It's been a busy day. Good busy. Lunch with my compadres, time with a friend. A nice evening in with my furry babes and the ultimate furry guy. lol We had leftover onion soup and focaccia for supper while we watched Now you see me 2... Loved the first one and loved this one too. It's been one of those days that, no matter what, the blessings of my life are all around and in my face.
Next Wednesday is my true love's birthday. The running joke goes like this: "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday ?" "Pie." So, cherry pie it is, and of course all the ingredients were bought at the end of last month as I did the final stock up of the pantry. The highlight of my week is Saturday when the local advertiser arrives in the mail carrying the weekly Aldi's ad. As I was looking at it today, he casually says--why are you looking at that ? Thought you weren't going shopping this month ? I'm not, says I. For FOOD. lol You never know what wonderful gadget they may have on sale. I got my mango knife there. I also got my avocado slicer there. So you just never know. That's where I also bought 2 pair (wish I'd gotten more) of the best wool blend socks I've ever owned.
We had a hearty breakfast of oats with raisins and almonds for breakfast this morning Both of us had lunch out and then leftovers for supper. I have most of a 5 gallon bucket of oats in the pantry because it's a must have. Breakfast cereal, granola and granola bars, cake, filler for meatloaf, cookies and in an extreme emergency, you can actually eat uncooked oats. You know, if the gas was unavailable and power grids went down. I've often thought that you could use it to feed pets to, in an emergency. Short term. Good thing to have. And pretty nutritious. So today was an easy-on-the-pantry day. I did get to thinking that I didn't buy anything fancy for our Valentine's Day supper. I usually do something a little outlandish and exotic because it's a special occasion. We rarely go out. And this year it falls on a Tuesday...so, I might (not sure yet) buy some shrimp or scallops or even lobster tails for that. We'll see. On the other hand, I might just make chicken. lol
So, I want to share a recipe with you that is a real favorite of mine. I make this cake to take to potlucks and for people's birthdays all the time and it's a hit. I got the recipe for the Old Fashioned Oatmeal Spice Cake at my wedding shower when I was 17. I still have the original index card that I copied it onto, and believe me (do the math) the paper is old and yellowed around the edges, like me. lol My neighbor in the little farming town I lived in (2 doors down) was one of those women that you always wish was YOUR mother..she was kind and loving and could do wonderful things. She sewed my first prom dress. She made my wedding dress. And she baked this cake, which was one of my favorites. She called it a poor man's cake. It goes like this:
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Here the list of ingredients:
1 1/3 cups boiling water
1 cup oats (whole or quick--not the microwave stuff)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening (I use butter mostly, but original recipe called for shortening)
2 eggs
1 1/3 c flour
1 tsp each--salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon
[The ingredients for the broiled topping: 1 stick butter, melted - 1 cup brown sugar- 1/4 cup evaporated milk- 1 tsp vanilla- 1 cup coconut-1 cup nuts (pecans or sliced almonds) ]
Okay--first pour the boiling water over the oats, mix with a fork and move it outta the way.
Then, I sift the dry ingredients together and put it aside.
That would be flour, salt and spices.
Then, in a good sized bowl, put your shortening, sugars and eggs.
Then get your mixer out and whip these last things together until good and creamy. Then pour in the softened oat and water mixture and mix that in well. Then add the dry ingredients and mix together until smooth and well incorporated.
Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 degrees until done. Takes about 30-35 minutes usually.
Take out of oven when done and in a small saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and evaporated milk. When that's all melty add the cup of shredded coconut and a cup of the nuts of your choice. Stir to mix well. Spread this out over the top of your still warm cake, and place it under the broiler. Watch it carefully and don't let it burn ! It will make a lovely crispy caramel-ish topping. I can't really give you a time on the broiling, because God did not see fit to create all broilers equal. lol I sometimes have to turn mine a couple of times to brown it evenly.
Let it cool and serve. It's a lovely cake and I think you'll like it, if you're the type that likes spice cakes.
It's quick, it's simple and it's easy on the budget.
And with that, I am hopefully off to bed soon...to sleep...perchance to dream...
Back in November, my local market had beautiful pork loins on sale for $1.29 per pound. That's a pretty good deal. I'm guessing you know what I did. I bought about 35 pounds and canned it. Pork loin and chicken breast are 2 must haves in my pantry. They are easy to can (although they do take a while) and they are an indispensable pantry item. The possibilities for meals is endless.
