Dinner, Day 2

I really don't know how you vegetarians do it - I've gone 1 day sans meat and I can feel the effects. I can't wait until tomorrow night for stuffed cabbages!

We went to a birthday party, filled with beer and wings and sandwiches. I had spinach salad and potato pancakes - not quite the same. I'm eating more now, as I feel a bit shaky, and eating the left over soup from lucnch as well.

Potato Pancakes with Clover Flour

5-6 small potatoes

2 eggs

clover flour (to consistency)

No real magic here, shredded the potatoes, added 2 eggs and then dumped clover flour (maybe a cup?) in until it was the right consistency. I milled the flour this morning, from the flower heads I traded for on market day. I fried them in the pan using the rendered goose fat, which looks like a delicious little scoop of butter. I remember when I used to eat dairy, back 2 days ago...oh the good old days... I topped them off with a little applesauce.

The salad had New Zealand spinach, cucumbers, a few small tomato bits, oregano, basil, and apricot syrup (made by tossing a pile of apricots into a crock pot and then taking the clear juice off.) The iced tea I made was probably one of the best culinary creations so far, which is to say I'll probably never make it again after this week. But I've made it through 2 days, no cheating yet and I haven't even picked a cheat item!

Lunch, Day 2

Well, I cheated at lunch by using olive oil to cook with. But with no butter and no other way to ensure a good meal out of it, I felt the olive oil was justified. :o)
I made potato pancakes.
I went to mom (Therese) and Sharon's house and dug up some of my Yukon Gold potatoes, grabed a couple sprigs of chives that are growing in my herb garden, threw in a couple cloves of garlic and an egg, and mixed it all together in the food processor... then fried them up in some olive oil. It was the best meal I've had thus far on the challenge, and I still feel satisfied three hours later. Probably because of all the carbs or something, but whatever.
The Yukon Gold potatoes actually make a phenomenal potato pancake... because they're so naturally butter flavored, they do not lack anything when they are plain!

Lunch, Day 2

For lunch today, vegetable soup and a fresh cucumber. I also had one of the veggie patties Sharon made on Thursday.

The soup had turnips, kohlrabi, carrots, summer squash, a few small beets, a handful of corn, and some frozen spinach. Add garlic and various spices as well. I cooked some salted meat in it but removed them for later consumption. My wife said it needed salt, I didn't eat anything with salt in it yesterday so the salt from the meat is almost too much for me.

I've made a tea with linden flowers, mint, and stevia for the afternoon. I've been snacking on soynuts and apricot leather while watching TV, waiting for a party this afternoon.

On a different note Kathy, Jeff, Todd, and I went fishing in the canal last night - mostly a lot of standing around, but Todd caught a nice little catfish. Maybe he'll post pictures :)

Nasturtiums

My friend Michelle shared this article on nasturtiums with me. Both the leaves and blossoms can be used in salads as well as for adding a zesty, peppery seasoning. I know that Kathleen has nasturtiums in her garden. Thought you might like to dry some and save it for use as a winter peppery spice. Here is the link:

www.sallybernstein.com/food/columns/gilbert/nasturtiums.htm

Thanks for sharing Michelle!!!

Day 1 Lovely Lunch Salad

The variety of flavors in my lunch salad was very lovely. I am going to have to test each ingredient to really catch the individual flavors. Here is the ingredient list:

Leaf Lettuce (foraged from Sneelock's garden patch)
Wood Sorrel from the community garden
Dandelion leaves (I think they were the bitter taste)
Squash blossoms
Curly parsley and basil from the village people herb garden in the front yard
Apricots
Lamb's quarter leaves
A few pea pods
One Cherry tomato for color
Chicken (My cheat item of choice for the week)

Followed up by a cup of yummy spearmint tea. All in all, it was a very satisfying lunch. I also went to the doctor's office this morning and weighed myself so I can witness the effect of all of this very healthy eating. I'm very thankful to my wonderful family for participating in (and of course the Demarkracy for suggesting) this great challenge and sharing all of their harvests. You are AWESOME!!!!!!!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

If I were a cow, I'd be set for the challenge, my grasses growing well, enough to satiate my hunger for at least a meal or two. I could live off my abundant bent grasses and moo happily.

Despite my size, I am not a cow, and unfortunately, I'm one of the families who won't be participating in the challenge... this year. I'd put a lot of thought into it, and even planned extensively. There would be weekly harvests of radishes, abundant herbs, carrots, lettuces, corn and potatoes.

While the grasses are healthy and beautiful, you can see by the picture on the left, that I simply don't get enough sunlight in my postage stamp of a yard to even justify an attempt of killing a few thousand seeds that simply don't get enough light. Why? Well, see for yourself the view a plant from my garden would, and you'll see why:

There simply isn't enough straight sunlight in my yard, and even with that slight bit of light filtering through, I very likely wouldn't have been able to grow much of anything that would both sustain and maintain us through the challenge. My cheat item would very likely have become pizza or Giant Eagle or Burger King, not something in the spirit of the challenge. I also cannot justify cutting down this magnificent tree, likely a hundred years old, simply so that I could selfishly grow a garden. Without anywhere to plant three trees to replace the one I'd cut down, my options were unfortunately limited... for this year.

Good luck to Mark, Sharon, Kathy, Terese, Todd, Katelynn, Sarah and Jessica. Wish I could be doing it along side you. But, like we say here in Cleveland: There's always next year!

Day 2 Breakfast

I dreamt of food all night. Cookies, potato chips, and chocolate danced in my head.

This morning, after a brief and torturous journey to the West Side Market to buy honey (for use preserving sour blackberries we've gathered... not to be eaten this week) and seeds to sprout, I needed some breakfast. I had three hard boiled eggs, a few slices of cucumber, and three cherry tomatoes, all sprinkled with sea salt, my one luxury. It was very yummy.

I need to figure out a way to up my calorie intake... pretty much everyone else is eating meat... I'm vegetarian, so that's not an option for me. Sharon and I were discussing this on our way back from the Market, and she suggests that I need to find a way to take in some more fat too, since I have no oils to cook with.
See you at lunch!