Week Eight Meals

Did everyone have a merry Christmas? Did you have some yummy treats this week? Here's what we ate:

Sunday, December 22:
Breakfast - unless otherwise noted, breakfast is eggs fried in butter
Lunch - unless otherwise noted, lunch is leftovers
Supper - steak stir-fry

Monday, December 23:
Breakfast - bacon and eggs
Supper - steak and beet greens
Dessert - cookies and ice cream

Tuesday, December 24:
Supper - pork roast and sauerkraut, cheesy baked potatoes
Dessert - ice cream

Wednesday, December 25, Christmas:
Supper - smoked ham, cauliflower, edible pod peas
Dessert - ice cream, chocolate and cookies

Thursday, December 26:
Supper - sirloin tip roast, cheesy baked potatoes

Friday, December 27:
Supper - sirloin tip roast leftovers, edible pod peas

Saturday, December 28:
Supper - zucchini "lasagna"

Where it came from:
Beef - Homer
Beet greens - Soldotna
Butter - homemade
Carrots - Palmer
Cauliflower - Soldotna
Cheese - home made
Dairy - home grown and Kasilof
Edible pod peas - Soldotna
Eggs - home grown
Pork - Funny River
Strawberries - home grown
Tomatoes - Anchorage
Zucchini - Soldotna

Christmas was this week! I love Christmas. James got to spend the night on Christmas Eve and spend the whole of Christmas day with us. Our holiday meal was entirely Alaskan, but not dessert. The cookies were homemade but with white flour and white sugar.

On Christmas day, I made fresh butter with some cow cream I had saved in the freezer from Peninsula Dairy, the place we used to get raw milk between the time when we ran out of frozen goat milk and the time when our goats freshen in the spring. While making the butter and seeing the buttermilk in the jar, I thought about how, if we weren't on this special eating plan, I would make some buttermilk biscuits while the buttermilk was fresh. Suddenly it made perfect sense to me how yesteryear's farm families were able to get so much food made. There's a logic to it that isn't very common knowledge in these modern times when we buy most of our foods at a store. When we are using our cream separator to get cream for butter, for instance, there is skim milk left that can be used to make monterrey jack cheese. The whey from the cheese can be used to lacto-ferment vegetables, or to make bread. Going back to the cream, it can be used for cheese or used to make butter, which gives you buttermilk, which is good for baking. The processes for milk, cream, cheese, whey, butter, veggie preservation and baked goods don't have to be independent activities, they can go smoothly hand-in-hand to give you greater variety of food in a streamlined method of food preparation that I plan to implement more often next year.

As we near the end of our Alaska Food Experiment, we are starting to run low on vegetables. We knew that the veggies would be the limiting factor in how long the Experiment lasted, and it looks like we'll be able to go for the projected two months but not much longer, if any.

As I write this, it is Saturday night. Sunday is James' birthday, and we are taking the day off of the Experiment to take him to dinner and a movie. Happy birthday, James!

Week Seven Meals

Week Seven! We're almost done with our goal of two months. One more week to go! Here's what we ate this past week:

Sunday, December 15:
Breakfast - unless otherwise noted, breakfast is eggs fried in butter
Lunch - unless otherwise noted, lunch is leftovers
Supper - hamburger/sausage patties, fried potatoes, beet greens

Monday, December 16:
Supper - roast chicken, red cabbage and mixed veggies

Tuesday, December 17:
Supper - roast pork chops over spicy sauerkraut, carrots

Wednesday, December 18:
Supper - chicken and potatoes

Thursday, December 19:
Supper - beef stew

Friday, December 20:
Supper - pork chops, sauerkraut, carrots, edible pod peas

Saturday, December 21:
Supper - steak, edible pod peas, bacon jack baked potatoes
Dessert - homemade ice cream sandwiches

Where it came from:
Barley flour - Delta Junction
Beef - Homer
Beet greens - Soldotna
Butter - homemade
Cabbage - Soldotna and Nikiski
Carrots - Palmer
Cauliflower - Soldotna
Celery - Soldotna
Cheese - homemade
Chicken - Funny River
Edible pod peas - Soldotna
Eggs - home grown and locally grown from the feed store
Honey - Kasilof
Pork - Funny River
Potatoes - Sutton

This week, I took some days off work to prepare my own holiday gifts and baked goods. And I confess - I ate some treats. After having little to no sugar for so long, eating some sugary snacks made my heart pound. And not in a good way - it was borderline uncomfortable for about an hour. That night I had the first problem with my restless leg syndrome in several weeks. Remind me of that if I'm tempted to go back to my old way of eating, okay?

I am pleased to report I'm down a jean size now!

