Our local community is starting a foodbank of sorts. So of course I'm remembering all the work I did in Calgary and in Victoria with various food programs and community kitchens and seeing if there's anything useful in my experience. I used to write a monthly booklet with in season frugal recipes and I'm thinking I'll start again. I'd love recipe submissions, but they have to work out to no more than $2 per person, ok? It's ok if your recipe works out to be $14 to make, as long as it feeds 7 people or more. We've got to also focus on 2 things, using staples, and nutrition, so remember, veggies and whole grains are your friend!
I'm thinking I will change this site a little to include a separate recipe section.
On the home front, it's snowing again. Can you believe it? Such unseasonal weather for Vancouver Island. And it's supposed to get down to -10celcius this week too! Brrr. I'm glad we've got the wood stove and a wood pile! Oh, and lots of turkey for warm winter meals!
In the Coop
Everyone's good. The water didn't freeze overnight but this will be a problem next week for at least a few nights. I'm going to close up some of the vents again to cut down the draft but the chickens all seem happy and at night fluff up and roost together so it obviously works for them. I did increase the protein in their food by 1% to 18% while it's cold. We've got breeds of chickens who are good layers in cold weather so we are still getting 4 eggs a day or more. I'm going to put today's and yesterdays in the incubator. Our breeds are Dark Brahma, Red Rock Cross, Silkie bantams and one odd Americauna.
In the Garden
Nothing much is going on due to several inches of snow. Today would be a good day to trim those pesky kiwi vines, but I'd rather stay indoors thanks very much!
In the Kitchen
Today I'm going to make a pulled pork pot roast, just for a change from turkey and because the pork was so cheap ($1.25 lb.) I'll serve it with fresh rolls, seasoned roasted potatoes and frozen veg. (peas, beans and carrots). Here's my dinner bun recipe.
White Dinner Rolls or Loaf
- 1 cup water, plus
- 1 tablespoon water (70-80 F)
- 1 large egg
- 4 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 3 1/4 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons melted butter (for dinner rolls only) (optional)
Directions
In bread machine pan, place all ingredients from flour through yeast in order as recommended by the manufacturer.
Select the basic bread setting.
Check dough after 5 minutes of mixing, if needed add 1-2T of water or flour. The dough should be smooth, soft and springy. Not sticky or tough so adjust accordingly. You'll find that even if you use the exact same measurements every time your dough will be different depending on the weather, time of year, age of flour etc.
Bake as normal.
For dinner rolls do the following....
Mix in bread machine but use only the dough option.
Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan (I always use a metal pan).
When dough is finished shape into 15 uniformly sized balls. I always grease my hands with shortening to smooth the dough out and it helps keep the dough from drying out.
Cover and let the rolls rise in a warm, draft free place until risen to the desired size.
I let them about double in size.
Bake in a 350° oven about 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
After removing from the oven, brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.
Take out of pan and let completely cool before storing, that is unless you're me and breaking one open to slather it with fresh butter...just to make sure they're edible of course! :)
A few notes about this recipe. You can substitute whole wheat flour for half the flour with no changes, only watch the dough to make sure it's not too dry. I don't know how long these buns will store since mine have never been around more than a half a day due to their yumminess and my having children.
I'm home from church today because of one spotty daughter. It's so quiet at home though, it's weird.
For supper, whole wheat buns filled with pulled pork and the gravy from the pot followed by honeydew melon and hot cross buns (same recipe only 1/4 cup added raisins and 1/2 cup candied fruit and peel. I iced them a tiny bit too. Today has definitely been a "bun" day. Tomorrow will feature roasted parsnips and asparagus.
The kids have done a little bit of tidying up and are now carousing around the house like a bunch of mad men. Hopefully they'll wear themselves out in short order.
I think I'm going to pick up some more of those pork roasts and throw them in the freezer. Today I used 2 roasts, each costing under $3.50 and by the time I made buns, seasoned the meat and slow cooked it on the wood stove, bought a melon etc. Today's food bill came to about $16 for 6 people for 3 meals. I probably should have just made sandwiches for dinner though and saved the pork (some of which is left over) for tomorrow's dinner, but it was SO good!
I am going to finish cutting up all that turkey meat and freeze it in bags for future use. Boy there's alot left though. Speaking of birds, I have our lovebird in the office as I type this. It's 7:47pm Daylight Savings Time (yes it started today) and she's just hanging out seeing what we're up to. Steve has been feeding her paper to shred which is one of her favourite hobbies and now she'd watching me type and preening herself. Meghan has come in asking "How many more days until my birthday"? She just can't wait till August. Apparently she and Kate are doing a Show in their room for us. We'll go see it at bedtime when we have family prayer.
I should get going and clean up from dinner. Hope you all have a great week.
I wanted to let you know about United Mothers, Fathers and Friends, a child advocacy group. They do lots of grass roots kind of advocacy work, choosing to focus on strengthening families, supporting marriage and lots of other good stuff. Their website is unitedmothers.ca Just so you're not surprised, they are against the redefinition of marriage, so if this is something you feel strongly about, don't go there. I just think they are doing some important work on the rights of families, parents and children both, so I thought I'd give them a little plug. :)
Lots to talk about tomorrow. See you then!
Elizabeth
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