Sunday
Curried Parsnip Soup with parsnips from our garden and onions from the neighbor.
Monday
Veggie stir fry with green beans, peppers, squash, and celery from the garden, onions from our neighbor and rice.
Tuesday
Pork with fried potatoes and corn on the cob. I don't think I've enjoyed a meal as much as I did this one.
Wednesday
Thursday
BBQ chicken with BBQ corn.
Friday
Pizza with zucchini, onions, bacon and homemade goats' milk jack cheese.
Saturday
My mom was in town and she took us out for dinner.
Reflections
I'm seriously DONE with cucumbers and green beans. For most of the week, it's what my diet primarily consisted of with a bit of zucchini, beets, parsnips and onions mixed in for good measure. I was surpised with how crappy I began to feel in the beginning of the week. I needed starches, fat and protein badly. It was why such a simple meal of pork, potatoes and corn - something we eat pretty regularly - was so thoroughly enjoyed on Tuesday.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Week 41 - The Losing
Sunday
Green bean and cucumber salad with a thai peanut/almond dressing
Monday
Spaghetti with homemade pasta. Watch out for the upcoming sauce recipe.
Tuesday
Not-so-green chili stew. Tomatillos, onions, and hominy from our garden. Green chilies that my mom gave us when she moved. Potatoes that Jeanette gave us in exchange for dog sitting and pork.
Wednesday
Green bean and cucumber salad with a thai peanut/almond dressing again so I could write down the recipe.
Thursday
Roasted chicken with braised celery and leftover green bean and cucumber salad.
Friday
Pizza with zucchini and bell peppers from the garden, tomato sauce made with homemade canned sauce and herbs from our garden, homemade Monterey jack cheese from our goats' milk and onions that our neighbor gave us. This was our best pizza so far. I chalk it up to the fact that we finally got a pizza stone.
Saturday
We didn't have to cook! We went to a friend's birthday BBQ. I was so happy to not have to make anything.
Reflections
Our second week of not buying any food went pretty well. We've been eating a lot of vegetables. Especially cucumbers and green beans. I'm actually feeling really good and I've dropped 3 lbs this week (I've dropped about 20lbs since starting the year without groceries now). And that's without watching anything I'm eating and not eating any of those horrible "diet" foods. Just eating more vegetables and fruits (actually mostly vegetables) seems to be the trick.
Green bean and cucumber salad with a thai peanut/almond dressing
Monday
Spaghetti with homemade pasta. Watch out for the upcoming sauce recipe.
Tuesday
Not-so-green chili stew. Tomatillos, onions, and hominy from our garden. Green chilies that my mom gave us when she moved. Potatoes that Jeanette gave us in exchange for dog sitting and pork.
Wednesday
Green bean and cucumber salad with a thai peanut/almond dressing again so I could write down the recipe.
Thursday
Roasted chicken with braised celery and leftover green bean and cucumber salad.
Friday
Pizza with zucchini and bell peppers from the garden, tomato sauce made with homemade canned sauce and herbs from our garden, homemade Monterey jack cheese from our goats' milk and onions that our neighbor gave us. This was our best pizza so far. I chalk it up to the fact that we finally got a pizza stone.
Saturday
We didn't have to cook! We went to a friend's birthday BBQ. I was so happy to not have to make anything.
Reflections
Our second week of not buying any food went pretty well. We've been eating a lot of vegetables. Especially cucumbers and green beans. I'm actually feeling really good and I've dropped 3 lbs this week (I've dropped about 20lbs since starting the year without groceries now). And that's without watching anything I'm eating and not eating any of those horrible "diet" foods. Just eating more vegetables and fruits (actually mostly vegetables) seems to be the trick.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Week 40 - Harvest Beginnings
Sunday
Chili with pork, beans, homemade tomato sauce, onions from the farmers' market, hatch green chilies that my mom gave us, and hominy made from our flour corn that we grew last year and the year before.
Monday
We had some local friends over for dinner. We had barbequed rabbit and chicken with a jerk seasoning, homemade pasta salad. Our friends brought over a salad (romaine with avocados, corn, tomatoes, etc) with a cilantro tahini dressing and a beet salad with bleu cheese and pickled onions. Yum!
Tuesday
Leftover BBQ chicken with marinated and grilled eggplant and zucchini with rice cooked with chicken broth and mushrooms.
Wednesday
Vegetable curry stirfry. Kale, carrots, beets, celery, green beans, zucchini, and garlic from our garden. Onions, eggplant and mushrooms from the farmers' market.
Thursday
Vegetable and rabbit sausage soup. Kale, carrots, potatoes, green beans, zucchini, and garlic all from our garden. Topped with homemade goat's milk sour cream.
Friday
Leftover chili with a cucumber salad
Saturday
We went to a friend's house for dinner. We brought a homemade pasta salad with green beans and carrots from our garden, sun dried tomatoes from last year's garden and our last farmers' market onion. It's a good thing our onions are getting close to ready.
