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I picked up a new book, All New Square Foot Gardening, and it looks along the line of how I want to garden, just simplified. Saturday, Ben did some running around to get the supplies (vermiculite in the 3.5 cu ft bags can be ordered through Summer Winds in the Bay Area).

He built me 6 2×3 boxes. The boxes from last year will be great for carrots and other deep rooting plants.

I asked the man what he wants in the garden. He replied, “Potatoes.” Anything else, “Potatoes.. and beef.” Maybe next time we move.

Monday wasn’t day 1. I had a sip of hot cocoa.

Tuesday wasn’t day 1. I had a burger at In N Out and I’m sure there’s sugar in the bun.

Wednesday is day 1.
Breakfast: Grapenuts with raw milk
Lunch: Quiche (eggs, cheese, green peppers)

Now I’m hungry. Avoiding sugar means that I should focus on vegetables, dairy and meat. I’m thinking that a new routine is in order.

I set T.J. to getting the grapes ready for class tomorrow. He has to take in 3 cups for their Valentine’s Day party. I told the children that any left over they can eat. Then I turned around and there’s the baby coming out of the hallway sucking the toothpaste.
There’s fluoride in the toothpaste. Fluoride is highly poisonous. I’m hoping T.J.’s right and there was less than a 1/4 tube left before she got it. There’s maybe an ounce or so left now and every time she coughs I run out to see if she’s throwing up. Poison control suggested feed her cow’s milk or milk products, so she has a piece of cheese and had her first taste of cow milk.

T.J. was in tears that his sister may be injured by this. We took a quiet moment and prayed and I just held him. He’s such a sweet sensitive boy.

In September, I got a CSA box with wax beans. I knew they’d be so good if we just gobbled them up, but I wanted to test the idea of ‘putting up’ some things for when we don’t have the boxes. They were my first victims. I had ordered a copy of Making Sauerkraut and so I got to work.

I pulled them from the back of the fridge at lunch today. They looked okay, none of the white yeast like in one of the jars of carrots.. I opened up the jar: no foul odor. I pulled out a bean: still crisp (you just blanch them before pickling, so they don’t turn out limp), light fragrance. I bit into it: slightly sour, no tart, tangy, tasty. Good. MissA was in the room. She was given a bite. I told her it’s a little sour at first. She agreed (made a face), “Sour,” and I finished mine and told her, “Sour, but good.” She heartily agreed (probably glad at that point I’d only given her one little bite and it was over with.. She’s my picky eater).

I served them up with dinner. Only MissA didn’t want to eat hers. MissB is my veggie lover and TJ will generally eat anything. MissC didn’t like the yellow ones, but ate up several green beans. And, the hardest critic of all said he’d eat them in small amounts like that.

Now to get him to like sweet potatoes…

Yesterday, I bought a Cinderella pumpkin and used it to hold my stew (Mom’s recipe.. I can’t say more currently.. can’t even write the name..). We had a nice potluck. Afterward, I brought home my pumpkin and began chopping it up. For the stew, I had baked the pumpkin for an hour. Well, this pumpkin is so thick that had hardly cooked it! Out came the steamer pot. Mine is a nice double-steamer that Dad gave me in England. I filled the first layer with pumpkin, filled the second layer with pumpkin, put that in the fridge. Found some containers and filled them with pumpkin and went to bed.

At that point, I hadn’t cut up half the pumpkin.

This morning, I boiled the water in the pot and pulled out the steamers. They went for most of an hour and then I switched the layers so the top could cook better. I mixed my sour dough starter and ran out of flour… and walked to the store.

When I came home, the pumpkin was perfectly cooked. I pulled it off and finished my sourdough starter (it’s been going for about 2 weeks, soon I shall have sourdough!).

I pulled the half cooked pumpkin from the fridge and finished cubing it. Staring at all that pumpkin.. I searched for “pumpkin honey” online. First up, Pumpkin Honey Pie. Sounds good! Searched for a crust. Found several, but not exactly what i was looking for. So, for today, it was about 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup cold butter -cubed, 1/2 tsp salt, ~4Tbsp cold water. Mixed and stuck that in the fridge while I made the pie filling.

Once the pie was in the oven, I surveyed the kitchen. Needful of storage containers, I loaded and ran the dishwasher. Out came the old red check cookbook (mine’s about a 1983) and I flipped through the index. ‘Squash’ was mainly side dishes, so to ‘pumpkin’ I looked.

I whipped together Pumpkin Bars.. Though, they call for Cream Cheese Frosting and I’m out of powdered sugar.. Then it was on to Pumpkin Drop Cookies! Oops, out of raisins, but I can live with that.

Pause for Banana Smoothies.

Ben called. He’s coming home! We’ve mainly seen him as he left for work (or snoozed in the mornings) since last weekend. I think he made it in by 2AM this morning, one of the earlier nights.

