Buttermilk Bicuits

So I try (note the word "try") to make bread on Monday, as we are generally home.  So when I got home, I watered all my babies, by the time Joe & Kanan got home, I was almost done (we gots a lotta babies right now & it's starting to get hot during the days now, and we gots no automatic watering systems at the mo, so it took awhile!)

Anyhoo, so then I started bread, and then it occurred to me that I had no plan for dinner.  What else is new?  So I say to JoeBacon "whaddya want fer dinner?"  and he begins to list every meal that ever sounded good to him.  Helpful, isn't he?

Well, actually, it turns out he is.  The fist thing outta his mouth was "Biscuits & Gravy", and Kanan seconded the motion...so guess what I made? ;)

I had no grains soaking, I had no time for stuff like that, but I DID have some sprouted Soft White Wheat Flour (homemade, of course) so I used that for this lovely & simple recipe.

It turned out purty darn good, if'n I do say so misself... ;)  We each had half with butter & jam for dessert! Yum Scrum! (and we have breakfast covered tomorrow!  Woo Hoo (a plan).

Oh, by the way, the bread turned out pretty nice tonight..and I also squeezed in cookin' up some chicken thighs for future meals this week...

Burritos for Dinner

Ok, so I had ordered some (3) Mary's Chicken Thighs thru my CSA, so I put them in a pan during a free moment over my crazy gardening weekend.  I tossed them with my gorgeous new Olive oil from Azure, it's 100% pure EVOO from Napa, yum... S&P & broiled 

them for about 15 minutes.  Then I dumped about a half a cup of Salsa

 (I haven't ventured into the world of lacto-fermented salsas yet, so for now, my old FAV, Herdez will just have to do) on top, covered with foil, lowered the oven to 350 degrees & baked it for about 30-45 minutes (I honestly can't remember...)  The meat should fall off the bones & it will be VERY easy to clean & shred...

Anyhoo, I let it cool while I did a bazillion other things & eventually I got around to cleaning it (taking off the skin, separating the bones & ick away),  so it's mostly shredded by then, just from that process.  I put it back in the salsa it was cooked in & threw it in the fridge.

Tonight was THE night...

I got home, pulled the frozen, but pre-soaked pintos out of the fridge.  Chopped & sauteed half a brown onion & a clove of garlic, in the pressure cooker.  I added Cayenne Pepper, S&P, Cumin & stirred, added the beans, added stock to cover the beans, stirred it all up, put the lid on, set to #1 & once it came to a boil, I cooked for 20 minutes.  Turned it off, checked & sure enough, the beans were cooked. I adjusted S&P & added a half a Jalapeno, let it simmer on low for awhile while I got other things going...

I grated cheese, raw goat cheddar & raw Jack.

  

I chopped up 2 organic tomatoes. 

I LOVE, did I say LOVE, cuz I mean LOVE these wonder Spelt Tortillas I found at Lassens, the are soft enough to almost be as 'normal' as white flour junk tortillas & they keep FOR-EVER!

I also sauteed onion, added some salsa & then threw it in Rice Cooker for some easy-peasy MexiRice.... remind me to never use Short Brown Rice again, kinda weird!..

So I heat the tortillas (dry) in a large skillet (YES I still own some nonstick, but I love my Berndes pans, so hard to switch!)

Put some Re-Fried Pintos (fried in Bacon grease, yummy!)

Top with cheese, chicken, some sour cream & salsa and you got Heavenly mexican food for dinner!

Update: a couple nights later I wasn't up to making dinner, so I told Joe to make it.  He started pulling things outta the fridge en masse, so, natch, I panicked & took over.  ;)  Can you spell control freak? (I can! ooh I can! Pick me!  E-R-I-N)

ok, back to the story... he'd found the leftover tortilla shells so I thought ok, there's leftover pintos too... and I always have cheese.  We'll just have bean & cheese burritos.  Then I remembered that I'd fried extra bacon on Sunday & it was in the in the fridge... when I asked Joe if he wanted bacon in his burrito, he said, are we making breakfast burritos?  So I thought about it for a sec and decided that was doable.

So we had Egg, Bacon, Pinto, Salsa, Sour Cream & Raw Jack Burritos, they we huge & messy as could be!  But man were they tasty!

Crusty Sourdough

I tried a new Sourdough Starter and today was day 8, so it was time to make the bread. Now ALL the recipes I was seeing wanted you to bake it in a Dutch Oven or a Cloche, neither of which do I have (yet!)  So I was a bit nervous about this, but I just went for it anyway... here is the recipe I used.  But I split it into two small loafs, and basically halved the baking times.    I wanted them to fit into my Stoneware, as that was the closest thing I could come up with, and I put a shallow pan of water in the lower part of the oven & sprayed water in several times during the baking process.  Guess what?!  I got 2 pretty nice crusty loaves, and the texture turned out pretty good, nice & soft, with evenly spaced holes & the flavor is nice, not super strong, but a pleasant slightly sour tang...

