Check out my new blog about using some recycled old tractor tires to extend my growing season in the spring....Happy Gardening!

http://featheredhorsesfarm.com/blog/

#season extension #family farm

Mighty Turmeric

Turmeric has long been one of my favorite cooking herbs.  I love love love Indian food so it makes sense that I go through a lot of turmeric powder.  However, my sister turned me on to turmeric as a supplement.  Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory compound - it has been a primary ingredient in traditional medicines for centuries.  It has been used to treat heartburn, rheumatoid arthritis, stave off diabetes, and is said to support brain health and therefore prevent Alzheimer's.  It is even thought to fight cancer.  The benefits of tumeric are detailed in this article from the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/18/turmeric-health-benefits-curcumin_n_5978482.html).  Recent studies show that turmeric is even more effective when combined with black pepper.  Which is great, because I love them both!

I started taking turmeric capsules as a dietary supplement to help with my arthritis and asthma.  They are readily available at most grocery or health food stores.  It just takes one capsule a day, which is really nice.  Taking turmeric now part of my overall health regimen.  Recently though, I also started ending my evening with Golden Milk - a kind of warm turmeric tea.  It's supposed to help with digestion and sleep.  It seems to be helping me - I am a chronic insomniac.   It is very soothing and I enjoy it as a night cap.  The recipe I use is from the Coconut Mama http://thecoconutmama.com/turmeric-milk-recipe/.  It's quite nice!  It tastes a bit like warm chai.  I've also seen ginger added to the recipe so it is customizable to your needs.  Ginger also helps with digestion and is a good detoxing herb.  The main recipe is below - Enjoy!

Golden Milk Recipe

2 cups coconut milk

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp clove

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of black pepper

1-2 T honey (I just pour some in)

Just put it in a saucepan and warm it up!
This recipe makes two cups - so you can share one with your sweetie or save it for later by putting it into the refrigerator.

Say hello to my little friend....the wonderful world of Kale.

We've all heard the hype surrounding kale.  This once little known vegetable has gained popularity over the past few years as a wonder food of sorts.  Packed with fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and anti-oxidants - our little green friend is now used in everything from smoothies to chips. Check out this link to find out more about the health benefits of kale (http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4408/Top-10-Health-Benefits-of-Eating-Kale.html).

While kale is a quite lovely little plant, many people fear it.  Will it taste like cardboard?  Won't it be stuck in my teeth all day?  These are valid concerns.  However, I have come up with a recipe that actually takes advantage of kale's unique characteristics and....wait for it....tastes amazing!  Ready??  Here we go!

Warm Kale and Quinoa salad

For the salad:

6 large kale leaves

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

handful of dried cherries

For the dressing:

1/4  cup orange juice

2 tablespoons high quality olive oil

2 cloves of garlic - minced or pressed

a dribble of basalmic vinegar

To assemble -

Mix all the dressing components together and set aside.

Cook the quinoa according to the directions on the package.

While quinoa is cooking - remove the rib from the kale and slice it thinly.  Place it in a bowl.

You can be toasting the almonds now also.

Dump the warm quinoa onto the kale.  Toss in the toasted almonds and dried cherries.

Pour the dressing over and mix well.

Eat while still warm.

Enjoy!  And please let me know if you like this recipe.  Comments are welcome!

Almost Paleo Stuffed Peppers

I know it isn't Friday but I had to share this recipe with you.  We got home late last night and I needed a quick dinner.  So I whipped up a batch of lovely stuffed red peppers paleo style.

4 large red bell peppers 

1 lb pork sausage

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup of cauliflower rice

1 can Rotel

cayenne pepper and paprika to taste

Start by cutting a hole around the stem of the bell peppers and seeding them.  Then boil them for about 7 minutes - until they are slightly cooked but still firm.  Set them aside to cool.

While the peppers are cooking you can start the cauliflower rice.  For the amount you need - you will use about 1/2 a large head of cauliflower.  Grate it up and place it on a cookie sheet in a thin layer.  Bake at 350 until most of the moisture is gone.

While the rice is drying out in the oven - cook the meat and the onions.  When they are cooked, add the can of Rotel and the spices.

Once the cauliflower rice is fairly dried out - just add it right into the meat mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

OK!  Now it is time to stuff those bad boys!

