Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Great Day at the Farmer's Market

Today turned out to be a wonderful day!  Rod helped me at my Farmer's Market table this morning.  We got there and got setup by 9am when it opened.  By 10am I was sold out - blueberry muffins $1, 12 oz jams & jellies $7, and wild strawberry plants $1.  I am so happy!  We packed up our table and had some time to look around at the other tables and demonstrations.  Then at noon I gave a talk on raising chickens for eggs.  I was quite nervous, since public speaking is NOT my favorite thing, but it worked out fine and I did alright.

Rod and I are already looking forward to next year and more market days.  Making plans to expand our garden area and how to get more berries to be able to make more jams than this year!  I wish I had remembered to grab my camera and take a picture of the table - it looked really cute!

Juneau Farmer's Market

The first ever Juneau Farmer's Market is coming up on Saturday, August 30 from 9am to 2pm.  I have signed up for a table and will be selling jams and jellies, rhubarb bread, blueberry muffins and strawberry plants - all from local fruits.  I will be busy this weekend making the jams and jellies - hope I get it all done!  I will bake the bread and muffins on Friday.  I also volunteered to give a short talk about raising chickens for eggs.  I told them I was just a beginner myself, but would be willing to share what I've learned so far.  I will do that from 12:00 to 12:30.

There will be other speakers on topics such as growing garlic, flavoring with flowers, composting, free gardening resources, making cheese, greenhouse construction, and edible native plants.  The Dept of Fish and Game will have a tent setup and will present how to fillet salmon and tips on smoking and butchering a deer and how to take care of the meat.  Sounds to me like a wonderful day!!  I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to listen to all the presentations and still work my table  :o)

So if you live in Juneau, make sure to check it out!  It will be downtown at the old armory building, now the Juneau Arts & Culteral Center.  Oh, yeah, and come buy some homemade local jam!!

February Menu

I thought I would share what I have planned for our dinners this month.

1.  Ground Beef, Brown Rice & Veggies
2.  Baked Beef Ziti
3.  Baked Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli
4.  Spaghetti, Green Salad, Garlic Bread
5.  Chicken Ole
6.  Haystacks
7.  Salmon Chowder, Bread
8.  Macaroni & Cheese, Steamed Broccoli
9.  BBQ Picnic Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Biscuits
10.  Crockpot Chili, Cornbread
11.  Chicken Pot Pie
12.  Pancakes, Banana & Pineapple Salad
13.  Vegetable Beef Soup, Bread
14.  Sloppy Joes on Whole Wheat Buns
15.  Steelhead Fingers, Steakhouse Fries
16.  Chuckwagon Beef & Beans, Cornbread
17.  Chicken Enchiladas, Rice & Beans
18.  Crockpot Stew, Rolls
19.  Homemade Pizza w/homemade pepperoni
20.  Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots
21.  Black Bean & Rice Casserole
22.  Baked Fruity Chicken, Rice
23.  Shepherd's Pie (leftover roast)
24.  Split Pea Vegetable Soup (from freezer)
25.  Easy Taco Casserole

The other nights will be for leftovers.  We also take leftovers for our lunches.

Happy cooking!

Breadmaking Class

I had a fun, educational morning yesterday.  I went to a breadmaking class put on by a lady who is from Palmer.  She owns a business called Wholy Living where she sells Wheat Montana products, other baking supplies, Bosch mixers and Nutrimill grain mills.  It was so fun to spend a few hours learning and meeting ladies who like to bake from scratch and use organic/non-GMO items.

I was pretty impressed with the grain mill.  Even though it is electric, I will be saving up to buy one!  It went through about 12 cups of grain in 10 minutes - I can't even guess how long that would take in my hand crank one! 

The Bosch mixer was pretty neat, but I don't think I could justify the expense for just the two of us.  However...  there is a meat grinding attachment available and that could make it worth it.  Does anyone have one of these and have you used it to grind meat?  I would be very interested to know how well it works for you.  Last year we borrowed a commercial grinder and were able to process all of our moose burger (I forget how many pounds) in 25 minutes - that was twice through too.

The presenter gave alot of good info on different grains.  She explained how most of the nutrients are gone by the time you buy commercial flour from the store (which is why they enrich it).  Fresh ground wheat flour still has the bran which provides much needed fiber for our diets - but it also begins loosing nutrients.  If you grind more that you will use immediately, you should store the rest in the freezer.  She said it is best to grind each time you bake.  She showed how you can grind small amounts of grain in your blender, this is how she makes her breakfast cereal.  She mixes 7 grain mix, millet and amaranth and pulses in the blender.  Mix one part grain to 3 parts water and cook as you would oatmeal.  It came out good, but I would need some brown sugar added!