Askinosie Chocolate Giveaway!

Hey Everyone!  Nourishing Days is doing a chocolate giveaway & I wanna win! ;)  Check it out!  I have to admit that I went to the site & read voraciously every word, hoping to catch a hint, a taste, something...(smile) but what I got was teary.  Yup.  Downright 'teary' at their story!  You must read it for yourself & decide if your budget & your love of chocolate can warrant supporting these wonderful folks at Askinosie who simply DO chocolate right.  'Nuf said.

Azure Standard

Ok, so last month was our first GO with Azure & I think I can speak for Tami when I say we are in love!  *smile*

Here's a few snaps of our loot:

Tami is dividing up the grains (we shared Soft White Wheat, Hard Red, Kamut, Spelt, Oat Groats & Rye

We Split a 25 lb tub of Raw Honey (my leftover 32 oz Agave Nectar jugs worked out great for that!)

We split a box of pears, Tami took hers home & the Chu Babies devoured them in short order.  I made about 2 gazillion batches of jam. ;)

This was my share of grains!

We also split a 10 Doz. box of Fertile Eggs three ways (with Terri), they are huge & wonderful!  After a month, Tami only needed to buy another dozen form TJ's before our next order, Terri still had plenty  & I had just run out.  This month just Tami & I split, so 5 dozen each!  Woo hoo!

As I said, this was January, so we've ordered again, Tami bakes bread 2-3 times a week, so she was thrilled to get a 50 lb. bag of Red Wheat for like $30!  She's also kept up using Soft White for all her baked goods like cakes & cookies, etc... with a noticeably finer texture!  Awesome! 

Meal Plan, Schmeal Schplan!

Ok, so if anyone actually cares, this week's attempt at a 'meal plan' was a pretty dismal failure!

Here's how my week actually played out:

Monday:  Pork Chops (pan fried w/some sort of reduction sauce), Salad  & Couscous with Pine nuts & Goat Cheese

Prep: Make Yogurt (crockpot), store dried sprouted grains, make Ginger Pear Marmalade, make bread

Monday was perfect, I added Roasted Scorn Quash to the meal AND still did everything else I set out to do!  Yay!  We're off to a good start...;)

Tuesday (Book Club at 7:30): Leftover Sweet & Sour Cabbage Soup with homemade bread/butter & roasted Acorn Squash

Ummm, let's eat out tonight....We used to eat out every Tuesday because it ensured that we made it to Book Club.  It used to be: Joe picks up Kanan, they come get me, we mosey on down that same freeway, try a new place each week & then make it to book club on time & without all the 'wasted time & gas' of going home first (home is pretty far out of the way).  Then I instituted a 'No Meals Out" for the month of January & we somehow made 'going home' first just work.  We'd go home, I'd make a simple meal, we'd still go to Book Club.  (Imagine that!)

But since we are in February & we are allowed to eat out this month, it sure was easy to just fall back into our old routine!  And, while we did order only water to drink, split an entree, K ate off the kids menu, and dinner for us all with tip was $30... not too bad...  but I still felt over full & wasteful...(hmmm....maybe I'm changing, after all?...)

Wednesday: Not home/eat out - Garden Co-Op Meeting with Tami & Terri - location TBA

Prep: Make Potato/Turnip Mash

Ok, so Joe's brother was in town for tonight only, so I got home, did dishes, started laundry, heated up the Cabbage Soup for myself...had a nice early evening alone, then went to my first ever Garden Co-op Meeting with Tami & Terri (my partners in crime, er "partners in dirt"!) LOL  We met at Starbucks & closed the place down!  So much to talk about & decide!!   Joe had dinner out with his brother at our fav little Mexican Hole-in-de-wall, Los Toros.  I was jealous so he brought home chips & their famous bean dip for me, awww!  So sweet!  I munched a bit before bed, and divvied up the rest for lunches.  That soup sure didn't stay with me!

Thursday: Shepard's Pie (from Sunday's leftover Chicken stew topped w/Mash & Salad

Prep: Thaw Ground Turkey & beans for Chili, move Kombucha bottles to fridge

Well, it was a really exceptionally rough day at work, so I really NEEDED to just go to bed straight away!  I did manage to heat up the rest of the Cabbage soup & serve a big bowl each with homemade toast, then we sat in front of the tube & vegged out all night!

