Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Country Ranch Salmon Cakes with Tomato-Basil Drizzle
By Mary Shivers, Ada, Oklahoma, Mar 15, 2008 12:42 PM
2008 Delicious Living Reader Recipe Contest:HONORABLE MENTION, Entrees
Serves 4 / The Mediterranean-inspired topping lifts the salmon cakes to new heights.
advertisement
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons Organic Valley Unsalted Butter
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
3 6-ounce cans Crown Prince Natural Pacific Pink Salmon, well drained and flaked
1 cup finely crushed Blue Diamond Country Ranch Almond Nut Thins
2 Organic Valley large eggs
2 tablespoons Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Drizzle
1/2 cup Imagine Organic Creamy Tomato Soup
2 tablespoons white wine
2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Garnish
1/2 cup crumbled Meyenberg Garlic & Chive Jack Goat Cheese
4 fresh basil sprigs
1. Sauté green onions in butter for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Pour into a large bowl. Add salmon, cracker crumbs, eggs, cream, salt, and pepper. Stir until mixed. Cover and chill for 30 minutes, then shape into 8 cakes.
2. To make drizzle, stir tomato soup, wine, vinegar, and cream together in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until mixture just begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in basil and salt.
3. Heat half of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook four cakes at a time for 3 minutes per side, adding remaining oil for second batch. Drain on paper towels. To serve, arrange two cakes on each serving plate. Spoon drizzle over cakes. Sprinkle with cheese and top with a basil sprig. Serve immediately.
The 2008 Recipe contest is sponsored by:
Blue Diamond • Crown Prince • Myenberg • Imagine • Kikkoman • Organic Valley • Mori-Nu • Rachel’s Dairy
Find this article at:
http://www.deliciouslivingmag.com/food/recipes/reader-recipes/ranch-salmon-cakes/index.html
Deep Conditioning
You can give up the fancy conditioners and hot oil treatments, too. For conditioning you have many options.
Light conditioning
If you just need to replace your usual, everyday conditioner dab a very small amount of coconut oil on towel-dried hair and leave in. this works on dry hair that needs some taming throughout the day, too.
Deeper conditioning
For deeper conditioning, comb coconut oil through your hair and leave in overnight (place a towel over your pillow). Wash it out in the morning. If you don’t want to leave it in overnight you can put it in your hair an hour or just before washing.
Mayonnaise treatments are cheap, easy, and do wonders for your hair. A warning, though, some people can’t tolerate the smell. Simply comb mayonnaise through your hair, pile it on your head or put in a bun, cover with a plastic grocery bag or shower cap, leave in for 10 to 30 minutes, and wash out.
Hot oil
This is so easy and works so well, you’ll never buy a hot oil treatment again.
In a double boiler, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons coconut oil until warm. Let it cool some if needed. Don’t burn yourself!
Heat a towel by soaking it in hot water. I boil water and pour it over the towel in my kitchen sink.
Comb the warm oil through hair, pile it on your head. Cover with the warm towel. Cover that with a plastic bag or plastic wrap. Leave in 10 to 30 minutes. Wash out.
Posted by Sandra Yvonne Duke
http://www.realfoodforhealthandpleasure.blogspot.com/
Ditch Your Shampoo
You don’t need it. Shampooing is one of the worst things you can do for your hair. It strips it of all its natural oils, drying your hair and damaging it, while at the same time stimulating the oil glands in your scalp to produce too much oil in an effort to keep up. The end result is dry hair and oily roots, prompting you to wash even more often.
Professionals (such as models) who must have beautiful, healthy hair will go days or weeks without shampooing, only washing their hair immediately before a shoot or other event.
The solution
Wash with baking soda and lemon juice. First make a thin paste of baking soda and water, pour and massage it into your scalp. Let it sit for about 10 minutes if you can. Then rinse with lemon juice diluted in water.
If you are used to using shampoo every day or every other day, it could take a couple of weeks to see good results. Your scalp will need time to adjust and slow down on the oil production.
You will still need to condition your hair some. I recommend dabbing a small amount of coconut oil on towel-dried hair. No need to rinse it out. You can use olive oil, if you prefer.
