Scratch Cookin'

People like to remind you that just because something is made from scratch doesn't make it better or healthier for you. Maybe so, cooking from scratch can be anything from a healthy fruit smoothie, a pasta dish with lots of added fresh, homegrown veggies or mashed potatoes with lots of butter and cream along with chicken fried steak.

My response to that is that at least you know what is in your food when you cook it yourself. You can pronounce all the ingredients. It's cheaper to make a homemade meal at home than to eat out. Even if it has butter and cream in it, you don't have to make it an everyday meal, everything in moderation. Plus, it sustainable to use produce that you've grown yourself or bought from a local farmer. Knowing where your food comes from is a big plus. And there is the added benefit of a family eating together and reconnecting if you cook a meal at home, from scratch.

This was Saturday morning's breakfast, homemade, sour cream pancakes and of course...bacon...the food of the gods!! I like to make a big batch of pancakes and then freeze them for future use. I can just take out 2 or 3 when I want them.

These are oatmeal, chocolate chip and walnut muffins. I take a couple of these to work several days a week to eat for breakfast. I can't eat breakfast at home on workdays because if I ate breakfast at 6:15am, I would be starving by 10:00. So, I usually eat a little greek yogurt and honey before I leave for work then eat a couple of muffins about 9:00.

When the weather starts getting warm I love to make homemade lemonade and/or limeade. This is limeade. Water, sugar and fresh squeezed limes, couldn't be easier. Sometimes I use local honey in place of the sugar and I really like that and it's a little healthier, I think, than the sugar. But if I think my son is going to drink any I can't use the honey because he doesn't care for it that way. I don't think the taste is that big of a difference, but .....you know teenagers. I love this glass pitcher, it belonged to my grandmother.

This was my first attempt at making homemade French fries and they turned out really good, I thought. They are a little time consuming to make, cutting them up, soaking in cold water for a couple of hours, double frying....but it's well worth the trouble.  Of course, they say French fries are not a healthy food.....but I like what one of my favorite authors, Michael Pollan, says about that. He say's that unlike fast food fries or frozen fries that you pop in the deep fryer and only takes a few minutes, it's ok to have fries every once in a while because when you make them from scratch, it is time consuming so it's not something you will do every day or even every week, you might only take the time and make the effort to do it once or twice a month.

The weekend of scratch cooking is done, I find it relaxing and of course a glass of wine at the end of it all never hurts.


Kathy

Say Cheese..

I wanted to show ya'll  how well my "crops" are doing. I'm really feeling good about them and the rain we've had the last couple of days has given them a growth spurt. I've always noticed that it seems  rain makes things grow faster than just watering them from the hose. My Mom always told me that the rainwater always makes a difference with the plants.

Lettuce mix

Baby bok choy

Tomato plants....they are really getting big and getting little blossoms on them, Yippee! Tomorrow I need to stake them before they start leaning.

After a cloudy start this morning, the sky this afternoon was incredibly blue and clear. (That's my new umbrella for the deck)

I love this rosebush, I wish it was mine. It's in a yard that Lola and I pass as we walk through an alley during one of our afternoon walks. I really noticed it last year because as soon as we turn into the alley you smell this incredible aroma. I stop everytime and just smell these roses, I don't know if I've ever smelled anything like it before.

Now again this year they smell just as incredible. Because of these roses now everytime I pass a rosebush I stop to smell them and none of them smell like these. Most of them have no smell at all.

My mom's house has been in our family for several generations, I grew up there, my mom grew up there and my grandma grew up there. There was a climbing rosebush in her yard that had been there for several generations. I wish I could remember how those roses smelled, I wonder if they smelled as good as these. The roses above cover quite a bit of the fence in that yard so I wonder if they have been there for a very long time.

I just wonder if these roses smell so good because the plant is from a long time ago and hasn't been genetically "tinkered' with? I don't know if that's the answer but it gives me food for thought. I've thought about sneaking and cutting off a little piece and trying to get it to root in my yard....shhhhhh.

Lola, looking for somebody to bark at.



Kathy

 

 

 

 

 

Off To Market

I love going to the farmer's market. It always makes me feel like I'm discovering treasure as I go from stall to stall looking at all the good food, fresh flowers, cheeses, meats, honey and even some goat's milk soap.

Some of the vendors even serve breakfast and other homemade baked goods. The smells of biscuits and gravy, omelets and frittatas are enough to make your mouth water. An added bonus is there is always someone there playing music.

Some of my treasures.......

(Now, I'm going to stop here for a minute and let you know this is how far I got Sunday night in my post and then for some reason I couldn't upload the pictures I wanted to use. I tried for almost an hour and it just wasn't happening. I'm sure it was a computer issue and not my computer incompetence, haha.

