Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 8/9/12

Well still about the only thing going in the freezer is meat that I am buying.  Those chicken breasts I bought last week for $1.99 a pound made 19 meals for the 2 of us so just a little over $2 a meal for protein.

Also got a good buy on both whole pork loins and whole eye of the round for $1.99.  Two loins about 20 pounds made 10 meals of pork chops and 4 pork roasts that will probably be at least 2 meals each or they might end up as sausage or Canadian bacon.  Still the meal will be less than $3.

The Whole eye of the round was cut into 8 roasts.  Most will be made into corned beef over the winter and maybe on with will roasted and sliced thin for sandwiches for DB's lunch.  Again less than $3 for 2 for a meal.

I did actually have something make it from seed to produce to freezer however.

Broccoli blanched, froze on a cookie sheet then put into a foodsaver resealable bag.  As I harvest I will continue to add to this bag until it is full.  Then I am able to take out what I need for a meal and reseal and vacuum the bag.  Dave it you haven't tried these, I love them.  I do put the bag into a freezer ziplock bag however as they don't say they are freezer bags.  I also store all my cheese in the refrigerator in these once they are opened.  I wrap the cheese in wax paper as they say once opened cheese should never touch plastic.

Wednesday is ground beef sale day here.  Not much of a sale but better than the regular price.  Made beef jerky for DB since he has to have protein for 2 snacks a day.  Each stick is equivalent to 1 oz. of meat.  Made them look like slim jims for him this time.  These just go in the refrigerator.

Don't forget to check with our host The Gardener of Eden and see what others are squirreling away for winter.

Harvest Monday 8/6/12

As far as harvest is concerned, things haven't changed here much except I took the time today and went back and check last years records.  Other than zucchini, green beans and cucumbers which I got planted very late what I have been harvesting is exactly what I was harvesting last year.  How short our memories are.

2 3/4 oz green pepper, 3 5/8 oz celery and 4 3/8 ox carrots

9 1/2 oz tomatoes.  The Patio tomatoes are preforming quite well although I was hoping they would get a little bigger.  Some that are still green seem to be bigger.

No that is not one head of broccoli but 2 12 7/8 oz.  The are bolting due to the heat before they are very big.

More basil 8 1/2 oz

Just a little look at the plots which are doing well.

King of the North bell peppers

Aisle onions really showing promise

Paprika peppers (thanks Robin)

Celery a real nice treat for me to see.

Don't forget to visit our host Daphne's Dandelions and see what everyone else is harvesting.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 8/2/12

I seems so good to be able to actually participate in Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard with produce used from the garden.  Thursday night I had a friend visiting from Canada who is accustom to dining in the many fine restaurants in Montreal so really had to put my chef's hat on and kick it into gear.

We started off dinner with a caprese salad make with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden.

Twice baked potatoes were on the menu and included fresh chive from the garden.

The entree was a grilled London Broil of course not from the garden but from a great buy I got on a whole top round which weighed 30 pounds.  The cost per pound after trimming and cutting was $3.70 a pound which around here is a darn good price.  In the waste was 3 pounds of suet for my birds this winter which I didn't include in the actual usable poundage and final cost per pound.  There was bordelais sauce also to go with the meat that had onion and thyme from the garden.

Dinner was rounded out with a creme brulee.  Total cost for the dinner was about $12 excluding the wine.  The best part is there were enough leftovers for a repeat dinner for DB and me so it actually was a meal for 4.

With another meal this week had a fresh green pepper.

Chicken with broccoli stir fry was also on the menu this week.  This included carrots, broccoli, green pepper, onions and celery from the garden.

Broccoli including the stalk which I use in place of water chestnuts

Onions, carrots, green pepper and celery cut and ready to stirfry.

Served over rice.

Of course you can't waste the celery leaves.  They were dried for later use.

Another night we had caprese salad and open face broiled cheese with fresh tomatoes and onions.

Also was able to get boneless chicken breast on sale this week.  They will be packaged into meal size portions but don't know the cost per meal until I get them packaged but should be around $2 for the protein for a dinner for 2.

Last night we had beef burgundy made with onions and thyme from the garden over noodles.  Cost for 2 was around $4 and there is more than enough left for me for a dinner one night when DB isn't home or froze for a TV dinner for him some night when I am not here to eat.

All in all it was a good week for eating from the garden and also getting on track with my personal goal of eating nutritiously and on budget.

Bordelaise Sauce
2T butter
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2-3 slices of carrot
3 tsp fresh thyme
1 sprig of parsley
6 pepper corns
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
4 T flour
1 quart of fresh beef stock reduced to 2 cups
2/3 C of burgundy wine

Saute first 9 ingredients until tender.  Sprinkle flour into vegetables and stir to combined.  Cook the flour for about 2 minutes, stir in beef stock and simmer for 10 minutes.  Strain and discard vegetables and herb, add wine and salt and pepper to taste.  Return to heat and simmer another 5 minutes.

