Love is a funny thing. We spend our whole lives chasing it, showing it, wishing for it, giving it, sharing it, and if we are truly lucky, finding it. It takes all shapes and sizes. But at our cores, each of us wants and needs the love of those around us. I was lucky enough to meet and marry my true love, who is also my best friend, but imagine my surprise when it hit me this week that the reason Dave’s change over the carnivore diet through me for a loop so hard.
Not sure what I was reading, heck it may even have been a video or television program, but I figured it out this week. “Love language” has been tossed around for at least the last decade and it varies from person to person, but it was never a concept that resonated with me. That changed this week, turns out I do have a love language and it is cooking and baking for those I love. Simple right?
Turns out that it’s not so simple when suddenly you aren’t cooking or baking. Meals in the last three months have been meat and eggs, throw in some cheese on occasionally. Nothing exciting, not challenging, no new recipes to fiddle with, nothing. I was slowly going completely off-kilter, despite knowing I was loved.
Dave has gotten healthier on the carnivore diet, as have I even if I “cheat” on it constantly. He has seen remarkable improvements in dealing with his auto-immune issues and the unintentional side effect has been that he has dropped in excess of forty pounds. He has more energy. He is flourishing and is younger than he has been in the last decade plus. I have watched in irritated amazement as he has transformed himself into a slimmer, active, and happier person.
“Irritated amazement” doesn’t sound like a happy wife, does it? But truth is, I am happy but now I have to navigate unfamiliar waters and rediscover how to say “I love you” without verbalizing it. How do I even do that when meals are out, or he doesn’t eat the produce I grow? Truth is, I haven’t a clue. It is a scary road that lies before me.
Did Dave intentionally set out to throw me off kilter? Of course not. Am I off kilter? Absolutely. Do I mean to stay off kilter? Nope, but it will take some time to redefine my primary love language. So much of how I defined myself as a wife has been tied up in the delicious food that emerges from my kitchen. My creativity and heart have been wrapped up in what I make for those I love. It will take time to shift that love language from being so food centric that it impedes my ability to create and flourish in the myriad of other ways Dave expresses his love for me and our life.
Now at this point you are probably wondering what the purpose of this post is, I realized that I cannot be the only one who has ever found herself in this situation. It is an uncomfortable position to find yourself in to be honest. Starting to redefine love is a path I never anticipated walking down but now that I am on that path, I have to navigate the obstacles or forever be in a funk. Quite frankly, being in a funk is it opposite of my personality so I am not anticipating stumbling along this path for long. However, I also need to remember to give myself grace and patience, and to remember to extend those to Dave whenever I get frustrated that he is more than satisfied and content with yet another “boring” meal of steak and eggs.
The journey will be interesting, especially since my garden in flourishing. I am eagerly awaiting the first produce of the year, currently it is a race between the tomatillos and zucchini. Even if he doesn’t eat a single thing that comes from our garden, I certainly shall. Join me for the summer vegetables and the awkward stumble down the new love language path.
Eating on the carnivore diet is boring, no seriously BORING. Especially if you are strict about eating only meat and fat. No diary, no flavoring, no vegetables, nothing but salt, fat, and meat.
Luckily, Dave isn’t being that strict or I would have gone insane by now. He snacks on the cheese crisps from the store, but to be honest, they are pricey and filled with preservatives to make them shelf stable. Some of them are far more delicious than others, Serious Pig Crunchy Snacking Cheese Carmelized Onion is mind blowing but then again it has the dreaded onion contained within.
A little research and it turns out these are incredibly, stupidly simple to make at home. They aren’t expensive, they aren’t complicated but they do need to some time investment.
Pile some cheese on a lined cookie sheet, I used my pastry silpat but next batch I will be using my darker silpat intended for bread. You need a lined cookie sheet to easily be able to lift the delicate and gooey cheese from the oven. Pile clumps of cheese on the tray, slide into a 350 degree oven until they begin to turn golden brown. Watch these, they will go from done to burnt in the blink of an eye. Mine took about seven minutes.
Immediately transfer the molten cheese to a cooling rack and allow to cool for several hours. This cooling period is the “effort” required to make these. They crisp up as they cool. There were several that weren’t as “done” as the others. For these stragglers, I slipped them into a skillet one at a time and quickly, but very carefully, browned them.