Fill each of the red peppers with the meat mixture until it is just about even with rim of the pepper.  Stand the stuffed peppers up in a baking dish and sprinkle some of your favorite cheese over the top of the meat.  Bake them in your already warmed up oven until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.  

ENJOY!

If you are looking for a true paleo version, just lose the cheese and you are there.

Seed Catalog Pilgrimage

The arrival of the New Year means delivery of the annual seed catalogs.  This event is something I look forward to every year.  I love looking through all the colorful delightful pages of beautiful vegetables, herbs, and flowers.  Learning about all the varieties and possibilities.  I start dreaming and planning for my garden and all the wonderful food I will grow this season.  Gardening is in my blood - we always had a huge garden as a child - probably because we needed to supplement our family.  We were not rich and my parents helped stretch their budget by growing vegetables, picking fruits, and bartering for meat.  As a child, I did not love the garden.  It represented work to me.  I would have sworn that instead of vegetables we grew rocks.  Every spring we spent hours picking rocks from the garden in preparation for planting.  They seemed to multiply over the winter.

As an adult living in various cities my gardening was limited to pots.  I pretty much always had tomatoes, peppers, and herbs growing somewhere in my yard or on my apartment patio.  With the decision to move away from city life seven years ago, my gardening opportunities increased greatly.  I am expanding my crops yearly and learning how to make the most of my garden space.  I am experimenting with companion plants, natural soil supplements, and alternative pest control options.  DH and I took a 6 week sustainable farming class through the local University Extension last winter where we learned how much we don't know about farming!

Last year, with the purchase of our land, my gardening activities were much more interesting than usual.  It is my intention to eventually have a combination of raised beds and traditional rows for my veggies plus a small orchard.  But right now we have bare ground.  That fact is both exhilarating and daunting.  We have a lot of work ahead of us, however, we also have a blank slate to work with.  I am thrilled with the thought of planning out my garden from the very bare earth and designing it how I want it.  It is also our goal with this garden to make it as self-sufficient as possible so that we are not completely tied down during the summer season. Water systems will be efficient and automatic. Weeds will be deterred with mulches and ground covers.  Because as much as we like to eat fresh food - we also like to play!

Last summer we got the garden started by fencing a 60x60 foot patch of hay field to prevent deer and elk from getting in. Our neighbor came over and plowed it up for us.  We didn't have time to get in a drip line system so we hand watered all summer.  Lesson learned!  We will have a drip line system in this year.  We didn't have a lot of time to prepare so the garden was pretty limited but we did end up with some nice vegggies.  And boy did we learn a lot!  

This fall we scored some big tractor tires from a local farmer for free and I started my garlic in one in October.  I will use some of them for planters up by the barn and some in the garden for warm season crops like tomatoes.  Stay tuned - I'll take you along on the journey!

Garden before plowing.

Garden after plowing.

All Natural Angus Cookies

Angus Cookies

My sweet Rottie Angus got caught trying to snag a warm chocolate chip cookie from the kitchen table a few weeks ago.  His heart was broken that those delicious smelling creations were not for him.  He watches intently every week when I make my DH cookies and really wants to try one.  This weekend, after seeing his pitiful face - I promised to make him some cookies of his own.  One small problem - Angus has a lot of food allergies.  Typical dog cookies with any traditional meat (chicken, beef, lamb) are out.  Grains are also a no-no. So today I set out to develop a grain free - meat free recipe for cookies that my sweet boy can eat without suffering from the itchies later.  

Ingredients

2 cups almond flour

1/2 cup flax meal

1 cup natural (no sugar!) peanut butter

1 tablespoon raw wild honey

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Mix all ingredients together until it looks like cookie-ish dough.  It will be a bit oily from the peanut butter and won't quite have the consistency of human peanut butter cookie dough.

Form dough into 1.5 inch balls and press flat into circles that are between 1/3 and 1/4 inch thick.  Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.  They do not spread out at all so you can really load the baking sheet up.  The bottom side will brown and the top will not so don't be fooled into thinking they aren't done after 10 minutes.  

This recipe makes five dozen tasty healthy cookies.  They last a week in an airtight container, longer if refrigerated.  Angus definitely approves!

You could also roll the dough out and cut out cute shapes but I can't find my rolling pin at the moment so circles is what Angus got.  I think if you want to roll the dough you may want to add a bit more almond flour and refrigerate the dough before attempting to roll it.

