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| Saturday, November 21, 2009 |
| hunting and gathering |
it's that season again, when the menfolk head out into the woods in search of meat which will get us through the winter. i, for one, am hoping mine gets at least one to help with the food budget in these tight times. that leaves me what is commonly referred to as a "hunting widow". not that i mind that much. gives me some time to myself, me time.
this morning's me time is consisting of writing on my much-neglected blogs, figuring out that my hosting for some of the photos on said blog has been closed without notice and trying to ressurect them, making some excellent breakfast, drinking fair trade coffee with agave syrup and milk, washing some laundry, thinking about what i need at the store to complete the tortilla soup i plan to make, thinking about all the other things i also need to do today, and so on and so forth.
there is of course, the matter of the 6 heads of cabbage outside our house which i hope haven't spoiled that i should make into kraut before making said tortilla soup this evening. and there are all the leaves which have fallen all at once from the giant maple next to the livingroom window which should be bagged before it snows. oh and the garden which should be tilled under and the garlic planted for spring. and the mounds of crap in our house we have been meaning to weed through and simplify. and the checkbook to balance. and the floor to sweep and mop. and the list goes on.
for the moment, i will be peaceful and content in the consuming of my coffee and my experimental eggs (which have turned out delicious).
Experimental Eggs for one
Ingredients:
3 maple flavor breakfast sausage links chopped into 1/4" coins
1/2 very small yellow onion chopped
2 new potatoes (I used the tiny ones that came from our garden) chopped into 1/4" cubes
2 eggs
Tabasco sauce
salt
Directions:
Cook sausage, potatoes and onions in a skillet with a little bit of oil (of your choosing, I used Sunflower) over med/ low heat until potatoes are soft and sausage is done.
Scramble 2 eggs in a separate bowl and add some Tabasco. I think I added about 6-7 shakes.
Pour eggs over the cooked sausage potato mixture and cook like scrambled eggs. Turn over half way through to be sure neither side is really runny.
Sprinkle with a little salt and enjoy. Sweet Spicy Egg Scramble thing.Labels: daily life, food, musings, winter |
posted by Jen @ 11:14 AM   |
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| Tuesday, October 20, 2009 |
| back from life |
The summer was jam packed with stuff and not enough time to do it. Working full time and trying to enjoy life is difficult when your days off are only the weekends (something I had not dealt with in years having worked a more regular retail job where your weekend tends to fall somewhere around Tuesday). We attempted a real garden (or gardens I should say) this year, having a yard and all. The results were mixed. The tomatoes were our biggest success story, which is told by how many of them I ate this summer in a tomato vinegrette salad and by how many quarts of tomato based products I have already canned this fall.
The frost came early, causing us to pick clean our garden in one evening. The green tomatoes have been pickled in various manners (3 different ways), the celery not quite all used and in the fridge, the hot peppers I will likely dry, the summer squash hoping I find a recipe to use all 7 of them, and the remaining herbs hanging to dry all over the house in bunches. That doesn't even take into account the bounty of produce gotten the weekend of the harvest party out at Driftless Organics CSA. We didn't get a share this year (due to our own garden), but knowing the farmers sure puts you in a good position for picking up your fair share of cabbage, potatoes, peppers, squash and other more exotic types of veggies.
 This is the view of our "winter pantry" as it currently appears. Jars lined up, 2-deep full of delicious summer harvest. Tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, tomato basil soup, chicken noodle soup, pickled green tomatoes, piccalilli relish, dilled veggies, pickled beets, bread and butter pickles, chili con carne, sauerkraut, sweet and spicy pickled mini peppers and tomato corn salsa. Yet to come are more dilled veggies, dilled beans, more sauerkraut, chicken veggie soup, maybe some pickled garlic and maybe applesauce. If I finally get some time, I plan to resume blogging recipies as well. Labels: autumn, food, garden, summer, winter |
| posted by Jen @ 10:41 PM |
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| Tuesday, March 03, 2009 |
| New recipes |
| Some tasty things happening in our kitchen lately. Find them at http://edible-things.blogspot.com/ And if I get some time soon, a few snapshots from our Valentine's camping trip, my friend Carey's birthday and even the Fat Tuesday Chili Cookoff. But not tonight. Tonight is for sleeping. Labels: food |
| posted by Jen @ 11:28 PM |
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| Wednesday, November 26, 2008 |
| Breakfast complete with shiny sun |
This morning, I decided to have a real morning, instead of going back to bed when Matt left for work. I had already assembled his lunch (homemade bean soup : pseudo recipe below and homemade apple crisp) and made him a breakfast sandwich (fried up a slice of homemade Goetta sausage on toast, and filled up his thermos with some fair trade organic dark breakfast blend coffee). Time for my breakfast. A slice of the Goetta with a fried egg on some lightly toasted whole wheat with a cup of that same coffee accented with some maple syrup and a dash of whole milk. Yum. I pulled up the shades in our office to let the morning sun shine in and decided I should blog just a smidge. I will be posting some photos a little later today, but I still don't have photo software on our main computer and mine is up in the cold cold attic.
