Preserving Harvests for My Picky Eater

My VHTS (very hungry tween son) is a bottomless pit but a very picky eater. Add to that his food problems and allergies, and we have a problem.

Last year I dehydrated much of our harvest, but I also froze a lot. Didn't do much with canning and pickling. Here it is harvest time for 2009 and we still have lots of the 2008 harvest in the freezer. I got to thinking... what on earth am I going to do?

As I was harvesting yellow squash, zucchini and tomatoes today, I really worked on puzzling this out. How can I get him to eat our harvest several months from now... during the Winter? I expect this winter to be long, hard and early, and combining that with the possibility of a swine flu quarantine, so this could become a very serious problem.

Here's what I've come up with, based on what we grow:

• TOMATOES: He doesn't like these at all, except as pizza sauce and ketchup. However, all of my canning supplies are packed away until we sell the house and move into a new place. So... I'm dehydrating all tomatoes, and will powder and rehydrate to make pizza sauce and ketchup as needed.


• STRING BEANS: He likes this fresh and frozen and canned, but as I said before, I can't can this year. He likes them cooked so I'll freeze these.


• DRY BEANS: He doesn't like my baked beans as well as Campbells or Bush's but he'll tolerate them. I'll finish drying them on the bush and vine (or pick before we move and string up to dry). I'll store them in a mason jar to cook in the winter. Perhaps I can soak, cook, mash, and hide in frycakes?!?!


• YELLOW SQUASH and ZUCCHINI: He likes zucchini better raw but none of it cooked and certainly not frozen first. I'm dehydrating a batch today. I'll store dried in a mason jar, and powder it to hide in pizza sauce or homemade gluten-free bread or smoothies or wherever I can.


• EGGPLANT: Same - dehydrate, store, powder, hide


• CUCUMBER: He hates cucumber unless it's benedictine (cream cheese, onion, cucumber dip) so I'll dehydrate, store, powder, and reconstitute into benedictine during the winter. Hmmm... yum.


• WATERMELON: He hates watermelon too. I know, unbelievable. I'll dehydrate any leftover, store, powder, and add to smoothies.


• PUMPKIN: He loves pumpkin pie. I'll dehydrate, store, then rehydrate to make gluten-free pumpkin pies and turnovers.


• CARROTS: We never have any left over, so we just eat them raw. In the future, hopefully we'll have extras, and we'll dehydrate, store, powder and hide. We don't like the taste of cooked carrots, so this will work.


• PARSLEY: I'm growing flat-leafed and curly, and he won't even try them. I'll dehydrate, store, powder and hide. I can buy more at Vitamin Cottage, already dehydrated.

That's my plan for the little bit we're growing this year. I didn't have the space or time for really anything else this year. When on sale, I'm buying: beets, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, cabbage, cantaloupe, bananas and other fruit. He likes much of those raw, none of them frozen or cooked.

So, as above, I'll mostly dehydrate (at night since the house gets shown during the day), store, powder and hide.

Just remembered that Vitamin Cottage (a local health food store) has mixed vegetables, spinach, parsley and other things, already dried. Especially fruit. I'll stock up on those, store in a mason jar, and powder/hide as needed. All of the dried fruit, whether purchased dried or dehydrated by me, will do well rehydrated and added to his smoothies. Loves it!

A Couple of Hard Working Canines. Not.

Thought I'd post updates on our critters. The chihuaua is teaching Puppy new tricks:

• Like how to eat one morsel of food at a time. Doesn't work for a 30 pound 3 month old Dalmatian-Rottweiler-Alaskan Malamute (Dal-Rotti-Mute for short!) [We feed them in separate rooms now.]
• Like how to flap his ears for attention (bad habit for a future guard dog who must be quiet while patrolling the grounds!) [Shaking a can with pennies helps a little with the ear-flapping.]

But a good habit he picked up is barking at strangers who pass by our fenced-in yard.

Not so good is he wants to horn in on her arthritis medication. And in return, she tries to get at his food.

We're working hard to make sure he doesn't keep any of these bad habits, but does keep the good ones. And we're doing "basic training" regularly - sit, stay, stop licking my foot, etc.

This picture was taken on March 7 ... just 10 days ago ... when the puppy is just 12 1/2 weeks old. Look at the difference in their sizes! The puppy is now three times the size of the chihuahua. And wow - he's smart - he puts his toys away which is more than I can say for the VHTS!

Pic of Our Guard Puppy

Here's a picture of our newest family member: Very Hungry Tween Son (VHTS) holding Sparky, our guard puppy. Hopefully to grow up to be our guard dog. In 3 days, we've taken him from never having contact with other humans or being outside of his littermates or with a collar or leash to holding his bladder all night, learning to sit and walk with a leash, and trying hard not to chew our table and chairs.

