Week 7. Only 6 weeks left! I printed out my master freezer, canned, and bartering inventory lists because I was going to do a total re-inventory this past week to see where things stand. But after crossing off all the things I have wiped out so far, and crossing off some of the quantities of other things that remain, I didn't feel like it was necessary. Things are going well, and I don't think I'll need to do any major rationing near the end. I hope I don't regret saying that! Anyway, I haven't talked much if at all about my mindset with planning meals, so I'll touch on it now.
When I was preserving food before winter, I made a real effort to think ahead about the different forms of ingredients I might need. For instance, I foraged somewhere around 150 pounds of apples, but I didn't want to preserve them in just one way because it would limit my uses for them later. Imagine 150 pounds of apple chips. So instead, I have apple chips, canned apples in light syrup, canned apples in light/medium syrup, canned applesauce with cinnamon, canned apple chutney, frozen unsweetened apples, frozen unsweetened applesauce, and frozen applesauce with cinnamon. The variety in forms of my food opens up different cooking uses. I'm sick of apples by the way.
Once winter came along, I started to think about being careful of what I "wiped out" (a term I have used a lot lately) first so as not to limit myself for the weeks ahead. If I don't keep incorporating all my apple forms into my menus, I'll end up with only apples in the last couple weeks. If I'm sick of apples already, can you imagine how sad it would be to only have apples at the end? When I wipe something out, I do it with great intention. I don't want to accidentally wipe something out and then in the weeks ahead realize I missed out on a great dish using whatever it was that I ate without forethought. I don't even know on a daily basis how much I think about this. It consumes me sometimes. But it's part of why my inventory doesn't have too many things completely wiped out and why I still have foods I haven't even tried yet, like my canned plums, crappie fillets, grape juice, etc.
If you have read Jessica Watson's book True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Yea-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World you have a good idea of this notion of why I'm not wanting to eat all my favorite things at the beginning of my journey. When Jessica opened a new food bag on her boat, she ate the chocolate, dried fruit, pasta, and tuna first. This left her with an excess of dried peas and canned beans at the end, which she didn't much like. So, you get the idea. My friend Eric, who sails and also followed Jessica's blog throughout her trip around the world, said to me this week, "It's like you're living in a sailboat, Christina!"
Day 43
breakfast: persimmon and apricot smoothie
lunch: leftover rooster chili, applesauce
snack: apple chips
dinner: venison loin open sandwich with gravy on toasted soda bread
Persimmon and apricot smoothie! Oh yeah, that was amazing. What was also amazing today was my dinner. I browned and baked a venison loin and used the skillet bits and my leftover chicken stock to make gravy. This goes up on the list with those fish tacos that included the fresh spinach. Delicious!
I made another batch of mayo today. Remember the cattail pickles? Total dud. I took a jar out recently to test them, and they were like pickled sticks. Too hard. I don't know what happened, but I used their pickled juice as my vinegar/acid for the mayo.
Also today I went to Walmart to get a couple plastic tubs for storing jars in the cellar as well as some dog food and dog treats. Intimidating Minnow went with me, and I walked with him through the middle section of the grocery items since he was picking up some...food. I started looking at all the square boxes and bright colors and advertised flavors. I caught myself saying quietly, "Is this food?"
When I was preserving food before winter, I made a real effort to think ahead about the different forms of ingredients I might need. For instance, I foraged somewhere around 150 pounds of apples, but I didn't want to preserve them in just one way because it would limit my uses for them later. Imagine 150 pounds of apple chips. So instead, I have apple chips, canned apples in light syrup, canned apples in light/medium syrup, canned applesauce with cinnamon, canned apple chutney, frozen unsweetened apples, frozen unsweetened applesauce, and frozen applesauce with cinnamon. The variety in forms of my food opens up different cooking uses. I'm sick of apples by the way.
Once winter came along, I started to think about being careful of what I "wiped out" (a term I have used a lot lately) first so as not to limit myself for the weeks ahead. If I don't keep incorporating all my apple forms into my menus, I'll end up with only apples in the last couple weeks. If I'm sick of apples already, can you imagine how sad it would be to only have apples at the end? When I wipe something out, I do it with great intention. I don't want to accidentally wipe something out and then in the weeks ahead realize I missed out on a great dish using whatever it was that I ate without forethought. I don't even know on a daily basis how much I think about this. It consumes me sometimes. But it's part of why my inventory doesn't have too many things completely wiped out and why I still have foods I haven't even tried yet, like my canned plums, crappie fillets, grape juice, etc.
If you have read Jessica Watson's book True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Yea-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World you have a good idea of this notion of why I'm not wanting to eat all my favorite things at the beginning of my journey. When Jessica opened a new food bag on her boat, she ate the chocolate, dried fruit, pasta, and tuna first. This left her with an excess of dried peas and canned beans at the end, which she didn't much like. So, you get the idea. My friend Eric, who sails and also followed Jessica's blog throughout her trip around the world, said to me this week, "It's like you're living in a sailboat, Christina!"
Day 43
breakfast: persimmon and apricot smoothie
lunch: leftover rooster chili, applesauce
snack: apple chips
dinner: venison loin open sandwich with gravy on toasted soda bread
Persimmon and apricot smoothie! Oh yeah, that was amazing. What was also amazing today was my dinner. I browned and baked a venison loin and used the skillet bits and my leftover chicken stock to make gravy. This goes up on the list with those fish tacos that included the fresh spinach. Delicious!
