Cheeseslave is giving away a seat in Nourished Kitchen's cooking class. Check it out here:
Happy and Healthy Holiday Cooking Classes
Cheeseslave is also giving away olive oil from Chaffin Family Orchards. Check it out here:
Olive Oil
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Cooking Local Pumpkins & Giveaway
We received two locally grown sugar pumpkins from our CSA this year. We have never cooked a pumpkin before so we were glad that the newsletter we receive with our produce provided us with a recipe and some tips. Below are some of the tips that Jessica gave in the newsletter:
Pick your pumpkin. Sugar pumpkins make great pies. Jack-o-lanterns are not recommended, as they can be stringy and tough.(Good to know...we had no idea that there was a difference!)
Cook your pumpkin. Slice up your cleaned out pumpkin, and steam or bake (350 oven) until fork tender. (We put a little water in the bottom of the pan to keep the pumpkins from drying out).
Puree your pumpkin. After you're done cooking, scoop the flesh out of the skin and mash with a potato masher. If I'm going to freeze for later use, this is where I package it up. When I am ready to puree it for a specific dish, I toss the mash into the blender with the liquids from my recipe (cream, milk, eggnog?) to make a nice fine, stringless puree.
Spice your pumpkin. My favorite pie recipe uses cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, lemon zest and vanilla.
So we cut them in half and put them in the oven. That is our beef broth brewing on the back burner.
And we used the pumpkin seeds for this recipe they were yummy.
Then we pulled the pumpkins out of the oven and scooped the flesh out.
Next, we mashed it up, placed 8 cups of the puree in the freezer and used 2 cups to make a molasses pumpkin pie.
The pie mix was excellent, but the whole wheat crust we attempted to make for the first time was terrible. If anyone has a good pie crust recipe please comment! We would love to make a pie for Thanksgiving with a crust that is edible. We forgot to get a pic of the pie....maybe next time.
And the Giveaway:
Check out the Nourishing Days site. She is giving away a L'Equip 524 Dehydrator and she has posted a review regarding the product as well.
Pick your pumpkin. Sugar pumpkins make great pies. Jack-o-lanterns are not recommended, as they can be stringy and tough.(Good to know...we had no idea that there was a difference!)
Cook your pumpkin. Slice up your cleaned out pumpkin, and steam or bake (350 oven) until fork tender. (We put a little water in the bottom of the pan to keep the pumpkins from drying out).
Puree your pumpkin. After you're done cooking, scoop the flesh out of the skin and mash with a potato masher. If I'm going to freeze for later use, this is where I package it up. When I am ready to puree it for a specific dish, I toss the mash into the blender with the liquids from my recipe (cream, milk, eggnog?) to make a nice fine, stringless puree.
Spice your pumpkin. My favorite pie recipe uses cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, lemon zest and vanilla.
So we cut them in half and put them in the oven. That is our beef broth brewing on the back burner.
And we used the pumpkin seeds for this recipe they were yummy.
Then we pulled the pumpkins out of the oven and scooped the flesh out.
Next, we mashed it up, placed 8 cups of the puree in the freezer and used 2 cups to make a molasses pumpkin pie.
The pie mix was excellent, but the whole wheat crust we attempted to make for the first time was terrible. If anyone has a good pie crust recipe please comment! We would love to make a pie for Thanksgiving with a crust that is edible. We forgot to get a pic of the pie....maybe next time.
And the Giveaway:
Check out the Nourishing Days site. She is giving away a L'Equip 524 Dehydrator and she has posted a review regarding the product as well.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Week 2: Go Shopping
This week we didn't do much shopping. In our last post we mentioned that we don't really budget for food. Well...after tallying up what we have already spent on food this month we realized that we only have $129.00 left to spend out-of-pocket if we want to stay within the thrifty budget plan!
We know we only have eleven days left in the month, but we have to use that for milk, cheese, and a few other things that I know we will need over the next couple of weeks. So I took Jenny's advice to heart and I shopped my pantry this week. Every meal we have had since the last post we made came from what we already had on hand. We started by using an excel spreadsheet to create our pantry inventory, then found recipes that would use what we have. Here is a quick look at what we have had for dinners:
Sunday: Grass-Fed Beef Chuck Roast with locally grown organic potatoes, carrots, and garlic.
Monday: Grass-Fed Beef and Kidney Bean Chili with Whole Wheat Bread made in our machine
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes made with Grass-Fed Beef and garden tomatoes
Wednesday (Today): We all ate leftovers! Roast, Spaghetti and Chili
Thursday: Plan to have Chicken marinara made with garden tomatoes and local free range chicken
We are trying to work toward better meal planning! Tonight we will figure out what we will eat over the weekend.
The next piece of the challenge was to buy in bulk.