Solstice Musings

I love winter solstice.  Some people might feel depressed or down in the middle of winter but solstice to me is about hope.  I feel energized and powerful on the shortest day of the year.  Why?  Because we have made it to the depths of winter and are about to emerge.  We are marching toward spring and rebirth.  We are strong and resourceful.  We have survived the worst of it and are now moving into the light and the warmth. I love the feeling of rebirth.  The slumbering earth is stirring - just a bit.

So on this solstice - think about your plans for the future.  Feel the energy of the earth as it begins to stir and breathe deep.  Feel the power that lives inside each of us.  Embrace the turn of the seasons and the milestones we meet along the way as we circle the sun one more time.

Blessed be.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup - with a kick

Tonight was one of those 'clean out the fridge' kind of dinners.  Sometimes they turn out awesome, sometimes not so much.  I think this one wasn't too bad.

I was home sick all day, it was cold and snowy pretty much all day long.  Soup was sounding really good but I didn't want to have to go to the grocery store.  I knew I had a head of cauliflower and a chicken breast that both needed to be cooked before they went bad.  And so a soup was born.  I think it tastes great - let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower

1 chicken breast

1 tablespoon chipotle

4 cups of chicken stock (or a carton of low sodium chicken broth)

1 onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

a dab of Mongolian fire oil *if you are heat sensitive you can leave this out*

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

pinch cayenne pepper

salt and fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon of corn starch for thickening

sour cream for garnish

Start by rubbing the chipotle all over the chicken breast and letting it marinate for a few hours.

When you are ready to make soup - preheat oven to 450.

Cut cauliflower into florets, place in large mixing bowl with a little bit of olive oil and some ground garlic (to taste).  Mix well so cauliflower is covered well.  Place into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.  You will need to stir every 10 minutes or so to keep from burning the bottom of the florets.

Meanwhile, cut up the chicken into 1" cubes.  Chop the onion.  Cook the chicken and the onion in olive oil until onion is tender.

While chicken is cooking, mix chicken stock and spices in a large pot and begin heating.  Place the cooked chicken and onion into the stock.

When the cauliflower has roasted and cooled, grind up about 2/3 of the florets in a food processor or blender.  Cut up remaining florets into bite sized pieces.  Place all the cauliflower into the broth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I used a lot of black pepper.

Heat until broth is hot.  Mix the corn starch in enough warm water to make a thin paste.  Add to the soup and allow it to thicken.

Serve with a dab of sour cream to make it good and creamy.  You can also add homemade croutons on top.

ENJOY!

Fall is in the air!

It's definitely feeling like fall here on the Palouse.  And that has me thinking about two things - fall crops and winter sowing.

When you live in a temperate climate as I do - you really have to make the most of the growing season.  To do that you can employ several different season extending methods.  Probably the easiest one is winter sowing.  Winter sowing is a technique that allows you to have sprouting seeds when the first spring warmth comes around.  One definite advantage of winter sowing is that seedlings produced this way tend to be hardier and more able to withstand transplanting into the garden than those that are germinated inside the house under lights.

It's a very easy process - this is a great link that outlines step by step how to winter sow plants for early germination. 

 http://www.bachmans.com/files/GardenGuide/WinterSowingGuide.pdf

The other thing I think about during this time of year - is fall crops.  With a simple cold frame, it is easy to have fresh greens for several months into the winter.  Garlic is another crop that needs to be planted in fall for bigger, healthier bulbs.  This year we are trying something a little bit new. 

We scored some big tractor tires from a local farmer and we are going to use those for our garlic and fall crops.  We just cut the tops out of the tires, filled them halfway with compost, finished filling with a good garden topsoil, and planted.  For the garlic tire, we will just leave it uncovered over the winter.  The fall crop tire will have a cold frame installed to help keep our lettuce, spinach, and kale happy at least for the next month or so.  

Ok Peeps! It's recipe FRIDAY!

This one is one of my favorites - easy peasy and oh so good!

Southern Fried Cabbage.....

Ingredients
1 head cabbage shredded
1 package Tennessee Pride HOT sausage
1 can Rotel tomatoes

YEP that is IT.

How do you assemble this fabulous dish?  Easy.

Cook the sausage.  Add the Rotel and the shredded cabbage.  If you like it HOT (and we do!) add cayenne and black pepper.  Cook over medium heat until cabbage is tender and ENJOY.

Have a great Friday!

