Garden, Plant, Cook!

Friday, January 19, 2018

Back 2 Basics 2018 Living Bundle - What You Get in the Bundle.

Dear Folks,

Below is the complete list of the contents of the Back 2 Basics 2018 eBundle 

Also included with the eBundle are some bonus offers of discounted products or services.  When you click on the link you will see all the eBundle contents and the bonus offers.

Back To Basics Bundle 2018January 17 - 23, 2018

53 Authors
59 eBooks, Courses and/or Videos
$529.85 Retail Value
92% Discount (based on $39.97 sales price)

Bonus offers $100 value



Pricing:
Online access only: $39.97
USB flash drive: $64.97 (includes domestic shipping)
USB flash drive PLUS online access: $69.97 (includes domestic shipping) 


You have until January 23rd 11:59 p.m. to purchase the bundle and 1 years to download all the content if you purchase either option of the online access.

$39.97 for a package of educational material at your finger tips valued at $529.85.

My gardening book is included in this bundle.  If you have my book in print form - Thank You!  You may find it very handy to have it along with all the other sustainable living PDF library at your finger tips.

Click here for the content page.
 


Cooking

Artisan Bread – The Art Of Sourdough

By Dana Thompson
This beautifully presented 45 page eBook shows you how easy it is to create stunning artisan sourdough loaves. From creating your own sourdough starter from scratch, baking amazing loaves, troubleshooting and even delicious recipes for other sourdough items, it is all here. There is a page of tips and trick for getting the perfect loaf, and it explains just how to maintain and preserve your sourdough starter so you will always have some ready to bake with.

Batch From Scratch

By Lisa Barthuly
Out of my desire (or desperation?) for a little more meal time sanity—I aimed to simplify & streamline my kitchen prep, while maximizing the time, effort & fun in the kitchen. Ditch the guilt. Batch cooking, baking & prep basics will give you a foundation to simplify your mealtime planning and share some of my tried & true, favorite recipes. My hope is that this book gets you started—gives you a ‘jumping off point’ to create a system that works for you! I’ve included labels and tags, as well as a Batch from Scratch Prep Day Planner Sheet for you.
Bring back the love of time well spent in the kitchen and the joy in creating homemade meals. Family meal times and breaking bread with loved ones, are huge memory makers—I want to make them wonderful!

Delicious Dandelions: A Recipe Collection

By Annie Coombe
Dandelions are not only tasty, they are a super food! Chock full of vitamins and minerals, they are so good for us to be eating. Now I’ve gathered up our favourite Dandelion recipes and put them all in one book!

DIY Homemade Butters with Herbs, Nuts and Fruit

By Kristina Nelson
How to make five dairy butters and tips on how to use them.

Heritage Cooking

By Lori Elliott
Travel back in time to an era of home-cooked meals made from scratch with nourishing, real foods. These historic recipes, all sourced from antique cookbooks from the mid-19th century, have been adapted to be simple to prepare in any modern kitchen. The recipes in this book use traditional ingredients with an emphasis on natural and organic produce, humanely-raised animal products, and properly prepared grains. With recipes ranging from breakfast dishes to hearty stews, from homemade breads to rich deserts, this cookbook is perfect for anyone who loves history and wants to return to the simplicity of traditional, old-fashioned home cooking.

Kid’s First Homestead Recipes

By Deborah Olsen
This is your guide to teaching your kids how to get in your kitchen and learn to start cooking wholesome, nutritious food from a young age. Why? To teach them early and develop a lifelong love of real food—food grown from the homestead.
If you want your kids to get involved in their food from a young age, help them learn skills necessary to set them up for healthy eating habits as adults, and get them excited about nutrition now, this guide is here to help!
(This guide is specific to foods grown on the homestead and found on a self-sufficient menu.)

Make Maple Sugar in 3 Simple Steps!

By Michelle Visser
This book will walk you through the process, step-by-step, of how to make maple sugar right in your own kitchen. It offers suggestions of lots of ways to use maple sugar and lists numerous reasons why maple sugar should be your sugar of choice. Once you’ve read this 14-page, full-color eBook, you’ll be a maple sugar enthusiast who never looks at refined sugar in quite the same way again.

Never Buy Bread Again

By Laurie Neverman
“Never Buy Bread Again” is a bread book designed for beginning bakers and those who enjoy quick and easy homemade breads.
You’ll find: Troubleshooting tips, everyday breads, quick breads, gluten free breads, holiday and special occasion breads, basic sourdough bread, recipes to make with leftover bread and fun “go alongs” like flavored butters and cheese fondue. There are also storage tips for fresh, frozen and par-baked breads.

DIY

Homebrewing eBook Package

By Bill Osuch
We created this package from the Homebrewing eCourse. We include our 85 page eBook with 13 lessons to help brew the best creations at home naturally. With this eBook package you’ll also receive 5 master class videos from our homebrewing class to help you get started. They will help you get started with soda and cider along with making sure you have the best foundation with an understanding of yeast and sanitizing.

How to Make Gouda Cheese at Home

By Corina Sahlin
In this book, you will learn how to make Gouda cheese and consistently produce a beautiful wheel every time. The author, a native German artisan cheesemaker, has taught hundreds of people how to make Gouda cheese – both in person on her homestead and also in her online cheesemaking courses. She will hold your hand every step of the whey, ahhh, way, and take you through the process step-by-step. The book includes lots of pictures and also gives you access to her exclusive demonstration movie filmed in her kitchen. The 23-minute long movie will make it seem like you are making cheese in the kitchen with the author. You will learn exactly what ingredients and equipment you need. The links in this book are all clickable, so you can conveniently shop for your ingredients right from the digital book!

Hot Process Soap Making

By Heidi Villegas
Have you been wanting to learn how to make soap? Is the hot process method something you have been considering but have been afraid to try? In Hot Process Soap Making, Heidi shares her best no-fail soap recipe, all the details you’ll need to make fabulous hot process soap, as well as over 21 soap recipe variations. She also includes lists of essential oils, herbs, and other natural additives so you can customize your own soap with confidence! If you’ve ever wanted to try making hot process soap, this no-nonsense hot process soap making book will get you started with speed and confidence.

Make Your Own Vinegar for Pennies

By Kathi Rodgers
The uses of vinegar are legion and its benefits are well-documented. You can make vinegar from scratch in your own kitchen with simple supplies you already own and any fruit you can access, even the scraps left after you can applesauce. Learn how in Make Your Own Vinegar… for Pennies! by Kathleen Rodgers

Natural Soap Making How-To And Recipe Book

By Kelly Cable
This book gives you the basics steps for soapmaking, including tools needed, and all about ingredients and natural additives like herbs, essential oils, and clays. You’ll also find her famous soap coloring chart, as well as an oil properties chart, and many beautiful pictures. 11 recipes, including shampoo and face bars.

Foodstorage

Canning for Beginners

By Heather Harris
Get the low down on how to can the most common fruits and veggies straight from your garden! Recipes that are perfect for the beginner canner AND the more experienced ones!

Food Storage Made Easy

By Jodi & Julie
Food Storage Made Easy was founded on the principals of building up a year supply of food storage in simple babysteps.
BABYSTEP CHECKLISTS: The Food Storage Made Easy Program starts with a series of checklists designed to be completed every two weeks. Each checklist gives specific food storage or preparedness items to buy, to learn about, and to try.
FOOD STORAGE ENCYCLOPEDIA: Detailed information about every aspect of your food storage and emergency preparedness plans. We help you know the different varieties of foods so you can choose ones that your family will enjoy and that meet the nutritional guidelines you are looking for.
RECIPE APPENDIX: With 60 recipes plus food storage equivalents and substitutions charts this recipe appendix is a complete resource on it’s own. For every food we instruct you to buy we give you at least one recipe you can use so you don’t have to feel nervous about storing new foods you’ve never used before.

Freezer Meals To Feed The Hungry

By Jodi & Julie
The goal of this book is to provide people with freezer meal recipes they can use to bring people meals in times of need or for their own families. Often times when people need meals it comes without much notice. If your freezer is stocked with a few freezer meals you are in a position to be able to quickly help ease someone’s burden and feed the hungry.

Homemade Dried Fruits & Vegetables

By Carol Murphy
This book is an introduction to the basics of preserving produce through dehydration. Methods of drying and what to look for when buying a commercial dehydrator are covered. Other specific areas of interest include choosing produce for drying, pretreatment of fruits and vegetables, pasteurization of food, testing for dryness, storage requirements, and using dried food including rehydration. With the easy-to-follow directions, anyone can have fun, save money, and preserve food through dehydration.

Pantry And Food Preservation Planner

By Kim Mills
Make keeping track of your pantry inventory and planning your food preservation easy with this printable pantry and food preservation planner.
28 pages of printable forms to plan:
Your monthly to-do and shopping list
Keep track of your pantry, fridge and freezer inventory
Plan out how much of each food you need to can, freeze, dehydrate or buy
Forms include monthly planning pages, inventory forms, shopping lists, and more!

Your Shelf Stable Pantry

By Misty Marsh
Your Shelf Stable Pantry is a food storage recipes book for those that like to eat.
This food storage is not boring, bland, basic or difficult. Every recipe in this book is kid friendly, family approved and delicious.
You’ll find 6 breakfast recipes, 6 dinner recipes, 7 soup recipes, 8 bread recipes, and 4 side / salad recipes.
In addition, you’ll have 8 conversion charts you can use to convert your own family recipes to shelf stable versions.

Frugal Living

Electronic Budget Worksheets

By Charisse Merrill
With lots of budget sheets out there, it’s overwhelming to know which one is best for you, and how to start. These budgeting worksheets teach you how to create an organized system with your budget, SPECIFIC to what you make, your specific bills, and what YOU need. Have a system in place so you can organize your bills, pay them on time, realize how much you CAN spend, and easily see your progress month to month. So you can have the peace of mind that you are helping your family and preparing for a rainy day.