These were delicious. I used a quesadilla cheese blend which was probably a little “moist” but it was tasty. Next batch I am making cheddar cheese crisps and I am going to be experimenting with different types and styles of cheese. I am also going to try and make these into “taco” shells.
They may not be strictly carnivore but on this homestead, they will continue to be eaten and consumed regularly.
May you have a fabulous week on your homestead, be it large or small!! May your blessings outweigh your burdens.
The Wondermill Jr. Deluxe is a manual operated mill capable of grinding both dry and “wet” grains, beans, corn, etc. It is not a flaker and is incapable of flaking groats into oatmeal flakes. It is also not inexpensive, it is an investment but one which will be utilized for the rest of our lives.
Assembly isn’t difficult, it all goes together pretty intuitively thankfully because the assembly instructions are lackluster at best, and honestly some of the worst I have ever run across. I managed to do it and I am probably the least engineering minded person I know, which means anyone can figure it out. There are too augers, clearly labeled for dry or wet mill, same with the grinding plates. I assembled ours for grinding wheat berries, which is what we will use it for most often.
It was initially attached to our stainless steel prep table, the clamps held it securely in place. However, despite the table being loaded with heavy kitchen equipment, grinding action caused the table to shake noticeably. This isn’t problem but it was unexpected.
Soft wheat berries were the first thing we tried. The mill performed as expected and was easy to operate. The grinding is a decent upper arm workout, which is not a bad thing for an over fifty woman who needs an upper arm workout routine and there is no better motivator than freshly ground flour to make things with as a reward.
The flour and bran are both byproducts of the milling process and you must sift the bran from the flour prior to use. The flour is wheat in coloration and retains all of it’s vital nutrients when milled. Milled flour is good for about a week, so I only ever mill enough we can use in that time frame. Once sifted the bran can be consumed by both humans and livestock, just depends on how many bran products you like to eat. Also, just as a warning, there will be far, far more bran than flour. Easily, from the four pounds of wheat berries I milled, we got back 4 pounds of bran at least and approximately five cups of flour.
Not going to pull punches here, it is a lot of effort for flour. It is much easier to grab flour from the grocery store and utilize that instead. There are health benefits associated with milling your own flour however. A quick search will bring up a plethora of articles discussing the health benefits associated with milling your own grains. It ends up being a highly personal choice in the end.
You can see the flour and the bran in the picture above. I used this flour to make a the pierogis in the last Cooking the Books post, found here. Both were delicious and there was no adjustments needed to any of the recipes. What we ended up with was delicious food that was far more nutrient complete and dense. For us, there is no question that the majority of our flour will be milled at home. I won’t lie, there will always be store purchased flour in the house for those times when it is needed in a hurry.
Overall, the Wondermill Jr. Deluxe does perform as intended. It is expensive and the company needs to do a serious overhaul of their instructions and manuals, including their website which isn’t helpful at all. But those minor gripes aside, it is an investment and purchase that will pay for itself easily.
January has arrived and I am back in the kitchen again. Dave goes back to work tomorrow and things return to “normal”. There is still some junk food left from Christmas vacation but it will keep and we can space it out over a couple of meals in the first quarter.
What then have I been cooking? Only two meals so far, one super traditional and one so easy I forgot to photograph the results.
New Year’s Day
Every year on New Year’s Day for as long as I remember dinner has been chips and queso. It isn’t difficult, leftovers, if any, keep well, and it morphs to feed a crowd easily. Crowd pleasing dish that works just as well for a Church potluck or feeding a pack of hungry teenagers.
Queso for New Year’s
1 pound of ground beef
16 ounces of Velvetta cheese
16 ounce jar of green taco sauce
Tortilla Chips
Cook ground beef until a deep gold brown, season to taste. Cube the cheese while the beef cooks, doesn’t have to be a small dice. Drain off any fat if necessary.
Place the cubed cheese and taco sauce in the same pan as the ground beef. Allow the cheese to melt and the flavors to meld over a low heat, stirring occasionally to ensure no scotching. If you want a slightly thicker queso, add some shredded cheddar at the end.
