Cooking with Chef Jo: Quick Yogurt Dough

I've been playing around with yogurt dough. Don't know what that is? Have you seen the latest quick bread recipes that call for two ingredients? That's it. It's self rising flour and yogurt. I prefer plain Greek yogurt. I had Mel buy some to try it out. I figured I can make my own yogurt, if it's as versatile as its touted to be.

Now, when I buy my 5lb box of baking soda, I always pull a quart sized canning jar worth just for baking. Five pounds of baking soda? Why on earth would you buy five pounds? Well, we make our own laundry soaps. Baking plain baking soda at 350 degrees for 20 minutes results in washing powder. Plus, we use baking soda in a lot of products we use like tooth paste and cleaning supplies. I could write an entire post for uses for baking soda around the homestead. We'll go through roughly 15 lbs a year of just baking soda. So why do I separate it? Baking soda is great for absorbing odors and moisture. This is why you put a box in your refrigerator. By keeping it in a quart jar, it's handy in the kitchen and it doesn't get a chance to absorb anything. Moisture reduces the effectiveness of baking soda over time.

You long time readers know that I don't buy ground flour either. Well sometimes I do for ease. I buy organic wheat, sprout it, and then grind it myself. You get a more easily digestible/absorbable nutrients from sprouted grains. I can decide how fine to grind my wheat for different uses. To make it self rising flour take 1 cup of flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda or powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. That's it. I just saved you from having to buy another flour. That's why I do it this way.  I do all the flours I make this way. So instead of buying multiple flours, I just alter what or how I grind it. It's quite a bit of work, but hey, I'm worth it.

The recipe for two ingredient dough is simple. It's 1 cup of self rising flour and 3/4 c Greek yogurt. That's it. So, one 16 oz container of plain Greek yogurt yielded me plenty of dough to experiment with.  I made biscuits, pizza crust, rolls, and I even made my hot cross buns for Good Friday with it. (recipe below)

 I've been substituting the yogurt dough for regular yeast doughs in recipes to save time and with the shortages of yeast, it's nice to have an alternative other than sour dough. The yeast I ordered from Amazon (my usual vendor) was put on back order for two months. I canceled the order and started searching for alternatives when I hit upon the yogurt dough recipe.

Hot Cross buns are traditionally made on Good Friday and/or Easter, but I make them several times a year because they are so tasty. You can add additional dried fruits, but for this recipe I just used raisins. I've added figs and apricots, pears, cherries, or peaches as variations of this recipe. I'll reorder the yeast after this virus hoop-de-la is over. I don't think many will continue making their own bread when they can find it in the stores and go back to work ...unlike us "insane" homesteaders.

Quick Hot Cross Buns
Makes 4 small buns

What you'll need

1 cup self rising flour
3/4 c plain Greek yogurt, you can substitute any plain yogurt
1/4 c sugar
3 TBS raisins, rehydrated and drained
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Egg Wash
1 egg yolk
2 tsp water
Mix together and set aside.

Icing
2 TBS powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp milk
Mix together and set aside.

Putting it all together

• In a 1 cup measuring cup, mix the vanilla extract, rehydrated raisins, orange zest if not fresh, and yogurt together and set aside.
• Sift flour, cinnamon, and sugar together in a bowl. If using freshly grated orange zest, stir it into the flour mixture. Make a well into the center of the flour mix.
• Pour or spoon yogurt mixture into the flour well.
• Mix until combined to form a ball. If too soft and sticky add flour 1 TBS at a time. If too dry add yogurt 1 TBS at a time.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until a smooth ball forms. About twenty turns.
• Divide dough into 4 equal pieces and form each piece into a ball.
• Place on a grease/buttered baking sheet and cover with plastic for 10 minutes.
• Brush on egg wash.
• Bake 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Or, in an air fryer at 310 degrees for 10 minutes.
• Place buns on a rack to cool.
• When cool, frost a cross on top of each bun with the icing.

Now for my review of using this method instead of using my old method.

