All home produced, not a glamorous meal that's for sure, but simple, and took me twenty minutes from start to finish:
Eggs from our hens, potatoes (from our 2017 potato harvest and stored in canning jars), beetroot ( from our 2017 harvest, pickled and stored in canning jars) raw chard from our Veg Plot One, yoghurt (made last night from the milk of our cows) topped with jam (from our 2017 fruit harvest), and a glass of milk from the morning milking of our cows.
Good food, with no additives apart from what was in the Heinz Ketchup Lester squirted over his potatoes! No ketchup for me, but instead a good drizzle of cider vinegar to which I am addicted. I often will have a swig from the bottle when in the vicinity of the fridge. I used to swig Baileys in the same way, never would I decant into a glass, but instead enjoyed partaking of a slurp directly from the bottle.
And it came into my mind that I had mentioned my Baileys habit in previous blogs, so I had a search through and found this video I made. It was on the subject of milking the goats for the first time, and how the experience drove me to needing a sip of Baileys.
This was January 31st 2013
We gave up on keeping goats, preferring the more placid nature of the cows,
and I don't have Baileys any more. Cider Apple Vinegar is not the same! It's my birthday coming up soon, so perhaps I might treat myself to a bottle!
And that's me done for the day, as I have three gallons of milk waiting to be made into a cheese, and it is late afternoon, and the cheese will take five hours, so that means I shall be late to bed.
This is the first cheese I made this season....
...... and it looks a right hodge podge of a cheese, mostly because I cooked it at the wrong temperature, put too much rennet in it, and took too long to go through the various stages in the cheese making process All that has gone on since my last cheese making sessions early last year has pushed my cheese making skills somewhere into a back of my mind, so this cheese was the waker upper. I have made four cheese since and they do look a lot better.
No knit and natter group for me tomorrow as I am playing the organ for a pre Easter church service.
I am feeling the draft of not having those precious two hours of female companionship already!
Bye for now
No knit and natter group for me tomorrow as I am playing the organ for a pre Easter church service.
I am feeling the draft of not having those precious two hours of female companionship already!
Bye for now
Vx
14 comments:
That is the sort of meal we love and what is better if it is all from the garden. We do not have and animals so I can only boast if we have a completely vegetarian meal ! I used to love Baileys but have not had it in years. Happy Easter. Diane
A very satisfying plate full of home-grown goodness. Eggs that are free range are so flavourful! I know you miss your group but I am sure the people where you play the organ are also happy to have you there.
Milder weather ahead....
Regards from BC Canada
Janine
I enjoy milking the goats so need for a stress reliever for me, enjoy your birthday Baily's, I need to get a grip of cheese making played around a bit last year with cheese.
Impressive! Alas, I fear I will never venture into cheesemaking at this rate. But chickens are still on the list.
May I suggest that when you have your summer harvest of tomatoes you might consider doing up a few pints of homemade ketchup? It blows commercial out of the water. Who knew?
Happy Easter!
Whats beer and win like where you live? Great video!
Loved the video. Love Baileys too!
That plate of food looks great. And it doesn't get any better than that. Loved the goat's milk video. And as you birthday is coming soon, yes, girl...treat yourself to that Bailey's!
Your lunch was truly all from your homestead . . . all raised right there! Isn't it a great experience knowing you and your husband could be fed well for a long time by utilizing what you've grown and raised by your hands alone? Hard work some would say but so, so worth it!
Your video was delightful! I am BIG fan of Bailey's, too, and I think you should treat yourself to another bottle soon. Personally, I consumed so much over the holidays that I need to stay away from it if only for all the unneeded and unnecessary calories it gave me.
If we got back into dairy animals, it would have to be goats again because I don't know what we'd do with all the milk from two cows. (I couldn't keep one alone.) I fear I'll never get into cheese making enough to use great quantities of milk.
I have missed commenting here and am trying to get back on track and make time to comment because comments mean a lot to bloggers and I do love reading your posts.
That meal looks and sounds heavenly
A slurp of ACV a day definitely keeps the doctor away! but you should definitely treat yourself to a bottle of baileys
Hope you have a fantastic Easter :)
DIANE, at least you are contributing some homegrown produce towards your meals, and that is better than nothing, so well done you. Hope your Easter is a good one.
JANINE, I enjoy playing music for our little local church even though I do not partake of the actual services! But I shall still save Thursday afternoons for Knit and Natter!
DAWN, cheese making should be no problem for you, although the harder cheeses like cheddar might take more of your time up than what you would like, but the soft cheeses take hardly any time at all. Hope your coming lambing season goes well.
COCO, my first batch of tomato sauce surprised me by its flavour, so I am sure that your suggestion of having a go at making tomato ketchup will also be worth trying, so thankyou for suggesting it. Cheese making is not hard, but some of the cheeses take a long time to process. Have a go! You might be surprised at what you can produce without too much effort!
NORTHSIDER DAVE, I don't drink beer or wine much, but the wine is cheap and pleasant enough. Glad you enjoyed the video!
LOCAL ALIEN, Glad you like the video, it is nice to make people smile!
THERESA, I feel myself liking the thought of another bottle of Baileys in the fridge to swig from so will take your advice and get my partner to purchase me one for my birthday! Glad you liked the video!
MAMA PEA, thankyou for taking the time to make a comment as I know that you are a very busy lady.
As for providing our own food, you also do a good job of doing this for your family and I find your blog inspiring on this topic and everything else that you do.
I do agree with you about keeping cows and the amount of milk which comes from them. I am making a hard cheese everyday at the moment, which takes about six hours although I am able to do other things at the same time. But we find goats less of a sociable animals for us, but if we couldn't keep cows I would definitely try again with goats.
Hope your snow is melting, and hope your garden soon springs back to life again after it's winter sleep.
TRICKY WOLF, hope you have a good Easter too, and the Baileys is imminent on the horizon!
Your meal sounds great and healthy too. I like apple cider vinegar straight. It's great for leg cramps after running.
LISA, ..... another apple cider vinegar partaker of! I use it for lots of other things as well, such as dabbing it on itchy insect stings, and stopping an irritating cough.
I'm all for DYI wherever and whenever possible, and I highly appreciate your generally being a DYI person.
Regarding food, I have to consider calories and fat percentage in addition to the additives' issue.For me, healthy food is food that isn't fattening. Also salt and sugar are of concern to me. I've never done canning but I guess you have to use a lot of salt when storing in jars or tins just like it's done in the food industry.
Vinegar, even the cheapest sort, is wonder stuff. I may use it in salads, but my main use of vinegar is in cleaning and insect biting.
Eggs from hens raised freely in the garden - are the best, and I envy you for that.
DUTA, the blessing of canning food yourself is that you do not have to do it like the commercial food industry does, so unless you want to there is no need to use a lot of salt, if any. As for sugar, the canning of fruit does require the addition of a sugar syrup to keep the fruit moist during storage in the jar, but again, the fruit is homegrown and therefore free of any preservatives at all. The problem of commercially grown fruit is that it would have had some form of chemical pesticides or preservative added to it at some point in its life.
So to provide a homegrown balanced diet sugar and salt are used, but in minimal quantities, far less than is used commercially.
We use vinegar to store vegetables by pickling them in it, plus as a disinfectant and sanitizer.
Everything in moderation, that is our philosophy!
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