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CrabGrassAcres

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Everything posted by CrabGrassAcres

  1. Mini, my daughter is Celiac, I'm not. Sometimes I just want stuff she cannot have, so I fix it for myself and fix her something different. Some things I like and she hates and some she loves and I hate. If hubby doesn't like stew, make a big pot and freeze it in individual portions. Feed him what he wants and heat a bowl of stew for yourself. Maybe do the stirfry, but cook each item individually, mix yours the way you want and let him pick and choose what he wants.
  2. Just coincidence that it "worked". If it really worked, hatcheries could set only the female eggs for breeds that they have a hard time selling the males, like Leghorns. Millions are hatched every yr and half are male. Leghorn males are not worth feeding if you are only wanting meat. So hatcheries have to find a way to get rid of all those male chicks. They usually get to be snake food.
  3. I get "cooking food fatigue" all the time! LOL I do try to identify what is lacking so I can cook better meals. Then see if it is something I need to add to the storage food or is it something I need to start producing like fresh veggies. Still working on that one......
  4. I was thinking about this today. The other day I treated us to Taco Bell for the first time in ten forevers. My DD was so excited I had to stop her from hopping out while we were still moving. I noticed the portions were much smaller and I could have made quite a meal for the money. We probably won't do this again for a very, very long time. I felt yuck afterwards and not because of how much I spent. That stuff just isn't healthy. What are some of the things your family likes when you eat out? Can you make healthier versions at home? Some things, like egg McMuffins are really easy to do. What are some of the convenience foods you normally buy? Do you use a lot of canned soups? Try making them from scratch. You won't believe how much better they taste. Another thing is to decorate the food. Have you ever made radish roses? Carrot curls? Draw faces on the oatmeal with homemade fruit syrup. Put slices of boiled egg on the spinach. When you make cornbread use those cute iron molds shaped like corncobs. Color makes a big difference and seasoning. I was surprised to find out many people don't put salt in the oatmeal and wonder why the kids don't like it. If I had kids old enough and capable of learning, they would be doing a lot of the cooking. I've been cooking since I was 9.
  5. Glycerin is a byproduct of soap making. When we make soap at home we don't remove the glycerin so our soap is easier on our skin. Commercial soap normally has the glycerin removed because they make more money selling the glycerin on the side. You can buy it online from soap maker's supply places or from your local health food store. It isn't cheap.
  6. I used to eat it a lot in CO but have never seen it here. We ate the seeds from the Chinese elms in salads in spring. Have you ever had tumbleweed soup? When the seedlings come up in early spring they are really tiny. Just pinch the tops off and they make a great soup on the order of split pea. (This is the tumble pigweed, BTW>)
  7. 1/2 cup cooked chick peas 4 pieces marinated artichoke 2 tablespoons sliced green olives 2 chopped boiled eggs 1 tablespoon chopped onion Salad dressing of choice You all have a favorite COLD bean dish?
  8. The masa harina from the store is a bit stale but that is the only dry masa I've tried. You might want to dry some of your grains and decide how you would prefer doing it. It would probably be easier to dry the corn before grinding if you were planning to keep it a while. It is a lot of time prep but it makes a big difference in the nutrition. I only saw a passing reference to the continuous soak with no details.
  9. Masa is the paste or dough made from freshly ground wet hominy. You can run it through the mill a second time if you like. Masa Harina is a brand name for dry hominy flour. If water is in short supply, the rinse water can be run through a sieve to catch the hulls and used for washing dishes. Indigenous peoples who use a lot of masa will keep a pot of corn soaking almost continuously, replenishing the pot with corn, water and lye or lime as needed.
  10. Thankyou, Cowgirl, that is exactly the point. I know a lot of folks panic and don't know HOW they can have enough food for their families on a very tight budget. This is for them. This is how Mother always said people survived during the Great Depression and afterwards when they were too poor to buy anything. The folks in the South grew their own corn and beans and collards and that was what they ate.
  11. In the freezer it should keep indefinitely. However, after a few months I think things pick up a 'freezer taste'.
  12. Yes it should work the same if you dry it before grinding. If you can afford it you might want to get a corn grinder like the one on this page: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/masa.htm
  13. No, it won't be white unless you started with white corn. The mill normally used for masa flour is made for grinding wet corn. What kind of mill are you using?
  14. We once lived in an old camp trailer and it wasn't very big. I got a shepherd's folding stove and put in the trailer. We had a propane heater, but only 5 gal bottles and they don't last long. If you are snowed in for months at a time you get creative. I lined the wall behind the stove with alum foil and it kept the wall cool. A shepherd's stove stores in a small space and the stovepipe can be nested into a box till needed.
  15. You can buy sheet metal duct work that is made to fit inside a wall cavity. You could prob adapt that to hold quite a bit of grain.
  16. Organic corn from the feed store is perfectly fine. I use feed store corn myself.
  17. Pickling lime or builder's lime is the same as slaked lime. Usually you can find pickling lime at a grocery that has canning supplies. You want calcium hydroxide, not calcium oxide. If I couldn't find pickling lime I would not hesitate to get the builder's lime from a lumber yard.