1. It's a lot quicker! Made and eating it within an hour versus three hours.
2. Used fewer ingredients. No eggs (except for the egg wash for that classic brown color), fats, or yeast.
3. Same fluffy, tender texture as the yeast risen rolls.
4. It's a winner! A great substitute for yeast risen recipe.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

Mel's Garden Experiment- 5-Gallon Wicking Buckets

As I've already stated in here, Mel's idea of gardening is for fresh eating and mine is self sufficiency. At times, never the twain meet. She's more for experimenting and mine is tried and true. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above trying something new. I've done it quite often, but I demand results. Show me how to get the same results and I'll go for it with you.

Each year, Mel tries something different in the garden and I'll let her. Last year the garden was all hers. It was a bust and all the hard work, I'd spent ridding weeds from the gardening areas was laid to waste. But it wasn't a total waste. You see, all the rime and money I had put into building great soil wasn't wasted. It's still there under all those weeds.

Best yet, all the earthworms and red wigglers are abundant for vermicompost. I can't lift a spade full of dirt without disturbing a few. They are happily breaking u the soil pooping out their "golden" fertilizer, reproducing, and loosen the soil without me lifting a finger. Ya gotta love that. Added to that rabbit manure, composted chicken waste, and  leaves and their molds, and I have soil with block busters to grow things without adding chemicals. It was 4-5 years in the making to get here.

Mel hates weeding. Because of this, my almost weed free garden went to the weeds last year in an explosion. They choked out all the vegetable plants. Those that weren't choked out struggled and were impossible to harvest because they couldn't be found. Disgusted, Mel left it alone. Enter Jo this spring. We need the vegetables so I'm taking the garden back. Mel will be allow to experiment, but only in a small section.

Over the winter, Mel watched a YouTube video on self watering wicking tuns and high tunnels. That's the answer to a no wedding garden she thought, so she planned the garden and was going to build a high tunnel over the garden area. I wasn't about to spend another cent on a "hair brained scheme" no matter what everyone else said about it. I know Mel. I watched several videos and was on the fence about the plan.

 

I told Mel to try it first. We had enough stuff on the homestead to make them for nothing. What homestead doesn't have surplus 5- gallon buckets? We have bags of empty soda cans. The aluminum recycling place is closed due to the county lockdown because of COVID-19 so the soda cans are adding up. For the fill pipe, we repurposed scraps of PVC and support legs from some cheap storage racks. And for the fill "dirt" we recharged raised bed "soil" and compost. We didn't use the chemicals Leon did in the video. Instead we used the compost with blood and bone meal. 

Mel didn't want to place the buckets on the ground so she built stands a foot off the ground. She used scrap lumber, scrap bricks, (leftover from the porch and other building projects) and already purchased wire shelves. I had bought the previous year for rabbit cages and food pantry shelves, but didn't use them. So my cost for this venture was zero. You gotta love that!

It ended up looking like this.

So Mel can piddle prattle in the garden this year with her buckets. Here's hoping it works out well for us. She's testing out bush green beans, corn, cucumbers, and beefsteak tomatoes. I planted oregano in with the tomatoes. She argued with me, but I did it anyhow. We're breaking down the elevated raised beds of  oregano, sage, lemon balm, and lavender this year. I may transfer those into some wicking pots too, but we'll see how many I can plant around my heirloom Roma tomatoes. Did you know these herbs are perennials?  Plant them once, watch them self sow, and multiply. 

I firmly believe in companion planting.I planting peas or beans, and parsley in my asparagus patch each year, Oregano, basil, and garlic with my tomatoes. My potato plants are surround by dill weed. These are just a couple of examples. They combat predatory insects and diseases. They have a symbiotic relationship where each supports the other for the best possible outcome plus it doubles or triples what I can harvest from the same spot. When you have a small area to plant, this is paramount.

So Mel can be happily conduct this year's experiment and I can garden for the short and long term. We both win.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: Smothered Chicken

We scored a 5lb bag of leg quarters this week at the grocery store! While we usually get chickens thighs to roast for dinner, they were out. I have found with the chicken leg quarters, the legs are scrawny while the thighs are meaty. So what do I do with those scrawny leg portions? I make onion smothered chicken with them. It will take 2 legs to make one serving. Yes, they are pitiful. That's what you get from commercially grown chicken. More emphasis is put on Dolly Parton sized breast meat. Half a breast is equaled to two portions of meat.

