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Weekends Full of Canning & Bone Broth

2/14/2020

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From Theresa:
 
We recently got out the “new” pressure canner that had been sitting unused in our closet for several years, because I hadn’t had the time or energy to learn how to use it. Not that I was feeling guilty or anything about spending all that money on something that was gathering dust, but I am relieved to have finally put it to good use.  We have recently learned to make bone broth, which has opened up a whole new world of flavors for us. We were freezing the broth, though, which meant we had to take it out two days in advance to let it thaw enough to use it in recipes. If we pressure canned the broth instead, it would safely stay on the panty shelf and be ready at a moment’s notice whenever the urge to try a new recipe hit us. So we canned some turkey bone broth with the carcasses we had left over from Thanksgiving.

I had also bought the pressure canner so that we could can beans, so we decided that if we had the canner going, we might as well add beans to the weekend project. We buy our beans in 25 lb. bags at a discount from our local Co-op. In the past, this amount has lasted us for years, but now that we are canning them, I bet we will start to use them more. Just like the frozen bone broth, dried beans need a lot of prep time. They need to be soaked in water overnight, and sometimes cooked separately for hours before you can add them to your dish. Now, with canned beans, we just pull them off the shelf and they’re read to heat and eat.
Our Turkey Bone Broth:
Add turkey carcasses, onions, garlic, bay leaves, vinegar, and salt and pepper, to a large pot and cover with water:
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Simmer for two days:
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Strain and pressure can:
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Was it Worth the Time it Took?

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We spent three days canning, and although it was lots of time watching pots boil and probably only four hours of actual work, I was worn out at the end and wondered if it was worth our time, since we could have just bought the food already canned from the store. So I did some math:
 
Organic navy beans in the store cost $2.59 per 15 oz. can, which is $.17 per oz. We canned 192 ounces (12 pints x 16 oz each), so in the store it would have cost us
=$32.64
 
Organic chickpeas in the store cost $2.89 per 15 oz can = $.19/oz x 176 (11 pints x 16 oz each)
=$33.44
 
Organic bone broth in the store costs $6.59/quart. We canned 8 quarts, so that’s
=$52.72
 
So to buy everything we canned from the store would have cost us
=$118.80.


I figure we used approximately $12 worth of dry beans and there’s a very small cost for canning supplies, so we still come out over $100 ahead. That made me feel like it was worth it, since I would rather spend my time making the things we need, then spend my time working to make money to buy the things we need. Plus, the bone broth we make is better than anything you can buy in the store.

Our Expensive Pressure Canner

Water bath canners are inexpensive. They are basically a very large pot with a lid and a rack to hold jars. You can often buy them from garage sales. But they can only be used to can high-acid foods, which means mostly tomatoes and other fruits. A pressure canner cans everything else: meats, beans, soups, vegetables. But they are much more complicated machines with lots of safety features, so they are quite a bit more expensive.  After researching my options, I decided I really wanted an All-American cast aluminum pressure canner, which of course was one of the most expensive I found. We bought the 21.5 quart, which is big enough to let us do two layers of pint jars at time.
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Our All-American 21.5 quart Pressure Canner

I wanted this higher-priced pressure canner because it seemed the most self-reliant:
  • It didn’t have a rubber gasket around the rim that would need to be replaced periodically.
  • Although it had a gauge dial for reference, it relied on the weighted gauge to measure the pressure. I didn't want one that only had a dial gauge, because it should be taken annually to your county extension agent for testing to see if it is still reading accurately.
The canner came with pretty good instructions and a helpful DVD that showed us the basics of how to use it. Once I took the time to pay attention, it wasn't at all hard to figure out how to make it work.
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Our canner is big enough to hold two layers of pint jars. This batch has navy beans and chickpeas.

