This is a video I did under another user name ... I thought I was going to make a different blog but decided just to spruce up this one a bit :)
Click here for other sourdough posts.
This post was featured on Heritage Homesteader's Blog Hop :)
Friday, December 21, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Country Garden Progress
A few days ago Tylor and Corban worked the garden over again with the tractor. I thought the boys' cousin might enjoy seeing the tractor, so here is a video of Corban doing that; it was really windy so you might want to turn the speakers down.
They also worked on another garden spot for a new family moving in at the beginning of december, Lord willing. Here is a video of that and also a picture :) They did more work later on that day, but this was the start of it.
... and a video of Tylor too :)
They also worked on another garden spot for a new family moving in at the beginning of december, Lord willing. Here is a video of that and also a picture :) They did more work later on that day, but this was the start of it.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Frugal flooring: PAINT!
When we moved into this house a few years ago, the kitchen and laundry
room were carpeted! Yuck. A few months later we tore all that out and
scrapped off the two layers of flooring underneath. What was left was a
black, sticky mess. After time, the stickiness when away but it was
still quite ugly and things did stick to it. Also, it was very hard to
keep clean. We recently had some brethren stay with us for a few weeks and they
said, "Why don't you paint it?" Dah! Several years ago my sister-in-law
painted her not-so-desirable-floor, but I had forgotten all about it.
I'm so thankful for the reminder.
We spent less than $30 and still have a half gallon of paint left over. I did not take 'before' pictures but you might catch glimpses of it in other pictures on this blog. Here are a few pictures - you might be able to see the paint sample on the kitchen floor? We are pleased with the results, and very thankful too. Now we have to fill in the gap where a wall used to be and also paint the kitchen cabinets and walls. Ok, there is more to do as well but who cares? I'm just thankful to have a floor I can keep clean now. I'm sure all the visitors with crawling babies will be thankful too.
UPDATE - I found a decent picture of how the floor looked before ... I'm even more thankful now for the cheap, easy 'fix.'
ANOTHER UPDATE (1/5/13) - After walking on this floor and abusing it in various ways for a few months, I see it is a good idea to have two coats and a clear coat. It still looks very good, however the extra protection will be good I'm sure. We'll do the second coat and a clear coat as soon as it's nice enough to leave the doors and windows open ... and also when I'm out of town a few days!! The smell really bothers me :)
We spent less than $30 and still have a half gallon of paint left over. I did not take 'before' pictures but you might catch glimpses of it in other pictures on this blog. Here are a few pictures - you might be able to see the paint sample on the kitchen floor? We are pleased with the results, and very thankful too. Now we have to fill in the gap where a wall used to be and also paint the kitchen cabinets and walls. Ok, there is more to do as well but who cares? I'm just thankful to have a floor I can keep clean now. I'm sure all the visitors with crawling babies will be thankful too.
UPDATE - I found a decent picture of how the floor looked before ... I'm even more thankful now for the cheap, easy 'fix.'
ANOTHER UPDATE (1/5/13) - After walking on this floor and abusing it in various ways for a few months, I see it is a good idea to have two coats and a clear coat. It still looks very good, however the extra protection will be good I'm sure. We'll do the second coat and a clear coat as soon as it's nice enough to leave the doors and windows open ... and also when I'm out of town a few days!! The smell really bothers me :)
Monday, October 29, 2012
Chicken update
[Final post of today ... 3 total]
Well ... here is a chicken update finally. I'm sure you all in blogger world were just anxiously awaiting this moment ... not. Our girls are doing very well except we suspect two of them were stolen. Small town crimes. Yeap. Here are the remaining 8 saying hello. They are still as friendly and loving as ever.
And we have a few more additions to our little flock. Last summer we purchased 3 chicks at the farmers market. The woman said they were silkies, however the grey one looks quite a bit different than the white ones. He/she was from a different batch and was a few weeks older than the white ones. He has distinct feathers on his body while the white ones are more fluffy. Maybe someone can tell me what we have here?!
First I'll put older pictures of the chicks the day they came home. After that I will share a video of them that I took today. If you know exactly what they are, please let me know!!
Well ... here is a chicken update finally. I'm sure you all in blogger world were just anxiously awaiting this moment ... not. Our girls are doing very well except we suspect two of them were stolen. Small town crimes. Yeap. Here are the remaining 8 saying hello. They are still as friendly and loving as ever.
And we have a few more additions to our little flock. Last summer we purchased 3 chicks at the farmers market. The woman said they were silkies, however the grey one looks quite a bit different than the white ones. He/she was from a different batch and was a few weeks older than the white ones. He has distinct feathers on his body while the white ones are more fluffy. Maybe someone can tell me what we have here?!
First I'll put older pictures of the chicks the day they came home. After that I will share a video of them that I took today. If you know exactly what they are, please let me know!!
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| No names yet ... |
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| BUSTER |
2013 Garden prep
[I am doing 3 posts today; feel free to check the other posts if you are interested.]
Last saturday the boys plowed up our new garden spot at Christine's house. Christine is an elderly woman we help out several times a week; she lives in the country and David's brother owns her land. He suggested that as a new place for our garden and we thought that was a great idea. Brianna and I will be able to help more with this garden because of the great location. The boys said the soil was real nice too, so we are thankful for that. A few additional bonuses: she has underground storage for our potatoes and also a big barn for whatever else we might need to store. We are beyond thankful.
Here is the spot ... this picture makes it look a little smaller than it is but I think it's about 60' x 150' but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Last saturday the boys plowed up our new garden spot at Christine's house. Christine is an elderly woman we help out several times a week; she lives in the country and David's brother owns her land. He suggested that as a new place for our garden and we thought that was a great idea. Brianna and I will be able to help more with this garden because of the great location. The boys said the soil was real nice too, so we are thankful for that. A few additional bonuses: she has underground storage for our potatoes and also a big barn for whatever else we might need to store. We are beyond thankful.
Here is the spot ... this picture makes it look a little smaller than it is but I think it's about 60' x 150' but I'm not 100% sure on that.
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| Do you see the boys in the center of the picture back there? |
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| A nice view |
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| Another nice view |
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| The boys :) |
Friday, October 26, 2012
Family fun ...
We enjoy singing together as a family (extended family included of course). This is a very frugal thing to do and you can do it pretty much anywhere at any time. Sometimes we record what we sing and share it with others ... but we cut out all the gaps in between each song. Last evening we had fun singing rounds and Olen taught us a new one. I really enjoyed listening to it today - how many times the boys messed up at the beginning and we all had a good laugh :) - so I thought I'd share a piece of our lives with you all. Maybe you'll laugh too.
Here's the song. Maybe we'll sing it right the next time?!
LET US SING TOGETHER
Here's the song. Maybe we'll sing it right the next time?!
LET US SING TOGETHER
Sunday, October 14, 2012
2012 Gardening Wrap Up (well, summer garden anyway)
Well ... the gardening season for 2012 is kind of coming to a close around here. What did we learn this year???? A whole lot to say the least.
First, looking back over the gardening posts, I had so many fond memories :) One in particular was of Brian's diagram of our proposed garden in the country (see it here in this post about drip irrigation). He left ONE THING out of his diagram: GRASSHOPPERS. We had a huge plague of grasshoppers. We did all we knew how to take care of them, however nothing seemed to work. David said he'd never seen anything like it. We are guessing it was so bad because there was no hard frost last winter. That theory only goes so far though because not everyone had such a problem ... our spot was just particularly bad (or good if you are a hopper). First they went for the green beans. We ordered Nolo bait hoping that would take care of them. The directions on the bag were for approximately "8 grasshoppers per square yard." Hmmm. We about died laughing. Well, not really, but we did laugh till some of us cried. We had thousands of grasshoppers per square yard. We figure two things we could have done differently to help. 1) Turkeys or guinea hens. I heard they eat a lot of hoppers but pretty much stay away from the garden (with a few exceptions). Since this was not our land and we did not live near it, that option was not really an option. 2) Row covers. We thought of this too late and it would have been quite expensive so late in the year.
So anyway, the beans were gone. None to speak of. Next they headed for the potato leaves. The boys dug the potatoes quite early but we still got a few hundred pounds. I wonder how many we would have gotten had we been able to let them grow?!?! A ton or more? We are still using what we dug up; working on canning them and eating them as we go. So, after the potatoes were gone, they headed for the squash. The boys took the hubbard squash early too once the hoppers ate up all the green vines. I made close to 30 quarts of 'pumpkin' butter with that and it turned out very delicious. Tomatoes and peanuts were left. A tiny peanut harvest that was laughable but tasty. Not very many tomatoes to speak of. That was the end of our garden in the country. Lots of hard work, lots of learning and experience gained, and a little bit of organic, fresh produce. Praise the Lord!
Oh yes, the corn. Our little corn patch in the country was enjoyed by some cows that took advantage of a gate that was left open.
A few weeks ago a family at church let us come pick the green beans they could not use. I canned over a hundred quarts and also froze some. They also had us come pick the left-over corn. They helped us process that and we froze 16 quarts. This same family gave us a LOT of melons! A LOT. We are beyond thankful for their generosity! Here are a few pictures to share of that ...
Our city garden did well all summer except the tomatoes. We're not quite sure what happened there but we assume it was the excessive heat. Next year we hope to have some sort of green house for the tomatoes so we can start them earlier and have them growing and ripening in the cooler part of the summer. Lots of beets, spinach, kale, onions, etc. Also, the sweet potato experiment went very well. Corban started those from store-bought sweet potatoes. He only did a few this year just to see how they worked out here in SW MO ... and now we think it would have been nice if we had planted more! We are very thankful for what we got and will try again next year. Here is a picture of Corban with one of the larger ones:
Corban saved several different seeds as well, including kale, beets, lettuce and spinach. We have even sold some!
Who knows what next year will bring? Plans are already in the works ... and of course there is a fall garden still going. I know I slacked a bit on updates. We were extremely busy this summer!! We'll try again next year.
First, looking back over the gardening posts, I had so many fond memories :) One in particular was of Brian's diagram of our proposed garden in the country (see it here in this post about drip irrigation). He left ONE THING out of his diagram: GRASSHOPPERS. We had a huge plague of grasshoppers. We did all we knew how to take care of them, however nothing seemed to work. David said he'd never seen anything like it. We are guessing it was so bad because there was no hard frost last winter. That theory only goes so far though because not everyone had such a problem ... our spot was just particularly bad (or good if you are a hopper). First they went for the green beans. We ordered Nolo bait hoping that would take care of them. The directions on the bag were for approximately "8 grasshoppers per square yard." Hmmm. We about died laughing. Well, not really, but we did laugh till some of us cried. We had thousands of grasshoppers per square yard. We figure two things we could have done differently to help. 1) Turkeys or guinea hens. I heard they eat a lot of hoppers but pretty much stay away from the garden (with a few exceptions). Since this was not our land and we did not live near it, that option was not really an option. 2) Row covers. We thought of this too late and it would have been quite expensive so late in the year.
So anyway, the beans were gone. None to speak of. Next they headed for the potato leaves. The boys dug the potatoes quite early but we still got a few hundred pounds. I wonder how many we would have gotten had we been able to let them grow?!?! A ton or more? We are still using what we dug up; working on canning them and eating them as we go. So, after the potatoes were gone, they headed for the squash. The boys took the hubbard squash early too once the hoppers ate up all the green vines. I made close to 30 quarts of 'pumpkin' butter with that and it turned out very delicious. Tomatoes and peanuts were left. A tiny peanut harvest that was laughable but tasty. Not very many tomatoes to speak of. That was the end of our garden in the country. Lots of hard work, lots of learning and experience gained, and a little bit of organic, fresh produce. Praise the Lord!