The recipe itself is supper simple as are the side dishes that accompany it, but oh, so delicious!

Smothered Chicken
Serves 2

What you'll need

4 chicken legs, scrawny if you find meaty ones, 1 leg per serving
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup chicken broth*
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp flour
1 onion, sliced
                                                             1 carrot grated
                                                             1 rib celery, finely diced

Note-* I used my enhanced chicken bone broth.

Putting it together

• Sprinkle chicken legs with salt, pepper, sage, and garlic powder. Set aside for 5 minutes.
• Get your deep skillet screaming hot. Droplets of water will skitter and dance across the top when sprinkled.
• Place seasoned chicken in the pan and cover with the lid.
• After 20 minutes, turn chicken and add the onions, celery and carrots. Cook additional 20 minutes with the lid on.
• Remove the chicken and onions from the pan.
•  Mix flour, cornstarch, and 1/4 cup of broth together. 
• Pour remaining broth in the skillet. Scrap the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil.
• Stir flour mixture and pour into the skillet. The gravy will form very quickly. 
• Turn heat to low and return chicken and onions to the skillet.  
• Turn chicken over in gravy to coat. Simmer 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or egg noodles pouring gravy on top of the chicken. Make a tossed salad and you've fit a meal fit for a queen. The chicken is fall off the bone tender. Notice I didn't add extra oil to make this dish. That's because the fat renders off of the skin and fat on is more than enough to cook the chicken and onions.

 Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

   

As If the Lockdown Wasn't Bad Enough...

As if we weren't restricted enough because of the virus, we had a string of thunderstorms and tornadoes last Sunday night through sunrise. A few areas surrounding us were hit. Thankfully, living in a hollar like we do, the tornadoes pass us by.

Me, I slept right through it, but Mel was awake until the power cut off. I blissfully awoke at 7AM unaware of the night's events. The sun was shining and it was already 70 degrees. All was right with the world except the power was still off. I had forgotten to plug in my phone. It was 11% charge left. My laptop battery was sitting at 2 hours of charge left. With the power off, the modem wasn't working. We had no signal on our phones without it. It's the down side of living in a hollar.

I just got an earlier start on homestead activities since there was no power. I started the day off weeding the garden. Yes, the weeds are healthily and robustly growing again. Some have even started setting blooms. I grabbed the 3-gallon bucket of plantains, wild strawberry leaves, dandelions, grasses, and lemon balm, and headed to the back with the rabbits and chickens daily allotment of fresh greens. I also had a 5-gallon bucket full of Virginia creeper for the compost bin.

I opted for hand weeding the garden rather than till it under. There were just too many weeds that propagate by their roots. Imagine the explosion of these weeds after tilling! God save me from this insanity!

I gave the adult chickens their cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds. The adult free ranging chicken no longer eat the commercial pellets instead they'd rather free range from the smorgasbord of goodies on the property.  Right now they are having their fill of red wiggler worms that get turned up in the garden as I weed. I've been feeding their pellets, cracked corn, and black oil sunflower seeds as scratch to the pullets. There's no since in wasted layer feed lying around uneaten.

I went back out in the garden to pull up more weeds from my rows. Mel is setting up self wicking containers on 2x4s on blocks for some of the garden. I asked her to come outside in the sunshine and help pull weeds. She declined. I almost finished a 26'x 4' piece of the garden before she came out. She went into her workshop intent on cutting wood for her container garden only to realize that without power, she couldn't use her power tools. Now, I've already mentioned how Mel is without her tech. Three days had her bouncing off the walls after Hurricane Irma hit us two years ago. And no, I haven't bought a generator nor installed the solar back up system yet...there's just been too many have-to-have-it-right-now emergencies.

We now after 12 hours without internet, she was pacing. She paced around so much that Whirling Dervish, her emotional support cat, was yowling at her as she followed her around.  She must have gone around the outside of the house three times while I picked up a bucket of kindling. Finally on the 3 and 1/2 pass by me, she said, "Road trip!"