We ordered the Azure Stands catalog and plan to order from it in the future when our budget allows!
The last two Steps in the challenge--buy in season and buy single ingredients--no problem since we didn't shop this week! But we have been doing this since June.
We know we only have eleven days left in the month, but we have to use that for milk, cheese, and a few other things that I know we will need over the next couple of weeks. So I took Jenny's advice to heart and I shopped my pantry this week. Every meal we have had since the last post we made came from what we already had on hand. We started by using an excel spreadsheet to create our pantry inventory, then found recipes that would use what we have. Here is a quick look at what we have had for dinners:
Sunday: Grass-Fed Beef Chuck Roast with locally grown organic potatoes, carrots, and garlic.
Monday: Grass-Fed Beef and Kidney Bean Chili with Whole Wheat Bread made in our machine
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes made with Grass-Fed Beef and garden tomatoes
Wednesday (Today): We all ate leftovers! Roast, Spaghetti and Chili
Thursday: Plan to have Chicken marinara made with garden tomatoes and local free range chicken
We are trying to work toward better meal planning! Tonight we will figure out what we will eat over the weekend.
The next piece of the challenge was to buy in bulk.
We ordered the Azure Stands catalog and plan to order from it in the future when our budget allows!
The last two Steps in the challenge--buy in season and buy single ingredients--no problem since we didn't shop this week! But we have been doing this since June.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A New Challenge: Real Food For Families
Jenny at Nourished Kitchen has presented her readers with a new challenge: Real Food For Families. We are getting a bit of a late start. Last week the challenge focused on setting up a grocery budget and learning how to plan meals in advance. We have never formally budgeted for food!
Basically, we pay the bills and purchase any other items we need. Then we use what we have left over to spend on food. If it is a tight week we eat thrifty. A not so tight week, we eat better. I am really interested in figuring out just how much we really spend on food! Of course learning from Jenny and all of her readers in the forums will be the best part!
Using the USDA's cost of food plan, my family of four is allotted 144.70 per week or 627.00 per month on the thrifty plan. We have two teenage boys in our home so we get a bit more to spend.
Fixed Monthly Expenses: $259
* Beef from the 1/2 beef we purchased this summer (23 lbs/month): $75
* Egg Share (4 dozen): $16
* Butter purchased from US Wellness Meats (1#/week): $44
* Produce Share (1 large box full/week): $124
TOTAL Fixed Costs: $259
Flexible Monthly Expenses:
* Produce: $150
* Pantry Items & Fridge Items: $150
Total Flexible Costs: $300
$68 under budget--we will see if we stay under budget!
Basically, we pay the bills and purchase any other items we need. Then we use what we have left over to spend on food. If it is a tight week we eat thrifty. A not so tight week, we eat better. I am really interested in figuring out just how much we really spend on food! Of course learning from Jenny and all of her readers in the forums will be the best part!
Using the USDA's cost of food plan, my family of four is allotted 144.70 per week or 627.00 per month on the thrifty plan. We have two teenage boys in our home so we get a bit more to spend.
Fixed Monthly Expenses: $259
* Beef from the 1/2 beef we purchased this summer (23 lbs/month): $75
* Egg Share (4 dozen): $16
* Butter purchased from US Wellness Meats (1#/week): $44
* Produce Share (1 large box full/week): $124
TOTAL Fixed Costs: $259
Flexible Monthly Expenses:
* Produce: $150
* Pantry Items & Fridge Items: $150
Total Flexible Costs: $300
$68 under budget--we will see if we stay under budget!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Giveaway: Stainless Steel Bakeware
The Giveaways on some of the Real Food blogs we follow just keep getting better and better. Check out this Giveaway from Food Renegade. Enter to win a stainless steel muffin pan and jelly roll pan from Paula's Bread.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Fruity Snacks on the Fly
For this weeks challenge, we chose our electric dryer,since we have already used our sun. We began by buying two bunches of organically grown bananas. After looking about, it became obvious there are many opinions about how thick and how long they should be dried as well as how best to prepare them. Melissa suggested we look up the manual for our particular dryer, A Nesco American Harvest: a cheap unit for all practical purposes; however, cheap things can sometimes surprise us, so we'll see how it works out. The suggestion bore sweet fruit. A simple process was laid out that reflected similar suggestions by others. Perfect!
We sliced each in thin rounds between one quarter and one eighth-of-an-inch thick. They dried for about nine hours, and Melissa shut it down about 3 am. They tasted great but had the consistency of a thin Lays potato chip. Still, Melissa and or son, Solomon, took full advantage of their easily accesible location; hence, the empty space on the top rack in the picture.
Thus far, it seems the dryer is doing well. Although it looks as if there isn't too much once dried, we filled one quart jar and about a fifth of another.