Friday: Crockpot chili & cornbread

Hah!  I'm sure by now you've realized (IF you are not falling off your chair with sleepy boredom) that I never defrosted the meat!  I did, however quickly make the mashed potatoes & do the Shepherd's Pie.  Whilst that was cooking, I ground some Soft White Wheat berries & soaked them (in the hopes of making muffins or waffles on Sunday).  Dinner was yummy, even though it was a bit strange to have both pasta & barley, not to mention chicken! in a "Shepherd's Pie"! Talk about untraditional!  I did taste my Kombucha, but feel it need s bit more time, so I did not bottle yet, will do it Sunday. No salad with dinner!  We watched movie & went to bed early.

Saturday: Roast Chicken & root veggies & salad

Prep: Make stock

OK, well I do consider today a pretty productive day.  I started crockpot yogurt again, baked bread, made White Turkey Chili with Kale (based on this recipe), which we ate for dinner.  We made all our errands in one 2 hour trip!  Awesome what having deadlines can do!  In 2 hours, we did Lowes to buy chicken wire, landscaping paper, a couple plants & seedling trays; the Nursery to buy Organic dirt & inquire about large deliveries of dirt; the Soil place next to the Nursery to compare their prices (better!); Trader Joe's - I had 3 things on my list: onions, yogurt & cereal.  I walked out in less than 5 minutes with: onions, yogurt, 2 boxes of cereal & 2 packages of rice stick noodles.  NOT BAD!  (hmmm... maybe I'm changing, after all?....)

At 1pm we picked up our CSA Box & headed home.  I started the bread, added to the chili that was already started, pitched the yogurt, put bread in oven while Tami & Terri visited.  We all went outside & planned/talked some more while Joe worked on the Garden boxes.  After they left, I took bread out of the oven to cool, went thru my CSA box, finished up dinner, started my first tray of seedlings, & when we finally lost our light, we came in & ate.  Finally!  (never did have lunch - too busy!)  Now I'm posting this & then to bed for another big day Sunday!

Kanan & Austin showing alternate uses for the Garden Box they built for me last weekend....

Sunday: Recycle chicken into Tortilla Soup or tacos...? 

Well, since I never roasted the chicken, I can't very well do anything with the leftovers, can I?

I'm dragging my poor Joey to a Homestead Workshop this afternoon, so I imagine that I'll make muffins or waffles for breakie & then eat out for lunch or dinner, prolly not both...(what!?   one can hope!) ;)

Ok, well, I'm NO quitter!  ... so I think I'll keep trying.  I also think I am better under a bit of pressure, so I plan to make March a No Eating Out month again (with the exception of Kanan's birthday weekend, of course!).

Meal Plan Monday... or an attempt thereof:

Ok, I keep mulling this over & over & trying to find a way to make it work for me, the way my life is now (as opposed to the way I wish my life would be!)  Right now, I'm only going to post dinners & basic prep.  I think part of what's making this so daunting to me is trying to do 3 meals a day (not that I don't cook or provide 3 meals a day - at least most of the time) but the planning ahead for all those meals makes me crazy! and seems like a lot of extra work for me right now), so for now, I'm going to just start with dinner, how does that sound?

Monday:  Pork Chops (pan fried w/some sort of reduction sauce), Salad  & Couscous with Pine nuts & Goat Cheese

Prep: Make Yogurt (crockpot), store dried sprouted grains, make Ginger Pear Marmalade, make bread

Tuesday (Book Club at 7:30): Leftover Sweet & Sour Cabbage Soup with homemade bread/butter & roasted Acorn Squash

Wednesday: Not home/eat out - Garden Co-Op Meeting with Tami & Terri - location TBA

Prep: Make Potato/Turnip Mash

Thursday: Shepard's Pie (from Sunday's leftover Chicken stew topped w/Mash & Salad

Prep: Thaw Ground Turkey & beans for Chili, move Kombucha bottles to fridge

Friday: Crockpot chili & cornbread

Saturday: Roast Chicken & root veggies & salad

Prep: Make stock

Sunday: Recycle chicken into Tortilla Soup or tacos...? 

Chocolate IS love....(or is it butter?)