I took my bucket of kindling inside, got my drink and headed to her car. She grabbed her washcloth with alcohol in a baggie and her keys. We didn't go far. Just three miles down the road to get gas. The price was lower than I'd seen in a decade...$1.39 a gallon. Once the tank was filled, I asked, "Where to now?" Her response was, "I dunno. I just have to get away from the house."

Unlike with Irma, we couldn't just pop into McDonald's for a tech fix for her. Our county is on lockdown and not much is open except for drive through services. We drove to and through to the next town. There are almost no cars on the road. If stopped, we could always say we were on our way to the grocery store, or pharmacy, or even our way home. As the minutes ticked by, she began to relax. I thought she was on her way home but she changed her mind and drove to Tractor Supply. She wanted to put out some weed and feed for grass in the backyard. She really wants to kill off the garden area down to the dirt, but I'm against it. I don't want those chemicals anywhere near my food crops. I'd spent four years to keep and build the garden organically. Not to mention that it's now five times as big than when I first moved here. There was quite a bit of work and expense to grow the soil.

The good news is that I managed to find my non GMO/heirloom seeds! I didn't find everything I wanted, but I've got a good start. Their already started plant section was hit pretty hard. There was nary a tomato, seed potato, cuke, pepper, nor greens left. Only the empty containers that held the starts were visible. The same goes for the chicks, but they'll be getting more in Wednesday.

My quail breeder put me off for two and a half weeks for delivery of quail that I wanted. He said his phone has been ringing off the hook since this crisis started. Even the 250 quail eggs in his incubator (due to hatch tomorrow) were bought already. He promised me 24 quail, straight run, from the next batch of 250. That isn't exactly what I was looking for, but it will do. In six to eight weeks after delivery, I'll have my own eggs to incubate and birds to eat. The powers that be, now say it will take 18 months to heal from this shut down so I'm not worried. We're homesteaders and not doing this for the short run.

Anyhow, we left Tractor Supply and headed home. We were praying the electricity was back on. It wasn't. We had cold leg quarters I'd cooked over the weekend and a salad. Between foraging and leftover salad goods, we aren't lacking in salads. About three hours later, the power came back on. Mel is a happy camper now. She's had a hot shower (the water well and water heater are both electric) and now, she's glued to the computer binging on the COVID-19 coverage. Me, I'm writing this post to tell you about it. My shower is waiting for me next as soon as our water heater recovers. I got mighty sweaty weeding the garden.

But tomorrow is another day. I hope to get another 26'x4' weeded, then I can plant the corn and green beans. Yippee! By the way, that's only 1/4 of the house garden weeded. Well, the bunnies and chickies are enjoying the weeds I've pulled. Next is the orchard. H e l p!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Crafting with Jo: Pig in a Poke Planters

Or, is it Poke weed in a pig? I'm still on my trash into treasure kick. I found this YouTube channel to converts purchased water jugs into planters. It's actually a couple of them by Home and Garden. While I don't have the 5 liter containers shown in the video, I do have a slew of 1 gallon plastic jugs. My milk jugs are repurposed for rabbit poo tea. I mean bleach and vinegar bottles that we clean with each month add up.

Why couldn't I make smaller planters out of them? Sure, I could. Of course, I could put herbs in them for sale. Not at the farmers market this year. It's closed for the year because of the virus, but wouldn't they be cute? I'd change the design a bit. I don't necessarily like the eyes or the way they made the polka dots. The legs would have to be made smaller. I learned my lesson the hard way, that hot glue doesn't hold up to Georgia temperatures so I'd have the put it together with hot glue and E-6000. I'd make the eyes a little bit whimsy with eye lashes because I can and that's the way I roll.

Here lately, we've had a difficulty finding our canned soda. I tried substituting kombucha for the sodas, but for us, it isn't the same. It and tea are our caffeine source. We got to have our fix. As such, we've had to resort to buying 2 liter and 3 liter bottles. Now we have a goodly supply of these for the garden already. These extra bottles are waste and I had to do some research to repurpose these. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with these yet. I possibilities are endless including a vertical garden.