Today is Day 3 of the eating out of my pantry challenge. I had some avocados in the fruit bowl that were ready to use, so I knew I was making guacamole tonight. Stands to reason that tonight's supper would be some sort of Mexican theme, since I have plenty of tortillas, about 40 jars of homegrown, home canned salsa and tortilla chips as well. Not having to think too hard about supper gave me lots of time to get other stuff done, like laundry and vacuuming and ..oh, you know. All the fun stuff.
Breakfast was sausage and eggs and bagels for himself and bacon, eggs and bagels for me. The hens are laying a steady 3-4 eggs a day, so we have about 4 dozen eggs in the fridge. We slept in a little today so breakfast was a little late. We skipped lunch and had an early supper.
I decided to keep supper pretty simple, so I pulled a jar of pork loin, a jar of home canned pintos and some black olives out of the pantry. I sliced an onion and some red and yellow peppers and sauteed those together, added the jar of pork and the jar of beans and some spices...cumin, garlic, black pepper. Put a lid on the cast iron skillet and let it simmer a while. I buy pinto and great northern beans when they are on sale and then when I have a lot, I can them. Beans are such a powerhouse nutritionally, and they take a lot of energy and water to cook. They're great to have already cooked and sitting in the pantry--you can just heat them up quickly because they're fully cooked. Like canning meat, it's easy, but takes a lot of time. Lucky me--I'm retired and have more time than sense.
I made some beautiful guacamole. Heated up some tortillas and made burritos out of the whole shebang...with black olives, sour cream and salsa on top of the pork mixture. It was delicious. Filling, nutritious and tasty. Opened a bag of chips to serve chips and salsa and guacamole on the side.
Didn't take any pictures of the meal itself. Too busy eating it.
Trying to estimate the cost of this meal (and there are enough leftovers for another lunch) is difficult. I grow most of the ingredients for the salsa. I spend varying amounts on beans to can. I would estimate that the guacamole was the most expensive part of the meal, and they were .69/each at Aldi's. I'm going to guesstimate that the cost of this meal was about $5.00 per person. You can't eat out like this for that ! And there it is--all pantry supper.
Tomorrow is usually a leftovers day as we are both gone for a big part of the day and I never feel much like cooking. We have a lot of stuff in the fridge that needs eating--so it work out pretty good.
Time for bed--busy day tomorrow. Hasta la Vista, muchachos....
Not only is it cold outside, it's in the middle of the worst flu/cold/pneumonia streak I've seen in a long time. So what better to eat on a day like today than onions ? The maligned onion...lol...that has so many health benefits it isn't funny. And since I have a lot of onions (on sale for about 20 cents a pound !!) it seemed like the perfect day for French Onion Soup. I sliced about 5 pounds of onions, give or take, to start this awesome peasant soup. It's one of our favorites and a perfect choice for the pantry challenge.
To make this yummy soup, all you really need is butter, onions and stock. I have both chicken and vegetable stock in my pantry that I can myself. The vegetable stock is from garden and food scraps and the chicken is from well, chicken. lol Every year I will buy leg and thigh chicken quarters when they are at ridiculously low prices. I have gotten them as low as .29/lb but generally they are around .49/lb. A great price for usable protein to keep in the freezer and pantry. Sometimes I pull the meat and freeze it and sometimes I can it. I cook them down in my big tabletop roaster for 24 hours or so and wind up with all kinds of yummy stock that I can. I do the same thing at Thanksgiving with turkey. If you don't have stock, you can use bouillon. Not my favorite, but it can work. Most traditional onion soups use beef stock as a main ingredient, but we don't eat that much beef, so--there ya go.
So first thing--peel and slice the onions into a wide heavy bottomed pan. I use my Revere ware dutch oven. Melt one stick of butter and start those onions cooking !
This is the hardest part of the whole thing. Stirring stirring and waiting for those onions to caramelize. Has to be done on medium low heat so's not to scorch them. Takes forever (at least by today's standards).Trust me--they will eventually start to change colors and the aromas are heavenly.
Here is where they start to turn a deep golden color, and you want them a little darker. They get all mooshy and yummy and let them go just a little longer. Then I add the stock, some water, a little Penzey's Pepper and some granulated garlic. I rarely add salt, because the butter has plenty. Then I let it simmer. If it isn't dark enough to please you, you can always add some Kitchen Bouquet. That's it. Honest.
