#oh also! i saved the bones from my chicken for stock so i gotta think of what to do with that when i store up more veggie scraps

[danothan]

decided to watch tutorials for cleaning fresh produce after washing my brussel sprouts for an hour straight and thinking “wait… something’s not right about this.”

you’re telling me you can just let them soak in a bowl and come back to it later?? occam’s razor, you tricky son of a bitch.

[bomberqueen17]

One Chicken Fourish Ways for 2 people, a Recipe Post

So here’s how I ate last week, starting with a chicken I got from the farm. With recipes/techniques! I meant there to be photos of all of the stages but I dunno if I succeeded. ... No, I didn’t. Oh well.

I wish I could eat like this all the time. I don’t usually have the attention span. But here’s a look into it; my sister manages to eat like this regularly, though not normally in quite so immediate or organized a fashion-- she just spontaneously comes up with this kind of leftovers-remixing off the top of her head. Me, I gotta plan it all out in advance. The key, I think, for me, is having stuff pre-prepped while I’m doing something else. I’d never make butternut squash soup, for example, if I had to start out by roasting it that night. But leftovers are key for this kind of thing.

1) Roast Chicken In Milk. I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe, covered it for half of the cooking time and then left it uncovered the other half. I have a great little cast iron Dutch oven my mother literally mailed to me, that was my grandmother’s, and it fits a chicken sort of snugly and is perfect. As side dishes, I: a) roasted a largeish butternut squash, cut in half, face-down in a metal baking pan with 1/4″ of water in it roasted for like, 45-60min at whatever temp the chicken is, and b) made a big casserole dish of macaroni and cheese. I have a recipe memorized for that, but if you need one, well, this is the original recipe my mom gave me, but I often brown a diced half an onion in the butter before I add the flour, for a more complex dish.

I made a pan sauce as I let the chicken rest by whisking some flour (not much) into the Dutch oven and all the stuff in it. There might be a note on that in the original recipe. Carved the chicken: all I served at that dinner was a breast, skin-on, for me, and a whole leg quarter for Dude, because I know that’s how much we’ll eat. I left the rest of the carcass until after dinner. Scraped out the whole butternut squash into a bowl, and only added fixins (butter and maple syrup and black pepper) to about a quarter of it. 

Immediately after dinner, I cut the other leg quarter and skin-on breast off the chicken and put it into one container. I poured the pan gravy into container 2. I stripped the chicken carcass with my fingers of all the other large bits of meat-- the rib meat, the hunks of meat behind the shoulders, anything that when I dug my fingers in was soft over the bones and wasn’t just connective tissue or bone or gristle, shredded it all up smallish, and put that into container 3. I put the leftover butternut squash into container 4. And then I dumped the stripped chicken carcass back into the Dutch oven, added a stalk of celery and some carrot ends, and added enough water to cover it, and then I put that on to boil. I let it simmer for an hour or two, then left it to sit overnight because I’m a slob.

The next morning I dumped the stock through a sieve into container number 5, put it into the fridge, and threw out the bones and soggy veggie bits.

2) Chicken Parts And Rice Pilaf With Baby Spinach

I had to look up how to make a rice pilaf. It turns out it’s easy. Like, way easier than risotto, which I also make all the time but I didn’t have the right kind of rice for just now. As the fat to brown the aromatics in, I used a frozen hunk of rendered pork cracklins in lard, because I have that. You could use bacon grease if you save that, or any oil if you don’t.

So I stuck the chicken bits from container 1 in the toaster oven on a lil baking sheet at 400 for however long everything else took me, and then looked up and figured out pilaf. I used half of the stock from container number 5, and I added the baby spinach at the end while it was resting with the lid on. 

oh yeah I had a carrot in the pilaf because I wanted more vegetables. That was pretty tasty, especially since the chicken had so many seasonings on it.

The pilaf was so easy I also started bread dough. I made a recipe that calls for two separate hour-long rises, and just stuck it into the fridge for its second rise, so it could proof slowly overnight. More details on the bread, and a full disclosure about how many times I put this off, here.

