Inventory

This morning I decided to take a good inventory of what I have. I was surprised by how much I have amassed! Here goes;

Dry/Canned Goods;

Pickles 2 half pints, 4 pints +1 open pint

Relish 2 half pints, 1 quarter pint +1 open quarter pint

Blackberry Jam - 2 half pints +1 open half pint

Grape Jelly - 1 half pint

Grape Butter - 8 half pints

Elderberry Preserves - 1 half pint

Whole Peeled Tomatoes - 1 quart, 1 pint, 1 half pint

Tomato Sauce - 2 quarts +1 open quart, 1 pint, 1 half pint

Summer Squash - 1 quart, 3 pints, 3 half pints

Apples in Light Syrup - 2 pints +1 open pint

Dry Beans - 1lb

White Vinegar - 1 quart

Maple Sugar - 1-3/4 lbs

White Sugar - 2 lbs

Salted Fish - 2 oz

Wheat Flour 3-3/4 lbs

Corn Flour - 3 lbs

Corn Meal - 8 lbs

Wheat Bran - 6 lbs

Hickory Nuts - 1 oz

Elderberry Oil - 2 tbs

Dry Noodles - 1 lb

Black Walnuts 1-3/4 lbs

Raisins - 1/2 lb

Maple Syrup - 12oz

Apricot 'Almonds', 2 oz

Basswood nuts, small container

Perishables/Prepared Foods

'Fresh' Tomatoes (those few tiny ones that didn't rot) 3 oz

Walnut Carmel Sauce - small container

Walnut Butter - small container

Soybeans - soaking (Will be gone by lunch)

Wheat Bread 1/2 loaf

Tomato Soup Stock (will also be gone by lunch)

Potatoes, 1-1/4 lbs

Green Onions (or are they leeks?), 2 small

Yeast, 3 oz

Cream Cheese, 3 oz

Rose Hips Spread, 4 oz

Onions w/ oil, small container

Carrots, 1/4 lb

Pierogis, 2-3/4 lbs

Frozen Goods

Whole Rose Hips, 3 oz

Wheat Bread, frozen loaves 2 (12 oz each)

Sweet Corn, 1/2 lb

Eggs, about 8 dozen

Tomatoes, 1 lb

Baby Corns, small bag

Lemon, 1

Catfish, 14 oz

Melons, 1-3/4 lbs

Grape Juice, roughly 30 oz

Spaghetti Sauce, 8 oz

Pea Pods, 1 oz

Carrots, 1 oz

Apple Sauce, 1-1/2 lbs

Freezer Kraut, 1-1/4 lbs

Green Beans, Tomatoes, and Garlic 1-1/4 lbs

Freezer Pickles, 1/4 lb

Apricot Sauce, 1 Pint

Basswood Greens, 1 lb

Mulberries, 1-1/2 lbs

Spices

Curry

Mint

Rosemary

Parsley

Basil

Marjoram

Thyme

Stevia

Coriander Seeds

Chives

Garlic 9 oz

Dried Chicory Root 8 oz

Salt 26 oz

Everything I Eat Is The Same Color - Brown.

I prepared a small dinner since lunch was so late - 4 pierogis, a nut butter & rose hips spread sandwich, chow-chow relish, and mint tea.

The pierogis were made with Sharon yesterday - filled with cream cheese and potatoes.

The bread is the same as previously mentioned. I have 2 frozen loaves yet to bake in the freezer. The bread is pretty crumbly at this point. The nut butter is ground black walnuts and a little maple sugar.  The rose hips spread I made by putting a bunch of rose hips in a blender with water, then straining the contents. I then decanted the water off the top a few days later and added sugar.

The chow-chow relish was acquired in trade from the Jacksons. It is a bit like sweet relish but with carrots in it among other things. I was going to put it on the peirogis but it seems to be a fine stand-alone little salad.

The mint tea has also had a previous mention. 

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A Really Late Lunch

Sharon and I made noodles last night. I put all mine in a plastic bag and chucked them in the fridge when I got home last night. They all clumped up so I had to rework them all. I came in for lunch at about 2:30, and didn't get done until almost 5.

Today's lunch, I'll still call it that since I still plan to eat later, consisted of;

Linguine with tomato basil sauce

Garlic bread

Hot apples w/maple sugar

1/2 cup grape juice

Let me just comment that,thus far, everything in this challenge is fantastic in comparison to the last one. I had probably 2 or 3 meals in the last challenge I would call good.  The rest of the time eating was a chore.

To start, I overcooked the noodles. Not the end of the world, they were a bit mushy but still palatable. They were made from wheat flour, water, and egg. The sauce I had canned earlier this year, it is comprised of tomatoes, garlic, basil, and salt. We pressure canned it and it looked a little runny in the jar. I did have to cook it down some but it turned out fine.

