Stretching the budget

(I know I'm on a bit of a food kick here lately... I think it's because of all the good fresh food we've been having. Not to mention that I just love food. A lot.)

When Davey and I first married, I freaked him out a little when I boiled and deboned various cuts of chicken to make a pot of soup for dinner. He had never seen it done before, and thought it was strange (he has since become a fan). I thought it was strange that he thought it was strange. I’ve been deboning cooked chicken for chicken and dumplings, soup, etc, since I was old enough to pull up a chair to the counter. In fact, as a kid, it was a job that I really disliked. As I got older though, and had to pay for my own grocery bill, I understood why my frugal mother cooked this way. I know that for a lot of people the only chicken they use is the boneless/skinless tenderloins/breasts, or maybe those precooked strips in the freezer section. I love me some tenderloins, and there are some meals I make that practically require that particular cut of chicken. But when you think about it, that's like the filet mignon of chicken. When we started raising chickens of our own, I really started to consider the whole bird in terms of food. Do you know how many chickens have to die to make one package of tenderloins or breasts? (hint: there's only 2 per bird) What about all the rest of the chicken? Cheaper cuts of chicken or beef can have a huge impact on both the quality and quantity of food I can cook for our family each week. And with only one income, and 2 kids in diapers, well… that’s pretty darn important.
Last week at the store I found a 6 and a half pound whole chicken on for a little over 4 dollars. You can bet I snatched that baby up. When I got it home and got ready to cook it, I was all prepared to throw it in the stock pot and get a few meals out of it… but then I realized how big this bird was. It seemed a waste to only boil it. So, in a fit of culinary frenzy, I decided to stuff it, roast it, and make all the trimmings. It was like Thanksgiving in May! I only had box stuffing, which was a little disappointing, but still pretty good. I greased the bird lightly with shortening, seasoned it with garlic, thyme and paprika, and cooked it for about 3 and a half hours. Along with gravy, (real) mashed potatoes, and green beans (and of course homemade biscuits!), this fed us VERY well for 3 days. Today I boiled what was left into a gorgeous broth and deboned what chicken was left and wound up with enough to make 2 more meals, both of which will most likely last us at least 2 days each. So that’s 7 days of eating out of 1 chicken. Not too shabby! Not to mention delicious!

I know that cooking is quite a challenge for some, and I was fortunate to grow up with a mother who cooked regularly and well – mostly due to my wonderful great-grandmother, who, hands down made the best fried chicken on the planet – but learning to cook can be a real budget saver. Not to mention tasty and nutritious. The simple fact is this: good food doesn’t have to be expensive!

biscuity goodness

This weekend is National Biscuit Fest in Knoxville, and in honor of that, I'm talkin' biscuits today. Here in the south, seems like folks are especially passionate about their biscuits. And everybody can remember how their Meemaw made the best biscuits ever. I didn't have a "Meemaw", (because in Florida we think that plain ol' "Grandma" works just fine, thank you) and apparently if your ancestors hail from Southern Georgia, that makes them cornbread folks, anyhow. As a result, I can make 4 different kinds of cornbread, but I'm still trying to master the art of the biscuit.

For years, the only biscuits I'd ever had came from Kentucky Fried Chicken or Cracker Barrel, or the occasional sausage biscuit at McDonalds. Sad, I know. But now that I live in Tennessee, I've actually had some real, honest-to-gosh homemade biscuits, and there is truly no comparison. Back when I was a "career woman" (HA!), there was a sweet lady I worked with who made delicious biscuits and brought them in to work, still hot, and shared them with us. They were amazing! Just before I left my job, I asked her for the recipe, and in true Meemaw fashion, it wasn't scientific - just put some self-rising flour in a bowl, add some kind of fat, and buttermilk. I tried to get measurements out of her, but she had a specific bowl she put the flour in, and a certain cup for the buttermilk, and she just eyeballed it. Joy.

That was 6 months ago. And I'm still trying to get it just right. I've tried shortening, olive oil, cold butter, room temp butter, shortening. I've tried 2 cups of flour, 3 cups, 2 and 1/2. Last night, I came very darn near to success, if I do say so myself. Cold butter is definitely key. Good quality self-rising flour is also important. And lots of buttermilk. If the dough is too dry, the biscuits are tough. And nobody likes a tough biscuit. As for measurements, well, you just have to eyeball it. That really is how it works.

