Was looking for a cutesy title. Probably failed miserably.
So there is all this hype about Paleo diets nowadays. When I first heard about them I thought "cave man." Really. Then friends started talking about it, and I'm like, I really don't have time to learn another "system." But I did some research (color me curious.) I learned:
1. Paleo really is "cave man." I about ROFLOL when I found that out. It is short for Paleolithic, the "cave man" era.
2. Obviously, if we are talking "that far" back in the day, it is largely fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts.
So far, not too far off the beaten track from what I do now. (Boy, I am full of idiomatic expressions today.)
3. Research on the "paleo" diet/lifestyle has been over the past 30-40 years. I was pretty surprised by how much has been done. I really thought this was one of those "fad" cooking types, like the Atkins diet (if you're old enough to know what that is.)
4. I know "real" Paleo does grass fed blah blah blah. Me and my limited resources are going to have to pass on the "grass fed" parts and just get "normal" parts.
5. I do like that part of the research which speaks to the maladaptive issues in a normal american diet. I remember well the years I lived in Hong Kong, eating 90% vegetarian. I came back to the States and literally could not eat the food here....it was so starchy. So based on my completely non-scientific background, I think there is some truth here which Paleo might address.
Where to go from here? I just bought this eBook (I'm a sucker for online, instant gratification) called "The Paleo Recipe Book" (yes, clickable book name.) I figure, might as well Go Big (350+ recipes) or Go Home. It was only $27 which is pretty inexpensive IMO. I like that I can access it on my tablet/iPad/smartphone (you can do it on a PC as well, which is nice for printing out stuff.)
It seems pretty simple and straightforward. I'm looking forward to trying it out. Wish me luck!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
MY JUICING, PREPPER GARDEN
Being the here-to-fore unsuccessful gardener that I am, I decided to do something different this year with my gardening attempt.
Man, has it paid off big time.
1. Someone turned me on to the "Back to Eden" gardening concept. While I've found it needs more water than Paul states (he lives in the Cascades in Washington state...don't they get like 2 inches of rainfall every week of the year??), nonetheless, everything else is exactly as he says. Minimum upkeep, dresses the soil. If you check out my gardening page, you'll see some older posts about the back yard. I erred and just put wood chips straight down in that one. It didn't fare so well. So as I am creating compost, I'm going to move the chips around lay some compost down, re-lay the chips so I can actually use that space.
Side note: I learned from that mistake and put compost down on the front yard first, then wood chips (gardening page has pictures.) Oddly enough, I have a smaller front yard area which I had covered in sweet potato peelings one month. I covered it with wood chips and stuff has grown there consistently without problem. Go figure. (Yes, I know the SP peels add nitrogen to the soil.)
2. I talked DH in to letting me tear up the front yard and plant a garden there. It faces south and gets 12 hours of sun. Unobstructed sun until I was forced to put up the varmint fencing, now 1 interior foot running the length of the street side fencing is cast in shade 6 hours a day.
DH's stipulation was I had to plant things that "looked like flowers" out there. In other words, no tomatoes, no corn, nothing obviously food. So I planted "green" stuff: broccoli, kale, beets, cucumbers (which can look like ground cover), grapes (so far, no fruit, so it's definitely in the green foliage category), beans.
I realized one day that I had grown a juicing garden by accident. Everything I was growing, I could juice (ok, we cook the broccoli.) This is important! DS18 and I did a juicing detox last year for two weeks. He has such severe allergies, and we want to get him clean. We both felt SO much better during that two weeks and after, that we promised to stick with it, even if it was only a once a day juice.
We found out we were (a) 'eating' more nutritiously (b) felt full due to the fiber content (c) had more energy, (d) DS had far less allergy symptoms.
Needless to say, that got expensive in a hurry, especially in our current circumstance. So I was thrilled to realize I was growing everything except the carrots ! It doesn't take a lot of electrical energy to juice. I could run a whole day's worth of juice in short order. If I really cared, for prepping purposes, I would buy or make a juicing PRESS, which would be energy independent.
I use: 3 stalks of Kale, 3 stalks of beets, 4 carrots per person. Carrots are such space hogs that I buy 50# of them a month in bulk for $6. If I wasn't using carrots I would substitute 2 stalks of celery and 1 cucumber for the carrots, both of which I can grow successfully in the front yard. In case you are wondering, beets average 7 stalks per beet. I generally use half a beet in a juicing mix if I don't use beet stalks.
So one beet plant would be enough for 1 juicing adventure per day, for one person or in other words, 1 beet plant would be enough for a week for 1 person. Math translation: 52 plants for a year's supply for one. More math: beets need a foot of space to grow (square foot gardening.) A four month supply, enough to get through winter, since beets are a fall crop, for my entire family would take up one side of my entire front yard 4 feet by 20 feet.
The other side of the yard is an additional 4 feet by 20 feet. Here, I would (and do) grow kale, cucumber and celery. Kale needs very little space to grow. I've grown both Winterbourne and Lakota. A single stalk provides enough Kale to last 1 person for a month if you're juicing.
What's the prepping point? I don't know that I will ever be able to grow enough food to be self-sustaining for my entire family if we are eating it. But I am pretty sure based on our results so far, that I can grow enough to be self sustaining, to juice because it is much more nutrient dense. In other words, I can use/grow less, use less energy (than cooking) and feel more full.
I have home canned chicken, rice and wheat stored. Combined with our juicing garden, I think we will be well set if we keep it up and are consistent. Your thoughts?
Man, has it paid off big time.
1. Someone turned me on to the "Back to Eden" gardening concept. While I've found it needs more water than Paul states (he lives in the Cascades in Washington state...don't they get like 2 inches of rainfall every week of the year??), nonetheless, everything else is exactly as he says. Minimum upkeep, dresses the soil. If you check out my gardening page, you'll see some older posts about the back yard. I erred and just put wood chips straight down in that one. It didn't fare so well. So as I am creating compost, I'm going to move the chips around lay some compost down, re-lay the chips so I can actually use that space.
Side note: I learned from that mistake and put compost down on the front yard first, then wood chips (gardening page has pictures.) Oddly enough, I have a smaller front yard area which I had covered in sweet potato peelings one month. I covered it with wood chips and stuff has grown there consistently without problem. Go figure. (Yes, I know the SP peels add nitrogen to the soil.)
2. I talked DH in to letting me tear up the front yard and plant a garden there. It faces south and gets 12 hours of sun. Unobstructed sun until I was forced to put up the varmint fencing, now 1 interior foot running the length of the street side fencing is cast in shade 6 hours a day.
DH's stipulation was I had to plant things that "looked like flowers" out there. In other words, no tomatoes, no corn, nothing obviously food. So I planted "green" stuff: broccoli, kale, beets, cucumbers (which can look like ground cover), grapes (so far, no fruit, so it's definitely in the green foliage category), beans.
I realized one day that I had grown a juicing garden by accident. Everything I was growing, I could juice (ok, we cook the broccoli.) This is important! DS18 and I did a juicing detox last year for two weeks. He has such severe allergies, and we want to get him clean. We both felt SO much better during that two weeks and after, that we promised to stick with it, even if it was only a once a day juice.
We found out we were (a) 'eating' more nutritiously (b) felt full due to the fiber content (c) had more energy, (d) DS had far less allergy symptoms.
Needless to say, that got expensive in a hurry, especially in our current circumstance. So I was thrilled to realize I was growing everything except the carrots ! It doesn't take a lot of electrical energy to juice. I could run a whole day's worth of juice in short order. If I really cared, for prepping purposes, I would buy or make a juicing PRESS, which would be energy independent.
I use: 3 stalks of Kale, 3 stalks of beets, 4 carrots per person. Carrots are such space hogs that I buy 50# of them a month in bulk for $6. If I wasn't using carrots I would substitute 2 stalks of celery and 1 cucumber for the carrots, both of which I can grow successfully in the front yard. In case you are wondering, beets average 7 stalks per beet. I generally use half a beet in a juicing mix if I don't use beet stalks.