Oh yes, the corn. Our little corn patch in the country was enjoyed by some cows that took advantage of a gate that was left open.
A few weeks ago a family at church let us come pick the green beans they could not use. I canned over a hundred quarts and also froze some. They also had us come pick the left-over corn. They helped us process that and we froze 16 quarts. This same family gave us a LOT of melons! A LOT. We are beyond thankful for their generosity! Here are a few pictures to share of that ...
Brianna and green beans
The work buggy hauling our corn :) This made me laugh.
At the melon patch taking a walk and enjoying the sunset.
Our city garden did well all summer except the tomatoes. We're not quite sure what happened there but we assume it was the excessive heat. Next year we hope to have some sort of green house for the tomatoes so we can start them earlier and have them growing and ripening in the cooler part of the summer. Lots of beets, spinach, kale, onions, etc. Also, the sweet potato experiment went very well. Corban started those from store-bought sweet potatoes. He only did a few this year just to see how they worked out here in SW MO ... and now we think it would have been nice if we had planted more! We are very thankful for what we got and will try again next year. Here is a picture of Corban with one of the larger ones:
Corban saved several different seeds as well, including kale, beets, lettuce and spinach. We have even sold some!
Who knows what next year will bring? Plans are already in the works ... and of course there is a fall garden still going. I know I slacked a bit on updates. We were extremely busy this summer!! We'll try again next year.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
How to pressure can chicken with bone
(for a basic "how to use a pressure canner" video, see this post: Pressure Canning Beans -- it shows beans but the canning procedure is the same)
Here are the basics ...
First, get yourself some chickens. We got these for free from a friend; they were former laying hens (broilers of some kind ... I don't know my chicken breeds yet) past their prime and thus rescued from being shipped off somewhere else. We had them in 'rehab' for about 4 weeks (organic feed, lots of fresh veggie and fruit scrap, etc.) till their droppings and their bodies looked healthy. These things didn't even know how to eat grass at first. Seriously. It was sad. Before we butchered them, they were somewhat relaxed around us and acted like 'normal' chickens.
After butchering the chickens, store them in the fridge or other cool place for 8-12 hours before proceeding. Why is this? I'm not sure really! Maybe it helps with the flavor or the tenderness of the meat? Now you are ready to cut the chickens into 8pcs. If you do not know how to do this, do a quick youtube search for "how to cut a whole chicken" or something of the sort. A few tips I can give you in writing that might make sense: feel for the joints and be sure to cut the tendons first. I like to cut the skin away from both thighs, grab both and twist them under till I hear or feel the joints pop on both sides. Cut off the leg quarters. Next cut the thighs from the legs where the bones meet. The wings can be a bit tricky too ... I lift up one wing till the whole (or what's left of it) chicken is suspended in air. I then cut the tendon on the underside of the arm/wing - this seems to free it up well enough to easily cut the arm/wing off.
By now all you should have left is the breast. If it's a smaller chicken, leave the bones on. Cut the breast and rib cage portion off the back portion and then cut the breasts in half, right down the middle of the breast bone. As was the case today, my chickens were much too large for me to do this with so I just cut the meat off as best as I could. Here you see a picture of the breast meat and the tender meat which is right under the breast.
I chose to skin most of my chickens; I left the skin on the wings and some on the leg but took off what was easy enough to pull off without much trouble. The last chickens I did must have been younger ... the skin was easy to pull off. These chickens were a bit tough so I had to use scissors to help cut it away.
Place the meat in quart mason jars - bone side in if you can. Add a tsp of salt if desired. Do not add liquid; it will make its own. Pressure can at 10lbs (weighted gauge) or 11lbs (dial gauge) for 75 minutes (65 for pints). If you choose to do boneless, the time changes to 90 minutes (75 for pints). Be sure to adjust pressure for higher altitudes - if this is you, do a quick google search of something like: high altitude canning pressure adjustments.
Now you should have a bunch of skin and bones left over right? And probably a decent amount of meat left behind on the bones, right? And feet? (this is the first time I'm trying it with the feet - I heard they add a very good flavor) Make chicken stock. I will use two large pots for my 6 hens, dividing up the remnants between the two. I like to add water several inches above the carcasses. Throw in a chopped onion, celery, carrot, garlic, salt, whatever ... or nothing at all. More often than not, I'll just add a little salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes or till the meat can be pulled easily off. Simmer longer if you'd like - can turn the heat up, leave off the lid and boil off more liquid for a stronger flavor. Remove carcasses from pot(s). Pick off the meat ... freeze this for chicken pot pie, chicken pizza, or whatever else you need chicken pieces for - or use it for supper tonight. Strain out everything else till there's only liquid remaining. Pour into clean quart or pint jars. Process times: dial gauge 11lbs pressure, weighted gauge 10lbs pressure for 25min (pints 20). Again, be sure to adjust for higher altitudes.
There you have it. Your very own chicken AND chicken stock. Nothing added except what you have allowed.
Here are the basics ...
First, get yourself some chickens. We got these for free from a friend; they were former laying hens (broilers of some kind ... I don't know my chicken breeds yet) past their prime and thus rescued from being shipped off somewhere else. We had them in 'rehab' for about 4 weeks (organic feed, lots of fresh veggie and fruit scrap, etc.) till their droppings and their bodies looked healthy. These things didn't even know how to eat grass at first. Seriously. It was sad. Before we butchered them, they were somewhat relaxed around us and acted like 'normal' chickens.
After butchering the chickens, store them in the fridge or other cool place for 8-12 hours before proceeding. Why is this? I'm not sure really! Maybe it helps with the flavor or the tenderness of the meat? Now you are ready to cut the chickens into 8pcs. If you do not know how to do this, do a quick youtube search for "how to cut a whole chicken" or something of the sort. A few tips I can give you in writing that might make sense: feel for the joints and be sure to cut the tendons first. I like to cut the skin away from both thighs, grab both and twist them under till I hear or feel the joints pop on both sides. Cut off the leg quarters. Next cut the thighs from the legs where the bones meet. The wings can be a bit tricky too ... I lift up one wing till the whole (or what's left of it) chicken is suspended in air. I then cut the tendon on the underside of the arm/wing - this seems to free it up well enough to easily cut the arm/wing off.
By now all you should have left is the breast. If it's a smaller chicken, leave the bones on. Cut the breast and rib cage portion off the back portion and then cut the breasts in half, right down the middle of the breast bone. As was the case today, my chickens were much too large for me to do this with so I just cut the meat off as best as I could. Here you see a picture of the breast meat and the tender meat which is right under the breast.
Here is another picture ...
I chose to skin most of my chickens; I left the skin on the wings and some on the leg but took off what was easy enough to pull off without much trouble. The last chickens I did must have been younger ... the skin was easy to pull off. These chickens were a bit tough so I had to use scissors to help cut it away.
Brianna got me here ... slimy hands and all :)
Place the meat in quart mason jars - bone side in if you can. Add a tsp of salt if desired. Do not add liquid; it will make its own. Pressure can at 10lbs (weighted gauge) or 11lbs (dial gauge) for 75 minutes (65 for pints). If you choose to do boneless, the time changes to 90 minutes (75 for pints). Be sure to adjust pressure for higher altitudes - if this is you, do a quick google search of something like: high altitude canning pressure adjustments.
The finished product. 6 good sized hens yielded 12 full quarts.
Now you should have a bunch of skin and bones left over right? And probably a decent amount of meat left behind on the bones, right? And feet? (this is the first time I'm trying it with the feet - I heard they add a very good flavor) Make chicken stock. I will use two large pots for my 6 hens, dividing up the remnants between the two. I like to add water several inches above the carcasses. Throw in a chopped onion, celery, carrot, garlic, salt, whatever ... or nothing at all. More often than not, I'll just add a little salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes or till the meat can be pulled easily off. Simmer longer if you'd like - can turn the heat up, leave off the lid and boil off more liquid for a stronger flavor. Remove carcasses from pot(s). Pick off the meat ... freeze this for chicken pot pie, chicken pizza, or whatever else you need chicken pieces for - or use it for supper tonight. Strain out everything else till there's only liquid remaining. Pour into clean quart or pint jars. Process times: dial gauge 11lbs pressure, weighted gauge 10lbs pressure for 25min (pints 20). Again, be sure to adjust for higher altitudes.
There you have it. Your very own chicken AND chicken stock. Nothing added except what you have allowed.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Home Economics (I need your help!)
When I first started living on my own, I had very little home-keeping skills. I could wash the dishes and run a vacuum. I could sweep the floor (though not very good) and I could push a mop around (though not very good). And really, that's about it. All the things involved in keeping a home were so foreign to me - cleaning, cooking, sewing, etc. The first time someone gave me a package of raw chicken I had NO IDEA what to do with it. Sure, I could throw some chicken nuggets in the oven, but a raw chicken?! I was scared of it. Processed, packaged foods were my thing. Raw fruits and veggies? Well ... I could eat an apple, banana or orange, but that's about it. Frozen, canned, etc. I could do that.
I've come a long way since then, but what if I had had these skills BEFORE I moved out on my own? I'm sure things would not have been as stressful ... and messy ... and unhealthy ... and ...
And now I need YOUR help. I'm working on a project and need to know what skills you think would have been helpful for you to know when you moved out of the house. Or, maybe you are one that grew up in a home where the mother or grandmother taught you how to be a keeper at home? If so, please share what skills you think were a great blessing to have just starting off. Or maybe you have a near-teen or teen-aged daughter and are hoping to equip her for adulthood as a keeper at home - what are you hoping she'll know how to do?
I do not mind if you share the same skill someone else has already shared. Be as specific as you can! Thank you!!
I've come a long way since then, but what if I had had these skills BEFORE I moved out on my own? I'm sure things would not have been as stressful ... and messy ... and unhealthy ... and ...
And now I need YOUR help. I'm working on a project and need to know what skills you think would have been helpful for you to know when you moved out of the house. Or, maybe you are one that grew up in a home where the mother or grandmother taught you how to be a keeper at home? If so, please share what skills you think were a great blessing to have just starting off. Or maybe you have a near-teen or teen-aged daughter and are hoping to equip her for adulthood as a keeper at home - what are you hoping she'll know how to do?
I do not mind if you share the same skill someone else has already shared. Be as specific as you can! Thank you!!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Tattler Canning Lids Review
I LIKE THEM A LOT.
I started canning about 8 years ago (or maybe longer? I cannot remember) and have always used the metal lids. I was so excited when I learned that I could [after carefully inspecting the used lid] get a few uses out of those lids before they needed to be thrown away. It seems the way they make them now though, I can only get one or two uses before they are done. Of course using them more than once is NOT recommended. But ... we do it anyway.
These Tattler lids have been out for about 36 years. The only question I have is: Why did I only learn about them 2 years ago???? It seems I should have heard about them long before then!! Some might be shocked by the price. I paid about $50 total for 6 dozen lids and rubbers (half wide, half regular). That's about $.70 each; however each time you use them, the price per lid goes down and down ... and IF you can a lot, they start paying for themselves very quickly. Obviously if you do not can a lot, you might as well use the metal lids.
How long do they last? The plastic lids will last a LONG time [the rest of my life? longer?] and I believe they are guaranteed for life. The rubbers are in danger of drying out and cracking ... but I've read reviews of them lasting over 20 years before finally giving out, and the rubbers are cheap to replace.