Three Weeks Later:
We're almost out of navy beans & broth

It’s about three weeks later, and as I thought, we only have 2 quarts of broth (out of 8) left, and only 3 pints of navy beans (out of 12) remaining. Having ingredients at our finger tips has made experimenting with recipes much easier, so our supplies are running out fast. We’ve been trying to challenge ourselves to cook from the pantry more, rather than buy food from the grocery store, because we need to save money, so learning to use the pressure canner has been very serendipitous timing (Bear here- good scrabble word, hon...).
 
This weekend we are canning beef bone broth. I like its flavor better than poultry broth, and the farmers we buy our bulk organic beef from recently decided to clean out their freezers and gifted us with almost 90 lbs. of bones! We will be making bone broth on weekends for the foreseeable future, since we don't have enough freezer space to store the bones long term. Actually, if we use 14 lbs. of bones per batch, that would be 5 more batches, so it would be good to figure out a way to get two batches going at a time. However, I don’t think we have space in our refrigerator to safely unthaw that many bones at a time.
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Here's about half of the almost 90 lbs. of beef bones our friends gave us.

Why Make Bone Broth?

We have been making "plain" stock for years with leftover chicken bones and vegetables, but I confess that I didn’t notice any flavor difference between adding our stock vs. plain water to our soups. When bone broth became popular, I looked at some recipes and realized there were some things I had been doing wrong when making stock all these years:
  • I needed to simmer the broth much longer. I usually only simmered it for several hours, or however long was convenient that day. I should have been simmering it for at least two days, or ideally, three or four for beef broth.
  • I needed to add vinegar, which has the ability to leach minerals from the bones. You don’t add enough to change the flavor, but enough to extract the minerals that make the broth good for you.
  • I had never made beef broth. We had just made stock from leftover poultry bones, but I think beef broth has much more flavor. We just don’t have hardly any leftover beef bones, so we needed to buy them specifically to make the broth.
 
Bone broth is definitely more flavorful in recipes that plain water. There are a lot of claims about how healthy it is, but I don't worry a lot about whether those are true, because we would make bone broth just because it tastes so good. Even if you just drink it straight without adding anything to it, it is so tasty it seems like a really nourishing meal in itself. It seems like something your grandmother would give you to make sure you stay healthy.
If you want to do more than drink it straight, though, it can be used in endless ways. If you are making a recipe that calls for any water, you can substitute bone broth instead, and it will add flavor. So don’t just think about adding it to your soups. For example, it is great when used to boil oatmeal. Add some bacon and parmesan cheese and you’ll have an amazing savory breakfast. We got this idea from Healing Bone Broth Recipes by Sharon Brown. It's a book about the Paleo diet, which we're not really into, but it's full of ideas for how to use your broth.
As part of our pantry challenge, we have cooked groats (whole oat kernels) in bone broth to create a pilaf, then added veggies and a little meat. It has been amazing. We are basing our oat experiments on recipes from The Scottish Oats Bible, by Nichola Fletcher, which Bear brought back from Scotland. We are sure that as we go on to experiment with barley, rice, and other grains, that cooking them in bone broth will also add incredible flavor.
 Pork and Kale and Knockit Corn (aka groats) recipe from The Scottish Oats Bible:
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Groats (aka whole kernal oats) boiling in beef bone broth.
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The finished recipe with a side of brussel sprouts and bread.

Our Beef Bone Broth Recipe

Makes 6- 8 quarts.
 
Days before:
Unthaw bones in the refrigerator (it takes a couple days).
If you have a water filter, make sure you’ll have enough water from it to use in the broth.

Ingredients:
  • 7 lbs of mixed beef bones  (Such as knuckle or neck bones, oxtail, short ribs, soup bones. Include at least one that has some meat on it.)
  • 16 cups filtered water 
  • 3 onions, roots removed, roughly chopped into quarters (Leave the skins on to add color to the broth.)
  • Large head of garlic, roots removed, skin left on
  • 2 bay leaves      
  • 1 tbsp peppercorns, or more or less to taste
  • 1 tbsp seasalt, or more or less to taste
Roast the bones:
  • Preheat the oven to 350° F.
  • Put all the bones in roasting pans (there’s no need to add any oil) and roast until very brown, for about an hour.
 
