The Dark Days Challenge!

I have signed up for the Dark Days of winter eat local Challenge from Urban Hennery!

From Sunday, November 27 through Saturday, March 31, anywho who signs up for the challenge will have to commit to making one meal a week that is a 'SOLE' meal...meaning sustainable, organic, local and ethical.

I know I am not the best at keeping with a 'schedule' for things of this nature - my sporadic Apple Harvest Party being a case in point! - however, with my move towards a real foods diet for my family and I, how hard could this possibly be? This is what I am striving for with the majority of our meals, not just one, one time a week! Although, it is going to be winter time so the food is a tad harder to come by in my area, but not that difficult as long as I am making the effort.

So, starting in December, I will be posting once a week on what I made & ate for the Dark Days Challenge that will be a SOLE meal. Sound like fun? Sound like something you would like to do, too? Join in!

Sign up at Urban Hennery, and then, Not Dabbling in Normal will be doing the recap posts from all participants.

Hay, the new Gold

There are a few things one can assume when viewing this cell cam picture I snapped last 'night'....at probably 5:45 pm-ish

1. Daylight Savings time suxs
2. The horses need hay
3. The horses needed hay badly, thus we were picking up on a Tuesday evening after work (this is usually something reserved for a Saturday!)
4. The horses needed hay badly because my hay guy sold out on me...even though my hubby told him we'd be back for 200 more bales to keep us through winter...
5. I was in a mad, frantic state all weekend looking for hay and no one had any - literally - no hay to be found
6. I was pulling in random driveways of farms and amish homes asking - NO.HAY.to be found
7. We found some hay 2 minutes down the road from us (hooray) for a crazy insane price. And I don't mean crazy insane in a good way, but 'hay', the horses NEED it.
8. Hay is like gold right now. If you find it, you better buy it, otherwise it will be gone when some other unlucky soul whose hay guy sold out on them finds it before you
9. Yes, I followed my husband in my vehicle, straight from work, with my work clothes on, fashioned in muck boots, and a baby in my back seat, because there was no way in hell anyone was getting that hay before I did!
10. ...and, I still need more.

Baby Food: Carrots

Ah - the carrot.

The vegetable that beta-carotene was named after!

 Did your mother ever tell you to eat them so you can see better?

No vegetable even comes close to comparing with a carrot when it comes to beta-carotene.

A study from Harvard University suggests that people who eat at least 5 carrots a week are less likely to suffer a stroke than those who eat one carrot a month. I found that fact interesting.

So, as you see above, I peeled the carrots. Normally, when I throw them in stews, pot roast etc, I do not. And if I buy them from a farmers market or pull them out of our own garden, I do not. However, these were from the store - I can't tell you why, but I felt I needed to peel off that outer layer. I digress - do what your gut tells you too. And have you ever had a fresh carrot from the garden? I never believed it until I tried it myself, but they really are so much more sweet and tasty than one from the store.

Anyways, what I was trying to get at was, since these are a root vegetable, I chose to roast them. Because everyone knows roasted root veggies rock! I coated them with some olive oil and baked them at 375 degrees F for probably 70-90 minutes depending on the size of the chunk! I could have done 400 degrees (and it would have took less time), I am sure, but I don't particularly care for the oven being that hot if I can avoid it. I know, I'm weird!

Coat these carrot chunks in olive oil - YES! - olive oil. Saturated fats are good for you. And they are good for your baby too. Coconut oil would probably be good too. Margarine or vegetable oil, umm, not so much [gag]!

After these roasted, they took a spin in the food processor. They were a 'rough puree'. If I had steamed them, I think they would have been more of a smooth puree, but since my little guy is almost 8 months now, a little more rough is better. He is learning textures. He screams when I take away a piece of steak that I let him naw on - but we'll save that story for later!

You may notice some little black specks. I say that is ok. Those specks are roasted goodness from the carrots. I also added some [homemade] chicken broth to the carrot puree for good measure ;)

Give these a try for your little one. And for sure, if you can grow them yourself or purchase some fresh from a farmers market, I highly recommend it!