Handmade Gift Planner And Organizer

By Jennifer Osuch
Are you making handmade gifts this year for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Birthdays? Quickly and easily keep track of what you’re making for who, how many you’re making, when you need to have them done, even keep a record of all your creations, and keep track of you shopping plan, your holiday menus, even your traditions. and much much more.

Rags to Rugs

By Kim Brush
Rags to Rugs is a 39 page ebook with step-by-step instructions to help you make your own beautiful, handmade rag rugs.
*Color photos to show each step of the process.
*Directions for calculating how big to make your center/base in order to achieve the size rug you desire.
*Written instructions for creating stitches, increasing size, decreasing size, and finishing an oval rag rug.
*Also includes step-by-step instructions on choosing fabric, ripping strips, getting started and finding time to make your rugs.

Rural Hobby Turned Business

By Leah Lynch
In this book you will learn strategies of how to set your path to create a thriving business and set actionable goals to help you reach you dream outcome. While walking you through proven steps to check the profitability of your income idea you will also learn the power of social media and how to build an audience without spending your entire day on a device. In this book you will also find 8 worksheets that will help you put your ideas on paper and plan your business strategy.

Gardening

Edible Landscaping in The Desert Southwest

By Catherine Crowley
This book is all about successfully growing your own food in the Desert Southwest, Deep South and any USDA Zone 9b and above – year round. Most of our beloved edibles fall into whether they like their “feet” cool or warm, so some are best planted or sown in their temperature preference. This book is a beginner’s guide for those unsure when to plant and needing more specific guidance than the back of seed packages. Included is a month by month planting guide, edibles options to replace ornamental plants, companion planting and some recipes with the bounty to get your started. Get your growing on with more vegetables, fruits, culinary herbs and edible flowers.

Get Growing: Five Easy-to-Raise Vegetables

By Gabe Wright
If you’re looking to start a garden but not sure where to begin, this book gives you five of the easiest, any-brown-thumb-can-grow-them vegetables, and tells you what to do to keep them alive and happy in a simple and straight-to-the-point manner. Learn from my mistakes, don’t waste time and money on things that don’t work, and grow a great garden without all the chemicals!

High Performance Gardening

By Lynn Gillespie
In the High Performance Gardening eBook you will get inside secrets from Lynn Gillespie, an organic farmer of over 25 years. High Performance Gardening is for gardeners of all skill levels to help them begin their journey towards the productive and easy garden of their dreams.
What you will learn in this book:
How to plan a high yielding garden that produces all season long.
Weed-free gardening techniques.
How to nurture your soil so you can grow nutritious and delicious vegetables!

The Art of Gardening: Building Your Soil

By Susan Vinskofski
With The Art of Gardening: Building Your Soil, you WILL become a better garden. Your plants will resist disease and your produce will be nourishing because you’ve built healthy soil. You’ll learn a way to garden that builds healthy soil, eliminates the need for toxic pesticides, and best of all, requires no digging.

Homesteading

Homestead Management

By Quinn Veon
Organize your homestead and garden in 2018 with printable Homestead Management Planner sheets for your homesteading binder! In this digital file are 119 PDF printable pages including homestead and garden yields, expense records, pantry and freezer inventory, and much more!

Honeybee Tales

By Leigh Tate
Honeybee Tales: A beginning beekeeper’s adventures in natural beekeeping, tells the story of the author’s choices and selection of natural beekeeping and the top bar beehive, explains the Warré philosophy of beekeeping, and introduces the reader to the Warré beehive. Also discussed are the use of essential oils to attract bees and repel Varroa mites, nadiring (as opposed to supering) to expand the hive, and planting a bee garden.

Keys To Successful Homesteading

By Scott Terry
For the past 42 years, I’ve been making my living farming and homesteading in rural areas of the north. I’ve seen many people come to the country with dreams of returning to the land and becoming modern homesteaders. Some of these people made a go of it, but a large number of them didn’t. I’ve watched and observed many scenarios play out. Some good and some not so good. With these observations as a foundation, I’ve set out to help others learn the Keys To Successful Homesteading.
There are many books out there that cover the how-to aspects of raising food, preserving food, how to improve soil, find the best land or market produce. This little book is different. This book is more about having the proper mindset and making the right choices.

Modern Homesteading

By Sheri Ann Richerson
Modern homesteading is a way to achieve true self-sustainability and live your life to the fullest, free of the stressful life in the city on your way to security and independence. Everything you need to get started on building your self-sustainable life right away is on the pages of this book. This book has made it easy for so many people to start on the path to living their homesteading dream. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about modern homesteading!