I made another batch of mayo today. Remember the cattail pickles? Total dud. I took a jar out recently to test them, and they were like pickled sticks. Too hard. I don't know what happened, but I used their pickled juice as my vinegar/acid for the mayo.
Also today I went to Walmart to get a couple plastic tubs for storing jars in the cellar as well as some dog food and dog treats. Intimidating Minnow went with me, and I walked with him through the middle section of the grocery items since he was picking up some...food. I started looking at all the square boxes and bright colors and advertised flavors. I caught myself saying quietly, "Is this food?"
Day 44
breakfast: soda bread with elderberry jelly, mint tea
lunch: venison sandwich with mayo, applesauce
dinner: venison sandwich with mayo
Smelled another frozen dinner cooking again in the microwave at work. Disgusting. I don't know what it was.
breakfast: soda bread with elderberry jelly, mint tea
lunch: venison sandwich with mayo, applesauce
dinner: venison sandwich with mayo
Smelled another frozen dinner cooking again in the microwave at work. Disgusting. I don't know what it was.
Day 45
breakfast: soda bread with elderberry jelly
lunch: venison sandwich with mayo
dinner: catfish sandwich with mayo, pears
Egg barter day! 18 eggs for 2 and a half pints of dried mint. Thanks, Crystal!
Day 46
breakfast: scrambled egg white with sage on toasted soda bread, mint and rose hip tea
lunch: catfish sandwich with mayo on soda bread, pears
dinner: wood ear soup, gooseberry galette
The wood ear soup was a mixture of chicken stock, dried wood ear mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and basil. Nothing to write home about, but it'll keep you alive.
Cracked more black walnuts. It takes me an hour to get a half cup of nuts. That's a little depressing, but maybe I'll get faster the more I do it.
breakfast: soda bread with elderberry jelly
lunch: venison sandwich with mayo
dinner: catfish sandwich with mayo, pears
Egg barter day! 18 eggs for 2 and a half pints of dried mint. Thanks, Crystal!
Day 46
breakfast: scrambled egg white with sage on toasted soda bread, mint and rose hip tea
lunch: catfish sandwich with mayo on soda bread, pears
dinner: wood ear soup, gooseberry galette
The wood ear soup was a mixture of chicken stock, dried wood ear mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and basil. Nothing to write home about, but it'll keep you alive.
Cracked more black walnuts. It takes me an hour to get a half cup of nuts. That's a little depressing, but maybe I'll get faster the more I do it.
Day 47
breakfast: spinach fritter cornbread sandwich
snack: crabapple chips
dinner: fried egg on cornbread with hot salsa, gooseberry galette, mulberry ice milk
The spinach under the hoop is growing again! I have left it alone with the hope I'll be able to make a fresh salad at some point and/or make those fish tacos again. We had a warm day, so I watered and closed the hoop back up. I just know I'll have fresh spinach soon. Yay!
Mulberry ice milk. Yep! This was a poor attempt at making another kind of dessert, but so what, it looks cool and tastes like summer mulberries. No complaints!
I have now lost a total of 21 pounds. The weight loss is slowing down again, which is good. Only one pound in the last week.
breakfast: spinach fritter cornbread sandwich
snack: crabapple chips
dinner: fried egg on cornbread with hot salsa, gooseberry galette, mulberry ice milk
The spinach under the hoop is growing again! I have left it alone with the hope I'll be able to make a fresh salad at some point and/or make those fish tacos again. We had a warm day, so I watered and closed the hoop back up. I just know I'll have fresh spinach soon. Yay!
Mulberry ice milk. Yep! This was a poor attempt at making another kind of dessert, but so what, it looks cool and tastes like summer mulberries. No complaints!
I have now lost a total of 21 pounds. The weight loss is slowing down again, which is good. Only one pound in the last week.
Day 48
breakfast: spinach fritter cornbread sandwich
lunch: wood ear soup, cornbread with butter
dinner: baked bass with herbs and wild onion, toasted cornbread, gooseberry galette
breakfast: spinach fritter cornbread sandwich
lunch: wood ear soup, cornbread with butter
dinner: baked bass with herbs and wild onion, toasted cornbread, gooseberry galette
Day 49
breakfast: crabapple chips
lunch: baked bass with herbs and wild onions, cornbread with butter
snack: crabapple chips
dinner: fried eggs on toasted cornbread with mayo
Recipes:
Venison loin: 1 tablespoon butter, 1 venison loin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper. Season the loin, brown both sides in a skillet with butter, bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Slice.
Mulberry ice milk: 4 cups soy milk, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup mulberries (strain to remove seeds). Mix all ingredients and place in freezer. Stir every 2 hours until ice crystals form throughout.
Spinach fritters: 1/2 cup thawed and chopped spinach, 1 small whipped egg, 1/4 cup cornmeal. Stir all together, form into patties, fry in small amount of oil until brown on both sides.
breakfast: crabapple chips
lunch: baked bass with herbs and wild onions, cornbread with butter
snack: crabapple chips
dinner: fried eggs on toasted cornbread with mayo
Recipes:
Venison loin: 1 tablespoon butter, 1 venison loin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper. Season the loin, brown both sides in a skillet with butter, bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Slice.
Mulberry ice milk: 4 cups soy milk, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup mulberries (strain to remove seeds). Mix all ingredients and place in freezer. Stir every 2 hours until ice crystals form throughout.
Spinach fritters: 1/2 cup thawed and chopped spinach, 1 small whipped egg, 1/4 cup cornmeal. Stir all together, form into patties, fry in small amount of oil until brown on both sides.