Sharon and I baked the bread last night, the garlic from a forage in early summer. I peeled the garlic, put it into an egg pan, and then just laid the slices of bread on top.

I canned the apples in light syrup some time in the fall, I don't remember if I picked them myself or traded for them. The maple sugar came from our project last march at the Lohman's.

The grape juice was from grapes I got in trade from my mom. She gave me way more than I had expected and I ended up juicing some of them.

On a side note, I have made a new press cylinder for extracting oil and juice from rose hips. I blew the screen out with too much pressure twice already, but it does work! It is pretty cold out in the shop and I have had the rose hips in the freezer so the oil comes out like butter. Once I brought it into the house it melted away from the berry essence and into the bottom of the cup.

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Dinner: Day 1

Wheat noodles and pasta sauce

Mark admits to overcooking the noodles. Needless to say they were soggy. The taste of the pasta sauce was was pretty ok. There were tomato skins and seeds still in the sauce giving it an unpleasant texture.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was raised on Prego. Anything that deviates too far from that recipe will always be strange to me.

Breakfast: Day 1

1 frozen egg, scrambled

I had doubts that a frozen egg would taste like anything other than mush, but I was pleasantly surprised. I would eat this again.

Maple Walnut Biscotti

Much to soft to be called biscotti. More like maple walnut bread cut into the shape of biscotti. Didn't like this so much.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I don't like anything wheat. The only time I ever eat wheat is when I'm dieting (aka miserable). Wheat bread, wheat noodles etc. I find to be bland and a chore to eat (unless the texture and flavor is completely masked by whatever the wheat paired with).

Let The Games Begin!

I intend to post just once a day for the bulk of this project, but as the kick-off is today i'll be posting every meal.

Sharon and I were baking and cooking for about 5 hours yesterday. We came up with a variety of prepared foods to give us a good push into this first week.

The last challenge started with a 3 day long headache from caffeine withdrawal. I stopped drinking any caffeine 3 days ago so I hope my conversion into this new diet will be a little less jarring. 

Breakfast today consists of;

Hot bran cereal

Maple walnut biscotti with maple carmel sauce

Wheat bread with blackberry jam

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Mint tea

Chicory

Jessica also had an egg and 1/2 biscotti. 

I had read that you can use either salt or honey to stabilize yolks for freezing. I can tell you for certain that sugar is not a viable substitute. I did my best 'scrambled in pan' impression. It doesn't look great but it tastes fine.

I made the bran cereal like rice - bring the water to a boil, then add the grain and cover for 18 mins. There was still a little water in it at that point so I turned up the heat and stirred it until it was thick. It came out pretty well, though it is cold now since I am posting this instead of enjoying my breakfast. It tastes quite a bit better than any bran flake type cereal.

The biscotti and bread were both baked last night at Sharon's.  The maple carmel sauce was my failed attempt at making pralines - it still tastes awesome but didn't set up into candies. We probably would have benefitted to have a thermometer instead of having to guess.

The jam came in a trade from the Jacksons. The mint for the tea came from Mom's garden. I had dried the chickory early this year.

With some of our last few store dollars (our family started with $13) I bought a gallon of milk ($2.59) and a half pound of cream cheese ($1.) We have $1.20 left in the piggy bank for this challenge.

Breakfast is the easiest meal to make 'normal', the only thing I find annoying are the occasional bits of grit in the food - little stems, the occasional bit of shell, etc. We shall see what lunch brings!

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DAY 1 MEALS

I am blogging all three meals in the same blog today to save time. Breakfast was very simple - no picture to show - just some chicory beverage (I made it a little too weak this time) with some stevia sweetener and blackberry applesauce (no picture available). I'm not too hungry today because I ate last night at 11:30. So the applesauce was plenty.
Day 1 lunch is a salad with lettuce from my indoor garden, beets, carrots, miniscule cherry tomatoes, and freezer pickles with a sweet/sour dressing (from the freezer pickles).

Dinner will consist of a large bowl of vegetable soup which includes chives, garlic, kale, parsley, carrots, turnips, green beans, and three of the small potatoes left from my 10# bag (which I purchased as part of my allowance). I also added a small amount of soup base paste (also from my allowance). I made a huge pot of soup so I'll probably be eating it for 1 meal a day for the rest of the week as I have six containers of soup from this batch. Today will be a little more challenging because the managers are providing lunch and dinner from Panera.

I still have to get together with Mark to grind my wheat and hopefully trade for some cornmeal. Mark - do you have any available time during the upcoming weekend?