Grumpy Kitty

Independence Days

So I signed up at Sharon's Blog to participate this year. And it's the first Monday, so here goes:

Plant Something:

transplanted 20 cucumber starts

2 heirloom tomato plants I picked up that are much farther along than mine:)

cilantro

basil

cabbage some starts some  seeds

broccoli some starts some seeds

Harvest something:

not quite ready yet since my strawberries are new this year and I have to get netting since the birds have harvested what ones we have produced:(

Preserve Something:

tomorrow's the first day of our farmer's market so I'll be ready for this next week

Reduce Waste:
hmm well we bought an energy star fridge. Nothing fancy, very basic, but ONLY 383 khw a yr! Our old fridge was 16 yr's old and not efficient. Hooked up two smart saver power cords.

Prep and Storage: ordered more fruit trees and bushes for M-day

Build Community Food systems: Besides drooling over every flat space I see wasted throughout my little town, I sent out an email to church members with lots of local food info and am using our charitable donation allotment for local food purchases to help  friends suffering from the economy.

Eat the Food: not so great in this one. I really need to take better inventory and freeze more things that look shady. 

If I were grading myself I'd say I got a C this week.

Ahhh! Spring.

We have been immersed in the work that is gardening, growing muscles as well as I hope a harvest this year. This is our first garden and we are terribly excited. I had a garden year ago in Indiana, but 15 years fades many things and this rocky clay soil we are ammending is much different from the wonderful Midwest dirt I grew up with.

Since we began this little urban homesteading adventure we have planted:

3 blueberry bushes (last fall)
1 apple tree (last fall)
16 strawberry plants
a patch of peas
golden beets

We built raised beds last fall as well and the kids and I have started seeds for:
tomatoes
onions
peppers
cucumbers
cabbage
ground cherry tomatoes
broccoli
cauliflower

Tomorrow we will start marigold and more tomatoes.

Some of our work.

The Rocky Soil we amended for peas.



The rain is falling here and we welcome it along with the cod since we are in an extreme drought. We are catching almost 200 gallons of water!

Icebox cake

I've been making this cake for a couple of weeks and it is my total fave. I'd actually never made a cake from scratch since mixes are so cheap and easy, but I despise the nasty stuff they call ingredients. I wanted a quick scratch cake for the Professor's birthday last month and since he is a chocoholic and because you can find anything on the internet, I found a great recipe by Nigella. She is one of the best cook's to watch because she tends to cook real food that is simple yet subtle. I added a bit of coconut milk to moisten it up and when out of sour cream used yogurt. Oh and how cool is it that you can mix it all up in the food processor???!!!

I call it icebox cake because it's AMAZING chilled the next day......for breakfast. Also it reminds me of the cake my Grandma used to make.

Oh the icing is a made up cream cheesy butter sugar thing that I just sort of ooze onto the top of it.
Geez I need a new camera. I take the worst food pics!

For all the amazing women I know

http://www.nataliegrant.com/our-hope-endures/

New Economy Meals: Parsed Cabbage Rolls

We are very blessed not to yet be affected by this economy, except to empathize with family and friends who have.  I've been thinking a lot about food security and how to make the most of what one has. Trying to make things from scratch even more when I "mostly" don't like to cook. I should say I don't like to be a cook for small children. It's frustrating and I'm ALWAYS hurrying and not in a position to let them help like I want to.  I don't want them to think that feeding oneself a nutrious meal is unenjoyable, but right now, frankly it's a chore.  Butter is uber picky, although she is getting better, likely from sheer hunger (not really). They are a snacky bunch and I indulge this habit, but I've learned if they snack much in the afternoon, they will not eat the dinner I've prepared.  I am also making a true effort to eat as locally as we can.  Combined with the assurance I feel that one day things will be a lot different in regards to what foods we can attain, I've decided to makeover our meals. They must fit these criteria to be what I consider NEW ECONOMY MEALS. I'll be posting them as I make them up, break them down, or borrow them from friends.

1. local or organic

2. 1-2 pans/pots-simple to prepare

3. balanced protein/veg or fruit

4. frugal, aka CHEAP:)

5. tasty

I've bee working on various receipes, some have passed, some will not be made again. Tonight,  I think was a fair success. The kids at least ate half.

Parsed Cabbage Rolls

1.5 lbs of ground beef

1 home or store can of marinara sauce

1 small onion

1 head of cabbage

bread crumbs

garlic

italian seasonings (canned or fresh)

2 eggs

worchester sauce

coconut oil

2 tsp curry powder

salt

Mix ground beef, spices, eggs, bread crumbs, worchester together and form balls. Brown these in oil in frying pan.  In a pot or dutch oven, saute onions and garlic. Add sauce to this when onions are soft. Mix balls into sauce after they have been browned on both sides. Cover and leave on low while you do something else for 20 minutes:)

Drop more oil in the frying pan that you quickly cleaned. Chop up cabbage and toss in oil with the curry powder. Saute until soft.

