I'm finishing up day 3 on the eating side of things. I don't have a rhythm down yet, which is my only annoyance, but I hope to get things smoothed out this weekend. Part of this clunky feeling is that I have such a variety of stuff in different places. I have canned and frozen items in my house, frozen items in Intimidating Minnow's deep freeze (he lives across my alley, so it is at least convenient!), and then some little things struggling to keep growing between by garden beds and Intimidating Minnow's beds. But now that the work week is over I can do some better meal planning.
I'm keeping a daily journal at this point, and I'm thinking of doing these intermittent blog posts that summarize things; this was Styx Hot Tea's idea. Intimidating Minnow, Styx Hot Tea, Pacer Tailbone, and myself had a final supper on December 19th at Tres Mexicanos because I wanted Mexican food and margaritas before setting off into the world of rationing and licking tree bark. As the winter goes on I'm sure I'll long for those tacos de lengua and margaritas. How many days do I have left?
Day 1
Breakfast: persimmon smoothie, Irish soda farl with butter and forsythia jelly
Lunch: bluegill with garlic bulbils on wilted beet and carrot greens, baby beets and baby carrots, splash of chive blossom vinegar. Spiced crabapples.
Dinner: tomato soup with garlic and rosemary, toasted farl sprinkled with thyme.
I'm keeping a daily journal at this point, and I'm thinking of doing these intermittent blog posts that summarize things; this was Styx Hot Tea's idea. Intimidating Minnow, Styx Hot Tea, Pacer Tailbone, and myself had a final supper on December 19th at Tres Mexicanos because I wanted Mexican food and margaritas before setting off into the world of rationing and licking tree bark. As the winter goes on I'm sure I'll long for those tacos de lengua and margaritas. How many days do I have left?
Day 1
Breakfast: persimmon smoothie, Irish soda farl with butter and forsythia jelly
Lunch: bluegill with garlic bulbils on wilted beet and carrot greens, baby beets and baby carrots, splash of chive blossom vinegar. Spiced crabapples.
Dinner: tomato soup with garlic and rosemary, toasted farl sprinkled with thyme.
Day 2
Breakfast: persimmon pulp spread on half farl, hot mint tea
Lunch: tomato soup leftover with toasted half farl
Snack: apple chips
I ran out of time to eat anything substantial for dinner on Day 2 because I GOT TWO ROOSTERS! Long story short I acquired two 6-month old roosters from someone who was worried they were becoming too aggressive in the coop. I traded some jellies and a syrup. Intimidating Minnow and I loaded up the birds into a couple boxes and for the rest of the evening we butchered, skinned, cleaned, and I cut up meat for the freezer. 4.75 pounds. It's so nice when things just happen like this, unexpectedly, when you are in need of it.
Other than the one day I helped my friend in high school pluck 30 turkeys on her farm before Thanksgiving, this was the first time I had dealt with birds like this. Honestly, my interest in chicken has been a slow process. I never liked it as a kid, and only as an adult have I come to appreciate it. Thanks to some feisty roosters, YouTube, and Intimidating Minnow using his hedge shears, this experience was possible. My favorite part was the skinning because it was so easy to start, and the breast meat is revealed perfectly and still warm. My least favorite part was the hedge shears.
Also a huge bonus this day was my first egg barter! A dozen eggs in exchange for fresh and dried rosemary. Thank you, Kim! I do need to get another egg source as a backup, so if anyone reading this knows someone who will to barter, let me know. Most of what I have for trade are jellies, syrups, and a small amount of herbs.
Breakfast: persimmon pulp spread on half farl, hot mint tea
Lunch: tomato soup leftover with toasted half farl
Snack: apple chips
I ran out of time to eat anything substantial for dinner on Day 2 because I GOT TWO ROOSTERS! Long story short I acquired two 6-month old roosters from someone who was worried they were becoming too aggressive in the coop. I traded some jellies and a syrup. Intimidating Minnow and I loaded up the birds into a couple boxes and for the rest of the evening we butchered, skinned, cleaned, and I cut up meat for the freezer. 4.75 pounds. It's so nice when things just happen like this, unexpectedly, when you are in need of it.