The Incredible World of Cover Cropping

So - we are taking a sustainable farming class offered by our local agricultural extension office and a cool not-for-profit group called Rural Roots (www.ruralroots.org).  Anyone local to the Moscow area should check them out.  They offer and support a variety of farming classes and seminars.  This happens to be a six class series on starting a sustainable farm in Idaho.  It's pretty cool because it is simultaneously being offered at a bunch of locations across Idaho - so it is a mix of webinar and classroom modules.  And it does of course have homework.  

Anyhoo.....our second session was yesterday.  It was about cultivating crops.  I have to say - I learned SO MUCH about farming I can't hardly believe that I was so uninformed.  DH and I have spent the last few years in feverish pursuit of weed-free bare soil everywhere except where our food plants were.  In the process, we were KILLING our soil.  That's right folks, we are murderers.  As a by-product of our dead soil, we had increasingly smaller yields from our garden.  We kept blaming the weeds but really - it was us.  We did it.

I am a little disappointed in myself for not seeing this.  I am, after all, a trained biologist.  But I never really took the time to learn about growing vegetables naturally - because I thought I already knew how.  Boy was I wrong!  I mean, I knew that healthy soil was necessary for plant growth, but I really had no idea what 'healthy soil' actually was.

Probably the most important lesson I took away from our session yesterday is that sometimes you have to grow 'weeds' to improve your soil.  I know, right?!!  Terms like green manure, live composting, and cover crops - if I had heard them before, I certainly didn't understand them and how they can help me grow better, healthier, more productive plants.  I want to share this shiny  new, amazing, incredible, and mind blowing information with YOU.  But remember, I am a neophyte.  So this is just the introduction to these topics.  I am going to learn as much as I can in the months remaining before garden season - then I will try things and share with you my book learnin' and my hands on experiences.   I'm so excited!

Here is the 10 second sound byte:  cover crops are things that you plant for the main purpose of killing them.  Yep - that is right.  Their purpose in your garden is to die.  But before they do - they do all kinds of other great things.  They shade out weeds, keep the soil from eroding or blowing away in the wind, hold moisture, add nutrients to the soil, and.....they can even help decompact hard soil types.  Amazing right?  There are lots of complexities to the use of cover crops - what to plant, when to plant, how to kill, till in or leave on top........but because of that - the potential is unlimited for incorporating them into your garden.

Some of the common suspects for use as cover crops include cereals, ryegrass, sudan grass, hairy vetch, and winter peas.  There are many more.   They can be planted in summer after early crops are harvested or they can be planted in fall to over winter.  It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish with cover cropping.  You can even incorporate cover crops into your garden while it is growing - between rows and even between plants to help deter weed growth.  I can't wait to try this!

No more neat rows of plants with bare dirt in between - no sir!  Our garden is going to look more like this......messy is GOOD.  More later....

Ok folks - so I am thinking that maybe this is the best thing I have ever eaten....if you like Indian food, holy cow!  Let it simmer all afternoon for tender tasty chicken with a lovely sauce.  Enjoy!

New Delhi Stewed Chicken

Ingredients

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup (1 medium) yellow onion - chopped

4 cloves garlic – minced (or pressed)

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger root

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

4 cups chicken broth

1 small can tomato paste

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp garam masala

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cayenne

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Fresh cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

Boil the chicken breasts until they are cooked through.  Set aside the broth for later.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and brown on each side for 4-5 minutes. Set aside until cool.

In the same pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauté for 6-8 minutes until soft. Add a tablespoon of the tomato paste and the dry spices. Stir to mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Shred the chicken into large chunks and add it, the chicken broth, and the remaining tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the sweet potatoes. 

Simmer for another 35-45 minutes, until the sauce is thick and the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. During the last five minutes, stir in the cooked garbanzo beans, and the peas. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I don’t usually put any salt in it).  Garnish with fresh cilantro.  Serve warm over cauliflower rice or basmati rice.

SIMPLIFY TIP:

Chicken and garbanzos can be cooked ahead and frozen.

Cook a large quantity of chicken and shred ahead of time.  Place 3-4 cups into large Ziploc freezer bags and freeze.  Also freeze the broth in 2 cup quantities in freezer containers.

Cook garbanzos and freeze in 1-2 cup quantities.

New Year - New Opportunities

As I say goodbye to 2015 and move into 2016, my heart is filled with hope.  The past year has been extremely difficult - health problems, living 400 miles from the DH and the critters for an entire year, moving a farm 400 miles with winter threatening, squeezing the contents of a 2600 square foot house (and four large dogs) into a 1700 square foot house built in 1905.  But now 2016 presents a world of opportunities for us and I can't wait to get started. Change is powerful.  It is uncomfortable and often frightening, but it is also transforming.  I am excited to see where it takes us!

In December 2014, we made the difficult decision to move.  We knew it was likely to be a losing proposition from a real estate perspective, but we knew business opportunities would always be limited where we were.  I was tired of the long cold winters and the short summers.  I didn't want to live 3 hours from the closest amenities or equine veterinary care anymore.  Although where we lived was strikingly beautiful with unlimited outdoor recreation opportunities, the stress of my job and trying to eek out a living there made life extremely difficult.  We needed a change and when the opportunity presented itself, we really had to take it.

The move took a total of 9 months.  As the house lingered on the market with no offers - even after two price reductions, I began to lose hope that we would ever escape.  I had to move for work so DH was stuck taking care of the farm, trying to keep the failing house in 'showing shape' and still find time to work.  I moved into a 400 square foot isolated cabin with just the basic amenities and a lot of arachnid roommates.  On a positive note, I had lots of time and motivation to train for my first sprint triathalon which I completed (in 2 hours!) in July.  This was a major accomplishment for me as I was diagnosed in October 2014 with exercise induced asthma and an over-reactive respiratory system - basically I suck at breathing and any kind of irritant (smoke, dust, etc) or exertion causes a reaction.

We finally accepted a very low offer on our home and were so fortunate to find 44 acres of heaven to purchase.  It was late September - we had no money or time to build a house - so we bought a little house in town to hunker down in for the winter.  The chickens live in the backyard, the dogs are crowded and not big fans of all the 'town noise', most of our things are in storage - but we are all in one place.  Winter was coming so hay had to be bought and secured, a well had to be dug, fence installed, water lines buried and stock tanks installed.  Thankfully, fall lingered on enabling us to construct all the critical infrastructure.  It's a little inconvenient to drive 30 miles roundtrip to feed horses twice a day but we are managing.

And now - the wheel of the Earth is turning, bringing us into a new year and new opportunities.  I am bursting with excitement over the many ideas and choices for our blank canvas of land.  Which brings me to the point of all of this!  With all the cool things we plan to accomplish in the upcoming years to turn our bare ground into a self-sustaining farm - I thought - heck!  I should start an online blog to share our experiences good and bad.  Our new website is under construction - the blog will be located at www.ourprairiefarm.com.  We will have stories of our adventures, gardening tips, recipes, pitfalls we encounter, solar energy, sustainability - who knows what will end up there.  I really hope you will join us on our journey!  I think it will be fun and there will be interesting tidbits of information that you may find useful.  Let's GO!

Happy Thanksgiving peeps!
I hope this post finds everyone well and happily smelling good things cooking.  This is a day of thanks. Today I am very thankful for my family.  I am so happy to have everyone living in the same county again.  I am also thankful for my gainful employment which allows me the luxury of owning a home, having beautiful black horses, and the ability to do crafty things.  I have really been enjoying the exploration of my crafty side lately.  But on this day of thanks - we won't discuss that.  More to come so stay tuned! Gobble gobble!

Gluten-free Experimentin'

Hi y'all!
Been a few days since my last post.
I've been working on gluten-free CRACKERS.
We are cheese and cracker kind of snackers - hey that rhymes!  So I decided to try out a few recipes and see what I think.  My first impression is that crackers are WAAAAAYYYYY easier to mess around with than cakes.  Cakes are for advanced gluten-free bakers.....I learned that the hard way...always trying to be a high-achiever...but I digress.  Back to crackers.  Yes, many yummy recipes out there and I have even been changing things up a little.  So far my fave is the parmesan cracker I made first and messed with most.

The recipe looks like this:
3/4 c flax meal
3/4 c almond flour
2 egg whites (I substituted 3Tbs water and 1Tbs tahini in round two - yummy!)
1 Tbs parmesan cheese
1 Tbs coconut oil
2 Tbs nutritional yeast (found at the health food store in bulk)
1/4 tsp sea salt
black pepper, onion and garlic powder for flav-ah

Line cookie sheet with parchment.  Place ball o dough in center and using a wax paper shield, roll out til impossibly thin.  Thinner than you think you can go.  Score with pizza cutter - bake at 350 degrees for 15- 20 minutes.  Break apart when cool enough to handle.   These are super tasty and really easy.

