pieces.

I haven't fallen off of the cook.eat.think. wagon here. I actually had a Pyrex explode into a million tiny pieces in my oven. I have a thing with glass. It always breaks no matter how careful I am. And, it always gets stuck in my fingers or feet, no matter how obsessively I clean it up. And it stays in my feet sometimes for months - even with my attempts of digging it out with sharp objects. So, this was a big thing.

So, I left it for a few days. Cleaned the floor 120 times (yes, it blew up just as I opened the oven, and glass literally flew OUT of the oven at my head, and landed up to four feet away). Put a rug in the kitchen. Let it sit for a few days. Bought big giant thick gloves. Pulled out the big pieces. Let it sit for a few days. Wondered how in the world I would ever get all that glass out of my oven. Looked for a shop-vac rental. Tried to sweep it out a little. Let it sit a few days. Wished I could just get a new oven (ha!). Let it sit for a few days.

I don't know when I will feel that I got enough glass shards out of the oven to EVER feel that I can cook in it again, but here's hoping. The holidays are coming. And a big birthday for a four year old is only 9 days away ... hmmm ... maybe I should order a cake...

So while I have been cooking a lot, it has been in the slow cooker on my counter. Big long all day soups and stews. Bread in the bread machine. Beans soaking on the counter. Panini's on the counter top grill. Now if I could just make this oven disappear and a new one magically appear in its place, I'd be set! ;)

The final CSA Box!

Today was it! The final CSA pickup of the season. We usually also do a late November storage share, but did not this year and are instead relying on our garden and a few local farmers for our final stocking up and some regular pickups throughout the winter!

In our box this week: sorrel, brusselini, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, celeriac, squash, onions, turnips (purple top & hakuri).

In our box this week last year.

winter garden.

While we have been busy in the kitchen we have also been out in the garden. I love yard work (yeah, I love shoveling too!). I will admit that we have a LOT of clean up after growing food plants rather than ornamental bushes, but it is worth it. The glorious weather has helped make the garden clean up even nicer. We are pulling, clipping, raking, and planting. We prepped and planted garlic and shallots. I love planting even as the cold comes. Speaking of planting...


This year we are planning to try to grow certain herbs and greens inside to see how much we can stay local for veggies even throughout the winter. Our pantry and freezer is packed with everything we preserved from farms and our garden all summer, but we still wanted fresh greens. With a sprouter we have a lot of variety throughout the winter for salads as well as bread, but we wanted more! So lets give it a shot and see how far we can go.

We plan to do a few succession plantings as we figure out what works best (or doesn't work). Our first planting::

-mustard greens
-salad bowl lettuce (cut and come again)
-spinach
-cilantro
-chives
-swiss chard
and by special request we will try
-window box roma tomato

To winter greens!

CSA Box This Week

Today in our CSA box...we haven't gotten much squash at all this year in our boxes. Winter squash is one of my favorite things, and I always look forward to it. Today we got only 1 small acorn squash and a mini butternut squash - not a good year for squash, it seems. I traded the mini butternut squash in our box for more brussel sprouts. The wonder of our garden is that we fill in the gaps of our CSA, can get quantity of our favorite items, and so even growing only 1 vine we already have a decent number of butternut squash stored away for this fall and winter!

In our box this week:: lettuce mix, arugula, beauty heart radish, leek, carrots, brussel sprouts, green cabbage, acorn squash, cilantro.

In our box this week last year.

Transitions.

It finally happened. Snow! Not a lot, but snow flurries combined with temps in the 20s means we had to pick all of the last more tender bits in the garden.

Most of it went into the dehdrator for our winter herb and spice jars. We also collected some heads and veggies for seed saving, so that we can plant again next year.


This week marks a big date. Six months. We have gone six months without buying any produce from a grocery store...except for random lemons, limes, and the few times per summer guacamole from our local food coop. What does that mean? We have gotten all of our fruit and vegetables directly from a farm, farmstand, or our garden since May. We had our garden and our CSA, and visited farms as close to home as we could to visit on farm stands or u-picks. We have also had a good year for local meat, eggs, and dairy...more on that later!

So for the winter we transition to more root veggies and foods we preserved all summer. For fresh greens we love to sprout on our counter. And we return to more fresh breads and weekly baking. Last night we made a loaf of sunflower millet bread which made the house smell amazing. Very comforting on those cold days. I have some 'mad scientist' plans to experiment and try to grow several types of vegetables and herbs in our house this winter. I want more than a few window herbs, and we will see how it goes. I'll be seed-starting this week, so will share our plans as we go!

I love this season - from hot to cool, from light to dark, from rich garden and farms to a fully stocked freezer. We have relationships with many local farmers that will continue through the winter, but most of the action takes place INside, and all of this work we did all summer makes this time of rest seem even more satisfying!

CSA Box This Week

It is almost the end of our CSA season. Only one more week left - growing season does seem to fly in Wisconsin!

In our box this week: hakuri turnips, carrots, onions, potatoes, leek, parsley, romanesco, lettuce, and a head of garlic.


In our box this week last year.

home made stock.

We like to make our own stock to use for cooking. Chicken broth, bone broth, even veggie/miso broth...making it from scratch helps us get the maximum flavor and nutrition out of it. And while it takes a little time, it is mostly time on low heat on a stove, not the constant stirring attentions of some foods. I try to make a gallon or more at a time which I then use for everything from soup, stew and chili bases, to brown rice. After you have homemade stock it is hard to use the cube stuff! :)

This week I made a beef stock - bone broth. With a sprained ankle and sore back, I know that the nutritional benefits of bone broth will help with joint support and healing.

For beef bone broth I start with 3-4 pounds of assorted bones from organically raised grass fed beef. This batch I used soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones) and ox tail. I buy this directly from the farmer we get our beef from - I know how the animals were raised, and they select soup bones with stock prep in mind. Vinegar and water is added to the pot - the vinegar works to extract the maximum nutrients (esp. calcium). I also add chopped base vegetables for flavor, as well as herbs and sea salt. The prep takes only minutes, after which it can simmer for 24 hours or more for maximum flavor.

::beef stock - bone broth::

Into a large pot add:
3-4 pounds soup bones
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
8 cups water
4 onions, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp whole peppercorns
4 cloves garlic, smashed


Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer. After a few hours you can skim off any residue on the top and toss that. Keep simmering for 24 hours or so for beef stock. In the last 30 minutes, chop and add some herbs. I like thyme and parsley - for parsley, I add a hand full, for thyme, a few teaspoons. Let it simmer for the last half hour. When done, pour through a sieve/strain. There you have it! Let cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat with a spoon. Store in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in batches to use as needed!


ingredients tip::

"Simply put, bone broth is the liquid that results when bones are cooked in water. The use of stocks and broths has fallen out of practice in many modern households but it is still widely used in professional kitchens. Broths have been used through the ages as-easy to-digest nourishment and were prescribed for the sick and ailing, the very old and the very young as well as a staple in every kitchen.

Broth can be seen as a medicinal tea made from bones, meat and the connective tissues that are often attached. By simmering bones in water you extract many constituents contained in them and make them available to the human body for easy absorption.

Properly made bone broth contains measurable amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium and other minerals, as well as collagen, gelatin and amino acids. These nutrients are beneficial for bone and joint health, for muscle strength and action, and for maintaining connective tissues and the gastrointestinal tract."