Category: Cooking - Our Tiny Homestead

What is Cooking? by Bear

11/30/2016

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...

Cat! For the last time, I am done with the catnip recipes, deal with it!

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...

From in the house...

Fresh from the neighbor's chickens.

Gotta fuel the mind with new ideas. This one, beet burgers!

A rub for more flavor on the meat? I can do that!

Use variety. How many different types of cheese sandwiches do you think I can make with these ingredients?

Fixings for peanut sauce, Mm Mm GOOD!

... to in the yard

On the hunt in the wild.

Saving money, because I know how to break down a chicken.

Awesome dressing for yard salad? The wife is better at that than I am, just sayen...

Beer bread, ready to mix and heat!

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.

ANY TIME OF YEAR!

Getting the charcoal ready to work.

Backyard up high: Grilling veggies to add more flavor before turning them into salsa.

With know how and a little creativity...

From the kitchen: On the stove.

Use a solar oven outside any time on a clear day.

Did I mention cooking in the living room? On the wood burning stove!

With a rack & a lid you can use inside and the top

My beginner grill.

Benefits of working the coals.

Backyard down low: Using our fire pit and largest skillet "aka Bubba" to make breakfast.

... a grill can become a smoker!

From the kitchen: In the stove.

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?

Lots of meals and a small stove? Use a hay box.

Do I need to mention the classic hot dogs over coals in the wood burning stove?

... of your wood burning stove to make pit beef.

GIVING ME THAT WHICH I DESIRE... a great meal... when all goes well.

I admit to some failures. Like the popcorn with burnt spices in it. A guy has to learn the hard way sometimes.

It don't have to look pretty to taste good...

I desire good steaks!

I desire good sandwiches!

Yep, I desire salads from the yard, I also like...

I desire the classics like grilled steak with garlic potatoes and grilled corn!

And I have learned... Breakfast with lamb steak and eggs with grilled toast and farmers market salad!

... Just using what I have!

I desire good chicken!

I desire good side dishes! (roasted sweet potatoes)

them made with homemade spiced paneer cheese!

I desire new ideas like stringed zuccinni in home made pesto with sungold tomatoes on top!

All this desire makes a guy hungry, You know?

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...

Dip of delight

10/5/2016

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...

Homemade Peanut Butter and Wild Grape Jelly

8/28/2016

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:

Enjoy!

Savoring the Classic PBJ:

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

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?)

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...

Eat Your Yard Spring: Chickweed, Fiddleheads, Nettle & Ramps

4/24/2016

Our Sunday breakfast was steamed fiddleheads & wilted nettle, which are great with runny scrambled eggs seasoned with chives, and crispy bacon.

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.

Clockwise from yellow colander: Fiddleheads, chickweek, nettle, chives.

Grilled Cheese Classic Championship

4/23/2016

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.)

Spatulas up! The big guy is ready to cook.

Tandoori gouda is really crumbly, the spoon really helps.

Hmmm... Wonder W.T.F. this was for?

Back at it. The burners were sensitive, at times I thought mine was on low but it was out.

As the assistant, Theresa gets to raise the flag to tell the judges when we are done.

Lookin good...Hope they like them.

Second round, time to pull more fixings out of my bag of tricks.

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

Our Division of (Cooking) Labor

2/28/2016

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:

Bear's Cooking:

Beer Bread in a Solar Oven

8/21/2015

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

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.)

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.)

Looks like Theresa is home. Time to get off the computer and eat some dinner.

Type at ya later...

Smokin' in the Rain

7/24/2015

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.

Remember when I said I was a grill guy? This is my old grill rigged to smoke.

Here is our fire pit. I carried the coals I needed with a shovel to the grill.

Wasn't sure what I needed so I soaked most of my wood chunks and left them in the water until needed.

This is Ivy sayen "Dude, Get the meat on the fire already, I'm hungry."

This is when I heard the thunder.

We be smoken'. Light rain isn't going to stop me! (I think I hear laughter from the catio.)

This is when the tornado warning siren went off for our town. Only severe thunder storms, I'll be fine!

No problem. no heavy rain yet.

Oh crap, heavy rain. Time to cover the pit and hope it doesn't last long.

Can you tell which side is 350 degrees and which is at 225?

Back at it. Smoked for 3 hours.

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.)

Hoping it is done right. Always best to have a pan to catch liquids, the foil almost always leaks.

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..

Black Cap Update: Creamy Drinks

7/5/2015

Bear here... It's time to harvest the wild raspberries, aka black caps, in our yard, and time to find something different to do with them.

We added instructions for making creamy drinks to our wild raspberry page. Basically, I mixed chocolate milk, raspberries, and ice cream.

Time to drink them while they're still cold.

Type at ya later...