When it comes time to serve it, I put the bread in the bottom of the bowl and cheese on top of bread (Gruyere is best, Swiss will work and today I used Muenster and Parmesan, because that's what I had. Then ladle the soup over the top. I made a Focaccia bread today, topped with sea salt and Italian seasonings, and that's what I used. It was delightful...
So...tonight's supper was about $1.50 for the bread and about $2.00 for the soup. And there's enough leftovers of both to make at least 2 more lunches. Yee Haw. And I barely touched any of my pantry foods for this. Breakfast was homemade granola for him and 2 hard boiled eggs and some bacon for me. Lunch for me was popcorn, and he took some leftovers from the fridge.
Bon Apetit !! (in a frugal kind of a way)
Here we are - the first day of February. First off, let me say that my intention is to not buy any groceries in the month of February. And following that, I'll say that I will also not go without fresh veggies if I need to buy some. lol But I think I can plan this all out and make it work. Partly because I have dehydrated onions, celery, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, okra and tomatoes in my pantry. I also have a box of potatoes from the garden.
In the last 3 days of January, I bought some odds and ends and stocked my shelves. For instance, Aldi's had diced tomatoes for .49/can and I bought 12. I picked up some things with an eye to building a meal around them. I bought 6 half gallons of almond milk which are shelf stable. Because we use it in place of dairy, for granola, golden milk, etc. The local grocer had a meat sale and I stocked up some things in the freezer. I spent 45 dollars and repackaged it into 12 meals worth of stuff.
My food budget is approximately 200 dollars a month for 2 adults. I don't know how that stacks up to most family budgets. When I researched the USDA Center for Nutritional Policy, they say that for a family of 4 it's about $716.00 a month. And that's the middle range. A family of 2 adults is $497.00. We do eat out some (mostly me having lunch on Saturdays). So...I am already below the typical budget. And like the Irishman always says...we may not have much, but we eat well.
I buy a couple of high ticket things-- natural peanut butter. Real butter. Organic coconut oil and olive oil. Local honey. But these aren't things I have to buy every time I shop. I buy meats that are on sale. I buy everything I can when it's on sale. Helps keep costs down. I also garden and can and freeze and dehydrate. But this last year the gardens weren't so great here, so right now I have more purchased things than I usually do. And that's what I do as well...every shopping trip, I buy one or 2 extras of this and that. Mayonnaise. Ketchup. Tea bags. And when I have a nice little stash, I buy something different. One day on a shopping trip, Aldis had organic garbanzo beans for .59 a can. I bought a flat of them, because that is a ridiculous price for those. They are a super high protein bean that you use for hummus or falafel or just eat on a salad. Crazy nutritious. Or tomato paste that was .19 a can.
SOOOOO...what's for supper on Day 1 of the pantry challenge ? Variety is important to me. Last night we had a salmon type patty made with tuna. I like these. They're cheaper, milder flavored and just as nutritious as salmon at a fraction of the cost. I cooked some quinoa with dried mushrooms and onions and peppers and spinach. I got 2 jars of baby carrots that I canned out of the pantry and made honey glazed carrots. I opened a can of applesauce made from apples gifted to me by a friend. A gorgeous meal for 2 that cost about 3 dollars per plate. Or less. So tonight might be vegetarian. OR...I have a lot of onions (.59 for a 3 # bag, so I got 4). I'm thinking maybe I'll make some French Onion soup. And a burger. Hamburger in the freezer That was $2.19 per pound. (so I bought 10 pounds and pattied it and froze them.) 2 big burgers@ 1/2 pound each = less than 2 dollars apiece for the sandwich, including the bread and accoutrements. (I could make it even more interesting by making veggie burgers, as I have mix in the cabinet--we like those too.) Voila. Supper for 2 at a cost of around 6 dollars. Less, really...because like last night, there will be leftovers. Which the Irishman gladly takes in his lunch. Winner/Winner chicken dinner.