Bonus: They are BPA free.
The only negative I can see right now is that if you are canning something you might give away, you will want to use metal lids. Don't count on people returning your tattlers!
I guess another negative for many would be the initial investment. I have well over a thousand canning jars ... and only 6 dozen tattlers!!! I obtained those by selling a nice wool coat on ebay. I kept the money in paypal and then used it to by the lids. I turned something I was not using into something I needed. Praise the Lord! Maybe you have something sitting around too that you are not using?? Do some deep cleaning ... have a yard sale or post on craigslist or ebay.
I have a few more items ready for ebay ... and will use the profits for more tattlers.
Here is their website: Tattler Reusable Canning Lids.
UPDATE: I decided to invest in more Tattler lids a few months ago with my income tax return money. Before doing that I did a google search for reviews on the lids. I was surprised to find mixed reviews - some like me who really like the lids and do not seem to have a problem with them and some who have had nothing but problems and would not recommend them to anyone. This of course caused me to wonder why the big difference? The only thing I could think of is user error. It is quite possible that the negative reviews were simply the result of not knowing how to can properly. That's an assumption of course but I think it's a safe one.
One big complaint I see is that the lids will unseal after a while of being stored. Now, don't get me wrong, I HAVE had a few lids come unsealed while in storage ... but I have had metal lids come unsealed as well. It seems the lids that get dirty during canning are the ones that are more apt to come undone, and this makes total sense. In order to prevent this, be sure to leave enough head space between the food and the lid. I leave an inch and that seems to do the job right.
Many have complained of failed seals right out of the canner. One cause of this could be leaving them to cool in the canner too long. Be sure to take them out of the canner as soon as they are ready [allow canner to cool naturally; gauge is at zero pounds and no pressure comes out when the weight is slightly tilted] and tighten the rings as per the instructions ... otherwise the whole batch, or most of it, is likely to fail.
Another possibility would be not letting the canner vent for 10 minutes before letting it build up pressure. Be sure to leave the petcock or pressure gauge open or off the canner till it has come to a boil and vented (not just a little bit of steam but constant, strong flow of steam) for 10 minutes, after which time you must close the vent, bring to the proper pressure, and maintain it for the duration of the canning. This removes all the air from the canner and allows it to come to the proper temperature.
Other tips -
Be sure the rubbers and jar tops are clean and free of any food stuff.
Be sure you are keeping the gauge at the proper pressure the whole time during processing. Irregular pressure can result in failed seals &/or spoiled food.
Remove air bubbles before canning.
Check for chips or cracks; discard if present.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Homemade Whole Wheat Donuts / Doughnuts
Get out your Better Homes and Gardens "New" Cookbook and check out the cake donut / doughnut recipe. [What's up with the different spellings anyway?] We double it (all except the sugar which we use brown sugar and leave half off) and use whole wheat flour instead of white. No, this is not exactly a 'health food' ... but at least it's whole wheat, right?! If you don't have this cookbook, I'm sure any cake donut/doughnut recipe will do. Just keep in mind that you can half the sugar and you do not have to slather it with icing. I made a cinnamon sugar mix (1/4c white sugar and 1T cinnamon) that I dipped the top halves of the doughnuts in. Considering how many we made, this is a minimal amount of added sugar and still much less than what they would have started with had I used the full amount in the recipe.
We each had one after supper and shared with others outside the house. The elderly we visit especially appreciate homemade goodies :)
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| Here is our happy helper Paul. He seemed to enjoy the task of cutting out the doughnuts. |
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| Cook till golden brown on both sides ... be sure to keep the temp low enough that the oil does not smoke! |
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| One of the best parts ... licking your fingers :) |
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| YUM! This picture was taken when we were about half way through ... so we had about double this amount when done. |
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Update
Well ... so much has been going on that I have not had much time to post about the gardens or the chickens. here is a very quick update ...
City garden is doing GREAT :) :) we are so thankful. Got lots of beet, spinach and kale seeds. Also lettuce seeds. LOTS. We might try to sale some at the farmers market. We'll see. We ripped up what needed to be ripped up and planted some green beans, more kale, and cabbage.
Country garden is doing TERRIBLE! :) :) One of the boys left a gate open and the cows came in and helped themselves to the corn :) They had a little fun rolling a bale of hay around in the green beans too. What they didn't ruin, the grasshoppers did. :) We dug the potatoes early but got a pretty good harvest anyway. The green beans ... nothing much at all ... so many rows ... no beans. Oh well. That's why we planted some more at the city garden. Maybe we'll have a few yet?! We did get some NoLo grasshopper biological bait. The instructions were for "about 8 grasshoppers per square yard." Uhhuh. We all got a great laugh out of that. David said this is the worst he's seen it in a while. Why? probably because we did not have a hard frost last winter. There are THOUSANDS of hoppers per square yard at the country garden!!! We learned a lot though. The tomatoes out there are hanging in there but the hoppers are now on them. Had to pick the squash early too. Live and learn.
Chickens: our girls laid their first egg over night :) They are all doing well and noone has died even though it's been terribly hot and miserable. They seem happy and they still like us. They are good at jumping/flying over the fences, so the boys are making a chicken tractor for them.
Farmers Market: something new we started last month. We've been selling mostly bread and jams but a few veggies too. Everyone else has a LOT of nice veggies and no bread or jams, so we thought to just stick with things noone else is offering. It seems to be going well so far.
Brianna got a new camera (well, my dad and a brother helped pay for her new camera) to replace the old one that had a mind of its own. She is so thankful! Here are a few shots from that:
One last thing to share. I asked a brother to please build me pantry shelves for my jars & buckets whenever he had time ... a few days later I had shelves!! I am SO THANKFUL!!!!! I really felt spoiled.
City garden is doing GREAT :) :) we are so thankful. Got lots of beet, spinach and kale seeds. Also lettuce seeds. LOTS. We might try to sale some at the farmers market. We'll see. We ripped up what needed to be ripped up and planted some green beans, more kale, and cabbage.
Country garden is doing TERRIBLE! :) :) One of the boys left a gate open and the cows came in and helped themselves to the corn :) They had a little fun rolling a bale of hay around in the green beans too. What they didn't ruin, the grasshoppers did. :) We dug the potatoes early but got a pretty good harvest anyway. The green beans ... nothing much at all ... so many rows ... no beans. Oh well. That's why we planted some more at the city garden. Maybe we'll have a few yet?! We did get some NoLo grasshopper biological bait. The instructions were for "about 8 grasshoppers per square yard." Uhhuh. We all got a great laugh out of that. David said this is the worst he's seen it in a while. Why? probably because we did not have a hard frost last winter. There are THOUSANDS of hoppers per square yard at the country garden!!! We learned a lot though. The tomatoes out there are hanging in there but the hoppers are now on them. Had to pick the squash early too. Live and learn.
Chickens: our girls laid their first egg over night :) They are all doing well and noone has died even though it's been terribly hot and miserable. They seem happy and they still like us. They are good at jumping/flying over the fences, so the boys are making a chicken tractor for them.
Farmers Market: something new we started last month. We've been selling mostly bread and jams but a few veggies too. Everyone else has a LOT of nice veggies and no bread or jams, so we thought to just stick with things noone else is offering. It seems to be going well so far.
Brianna got a new camera (well, my dad and a brother helped pay for her new camera) to replace the old one that had a mind of its own. She is so thankful! Here are a few shots from that:
 |
| jam for the market |
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| cinnamon raisin bread for market |
 | |
| coneflower |
 | |
| thought this was pretty |
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| hens & chick at Christine's |
One last thing to share. I asked a brother to please build me pantry shelves for my jars & buckets whenever he had time ... a few days later I had shelves!! I am SO THANKFUL!!!!! I really felt spoiled.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Sourdough Bread
(click here for other SOURDOUGH posts ... the first part of this explains the Nourishing Traditions method of sourdough. Now that I have been doing it a while I see that this method is so very impractical. I cannot help but wonder if Sally actually used this method herself or just threw it in the book??? I explain a better way in an update below. Live and learn!!)
Over the last few months I've been trying my hand at sourdough bread. This is something I have wanted to do for YEARS. In fact, before I started making bread by hand (I was using a bread machine), I attempted to get a starter going. It was so foreign to me however ... I had no idea what to do or what it should look like, smell like, etc., that I threw it out before even really giving it an honest try. We've been learning so much these last few years; little by little we have been building up our skills and it has been a blessing. We cannot learn everything all at once! It takes TIME, effort, practice, consistency, and so on. Anyway, a few months ago I knew it was time to learn how to do the sourdough bread.
I'll let you do all the research if you are interested, however the only thing I want to say is that sourdough bread is so much better for you than "conventional" bread. (ok, here comes a rabbit trail) Have you ever noticed how that word gets twisted around?! "Conventional" today is not really how it always was; "conventional" today means the last few decades, whereas "conventional" in days gone by meant the last several hundred (or thousands) of years.
I think of "conventional" medicine. Today this means doctors that do all sorts of high tech tests on you (that probably do much more harm than good), fill you full of poison, and end up making things worse. They don't seem to care about the CAUSE of the problem ... they only seem to care about giving you a band-aid, keeping you sick, thus forcing you to depend on them more and more. And the true "conventional" medicine is now frowned on and called dangerous.The FDA has to make sure you know that they do not approve the herbs you are taking. Of course they don't. The more herbs you take and the more you try to take control of your health and live in moderation and simplicity, the less $$$ they make. Now it is "conventional" to saw a man's breast bone and rib cage in half, pull his heart out of his body, add a few things to it (or put in a new one taken from some other dead person), stick it back into his body, sew and patch things up, give him a whole bunch of meds, and hope it all goes well for him. But in the not-so-distant past and for hundreds and thousands of years prior, people knew that they way they LIVED had a lot to do with the quality of their health. Simple diets, hard work, no electronic buzzing in their ear, and so on, all helped to keep a person healthy and strong.
"Conventional" farming today means huge agri-business. Lots of chemicals. Lots of big, high-tech machines. But that was only in the last several decades. For most of our existence here on earth, humans have worked with their hands and used animals to help them. Now all they (most) have to do is sit in an air conditioned cab pushing buttons and watching the GPS. I know I have over-simplified it, but you get the point. People used to know how to save seeds because they HAD to. Now it's illegal for farmers to save seeds because Monsanto owns everything. Well, I wont go off on that rabbit trail. What ever happened to the small family farm where it was "conventional" for one man and one woman to be together for life? Men being men and women being women? Father and sons working all day together in the fields, mother and daughters working together in and around the house? Now it's "conventional" for mother to be at work or the beauty salon or the day spa or the gym or out with the girls or (fill in the blank), father might be working all day or might be at home watching tv or surfing the web, sons are out running the streets or sitting in their rooms with ipods or iphones or some sort of video game system, daughters are with their boyfriends or girlfriends, or at the mall or at the movies or sitting in their own room watching a movie or chatting on facebook. Why? This ought not to be. It seems the "conventional" thing to do now is get as far away from each other as possible and all be doing our own things. It is "conventional" now to have several wives or husbands ... or even have a same sex marriage. Adultery, fornication and sodomy are the "conventional norm." Families used to work together and live together and play together and pray together and do nearly everything together. Their houses were small. They knew no such thing as 'personal space'. They liked each others company. They all had a role to play. They all HAD to contribute to the upkeep of the family. Each member, even the littlest of children, had a job to do. I think of little 4 year old girls knitting socks for their brothers because if they didn't, no one would have socks!! Little 6 year old boys tending the animals in place of their father because their father was out in the fields with their bigger brothers. If that little 6 year old did not help with the animals, the animals might die!! And little 6, 7 or 8 year old children tending to the family garden every day. Milking the cow(s). Helping to preserve food. And now look at our little 4+ year old children. They are brats. They are spoiled. They think they have to be compensated for EVERYTHING they do. They don't even know how to pick up the toys in their room (of course it would help if they only had one or maybe two toys to play with and had to share space with others, but now it's "conventional" to have a private room complete with all the electronic gadgets and tens or hundreds of toys ... and most are so cheap and stupid). I see them at the grocery store throwing fits the WHOLE TIME they are shopping. And then in line ... "MOM, I WANT THIS!" Mom says, "If you stop whining, I'll get it for you." WHAT?!?! The child threw a fit the whole time they were in the store and now they are being rewarded in a positive way. See what you are training your child to do?! It's "conventional" today for families to be split up. "Conventional" to have their own space. "Conventional" to have chemical laden food from the grocery store in which God only knows how long it's been there, what all is on it and in it and so on. "Conventional" to not even know where milk comes from or that lettuce can be grown in the back yard. To all you evolutionists out there ... we are evolving and getting better?!?!?! HA! We are moving further and further away from God and destroying ourselves at a rapid pace.