At 10 weeks old, he weighs 21.2 pounds. Look at those massive paws! He's going to be huge, and we will diligently train him to guard and protect our homestead and family. He's already bonded very well with VHTS, and listens to all of us, including the chihuahua!

p.s. notice our storage tubs in the background - we're using them to block off part of our living room to minimize "accident" damage - he is, after all, only 10 weeks old!

Meals for $5.00 a Day (Per Person)

Prices of food continue to rise. Meanwhile, we are struggling to keep our heads above water. Some people talk about eating for only a dollar day, and some blog about $5.00 a meal. We're trying to do $5.00 a day (per person) so for our family, it would be $15 total a day. Here's the info we've researched:

Here's a list of what NOT to do if you're watching your pennies, like we are:

• DON'T buy frozen dinners - they are full of salt and chemicals and not good for you anyway
• DON'T buy the pre-packaged cereals
• DON'T buy hot dogs or lunch meat
• DON'T eat out or bring home fast or restaurant food
• DON'T use refined flour or buy bread
• DON'T buy pre-made cookies, puddings and other desserts
• DON'T even look at the junk food, chips, crackers and soda pop - empty calories

Here's a few suggestions:

• Buy rice, flour, salt, oil, popcorn, honey, pasta, nuts, sugar and beans in bulk from a bulk food club.
• Make your own bread and other baked goodies.
• Watch your portions. Americans eat way too much. Use smaller plates and follow the "per portion" suggestions on packages. You'll get used to it.
• Stock up on dented but still good canned goods, and other canned goods when they go on sale. That means watching circulars and unadvertised sales.
• Clip coupons. But if you're going to pay more for the item even with the coupon versus store brand, buy the store brand.
• See if your grocery store has a discounted meat or discounted dairy section. If they do, ask when is the best time to find the best deals. Go then.
• Don't buy deboned and deskinned meats because you're paying for that extra service. Buy whole meats on sale, cook, and freeze in meal portions. Use the bones to make broth.
• Rely on soups, stews and stewps (thicker than a soup, thinner than a stew).
• Grow as many fresh fruits and vegetables at home as you can. Make every bit of your landscaping edible - fruit trees, berry bushes, asparagas, rhubarb, and annual vegetables.
• Learn to raise animals (like fish, chickens or rabbits) for meat, or hunt. Keep chickens for eggs - more bang for your buck!
• Sprout your own seeds to eat the sprouts - a little goes a long way for nutrition.
• Use your slow cooker (crockpot) regularly to make your dinner meal easy. If it's ready when you get home from work, you won't feel as tempted to order in.
• Use aromatics (strong-smelling herbs, onions and garlic) to make the food more pleasing to your sense of smell and taste.
• Be sure to have 2-3 different colors on your plate to make the food more pleasing to your sense of sight.

Here's a suggestion for one day:

• Breakfast ($.69) - 2 eggs (.22), cheese (.1o), grits (.34), tea (.03)
• Lunch ($1.22) - chicken salad (.67), 7 yellow pear tomatoes from garden (0), sliced apple (.55)
• Dinner ($1.12) - black beans (.22), double serving rice (.12x2), vegetable salad from garden (0), salad dressing (.66)

Wow! The above total is $3.03 per person! We even have money leftover for snacks like dried fruit, nuts, or homemade flatbread. And VHTS could have a big glass of soy milk with his breakfast!

Most of the above is good info for people who are working to exist on their stored foods. Hopefully, our blog will help you find a way to eat your stored foods, like that big bag of rice or making your own bread.

So... who has tried to eat on $5.00 a day? Or less. We are trying, but with a Very Hungry Tween Son (VHTS) who is always hungry but can't eat wheat, we are averaging about $8.00 (gluten-free bread is expensive). However, we've discovered we can grind our bulk rice and bulk almonds to make an unbelievably delicious cookie-thing. We'll keep trying to reduce our costs.

Cream Cheese, Yogurt and Sour Cream

Last night we looked through the grocery sale circulars for this week, and with the great sales going on for SuperBowl Sunday party supplies, a few questions came to mind. Thought we'd post them:

Cream Cheese:
Can cream cheese be frozen and successfully thawed for regular use? Hubby can't have it (lactose intolerant) so I don't usually buy it, but King Soopers (Kroger) is having a sale this week, plus I found some almost-expired marked way down last week. So, again, could I buy it when I find it on sale/marked down and freeze to use later? Will it be a similar consistency once thawed? Will it blend and whip the same way? Bought some yesterday and is now in the freezer. We'll see.