And now the recipes.
Homemade bean soup
I started with pork bone broth (used the bones we had frozen from the pig from our wedding reception). Just simmered those bones in some water forever it seems until they were soft and all the remaining meat and cartiledge fell right off. I used dry beans for soup for the first time. Combining Northern White Beans, Pinto Beans and small Red Beans in a pot, washing them, soaking them, rinsing them, partially cooking them and rinsing again before they were ready for the soup.
Cut up some leftover ham, an onion, celery, carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, and some cabbage and sauted it ever so slightly in butter with some sage. Put about 1/2 cup of dry barley into the broth and set it to simmer for about 15 min before adding in the beans and the other goodies. Let the whole thing sit on low and simmer and hour or two. We had some for dinner last night with some crackers and it was super filling. Has to be all those beans.
Apple Crisp
Peeled and sliced 4 huge Cortland apples from Victoria Valley Orchard (bought for us by Matt's Grandma from the cutest little local orchard you would never know was there). Put them in a 9x13 pan with about 1/4 cup sugar (I used raw sugar), a whole bunch of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, a dash of cloves, and a dash of ginger. Mixed up the apples to spread out the spices.
In another bowl, mixed up 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 2 cups oats, and about a cup of milk. (I also added about 2 tbsp butter this time around, but last time I made it without cause I didn't have any and it was still delicious). Stir this mixture up well until it's kinda crumbly. Spread it evenly on top of the apples. Bake until the topping is crispy and the apples are soft and they appear to be syrupy.
I have been eating this warmed and topped with yogurt.
Goetta Sausage
Ok, so this might make some of you go ew, but this sausage is made from leftover meat and oatmeal. It's kinda sloppy, but delicious. We had quite a bit of pork still left frozen from our wedding reception and didn'tknow what to do with it, so when we found this German delight on the internet, we thought it was worth a try.
I ground 2 lbs of leftover roast pork with an onion. Then I mixed in 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal and 8 cups of water. I also added a pinch of cayenne pepper. You take this whole sloppy mix, bring it to a boil and then simmer for a couple hours, stirring occassionally. It does get stuck to the bottom of the pan pretty badly otherwise.
Once it starts to look like it's thickening up some, put it into greased loaf pans and put it into the fridge to cool and set up. It's supposed to thicken up so you can slice it and fry it in a pan, but ours had a little more fat than we planned on, so it was a bit gloppy. I thought maybe baking the loaf or adding more oatmeal per pound of meat next time might be a good idea. But we still have sliced it up a bit, then squished the slices in the cast iron skillet to fry it up for breakfast. Currently this is what Matt is having as a favorite breakfast. If you make this, try not to judge it before you taste it.Labels: daily life, food, wedding, winter |
| posted by Jen @ 8:45 AM |
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| Friday, September 19, 2008 |
| New Blog |
| Every now and then, I get a hankering for a new project. This one is a new blog about food, one of my favorite things. It's just getting started, but you can find it here. Labels: food, musings, photography |
| posted by Jen @ 9:46 PM |
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| Sunday, April 13, 2008 |
| Domestication |
For any of you who know me, I love to be domestic. Meaning, I love to cook, create, garden, clean and organize (though some may argue that my idea of organized is not really organized at all). I enjoy the process as well as the end result. Having something to show for all your hard work. Especially when it's a clean house (if it can stay that way I am doubly happy) or something delicious to eat.
Today was about cleaning and baking. Four loads of laundry (and more waiting for another day) and my second attempt at Baguette Normal (Parisian daily bread - or "the baguette"). The bread is a 4 hour or longer process which when done right, creates a crusty loaf with a delicate crumb the likes of which I have not tasted since my college choir tour in Europe (and even then the bread wasn't quite like this seeing how the Germans do it slightly different).
With my first attempt on Friday night being a success, I made a double batch - two baguettes and eight petits pains (one of which I devoured as soon as it was cool enough to cut).
 Labels: daily life, food |
| posted by Jen @ 8:59 PM |
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| Friday, January 11, 2008 |
| You smell like soup |
Feeling a bit under the weather today I stayed home and rested. While I was resting, my from scratch chicken noodle soup was doing it's thing on the stove for 10 hours. Yes, 10 hours. That's how long it takes to make chicken noodle soup really from scratch starting with making the stock.