Ok, well, my good friend Tami & I have recently co-ordered & split a bunch of different stuff from Azure Standard. It was so fun, planning & ordering together & separately & driving down to Burbank together to pick up our order, then coming back to my house &divvying it all up!... but I digress...Tami has ALWAYS (since I've known her, anyway!) baked her own bread (and other goodies) from her own freshly milled Hard Red Wheat Flour, I come from the opposite school of gourmet French Cuisine where everything is made with WHITE AP Flour!  Needless to say, I've come along way, and Tami deserves a Lot of the credit for my swing to the "other side"...on that same note, I might have something to do with the dramatically amazing turnout of this cake she made for us on Friday night, because I turned her on (somewhat inadvertently, I might add) to Soft White Wheat Berries, which are used primarily for cakes, muffins & pastry because it's softer & gives a lighter texture to these types of items. (Although, Tami used it in her bread the other night too, and it turned out beautifully! So there you go!)  Anyhoo I was reminded of the cake when I was reading Kimi's blog with all the yummy & nourishing Chocolate recipes last night & today... so, better late than never, I always say...so without further ado...(dang, I WISH I had a picture of it!) here, in Tami's words, is her recipe:

Tami's Moist Choc Mocha Cake
Preheat to 350 degrees.

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 cup sugar, organic cane
Mix those together well, then add 
1/2 c. applesauce
1/4 c. maple syrup
Mix. Then add: 
2 jumbo eggs or three medium or large, 1 at a time
Mix. Then add:
2/3 c. cocoa mixed with 1/3 c. melted butter

In a separate bowl whisk:
3 1/2 c. flour (freshly ground soft white wheat)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Add to chocolate mix alternately with:
1 c. buttermilk

Prep 2 cake pans: grease and cover bottom with parchment, greased

Evenly pour batter into both pans.
Cook for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Rest in pans for 10 minutes then finish cooling on wire racks.  For an excellent moistness, cut each layer into 2 horizontally.  This makes 4 layers!  When frosting, make sure there is plenty of frosting to make things nice and flat.

Mocha filling/frosting
12-16 oz of heavy cream (raw is best but otherwise organic works)
Begin to whip cream in mixer.  Add:
1/4 c. soft butter
1/2 c. cocoa
1/2 c. sugar (powdered or organic cane both work)
1-2 tbsp instant coffee crystals (decaf!  The more you add the richer the coffee flavor)

Mix until good thick consistency. Taste to check flavor.  Add more sugar or coffee as needed.
(I didn't actually measure the frosting when I was making it so these are kinda rough estimates! yikes!)

Once finished frosting, take organic chocolate, melt, and drizzle over the top of the cake to make it pretty.

Yum!

Pay it Forward

So...I was reading this lovely blog I found called Chop Wood, Carry Water and I saw this button, so I clicked and fell down this rabbit hole of the idea of giving, or really "gifting".

Amy found it on this blog... basically I will send a little home made 'gift' to the first three people who sign up on my blog to participate, they in turn will do the same on their blog, etc...

I think it's a really neat idea, because all of us have different & unique talents & it's really fun to share (and maybe show off just a tad! lol), but really just to share!  To have an opportunity to say thank you to a fellow blogger who has a unique talent that YOU can appreciate!  

So c'mon, jump on this band wagon with me!  I promise you won't regret it!

CSA Box

So, I was SO excited to open my first CSA Box from Abundant Harvest Organics that I forgot to Blog about it, much less take pictures!  My bad!

So, to make it up to you ('cuz I know you've been sittin' there all week wondering what was in my box & how I served it!) lol ....here's a detailed post about my second box:

There is this adorable little crate that collapses when you're done with it...I pop it in the trunk that way I don't forget to take it the following week!  I go thru the box & separate everything, putting them in green veggie bags or prepping them for immediate usage.

there's what was on the right side (under all that Spinach!)

And here's what was on the left side...

I still haven't used ANYTHING that came in this box except the Red leaf lettuce (used about 1/3 in a salad the other night) and the Yukon Gold potatoes (I made a Spanish Tortilla last night & enjoyed it cold with Sea Salt as a scrummy breakfast this morning!)

I LOVE Arugula, but haven't been doing 'dinner planning every night like I hoped, so I can only hope the green Veggie bags help keep everything fresh enough 'til the weekend! 

Kombucha 4

YUM!  Joe liked the plain better, but I am LOVING the Craisin version!  I had Kanan taste it (my almost 13 year old who likes my homemade bread, but shuns many of my other 'healthy' creations), I told him it was like a fizzy apple juice.  

He tried it & I asked him what he thought it was...(at this point I told him it was called "Kombucha" and that it was a tea drink) he said it reminded him a little of pickles!  (YES!  My child is brilliant!)  I said that was SO right, "vinegary" is an oft-ascribed attribute of Kombucha. 

I bottled batch #2 tonight & got 3 bottles this time, so I did a Plain, a Craisin & a Ginger - I originally bought the bottles to make ginger beer (which I have yet to do!) so, if my ginger laced Kombucha turns out nicely, I may never have to...