Yogurt:
Even though I'm learning how to make my own yogurt, I often find yogurt discounted at King Soopers with an orange sticker, sometimes for $.26 each, and with a coupon, sometimes we get these for just one penny. We buy these and try to use them before they turn bad, but sometimes we still have to leave several on the grocery shelves because we just don't have that much room. In addition, VHTS loves goat yogurt, so when we find it discounted to more than 50% off, we'd love to bring it home and freeze it for later (otherwise, it's soooo expensive). So... can we freeze yogurt in the same container, or would we need to pour into a different kind of container to freeze? Is it like "frozen yogurt" that is in the freezer section of the grocery?

Sour Cream:
Same question: Often almost-expired sour cream gets an orange sticker so we pick up one or two. VHTS uses lots of sour cream on his baked potatoes, which he gets about 2-3 times a week, and on his nacho chips. I use a little sour cream about once a week, if that. Would love to stock up on sour cream when it's discounted very low, and freeze. Is this possible? Does it thaw to original consistency?

Cheese:
We already buy block cheese and freeze. It makes a little crumblier texture when grating, but that's ok because we just melt it anyway. We also buy bags of grated cheese and freeze those.

Thanks for your opinions!

Recipe: Millet-Rice

Since we have to prepare most of our meals to be gluten-free (VHTS), we have to constantly experiment. This is a simple way to vary the plain-ole rice.

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked brown rice
4 tablespoons millet
4 1/2 cups water or apple juice or broth

Directions:
Cook as usual (microwave, crockpot, rice cooker, etc). The millet adds a bit of crunch to the rice.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Chip-n-Chicken Nuggets

We've discovered that my Very Hungry Tween Son (VHTS) does best with no wheat in his diet, and unfortunately he loves chicken nuggets. Instead of paying so much money for the frozen gluten-free nuggets, I devised this recipe and now make it at least once a week.

Remember, since I don't usually measure when creating a recipe from scratch, you'll have to gauge your own measurements too.

Ingredients:
olive oil
crushed potato chips (Son prefers sour cream and onion)
boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)

Directions:
Crush potato chips. Pour a little olive oil into a medium skillet and heat to medium. While heating, cut chicken into "nugget" size. Place the chicken into the chip bits and kinda squish them around to make them stick. When pretty-much coated, place chicken into skillet and fry. Turn when brown to do the other side. Remove when chips are golden brown and chicken is cooked through.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Bacon-Wrapt Tofu

This is Very Hungry Tween Son's favorite way to eat tofu - not the healthiest but VERY delicious and fun to eat!

Ingredients:
1 package (pound) sliced bacon
1 brick extra firm tofu

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut each bacon slice in half. Open tofu, drain, and cut into as many squares as you have halved-bacon slices. Wrap each tofu square with a bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a sprayed baking sheet, and continue with all. Usually if there's any leftover bacon, we wrap pineapple chunks. If there's any tofu left, we fry them on the same baking sheet by themselves. Bake until bacon is crispy. Very tasty combination and quite simple.

Note: This is an approximate recipe. I've done this for years and never wrote the recipe down. I'll adjust as I prepare it again.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Corn-Battered Fish Nuggets

We had never really cooked fish before so here's our first attempt at it:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 - 2 pounds fish (we used catfish and tilapia)
2 cups cornmeal, reserving 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cup goatmilk (more or less) - cowmilk can be substituted

Add other spices as desired, i.e. 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon dill weed, 1/2 teaspoon Accent OR 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wash and check fish for scales and remaining bones. Cut fish into "nugget" sizes, then dust fish with the 2 tablespoons of cornmeal, all sides. In large shallow bowl, mix the remaining cornmeal, spices and enough milk to make a thick batter. Dip the dusted-fish in the batter to coat. Place on sprayed/oiled baking sheet, sides not touching. Spoon any remaining batter over the fish. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, and bake another 15-20 minutes until fish flakes and is fork-tender. Cornmeal breading may break. Serve with our Easy Tartar Sauce.

Variation: Instead of baking on a baking sheet, bake in a foil-pocket (make with heavy-duty aluminum foil, place fish and batter, fold foil to make a packet/pocket). Bake or grill. Easy clean-up.

UPDATE: Woo-Hoo! 12 year old Very Hungry Tween Son (VHTS) LOVED these! We call him VHTS because he's in a huge growth spurt - suddenly he's over 5 foot tall, and needs/wants to eat all of the time. This can be difficult because of his gluten problem, but we're working on this. Thankfully he likes things we grow in the garden and various gluten-free items we've tried through the years. Jan 2009

Copyright (c) 2008 New View Group, LLC