Reflections
And so we finish our first week of not buying any food at all. Our garden somehow, miraculously started pumping out the vegetables on July 1st - beans, cucumbers, and zucchini. And we've already got some tomatoes ripening. I don't know how I timed that so well, to be honest. We bartered some weekend dog sitting for some fruit, corn and potatoes from Jeanette. And our young pullets just started laying so our egg counts went up. It's almost like it was meant to be.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Some Other Changes as Well
The no groceries for a year project has definitely led us to making changes other than just our food choices. For one thing - we've gotten pretty good at gardening as well as being resilient gardeners.
But other things have changed as well. Personal care items have made a pretty major shift. I phased out nearly all commercial shower products and have stopped dying my hair <GASP>. That was a hard one as I was dying it black - which I dearly loved. So now I have brown and gray roots. The chemicals in hair dye are just so harsh and many of them are carcinogenic. I'd rather just go without. There's alternative dyes, but most of them require too much of my time to do so I'm just going cold turkey.
Instead of shampoo and conditioner I'm now using baking soda and vinegar. My hair has never been happier. I now use homemade cold-process soap instead of body wash.
I recently changed my face care regimen as well. I'm one of those poor souls blessed with wrinkles and acne together. The wrinkles I'm OK with. I'm committed to aging gracefully (along with the gray hair). The acne on the other hand has got to go. What am I? 15 again? I'm trying out Delta Moon Soapworks Red Clover Tea Goat's Milk soap and then I use coconut oil that has some oatmeal and coffee steeped in it as a moisturizer. I just started this, but so far so good. I love how my skin feels right now. If this works out I'll post my moisturizer recipe.
But it's not just skin and body care that's changed. We've also just made some behavior changes as well. The first change actually led to the second change.
Our house is small. We don't have a formal dining room but rather a breakfast nook that's just big enough for a table slammed up against one wall. It seats four people. During the colder months we just can't have people over for dinner. We do have a giant patio though, which allows us to do quite a bit of entertaining during the summer.
We've decided to now eat dinner at the table every day instead of in the living room - where we usually eat. Since we eat so late it was really the only time that we watched TV. So that helped push us to make another major change. We canceled our TV service last night.
But other things have changed as well. Personal care items have made a pretty major shift. I phased out nearly all commercial shower products and have stopped dying my hair <GASP>. That was a hard one as I was dying it black - which I dearly loved. So now I have brown and gray roots. The chemicals in hair dye are just so harsh and many of them are carcinogenic. I'd rather just go without. There's alternative dyes, but most of them require too much of my time to do so I'm just going cold turkey.
Instead of shampoo and conditioner I'm now using baking soda and vinegar. My hair has never been happier. I now use homemade cold-process soap instead of body wash.
I recently changed my face care regimen as well. I'm one of those poor souls blessed with wrinkles and acne together. The wrinkles I'm OK with. I'm committed to aging gracefully (along with the gray hair). The acne on the other hand has got to go. What am I? 15 again? I'm trying out Delta Moon Soapworks Red Clover Tea Goat's Milk soap and then I use coconut oil that has some oatmeal and coffee steeped in it as a moisturizer. I just started this, but so far so good. I love how my skin feels right now. If this works out I'll post my moisturizer recipe.
But it's not just skin and body care that's changed. We've also just made some behavior changes as well. The first change actually led to the second change.
Our house is small. We don't have a formal dining room but rather a breakfast nook that's just big enough for a table slammed up against one wall. It seats four people. During the colder months we just can't have people over for dinner. We do have a giant patio though, which allows us to do quite a bit of entertaining during the summer.
We've decided to now eat dinner at the table every day instead of in the living room - where we usually eat. Since we eat so late it was really the only time that we watched TV. So that helped push us to make another major change. We canceled our TV service last night.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Week 39 - The Beginning
Sunday
Salad with sliced beets from the garden, mushrooms, zucchini and onions.
Monday
Snacked on our way out to the EBUAA meeting.
Tuesday
It was Tom's birthday. I made fried potatoes with sauteed oyster mushrooms, rabbit sausage, yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Wednesday
Salad with sliced beets from the garden, mushrooms, zucchini and onions.
Thursday
Our last beef for three months. Grilled tritip with mashed potatoes from the farmers' market and peas from our garden.
Friday
Pizza with bacon and mushrooms, zucchini, and onions from the farmers' market. Sauce made with sauce made from last year's tomatoes and fresh herbs from the garden. Salad with fresh thinly sliced beets from the garden.
Saturday
Homemade pasta with green beans, pickled jalapenos and sundried tomatoes from our backyard (green beans were fresh picked the others were preserved last year), mushrooms, zucchini and onions from our last farmers' market trip. Peach balsamic dressing with fresh basil and dill from our garden.