It began with a gallon of water and 4 chicken thighs in a huge stock pot simmering away for hours and hours and hours with some celery, garlic, carrots and bacon. When the meat had fallen off the bone, most of the veggies had disintegrated, and the bones were soft, I strained the stock and began making the soup.
I put the chicken back in the stock, added chopped celery, onion and carrot along with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. When the veggies were nearly the perfect doneness (almost not crunchy), I added a box of noodles and brought the whole thing to a boil for about 10 min. That's about it. It had been simmering most of the day so it took my bowl of soup about 10 min to cool down before I could eat it and then I still had to blow in each spoonful.
I also made another loaf of egg bread to eat with the soup since the last loaf is down to it's last couple slices.Labels: food, winter |
| posted by Jen @ 11:28 PM |
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| Sunday, January 06, 2008 |
| From Scratch |
In attempts to make our food budget even smaller (most people would drop dead to hear we spend less than $200 in an average month on groceries - partially due to coupon and sale items), I have taken to making a greater number of things from scratch. Not only is this fun for me as I've always loved cooking and baking, but it's been really great to pick up some new skills. Mostly skills which our current culture has caused to become nearly extinct (except in some ethnic traditions where this kind of thing gets passed down as a family heirloom).
I have started baking bread regularily, up to 3 times a week. So far the favorite has been this "Rich Egg Bread". It's slightly chewy when cooked just a few minute less than the recipe calls for (which in my opinion is the better way than over cooked and dry) and good with just about anything on it, or nothing at all. I let the bread machine to most of the work on this one: mixing, kneeding, and the first rise. Then I take it out, punch it down, shape and let it ride again before baking.
Also tonight I attempted traditional flour tortillas. Though without the proper authentic equipment and no Abuelita to instruct me (being Scandinavian and all), they aren't quite circular an a little too thick in some places. I now long to own a Comal and Palote (tortilla griddle and wooden tortilla rolling pin) to have a better chance of getting it right. I'll have to update you on how they taste later as they are slated to be part of lunch tomorrow with a spicy sausage, onion and green chili filling: taco of sorts.
Last week, I made a pizza and two installments of calzones with dough made from scratch. Well really the whole thing was "from scratch" except I used a jarred spaghetti sauce. The sausage I used was some of the venison sausage we made previously. Oh, and I didn't make the cheese, but I did grate it off a large block.
 Labels: food, musings |
| posted by Jen @ 9:51 PM |
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| Tuesday, November 27, 2007 |
| Lookee what we made |
Yup, that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 pounds of venison sausage. Matt shot the deer, we ground the meat (and potatoes for some of it), mixed the sausage, stuffed the casings and twisted the links by hand. And of course, cooked up a couple links to wolf down after a couple hours hard work. You know you're jealous.Labels: food |
| posted by Jen @ 3:22 AM |
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| Wednesday, November 14, 2007 |
| Pumpkin Muffins |
 Tonight's domestic adventure was to make a tasty pumpkin muffin without going to the store for more ingredients. I had pumpkin in the freezer from one of our last CSA boxes that I had previously baked and pureed. I also had some flour, some maple syrup, some molasses, some baking powder, pumpkin pie spices, milk and oil. Apparently, this is all one needs, which was good cause there were only 2 eggs left after my waffle dinner.
I modified a vegan recipe I found online (raw milk instead of soy milk and maple syrup instead of sugar - in a smaller dose) to make a hot dozen. Hot out of the oven, they are moist on the inside, chewy on the outside (which is how I like my muffins) and have a lovely pumpkin spice flavor. I wolfed one down after melting some butter onto each half. These will be great on my way to work in the morning when I have over-slept and need some breakfast on the go.
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| posted by Jen @ 11:13 PM |
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| Thursday, November 01, 2007 |
| Halloween: Porch-style |
Since Matt was working and didn't want to dress up for Halloween this year, I attended the Porch dinner/Mafia/Halloween party. I also didn't want to spend any money on a costume, so I pieced together my fairy garb from things I already owned. A pair of purple wings and false eyelashes purchased in the after-Halloween sales last year, two of my favorite shirts layered, my pink skirt, some flower print tights I've had since junior high and the black ballet slippers from my college ballet class.
The eyelashes were something else. I'd never worn false eyelashes before, and these were out of this world long and sparkly. It took me a few tries to get them positioned just right and to get the "glue" to stick well. And contrary to popular belief, they aren't uncomfortable. Once the "glue" gets really tacky, you hardly know they are there (except for the tips hitting your brow bone or brushing the inside of your nose). And yes, this photo is kinda a goofy perspective on my face. I did if for effect.
