oh man!!! that's good!!!

the 3-G food project, so far, is well under way. yesterday for breakfast ray had his shake and i had my usual bowl of homemade yogurt, bran flake cereal, homemade granola, with raisins, and then later i had a local apple for my snack. at lunch i had left over swiss chard soup, homemade bread with raw milk cheese, and an orange. when i got home i harvested some lettuce, greens, and basil from the garden and made a salad with homemade dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, local honey, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper). i added some of the heirloom tomatoes, goat feta cheese, and eggs (fried) that we got from the farmers market on saturday. yummy.

lettuce, greens, and basil from my garden.
aren't they pretty!!

monday night salad. greens, basil, oil and vinegar dressing, heirloom tomato, goat feta cheese, and 2 fried eggs.

today is tuesday and i am enjoying my lazy day off. i really didn't plan on doing much since i didn't know how is was going to feel after giving blood this morning. but i actually feel ok. just a little tired and i have a headache, but i also haven't had coffee yet today. on my way home i stopped at earthfare, to get more dog food and to pick up a few things. i still had $22 left over, although i am trying to stay under the $60 every week to build up a reserve.

earthfare:
2 lb organic white flour
2 lb organic wheat flour
2 organic russet potatoes
natural peanut butter
1 6pk. of toilet paper (100% recycled)
1 box of tissues (100% recycled)

i also got a small thing of orange juice from florida and a muffin to help me bounce back from giving blood. any excuse to get a muffin.

the grand total came to $21.30. so shopping is most definitely done for the week. now, i have milk setting out that will later become yogurt, bread rising on the counter, and i have some sad looking cucumbers and yellow squash sitting in the frig who want to hang out with some onions in vinegar to become a pickle salad. i might pair them with some lamb burgers this wekend. also tonight i an going to try to make potato gnocchi with a butternut squash cream sauce and apple bread pudding for desert. a full day of cooking i'd say.

more bread. just a basic bread for the week.

cucumber, yellow squash, and onion pickled salad. i didn't follow a recipe. i just sliced up the veggies, put them in the jar and poured over some boiled vinegar with salt, sugar, peppercorns, dried rosemary, cumin, and whatever else looked interesting in the spice cabinet. i'm going to let it sit in the frig for a few days and i will let you know how it taste.

simple apple and bread pudding about to go in the oven.
it's a good way to use up any left over bread from the previous week. plus we still have a crisper full of apples from the trip to the orchard.
i cubed up some bread and left it out all day. peeled and cut up 1 green apple. mixed together three cups milk, 3 eggs, about 1/2 cup sugar, a bit of cinnamon, and vanilla and poured it over the bread and apples in a buttered casserole dish. i cover the dish with foil and baked it in a water bath for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. i cooked uncovered for another 40 minutes.

look how pretty she is after her time in the sauna. served with organic vanilla ice cream. yum!!

here i am trying very hard to make gnocchi.
i cut up and steamed 1 lb. of potatoes till soft. i used the box grater to grate them up. mixed with about 1 cup flour, about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1 egg, salt, and pepper.

ready for their close up. i never could get the whole "roll the gnocchi on the fork thing", so i just rolled them by hand into an oblong shape. i made these early in the evening and put them in the frig till ray gout home, then cooked them in salted boiling water till they floated.

so here is our diner from this evening. potato gnocchi with butternut sweet potato sauce,
fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

holy crap man!! to quote ray, "that shit is good!" i had some butternut squash in the freezer that i had been meaning to use for the longest time. when i opened the package, of course, it had icicles on it, so i wasn't sure how it would taste. i decided to use half of the bag and to help with any flavor issues, i also peeled and cut up a sweet potato. god knows we have plenty of them in the frig right now. i steamed the squash and sweet potato till soft. i sauteed some onions with garlic and threw everything in the food processor. i added salt, pepper, ground sage. i then added milk till i got the consistency i was looking for. i put the sauce back on the stove to heat through, and there it sat, waiting for ray to get home. i cooked the gnocchi, poured the sauce on top, threw on some fresh basil from the garden, grated some parmesan cheese on top and walla.......diner. then we had some apple bread pudding and ice cream for desert. i now sit here very tired and very full. i think it is time to brush the teeth and go to bed. whatever will i come up with for diner tomorrow??

one little thought before i go to bed. after cooking and eating such a wonderful diner, i have to ask myself, why go out to eat at all? with the exceptions of a few bbq restaurants in town, it seems in order to get a tasty meal you really do have to whip out some dough. and when i say tasty, i mean something that is good and clean and doesn't make me feel like crap afterwards. unless your going out for the whole fine dinning experience, spending a fair amount of money on a mediocre meal is just a waste. which now means that i really do need to learn how to make me own bbq.

nite nite.