Pasture Raising Livestock- A Beginners Guide

By Jenna Dooley
This book covers the basics of pasture raising beef, pork, poultry, and dairy animals. It explains how to start a pasture based farm so that you can raise healthier meats and dairy. This plan can be scaled to fit your needs wether you’re just feeding your family or you want to sell in your community.

Pioneering Today – Faith and Home the Old Fashioned Way

By Melissa K. Norris
Do you long for the simpler times of yesteryear? Do you wish you had the time to offer your family home grown meals? Does your heart silently cry for a quiet place in this fast paced life? In this book, author Melissa K. Norris explains practical and easy methods to cook from scratch, garden, preserve your own food, and see God’s fingerprint in your everyday life.
Whether you live in the middle of the asphalt jungle or on the side of a mountain, you can experience the pioneer lifestyle and start your own homesteading journey. When you surround yourself with things made from the hand of God, you can’t help but see Him.

How To Make A Profit Homesteading

By Kristin Duke
Want to make money homesteading, but not sure how to figure it all out? Profitable Homesteading Worksheets will help you easily track your homestead expenses & revenue so you can accurately predict your profits. With these worksheets will help you learn where your profit lies. This way you can easily see what activities are most profitable as well as places you may need to curb expenses or increase prices. You will also get bonus videos to walk you through how to fully utilize each worksheet.

Provident Homesteading

By Julie Gropp
This homesteading ebook was written to help others that may be thinking about or starting their own homesteading journey.
In each section of the book, we discuss the things you need to know to start your homesteading journey. I hope to give you simple, helpful advice to get you started and keep you from getting overwhelmed by all the things you want to do.
We want to give you actionable steps in each homesteading skill so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and move forward. Don’t try to add everything into your lifestyle at once.

Raising Chickens Naturally

By Mindy Wood
“Raising Chickens Naturally: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Own Backyard Flock” is just what it sounds like: It’s everything you need to know to get started! Chickens are many folks’ gateway animal into the wild world of homesteading and this book will help you get started right away with a solid foundation of knowledge. It’s packed with practical information on beginning a backyard or small farm flock and raising them as naturally as possible.

Joyous Home Journal

By Theresa Powers
The Joyous Home Journal set is a bundle of seasonal homemaking and homeschooling projects. Each issue features a variety wonderful homemaking and educational skills: Sewing, quilting, baking with whole grains, themed teas, projects for father and son, woodworking, articles of encouragement, homeschooling and more.

Natural Living

A Heart Of Gratitude – 30 Day Thankfulness Devotional

By Sara Jordan
In this ebook, you will find 30 daily devotions to help you focus on the positive and apply it in your life. Each day’s reading will take only a few minutes of your time, but will help focus your heart on gratitude. With a scripture reference and prayer to accompany each devotional, you can seek truth in God’s word every day.

31 Days to Simpler Living

By Merissa Alink
Do you wish that your life would slow down so that you could live the simple life that you’ve always dreamed about?
That you had a cleaner home that was easier to maintain?
That your life wouldn’t be so stressful and complicated?
In this eWorkbook I will show you how you can live a simpler life, have less stress, and keep your home cleaner and more organized than ever. I will share the secrets to our success in becoming a family that lives slowly in a fast world.
Each day of the book has an achievable challenge that will put you on the path to simple life and help to clear the clutter from your home and your life. It is filled with printable worksheets and checklists so that you can easily follow along and record your progress.
Are you ready to start living simpler?

Back to the Basics: Small Space Living

By Kayla Kamp
Just got your first apartment or don’t have the budget to invest in expensive sustainable products? This book helps you find the small changes that can really make a difference for both the Earth and your pocketbook. Learn everything from space-efficient gardening and cheap ways to save on your electric bill to how to plan meals and upcycled projects to save money and space.

Dreams From God, A Glimpse of the Future

By Susan McDermott
Dreams from God: A Glimpse of the Future by God’s Grace weaves together words and photographs to recount the journey of Susan McDermott. She was raised in a large city and ends up embracing self-reliance to survive. Being a single mother with two small boys, who learns how to garden, can fruits and vegetables, raise animals and bees. It is a humorous and serious story about trust and faith, with an unusual twist.

Everyday Gratitude Journal

By Sara Jordan
Practicing gratitude changes your perspective on life. In this guided journal, you will be inspired to practice gratitude every day. You get a guide on how and why practicing gratitude is so important in your life, plus 106 lined pages with journaling prompts, inspiring quotes, and space for your own thoughts of thankfulness.

Green Your Clean

By Gabe Wright
From the moment you wake up until the time your head hits the pillow, you’re inundated with chemicals from the products that you use. Some of them are benign, but some of them can cause serious problems. This book will show you how easy (and cheap!) it can be to replace some of the worst offenders with simple homemade products, taking a room by room approach and using ingredients that you probably already own.