Plus the fact that it felt like it was a million degrees in the house because my air conditioning is not working right. Even though I like heat, when you live in the South and it's close to 90 degrees and the humidity is over 50%, you need some A/C to get through the night. But I've had 5 fans going throughout the house and it was still 84 degrees in the house at 4am. I was fairly comfortable but poor Lola looks on the verge of a heat stroke and my son was complaining. The repairman is coming Wednesday and hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix, again, hahaha.)

This was this afternoon and Lola is trying to catch a cool breeze. I didn't take her out walking today because there would be no way to cool her off when we got home. She likes the cold.

Now, back to my treasures from the market........

Assorted, raised on pasture, humanely treated, meats. There's chicken, a couple of small pork loins, hamburger and hamburger patties. I fixed the chicken yesterday and made chicken and rice soup. Although it was kind of HOT to be eating soup. Obviously I wasn't thinking, but it was good and there's plenty for lunches this week.

Some swiss chard, grape tomatoes and my favorite, asparagus, yummy.

Some incredible baked goods, 7 grain bread and vanilla iced cinnamon rolls.

I love this "basket". I always use it when going to the farmers' market. It's wide enough so that nothing gets squashed and I can fit a lot of things in there

I saw this cardinal in the yard Sunday morning and just when I was getting ready to snap the picture he flew up to the fence. It's not as good a picture as I was trying to get and he turned his back on me, but there he is.

Please send thoughts and prayers for all the people and animals in Oklahoma who have been hurt, displaced and killed in the tornado today. God bless you all.


Kathy

Mish Mash....

I haven't posted anything in a little over a week because my brain has turned to mush. I think of things to blog about, I start drafting a post and then *poof* it's gone or after a few paragraphs I don't like it and delete it or I just have nothin'. I think my brain has shut down.

I thought I would have time last weekend to sit down and really work on something but it turned into quite a busy weekend, being on the run. And then Sunday was Mother's Day so that day was pretty filled up. It seems the more I think about it, the worse it becomes. It's not like I don't have things to talk about, I just can't seem to articulate them right now. I'm sure it will pass so in the meantime here are some odds and ends from the past few days of playing with my camera.

These are a couple of pork tenderloins I bought at the farmer's market. They are sooooo good. Both of these were under a pound so I cooked both of them. My teenage son can eat one all by himself, then some for me and some leftover for a couple of lunches.

I marinated them in some fresh lemon juice, olive oil, sliced onions and garlic powder and cooked them on the grill.

Here I am trying not to set the deck on fire, the wind picked up as soon as I lit the grill.

This is some asparagus that I also bought at the farmer's market. Remember when I bought the cotton produce bags a while back. Supposedly you could get the bag damp and keep your produce in them and they would stay fresh longer? I bought these veggies on Saturday and when I cooked them on Tuesday they were still crisp. So far, so good on the bags!

After I broke the ends off I decided to put them in a freezer bag and eventually use them along with some other vegetables to make vegetable broth.

Tenderloins on the grill with a little Cajun seasoning. Yummy.

On another note, my lettuce mix is coming up pretty good. This makes me so excited!

And my baby bok choy.....YAY!!

Of all the toys Lola has had in the past two years, this one is the only one she hasn't been able to destroy or eat. It has a lovely squeaker in the middle and all I have to say is "get your ball" and she runs and get's this.

Here's to better brain function.....


Kathy

 

 

 

 

 

RAIN..RAIn..RAin..Rain...rain

I know rain is good, it's nourishment for the earth, it cools us and makes our garden grow. But it seems like we've had more than our usual amount of rain this spring. I know I shouldn't complain because it will probably be very dry later in the summer and we'll be wishing for rain.

I do have some exciting news, my seeds are actually coming up!! I'm so excited, I've never grown anything from seeds before.

Can you see those little green spots down the center of the dirt? That's my heirloom lettuce seeds. I'm beside myself that they are actually growing. I just hope I can keep them alive and keep any pests off of them.

And these green dots along both sides of the container are the heirloom baby bok choy. I know I will have to thin out some of the lettuce and bok choy, but I'm waiting til they get a little bigger. I still  have seeds left in the packets so I'm hoping I can plant them again after I eat all these.

The herbs and tomato plants are growing and doing pretty good so far. I'm just worried about the lettuce and bok choy and the herbs with this whole weekend of rain. The rain has come down pretty steady at times and then just a drizzle at other times. But my seedlings are so small I'm afraid they will drown in their containers. So I came up with a brilliant idea to shelter them somewhat but still get some of the rain water.

I've got plastic on top of the tables because the tops aren't solid. The plants have still been getting wet but not beat down with the constant rain. The plants above are chives.

They say it's going to stop raining after tomorrow and be sunny and warmer later this week, I certainly hope so. It's common knowledge that I like the heat and this 59 degree weather today is depressing me, it's Spring after all!!

I will admit though that the weather has helped me save energy. Since the furnace doesn't come on because it's not cold enough, we haven't had to use the air conditioning either. I always try to get through the month of May before I turn it on, sometimes I make it and sometimes I don't.

Lola is watching over her kingdom just waiting to bark at somebody!!


Kathy