The Road Home

The Road Home
There is no place like home.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Fern's Farmhouse Special

This is one of those meals that needed a name, so we just made it up. Most people would think 'Food' was a strange title to a blog article, so Frank named this dish for us.


There is really not much special about this dish, it's just something I came up with since we have limited our carbohydrate intake. It's healthy, tasty and I make plenty of it. It's not particularly attractive, as in a pretty dish, but we don't care. What's neat about it is that almost all of the ingredients came from our farm or homestead. We know how the meat was raised, the milk produced, the cheese made, the vegetables grown and how all of it was processed. This is what makes this meal a 'Special'. We've almost come to take our homegrown food for granted, but not quite. Anytime the food on our table constitutes a homegrown meal in it's entirety, we take note, and enjoy every bite that much more.


Okay, on with the meal. The first ingredient is ground goat meat or chevon. About half the time I think I spell it wrong and put chevron, so if you run across that somewhere in this blog, sorry about that. I season the meat with sea salt and fresh ground peppercorns, then brown it with about half of a large onion (store bought) and any sweet peppers we have on hand. I just picked these peppers from the plant I transplanted into the greenhouse.


When the onions and peppers are starting to brown, I add two heaping spoonfuls of our canned garlic and a pint jar of our canned
yellow squash and let it heat up and blend in with the other flavors. By the way, I strain the liquid off of the squash into the pig bucket. I do this with any liquid we aren't planning on using in cooking. I even rinse out milk and kefir jars and put this milky water in the pig bucket. I really like using these liquids to increase our meat supply instead of pouring it down the drain like I used to.


While the squash is heating, I grated a little cheddar cheese and got out the salsa and fermented jalapenos. I haven't told you about the jalapenos yet. I fermented two quarts of jalapenos in the same kind of crock we use for sauerkraut. I inoculated the peppers with kraut juice when I started them, then left them in the crock for about three weeks. They taste great, still very tangy and stayed crunchy. Thanks to the reader that recommended we try them. I have four pint jars of peppers stored in the refrigerator now along with the usual four quarts of sauerkraut.


Now that the meat and vegetables are ready I dish them up, add some salsa, peppers and cheese. 


This type of meal has the possibility of endless variations, the only limitation is your imagination. So go create your own 'House Special' with whatever ingredients your family enjoys. After you do, see how many of those ingredients you can produce or store for the long term. The uncertain, difficult days ahead of us, will require good, healthy, home cooked meals for comfort and much needed nutrition. Practice now while you can.

Until next time - Fern
 

22 comments:

  1. I don't know if I was "the reader" that recommended fermented peppers, but I certainly have recommended them plenty of times to various people. I'm glad to hear yours worked out. They're really a wonderful thing.

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    1. Yes, Joshua, you are the one that told me about fermented peppers and we are really glad you did! All of your fermenting advice is greatly appreciated.

      Fern

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  2. Isn't it a good feeling to know that you can fix nutritious meals from food you have processed yourself. I think some store what others tell them they should store, whether they like that particular food or not. I store mostly foods I like or ingredients to make dishes I like and that I know my family will eat. Makes no sense to store 20 lbs. of oatmeal if nobody will touch the stuff. Your meal looks delicious and prompts me to do a little experimenting of my own. :)

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    1. You are right on all counts, Vicki. We've known people that had a whole shed full of 'food storage' and when you ask them if they are eating and rotating it the look of shock on their face was.......shocking. You don't eat food storage, you 'store' it. You know, just in case. One of those unbelievable things that is hard to fathom.

      I look forward to reading about your experiments!

      Fern

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  3. Fern, it looks delicious! I think it's wonderful that you and Frank have taught yourselves to grow and raise and make all these healthy ingredients. And I'm so excited for you both regarding your new svelte figures. You mentioned having jars of fermented sauerkraut and peppers in the refrigerator. If a person had no refrigeration during a crunch, how long could these be kept on the shelf in a crock or in canning jars? Would they continue to ferment or at some point do they stop fermenting but remain safe for shelf storage without canning? And if you need to can them, would you water bath or pressure can? Pardon the multiple questions please. Bless you both.

