Chicken Harvest

Our roosters getting some fresh air and relaxation before the end...
Farewell, Gussie, Kung Pao, & Hot Wings! We'll miss your lovely crowing!
(though I don't think our neighbor will)

I really never felt this day would come, but it finally did! We had four roosters and only needed one. So, with the help of a lady down the road with a large flock of chickens herself, we killed and processed our extra three roosters.

Wow! What an experience!

I did feel a little trepidation since it was my first time. I thought a lot about what we were about to do and wondered how I would feel. Doing away with them humanely was not as hard as I thought it would be, but I did feel a great feeling of gratitude and some sadness that they were giving their lives to feed our bellies. I also thought that it was the way of life and I felt honored to finally be apart of it in such a personal way. I love knowing where the chickens lived and what they ate - because we fed them ourselves! They were happy roosters too. 

I helped pluck feathers and clean out one of them. It was good learning what it took to get a chicken ready to eat. We even had to chill them in the fridge and wait a few days before we could eat them which I didn't realize. If we decide to get into meat birds, I now know what that would all entail!

Homemade Brown Sugar

For me, brown sugar is one of those things that I don't really think about until I need it in a recipe. Usually I have some on hand, but the last time I needed it - I was totally out! I had no time to go out to buy some and it was Sunday. We usually don't go shopping on Sunday. So I was stuck! What was I going to do? Thankfully, I remembered that I had stashed away a recipe on making your own brown sugar with two ingredients - sugar and molasses.

I dumped about 2 lbs. of sugar into a bowl, poured on about a half cup of molasses and started stirring. It definitely turned into brown sugar but it smelled very molassesy. It also had little molasses clumps in it. That had me a little concerned. But I didn't have time to worry about it and continued to make the sticky rolls I was in the middle of making. Well, to my surprise the molasses flavor baked out and everything tasted normal! How cool!

So, if you are in a pinch and need brown sugar, be sure to have some white sugar and molasses on hand. You'll be able to save your own bacon without having to go very far! :-)

Snow Candy

We're into our second day of snow here in Maryland. A lot of it had melted by the end of yesterday; sadly our sledding tracks were mostly grass. But, today's snow storm has more than made up for it and we have plans in the works for an ultimate snow fort for bombarding people with snowballs who are sledding on the hill below. Mwahahahaha!

Our 2 year old daughter has been obsessed with eating snow. Any chance (and any place) she can get it, she will. I had to sit down with her and try to explain which snow not to eat (snow from the car, the house, shoes and the good ol' yellow or brown snow) and the snow that was good to eat. Then we had the idea of collecting some clean snow in a bowl as it fell and putting a bowl out on our porch railing, we soon had some good, clean snow to eat! We got out some spoons and she sat happily eating her bowl of snow. Our 5 year old son suggested we pour maple syrup on it, so we did that and he was happy eating his sherbet-tasting snow.

Then, I remembered as a girl trying to make Snow Candy using maple syrup like in Little House on in the Big Woods, but I was disappointed because it didn't work. The thing that I think was left out in our Snow Candy making was that we didn't boil it. And that's the key to making candy! So, I thought I'd give it a whirl today and it was a great success!

So here's how we made our candy:

I boiled about a 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup in a small pot over medium heat. I didn't really measure time-wise, but I stood there, occasionally stirring with a spoon. The syrup got all frothy and bubbly after awhile, so I added a tiny lump of butter which helped a little. That's optional though. I had a small bowl of cold water that I occasionally dropped a drip of the syrup into to test its hardness. Gradually it went from making soft lumps, to harder lumps, then to being hard and brittle - we had made it to the hard-ball stage! Then I removed it from the heat, got my bowl of snow and poured it out in a steady stream all over the snow. Surprisingly, it didn't melt the snow as much as I thought, but sunk slightly into the soft, white powder. When I removed it, it was a fun, hard spindly shape - delicious for eating!

I think it would be fun to try putting large drops on some parchment paper and letting them harden there. That way we'd have little syrup mounds to suck on. I'm thinking I could make some good throat lozenges this way with honey candy and some essential oils as well! Hmm!

This is the second pouring, so the snow is more melted.
Also, the candy cooked a little longer by that point, so it's darker.

Yummy, golden maple snow candy!

Happy Winter!

Watermelon Success!!

Yesssss!!!! And, boy, was it delicious!