3) Butternut Squash Soup and Homemade Bread

For this, all I did was use the leftover pan sauces from container number 2, a splash of the stock from container number 5, and the leftover butternut squash from container number 4. Got everything up to a boil, hit it with the immersion blender I happen to own and only use for this (you could just use a potato masher if you wanted), dumped in a little bit of whole milk to make it creamier, and then sat around waiting for the bread to finish. 

This is kind of a light dinner; you can serve cheese to go on the bread if you want a few more calories to tide you over. There’s no second vegetable or anything, you could do side dishes if you wanted. But I didn’t. 

4) Ramen With Shredded Chicken

I bought frozen ramen noodles, because our grocery store has them. I boiled them in water, meanwhile heating up the last of the chicken stock from container number 2. Once the stock was boiling, I added the shredded chicken from container number 3. When I served it, I topped it with most of the rest of the baby spinach. That’s it, that’s dinner. 

We had a jar of kimchi so that was the side dish.

(Another thing I’d thought of doing, but didn’t, was to make quesadillas instead-- warm up the chicken, slice some cheese, throw the baby spinach on top and fry big flour tortillas in a frying pan, and top it with salsa as a second vegetable. I didn’t, though-- maybe this week with a different leftover meat! Just-- if you don’t have ramen noodles or some other really tasty soup noodle, this is another one to do, and you can just use up the stock in the other two dishes above that take it.)

(And then, 5, I didn’t have any more chicken, but i had a little spinach left, so I used up the last of the baby spinach in omelettes on Saturday morning, with cheese left over from making the macaroni and cheese, which I had eaten every day for lunch all week. I could have kept some chicken back for this but I didn’t need to.)

So-- there’s a sample of doing one whole week’s menu planning off one major protein source, and a way to end up the week without leftovers. Full disclosure-- we went out to dinner once or twice in there, and had one one-off dinner that Dude made, I think it was some frozen fish filets he defrosted, pan-fried, and served over rice with steamed frozen vegetables on the side, no leftovers used or generated. So it’s not like we never eat out or only eat on-plan, but. I grew up eating like this, and various people have told me they’ve never heard of this kind of thing, so here’s a sample of how it goes when it’s going well.

So here’s the grocery list, more or less, and I apologize if I’m assuming you have stuff in your kitchen that you normally don’t, or if I’ve left anything off. 

A chicken (4.5 lbs, doesn’t really matter) onions, 3 or 4 one container thing of baby spinach a butternut squash, any size milk celery carrots frozen ramen noodles

all the rest of these are things I keep in my kitchen: flour yeast rice assorted spices (cinnamon, salt, pepper, thyme?) butter or lard (i actually used rendered pork cracklins for the mac and cheese) pasta

(optional: flour tortillas and salsa for the alternate meal)

You could customize this a lot for allergies, kosher preferences etc., and I’m working on a version now that starts off with a hunk of venison, so we’ll see how I do. Anyway. There’s that; I figured I’d write it up while I’m waiting for this week’s experimental bread to rise. 

[adventuresinfarming]

A Story A Day Series ~ Chapter 2

A Story a Day Series ~ Spring 2, Year 1 Word Count: 1,879 Summary: Avian gets a letter from a man at the beach; learns a new skill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Tuesday) Spring 2, Year 1 Avian was woken up by a rooster – assuming from Marnie’s farm – but that was okay.  She was refreshed and ready to start another day.  She quickly checked the TV channels.  It was forecasted to rain tomorrow and apparently the spirits were feeling neutral today, ok good.

She walked outside to find that her little seedlings were doing great – little leaves popped up from the soil and she couldn’t be more proud of herself!  Grabbing the watering can, she watered the little seedlings before she noticed the little flag was sticking up on her mail box.  First day here and she was already getting mail!

