Scenes From the Kitchen
Mornings usually start with me boiling water for tea or coffee and then cooking breakfast. A few days a week I throw on a pot of beans that will be our lunch and return again as a side dish to supper. It’s all part of my plan to stretch the (ever-rising) meat budget.
School is usually underway after little boys clear the breakfast dishes. And then, of course, by mid-morning someone’s in need of a snack. My four-ingredient energy bites are quick, grain-free, and just what the snack monsters ordered.
Lunch is usually eggs or beans with a starch and a vegetable like a salad. When it’s not a kefir dressing it’s a simple oil and vinegar – made all the more delicious with this buttery macadamia nut oil. The green and white peppercorns and Himalayan salt sent to me by Mountain Rose Herbs also make a great seasoning combination.
Now that it’s a frigid 80 degrees most days (I miss you, autumn), I’m trying to make stock more often. One day soon those roosters are going to be in that pot and our little piece of home will be a much quieter place.
Speaking of comfort food, these 100% rye noodles were an absolute hit when covered in a thick tomato sauce. I must make these again soon.
And if that wasn’t enough carbs, I have been churning out skillet after skillet of potatoes fried in bacon grease. To add variety I like to switch things up with these five interesting ways to serve the potato. Topping any potato with Papa’s favorite seasoning salt is always a winner.
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And with last year’s garlic harvest heading into the ground for a new crop, I am reminded that we must eat garlic everyday. Here’s ten ideas for incorporating the raw stuff every day.
The kitchen closes after dinner as the sun begins to go down, me sharing my plate with the baby snuggled in my lap. As dusk descends the boys head on down the road to the neighbor’s house to pick up two quarts of goat milk . Dishes are almost always done the next morning as little heads hit their pillows.
And it all starts over again the next day as I clutch my cup of tea and watch the sun come up.
You are so fabulously organized! (sinfully jealous 🙂
My biggest problem on a homestead, and living in a trailer with no water nor electricity, with two small ones that are in constant need of something, is getting organized to prepare meals in app same hours every day. We often have scenarios where we eat “lunch” at 6 pm. However, my husband’s idea of lunch goes beyond 4 pouched eggs, a sausage and fried tomatoes. It’s just breakfast for him and for lunch I always need to make something that is time consuming. We’ve been living off grid for 6-7 months now and our life is still chaos. Sometimes I fear it will never get in order.
Katija,
How did I miss this comment earlier? I am not all that organized, actually. The days when I don’t have any writing to do are the days that things go smoothly as above. The days I do write… well they’re interesting.
I honestly think it took at least a year (so a couple of months ago) for us to really sink in to this lifestyle and find some sort of rhythm and order. I serve extremely simple meals most of the time. Making a pan of enchiladas is a big deal here since it involves frying meat and tortillas in one pan, assembly, and cooking the whole thing in another pan. I really think that when you live by the old paths you have to shift your expectations to live and eat in the way our ancestors did – most of whom were poor peasants.
It sounds like your family eats better than ours, though, and remember that you can’t see everything through the blog so there’s a lot of chaos you’re missing out on :).
Enchiladas are big deal for me too! My husband would love to eat Mexican more, but the time it takes me to make it, ahhh I just give up after even thinking about it for 2-3 minutes. Too many pans, and other utensils that later on need to be washed by hand 😀
We don’t eat that great taken we don’t have our meat, eggs or grains. But we buy local what we miss, so I comfort myself thinking that it’s not as bad as it could be.
I mostly cook very simple, all in one meals, although I love fancy cooking so sometimes I torture myself with 3 course meals that require so much time and energy (like today, we make a big Sabbath lunch on Friday, so Friday is the hardest day for me, but than on Saturday we rest).
But taken I bake bread every day because they eat SO MUCH of it, cook breakfast and lunch, there’s just too little time for anything else!
I tried to get better organized but I fail miserably each time. For 2-3 days I manage to keep the house clean, the children happy and clean and engaged in many activities, 3 cooked meals, take care of animals, the garden, bake bread, even bake a cake, and than after 3 days of being a perfect stepford wife I fall down and I need a 5 day break 🙂
And there is also the “money work” that needs to be done (design and stuff) and as you say when you’re working, it’s the same for me, everything gets so chaotic!
Well, no point in winning right!? 🙂
whining 😉