She used a mixture of grains in her bread - a soft winter wheat (Prairie Gold), kamut and spelt.  She adds a dough enhancer to her bread to help with the shelf-life.  Another thing she said to do is to take the temp of the bread to tell when it is completely cooked.  She took the pan out of the oven, flipped the loaf out upside down and inserted a meat thermometer in the side.  You are looking for a temperature of 180 degrees.  We sampled the bread and like I said, it was good, but the crust was pretty crispy, which isn't like what I make and what Rod likes.  So I will need to do some experimenting until I find a wheat recipe that will work for us.  Right now I'm using organic unbleached white flour from the store, so it will be a big change to fresh ground whole wheat!

I plan to begin incorporating more grains in our diet - now that I know how to use them!  I have a few bags of grains that I haven't tried fixing yet since I really didn't know what to do with them, so I'm looking forward to trying some of her recipes.

April Monthly Grocery Trip = $120

I completed our monthly grocery shopping today.  With some great deals and careful comparisons, I spent $120.  I visited 3 stores and spent about 2 1/2 hours.  Here is what we got:

This is our 3rd month of once per month shopping.  It has been fun, challenging, and has taught us to get creative with leftovers and making do with what we have.  Last week we were down to about a half a cube of butter...so we were rationing it!  I found a cookie recipe that didn't use butter, used shortening instead.  We also used the last bit of mayonnaise, so when I made fried halibut, I couldn't make our normal tartar sauce.  So we came up with a seafood sauce that used ketchup, chili sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, onion, etc. and was a nice change!  Went good with our homemade french fries too!  Today before I went shopping, our fridge was pretty empty.  We used up the last of the milk yesterday and finished off the eggs this morning just in time to fill it up with new supplies today.

Our budget used to be $200 per month and I shopped every week or so.  We would pay for that month's groceries with that month's paychecks - so January groceries were paid with January's paychecks.  By being very careful, we have saved enough to be ahead of the game now.  Our May groceries will be paid with April's paychecks - so I will have money in hand on April 30th to buy May groceries.  That is so cool!  If we are able to keep the budget below $200 after that, I will use the excess to restock the pantry when items are on good sales.  This may mean an extra trip to the store, but it will be worth it!

Homemade Snacks?

Looking for recipes or ideas for homemade snack foods...  What types of snacks do you make?  I make most of our meals from scratch, but we don't have many snack items.  So our goal is to try making some instead of buying them. 

I tried to make some tortilla chips from homemade corn tortillas - I think the tortillas needed to be very, very thin for the chips to come out good.  Does anyone have any tips they would like to share?  I also want to try some potato chips.  Hmmm what else would be good to try...  Soft pretzles, granola bars.  Another thing I've thought about is some type of sandwich that I can make and freeze and just pop in the oven when we want to eat it.  I know people make them with bread dough around some type of filling.  Or how about burritos - has anyone made these from scratch and then froze them?  How would you reheat them - without a microwave?

Thanks for any ideas you can share!

Planning Our Monthly Menu

This is the second month of shopping just once for groceries.  I used to shop weekly, then switched to every two weeks, and now just once a month.  It is working good - we have definitely saved money.  It takes some planning, but this month was easier than last and I expect it will just get easier as we go.

I start with planning out what meals we will have on a calendar.  Crystal has some on her site if you want to print one out - look for the link "The Homestead Kitchen" on the left side.  We eat leftovers for lunch, so I just plan what we will have for dinner.  To start, have a list of your favorite meals.  I have a binder that I keep our favorite recipes in, so I just pulled that out.  Now start writing when you will fix what.  I take into account what I already have in the freezer, fridge, pantry that has to be used up - plan meals around those ingredients.  Also, think about any nights you have activities planned - I have a class on Wednesdays, so we have leftovers that night.  I save the more complicated meals for the weekends.  So here is how our March menu looks:

T:  Tacos
F:  Honey BBQ Salmon, Rice, Peas
S:  Salmon Patties, Egg Noodles, Green Beans

S:  Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn
M:  Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, Peas
T:  Chuckwagon Beef & Beans
W:  Leftovers
T:  Tacos
F:  Halibut Enchiladas, Rice & Beans
S:  Moose Roast, Potatoes, Carrots

S:  Shepard's Pie
M:  Steak, Baked Potatoes, Beets
T:  Hamburger Pizza with green pepper, red onion, mozzarella
W:  Leftovers
T:  Tacos
F:  Sweet & Sour Shrimp, Rice
S:  Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes

S:  Leftovers
M:  Potato Soup
T:  Black Bean & Rice Casserole
W:  Leftovers
T:  Tacos
F:  Pan Fried Halibut, French Fries, Broccoli
S:  Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Peas, etc.