“Hello there, Just got back from a fishing trip.  You should come down to the beach some time. I’ve got something for ya. - Willy”

She didn’t have anything planned so that was her plan for the day.  After watering her previous crops, she threw her tools into the chest – also realizing she never shipped those Daffodils so she threw those in the shipping bin as she headed towards to town to find the beach. As she got into the plaza, she saw a man in a blue sweater and dark purple hair (she briefly wondered if he was related to Abigail, who also had purple hair) walking past Pierre’s.  She called out to him to introduce herself.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around with a viable frown on his face.  “What?  What do you want? Go away.” And with that, he continued on his way.

She was taken aback by his blatant rudeness so she just left him alone.  She had had her share of rude people in Zuzu City but everyone was always busy and in a hurry so she never gave it a second thought.  She wasn’t expecting that here though.  Oh well, maybe Abigail and him had more in common than just hair color.

She started south as that seemed like a good place for the beach to be and spotted Alex standing outside of his house, tossing his gridball up into the air just like he was yesterday. Avian knew he heard the conversation.

“Hey Avian, don’t mind him. Shane’s a loser.  All he does is work over at Joja then waste his time getting drunk at the Saloon.  You don’t want to hang around him.” Alex said matter-of-factly and tossed the ball up into the air again.  

“Oh,” she said.  “That doesn’t seem like much of a life.  You mean he doesn’t do anything else?” “Not that I’ve seen,” he said and tossed the ball again.  

You stood in silence for a moment before she asked where the beach was. “Oh you just go straight south from here and over that bridge.  The beach is a cool place to hang out and soak up some rays, you know.  Don’t want to get all pale.” “Ha yeah, so I’ve heard.  I got a letter from Willy to meet him there so I’ll see you later!” “Sounds good.  Hey did you bring your bikini?  We should hang out at the beach sometime.”

Her heart leapt into her throat at his invitation.  “Y-yeah, I think I brought it…I have stuff to do today but maybe sometime later?” you said. Shoot, did I bring it with?  She couldn’t remember.

He nodded and pulled out that dazzling smile as they parted ways.

She headed in the direction of his instructions and sure enough, the salt in the air got heavier as she crossed the bridge Alex had mentioned.  From the shore, she assumed Willy was on the large pier with the run down building on it.

As she walked along the wooden boards around the building, an older man with an untrimmed beard, raggedy red shirt and brown hat stood staring at the sea, smoking a pipe. “Ahoy there, miss.” He greeted as she approached.  “Heard there was a newcomer inn town…good to finally meet ya.” He swayed slightly, she wasn’t sure if he was still trying to get used to land legs or if he was in constant time with the waves.

“Ah…I’m still tryin’ to unwind from a month out on the salty seas…It was a big haul!  I sold a lot of good fish.  Finally saved enough to buy me a new rod.  Here, I want you to have my old fishing rod.”  He picked up the rod that was sitting at his feet.

“Aye, she was a good one. Caught me a lot of fish!  Its important to me that the art o’ fishing stays alive.  And hey, maybe  you’ll buy somethin’ from the shop once in a while.”

He gestured to the expanse of the ocean.  “There’s good water here in the valley.  All kinds o’ fish.  Oh yeah. My shop’s back open now, so come by if you need supplies – I’ll also buy anything you catch.  ‘If it smells, it sells’.  Heh heh, That’s what my ol’ Pappy used to say, anyway.” “You’re really giving me a rod?  Thanks Mr. Willy!” she was grateful for it, even though it was well used and a bit worn.  “I don’t even remember the last time I went fishing…probably not since I was a kid.” She trailed off.  If she was able to sell the fish she caught – or cook it for that matter (remembering there was a blueprint for crafting a firepit) – this would definitely help her livelihood. “Aye, you can just call me ‘Willy’, miss. No need for much formality here. And not much to it, just cast the line, wait for the bit and reel ‘er in!  I gotta get me shop in order now but let me know if you need any tips or the like – me shops always open to ya!”  

She thanked him again and decided to give it a test cast right there and like he said, it wasn’t long before she had a bite!  Luckily the fish wasn’t too crazy and she was able to reel it in without too much difficulty. Huh, a sunfish – now she didn’t know too much about fish but she could have sworn Sunfish were fresh water fish?

