Day 2, And All Is Well

Braeakfast was;

1 egg, omelet style, with green onion and cream cheese

Hot apples

Bran cereal with grape butter and milk

Mint Tea

The egg omelet was really good. I expect I will be buying cream cheese more in the future when this challenge ends. I used a 3:1 ratio on the bran cereal, it still needed cooked down some but just for a couple minutes.

Lunch was;

Vegetable soup

Biscotti with cream cheese

Bread and butter pickles

Walnuts with caramel sauce

The walnuts had a few bits of shell, which is always extra annoying to find. The soup was average, I added whole wheat and soy beans to the broth I made some months ago. I don't really remember what was in it exactly, I know there was corn, tomato, turnips, and green beans. The biscotti are a little grueling, they are not quite sweet or crunchy enough.

Dinner was;

Mashed potatoes

Green beans with garlic and tomato

Radish green salad

3 sauerkraut pierogis

Chow-chow relish

The salad consisted of radish greens, radishes, carrots, and fresh tomatoes. I made a dressing from white vinegar, elderberry oil, dried parsley, dried basil, and salt. The radishes have been holding up pretty well in the mild winter. The roots are getting a bit woody but the greens are still good, and not at all hot. It was a good salad.

The green beans were received in trade, they were also good, once a sprinkle of salt was added.

I picked the 4 smallest potatoes, boiled them, added a splash of milk, and mashed them up. They were also quite good.

The weakest link in the dinner were the pierogis. They are a little too thick in the dough department. The middle part is good but the edges are like a job to eat. I will definitely roll them out using the noodle maker next time.

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Family Dinner Night From the Garden

Dinner went well with a combination of foods prepared from fresh ingredients and last year's canned items. I also used some "hypothetical items" we will hopefully have on hand from our small food allowance. Run down of the menu:

Fresh spaghetti squash with canned whole tomatoes, garlic, herbs (mmm! mmm! good!)

Fish broth with egg drops (made from frozen fish and eggs)
Breaded summer squash (fresh yellow squash, ground oats from Mark's garden, other herbs, crushed black walnuts)

Fresh radishes and radish greens

Blackberries and apple sauce (frozen last year)

Chocolate mint tea

Chicory root "coffee"

Pickle soup (canned pickles and its juice, canned tomatoes and its juice and juice from canned green beans, water, fresh veggies) - Actually very good but sour, can only eat it in small portions!
Pickled eggs - 2 fresh eggs soaked for 2 days in pickle juice (some were afraid to try this after the pickle soup but I thoroughly enjoyed them)

Canned green beans sauteed with fresh garlic and tomatoes

Hypothetical apricot bread (canned apricots and fresh eggs along with hypothetical baking ingredients - oil, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) - Mark said this was suspect but broke down and ate it anyway!

What's for Dinner?

Hi All!

I'm starting the post for our community dinner next week. What are you making?

I'm going to make zupa orgokowa which is a polish soup made from sour pickles! It can be a cream base or a tomato base. I am going to round up canned items from last year - pickles and tomatoes and will add in some fresh veggies that are ready by next week. I may also use some of the pickle juice and make a few pickled eggs. We'll see what other creations I can come up with by next week!

Food for The Feast!

Here are my contributions to the feast - bean cakes, polenta with mulberry syrup, and spicy cabbage stir-fry with goose.

The stir-fry was just like the one last night, only I added kohlrabi this time. I used the rest of my garlic and goose in this recipe.

The polenta set up into a nice pudding-like form; it tastes like, well not much like anything, so I figure some mulberry syrup will give it a good flavor.

The bean cakes, we talked about those at lunch. Go look back at it.

I'll be taking a few other raw ingredients along with me, and leaving my corona mill behind for others to use. I cannot describe to you the excitement over this project's conclusion, and my anticipated immersion back into the food mainstream!

Dinner, Day 6

Today's dinner - spicy cabbage stir-fry, goose spinach omelet, cucumbers, and blueberries.