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    1. Sauerkraut fermented properly in saltwater will easily last a year. Probably two or more, if you can keep yourself from eating it. We've had saltwater fermented peppers last for two years just sitting on the kitchen counter, though a more ideal environment would be dark and somewhat cooler. One problem with long-term storage is that if they're stored in mason jars with the usual metal lids and rings, quite frequently the salt in the brine, and the acids produced by fermentation, will begin to corrode the metal. This certainly changes the taste, and is quite probably unhealthful. We like to use plastic one-piece lids we found on Amazon, to avoid this.

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    2. The way we look now is nice, C.M., but the most important thing is how we feel, our energy levels and the work we are able to accomplish.

      I can store the fermented vegetables on the shelf, but while I have refrigeration, I'm keeping them in there. Joshua has already warned me about using metal canning lids, so I use the plastic lids as well.

      I wouldn't can our fermented veges since that would kill the probiotics we want from them. We don't cook any of the kraut either, just for that reason. It is all eaten raw. Great questions!

      Fern

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    3. Joshua and Fern, thank you both for your answers. I have some of the white plastic lids myself that I use when storing leftovers in the refrigerator. I just wondered how I would know when the fermentation has stopped so that pressure wouldn't build up in the container. Also, now that I think about it, of course it makes sense not to water bath or pressure can fermented vegetables because of killing the probiotics in them. One last question -- is there anyway to know approximately how acidic the fermented cabbage or other vegetables would be? The reason I ask is because I think it sounds like an incredible way to preserve food when you're without refrigeration, but I have a medical condition that prevents me from being able to eat most of the acidic foods I love (like tomatoes, most fruits, hot spicy foods, etc.). I'll try to find the title of the books you recommended on fermentation, Fern.

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    4. I, for one, can't help you with measuring acidity. Litmus papers are the chemistry lab standby, but it wouldn't surprise me if some acids affect you more than others, so that might not help. I wouldn't worry about pressure build-up, though. There's only one lid I ever found that held pressure well enough that it was a problem, and that was a narrow-necked jar with a wire bail lid and an experimental fermented soda inside. That was a fairly catastrophic deal, but every other jar has let pressure leak slowly from the lid, so it hasn't been a problem.

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  4. If more people set a goal of eating meals that they grew the base for we would all be healthier....and the satisfaction is good for our mental health!

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    1. I agree, Fiona. Even if folks live in town and are unable to grow much of their food, they can still preserve basic ingredients for cooking. There are produce markets everywhere that sell farm fresh foods. Ask Vicki over at Mom's Scribbles (it's on the blog roll), she lives in an apartment, but can, dehydrates and freezes fresh vegetables and meats all the time. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  5. Fern - i agree with what everyone else has already said!

    my only question is - when will we receive an invite down to enjoy some of Fern's Farmhouse Special?

    sending much love to you and Frank! your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber, I think you live about 4000 miles from here. That would be a really long drive for dinner. We would have eaten all the food by the time you got here! (-:

      Blessings!
      Fern

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    2. Fern - when it comes to invites to dinner/supper - we get our running shoes on and start running! i'm sure there would be a little bit of leftovers for us after we ran those 4,000 miles...in a little under 10 hours. because it would be free food - bahahahah! xoxox

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  6. Looks delicious. Friend just returned from Ukraine. Putin has just doubled the price of fuel that they sell to the Ukrainians for heating. Oh yes, times - they are getting harder for folks. Money's a trap. Good on you guys for making yourselves more independent from 'the man'. ~Sassafras

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    1. Sassafras, the cost of everything continues to go up and up and up worldwide. And it's not going to go down anytime soon. Hang in there.

      Fern

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  7. Looks great! When's dinner? :) I love homemade meals and this one has to be one of the most "homemade" I have seen!

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    1. Sorry, Vickie, we ate it. (-:

      Thanks for the comment.

      Fern

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  8. Fern,

    "FOOD" looks really good, we've been eating more fresh veggies at every meal and limiting our protein intake.

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    1. We have limited our carbohydrate intake and really increased our proteins, Sandy. It's amazing the difference it has made. It's good to hear from you again.

      Fern

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  9. Funny - I just started making variations of this using ground beef or chicken. and cauliflower. I zap the cauliflower and chop it up, mix in a bit of cream cheese. From there I make layers like lasagna. If it's to be an enchilada casserole, I layer the cauliflower, chicken that I have canned, green salsa, cheese, and top with enchilada sauce. Italian is anything you'd put in lasagna. I have some canned butternut squash, so I'll try using that instead of cauliflower.

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