Mom’s Quiet Time Journal

By Sara Jordan
This journal features 60 pages, including writing prompts, blank lined pages for your thoughts, space to record current reading lists, plus coloring pages with and without Bible verses
This serves as a “commonplace book” to record your favorite Bible verses, funny things that your children say and do, treasured memories, and favorite quotes. The coloring pages help you to memorize scripture and spend some relaxing quiet time with a creative activity.

Natural Parenting

9 Easy Steps to Homeschooling

By Michelle Curren
Making the decision to homeschool is just the first step. The decisions that need to be made before you can actually start can be overwhelming! I homeschooled my children for fourteen years, and also helped many other families get started. Drawing from all of that experience, I wrote this step-by-step guide for you. I want you to feel like you have someone sitting right there with you, leading you through the steps to set up your homeschool. 9 Easy Steps to Homeschooling will help you trade stress for success.

How to Afford Homeschooling

By Selena Robinson
Many parents are under the impression that homeschooling is expensive, especially if you’re teaching multiple children. But learning at home doesn’t have to break the bank! There are plenty of ways to give your children a quality education at home without spending a fortune! See some of the tried-and-tested ways we’ve used to homeschool frugally for years.

Parenting Your Differently Wired Child

By Sallie Borrink
Do you love your child, but feel constantly overwhelmed by her needs and quirks? Are you surprised by how difficult it is to parent your child, even though you knew that parenting would require a significant amount of work and energy? Has parenting left you a little shell-shocked? If you have a differently-wired child, your life is more challenging. I am certain it feels overwhelming at times. It isn’t your imagination. These children naturally demand more of their parents. In this book we’re going to look at seven strategies for parenting a differently-wired child.

Preschool: At What Cost?

By Susan Stewart
“What preschool curriculum should I use?”
“Doesn’t my three-year-old need reading lessons to be ready for school?”
“Will my child get into college without formal preschool?”
The real question should be “Is formal preschool necessary?”
Parents bombarded with research, statistics, and reports claiming young children need formal academic programs pressure parents, especially moms, to “teach” their little ones, doubting their instinct to nurture at home.
Susan K. Stewart challenges this notion in Preschool: At What Cost by looking at the history of the preschool movement, publicized studies, and unpublicized evidence showing benefits of more play and less school.

Your Homeschool Blueprint

By Ana Willis
Just as a house needs a strong firm foundation to stand so does your homeschool.
With Your Homeschool Blueprint e-book and mini video course, you will build the blueprint for this solid foundation step-by-step by:
– Identifying and reinforcing your reasons for homeschooling.
– Setting clear goals for your homeschool in general and for each child.
– Defining a clear mission statement which will sustain your homeschool commitment and help you accomplish your homeschool goals from now on.
Your Homeschool Blueprint is the tool you need to build an unsinkable foundation for your homeschool and enjoy an unshakable homeschool journey for the years to come!

Zero to Hero Nutrition: How to Actually Get Kids to Eat Healthy Food

By Christina Kamp
Using her years of experience in preparing healthy food for kids, Christina has written an eBook to help you go from a nutrition zero to a nutrition hero one step at a time using her menus, shopping lists and cooking instructions. You’ll be able to feed your kids healthy food without going broke or spending 24 hours a day in the kitchen. Find out how to bring more nutrition to your family and be a nutrition hero for them and you!

Natural Remedies

100 Essential Oil Diffuser Blends

By Meghan Nowlin
100 Essential Oil Diffuser Blends contains blends for all of life’s moments! Whether you are wanting to diffuse for better health, stress, kids, pets, traveling, holidays or anything else, there is a blend here for that! You will also learn about why diffusing is so beneficial and what makes it different from other methods of application. Discover my favorite methods of diffusing and learn the importance of essential oil quality. This book is a must have for the essential oil lover!

Edible and Medicinal Flowers

By Kami McBride
Join Kami in the garden and explore the easy to grow edible garden flowers that you can decorate your food with. Adding flowers to your food transforms an ordinary meal into a celebration! Wild radish, wild mustard, calendula, nasturtium and chive blossoms are a few of the flowers that Kami will identify and give you lots of tasty ideas about how to use.
Not only will you learn simple gardening tips and yummy ways of preparing your edible flowers, but you’ll be amazed at the healing medicinal qualities of these beautiful flowers. Which edible flowers heal the skin, uplift your mood or calm the nervous system? Learn the easiest to grow edible flowers that not only bring beauty to your lunch plate, but provide multiple medicinal benefits as well.

Going Herbal

By Marie Beausoleil
Going Herbal carries on the tradition of Marie’s popular cookbook A Cabin Full of Food, pulling away the confusion and putting ‘from scratch’ into simple language and easy instructions.. Dive into a short history of herbal remedies in North America, learn how to purchase the best quality herbs and herbal products or, with Marie ‘standing right by you’, discover how easy it is to make teas and personal care items from thirty common and useful herbs. Going Herbal covers 30 common herbs from Aloe Vera to Yarrow.