Kombucha 3

Ok, so I drained most of my brew out via the spigot, trying to not disturb the baby SCOBY forming at the top of the liquid (see it there? looks like a layer of pond scum!)

I tasted it & it was good, so I went ahead & bottled it.  (SO EXCITED!!)

I kept one plain & I flavored one with a couple of Craisins...yum, right?

I'll let you know... 

Kombucha 2

Kombucha might not be a failure after all, I found out after my last panick induced post!  My new BFF, Michael (aka, Bacteria Pimp) told me it was jsut doing it's thing & to let it go a few more days & post more pictures & to taste it for goodness' sake!

The fastest soup ever! Recipe

Ok, so I have NOTHING planned for tonight's dinner & tonight is supposed to be a quick night we run home, eat & go to our Book Club.  So I thought about what I had going bad in my fridge, a giant container of Spinach from over a week ago!  

I had some sauteed onions in the fridge, so I dumped them (about 2 TBSP) with SS&P, about a cup of chicken stock, and a handful of spinach (I just couldn't bring myself to really dig in & pick it over, so just grabbed the really nice looking leaves off the top, SO lazy!)

I gave it a whirl...

Meantime, I have a medium saucepan with about 3 cups of broth (and I tossed in a couple chunks of lemongrass) heating up.  Once it got reasonably warm, I added half a package of Rice Stick Noodles to that.

Added the contents of the blender to the pot, brought it all up to simmer & tasted, kinda good, but boring - added cumin, cayenne & paprika (abut 1 Tsp of - more if you like!).  Hmm... much better!

Once noodles were soft, I turned off the heat & gently stirred in some cream (about 3-4 TBSP) & served.  It might have been nicer to garnish with a little fresh parsley or cilantro, but who has time for that on Book Club night!??

Kombucha 1

Well folks, I think I did it again.  FAILED, that is.  Any ideas?  This doesn't look like normal mold...?  Is there anything that looks like this that is OK?  I'm so loathe to chuck my first batch!   So sad! I was sooo excited...

The Grain Silo

So... my cup runneth over.  Joe looked at me the other day & said "I think I need a project, I need a creative outlet every now & then..."  So I said, "Make me a storage bench."  And so he did.

When we bought the stools for the Bar in the kitchen, I bought 3, but we really only needed 1 or 2... so Joe used that '3rd wheel' as a frame for the bench...

Joe doesn't have a table saw & several other tools necessary, so he took the whole project over to the Chu's & Tony was very helpful!  (Thanks Tony!)

This is what the stool looked like, before he cut it in half! (Pay NO attention please to my filthy dishwasher in the back round!)

Ta- Da!  Here's the finished product! 

Here's Joe, reluctantly posing for a "proud moment" snap.

Here's the back, and the genius of the design:  If we need extra seats at the table, we can pull it away from the wall & use the back as the front (on the bench) so whoever is sitting on it can still put their feet on the bar...but when it's a storage area, it will fit my bread maker & several big sacks of grain!  Perfect timing too!  My big Azure order will come in a week!  I can't wait to fill up my new "grain silo"

Saffron Pearl Barley Risotto Recipe

Can you believe I've never cooked Barley before?  I love the old standard: Beef & Barley Soup, but I've never even made that!  This morning I made a Stewy Crock Pot thing with Lentils (which I'm also pretty sure I've never cooked!) and it was supposed to be served over Barley. Well the stinkin' book assumed I knew how to cook Barley & guess what?!  I don't!  Dang it!  So I googled a few recipes & got some ideas & then this is (approximately) what I did... it's basically a risotto method.

In a small saucepan, heat stock (any flavor you want or have on hand)  I used about 3 1/2 cups

In a med-large spot Sweat 1 med chopped onion (my son Kanan chopped for me & cried buckets! ) in some olive oil for about 5 minutes

add the non-rinsed Barley (1 cup dry)

saute that for a few minutes, add a pinch of saffron, about 1 Tsp of Tumeric & 1/2 Tsp of Cumin

Stir & saute that for about 2 minutes

start adding hot stock, a ladle full at a time (about 1/4-1/3 cup)

stir often

add more stock when the pot is almost dry (no burning or sticking should go on)

keep doing this for a 20 million years until the barley is plump & cooked thru.  (yes you have to taste it,  it'll take about 40 minutes or so)

season with a bit of SS&P (Sea Salt & Pepper, of course!)

Serve with gusto!  

It was yummy all by itself (IMHO) but my plan was to use it a base for the Midas Feast (Lentil Stewy Crock Pot concoction) which also worked out...(:

Found a CSA! oh the J-O-Y ! ! !

Ok, so I've been looking for a great local source for a CSA box, but I've been having TONS of challenges as none seem to be local.  Actually, I take that back (sorta).  I found on in my county, BUT (and boy is it s BIG BUT!) they are not organic!!  Imagine that!  Why bother? ;(

Anyhoo, so my friend, Tami, who's been on this quest with me of late used to have deliveries a long time ago, in her old house, in her old neighborhood, in a different town and in fact, in a different county!!!

The service she used to use has merged with SPUD.  When she researched & discovered this, we decided to try it, sounds great & you can control what you get, add extra items, etc...BUT, they do not deliver to my county!!   I think maybe you are beginning to sense my building frustration here!  We live in what is seriously one of the 'farmiest' areas around!  It's ridiculous to me that on the 40 minute drive to visit my folks, who live at the beach, I pass countless farms and NONE of them are organic, and NONE of them do a produce box delivery!  Arrggghhh!

**Deep Cleansing Breath**

So, we actually talked another friend into 'hosting' our SPUD box delivery & agreed to only order every other week (to keep within our budgets & cut down on her 'put-outed-ness' (yes I'm aware that is not really a word!)   So this other friend, although she graciously agreed to host our SPUD boxes, asked around & found a site that helps you locate CSA's in your neighborhood..(I had actually checked this site a while back, but didn't come up with anything in my county..) Anyhoo, this time, I broadened my search & found Tierra Miguel & it is awesome!  The only problem is that the actual farms are about 120 miles from us & they have a strict policy to only deliver within a 100 mile range....ok, I can live with that.  If we order bi-weekly boxes & take turns then I'll only have to pick up once a mont, right?  Not the end of the world, except I already do milk runs twice a month & now I'm adding a quarterly Azure Standard order...so yah, I'm not loving the idea of driving 20 miles to pick up my produce too!

So last night I get an email from Tami saying she found a different CSA & to wait & check this one out.  So last night I stopped by & we looked at it together while my darling husband sat there patiently...the best part is that there is a drop point not only right here IN MY COUNTY, but right here in my town, within about 5 miles of my house & the delivery time is at 1pm on Saturdays!  Awesome, I can totally fit that in my schedule!

OMGosh!  It's amazing!  I am so impressed with what I've seen & signed up last night when I got home & am eagerly awaiting my first box (next Saturday 1/31) - Check back with me for my first impressions... www.abundantharvestorganics.com

It's so nice, when you sign up, you choose a small or large box, each week you can see what will be in your box, you can add on extra items, like raw milk, nuts, chicken beef, lamb, a case of seasonal fruit (you bet I'll be taking advantage of that for making my jam on a seasonal basis)!! Tonight I watched every single video interview with all the farmers, saw how my boxes will be packed & 'met' (virtually) all the folks that are responsible for bringing me & my family & friends the freshest, most seasonal & sustainable produce!!  

I realize I'm not the first blogger to point this concept out, but I sincerely hope my enthusiasm will capture your attention, your curiosity & that you will pursue something like this on your own life!  Drop me a comment & let me know!

A day to brag about!

Well, I had originally taken today off to hang with my boys since they were already off for MLK Jr Day... but Joe got a call to go help a buddy with a house project, and Kanan opted to go with so he could play with Rambo (our friend's baby chihuahua).  So I ended up with a bonus Kitchen day!! Wahoo!

So after brunch (I had thawed a batch of Kelly's Cinnamon rolls & baked them up - they were great hot out of the oven, but both the boys were like "where's the icing??" so I made a quick small batch made with butter, powdered sugar & maple syrup- I wasn't sure the maple & butter alone would do it..), the boys left me all alone....

Yogurt:

I started by finally tackling Yogurt - I've been a bit scared to try it, but I found an easy crock-pot recipe that I felt I could handle... It's incubating (is that the right term??? Eww!) right now! Can't wait!  I'll probably leave half plain & sweeten the rest with Maple Syrup - Trader Joe's has their own brand of Granola, one of the flavors has crystallized ginger in it - I'm seriously in love!! Anyone have any idea how to duplicate that??  Anyhoo, I love to add a scoop to my oatmeal or yogurt, or sometimes I combine all three!  I take oatmeal packets to work currently, but one day I hope to figure out how to make my own & make it easily portable...