S:  Leftovers
M:  Easy Taco Casserole
T:  Sloppy Joes
W:  Leftovers
T:  Tacos
F:  Salmon Market Meatloaf
S:  Moose Stew

Now I have 2 monthly menus - for April I can use ideas from the past two - add in a few new meals, change things around, or just copy one of the other months!  Now on to the grocery list.

I look at each night's meal and jot down what I will need to buy to prepare that meal.  You can look at my previous post to see what I bought to prepare our March meals.  I make sure I put the quantity that I need as well.  I then organized the list by store - some things I can get at Costco cheaper than the other stores - other things I don't need a quantity of.  I had three stores to visit.  I went alone and it took me a total of 2 hours 45 minutes to complete the shopping.  It took about 20 minutes to put everything away - so just over 3 hours total.  I probably spent an hour making out the menu and list this time.  Not too bad!  We were $84 under budget in February and $50 under budget for March.  Cool!!

Monthly Grocery Shopping

I did our grocery shopping for March last night - except I will stop at Super Bear on Sunday to get cheese as they have a 2 lb. block of Tillamook on sale for $3.49.  Our budget is $200 per month and we are trying to make only one trip per month to the store.  February was a success - only spent $116.  We decided to use any surplus to stock up when basics are at a really good price during the month.  In February, we bought 10 cans of tuna because they were $.09/can with the store "price smashers".  I didn't go to the store though - my friend said she would pick them up while she was there, so that we would still make it through the month without going back to the store! 

Here is what we bought for March:
10# organic sugar $7.99
Corned beef (for St. Patty's day) $9.03
4 lbs. bacon $9.59
120 oz. vegetable oil $5.29
Tostitos $4.99
4 lbs. butter $6.99
2 gallons milk (non-rbst - expire Mar 12) $5.58
8 lbs. frozen strawberries $7.55
16 cans diced tomatoes (sale) $4.89
5 half gallons milk (non-rbst - expire Apr 11) $13.25
20 lbs. organic unbleached white flour $18.23
2 doz. organic eggs $8.74
green peppers $1.98
iceberg lettuce $2.67
green onions $.50
romaine lettuce $1.50
cucumber $.69
cabbage $1.87
15 lbs potatoes $3.99
1.5 lbs. organic gala apples $3.46
organic celery hearts $2.99
1.9 lbs. organic yellow delicious apples $4.66
cilantro $.99
organic bunch carrots $1.99
3.3 lbs organic bananas $3.33
6 lbs. organic onions $8.98
pineapple juice - 6 pk $2.79
bamboo shoots $1.49
canned mushrooms $1.58
frozen juice x 4 $5.96
sour cream $2.79
2 lbs. sweet potatoes $3.01
chili sauce $1.99

Total was $147.00 (including tax, minus coupons)

Pantry Challenge - Day 6

Pantry Challenge - Day 5

I was thinking yesterday when I used up 5 cups of white flour that I might run out before the end of the month because I only bought 10 pounds.  I also bought 10 pounds of whole wheat flour though, so I will need to use more of that.  I had planned on using 1/2 and 1/2 in our bread, but Rod prefers white only, so we will do white for bread.  Today I tried out wheat flour in our cookies instead of white.  I doubled the baking powder to make sure they cooked right - they turned out great!

Today's Ingredients:
Leftover roast, potatoes, carrots, peas & gravy
2 c. white flour, baking powder, salt, milk
2 1/2 c. wheat flour, shortening, butter, eggs, choco chips, baking soda

Menu:
Meat pie with biscuit topping
Chocolate chip cookies for dessert

Pantry Challenge - Day 4

We are still using only items from our pantry/fridge/freezer for our meals - will be doing this all month.  I have a running tally of what I've been using each day to put together a master list of what we use in a month and eventually in a year. 

Today's ingredients:
2 lb. moose top round roast
Onion, potatoes, carrots
Onion soup mix
Cornstarch
Frozen peas
Organic white flour, honey, canola oil, salt, yeast

Menu:
Crockpot Roast, Potatoes, Carrots, Gravy
Homemade White Bread

Pantry Challenge - Day 3

Tonight is "date night" and my birthday is next week, so we are going out to dinner and a movie to celebrate.

For breakfast we had:

Scrambled eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, onion, green pepper (leftover baked potato from a few days ago), warmed up tortillas and salsa from last night

For snack I made some blueberry muffins with berries I picked last summer - they turned out great.  My secret to great muffins is that while they are still hot, butter the tops and dip in sugar - yummy!

Hope everyone else is having fun with this challenge.  On the Homemaker's Homestead message board that I read, there is a thread about once a YEAR shopping.  Here is a link to the article that sparked it.

Pantry Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 and I haven't visited the store again...  so far so good!  To answer a couple questions about our once a month grocery trip...  We do not buy much meat anymore - the hunting and fishing here are great and our freezer is full.  I also have stocked up on canned goods - some homemade, some commercial - and frozen fruits and veggies.  As far as paper goods, laundry detergent, etc., I usually buy multiples when I get paper towels and toilet paper.  We have been using fewer paper towels and using more kitchen towels for wiping down counters and such.  I make our own soap and laundry detergent and try to find homemade alternatives to other cleaners.

Tonights dinner ingredents:
Masa flour (for corn tortillas)
Tomato, pepper, onion, cilantro
1 pint home canned moose meat
2 pints home canned pinto beans
Last bits of cheddar and mozzarella cheese (have been in the fridge awhile)
Brown rice

Menu:
Tacos - homemade tortillas w/shredded moose meat filling, cheese, salsa, sour cream
Baked brown rice
Refried beans

Pantry Challenge - Day 1

There is a Homestead Pantry Challenge going on, which is perfect timing for us.  We are not visiting the grocery store this month - only eating what we have onhand.  Over on Pattisea's blog, she has laid out some rules to help clear out the pantry and rotate what you have onhand - check it out.

Last night's dinner (and today's lunch):
Corn Potato Chowder w/saltines

Ingredients used:
Potatoes (beginning to sprout)
Can of corn
Can of evaporated milk
Green onions
Saltines (getting stale)

It's a good beginning....check back later to see how we are doing!

Flouride in Our City Water

This Weeks Dinners - Eat Right For Your Blood Type

I sat down and planned out our dinners for the next week following the Blood Type Diet (we are both type A, but we eat Moose which isn't on the plan).  I try to keep things simple and only incorporate one new food per meal.  I also plan meals to use what we have onhand.

#1:
Lentils & Brown Rice Tacos (Crystal Miller's recipe)
Corn
Refried Beans

#2:
Turkey
Green Salad
Winter Adzuki Fried Rice

#3:
Hamburgers
Sauteed Carrots & Celery Root
Braised Kale

#4:
Salmon
Broccoli & Cauliflower
Baked Rice Pilaf

#5:
Salmon Patties
Mashed Parsnips
Green Salad

#6:
Baja Black Beans, Corn & Rice

#7:
Beef Barley Stew

Sprouting Wheat Berries

My new eating plan includes sprouted wheat bread, so I'm on a mission to find out how to make it at home.  The loaves at the store are about $4 each and I know I can make it for less.  I found a couple recipes, but I have to use one without added wheat flour, just the sprouted wheat.  Here's what I'm going to try: 

Sprouted Wheat Bread Recipe

Last night I put the wheat berries in a jar with the water.  This morning I drained them and put into my kitchen sprouter.  This afternoon when I checked and rinsed them, the little sprouts have come through a little tiny bit.  We'll see how long it takes...

Found a Good Doctor & PCOS

I've never been good about visiting the doctor, never really found one I liked I guess.  Well, I found a naturopathic doctor and she is great!  My friend and I went to a women's health forum where they talked about focusing on being healthy at whatever weight you are at.  A thin person can be unhealthy, and an overweight person could be perfectly healthy.  Hmmm...never really thought about that.  The message has always been if you are overweight, you are automatically unhealthy. 

So I decided to go to a doctor and have my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar checked to see where I stand (I weigh about twice what I should).  On my first visit, we talked about things I wanted to do to make myself healthier - start exercising and learn more about nutrition to be able to feed us better meals.  She suggested I follow a diet by my blood type - Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type.  My type is A-.  A's should basically be vegetarians according to the book - adding eggs, fish and poultry.  She said that I should not have anything from cows.  Wow - do you realize how much you eat that comes from a cow?  We have our moose meat, so she said that is a good, lean, clean source of protein.  But I would need to quit milk, cheese, & butter.  That is a BIG change for me, but at this point, I am willing to try it.  To start, I am avoiding the foods on the Avoid list.  A few things have been quite challenging to eliminate or find substitutes for:  potatoes, white rice, wheat, tomatoes, vinegar, mayonnaise.  It has been two weeks now, so I have been getting more comfortable with the new eating habits and we have been trying some new foods, which is good.