Herbal Teas for Winter Health

By Carol Little R.H.
Whether you are new to herbal medicine and the world of herbs or a devotee with your own personal favourites, you will find insightful ideas for tasty blends and also a detailed list of Carol’s preferred winter tea herbs. We don’t need a huge apothecary to be able to make and enjoy herbal teas, which can benefit us. Learn how to make the perfect cup of herbal tea plus when and how to use which herbs for best results. Discover the power of a simple cup of tea with tried and true recipes from 20+ years of herbal practice.

Preparedness

How to Handle a Crisis

By Dennis Evers
This book was created for individuals that lack emergency training yet wish to be prepared to properly react to any event when help may not be immediately available.
Loaded with protocols for dealing with natural and manmade disasters, terrorism, nuclear, biological, chemical and medical emergencies, bomb threats, active shooters, crime, sheltering in place, emergency food and water as well as preparing for a disaster.
An extensive first aid chapter has protocols for all common medical emergencies such as fractures, heart attacks, bites, amputations and poisonings, but also covers emergencies such as blast injuries, childbirth, influenza and much more.

Living Off Grid

By Sheri Ann Richerson
Living off-grid is fast becoming a very popular option to those people wishing to lessen their carbon footprint, affirm their independence and stay away from the reliance to fossil fuels. In this book, you will learn about:
– What Is Living Off The Grid?
– Advantages of Living off the Grid
– Is It Practical To Live Off The Grid?
– What Do You Need To Live Off The Grid?
– many other useful things!

The Guide To Primitive Survival Traps

By Blake Alma
This is a book for all outdoorsmen and survivalist who enjoy the sport of trapping and wilderness survival. With an easy, basic read and images for an easier understanding, this book provides you with instructions to making primitive survival traps. Blake Alma, the host of The Outdoorsman’s Art Radio Show, provides you with an introduction to primitive traps, constructing primitive traps, where to set your trap, how to bait your trap, and much more!

The Modern American Frugal Housewife Book #4: Emergency Prepping

By Jill Bong
If you’re just a regular person looking for practical realistic emergency bug-in prepping tips, ideas and tactics that you can use TODAY, this book IS for you.
How can you replace gallons of chlorine bleach (for water treatment) with just 1lb of this chemical?
How can you stop bleeding with an easy-to-grow plant?
How can you develop the best defense in a bug-in situation for little monetary cost?

Your Own 72 Hour Kit Plan

By Misty Marsh
Your Own 72 Hour Kit Plan is a unique step by step system for building a truly useful 72 hour kit for your family. It is especially helpful if you are short on time or money.
If you want to feel ready, calm and confident that you can immediately begin providing for your family in time of disaster, this book is for you.


I hope you take the time to check out all of the contents of this great offer and thank you for taking the time to read and look over the contents, and thank you if you choose to purchase.

Back 2 Basics 2018 Living Bundle.
Remember you have only until January 23, 2018, 11:59 p.m. to purchase and then the offer goes away, BUT you have 1 year to download all the content.

Have a best day!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Disclaimer: Clicking on links on this blog may earn me a small commission if you purchase something. Your price does not change.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Back 2 Basics Living 2018 eBundle is Here! January 17-23, 2018

Dear Folks,

The Back 2 Basics Living 2018 Bundle is now available for purchase!


You have 1 week to purchase the bundle and 1 year to download all of the material.  You will also have the option of purchasing the bundle on a flash drive.

What is a bundle?  A collection of books, workshops, planners etc. all available for download as PDF files, or on a flash drive (or both) at a deep discount off the combined total value ($529.85).


$39.97 to purchase the download and you have 1 year to download all 59 ebooks etc.

This is an opportunity to get a library of educational materials on living a simpler, healthier life, all ready to read at your finger tips.

If you purchased the Bundle last year, you will love this year's content.


If this is your first time purchasing a bundle, you will be amazed at the breadth of information available to you in this library of how-to materials.

Back To Basics Bundle 2018January 17 - 23, 2018

53 Authors
59 eBooks, Courses and/or Videos
$529.85 Retail Value
92% Discount (based on $39.97 sales price)

+ Bonus offers $100 value

You have 1 week to purchase the bundle and 1 year to download all of the material.  You will also have the option of purchasing the bundle on a flash drive.


Topics Include
Gardening
Homesteading
Raising Livestock
Preserving Food
Planners and Planning
Recycle Ideas
Raising Healthy Children
Natural Cleaning
Income Ideas
Emergency and Crisis Planning
and More!


Click here to learn more and purchase

Thank you for checking out this bundle offer.


I was truly amazed when I learned about this eBundle program last year, as I had never heard of "bundles" before.  If you are like me and always looking for "more" information on a subject, an eBundle library is impressive.

Have a best day! 
 

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Saturday, January 13, 2018

From Beans to Meat - Cured Salami


Dear Folks,

I have been posting on my new love - bean "burgers" - something I have wanted to try making tasty-to-me recipes, and ones my bean-loving guy will love also.

I think I nailed those:  A Bean Sausage Pattie and a Black Bean Burger.

