tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80401992023-07-18T00:57:37.172-04:00just fifteeen minutes...anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-57931298101570367752009-05-26T19:02:00.002-04:002009-05-26T19:11:10.175-04:00Independence - Cucumbers and BasilPlanted this week were 6 cucumber seeds (that's going to be totallly too many cucumbers if they all grow and survive) and three pots of basil seeds (roughly 6 seeds per pot). The cucumbers are bush plants that are in an earthbox. I hear they're heavy feeders, so perhaps they'll like the constant water-availability of the swc.<br /><br />My spinach is not looking so hot. Or... maybe it IS looking hot. It's been kind of warm some of these days (up to 85F or so this weekend), and the leaves on the spinach are looking brown and dry. Perhaps it's time to harvest the "baby" spinach before anything crazy happens like mass bolting.<br /><br />Chard also doesn't look great. Peas look good, though. They're not more than 8 inches tall yet, though. I do hope to get some peas out of them before the weather is in the Summer And No Doubt About It temperatures. The sage is blooming. Lovely purple flowers.<br /><br />I harvested a bunch of mint that was sneaking up under the rosemary plant, and I made a quart of cold mint tea. It tasted a little funny, though. Perhaps I let it steep too long.<br /><br /><br />In non-garden news, we're going to a strawbale building workshop the weekend of the fourth of July. Yay!<br />Also, our dog had some seizures this weekend and has been diagnosed as epileptic. We are officially the home for broken animals.<br />Double also, I've been to a yoga class three out of the last four days. Love it. Going again tonight.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-72618565121473556042009-05-18T12:22:00.002-04:002009-05-18T12:32:42.585-04:00Independence days - PotatoThis weekend I managed to plant a potato. Ha. It's a very good potato. I think it's the red kind (I threw most of our overwintered potatoes out on the patio a couple weeks ago and now I can't really tell the difference between the varieties). I put it in a container with some soil that grew... basil or something last year, and as it grows up, I'll cover it with leaf mulch to promote the production of more baby potatoes.<br /><br />When I went to choose which potato to plant, I investigated the potatoes that had been rolled off the patio into what I thought would be a potato patch (I since realized that it is directly beneath the laundry line and thus is not an ideal place for planting). They've rooted themselves and are beginning to grow leaves. Hunh. I didn't even bury them when I rolled them out there. They've just gone ahead and attached themselves to the ground. I'll help them along as time goes by by also covering them with leaf mulch and trying not to step on them when we do the laundry.<br /><br />This brings me to the idea that planting isn't a particularly exact science. The packets and books say specifically when to plant and how deep to plant, but oftentimes, seeds just want to grow and may very well do just fine if you LEAVE THEM ALONE. I have half a mind to put all my seeds in the garden in the fall and see what happens when they have the option to grow as soon as they sense that conditions are appropriate.<br /><br />As for harvesting, I pulled a dandelion and chopped up its root to dry for tea. I think that's it. I did make tomato sauce out of home canned tomatoes plus a red and a green pepper from the greenhouse grower at the farmer's market for lunches last week.<br /><br />We visited the Queens Farm Museum yesterday with some friends, and it was really nice to see farm animals in abundance, plus their growing plants. They already have tomatoes and squashes in the ground, which means I could probably plant mine. The animals I saw included goats, sheep, baby pigs, big pigs, a donkey, tons of chickens including banties and roosters and all manner of colors, a cow, ducks, geese and peacocks. It was interesting to see the pigeons in among the chickens. They were about the same size as one of the banties.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-33929689358025769212009-05-11T09:03:00.001-04:002009-05-11T09:08:44.316-04:00independence days - leeks and dandelionsin the past two weeks, i've managed to plant a row of leeks, keep everything alive, eat a butternut squash (only two left now!) and cook tomato sauce from my canned tomatoes. oh, and i made some iced dandelion tea again. tasted pollen-y this time.