What's that you say? This post was supposed to be about sourdough bread? Oh yes. Thanks. Anyway, back to sourdough. What really made me learn how to make sourdough bread is an article I read where the woman compared modern yeast to the FIRST FAST FOOD!!!!! Woah. Think about it. Today it's "conventional" to use dry active yeast in our homemade bread (well, it's even more conventional to just buy some junk bread at the store), but not too long ago, and for thousands of years prior, bread was made using a sourdough process. The souring of the dough breaks down the grains and makes them easy for you to digest. It also has good bacteria in it. I encourage you to do a little research on it.
Buyer beware though ... the sourdough breads you see in the stores and restaurants are probably NOT true sourdough bread. More likely than not, those are just regular breads with "conventional" yeast (ha) and vinegar added to give it that sour taste. READ THE INGREDIENTS. Real sourdough bread will not have yeast or vinegar in it. It will be dense, heavy and smell a bit sour.
[see the bottom of this post for another way of making and maintaining the starter]
SOURDOUGH BREAD
To make REAL sourdough bread, you must first make your starter. Put two cups of fresh ground, organic rye flour into a glass bowl and mix in 2 cups of cold water. Pour into a clean glass bowl or glass gallon jug (I use the jug), cover with a coffee filter and rubber band (or cheese cloth or other such item to keep the bugs out) and set on the counter. The next day, dump into a clean bowl, add one cup of rye flour and one cup of cold water. Mix well and pour into a clean jug. Do this for 6 days total (not counting the first day). Depending on how warm it is in your house, after a day or so you should see the mixture start to bubble a little. After you put it back into the clean jug, it will begin to bubble and rise up over the space of a few hours and then slowly go back down. This is good.
Edit: the starter might need to be fed TWICE a day (every 12 hours or so) if it is especially warm in your home. This is what we will probably need to start doing as every 24 hours does not seem to be enough.
It helps to have a nice large bowl to dump the starter into, that way you can mix vigorously and not worry about spilling it everywhere.
Once you have 3qts of starter, measure out 2qts into a large bowl (I use a 12qt stainless steel bowl) and save the rest to make more starter (more on this later). In a measuring cup, combine 1c of cold water with 2 1/2T of realsalt or celtic gray salt (or other high quality salt). Add to the starter and mix well. Now add 10 cups of organic spelt flour. Mix well. Finally, add as much remaining flour as you need to make a nice, stiff dough. It helps if you know what bread dough should feel like. It should be smooth, somewhat firm, and not stick to your hand or fingers. I find it easiest to knead it with one hand while it is still in the bowl, and then when it gets a decent shape, I pour it out onto a floured surface and finish the kneading there.You may use more spelt flour, kamut or wheat.
Next, shape into five loaves, put in greased pans, and slash the tops of each bread. I prefer to weigh the whole ball of dough first, and then divide it into 5 equal parts. Cover with a damp bread towel and let it sit for several hours. Mine usually have to sit for about 12 hours before they are ready to bake ... and I have a pretty warm house right now.
Here is a picture of the first batch of bread I ever made ... as you can see, I only divided it into four loaves. We found that 5 was better for us; you may find that more or less works for you.
A picture of the same bread several hours later. As you can see, it has risen quite a bit. You want your bread to at least double in size before baking. When you think it is ready, bake it at 350 for about 45 minutes till done to your liking.
I forgot to take a picture of the first loaves, so here is a picture of my second batch. As you can see, I did one slice instead of three ... I think this looks nicer. Also, this was my best batch of sourdough bread. I am assuming these first two batches turned out so well because I unknowingly used refined spelt flour instead of whole spelt flour. The only spelt I had on hand when I made these batches was some a sister gave me. I was not familiar much with spelt, but I noticed the difference when I got the whole spelt I ordered ... it's darker and produces a heavier loaf, but taste excellent all the same.
Our best way of having this bread is toasted with butter and basil ... a brother here tried it that way once and we were all thankful for the idea. YUM!!!! I can eat this bread and not have stomach problems like I do with the "conventional" bread. It seems thousands of years had it right. It does not surprise me.
Ok, now what do you do with that remaining 1qt of starter that you set aside? Add 2c of rye flour and 2c of water. Mix well. Pour into a clean gallon glass jug. Cover. Each day after, do as before ... add 1c rye and 1c water, mix, pour into a clean gallon jug. Repeat till you have 3qts of starter. Make more bread, saving 1qt back. And so on.... on and on and on. Eventually you will also learn how to use your starter for other things like biscuits, pancakes, and other such things. but for now, we'll just stick with the bread.
EDIT: I just found out about a neat site that teaches you how to make traditional foods. They offer all sorts of different classes, videos, lessons to print out, forums, Q&A, and so on and it focuses on sourdough bread, lacto-fermenting, and other such traditional (CONVENTIONAL!) things. I think it will be worth it to join for even one month ($10) ... great for people like me who do not have a mentor or anyone around to show them how to do these different skills. I have done a lot on my own, but it all takes time. I think it is worth my $10 to give it a try for a month. I'll let you all know what I think in a few days [well, I can say already that they know A LOT MORE than I do! Their sourdough starter method is a bit different than mine, which I learned from "Nourishing Traditions"], but for now, here is the site: GNOWFGLINS which stands for "God's Natrural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season"
ALTERNATIVE WAY TO MAKE AND MAINTAIN THE STARTER
I have been learning a lot from gnowfglins and do think it was a good idea to sign up for a month or two (I'm on my second month and plan to cancel at the end of this cycle). Their way of doing sourdough starter is much better and easier to manage. I am not sure what Sally Falon was thinking in Nourishing Traditions, but her way (above) does not work nearly as well.
Put a cup of flour and a cup of water in a glass jar. Mix well. Scrape down sides. Sit 12 hours. Dump out half. Add a half cup each flour and water. Mix well. Scrape down sides. Sit 12 hours. Dump out half. Add a half cup each flour and water. Mix well. Scrape down sides. Sit 12 hours. Dump out half. Add a half cup .... and on and on. Do this for about 3 weeks and you'll have a nice starter. The glass jar is good for a few reasons, but I appreciate that I can SEE what the starter is doing. If you do not see it bubbling after a few days, you might need to start over. Or, if you see only a few little bubbles, you might let it rest and skip a feeding.
Now, each time you use your sourdough starter, make sure to save back a cup!!!
For example: when I make bread, I take the WHOLE starter, dump it into a glass bowl, add 3 cups each flour and water, cover with plastic wrap, and then let it sit till it's nice and bubbly. When it reaches its peak (for me, this has been about 3 hours - but it's been warm in my home. Now that it's cooling off, it might take longer), I take out a cup, put it in a glass jar, and that becomes my starter for next time [feed every 12-24 hours as usual till needed again, or store in the fridge. I like to feed mine and leave it out.]. To the rest I add a cup of water, some salt (about a tablespoon) and 5 more cups of flour. Make bread as usual, adding more flour as needed.
Another example: when I make pancakes - the night before I dump the WHOLE starter into a bowl and add 4 cups of flour and enough water to make a thicker pancake batter (I add more runny stuff the next day, so I take that into consideration). Cover with plastic wrap and go to bed. The next morning, take out a cup, put it in a glass jar, and that becomes my starter for next time [feed every 12-24 hours, etc.]. I add about 4 eggs, 1/4c oil, and 1/4c of some kind of sweetener. Mix. Get the griddle ready (turn on, grease). Add 2t of baking soda to the batter, mix and cook as usual.
There are SO MANY things you can do with sourdough. We've all enjoyed trying new things.
On a side note, I also purchase the book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Fermenting Foods By Wardeh Harmon (the woman that started the glowfglins site). I appreciate this book a lot ... lots of good information about all sorts of things fermented.
Over the last few months I've been trying my hand at sourdough bread. This is something I have wanted to do for YEARS. In fact, before I started making bread by hand (I was using a bread machine), I attempted to get a starter going. It was so foreign to me however ... I had no idea what to do or what it should look like, smell like, etc., that I threw it out before even really giving it an honest try. We've been learning so much these last few years; little by little we have been building up our skills and it has been a blessing. We cannot learn everything all at once! It takes TIME, effort, practice, consistency, and so on. Anyway, a few months ago I knew it was time to learn how to do the sourdough bread.
I'll let you do all the research if you are interested, however the only thing I want to say is that sourdough bread is so much better for you than "conventional" bread. (ok, here comes a rabbit trail) Have you ever noticed how that word gets twisted around?! "Conventional" today is not really how it always was; "conventional" today means the last few decades, whereas "conventional" in days gone by meant the last several hundred (or thousands) of years.
I think of "conventional" medicine. Today this means doctors that do all sorts of high tech tests on you (that probably do much more harm than good), fill you full of poison, and end up making things worse. They don't seem to care about the CAUSE of the problem ... they only seem to care about giving you a band-aid, keeping you sick, thus forcing you to depend on them more and more. And the true "conventional" medicine is now frowned on and called dangerous.The FDA has to make sure you know that they do not approve the herbs you are taking. Of course they don't. The more herbs you take and the more you try to take control of your health and live in moderation and simplicity, the less $$$ they make. Now it is "conventional" to saw a man's breast bone and rib cage in half, pull his heart out of his body, add a few things to it (or put in a new one taken from some other dead person), stick it back into his body, sew and patch things up, give him a whole bunch of meds, and hope it all goes well for him. But in the not-so-distant past and for hundreds and thousands of years prior, people knew that they way they LIVED had a lot to do with the quality of their health. Simple diets, hard work, no electronic buzzing in their ear, and so on, all helped to keep a person healthy and strong.