So one beet plant would be enough for 1 juicing adventure per day, for one person or in other words, 1 beet plant would be enough for a week for 1 person. Math translation: 52 plants for a year's supply for one. More math: beets need a foot of space to grow (square foot gardening.) A four month supply, enough to get through winter, since beets are a fall crop, for my entire family would take up one side of my entire front yard 4 feet by 20 feet.
The other side of the yard is an additional 4 feet by 20 feet. Here, I would (and do) grow kale, cucumber and celery. Kale needs very little space to grow. I've grown both Winterbourne and Lakota. A single stalk provides enough Kale to last 1 person for a month if you're juicing.
What's the prepping point? I don't know that I will ever be able to grow enough food to be self-sustaining for my entire family if we are eating it. But I am pretty sure based on our results so far, that I can grow enough to be self sustaining, to juice because it is much more nutrient dense. In other words, I can use/grow less, use less energy (than cooking) and feel more full.
I have home canned chicken, rice and wheat stored. Combined with our juicing garden, I think we will be well set if we keep it up and are consistent. Your thoughts?
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
STOLEN: Breadmaking Post
Perhaps stolen is a wrong word. Something massively wrong happened with that Post when I was adding a line, and the bulk of the post, including photos, disappeared.
No, I'm not going to rewrite it, sorry.
But on an upbeat note: the GARDENING page has been updated. It's all about worm composting. You're going to love it !
Saturday, October 12, 2013
FOUND: Sauce Jars Doubling for Canning
I am thrilled to be the one breaking this news. Many of you know I have been on the hunt for pasta sauce jars which can be re-used for canning. I finally found a brand which still accepts regular mouth canning lids: La Romanella!
They are quart size, regular mouth. They come with a reusable lid (that's the jar on the right), although I only re-use the lid for dry/dehydrated storage. They feel a little thinner than regular canning jars, so at present, I only plan to use them for BWB or dehydrated storage.
The jar on the left (and below) has been vacuum sealed with a regular canning lid.
UPDATE: Got my Foodsaver Vac550 working again. Shook it a bit (heard sometimes dust or particles get lodged in there), sucked air out for about 1 minute without locking it down, then locked it down and waited until the green light came on/went off, which unlocked it. Worked like a charm. What a relief! I can't afford to buy oxygen absorbers on a regular basis.
They are quart size, regular mouth. They come with a reusable lid (that's the jar on the right), although I only re-use the lid for dry/dehydrated storage. They feel a little thinner than regular canning jars, so at present, I only plan to use them for BWB or dehydrated storage.
The jar on the left (and below) has been vacuum sealed with a regular canning lid.
This jar was sealed over a month ago, and it is still holding.
I buy mine at Smart & Final in Huntington Beach. They run about $2 a jar.
Is it cheaper to buy canning jars even at outrageous case prices ($13 a case here in non-canning country), and then buy cheap Hunts spaghetti sauce? Likely yes: you can buy Hunts on sale often for .75 per can or at least $1 per can, and jars will run you $1.10 ea when you buy a case.
But I can't use FoodStamps to buy canning jars. Along with not being able to use Food Stamps to buy toilet paper, not being able to purchase canning jars is one of life's mysteries. But I can use food stamps to buy La Romanella spaghetti sauce, and re-use the jars.
So that's what I'm doing. For two months now, I have purchased 12 jars of sauce a month. I buy 50# onions and dehydrate them, 50# carrots and juice or dehydrate them and store both in these repurposed jars. Cereal (the huge bags) were being clearanced out for $1.75 a bag, so I got five of them, and am re-jarring a bag when it is opened. Not only does it keep the cereal fresh, but oddly enough, it keeps my kids from devouring the entire bag in a single sitting.
My next re-purposing are Smuckers jam jars, the smaller "too cool" organic ones, which run $3.99 (ouch) a jar. I hope to get up to 12 (slowly, that price point hurts a lot), so that I can re-purpose them for yogurt. Although I guess I could just cook the yogurt in the glass loaf pan and then transfer it to pint jars. Hmmm....I'll have to think about that one. That may make more sense in the long run.