<br /><br />peas and spinach are growing well. some radishes are up, though oddly the ones that i planted second are doing much better than the ones i planted first. chard is up but still tiny. no sign of garlic or carrots or parsnips or the lettuce i planted this year. some volunteer lettuce around about the yard, though. <br /><br />tomatoes look good in their pot indoors. need to prepare their beds for them to go outside. cabbage that's indoors is getting mighty leggy. not sure what to do about that. perhaps transfer the pot to the patio so they can have more light and wind.<br /><br />planning to plant:<br />basil in all available pots<br />bush cucumbers in self-watering-containers<br />flax seed around about<br />a loofah or twoanna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-91492149965049540882009-04-29T10:52:00.002-04:002009-04-29T11:01:34.363-04:00Independence Days Year 2Sharon's Independence Days challenge is moving into its second year. I like the spring because it's hopeful, and I'm hopeful that this year I can keep up with the challenge a little longer. I've managed to plant things for the last three weekends, and have foraged a bit in my backyard already.<br /><br />Things I have planted:<br />-4/12-<br />Peas<br />Chard<br />Radishes<br />Tomatoes (started inside)<br />Cabbage (started inside)<br /><br />-4/19-<br />Carrots<br />Lettuce<br />Parsnips<br />Radishes<br /><br />-4/26-<br />Leeks<br />Radishes<br /><br />Things I have harvested/foraged:<br />Day lily shoots (chopped and sauteed with a fake sausage link)<br />Dandelion heads (made into iced tea, thanks for the idea Maud!)<br /><br />Things I have cooked:<br />Spaghetti sauce with my home-canned tomatoes from last year<br /><br />Community:<br />Connected with several CSA people at a party. One woman is coming over to take some of my plant pots off my hands on Thursday.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-62523249301664771372008-07-09T10:13:00.004-04:002008-07-15T10:59:39.720-04:00independence days week 11well, i didn't manage to plant anything, but i did manage to harvest and preserve!<br /><br />1 planted: nothing<br /><br />2 harvested: mint to dry, lettuce for salad, lamb's quarters to dry<br /><br />3 preserved: dried collard greens, lamb's quarters, mint, zucchini "noodles"<br /><br />4 stored: 25lb wheat, 25lb baking soda, 25lb garbanzo beans, 25lb lentils, 1lb thick rolled oats (wanted to try them before we bought in bulk), 3 qts of soy milk, 4 cans pineapple chunks, olive oil, two pounds brown rice<br /><br />5 prepped: nothing that i can think of<br /><br />6 managed: nothing that i can think of<br /><br />7 cook something new: beet and carrot latkes from the csa bounty, brownies<br /><br />8 work on local food systems: nothing that i can think of<br /><br />9 reduced waste: chopped down weeds and threw them on the compost pileanna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-7148280019975810692008-06-30T13:09:00.004-04:002008-07-07T12:50:20.834-04:00independence days week 10this has been a week of not much happening in terms of independence days. this is the point at which i started to lose interest in the garden last year. things were in the ground and i would find "better" things to do with my time. goal this coming week: plant something! preserve something! hack down the yard weeds! spend time in the back yard!<br /><br />1 planted: nothing<br /><br />2 harvested: one of our basil plants for pesto thursday night. two sugar snap pea pods just before i tore out the plants to make room for more planting. not sure what i'll put in that pot...<br /><br />3 preserved: nothing<br /><br />4 stored: picked up a couple months' worth of honey and 9 months' worth of yeast<br /><br />5 prepped: received my order of five colored bucket lids with spouts. not sure how the spouts will do with emptying/refilling.<br /><br />6 managed: weeded a bit<br /><br />7 cook something new: cole slaw! from the new moosewood cookbook. yum.<br /><br />8 work on local food systems: csa pickup - fruit shares have begun!<br /><br />9 reduced waste: nabbed a novel and several half-filled notebooks from neighbors' trash pilesanna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-90172993091956855372008-06-27T11:02:00.005-04:002008-06-30T13:08:44.323-04:00independence days week... 9 i think1 planted: kentucky wonder green beans beneath my corn and sunflowers<br /><br />2 harvested: a handful of snap peas, mint for tea<br /><br />3 preserved: nothing<br /><br />4 stored: placed a bulk food storage order! 25lb baking soda, 25lb red wheat berries, 25lb garbanzos, 25lb lentils, 1lb thick rolled oats<br /><br />5 prepped: placed an order for some bucket lids with spouts to see if we can do those perhaps instead of/to supplement gamma lids (which are quite expensive!) also, joined in on sharon's food preservation class which starts next tuesday :)<br /><br />6 managed: weeded the corn patch<br /><br />7 cook something new: made a mahvelous mock tuna from garbanzo beans. also blettes grand-mere, which is swiss chard with raisins, rosemary, and pine nuts.