50 mile diet

In a previous post I talked about my participation in the Powell River 50 Mile Diet. It was really difficult to stick to the challenge with grand kids, visitors and a wedding reception but I tried and I'm still trying.

Veggies, milk, some cheese, eggs and chicken have not been a problem but some of the other foodstuff has. Some good news in the meat department I just found a local farmer who might have some pork and beef for sale, it won't be for some time, but that's ok. After all, I truly believe the 50 mile challenge which ends on Sep. 27 is meant to bring attention to the many benefits of local eating but we should never stop eating locally, it really has to become part of our everyday life.

Some things I have not been able to give up are butter, sugar, salt and pepper and other spices, coffee, tea, beans, flour and other grains. However I bake my own bread, cookies and desserts, and cook dried beans rather than buying canned, so although not local, cooking from scratch is a much better alternative to buying processed foods.

For dinner tonight??? Chili.

Local ingredients: tomatoes, onion, celery, jalapeno and green pepper.

Not so local: ground beef, dried beans, salt, pepper, oil and chili powder.

Now take a look at these plums, there are many more on the tree, and these still need to ripen a little but I like them a little on the hard side, they are so good. I'll pick the rest in the next few days and make some plum chutney as well as freeze some for baking. And just a few little apples. I'll pick some more for applesauce but most of them have bugs in them, yuck!!! Still they won't be wasted, I'll pack them into a box and off to the pig farmer they will go.

Parsnips

I grew parsnips for the first time and I will definitely grow them again next year. They are very easy to grow just make sure you have soil free of rocks because like carrots they will grow really funny if they hit a rock, like a split root or a spiraling root.

And again, I have too many to eat all at once so after doing some research on the Internet I found that they can be frozen.


Peel them.







Blanch them in boiling water for two minutes and then plunge them in an ice bath.







Freeze them individually and then into a zip lock bag.




I kept mine whole because I like to roast whole parsnips and carrots together when I roast a chicken or roast but you can just as easily cut them into bite size pieces.



A real winner!!!





Margaret

Leftovers

I had lots of food leftover from the reception, now some people hate leftovers but not me. I love them because I'm the cook at our house and leftovers mean one less meal to prepare, just heat and serve.

The roast potatoes were diced and individually frozen on a cookie sheet and then into Ziploc bags, these will be great as hash browns.

The barbecued chicken was also individually frozen..I'll use the meat in salads or sandwiches.

And the dinner rolls which are now stale were made into croutons, very easy.




I cut the rolls into smallish chunks.


Then I tossed the bread chunks in a large bowl into which I put about 1/2 cup of olive oil, dried oregano and rosemary and garlic powder.







Placed them onto a cookie sheet and into a slow oven until dried and crisp.







And when the croutons are cold I stored them in a large plastic bag.

Basil

I was so very lucky to receive a huge bunch of basil from sister who lives in Kelowna. I love basil, I've tried to grow it myself but it never thrives so this year I decided not to grow it.

But for my sister, it grows like a weed. She was very gracious and brought me a huge bunch and a few other goodies...about 20 perennials that she purchased for less than a dollar each. I could hardly believe it, but that's for another time.

Back to the basil, what to do??? I love pesto but I also like to add basil to soups, sauces, pizza and of course fresh tomato sauce.

I decided to process the basil with olive oil only, no pine nuts, garlic or parmigiano. I put all the basil leaves in my food processor and added just enough olive oil to make a thick paste. I scooped a small amount into an ice cube tray, froze it and then into a Ziploc bag. Just grab a chunk when needed.

Back to my regular life

It's all over...

The grand kids are back in Newfoundland. The poor baby flew with teeth coming in, he was not happy and Ethan flew home with a million questions .., did you know, in his own words, that to get from Newfoundland to Powell River you take one hundred rights and two lefts...






The reception was a huge success. A special thanks to my sisters for all their help and to my wonderful brother in law, JJ who barbecued a seemingly endless amount of chicken and sausages in the hot afternoon sun. And I can't forget Dwight, another brother in law for keeping the little ones busy and out of the kitchen.









And now back to a mountain of ripening tomatoes, eggplants, jalapenos, and patty pans..

And of course wiping off little fingerprints from walls, mirrors and windows and vacuuming up crackers and cheerios from all corners of the house.

How I'll miss those little fingerprints...

busy, busy, busy

I won't be online all that much for the next few weeks.

The grand kids are here.



My son and daughter-in-law's reception is just around the corner. A backyard barbaque for 60 or so...in my backyard.





And..it's harvest time.

In the kichen..it's canning time

What a busy weekend and there is so much more to do.




Art and I spent several hours picking blackberries, we really wanted to make blackberry wine. Well after two hot, sweaty and prickly hours we had half a bucket...hmm...no wine but, more than enough berries for jelly, so many in fact that I also got some blackberry pancake syrup to.



In addition to the jelly and syrup I tried making fig preserves for the first time which I'm told is very good with sharp cheese.

Here I have from left to right:

Blackberry jelly, gooseberry jam, blackberry syrup and fig conserves.






And when you are finished boiling your jars don't throw out that water, well throw it out but on the weeds, kills them dead, just as good as "roundup" but not so evil!!!

Look at all these dead weeds.