  18. Here is a recipe. Corn tortillas are made with treated corn. THis tells you how to treat it. There is a grinder that is specifically made for nixtamal or you can prob use a corona hand mill if the food processor is not available. Corn Tortillas Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2006 Show: Good Eats Episode: TORT(illa) Reform 1 1/2 to 2 pounds Nixtamal, recipe follows 4 to 5 tablespoons lukewarm water 1 teaspoon kosher salt Place the Nixtamal into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 10 to 15 times. Add 2 tablespoons of the water and pulse 8 to 10 times, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add 2 more tablespoons of water along with the salt and pulse until a dough begins to form. If the dough is still dry and somewhat crumbly, add the remaining tablespoon of water and pulse several times. Turn the dough out onto the counter and shape into a ball. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and allow to sit for 30 minutes. *You may also make tortillas from pre-ground masa flour following the directions on the bag. Preheat a cast iron griddle over medium-high heat until it reaches 400 degrees F. Divide the dough into 1 1/2-ounce portions, shape into balls, and keep covered with a damp tea towel. Cut a 1-gallon zip-top bag in half and line the base of a tortilla press with the plastic. Place 1 ball at a time onto the press and top with the other half of the plastic. Close the press and push down firmly several times until the tortilla is flattened. Remove the plastic wrap from the tortilla and place onto the cast iron skillet and cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove the tortilla to a plate lined with a tea towel. Cover the tortilla with a second towel to keep warm. Repeat with all of the dough. Use immediately or store in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator for up to a week. Nixtamal: 1 pound dried corn kernels, approximately 2 cups 6 cups water 1/2-ounce slaked lime* (commonly called cal), approximately 2 tablespoons *Cook's Note: Both dried corn and slaked lime (cal) are available online and in most Latin markets. Rinse the corn under cool water; drain and set aside. Place the water and the lime into a 3 1/2 to 4-quart, non-reactive stockpot, set over medium-low heat, and stir to combine. Add the corn and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Make sure that it takes at least 30 to 45 minutes to come to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, remove from the heat, cover, and allow to sit at room temperature overnight. Do not refrigerate. Drain the corn in a large colander and rinse under lukewarm water for 5 to 6 minutes while rubbing the corn kernels between your fingers in order to remove the outer coating. Place the corn into a large bowl, cover with lukewarm water, and allow to soak for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, rinse, and repeat. Use immediately to make masa dough for tortillas. Yield: approximately 1 1/2 to 2 pounds nixtamal Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 45 minutes Inactive Prep Time: 12 hours
  19. I was talking to a friend in Colorado the other day. She said when I70 was closed due to a rock slide in Glen Canyon http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/25/rock.slide/index.html she was at her daughter's house in Delta for the holiday. Her husband was working and planning to drive down for the meal. My friend and her daughter went to the store to buy Thanksgiving dinner fixings and there was next to nothing in the store. They went to all three groceries in town and no food. The SIL was working in Montrose and he tried to buy groceries before coming home (his wife called him and told him the situation.) He told the store clerk that he was going to run to Grand Junction to get groceries and the clerk told him that stores in GJ had been calling trying to find food for their customers. At some point Walmart got a truck out of Salt Lake City and my friend's daughter stood in line 3 hours and got next to nothing. My friend finally called her husband and told him to bring groceries when he came. The SIL asked why she would tell her DH to bring food since the small town they lived in wouldn't be any better off. She told him that her DH would bring food from her pantry and freezer. So my friend fed a large family group (SIL's extended family plus her family.) The daughter and SIL learned a lesson and now have their own large pantry. Even the SIL's family learned their lesson. OTOH, this past winter with exceptional snow had the relief workers snowmobiling into places with food for people who don't keep a pantry and couldn't get out to the store.
  20. http://www.comorosvanillabeans.com/extract.htm Fritz, this is where I bought mine. I really like the Madagascar Bourbon beans. I make a simple syrup of sugar and water and pour the hot syrup over the beans in a sterile quart jar. Cap and let set for a few week then use the syrup instead of extract. I use about 20 beans in each jar. I was gonna make extract, but I'm too cheap to buy booze. When the jar is empty put more hot syrup over the beans. You can pour booze over that beans whenever you want and keep refilling the jar with booze.
  21. HEY! I got a truck! Oh JOY! I think I'll make a swimming pool! LOL
  22. Tomatoes and greens. I once read about a frontier family that made it thru a long hard winter and finally got to town. They bought a can of tomatoes and opened them on the spot and ate them out of the can.
  23. Originally Posted By: dogmom4 Andrea, thanks for such a wonderful post! I have a half dozen containers of strawberries that went dormant over the winter but have been taking off with the weather warming up. Only one of lettuce that basically overwintered and survived the freeze we had. Last year I tried the upside down tomato with little success. Not because it won't necessarily work, but, we had a pretty long stretch of over 100 degree days, I got sick and they all died for lack of watering. Plus, it was necessary to get on a ladder to water them because they were hung on the edges of the roof (flat roof). No one else but me wanted to get on the ladder 2 times a day to water. So, this year I plan to figure out a way to hang them from the roof but using a chain so they can be raised and lowered to be watered or hang lower to be watered from the ground. (snip) http://www.dripworksusa.com/store/kitshop.php#tiptop
  24. Cookie, I ain't gonna let you see "my" canned stuff. Not if you think canning only 3 turkeys is odd. LOL Wanna come help me can two pigs? (smirk)
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