UPDATE: Got my Foodsaver Vac550 working again. Shook it a bit (heard sometimes dust or particles get lodged in there), sucked air out for about 1 minute without locking it down, then locked it down and waited until the green light came on/went off, which unlocked it. Worked like a charm. What a relief! I can't afford to buy oxygen absorbers on a regular basis.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Some Days, You Should Just Stay Out of the Kitchen
(Gardening has been updated.)
Furthering my attempts to become more self reliant, I am experimenting with newer ways of making bread, and trying to make my own homemade yogurt. Yogurt is for my family's benefit: me, I'm lactose intolerant.
Obtained a breadmaker through Freecycle. Love it. Makes great bread. My family is accustomed to my making it by hand. They are having difficulty transitioning to that "breadmaker loaf style." So I thought I would make the dough in the ABM (solves my kneading issues), and let it rise/bake normally.
I've done it once, reasonably successfully (I let it rise too long in the ABM.) Tried it again this morning. Total fail. Threw out that dough and started over. It's still a work in progress.
Felt some strange compulsion to attempt the manufacture of home made yogurt. So far, that's not working for me.
Tried it in a crockpot. TOTAL failure (smelled like vanilla in my house for a long while though.) I think it's because I let it cool too long before I added the yogurt starter.
So this morning I tried to make it in my Excalibur dehydrator. Yeah. What no one tells you is a FOUR TRAY dehydrator is too squat to make yogurt in pint jars. That left me scrambling for a substitute. So I currently have it incubating in a glass loaf pan covered with plastic wrap. We'll see.
My next experiment will be putting it in those shorter jam/jelly jars. Have to go buy the jam/jelly first though. I don't have any.
Yeesh. The stuff I go through to bring more homemaking light and knowledge to my faithful followers <grin.> At least I'm good for a laugh if nothing else.
Stay tuned.
Bread update: came out "okay," albeit small. I think next time I'm going to try all of the dough in just one bread pan.
YOGURT UPDATE: Success !! Solidified in the glass loaf pan just fine.
Furthering my attempts to become more self reliant, I am experimenting with newer ways of making bread, and trying to make my own homemade yogurt. Yogurt is for my family's benefit: me, I'm lactose intolerant.
Obtained a breadmaker through Freecycle. Love it. Makes great bread. My family is accustomed to my making it by hand. They are having difficulty transitioning to that "breadmaker loaf style." So I thought I would make the dough in the ABM (solves my kneading issues), and let it rise/bake normally.
I've done it once, reasonably successfully (I let it rise too long in the ABM.) Tried it again this morning. Total fail. Threw out that dough and started over. It's still a work in progress.
Felt some strange compulsion to attempt the manufacture of home made yogurt. So far, that's not working for me.
Tried it in a crockpot. TOTAL failure (smelled like vanilla in my house for a long while though.) I think it's because I let it cool too long before I added the yogurt starter.
So this morning I tried to make it in my Excalibur dehydrator. Yeah. What no one tells you is a FOUR TRAY dehydrator is too squat to make yogurt in pint jars. That left me scrambling for a substitute. So I currently have it incubating in a glass loaf pan covered with plastic wrap. We'll see.
My next experiment will be putting it in those shorter jam/jelly jars. Have to go buy the jam/jelly first though. I don't have any.
Yeesh. The stuff I go through to bring more homemaking light and knowledge to my faithful followers <grin.> At least I'm good for a laugh if nothing else.
Stay tuned.
Bread update: came out "okay," albeit small. I think next time I'm going to try all of the dough in just one bread pan.
YOGURT UPDATE: Success !! Solidified in the glass loaf pan just fine.
DH says it tastes fine (I made Vanilla yogurt) but he says the texture isn't "like you get in the store."
I have some dehydrated Banana Slices, which I am adding/folding in to the yogurt. Supposedly in a few hours, the banana slices will have incorporated the residual liquid in the yogurt which will result in a custard-like yogurt texture, and soft bananas. We'll see.
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