Encouraged by the results,we chose to dry all our peaches and what bananas we had left: 2. Unlike the earlier batch, we cut them in one quarter to one half inch slices for uniformity and to keep the bananas from drying too quickly. I'm not convinced that will work out, but this is a challenge, right? Below is the result.
The last picture shows the total gained from the last two days of drying. Last night about 5 pm, the dryer appeared to die. My first thought was "Bloody cheap dryer, figures it would die now!" To our relief, we were wrong. It turns out it will turn itself off if it gets too hot--what a novel idea! * smirking* The peaches lost almost all their thickness but only a shred of their taste, and as we had hoped, the bananas didn't turn out like chips again; in fact, unlike the peaches, they held most of their thickness, but I think they lost a bit more of their flavor.
All in all, this experience was a great success! We learned some very valuable things from this challenge. Preserving food isn't as complicated as one might think, nor is it as time consuming as we expected. Given practice, the proper hardware, and a developed system, a lot more can be done in the same amount of time. With Fall definitly encroaching into summer's territory, it'll be less challenging to make the most of the harvest this year. Thanks a lot Jenny, it's been a real pleasure.
We wish you all the best,
David and Melissa
We sliced each in thin rounds between one quarter and one eighth-of-an-inch thick. They dried for about nine hours, and Melissa shut it down about 3 am. They tasted great but had the consistency of a thin Lays potato chip. Still, Melissa and or son, Solomon, took full advantage of their easily accesible location; hence, the empty space on the top rack in the picture.
Thus far, it seems the dryer is doing well. Although it looks as if there isn't too much once dried, we filled one quart jar and about a fifth of another.
Encouraged by the results,we chose to dry all our peaches and what bananas we had left: 2. Unlike the earlier batch, we cut them in one quarter to one half inch slices for uniformity and to keep the bananas from drying too quickly. I'm not convinced that will work out, but this is a challenge, right? Below is the result.
The last picture shows the total gained from the last two days of drying. Last night about 5 pm, the dryer appeared to die. My first thought was "Bloody cheap dryer, figures it would die now!" To our relief, we were wrong. It turns out it will turn itself off if it gets too hot--what a novel idea! * smirking* The peaches lost almost all their thickness but only a shred of their taste, and as we had hoped, the bananas didn't turn out like chips again; in fact, unlike the peaches, they held most of their thickness, but I think they lost a bit more of their flavor.
All in all, this experience was a great success! We learned some very valuable things from this challenge. Preserving food isn't as complicated as one might think, nor is it as time consuming as we expected. Given practice, the proper hardware, and a developed system, a lot more can be done in the same amount of time. With Fall definitly encroaching into summer's territory, it'll be less challenging to make the most of the harvest this year. Thanks a lot Jenny, it's been a real pleasure.
We wish you all the best,
David and Melissa
Monday, August 30, 2010
Catching Up with Vinegar and Booze
Last week, we expanded our horizons up at our cabin; thus, we missed the vinegar preservation challenge.
However, we'll make up for it this week for whatever it's worth. Last night, we filled two jars with plums and brandy. It wasn't very complicated overall. The organic plums were smaller, and they were a lot harder to pit. As a consequence, we lost more of the meat than we would of liked. In contrast, the second set of plums was easy to pit and went quite smoothly. We chose not to add any sugar to the mix, but we did spice them with cinnamon. We will add some vanilla beans as soon as they arrive in the mail. The whole process took about thirty minutes. We have never tried brandied plums before, so it will be interesting to try one.
For the vinegar challenge, we chose to preserve herbs. Unfortunately, locating organic white vinegar was more difficult than we imagined, so we settled for the basic sort. After picking a handful of Marjoram, Chives, Oregano, and a few sprigs of Parsley, we diced them after removing stems, and then mixed them thoroughly before pouring them into the two jars. Finally warming the vinegar slightly, we topped off each jar and sealed them.
However, we'll make up for it this week for whatever it's worth. Last night, we filled two jars with plums and brandy. It wasn't very complicated overall. The organic plums were smaller, and they were a lot harder to pit. As a consequence, we lost more of the meat than we would of liked. In contrast, the second set of plums was easy to pit and went quite smoothly. We chose not to add any sugar to the mix, but we did spice them with cinnamon. We will add some vanilla beans as soon as they arrive in the mail. The whole process took about thirty minutes. We have never tried brandied plums before, so it will be interesting to try one.
For the vinegar challenge, we chose to preserve herbs. Unfortunately, locating organic white vinegar was more difficult than we imagined, so we settled for the basic sort. After picking a handful of Marjoram, Chives, Oregano, and a few sprigs of Parsley, we diced them after removing stems, and then mixed them thoroughly before pouring them into the two jars. Finally warming the vinegar slightly, we topped off each jar and sealed them.
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