It has been a busy week! Thanksgiving dinner at my house was quite a feast. As usual, I made too much food and it was all made from scratch. My family joked that I was going to feed them a Tofu turkey because I guess they don't understand what healthy food is. In my world, eating healthy is eating from the earth and land.. from scratch cooking with all the best ingredients.. and avoiding processed and chemically altered foods.
The turkey was good. The stuffing was all made with my homemade sprouted and freshly ground wheat bread along with organic celery, onion, butter, and my own homemade chicken stock as opposed to canned broth. The green bean casserole was made with homemade cream of mushroom soup, fresh frozen green beans, and homemade little french fried onions. It was good but I did break down and make 1/2 the casserole with additional Velveeta cheese for one of my daughters, who swore I would ruin it if I did not add that cheese. So I did. For her. I just can't bring myself to eat Velveeta Processed Cheese. I don't think it is really cheese.. it seems more like soft plastic to me, but who am I to ruin Thanksgiving for someone?
The pies were AMAZING! If you have never had a fresh pumpkin pie made with real cream and fresh baked pumpkin, you don't know what you are missing. It was so much better than I even expected. On top was homemade whipped cream from organic cream and vanilla. And the pecan pie was delicious too. I am sure the fact that the pecans were sprouted before being placed in the pie was lost on many but I have never had better pecan pie. Instead of the usual corn syrup, I used pure maple syrup and was amazed at how it came out the same but tasted even richer.
Dinner went without a hitch and I am pretty sure my family enjoyed most of it. Since then I have been busy trying to catch up and eat up the leftovers. We had an 18 pound turkey carcass that got boiled down that night and made into about a gallon of now frozen turkey broth... it smelled like Thanksgiving baking that night all over again.
Today I made a turkey and wild rice casserole that looks pretty darn good. The bottom layer is cooked rice pilaf and then the layer on top of that has a generous portion of turkey mixed with sauteed green peppers and onions with garlic, parsley, and nutmeg, then creamed into a white sauce consistency through the addition of flour, some of that turkey broth, and some whole milk. The top layer is a bit of cheese.
Journey has been hungry for cottage cheese so today I made her some cottage cheese with the left over whipping cream suspending the curds and am now starting a batch of ricotta cheese out of the leftover whey. I want to use the ricotta in a casserole resembling lasagna with hamburger and spaghetti squash (unless I get ambitious and make homemade lasagna noodles out of the leftover spelt flour).
I will post about the ricotta cheese after I finish this batch. You are supposed to leave the whey covered and at room temp for 12 - 24 hours before bringing it back to the heat so tomorrow should be ricotta day. I will let you know how it goes.
Cheese is one of those things that I miss buying at the grocery store. It seems so expensive to buy good quality cheeses .. seems even more than some of the meat I buy and it NEVER seems to go on sale.. darn it! I have ordered some cheese making supplies from New England Cheese Making Supply. To make cheddar cheese curds you need good quality milk and rennet, citric acid, and mesophilic. While I don't understand all of these things yet, I have been researching and when my cheese supplies come, I will be experimenting with cheese curds. To make cheddar cheese like you buy at the store, you would need a cheese press for your curds. We don't have one of those yet but I have Mike thinking how he might make one simply that would apply up to 40 - 50 pounds of pressure to a cylinder filled with cheese curds. He likes cheddar as well as I do so we are highly motivated to figure out how to make it around here!
For my family, eating healthy is just what we are committed to doing. With a little planning ahead, a bit of creativity, and a willingness to research and try things we are managing to figure out how to "homestead" in the suburbs. But don't get me wrong.. I am SO GRATEFUL for those little things in life that make it easier like my new KitchenAid, the stove, the washing machine, dishwasher, softened and drinking water systems, etc. I can't imagine life on the prairie where we had to go to the stream to do the washing, and carry enough water back to the little cold log cabin to do what needed to be done for the day. Or having to keep a fire lit for warmth. I am partial to my electric blanket at night, thank you!
I will keep sharing the adventures as we have them with you! My latest venture has been to make rugs on a loom out of old fabric. They are turning out wonderfully and will be having them for sale soon! Stay tuned my friends! There is so much more to come, including sharing all the handmade gifts we are going to produce for Christmas presents this year!
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