Serve in individual portions or place in a serving dish for everyone to help themselves around the table, with chips.
Serves 2-3 hungry people. For every additional 2-3 people, double the recipe accordingly.
The Second
When I did grocery shopping for Christmas, I picked up a pork shoulder. We had planned to eat it over the holidays, but well the lure of being lazy was to seductive to even make this incredibly simple meal.
The pork shoulder was about nine pounds with the bone-in. It was just defrosted enough to fit into my pressure cooker, so I seasoned it up and tossed it in with some seasoning and cranberry juice with a wee bit of water. It took a good three hours to cook, plus depressurized, until tender and the bone separated. Then I switched the Ninja over to slow cooker, shredded the pork and tossed in some barbeque sauce.
Instant shredded BBQ pork that put those convenience meals in the grocery store to shame, as a fraction of the cost. Plus I control the salt content and there are no preservatives to extend shelf life. Bakes some rolls or buns and it is easy sandwiches for lunch or dinner. It freezes well, assuming you have sufficient leftover to freeze.
Side Note
My order of reusable gallon bags arrived from Amazon yesterday. They are plastic and silicone free and can be used repeatedly. They are freezer friendly. I ordered two sets of six bags easy for the cost of one reusable Ziploc bag of the same size from our local grocery store. I picked up one of the Ziploc reusable bags from the grocery store and I am pleased with it. It seals tightly and currently is storing my turkey stock for soup later this month. The $15 price tag for one bag did not please me however and thus the search for alternatives on Amazon. A good portion of those first twelve bags will be used to marinate meat in the freezer. At least a couple will be reserved for storing cookie dough and bread dough in the freezer.
Best part about these bags, and the Ziploc bag, is just how thick they are in comparison to a normal, disposal plastic gallon freezer bag. I am hopeful that the quality increase will prevent freezer burn, because let’s be honest we all have the one odd thing that somehow gets lost in the freezer no matter how diligent we attempt to be.
Conclusion
Feels good to be getting back into the routine of cooking and eating healthier. Holidays are a nice break from the every day but honestly, our stomachs and health are always so much improved when we return to the boring of the everyday meal.
May you have a fabulous week on your homestead be it large or small! May your blessings outweigh your burdens!
I have been compiling the end of the year review, and I am incredibly proud of Dave and myself. This was our first full year in Texas and it was a breeze compared to our last three on the East Coast. It wasn’t the savings bonanza we needed, the homestead simply needed too much work from the previous “loving” owner. We did make infrastructure improvements to the house and the land. We haven’t fixed all of the problems by any stretch, the original windows and roof replacement are the next big ticket items in the next few years.
We have both been creative in solutions and learned new skills. I pickled something for the first time in my life. While sauerkraut isn’t something we eat frequently, I still learned how to do so and can replicate it should we ever get a bumper crop of cabbage. Dave did a lot of back breaking work outside, from digging holes to planting trees to fixing fence line to keep Kahlua contained. Admittedly, the fencing still needs work but we are going to get quotes come the new year.
We planted a successful late summer garden, would have had a successful spring garden but for two puppies. We raised a flock of roosters, unintentionally mind you, and had them help us amend and revitalize the soil. We have a better idea where the sun is the strongest for planting this year, and what to plant when. Hard to believe that it is time to begin planning the garden already!
All the hard work and challenges have been good for us. They have forced us out of our comfort zones, into activities some days we would just rather avoid entirely, and made each of us stronger and healthier as a result. We will be continuing that journey in the coming year, more intensely focused on the healthier life choices and moving more.
2022 kicked our butts and made us stronger. It was a rebuilding year, just not the type we anticipated. It was a year we can be proud of upon reflection. We invested in ourselves and our future. We spent the time and money, even when one or both were painful. We made the choices necessary to make the future better, sometimes at the expense of immediate comfort and security. It was challenging, rewarding, heartbreaking, delicious, and joy filled. I wouldn’t change a thing, well maybe the Cedar Fever and stomach bug we have both been battling this week.