Yesterday I pulled my dry curing Salami out of the refrigerator and thoroughly enjoyed a few slices with some strawberries.  I had put it in December 14th.

I have posted about making this before, inspired by Jacques Pepin's Saucisson of Pork Tenderloin.

This is a pork tenderloin, marinated overnight in salt and sugar, then wiped clean and patted with spices and a bit of Brandy (he used Cognac).

4 or so weeks of curing in the refrigerator produces an air dried salami that is outstanding.  It is salty so a few thin slices goes a long way as a treat with fruit, maybe some cheese, and glass of juice or wine.   How long to cure depends on how thick your choice of tenderloin is.  Mine were slender pieces and I could have taken them out a bit sooner than 4 weeks.

My Dry Cured Salami

One 1-pound pork tenderloin
1 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon herbes de provence
Can be double for two 1 pound tenderloins

Remove any silver skin from the tenderloin. If there are tips (points) on either end of the meat, trim so the width is similar all along. (Use the trimmed pieces for something else.)

Mix salt and sugar together place in ziplock bag, add meat, seal bag and shake to coat. Refrigerate overnight.
Have ready a pan with rack ready.
Remove meat from bag and wipe dry with paper towels. Rub meat with mix of brandy, pepper and HDP.
Place the tenderloins in your refrigerator on a rack where the air can circulate around them.
The tenderloins will dry out in five to six weeks.


Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  They will keep many weeks or even a couple of months - if they last that long.

Don't forget the Back 2 Basics Living Bundle starting January 17th.

This collection of simple living ebooks is a discounted library of useful information.
You can sign up here to get notified when the bundle becomes available, or watch for my post with all the information on the day before (January 16th).


And also watch for my posting later in the week with February's Planting, Sowing and Maintenance tips.

Have a best day!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Friday, January 12, 2018

Black Bean Burger Recipe, Around the Garden and The New Bundle Coming

Dear Folks,

This Black Bean Burger turned out great.  The look and close taste of a beef burger, but with all the goodness of black beans and oatmeal -- plus herbs.

I posted the other day about my very first Bean "burger" try, which is really more sausage.  I have been telling myself for several years now I just need to get to it and make some and see how they turned out.  I should have done this a long time ago.  Each is great in their own way.  Here is the link for the "bean sausage burger" recipe post. 

The side salad you see in the picture is made with my unripe pumpkin (broke from the vine), my purple sweet potato, some Irish potato and marinated artichoke hearts.  See note below about the unripe pumpkin.

Back to the Black Bean Burger.  I now have a formula that works well using a can of drained and rinsed beans and old fashioned oats ground to flour, plus a beaten egg all to bind nicely.  Herbs and spices and a little liquid smoke to give it a grilled flavor.

This plated meal was made Wednesday. Yesterday I used the remaining burgers, warmed, to make a nice burger sandwich with all the usual fixings (greens from the garden were sorrel, sweet potato leaves and a couple of good sized nasturtium leaves).  The burger on toasted bread, mine with mustard, Deane's with enough condiments to make it run down his arm, was great!

My Bean Burger Recipe

1  15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
1/4 cup oat flour (old fashioned oats ground to flour)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon each dried thyme and rosemary, crushed
1 egg, beaten
4 drops liquid smoke

2 tablespoons avocado oil

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Add liquid smoke to beaten egg.

In a food processor grind drained beans, leave some whole

In a bowl mix beans, dry ingredients and beaten egg.

Heat pan to medium, add oil and when it shimmers, use spatula to drop about 1/4 cup of mix on to hot pan and flatten with spatular - about 4 fit in a pan whithout touching.

Cook 4 minutes and flip, cook 3-4 minutes more.

Serve on plate with a side or as a burger with usual burger additions.


I am still waiting for my Upper Ground Sweet Potato Pumpkin to finish ripening!!  While much of the vine was killed in the frost a couple of weeks ago, this fruit is still ripening and I do not want to pick too soon. In the mean time while checking about the same time as the frost, I discovered another immature fruit had separated from the vine. DARN!  I put it aside to figure out what I wanted to do.

I finally decided to use it like squash, cut, clean, roast and it worked out really nicely.  This was a trick I figured out a couple of years ago when some baby watermelons fell off the vine.  Not wanting them to go to waste I reasoned they were simply "squash" and treated them like so.  In the case of the watermelon the fruit was sweet all the way to the rind.  In the case of the pumpkin it needed to be treated like the hard winter squash it is and baked/roasted to tenderness.

I used some of the baked "squash" cut up to make the "potato" salad shown with the burger above.  My Molokai Purple sweet potato along with an organic potato left over from Christmas and some marinated artichoke hearts with marinade made a nice side dish.

I still have some of this squash left over and I may add to either a chili I want to make or cook up with some scrambled eggs.

Meanwhile I am being patient waiting for the main pumpkin to ripen.  The weather was so weird this fall that the fruit did not pollinate until mid September, much later than it should have taken.