Very yummy with the homemade hummus - will post that recipe tomorrow.

Cake Disaster

It's a cake, it's pile of goo, it's delicious!

Okay so the first attempt at gluten-free cake did not go so well.  Tastes great but is just a pile of cake with no shape to it.  It fell out of the mold in pieces.  A mound of gooey, albeit incredibly tasty cake mess.  I probably should have started with a bona fide gluten free cake recipe but not me!  I used a regular pound cake recipe and just substituted coconut oil for part of the butter and a combination of almond and coconut flour for the flour.  Of course it was a recipe I'd never tried before so I probably should have done something safer - but who wants to be safe when charging forward into gluten-free eating!

Introducing - the Breakfast Bowl!

Weekends at Black Dog Ranch are breakfast bowl days.  My husband is used to finding all kinds of weird things in his bowl.  Breakfast bowls are awesome!  The foundation of the breakfast bowl is eggs but for the other ingredients - all bets are off!  I essentially clean out the fridge and call it breakfast.  These are tasty, filling, and an awesome way to use up leftovers from the week.  I'll give you the basic recipe but really the Breakfast Bowl is about experimentation!

Sunday Breakfast Bowl

some kind of meat - this can be traditional breakfast meat like sausage or bacon

or

chop up leftover chicken, pork chops, steak

vegetables - today I used fresh spinach, tomato, avocado, and leftover squash

eggs - 2 per person is about right

cheese - feta, cheddar, blue - whatever you have around

Cook the meat in a large frying pan.  Add the veggies.  Get everything nice and warm, then dump in the lightly beaten eggs.  Cook until eggs are done.  Split into bowls - add some cheese and a dab of salsa.  ENJOY!

Some of my favorite combos are chicken/avocado/mushroom; sausage/spinach/feta; bacon/tomato/avocado.....you really can't go wrong!

My Gluten Free Life

So I decided to take Matt and I into the gluten-free zone.  Why?  Because I noticed that my stomach would hurt a lot of times after a meal.  I woke up each morning with a stuffed up head and swollen joints.  We're in week two.  So far it hasn't been too hard.  We weren't big gluten eaters to begin with and we don't eat much in the way of processed foods.  I ordered some almond flour and coconut flour - but haven't really needed it yet.  Mostly just eating fresh veggies and meat.  Lunch has been a bit challenging for me at work but sticking to yummy soups.


Knowing me, experimentin' is in my future so I'll keep y'all posted on any new and wonderful recipes I come up with.

The Mighty Clay Pot Cooker


So, my mom and I found a terra cotta clay pot at a yard sale in Atlanta several years ago for $5.  Have you seen these?  They are a terra cotta pot shaped like a large loaf pan with an overlapping lid.  It looked interesting and for $5, how could we go wrong.

I didn't get a chance to try it until I moved to Idaho.  We pulled it out of the cabinet one day to do something a little different with a pork loin.  OMG.  YUMMY!  Since then, we've done a variety of things with the cooker, including whole chickens.  Meat comes out so nice and moist and veggies don't over cook to mush.

It's a little scary at first, but really easy to use.  You just soak it in water for 15 minutes, fill it with meat and veggies, and put it in a cold oven set at 425 degrees.  Then ignore it for 90 minutes or so and enjoy. 

Fall is definitely in the air....20 degrees this morning!
What a perfect day for some hot homemade soup.  I remembered I had the carcass of my Easter turkey still in the freezer.  I had partially boiled it down and frozen it with it's own stock.  Now it is simmering in the stockpot with carrots, onions, and potatoes from the garden.

I always freeze leftover chicken or turkey carcasses - leave some good meat on them!  It's a quick and easy way to make your own stock or soup whenever you want it.  It's easy to do, just pop them into a gallon ziploc - or in this case, I put the entire stockpot into the freezer with the lid on it.  You can't ask for a better base for soups or stews!

When you are ready to use it, just put it into a stock pot with water or organic chicken stock and let it boil until the meat falls off the bones.  Pull out any yucky bits (skin, bone, cartilage), add veggies (sweet potatoes make a great addition!), some egg noodles and Viola!  You have a fantastic soup for those chilly fall days.