and we're off

today marks the official start of the new, and still unnamed, food project. yesterday was our errand and library day. first we went to the farmers market downtown, which will still be up and running till the beginning of november, then after that i will start getting local goods through the upstate locally grown market. we got some eggs from putney farm ($3.75), chicken sausage and slab bacon from welch and son farms ($13), goat feta cheese in sun dried tomato olive oil from split creek farm ($8), and heirloom tomatoes ($7.25) from local growers whose name i can't remember. (oh..by the way, while looking up these websites i stumbled across a local restaurant blog. looks like Soby's is having a farm to table diner. rock on!!!! i won't be able to go, but i am marking this blog as one to read.) moving on, after the farmers market we went to the library for awhile, stopped at the year round farmers market to get another gallon of whites jersey dairy's raw milk ($6), and then stopped at the wine store ($ not telling) before heading home. so in total the grocery bill came to $38. that leaves $22 for any miscellaneous groceries that i need to get during the week. check out the local loot!!!!

local heirloom tomatoes, eggs from free range chickens, raw milk from pasture raised cows, slab bacon and chicken sausage from local free range/pasture raised livestock, and goat feta cheese in sun dried tomato olive oil. ($38)

so let's back up for a minute. i know what you are thinking. $7 for tomatoes and $6 a gallon for milk. to me those tomatoes are priceless and about to disappear for a while. and the milk is also used to make homemade yogurt and it goes, instead of half and half, in my morning coffee. so it is multi purpose milk, and think of all the money i save on vitamins! off the subject a bit, here are some pics of pumpkins taken at the year round farmer's market.

yesterday our food mainly consisted of ray having 1/2 a sandwich and i a bowl of potato soup from atlanta bread company and then going to the frig every now and then snacking on left over pumpkin pancakes, almonds, ice cream, and high gravity beer while watching 4 episodes of mad men. this morning i made us a nice little home cooked breakfast of cinnamon cooked apples, skillet fried left over roasted root veggies, homemade bread with butter and jelly, and scramble eggs. i would have taken a picture but the battery in the camera was dead. oops. then for lunch i wanted to make soup. i saw this recipe for a winter greens soup on wednesday chef. and while i did not follow this recipe for my soup, it was the direct inspiration for my creation. this became an opportunity to use some of the produce lurking in the crisper, as well, as the indestructible mammoth swiss chard plant growing in the garden. the original recipe does not call for any chicken stock, but since i have about 5 large yogurt containers of homemade chicken stock in the freezer.... why not? so here we go. let's make some soup!

pretty root veggies... i will make a soup out of you.
turnips, onion. sweet potatoes, and carrots.

fresh greens/swiss chard from my garden. there's still plenty where that came from. not pictured is the fresh thyme that also came from the garden.

peel and cut up the root veggies and wash and cut up the greens. saute the onion and carrots in butter and olive oil for about 15-20 minutes. season with a little bit of salt and some fresh thyme. pour in the chicken stock, which was about 2-3 cups and the i added about 1-2 cups water. add the turnips and sweet potatoes.

while the veggies were cooking, i threw in some parmesan cheese rinds from the freezer and a good bit of thyme springs tied into a little bunch with kitchen twine. simmered until the veggies are soft and then add the cut up greens and cook for a few minutes more. and.....

woo hoo soup!!!!

served up with some bread that i made, toasted with raw milk cheese. yummy!!!!
there is nothing like homemade soup.
it may take some time, but it is super easy, and well worth it.

now after all that glorious work on the soup, i am sitting her listening to bluegrass music while enjoying a few glasses of biltmore estates pinot noir and a piece of double chocolate fudge. i am about to go to amazon a get a few cookbooks. since i cut ray's hair this morning, saving us $20, hubby bubby said i could put that money towards something else. now i don't have to decided on which book to buy with my cashed in change. i can have both the new sarah raven and jamie oliver cookbooks. rock on!!!!!

holy crap....ray just came up with a name for the new food project. i knew he could do it. he was reading a ny times article online about extreme approaches to living green and came up with.....
the green green grocery food project, or 3-G for short. green = money, green = local/organic produce, and grocery = well, grocery. so there we have it folks. the 3-G food project. i like it.

i was just thinking...you know what this post needs? DOG PICTURE!!!!!

mr. keebs and moo moo taking turns and sharing the kong toy. sweet sweet babies!!

now folks, go out and grow something!!!!!