Sunday
Vegetable stir fry with zucchini, green beans, carrots and onions from the garden. Served with rice.
Monday
Vegetable soup with stock made from duck carcass. Zucchini, onions, parsnips and carrots from the garden.
Tuesday
Pork stir fry with green beans, peppers carrots, zucchini and onions from the garden. Served with rice.
Wednesday
Bacon sausage (yum!) on homemade bread on my way out the door to a meeting. Tom had a vegetable stirfry.
Thursday
Roasted duck in a tomato sauce with parsnips, zucchini, and onions from the garden.
Friday
No dinner. Jeanette and I went to the movies and she was in charge of snacks. Um, yeah, I can't do candy anymore....
Saturday
We went to a friend's house after a day on the river. We had her wonderful tortilla soup and fajitas.
Reflections
So the consensus is to keep the blog. Now I just need help with a name change. So help me out!
I can't believe how fast this year went by. Only 8 weeks left and I'm sure it will be over in no time. The canning season is starting. I canned 16 quarts - 4 gallons - of pickles today. I also have some lacto fermenting.
Our milk supply has been reduced thanks to a spider. Long story short, Daisy, one of our does, got bit by a spider and is now on antibiotics which has a 4 week withdrawal on it. So no milk from Daisy for awhile. It also is forcing us to wait 2 months before we can slaughter the kids. So no goat meat for this last bit of our journey.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Weel 43 - 9 weeks left with a question
Sunday
Raviolis stuffed with brie, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes and basil with sauteed green beans.
Monday
Pork stirfry with onions from the neighbor, green beans and zucchini from our gardnen.
Tuesday
Sauteed green beans and zucchini from the garden with onions from the neighbor simmered in a tomato base.
Wednesday
BLT sandwiches on our way to the EBUAA meeting.
Thursday
Roast duck with potatoes, celery and parsnips from the garden.
Friday
Pizza with leftover duck, bell peppers, zucchini and onions from our garden.
Saturday
My mom was in town and took us out for sushi!
Reflections
It's time to think about this blog and where it's going after our year is up. Right now I have two options. The first one is that I change the name of it since it's no longer a year without groceries, but really living grocery store free. The other option is to no longer keep going with it and transfer everything over to our Dog Island Farm Blog. Do you have any thoughts?
Raviolis stuffed with brie, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes and basil with sauteed green beans.
Monday
Pork stirfry with onions from the neighbor, green beans and zucchini from our gardnen.
Tuesday
Sauteed green beans and zucchini from the garden with onions from the neighbor simmered in a tomato base.
Wednesday
BLT sandwiches on our way to the EBUAA meeting.
Thursday
Roast duck with potatoes, celery and parsnips from the garden.
Friday
Pizza with leftover duck, bell peppers, zucchini and onions from our garden.
Saturday
My mom was in town and took us out for sushi!
Reflections
It's time to think about this blog and where it's going after our year is up. Right now I have two options. The first one is that I change the name of it since it's no longer a year without groceries, but really living grocery store free. The other option is to no longer keep going with it and transfer everything over to our Dog Island Farm Blog. Do you have any thoughts?
Monday, July 25, 2011
Week 42 - Just 10 more left
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.
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.
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.
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