Late Summer Harvest

My garden is slowly winding itself down. It's looking very weedy and overgrown (in case you were wondering if I weeded or not. haha!) I harvested our popcorn and got two more pumpkins! There's been a slow trickle of peppers and red zebra-stripe tomatoes. The most exciting thing was that I dug up the potato plant I planted from a sprouting red potato in the compost and we got 3 potatoes! I love growing potatoes. They're just so fun to dig up!

I still have one more pumpkin on the vine, and some watermelons. How do you know when they're ripe? And the sweet potato that sprouted in my kitchen and I planted later has grown into a large, beautiful plant. I had to ask someone how to harvest them - I didn't even know! She said I had to dig them up, just like potatoes. I'm really excited to see what's down there.

I realized that I haven't posted a recipe for awhile so, here's my recipe for baking pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds!

Baked Pumpkin

- 1 Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin, Sugar Pumpkin, or any smallish pumpkin (the flavor is better than a large one)
- parchment paper

Set your oven to 375ºF to preheat. Line a jelly roll cookie sheet (the kind with a lip around the edge) or large cake pan with parchment paper.

Cut out around the stem and remove. Then slice your pumpkin in half. Scrape out the stringy pulp and seeds (save the seeds for toasting later). Don't worry about being too meticulous and getting every single string out. We're not carving a jack-o-lantern! Place the pumpkins, cut part down on the cookie sheet. Slide them into the oven and allow them to bake for about 1 hour or until a knife passes cleanly & easily through the tough skin and inner pulp without resistance. Take them out and allow to cool for an hour or two. .

Turn the pumpkins on their back and scrape out the pulp, gently scraping as close to the skin as you can to get as much pulp as you can. Place all the pulp in a bowl and mash with a potato masher until fairly smooth (there will still be some lumps.)

Now you're ready to bake! I made some Pumpkin Muffins and they were delicious!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

- seeds from your baked pumpkin
- olive oil
- salt

Grease a jelly pan cookie sheet (with a lip around it) with cooking spray or oil and set aside. You can use parchment paper instead if you'd like.

Place the pumpkin seeds in a colander and run a trickle of water over them as you remove the threads. The water will help the seeds slide through your fingers instead of sticking to them. Remove all the pulp and threads, preferable watching a Jane Austen movie. It's a tedious job! Once that's done, set your oven to 350ºF.

Shake the colander to drain as much water as you can and transfer the seeds to a bowl. Drizzle 2 -4 Tbsp. of olive oil over your pumpkin seeds. You might want more or less, but the goal is to make sure the seeds are coated well. Shake salt to taste over the seeds and mix thoroughly. Pop a seed in your mouth to make sure the salt ratio is enough (you don't have to chew it if you don't want!).

Once it's to your taste, spread the pumpkin seeds over the cookie sheet so that it is an even thickness. You want a single layer here, without much overlap of seeds so that they roast evenly. Put the seeds in the oven and roast for about 10 minutes. Stir the seeds and roast for an additional 10 minutes or until the seeds are golden and dry.

Enjoy them with the rest of that Jane Austen movie!

Early Autumn & Chocolate

We still have a couple weeks before official autumn, but today we have been blessed with lovely cool weather. The kids and I ventured outside this morning in sweaters and pants! It was wonderful. I love autumn. Tonight there is a women's activity at church and I signed up to bring dessert. We're to make apple crisp. I just pulled mine out of the oven and it smells blissfully of autumn! Do you think they'd notice if I stole a teeny tiny piece? I mean, I have heavy cream in my fridge, for goodness sakes! It's practically screaming for me to eat it. Oooooh, so hard to resist! (Can you tell I haven't had lunch yet?)

Our house is cool, a hot apple crisp is on the stove and now all I need is a warm, crackly fire in a woodstove. Alas, we had to remove our stove for insurance purposes (it wasn't installed up to code, blast it!). But I guess I could always turn to the fireplace on Netflix! haha!

I've been meaning to share this, but kept forgetting. About a month ago, in an uncharacteristically fit of food inventiveness, my husband got the kids together and made up a new, yummy dessert. He dubbed it:

Muddy Bananas

He heated chocolate chips with peanut butter and then they dipped ripe bananas in it. They were in love! I gave it a try later on and it's absolutely delicious! When I told him the chocolate/peanut butter mixture reminded me of Nutella, but better, he was a little disappointed to feel it wasn't as original as he thought. I assured him that it was different because he used peanut butter instead of hazelnuts and Ghiridelli chocolate chips which are a darker chocolate and so, sooooo good! It was amazing. My husband is so clever! :-)

Speaking of chocolate. I have now created 2 new converts to making S'mores with dark chocolate. You should give it a try. Really. It is so much better than with milk chocolate! I never liked S'mores because of the milk chocolate (too sweet!), but with dark chocolate, it's almost like a whole different dessert and so, so amazing.

