Friday Food: In Which I Brand Myself

Friday 

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, fresh bread, raw radishes and tomatoes, baked apples with cream

Long version: I was actually planning on giving the kids leftover lentil soup, but I took pity on them at the last minute and made the cheeseburgers instead. 

Dodged a bullet there, kids.

A. and Calvin were gone to the city for hunter education, so I made a dessert for the children left at home. Although baked apples are a sort of pseudo-dessert, since they're actually relatively healthy. Also easy, since I've been using the bags of pre-peeled and sliced apples that I froze in the fall when I had boxes of apples on hand.

Definitely need to do that again this fall.

Saturday

Short version: Giant baked spaghetti, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: There seem to be infinity boxes of spaghetti coming with the commodities deliveries, lately, many of which have been passed along to us. Last time I made spaghetti, I only made half a box, and it was not enough. This time I made the whole box, and filled an entire 9x13 Pyrex with it, plus a meat sauce.

I made it ahead of time because this was our one weekend a month where we have Saturday Mass and don't get home until after 5 p.m. It makes for a late start to preparing dinner, so I try to have something made ahead of time.

Not a problem this time, however, as we all got in the Honda to go to church and found it was dead as the proverbial doornail. And without A. or the van here, I was very disinclined to try to jump-start it myself using the school bus.

Pile out, kids! No church this weekend for us!

It made for plenty of time to bake the spaghetti, though. And the children were very pleased with the great quantity on hand.

Sunday

Short version: Oven-fried chicken, roasted potatoes, cucumbers with salt and vinegar, very lazy chocolate fondue

Long version: The travelers weren't returning until after dinner, so I decided to use the bag of extra rooster legs in a yogurt marinade I had put in the freezer last time I made this. There were only six, which would definitely not be enough for the whole family, but was enough for the reduced family.

The chocolate "fondue" was chocolate chips melted in the microwave with a bit of coconut oil, and half a graham cracker and a marshmallow each for dipping. A very popular--and easy--dessert option.

Monday

Short version: Tacos, bacon and egg sandwiches, frozen peas

Long version: I didn't have quite enough leftover taco meat for everyone, so I made bacon and fried egg sandwiches for A. and Cubby. 

Exciting? No. Tasty and filling? Definitely.

Possibly how Samson and Bill feel about hay. It's not as good as fresh grass, but it does the job.

Tuesday

Short version: Pork, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli, roasted beets, oatmeal cookies

Long version: Pork butt, cooked slow then pulled apart and fried in the rendered lard. The best way to eat this cut, in my opinion, because then it's tender, but not wet.

The corn on the cob was courtesy of Calvin, who gave A. some suggestions when they stopped at the grocery store on their way home from hunter education.

Broccoli and beets courtesy of Misfits Market.

I had the beets in a cast-iron skillet in the oven (that is, the foil-wrapped beets, just so no juice would drip onto the oven floor), which I pulled out of the oven and put on the stovetop while I was checking on the pork. When I leaned down to pull the pork out of the oven, my cheek touched the handle of the skillet that was slightly sticking out from the stovetop. The cast-iron handle of the cast-iron skillet that had just been in the oven.

OW.

It only hurt for a couple of hours, and isn't bad enough to have blistered or anything, but I do have an inch-long mark on my face, right near my ear, that is pretty noticeable, and will likely be there awhile given how long burns take to heal completely. 

So, yeah. I essentially branded myself.

In my long and varied history of cooking burns, this one takes the cake.

I made the cookies because the kids needed snacks to bring to school. I just used my standard chocolate chip recipe, except I substituted some whole wheat flour (I have about 20 pounds of it from secondary commodities that I'm trying to use up), oats (ditto commodities), peanut butter, and walnuts. 

Actually, those last two were commodities items, as well. If I made these cookies with raisins instead of chocolate chips, I could just use all commodities items and call them Commodities Cookies.

Except not all my kids will eat raisins in cookies, so I guess not.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftover spaghetti for the kids, leftover pork and a potato for the adults, cucumbers with salt and vinegar for all

Long version: I had planned this meal of leftovers for Wednesday because that's a work day for me. When we ended up staying home for our snow/Zoom day, it made for a very easy meal anyway.

Snow!

Thursday

Short version: White chicken chile, cornbread

Long version: I had never actually had white chicken chile before, but I had some vague idea it included white beans, which I have a bag of thanks to (CAN YOU GUESS?) commodities.

When I looked up recipes, I found that it's one of those popular recipes that rely on cans of things and rotisserie chickens. Often in a slow cooker.

Those sounded good, and certainly quick, but who wants quick when it's 61 degrees in the kitchen and simmering chicken carcasses all day provides some much-needed warmth?

So I started with the saved carcasses of two meat chickens that I had roasted in the summer. When I had removed most of the meat from those after roasting them, I put the remaining bones in the freezer, labeled "chicken for stock." Those two carcasses went in a pot with onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, and peppercorns and simmered a couple of hours. After which I strained the stock off and returned it to the pot with some of the dried navy beans.

That cooked until the beans were soft. Meanwhile, I picked the remaining chicken off the bones and dumped that (about two cups) in with the beans, along with a sauteed diced onion and garlic cloves, three frozen cubes of the green chile sauce I made last Mother's Day, some cumin, oregano, and salt. 

Simmer, simmer, simmer, add sour cream and milk at the end.

If I ever write a cookbook, I'll call it Fifteen-minute Recipes Ready in Seven Hours.

It was good, though. And the magic of soup is that you can start with two throw-away chicken carcasses and a cup of dried beans, feed everyone, and still end up with almost a gallon of soup left over:

Stone soup, indeed.

Although I did end up frying yet more of the pork for those in the family who aren't too thrilled with soup. Or who can't eat too many beans.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Remote Living: Snow Days

I woke up to at least four inches of snow this morning, which began the flurry of phone calls to the tune of "Will the School Buses Be Running Today?"

Patiently waiting for the answer.

In New York, school superintendents made the call regarding snow days based on whether the plows would be able to keep up with the weather. But that strategy is dependent on the roads actually being plowed at some point.

That is not the case here.

We do have snowplows here, but far fewer of them, and they don't even try to plow most of the roads in the county. Because there is only one paved road. That road is kept pretty clear, but all the innumerable dirt roads, to say nothing of the lanes and long, long dirt driveways that lead only to one ranch house? They don't even try to plow those. If you live at the end of a seven-mile dirt driveway, you get out in your 4-wheel drive, or not at all.

Most of our students are in the latter situation. A.'s bus route is over 100 miles every day. Exactly zero of the kids on that bus route live on the paved road. Almost half of the route is on unimproved dirt roads. 

And in addition to all of that, each of the buses (there are only two) has to go up and down a steep hill with switchbacks.

This is why, when we have snow or other bad weather, the superintendent calls the bus drivers to see if they think they can safely run their routes.

This morning, the answer was no. 

The sign says it all.

Luckily for the school in this age of COVID, all of the students have their own laptops, so it's easy to send the kids home with their computers when the forecast calls for inclement weather, and then make the call for virtual schooling in the morning.

Unluckily for the kids in this age of COVID, that means no more snow days.

It is much safer, though, and less nerve-wracking for the bus drivers. Because driving unplowed dirt roads for a hundred miles is no one's idea of a good time.

T.T.: The Island of Misfit Produce

Now that I've gotten three different Misfits Market boxes--and, perhaps more importantly, actually took a photo of one--I feel like I can give a pretty honest review of the service*.

Here's how it works: First, you have to check if they deliver to you. I can't tell you how shocked I was when Jack's friend's mom told me she gets it. She lives waaaaay out there on a remote ranch, so if they deliver to her, the definitely deliver to me.

Then you sign up for an account. You can place orders within a three-day window. You can set it up to have a Google calendar notification (or another calendar--there are I think three options) when you can start "building" your box, and they'll also send an e-mail notification.

Then you start shopping. There are pantry items along with produce and other things. A $30 minimum is required to complete an order. Payment will be automatically charged to the card you provide when you sign up, but if you don't put $30 worth of stuff in your order, the order won't be completed and you won't be charged. There are no weekly fees or anything. You only pay for what you put in the box, and only if you hit $30.

You don't have to order every week, either, just whenever you want. I've been getting a box every two weeks.

The produce can be combined with a wide variety of pantry items to reach the $30 minimum for an order. There are also things like meats, seafood, and dairy, but those have a separate $30 minimum for what they call a "cold pack."

So! Those are the details. And here are the specifics of how it has worked for me.

I've ordered two boxes of just produce. (I haven't tried any pantry items yet.) The vegetables are, for the most part, not wrapped in anything, which I love. I hate having to buy vegetables wrapped in layers of plastic at the store. The Misfits box looks like the CSA boxes we used to get. Most of the vegetables are just kind of in there.

With the exception of things like those tomatoes.

The boxes themselves are very, very sturdy. The entirety of the order within the box is wrapped in a sheet of brown paper with shredded cardboard or something sandwiched between it, for insulation. I'm not entirely sure what the shredded stuff is in the middle of the paper layers, but I do know it's all entirely burnable. Or, if you live in a normal place where you don't burn things, recyclable. Each box has one ice pack in it, and the produce both times has arrived to me still cool and not at all wilted. Even the lettuce and beet greens.

The produce in general is very good quality (with the exception of the Very Sad Pineapple). The apples have had a couple of dings in them, but they haven't been soft or notably bruised, and they don't start to rot or anything. It's all lasted two weeks once I get it with no problem. All of the produce is listed as organic.

The box pictured above was $39.45, and contained a head of cabbage, four beets--two of which were the size of softballs--three cucumbers, a small bag of snow peas, two pints of grape tomatoes, two big heads of butter lettuce, six huge Fuji apples, one big head of broccoli, and a bunch of radishes. That's a pretty good haul of produce, and it will last us two weeks.

One person signed up using my referral code a few weeks ago--thanks, Martha!--and I decided to put my credit towards one of the "cold packs." I don't have a picture of that one, but it contained Parmesan cheese, frozen cod, and frozen shrimp. The seafood is all labeled wild-caught. It came packaged in a plastic insulating bag with two extra cold packs, and was still completely frozen when it arrived. I'm saving the seafood for Cubby's birthday and Lent, so I can't speak to the quality of it yet. 

The quality of everything has so far been much higher than the things available at our local stores. Which is a pretty low bar, to be honest, especially for produce.

So is it worth it? For me, that's an all-caps YES. Being over 100 miles from a store means that we are almost always very low on fresh produce, because we just don't go to the store that often. Misfits Market carries things I can't easily find even when we do go to the store. The quality is better than what I can find locally. The prices are very in-line with organic produce. And I really appreciate how they've tried very hard to limit the plastic in their packaging.

Basically, if someone had set out to create a service that perfectly solves a problem in my particular life, they couldn't have done a better job.

Is it worth it for you? Well, I don't know. If you live far from stores like me, almost certainly. Or if the stores you can get to don't routinely carry organic, wild-caught, or fair trade items, and that's important to you, this might be a good option. If you're trying to stay out of stores for whatever reason, then also yes. Only you can answer the question of whether it would make sense for you, but if any of the above circumstances apply to you, I definitely recommend it.

And if you do decide to try it, you can use this link for $10 off (and a $10 credit to me, hooray for more vegetables!).

A sight that never fails to make me happy. I hope it makes you happy, too.

* No, they are not paying me. But if you click on that link, it will use the referral code linked to my account, which will get your $10 off your order, and me a $10 credit. 

Snapshots: Lincoln Logs and Tumbleweeds

One day last week when the boys were at school, Poppy and I spent some time building a Lincoln Log village from the giant container of Lincoln Logs that Jack got for his birthday from the MiL.

I thought the MiL would like to see her gift in action. Also reader Susan, who mentioned that her older brother used to build with her.

 Poppy's brothers are not so nice. Luckily for her, I am. And luckily for me, the set came with instructions. I have many skills, but improvising Lincoln Log structures is not one of them.

And speaking of Poppy! And the MiL's gifts! 

One of the things the MiL sent in her boxes o' Christmas presents was a very cute wooly hat that is just the right size for a certain small girl I know.

Just the right colors, too. Her brothers aren't so into purple hearts.

I forgot to post a photo of the actual pie I mentioned in Friday's food post. And as we all know, photos or it didn't happen, so . . .

It happened, and it was pretty.

This year's summer rains and subsequent drought combined with unusually high winds has resulted in an inundation of tumbleweeds. 

Last summer I grew green beans here. Apparently this winter, it's the tumbleweed bed.

And last, as always, a morning walk photo.

A bull before sunrise.

There you have it! My life, shapshotted.

Friday Food: Pie for Breakfast

Friday 

Short version: Beef stir-fry, rice

Long version: Nah.

Saturday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, baked fennel, green salad

Long version: I remembered to add extra fat to the meatloaf (this time some lard rendered off the pork roast I had made a few days before), and it was good. Yay me!

The fennel also had extra fat in it, inadvertently. I got the fennel in my Misfits Market delivery, and the children immediately claimed the stalks. They like to eat it like celery. That leaves me with just the bulb, which I sliced and baked in the oven with cream and butter. I did it the day before when I was baking bread, and then re-heated it with the meatloaf. 

Unfortunately, whether because of the rest and re-heating, or because of our fake "cream" with all its additives, the end result tasted good but was very greasy. Like all the milk solids had been absorbed by the fennel and the oil had rendered out. Kind of strange, but tasty. I do love fennel.

Sunday

Short version: Pot roast with potatoes and carrots, garlic bread, pureed squash, peach/blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream

Long version: I had just a little ice cream left from the week before, so Cubby and I made the pie to go with it. We used frozen blueberries and peaches, because that's what I had. They have to be thawed and drained, lest they make the pie all soggy, and the resulting juice made a nice little treat. There was just a bit, which meantI didn't share it.

I had just emptied the small jug I use for maple syrup, so I shook some warm water in there to get the last bit of syrup out and then put that in the juice.

Delicious.

The pie crust came out perfectly. Unfortunately, frozen peaches are nowhere near as flavorful as fresh peaches. The filling was a bit bland. I put a little more sugar on it, and that helped. 

And yes, I did allow the children to have the leftover pie for breakfast the next morning with heavy cream. Healthier than Pop-Tarts, anyway, and it made for a good start to the school week.

Monday

Short version: Spaghetti for the kids, leftover meatloaf for the adults, frozen peas

Long version: I had made marinara sauce on Saturday, knowing I would need something easy after work on Monday. I used that sauce for the spaghetti, along with some pressure-canned bull meat that I broke down further with my handy-dandy immersion blender, and some Latino cheese (our local Parmesan substitute). 

The children loved it, and wished I had made more. Why I only made half the box of spaghetti is a question yet to be answered. You'd think I would have learned by now that there really isn't any such thing as too much pasta.

Tuesday

Short version: Breakfast sausage patties, lentils, leftover rice, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: I had made some lentil soup over the weekend. I love lentil soup, but the children were only lukewarm on the soup by itself. The lentils make a good side dish with sausage, though, so I scooped out the lentils from the broth for them, and ate the soup myself.

Wednesday

Short version: Extremely sloppy joes, carrot sticks with ranch dip

Long version: This was a long day. I had a meeting after work, so the children stayed at school with me, and we all didn't get home until almost 5:45 p.m. We typically eat between 5 and 5:30, so this was a very late night for us.

Given the time constraints, I decided to go with the path of least resistance, which meant dumping barbecue sauce in with the rest of the blended canned bull meat, then adding shredded cheese and heating it all up together. 

This mixture looked an awful lot like canned dog food, but its unaesthetic appearance is not so not noticeable when it's between two slices of bread. It was quite wet and sloppy, though, for sure.

Thursday

Short version: Ground beef taco meat, homemade flour tortillas, homemade refried beans

Long version: I redeemed myself from the day before's lackluster meal with a Mexican feast. I didn't have any particular reason for making all of this on a random Thursday, other than I actually went to the effort to make the tortillas (using this recipe), so I figured I might as well do the other stuff.

Most frequently when I say the kids have "tacos," what I mean is storebought corn tortillas heated with cheese and whatever meat I've made with taco spices. That's it. Maybe salsa and sour cream if they're lucky. But this time, thanks to my produce delivery the day before, I had lettuce AND tomatoes. 

On REALLY special taco nights, we have avocados, too, but even this is pretty exciting for us.

I did use a can of secondary commodities black beans this time to make the refried beans, instead of my own home-canned pinto beans, but even canned beans are good when made into refried beans. Recipe coming soon to a Tuesday Tips near you.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

T.T.: Reduce, Reduce, Reduce

I make a lot of stock. I have spent years making a lot of stock. This is what happens when you raise animals and butcher them: There are lots of bones, and therefore, lots of stock.

The big problem with stock, however, is that it takes up a lot of space. If you freeze it, you end up with big quantities of stock in the freezer. If you pressure-can it (my preference), you end up with dozens of jars of stock.

It's just a lot of real estate for meat-water, you know?

Given my continous making of stock, and therefore continous problem with storage of stock, you'd think it wouldn't have taken me literally years to realize that because stock is mostly water, I could reduce the water significantly and make a stock concentrate that would then take up significantly less space.

Years! But better late than never, I guess.

So now whenever I make stock, I continue simmering the stock after I've strained out the solids. I do this for however long it takes to reduce the stock by half, usually at least a few more hours. That way, I only have seven quarts to can or freeze, instead of fourteen.

Stock reducing after pressure cooking the roosters and straining the liquid out . . .

Until it fits in my 8-quart pot, at which point I have just about enough for a pressure-canner load of 7 quart jars.

This makes a very, very concentrated stock. And it is delicious. The water can be added back when you drink it or cook with it if you want, but really, the stock is so much better when it's left pretty strong.

And that's it! Reduce your stock, both for space-saving purposes and much better flavor. 

(Still can't believe it took me so long to think of this.)

Snapshots: Little Squirrels

My friend received a giant bag of pecans in the shell, third- or fourth-hand from someone's tree. She wisely concluded that there was no way she was going to be cracking all those shells to extract the pecans, and asked if I would like some. 

Sure! We have a nutcracker, and I have four little squirrels who enjoy nuts. 

The great benefit of nuts in the shell is that it's not just a snack, it's an event. 

Plus, it's a handy indicator of if a child is truly hungry, or just whiny. Because they'll only spend all that time cracking nuts if they really need the calories.

Of course, you can see that cracking nuts makes an incredible mess. But that's all part of the entertainment! Because then they have to spend some time cleaning up.

And in this way, a snack can stretch over a half-hour time period.

I noticed the other day that A. and I had both happened to leave our current books on the table together. The contrast was so amusing that I took a picture for you.

Bet you can guess which is A.'s and which is mine.

A. and I very, very rarely read the same book. Although those particular books are a bit misleading, as he is more likely to have the non-fiction book and I to have the fiction.

And now, walk photos.

The sun is always spectacular as it crests the horizon to the east . . .

But I appreciate the subtle tiers of more-muted color to the west just as much.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.