CHRISTmas Menu 09

This year our CHRISTmas dinner rocked. It was the first time I'd tried brining a turkey, and every.single.thing I made this year was from scratch. In past years I've always had a box or 3 (or 5 or 6) of something I could "just add XXX" to or open & pour/heat/slice. Since changing our eating habits in January of this year, it was a huge undertaking. I made the pumpkin pie almost a week before & popped it in the freezer. CHRISTmas Eve I made almost all my other dishes, so I could just pop things into the oven, crockpot or in a pan on the stovetop as needed.

Here is what we had (Please excuse the picture quality. I got a camcorder for CHRISTmas & decided to use that instead of my "real" still shot camera for these. The camcorder has no flash option):

Brined Turkey (We tried the traditional turkey this year)
Mashed potatoes
Cornbread Stuffing & Brussel Sprouts with Bacon & Onions

Corn
Sweet Potato Casserole
Cranberry Apple Orange Relish (Which I don't have a picture of)

Gravy (made with pan dripping & my homemade chicken stock)
Dinner rolls

I also made peppermint iced tea to drink &

pumpkin pie with oatmeal crust.
Friends brought deviled eggs from their own chickens, "puppy chow" (chex mix sort of thing) & blueberry baklava (YUM!!!).

I had a GREAT time cooking all this stuff. I can't wait to get a "real" turkey for next year. This year I just could not afford a pastured turkey. But next year I will.... somehow. Baby Steps.

Hope your CHRISTmas was blessed & that you were stuffed to the gills & beyond like we were!!

To be continued....

Blogging will resume after the new year.

Have a very Merry CHRISTmas & a happy new year!

Another fantastic giveaway at ASR

Check it out.

(And I'll get back to blogging soon, I promise)

Menu 12/6-12/12

Lunch ideas served with elderberry "juice":

• Cream of chicken soup & croutons, carrot sticks,
• Cheese, sourdough crackers, dried fruit
  
• Pasta with cheese & veggies
• Fried potatoes thins topped with chili & cheese

Sunday

B- Toasted Amish friendship bread with butter, fruit, orange juice
L/D- Potato soup, biscuits, fruit & veggie tray, iced chocolate hazelnut tea & elderberry "juice"
S- Carob brownies, carrot sticks & dip

Monday

B- Oatmeal with fruit, hot tea
D- Orange rosemary chicken, rice, salad, iced chocolate hazelnut tea
S- Sourdough bread with sweetened labneh, yoghurt parfaits

Tuesday

B- Oats sweetened with banana, hot carob drink
D- Broiled kabobs- beef, peppers, onions, tomatoes, squash, oven fries, sourdough bread, iced coconut chai
S- Trail mix, clementines

Wednesday

B- Eggs, fruit smoothies, hot tea
D- Deer steak, mashed potatoes, carrots cooked in broth, sourdough bread,
S- Banana ice "cream," hot butternut squash cocoa

Thursday

B- Waffles or pancakes, fruit topping, orange juice
D- Breakfast for dinner- eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit salad
S- Mini pancakes dipped in sweetened yoghurt, apple slices

Friday

B- Hashbrown potatoes & carrot, hot tea
D- Finger foods- meatballs, cheese, fried potato thins, fruit & veggie tray, hot chicken bites
S- Pretzel sticks & cheese cubes, yoghurt parfaits

Saturday

B- Tortilla de patata, fruit smoothies
D- Tequila lime grilled chicken
S- black bean burger patties, peanut butter smoothies

Menu 11/29-12/5

Lunches, as usual, will consist of leftovers &/or easy stuff. I'm also doing a 3-day detox, so my menu for Wed, Thu & Fri is listed below.

Breakfasts:

Sunday- Bananas & organic granola bars

Monday- Fruit & smoothies

Tuesday- Steel cut oats topped with choice(s) of dried cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, etc.

Wednesday- Soaked oats made with coconut milk topped with choice(s) of dried cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, etc.

Thursday- 4-grain hot cereal topped with choice(s) of dried cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, etc.