"Conventional" farming today means huge agri-business. Lots of chemicals. Lots of big, high-tech machines. But that was only in the last several decades. For most of our existence here on earth, humans have worked with their hands and used animals to help them. Now all they (most) have to do is sit in an air conditioned cab pushing buttons and watching the GPS. I know I have over-simplified it, but you get the point. People used to know how to save seeds because they HAD to. Now it's illegal for farmers to save seeds because Monsanto owns everything. Well, I wont go off on that rabbit trail. What ever happened to the small family farm where it was "conventional" for one man and one woman to be together for life? Men being men and women being women? Father and sons working all day together in the fields, mother and daughters working together in and around the house? Now it's "conventional" for mother to be at work or the beauty salon or the day spa or the gym or out with the girls or (fill in the blank), father might be working all day or might be at home watching tv or surfing the web, sons are out running the streets or sitting in their rooms with ipods or iphones or some sort of video game system, daughters are with their boyfriends or girlfriends, or at the mall or at the movies or sitting in their own room watching a movie or chatting on facebook. Why? This ought not to be. It seems the "conventional" thing to do now is get as far away from each other as possible and all be doing our own things. It is "conventional" now to have several wives or husbands ... or even have a same sex marriage. Adultery, fornication and sodomy are the "conventional norm." Families used to work together and live together and play together and pray together and do nearly everything together. Their houses were small. They knew no such thing as 'personal space'. They liked each others company. They all had a role to play. They all HAD to contribute to the upkeep of the family. Each member, even the littlest of children, had a job to do. I think of little 4 year old girls knitting socks for their brothers because if they didn't, no one would have socks!! Little 6 year old boys tending the animals in place of their father because their father was out in the fields with their bigger brothers. If that little 6 year old did not help with the animals, the animals might die!! And little 6, 7 or 8 year old children tending to the family garden every day. Milking the cow(s). Helping to preserve food. And now look at our little 4+ year old children. They are brats. They are spoiled. They think they have to be compensated for EVERYTHING they do. They don't even know how to pick up the toys in their room (of course it would help if they only had one or maybe two toys to play with and had to share space with others, but now it's "conventional" to have a private room complete with all the electronic gadgets and tens or hundreds of toys ... and most are so cheap and stupid). I see them at the grocery store throwing fits the WHOLE TIME they are shopping. And then in line ... "MOM, I WANT THIS!" Mom says, "If you stop whining, I'll get it for you." WHAT?!?! The child threw a fit the whole time they were in the store and now they are being rewarded in a positive way. See what you are training your child to do?! It's "conventional" today for families to be split up. "Conventional" to have their own space. "Conventional" to have chemical laden food from the grocery store in which God only knows how long it's been there, what all is on it and in it and so on. "Conventional" to not even know where milk comes from or that lettuce can be grown in the back yard. To all you evolutionists out there ... we are evolving and getting better?!?!?! HA! We are moving further and further away from God and destroying ourselves at a rapid pace.
What's that you say? This post was supposed to be about sourdough bread? Oh yes. Thanks. Anyway, back to sourdough. What really made me learn how to make sourdough bread is an article I read where the woman compared modern yeast to the FIRST FAST FOOD!!!!! Woah. Think about it. Today it's "conventional" to use dry active yeast in our homemade bread (well, it's even more conventional to just buy some junk bread at the store), but not too long ago, and for thousands of years prior, bread was made using a sourdough process. The souring of the dough breaks down the grains and makes them easy for you to digest. It also has good bacteria in it. I encourage you to do a little research on it.
Buyer beware though ... the sourdough breads you see in the stores and restaurants are probably NOT true sourdough bread. More likely than not, those are just regular breads with "conventional" yeast (ha) and vinegar added to give it that sour taste. READ THE INGREDIENTS. Real sourdough bread will not have yeast or vinegar in it. It will be dense, heavy and smell a bit sour.
[see the bottom of this post for another way of making and maintaining the starter]
SOURDOUGH BREAD
To make REAL sourdough bread, you must first make your starter. Put two cups of fresh ground, organic rye flour into a glass bowl and mix in 2 cups of cold water. Pour into a clean glass bowl or glass gallon jug (I use the jug), cover with a coffee filter and rubber band (or cheese cloth or other such item to keep the bugs out) and set on the counter. The next day, dump into a clean bowl, add one cup of rye flour and one cup of cold water. Mix well and pour into a clean jug. Do this for 6 days total (not counting the first day). Depending on how warm it is in your house, after a day or so you should see the mixture start to bubble a little. After you put it back into the clean jug, it will begin to bubble and rise up over the space of a few hours and then slowly go back down. This is good.
Edit: the starter might need to be fed TWICE a day (every 12 hours or so) if it is especially warm in your home. This is what we will probably need to start doing as every 24 hours does not seem to be enough.
It helps to have a nice large bowl to dump the starter into, that way you can mix vigorously and not worry about spilling it everywhere.
Once you have 3qts of starter, measure out 2qts into a large bowl (I use a 12qt stainless steel bowl) and save the rest to make more starter (more on this later). In a measuring cup, combine 1c of cold water with 2 1/2T of realsalt or celtic gray salt (or other high quality salt). Add to the starter and mix well. Now add 10 cups of organic spelt flour. Mix well. Finally, add as much remaining flour as you need to make a nice, stiff dough. It helps if you know what bread dough should feel like. It should be smooth, somewhat firm, and not stick to your hand or fingers. I find it easiest to knead it with one hand while it is still in the bowl, and then when it gets a decent shape, I pour it out onto a floured surface and finish the kneading there.You may use more spelt flour, kamut or wheat.
Next, shape into five loaves, put in greased pans, and slash the tops of each bread. I prefer to weigh the whole ball of dough first, and then divide it into 5 equal parts. Cover with a damp bread towel and let it sit for several hours. Mine usually have to sit for about 12 hours before they are ready to bake ... and I have a pretty warm house right now.
Here is a picture of the first batch of bread I ever made ... as you can see, I only divided it into four loaves. We found that 5 was better for us; you may find that more or less works for you.
A picture of the same bread several hours later. As you can see, it has risen quite a bit. You want your bread to at least double in size before baking. When you think it is ready, bake it at 350 for about 45 minutes till done to your liking.
I forgot to take a picture of the first loaves, so here is a picture of my second batch. As you can see, I did one slice instead of three ... I think this looks nicer. Also, this was my best batch of sourdough bread. I am assuming these first two batches turned out so well because I unknowingly used refined spelt flour instead of whole spelt flour. The only spelt I had on hand when I made these batches was some a sister gave me. I was not familiar much with spelt, but I noticed the difference when I got the whole spelt I ordered ... it's darker and produces a heavier loaf, but taste excellent all the same.
Our best way of having this bread is toasted with butter and basil ... a brother here tried it that way once and we were all thankful for the idea. YUM!!!! I can eat this bread and not have stomach problems like I do with the "conventional" bread. It seems thousands of years had it right. It does not surprise me.
Ok, now what do you do with that remaining 1qt of starter that you set aside? Add 2c of rye flour and 2c of water. Mix well. Pour into a clean gallon glass jug. Cover. Each day after, do as before ... add 1c rye and 1c water, mix, pour into a clean gallon jug. Repeat till you have 3qts of starter. Make more bread, saving 1qt back. And so on.... on and on and on. Eventually you will also learn how to use your starter for other things like biscuits, pancakes, and other such things. but for now, we'll just stick with the bread.
EDIT: I just found out about a neat site that teaches you how to make traditional foods. They offer all sorts of different classes, videos, lessons to print out, forums, Q&A, and so on and it focuses on sourdough bread, lacto-fermenting, and other such traditional (CONVENTIONAL!) things. I think it will be worth it to join for even one month ($10) ... great for people like me who do not have a mentor or anyone around to show them how to do these different skills. I have done a lot on my own, but it all takes time. I think it is worth my $10 to give it a try for a month. I'll let you all know what I think in a few days [well, I can say already that they know A LOT MORE than I do! Their sourdough starter method is a bit different than mine, which I learned from "Nourishing Traditions"], but for now, here is the site: GNOWFGLINS which stands for "God's Natrural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season"
ALTERNATIVE WAY TO MAKE AND MAINTAIN THE STARTER
I have been learning a lot from gnowfglins and do think it was a good idea to sign up for a month or two (I'm on my second month and plan to cancel at the end of this cycle). Their way of doing sourdough starter is much better and easier to manage. I am not sure what Sally Falon was thinking in Nourishing Traditions, but her way (above) does not work nearly as well.
Put a cup of flour and a cup of water in a glass jar. Mix well. Scrape down sides. Sit 12 hours. Dump out half. Add a half cup each flour and water. Mix well. Scrape down sides. Sit 12 hours. Dump out half. Add a half cup each flour and water. Mix well. Scrape down sides. Sit 12 hours. Dump out half. Add a half cup .... and on and on. Do this for about 3 weeks and you'll have a nice starter. The glass jar is good for a few reasons, but I appreciate that I can SEE what the starter is doing. If you do not see it bubbling after a few days, you might need to start over. Or, if you see only a few little bubbles, you might let it rest and skip a feeding.
Now, each time you use your sourdough starter, make sure to save back a cup!!!
For example: when I make bread, I take the WHOLE starter, dump it into a glass bowl, add 3 cups each flour and water, cover with plastic wrap, and then let it sit till it's nice and bubbly. When it reaches its peak (for me, this has been about 3 hours - but it's been warm in my home. Now that it's cooling off, it might take longer), I take out a cup, put it in a glass jar, and that becomes my starter for next time [feed every 12-24 hours as usual till needed again, or store in the fridge. I like to feed mine and leave it out.]. To the rest I add a cup of water, some salt (about a tablespoon) and 5 more cups of flour. Make bread as usual, adding more flour as needed.
Another example: when I make pancakes - the night before I dump the WHOLE starter into a bowl and add 4 cups of flour and enough water to make a thicker pancake batter (I add more runny stuff the next day, so I take that into consideration). Cover with plastic wrap and go to bed. The next morning, take out a cup, put it in a glass jar, and that becomes my starter for next time [feed every 12-24 hours, etc.]. I add about 4 eggs, 1/4c oil, and 1/4c of some kind of sweetener. Mix. Get the griddle ready (turn on, grease). Add 2t of baking soda to the batter, mix and cook as usual.
There are SO MANY things you can do with sourdough. We've all enjoyed trying new things.
On a side note, I also purchase the book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Fermenting Foods By Wardeh Harmon (the woman that started the glowfglins site). I appreciate this book a lot ... lots of good information about all sorts of things fermented.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The Zucchini Blog
I have started a new blog dedicated to zucchini recipes.
Please check it out ... maybe you'll have a recipe to share? I am far from adding all the recipes I'd like to add, but I think I have a good enough start on it for now?!
Please check it out ... maybe you'll have a recipe to share? I am far from adding all the recipes I'd like to add, but I think I have a good enough start on it for now?!
Cereal ... good or bad?
Hello blogger world. It's been a while. Not much time these days to share all that is on my mind, but I had to take a few minutes out of my busy day to share this.
I've been reading a new book about autoimmune diseases called, "Autoimmune - The Cause and The Cure" by Annesse Brockley and Kristin Urdiales. While I am a bit skeptical about the word "cure" when it comes to all types of autoimmune diseases, I do realize that a drastic change in diet and lifestyle can greatly benefit ANYONE and EVERYONE, regardless of whether or not they suffer from an autoimmune disease.
Here I want to share a small bit of the book in the section about rebuilding your gut.
It starts off by explaining how all dry breakfast cereals are made. They make a thick mash out of the grains, etc. and then put them in an extruder - this machine forces the grains out of a hole the shape they want the cereal to be (o-shapes, flakes, animals or shreds).
Now to quote the book:
"This process of 'extrusion' destroys many of the nutrients that are present and renders the amino acids toxic to our bodies by denaturing the proteins.