Alternate Prep Method:

Peel the outter layer, then dice. Steam for about 20 minutes or until tender and pierced easily with a fork. Puree in foor processor with 1 tbsp of softened butter. If you baby is exiting the 'pure, puree' stage, you can still use the food processor, just hit the grind button a few times to leave them lumpy for more of a texture.

Liberated at the Grocery Store

Since I have made the conscious effort to eat more real food, I have learned so much. It's amazing. Eating more real food and eating locally and seasonally as much as possible - who would have thought.

I know some people think this costs more money, and yes, in some ways it can. Especially at first. But you also have to learn how to be frugal with what you have to make the most of it. I have said it before and I will continue to say, when you eat real food, you stay full longer, and snack less. Real food satiates your appetite. And it is better for you. Sounds like a win-win to me :)

An example of how to make something that seems more expensive pay for itself:
If I purchase a whole chicken, I roast it for dinner one night. Then I save the leftovers to go into a chicken soup the next day. I use the carcass to make homemade chicken broth for the soup. (Homemade broth = liquid gold!!) The soup can be part of dinner the next night and also will serve for a lunch or two for me for the rest of the week. I hate math so I am not going to give you some scientific run down of how economical this is - I think you can gather that!

So, in my babbling here, my whole point was to share that yesterday, while at the grocery store, I was amazed at how many aisles I just flat out passed up. I had no need to purchase anything in the aisle. It was great! It was awesome! I purchase all our meat from our local butcher and most of our produce from a local amish family or farmers market if we don't grow it ourselves. So really, I hit up the dairy aisle, the canned tomatos (didn't have enough of my own this year - bummer) and a few other staples like dried beans, olive oil and lunch meat for hubby's lunch. Yes, I know - lunch meat - I said we are slowly working on this real food diet! Hubby is my biggest hurdle so I have to slowly change him over!

Do you do a real food diet? A seasonal food diet? What is your favorite meal to make?

Baby Food: Applesauce

Who doesn't like apples, right?

And, applesauce is so versatile, it makes a great option for baby food.

There is a simple way to whip up a quick one or two batch serving, but this is how you would make apple sauce in bulk. For this particular set of photos, I had about 30# of apples and it took a stock pot and dutch oven to cook them all down in. My end result was 3 pints and 3 quarts canned. And about six 4oz jars to go fresh, into the fridge, for the little man.

Since I have a food mill, I was able to just roughly dice up the apples. I HATE peeling apples in mass quantity. After two seasons of doing so, I got smart and splurged the $25 for a food mill :) And, bonus, when you cook the apples with the skin on, they sauce is a nice, rosy color! (If the skins are red, of course!)

You will want to add enough liquid to the bottom of your pot just to keep the apples from burning and you heat & cook them down. For the liquid, you have options! Exciting, right? You can use water or jazz it up a tad and use apple juice or apple cider. I use cider if I have it. If not, I just use plain 'ol water.

Cook them down over medium to medium-high heat. The amount of apples you are cooking will make the cook time vary. Mine took approx. 25 minutes.

This is what they looked like cooked down. One you can pierce the pieces with a fork, you're good.

Then, take the apple 'slop' out of the pot and into your food mill and churn away until you have this b.e.a.u.tiful sauce pictured below. All the while, your skins, seeds and core stay in the food mill for easy disposal! YAHOO!

Now, you can water bath can this if you add in about 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Or, store fresh in the fridge for a week or so. Or, freeze it if you have the freezer space.

For baby, you have some other options to make it fun so it isn't just always applesauce! Try mixing something else in with it! Pureed banana's or blueberries. Or, my latest, pumpkin! Yes, that is correct. I took some of my baby pumpkin puree, prior to adding spices, and then added a 'tinch' of vanilla, some cinnamon, and mixed it in with the applesauce.

This post has been linked up to Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet
and Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist
and Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager

The First Frost

This past Saturday morning, while the East Coast was being pummeled by a snowstorm, we have our first visit from Jack Frost!

Here are a few early morning photos I snapped. These are SOOTC - straight out of the camera...

The Gerainiums

Sage



Zinnia's



The Orchard





Halloween Recap

My baby's first Halloween is over! *tear*

He went as a Lollipop Kid from the Wizard of Oz.

My camera was not cooperating so I didn't get the greatest pictures :/

These two are the most decent ones I could come up with!



I hope everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween!