Apple Omelet with free range eggs and free apples!
Orange juice and home made bread snack, only the orange peels remain!
My first week of trying to eat better, aim a little higher at the locavore lifestyle didn't go exactly as planned. As I mentioned in the last blog I need to study my soil type first. At a local big box garden store I bought a soil test kit, and immediately began playing junior chemist. As a child I loved the chemistry sets we got as gifts, although instead of following directions my brother and I enjoyed just mixing anything and everything together to see what would happen. We are both still alive and have all our fingers, so it couldn't have been too dangerous. With the soil test kit I tried hard to mix correctly, follow directions and keep backyard soil and front yard soil separate. I learned that both areas are very light on any useful chemicals. The highest score was for potash, which includes potassium and can come from ash. Phosphates barely registered. I then, happily, added more soil and compost, and began dropping my little winter seeds in the ground. We should have good salads, peas, spinach and herbs. Or not. My gardens are always a wonder to me. Whenever I see little green little buds sticking out of the earth I am shocked and surprised, even if it happens every year.
The cooking side of eating better was less successful. I like to try recipes that are simple but different. I want fresh home cooked food, not boxed mixes, and I want food appropriate for the time of year and our location. The other night I cooked beer and cheese soup. The description sounded so good, and warm soup would be perfect for a chilly winter night. Even in the south we get those sometimes. Not being a beer drinker I bought a single fancy bottle. I chopped veggies, made broth and cooked. The cheese called for was just cheddar, and I shredded a bowl full. I mixed the shredded cheese with flour as the recipe said, then slowly added it to the broth and veggies. I added the beer and began mixing and cooking. All I achieved were gloppy mounds of unmelted cheese, and a bitter taste from the fancy beer. My son walked in, took one look and offered to collect pizza from down the road. I agreed and had to pour it all out. We ate pizza and watched mystery tv reruns.
My friend that owns the chickens brought us a gift from Florida, of fresh ruby navel oranges. I am loving my fresh orange juice. I used my bread machine to make a loaf of onion bread, but only I liked it. I loved it, but I can't eat an entire loaf. It made good croutons though. I made corn muffins with pickled jalapeño peppers my mother in law prepared last summer from her garden. That made me happy, but they were too hot for me. Others enjoyed them at a super bowl party, so that was fine.
I still eat cereal at breakfast, with cardboard wheat chips covered in sugar, and one day this week we ate mac and cheese from a blue box, and we enjoyed it. Even so, the plan stays. I intend to eat better, and to feed my family better, and to not worry when we fail and fall off the better food wagon.
Hurry up spring, and See you at the farmer's market!
