Operation Clean Out the Freezer - Day #7

Rather than emptying the freezer, today I decided to FILL the refrigerator.  Grocery shopping day!

Lots and lots of produce to help with Operation Clean Out the Freezer!  We hit the farmers' market, Sam's, and Kroger.   It's been at least six weeks since our refrigerator has seen this much fresh produce and I've seriously been missing it.  All of this sitting on the counter inspired me to Clean Out the Fridge. :p  Rearranged all the condiments and bits, washed down the shelves, and moved the shelves so the summer drink pitchers can sit on the top shelf.  Then I washed and chopped and stored.

And now it looks like this:
(I really should have taken a before photo for comparison. It was a disorganized mess, enough to send Julia Child to Papa John's!)

 

Grapes, apples, pineapple, celery, lemons & limes, cauliflower, broccoli, blueberries, peppers (orange, yellow, poblano, and jalapeño) are in the fridge.  Tomatoes (!), cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, spinach, green onions, potatoes, and butternut squash on the counter.  This makes me so happy!  And so ready to cook!

For dinner tonight I raided the outside freezer.  Sirloin Strip steaks on the grill, garlic spinach, and broccoli salad (a mix in a bag bought today at Sam's for $2.58 - great deal!)  Still cleaning out A freezer, just not THE freezer. ;)

On the menu for tomorrow - Bethany's Italian Sausage with Bowties.  Can't wait!

New cookbook!

Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine

I really wanted a new Rachael Ray, but when faced with the rack of her books I couldn't remember which ones I already own.  I'm all about FAST so I decided to pick this one up and flip through it while I was killing time.  I swear I did not intend to leave that store with a cookbook!

Now I'm supercharged excited to start cooking again.  LOVE this cookbook.  Not your everyday food, really, but every recipe is so simple to make and most don't require odd ingredients I don't keep in my pantry.  I liked it in the store, I love it now that I've had time at home to sit and page through it.  And I'm only through spring and summer!

Oh yea!   The book is divided into sections by season rather than type of dish.  In each section are soup, main dish, sides, and desserts that are perfect for that season, taking into account the type of cooking we do in that season and the produce that's available seasonally.  For example, many of the summer recipes are for grilling and are lighter fare than the fall and winter dishes.

I've decided to cook my way through this cookbook.  This is something I've never done before and have been thinking about for the last couple of weeks.  I would have started sooner but I couldn't decide which cookbook to use.  This one dropped into my lap (right off the shelf ;)) just in the nick of time!

Christmas Dinner ~ A First for the Decade

What?  A first?  Yes, this is the first year I have cooked Christmas Dinner all by myself.  I picked the menu, assembled the recipes, bought the ingredients, and managed the workforce.  The end result?  Three buffet dishes for breakfast at the relatives and dinner for my brood and some friends.

BREAKFAST

Cheddar-Sausage Breakfast Quiche
Sweet Ricotta Breakfast Quiche
Baked Brie with Apples & Cranberries

 

DINNER

Baked Ham
Au Gratin Potatoes
Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans
Cranberry Orange Salad
Deviled Eggs
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

Cooking is the area I am best at expressing my creativity.  It was a wonderful gift for me to be able to pour so much of myself into this simple meal.  Why, then, is the the first Christmas Dinner I've cooked this decade?  Simple.  My mother is usually in my kitchen for the holidays and I learned a long time ago to just let her do it her way.  If I want to change my mother's cooking habits all I have to do is tell her how I do it and guaranteed she will do the opposite.  In the interest of family peace, I live with the same, old bland and boring holiday food every year.  (Well, except for the homemade noodles.  My mother makes exceptional noodles!)  This year she and my sisters stayed in Missouri and we stayed in Kentucky.  Really a win-win if you ask me!

Homemade Bratwurst

Bratwurst made with venison.  Or would it be called bratwurst-seasoned venison since brats are typically made with pork?

The Fruit of Love's Labor

FOR DINNER

FOR ME

TWO TO GIVE AWAY and ONE TO FREEZE

Country Right of Passage

After canning hundreds of jars of jam, jelly, and fruit over the last few years I have been very, very lucky. Until today.

I broke my first jar of jelly in the canner!

Am I a real country woman now?

Fellowship Dinner

Tonight is our monthly fellowship dinner at our church.  There is nothing better getting together with folks you love and EATING. :)  Especially when there are others to help with the clean-up.

I'm bringing:

• Nachos with Beef and Black Beans


• Pica de Gallo


• Refrigerator Pickles


• White Cake with Fruit Topping <courtesy of Princess the Baker>


• Escalloped Tomatoes

After moving to the rural south I *finally* learned what all those strange Tupperware contraptions are for!

Snobbery hurts the snob!

I had a life lesson this week.

Frequently I'll search blogs for tea party ideas and this week I stumbled across one for a self-avowed Tea Lover.  Right.  Tea Snob is a better description.  Why, you ask?  The author spewed on and on over several posts about the inferior quality of store-bought bagged tea and even went so far to say that using such things was akin to using nothing but dried grass.  Wow!