Can you imagine if everyone did this? There would be only a minor panic at food banks, grocery stores, and such. In the small garden pictured, there are no less than 17- 2 liter bottles. Green beans, peas, salad greens, tomatoes, celery, green onions, and herbs right at your finger tips. All in a 2x3 space.  Now this makes sense. It's good economically, and physical sense. To find out how I did it go here for step by step instructions.

Then there are other ideas to repurpose 2 liter bottles on YouTube, Some are decorative and others functional. Take a look at your trash for inspiration.

A quick related story and I'll end this post.
I remember there was a recycling art show held in Brunswick, GA. It was open to all to enter and we had some renowned artists living there. Her high school art teacher challenged her students to enter and think outside the box. While other students bought new items like plastic spoons, forks, and toothpicks to create their art pieces, Jennifer took a different approach.

Our youngest daughter took the recycling aspect quite literally. She started digging through our trash. She found cardboard tubes from gift wraps and paper towel, a plastic container that yeast rolls came in, a couple of unraveled cassette tape, cans, bottles,broken plastic boxes, broken clock radio, an old stained tie, scratched CDs, etc.  It was all the other stuff I couldn't compost. She filled two garbage bags full, and then set to work. She took all these bits and pieces, glued, screwed, and taped them all together to form a fully fleshed out 5' man sculpture made entirely out of trash. He was appropriately named, "Junkman Bob." The way he was constructed you could readily see and identify each piece of trash used.

When she took him to school, he was proudly displayed as an entry to the art show in the front office for all to see until it was time to move him to the show.  Someone in the office asked where his dog was because every junk man needed a junkyard dog. Our daughter came home from school and raided the neighbor's trash (with their permission). She constructed a dog so her entry became "Junkman Bob and his dog."

Everyone who saw her work of art was amazed. She won an Honorable Mention at the show for Most Creative.  Her prize? She won a signed drawing of the UGA mascot from the artist himself. The original junkyard dogs (Go Dawgs, Go!) from the commissioned artist who also lives in the county. It's a shame that she took all the pictures so
I can't show him to y'all. Someone bought her art project for $50. Junkman Bob and his dog now stands in his organic restaurant to greet his clientele with a "no" sign hung around his neck.  It goes to show you, someone's trash truly is someone else's treasure.

I couldn't possibly be shown up by a then 16-year old girl, so I began looking for alternative uses for items before throwing them away. I've continued this stream of thought until today some 18 years later as does she.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Transplants- Into the Ground They Go Goes

When starting seeds I staggered the sowing by two weeks. Now the second set goes into the ground. Now I'm starting all my tomato plants, peppers and okra. By the time they are ready to transplant outside in four weeks, I should be harvesting most of the lettuces and radishes except for the daikon. I'll let the Daikons grow a little bit longer until it's time to harvest the Napa cabbage and a few onion tops The carrots should be ready by then also for some dynamite Kimchi.

I sowed 3 bell pepper seeds, 6 gochujang pepper seeds, and 6 cayenne peppers. For tomatoes I sowed 40 Roma tomato seeds, 3 each of Purple Cherokees and Beefsteaks. That should make enough canned tomato sauce and diced tomatoes  for two years' worth. Some I'll dehydrated tomatoes for tomato powder and have plenty for fresh eating. I've doubled the amount of tomato plants than I planted in 2018 because I ran short of two years' worth.  After the garden failure of 2019, I'm not taking any chances. For corn and green beans, well I've doubled those plants too. But okra I kept at four plants. My plan is to resow green beans every two weeks until August. I'll be planting Black Oil Sunflower seeds, for the bunnies and chickens with the corn side by side to help support each other. I'll be doing the three sisters method of planting with black eyed peas, zucchini and straight neck yellow squash.

I may plant some cantaloupes, watermelons, and sweet potatoes under some of the popcorn in the orchard area also. My experimental plants this year down in the orchard is apple and bird house, and luffa gourds. I can trellis them with 8' flat pallets to form a "fence" between the chicken area compost piles and the orchard grass. In another 4'x8' raised bed plot of the orchard, I'll be trying my hand at growing upland rice. This will leave an 1/8 of an acre, give or take, for orchard grass. That's almost a year's worth of grass hay (in two cuttings) for the two rabbits we have left. The ground in the orchard could use another year or so to be fertile enough for general planting. Whether I get to all of this remain to be seen, but that's the plan. If the amount of produce doesn't harvest that much, it's fine. There's always next year. Organically grown produce is a process.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: The Pantry is Almost Bare. Oh My!