I have also made this for pork substituting pork stock.

Don't forget to visit our host,The Gardener of Eden, and see what other are cooking from their gardens, putting up for winter and maybe share a favorite recipe.

Monday Harvest 7/30/12

Things are starting to come in in drips and drabs.  It seems like forever to me since so many here are having such great harvests.  Actually if I look back in my journal everything is just about on time, I am just impatient.

7 3/4 # of bush beefsteak tomatoes

Basil 2 1/2 oz chive 3/4 oz

More basil 7 1/4 oz

First broccoli 8 3/4 oz

2 more Bush Beefsteak tomatoes 5 7/8 oz  One of these was sacrificed for next years seed.  They are fermenting on the cupboard now.

First green pepper King of the North 3 7/8 oz  Hoping they get a little bigger

Pulled all of the onions that I had put in from sets.  The tops were pretty much laying on the ground and dieing.  These filled a 16 qt basket.  Will weigh when the are cured and cleaned.

Don't forget to visit out host, Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others are harvesting.

Monday's Harvest 7/23/12

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!! I have a harvest.  Maybe I will get to fill those baskets yet.

 My first tomato.  It is a Bush Beefsteak grown in a pot so not as big as they are suppose to get. 3 3/8oz.

 Went to get a few small potatoes from the volunteers to make salt potatoes.  Boy was I surprised.  This is 2 plants.  3 lbs 7 5/8 oz. of reds and 1 lb. 14 3/4 oz.of kenebec.

 My one and only Tom Thumb Baby Bibb lettuce. 3 1/2 oz.

 Detroit Red short top beets  14 1/4 oz.

 The tops were still tender of 7 3/8 of greens.

And of course my ever faithful onions from sets 1 lb 2 3/4 oz.

Check out our host,Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others have harvested this week.

Monday's Harvest

Well still not much shaking here in the form of a harvest except the weeds.  However I am still pulling a few onions as I need them to eat.

These are from the sets I bought that were just marked yellow onions.  They are quite mild but a bit tough.  These 6 weighed in at 1 lb. 5 oz.

The patio tomatoes are doing real well even though no ripe ones yet but counted about 80 tomatoes and they are still setting.

However, I do have great expectations for a big harvest this year so bought myself some new gathering baskets.

Please visit our host,Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others are harvesting.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 7/12/12

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.  This is an extremely busy time here on the mountain.  So much to do and I guess I don't have the energy I had in my early 60's so it takes a lot longer.

Have been having a difficult time sticking with my personal challenge with the low food budget and high quality meals.  Besides the cost of food especially meat on the rise and my DB now being on a special diet and eats 6 times a day and all 6 meals have to have protein.  Have made some good buys this week however.  Was able to buy a whole top round for $2.71 a pound which is cheaper than I can buy ground meat around here by quite a bit.  Still have to butcher that yet.  It will be cut into thick steaks for London Broil and beef stir fry.  There will also be some for stew meat and or ground beef.  It weighs 29# so there will be lots of meals in it for the 2 of us.  The only draw back of buying meat that way is you pay for more fat than you would at the supermarket.  However it will not go to waste.  Some will be used for the ground meat since the meat itself is very lean and the rest will be frozen for the birds next winter.

Also got a good by yesterday on 1/2 loins of center cut pork.  Bought 2 of them which made 10 meals of boneless pork chops for the 2 of us plus 4 1/2 # of meat to make my next batch of breakfast sausage which will be soon.  I have pork fat in the freezer to add to it as when I do Canadian bacon all fat is removed before brining so have it available for making sausage with the poor ends of a loin.

One day a week ground beef is on sale here but still over $3 a pound so yesterday was the day.  Made 2# into meatballs that are headed for the freezer this morning.  8 meals.

Also made a pound of the ground meat into jerky for DB's snacks that he has to have.  Here it is ready for the dehydrator.  I don't actually have a recipe for it but make a pound at a time.  Add a good quantity of Goyea Adobo seasoning and soy sauce.  Mix it up and let it sit in the refrig overnight then put it into the dehydrator.  He loves it and it gives him both a protein and a fat for one of his snacks.

Have a big pot of spaghetti sauce on cooking and did at least use something from my garden.  My onions are doing great and am pulling a few as I need them now so into the spaghetti sauce they went.