At first I was really affronted!  How dare she! But as the week went on, I realized I'm actually very sorry for her and all of those people out there like her.  I won't deny that good quality loose-leaf tea is a wonderful treat.  That isn't the point. Quality costs more because it almost always does taste better.

BUT, just because something is 'better' doesn't make it the only thing nor does it mean that the cheaper option isn't enjoyable.  And that's why I feel sorry for this woman.   I can sit in my school nook with a steaming hot cup of Lipton with honey and get the same sense of cozy warmness I get from a cup of imported, expensive loose-leaf tea.  The difference is that when I don't have enough money for expensive tea I can still sit in my nook and enjoy myself, where the other poor soul will only sit and think about what she had in the past or what she may have in the future.

There is much value in being content with our circumstances!

And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts

which drown men in destruction and perdition. 1 Timothy6:8-9

Sunday Dinner

We had a real live Sunday Dinner today. Maybe for the first time ever in our own home.

Before church this morning I put country ribs, an onion, and a jar of sauerkraut in the slow cooker with a little salt to taste. After cooking on high for four hours the meat was perfectly cooked for our 1:00 pm dinner. I quickly made some instant mashed potatoes (for some reason my family loves these ???) and steamed broccoli in the microwave. Flower Child set the table with our pretty stoneware and I made sure to use the serving bowls that matched.

And it was so easy!

The only thing missing was company.

Growing up, Sunday Dinner was the domain of my grandmother and it usually consisted of donuts bought after church and brought to her house. But it wasn't about what we ate. It was about my parents, aunt, cousins, and siblings talking, laughing, arguing... just being together.

We've lived most of our lives away from our parents, so my children have never had Sunday Dinner on a regular basis. Until recently our Sunday afternoons were spent at a soccer field somewhere, with all of us in a rush to get there on time as soon as church let out. Now that Rooster and Flower Child are no longer playing travel soccer we don't have this time constraint.

And now I want to start a tradition of Sunday Dinner at our house. And I want to invite people over as often as possible. Older couples and family from our church. Friends from our community and homeschool group. Missionaries and visiting pastors. Young and old, saints and sinners, the popular and the lonely, rich and poor.

I want dinner to be ready in the slow cooker at home, ready for a spontaneous invitation!

Romans 12:10-13
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Eat at HomeEvery Day 2009

Like other forms of human affection, cooking delivers its truest and most enduring gifts when it is savored in intimacy — prepared not by a chef but by a cook and with love.

No Chefs in My Kitchen
By MARCELLA HAZAN
Published: November 29, 2008

The food Americans eat that is made fresh at home by someone who is close to them is shrinking compared with food consumed at restaurants or prepared outside. And while eating out or taking in may save us time or bring us enjoyment, I would argue that it deprives us of something important.

I am my family’s cook. It is the food prepared and shared at home that, for more than 50 years, has provided a solid center for our lives. In the context of the values that cement human relations, the clamor of restaurants and the facelessness of takeout are no match for what the well-laid family table has to offer. A restaurant will never strengthen familial bonds.

While I love to cook I am hopelessly lazy and addicted to eating out. I can see how this pulls my own family apart. Still, it was quite shocking to see someone else write about it!

I hereby propose Eat at Home Every Day 2009 for the month of January! I'd like to see families make a pledge to eat at least one meal together every day for a month. Maybe a month is too ambitious?

Setting the Scene

Isn't this a pretty breakfast setting?

p. 122
Dishes should be a part of the background for the colours of the food, and as one chooses dishes there should be some variety -- even if the dishes are polished peices of wood, shells, or large leaves from the jungle! Not only does this give interest, atmosphere, and pleasure to the meal, but it gives dignity and fulfillment to the one who prepared it.

Source: Living Well on Less: Breakfast

In addition to ideas on how to dress up the table, Meredith also has tips for breakfast cost-cutting.

Fresh Bread

I come from a long line of breadbakers. Even after my immigrant ancestors had settled down to modern life in the suburbs, my grandmother and then my mother continued to bake their own bread. My mother, now on a potassium-free diet, still bakes every other week.

My mother, however, was determined to mold her girls into career women who would have no need of typical domestic skills. Like bread baking. In her world, there was no Hidden Art, only drudgery and dependence (in her opinion) on men. And thus, not one of us ever learned how to bake bread.

Eventually I read the label on a loaf of store-bought bread and the desire to learn this mystery for myself was born. Fortuitously, at the same time this desire was kindling, there appeared in a national women's magazine an interview with Martha Stewart making, you guessed it, homemade white bread. It was a very basic white bread recipe with four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and olive oil. Within no time, I had the basics down pat. Fast forward several years and I started experimenting with whole grain recipes. I found one (very complicated) recipe that worked perfectly in my Philadelphia kitchen, but flopped horrifically in my Arkansas and Kentucky kitchens. After several lousy loaves, I gave up baking and only ground soft wheat for cookies and quick breads in my Nutrimill.