Simmer stock:
  • Add the bones and all other ingredients to a large stock pot. Add additional water if needed to cover everything. Put on the lid and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for 10 minutes, then lower heat and simmer for at least 2 days, ideally 4.
 
After about 12 hours:
  • Around this time, if you used any meaty bones, you should notice that the meat is very tender and falling off the bones.
  • If you want, you can remove the meat and use it in other recipes, returning the bones to the broth.
  • We like to start our broth in the evening, then remove the meat when we get up in the morning. It makes great sandwiches, or add it to soup or a grain pilaf.
 
To finish the stock:
  • Pour everything through a large strainer.
  • The resulting broth can be used right away, frozen, or pressure canned.
  • Once the broth cools, it will have a solid layer of fat on top, which you can discard before using the broth.
Unthawing 14 lbs. of beef bones:
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The bones after roasting:
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Removing the meat from the bones
after 12 hours:
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Tips:
  • Local meat farmers who have stores at their farms or who sell at farmer’s markets are a good source for buying the types of bones you need.
  • Simmering the broth means that there should only be a few bubbles breaking the surface at a time. When stock boils, most of the surface of the water starts moving. This should only happen when you first start cooking the broth.
  • We prefer to simmer our stock until the bones actually start to fall apart when we stir them. This usually takes 4 days. The first recipe we tried said to simmer the broth for 2 days, but we read it wrong and did it for 4 days, and found out we like that better. If the bones are falling apart, you know that the healthy minerals have been removed and you’ll be drinking them in the broth.
  • However, cook the broth for as long as your schedule allows. If you have only two days off in a row, then do it for two days. We only work part time, so are able to simmer it for 4 days. You could also do this recipe in a crock pot (although you’d probably need to make a smaller batch) so that overnight cooking isn’t an issue. I bet our great-grandparents just always had a soup pot simmering on the back burner, and didn’t have to worry about work schedules.
  • We often simmer the broth on our woodstove during the day, then move it to our electric stove overnight, since our woodstove doesn’t stay lit all night. We find that if we put the burner on the .5 setting, just above “Low,” it is safe to cook it all night. You could also put it in the refrigerator overnight if needed, but that would entail removing it from the woodstove early enough that it would cool off, and then cooking it additional days to make up for the loss of overnight time. You could also experiment with leaving it outside overnight if it’s cold in your area, and if you have a place to keep animals out of it.
  • The broth smells amazing and the scent will permeate your house as it simmers, so be prepared to spend your weekend craving it.
  • Here's what the broth looks like after simmering for about a day and a half:
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May your pantry be full of good things to eat!

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What is Cooking?  by Bear

11/30/2016

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Bear here...

There is a song by Metalica that goes through my head when I am thinking about cooking and why I do it. My version of Fuel goes like this:

It is FUEL...

It is FIRE...
IT GIVES ME THAT WHICH I DESIRE...

This is how I roll.
​
Let me explain with words and pictures...
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Cat! For the last time, I am done with the catnip recipes, deal with it!
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Cooking in a kilt. Yep... The wife digs it. What can I say?
THE FUEL...  I know what is going into my meals. I get to choose the ingredients...
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From in the house...
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Fresh from the neighbor's chickens.
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Gotta fuel the mind with new ideas. This one, beet burgers!
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A rub for more flavor on the meat? I can do that!
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Use variety. How many different types of cheese sandwiches do you think I can make with these ingredients?
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Fixings for peanut sauce, Mm Mm GOOD!
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... to in the yard
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On the hunt in the wild.
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Saving money, because I know how to break down a chicken.
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Awesome dressing for yard salad? The wife is better at that than I am, just sayen...
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Beer bread, ready to mix and heat!
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Fixings for... crap, I forgot. It does look cool, right?
THE FIRE.... Here is what I use to test and improve my skills. Like the vest says, "Backyard 2 Kitchen" and a few other places.
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ANY TIME OF YEAR!
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Getting the charcoal ready to work.
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Backyard up high: Grilling veggies to add more flavor before turning them into salsa.
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With know how and a little creativity...
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From the kitchen: On the stove.
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Use a solar oven outside any time on a clear day.
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Did I mention cooking in the living room? On the wood burning stove!
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With a rack & a lid you can use inside and the top
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My beginner grill.
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Benefits of working the coals.
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Backyard down low: Using our fire pit and largest skillet "aka Bubba" to make breakfast.
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... a grill can become a smoker!
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From the kitchen: In the stove.
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Above: Got scraps? In the kitchen you can use scraps and bones to make stock to freeze and use later in soups and stews.

