to describe accurately, or without sounding like an idgit, but it is real I can assure you...
My garden is thriving, which is an unexpected thrill for me! And my kids and husband are pretty excited about it too! My younger son has been picking the few ripe strawberries each day, and eating them right there standing in the garden. I can't really explain it, but it just feels so good to see my child standing next to the plant growing in the soil and eating the fruit; it's like recognizing that he is a part of the earth, and the fruit is part of the earth, and as I nourished the strawberries (planting, weeding, watering) so they are nourishing my fruit (my kid). Does any of that make sense???? ANYWAY, the point is, SERIOUSLY, plant something edible!!!! It is incredibly rewarding!!!
So the difficulties this week are pretty much the same as the last couple weeks: still spending too much at the grocery store, still not much in the way of produce, from the farm or from my garden. So that is part of the seasonality of eating locally, and the weather and so on. Definitely there is produce available, at farmer's markets and such, but I don't like spending the extra money. Next year, I will have my canned and frozen stuff from this year to get us through the leaner times....
Ok, I wanted to cover my granola making, but it is soooo gorgeous out there today that the pool is beckoning....
I made yogurt last week, boy was that EASY! My sister said, 'As easy as putting a cup in the grocery cart?' LOL ALMOST! The recipe I used was for raw milk, since that is what I have. The only ingredients for plain yogurt were milk and yogurt culture (don't worry, that just means a couple tablespoons of already existing yogurt!) I used Stony Field Farms greek style plain yogurt, and my yogurt turned out, well, YOGURTY! I ended up straining some through cheesecloth (easy to find in the baking aisle of the grocery store!) to make it thicker for my kid, since I didn't use any type of thickener. Don't get me wrong, it is thick like regular yogurt, but had alot of whey (that clear-ish liquid that you will sometimes see on the top of yogurt) and he didn't find that appealing. Some recipes call for powdered milk, gelatin or pectin, but I want to use the raw milk I get at the farm, so I found a recipe that didn't use thickener, and honestly, it doesn't need it. After the yogurt was set, I mixed some strawberry jam (also from the farm) and a drop of vanilla extract into a cup of it and it was DIVINE! Now I have a coupla mason jars of it in the fridge, which should last a week or two.
My other kid had a friend sleep over last night, and his friend is a big milk drinker, so I made sure to inform his mom about our new milk sitch. She was fine with it, but I was a little nervous about him trying it, I guess I was afraid he would turn his snoot up at milk from a jar, but to my mild surprise he loved it! In fact, he drank us out of house and home last night and this morning, thank goodness I am getting more tomorrow! LOL!
My bread making is keeping me extremely busy, I won't lie! First of all, my family eats an entire loaf as soon as a batch comes out of the oven, so there goes half of all the bread I make! And secondly, I am trying to make bread for my sister also (she is also a paying member of the csa, so it is fine!) because she is a very busy lady with a full-time job and two little ones. So last week I think I made bread 4 times? or maybe it just felt like 4 times.... Anyway, I bought a huge stainless steel bowl for mixing the dough in, because even the biggest one I had was not doing the job very well! I am now going to go online and find a bread maker.... Yeah, it may be cheating, but last week my family ate 6 LOAVES of bread! Soooo....
Making butter is still fun, again, trying to keep enough of it on hand is the difficult part. Each time I get milk I skim off the fat on top, but I am not very efficient at it, so I don't get as much as some of the people I read about online. For instance, one lady said 2 gallons of milk (raw milk, which is what I am using and what I am drawing my comparisons to) should yield about a pound of butter, but it hasn't worked out that way for me. I would estimate I got about half a pound out of 2 gallons of milk. Again, my skimming isn't the most efficient, I am considering one of those sun tea jugs with a spout at the bottom, so I could just let out all the milk into a seperate container and have the cream part left inside as someone suggested. Unfortunately, all I have been able to find so far are plastic ones; I am looking for a glass one.
On the upside, the byproduct of butter making is BUTTERMILK! I had enough to make a triple batch of whole wheat buttermilk pancakes the other day! WoooHOOO!!!
Lunch meat has been a challenge. My hubby packs his 'lunch' 4-5 days a week, and when I say lunch, i mean at least 2 huge sandwiches, plus sides! So we used to use a pound or tow of store bought processed lunch meat a WEEK! The first week of the csa, I roasted an eye round, sliced it super thin, and it turned out great. The next week I tried a different roast that (hahaha silly me) LOOKED similar to the eye round, but wasn't. I roasted and sliced it the same way, but it just wasn't right for cold sandwiches. It had too much membrane running through, and he found it unpleasant cold between bread, hard to bite off, etc.
So this week I went back to eye round and so far so good. I am going to go check what that other roast was for clarity, one moment please....Thank you for holding! It was a bottom round. The meat itself was tasty, and would be fine hot with a fork on a plate, where you can see what you are biting into, and can cut off what you don't want.
I am looking forward to poultry season I admit!!!! LOL! I will never take another turkey sandwich for granted, I vow!
So local eating-wise, I do feel we have gotten over a few of what I percieved to be big hurdles. The subsequent issues that have come up make complete sense to me NOW, since they are obviously what humans have struggled with for all of their existence: spoilage, convenience, seasonality, etc.
But I am finding alot of zen in the process, I really am. I am feeling a connection with and appreciation for our food, for trying to provide and prepare it for my family. I am also enjoying NOT using factory farmed food, because I feel like by not ingesting the products of horrific cruelty, my body feels more in tune with the universe... (sorry, there I go again lol!). I admit it is an intangible benefit, and one that is hard to describe accurately, or without sounding like an idgit, but it is real I can assure you...
My garden is thriving, which is an unexpected thrill for me! And my kids and husband are pretty excited about it too! My younger son has been picking the few ripe strawberries each day, and eating them right there standing in the garden. I can't really explain it, but it just feels so good to see my child standing next to the plant growing in the soil and eating the fruit; it's like recognizing that he is a part of the earth, and the fruit is part of the earth, and as I nourished the strawberries (planting, weeding, watering) so they are nourishing my fruit (my kid). Does any of that make sense???? ANYWAY, the point is, SERIOUSLY, plant something edible!!!! It is incredibly rewarding!!!
So the difficulties this week are pretty much the same as the last couple weeks: still spending too much at the grocery store, still not much in the way of produce, from the farm or from my garden. So that is part of the seasonality of eating locally, and the weather and so on. Definitely there is produce available, at farmer's markets and such, but I don't like spending the extra money. Next year, I will have my canned and frozen stuff from this year to get us through the leaner times....
Ok, I wanted to cover my granola making, but it is soooo gorgeous out there today that the pool is beckoning....
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