There's only a little more than a week in our Alaska Food Experiment. It's hard to believe it's gone by so fast. Two holidays occur during those last few days, too - Christmas, and James' birthday. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Week Six Meals

We're three quarters of the way through with our Alaska Food Experiment! Wow, that went fast! Here's what we ate:

Sunday, December 8:
Breakfast - unless otherwise noted, breakfast is eggs fried in butter
Lunch - unless otherwise noted, lunch is leftovers
Supper - bunless sloppy joes and baked potatoes

Monday, December 9:
Supper - leftovers

Tuesday, December 10:
Supper - Mexican turkey soup with monterrey jack fricos

Wednesday, December 11:
Lunch - pork chops and fermented mixed veggies
Supper - pork ribs, beet greens, fried potatoes

Thursday December 12:
Supper - "zoodles", sausage spaghetti sauce

Friday December 13:
Supper - canned moose, beet greens, potato chips

Saturday December 14:
Breakfast - bacon and eggs
Supper - roast chicken, roast potato, cabbage and carrot stir-fry, spiced trail apples

Snacks - monterrey jack cheese, pickles

Here's where it came from:
Apples - Soldotna
Barley flour - Delta Junction
Beef - Homer
Beet greens - Soldotna
Butter- homemade
Cabbage - Soldotna
Carrots - Palmer
Cauliflower - Soldotna
Cheese - homemade
Chicken - Funny River
Cucumbers - grocery store's Alaska Grown section
Eggs - homegrown and supplemented with eggs from the feed store
Lard - home rendered
Moose - outside Fairbanks
Pork - Funny River
Potatoes - Sutton
Tomatoes - Soldotna
Turkey - Funny River
Zucchini - Soldotna

This week I opened a slightly less than two month old monterrey jack cheese that I made from some skim milk left after spinning out cream. It was my best cheese yet! AND I found a good use for the skim milk that Jim won't dream of actually drinking. It melts so well, I grated it and made fricos, and they were good, no matter that frico is best made from a harder cheese.

I've lost just over 10 pounds, and my jeans are starting to get loose. Yay! I'm not quite ready for a smaller size jeans yet, but it won't be long, I think.

And now... confession time. Chocolate was eaten this week. Yes, I did. It was a very stressful week for both Jim and me at work, and I am a long-time stress eater. I got into some chocolate I bought for Christmas gifts and shared a candy bar with Jim. I did take the time to sit down and do nothing but concentrate on the pleasure of having the treat, and I enjoyed it a lot, but the whole point of the exercise was to feel better from the stress - - and it didn't help that. Note to self:  stress eating doesn't eliminate the stress. Next time, eat the treat because you want to have a treat, not because you want it to make all the world's problems go away.

Spiced trail apples

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner was a big success, even if I do say so myself. Pictures of the food didn't turn out as well as I might have liked, but we were hungry and anxious to eat the yummy food, so photography wasn't the first thing on our minds!

Our main course was (naturally) turkey. We bought a 17-pounder from Sarah at Kenai Feed and Supply. This was our first non-grocery-store turkey, and I can't imagine willingly going back to store-bought birds after eating this guy. I splurged on a little cranberry butter made by my friend Patty from local berries. The stuffing was made from barley bread (recipe here) that was allowed to go stale, then mixed with local sausage, apples, celery, and onions. Kabocha squash drizzled with Alaska's Natural honey and cinnamon was a delicious stand-in for sweet potatoes. Our greens were steamed broccoli crowns. Barley and white flour rolls finished off the savory plate, along with plenty of gravy and homemade butter.

The only (slight) disappointment I had was the barley rolls, and that was my fault. I misjudged the cooking time for the rolls and had to bake them before they had fully risen, so they were heavy. A generous slather of the best butter I made this year helped make up for the denseness.

Total deviation from the all-Alaska plan:  less than two cups of white flour and a smidge of sugar in the jelly (we didn't eat much).

A blurry photo of our Thanksgiving goodness

Dessert - - dessert was a triumph of will. I have never worked so hard for a plate of desserts in my life, and I loved it! Starting from jars of cream gathered myself back in the summer instead of using "boughten" cream cheese certainly gave me a new appreciation for the feast cooks of yesteryear! We had honey ice cream (recipe here) with squash pie in a pat-in-the-pan crust (crust recipe here) and honey cheesecake (filling recipe here) baked in a cookie crumb crust. The cheesecake was my favorite part. I made the cream cheese from part goat's milk cream and part cow's milk cream from Peninsula Dairy. Someday soon I hope to post my adaptation for the Finnish spice cookies I made the crust from. 

Total dessert deviation from the all-Alaska plan:  1/4 cup of lemon juice and a splash of vanilla.

Mmm, sweets!

My heartfelt thanks go out to my husband Jim and son James for being good sports and letting me experiment with a holiday meal. Shout-outs to Kenai Feed and Livestock Supply (Kenai), Alaska's Natural Nature's Treat (Kasilof), Alaska Flour Company (Delta Junction), Jackson Gardens (Soldotna), Ridgeway Farms (Soldotna), Peninsula Dairy (Kasilof), and Alaska Organic and Crafts (Nikiski).

Week Five Meals

Week Five is behind us! Here's what we ate:

Sunday December 1:
Breakfast - unless otherwise noted, breakfast is eggs fried in butter
Lunch - unless otherwise noted, lunch is leftovers
Supper - Beef stew

Monday December 2:
Supper - Thanksgiving leftovers

Tuesday December 3:
Supper - chicken-fried moose steak, edible pod peas, potato chips

Wednesday December 4:
Supper - chicken-fried moose steak again, broccoli

Thursday December 5:
Supper - "BBQ" pork ribs, fried potatoes, zucchini

Friday December 6:
Supper - bacon cheddar baked potatoes, edible pod peas

Saturday December 7:
Supper - chuck roast, baked potatoes, zucchini
Dessert - cream cheese honey filled Finnish spice cookies

Snacks - dehydrated zucchini slices, potato chips, pickles, sauerkraut

Here's where it came from:
Barley flour - Delta Junction
Beef - Homer
Broccoli - Soldotna
Butter - homemade
Cabbage - Soldotna
Carrots - Palmer
Cream Cheese - homemade
Cucumbers - grocery store's Alaska Grown section
Edible pod peas - Soldotna
Eggs - home grown and locally purchased
Honey - Kasilof
Lard for frying - home rendered from local pig
Moose - outside Fairbanks
Pork - Funny River
Potatoes - Sutton
Tomatoes - Soldotna
Turkey - Funny River
Zucchini - Soldotna

I apologize in advance that this post is going to be short... Work is keeping me extremely busy and I have a batch of highbush cranberry and trail apple jelly on the stove. If I try to multitask too much, I might ruin that jelly, and it would be a shame to spoil all that nice juice! I'm hoping to have a small assortment of jellies to put in Christmas boxes, so I'm up early (well, early for me) to make up some jars. Anybody else canning goodies for Christmas presents?

Week Four Meals

Week Four! We're at the halfway point in our Alaska Food Experiment! Here's what we ate:

Sunday November 24:
Breakfast - unless otherwise noted, breakfast is eggs fried in butter
Lunch - unless otherwise noted, lunch is leftovers from supper
Supper - bacon-wrapped filet mignon, broccoli and cauliflower

Monday November 25:
Supper - bacon burger patties, potato chips, onion, pickles

Tuesday November 26:
Supper - ham and broccoli soup

Wednesday November 27:
Supper - ham, hash browns, and pickled veggies

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, November 28:
Supper - turkey, honeyed squash, broccoli, barley sausage apple dressing, barley rolls, cheesecake, squash pie, ice cream

Friday, November 29:
Supper - Mexican dinner out before a movie

Saturday, November 30:
Supper - Thanksgiving dinner leftovers

Snacks
Finnish spice cookies, pickles


Where it came from:
Apples - Soldotna
Barley flour - Delta Junction
Beef - Homer
Broccoli - Soldotna
Butter - home made
Carrots - Palmer
Cauliflower - Soldotna
Cream Cheese - homemade
Cucumbers - Soldotna
Eggs - home grown and feed store
Green Beans - Soldotna
Honey - Kasilof
Milk - home grown
Onion - farmer's market
Pork - Funny River
Potatoes - Sutton
Squash - grocery store's Alaska-grown section
Turkey - Funny River

This was Thanksgiving week, and also marked the halfway point in our Alaska Food Experiment. I'll make a separate post for our actual Thanksgiving meal, but let me say right now, I am a little bit proud of myself for pulling off a traditional meal so well without much of a deviation from the plan.  Everything was local except for some white flour mixed into the barley rolls, and a little lemon juice in the cheesecake.

Friday and Saturday I worked the big craft fair at the high school, and Jim, James and I wanted to go see Catching Fire after the fair closed on Friday. There wasn't time to go home and fix a meal, even if it was leftovers, before the movie started, so we decided to go out to eat. We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then had popcorn at the theater. We enjoyed it very much, but once the evening was over, it was time to get back on the plan. 

After the big feast on Thanksgiving day and the Mexican dinner out, my total monthly weight loss is eight pounds. I briefly got down to ten pounds lost, but that was before Thanksgiving, heehee. My pants are getting looser and I've noticed more positive changes in my body. Lest anybody worry that I'm losing too much weight or not eating enough, I assure you, that's not the case. I could stand to lose a good bit of weight and I have plenty of food to eat! I read in a few places that if you change your diet to whole, real foods, you won't be so hungry because your body isn't craving the nutrients missing from processed foods. That seems to be true! I'm satisfied with much less food and don't feel the need to snack all the time.

Stay tuned for a special post about our Thanksgiving meal!