Some foods can be frozen for months. You can eat now or plan for later.

Left: Who's the happy boy getting meat ready for dinner ASAP?
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Lots of meals and a small stove? Use a hay box.
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Do I need to mention the classic hot dogs over coals in the wood burning stove?
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... of your wood burning stove to make pit beef.
GIVING ME THAT WHICH I DESIRE... a great meal... when all goes well.
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I admit to some failures. Like the popcorn with burnt spices in it. A guy has to learn the hard way sometimes.
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It don't have to look pretty to taste good...
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I desire good steaks!
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I desire good sandwiches!
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Yep, I desire salads from the yard, I also like...
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I desire the classics like grilled steak with garlic potatoes and grilled corn!
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And I have learned... Breakfast with lamb steak and eggs with grilled toast and farmers market salad!
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... Just using what I have!
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I desire good chicken!
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I desire good side dishes! (roasted sweet potatoes)
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them made with homemade spiced paneer cheese!
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I desire new ideas like stringed zuccinni in home made pesto with sungold tomatoes on top!
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All this desire makes a guy hungry, You know?
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It's all about quality control... really... it is!
So, why do I like to cook when I don't have to? Look at what I can do when I try... Enough said.

​type at ya later...
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Dip of delight 

10/5/2016

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Bear here... long time no type... fixing that...

To the left we have the makings of an awesome dip. First, I would like to thank the southern people for their condiment of spiced vinegar. Theresa found the idea on the internet and ran with it, we now use it a lot.

The vinegar is spiced with a table spoon(?) of peppercorns, 2 - 3 cut cloves of garlic and 4 sorrano (hot) peppers. We also used our chive vinegar instead of plain or apple. Let the bottle set out over night and the flavors will soak into the vinegar.  Just keep refilling the vinegar when you run low. Theresa read that you could keep using the seasonings forever, I'm thinking change them in a year or two.

... Oh, almost forgot the dip part.  Start by mixing 2 tablespoons of the vinegar with a box of cream cheese or sour cream. keep adding and mixing to taste. That's it! Cool huh?

(I tried to link the chive vinegar to our making vinegars page... hope it worked)

​Type at ya later...

​


​


​
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Homemade Peanut Butter and Wild Grape Jelly

8/28/2016

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From Theresa:
Last weekend we foraged for wild grapes in the yard and on the bike trail.

Wild grapes are tiny and very, very tart, but they grow in the shade under our walnut trees and in my opinion, make better tasting jelly than their sweeter, cultivated cousins.

And what could be better with wild grape jelly than its classic companion, peanut butter, which can be easily & quickly made in the kitchen. ​It's these kind of simple pleasures that make homesteading worthwhile for me.

So we're happy to share instructions on how we make our own:
  • homemade peanut butter
  • wild grape jelly
Enjoy!

Savoring the Classic PBJ:

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Anatomy of a Breakfast, or, How to Make a Meal Out of What You Have When Your Husband Uses Up All the Bacon

5/1/2016

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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.
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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?)
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A satisfying meal goes fast, although the satisfaction of using up some of the random vegetables we have in our refrigerator continues.

