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Reusable veg

As you all know by now folks I will try to get as much out of stuff as I can. A friend of mine recently told me my byword should be 'Waste not want not.' and to be fair that is a good fit for me. This waste not want not rule of mine can be applied to some vegetables.
There are a few things in the veg world that will re-grow and provide a small harvest. Now don't expect huge results, but anything is better than nothing and if it is free all the better!
My recent attempts are growing, the celery has begun to sprout and my onion has been set in its water bath.

All you need to do is once you have finished your celery pop the root section in a bit of water and watch it re-grow. The same applies with the onion root section. The onion will not provide a new onion but it will send out some green shoots that can be used. Once the roots get going well you can transplant them into a shallow pot of potting soil.  If you set a few of these at once it is worth it, as I always say no waste needed :)

Homemade beef jerky

Sadly, shop bought beef jerky is not as natural or as good for you as it should be. It is a simple product that has been like many these days adulterated with numerous additives that quite frankly are bad for your health. However, it is quite easy to make at home with little effort.

Here's how to make the best beef jerky you will ever taste, with no guilt!

You will need -

2 pounds of beef

(Flank is good as it is thin, however I used offcuts from our beef steer and it was a mix of cuts)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp of worcester sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp smoked paprika (I use this instead of liquid smoke)

1 tsp regular paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp or more of cracked black pepper, use to your taste

Cut the meat into slices no bigger than 1/4 inch (see tip below)

Place in a roomy bowl and add all the ingredients, mix well

The jerky should marinade for at least 8 hours or better still overnight

The next day place the jerky which will be smelling wonderful in a strainer as the liquid marinade needs to drain. (The remaining marinade can be used again, I used it on a pork roast)

This next step is absolutely crucial and cannot be missed, the beef must be heated to kill any potential bacteria. This should be done by placing the meat on a tray and cooking it for 20 minutes on 300 degrees.  I must admit that I did give it an extra 5 minutes to be sure.

Once the jerky has cooled it is time to cook it. I use a dehydrator set on its highest setting, the jerky will cook on a temperature around 170 degrees for quite a few hours. If you are using an oven set the temperature on its lowest setting which on our cooker is 170. 

Tip - If you find it a bit of a struggle to cut the beef so thin, you can place it between two sheets of clingfilm and bash them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin until desired thinness!

The jerky can take anywhere between 7 and 15 hours to cook, mine was ready after 8 hours. It must be slightly bendy but not so brittle that it falls to pieces. If in doubt cook it a bit longer. 

Once it has finished cooking, let it cool and pack it into a jar or if you have a vacuum sealer use that keep the jerky longer. I put some in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer and the rest in a jar in the fridge. 

Enjoy!

The finished product

The simple things in life

We all love to have fancy food from time to time, it is a nice treat. In all honesty how many of us if asked what is there favourite food would choose something less fancy, more simple and satisfying.
Lets take my breakfast this morning, the humble egg! It can be prepared in several ways, and often totally cooked WRONG. Eggs prefer to be cooked slowly, take a fried egg for example, way too often the pan is heated to incinerator temperature and the poor egg is cooked as fast as possible within an inch of being a rubbery morsel.

Cook gently

This is how I do it! Heat some oil and a knob of butter in a pan on medium to low heat. You need the pan hot enough to cook but not too hot to frazzle the egg too fast. Once the egg is in and the white starts to set, slowly using a spoon ladle over the hot oil and butter.

Served on toasted baking powder buiscuits

Once done your taste buds and the egg will thank you for taking your time to prepare one of the most simple things in life :)

Happy hens!

I thought I would share the joy of my hens as they ate there scrap breakfast this morning. It was the food waste that we cannot consume that they find very tasty. I mix there scraps in with a bit of their normal ration and add a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar. The vinegar keeps them in good shape over winter, it is a good immune system booster. They love it!

Happy Hens make lots of eggs!

Bits and bobs crumble

On the recent subject of food waste I found numerous food items that needed using up, the fruit bowl was home to some rather sorry looking kiwi's and the fridge was hiding a multitude of miserable odds and ends, mostly fruit and some old crumble topping and ginger cake crumbs.
I did slightly cheat and added some wild blurberries and blackberries picked right here on our homestead. They were not in the needed to be used desperately category!
It all came together nicely to make a lovely fruity crumble.
Unfortunately the crumble smelled so good whilst cooking it was demolished before I could take it's photograph complete with its crumble topping!

Food Waste

As many of you will know I cannot abide food waste, on mass or at home. I find it intolerable that so much good food is tossed away for no reason what so ever. There is no need to waste anything, in one way or another it can be used. At home we eat lots of leftovers, on the odd occasion some leftovers may sit around a little to long, usually when we have an abundance of leftovers!
In that case the chickens get a free meal, and in return we get delicious eggs. They seem to lay better when they get the odd treat!
Any foodstuffs that cannot be eaten finds it way into our compost bin or into our ever growing compost trenches in which we will grow vegetables.
In our kitchen we have two containers, yogurt pots do a good job. One is for chicken scraps, in that goes plate scrapings, crumbs and all that sort of stuff and the other is for the compost.
The cycle turns full circle, help it turn the right way folks.

The best flaky pastry

Over the months I have been trying to refine the art of making the best pastry for making pies, pies of most kinds. I can and on the odd occasion make a rough puff but found that it is much quicker to make a flaky pastry, I also found that if made correctly it resembles rough puff anyway.
We love pies, apple pies, meat pies, left over pies, even left over pastry with a bit of cheese on goes down well. The lastest pie was left over pie, made with leftover kale, cabbage, potato, carrots and a small amount of fried ground beef which came from Jeff our beef steer.
The pie is featured on my Facebook page (link below) But, here is the pastry recipe!

14 ounces of white flour ( I use organic unbleached)
7 ounces of salted butter
Cold water, amounts vary each time.

Firstly it is important to remember two things, for flaky pastry always grate the butter into the flour and secondly and most important DO NOT OVER WORK THE DOUGH. You need to see the grated butter in it.

Gently mix the butter and flour together until all the butter is coated. Add bit by bit enough water to bind the dough together without over working. Another important tip is if you are making a top and bottom make sure you cut the dough in half prior to rolling. If you re-knead and then re-roll the butter will combine too much and the flaky texture will be lost.

Link to my facebook page -
https://www.facebook.com/flavourforlife/

A good harvest

Growing your own food is something that we all should do, we do not need a huge area in which to grow nor a garden plot at all. These days you can get a lot of variety in the small edibles bracket that can be grown happily in containers or window boxes. It is not only satisfying to the soul but great for our bodies and well being. I say to all give it a go, no matter where you are.
Here in Nova Scotia on our homestead we do have a rather large garden, there are a few of us and I love the work. It is harvest time and we are seeing great results. The heirloom tomatoes are producing huge amounts.

We have had a wonderful harvest from the greens and whites. Some things like spinach and beetroot failed. I feel they need more nutrients which our soil is lacking.  It will improve.

All in all we are very happy with this years efforts and looking forward to next year when we plan even more.
So, next gardening time grab a few packets of seeds (non GMO ) buy a few veg plants in the sales and give it a go. You will not regret it!

Jeff

A few months ago we decided that the empty paddocks needed to be filled. So, in stepped Jeff an Ayrshire steer. He has been here for a good couple of months now and growing, although he is not a meaty should I say as a beef breed he will provide us with some delicious grass fed, garden scrap fed beef.

The clock is now ticking, we are already into September, the deer hunting season is only a few days away and planning the date for Jeff's final day will come forth over the next few weeks. It will be the first time we have processed such a large animal (other than deer) on the homestead. There will be mixed emotions leading up to and on that day. It has to be remembered though that when that time comes he has had a great life and we can rest assured that the meat we eat will be the best possible.