A Homemade Life: A Discovered Passion

I have never used the word passion and cooking to describe my feelings toward my time spent in the kitchen, although I do plenty of it. I cook three meals a day, and we rarely eat out. I actually cook a hot breakfast each morning for my children, and dinner time with family is given a high priority in our home. I see great value in good food and in spending time with my family enjoying that good food. (Restaurants are great, but not very relaxing...a bit noisy, way overpriced, and my husband and I never get to linger and visit at the table while the boys run off to play once their plates are clean.) I'm not a professional foodie, not hippie enough, but I do appreciate the food movement.

However, I would rather work outside or on a writing project and have a hired cook than spend as much time as I do working in my kitchen.

My book group picked to read A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. They promised me I'd like it. That it would inspire me to cook. OK. I wasn't buying it. But get this...I really did like the book. I love Molly's writing style. She is an expert blogger and her chapter essays ooze with excellent writer's voice and a relational style that creates an intimacy with her readers/following. She has a blog called the Orangette. I loved reading about her intimate relationships that all involved food. And, I loved many of her recipes in the book. I tired several.

Each chapter is a story in itself with a recipe at the end that ties it all together. For example, the chapter that deals with her father's losing fight with cancer and their shared moments of clarity over an egg dish then includes the recipe for "Eggs Grotto" at the end.

I'm planning on buying this book for myself, read the library copy, and keeping it in my kitchen cupboard. The bummer is that I wish there was a recipe book version only so that the pages of her brilliant wit wouldn't become stained with various food matter as I whip and serve these recipes, but Molly would probably like that. She'd think it was fitting.

And I learned something about myself from this read, bonus! I like cooking....when I don't have to follow a recipe. I like cooking savory items because of this. I am quite pleased with myself when I can make a yummy soup by putting things out of my pantry and making it work. I feel more free, more romantic, and more bohemian when I'm cooking without the constrains of rules and measurements. Now I just need to take some professional cooking classes so I can do this with more successes than failures, or my family might not find our time around the table so enjoyable.

Costco Consumption

Two years ago I wrote an article about my disdain of Costco, and now it makes my monthly list of fun things to visit. Much has changed in my life since I had that initial opinion: bigger family, living further away from stores, now live in a house with an actual pantry etc.

But I'm still trying to figure out what is really a good deal there. Seems like I'll be wowed into a purchase and then the very next week Safeway will run an excellent add for that same item at a way cheaper price.

On this last trip to the wholesale giant I bought:
*chicken broth....love the boxes vs. cans for multiple use
*toliet paper....think not such a great deal, but love getting all I need at once
*ziplock bags....I really should try and use less of these
*bread...not a good deal
*milk....Safeway had a special for 1.49 a gallon and Costco was 2 dollars a gallon
*chicken breasts.....don't even remember the price
*chips....the problem here is that the more we have the more we eat
*cookies...ditto
*Silk Milk...I think this is an excellent deal. My youngest can't drink cow's milk and this comes in a three pack that is a steal of a deal compared to grocery prices.


I guess the question for you is what do you buy that you feel is a good Costco deal, and should I be adding it to my list?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday Photo

My New Soapbox

I hate cans and bottles. I loathe warm, sticky pop and beer. I disdain those that purchase bottled water. I'm sure these feelings will fade. (I just drank a Dr. Pepper at a birthday party, shsss.)

But every time I open my garage door and see this pile of carbon footprints...I cringe. I've decided that the way to fund national health care is to tax anything made with fructose corn syrup. These pictures shows 1/4 of the cans we collected in one section of one town...in a two hour period. When I stare at these cans I see visions of corroded livers---can a liver do that? Do you all hate me?

One little tidbit: drink of choice---Keystone Light.

I have decided to do something to make the world a better place. I can't cure world hunger. I can't sit down with the Palestinians and Israelis and broker a peace agreement. I can't even control my own future, or at least not completely. But I can send an e-mail to my representatives and ask them why California accepts so many more cans than Oregon? Really? You can't find a way to recycle the Kirkland brand. Other states do. Seems like they are made out of the same plastic as Aveeno. And is there a reason why Oregon won't give 5 cents for Gatorade? And Lipton products? All made out of the same materials.

OK, I'm done.

What To Do With Swiss Chard

OK, get ready to plant, grow, or buy Swiss chard because I have a nummy recipe that uses this leafy green.

You will need a skillet, fresh basil, and Swiss chard (or spinach). Toss all these things together for about three minutes. (The chard should outnumber the basil 4 to 1. The one recipe I found suggested 16 cups of chard to one cup of basil, but I just estimated and it worked out.) Then sprinkle in some salt and pepper to your liking. Stir a bit more and serve. It tasted fresh and alive and much better than the basic boiling with loads of butter or mayo. (Pst: chard is known as the leafy beet....who knew!?)

Just curious? Anyone out there ever eat Swiss chard? I think it is an older veggie that has been forgotten, but shouldn't be.

Our Adolescent Teenagers

My sister finally came to visit the chickens. My niece commented that they were no longer babies, but were teenagers like herself....developing and blossoming. And it is true. The yellow fluff is being replaced by white feathers. Their necks are getting longer and they are looking a bit awkward, like the classic awkward middle schooler.

My boys and I sit on the hay bail in the chicken house and watch. The males are starting to strut and fight. We think they are potential roosters. It is quite exciting when they fly to roost.

I'm loving the book I recommended a few weeks ago: Your Chickens by Gail Damerow. I keep renewing it at the library, so I think I need to find it and order it--used.

Here are some of my favorite facts:

The skeleton of a chicken looks like the skeleton of a dinosaur.
A spent chicken is a chicken who no longer lays eggs.

The chickens we bought, White Rocks, are endangered. Many dual-purpose breeds are on the endangered list.

A chicken might attack you if your pants flap in the breeze.

Avoid feeding your birds strong-tasting foods like onions, garlic, or fish, which can make their eggs and meat taste funny. Yuck!

One way to tell if you have a good laying hen, is if you can press two or three fingers between the public bone, and three fingers between the keel and the pubic bone. And they have moist vents. Anyone want to test this out? I've never liked the word moist.

A laying hen can have as many as 4,000 eggs in her body! Woe!

Cockerels learn to crow at 6-8 weeks.

You Asked For It

Randomly selecting recipes from cookbooks can be scary, exhilarating, fruitful, and devastating. It is one of the biggest risks a home cook makes. Hence the popularity of on-line sites with ratings, and of course, recommendations from friends.

So, here are the two recipes that you all requested:

Baked Lentils With Cheese:

Preheat oven to 375
Combine in shallow 9X13 baking dish:

1 3/4 C lentils, rinsed
2 C. water
1 whole bay leaf
2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/8 t. each marjoram, sage, thyme
2 Large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c. canned tomatoes

Cover tightly and bake 30 mins.
Uncover and stir in:
2 large carrots, sliced
1/2 C thinly sliced celery
Baked covered 40 mins. until veggies are tender. Stir in:

1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
2 T. finely chopped parsley

Sprinkle on top:

3 C shredded cheddar cheese

Bake uncovered, 5 mins. until cheese melts

This dish comes from the Less is More cookbook. Many of the foods and meals in here are vegetarian. Here is the subtitle: Recipes and suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources.




Another book put out by the same publishing company is Simply in Season.




(Stay away from Apple Lentil Salad. It is as nasty as it sounds.)

But, I do have some favorites from this book. Here is one for this season:

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos

3 Cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, chopped

Saute' in large frypan in 1 T oil just until tender. Add water or apple juice as needed to prevent sticking.

2 C black beans
1 t. ground cumin
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt

Add and cook until heated through.

8 flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Divide bean mixture and cheese among the tortillas and roll up.
Place in a 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Lightly spray with olive oil if desired. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for 20-25 mins. Garnish with sour cream, salsa, and fresh cilantro.

OK, my last request recipe was Cheesy Chicken Artichoke Bake:

I got it off of Cooks.com.

4-5 C of cooked, diced chicken
1 C mayo
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 t. curry powder
2 (14 oz) cans artichoke hearts
Garlic powder to taste
1 T lemon juice
1 1/2 C shredded sharp cheese
1/4 C seasoned croutons
2-4 T butter
9 X 12 inch greased casserole dish

Drain and slice artichoke hearts. Preheat over to 350. Season artichoke hearts with garlic. Arrange in 9 X 12 greased dish. Put chicken on top-mix in separate bowl-soup, mayo, lemon juice, and curry-spread over chicken. Sprinkle with shredded sharp cheese and top with croutons. Bake 30 mins. or until hot.

Serves 8 or 9.

The Cupboards Are Bare in this Shoe.....

The bummer about shopping once a month is that as we near the 25th, 26th, 27th.....I have to get very creative in my cooking. I was making Chicken Noodles Soup last night, and realized I was all out of noodles. What to do? Ramon Noodles....perfect! Some months I do better with my planning: we seem to have plenty of yummy meals all the way to the end, but this month I miscalculated the leftovers and home cooked meals we'd need.

I am one of those moms who does pretty much cook 365 days a year, three times a day. We eat all of those meals together at the kitchen table. ("Eating Out" is often a frozen pizza.) I do love eating in. I don't really love cooking, but I do love eating as a family and connecting. (I find with the ages of our kids, eating at a restaurant isn't very relaxing, plus as I calculate the cost vs. eating at home I always feel like I wasted my husband's monthly check.)

I think eating at home is important. I think it produces good, healthy eaters. My kids aren't picky, and neither is my husband....that is a huge help. He rarely gives me that look, "Wow, this is really not good Love." And when he does he finds a way to eat it anyway. Later I find him making his own 4th meal around 10 pm, usually a PB&J.

All this said, this is the time of month I begin dreaming. I keep a notepad next to my bed at night and jot down meal ideas and shopping lists for next month. Last night I must have been feeling especially hungry because I completed my meals for next month very quickly. I'm ready to say goodbye to October and hello to November, hello to new food!

Here are my November meals in no particular order. I plan four to five meals a week, and with leftovers and nights of cheese toast and soup, we usually have enough.

You're more than welcome to get a little inspiration from me. Warning: I am not a gourmet chef, I am a get-it-done cook.

(I only plan the main course as I can quickly throw together sides from my canning cupboard and freezer. Also, my meals are less this month with Thanksgiving and a planned trip to the beach where we will either cook and fix at the hotel or use our Entertainment Book to find cheap eats as we travel.)

Ham and Cheese Croissants
Cheesy Artichoke Chicken Bake
Spaghetti and Bread
Fondue Night
Pizza
Crock Pot Lasagna
Turkey!
Turkey Pot Pie
Funky Homemade Pizza, gluten free
French Toast
Quiche
Tuna Melts and Soup
Roast and Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Tacos

Turkey and Gravy on Toast
Sausage Meal with Noodles
Frozen Pizza Night
Lentil Casserole
Hamburger Helper Meal, a night-off option...easy!

A is for Apple

I've been doing a lot of living lately...less writing. (Although I like to think writing is living.) I've been blogging in my mind. There have been some excellent ones! Probably my best ever. Which means they will never become written word. So, here are some pictures of my living. Enjoy! We did!

Prize Time...50 Strong

I read once that all writers are a bit narcissistic. We love feedback. We love compliments.

And so, I love seeing my group of followers grow. I get giddy when my number goes from 28 to 30 over night!

Then I get all sad when I notice that a friend has 169 followers. How did she do it? Is there a gimmick I'm missing?

So, I'm going to do something a bit gutsy. I'm offering a prize to all my followers...once I hit 50! I'm so close, only need 20 more.

Everyone will be entered into a drawing for a gift bag of my yummy, orchard hazelnuts. (Oh, you know you want some!) FYI: I was cracking nuts last night as I watched The Office and I now have blisters. So, this prize comes at a huge cost to me. But that is what I'm willing to sacrifice to be 50 Strong! Spread the word. Tell your friends.

(The irony will be if no one response, and I stay right at 30 right into the New Year! Ha!)

Make A Guess....

What is it? Chime in. Take a guess. Name that garden goody!

Husking Corn

Husking Corn

I love husking corn,
Watching the bucket overflow with husks and hair,
Oh the soft, yellow corn hair that always seems to stick.

I sit on the back porch and face the sunset,
The summer's warm rays upon me.
I sing, or think, or talk out loud.

Then I give my dog a pat on the head and turn
To go inside.
I hear the clatter and clutter of a summer's canning.

Peaches, pears, plums, green beans...
I only eat mom's.
I hand over the corn and watch it slip into the boiling water.

Beside it is a bubbling pan of zucchini and chard.
To the right, fresh zucchini bread.
I love summer's bounty.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I wrote this poem in 2001. I spent that summer writing poems; they mostly revolved around my farm upbringing. I do love living on our farm again. I love living seasonally. It makes each season something to be embraced. Right now we are eating more corn, tomatoes, and plums than we know what to do with, but that is OK. For a time will come, very soon, when they will be no more. It is a very seize-the-day type of life.

The picture is of my grandpa, my sister, and I. He used to come down each September and help with the corn harvest. He is now 97 years old. He still asks about our orchard and garden.

You'll notice I talk about summer in this poem. Even though school has started and the summer is waning, it is still summer. September 22nd is the first day of fall. So, embrace these last days of this warm, free season.

First Day of School: Chickens

While most bloggers are chatting it up about the first day of school, I've decided to focus on chickens.

Chickens are the IT thing these days. Nothing says sustainable, green, organic, and living seasonally than a bunch of chickens flip-flapping in your back yard.

I like to think I am joining the rage not because of peer pressure, but because I have a strange love for chickens.

We had chickens when we were little. I want my boys to experience the same. You hardly make money or save money with your own crew of laying birds. A dozen eggs from the grocery is much cheaper. (We eat an average of 5 eggs a day.) However, I do think they taste better.

Oh, and our chickens will be "pasture" feed. They will have a large yard to cluck and scratch in and get all the worms and bugs they need.

Oh how yummy and fun they will be. Plus, good fertilizer for the garden.

We are hoping to get our chickens in late October. Grandpa is remodeling the old chicken house: new ventilation system, better laying boxes, windows for more light, and new ramp for their little legs to race down into the free range yard below.

I'm feeling very Oregonian! Hope the boys are on board.

Shopping and Planning Meals for a Month

It is an event. I open my cookbook cupboard, take down my faithful four, spread out at the kitchen table, brew some tea, and plan. I plan out my meals for the entire month. Like a budget, there is room for flexibility. If I plan focassia bread pizza, but really feel like eating BLT’s, then I let myself switch it up etc.

But, my biggest struggle is knowing what to fix. Once I know, I can make. Once I make, I can eat.

I also do my shopping once a month, excluding items like milk and eggs. It does help that all my produce comes from my garden, orchard, and I preserve it all for the winter. I rarely am forced to buy out of season. I do find myself reaching for some apples and oranges in January, but for the most part we eat what we grow.

I’ve often had people ask what this once-a-month shopping and planning looks like. (Note: if you do it right you will save a bundle of food money.)

Here is my list of what to buy this month and a list of meals for the month. I don’t make the same meals each month. Each month looks different. I also don’t plan sides for my meals. I come up with those the day of.

Shopping List:

2 whole chickens
5 lbs of beef
Find fun meat on sale, like steak etc.
3 packs of bacon
5 packs of morning sausage
____________
Yogurt
Ice cream
Creamer
Sour cream
Butter sticks and tub
Feta cheese
__________________
Syrup
Cous cous
Noodles of all types
10 various soups
Various canned beans
Corn bread mix
Dry It. dressing
Balsamic vinegar
_________________
Frozen fries
10 frozen dollar meals for H’s lunch
Frozen burritos
2 frozen pizzas
______________
Focassia bread
10 healthy bread loaves
10 cheap white bread for the kids (they eat way too many PB&J to buy them fancy bread)
3 bagel loafs
______________
Fruit snacks
Granola bars
______________
Apple juice boxes
___________
Chips
____________
T. paper
Aluminum foil
Dish soup
____________
Baby puffs and mum mums

Meals:

I plan 4 to 5 meals per week and allow for some leftovers, but leftovers are mainly eaten for lunches the next day.

Week 1:
Meatloaf
Crepes and sausage
Roasted Chicken
Teriyaki noodle chicken
Frozen pizza
Meatloaf sandwiches

WK 2:
Taco soup with corn bread
BLT’s
Leftover soup
Super Easy Chicken Meal
Mac and Tuna Casserole

WK 3:
Pita Bread Pizza
Hamburgers and Fries
Zucchini Garden Chowder
Greek Tom Salad with grilled Ch.

WK 4:
Crustless Zucchini Tom. Quiche
Steak and pesto/tom pasta
Whole Ch with sides
Spaghetti
Omelets

(I often switch meals in week 1 for meals in week 4.)

Even though the day I go shopping is crazy and somewhat insane, it is way better than doing it once a week or twice a month. Taking my kids to the grocery store is not what I like to do with my time and with them.

Plus, I had to change my shopping and buying habits once we moved to the farm and live 30 mins. away from any legitimate grocery store.

Seasonal Living

I can't help it: I feel the excitement of harvest when I see the brigade of windrowers marching down the highways, headed to the rye grass fields for cutting. It is in me. I'm a bit like Willa Cather or John Steinbeck; I get attached to land and place, home.

When I lived away from these fields of my childhood, I would call my parents and find out what was happening. Had they started cutting? When would they combine? Was harvest going to be early or late this year?

When I'd visit, I'd feel a sense of personal injustice if I missed windrowing. My inner farmer needed to see the grass begin to ripen and bend, turn from green to brown.

The "in" thing is to live seasonally, to eat only local, ripe foods. I think farmers are most in tune to this way of life. I just made fruit smoothies with our last gallon of frozen raspberries. I timed it just right, raspberries should be ready any day. I also ate our last loaf of frozen zucchini bread, soon I'll be digging my way out of the pile of garden grown squash.

I walked through our orchard in great anticipation: peaches, pears, apples,and grapes. My excitement was deflated. There wasn't much on the trees this year. I panicked. My canning cupboards are almost bare. The jars are washed and ready for local fruits and vegetables. We had so many apples last October that my husband literally made apple crisp almost every night after work. I was going to start saving all my milk jugs for the gallons upon gallons of fresh cider. Guess not.

But this is the way of the farm, some years are bunmper crops, others...not so much. Last year we didn't get that many green beans, this year, not so hot on the apples, but we've had plenty of Swiss chard, the corn is looking impressive, and I have high hopes for my berry jams. Oh, and there is always the ever dependable lettuce and squash.

And so I live my seasonal life, and that is why my heart is happy when I lay in bed at night and I hear the hum of the combine outside my window, the lights of the large machine keeping the farmer company in his season of work.

The Garden of Contentment

This past week of sun and sky has made me feel completely blessed to be where I am. These are some pictures to help capture my contentment. Going from living in town, with the roar of 99W to this, oh, how good it is. We went from never seeing a sunset, to now seeing one every night. We went from seas of traffic to seas of white clover. It is good to get back to space and view.

However, I was content living in the "city" too. I was not at first. Both my husband and I felt very trapped by all the cement. I remember looking at parking lots and thinking about all the yummy soil that was buried alive under there, that had life to give, but now couldn't. Other things also contributed to my feeling of unrest. I prayed for a spirit of contentment, and it came. I loved my life near the hustle of Portland, but it is so good to be back where my soul was raised and I first heard God. In so many of these settings I spent time just listening and talking to God.

The other day I saw my oldest stretched out in the grass, with his arms under is head. It looked like something from a Huck Finn novel. I smiled. He was experiencing God through God's creation.

Reminds me that God created a garden for his first people, not a city with cars and exhaust. It is good to return to the garden, good for me and my family.