Hope you have some equally satisfying meals this week...
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Eat Your Yard Spring: Chickweed, Fiddleheads, Nettle & Ramps

4/24/2016

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Our Sunday breakfast was steamed fiddleheads & wilted nettle, which are great with runny scrambled eggs seasoned with chives, and crispy bacon.
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Our lunch was chickweed & bulghur salad with carrots and red peppers.
Happy Eating!
From Theresa:  It's finally Spring and one of the great things about it is that we can start eating from the yard! Today we harvested chickweed, nettle, fiddleheads, and chives and had them for breakfast and lunch. After the long Winter, these tasty Spring treats provide our bodies with the nutrition we crave.

For information on how to grow, harvest, and eat these Spring treats, see the April/May section of our Eat Your Yard page.
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Clockwise from yellow colander: Fiddleheads, chickweek, nettle, chives.
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Grilled Cheese Classic Championship

4/23/2016

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Bear here... long time no type...
I hope people are still out there and interested....

I entered my first "Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Sandwich Championship"  (Left:  Got the T-shirt to prove it.)

(Also grabbing life by the horns, hope you all like the new hair do... it's a 10 point rack.)

With Theresa's help and the unleashing of my inner Cook of Anarchy... Here is what happened...​
We decided to do two of the four categories of sandwiches (the classic plus one ingredient and the classic plus extras/any ingredients). We went through a lot of different cheeses, breads, and toppings testing different combinations.  Many of the cheeses are still unopened in the refrigerator- I didn't even get around to tasting all of them.

Simple is my friend, so is bacon. I used White Jasmine Tandoori Gouda cheese and Roth Butterkase cheese, with pit smoked bacon and home made dill pickle relish for my extras sandwich. For the plus one I used Tandoori Gouda with our home grown and homemade red currant jelly (gotta love sweet with heat). Unfortunately, the judges were not showing me any love- my scores were low.  The VIPs, though, who paid extra to actually taste the sandwiches the competitors were making, were showing me a lot of love. I counted at least five different people who were waiting to sample my sandwiches and some of them came up to ask me about them. (People asking about, wanting, and liking my food... THAT is what makes me happy.)
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Spatulas up! The big guy is ready to cook.
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Tandoori gouda is really crumbly, the spoon really helps.
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Hmmm... Wonder W.T.F. this was for?
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Back at it. The burners were sensitive, at times I thought mine was on low but it was out.
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As the assistant, Theresa gets to raise the flag to tell the judges when we are done.
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Lookin good...Hope they like them.
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Second round, time to pull more fixings out of my bag of tricks.
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Yep, I am having fun... can't you tell?
We had a good time and got to meet a lot of cool people with a lot of ideas about cheese sandwiches. If you need some ideas for making your own championship sandwiches, see my Cook of Anarchy Grilled Cheese page.

Type at you later,
​Bear
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Our Division of (Cooking) Labor

2/28/2016

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Here's a humorous look at Bear and Theresa's different cooking styles and the  
Division of Labor at Our House
as we spend our Sunday afternoon cooking. Enjoy!

Theresa's Cooking:

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Bear's Cooking:

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Beer Bread in a Solar Oven

8/21/2015

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Hi, Bear here... 

Does this title grab your attention? I hope so. I haven't been blogging much lately (Theresa says "Summer is so busy with other stuff") and I hope people haven't lost interest. Still here, just sayen... Anyway...

We have been learning to use the solar oven we bought at the Mother Earth News Fair a few weeks ago. We were told that it is great for making bread. I wanted to try it out with a simple beer bread idea I got from the book:
Grub!: Cookin' fer mountain men
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Here we go...

It is best to warm up your solar oven before you are ready to use it.

I set ours up in our driveway when I got home from work so it would have at least 1/2 hour of warm up time, after which the oven temp read 300 degrees F (in full sun with the door sealed shut).