I just had to tell you....

that they were right. Bon Appetit magazine taught me how to make the best fried chicken of my LIFE. To be honest, I've actually never really like fried chicken. It was always too greasy with too much breading. Awhile back I posted the link to their recipe on how to make the best, life-changing fried chicken ever.

Oh. my. goodness.

Using their instructions and recipe, my very first batch was incredible!!!! The meat was juicy, tender, and flavorful; the breading light, crunchy, and seasoned perfectly.... I drool just thinking about it. I could hardly believe I had made it myself! (And my second time around, it was just as good!) I'd always heard making homemade fried chicken was nearly impossible or you had to have some southern great-aunt's famous recipe to do it. But no. Bon Appetit taught me all I needed to know. And I'll be forever grateful.

You should give it a try. Really. You'll thank me.

Here's the recipe.

They weren't lyin', folks!!!

All this talk... I need me some fried chicken right now.

P.S. Pssst! I even broke down a whole chicken all by myself for the first time in my life - just to make this recipe. Can you believe it?! I was so proud of myself! You can do it too! They have a good slide show of pictures here.

The Natural Canning Resources Book

I just learned about this book, Natural Canning Resources Book, through the Cultures for Health website and I just had to take a look! I'm fascinated with food preservation and enjoy eating the fruits of my canning labors (though the process itself is not as fun, especially doing it all by yourself!).

Just one look inside and I could tell that this book is special. It's hard to tell, but I believe there are recipes. What struck me about this book though, was that it has information not usually found in the standard Ball Blue Book like how to replace conventional sugar and corn syrup with healthier alternatives in canning like honey or maple syrup, the nutrient changes in canned food, an explanation of the PH scale, and the science of what lies behind the USDA's regulations for canning. It also has information on unsafe canning methods and things that do not have safe home canning guidelines.

Here is what it says about the book on Cultures for Health:

Details

Lisa Rayner, 2010, softcover

The local foods movement has made home canning popular once again! Farmer’s markets, Community Supported Agriculture projects, urban foraging collectives, permaculture guilds and community gardens are popping up like mushrooms. People who never learned how to preserve food growing up are teaching themselves and learning from old-timers how to can in boiling water baths and pressure canners.

The Natural Canning Resource Book fills a major gap in the canning literature.  Most published canning recipes require the use of non-organic, refined ingredients like distilled while vinegar, white sugar, corn syrup or commercial pectin containing chemical preservatives.  This book explains the science behind USDA canning guidelines and explores how to can foods using healthy, natural ingredients you'll find at your local farmer's mart, CSA, natural foods grocery, buying club or cooperative.

Learn how to:

• Can fruit & pickles without sugar or sweetened with raw honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt, evaporated cane juice or other unrefined cane sugars.
• Pickle vegetables with organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar or homemade vinegar.
• Can wild and tropical fruits like Oregon grape, Juneberries, elderberries, paw paw & guava.
• Gel jams and jellies with homemade pectin extracted from locally grown fruit.
• Create your own jam, jelly, fruit butter, pickle, relish, chutney & salsa recipes.
• Can foods using a solar cooker.
• Create a community canning project or start a community kitchen.
• Save money & energy with home canning.
• Use European-style canning jars with glass lids & rubber gaskets.
• Sell your canned goods at your local farmer’s market or CSA.

This looks like an exciting book, especially if you enjoy or depend on canning to fill your cupboards!

Sourdough Update

After a few days of fairly flat sourdough starter with only some bubbles, I realized that I had been only feeding it every 24 hours instead of every 12 hours like I was supposed to. Oops! Once I was feeding it more on a regular basis, it was rising and bubbling reliably. 

So far, I've made a loaf of sourdough bread (that rose in only 3 1/2 hours compared to the 4-12 hours they say it should take), sourdough biscuits, and sourdough pancakes. The biscuits were fabulous. The pancakes not so much. I'll have to tweak that recipe a bit.

My sourdough jar covered with its cloth and rubber band.

Nice and bubbly!