Here's to day 1. I'm off to the kitchen. BTW--I thought I would post a recipe every other day. (That's not today.) lol
Hellooooooo out there. You probably thought I'd been abducted by aliens or died, didn't you ? Nope. At least, not yet. But it's been a challenging couple of years, I must say. Don't you love that sticker ? It's from Penzey's Spices and came in my first order from them. I was given a gift card from there for my birthday by a precious woman. And then there is this--I cut it off the outside of the box stuff was shipped in, because--well-- BECAUSE, that's why. I need to be reminded on a daily basis lately of where I need to turn my eyes.
All in all it's been a strange time of late and fear and despair are in the air. One thing I was taught was that I can take an action and change a feeling, and that's what's on my mind today.
SO. I just reread a post from June of 2014, when we had to really depend on the pantry to survive. We'd had a serious car accident and the Irishman couldn't work for three and a half months. No short term disability insurance. He got a paycheck and about half another one, as the company let him use all his vacation time, sick days and holiday pay he had left for the year. After that we only had my disability to pay bills. You can read all about it on this blog --June 24,2014 "Eating From My Pantry". It was the litmus test of all the things I had learned and planned for and feared. And we made it. By the time he was back at work and we were climbing out from under the whole thing, the pantry was almost bare. But it was almost garden harvest time too, so...win/win. And in three and a half months I had spent under 40 dollars at the grocery store.
Yesterday, I floated a question on my Facebook page about a project I'm considering. Would any of my local people be interested in a workshop built around building a pantry and preparing themselves for any kind of emergency so they could better care for their family ? AND, would they be willing to pay a small fee to attend ? I got about 20 very positive responses. So...I think a little planning is in the future. I'm always amazed at how many people don't have any kind of plans in place to help them get through any kind of disaster, be it economic, weather related, illness or whatever. I think that at any given time, I could easily feed my house for 45 to 60 days if I had to. Some of the meals might not be 4 star, but they would be nutritious and tasty and filling.
So, I am back to using this poor old blog as a platform for a start up, I think. I loved this blog when I first started it and I love it today. Lots of wiggle room for whatever kind of living stuff or recipes or canning or gardens --just everything. So look out--she's back...
This bounty came out of the garden yesterday. I have to tell you, even though things are slowing down out there, those plants all look like early July plants ! This weather has been so strange...it got really hot sporadically and then would cool way down, giving everything a new lease on life, I suppose. Then it got nice for a while with a hot day thrown in here and there, but now it's back in the high 60's and low (mostly) 70's. And it won't get hot enough to ripen any more stuff. I don't think. So, I cleared out all the green tomatoes I could stand (a 5 gallon bucket full) and all the bigger peppers and jalapenos and some cayenne peppers too. I'll use all this to make some salsa verde...something I've not done before because I always make chowchow, which is now coming out my ears, because face it--you can only eat so much relish. And because I can sweet relish too...well, there you go. So green tomato salsa it is this year. It should be a snap to make with my Vitamix this year, since it's a basically smooth salsa and I don't have to hand cut everything like I do my regular salsa so that it's all chunky and beautiful.
Salsa Verde is a good enchilada sauce. Among other things.
I have the dehydrator full of tarragon, parsley and basil...all dried now and waiting for me to bag it up. That came out of the garden yesterday too. The parsley was especially lush this year. The cilantro is in 2 pint jars waiting to be used today in the salsa verde. I usually always dry my herbs slowly in the back pantry in brown paper bags, but thought I'd try the dehydrator this time. I used my little Nesco American harvest, so I had the option of temperature settings. I turned it way low, but think I still like the bag method better. Live and learn.
The husbandman is getting antsy to get the garden put to bed. I keep telling him it's not time yet. There are still carrots out there. I harvested most of the last of the butternut squash yesterday, but there are still a few more out there. They're small, but beautiful and healthy looking. Into the garage they went, to cure for a bit. The ones in the garage that were harvested a couple of weeks ago are ready to come inside and go under the guest room bed. I have sheets of cardboard under there for them to spend the winter on, as we pick them off one or two at a time. Years that I don't have pumpkin, I use some of them for pies at Thanksgiving. (No one knows the difference). However, as you know, I have had pumpkin for a while now. *grin But we like butternut squash just about anyway you can come up with to use it...chunked, stuffed, soup, roasted, on pizza, in quinoa salads...yum. I'm guessing that [all told] we're harvesting in the neighborhood of 50 or more butternuts this year. I will trade some of them to my friend Cathy for some sweet potatoes, since our sweet potato crop was a dismal failure this year --for the first time. And she plants acres of them and hauls them up north to sell. Oh well...such is the gamble of the garden. You just never know... we rotate our crops religiously. And the place the sweet taters got rotated to was the wrong spot this time. Between 2 pine trees and I suspect the soil was too acidic. That (of course) is just my uneducated guess. lol That note will go in the garden journal, believe me !
