We had an amazing vacation last week in Colorado. We were sad for it to end, but in many ways it's good to be home. I was anxious to get back into the kitchen. Yesterday morning, I signed our contract to purchase two cow shares at a farm near us (about 20 minutes away) and picked up 2 gallons of raw milk for the week. I got right to work on some of it, making some raw milk yogurt. I realize I still haven't posted the method that I use now for yogurt, so hopefully it'll show up this week on the blog. I also picked up our CSA order yesterday morning and got right to work freezing 4 pounds of broccoli and canning more chopped tomatoes. As well as de-cobbing 3 dozen ears of corn, blanching, and freezing. I think I may do one more batch of corn this week and I think I'll call it good for the year. I also dehydrated some lemon basil from the CSA and harvested a ton of basil from our garden to make and freeze pesto yesterday, as well.
Today we'll be heading out to the farmers' market. Monday I may go biking with my friend. Tuesday I have a hair appointment in the evening. Wednesday I will be in Detroit for meetings all day and I believe Kevin is going mountain biking that night. Thursday I will be in Windsor for meetings all day. Friday is my flex day and will now be my milk day... when I make my weekly trip out to the farm to pick up our milk. It's convenient to pick up the milk and our CSA since they are on the way from one another. So that's what I'll be doing on Friday. Saturday we will go biking together as a family and will probably be putting in a few new windows in the basement.
As for extras this week... I'm looking to accomplish a lot! Here's my list...
- I'm planning to put up some vanilla rum plums and maybe some peaches in brandy today for this week's Preserving the Summer's Bounty challenge. I am having so much fun trying out the traditional preservation techniques!
- I'm also going to make some more lacto-fermented roasted tomato salsa. I think I will do a half-gallon jar full this time and call it good.
- I may try out another lacto-fermented salsa recipe later in the week with some tomatoes from our garden, but we'll see how many I end up getting this week.
- I ordered some sweet banana peppers from the CSA this week, so I'm planning to make some lacto-fermented banana peppers, as well.
- I ordered some more cabbage from the CSA, so I'll either make up more sauerkraut or maybe I'll try cortido or kim chi this time.
- I'll be making some chicken stock/bone broth.
- I'll be blanching and freezing more broccoli that I ordered from the CSA... and possibly some more corn.
- I'll be drying some more tomatoes so that I can make another few pints of dried tomatoes in oil.
- I may try making some sourdough tortillas and/or sourdough hamburger buns... this is last on my priority list, though...
- I'll be getting both my water and dairy kefir going again.
- And lastly, I'll be picking up a SCOBY at the farm on Friday, so I'll be starting up a batch of kombucha! I'm so excited for that! I bought a half-gallon of it from the farm when I went yesterday and it is soooo good!
Sunday ~ farmers' market
(make vanilla rum plums and peaches in brandy; make LF roasted tomato salsa; make dairy and water kefir; feed sourdough starter)
B: sourdough pancakes
L: bibb lettuce salads with leftover grilled steak; hard-boiled egg; cucumbers; summer squash; carrots
D: TBD... possibly going over to in-laws' house
Monday ~ biking?
B: scrambled eggs with gouda
D: taco rice (from freezer); steamed veggies; applesauce
Tuesday ~ hair appointment
(make dairy and water kefir)
B: muffins from freezer; fresh fruit
D: crockpot rotisserie chicken; bibb lettuce salads with raw veggies (cucumber, carrot, corn, beans); applesauce
Wednesday ~ Detroit for work; Kevin's bike night?
(make chicken stock/bone broth)
B: apples with almond butter
D: crockpot quinoa and chicken
Thursday ~ Windsor for work
(make dairy and water kefir)
B: kefir fruit smoothies
D: crockpot white bean and ham soup (with ham from the freezer)
Friday ~ flex day! milk and CSA pickup
(make LF banana peppers; make kombucha; make sauerkraut/cortido/kim chi; blanch and freeze broccoli; blanch and freeze corn?; feed starter)
B: mini frittatas
D: kraut bierock (from freezer); steamed veggies; fresh fruit
Saturday ~ biking; windows
(clean; make LF salsa?; make dairy and water kefir; make sourdough tortillas and/or hamburger buns?)
B: scrambled eggs with veggies
L: picnic while biking... cashew avocado chicken salad sandwiches; dehydrated veggie crisps; fresh fruit
D: TBD... hamburgers if I make buns or tacos if I make tortillas... if I don't make either, then we'll have meatloaf... also zucchini fries and steamed veggies
2 comments:
Wow, that's quite a list of to-dos this week! But I bet you'll get it done. Crazy how much there is to do when you get back from vacation, isn't it?
So cool that you got your raw milk! I contacted another place yesterday. Waiting to hear back from them. So frustrating that raw milk is so hard to get.
I too am trying to decide if I'm done with corn. I thought I was. But since I'm not doing peaches this week I might try to do another doezen ears. We'll see.
So jealous of your broccoli. Only one stand at our fm has it...and I generally don't have good luck with their produce. So I don't buy much from them. Tried their broccoli last week anyway...had to toss half of it b/c I saw a bunch of little worm things in it when I went to cook it. Gross! I want to freeze broccoli. Maybe I'll have to try a different fm this week.
All of your meals sound really good...seriously sound good to me right now ;) Well, aside from the chicken parts...that's usually the first to go for me :P
Anxious to see how the hamburger buns turn out if you amke them. I was just searching yesterday for a good bun recipe. That's the one bread item I still have not made very well yet.
You asked about my peach guy. This is what Kitchen Stewardship says about the orchard I go to:
Wells Orchards FM (O)
0-8993 Kenowa SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49534
(616) 453-5919
Open July-March, M-F 8a-6p Sat 8a-5p
Growers of apples, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, apricots, sweet cherries, pumpkins, squash, honey. U-pick apples, peaches and cherries for sure. After asking the farmer about his growing practices, I liked his answer: integrated pest management, try to spray for bugs once early in the season so they don’t have to spray again, use eco-friendly chemicals when possible. He explained that with Michigan’s climate, cherry growers must spray for mold/rot, but that they use the fungicide that organic growers would use, rated “zero days to harvest,” as in, you can pick cherries right after they’re sprayed. Other fungicides are rated as “X weeks to harvest.” Our family picked cherries here for the first time and I was impressed by the sound system set up to scare away the birds and all the non-chemical pest fighters I could see and hear. The picking was easy, but at $1.50/pound, I don’t know if pitting all of them is worth it for me. Wells has great markdowns on bruised apples in the fall!
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