And the M winner is

Abbagirl!

because she didn't talk bad about mushrooms. ;)

No worries. We got more games on the way.

Right now I would love a little back talk.

Still in a giving mood?

Another Ljer is also raising money for Farm Aid. But they only have one sponsor. Lets make it two or three even. If you sponsor and tell me about it, you don't have to tell me what amount, I will put you in the drawing for my sposor incentives.

Sound like a deal?

You can sponsor this LJer here

Q&A

I just discovered your blog a few days ago (and am thoroughly enjoying it, obviously), Why thank you. but I have been reading a number of homesteading / sustainability blogs for a few months now. The people that I read seem to talk a lot about independence and self reliance and working toward a society and a planet that can support and sustain and nurture everyone ... but it more often than not seem to boil down to discussions about food. Lets start with, I am not one of those. I am not green, honestly what you do is none of my business unless you make it mine. I have a post called, I am selfish, that explains it.

Lots of discussions about solar this and wind-powered that, but usually in relation to food somehow. Well, food and power for computers to keep blogging. We do hope to go solar someday, but that is so we can live off the grid, and not have to pay someone for electricity.

I could be way off base here; I'm not a homesteader, although I am working toward living a (more) sustainable life. Just seems that food more often than not takes center stage. That is because food is not only one of your basic needs, like sleeping and going to the bathroom. But raising your own food gives you freedom from corporate America. It is a hobby that saves you money and builds an odd sense of pride. Look ma! It is about control over what you eat and feed your family.

Would love to hear from you and others on what / why homesteading. What it means to you. What you hope to achieve. I started homesteading because I was struggling financially. It started with a small garden, then grew into something more. I found a pride in myself that I had forgotten all about. It means to me that I will survive, no matter what is thrown my way {except maybe a school bus}. And I hope to achieve self reliance. I might not homestead for the rest of my life, but I want to get to a point where I know that if I had to, I could do everything I needed to, to live off of barely nothing. I want to push myself, even though I get tired, and complain. It is all part of it. It is one hell of a hard life, and don't let anyone tell you differently.

It's in the bag

I don't think any of you can top Bobbarama's dinner.

My culinary skills pale in comparison.




Think you can do better, prove it

Are we done?

Once your water comes to room temperature, mix the yeast with water in a bowl until dissolved, add the two flours and use a rubber spatula to pull the water through the flour and mix the two flour. You will end up with this.
This would be your sponge. Cover and set aside. We will come back to it in 5 hours.

So are we done with games?

Starting the sponge

Sit out your 1 cup of water and allow it to reach room temp. Take about 20 minutes. I m doing that now.

I am starting the sponge.

Here are the contests we having running as of right now.

Post me your ice cream recipe, and your name will be thrown into the hat for the crochet bag

Post me a picture of your dinner for a chance at that bag

Post a picture of your bread or breakfast for a surprise prize {post still to come}

Leave me a comment here about a food that starts with the letter M, and why you loathe it. The prize here is another book. The wonderful Wren is supplying this one for you

Country Careers: Successful Ways to Live and Work in the Country by Jerry Germer

And don't forget the very cool tshirts and cd that you can win by being the highest completed donor!

Don't tell me you have forgotten already

If you are making the Rustic Country Bread, now is the time to break out the ingredients for the sponge portion. This takes at least 5 hours to do.

And yes, there is another contest involved in this one. I think I mentioned that this bread goes well with Jam. But I am not telling you the prize for this one, not yet. And no, it will not be a funnel cake maker this year. Silly people!

This one will be easy, make me something for breakfast or a bread for the day. Bread for the day will get your name in the hat twice, breakfast once, my bread three times.

And also there is still time to sponsor me.

I'll show you mine, if you show me yours

Here is my finished one local Summer dish

Mushroom Ravioli in an Alfredo sauce

I must say, it look a lot better in real life than it does on the computer and the taste is to die for nummy!

To make it easier on El, who does the Midwest OLS here is the run down

Ingredients

Making the pasta part 1
Pasta part 2

and then

The filling


Now, where is your dinner?

If you want to be in the drawing for this bag

post me a pic of you dinner in the comments by 2 am central time. I will put your name in the hat for the drawing. any dinner get your name in once, pasta dinner twice, ravioli dinner three times, and my recipe {no cheating and giving me my own picture} four times.

Looks like you like . . . One local summer

Mark! Congrats Mark. But wait, you don't want the book. So then shall we give it to Catherine?



pardon me. I am eating.

Where where we? oh yes, boil your pasta 20-30 minutes


Over low heat, melt butter in a skillet. Stir in whipping cream and blend well. Add parmesan cheese and stir until sauce thickens. Do not boil. Thicken sauce with more cheese, or thin with more cream. The alfredo sauce should generally be very creamy.

