Bear here...  It's Friday!  Hoping I can blog about this and finish dinner before Theresa gets home.  Here we go... New pasta Ideas!

Bear here...

Doing a quick blog today. As you all know my typing sucks and is slow. I have to be quick because Theresa wants to go to some plant sales... who knows what we will find, I may actually help plant some of the stuff we buy ... oh, NOT the subject... Well... On to Shelf Chefing! (If interested check out Bear's Shelf Chefing page.)

I have been known to leave most of my dirty dishes laying around after I cook and after we eat because we go to bed early, sometimes this can happen for a few days in a row. Not the best idea when one wants to be a Level 4 Shelf Chef. So I have come up with a plan that can make doing dishes and most other house cleaning projects more fun and easier to get myself to do, even after getting home from a long day at work.

The cleaning man has two friends- loud music and beer!  Yep, BEER! (and mixed drinks also work). Crack open a beer to get you started. When you are done with the cleaning, finish the beer. Everything is better with good tunes so crank the music up. I recommend Godsmack, Disturbed or Nonpoint. If you are an older Shelf Chef there is Sammy Hagar, Metalica, Guns & Roses, Twisted Sister, AC/DC, etc... Try to get the work done by the end of the CD.  It helps me... just sayen.

Good cleaning.   Bear

Our kitchen faucet stopped working recently. We bought a new faucet, but haven't gotten around to seeing if we can figure out how to replace it (we aren't the best plumbers). So here's how a guy in the kitchen can do dishes without running water. It's kind of like camping in your house. ​

From Theresa:

It's early Saturday morning. I announce to Bear that I'm going to make eggs and bacon for breakfast, but when I peer into the refrigerator, I realize that he has used up all the bacon in a previous meal and neglected to thaw out more. (From Bear...  I'm getting the blame but not feeling too guilty.)

So plan B. I know we have a few very old potatoes in the cupboard. I pull them out, and see that they have started growing, but they're still edible. I cut them into thin slices and put them into our cast iron skillet, into which I have put in a generous amount of leftover bacon grease. 

I am thinking of my Mom, who passed on a few years ago. She made the most amazing fried potatoes. She actually peeled each potato, which I am too lazy to do, and then she was so skilled with her paring knife that you could almost see through her thin potato slices. I didn't inherit her slicing skill, but I do have her knife.

And although I loved my mother's meals and certainly got my appreciation of home cooked meals from her, I am not her, so I learned my own way of cooking. I'm looking at the frying potatoes, and although my mouth is salivating, I know that my system needs more vegetables and fiber, or I will regret having all that bacon grease.

I also pride myself on being able to create meals from whatever ingredients we have on hand so that nothing gets thrown out. Food is life- life that is taken from whatever we are eating and being given to us- so we shouldn't waste it.

I find mushrooms in the vegetable bin and part of a chopped up onion, and add those to the pan. I also bought a burdock root, to help my ailing liver. It's really good chopped thin, dunked in egg, and fried, so I think I'll put it the frying pan with the potatoes. But I also love eating salad with my breakfast eggs, and while I'm staring at the large burdock root I'm holding in my hand, I suddenly remember a workshop I took in which the instructor made a shredded carrot and burdock root salad. So the plan changes again.

I don't have any carrots, but there's one of last Fall's beets left from our attic root cellar, so I make Bear's beet and carrot slaw recipe, but with beet and burdock. The sesame oil dressing is really good, although I think the burdock is a little dry compared to carrots, so I add some fresh chopped parsley, which adds a wonderful flavor (it's really not just for garnish).

By now the mixture of potatoes and mushrooms has gotten brown and crispy, and the onions are translucent, so I stir up some eggs and pour it over the mixture. I add a generous amount of fresh pepper, and cook the eggs for a few minutes, stirring constantly. We like them slightly runny. When they're done, I add more fresh parsley, because it doesn't last long in the refrigerator.

I toast some French bread we got from the bakery and pour a glass of organic milk from pasture raised cows, and we have a wonderful way to start our Saturday morning. It will nourish us much more than simple bacon and eggs (although if your husband hasn't used up all the bacon, I suggest crumbling it up and adding it to the eggs- it would taste wonderful amongst all the vegetables).

(From Bear...  Ooooo... She ends up making a good meal and I get the blame. Does that sound right to you?)