I have commited to exercise every day now.  I either walk for 3 miles or workout to a video for 20 minutes.  I ordered the Biggest Loser Workout and it showed up last week.  It is great!  There are different levels and the CD is programmable so you can play whatever sections you want to.  It starts off alternating days of cardio and days with hand weights.  Today was day 5, so far, so good.

I went for my second doctor visit last Wednesday to go over blood test results.  She found that my hormones are out of balance, and after talking to me about other symptoms, believes I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).  Patients have different sets of symptoms and mine are included.  I've since done some reading and found out that it is likely genetic, that there is no cure, but it can be treated.  This could be why I've had trouble with my weight since I was 13.  So I am hopeful that through treatment I will have better success getting to a healthy weight.  This will reduce my risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer from PCOS. 

Right now I am taking some hormones to see if that will get them balanced, and incorporating an anti-estrogenic diet into what I'm already doing.  This is to reduce the amount of estrogen coming into my body from the foods I eat.  Some of the diet I have already accomplished through the blood type diet, so there is just a little tweaking to do.  One of the main things is not to eat commercial chicken because of the hormones they are treated with - organic is okay though.  I should increase vegetables, whole grains, eggs, garlic, onions, and beans.  I should eliminate sugar, white flour and all refined foods.  There is also a smoothie to have a couple times a week that includes kelp, lecithin, yeast, eggs, fruit and yogurt - to help my body get rid of excess estrogen.  She also suggested I take vitamins - which I haven't been.  C, B complex and chromium.

I'm anxious to see how these changes help - my next visit is in a couple months.  I already have alot more energy - I'm sure this is from the exercise.  Rod says he has noticed a big change in my attitude also.  I'm down 12 pounds as well, which is fantastic!  I will be weighing myself only once a month so I don't get hung up on what the scale says.  I just need to concentrate on exercising every day and eating good. 

Cool Egg...

A friend from work gave us some fresh eggs - one of them was quite big - probably a double yolker.  I was saving it for Rod's breakfast, but he didn't want eggs.  So I used the egg when making my rolls tonight.  To my surprise when I cracked it open there were not two, but...

Three!

Thanks Ramseths!

Where Does Our Water Come From?

And what is in it?  I did some reading on this today - went to the City and Borough of Juneau's website and looked at the current water report.  The city water comes from underground wells and surface water from local sources.  I knew that our city water is treated with chlorine and fluoride, and I wanted to find out about how much is added and what is known about using fluoride in drinking water.  I found that Sodium Fluoride is added to our water at a rate of between .7 and 1.2 mg/l and that the recommended average is 1.0 mg/l.  So, if I am drinking more water than someone else, I am getting more fluoride than they are.  I don't know what amount is considered too much.  When you consider that we use fluoride toothpaste and that many of the packaged products we buy and consume probably have been produced or contain fluoridated water - there is a good chance that we are consuming more than the recommended amount.  Fluoride in water is very controversial - some say unnecessary.  Do you know what Sodium Fluoride is?  It is a white, crystalline (sand-like) powder which may be dissolved in a liquid.  It is used widely in the chemical industry, in water treatment, and as an insecticide!  EEWWW!  And I am drinking this everyday?  I also found that ingested fluoride is helpful because it is used in the tooth-formation process.  I'm 32 - I think my teeth are done forming, aren't they?

So, what can we do?

We could filter our tap water.  Does that filter out fluoride?  I don't know.  Would it filter out all the chlorine?  Not sure of that either.

We can switch to bottled water - but I would want to make sure we know how it has been disinfected - some use chlorination.

We can look at an alternative source of water for our house, i.e. spring water, well water, or rain water.  I was raised on spring water - we had a wood box that collected water from the hillside and was pumped up to the house.  It was the best tasting stuff!  We have a well on the property, but isn't good for drinking.  We do live in the perfect place for rain water though!  I think we will seriously look into this and what it will take to set up.  Even if we have a small tank that we could use for our drinking water, that would be better than nothing.

Just for fun, I set a plastic bucket outside today with a mesh over it to keep out the leaves to see how much water would accumulate.  I left it out for about 2 hours and already had plenty to fill up my glass!  I know, I'm silly    But I know exactly what was in it!