Ack!

I'm not cooking next year.

I seem to have lost an entire block of cheese!

And the winner of the L food game is

I can't decide, there were 2 really good ones, well all of them were good, but these two stuck out a bit.


From Mark
Okay, don't want anyone to laugh, and I'm not really trying to go for the obvious heartstrings here ... but I'd have to say ... LOVE.

It does start with an L.

What can I say? I'm suddenly in a sentimental mood. Was just in the kitchen and pulled out one of my grandmother's old biscuit pans. An old steel pie tin that is black and crusted with decades of flour and grease. She never, never, never washed her biscuit pans. Just wiped them out.

Anyway, I have such fond memories of eating at my grandmother's table on the farm. Though she enjoyed many things, the one thing she enjoyed the most -- and perhaps one can only appreciate this if you have ever been truly hungry at some point in your life --the one thing she loved the most was feeding her family. Every meal was a labor of love and every meal, even if it was just sliced tomatoes and fresh peas from the garden, was an amazing to share with her.

So, again I hope you all will forgive, but I think that love is perhaps the most important ingredient we can use when we prepare food for our family and friends and those strangers we invite to our tables.

From Catherine

Hey Phelan, I'm back on after a few weeks and couldn't resist. LASAGNA! Because it's not only delicious, it's fast, cheap and easy (you are what you eat) and besides, a million Garfield fans can't be wrong.

Though I think Mark might be cheating, but it is a good answer. So I will leave it up to you.





This poll will be left open for 1 hour. Oh the tension!

Not going to do it

nope, I am not going to make the crescent rolls. Why? because as my boys say, I'm starvin' to death!

Instead I am bringing a large pot of salted and oiled water to a boil to start cooking the ravioli.

If you ask me real nice, I might give you the directions to go along with those ingredients for the crescent rolls.


You have 30 minutes left before I close the L food game.

Reasons

The reason I am having you cut out the pasta shapes before filling them, is because I want you to work harder.
haha!

Feeling the ornery yet?

Good. Now go tell me an ice cream recipe and/or a food item that starts with the letter L and why you like it.

You never know when I will close them.

No one wants to play?

Give me a food item that starts with the letter L. And tell me why you like it.

Best answer will win Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry

I'll start.

Lemon Balm, because it makes a great soothing tea when you have a sore throat.

ok you can play catch up

That is if you are cooking with me. I am still prepping as I have 5 to cook for and this is taking longer than I thought.

Remember when I say post, post me a picture of your dinner in the comments. 1 point for any dinner, 2 for pasta, 3 for ravioli, and 4 for my recipe.

This is to win the crochet bag. And if you post me your ice cream recipe here, I will throw your name into the hat as well.

We are up to $560US for Farm Aid. There is still time to sponsor me and and a chance to win some very cool prizes.

As for the Mushroom filling

In a large saute pan heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil. When almost smoking, add the mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until all the liquid has evaporated from the mushrooms, { 6 minutes}. Add spinach and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place mixture into a food processor. Pulse until you get a coarse texture. Stir in cream cheese and Parmesan cheese. taste for seasoning and set aside.

Line upyour wrappers or pasta dough shapes. Brush with the egg and water mixture. Using a tablespoon, dollop the filling on each wrapper Place another wrapper directly on top, pressing around the filling and sealing the edges. Using a fork, flut the edges. Place ravioli onto a floured baking sheet and keep covered with a linen towel. Set aside.

ok, it is now getting hard to keep up with the posts.

and then

continue to roll and cut

Pasta part two

Using a knife slice a small part of the dough away from the ball. If you do not have a pasta machine you will need to use a rolling pin to flatten the dough as thin as possible. I can not find the handle to mine, so this will take awhile.

Make sure your surface is floored, as well as your pin. Cut shapes out with a knife or cookie cutter.

Time to prep dinner/ One Local Summer

I know, it is only 3 pm here. But this has to be done in stages. In case you have forgotten, the ingredient list can be found here.

First we need to make the pasta.

To prepare the mixture by hand, place the flour on a clean counter top or rolling board and make a well in the center.

Break the eggs into the well and using a fork, beat the eggs, gently drawing in flour from the sides. Continue dragging flour into the center well, stirring the ingredients together until the dough begins to form a mass.

Begin kneading the pasta, first sprinkling the surface with flour. Knead until the egg has become well incorporated.

If the pasta is too dry or crumbly, spray with a little lukewarm water. When the right texture has been reached, form a ball and leave to rest under an inverted bowl for 10-15 minutes. The heavy your flour is the more water you will need.

Karakul

Aka sheep, or a certain breed of sheep. That is what Donkey is.



Lamb is also another meat that should be relatively easy to find locally. But will run you in price. Check out your local farm market, sometimes you can acquire them there. Mainly in the form of Leg.

Roast Leg of lamb
Leg of lamb (about 6 pounds)
8 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp rosemary
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
-------------
Preheat oven to 325F. Cut eight shallow slits in the surface of the
lamb and insert a single clove of garlic into each slit. Brush the lamb with the
lemon juice, sprinkle with rosemary, salt and pepper. Insert a meat
thermometer into the thickest part of the roast so the bulb reaches the
center but does not touch bone. Place the lamb on a rack in a
roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes per pound or until the
thermometer reaches 150F. Remove from oven, and let the leg stand
uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

Top with mint jelly if you want.

Jerusalem artichoke

Got chickens? Got an end of the world phobia? Then the Jerusalem artichoke {which has nothing to do with either Jerusalem or the artichoke, just tastes similar to one} is perfect for you.

It grows just about everywhere, and has potential of becoming a weed. Plant out in your chicken pen, they eat the leaves and the bugs, while fertilizing the soil, which is important for a good quality tuber. Dig up and break off a piece of the older plant, and set the broken piece back into the soil. Cook and eat the larger piece.

No worries, it will not give you leprosy.

Cook them like potatoes, but watch them carefully, they will cook faster. Flavoring partners include cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, onion, and cream.

Ice Cream

Thanks to Marina, I am stuck on talking about Ice cream. But don't have much to say about it. So give me your recipe for local made ice cream, and I will add your name to the drawing for the crochet shopping bag.

Horehound

This is an herb that isn't very picky about the type of soil it grows in. If you plan to grow your own, be careful it can take over an area.

Horehound is great for teas, cough syrup and candy. It is a little bitter in taste, some people love that and others don't, just add a whole lot of sugar.


recipe to make your own candy;

2 cups fresh horehound, leaves, stems and flowers (or 1 cup dried)
2 1/2 quarts water
3 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. lemon juice (or 1 sprig lemon balm)

Using a large saucepan, cover horehound with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth and allow tea to settle. Ladle 2 cups of the horehound tea into large heavy pot. Add the brown sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar. Boil, stir often, until mixture reaches 240 F. Add the butter. Continue to boil until candy reaches 300F (hard crack). Remove from heat, add lemon juice {or lemon balm tea}. Pour at once into buttered 8" square pan. As candy cools, score into squares. Remove from pan as soon as it is cool. Store in an air tight container.

Goat Cheese

Now this really should be an easy one to find locally. Goats are everywhere. But purchasing local goat cheese might be a problem depending on the laws of your state. Here you have to drive around for hours looking for a hand painted sign on the side of the road. It would probably be a good idea to talk to other's about if they know where you can get local goat cheese.

World Wide goats milk is drank more than any other milk. It has the same amount of protein, vitamins C, and D as cow milk; but, goat milk has more vitamins A, B, Riboflavin. Goat milk is higher in minerals, calcium, potassium, magnesium, thiamine, niacin, iron, and phosphorus.

Goat Cheese is easier to digest, and goes great on a nice thick sandwich.



A quick FYI, I am not getting email alerts to your comments. so I have to shift through everything to see if, and what you are posting. But don't stop posting! I just wanted to let you know, in case it takes me awhile to get to you.

Frog Legs

oh, don't start with me. You know you have always been curious about what they taste like {a little like chicken ;)

They are an easy local find.

Fried Frogs Legs {just in time for lunch}

Ingredients:
12 frog leg pairs -- cut in half
salt and pepper -- to taste
1 pound flour
8 fluid ounces buttermilk

~~Herbs and Butter mix~~
8 ounces unsalted butter -- soft
1 tablespoon parsley -- chopped
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon -- chopped
1 teaspoon fresh chervil -- chopped
1 teaspoon chives -- sliced
1/2 teaspoon garlic -- minced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients for the herbs and butter and mix well.

Pat the frog legs dry and season them with salt and pepper. dip and drag the frog legs in flour, dip them in buttermilk, drain and dip and drag in flour again.

Deep-fry the frog legs until golden brown and done, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, place in a stainless steel bowl and coat generously with the fine herbs butter.

serve hot.

Steamed frog legs have 45 Calories and 0 fat

I can't stop giggling and I still have hours to go.

Earthnut Pea

The Earth Nut pea is a small climbing perennial, Native to Europe and Asia. It is a week climber, so it will need a little help.

What you want is the root. It is edible raw and cooked.