"In his book, Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt cited a cereal company study in which four groups of rats were each given a different diet (Stitt, 1980). The first group received plain whole wheat, water, and synthetic vitamins and minerals. The second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water, and the same synthetic mix of vitamins and minerals. The third group was given only water, and the fourth group was given only water and the synthetic vitamins and minerals.
"The rats that were part of the group that received the whole wheat lived for over a year on the diet. The rats that received the water and the vitamins lived about two months. The rats that were only given water lived for a month. The most surprising results came from the group given the puffed wheat. The rats that received the puffed wheat, vitamins, and water lived for only about two weeks. Upon autopsy, researchers found signs of insulin shock, with dysfunction of the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and the degeneration of nerves of the spine.
"In an additional study, University of Michigan researchers separated their rats into three groups (Fallon, 2008). The first group received corn flakes and water; a second group received the cardboard box the cereal came in and water; and the control group received rat chow and water. The control group remained in good health during the experiment. The rats fed the corn flake box and water died of malnutrition. The rats given the corn flakes and water, however, died before the rats that just ate the box! Additionally, the rats given the corn flakes displayed schizophrenic behavior before they died; throwing fits, biting each other, and finally going into convulsions."
I have not checked into the sources she refers to, but I plan to when / if I have time. And yes, I realize these are rats, not humans, but still the results are alarming enough to cause concern.
We ditched cereal a long time ago. For the last 10 years or so, we have had cereal a few times a year ... some organic, whole grain varieties that we get real cheap at the discount store that we have as a snack or part of a meal in a pinch. I think we'll skip it from now on. Sounds like even a few times a year is not worth it!!
There are so many other options for breakfast besides cereal. We usually just have leftovers. If nothing is leftover, we have oatmeal or toast & eggs or some other quick, healthy alternative. Lately I started making real sourdough bread ... great for breakfast or any time of the day. Maybe I'll post about that some day when I have time.
There is so much more I want to say here.
I've been reading a new book about autoimmune diseases called, "Autoimmune - The Cause and The Cure" by Annesse Brockley and Kristin Urdiales. While I am a bit skeptical about the word "cure" when it comes to all types of autoimmune diseases, I do realize that a drastic change in diet and lifestyle can greatly benefit ANYONE and EVERYONE, regardless of whether or not they suffer from an autoimmune disease.
Here I want to share a small bit of the book in the section about rebuilding your gut.
It starts off by explaining how all dry breakfast cereals are made. They make a thick mash out of the grains, etc. and then put them in an extruder - this machine forces the grains out of a hole the shape they want the cereal to be (o-shapes, flakes, animals or shreds).
Now to quote the book:
"This process of 'extrusion' destroys many of the nutrients that are present and renders the amino acids toxic to our bodies by denaturing the proteins.
"In his book, Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt cited a cereal company study in which four groups of rats were each given a different diet (Stitt, 1980). The first group received plain whole wheat, water, and synthetic vitamins and minerals. The second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water, and the same synthetic mix of vitamins and minerals. The third group was given only water, and the fourth group was given only water and the synthetic vitamins and minerals.
"The rats that were part of the group that received the whole wheat lived for over a year on the diet. The rats that received the water and the vitamins lived about two months. The rats that were only given water lived for a month. The most surprising results came from the group given the puffed wheat. The rats that received the puffed wheat, vitamins, and water lived for only about two weeks. Upon autopsy, researchers found signs of insulin shock, with dysfunction of the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and the degeneration of nerves of the spine.
"In an additional study, University of Michigan researchers separated their rats into three groups (Fallon, 2008). The first group received corn flakes and water; a second group received the cardboard box the cereal came in and water; and the control group received rat chow and water. The control group remained in good health during the experiment. The rats fed the corn flake box and water died of malnutrition. The rats given the corn flakes and water, however, died before the rats that just ate the box! Additionally, the rats given the corn flakes displayed schizophrenic behavior before they died; throwing fits, biting each other, and finally going into convulsions."
I have not checked into the sources she refers to, but I plan to when / if I have time. And yes, I realize these are rats, not humans, but still the results are alarming enough to cause concern.
We ditched cereal a long time ago. For the last 10 years or so, we have had cereal a few times a year ... some organic, whole grain varieties that we get real cheap at the discount store that we have as a snack or part of a meal in a pinch. I think we'll skip it from now on. Sounds like even a few times a year is not worth it!!
There are so many other options for breakfast besides cereal. We usually just have leftovers. If nothing is leftover, we have oatmeal or toast & eggs or some other quick, healthy alternative. Lately I started making real sourdough bread ... great for breakfast or any time of the day. Maybe I'll post about that some day when I have time.
There is so much more I want to say here.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Chicken in a Basket ... (and some kale seeds)
Our little chickens are so cute and curious. Every time one of us goes to do laundry, the chickens are always right there investigating. The other day I had just emptied the basket to the line and left the basket sit on the ground. One chicken (Brianna could tell you the name) jumped up on the basket and tried to perch. As soon as she landed on the edge, the basket tipped over right on top of her. Of course she started to panic slightly and the others that were near seemed a bit confused. It was very entertaining :) We left her in long enough to grab the camera (less than a minute) and then let her go.
Our kale has finally dried enough to harvest the seeds. Last evening after supper several of us were 'shelling the kale' or whatever you'd call it. Here are a few pictures of the kale pods and seeds. We have thousands and thousands of seeds now :) all set for the next several years I guess. Of course we'll be giving some away too. For pictures of kale from start to finish, see this post on saving kale seeds.
Our kale has finally dried enough to harvest the seeds. Last evening after supper several of us were 'shelling the kale' or whatever you'd call it. Here are a few pictures of the kale pods and seeds. We have thousands and thousands of seeds now :) all set for the next several years I guess. Of course we'll be giving some away too. For pictures of kale from start to finish, see this post on saving kale seeds.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Stocking the pantry and meal planning
I've been asked the same basic questions several times, and they go something like this:
"What's the best way to stock a pantry?" "What items should I include in my pantry?" "What do you do for meal planning?"
First I want to say these are loaded questions! Ask 10 people and you'll get at least a few different ideas from each of them that the others did not share. Also, it greatly depends on the size of your family, how much space you have (both for dry and cold/frozen storage), your ability to pressure and water can, what you like to eat, how frugal and resourceful you are, and more.
It is good to have a specific area designated to food storage. This could be a small room off your kitchen or somewhere in the house, a few shelves in your basement or other room, boxes in your storage area, or whatever. Obviously it will take some planning and creativity if your space is limited and/or your house did not come with an adequate pantry. A few ideas to get your going:
- Used book shelves or shop shelves can be wonderful for pantry storage. If the shelves are deep enough (as is usually the case with shop shelves) tote boxes and other such larger items can be stored without a problem. A large sheet can be attached to the top of the shelves to hide the contents. In this way, the shelves can be pretty much anywhere in your house and not be an eye-sore.
- Baskets, boxes, bags, bins, containers, etc. can be used either in an existing pantry for efficiency, or can be stored elsewhere in the house.
- If there is a larger bedroom in the house, part of this can be partitioned off and designated to pantry storage. A curtain or large sheet(s) can keep the areas separate.
- A closet could be used for your pantry storage.
- Look around your house; where do you see wasted space? Behind the doors? Under the stairs? Above the washer and dryer? Above the refrigerator? Behind the couch? Under a bench? Under the beds? Above the windows? Space is everywhere just waiting to be used. To avoid having a cluttered look, use a nice piece of fabric or a sheet to hide things.
The ideas are endless ... but if after considering what I wrote above and also brainstorming for more ways to find space you still cannot come up with anything that will work for you, maybe you simply have too much stuff. It is good for all of us to cleanse our houses of items that are unnecessary or unused. Give them to someone in need or sell them and use the money towards pantry shelving, stocking, etc.
STOCKING THE PANTRY - Contents
Like I said before, exactly what should be contained in a pantry will vary from house to house. We prefer to eat whole foods, cook most foods from scratch, and appreciate eating as frugally as possible, therefore our pantry will look a lot different than someone who uses boxed cake and cookie mixes, convenience foods, frozen dinners, etc. Assuming you too are of the former type, here is a list of what a healthy pantry might have in it:
- A variety of whole grains in 25 or 50lb sacks such as hard red wheat berries, soft white wheat berries, long grain brown rice, millet, oats, rye berries, popcorn, and more.
- A variety of beans and other legumes in 25lb sacks such as lentils, garbanzo beans, black beans, navy beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, etc.
- Some seeds (also in bulk): raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, clover seeds.
- Bulk baking items: sugar, spices, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oil, shortening, etc.
- Canned tomatoes, canned tomato paste, canned crushed pineapple, canned salmon, canned tuna
- Lots of pastas
- Bulk fruits (if you do not go through fruit quickly, the refrigerator or freezer would be a better option for your fruits)
- Different kinds of oils - olive, coconut, canola, shortening, ...
- Supplies like gallon and quart size freezer bags, plastic wrap, foil, wax paper, sandwich bags, etc.
- It can contain other non-food items like soaps, shampoos, light bulbs, first aid kits, extension cords, cleaning supplies, ironing board and iron, ...
- Small appliances like our juicer, dehydrator, electric griddle, canning pots, canning jars, and so on.
It is important to keep the pantry clean and organized so you KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE! Ever smelled a rotten potato? Don't lose the potatoes!! Yuck. If you have children, assign one of them to straighten up in the pantry as much as needed for your house. This could be a weekly task or even a daily task, depending on the size of your pantry and/or your family. Also, knowing what you have helps you to use up what needs to be used up before it goes bad. A good deal is only a good deal if you use what you bought!!
STOCKING THE PANTRY - How to start
The best way to begin stocking your pantry is to look out for good sales at the stores, find a bulk food store &/or discount 'bent and dent' store near you, or join a bulk food buying club or coop (co-op). You can also stock your pantry with canned, dehydrated or frozen produce from your own garden. If gardening is not an option for you, you might consider checking in to a CSA or asking a friend if you can share in their harvest.
Bulk Food Clubs / Coops
Nearly all of our bulk items are purchased from a buying club named Azure Standard. They serve quite a large area from the west (based in Oregon) to a little east of the midwest [WA, OR, CA, ID, UT, MT, WY, CO, ND, SD, NE, IA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, TX, KS, OK, MO, AR, IL, IN, KY, TN ... did I miss anyone?!]. Here is their site for more info: Azure Standard. A quick google search of "bulk buying clubs" or something similar should turn up a few results for your area, but here are two seemingly good resources, -->though I'm not sure how up-to-date they are<--
Coop Distributor Listing
Coop Directory Listing
Both of those links are from the same source ... on the main page there is an explanation about the difference between a food buying club and a coop.
I emailed Azure Standard and they were kind enough to provide a few more bulk food club companies:
Something Better Natural Foods - it seems they deliver to MI, OH, TN, IN, KY, SC, NC, & IL
Neshaminy Valley Natural Foods - They deliver to MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, DE, DC, and VA. Did I get all my state abbreviations correct?!
Associated Buyers - Serving ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI and "the Hudson River Valley of NY from Poughkeepsie - Albany - Saratoga Springs - Glens Falls."
Discount Stores / Bent & Dents / Bulk food stores
These stores tend to be excellent places to stock up on items like pastas, canned tomatoes, and a lot of 'odds and ends.' One store we like to go to sells cheese for $1.25 a half pound and a fifty pound sack of long grain brown rice for $24. They have all sorts of stuff, so whenever we know we'll be in the area (we live 3 hours away from it) we are sure to have money on hand and room in the vehicle. We also try to bring along a cooler. Many of the packaged items are slightly out of date or are bent or dented in some way. Some are torn open and taped back together. Some are missing labels or a bit soiled on the outside. These stores have order to them, but sometimes you'll pass a few shelves that have a lot of misc. things thrown on them ... so you must be patient in looking for things you might need.
