goin' on a midnight train to... ohio?

heading out for ohio this afternoon via amtrak. i packed a tote bag to bring with me, and most of it is either food or games/entertainment for the 24 hours of train trip that will take place tonight and monday. i hear the forecast is snooooowwwwww! maybe we can build a snowman :D

one local supper

thanks to a comment on my potatoes post for the idea here.

ingredients:
1 jar of lacto-fermented sauerkraut from hawthorne valley farms
1 package of sweet italian sausage from herondale farm
the rest of our potatoes from the csa (golden earthworm farm)
butter from ronnybrook farm
salt (non-local)
nutritional yeast (non-local... we had no parmesan cheese for topping)

step one: make large pot of mashed potatoes (peel potatoes, boil, drain, add salt and butter, mash, taste, add more salt and butter)

step two: remove casing from sausage and cook in skillet

step three: open sauerkraut jar

step four: layer in a casserole dish sauerkraut, then sausage, then mashed potatoes

step five: bake at 350 for roughly 35 minutes or until potatoes look mighty tasty

step six: sprinkle with nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese and dig in!

mmmmmmm... can't wait for leftovers for lunch today :)

i took my bread dough out to lunch this week (or, what sundays are for)

the purpose of a sunday is to get me ready for the coming week. i make sure i have enough clean clothes to keep me presentable. i make my kitchen look good enough to keep me from wincing when i turn the light on over the sink monday morning. i bake bread to see myself fed in the mornings.

yesterday we had plans for lunch. i did laundry early (presentably clothed - check) and started the bread. the problem with baking bread is that while it only takes a total of maybe an hour of "doing something", i have to be present for the whole five hours of the process of bread-creation because something needs to be done at least once an hour. so i brought my dough with us in the car out to lunch... seatbelted into the back seat ("it smells yeasty in here," says erin. "is that you in the back seat?"). i only had to leave the table once, to punch down the dough halfway through the rising. well done.

tome-ay-toes!

planted in quart-sized yogurt containers!

date: march 11, 2008
variety: big boy (from the mix of seeds we got for free from craigslist)
planted in: mixture of potting soil from last year plus miracle gro organic potting soil

package says 7-14 days to germination. we set them on the west-facing windowsill in our bedroom.

po-tay-toes

sharon's post yesterday about living the staple diet got me thinking about potatoes, since they'd likely be a staple food where i live. she had lots of ideas for ways to eat potatoes, and i think if i had enough potatoes to make it through the winter without them going musty-smelling, maybe i could do it? hmm... here's some potato-brainstorming:

- mashed with milk and butter and salt
- mashed potato cakes
- shepherd's pie (topped with mashed potatoes)
- mashed with cheese/garlic/horseradish/onions/herbs (clearly not all at once)
- colcannon (aka mashed with kale/spinach/chard/other green goodness)
- boiled with parsley and butter
- baked with toppings (cheese, broccoli, butter, herbs, yogurt, etc.)
- au gratin (is scalloped the same as au gratin?)
- fried breakfast potatoes with onions or onions and peppers
- roasted potatoes with rosemary and herbs
- roasted potatoes with other root vegetables
- soups: potato and leek/onion, chicken vegetable soup
- stews: potato lentil indian-style-stew-thing, winter vegetable stew, meat and veg stew

any other ideas out there? perhaps i'll consult allrecipes.com and the fatfreevegan.com