Hounds In The Kitchen » Local Food

Pantry Month Update

Rachel — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:13:13 +0000

This picture has nothing to do with anything, I just think it's funny.

When I gave our family the challenge of eating what we had in our pantry, freezer, and larder with only $100 for fresh groceries, I pulled that number out of a hat. A very shallow hat, it turns out.

I initially thought we might be able to count restaurant expenses from the benjamin, but in the wake of sinus surgery we relied on take out and busted the budget in two quick days. I’m changing the rules (they are my rules after all) and only counting grocery and beverage purchases for home consumption, also discounting purchases for cooking classes.

Current Report

In the first week, I spent $17.95 on milk and kefir and $8 on tea. We visited Whole Foods with me under the influence of pain pills and purchase $36.68 of yogurt, milk and produce. Yesterday, we spent $20.92 at the other whole foods on bananas, kale, cheese and milk. Grand total thus far: $83.55 Less than $20 for the next 12 days…

This is becoming a real challenge.

Going Without

There were pomellos at the grocery yesterday. Lil was very interested in them. Never having eaten one myself, I wanted so badly to buy the very large green skinned fruit and try it. But at $3.99 each, they were too expensive for our budget. In a normal month I would have bought one without a thought.

The rice Lil likes is almost gone as is our dry pasta. Lil is a carboholic and a picky one at that, so she may be sorely disappointed in the final week’s menu.

I have no more red wine and am almost through the last bottle of white. I ordered more with a Groupon credit (I figure credits paid before January don’t have to count towards the budget) which may or may not get here before the end of the month. The liquor cabinet remains well stocked to fulfill my drinking needs.

We have no more honey. I usually buy it in the lowest-cost-per-volume half gallon quantity but that would eat up nearly our entire remaining cash. I’m not sure yet whether we will continue to do without or buy a small bottle in the interim.

Can We Make It?

I remain confident that we will finish January spending no more than the remaining $16.45. I am also confident we will go to the grocery bright and early on February 1 and buy some outrageous interesting food. I am willing to wager that our receipt for that trip will be over $100…

Is anyone playing along? How’s it going? If you are more experienced at budgeting, how much do you allow for groceries each month?

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Pantry Month Update is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

It’s Local Foods Week!

Rachel — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:27:47 +0000

Local Matters has declared the next seven days Local Foods Week. They have arranged a plethora of local food activities including a Market to Market ride going on now. Alex, Lil, and I have tickets for the Jeni’s Tour Tuesday and I’m trying to figure out how to catch Brother’s Drake Meadery at one of their tastings.

I am leading a canning demonstration at Oakland Nursery‘s newly renovated education space on Sunday October 10 from 12 – 1 pm during their fall festival. Come drop in and taste some homemade jams!

If you’re up for it (we are!) take part in the Local Matters Eat Local Challenge this week for a chance to win prizes while eating delicious local food.

Cleveland is also hosting a local foods week October 2 – 10 with activities that make me want to flee northward.

I know everyone was carefully planning local foods week to coincide with my thirtieth birthday on Saturday. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than eating delicious locally grown foods. This week will be Oh So Good!

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It’s Local Foods Week! is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Meyer Lemon in the House

Rachel — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:02:40 +0000

We have grown a meyer lemon tree indoors (and outside in summer) for 5 years now. About twice a year it blossoms with tiny white flowers that have a captivating sweet scent. Usually at least a couple of the flowers turn into baby lemon buds. Sometime after, they dry up and fall off. Just 4 times has a bud ripened into an edible lemon.

This past fall, one such lemon deigned to grace us.

Lillian declared herself caretaker of the lemon. She checked the color constantly and protected the lemon from the dog’s tails and other nosy kids. Here’s a picture of her caressing her citrus.

lil holding lemon

We told her the lemon could be picked when the skin was completely yellow. The time finally came last week.

She plucked the lemon from its stem. She took a picture of Alex and I with the lemon.

alex, rachel, and lemon

I washed it and sliced it open. There were surprisingly almost no seeds. This picture doesn’t show it, but the flesh was a perfect bright yellow with stark white pulp and lots of juice.

sliced meyer lemon

We each tried a slice raw. It was sweeter than a normal lemon, crisp and clean. Alex and I juiced the rest later for a simple lemon martini.

The time and attention we put into this tree certainly doesn’t pay off in terms of harvest value. But we love the rare occasions we can eat citrus grown right here in Columbus OH.

enjoying the fruits of her labor

(My apologies for unfocused preschooler picture. Constantly moving objects are not easy to photograph but I am working on it.)

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Meyer Lemon in the House is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Last of the Garden Carrots

Rachel — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:50:24 +0000

On Saturday our little wraskally wrabbit and I prepared the last of our home grown carrots.

We planted these Japanese long carrots back in August, I think. We tended them until the second hard frost when we pulled them out of the ground. The leafy heads were chopped off, dirt left on, and we stored them in a loosely tied plastic grocery sack in the fridge.

unwashed carrots

We’ve been slowly eating them since, savoring every delicious bite. Whole carrots are so much tastier than the prewashed bagged “baby carrots” I grew up on. Home grown whole carrots are even better than store whole carrots.

So Saturday we scrubbed and peeled and ate the last of the harvest. They were still crunchy and tasty. Next year: more carrots in the late season so we can have more for winter!

cleaned carrots

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Last of the Garden Carrots is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Cabinet doors, drawers and first meal!

Rachel — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:09:31 +0000

We have been plugging away at all the little tasks that add up to huge advancements in functionality.

Appliances came in the late afternoon Tuesday. Alex worked on the dishwasher first because dirty dishes were piled up and clean dishes no where to be found. It installed pretty easily.

The fridge ice maker and stove were another matter. The handy installation kits failed to include critical parts in both cases, so another trip to Lowes was required.

(Aside: I counted on our credit card bill how many times we’ve been to Lowes recently. Drumroll please: a whopping 22 times since 12/22/08.)

By Wednesday afternoon, appliances were up and running. We made our first meal in the new kitchen Wednesday night. The menu wasn’t exciting because we didn’t have much prep time, but it was so much fun to cook again.

Brinner: home cured bacon, local eggs, and pumpkin pancakes

In every spare moment, I have been building cabinet drawers, drilling holes, and attaching handles. Finally this afternoon I had the whole wall of lower cabinets completed under the pass through!

wall of drawers

Alex worked on upper cabinets today and now those are completed too. We had another delicious home cooked meal tonight of chicken, goat cheese twice baked potatos, wilted local kale (from our CSA), and brownies.

cabinets to right of sink

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Cabinet doors, drawers and first meal! is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Winter Veggie CSA begins!

Rachel — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:13:45 +0000

athens hills csa week 1

Here’s our first week of the Athens Hills Winter CSA (community support agriculture). For those not familiar, CSAs are arrangements where consumers buy a share of a farmer’s weekly harvest. We LOVE CSAs because we get fresh local vegetables every week, the variety inspires interesting cooking, and we support a local farmer. We are splitting this winter CSA with friend Lissi.

This week’s share: lettuce mix, spinach, sunflower sprouts, sweet potatoes, garlic, and mushrooms.

meyer lemon on our potted lemon tree

This is our “local” citrus, a meyer lemon, growing in our potted lemon tree. It is almost ready for picking but still a little green on the bottom. This fun tree has been with us for 4 years and has given us the same amount of lemons. Not a great harvest ratio, but the blossoms smell lovely and it always surprises people that we have a lemon tree growing in the house.

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Winter Veggie CSA begins! is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!