2023 will be here in a blink of an eye and personally I am looking forward to the challenges and joys in the coming year. I fully expect 2023 to kick us when we least expect it, to be filled with unexpected joys, and to present us new opportunities to invest in ourselves. Last year was a vast improvement over the previous three, and I am confident that 2023 will continue down that same path. I welcome the unexpected forks in the path and I know that with Dave by my side, family, friends, and God the path forward will always be brighter than the path behind.
Have a fabulous week on your homestead, be it large or small! May your blessings this week outweigh your burdens.
If you are like me, this time of year is busy and there is very little energy left for the “fun” parts of life. Not just last minute holiday chores and plans, but simple things like, do we have sufficient supplies to survive if there is an extended power outage during severe winter weather? Add in crazy weather changes and a migraine, suddenly there is just nothing left to do much of anything.
Dave is working from home through the end of the year which is a doubled edged sword. He moved his office out of the guest room when my parents arrived and he hasn’t moved back. While it is nice having him out with the rest of us, and no dear when you read this I am NOT asking you to move back, it also has changed what can be done during business hours. Essential things like vacuuming and rattling about the kitchen are put on hold or ignored entirely. Which you would then think would leave more time for other activities but you would be wrong. The undone tasks just have this insidious way of worming into your psyche and giving you no peace as the dogs track in yet more dirt and debris.
Whining and whinging over with, onto bigger and better things. The 2022 Year in Review has begun and will be published next week. Reviewing pictures reminded me just how much I personally learned and grew this year. Dave too has expanded his homesteading knowledge, while holding down a full time job and accepting his first ever official management position. 2023 looks to be no less challenging or exciting and we are both looking forward to conquering whatever the year brings our way.
There are plans for content in 2023 and I am excited for them. Garden planning begins next month, hard to believe that time of year is upon us already. Seed catalogs are piling up. Cooking the Books is returning in January with a cookbook dedicated to a delicious side dish that deserves to be so much more! Here’s a hint, most Americans purchase it frozen but the frozen version pales in comparison to homemade and the homemade version can be frozen too!
The 2023 Homestead Challenge begins in January and it all begins with walking and lavender seeds. Believe it or not, getting the lavender seeds started is one of the first things that needs to be done this year. They are supposedly very finicky to start and then sow successfully. We are also thinking of planting them in the front yard and assuming they grow, they will provide a plentiful and beautiful patch of beauty most of the year here. The other challenges will all naturally flow from how successful we begin the year and knowing that we never fail a challenge when life throws curve balls.
Christmas is Sunday and as we celebrate the birth of Christ and being together, let us also take a moment to say a prayer for all those less fortunate. May our families and friends be blessed in the coming year and may those in need find the assistance to thrive.
From our homestead to yours, may you have a very Blessed Christmas and may your New Year be bright and plentiful.
Have a fabulous week on your Homestead, be it large or small! May your blessings this week outweigh your burdens.
I spent the opening days of December doing journal planning and setting goals for 2023. I decided to share the goals we have here at Pecandarosa. Some of them are very specific to what we are planning for in 2023 and some are easy to join with us in completing on your homestead.
Health and Fitness
We are aging and we are both more sedentary than is good for us. I originally was going to make the ultimate goal, 2,023 miles in 2023 then I did the math and realized I would be setting myself up for failure. Rather than fail from the outset, I revised the goal downward to a much more manageable number. 1,000 miles is still daunting, but it is more than doable. If we both walk 1,000 miles that is 2,000 miles so maybe if we divide that last 23 miles between us; together, we will have logged 2,023 miles in 2023.
Part of achieving the 1,000 miles in 2023 goal will be to give myself the grace to admit that some days it is just too miserable to haul my aging booty around the block. However, other than maybe an ice storm that makes walking dangerous, there is never a valid excuse for my lazy self to not go do laps in the yard while playing with the dogs. Dave gets in plenty of steps when he is in the office, but this applies to him as well.
Making better food choices is a continuation of what we are already doing but it ties in directly with learning to can. I freely admit I am intimidated by canning. I have all the required equipment, except a pressure canner, and still I hesitate. I made excuses in 2022 ranging from not having the proper equipment to insufficient space. No more excuses. 2023 will be the year I can the excess bounty from the garden.
