I've been asked several times how I meal plan and cook for so many without an oven or refrigerator. It's really not been too bad, especially now that most of the nights stay quite cool (mostly low 20s to low 40s). I have been able to consistently plan and shop for at least a full week's worth of meals without need of a mid-week “booster,” though we sometimes grab some extra fruit or a special treat when we're in town. We keep a large Igloo cooler and a small overflow cooler outside the back (always shady, north-facing) sliding glass door, so I am able to reach our perishables without having to step outside. Our indoor stove is a two-burning camp stove hooked up to a 20 lb. propane tank. On occasion, we build a campfire and use the dutch oven outdoors over hot coals with coals piled on the lid to perform the task of baking, but it's going to take more practice to consistently get the goods evenly heated. When I have a high-carb craving, I usually put dumplings in a stew or soup or make some fry bread. I did get so desperate that I attempted brownie mix pancakes once, but I wouldn't recommend that. The staple homemade desserts (as opposed to the store-bought dessert of choice: generic Fig Newtons) are no-bake chocolate oatmeal peanut butter balls, no-bake chocolate peanut butter bars, cinnamon-sugar tortillas, truffles, fudge, sopapillas, and toffee. Oh, and GORP, if that counts...
Here are some meals that frequent our table: Breakfast: pancakes (usually with bananas, apples, peaches, Craisins, black walnuts, and/or pecans, always with lots of cinnamon and vanilla) breakfast burritos grits with poached eggs and cheese oatmeal (usually with a can of peaches) potato pancakes/hashbrowns French toast omelets, creamed eggs on toast, huevos rancheros, quiche, or something else egg-y Lunch: PB&J/PB&honey/PB&banana tuna salad sandwiches chicken salad sandwiches (either with apples/grapes & almonds or Aunt Thelma's delicious pineapple & pecan) soup/chili grilled cheese/ham & cheese green salad, usually Caesar or Tex-Mex nachos/quesadillas mac & cheese (with tuna, hot dog, or chili thrown in) pasta or cold pasta salad dinner leftovers Dinner: squash, pumpkin, or sweet potato soup spicy black bean soup tortilla soup chili clam chowder chicken & corn chowder potato soup chicken & dumplings ratatouille rotini w/ sundried tomatoes, walnuts, garlic, basil, & Parmesan spicy vermicelli pork & pineapple curry kielbasa & sauerkraut w/ apples and potatoes chicken & lentils enchilada skillet Thai curry with rice Filipino dinner (layers of rice, ground beef, crushed pineapple or mango, chopped tomatos, raisins, coconut, and Spanish peanuts – don't knock it til you've tried it – so good!) quinoa stir-fry pork mango picadillo pulled pork fajitas with guacamole burritos/tacos beans & rice with coconut milk and cilantro stroganoff skillet hash OK, now I'm getting hungry.
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The younger four kids have come down with a mild case of the flu, and no one slept very well last night thanks to a symphony of nose flutes and hacking percussion. We slumbered well-past 8:00 and were awakened by a desperate dog and anxious chickens. Henny has made herself a little nest atop Dan's strawbale wall and at last count was sitting on nine eggs, but the other two birds are still locked in their coop/prison at night. Morning chicken duties generally fall to Gideon, as his boots slip easily over his footie pajamas, and he loves any excuse to snuggle on Penny. We just finished a yummy breakfast of huevos rancheros smothered in last night's spicy bean soup. Lance took Isaac to work at Tom's with him, hopeful that staying out of the house will keep them both from succumbing to infection. I am soaking my feet in hot water with Epsom salt (they are sore from running up and down our hill too often lately in my slightly ill-fitting combat boots) in front of the sink while I wash the breakfast dishes and sip instant cappuccino. Havi is sitting on the floor in the center of a hollow square surrounded by Dingo, her Dumpy duck, and Gideon's two plush Angry Birds, wildly waving her arm as she “leads” an improvisational Sacred Harp-style song. “48 on the top!” she yells. “La, la, la, la-la, la, sol, la!” She tries to ignore the dog, who scoots over to gently gnaw on her foot. The boys have been playing “Biblestudy” up on the bunk bed, a current favorite activity in which Gideon reads several verses from Genesis to his little brothers and yells at them for not paying attention. He mentioned the other day that he plans to be a pastor when grows up, but he'll only teach from Genesis, as “that's the book” he “knows best.” After failing to be able to answer several rather basic questions I posed to him about Moses, Abraham, and Joseph, he clarified, “Well, not all of Genesis. Just chapter 1.” Now the boys have cleared off the table in order to play with Ezra's fire station LEGOs. As they build an army of red robots, they all softly sing Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It in three different keys, which makes me laugh.
Unseasonably warm weather this past week has made it pretty hard to be too bothered by the frequent rain showers and their omnipresent offspring: mud. We've had highs in the upper 60s and “lows” not even 10 degrees less. Last night a cold front started to move in, but compared to January in Colorado, there's no reason to complain. Whenever the mud overly-overwhelms me, we take advantage of our membership to the Creative Discovery Museum in downtown Chattanooga. Definitely our favorite place to spend a rainy day. Lance has started helping our neighbor on the next road south of ours with his log furniture building business, so he and Gideon are off with Tom tree-hunting. Tom is our friend who runs the Community First Marion County charity and exchange barn, and as I mentioned before, has kindly been fulfilling the role of fairy godfather to us for the last few months. He and his motley crew have gathered and bequeathed unto us all sorts of necessities and luxuries, including the hens and rooster, some IBC totes for water storage, floor mats, camo clothing and hunting accessories galore, curtains, brooms, replacement jeans as ours get holey, a cast iron skillet, and our little stainless steel bar sink. Oh, and plenty of Tom's signature dry BBQ rub, known fondly as Shake-Shake. We usually go down there a time or two a week to sort and organize clothing at the barn. The furniture Tom makes is ruggedly gorgeous and Lance is excited to learn from him. Likely he'll be there most days this week.
Christmas was simple and lovely for us. We thoroughly enjoyed a Michael Card benefit concert at the local middle school. The kids sang in a cantata at the Nazarene church so we heard countless rounds of Joy to the World and Go Tell It on the Mountain in preparation (and apparently postperation, as they still sing several verses a day). Kids opened a few gifts from family and sweet friends at church on Christmas Eve, and we sang carols with Dan's family and ate chocolate peanut butter bars (Lance's Christmas request from me). New Year's Eve was also Anna's birthday, and Theresa invited us all over for tacos and gumbo, cake and ice cream (mmm, ice cream: the once near-nightly staple now a very rare treat; though the gumbo was so delicious I barely left room for dessert). Adults played Scrabble while kids and teens half-finished Monopoly, then we united for several rounds of Apples to Apples. We also just finished a brief but delightful visit with our dear friends Ed and Karen who made the monumental trek from Colorado Springs to see our experiment firsthand.
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LyssI plan to use this blog to keep track of ideas and information, to hold myself accountable to my goals, and to give others the opportunity to observe the challenges and triumphs that ensue. Archives
April 2016
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