Until today.

Returning to that basic white bread recipe, I was able to make two perfect loaves of bread. Beautiful and tasty. And I can't even begin to describe the joy I feel at renewing this long lost passion!

BASIC WHITE BREAD

3 cups hard red wheat, freshly ground

2 1/2 cups warm milk

1 Tbs yeast

1 stick butter, melted

Mix together these ingredients and let stand for one hour. (Note: I measure the 3 cups of grains and then grind them into flour.)

3 cups white bread flour

Mix into above dough and knead until soft and supple.

I used my Kitchen-aid to knead and had to add about a tablespoon of olive oil because my dough was too dry.

I let it rise twice before shaping and placing into the loaf pans. After the final rise in the pans, I baked them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Rubbing a stick of butter over the top of the loaves while they're still hot will gave them the shine you see in the picture.

I can't believe how easy this was! I can't believe that I wasted THREE years of my life eating yucky store-bought bread!

Bread Baking

Click on this link first and then use the "back page" button to read the rest. :) (I didn't want to copy the picture into my post because I'm trying to avoid copyright infringement.)

Have you ever walked into a home and smelled the aroma of fresh-baked bread wafting from the oven? Boy, I have, and that smell can reach out and touch my very soul. (Even my many mistakes smelled much better than they tasted. :) ) No, not everyone will have time or energy to make their own bread every week, but why not give at least a try?

p. 119

Just as it is good to get one's fingers into the soil and plant seeds, so it is good to get one's fingers and fists into bread dough to knead and punch it. There is something very positive in being involved in the creativity which is so basic to life itself.

Because we are each uniquely created by God, that Hidden Art that releases our creativity won't be the same. It could be that making your own bread is your very own Hidden Art!


In my own web wandering, I stumbled across this blog today. If you think you might like to try baking your own, check it out. Even if you don't want to try baking your own bread, still check it out. The pictures are absolutely to drool for!

Do you yearn to to bake your own bread?



We're going to spend the next year sharingbread-baking tips, techniques, resources, and recipes.
We'd love to have you bake with us.

Homemaking

home
- noun
1: one's place of residence
2: a familiar or usual setting : congenial environment.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

homemaking
- noun
The establishment or management of a home.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

at home
1 : relaxed and comfortable : at ease
2 : in harmony with the surroundings
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary


Homemaking is the establishment or management of a familiar setting, a congenial environment. When we are "at home" we shoud be relaxed and comfortable, in harmony with our surroundings.

I don't think that definitition precludes anyone from becoming a homemaker. Everyone has a place where they reside, whether that place be a single room in dormitory at college or a 5000 sq ft palatial estate. Even when we still live in our parents home, we have our little corner of space called a bedroom.

When we work to make our homes a reflection of ourselves, it becomes a place of refuge from the rest of the world. The place where we can sit back, relax, and recharge our batteries.

I want to challenge every reader, regardless of age, sex, marital status, or income level to commit themselves to one small step towards making their living space a home. I won't choose what that step should be, because it should be a personal choice. Here are a few suggestions:

• hang a family picture on a wall
• start an indoor garden in a corner
• paint a wall or door in your favorite color
• place fancy candlesticks and placemats on your table
• put a bowl of fruit on the dining table
• display your favorite books on a shelf
• start a collection: e.g. spoons, serving bowls, salt & pepper shakers, flowers
• make homemade bread and soup one night a week; invite a friend to share

This is only the tip of the iceberg. I'll be posting more ideas as they come to me and I hope that my readers will post their suggestions in the comments. We are only limited by the extent of our imaginations!

Hidden Art

I’ve shamelessly borrowed the title of this page from the book written by Edith Schaeffer of the same name. Mrs. Schaeffer and her daughter, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, are my much loved mentors and encouragers and I’ve only met them through their writing. The fact that I’ve never met them and yet they’ve had such a profound impact on my personal life, gives me the courage to share what I write publicly through this blog. If only one person is encouraged then I will say “job well done” at the end of the day! If I only introduce one person to the writings of these great ladies, I’ve done well.

Mrs. Schaeffer defines “Hidden Art” as:

“… the art which is found in the ‘minor’ areas of life. By ‘minor’ I mean what is involved in the ‘everyday’ of anyone’s life, rather than his career or profession. Each person, I believe, has some talent which is unfulfilled in some ‘hidden area’ of his being, and which could be expressed and developed.”

I consider these areas of life to be the ‘minor’ areas that have ‘major’ impact! Whether one is male or female, married or single, has a primary vocation inside or outside the home, or young or old, we all share the deep desire for enriching our everyday lives. It doesn’t have to be an “if” or a “when”, we all have the ability to make it a “now”. Created in the image of The Original Creator, we all have the desire and ability to create within us.

I’ll be writing about where I’ve found my own ‘hidden artist’ as well as ideas I glean from other sources and everyday living.

If you like what you’re reading on this blog, I highly recommend the book The Hidden Art of Homemaking: Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life, by Edith Schaeffer.