What's for dinner?

[Drew]

Glenn, that's a really good idea.  Lunch on work days at the farm is usually sandwiches, and we tend to stop in at the market on the way in.  It costs time, and cheese sandwiches get old fast for this vegetarian.  prepping a bunch of tacos before we go up would be great.  My double burner from Cabela's is on its way to my house to replace the Coleman burner we have.  That could work.

Hmm.  Eggs, cheese, and black beans with Tapatio and salsa inside the tortilla.   

Tonight is alphabet bean soup, fruit, and bread.  My dad's coming over so I'll pick up some chicken thighs to go along with it for him.

I'm going to be leading a pastured poultry project for our 4H club.  My dad, who's in the same business I'm in and made me the propeller head I am today, grew up on a farm and has volunteered to demonstrate how to process the birds once they stop producing.  They'll be too old for roasting but would make good stewing hens.

[Daddymem]

King crab legs and broiled flounder....mmmmm

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Last night was breakfast for supper at a little local diner.  I was so aggravated with the dog that i forgot to start dinner until it was nearly time for DH to be home. 

Tonight we're having the leftover beans and some bread I made yesterday in the dutch oven.  It is good, sour, crusty bread, though I still need to tweak it a little... The phone was ringing and the kids were running back and forth and opening the doors trying to get the darn dog in, and I was busy making the bread, but in the process of trying to answer my mom's questions on the phone and get the bread in the oven, I somehow turned the oven off and didn't realize it for 30 minutes.  Thankfully the dutch oven was hot already, so it still cooked, but was more chewy than it should have been... I'll try to make it again soon and see if it turns out right when I don't accidentally turn off the oven.  This particular loaf was part wheat and part barley.   I am completely out of plain white flour, so the next one will be completely whole grain... not sure I have enough wheat to do the whole thing, so it'll be a mix of wheat, buckwheat, millet, oats, and/or rye.  Trying to use all the groceries up again!

[Sassy]

Homegrown, hope you are ok after your fall!  The bread sounds good - even if you did turn the oven off.  Did you use a sourdough starter?  What's the recipe? 

Any decisions yet where you'll be moving to?  We are eagerly awaiting the decision 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Sassy,  I'm fine after the fall... the snow was pretty fluffy, and I managed to miss all the nails and staples sticking out of the old board.  But the funniest thing is this:  When I told my husband about it, he had fussed about why didn't i walk around the boards (I'd thought I'd cleared them, but they were covered by snow when I went out and I only caught the far corner.)  Anyway, last night, he went out to get the dog back in, and came in a few minutes later covered in snow and in a tad bit of a hissy fit.  He wiped out in the exact same spot after making fun of me!   What's worse, HE should have been looking out... after all, there was a big bare spot in the snow where I'd wiped out;it looks like he would have walked far enough to get around that.  I about died laughing at him... he wasn't hurt either, but he was covered head to toe in sticky snow.  Thankfully, when the dog bolted away from him, he managed to grab his leash so we didn't end up on another two hour chase.   

The bread was a recipe from the most recent Mother Earth News magazine.  I'll look it up in a minute and post it here... but of course I didn't follow it exactly.  It tastes like a sour dough bread though you're technically not using a starter in the sense of one you keep going in the kitchen all the time...you just let it ferment overnight.  I had a good sour dough starter for a while, but the problem was that it tended to outgrow our ability to use it up... and I'd wake up to find it growing out of it's one gallon jar and climbing around the kitchen counter.  It got so that I was baking bread for the neighbors and so forth just to keep up with it, so when the weather started getting warm again last spring, I quit feeding it and stuck it in the fridge and used it all up.  I may start it up again after we moved, but I liked the fact that this bread tasted every bit as good and sour as regular sourdough, but didn't require the space to keep a starter going and didn't eat us out of house and home.  I think if I hadn't accidentally shut the oven off, it would have been even better.  The outside had a good, thick crust and was perfect for soup or beans. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

No Knead Dutch Oven Bread

1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1.5 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting (or use wheat bran or cornmeal, etc.)
  You can use white flour, wheat flour, or a combination.  I used all-purpose, barley flour, and a little whole wheat.

1.  In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add flour and salt, stirring until blended.  Dough will be shaggy and sticky.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12-18 at warm room temperature.

2.  The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.  LIghtly flour a work surface and place dough on it.  Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice.    Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

3.  Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or your fingers, gently shape it into a ball.  Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal.  Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal.  Cover with another towel and let rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

4.   At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees.  Put a 6-8 qt. heavy covered pot or dutch oven into the oven as it heats (cast iron, enamel, pyrex or ceramic will work.)  When dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid.  Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up.  The dough will lose it's shape a bit in the process, but that's OK. 

5.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and bake another 15-20 minutes until the loaf is browned.  Remove bread from dutch oven and cool on a  wire rack at least 1 hour before slicing.  Yields a 1.5 lb. loaf.