So where do you find a good discount &/or bulk food store near you? If you have an Amish or Mennonite community near by, that's a great place to start. In fact, it's probably the best place to start. Here is a list of a few stores around the U.S. - I hope you find something near you!
CSAs
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, a farmer offers a certain amount of "shares" to the public. You purchase at least one share and come regularly to pick up your fresh produce. Some CSAs offer discounts if you help with harvesting. These are a good option only if there is one near by and the price is just as good or better than your cheapest options elsewhere.
To see if there is a CSA near you, go to this site and on the right you'll see a map and the option to enter in your own zip code or state.
Coupons, store sales, etc.
Each week the local stores all offer a few good deals ... sometimes one or two really good deals! Be ready to take advantage of such times. Normally stores use these sales to lure you in the door with the hopes that you will buy a whole lot of other things that are not on sale or are even marked up! Don't be fooled! It is a good idea to keep track of prices for a time until you get used to what is a good deal and what is not a good deal. Many years ago when I first began my frugal living journey, I came across a nifty book called the Tightwad Gazette. In this book, Amy Dacyczyn made popular the idea of the price book. For lack of interest and time in trying to reinvent the wheel, here is an article that explains the price book well enough. After keeping a price book for a while, you will begin to see patterns in when things go on sale.
A few more things about store sales: When you know a store has a good deal, stock up!! This is an excellent way to build your pantry and have things you need on hand. If there is more than one grocery store in your town, be sure to visit each one (assuming they are close to each other) and only buy the things you need at each store.
And a quick thought on coupons. Coupons are only a good deal if you already use the item and you cannot find another suitable, cheaper alternative. I understand that once in a while there might be an item you just cannot compromise on. It is for these items only that you should be clipping coupons. Don't waste your time clipping all sorts of coupons you will never use!! And please do not waste your money using a coupon to buy something you would otherwise be fine without. If you do have a few things to use coupons with, try to wait till the item(s) go on sale ... this will boost your savings quite a bit. Once in a great while you can purchase a name-brand item on sale with a coupon and save above the off-brand item, however you must take into consideration how much time you spend looking for coupons and comparing prices. Your time might be better spent buying the off-brand item and using the extra time to clean the house or something.
What about Sam's, Costo and other such places?
If you have frugality in mind, these stores are generally not the best places to shop. I say generally because you will occasionally find a good deal that is better than what you can find elsewhere, however the yearly membership fee cancels out the occasional good deal. Also, these stores tend to carry name brand items only. More often than not, you can find off-brand items for much cheaper or you can find the same name brands much cheaper at a bent-and-dent-type-store as mentioned earlier.
Meal Planning
The most important thing to remember about meal planning is this: Plan your meals around what's on hand and what's on sale, DO NOT plan your shopping trips around what's on your meal plan! I've seen so many waste a lot of money making a meal plan before checking the store ads and the pantry. So, in having said that, the first two (or three) steps to successful meal planning are:
1) Check your pantry, freezer, etc.
2) Check the store ads
and if you have one ...
3) Check your garden
Make a quick list of what's on hand in your pantry, your freezer, your fridge, your garden (if you are well organized, you should already know what's on hand without even checking ... but it does help a lot to browse through what you have for ideas). Make a quick list of what's on sale at the stores. Your meals for the week are going to come from whatever is on both these lists. Do you have a lot of tomatoes and pasta on hand? Make spaghetti or minestrone soup. Do you have a lot of beans on hand? How about a meal with beans over biscuits or cornbread? Or bean soup and fresh bread? Do you have a good supply of baking items? You could have a meal with pancakes and eggs. Maybe you have a whole bunch of canned salmon you got at the bent and dent store? There's a meal with salmon patties or salmon mixed with pasta and vegetables or salmon and rice stir-fry. If you have an abundance of beef in the freezer, plan meals that will use up some of that. Beef stew. Hamburger stew. Grilled hamburgers. Beef and noodles. Lots of chicken? Plan a few chicken meals. Chicken and rice. Chicken soup. Chicken stir-fry. Does the local store have your favorite vegetable on sale? There is a good side dish for a few meals the upcoming week. Or maybe your local store has the frozen, mixed vegetables on sale? If so, stock up!! These are great in quick soups, as a side, in pot-pies, and so on. Maybe it's cooler weather and lettuce from your garden is in abundance? Fresh salads every night should be on the menu. Maybe it's warmer weather and tomatoes from your garden are in full swing? Sliced fresh tomatoes should be an option each night at supper time. Lots of zucchini? Zucchini bread, mock apple pie or crisp, zucchini soup (one of our favorites!), zucchini on pizza, baked zucchini, steamed zucchini ... the list for uses of zucchini very well might be endless. There are even whole cookbooks dedicated to this versatile fruit!
Leftovers are our friends. Be sure to leave a few meals during the week flexible so you can use up the leftovers. Or, use leftovers when packing a lunch. Leftovers can even be eaten for breakfast with oatmeal as a backup if all the leftovers are gone.
Food prep time can be sped up greatly by getting some things ready ahead of time. Some like to cook most of their meals for the week or even for the month in one day and then pull them out of the fridge or freezer whenever they need them. Some prefer to cook a few things ahead. Some prefer to just do everything each day as the meal comes. It's really up to you and what you have time for. There are plenty of ideas on the internet and at the library about cooking in bulk for the week or month.
Cook extra of a few meals each week. These extras can be frozen and used as a quick meal some other time when you are in a hurry.
Another helpful tip is to keep a list of meals and snacks your family likes. This list could be kept in your recipe box, taped inside of a cupboard door, kept in a binder or home journal of some sort, or where you think it will be safe from getting lost.
Set aside part of your morning routine for writing and checking your daily to-do list. Of course the planned meals for the day will be included on this list, but more importantly, you will be listing what items need to be prepared ahead, taken out of the freezer in the morning or the night before, soaked, or whatever.
One final note about planning meals - there are some seasons in life where meal planning is difficult to do. Lack of money, lack of food, or any number of factors can play in to this. Be honest with yourself. Are your meals not getting planned because you honestly cannot plan ahead? Or are they not getting planned because you are lazy or just don't care? If it's that you are lazy or just don't care, I encourage you to commit to planning weekly meals for one month and see how much more efficient your meal times go. No more waiting till the very last minute and then saying, "What's for supper?" Not only does this create a lot of unnecessary stress, but it also wastes money, time and health. Many are tempted to run to the store for a quick, easy meal or worse yet, run to the local fast food joint. As the saying goes, "Fail to plan, plan to fail."
I might add more to this if more ideas come to me. If you see errors, please let me know. I've been having a problem with typing the wrong words and spell check does not pick that up!!!!
Also a disclaimer: I have included many links here to outside sources. I cannot endorse or support all that is contained on their websites. In most cases, I only looked at the page in question and no further. If you know of other helpful resources for the subjects at hand, please share.
"What's the best way to stock a pantry?" "What items should I include in my pantry?" "What do you do for meal planning?"
First I want to say these are loaded questions! Ask 10 people and you'll get at least a few different ideas from each of them that the others did not share. Also, it greatly depends on the size of your family, how much space you have (both for dry and cold/frozen storage), your ability to pressure and water can, what you like to eat, how frugal and resourceful you are, and more.
It is good to have a specific area designated to food storage. This could be a small room off your kitchen or somewhere in the house, a few shelves in your basement or other room, boxes in your storage area, or whatever. Obviously it will take some planning and creativity if your space is limited and/or your house did not come with an adequate pantry. A few ideas to get your going:
- Used book shelves or shop shelves can be wonderful for pantry storage. If the shelves are deep enough (as is usually the case with shop shelves) tote boxes and other such larger items can be stored without a problem. A large sheet can be attached to the top of the shelves to hide the contents. In this way, the shelves can be pretty much anywhere in your house and not be an eye-sore.
- Baskets, boxes, bags, bins, containers, etc. can be used either in an existing pantry for efficiency, or can be stored elsewhere in the house.
- If there is a larger bedroom in the house, part of this can be partitioned off and designated to pantry storage. A curtain or large sheet(s) can keep the areas separate.
- A closet could be used for your pantry storage.
- Look around your house; where do you see wasted space? Behind the doors? Under the stairs? Above the washer and dryer? Above the refrigerator? Behind the couch? Under a bench? Under the beds? Above the windows? Space is everywhere just waiting to be used. To avoid having a cluttered look, use a nice piece of fabric or a sheet to hide things.
The ideas are endless ... but if after considering what I wrote above and also brainstorming for more ways to find space you still cannot come up with anything that will work for you, maybe you simply have too much stuff. It is good for all of us to cleanse our houses of items that are unnecessary or unused. Give them to someone in need or sell them and use the money towards pantry shelving, stocking, etc.
STOCKING THE PANTRY - Contents
Like I said before, exactly what should be contained in a pantry will vary from house to house. We prefer to eat whole foods, cook most foods from scratch, and appreciate eating as frugally as possible, therefore our pantry will look a lot different than someone who uses boxed cake and cookie mixes, convenience foods, frozen dinners, etc. Assuming you too are of the former type, here is a list of what a healthy pantry might have in it:
- A variety of whole grains in 25 or 50lb sacks such as hard red wheat berries, soft white wheat berries, long grain brown rice, millet, oats, rye berries, popcorn, and more.
- A variety of beans and other legumes in 25lb sacks such as lentils, garbanzo beans, black beans, navy beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, etc.
- Some seeds (also in bulk): raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, clover seeds.
- Bulk baking items: sugar, spices, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oil, shortening, etc.
- Canned tomatoes, canned tomato paste, canned crushed pineapple, canned salmon, canned tuna
- Lots of pastas
- Bulk fruits (if you do not go through fruit quickly, the refrigerator or freezer would be a better option for your fruits)
- Different kinds of oils - olive, coconut, canola, shortening, ...
- Supplies like gallon and quart size freezer bags, plastic wrap, foil, wax paper, sandwich bags, etc.
- It can contain other non-food items like soaps, shampoos, light bulbs, first aid kits, extension cords, cleaning supplies, ironing board and iron, ...
- Small appliances like our juicer, dehydrator, electric griddle, canning pots, canning jars, and so on.
It is important to keep the pantry clean and organized so you KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE! Ever smelled a rotten potato? Don't lose the potatoes!! Yuck. If you have children, assign one of them to straighten up in the pantry as much as needed for your house. This could be a weekly task or even a daily task, depending on the size of your pantry and/or your family. Also, knowing what you have helps you to use up what needs to be used up before it goes bad. A good deal is only a good deal if you use what you bought!!
STOCKING THE PANTRY - How to start
The best way to begin stocking your pantry is to look out for good sales at the stores, find a bulk food store &/or discount 'bent and dent' store near you, or join a bulk food buying club or coop (co-op). You can also stock your pantry with canned, dehydrated or frozen produce from your own garden. If gardening is not an option for you, you might consider checking in to a CSA or asking a friend if you can share in their harvest.
