So I did not have my surgery as planned last week. I was all ready for it and got a call late Wednesday night telling me not to come to the hospital in the morning, that my surgery was canceled. That was frustrating, but on the bright side, I can keep working out and enjoy these next few weeks. Hopefully I'll get a lot done, when I thought I'd be getting very few things accomplished. So it'll all work out, I think.
Last week was a productive week in terms of getting things done that I've wanted to take care of for awhile. I enrolled Carson in the fall semester of Kindermusik, joined my local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, finally picked up the new-to-us stand-up freezer that we inherited from my grandpa, did a little more planning for our trip to Colorado in a few weeks, ordered some cod liver oil/butter oil capsules, and put in our orders for local, pasture-raised chicken and pork. I'll be working on putting in a turkey order this week. We're getting a half of a hog from Our Farm and Dairy in St. Johns. My friends Niles and Lisa will be getting the other half... and we got our order in just in time because we got their last hog! Its all organic, pasture-raised, and raw milk fed! Its supposed to be the best pork around and being milk-fed is supposedly a delicacy. Milk-fed pork is also discussed as being a delicious delicacy in the book I'm reading, Real Food: What to Eat and Why, by Nina Planck (GREAT book, by the way... I really think everyone should read it!). We'll be able to pick it up in October or November - I can't wait! I also put in an order for 12 whole pastured chickens from a local farm in Fenton. I'm planning to butcher them up myself, making ground chicken with my meat grinder out of 3 or 4 of them and freezing it in 1-pound portions, 4 or 5 of them will be butchered into quarters and pieces and frozen, and 3 of them will be frozen as whole birds. I'll probably put in another order for pickup in October to butcher up some more so that we'll have enough to get us through the year. I've also been doing a lot of research into getting some fresh turkeys in November. I have it narrowed down to a couple of places and just need to make the final decision and order the birds this week. I'm debating between 3 or 4 fresh birds. I'd roast one fresh when we get it, and would butcher up the other fresh birds into a bunch of ground turkey and turkey cutlets to freeze. I'm so excited about all of this good, local, fresh meat that we'll have in our freezer this year!
I have been forgetting to mention that I'm doing the GNOWFLGINS Sourdough E-Course. Its been going on for a few weeks now. We're in lesson 2 (lesson 1 lasted for 2 weeks) and its been pretty neat so far. I've learned a couple of things and am really looking forward to the next few weeks as things get a little more in depth and we try out some new recipes. I just hope I can eat sourdough bread and other baked goods at some point after my surgery. I know that I'm supposed to avoid whole grains and breads at first, and I'll just have to introduce them slowly to see if my body can handle them post-surgery. I've supposedly got a 60% chance of being able to eat most things I used to eat, so I'm hoping I'm in the majority there and don't have issues. But I figure I have the best chance of being able to handle sourdough, so I'm thinking this is perfect timing for this e-course and to try out some new recipes!
I've also signed up for the Preserving Summer's Bounty Challenge at Nourished Kitchen. It's a five-week challenge that will teach you how to preserve summer's bounty without pulling out the canner. I won't be able to participate every week in August, but I'll do as many as I can. I think it'll be fun! And while I do still plan on doing some canning (specifically cream of celery soup and lots and lots of tomatoes... hopefully next weekend!), I do like the idea of preserving more things traditionally so as to enhance their nutritional aspects. I'm looking forward to hopefully learning some new things, too!
We're planning to go to the farmers' market this morning. Then we'll be heading over to our friends' house for lunch. Tomorrow night, we'll be doing a family 10-mile bike ride. I'll be going to Zumba on Tuesday... and voting for sure! Thursday, I'll be in Detroit for some meetings. Friday is my flex day. I have to pick up our CSA order (lots of herbs to dry again - purple basil, german thyme, rosemary, oregano, flat-leaf parsley, sage; some cabbage to make kim chi; Walla Walla onions to dice and freeze; celery to dice and freeze and to make cream of celery soup) and I'll make a stop at Eichelberg's to get more corn to blanch and freeze. I'd like to do something fun with Carson, too, but I'm not sure what it'll be yet. We'll see what the weather is like, but maybe we can hit the splash pad or beach, or maybe we'll just visit the library for toddler story time. We haven't figured out our plans for Saturday yet. We may just stay home. Or we may go to check out the Sanilac Petroglyphs. Or we may go to visit and take a tour of Our Farm and Dairy... pros and cons to both... Carson really wants to see the petroglyphs (yes, he really does know what they are), but I doubt his interest would really last too long... the farm would probably keep his interest a little longer, but we could go a different week, too... the petroglyphs are only open a few times a year... so we'll see.
I'm going to be using up a lot of zucchini this week. And I'll be working on freezing, dehydrating, and canning this week. I feel like there is so much I want to do and not nearly enough time, but that's pretty typical this time of year. I'm not going to stress myself out about it, though. I'll just do what I can when I can and see what I end up with. :)
Sunday ~ farmers' market; Ben and Kati's
(make dairy kefir; make zucchini bars/cake?; make ice cream)
B: sourdough pancakes stuffed with yogurt cheese and blueberries
L: lunch at Ben and Kati's house... we're having homemade indian food... I'm making Raita and bringing some fruit
D: cheeseburger zucchini boats; applesauce
Monday ~ family bike ride
(freeze zucchini chunks; make water kefir; make dairy kefir)
B: zucchini bread
D: crockpot beef stroganoff (made with yogurt cheese!); sauteed beans, zucchini, and broccoli in butter with garlic; peaches
Tuesday ~ VOTE; Zumba
(order turkeys; make dairy kefir)
B: biscuits from the freezer with local honey and butter
D: leftovers
Wednesday ~ family bike ride
(make water kefir; make dairy kefir)
B: zucchini bread
D: grilled kebabs with salmon, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots; fresh honey rock melon
Thursday ~ Detroit for work; Kevin's mountain bike night
(make dairy kefir)
B: kefir fruit smoothies
D: salads topped with grilled chicken and veggies; fresh melon and blueberries
Friday ~ flex day; Eichelberg's farm stand; splash pad/beach/library?
(blanch and freeze corn; blanch and freeze green beans; make yogurt; make dairy kefir; make water kefir; make and can cream of celery soup)
B: scrambled eggs with veggies and raw cheddar
D: crockpot sausage and veggie medley
Saturday ~ Sanilac Petroglyphs? Our Farm and Dairy tour?
(make dairy kefir; can tomatoes)
B: omelets with yogurt cheese, spinach, artichokes, and tomatoes
L: leftovers
D: tbd... we'll see what our plans end up being...
1 comment:
Sounds like a busy week! But knowing you you'll somehow manage to get it all done :)
I didn't know you were doing the sourdough course. How fun. I bet you'll learn a lot. I want to try that chocolate sourdough cake recipe (assuming you saw it). Sounds very interesting.
I too would like to not use my canner as much. But I know I'll still can some stuff.
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