Reflections
I think vegetables are going to be the big stars for us these next coming months. Yesterday the first flower appeared on our 8' corn stalks. Lots of nutritious pollen for our bees. Our fruit trees are a bust this year - at least our non-pome fruits. It looks like we'll be good on apples and quince, but those won't be ready for a few months. The squirrels stole all of our almonds. Boooo. We harvested a handful of not-quite-ripe split apricots. We'll see how the coming months go.
Salad with sliced beets from the garden, mushrooms, zucchini and onions.
Monday
Snacked on our way out to the EBUAA meeting.
Tuesday
It was Tom's birthday. I made fried potatoes with sauteed oyster mushrooms, rabbit sausage, yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Wednesday
Salad with sliced beets from the garden, mushrooms, zucchini and onions.
Thursday
Our last beef for three months. Grilled tritip with mashed potatoes from the farmers' market and peas from our garden.
Friday
Pizza with bacon and mushrooms, zucchini, and onions from the farmers' market. Sauce made with sauce made from last year's tomatoes and fresh herbs from the garden. Salad with fresh thinly sliced beets from the garden.
Saturday
Homemade pasta with green beans, pickled jalapenos and sundried tomatoes from our backyard (green beans were fresh picked the others were preserved last year), mushrooms, zucchini and onions from our last farmers' market trip. Peach balsamic dressing with fresh basil and dill from our garden.
Reflections
I think vegetables are going to be the big stars for us these next coming months. Yesterday the first flower appeared on our 8' corn stalks. Lots of nutritious pollen for our bees. Our fruit trees are a bust this year - at least our non-pome fruits. It looks like we'll be good on apples and quince, but those won't be ready for a few months. The squirrels stole all of our almonds. Boooo. We harvested a handful of not-quite-ripe split apricots. We'll see how the coming months go.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Shirred Eggs
This is my new favorite way of eating eggs. It's rich and salty and flavorful. Can you ask for anything more?
1/4 tsp butter
2 Tbs Cream (I skim the fresh cream off of our goats' milk)
2 eggs
Salt and Pepper
Chives
1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F
2. With the butter, grease a ramekin
3. Put the cream in the ramekin and then break the eggs into the cream. Gently move the yolks toward the center.
4. Top with salt, pepper and chives. You can also add cheese if you'd like as well.
5. Bake for 12 minutes. You want the center still a bit jiggly while the edges can be pulled away from the side of the ramekin.
Viola! You've got shirred eggs.
1/4 tsp butter
2 Tbs Cream (I skim the fresh cream off of our goats' milk)
2 eggs
Salt and Pepper
Chives
1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F
2. With the butter, grease a ramekin
3. Put the cream in the ramekin and then break the eggs into the cream. Gently move the yolks toward the center.
4. Top with salt, pepper and chives. You can also add cheese if you'd like as well.
5. Bake for 12 minutes. You want the center still a bit jiggly while the edges can be pulled away from the side of the ramekin.
Viola! You've got shirred eggs.
Friday, July 1, 2011
And So It Begins
This is our fridge on the day we start not buying any food for three months. To be honest, it freaks me out a little. As you can probably tell, we didn't really stock up on fresh food beforehand. What's the point? It doesn't usually keep much longer than a week or two so we're just going to have to wing it.
For those that are new to the blog, we've been going without buying food from grocery stores, convenience stores, box stores and restaurants since October 1st, 2010. We've only been buying food from farmers' markets, direct from the farmer, through real butchers that only sell local, sustainably and humanely raised meat, real fish mongers, spice merchants, produce stands, a CSA that delivers locally produced, organic dairy, and a buying club/co-op for our dry goods. Besides that, we've been subsisting off of our quarter acre urban farm.
When we reached our 6 month mark we were cruisin'. It was pretty easy so we decided two things. The first thing was that we were going to continue with our project indefinitely with one caveat - we get one restaurant visit per month. I just don't want to give up sushi for the rest of my life and homemade sushi just isn't the same.
The second thing we decided was that we were going to attempt to go without buying food for the final three months - July 1st through October 1st. We wanted to force ourselves to try and live off of what we produce and raise. We also wanted to see how successfully prepared we are in terms of emergencies. How much food do we really need in case of an emergency? We live in earthquake territory, and while it's unlikely we'll ever need to go 3 months without any services if there is an earthquake, we do face uncertain economic times. If one of us loses our jobs, can we reduce our spending on food?
Our garden isn't as far along as we'd like, but it's starting to ramp up. We'll have to limit our fresh produce for a bit. However, I expect to get zucchini, cucumbers and beans this coming week or two.
Fruit is going to be the hardest thing for us. The weather really didn't cooperate this year. While our stone fruit trees were blooming it rained and rained and rained. The bees couldn't get to them. We got a very small amount of fruit only to be ruined by very late rains (completely abnormal here) causing all of it to split before it ripened. We'll have to salvage what we can, but I fear it won't be much.
We will be bartering - trading eggs, bread, labor and knowledge - for food we need. Unfortunately, most of our friends in the area have the same problem with their fruit trees. We'll have to figure something out, but for now we'll just have to go with the flow.