<br /><br />8 work on local food systems: joined the just food mailing list.<br /><br />9 reduced waste: can't think of anything out of the ordinary here...<br /><br />10 learned a skill: i don't know that i like this category because i feel like learning is not a "boom. it's done." thing. i can't say "i learned THIS this week," because learning is a long-term process for me. perhaps i'll skip this category from now on.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-66531438465814705832008-06-23T08:50:00.002-04:002008-06-23T08:59:13.031-04:00independence days check ini've started to lag in my independence days efforts, but this week, my lady led the charge and we actually got a lot done! (and most of it was done yesterday!!!)<br /><br />planted: none. hoping to plant beans under the corn this week.<br /><br />harvested: much lettuce, lambsquarters, onion greens, 10 quarts of strawberries from our csa's u-pick venture, roughly 10 sugar snap pea pods which got added to a quart we got at the market<br /><br />preserved: froze probably 8 quarts of strawberries, plus a couple pounds of rhubarb. the plan is to make strawberry-rhubarb crisp next week (we didn't have oats this week)<br /><br />stored: nothing that i can think of<br /><br />prepped: also nothing that i can think of<br /><br />managed reserves: again, nothing i can think of<br /><br />cooked something new: strawberry pie (my very first piecrust EVER), pb granola bars for the son who doesn't like to eat breakfast<br /><br />reduced waste: participated in crunchy chicken's liquid gold challenge saturday, ate the entire GIANT BOWL OF LETTUCE that my lady made for us to use up the bounty of lettuce from the csa and our garden<br /><br />expand local food community: picked strawberries at our csa farm, borrowed a pastry cutter from a friend (instead of buying my own) - she'll get a piece of pie in return<br /><br />learn a new skill: fertilizing garden, making pie crustanna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-66738813169755266442008-05-23T11:20:00.002-04:002008-05-23T11:28:00.008-04:00independence days weekly update1. planted: replanted some more peas that didn't come up.<br /><br />2. harvested: nothing yet, but i found four stalks of wild garlic that i want to nab. three are in our back yard and one is in the front yard of someone down the hill from us. my potatoes are sprouting now! the purple peruvian ones. yay!<br /><br />3. preserved: not so much.<br /><br />4. stored: i stored 3 more liters of water, and about 7 cups of white rice that the roommate left behind when he moved out. <br /><br />5. prepped: built the bean trellis frame, just need to add strings. made stick-trellises for the peas. dug up half a bed that will hopefully be finished and planted with popcorn and sunflowers and melons this weekend.<br /><br />6. managed: went through the freezer and composted some old old veggies. cleaned out the fridge of all the things the roommate had left in there to rot. <br /><br />7. cook something new: made the red, gold, green and black chili from fatfreevegan.com - it was excellent!<br /><br />8. work on local food systems: shopped at the farmer's market per usual and welcomed back some of the farmers who were returning for the summer season.<br /><br />9. reduce waste: i ordered pet food online and specified that i didn't want any packing peanuts or other plastic packing materials, so they stuffed the box with shredded junk mail :D that made me very happy. have also been eating the food that the roommate left behind him. snagged a 3L soda bottle from our neighbor's recycling to store water in.<br /><br />10. learned a skill: hand-cultivating a garden bed was new to me. it's some work!<br /><br />eight out of ten this week :) not bad.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-64058610732617067922008-05-23T11:13:00.002-04:002008-05-23T11:18:25.605-04:00the no-power-hourinspired by crunchy chicken's eco-throw-down challenge, we're doing a no power week starting monday. here's what we've got so far for an outline:<br /><br />1. the fridge stays on.<br />2. the rest of the breakers in the box get turned off so we don't accidentally flick the light on out of habit.<br />3. we're picking up some extra local-beeswax candles at the market tomorrow.