Mmm! Delicious sourdough biscuits!
We smeared these with butter and strawberry jam and were in heaven!

Sourdough

My husband and I LOVE sourdough bread. I've been wanting to try making my own sourdough using home grown sourdough starter for a long time, but was kind of scared of the commitment. After seeing a link for Cultures for Health, who sell a huge variety of sourdough starter cultures, I knew that now was the time. I purchased a Parisian culture, because I've been wanting to make my own French bread. (Check out their amazing selection from all over the world! So cool!)

I did receive a gift of an ancient sourdough starter from somewhere in Europe from this couple who were passionate about baking and cooking Medieval recipes. (Medieval reenactors have their own version of Iron Chef, did you know that? It's totally awesome!) I'm afraid I let the starter die, mostly because it intimidated me!, and I've regretted it ever since. So, I'm giving myself another chance. I really can't wait!

My starter... just started. We'll see what it's like in 12 hours!

Kale Chips!

Just made me some of these. Totally yummy!
http://www.snack-girl.com/snack/kale-chips-recipe/

Especially since I sprinkled them with not just sea salt, but also Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute. Mmm, mmm, MMM! Spicy!

Plum Jam

Today I finally made some plum jam. My kids and I had picked the plums at Larriland Farms about a month ago. I had prepped the fruit and put it in the freezer. Today I had nothing going on in the morning, so I used up the plum pulp for one small batch. I'm used to making a ridiculous amount of jam at one time (due to over-enthusiasm!), so making a small batch was actually very nice, low key, and manageable. I should really try the small batches more often!

Except... now that peaches are in season I am dying to make a huge stash of canned peach halves. Last year I made them using this honey syrup and they were amazing. They had this lovely honey-tinted flowery flavor. We finished our last jar a few weeks ago and I made it into a wonderful dessert of one peach half, some homemade oatmeal cookies and some whipped cream. It was divine! Yes, I need to go pick some peaches, but I'm afraid I'll get carried away. Just the thought of those jars of homemade peaches makes me want to pick a few bushels! Someone send help! haha!

Tamale Pie

I'm always wary of vegetarian recipes. Even though I used to be vegetarian as a teenager, I now enjoy and actually like eating meat. I don't mind eating vegetables, in fact I sometimes like it. But I have this weird texture issue that gets in the way. We had stuffed zucchini a week or two ago and eating it made me want to gag! The flavor was nice, but there was just something about the texture. I don't know. It's weird. And especially frustrating when I'm making the effort to eat more vegetables.

I am also trying to make use of my bounty of cookbooks and saved magazine recipes by incorporating new recipes into every two-week menu I put together. Last night I tried a new recipe for Tamale Pie from one of my cookbooks A World of Wisdom. It was completely vegetarian, so I was a little concerned. My concern was a waste of energy, because it was freaking awesome! I couldn't stop thinking about it after dinner and I woke up being tempted to eat it for breakfast, it was that good. Haha!

So, of course I had to share the recipe. I added carrot and zucchini (because I have a lot from my garden!), but overall, I followed the recipe and was very happy with the results. I think the key is that the veggies are chopped up. Big chunks of veg just don't appeal to me. I am just so weird.

Tamale Pie

2 cups cooked preferred bean (I used black bean. It's my #1 fave!)
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped tomato
1/4 cup shredded zucchini (about half of a smallish-medium one)
1 shredded carrot
1/4 cup diced black olives
1 minced garlic clove
1 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder (more if you like it spicier)
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 recipe of your favorite cornbread (The recipe should only fill one 8"x 8" or 9" round pan. I had to be specific because I have a recipe that fills a 9"x13" pan.)

Simmer beans, vegetables, and seasoning with a little liquid for 10 minutes in a skillet. Stir in half the cheese. Prepare the cornbread and pour half the batter into a greased 10-inch pie plate (deep dish) or 8-inch square dish and spread over the bottom. Add bean mixture on top, scooping it up with a slotted spoon to let any extra moisture drip out. (We don't want a soggy pie!). Top with remaining cornbread batter and spread out over the top the best you can. Bake at 425º F for 15 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 10 minutes longer.*

*I didn't read this part of the recipe and just put the cheese on top at the beginning. I baked it for 15 minutes and it was done! And a huge bonus was that the cheese was all nice and brown and crusty on top. Mmmm! If you don't like it that way, follow the above directions and totally ignore the way I did it!