So here it is. My biscuit recipe:

 I usually start with 2 cups of self-rising flour, a 3rd of a stick of butter (COLD!) and about a cup of buttermilk, and add more flour as needed. Really, though, you want the dough to be as sticky as possible but still manageable. I cut the cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or fork, and when it's relatively well mixed and crumbly, add the buttermilk and stir to form a somewhat cohesive ball. Try to stir it as little as possible. It should not be smooth. Then I dump the whole thing onto a clean, floured countertop and press it out to about 1/2 inch thickness, and then cut into rounds with a glass dipped in flour. Try to cut all the biscuits on the first go-round, because if you have to reshape the dough and cut again, those biscuits won't be quite as soft. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375  for 15 minutes, or until they're slightly browned on top. You can also brush the tops with butter before baking to get that lovely golden brown color (I prefer pasty white biscuits, myself). I'm still working on the fluff factor. I'd like them to rise more, but so far I've only had a good rise when there was waaaaay too much baking powder and it ruined the taste. I'd rather have a biscuit that's a little more dense but still delicious. Slather these babies with a little homemade blueberry preserves (really, any jelly or jam will do, but blueberry preserves are my favorite!) and you've got yourself one tasty breakfast.

So there you have it. Homemade biscuits, Meemaw-style.


***editor's note: I just heard that I have apparently been forgetting the hot water in this recipe. That would explain so much. So. Add a few tablespoons of hot water. The recipe above still works, but adding the hot water will make them EVEN BETTER. Now I need to go make some more biscuits.

adventures in eating

Now that the weather is warming up, the farmers markets in our area are all getting into the swing of things, and I'm going crazy eating things. It's like the first rush of spring for my taste buds; real, fresh, delicious, succulent FOOD! Last week I bought a head of cabbage to make cole slaw (MY way, with no nasty mayonaise.. all you mayo haters out there can hit me up and I'll send you the recipe - it's good) and I ended up eating shredded cabbage by the fistful before I even got the stuff made. It was so sweet and spicy and fresh! There is just nothing in the supermarkets that can compare to the gorgeous foods we can get locally. Or grow ourselves, for that matter. I just wish I knew how those Mennonites get their cabbage and greens and whatnot out so quickly (I'm definitely a novice gardener)... my cabbage has yet to head up, the tomatoes are just starting to blossom, as are the various squashes (is "squashes" the plural of squash, or is it just "squash"? hmmmm), peppers, and so on. I would have had plenty of lettuce by now if it weren't for the stupid ducks. Stupid ducks! They wiped out my collards, too. Oh well. I get plenty of exercise running after them with a stick, and I bet the neighbors think it's funny, too. Anyway. Back to food.
One of the things I love most about the farmers market is how it opens up whole new worlds of vegetable possibilities for us. For example - I had never had beets until I saw some gorgeous ones last summer, and couldn't resist bringing them home. Turns out that I don't like them cooked, but they were pretty tasty raw, sliced thin with a little salt and balsamic vinegar. We've bought and eaten just about every kind of pepper you can imagine (and I saved the seeds to grow at home!), as well as acorn, butternut, and pattypan squash. And just last week we discovered that turnips are freakin' tasty. I mean, seriously good. So good we went out the next day and bought seed to put in a row. Our vegetable vocabulary is so much bigger now than carrots, peas and potatoes. (Speaking of peas.... mmmm. I love fresh peas. That's all.) I look forward to my trip to the market every week to find out what new deliciousness might be in store. It's so much better than food out of a box or a can... even home-canned.
I think it would be awesome if everyone would stop and really look at the food they're buying, and ask where it came from, and what it really is. There is such an amazing variety of foods out there, grown virtually right next door. It's better for our economy, it's better for our health, it's better for the planet's health. Do something crazy - try some turnips!