I went through my inventories in our Master List program (for sale in "For Sale tab") and was startled by how many meats and vegetables I'd put up was left. As if walking into the stores out building didn't tell the tale.

I premade bulk meals for the freezer and I'm glad I did because the pantry is bare with only handfuls of jars of corn, fruits, tomatoes, pickles and green beans left. That's out of 105 jars each canned in 2018. I bought and canned extra case of tomatoes in 2019. Because of the massive garden and mother nature failure of 2019, and my body going nuts, I wasn't able to preserve much in 2019 and my food storage out building shows it.

So what are we going to do? Well, we have plenty of eggs. That's a blessing! We have ground flour and fifty more pounds of wheat berries so we're great for that. Hmm, what can I do with that? I know. I'll make egg noodles. Noodles will go  a long way in filling empty tummies. I just received my ordered powdered milk too. Now, we're cooking with no gas. We still haven't filled our propane tank yet. SIGH! 

Egg noodles are simple to make with just a few ingredients and a rolling pin. A Pasta machine would be easier, if I had one of those. It's on my "Need to Purchase" list which is long, but I won't go into that. So a rolling pin it is. No rolling pin? Grab a smooth drinking glass. It'll work fine. I actually have two rolling pins but prefer grabbing a glass out of the cupboard. It doubles as a biscuit cutter too. Why dirty up something else to clean, right?

Egg Noodles 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup milk*
1 TBS butter, melted*
1/4 cup flour for dusting surface

Notes-*Water can be substituted but use milk for a richer, silkier texture.
*I add butter for flavor. You can use oil.

Putting it all together

• In a bowl, mix eggs, butter, and milk together.
• Sift flour and salt together. Make a well in the middle of the sifted mix.
• Pour liquids into the well.
• With open fingers, start adding the flour into the mixture.
• Continue incorporating the flour and mixture until all the flour is combined into the egg mixture.
• A ball will form.
• Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 5 minutes. The dough will appear smooth.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
• Now for the work out. Divide the dough in half. Rewrap the nonworking half.
• Roll the dough 1/8" thick. 1/16th of an inch for angel hair and fine egg noodles.
• Slice the rolled dough into strips (1" for wide egg noodle, 1/2" for medium egg noodles, and 1/4" for narrow egg noodles, and 1/8" for fine egg noodles, 1/16 for angel hair pasta.
• Cut the opposite direction to desired length. Usually 2"-3" for wider noodles. 6"-12" for angel hair.
• Sprinkle flour over the cut pasta and toss it to coat flour on the cut ends.
• Repeat with the second half of pasta. 

Congratulations! You've just made your first pasta! Now, you've got some decisions to make. Are you going to eat it all now? Do you want to eat some now and eat the remaining pasta within a week? Or are you going to eat it much later? Why? Because the cooking time depends on which choice you make. Keep in mind you can also freeze your pasta too.

If you cook it all now or save half for later in the week. Put the remaining pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To cook-Bring salted water or broth to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes covered, drain and add your favorite sauce.

If you are going to dry your pasta for later use, Lay out pasta so it isn't touching on a flour dusted surface. Turn pasta over frequently until dried completely. It usually takes a day or two.  Bring water or broth to a boil, turn heat down to a simmer, and add your dried pasta. It will cook in 5-12 minutes depending on the size of the noodle.

You know how to check pasta for doneness, don't you? An old Italian once told me how. You throw it against a wall. If it sticks, it's done. 😂 True story. I don't do it that way though. I test it by pulling a piece out of the pot and biting into it.  If there is a slight firmness to the teeth (that's what al dente means), it's done.  If you cook it too long, homemade pasta will disintegrate into mush especially fresh pasta.

Now, what to serve with it with an almost bare pantry? Rummage, rummage, rummage. Ah, I got it.

I've got a jar of homemade cream of mushroom soup (2 jars left eek!), an onion, a can of tuna, some cheese, and some leftover green peas. I can make some bread crumbs too.Tuna noodle casserole and some foraged greens (otherwise known as weeds) and lettuce leaves salad for supper!