Baby’s fed, time to make Macaroni and Cheese. Not Kraft, a real mac ‘n cheese casserole.

Yes, I said, “Beet.”

And, they were good, too. I should have taken a picture! I based them on this recipe that was copied and had the link on the CSA recipe page.

I forgot to ‘mash’ the beets in the blender, they were mostly small chunks instead. And, I ground some wheat fresh, so I used a cup of that and a cup of ‘regular’ (white whole wheat by King Arthur) flour instead of the flour and wheat germ called for. I spaced the nuts entirely.. And, I think I beat the eggs a touch too long because I had to skin the beets that had just finished cooking -super simple, just rinse the beets to cool them in the pan and keep the cold water running, under the water pinch/rub off the skins; they come off really easily and didn’t stain my fingers that way!

I’m out of chocolate again, and ate half the remaining beets, so can’t make this again soon enough! I finally found out what my Mom was trying to explain when I was a child -fresh beets are really good! There wasn’t that bitterness I remember, certainly a beet flavor, but sweetly so. In the brownies, they reminded me of cherries, and J- suggested cranberries.

Definitely try this odd recipe!

I plan on freezing some dough. So, I’m following these directions for freezing bread dough. I’ve got Active Dry Yeast, so basically it says to mix the bread and let rest 10 min, then shape it and put straight into freezer bags in the freezer.

I’m trying this recipe: Bread Loaves. Note: not the best recipe for freezing because she seems to add such a small amount of flour at first -very sticky dough!

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! The unthinkable has occurred!! No more wheat flour!! I thought there was another bag! “What to do?”

When the Ben’s away the Jenn will play..

In my sojourn on the internet, I came across the idea for coconut oil candies from a traditional foods menu mailer site. That sounds interesting, but they only have suggested ingredients without a recipe.. So I ran off to the kitchen.

I had 2 1-ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate, and pulled out the honey. The coconut oil is next to the stove. To make it melt quicker, I chopped up the chocolate and my finger and jimmied a double-boiler (I haven’t one, I just put one pot in another).

One jar of honey was almost out, just about 1/4 cup left in it. (note: floating the honey in the pot of water as it’s heating can make it easier to pour, just don’t leave it to heat enough to burn you.. replace honey jar with littler pot). When the chocolate began to melt, I added the honey. Still was too bitter, so I added another 1/4 cup - I like honey. Then, unthinking, I added 1/4 cup oil. I should’ve added just 1 Tbsp at a time, I’m thinking that just 1 or 2 Tbsp would have been just about perfect for looks when cooled.

Although, the whole idea is to increase the lauric acid intake, so lots of CO didn’t bother me. Pop them in the fridge overnight (or freezer while you write your blog post), and…

(insert cookie monster sounds as I indulge in my candy)

The texture’s a bit too oily, as expected, but the flavor’s wonderful. If I had dessicated coconut (unsweetened coconut flakes) that could soak up some of the extra oil and give a nicer texture. Maybe some peanut butter in there next time. Yummy.

Note: the ice cube tray turned out to be a poor choice. Better would be to pour into a bowl and let cool in fridge. The resulting candy was very pliable, even when cold, that I just broke/smooshed the excess oil and folded it in, then formed little candy balls.

Our CSA bouquet has lovely lilies this week! And the ’surprise’ was strawberries.. Which I promptly hid in the fridge when we arrived home.

Of course, one can’t easily hide berries from a 3 year old! Just before dinner, she had them out and I told her to save some for Daddy. There’s a bite out of every berry, but he can at least get a nibble if he wants some.

I joined a CSA and my first farm box came today. The strawberries didn’t survive long enough to be photographed -the girls took them straight to the table and gobbled them up. And, my husband got me flowers. Okay, so they’re an option in the box, but hey, he gets me flowers every week this way!

This shouldn’t be too hard to use up this week.. Their website has lots of recipes, plus they include a flier with recipes in the box. My goal is to use the vegetables each week. If anything’s not used by Tuesday, it needs preserving.

Who needs dolls?

I finally started the Baudelaires last night. I bought the yarn last year (I printed the instructions on July 28, 2006), but put off knitting them until my gauge was more even. I’m glad I did. I’m using the 64 stitch sock on size 1US needles. The color is a lovely purple that’s hard to capture on camera, “Blackberry” by Lorna’s Laces.

This morning, while Ben slept in, I ran to the store to pick up some essentials:

I’m all for healthy foods, but at these prices I’m going to be cooking beans! For the 3 items, the total was $21.97. I use raw butter ($12.99 for that little tub! and that’s the bigger size, half that costs $7.99 at the store!) and raw milk because there’s less tummy trouble when they eat that versus the processed kind, and I use the unrefined coconut oil in my cooking (which actually wasn’t too bad a price).
I miss you Becky, and your reasonable prices for fresh (same day) raw milk!!