<br /><br />that's all i got. working will involve electricity still. as will commuting by subway. also, i'm unsure about whether our stove/oven uses electricity... though i doubt it. another iffy thing is the boiler that heats the hot water for us as well as the people who live above us... i'm not going to cut them out of hot water... or me.<br /><br />personally, i'm looking forward to no tv for a week.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-77024826432262030832008-05-22T10:39:00.000-04:002008-05-22T10:41:47.453-04:00managing stores: making room in the freezer (though not minimizing waste...)last night i went through the freezer and threw out several *very* freezerburned bags of vegetables from long long ago. peas-n-corn, edamame, and half a banana met their demise upon the compost pile. now i can start freezing rhubarb and stuff!anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-55420285495732688282008-05-19T08:35:00.002-04:002008-05-19T08:49:49.331-04:00weekend progresssaturday i went to the market myself and did ALL THE SHOPPING by myself. this isn't a big deal if one normally takes a car to the store to do the grocery shopping, but we take transit to the union square farmer's market to do grocery shopping. i had the giant whole foods bag my boss gave me slung over my shoulder with the whole foods goodies in it (paper towels, toilet paper, baking soda, toothpaste, broccoli, plus a couple other things), my backpack with a dozen and a half eggs in it plus my water bottle, and two green grocery bags full of food. it was heavy! but i did it! *proud*<br /><br />in the afternoon, i broke the ground in a section of the yard along the border between us and our one neighbor. i plan to plant corn and sunflowers (and maybe watermelons) in that space, plus the "garden in a roll" butterfly garden that our now-ex-roommate ruben gave us. the bed is about 2 or so feet wide and the yard is about 20 or 30 feet long. i broke about half of that length with the hand cultivator to about 4 inches deep, pulling all the rocks out (now i've got half a bucket of rocks if you need some...) it was a lot of work, and it felt good :) i also nailed together the frame for the bean trellis. i was tired after that and figured i'd put the strings up later.<br /><br />sunday i made stick trellises for the peas that are up, and i re-planted more peas that still hadn't showed (others i'd planted at the same time had come up already). then we did laundry, hung it outside, went to the regular grocery store for bulgar, canned tomatoes and canned corn (heavy things i didn't want to carry home by myself on saturday, haha), came home, and it started to rain. argh. so i pulled all the laundry in and hung it up inside.<br /><br />then ruben came over and packed up the rest of his stuff and we took him and his stuff over to his phat pad in the west village (it's so beautiful! classic new york, you know?) and he took us out to dinner at lime thai (limethai.com), and it was very nice :)<br /><br />oh, and saturday i took our recyclables out to the can, and the upstairs neighbors had put a 3 liter empty gingerale bottle in the can, so i snagged it and pulled the label off and cleaned it out and filled it with water, so i stored 3L of water this weekend. oh, and ruben left us the food that he had at the house, so we now have roughly 7 cups of white jasmine rice that we put into metal containers this morning for storage. oh, and on sunday when we were on our way to laundry, we passed a dumpster someone had hired for their remodeling/cleanup, and in it were (are, really, cos we didn't go back to get them yet) various window-type screens, irises that were dug up, a sawhorse, and a bunch of other stuff, plus a ton of dirt and actual trash. i'm very interested in the screens for dehydration purposes, and also the sawhorse for holding up the screens. plus the irises cos they're really pretty flowers and i hate to see them just dug up and thrown away :(<br /><br />so yeah. um. busy productive weekend :)anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-31030346243806887752008-05-16T13:03:00.002-04:002008-05-16T13:06:33.281-04:00independence days updatei feel like i didn’t do a lot this week, but then i think about how every little bit counts and it’s not ABOUT doing a lot…<br /><br />1. planted: i planted out two tomatoes into the swc we built. only one of the seeds we’d planted had sprouted, so i had erin pick me up an heirloom seedling at the market. she brought me a black brandywine :D awesome. we're out of potting soil now, and out of money til the end of june (or when my stimulus payment arrives,whichever is first), so planting will be slower for the next several weeks, i expect.