No garnish necessary. Just dig in and enjoy! And loosen your belt a little. You may go for seconds... or thirds....

Homemade Ice Cream & Fruit Sorbet Recipe

Last year we bought one of those gel canister ice cream makers and have really loved it! Since we started experiencing that horrible heat wave, that gel canister is pretty much in the freezer all the time - just in case I want/need to make ice cream. (haha!) I just love the idea of throwing a few ingredients together (no junk like preservatives, dyes, fake flavors, or corn syrup!) and half an hour later we've got amazing homemade ice cream!

Last week I made this awesome vanilla mint Oreo (alas corn syrup!) ice cream. Oh MAN! Was that stuff delicious! For the peppermint I used 100% pure essential oil* and that was so refreshing - I could feel the mint cooling all the way down to my stomach. Aaah!

Okay, enough about that. Yesterday I made an apricot ginger sorbet that was absolutely delightful! I thought I'd share the recipe for a general fruit sorbet, because it has 4 ingredients and is so easy to make. If you don't have an ice cream maker yet, I'd strongly suggest you get one! (We have a Crofton brand and have been happy with it.)

Fruit Sorbet
(adapted from Nourished Kitchen blog)

2 lbs. fruit, such as strawberries, apricots, peaches, cherries, pineapples etc. halved & pitted or prepared appropriately (in other wise, ready to eat)
1/2 cup honey
3 cups water
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring the 3 cups of water to a boil. Add the fruit and honey and simmer until the fruit is tender. Transfer to a container and chill in the fridge until cold. (I did mine overnight.)

Transfer the fruit and liquid to a blender or food processor, add vanilla, and blend until smooth

Transfer to the ice cream maker and freeze according to the directions.

If you want a more solid sorbet, pour the soft-serve sorbet into a container and freeze until it's the hardness you want for scooping.

Enjoy any time of day, because really, it's just fruit!

The possibilities are endless! I can't wait to try a strawberry/mint sorbet. And I have cherries in my fridge right now. Ooooh, cherry sorbet! Mmmm!!!!

*Not all essential oils are consumable. Make sure the bottle does not say "For topical use only". I use doTerra oils which are 100% pure and are able to be ingested and used in cooking. 

Grass-Fed Beef?

We have a local Angus beef cattle farm down the road from us. Initially, I was really excited about this, especially as they advertise that their beef is grass-fed. Now, I've seen their cattle out in the pasture munching away on grass, but I wanted to know if they fed their cows corn at any point in their life. So, I drove over there and asked. 

Why did I want to know this? Because cows are ruminating animals, are only meant to eat grass, and I find it really sad that most cows are fed a diet of corn because it's cheaper (Seen a corn field lately? There's a lot of them around here.), and they fatten up faster on corn. Do the cattle-raisers care about the health of the cows and what corn does to their digestive track? How about the nutritional value of their beef? NOPE.

Anyway, I went and asked the local farm if they fed their cows corn at all, and I found out something very interesting. I was told that while the cattle are raised on grass, they are finished on a combination of corn, grain, hay, and minerals. So, while they live a grass-fed life, they are not true grass fed cows because they're fattened up or "finished" on corn and grain. 

Currently, there are no USDA regulations on the definition of "grass-fed beef", so beef producers can get away with a lot and mislead consumers on whether or not they're really getting true grass-fed beef. Considering that grass-fed beef is significantly more expensive that corn-fed beef, it's no wonder! And what do you think of when you think of a grass-fed cow? A happy cow in a beautiful green pasture? Well, technically a farmer could confine his cow and feed it grass its whole life and still call it a grass-fed cow. I know government food regulations get a bad wrap a lot of the time, but there are times when its necessary, so that consumers know exactly what they're getting when they buy a food.

I found this very informative article on the true definition of grass-fed beef according to grass-fed-beef-101.com

If you have thought about switching to grass-fed beef or currently buy it and aren't sure if it's up to scratch, then this article will prove very helpful!

Eat Wild is also a fantastic resource for finding locally raised foods. They have a strict criteria for farms in order to be listed on their site.

In the meantime, my search is on for grass-fed, grass-finished beef!

The Homemade Pantry

When I saw this book, I knew it was written just for me! It really pacifies the "made from scratch" side of me and answers all sorts of curiosities about what we can stop buying and start making ourselves. I also like that  the author is not afraid to say she buys her butter because it is cheaper to buy it than to make it, especially if you don't have a milk cow. (Finally, someone admits it!) I haven't read the entire book, just skimmed the preview on Amazon, but it's at the top of my priority list! Why can't I stop buying cookbooks?!?!? Aaaaack! I think this one is worth it though.