It tasted good with a combination of wheat and barley.  I'll probably try a combo of wheat and rye next time and throw in some caraway seeds.  Also was incredibly fast and easy to make... five minutes to mix it up and then wait until the next day and spend five more minutes and another five minutes to get it in the oven. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I forgot to mention that tonight is BBQ baked chicken, coleslaw, more leftover beans, and maybe biscuits... since the oven will already be hot.

[Sassy]

Thanks, Homegrown - I used to make bread all the time but just haven't wanted to get into the kneading part again - maybe this will break the ice or it will be so good that I won't have to make any other kind of bread!   

BTW, how much salt?

That is too funny about your husband    glad you are ok!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Oops!  I guess I skipped the salt... I think it was a teaspoon and a half.  Yep.  That's right. Should have gone back and proofread.  It is really nice because there is no kneading involved, so it's really quick and easy to make.  I have another recipe I used to make all the time for peasant bread which doesn't have to be kneaded, either, and I used to make it in an iron skillet all the time... makes the best sandwiches.  I'll have to look it up.

[Sassy]

thanks!  I'd be interested in that peasant bread, too   

I'd like to try adding some molasses to bread sometime like Benevolance does - hey, Peter, do you have any recipes?  But yours would be the old fashioned kneaded breads...   

[Redoverfarm]

Venison? Well maybe not.  This group of deer have hung around for the last 4-5 years.  She just keeps adding to her family each year. Actually the photo doesn't show they are only about 40-50ft from the house.  At night they bed down about 5ft from my porch.  Apparently there isn't anything to eat in the woods or they prefer my bluegrass lawn.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Here it is:
Peasant Bread:

1 pkg. yeast
2 c. warm water, divided
4 c. flour (your choice)
2 tsp. salt
1 T. sugar (or other sweetener, like honey or molasses)
butter/poppy seeds (optional)

Dissolve yeast in 1 c. warm water and mix dry ingredients in another bowl.  Add yeast and water and mix well.  Cover and let rise until doubled.  (approx. 1 hour)  Stir down and half.  Place in greased pans and let rise until doubled again.  Brush with butter and or poppy seeds before baking in a 350 degree oven 30-45 minutes.

It doesn't get any easier than that... i bake it in a couple of smaller cast iron skillets about 7"-8" across... I gave this recipe to my aunt when I was about 12 years old (think I got it out of Capper's Weekly or something) and to this day my aunt makes this bread AT LEAST once a week, more in the winter.  I'd made it for Thanksgiving that year or something, and it became a family favorite.  I haven't made it in a while just because it seems like there's always a new recipe I want to try.  Like Drew and Dan's Naan recipe, which was really good, and a big hit with the kids.  

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Red, I've seen a lot of them around here lately, too.  Yesterday, the kids and I went somewhere and we passed three or four big does out in a field near a town, and they seemed to be scrounging in the brush for a little something to eat.  When we came back a few hours later, I fully expected them to be gone, but they were still hanging out there.  Wish I'd had my camera with me... could've gotten a really pretty shot of them out in the snow.

[glenn kangiser]

Those large rodents have eaten my garden so many times I no longer care for them except for dinner.  7 foot fence pretty well stopped them though.

[MountainDon]

Grilled a couple New York strips tonight. Baked a couple sweet potatoes and steamed some green peas. 

[Sassy]

We had French toast & fruit this am.  Made some candied yams later - used honey, coconut oil & vanilla & cooked them on the wood stove;  then we had lentils & barley soup - with garlic, onions & cut up the last of the green tomatoes from the garden & put them in, also added some turmeric.  Was going to make the bread, Homegrown, then I got lazy!

BTW, turmeric is an incredible spice - very good for health - here's a link - lots of other good stuff to read about at the website also...   http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=78

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Turmeric is good for you, but as far as flavor goes, I don't think I could live without cumin and garlic...  I put them in everything.  We buy cumin in bulk and I have about a quart of ground cumin on hand at a time.  I like to make tabouleh, so I always put a lot of cumin in that, and I like it in soups, stews, chili, tacos, any grilled meat, etc... pretty much everything. 

[MountainDon]

We like curried dishes. Turmeric and cumin are both part of the mix that makes curry powder.

[Daddymem]

leftova venzin stew last night

[Redoverfarm]

Beef stroganoff last night.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Tonight will be chicken tortilla soup.  It is still not above 10 degrees!!!  I hate being cold!

[glenn kangiser]

How do you get the chickens flat enough to make tortillas out of them, Homegrown?  Our snow is melting.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Big heavy rolling pin, of course!

[ScottA]

Got a big pot of chili cookin on the stove. Should be ready any minute.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

The soup was really good.  Even the kids finished off their bowls.  And it finally did away with the last of the leftover beans.  Still trying to use up the groceries.  We're looking at moving in 4-5 weeks, max.  That is no time, really, so I figure we'll do our best to use up every bit of groceries we've got between now and then.  However, had to send DH to the store for lightbulbs and milk, which we're out of...