In a few weeks I can substitute pea pods and other vegetables. Ooh, yummy! Tuna noodle casserole got a bad rap in the 50s and 60s because everybody made it for a cheap get together meal. Folks just got tired of it. But when you've got almost nothing. It sounds pretty good.  

And honestly, no, things aren't that bad for us, but they are starting to get lean.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

So It Begins Again

It's Planting Season! Ya!!! Yippee!!!! Yes, it's that time of year again. Busy, busy, hurry up, and wait. The anticipation leading up to the next few weeks has been building all winter. We've actually had a few days of warm (almost 80 degree) weather. So we've gotten a lot done for planting the garden previously. I'm still trying to dig all the compost out of the bunny/chicken hoop barn. It's slow going with a garden rake and shovel.

During the waiting period while things grow in the garden and indoor seed starts, we'll be dismantling the bunny/chicken hoop barn and eventually the chicken coop and run by the food storage out building. We're realigning them better and rotating them 90 degrees so there's less muddy areas. I don't know why Mel didn't think of it when she first built them.  In their current position, they run against the downhill slope so rain water gets trapped.

Meanwhile, we went to Tractor Supply and bought some Rhode Island Reds and Americana chicks to increase our flock of egg layers. They were straight run so we'll have to see how many hens to roos we get. We did try wing feather sexing them, but they are far from day old chicks so we'll have to wait and see. If we end up with more than 2 roos in a bunch they'll be destined for freezer camp. We could sure use the meat, but egg layers is what we want. The roos are nice for producing fertilized eggs for hatching but that's about it in our enclosed pens. Right now, Mel is saying "no" to hatching eggs, but we'll see. She also says "no" to butchering our own chicken. Again, we'll see. You do what you have to when facing the possibility of going hungry and Mel's a huge carnivore.

The latest stay at home dates is the end of April, but honestly, it could be longer. I'm not a fear monger. I'm just looking at the numbers of new cases each day. Eggs are in short supply in the grocery stores now. You'd be hard pressed to find raw meat in our grocery stores. Most of it is processed with all that breading and chemicals. Yuck!. With our stores building running low in meats and vegetables, I'm just praying we have enough to see us through this SHTF scenario until we can restock our pantry.

The longer America in general stays out of work, the harder it will be for the little guys (businesses) to survive and the shortages will get worse. Fresh foods will be harder and harder to come by.  People will be sourcing food wherever they can, even from us lowly homesteaders. I have no problem feeding others once our own needs are taken care of.

There are church based or community food banks that have almost bare pantry shelves now with this virus. Some food banks have even closed which makes matters worse. Desperate people do desperate things when faced with hungry children at home. Making it dangerous for everyone. I've seen it happen before and didn't expect to see it happen in the US, but it very easily could. Yes, I partially bought into the 'land of plenty line.'

I just ordered a pound of yeast from Amazon and more powdered whole milk while they still have it. I was running low on both. Have you noticed how many "Not Available" postings there are on Amazon! I never thought I'd see the day. There's more available listing for brewer's yeast than baking yeast. Now that's scary keynote to the times. More people are interested in their daily bread than drinking. Usually it's the other way around.

*Note to self- make a sourdough Herman. I let the old one die. Bad Jo, bad! In my defense, I did spend more time in the hospital and recovering last year than I have in almost a decade.

Now, if you are truly desperate, there's Ebay. Ebay used to be the place to find cheaper things. Now, it's home to price gougers. A friend of mine bought two mega rolls of toilet paper for three times the store prices. Yes, she was that desperate. Here's a woman who washed her husband's diapers and pads, but won't use personal cloths for herself. It sort of boggles the mind, but to each their own. I offered to send her some, but she'd already bought it.