The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making

Food Saving

Do you ever overestimate how much food to make for dinner and make too much? Can you only handle leftovers of the same meal so many days in a row? Has anyone given you leftovers - like a lot - and you didn't know what to do with it? Well, this is something you need, yes NEED to have:

It's a vacuum sealer.

I love my vacuum sealer. I can seal stuff up, stick it in the freezer and it lasts soooo much longer than if you chucked the same food in a "freezer safe" ziploc bag and left it for the freezer minions to make frostbittten mincemeat out of it.

I personally have a Food Saver brand vacuum sealer and I love it. I also have the regular and wide-mouthed jar sealer attachments so that I can vacuum seal dry goods, like beans or rice in my canning jars. (Note: Vacuum sealing is not a replacement for properly canning foods.)

I have an example. Our awesome new neighbor just made a boatload of pulled pork he lovingly rubbed and smoked himself for a fund raiser. Sunday morning he brought us an entire pan. Oh. my. goodness. I have never had such amazing pulled pork! And he had his own secret recipe BBQ sauces to go with it. Even our uber picky, practically vegetarian daughter asked for "oink oink" and devoured it to our utter amazement!

Well, we've been eating pulled pork since Sunday, and I don't want my love of this delicious stuff to wear thin, so I shoveled the rest of it into a food sealer bag, pulled out my sealer and vacuumed away. Now it is happily chilling in our freezer ready for a meal sometime in the future. Along with that I had made a lot of oven fried potato wedges because the bag of potatoes was going bad. So, I also shoveled the large container left into a food sealer bag, vacuumed & sealed it and it's also sitting happily in the freezer. Two-thirds of a meal is ready to go at a moment's notice!

Right before vacuum sealing my potatoes for the freezer.

Potatoes vacuum sealed and ready to go into the frozen depths!

I hope you'll consider looking into one of these. If only to save you money in the long run from keeping foods from getting freezer burn. Also, keep in mind that not everything freezes or vacuums well. Imagine trying to vacuum pack all that leftover watermelon from yesterday's picnic... it would be a very sticky, watery mess. Yikes!

Homemade JELLY BEANS!?!?!

Oh my gosh, no WAY! It was a total fluke that I ran into this article outlining how to make your own stinkin' homemade jelly beans! It's another one of those things that never occurred to me. And the greatest thing is that they don't require corn syrup which is in almost every jelly bean under the sun. Hooray!

Check it out!
http://www.ehow.com/how_5393243_make-jelly-beans-stepbystep.html

Ramen, How I Loathe You

It is unfortunate that my whole family loves Ramen noodles. I do not. In college I refused to eat the stuff; even during my study abroad when my fellow students were downing their cheap bowls of noodles and fake broth, I pressed on in my homemade meal snobbishness. (I'm sure they were jealous of the delicious wafting smells coming from the kitchen.)

Even though I'm surrounded by Ramen-lovers in my very own home, I still can't get over those nasty packets of "flavor" that come with every package. The words "MSG" and "artificial" always give me a cringe as I unwillingly hand a steaming bowl to my children, much to their delight.

Well, today I wasn't going to stand for it anymore. On our menu for Tuesday's lunch is soup. I asked my son if he wanted Ramen. Of course he said yes. I didn't try plopping in frozen mixed veggies like last time (they went very unwell received). Instead, while the noodles were boiling, I discreetly did away with the packet of artificial beef flavor and whipped out my favorite beef base (Better Than Bouillon). I LOVE this stuff. And it's made from BEEF. Like, the real stuff. I stirred a couple teaspoons in and nonchalantly handed a steaming bowl of beef Ramen to my son. He downed it without even realizing and went on his merry way.

I AM MOTHER TRIUMPHANT! Mwahahahahahahahaaaa!

Take that Ramen.

Food Storage Survey

Last year at my church's annual Women's Conference I taught an Emergency Preparedness workshop. For this year's conference they've invited me to teach a Food Storage workshop! I am really excited for this opportunity. I love studying about food storage and finding ways of preparing that work for me and my family. (And there are so many ways to go about it.)

I've put together a survey to ask women about their challenges and successes with getting together a 3 months supply of food. If you'd like to take the survey, that would be great! Click HERE.