<br /><br />2. harvested: not so much. the lettuces and arugula are doing well, the spinaches are up but tiny, one of my pea babies died, but several more are coming up. two of the basil plants bit it :( <br /><br />3. preserved: also not so much.<br /><br />4. stored: i scored those 2 glass gallon-sized empty wine jugs that someone was throwing away, so they’re now filled with water :D <br /><br />5. prepped: laid out a frame for the beans trellis, just need to screw/nail it together and attach the strings. anyone know if garbanzo beans climb?<br /><br />6. managed: not so much here. <br /><br />7. cook something new: made a killer cream of asparagus soup on saturday. also cauliflower cheese pie, which wasn’t as great.<br /><br />8. work on local food systems: not so much.<br /><br />9. reduce waste: used a potting soil bag as the mulch cover on my swc that holds the tomatoes… and the repurposed wine jugs that would’ve gone to the recycling plant without me.<br /><br />10. learned a skill: yeah, again, not so much.<br /><br />five out of ten this week.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-31371102980426169332008-05-14T17:20:00.002-04:002008-05-14T17:24:33.191-04:00score!on my walk home from the train station today, i stopped when i noticed that inside someone's clear recycling bag was a carlo rossi 1 gallon empty wine jug. it was inside their fence, and inside a bag, so i hesitated... and decided i didn't want to look like i was trash picking.<br /><br />i couldn't stop thinking about it the rest of the walk home, and almost turned around to go back and get it (i'm thinking water storage here). then, i walked past another house, and they had not one but TWO of the same carlo rossi glass gallon empty wine jugs, only these were NOT behind a fence and NOT in a bag! score! i nabbed them, and they're in the bathtub awaiting a washing-out before they get a baking soda and sunshine treatment. wine isn't the worst thing that water could taste like, but i'd rather if it didn't taste like anything but water ;)<br /><br />now i'm considering putting a wanted post on freecycle for more of these bottles.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-23429479244620403932008-05-12T11:56:00.002-04:002008-05-12T12:03:48.645-04:00weekly dinner menu starting 5/10/08Sa - cream of asparagus soup (from The New Moosewood Cookbook, p.3)<br />Su - cauliflower cheese pie (from The New Moosewood Cookbook, p.159)<br />M - chick pea burgers (from a NY Times recipe we clipped ages ago) on top of salad<br />Tu - couscous salad w/spicey yogurt dressing (from the South Beach book p.262 - we'll be using bulgur rather than couscous)<br />W - pizza on yeast-free dough (from How It All Vegan p.115) topped with feta, spinach, tomato and kalamata olives<br />Th - leek and mushroom quiche ( http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blv214.htm )<br />F - xtine's bulgur pilaf (from xtine's recipe) and zucchini ribbons w/dill (from South Beach book p.237)<br /><br />can i just say that the cream of asparagus soup was diVINE. mmmmm... so good. the cauliflower cheese pie was good, too. i think the crust (made of grated potato and onion) could have used for the potato to be rinsed off after it was grated. it had that gluey taste that my dad's potato pancakes used to get that makes me sort of go "ulgh" a little.<br /><br />i had two wisdom teeth taken out on friday afternoon, and while i'm in very little pain from it, i'm still not up to snuff for noshing on crunchy things. hopefully by wednesday i'll be able to do pizza crust! so glad to have the teeth gone. omg.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-20528131862071114652008-05-11T09:26:00.002-04:002008-05-11T09:45:36.274-04:00companion tomato plantwe tried to start two containers of "best boy hybrid" tomato plants (one in each 1qt yogurt container, but only one sprouted. the seeds were packed for 2006, so it probably wasn't our fault the other one didn't sprout.<br /><br />however, with one tomato sprout and one giant self-watering container (that can hold 2 tomato plants), i wanted a second. so yesterday i asked erin to get me a heirloom tomato seedling at the market. she brought me a <a href="http://www.tastefulgarden.com/store/pc/catalog/full/blackbrandywine.jpg">black brandywine</a>. i am SO excited about that. <br /><br />now we've planted them out into the swc, which counts as #1 on the independence days challenge.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-73042362002248200552008-05-09T11:11:00.000-04:002008-05-09T11:12:28.170-04:00weekly independence days check-init’s been a pretty good week for me :)<br /><br />1. planted: more sugar snap peas because only two of the (20) seeds i put in before came up… and one of those sprouts has now kicked the bucket. ah well.