Another expense I am struggling with is no time to bake so haven't been making bread.  My bread now cost me more even to make since the whole grain flours are quite a bit more expensive but have been buying the bread and around here it goes for about $4 a loaf.  Double what I can buy white bread for and fewer slices.  I do use the light bread some which is 1/2 the carbs per slice.  Has anyone ever seen a recipe where you can make that bread yourself?

Don't forget to stop by our host,  The Gardener of Eden, of Thurdays's kitchen cupboard and see who else has a recipe to share or what they are stocking in their freezer or pantry for the winter from their garden.

Harvest Monday 7/8/12

Yesterday as I weeding the big vegetable garden I was thinking.  What am I going to post for Harvest Monday since I haven't harvested anything and nothing is going to be ready in the near future.  My mind as a tendency to wonder when I weed.  It is very quiet except for the sound of my water feature which I can hear from the garden.  As I worked I had an amusing thought about all that I have harvested this week.

Now you have to understand to even consider farming in the middle of the wilderness, on recovered forest land only 4 years ago and on top of it in zone 4 that you need to have some sort of warped sense of humor.  I have actually been having a heavy harvest for almost 2 weeks now.

Yep that trail is loaded with almost nothing but grass from my vegetable gardens.  I can't get a lawn to grow but my gardens seem to be a place where it thrives here.  Maybe I should try planting vegetable in my lawn and I would get better grass.

Yep and those are rock.  As I weed I also harvest rocks.  You will find piles of these all over my garden waiting to be picked up and hauled off to some better use.  Maybe some day in my second life I will be able to put a tomato cage in the ground without several tries and without the wires looking like they got run over by a Mac truck.

 Volunteer tomatoes.  Have no idea what kind but they are now in the weed bucket

 These are a large Italian paste plum tomato that I call DI after the gentleman that shared the seed with me.  They were given to his family many years ago by an Italian neighbor who had brought the seed directly from Italy.  This are from seed I saved last year.  Also my struggling brussels sprouts.  There are also some volunteer potatoes and I haven't actually planted potatoes there in 2 years.

 Shelling beans that I saved seed from last year.

 Jersey Giant another large Italian Paste Plum tomato original seed from Bakers Creek that I collect every year.

Russet potatoes a bit spotty.

I am seriously thinking of planting my potatoes this fall at least a few since the volunteers seed to do so well each year and try a little experiment with planting a few tomatoes the same way.

Be sure to visit our host of Harvest Monday, Daphne's Dandelions, and see how others gardens are doing.

Harvest Monday 07/02/12

Well still not harvesting anything but looks like there may be hope in the future.

Volunteer potatoes.  I thought I got them all out when I turned the soil this spring but apparently not.  This was where I planted the 40 strawberry plants this spring that didn't make it.

Please visit our host, Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others have growing.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

It has been a long couple of months on the home front sort of learning to cook all over again.  My DB has been put on a whole grain diet which I am not used to.  Have spent a lot of time trying new recipes etc. to find ones I am satisfied with.  Our food bill has changed due to his now food requirements for his diet so haven't even been keeping track of how I am doing on the personal challenge.

Thanks to King Arthur I found what I think is a very good whole wheat bread which is much to long to type here but will give you the link.

Whole wheat sandwich-bread-recipe
Sorry this is the wrong recipe but will leave it here.  The one I actually use is
classic whole wheat bread

I do however substitute one cup of AP flour for one cup of whole wheat.

  

Please stop by our host The Gardener of Eden , and see what others are adding to their cupboards or using from them.

Harvest Monday 06/25/12

Good morning.  It has been so long since I was here can't remember how to do things.

Garden is slow to do anything.  We have had so much rain and cool temperatures that nothing is in a hurry to grow.  Do have all the garden planted except the green beans.  Am building a new raised bed for them which I had hoped to get done today but weather doesn't look like it is going to cooperate.

Do have a few pictures however.

 The 2 plots at the community garden are doing quite well.  This one is King of the North Bell peppers and Brussels Sprouts

 This is a shot from the other end.  Celery next to the Brussels Sprouts then beets that are just coming up.  The ones in the way back were planted earlier the Paprika Peppers (thanks Robin)  They are just starting to look like something.

 This is the other bed.  In the far back are onions from sets then onion plants I started from seed both Alisa and stuttgarter.  Next is Mung Beans.  Think I forgot to put seed in one hill thus the empty spot then carrots that were just germination.

 Normally in all summer this is as big as my onions get so looks like I should have a good crop.

My one harvest.  These weighed in at 1/4#.

 These are some of my patio tomatoes Bush Beefsteak taken May 30th

 A couple of weeks later including the one below

June 24th

New 50 root asparagus bed.  Not completely sure how many made it but at least 35.  More may still be coming up.

Please stop by Daphne's Dandelions, to see what others are harvesting.