Kombucha:

I've had a Kombucha SCOBY for months in my fridge for a few months (I ambitiously bought one when I found Kefir Grains on eBay from the nicest man who goes by the alias of 'Bacteria Pimp' - cute eh?)   Anyhoo, I started making Kefir as soon as my package arrived & my grains seem healthy despite my many attempt to kill them lol...I just didn't ever get around to researching the art of Kombucha & have the time (or so I thought!)  So today I decide that was IT - no more excuses - just DO it!!   It was easy.  I ended up following the recipe in NT, I had some lovely Organic Pastures "Living Tea" - which is my favorite store bought...so I hope mine will come out like theirs!  One thing I am not sure of:  I did not have any organic tea.  And I didn't have access to a car to run to the store... so I used what I had & just hope it's ok... next time!

Dairy:

I had some Raw Cream on hand that was starting to go, so I started a bowl of Sour Cream!  We love this & use it as regularly as I can keep it stocked!  I was inspired by Ann Marie to try the Kefir again.  I don't know where I got this, but I've been using my soured milk to make Kefir... does that make sense to anyone?  I honestly cannot remember if someone told me to, or if I just decided it was a logical thing because you let the milk sit out & 'sour' to an extent anyway...???  Anyone?  One that subject, does anyone have any uses for sour milk?  

Grains:

On Friday night I had started a bunch of grains to soak, so today they were sprouted enough to start drying.  Thankfully, my oven is gas & goes as low as 100 degrees, so it's not hard to let my grains dry overnight or all day while I'm at work.  I tried the 100% Sprouted Wheat Bread recipe from Marilyn Moll last week & we loved it!  It's my favorite so far.  I made a double batch (in the Kitchen Aid, as it was WAY too full for the bread machine) because Joe's boss has offered t buy it from me she liked it a lot!   I added sesame & sunflower seeds for some extra texture & appeal.... it looks gorgeous & tastes pretty good...I think I'll try a bit more next time, but I think I also need to up the liquid a tiny bit...

I also soaked a cup of Almonds on Sat morning, so today I threw them into the VitaMix to make Almond Milk.  I always try to use the left over pulp in a soaked grain muffin recipe, so I have that (about 1 cup) with about 2 cups mixed whole grains soaking to make muffins tomorrow evening....or maybe Wed morning (although it's awfully ambitious of me to think I'll get up early & make them!  But I bought some fresh berries, so it sure would be nice to use them in a muffin.  We'll see...

Meat:

Saturday morning I went for Raw Milk again, as I was short on Milk.  I bought enough this time to (hopefully!) last a month.  I also ran to Costco to stock up of stupid things I like best there like TP & Cat litter...I ran a bunch of other errands & made bread.  On Saturday night I had roasted a chicken.  (Thanks for the inspiration, Erica!  I bought the Coleman's organic ones at Costco for about $12 each!  I'm going to shoot for 1 every other week!) On Saturday we'd eaten an extremely gourmet bowl of cereal early on, so when the chicken was done, we just wanted a snack, so I cut up one of the breast & we just nibbled on that - it was SO yum!  I roasted it breast side down so the white meat would be super moist!

So then the rest went right into the fridge & today I stripped all the meat off & started stock.  It was even easier than usual because I'd been keeping a freezer bag of veg scraps for the last couple weeks...I can't wait to see how this batch turns out!  There were mushrooms, bell peppers, leeks, onion, broccoli bottoms, you name it, it was in there!  It's been smelling so good all day!  Ok, so with the meat I stripped off, I chunked all the dark meat & made Creamy Chicken Enchiladas with them for tonight's dinner.  The remaining breast got cubed & I made a small bowl of Chicken Salad for sandwiches this week.  I added mayo, mustard, cayenne, craisins, chopped celery & chopped pecans - YUM!  I would have added apples too, but I don't have any at the moment...

Freezer Meals:

I ran across a nice easy recipe here for Egg Cups, so I made those, wrapped up 3 for the fridge & the rest are freezing as I type for future To-Go Breakfasts... Yum!

Meal Plan

I keep reading every one's Meal Plans & it seriously seems like such a good idea!  I just haven't felt 'ready' to begin.  Yet.  I think I'm almost there...I have a partial list, but I'm really having some challenges because I already know that we will be out of the house Tues & Thurs nights for Book Clubs at friend's houses.  So I'm trying to think of quick dinners for those nights (don't forget that we've taken on the oh-so-important challenge of "No Eating Out" this month, and normally that would be my solution...  I'm working on it, but I think I'll see how it goes before attempting to join the official "Meal Plan Monday"... 

Well, the boys got home at 6-ish, we had dinner & now I'm all caught up!  Must go strain my stock, now - g'night!

The Quest - Part 2 - ramblings on change....

Ok, so tonight on our drive home, my DH was on the phone with his mom who lives in CO.  She is elderly & has problems getting around, so she's having to be very reliant on others to 'meet her needs'... to bring her groceries, for example.  This has been going on for quite some time & I finally had had enough!  I swear if I have to hear her say she's OUT of TP one more time!...

