Monday, September 14, 2009

Fake meat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6Cv7RTazU&feature=channel_page

I watched this video and thought I would give it a go! Here's the recipe written out:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat gluten
1 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
mix these dry ingredients well.

1/2 cup COLD water
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
Mix these liquid ingredients and add to the dry.

Let rest 5 minutes.

Can be fried in oil, (olive oil is good, but sesame oil is preferred), as patties that are 1/2 of an inch thick.

Or, you can boil it in water, broth of any kind. Bring liquid to a boil, then add your dough, and return to boil. then turn to a simmer and let it go for 20 minutes.

OR you can keep it in a bag in the fridge for up to a week while pulling off what you would like to use for each meal.

If you boil, slice and eat, good on sammies or in stir fry.

To make it sweeter, use 1 TBSP of any sweetener of your choice before adding the liquid to the recipe.

OK, on to the reveiw. lol.

I made it up according to Sarah's directions. Being that I am at 5000 feet above sea level or that we are in a more arid area I ended up adding more water (between 1/3 to 1/2 cup more) in order to get it to the same consistency as what Sarah shows in the video (LOVE VIDEOS!). Once I had it to the same consistency, I fried up 2 patties in regular veggie oil (it's what I had unless I wanted to use lard), in my 10" cast iron skillet. One patty for me, and one for the hubby.

Fried it was pretty good. I could see it with alfredo sauce and some veggies, or with some gravy and mashed taters. I could also see it fried in a bun with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes like a chicken sammie from McDonald's or Jack in the box.

Hubby, (the one I have to please with the food) was impressed that he could eat it. As most of you know he has no teeth, having to have had them removed after cancer destroyed them. Finding something he can eat is the challenge of my life! lol. he ate the entire pattie i fried for him, and probably would have eaten another if I had made him more. lol.

Then I took the remainder, and like Sarah did I boiled it. I used chicken broth to boil mine in. I boiled it for 20 minutes then took it out and let it cool for a few. It had the feel and look of a brain when I took it out... I know that sounds unappetizing, but it was kind of fun...

Upon cutting into it, I found that it hadn't cooked all the way through, again, I am thinking this is because of the altitude difference. I would boil it for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, OR make smaller balls of dough.

It was done enough on the outside for us to eat the outside, and leave the inner uncooked part. Hubby didn't like it. He said that it resembled cooked playdough in texture and flavor. lol. I could eat it if I put sauce on it... maybe I will turn it into dumplings or something and try it again later.

So the consensus is that at some future date, I'll make it fried, hubby really liked that, but boiled was a no-go for him.

It's going in my personal recipe file for me to use again, though. 90% or so on the protien meter isn't bad if you are stuck with little to no real meat and you can't leave due to being locked down for Swine Flu pandemic or invading mutant zombie bikers!

Give Sarah's other video's a look, she has some good stuff. Sarah's Pioneer Living or exploreourplanetorg on youtube.com

Friday, September 11, 2009

9/11

Happy Patriot Day everyone! What are your plans for remembering?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Curiousier and Curiouser..

ok, I am on A LOT of yahoo groups mailing lists. I read about subjects about everything from my favorite author, to food storage, to survivalism, to dogs, to polygamy, to LDS, to Pagan, to prophesy... Why is it that there is always someone who assumes things? I got this message today from "MIDSBOY247" this morning on my yahoo messenger. Looking at his yahoo profile, it's blank. This tells me that he's either very new, a spammer, or a troll. I thought he had a legitimate question.. "hi there....i saw you on the christian polygamy group on yahoo thats why i have chosen to ask you this question because you are obviously open minded. the question that i want to ask is this. have you ever thought about the idea of breastfeeding a partner? i know it is a strange question but i thought i would ask."

Now, I am not above being a ding dong.. but at first I thought this was a legitimate question and that he wanted to know if this is a sound idea or just kink. lol. I told him to each their own. There is historical evidence of a young woman who kept her imprisoned father alive by breastfeeding him. It was the only way that she could keep him from starving...