Posted by Sandra Yvonne Duke
http://www.realfoodforhealthandpleasure.blogspot.com/
http://realfoodforhealthandpleasure.blogspot.com/search/label/sore%20throat
Bone Broth Benefits
If you aren’t making your own bone broth (stock) you should start. Not only are the health benefits unbelievable, it is also very cheap. If you have bones as leftovers you can use them. If not you can buy bones cheap.
Making stock is easy! Throw the bones in a pot add water, a splash of vinegar to pull the minerals out of the bone, and seasonings if desired. Simmer for several hours – five hours will do, overnight is great. You can do it on the stove or in the crock pot. The easiest way is to throw the bones from your meal in after dinner and let it slow cook.
What’s in real bone broth?
Calcium
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Potassium
Sulfate
Fluoride
Collagen
Chondroitin sulfate
Hyaluronic acid
Glycine
more…
The amount and types of substances in your bone broth will depend partly on the types of bone you use. Bone marrow and cartilage provide the most beneficial ingredients.
Bone broth is good for
Joint health
Asthma
Cancer patients
Immune system
Cold, flu, sore throat
Digestive problems, including inflammatory bowel disease
Many other health conditions
Unlike most stocks, broths, and soup bases you can buy at the store, homemade bone broth does not contain MSG and you control the sodium level. Store-bought broth and stock typically does not have all of the nutrients and health benefits of homemade.
You can use it to make soups, sauces, cook rice, or even sip it as a tea.
I recommend reading the following pages for more in-depth information on the health benefits of bones broth:
[live links on site]
Homemade Supplement & Super Food: Bone Broth
Traditional bone broth in modern health and disease
Posted by Sandra Yvonne Duke
Thank you!!
The last couple of days I’ve been eating off my diet and this morning I don’t feel very well. Back on the raw foods diet I go.
I wonder if I felt this way all the time before? I can’t remember, but I usually have so much energy! Thanks for the ping!
That would be perfect made with tempeh. Yummy!!
We have all those ingredients right now. I’ll see if we can make that today!
It's a smallish sort of chicken fryer, maybe 10" at the bottom, and the lid is also a shallow skillet. The lid seals tight like a dutch oven, so together or seperately this rig can be used to cook just about anything, and it's a convenient size to fix up plenty of food for 2-4 hungry people. That and a small two burner sized reversible griddle are my most used camping cookers.
http://recipes.kaboose.com/chow-mein-casserole.html
Chow Mein Casserole
Originally submitted by Cindy B :) and modified by Kaboose.com
Average User Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 (4.3/5)
This hearty Chinese hot pot blends ground beef with celery, onion, almonds, rice and chow mein noodles for a comforting homemade meal with all your favorite takeout flavors.
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cooked rice
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
5 ounces chow mein noodles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute the ground beef for 5 minutes. Add the onion and celery and saute for 5 more minutes.
In a separate medium bowl, combine the almonds, rice, soup, water and soy sauce. Mix together well and add to the beef mixture. Place this into a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with chow mein noodles.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes.
That is cool. Where did you get it? I want one LOL!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Dulse
Hey man, want some weed? Seaweed that is.
“Oh yuck,” said my daughter and wife when I brought home a large bag of dried dulse from our nearby fish market. It was thick lobed, purple and crunchy with a perfume that barely hinted at the brine of the sea. The fishmonger had it in bags under the counter. Most people would have passed it by. Not I.
What should I do with this? “Crumble it up and put it on a salad,” said someone in the store. “Add it to a fish stew,” said another. “Just munch it straight from the bag.”
Actually most of us eat a fair amount of seaweed every day. Extracts from dulse, kelp and Irish moss are common thickeners in ice cream, salad dressings, and instant desserts. They are the suspension agents used in those new gooey soft drinks. And of course sushi lovers are familiar with nori—the thin, toasted, greenish black strip of seaweed folded around thick fingers of rice and raw fish or vegetables.
There are many kinds of seaweed used in food processing but dulse is the most versatile. As a powder, it can be used to thicken sauces and processed foods. As flakes, it can be added to salads and soups.