Friday- Amish friendship bread, fruit

Saturday- Eggs, deer sausage, coconut fruit salad, waffles

Dinners:

Sunday- Dinner with friends

Monday- BBQ baked ribs, mashed potatoes,baked beans, spinach salad

Tuesday- Spaghetti, garlic biscuits, spinach salad

Wednesday- Potato soup, spinach salad, rolls

Thursday- Fried chicken chunks, rice pilaf, corn

Friday- Pizza & a veggie tray

Saturday- Fried catfish for the boys & I, bison steak for Hubba, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, biscuits

Day 1:

B- 1 cup oats made with milk, sweetened with banana, 1 cup tea

L- Lentils & rice (2 cups= 1 c each lentils, rice), steamed carrots, water

S- banana "ice cream"

D- Hummus with veggies, rice, 4 egg whites, iced herbal tea

S- Smoothie: 6oz yoghurt, 1 banana, 1 carrot, 1 T ground flax seed

Day 2:

B- Juicer juice, yoghurt sweetened with fruit & flax seed, 4 egg whites

L- Congee with roasted veggies, 1 cup milk

S- Oatmeal, yoghurt, fruit parfait

D- Sweet potato fries, Black bean burgers, salad with sprouts & oil & vinegar, roasted garlic, 1 cup tea

S- 1 cup milk blended with vanilla, cinnamon & banana

Day 3:

B- Rice cereal (with 1 cup rice), sweetened with banana, 1 cup tea

L- Omelet with 4 egg whites,

S- Oatmeal muffins

D- Fried rice (1 cup rice) with veg, 1 egg white, steamed broccoli

S- Oatmeal muffins

Kitchens Gone Wild Carnival 11-30-2009

Here are the rules....

Post about what's gone wild in your kitchen this past week on your blog.

Come back here & leave the title of your post/subject of your post & the link to your post in the cool little linky gadget below.

Leave a comment.

Grab the code and add it to your blog.



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Kitchens Gone Wild 11-30-2009

My Kombucha will be "harvested" today. I have the usual sourdoughs going. It was a busy week(end) last week(end), and all I really have new for you this week is deer. Yup, deer. I got a call from my friend on Saturday & asked if I was ready to learn how to cut up deer. He knew I'd been wanting to learn, so he was able to salvage 2 hindquarters, since the hunters managed to some how hang them wrong & mess up the front ends..... Yesterday I donned clothes that I don't care about & went & cut..... and peeled..... and cut..... and LEARNED how to process whitetail hindquarters. It was tedious to me, as I've never done it before, and I'm happy that he broke me in "easy." Next year I'll learn how to process a deer, beginning with breaking the whole animal down. I'm chuffed with all this!!!

This morning I fried up the leftovers for the chickens. It was scrap that landed on the counters from the meat griner, that I swiped into a baggie. I mixed it with some other leftovers & cut up 3 mini0pumpkins (from my own garden) for them. Boy do they LOVE pumpkins!!! And pumpkins (seeds) are a natural wormer for chickens, so they win. I win.


Out of my hindquarter I got 11+ pounds of steaks & stew meat (only one baggie was stew meat), and I got a smidge over 9 pounds of ground. A little over 20 pounds of meat went into my freezer today! YUM!!!!!







What's gone wild in YOUR kitchen this past week?

Mini Tote Bags

I can't hold this in any longer! I'm making mini-tote bags. I've got 3 in the works today as we speak. A couple are like the butterfly one pictured below. I'm also working on a scooby-doo one. I'm hoping they'll be launched on Barefoot Denim by tonight. I want to get 5 finished today. These are my "stock" photos...

From the comments

Danielle asked:

What's up with the fermenting ketchup? recipe? and the why behind it, please?

Fermenting ketchup is just another sneaky way to get probiotics into the kids. Almost any fermented food is a health benefit, and since my kids love ketchup, I figured why not? The recipe is linked in the original post I mentioned it in. Just click on "fermented ketchup" where you'll be taken to Kelly's blog (great blog, by the way!).

I hope this answers your questions. Thanks for stopping by!!

Menu 11/22-11/28

Dinners only this week. Lunches, as usual, will consist of leftovers &/or easy stuff. Breakfast will be oats a bunch this week.

Breakfast oats ideas: Wardeh's Rich Soaked Oatmeal (HT to Millie for this link), muesli, Super Creamy Crockpot Oats, basic soaked oats, granola with soaked oats & raw milk, etc.