But when, just a few lines later, he wanted to know if I found it erogenous... I KNEW by then he wanted to know if I would to cyber with him... So I kind of cut loose a little bit...

"I am not on polygamous for cybersex or to "hook up". Why is it that so many men think that because a woman doesn't mind sharing her life, her husband, her family with another woman that means that she will talk about sex with just any man? Or that she sleeps around? Is there something about a woman, who has sex with only her husband, that turns a man on? that she's loving and monogamous with her husband somehow makes her more attractive? It's not like it's an orgy. lol. husband only sleeps with one woman at a time, and sister-wives do not sleep together.... There is no "kink" like breastfeeding your husband, or spanking, or woman on woman oral... It's plain ol' sex. the kind that any man would have with any one woman. lol. This does not mean that the man in the house sleeps with any woman off the street... and it doesn't mean that any of the sister wives will drop their drawers for any man who they pass on the street, or meet on a yahoo group. IF you are interested in being breastfed, just ask your wife. She will either tell you yes, or no."

the reply I got from midsboy247? "ok" and now all is silent on his end. lol.

By the way, midsboy247 says he's a man, and that he's 32 years old. Come on!

Like most of the nation I got interested in polygamy after I started watching "Big Love" (a series I love, and can't wait for season 3 to come on DVD so I can get it from Netflix!). Being that my fathers side of the family was all LDS, and I am a decendant of Wilford Woodruff who signed the 1880 pact that ended polygamy it's kind of something I wanted to learn more about.

Over the years I have met a lot of polygamous families now... And I have to say, that the families I have personally met are all well adjusted, productive, positive families.

I get behind that a lot. There are sooo many broken homes, divorces, children being handed around from family to family... And it's kind of a natural thing anyway. There is always someone home for the kids, there is more income if more than just the husband is working, and it's just a huge family. I can't really see the downside to it. It's Biblical, (Abraham, David, Isaac, Moses, Solomon, and more all had more than one wife.) Many hands make light work, and it makes sure there is always someone there to share your ups and downs of life!

But, there is so many negative connotations behind the idea of a man having more than one wife. Pictures of orgies, and girl/girl interaction pop into every undisciplined mind. I guess it's just human nature to think of Kink before they think of love and family. lol.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Tradin', Tradin', Tradin'!!!

Ok, so barter is alive and well in rural America.

When we moved into the house we are now in, the former occupants had left 3 big pots out front full of growing walking onions! I have used some, and I will use some more, but onions aren't something I use a LOT of. I have dogs, and I have a husband who beleives the dogs should have everything we do. So I tend to not keep a lot of things on hand that the dogs can't eat. Grapes, onions, macadamia nuts... on and on.

Anyway, what I did (and still do) need is canning jars! Pints or Quarts.

Enter "the swap". Driving through town yesterday on my way out of town I noticed someone up here had set up some tables and had some stuff up for sale. I went back once we got home and found out it was a nodding aquaintance of ours! Whee.. chatted some, bought a couple of books mentioned I had some rabbit cages to trade and that I was looking for some canning jars. They didn't need the cages, but they do have a plethora of jars. I also was talking about where we moved to and about what was left here by the former occupants. They jumped all over the onions.

So, today I went back and I swapped one of my largish flower pots (about a 3 gallon pot) full of onions for 3 dozen quart size canning jars. Which I have now been putting in the dishwasher so I can dry them out and put away some of these beans, rice, and other stuff that is in bags. Whoot! Now the food will last longer and it's much more rodent and bug proof!

Glop...

Dinner was pretty good! and super simple really.

brown 1 pound of hamburger
4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 yellow zuchinni of medum size, chopped in 1 inch squares
italian seasoning
a dash of rosemary
1 can diced tomatoes, drained slightly

Put the garlic in a saute pan with a little oil and let it just start to soften. Add the zuchinni. Once the zuch is softening, add the hamburger and brown it up. By the time the beef is browned, then the zuch's should be soft. Add the can of tomatoes and the seasonings.

whille all of this is going on, boil up some egg noodles (how ever much you need for your family!) and then drain them off.

