Usually it's just the little man and I, which can make for a rather long and slow day of stop 'n go, but I've been grateful beyond words for the help of several very generous friends!!!
Noms This Week
Simple food for one ... well, two I guess, if you count breastfeeding.
Vitamix | Breakfast smoothies, banana milkshakes, and a green smoothie (I've only had it for two days now!).
Enchiladas | Before the little man was born, I made about ten pans of enchiladas and froze them, an idea gleaned from Miz Carmen. Thawed and baked at 350 for 30 minutes, they make a delicious dinner ... especially handy during canning season, when there is no counter space left for preparing meals!
Genmaicha | I was hankering for this steamy treat - I hadn't had it since I was pregnant! It is a traditional Japanese dish made of rice and tea.
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| Caseloads of bananas we received for free. I was happy to be able to share with friends and neighbors!! |
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| Boxes of free oranges (this wasn't all of them, either!). Unfortunately they were already cut in half so they needed to be used immediately. |
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| A friend and I peeled these oranges ... all of these containers are stuffed with peeled oranges. Juicing took a long time. |
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| Juicing took a while - after every pint and a half or so, the juicer had to be turned off and allowed to wind down, cleaned out, and then started up again. I filled two 5-gallon buckets. |
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| Saucing tomatoes with friends! |
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| Walking through the dining room this week was a real a maze ... You can see the floor now!! |
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| Before he left, Mr H ordered this. WOW. |
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| 32 tender young eggplant for baba ghanoush! |
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| A simple breakfast, but delicious |
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| Gathering herbs for friends |
I'll just highlight a few key tasks here, as it's been a very packed week for the kitchen!
Sourdough Starter | I keep my sourdough starter on the counter for frequent use, so I tend it daily (stirring for aeration, feeding it flour and filtered water). I learned how to make a starter from this book, the best bread-making book I've ever seen (and I have seen and used MANY).
Canning | Tomato jam made from Juliet tomatoes (the Mysterious Mrs S introduced me to this recipe), green beans, tomato sauce, chopped peppers in water, whole habanero
Freezing | Ten gallons of orange juice in pint jars, baba ghanoush, peeled and halved bananas
Dehydrating | Banana slices
Baking | Two loaves seed-topped sourdough, two loaves sandwich bread, both from this book
Laundry Detergent | I mixed up a whopping batch of this stuff - three easy to find ingredients for the best detergent I've ever used and yes, it is cloth diaper-sensitive skin approved!
Crop Circles
What's happening in the garden?
Compost | I picked up some soil and compost from our CSA; we'll add this to our buckets once the tomato plant are whacked down. All of the peels and pulp from the bananas and oranges frenzy will go back to the CSA for composting.
Rotating | A few tomato plants are already cut down, as they stopped producing; I've been focusing more on canning, but once they're all finished I'll cut the rest down and plant kale in their place.
Now I'm out to visit the dairy farm and pick up milk for our cowshare. Off on another adventurous day!
Mrs H
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