Garden and Livestock
I have killed yet another Rosemary plant. I admit I have never successfully grown one. Doesn’t matter if it is a healthy starter plant or a seed. The only time I have successfully grown Rosemary was when it was an already well-established hedge plant in the desert and then I literally did nothing. It took care of itself and as a result, I don’t count that one because it survived despite me. I am determined in 2023 to change my relationship with Rosemary come what may.
Lavender is also on my list of plants I need to master in 2023. We use dried lavender in the chicken coop to deter insects. It isn’t inexpensive to purchase, and we get more than sufficient sunlight in the summer to grow a patch. We don’t need fields worth of lavender, just enough to be useful. I know this will be a challenge equivalent to Rosemary given how fussy it is to start from seed.
I have a lovely, detailed spreadsheet for the garden, which I will share in an upcoming post. It keeps track of all the seeds, what was planted when, sprout dates, etc. I got bored with it, or overwhelmed, and lost interest late summer, early autumn. Which is detrimental to this year, but I have to give myself the grace to realize that I am far from perfect and the best I can do is make a better attempt at keeping it up to date in 2023.
Mosquitoes are a problem for us being not far from the river and humidity. Our neighbors told us summer 2022 wasn’t bad for mosquitoes and yet the scars I acquired from bites argue differently. There are traps and repellent all over the yard, but it isn’t helping during this warm spell in the last two weeks. Dave and I take turns vacuuming the little invaders off walls. It’s actually quite humorous armed with a dust buster and a headlamp, walking around the house vacuuming them out of the air and off walls.
The plan is to work natural repellants into the garden beds all year long, Rosemary and lavender being part of those plans. Upping the smelly plants during succession sowing will also add in creating a barrier. There are plans for pots to be moved with the chicken coop so that the girls are protected inside at night. The war on mosquitos, and flies, is top priority in 2023.
We are approved by the city for a heifer with some fencing improvements. Fencing is expensive and so is the heifer. They are both long term improvements we are wanting to make to the property. The neighbors are onboard and so it is just a matter of time and money. Like all good things, it is always far more of each than you ever anticipated.
Conclusion
2022 is drawing to a close and with it comes a fresh slate upon which we will mark our progress and accomplishments of 2023. We can endeavor to accomplish more and learn new things, or we can stand still and stagnate. We are making the conscious decision to endeavor to improve and grow. It shan’t be easy, there are days we will fail, there will be times it seems insurmountable or impossible. But there will also be days where small victories spur us onto to larger ones, where we conquer fears and acquire new skills.
As 2022 draws to a close, I am choosing to have hope for the future. The world is a very uncertain place these days, but I know our ancestors thought the same thing when as they lived through tough times. Without hope, the human spirit cannot survive and thrive. Together we can inspire one another and change the course of our communities and eventually society. Never give up the future, find joy in the everyday and remember you are never alone.
Have a fabulous week on your Homestead, be it large or small! May your blessings this week outweigh your burdens.
It was a good week in the kitchen, from baked goods to black bean soup. We had deliciously full bellies, plenty of leftover for future meals, and a couple of failures, aka learning moments.
Pumpkin Cranberry Bundt Cake
Pumpkin Cranberry Bundt Cake
Menu planning for Thanksgiving and tried a new possible dessert and a Cooking the Book trial. It smelled great baking and turned out perfectly from the Bundt pan.
We had slices as dessert the night it was baked. It was disappointing and dry. It should have been rich and moist giving the ingredients. Instead, it was dry and tasteless. It was a wee bit better the following day but honestly, it would have been humiliating had I survived the cake to family and friends.
Meat Pies
Meat Pies
I haven’t made pie crust from scratch in ages and knew I needed practice. The crust was ugly and was too thick. My fault, it was still to dry and crumbly which I suspected but failed to trust my gut. It tasted fine if you could ignore an ugly thick crust.
On the plus side, there were NO soggy bottoms and the new individual pie pans worked perfectly. The meat filling combined with the ugly crust made for a delicious dinner. I will change the filling up a bit next time, but these will freeze well for future freezer meals.
What Berry Salad
Wheat Berry Salad
We have a pantry of wheat berries for grinding our own flour. But did you also know they are an excellent everyday food source?
Boil them for a good twenty-five to thirty minutes and drain them off. They are then ready to be morphed into a warm or cold salad. Despite the long boil, they puff up and retain a crunch that is quite pleasant. They would probably make a good hot breakfast with warm milk and cinnamon sugar. I admit we haven’t yet tried them as a warm breakfast option, and it would be a tough sell to replace steel cut oatmeal.
I tossed the drained, warm wheat berries with blue cheese crumbles, green onions, a green bell pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. The heat from the berries will melt the cheese and provide a creamy base. It can be served warm or chilled. If you don’t like blue cheese, this works with Italian dressing and vegetables. It easily morphs into whatever flavors you need.
Garlic
Peeled Garlic
I peeled just over a pound of garlic cloves on Sunday. It wasn’t fun but it needed to be done. I learned something in the whole process. Once the outer paper layer has been removed and the cloves are released from the stem, if you place the cloves under a damp cloth as you continue to process the remaining cloves, the outer layer will soften and allow you to strip away that hard paper shell with relatively easy with the clove intact.
All of those delicious cloves of garlic have been roughly chopped, thanks to my mini food processor, and are now in two 16-ounce jars with oil awaiting me and holiday cooking.
Black Bean Soup and Dutch Oven Bread
Black Bean Soup and Dutch Oven Bread
Beans, any type, are a staple of eating on a budget. Making do with very little that fills bellies and provides healthy, nutritious food. Weather is starting to turn chilly, well for South Central Texas, and soup sounded delicious last night.
I soaked my beans overnight and then pressure cooked them for forty-five minutes with a beef bone and beef broth. Then I added cumin and some salt and let them slow cook all day on low. It was tasty and filling. There were plenty of leftovers for another night.
Dutch oven bread is simple and comes together quickly.
3 1/2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of yeast
2 tablespoons of honey
Water to hydrate the flour, anywhere from a cup to two cups depending on humidity
I toss everything in the mixer with the dough hook for about seven minutes. Just keep an eye on it as it combines. If your dough is too wet, add flour a wee bit at a time until it is smooth and is a ball on your dough hook. I proofed mine in the oven with the light on for an hour. I then knocked it down and let it proof again while the Dutch oven pre-heated in a 425 oven. Line your Dutch oven with parchment paper or a silicone pad. Place the proofed dough in a rounded ball shape into the hot Dutch oven carefully. Cover and allow to bake for an hour. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack and enjoy.
Conclusion
It was a delicious and satisfying week in the kitchen. We ate from the pantry, we ate experimental recipes, and learned from failures. It was an investment in ourselves that we are proud of and it was time well spent.
Have a fabulous week on your Homestead, be it large or small! May your blessings this week outweigh your burdens.
It was quiet week here at Pecandarosa. Dave spent long days downtown working and I did batch cooking for the most part. Dinners were leftovers or using up those easily accessible but unhealthy pantry items we all have.
Breakfast on the Go
I made a dozen breakfast sandwiches so they were available for quick breakfasts or to throw on his lunch. I didn’t take pictures because I thought it was an obvious thing. But I learned this week that what is obvious or common sense to me is mind blowing to others. If this helps you then I am glad, and you won’t regret the time investment because they taste so much better than the pre-made ones.
Breakfast Sandwiches
Eggs
English Muffins, Bagel Thins, Bagels, or hearty thick cut toast
Breakfast meat*
Cheese
If cooking bacon or sausage patties, do so first so they are ready when you are. There is no need to cook Canadian Bacon or ham slices prior to assembly.
*If traditional breakfast meat is expensive or hard to find, a slice or two of ham lunchmeat works well in a pinch. If using on a bagel thin, make sure the ham is on the drier side because there isn’t enough bread to absorb the excess moisture.
Fry the eggs, you can use a silicone ring if you’d prefer but honestly, I rarely do because it is more hassle than. It is worth. Prepare and season the eg.gs to your tastes, I recommend the yolk be cooked through to avoid drippage while eating
Split the bread of choice in half and lay cheese slices on one or both halves. Shredded cheese, American cheese, or any easy melt type cheese works best here.
Assembly is simple: cheese, egg, and meat. Order doesn’t matter, although I do put the cheese on the bread so it melts into it but that is personal preference. I also assemble mine when everything is cool so that the freezer doesn’t have to work as hard to freeze. Wrap in freezer paper or cling film and store in the freezer.
To cook, we microwave between a minute and a minute forty-five depending on size of bread chosen. Large English muffins or thick bagels will take longer than bagel thins for instance.
Lunch or Dinner Option
Homemade Burritos
Growing up my Mum always had shredded beef or chicken available and tortillas available and believe me, once my brother hit puberty, she couldn’t keep food in the house. When I went to college, frozen burritos became a staple. Cheap, easy, and always waiting for me they reminded me of home even if they were nowhere near as good. Dave undoubtedly ate his parents out of house and home as a teenager, and as a young adult he always lived on the cheapest food he could afford. Once again, frozen burritos came into play. Funny how something as simple as a frozen burrito brings people together.
Have you priced frozen burritos lately? The cheap ones at just under five bucks for eight at Walmart, I remember when those same burritos were less than three bucks for ten. The “high quality” ones are over fifteen dollars a bag for a dozen which is insanity at our local grocery store. The 365 burrito is $1.99 per frozen burrito with no meat at Whole Foods.
Three examples of just how insanely expensive frozen burritos have become. There was debate between us whether or not to include a cost breakdown for the recipe to follow. Ultimately, I overruled Dave because food prices vary so much from week to week and region to region. The recipe is easy to tweak to make less or more expensive depending on your budget. I have pictures of assembly but once again I didn’t take pictures during cooking because this is so normal for me that it never would have occurred to me, and didn’t for assembly, until Dave said something.
Basic Ingredients
Easy Filling for Burritos
Ground meat: beef, chicken, pork, or turkey are all suitable
Lentils
Rice
Beans of your choice: pinto, black, kidney are all good examples
Seasoning to taste
Shredded Cheese
Tortillas: large or extra-large are the most suitable to stuff and roll for the freezer
I am going to share what I did for this batch; you can adjust the quantities based on your family’s needs. In my pressure cooker I cooked up a pound of lentils, green lentils this time because they were the oldest and therefor next to be used. Lentils provide a good source of protein and help stretch the ground meat further.
While the lentils were cooking, I made two cups of jasmine rice in the rice cooker with French onion soup as the seasoning for the rice. Rice again helps stretch the protein component a wee bit further and provides a different texture.
In my cast iron skillet, I caramelized two finely diced onions with three cloves of Elephant Ear garlic. I seasoned these with homemade taco seasoning, homemade citrus salt, and some Adobo. Once, these were a deep brown color I transferred them to a bowl to cool.
Into my hot skillet I placed two pounds of ground beef and two pounds of turkey. Used the same seasoning as for the onions and cooked until there was a good deep, golden-brown crust on the meat. I sopped up the excess moisture and fat with a couple of paper towels and then deglazed the pan with the last of the pickled jalapenos, liquid and peppers all going into the pan. I then slid the cooled onions and garlic in the pan and cut up five or six jalapenos from the garden. I let this mixture cook on low for a couple of minutes before turning off the burner.
Rice will be done by this time. Transfer to a container and place in the refrigerator. Lentils will also most likely be done, leave in the pressure cooker if it also has a slow cooker function. If not, transfer the lentils to a stock pot or slow cooker large enough to handle the lentils, meat, and beans. If using canned beans, open and rinse well. Add the meat and beans to the lentil mixture. Add enough liquid* to prevent the food from burning but not so much that it covers the mixture. I used pinto beans I had made the previous week and used their leftover cooking liquid so I cannot be precise on measurements. Stir well and allow to slow cook for several hours. You want the flavors to marry, and you need time to determine if the seasoning and spice levels need to be adjusted.
* Salsa, stock, or tequila are all good liquid options that will add flavor and spice. They can be used separately or together according to your tastes.
Meat, beans and lentils
Allow the meat, beans and lentils to cool overnight in the refrigerator. I have found that it is much easier to assemble burritos for freezing when the components are already cold. I transferred the rice and meat into separate bowls that allowed for easy access once I got into the rhythm of assembly. Tortillas that are warm are also easier to roll and less likely to break. Then it really is a matter of assembling burritos, a layer of cheese, a layer of rice, a layer of meat, and then another layer of cheese. Roll and move on the next.
Final tally was 35 burritos and one freezer meal of stuffed Mexican shells
Before I made the burritos for the freezer, we had eaten a lunch and a dinner from the meat already. I had some leftover large shells that need to be used. I stuffed them with the meat mixture and then topped with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese. It will make a delicious quick dinner when life is just too busy to think about cooking.
The one odd ball burrito you see is the only one that cracked. I simply put some extra shredded cheese in the crack and topped it with a corn tortilla. The cheese and corn tortilla patch will still make that lone burrito easy to eat with an extra corn punch. Corn can also be added to the meat mixture if you need to sneak vegetables into a picky eater’s diet.
Ready to go into the freezer
Conclusion
I won’t lie, it takes a wee bit of time and effort to make breakfast sandwiches or frozen burritos. It pays off in that there are no preservatives or ingredients you don’t know what they mean or do. You are in control of what you eat, and this is a simple way to gain control over food. Do you need to make 35 burritos or 12 sandwiches at once? Absolutely not! But for me, I’d rather put in the time up front then constantly be running out and having to make more.
If we had hungry children and teenagers running around, I would easily make double of each every time. Not consuming unknown ingredients and food heavily laden in preservatives is important to us and these are two easy meals to make that happen.
We are what we consume and if that means a couple of hours in the kitchen a month for do ahead meals, then I will make the time and effort.
Have a fabulous week on your Homestead, be it large or small! May your blessings this week outweigh your burdens.
I love to cook. I love to get inspiration from cookbooks and other cooks. I am less interested in a chef’s credentials than I am the quality and ease of preparation of recipes.
I am also frequently frustrated when I pick up new or used cookbooks. They are rarely reviewed by actual home cooks. Call me odd but when I want a cookbook I want one with pictures of the completed dish, for at least some of the recipes, and I don’t want it to be filled with ingredients that are difficult to find or are used so infrequently they aren’t worth the expenditure.
Thus, the inspiration for this new blog post series. I have cookbooks in my bookcases and I admit I am always buying more every time I order from Better World Books. I have old cookbooks, new ones, ethnic cookbooks, and those highly specialized books.
First book I intended to review was The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz. I checked it out of my library, for which I am eternally grateful.
Book is a giant disappointment! No pictures of any recipe, small print in an odd color on creamy paper, and recipes that can only loosely be tied to the Harry Potter world. It is an impressive 200 plus pages in length clearly designed to appeal to the fans of Harry Potter.
Hard to read
There are far superior cookbooks with tie-ins to movies, video games, and books than this example. I cannot fathom why this is so highly rated other than it was blindly reviewed by franchise fans who do not cook!
There are much more exciting and positive reviews coming. Dave is forever resigned to live life as a human guinea pig for recipes and experiments in the kitchen. In the coming weeks and months we will be making dishes from Good and Cheap, The Elder Scrolls Cookbook, and Pierogi Love. There are many, many more (shh 🤫 don’t tell Dave) cookbooks to review on my shelves and soon to be on my shelves.
I promise you will not get platitudes or fangirl reviews from me. If I like it, you will know. If I think it’s a medicore or a hard pass you will know that too. I won’t be cooking every recipe and I won’t be going out of my way to buy exotic ingredients that I will never use again. But, honestly, I wish there were more regular home cooks reviewing cookbooks from a home cook perspective. There is no financial gain to praise a cookbook here and every cookbook I review I either own or have checked out of the library.
Life is too short and life has gotten too expensive to waste on cookbooks that are filled with nonsense recipes or that are cost prohibitive to make regularly.
Let’s fill in this menu board together! If you have a suggestion let me know in the comments or on social media. I cannot promise to commit to suggestions but I can promise I will look into them all as potential choices for tasting and review.
Join us on the journey to Cooking the Books and determine what books might be worth adding to your collection!
Have a fabulous week on your Homestead, be it large or small! May your blessings this week outweigh your burdens.
Pecandarosa 