<br /><br />2. harvested: leeks at the csa farm last sunday! and stuff is sprouting in my garden! lettuce and arugula look good, more lettuce is coming up that i planted last week or the week before, onions are up, i have what looks like a spinach sprout, and some mystery sprouts (i moved the pots around and forgot what exactly was where…)<br /><br />3. preserved: nothing *sigh*<br /><br />4. stored: 2 quarts of water in mason jars that i had found in the closet<br /><br />5. prepped: i’m cleaning out the various other glass jars we have left over from grocery store foods to be used as water storage containers.<br /><br />6. managed: inventoried the shelves in the kitchen<br /><br />7. cook something new: this week we made gingery marinated chickpeas, felafel from scratch, and tahini-lemon sauce (which we used on sandwiches and also as a pasta sauce), all of which came out of the “new moosewood cookbook”. molly katzen is my new best friend.<br /><br />8. local food systems: we carpooled out to our csa farm on sunday for a walking tour and a talk with farmer james. it was very enlightening, not to mention gorgeous! the weather really cooperated. the csa is on track for the first week of june’s delivery. they provide 1200 shares to a bunch of different csa’s all along long island and into queens. we also got to know some of our fellow shareholders a little better.<br /><br />9. reduced waste: last night i used the pasta water to blanch the broccoli. we’re considering finding a way to use the shower-warmup-water to wash the dishes, but we’re still in the pre-brainstorming phase on that one.<br /><br />10. learn a skill: i worked on patching a pair of pants that had worn through. my hand-sewing skills need work.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-8443049615071119132008-05-07T11:00:00.003-04:002008-05-07T11:03:48.917-04:00#4 - storedi found two quart sized mason jars in the closet, washed them off, and filled them with water for storage. i am also cleaning out various empty glass food jars we've collected (spaghetti sauce, lactofermented sauerkraut, honey, jam, peanut butter) via a water-and-baking-soda-in-the-sun method, and then i'll fill them with water for storage as well. baby steps.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-46442053178249697742008-05-05T11:05:00.002-04:002008-05-05T11:09:15.893-04:00week's menu - 5/3/08Saturday - pizza on homemade ww focaccia bread. tomatoes, garlic, spinach, feta, onion, mushrooms.<br /><br />Sunday - veggie kebabs under the broiler. cherry tomatoes, leeks, bell pepper, tofu, mushrooms.<br /><br />Monday - felafel w/chopped salad: tomato, cucumber, onion, dill, lemon juice.<br /><br />Tuesday - pasta salad. pasta, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, feta, bell pepper, fresh tomato, cucumber, olive oil, vinegar.<br /><br />Wednesday - mexican black beans and rice. black beans, onion, tomato, rice.<br /><br />Thursday - pasta with tahini-lemon sauce and spinach, broccoli.<br /><br />Friday - popcorn. and asparagus in a cream sauce.<br /><br />then on saturday we go food shopping again.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-82073471311752392562008-05-05T10:56:00.002-04:002008-05-05T11:55:01.331-04:00#6 - manage stores: on the shelves 5/2/08we measured the dry goods and took stock of some of the canned goods on our shelves on friday night:<br /><br />14 cups of rice<br />1 cup of kasha (ew)<br />2 1/3 cup bulgur wheat<br />1/4 cup brown flax seed<br />1+ cup quinoa<br />1 cup black eyed peas<br />1 cup red lentils<br />1/2- cup pinto beans<br />3 cups rotini<br />7 1/3 cups popcorn<br />2 cans refried beans (15oz each)<br />1 can green chilis (4oz)<br />1 can tomato paste (6 oz)<br />1 can tuna (6 oz) {note-we no longer eat fish...}<br />1 packet tuna (5oz)<br />~1/4 cup crisco {don't ask}<br />~15 oz NY honey<br />~10 oz french honey {was a gift}<br />~3 oz capers in salt<br />4 cups nutritional yeast<br /><br />then we got tired of measuring. on saturday morning i took a look at what ELSE is on our shelves (without really measuring).<br /><br />white sugar<br />brown sugar<br />confectioner's sugar<br />bread crumbs<br />TVP<br />baking cocoa powder<br />peppercorns<br />yeast<br />coffee beans (regular and decaf)<br />sucralose (splenda)<br />fish sauce<br />spirulina<br />3 packets Goya Sazon<br />1 box Fantastic Brand vegegarian chili<br />wasabi and sesame crackers<br />nacho flavor sunflower seeds (ew)<br />5 boxes jello (2 of which are sugar free)<br />sugarfree pancake syrup<br />1/4 bottle balsamic vinegar<br />>1 bottle cider vinegar<br />cooking sherry<br />sesame oil<br />burgundy cooking wine<br />rice wine vinegar<br />Tapatio hot sauce<br />1 bottle unopened yellow mustard<br /><1/2 gallon white vinegaranna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-6907158768713869842008-05-02T09:36:00.000-04:002008-05-02T09:37:58.926-04:00weekly update... just starting outhmm… well, my “doing” is more likely to happen on the weekends than the weekdays, so i’m a bit short for this update BUT here we go:<br /><br />planted: nothing since last weekend when we planted spinach, lettuces, basil, watermelon, peas, and onions.