To serve it all, put a scoop of noodles on your plate, then ladle on some glop, serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

TADA! And it was very, very good! Hubby went back for seconds.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

dog treats and breeding peanut butter

I have a very huge over abundance of peanut butter here. lol. I tried to share with friends, but everyone I asked also had several jars. You get them everywhere up here. They are a cheap form of protien so they are given as gifts, "knock and drops" and other wonderful occasions...

Had a baby? here's some peanut butter... Birthday? Have some peanut butter... broke your arm? have some peanut butter... dog had puppies? peanut butter... dog ran away? have some peanut butter.

Get a food box and you get peanut butter. Get commodities from the tribe get peanut butter... lol.

I think the are like zuchini, you turn your back and they breed. Mind you I am not complaining... but I do think it's funny. I have this awesome memory of being here at my new home (back in November) for only about 2 weeks. We went and visited one of our new found friends and I mentioned I had to run to town, I was out of peanut butter and a few other items. Friends' hubby went to the cabinet and grabbed a 2 pack of Jif and said there you go. It wasn't until later that I found out that they had 12 jars of peanut butter. ROFL. Since this time I have found out that it's tradition around here. Some jars are more beloved than grandparents. Being passed from friend to friend and neighbor to neighbor for generations.

Needless to say, that even with hubby loving the stuff, and myself liking it somewhat, it continues to grow. Currently I have about 7 jars. Consuming one or two a week just doesn't cut it! They reproduce way too fast. This of course will come in handy down the road, remember, food storage is important. But because of this abundance I started looking for more recipes to use it in. I have 3 dogs.. TADA Dog treats! I found a few recipes, and yesterday made a second batch with a second recipe to try. I didn't like yesterdays batch, it was crispy hard and was a pain in the butt to get all cut out and in the pan and cooked... Maybe that was because i was using a 1 inch by 3/4 inch gingerbread man cookie cutter. lol. The final 1/2 of the batch I just whizzed into squares with my handi-dandi pizza cutter. Anyway... The recipe i made the day before I really liked! So, I'll include that recipe here. They were easy to do as you just scoop them onto your cookie sheets and smoosh them like you would sugar cookies. dump, mix, plop, flatten, cook, done!

Peanut butter dog treats
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup wheat germ (I used ground flax seed as I didn't have the wheat germ)
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used smooth, I don't have crunchy)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 C)
mix all ingredients either by hand or on low until well blended. Form into tablespoon sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls to 1/4" thick using a fork or spoon.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes about 20 cookies.

I used my smallest pampered chef scoop. I can't remember the scoop size, but I think it's either a tablespoon sized scoop or just under. then I flattened with a fork like you would sugar cookies. I got 27 treats out of the recipe.

Even after being 3 days old now, they are still soft. I have them stored in a 1 gallon sized plastic jar. I think next time I'll add a little cinnamon or parsley. Cinnamon is good for their blood, and parsley is good for their breath. I'm a little surprised that it didn't include salt. Iodine just as important for dogs as it is for us. In the wild the dog would get iodine from the blood of it's kill. Same with salt. Although, hopefully, they are getting enough of this in the dog food that is fed....

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Heating Oil

Whew.. I called around today and found the company that provides the heating oil to the new house... I gotta tell ya... It's not cheap! $2.58 a gallon, and our tank is a 240 gallon tank. According to their records this house goes through 60 - 70 gallons a month. So I am thinking I'll start with 100 gallons in our tank and see how long that lasts.. But even that is $258.00! Of course with that kind of cost it'll be waiting until the first part of October, hopefully wen't won't need it before then. lol. If we do, then we'll be in a whole world of hurt. :(

This weekend is supposed to be pretty cold too. 50's for the day and 30's at night. We'll crank up the electric heater if needed for that. Although, what we have is one heater and it's in the bedroom. :) I'll get a few more milkhouse or radiant heaters for the back two bedrooms we aren't using. That will keep them above freezing at least. Have to be careful, the water pipes run through the ceiling here and I don't want them freezing at all!