Other than the one day I helped my friend in high school pluck 30 turkeys on her farm before Thanksgiving, this was the first time I had dealt with birds like this. Honestly, my interest in chicken has been a slow process. I never liked it as a kid, and only as an adult have I come to appreciate it. Thanks to some feisty roosters, YouTube, and Intimidating Minnow using his hedge shears, this experience was possible. My favorite part was the skinning because it was so easy to start, and the breast meat is revealed perfectly and still warm. My least favorite part was the hedge shears.
Also a huge bonus this day was my first egg barter! A dozen eggs in exchange for fresh and dried rosemary. Thank you, Kim! I do need to get another egg source as a backup, so if anyone reading this knows someone who will to barter, let me know. Most of what I have for trade are jellies, syrups, and a small amount of herbs.
Day 3
Breakfast: scrambled eggs and sage on toasted half farl
Lunch: scrambled eggs and sage on toasted half farl, cinnamon applesauce
Dinner: Fish tacos of pan bread and bluegill with garlic bulbils, spinach, and hot salsa
Scrambled eggs with sage...why had I never thought of this before?! And with fresh eggs, oh so good.
Look at these tacos! I am hoping the spinach takes off again this weekend while it's warm. I barely had enough for this dinner and I'd love to make it again.
Breakfast: scrambled eggs and sage on toasted half farl
Lunch: scrambled eggs and sage on toasted half farl, cinnamon applesauce
Dinner: Fish tacos of pan bread and bluegill with garlic bulbils, spinach, and hot salsa
Scrambled eggs with sage...why had I never thought of this before?! And with fresh eggs, oh so good.
Look at these tacos! I am hoping the spinach takes off again this weekend while it's warm. I barely had enough for this dinner and I'd love to make it again.
Recipes this week. I mostly make this stuff up, so I'm sorry in advance if I don't have good measurements for some things. Message me if you want me to go into detail about anything and I'll post about it next time.
Irish soda farls: Mix 2 cups flour (I use gluten free flour + xanthan gum... 1 tsp xanthan gum per three cups flour), 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of buttermilk (I use soy milk of just under a cup with a splash of white vinegar). Flour a board and knead a few times. Sprinkle flour inside cast iron skillet and heat. Flatten dough into a circle the size of the cast iron skillet, cut into quarters (these are the "farls"), and place inside skillet. Cook until just browned, flip. If you use a 9" skillet you can cut the farls in half length-wise and get 8 pieces total.
Pan bread: Mix 1 egg, 8 tablespoons milk, and 1/2 cup flour. Pour into a lightly greased skillet the size of pancakes, turning the skillet to thin the batter as you pour. Flip when slightly browned and bubbly. You should get four pieces or three pieces and a baby to snack on. These are flexible, rollable, and you can use as a crêpe too.
Tomato soup: Cook garlic bulbils in two tablespoons butter until tender, add a quart of blanched tomatoes, cook until simmering and tomatoes falling apart. Add rosemary. Use immersion blender to beat all in the pot and let continue to simmer until thickened to your liking. Add milk and salt as desired. I use romas, so they aren't as juicy, otherwise you might want to let simmer and reduce more.
Image credit: me and Cale
Irish soda farls: Mix 2 cups flour (I use gluten free flour + xanthan gum... 1 tsp xanthan gum per three cups flour), 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of buttermilk (I use soy milk of just under a cup with a splash of white vinegar). Flour a board and knead a few times. Sprinkle flour inside cast iron skillet and heat. Flatten dough into a circle the size of the cast iron skillet, cut into quarters (these are the "farls"), and place inside skillet. Cook until just browned, flip. If you use a 9" skillet you can cut the farls in half length-wise and get 8 pieces total.
Pan bread: Mix 1 egg, 8 tablespoons milk, and 1/2 cup flour. Pour into a lightly greased skillet the size of pancakes, turning the skillet to thin the batter as you pour. Flip when slightly browned and bubbly. You should get four pieces or three pieces and a baby to snack on. These are flexible, rollable, and you can use as a crêpe too.
Tomato soup: Cook garlic bulbils in two tablespoons butter until tender, add a quart of blanched tomatoes, cook until simmering and tomatoes falling apart. Add rosemary. Use immersion blender to beat all in the pot and let continue to simmer until thickened to your liking. Add milk and salt as desired. I use romas, so they aren't as juicy, otherwise you might want to let simmer and reduce more.
Image credit: me and Cale