<br /><br />harvested: nothing yet, but some of our lettuce and arugula have sprouted! and not only that, i can tell a difference between the two kinds of sprouts now (they’re in the same container). not quite to a point where i can tell which is which though…<br /><br />preserved: nothing yet.<br /><br />stored: also nothing since we do our shopping on the weekend.<br /><br />prepped: considered water storage ideas, and will ask at juice/smoothie places for containers of some sort this weekend. also planning to gather buckets from the grocery store this weekend.<br /><br />managed: will go through my stores tonight to see how much food we have in the house, precisely <br /><br />cook something new: made two batches of tabbouli in the last week, and a killer pasta salad. also had sauteed asparagus with lemon butter and garlic over fresh pasta. yum. (i have a feeling this might become my favorite category.)<br /><br />work on local food systems: not sure where to start on this one.<br /><br />compost something: cleaned the kale and other things out of our veg drawer in the fridge. the compost pile got to eat them. i guess that may be “managing” too, eh?<br /><br />learned a skill: i learned more about water-bath canning, in an intellectual way.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-34434136693337043002008-04-29T10:53:00.002-04:002008-04-29T10:58:24.777-04:00independence daysi'm joining in on <a href="http://sharonastyk.com/2008/04/29/independence-days-my-first-challenge/">sharon's challenge</a> to create our own Independence Days by doing something every week from her seven categories:<br />1. plant something<br />2. harvest something<br />3. preserve something<br />4. prep something<br />5. cook something<br />6. manage your reserves<br />7. work on local food systems<br /><br />i think key categories that appeal to me are the plant something, harvest something, preserve something, and prep something categories. i generally do cook a lot, trying new recipes and concoctions (though it gets a bit grueling in the summer with the kitchen heat... maybe i'll "prep" a solar oven for myself this year? thinking big ;) ).<br /><br />i hope to check in here with my updates. kick me if i don't! (i know i've been avoiding blogger lately)anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-17362659202050956732008-03-21T11:18:00.002-04:002008-03-21T11:21:57.335-04:00goin' 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 :Danna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-33010896579692690792008-03-20T12:15:00.002-04:002008-03-20T12:22:59.384-04:00one local supperthanks to a comment on my potatoes post for the idea here.<br /><br />ingredients:<br />1 jar of lacto-fermented sauerkraut from <a href="http://www.hawthornevalleyfarm.org/">hawthorne valley farms</a><br />1 package of sweet italian sausage from <a href="http://www.herondalefarm.com/">herondale farm</a><br />the rest of our potatoes from the csa (<a href="http://www.goldenearthworm.com/">golden earthworm farm</a>)<br />butter from <a href="http://www.ronnybrook.com/">ronnybrook farm</a><br />salt (non-local)<br />nutritional yeast (non-local... we had no parmesan cheese for topping)<br /><br />step one: make large pot of mashed potatoes (peel potatoes, boil, drain, add salt and butter, mash, taste, add more salt and butter)<br /><br />step two: remove casing from sausage and cook in skillet<br /><br />step three: open sauerkraut jar<br /><br />step four: layer in a casserole dish sauerkraut, then sausage, then mashed potatoes<br /><br />step five: bake at 350 for roughly 35 minutes or until potatoes look mighty tasty<br /><br />step six: sprinkle with nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese and dig in!<br /><br />mmmmmmm... can't wait for leftovers for lunch today :)anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8040199.post-9083240014195267932008-03-17T14:37:00.002-04:002008-03-17T14:42:15.194-04:00i 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.<br /><br />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.anna jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12768260820751313904noreply@blogger.com0