Well...I can sit here and write all day, or I can get busy and start on that salsa. I will be making a trip to the cities (lol) later today to gift my old kitchen light (that I hated and my son replaced for me) and a couple of jars of goodies to an old pal...after stopping by the market for a couple of things. Don't need much. But I am out of bottled lime juice. Also got a note this morning that another friend has some sage and some thyme for me from her garden. She grows it, but uses very little. There are many blessings to be found in my world these days !
Okay--off to the races. Gonna run out between raindrops and check on the chickens and then get to it. Happy Thursday everyone !!
Bon Apetit !
When I was a child, my dad would take us all out mushroom hunting in the early spring. I live in southern Illinois, and these babies were the big prize. Called Morels, or Sponge Mushrooms, they are a culinary delight. Rich and meaty and beautiful. And seriously plentiful. They have a small window of availability, which makes them all the more desired...the thrill of the hunt. And people can get pretty whacked out by the arrival of these--word spreads like wildfire when the first ones are found. There are towns which have big mushroom festivals and people will flock there for a monster hunting celebration. Most serious 'shroomers though have their own private hunts, tell NO ONE where they go or find their bounty.
For years, anytime anyone said "wild mushrooms" this is the only thing that came to mind. Morels. The darlings of the mushroom world. Easy to identify and no worries about poisoning yourself make for happy hunting and eating.
And then...one day my son came in with a huge 7 pound piece of hen of the woods mushrooms. That boy is a natural born forager of all things wild. I said "What is that?" and he commenced to school me on the culinary delights of the hen of the woods. He sauteed some and fed it to me, and I was an immediate devotee. Mild and meaty and rich. And did I mention HUGE ?? I ate a lot, and dehydrated a lot. Used the dehydrated in soups and stews all winter. I cut it up and put it in scrambled eggs and quiches and casseroles. I cut big slabs of it and made sandwiches. It was delicious. I only recently learned that this is also called Maitake Mushroom, which I had heard of (and probably eaten) but didn't make the connection.
It's that time of year again for hen of the woods. They grow (usually) around the bottoms of oak trees, although he found some this year on a black locust. He brought me about 15 pounds a week ago and I dehydrated most of it and ate some too.
Aren't they beautiful ? This morning he brought these in--this is all one mushroom that he had to break into 3 parts to get it in the bag.
It weighed in at about 8.5 pounds. Guess we know what I'll be doing today, lol.
There are all kinds of wild guys (edibles) that live around here, and he will often come back from a fishing trip or a hike with stuff. He's a good son--usually brings some in for his old ma. lol One day it was this:
Beautiful chantrelles...I had no idea they grew around here. Only knew they were really expensive to buy. I've never had enough of them to have to worry about preserving--we just eat those babies. lol I made a potluck dish for our end of the discussion vegetarian potluck that was cheesy polenta topped with braised kale and chantrelles--it was a hit.
This beauty is called Chicken of the Woods--my all time favorite. Doesn't it look like a fighting Red Dragon ? lol Or a fancy Dancing Chicken ? These should be showing up soon, late October/early November, I think. I can't wait to have more of these.
And these beauties are called Old Man of the Woods. Not yet one of my favorites because they turn all black when you cook them and that turns me off. The boy thinks I'm nuts, as they are one of his favorites.
Mushrooms are a low-calorie food eaten cooked, raw or as a garnish to a meal. In a 100 g (3.5 ounce) serving, mushrooms are an excellent source (higher than 20% of the Daily Value, DV) of B vitamins, such as riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid, an excellent source of the essential minerals, selenium (37% DV) and copper (25% DV), and a good source (10-19% DV) of phosphorus and potassium. Fat, carbohydrate and calorie content are low, with absence of vitamin C and sodium. There are 27 calories in a typical serving of fresh mushrooms (table). (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
So...good for you. Tasty. Fun to find.
What more could a girl ask for ?? lol
Okay--I have a huge mushroom to work on in there. I'd better get started.
Bon Apetit !