So as soon as we got home I went to the website of the grocery store that I know is near her house & created an order for her online for delivery tomorrow.   Problem solved. Right? ;)

Well, yes, immediate problem solved.  BUT (you knew there'd be a 'but', right!?)

The process of doing this REALLY made it clear to me just how much my attitude towards food & grocery shopping has changed over the last 6 months or so... really more in the last 3 months, actually.  Right about when I starting blogging, and finding all these wonderfully informative blogs is when I really began my transformation.  

I used to shop at Costco & Vons primarily, I used to buy soda every time I went!  I would occasionally shop for specific things at Trader Joe's, but that was about the extent of my 'grocery world'.   I used to cook a lot from scratch, being a trained chef, I tend to want to do it myself properly & use good ingredients... but boy, do I have a whole new perspective on that as well!

Now I'm on the verge of canceling my Costco membership, I rarely step in Vons and when I do, it usually involves an organic produce purchase & using the ATM! ;)  After much research, I'm about to place my first order with Azure Standard for grains & other staples (even though I have to drive about 30 minutes on a Tuesday night to pick up my order!  Thus I'm trying to only order quarterly...)   I can't wait until 2/3 when I can pick up my gynormous order of grains, beans, seeds, eggs, raw cheeses, Pectin (for my Jam),  raw honey, organic cane sugar, and seeds for my garden!!!

I buy a few things regularly on Amazon, they carry a huge variety of Organic snack items as well as grains & seeds... I do "Subscribe&Save" so I can get an extra 15% off, can choose how often I want that item, get free shipping on everything & I can still cancel anytime.  The things I usually buy from Amazon are:

• Organic Agave Nectar - Madhava (2-46 oz. jugs for $18)
• Organic Maple Syrup (although I have since discovered that Trader Joe's price is better, although I can't remember if it's Organic) - B Grade is $44 for 2-32 oz. jugs & A Grade is $20 for 1-32 oz. jug
• Scarpetta Pasta Sauces (not organic, but simply the yummiest store bought sauces I've ever tried (they are about $4-5 each (and only come in 4 packs), but the Tuscan Vodka Sauce is mind blowing!)
• Izze Juices in small cans (this is our portable, away from home replacement for soda)
• Organic Coffee, I have tried a couple different ones, but recently stumbled across one that sounds really great!  It's called Larry's Beans Fair Trade Frenchy French Roast, it's Whole Bean of course & is about $40 for 5 pounds, that's about $8/lb.!!  A little less than the Starbucks 2/5 lb. bag I usually buy at Costco, and it's NOT Starbucks!   ;)
• Organic Jerky (Golden Valley Natural) - haven't tried it yet...
• Organic Light-on-the-Sugar Oatmeal (Dr. McDougall's Right Foods)

(Now, before you judge anything on that list, please keep in mind that we both work full-time & my DS is almost 13 and packs a lunch everyday for school, no cafeteria junk for him anymore!)

I've been frantically searching for a CSA delivery or pick up, but so far the best thing I've found is SPUD.  However, I live just on the border of LA County, but IN Ventura County, so SPUD won't deliver all the way to my house.  Of course, being the tenacious & determined gal that I am, I have figured out work-around, but it becomes complicated.  I have to 'use' a friend for her address & then coordinate a meeting or a pick up at her house every 2 weeks.  It's d0-able, but hardly the convenient organic produce delivery I am dreaming of....

Today I discovered Tierra Miguel Farms, the farms itself is 120 miles away, all the way in No. San Diego County, but they have pick up points as close as 30 minutes away from me, so I'm looking into that.  I'd much rather support a local CSA, but the only one I can find is not organic, so it seems like a lot of $$ for not as many nutrients...?

As in my Milk Post, I described that I've completely switched the family to Raw Milk & Cream - Organic Pastures also sells meat & really truly RAW Almonds (did you know that a new law passed that makes all Almonds be Flash Steam Pasteurized??!!!  and did you know that they are still allowed to label them as "raw"??!!! - aren't you horrified?)  Anyway, from the raw milk, I make Kephir, from the cream, I make Sour Cream pretty regularly (it is SO good) & am hoping to get in the habit of making my own butter on a regular basis.

I've been trying some different bread recipes over the past several months, and although a few have been good, I still haven't really found what I'm looking for.  But my hope it to be making bread from Soaked and/or Sprouted rains on a regular basis & giving/selling it to friends & co-workers as well as feeding my own family, of course!  My DH's boss is begging for me to make & sell her bread!  I guess I'd better get started! ;)