Bulk Food Clubs / Coops
Nearly all of our bulk items are purchased from a buying club named Azure Standard. They serve quite a large area from the west (based in Oregon) to a little east of the midwest [WA, OR, CA, ID, UT, MT, WY, CO, ND, SD, NE, IA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, TX, KS, OK, MO, AR, IL, IN, KY, TN ... did I miss anyone?!]. Here is their site for more info: Azure Standard. A quick google search of "bulk buying clubs" or something similar should turn up a few results for your area, but here are two seemingly good resources, -->though I'm not sure how up-to-date they are<--
Coop Distributor Listing
Coop Directory Listing
Both of those links are from the same source ... on the main page there is an explanation about the difference between a food buying club and a coop.
I emailed Azure Standard and they were kind enough to provide a few more bulk food club companies:
Something Better Natural Foods - it seems they deliver to MI, OH, TN, IN, KY, SC, NC, & IL
Neshaminy Valley Natural Foods - They deliver to MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, DE, DC, and VA. Did I get all my state abbreviations correct?!
Associated Buyers - Serving ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI and "the Hudson River Valley of NY from Poughkeepsie - Albany - Saratoga Springs - Glens Falls."
Discount Stores / Bent & Dents / Bulk food stores
These stores tend to be excellent places to stock up on items like pastas, canned tomatoes, and a lot of 'odds and ends.' One store we like to go to sells cheese for $1.25 a half pound and a fifty pound sack of long grain brown rice for $24. They have all sorts of stuff, so whenever we know we'll be in the area (we live 3 hours away from it) we are sure to have money on hand and room in the vehicle. We also try to bring along a cooler. Many of the packaged items are slightly out of date or are bent or dented in some way. Some are torn open and taped back together. Some are missing labels or a bit soiled on the outside. These stores have order to them, but sometimes you'll pass a few shelves that have a lot of misc. things thrown on them ... so you must be patient in looking for things you might need.
So where do you find a good discount &/or bulk food store near you? If you have an Amish or Mennonite community near by, that's a great place to start. In fact, it's probably the best place to start. Here is a list of a few stores around the U.S. - I hope you find something near you!
CSAs
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, a farmer offers a certain amount of "shares" to the public. You purchase at least one share and come regularly to pick up your fresh produce. Some CSAs offer discounts if you help with harvesting. These are a good option only if there is one near by and the price is just as good or better than your cheapest options elsewhere.
To see if there is a CSA near you, go to this site and on the right you'll see a map and the option to enter in your own zip code or state.
Coupons, store sales, etc.
Each week the local stores all offer a few good deals ... sometimes one or two really good deals! Be ready to take advantage of such times. Normally stores use these sales to lure you in the door with the hopes that you will buy a whole lot of other things that are not on sale or are even marked up! Don't be fooled! It is a good idea to keep track of prices for a time until you get used to what is a good deal and what is not a good deal. Many years ago when I first began my frugal living journey, I came across a nifty book called the Tightwad Gazette. In this book, Amy Dacyczyn made popular the idea of the price book. For lack of interest and time in trying to reinvent the wheel, here is an article that explains the price book well enough. After keeping a price book for a while, you will begin to see patterns in when things go on sale.
A few more things about store sales: When you know a store has a good deal, stock up!! This is an excellent way to build your pantry and have things you need on hand. If there is more than one grocery store in your town, be sure to visit each one (assuming they are close to each other) and only buy the things you need at each store.
And a quick thought on coupons. Coupons are only a good deal if you already use the item and you cannot find another suitable, cheaper alternative. I understand that once in a while there might be an item you just cannot compromise on. It is for these items only that you should be clipping coupons. Don't waste your time clipping all sorts of coupons you will never use!! And please do not waste your money using a coupon to buy something you would otherwise be fine without. If you do have a few things to use coupons with, try to wait till the item(s) go on sale ... this will boost your savings quite a bit. Once in a great while you can purchase a name-brand item on sale with a coupon and save above the off-brand item, however you must take into consideration how much time you spend looking for coupons and comparing prices. Your time might be better spent buying the off-brand item and using the extra time to clean the house or something.
What about Sam's, Costo and other such places?
If you have frugality in mind, these stores are generally not the best places to shop. I say generally because you will occasionally find a good deal that is better than what you can find elsewhere, however the yearly membership fee cancels out the occasional good deal. Also, these stores tend to carry name brand items only. More often than not, you can find off-brand items for much cheaper or you can find the same name brands much cheaper at a bent-and-dent-type-store as mentioned earlier.
Meal Planning
The most important thing to remember about meal planning is this: Plan your meals around what's on hand and what's on sale, DO NOT plan your shopping trips around what's on your meal plan! I've seen so many waste a lot of money making a meal plan before checking the store ads and the pantry. So, in having said that, the first two (or three) steps to successful meal planning are:
1) Check your pantry, freezer, etc.
2) Check the store ads
and if you have one ...
3) Check your garden
Make a quick list of what's on hand in your pantry, your freezer, your fridge, your garden (if you are well organized, you should already know what's on hand without even checking ... but it does help a lot to browse through what you have for ideas). Make a quick list of what's on sale at the stores. Your meals for the week are going to come from whatever is on both these lists. Do you have a lot of tomatoes and pasta on hand? Make spaghetti or minestrone soup. Do you have a lot of beans on hand? How about a meal with beans over biscuits or cornbread? Or bean soup and fresh bread? Do you have a good supply of baking items? You could have a meal with pancakes and eggs. Maybe you have a whole bunch of canned salmon you got at the bent and dent store? There's a meal with salmon patties or salmon mixed with pasta and vegetables or salmon and rice stir-fry. If you have an abundance of beef in the freezer, plan meals that will use up some of that. Beef stew. Hamburger stew. Grilled hamburgers. Beef and noodles. Lots of chicken? Plan a few chicken meals. Chicken and rice. Chicken soup. Chicken stir-fry. Does the local store have your favorite vegetable on sale? There is a good side dish for a few meals the upcoming week. Or maybe your local store has the frozen, mixed vegetables on sale? If so, stock up!! These are great in quick soups, as a side, in pot-pies, and so on. Maybe it's cooler weather and lettuce from your garden is in abundance? Fresh salads every night should be on the menu. Maybe it's warmer weather and tomatoes from your garden are in full swing? Sliced fresh tomatoes should be an option each night at supper time. Lots of zucchini? Zucchini bread, mock apple pie or crisp, zucchini soup (one of our favorites!), zucchini on pizza, baked zucchini, steamed zucchini ... the list for uses of zucchini very well might be endless. There are even whole cookbooks dedicated to this versatile fruit!
Leftovers are our friends. Be sure to leave a few meals during the week flexible so you can use up the leftovers. Or, use leftovers when packing a lunch. Leftovers can even be eaten for breakfast with oatmeal as a backup if all the leftovers are gone.
Food prep time can be sped up greatly by getting some things ready ahead of time. Some like to cook most of their meals for the week or even for the month in one day and then pull them out of the fridge or freezer whenever they need them. Some prefer to cook a few things ahead. Some prefer to just do everything each day as the meal comes. It's really up to you and what you have time for. There are plenty of ideas on the internet and at the library about cooking in bulk for the week or month.
Cook extra of a few meals each week. These extras can be frozen and used as a quick meal some other time when you are in a hurry.
Another helpful tip is to keep a list of meals and snacks your family likes. This list could be kept in your recipe box, taped inside of a cupboard door, kept in a binder or home journal of some sort, or where you think it will be safe from getting lost.
Set aside part of your morning routine for writing and checking your daily to-do list. Of course the planned meals for the day will be included on this list, but more importantly, you will be listing what items need to be prepared ahead, taken out of the freezer in the morning or the night before, soaked, or whatever.
One final note about planning meals - there are some seasons in life where meal planning is difficult to do. Lack of money, lack of food, or any number of factors can play in to this. Be honest with yourself. Are your meals not getting planned because you honestly cannot plan ahead? Or are they not getting planned because you are lazy or just don't care? If it's that you are lazy or just don't care, I encourage you to commit to planning weekly meals for one month and see how much more efficient your meal times go. No more waiting till the very last minute and then saying, "What's for supper?" Not only does this create a lot of unnecessary stress, but it also wastes money, time and health. Many are tempted to run to the store for a quick, easy meal or worse yet, run to the local fast food joint. As the saying goes, "Fail to plan, plan to fail."
I might add more to this if more ideas come to me. If you see errors, please let me know. I've been having a problem with typing the wrong words and spell check does not pick that up!!!!
Also a disclaimer: I have included many links here to outside sources. I cannot endorse or support all that is contained on their websites. In most cases, I only looked at the page in question and no further. If you know of other helpful resources for the subjects at hand, please share.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Church garden update and more ...
It seems it has been a while since an update on the garden at the church. Here's what's been going on around "the homestead" (haha)...
The beets have been doing really well. We have been thinning them as they grow, using the greens for smoothies and steaming the roots (even if they are tiny) for supper. We all really like beets!!
Our beets from last year are going to seed. It looks a mess right now but hopefully we'll be rewarded with seeds for next year.
I did a post before about our kale ... here is an update on that. This first picture is of the new kale. We use kale in green smoothies and also chopped up small in soup or with tomatoes over rice. A huge bowl of kale cooks down to nearly nothing, so we can put a lot of kale in a main dish. I've heard that kale is the most nutritious dark green leafy veggie you can grow in your garden and (as we know from experience) it's VERY easy to grow. We plan to plant more of it soon.
This is the kale from last year that is going to seed. See how tall it is!! The yellow flowers are nearly gone and lots of seed pods are left.
A close up of the seed pod. I think they will be ready to harvest when the plant dies and the pods start to open.
Here is a picture of our spinach from this year already going to seed. We have so many spinach seeds, we might have to share a few with friends!
The tomatoes here at the church are doing well. Corban has strung the larger plants up and is going to try to do them like some brethren here do it - they prune the plants to one main stem and have it to climb up the string. As the plant grows, they move the string over a bit and I think they bury the bottom??? I'm not sure. We'll keep you posted on progress as we learn and move along.
The strings ...
Our onions are a mess but getting bigger! Corban has been using the thinnings to chop up and put in his homemade bug repellent brew.
And the peas are a mess as well!! But they are producing!
Yum!
The fruit trees are all doing great. We picked all the fruit but a few on each tree so the trees could concentrate more on growing big and strong. Maybe we'll leave more next year?
A new addition to our little 'homestead' (that word makes me laugh! I wonder how many homesteads consist of a house, a church and a church parking lot?!) ... strawberries. Yum yum. These plants have already produced for the year. They used to belong to a family here at church; Corban dug up several of their 2 year old strawberry plants and now we hope to have some next year a few feet away from our house. We'll see.
And here you see the tea we are growing. To the left is peppermint and to the right is spearmint.The spearmint was transplanted about 3 weeks ago but it seems to be hanging in there. We have lavender in front of the spearmint, but I don't think it's going to make it. And in case anyone was wondering, that's our pastor, David Keeling.
Our chickens are still being well-loved by all who meet them :)
A common scene in our back yard ... brothers fellowshipping and talking with guests. On this particular day, Brianna and I served everyone sandwiches. We stood next to David on the swing to the right with the plate of food and waited for the men to quit talking so they could pray. All the sudden a chicken jumped up over the fence (can you see the fence on the right?), landed on Brianna's arm and helped herself to the sandwiches. Needless to say, it was very funny. Brianna and I ate the two sandwiches with chicken bites in them :) and then we rewarded the chickens with a treat for being so funny.
And a not-so-common scene ... where did THAT come from?! A new family moved to town last week and is keeping their little bike at the church for anyone to use. Hmmm. The 'flying nun' jokes are already sprouting up. I don't plan to use this motorized thing!!!
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