Serve in bowls with cabbage on bottom, meatballs on top. Have apples or orange slices  for dessert eat with homemade wheat bread and local butter.

***I didn't photograph this since it isn't very photogenic, but yummy.

Thanks to our local Sharon Rose Farm, Old Paths Farm, and Happy Cow Dairy Farm for providing some of this meal:)

 

Easy Bread Receipe

Okay, I've been a big fan of this book for a year now, but I really want to make whole wheat bread loaves that are not gummy, dense and that um RISE:) Oh and did I mention that I wanted it all to be fast and easy? Well I'd started making rolls from one of my favorite little cookbooks this fall and these white/wheat flour rolls are super quick and yummy. Well I have to preface this with the kinda of cook I am...I don't measure, mostly I just think about what has to be in there and go for it. Now when it comes to baking I'm a bit more precise, but as I've learned more about the process, I've tended more toward the wingin' mode. So yesterday I decided to just "whip up" some bread. It turned out awesome and we are already onto the 3rd and 4th loaves:) I did take time to pay attention to my measurements today:)

EASY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes

2-2.5 cups of hot water
2 packages or equivalant of yeast
1 heaping serving spoon of raw honey (or I think 2.5 tbs)
1 tsp of kosher salt
Mix all this together and let sit for a minute. You can go change a few diapers, nurse, throw in laundry, chase a kid or two around.
Add in 3.5 cps of whole wheat flour, stir in completely and knead a few times, like 2-3.
Cover leave, do a homeschool lesson or two...or nap.
Knead a couple more times and split dough into two bread pans, I use glass ones.
Now you can do a second rise or you can just cover and heat up the oven and then toss them in.
Bake. Butter. Eat.

Oh and have a great friend give you yummy peach preserves to lather all over a warm slice.

Knitting

I’m Not an accomplished knitter; sometimes I’m not even sure if I can knit. I can cast on and knit rows, and even purl, but bind off, drop stitches, keep count, basically any REAL knitting and I’m hopeless. I’m stagnant. One of my goals this year is to work on becoming a bit more competent so that when Butter is ready I will be able to assist her. I just don’t get things that require my fingers to twist and think on their own uh hum…like typing,etc.

 Last Fall I bought a knitting mushroom thingy for Butter to use this winter when we were stuck in the house more. She has begged on and off to be shown and frankly I put her off because I wasn’t sure how I worked. Finally I got it down and tried to figure out he I’m sure simple directions, but the plastic crochet needle and cheap yarn in the kit were not working so I pulled out a crochet needle and some of my “unknitted" yarn and set to scouring the web for better directions. I printed out several and watched several YouTube videos and well I’m still not sure if I can do it, but I will get back to it later. In the mean time, we are having fun with some finger knitting and I actually figured this out “fairly quickly “ after using the same video Jessica showed her boys.  Butter is quite pleased with herself and I’m thrilled she has better dexterity
 than I do.
 
 

 

Great Depression cooking

How cool is Clara? I love her!!

Great Depression Cooking

Frugal or Funny?

A few days ago Butter and I were doing her homeschooling in the sun room since it's a SC winter with 65 degree temps. Anyho, the laundry room is right next to us and we both jumped when the washing machine begins to sound like it is exploding. I figure that it is just off balance so I go to adjust everything and it just stops. The little switch that is supposed to keep the agitator going has snapped off. I either need to call a repair man, buy a new machine, or rig it. Since I'm waiting for my dream machien to go down in price along with everything else in this deflationary spiral we're in and I hate to pitch anything that is still workable I try and rig it. The first thing I saw in the drawer was this um popsicle stick. It took all of 5 secnds and my $150 (we lucked out with these 8 yrs ago, they were only a yr old) washer and dryer still work.

 So I went a spent the repair money on some yummy Euro fabric on sale:) Yeah for being thrifty!

More than a Cookbook

My SIL suggested this cookbook  to me over the holidays and I just received it today.  I’m loving it! Doris Janzen Longacre was a Mennonite whose started addressing the problem of food security over 25 yrs. ago. I grew up in Indiana not terribly far from Goshen College and around the Mennonite culture, which in my experience was very generous. I love this more for what it stands for, less for the recipes which are great looking and I can’t wait to try some. She addresses our over consumption and how to prepare healthier meals with less junk. We already eat lots of whole foods, but there is always room for improvement. I can’t wait to devour this cookbook!

This prayer immediately captured much of what I’d thinking on to have the children memorize at meals. I really want them to understand what a blessing it is to live in the world we do, to eat the food that God has blessed us with. We have been working on the Our Father and even the Kitty has almost memorized it. I am ready to move them on to another prayer and this is so succinct and powerful.

O God,

    We’ve wasted                     For these sins

        we’ve complained                    Father forgive us.

             we’ve grumbled.            Help us

    We’ve misused our resources                reset our priorities     

    We’ve confused                          according to Your will.

        our needs                        Amen.

            with our wants.              

    -Norma Johnson

                                                      Lobatse, Botswana