Back to the topic of this post. The quail cages are built and awaiting quail. While I'd planned to do this in March, too many other income eating things occurred. So now, I'm calling a local breeder for adult quail and hatching eggs next week.  I'll buy two dozen birds and two dozen hatching to begins with. This way I can cull unneeded males immediately for freezer camp. In 18 days, I'll have a dozen chicks or more given a 50% hatch rate. In six to eight weeks, these will start laying eggs and they extra males will go to freezer camp or be sold. I can incubate more eggs, but Mel can also sell the eggs too. Three or four quail eggs equal a chicken egg. So it will take more of them to make anything with them. At $6 for a dozen eggs, or breeding quads for $30, this will add up to quick income for homestead expenses and expansion plans. It will provide income while Mel's chicks age up to lay eggs (6 months). That's a nice chunk of change in the interim.

Now, honestly, what good is money? Other than paying bills with if you can't buy groceries? Everyone has to eat. My Momma used to say when people asked why she gardened, "You can't eat money?" You see, my Momma had experienced the food shortages in WWII Japan. Her father was wealthy, but they couldn't buy food. So he bought out a bombed out air field and offered a place for farmers a safe place to farm. The American wouldn't bomb an air strip that had been destroyed already. In those days, most air strips had their own water supply and ponds. So with no electricity, farmers came to farm the land. My grandfather built huts for their families out of recycled bits and pieces. They paid my grandfather a portion of their crops. Food was used to eat and to barter with for other essential needs.

My Momma also said, "There will always be an again." She prepared us for living without and how to survive. My grandmother did the same thing having raised a family of ten during the Great Depression. I never forgot their teachings. So ask me now, why I homestead and try for a more self sufficient lifestyle. While this virus may only create hardships for a few months, it's a wake up call to the US just when everyone was forgetting 9/11. Get ready. There will be an again. So, the busyness of spring time begins again on our little homestead.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: Bacon Cheese Casserole

See it wasn't an April Fools' joke!

As promised, this week's recipe is my Momma's Bacon Cheese Casserole recipe. A funny story...my dad's favorite things in the world to eat are tomatoes, bacon, and cheese. So Momma thought she'd won the jackpot with this recipe. I have no idea where she originally got the recipe, but it is old. The very first time she made it, my Dad came home, packed his sea bag, and went with his unit because Russia decided to put missiles in Cuba (1962). He said it smelled good as he went out  the door. After the fifth attempt and him heading out the door for some emergency or other, she gave up trying to make it for him, but she made it for us several times when he was deployed.  In fact, he never tasted it before I made it in 1997 though many times Momma made it.

It's one of my favorite budget friendly meals that feeds a crowd. It freezes well too. When I was making this to freeze, I used the 3 for $1, 4x3 foil pans from Dollar Tree for the two of us. I simply make it in the pot and before I bake it off, I'll cover the pans with lids that came with the pans and put the extras in the freezer. This one recipe will make four meals for us.

Momma's Bacon Cheese Casserole
Serves 8

What you'll need

1 lb bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 16 oz whole tomatoes
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 lb medium egg noodles
2 slices bread, torn into bite sized pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Putting it all together

• Cook noodles per package directions minus 2 minutes cooking time. The noodles will be al dente.
• Cook bacon until crisp in a pot.
• Remove bacon and place on paper towel to drain.
• Pour out all but 1 TBS of bacon fat. (save it for seasoning)
• Return pot to medium heat, add the onion and garlic. Saute until tender.
• Pour liquid from the tomatoes into the pot to scrap all the yummy bits from the bottom of the pot.
• Squeeze the tomatoes until it breaks off into bite sized pieces into the pot.
• Bring mixture to a boil.
• Add the bacon back to the pot. Stir well.
• Add the bread pieces to the pot. Stir well.
• Add 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir well.
• Check for needed salt and pepper. Add if needed. (Both the bacon and Parmesan cheese are salty)
• Add the cooked egg noodles. Stir well and pour mixture into a 9x13 pan.
• Sprinkle top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
• Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese browns.

Serving suggestions- Serve with a tossed green or spinach salad, and some crusty rolls.

Don't let the ease of making this dish fool you. It only takes about 40 minutes to make, but it's oh so delicious! For these tough times, I used my canned tomatoes, canned bacon, home dehydrated onions, home dehydrated garlic, I made my egg noodles, and used two of the crusty rolls I made instead of the bread slices. I also raided my stores building for the Parmesan cheese for a total from food stores meal. Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo