Day 78
breakfast: elk sausage and wild onion frittata
lunch: smashed potato with chive butter and tomato sauce, pears
snack: apple chips
dinner: apricot pancakes with apricot syrup, fried egg
breakfast: hash with gravy
snack: apple chips, pear leathers
dinner: hash (ground venison, potatoes, wild onion, chive butter) with gravy (made with leftover frozen chicken stock), plum pancakes with apricot syrup
Hash was my mom's idea. She knew some of what I had left to work with and suggested this dish as an inspiration to my grandma who makes hash from similar ingredients.
Guess what I found? 2 lonely black beans on one of my kitchen shelves. They must have dropped there when I was taking care of my beans last fall. I was so bummed to see these orphans! I could have eaten them. I left them sitting on top of a jar in my kitchen as if they were royalty. I'll eat them with other beans once spring comes. I won't abandon you again, you two tiny beauties.
breakfast: plum pancakes with apricot syrup
lunch: applesauce, pear leathers, apple chips
snack: scrambled eggs with chive butter
dinner: pot pie
I made a pot pie with a bunch of leftover stuff...ground venison, wild onion, potatoes, herbs, and chicken stock gravy. It was a little dry as I was lacking additional gravy, but it hit the spot! I had been hoping to pull off a big and hearty pot pie in my final days of winter, and I was mostly just happy to have been able to do it.
breakfast: pot pie
lunch: pot pie, sweet mint tea (frozen in a water bottle)
snack: spiced pear and apple crumble, chicory coffee
Today at work someone in the break room was heating up a pot pie (I'm not kidding!) and said, "I hate when you heat one of these up in the microwave and the center is still frozen." In the recycle can was the packaging, a picture of a mini pot pie with a crust so perfect I wondered what kind of machine made it.
My son loved the spiced pear and apple crumble, so another one was in order. At this point in my challenge I'm sharing more food, and it feels so good to have someone else enjoy these creations.
breakfast: pot pie, spiced pear and apple crumble
lunch: catfish with thyme, wild onion hushpuppies
dinner: pot pie
Final egg barter day for dried thyme. Thanks, Kim!
breakfast: Cherokee eggs, wild onion hushpuppy
lunch: wild onion hush puppies, persimmon and apricot crumble, applesauce
dinner: venison loin pizza (rosemary crust, venison loin, tomato sauce, basil pesto, roasted garlic, spinach), persimmon and apricot crumble
Cherokee eggs. I made them for the first time over a year ago and loved them. This time I was pretty heavy on the onions, but they were still good. Google this dish and ready about the history.
I'm officially out of salt. Call the food preservation ambulance! Just kidding, don't call them! I'm so close now, who cares about salt?!
breakfast: pears
lunch: scrambled eggs with sage, venison loin
dinner: bluegill tacos on thyme pan bread with pear chow-chow tartar sauce
I am starting to think about grocery shopping. I don't want to go. I'm feeling sad about this whole thing ending. I'm happy too. I have a lot of mixed emotions right now.
breakfast: omelette with spinach and hot salsa
lunch: omelette with spinach and hot salsa, applesauce
dinner: bluegill tacos with fresh spinach and pear chow-chow tartar sauce fried green tomatoes
You might remember I froze the final green tomatoes from my garden in slices. I slowly thawed them and made fried green tomatoes. They were fine!
breakfast: fried egg on pan bread with fresh spinach and mayo
lunch: fried egg on pan bread with fresh spinach and mayo
dinner: crappie with herbs on soda farl with mayo, persimmon and apricot crumble
breakfast: farl with rose of sharon jelly and butter
lunch: crappie with herbs on soda farl with butter
dinner:fried egg sandwich on toasted far with hot salsa, persimmon and apricot crumble, pear wine
Today was a St. Patrick's Day potluck at work for lunch. Of course I bypassed it. Someone said to me, "It sucks that you can't eat." Later, when washing my plate from my crappie on soda farl lunch in the break room, I saw the recycle can full of empty Little Debbie boxes. The colorful chipboard with images of uniformly and unnatural shapes of treats were there, advertising a nearly spring commercialized holiday. No, it did not suck that I wasn't taking part. I walked by the tables of food...pizzas, flavored chips, and 2 liters of pop. I loved that I ate crappie on a soda farl for lunch even more than perhaps any other fish dish up to this point.
breakfast: blackberry pancakes with apricot syrup
dinner: venison loin on farl with carrot top pesto, pear wine
I'm out of baking soda. Whew, that was close! I just made my last batch of pancakes and farls.
breakfast: venison loin on farl with carrot top pesto
snack: pear sorbet with pear syrup
This is it. The final day! Mixed emotions! Intimidating Minnow invited me over for a snack, pear sorbet with pear syrup that we had made from foraged apples last fall and that he had saved frozen in his freezer. It was a perfect way to end my challenge...someone else serving me preserved food!