Spicy Cabbage Stir-Fry

1/4 head cabbage

15 green beans

2 cloves garlic

1 dried cayenne pepper

Its just a stir-fry, throw everything in the pan and cook it. Pretty good, this was the first spicy thing I've had this week.

The omelet was just what was in its name - goose, spinach, and egg. I should have just made it part of the stir-fry, it wasn't good by itself and I just ended up mixing it in anyways.

I was still hungry when I finished, I ate a small dish of soybeans. I'm still hungry so I'm going back to make more stir-fry.

Dinner, Day 5

Tonight for dinner there is shredded goose with au jus, pan fried summer squash, roasted garlic, and a small salad. Oh, and iced tea.

The au jus was made by saving the pan drippings from yesterday in the fridge. The fat collects on the top when it is cold, and you can carefully pour the juice out from underneath it. It was not only good, it was decadent.

The summer squash was pan fried with a dusting of cornmeal. I used the fat left over from the au jus as described above.

The roasted garlic was a complete disappointment. The bad recipe I used told me to cook it covered in a muffin pan for 35-40 mins on 400 degrees. This burnt it and it all tasted terrible. BOOOO. There goes a good chunk of my garlic reserves, fortunately I still have enough for the next 2 days.

The salad was just a bunch green salad with cucumbers and the last of my uncooked apricots. I'm still a little hungry, I have some snack mix (dried mulberries, walnuts, dried apricots, soynuts) that I am going to nurse for the rest of the evening.

Dinner, Day 4

Beautiful, isn't she? This was the half-goose I have been saving, all roasted up nice.

Sharon left a sprout bread for me at Kathy's along with a few samples of the deserts she made - as a result I was able to make stuffing for the bird as well. Why do some people call it 'dressing'?

Half Roast Goose with Apple Stuffing

1/2 goose (approximately 3 lbs uncooked)

sprout bread

3 cloves garlic

1 small onion

1/8 summer squash

goose oil

1 egg

1/2 small apple

finely chop garlic, onion, and squash, then sautee in oil. add to mixing bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes (dont' want to cook the egg.) Add egg, mix. Add sprout bread and chopped apple. Mix well, stuff in bird (which is why it is called stuffing. You don't make a dress for the bird, you stuff it.) Cook bird for 20 mins per pound of meat at 350 degrees.

I actually cooked it for about 70 minutes to be extra safe. It smelled fantastic when it came out of the oven. The texture of the stuffing was a bit different but the taste was spot on.

I made a gravy using the goose blood. It came out well but didn't have the best flavor - but it did give me a solid bit of insight as to how to use this meal corn to thicken sauces, soups, etc. The first day I made a stew and just dumped the cornmeal right in, which worked somewhat but I had all those mealy bits of corn floating around in the stew. Tonight I took some sifted cornmeal and poured water into it. I then stirred it vigorously to dissolve all the starch into the water, then carefully poured the water into the gravy pan. All the heavy bits of corn stayed in the bottom of the cup.

I spent some time after dinner stripping the carcass of all its meat. I saved pretty much everything, I figure if I get desperate by the end of the week I can use the bones and whatnot in a hearty soup.

Dinner, Day 1

I'm taking dinner on the road tonight - Jessica has a family obligation (which will include dinner) and I am meeting the Jacksons for some food fun in the park.

Here is dinner day 1 - squirrel stew, corn cakes, and plums.

Squirrel Stew

Meat from a squirrel (rib section, doesn't include legs)

2 carrots

1 potato

sage leaf

marjoram

1/4 cup meal corn, cooked

1/4 cup soybeans, cooked

1-1/2 pints water

cornflour

Put water in pot, add vegetables and meat on medium heat. Cook until the potatoes are soft; mix cornflour in a small cup of water, turn burner up to high and add cup to pot. stir while heating, allowing the stew to thicken.

I always cheat when I make stew and add cornstarch to thicken it, since the starch is some part of the cornmeal I just added it all.

The soybeans and cooked corn were leftover examples from market day last night, I might as well add them to something.

The corn cakes were made using sage and basil and adding an egg to the recipe this morning - I used a lot less water too.