Dan and Rachel came as Team Zissou from "The Life Aquatic". Very creative. You can't see it, but Rachel had her iPod stuck under the strings of the guitar with a little speaker playing parts of the soundtrack from the movie.
Dinner was followed up by many rounds of the game Mafia (and variations on it) with sets of very cool Mafia specific cards created by Luke. I got a good laugh out of the antics of the new characters introduced to this game by my friends.
I started the night photographing with film and when the roll was finished shot digitally until my batteries gave out (which wasn't very many shots). Hopefully I'll be able to complete the purchase of my new digital SLR in the next week and be back in full digital swing before Thanksgiving. I may add a few more shots once the film photos are done tomorrow. Afterall, my scanner has been feeling lonely.Labels: food, friends, holidays, solomonsporch |
| posted by Jen @ 10:04 PM |
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| Saturday, October 27, 2007 |
| Free Taco on Tuesday |
A little something the just arrived in my email by way of a free things to do web group I'm a part of:
Free Tacos For America 10/30/07/-2pm-5pmLabels: food, musings |
| posted by Jen @ 11:49 AM |
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| Friday, October 12, 2007 |
| Warning: prolonged cooking may elevate the temperature in your kitchen as well as your appetite |
I have spent the last 4 hours or so in the kitchen again. I did the same last night. Partially in an attempt to cook, freeze, can, prepare, etc four CSA boxes worth of veggies before they turn and partially out of the pure joy of having the house all to myself and the time these evenings (now that my job is more of a M-F daytime type) to participate in something I have long loved - culinary arts.
 Last night, I bottle my first brew of kombucha tea. I am impatient to let it do it's second fermentation, but I know in the long run it will be so so much tastier if I let it sit another week. I plan to get an additional jar this weekend so I can have two alternating batches brewing at all times. (oh and if anyone else wants a culture, mine seems to have the skill of making a new one each batch and I will soon have more than I know what to do with and will gladly give them away to loving homes.)
 I was going to buy fancy home brew bottles, but opted for a much more budget minded approach. Fuze drinks are on sale for $1 each at Lunds and I bought a dozen just for the bottles which are the perfect size and shape for my brew. Quite a savings since the home brew store sells a dozen of the 16oz grolsch bottles for $22! I probably won't feel as bad if one of us happens to break, recycle or loose one either. I would guess that each bottle of this brew cost about 25 cents (not factoring in the bottles which will be reused countless times). Now compare to about $3 a bottle at the co-op! Whoo, hoo!
 My next dilemma has been what to do with 4 large heads of beautiful purple cabbage (or red as it is technically named). One can only eat so much steamed cabbage and borscht isn't really something I want to spend time over a hot stove making. Matt's idea was to turn it into sauerkraut. I'd never thought about purple kraut, but I didn't see why not. He loves the stuff, and in cold storage, it practically lasts forever (there is a partial jar made this summer still in our fridge that is better than ever). Two heads (minus the 1/4 he steamed and ate) have been krauted and are awaiting their turn for cold storage.
 In our most recent CSA boxes, we received green top radishes. With so much food in our fridge, they lost their crisp edge before Matt got to eating them. Not wanting to waste them, I researched pickled radish (at his suggestion). I ended up with a very simple recipe i think might end up a little like something from a Kim chi spread at the Korean restaurant. They turned a little pink because of leaving the skin on and some of them being red. Actually, they are quite pretty. Hope they taste as good as they look.
My second loaf ever of honey oat bread is in the bread machine and should be done before midnight. I decided to use my bread machine to get a more consistent result with my bread. The kitchen heats up rapidly when the oven or stove are in use (both of which were and raised the temp to 86 degrees) so I had the window open and I just am not sure what the effects on yeast are with that kind of thing (seeing how it's a little wintry out). Not only that, the machine allows me to put in my ingredients and be free to do other things which the machine pays attention for 4 hours to bake my bread.
 Last, but certainly not least the stew: root vegetables with beef. Very simple and not really a recipe I could write down in proportions. What's it got in it? Well, let me just make a list. Parsnips, potatoes, onion, turnips (complete with greens), chiogga beets (the pretty striped ones), sweet potatoes, beef stock, a 2 pound beef round roast cut and browned in extra virgin olive oil, and some cornmeal to help thicken it up (a trick I learned a while back when I used some cornbread topped zucchini in a stew). It's going to be good eats for quite a while. I used my huge stockpot, the one that's probably 18 inches tall, and the thing is over half full!Labels: daily life, food |
| posted by Jen @ 10:34 PM |
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