Either way, she was excited to a second avenue of income.  And since she was already here, she decided to sit on the bench at the end of the pier and hone her newfound fishing skill for a while.  The fish she caught were generally easy to reel in, she was happy that she’d didn’t have some large, scary monster from the deep that she had watched documentaries on.  Although one of the fish she reeled in seem tangled with some kind of chest. Opening the old box revealed “treasures” she supposed..if you could call some squiggly bait, three hard oval rocks and some ore, treasure?  She just shrugged and threw all of that in her rucksack to ask about later.

When her rucksack was getting full, she decided to take advantage of what Willy had told her about buying her haul, so she went into his shop.  It was definitely a fish shop, the smell of bait was thick in the air and fishing tackle and equipment hung on the walls.

“Ahoy there, lass – needs tips already?  You know, it’s nice to see younger folk move in.  Warms me heart to see kids these days take an interest in the nature around them.” He said as he was stocking some kind of shrimp into an aquarium-type container sitting next to the counter.

“Actually, I’m here to sell!” she stated excitedly as she heaved her rucksack onto the counter and took out the Sunfish, several Herring and Halibut. “Oh wow, I didn’t expect you to get to fishin’ right away!  Now let’s see here...” he took a moment to evaluate each specimen.  “How does 177g sound?”  He sounded quite impressed with how quickly she had caught on.

“Heh, thanks and that sounds great.  You can definitely expect to see me again soon!”  They exchanged fish for gold, which she quickly pocketed.  It felt good to finally have money again.   “Not so fast there, lass – your enthusiasm for fishin’ is terrific and all but be mindful that ol’ Willy doesn’t always have this kind of money on hand.  Mayor Lewis should have given you a shipping bin – lets just say there’s a rumor his pockets run deeper than the ocean.”  

“Oh sorry”, she said. She could take the hint.  If she was at the pier and needed to free up bag space, she’d sell to Willy.  Otherwise she’d just unload everything in the shipping bin.  She left his shop and decided to go fish a little closer to home. She was about to follow the river but decided that since she finally had some more money, she’d go get some more seeds from Pierre.

“Welcome back, Avian! Back for more seeds?” Pierre greeted her as she entered his shop.

Standing besides the counter, talking with Pierre was Mayor Lewis – she already had a bone to pick with him about Joja but didn’t want to bring it up in front of anyone so she kept it to herself and instead just greeted him like normal. Pierre was already digging out the seeds.

“How was your first night in the old cottage?” Lewis asked. “And I’m glad to see you’ve already purchased some seeds from here – Pierre has a great selection of groceries and supplies”

“Yeah, its really convenient so far.” She agreed.  “And the cottage wasn’t too bad.  Robin did a great job repairing it – oh and thank you for the starter kit!  The little seedlings have already started coming through the soil”.

“You’re very welcome and sounds like everything is going well, I’m glad to hear that.  Anyway, I’ll let you get to your shopping. Thanks again, Pierre.” Lewis said as he exited the building.

She picked out one Cauliflower seed and a few more potato seeds.  She bid Pierre goodbye and headed back home to plant these ones before setting back out to get some more fishing done – she was just anxious to plant more crops.

She retraced her steps and went south to find the river then followed it east, past some houses into a forested area.  Immediately on her right was a large ranch with cows and chickens grazing in the pasture – that must be Marnie’s house!  She continued along and noticed another cottage just south of Marnie’s but didn’t pay it any mind as she got to fishing – of course picking up flowers she found along the way. The fishing experience here was okay, caught a couple good sized fish but also some junk.  She headed home as it started to get dark and was pleased with herself that she didn’t get lost.  She threw everything she fished up into the shipping bin and headed in for some much needed sleep. ~~It was the strangest feeling – energy seemed to renew within her.  She could feel the experience she gained through chopping wood and gathering Daffodils and Dandelions soaking into her blood; her essence.  Not just that, but handling the fishing rod felt as if it was an extension of your arm – gently plucking the fish out of the water.  Jokingly, she told herself this was the feeling of Leveling up~~