(oh, and by the bye - I also tried rabbit a few weeks ago and can definitely say that it is tasty. Especially wrapped in bacon and grilled. It's also good in stew. Just sayin'.)

decisions, choices, and all that jazz

Lately we have been doing a lot of brainstorming on ways to make a living (or at least nicely augment our living) by farming. That was always our eventual goal, and now we've gotten to a place where we are ready to dig in and make a plan. We've kicked around all sorts of options, from raising critters for fiber (like angora bunnies and cashmere goats) to meat critters to produce. There are so many options to consider, and so many little details required of each one, all of which take time and, most importantly, money. It's hard to decide what would be the most profitable, and the most worth our time and effort. There is so much preparation that would have to be done. For starters, the groundwork to prevent the upper field from flooding so that we can use it for livestock or crops; fencing for goats, or llamas; housing for rabbits; tilling, irrigation, the list goes on and on. I think eventually we hope to try out all the grand ideas we've had. After all, we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket! Right now, though, we're just trying to figure out which of all these ideas will be our primary goal, and hopefully, moneymaker. Given our setup here, available land for cultivating, etc, we're strongly leaning towards herbs. They don't require huge amounts of land, are virtually pest-free, and have a fairly good profit margin. Plus, there are so many goods and products that we can expand to over time that would include the use of our herbs (herbed goat cheese, dips, flavored oils, teas, infusions, tinctures, sachets, lotions, soaps, etc, etc, etc!). It also doesn't hurt us at all that I am, and have been for a long time, pretty obsessed with herbs of all kinds. Of course, this doesn't mean that we won't still grow pumpkins and tomatoes and lots of other goodies, we'd just be primarily focusing on herbs, with the goal of eventually expanding to other, herb-related products. So. There it is. The Big Idea. Now we just have to figure out how to start putting it into action.

meanwhile, back at the farm...

Spring is well underway, and we here at the farm are deeply in thrall. Davey and I both have become obsessed with planting and growing. He spent the last week tilling up a massive area for growing corn and pumpkins. And then he made the mistake of letting me have a hand in the planting, so now it's also got squash and zucchini and cucumbers and pole beans. (But I swear, I'm measuring this time!! I will NOT overcrowd! Scout's honor!) Tonight we're putting in a row of scallions and tomatoes, and even though it's really too late in the season, I'm thinking of planting some beets. Oh, and canteloup.. and.. and.. See what I mean?
We also got our pasture mowed by Davey's dad, and the whole place looks so great. We really need to get a tractor, but we're trying (HA!) to save for one and pay cash, and not go into debt. In the meantime, we're having to rely on the help of family to keep this place from getting out of hand. I kind of like that it's a community effort.
Up here at the house I'm having loads of fun puttering around in my little vegetable garden, planting flowers, and sorting my ridiculously large collection of herb seeds, trying to figure out how I can possibly make enough space up here to plant them all. I have a secret obsession with herbs, whether for culinary or medicinal use... I just find them freakin' intoxicating. Seeds in general appeal to my love of collecting little things - like beads and rocks and shells. I may never get them all planted, but you can bet I had a jolly good time sorting them into piles and dreaming of growing them. It's the simple things. Really it is.

Oh, and we also got some new critters over the weekend - turkeys! We picked up 2 turkey poults at the animal market, a Bronze and a Royal Palm, which I named Thanksgiving and Christmas, respectively. They're going to be delicious! But right now they're just tiny little things, and kinda cute. Thanky is especially friendly, too. He runs up to say hi every time I open the door to the coop. The little guy is fearless. This does not help my resolve to eat him in about 6 months. Oh dear.
We got a couple of quail as well, and again, tiny and cute!! It's kind of ironic that I don't want to eat things that are cute, but I also don't want to eat things that are ugly either... Oh dear.
We're also seriously considering how we can raise goats, both meat and dairy... especially with regards to containment, since goats are notoriously talented escape artists, and the local dogs are notoriously fond of goat for dinner. We're also looking into rabbits. I've never eaten goat, or rabbit, but I'm interested in anything that will reduce the grocery bill and our reliance on packaged food. And I've heard from fairly reliable sources that both are quite tasty. Of course, I heard the same thing about squirrel, and I found that to be VERY untrue. Oh dear.

We also decided over the weekend that worm farming seems pretty straightforward. Poop + rotten hay = earthworms. HUGE earthworms. Hundreds of earthworms. Anybody wanna go fishing? :)