Earthnut pea takes a short time to cook, and is only added towards the end of the preparation time – this is because it cooks rapidly and adding it late enables it to keep most of its nutritious elements. Often combined with chopped and minced veggies, to make a wonderful soup.

This is something that you will need to take to your local greenhouse about.

Apple butter

My wonderful sponsor Polli asked if I have a apple butter recipe. And I do! I love apple butter.

I had thought I had it posted, but I looked and nope, no recipe. So here you go Polli, and anyone else that wants it.

• 4 lbs of good cooking apples
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• Sugar (about 4 cups, see cooking instructions)
• Salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

Preparing the Fruit

Cut the apples into quarters, do not peelor core them (you'll find much of the pectin is in the cores and flavor in the peels), cut out any damaged parts.

First Stage of Cooking

Place the apples into large pot, add vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until apples are soft, this will take about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Measure out the purée and add the sugar and spices

Ladle apple mixture into a chinois sieve (or foodmill) and using a pestle force pulp from the chinois into a large bowl. Measure out the resulting puree. Add 1/2 cup sugar for every 1 cup of pulp. Stir to dissolve. Add a dash of salt, the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice. adjust seasoning to taste.

Second Stage of Cooking

Cook uncovered in a large, wide, heavy pot on medium-low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to make sure a crust idoes not form at the bottom. Cook until thick and smooth {when a bit is spooned onto a cold plate and allowed to cool it is butterish in texture} (this can take 1 to 2 hours).

Makes a little more than 3 pint jars.

Dog

~snicker~ It is local. {wonder how many PETA people will come hunt me down for this one}

The only reason I bring this up is because I have a cook book, made by my grandmother's church in Washington State.

There is one recipe in it that cracks me up.

The main ingredient is a medium sized brown dog.


~shrug~ Like I said, it is locally available and you can grow your own. I am.

This is Buttercup, she is an American Pit Bull. There are many misconceptions about Bully breeds.
For more on Bully breeds, go check out this blogathoner.

Let's hear it for the sponsors!

C. Oneil
bug at an indian summer is also doing the blogathon



2 anonymous Pledgers




KMRL Mojo Radio Live



And the newest ones to pledge;








Linda is also doing the blogathon.

Clcik on any of the picturse to take you to their sites. Go tell these people thank you!

Coffee Beans

We can not talk in the mornings with out Coffee, drinking it either. We are a nation of Coffee Junkies. So what do we do if we are trying to stay local? Well there are several roasters in the US, you can support them and buy your coffee from them. There isn't one near me, and I buy a name brand. ~I am so bad~ The only place in the US that I know grows their own beans is Hawaii. And unless you live in a country that does grow its own, you are out of luck when it comes to coffee.

What you can do is find a substitute. Dandelion root is one such substitute. And readily available. Dig up the root, allow it to dry before grinding it up and placing it in your percolator. I have done this before, and although it isn't that bad, tastes a little like chocolate, I am having problems breaking my coffee addiction. Maybe some day. But this is a good thing to know, just in case coffee prices go the way of gasoline, or disappears. They is still hope for us!

I hear there is something out there made with soy. I just don't know about that. Soy seems to be replacing corn, and with the way corn has turned out, this scares me. But hey, I am a paranoid homesteader. :)

Broccoli

Baby trees have been around for over 2000 years. It is a vegetable that you should be able to find locally as well. It does prefer a cooler growing temperature, but growers will start them indoors so that they can have time to grow before it gets too hot outside, especially those of you in warmer climates.

Broccoli is chalk full of anti-cancer properties, fiber and Vitamins A and C. It is versatile, can be cooked or eaten raw with a little dip dip, or plain. Broccoli is also a great hider from Children. Cook it with your pasta to allow the noodles to soak up some of that goodness, and when you mix it together and the flowers fall off, tell the children it is seasoning. My boys fall for it every time, now they eat broccoli raw {well with a little bit of dip dip.}

It might take a little more search effort to find broccoli growing near you, ask around at your local farm market and see who is growing what. And always ask where it was grown before buying from that vendor. You might be suprised to find that some of your local farm market vendors have things shipped from all over the world. It is always best to ask questions, if they get huffy about answering you, they have something to hide and you should move on.

Apples

Unless some one leaves me a question we are going to do the alphabet of foods.

My long time readers now that last year during apple season I managed to get 250lbs of apples for free. We did a lot of apple recipes and apple trivia for that one.

Apples are on of the foods that you can find in the US that will be local. Forget your store bought apples from half way around the world. Apples can be grown in the US, anywhere. Look through your local papers, Internet searches and extension office to find a U-pick it near you. I found mine by asking friends and family if they knew where a u-picked for apple was, turns out there where in Eden. {the street the farm was on was named Eden} And not too far from my home.