Think of dulse as nature’s original, barely processed, high-fibre, sun-dried vegetable jerky. It’s packed with minerals, vitamins, fiber and protein. It can be fried or boiled. It has no cholesterol or fat and doesn’t need added salt. Maritimers often eat it like popcorn, in dried chunks, straight from the bag. If only it didn’t taste like, well, seaweed, it would probably be the perfect snack.
So there I was. One large bag of dulse and no takers. There is so much healthy eating in even a small strand that it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. Fortunately there are some excellent recipes that should work for even confirmed dulse haters. Chopped up dulse can be added to a mayonnaise or a cream cheese dip. Toasted dulse has a lovely smoky flavour that almost, but not quite, covers the flavour of the flotsam of the shore. It’s tasty if you get it to the right golden brown state of crispness, but be warned: left a fraction too long in the pan and the house soon smells of burnt vegetation. This is a strong stench and makes even a lousy cigar smell good. Best of all is substituting a couple of ounces of dried dulse—soaked in water for about 10 minutes, then drained and finely chopped—for about half the grated carrots called for in any standard recipe for carrot cake.
“What is this?” said my mate, upon returning home from work one evening. “Carrot cake, looks good ... mmm, it tastes OK ... what are these green things in it? Did you throw in some string beans?”... no ... “Could it be spinach?”... no ... “Wait a minute. You didn’t! It’s seaweed!”
(where does one find agave nectar? would honey or another sweetener do just as well?)
The complete book of self sufficiency by John Seymour
[on line e-book]
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6449749/The-complete-book-of-self-sufficiency-by-John-Seymour
Self-Sufficient Gardening
by: John Seymour
[Deep Bed method- on line e-book]
The Self-Suffkient Gardener is a unique, detailed guide for the home gardener who wants to provide for all his own food throughout the year. Wherever you live and whatever the size of your garden -whether it be a large country plot, a small back. rrd or just an average suburban yard -*John Seymour’s practical, common sense advice will work for you. He shows you how to make the best use of your...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8618639/SelfSufficient-Gardening
gardening secrets
Time for good old gardening tips now.
[on line e-book]
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2264384/gardening-secrets
The Practical Organic Gardening Guide
http://www.cleanairgardening.com Learn about the basics of organic gardening.
[on line e-book, with links for soil and compost]
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2074632/The-Practical-Organic-Gardening-Guide
Organic Gardening and soil
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9164754/Organic-Gardening-Soil
Organic Insecticides - Garden
Organic Insecticides For The Garden; Home & Garden
[a quick look says this is a good list of insecticides, I cannot copy this one. granny]
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8226741/Organic-Insecticides-Garden
Intensive Gardening For Profit And Self Sufficiency
Peace Corps Information Collection And Exchange, PROGRAM & TRAINING
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8301731/Intensive-Gardening-For-Profit-And-Self-Sufficiency
Note:
There are others here, also check the search for more subjects to take to google.
granny
Here:
https://secure.lodgemfg.com/storefront/product1_new.asp?menu=logic&idProduct=4044
You can buy them direct from Lodge for full price. We have a regional discount chain in these parts called Bi-Mart that always has them, and I have seen them in the camping section at Wal-Mart.
(where does one find agave nectar? would honey or another sweetener do just as well?)<<<
Welcome to the thread Lainie, even if you are asking questions that I should not answer without experience, but I think you can, we will ask Vickie, as she knows the answer.........
I would think it can be bought at Health Food stores, I know it is beginning to show up in many recipes.
Dulse
Hey man, want some weed? Seaweed that is.<<<
The Mexican word for sugar/sweet sounds the same....
That is why I named my Sows Dulcey and Melia, for sugar and honey........on goats milk and grain, you get a sweet pork, that is nothing like what is sold in the stores.
That would be perfect made with tempeh. Yummy!!<<<
LOL, When I read recipes, I try to think of what I might have to make it with and often think of how you are changing the recipe in your mind to match what is in your pantry.
The last couple of days I’ve been eating off my diet and this morning I don’t feel very well. Back on the raw foods diet I go.<<<
A person does feel better on a good diet.
I always think of you, when I read cancer posts, may God keep you safe.
Welcome to the thread.
Once one cooks in cast iron, it is difficult to go back to the thin skillets that many use, or is for me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.