Dinners:

Sunday- Thanksgiving dinner at the church

Monday- Fish for the kids & I, bison steak for Hubba, mashed potatoes, corn, fried onions

Tuesday- Meatloaf, mac n cheese, peas

Wednesday- Pork sirloin, brown rice & gravy, green beans

Thursday- (Thanksgiving): Dinner at friends' house.

Friday- Pizza & a veggie tray

Saturday- Chicken, glazed carrots, wild rice

Kitchens Gone Wild Carnival 11-23-2009

Here are the rules....

Post about what's gone wild in your kitchen this past week on your blog.

Come back here & leave the title of your post/subject of your post & the link to your post in the cool little linky gadget below.

Leave a comment.

Grab the code and add it to your blog.



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Kitchens Gone Wild 11-23-2009

What a wild past few weeks!I was blessed with dairy kefir grains & they seemed to have taken off in just a couple of days! I'm about to start them in raw milk instead of organic, so we'll see how that goes. Here is my beautiful new brew and some kefir cheese I made! I tried the cheese on some banana bread & it is DELISH!!!




This past week I was able to get 8 quarts of kombucha. A little less than I usually do, but I've got 3 gallons going now & will hopefully do at least 4 gallons next go round. My sourdoughs are still thriving, but I haven't been able to bake as of late. I also haven't gotten my WKG back out yet, but I have been sending WKG & dried sourdough out all over the country! That's been almost as much fun as fermenting things myself!!! *grin*

I also tried my hand at sprouts. The broc sprouts did well, but, to be honest, we just don't like them. I'm not giving up hope, though, and I will try again. In other sprouts, however, we love the lentil sprouts. They taste like a cross between raw peanuts & snap peas to me. Definitely doing these babies again!!!




I also decided to try something new this week & am going for fermented ketchup. Next week, I'll be able to update how is it & how it goes with the kids.




And last but not least, definitely wild, but unexpected in this post, I'm sure.....



We hatched a moth. The boys caught it, put it in a jar in the kitchen, where I moved it to the rack so it wouldn't get knocked over. The very next day it had already cocooned itself. 2 weeks later and a beautiful moth appeared!!!

And another

ASR is having another fantastic giveaway. I still recommend reading the whole blog (well, maybe not in one sitting).

Giveaway @ Adventures In Self Reliance

Adventures in Self Reliance is offering a foodsaver giveaway. Jump over to not only read about & enter the giveaway, but to read the blog. It has some fantastic information.

I've launched my shoppe

I've been working on a little project for quite some time now. It was actually supposed to be open for business about 14 months ago, but we moved cross country & that was nixed. Anyhoo, I make aprons & tote bags, mainly. The name of my new adventure is Barefoot Denim, and it consists of mostly reused/recycled/rescued items.

I do hope you'll grab a cuppa tea & stop by!

How to puree butternut squash

Now that you've roasted your butternut squash, it's time to make puree. Puree can be used for a number of things- "mashed" with butter like potatoes, sneaking into foods for picky eaters or making butternut squash soup.



Using a spoon, scoop the flesh out of your butternut squash shell.


Dump the flesh into your blender or food processor. Add a couple of teaspoons of water to begin (you may need to add more as you blend/process).


Once you've got the bulk of the squash flesh out, gently scrap the rest from the peel.


Blend your butternut squash puree, adding water as needed for about a minute & a half to 2 minutes.

Look at the beauty.......


It knows it's beautiful.......


In all of its glory......

From here you may freeze in portions, or move directly onto your recipe. Happy autumn!

How to roast butternut squash

Get thee an organic butternut squash!

Preheat your oven to 400º.


Back to the squash. Cut off the stem end.


Cut your squash in half. Be careful as these babies are not easy to cut.


Using a spoon, scoop & scrape the seeds & guts out (this reminds me of carving a pumpkin!!).


All nice & clean & ready for the oven......


Lay your butternut squash flesh side down onto a baking tray. Butternut squash likes to sweat as they bake, so be sure your pan has a raised edge.



Into your preheated oven they go for 40-50 minutes.


They get beautiful-er & beautiful-er..... When they are ready, the flesh will be easily pierced with a fork, and the skins will take on a browned & wrinkled look.


WOW! Look at that bright orange roasted flesh. Yum!


Set them aside to cool.