For more on apples check out the U of I extension office site, or click on my tag that says apples. Just make sure to get back here in 30 minutes!

Welcome to Blogathon 2007!

For those of you that might have forgotten, today is the day where bloggers from all over the world will blog for 24 hours straight, posting anew every 30 minutes, to raise money for the charity of their choice. I am blogging for Farm Aid. So far we have raised $435US for the cause. My hopes are that we can reach $1000US before the 24 hours are up. There is still time to sponsor me!

Sponsors have some great prizes waiting for them. Everyone that pledges will be in a drawing to win 4 ebooks from the New Homemaker, and a very cool cloth bag from the Modern Homestead. The person with the highest completed donation will win 4 tshirts from Spraygraphic and a tshirt and CD from Farm Aid. How can you resist?

I also talked about a bag, didn't I? This very cool bag, which is handmade and huge! can be yours all you have to do is cook me dinner and post a picture of it in comments later tonight. Here's the deal, cook your dinner and take a picture, we got that. For your dinner of anything you will get your name placed in a hat once, cook any type of pasta, the name goes in twice, cook a ravioli, 3 times. Cook my dinner your name will go in 4 times.

And my late night crowd that is geared up for some down home bread making, there is a very cool package deal waiting for you later. These contests are open to everyone.

Now, if you are curious head over to the Blogathon main site, there you will see a few buttons, click on the one that says Surfing Frame, and you will get to see all the blogs that will be staying up with me.

uh oh, better post this before time runs out. I will be back in 30 minutes with a new post. Remember today we are talking food and farms. Got a question? good, because I will need you to keep me going. Remember this is for charity!

El will freak

This is your official warning! Those of you that read me via a feed might want to filter. LJ users can filter by using the friends page or the tool at the top of your journal. Starting tomorrow at 8am central time I will be post a total of 49 posts in a 24 hour period. This will reek havoc on friends pages. And don't forget to add me back when it is all over. I would hate to lose you. Also my blogroll will change today, instead of the blogs I read, it will be replaced by those doing the blogathon. My blogroll will be back up on monday.


Poor El, she's the one that puts together the Midwest One Local Summer participant list. And if I am making my dinner tomorrow online, well. . . hope she doesn't get mad with it coming in on several entries.

Ok, since the majority of you voting have said that you would like me to make a meal during the blogathon, that gives me the topic for that 24 hours, local food and family farms. So get your food and homesteading questions ready, and we will talk about everything from food preservation to growing your own, or vice versa and everything in between.

We will keep dinner simple. I will have to post every 30 minutes so my dinner will end up being made in stages. I don't expect anyone to keep up in real time, but if you do make the meal and post a picture in the replies for me, you will be in a drawing for a very cool crochet shopping bag made by a local business here in town. They are giving me one to give away, a $40 value people!

What are we making?

Mushroom ravioli in a light Alfredo sauce, With crescent rolls.

Simple, and can be made in stages. I realize that mushrooms are not in season, but you can generally find them local. I have a friend that grows his own. I am not one that worries about what is in season, if that was the case I would only eat chicken in the summer and beef in the winter. But with greenhouses and refrigeration, you can eat local and out of season.

For the mushroom ravioli you are going to need:

Pasta dough:
2 cups flour (about 350 grams)
2 large whole eggs

Filling:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons for boiling water { I will be using sunflower oil to keep it local}
6 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnishing


Sauce
2 cups Whipping Cream
1 cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated
4 Tbsp Butter

For the crescent rolls;
2 tbsp. honey
6 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. lukewarm milk
1/4 c. lukewarm water
2 pkg. dry yeast
4 c. unbleached flour


And since I will be up anyway, I will need to make the days bread, so if you want I will be making a Rustic country bread, goes great with jam. For this you will need. You will need a baking stone for this

Sponge;

1/2 tsp active dry yeast (not rapid rise)
1 cup water
1 cup bread flour
1 cup whole wheat

Dough;

3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 1/2 cups water (room temp)
2 tbs honey
2 tsp salt
coarse cornmeal to sprinkle on peel {A flat, smooth, shovel like tool used to slide pizzas and yeast breads onto a BAKING STONE or BAKING SHEET in an oven.}

So get to shopping!And don't forget to pledge! We are inching ever so closer to our goal!

One thing, yesterday a few of you mentioned that if the world went to hell, that homesteaders would have it easier. I don't know how you see me, or what I do, but I am not a survivalist and am not doing this because of possible end of the world scenarios. If that happened, I would starve only a little more slowly than the rest of you.