(If you are using a regular oven the GRUB! book says to bake for about 45 min. at 350 degrees.)
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Assemble your tools and ingredients:
  • The book helps
  • 12 oz. of beer at room temp. 
  • 3 cups self rising flour: We don't have self rising flour, so I checked a book by my guru Alton Brown and found you can make your own by combining 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder, and 1/2 tsp of salt. For this bread, I used 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour, plus my favorite smoked salt.
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Oops... I also need some butter to lightly grease the bread pans. Then lightly flour them.

(Side note... The book calls for one bread pan. I am thinking the last time I tried this there was enough dough for two pans, so I am ready just in case.)
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Whisk or combine the dry ingredients until they are well mixed. (Especially if you are using the baking powder. Clumps of that stuff taste nasty.)

Oh by the way... READ THE FLIPPEN RECIPE! The book calls for 4 tablespoons of sugar (I like brown sugar) which I didn't have in the first photo but I did mix in after checking the book, again.

Next note: 12 oz. of beer is more than a cup. I figured that out when I mixed a cup of beer in and the dough looked a lot dryer than the last time. Silly me, wanting to drink more leftovers.
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When you mix it right the dough should look like this (left). Let the dough rest for 10 min. (I am guessing to let the flour absorb more of the liquid.)

Guys, now is the time to earn brownie points. Clean up the mess, chicks dig that. Am I right ladies? I got to clean the dishes and that extra bread pan I didn't use.
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Load the oven and let it bake. When time is up check the bread with a toothpick or a fork. Put the fork into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, the bread is done. If not, continue baking and check every 5 - 10 min. until done in a regular oven, or less often in a solar oven.

For a regular oven:  bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

For the solar oven, the bread took 1 hr. 45 min. (I checked it every 1/2 hour and moved the oven so it would keep facing the sun.)
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Looks like Theresa is home. Time to get off the computer and eat some dinner.

Type at ya later...
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Smokin' in the Rain

7/24/2015

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Bear here.... Last weekend I had a good idea, and bad timing. I am a grill guy, I usually don't have the time or patience for BBQ. I have done some briskets and I was in the mood to try barbecuing venison. I thawed a venison shoulder for smoking/ BBQ. The shoulder was about 10 lbs. so would take around 8 to 10 hours, and I started around noon. (First mistake.) I decided to use bonfire wood to cook in my grill for better smoke and heat control. Did you know it takes around 1 1/2 hrs. to get coals? I relearned that fact. I also started with lump charcoal so I wouldn't be cooking in the dark.

The forecast on Thursday was for warm, muggy  weather on Saturday, no problem. (Second mistake, I should have looked Saturday morning and realized STORMS were coming to an area near me!) Everything was set up and rolling, I put the venison on the grill and before I could close the lid I heard thunder.  

... I can do this. Here are some pictures and commentary for that day.
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Remember when I said I was a grill guy? This is my old grill rigged to smoke.
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Here is our fire pit. I carried the coals I needed with a shovel to the grill.
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Wasn't sure what I needed so I soaked most of my wood chunks and left them in the water until needed.
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This is Ivy sayen "Dude, Get the meat on the fire already, I'm hungry."
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This is when I heard the thunder.
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We be smoken'. Light rain isn't going to stop me! (I think I hear laughter from the catio.)
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This is when the tornado warning siren went off for our town. Only severe thunder storms, I'll be fine!
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No problem. no heavy rain yet. 
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Oh crap, heavy rain. Time to cover the pit and hope it doesn't last long.
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Can you tell which side is 350 degrees and which is at 225?
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Back at it. Smoked for 3 hours.
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Time to add some liquids, wrap the meat and cook it low and slow until done. (Good thing I checked three hours later, the temp was 185.)
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Hoping it is done right. Always best to have a pan to catch liquids, the foil almost always leaks.
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Since some of the meat seemed dry I kept the braising liquids and put the meat in them after chopping it.
Overall... it was an interesting day and the meat turned out OK. It made great sandwiches. Soon I will be doing this again.

Type at ya later..
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