Beside the pumpkin, I have been watching my Coffee Tree.  I know it can be frost/freeze sensitive and it did sustain some damage in that frost a couple of weeks ago, but as you can see (I hope you can see the contrast) the bright new leaves are glowing.  (That is an orange tree and fruit showing behind it.)

As usual NEVER touch frost damage until all danger of frost is over with. 

I have high hopes this year that this young tree along with its "under story" companions avocado and mango will produce something.  We shall see.

Back 2 Basics Living Bundle starts January 17th.  This one week event gets you:
  
53 Authors
59 eBooks, Courses and/or Videos
$529.85 Retail Value
92% Discount (based on $39.97 sales price) 

Plus bonus offers.

Right now the link takes you to a page to sign up for the notice when it starts.  You won't be able to purchase until January 17th.


You have 1 week to purchase the bundle and 1 year to download all of the material.  You will also have the option of purchasing the bundle on a flash drive. 

Topic Categories Include:

Gardening
Homesteading
Raising Livestock
Preserving Food
Planners and Planning
Recycle Ideas
Raising Healthy Children
Natural Cleaning
Income Ideas
Emergency and Crisis Planning
and More!
 

I am taking a few days off line next week to visit with my sister.

I will be posting more on the Bundle later next week AND I will post the monthly February planting/sowing tips.

Have a great weekend in the garden and kitchen,


-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Coming Soon!! Back To Basics Living 2018 Bundle.

Dear Folks,

A heads-up the 2018 Back To Basics Living Bundle is coming.

Below some preliminary details.

What is a bundle?  A collection of books, workshops, planners etc. all available for download or on a flash drive (or both) at a deep discount off the combined total value.

This is an opportunity to get a library of educational materials on living a simpler, healthier life, all ready to read at your finger tips.

If you purchased the Bundle last year, you will love this year's content.

Back To Basics Bundle 2018
January 17 - 23, 2018


47 Authors
51 eBooks, Courses and/or Videos
Approx. $400 Retail Value
Approx 90% Discount
Bonus offers

Topics Include
Gardening
Homesteading
Raising Livestock
Preserving Food
Planners and Planning
Recycle Ideas
Raising Healthy Children
Natural Cleaning
Income Ideas
Emergency and Crisis Planning
and More!


Details coming soon.

Have a best day in the garden - we got a half an inch of rain last night. Yay!  




-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Tuesday, January 09, 2018

My New Calendar is Now at Amazon.

Dear Folks,

My new, perpetual calendar, is now available through Amazon.

This new format includes space to write your own garden notes in each month, allowing you to see from month to month, and year to year what your garden has been teaching you.  There is also extra note space in the middle of the calendar.

Of course, all the monthly planting/sowing information is in there too along with maintenance tips and I included some recipes and food pairing information to enhance your cooking fun with garden bounty.


And all of the pictures are from my gardens, each month showing my garden bounty.

Click here to go to Amazon.

If you prefer Barnes & Noble, click here to go there.

A note about the view on ordering sites.  The calendar opens to an 11 x 17, but commercial sites won't let me put the cover image as you see here, so it winds up being side wards.

You can also order from the publisher's site in print or as a PDF.

With all of my writing I hope to encourage and support you in your desire to grow some or more of your own food, right in your backyard, patio or balcony.

Get your growing on, and keep on growing!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Saturday, January 06, 2018

Update on My Canned Jam Bread/Fruit Cake

Dear Folks,

Well I forgot!

A reader just reminded me I was going to post on whether canning my Jam Bread aka Fruit Cake would work for preserving.  Thank you Terry for the reminder.

It worked great!!

I posted on November 17th about baking my recipe in 8 oz mason canning jars and immediately capping when I pulled them from the oven.

The idea is to cause the heat to vacuum seal the jars and it worked perfectly.  Considering that the jars are coming out of the oven at a toasty 350 degrees, it should always work.  However there is always the possibility of a poor seal.  Also because of the way some of them wound up with less in the jars than others, I wondered about the "air space".  It did not make a difference.

The cakes are still enjoyable having sat in my pantry all this time (did not open one until Christmas Day), and because we wound up with a lot of candy and cookies for the holidays it will be a while before I get to the rest of the canned cakes.  Perfect!!!

So there you have it, a way preserve your favorite cakes without refrigeration and without losing flavor or texture.

Thank you again, Terry for the reminder :-)

Have a best day!


-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Friday, January 05, 2018

My First Bean Burger/Sausage Recipe

Dear Folks,

Well I have been talking to myself and my guy for several years about finding / trying a recipe to add a bean burger to our regular menu.


I think I nailed it here - Deane says it is a keeper and don't change it, at least for this version.

I've read so many recipes over those years with many comments about "too crumbly", "too dry", "no flavor" etc. 

I NEED to add more beans to my meal planning for 3 reasons:

1) Deane has never met a bean he does not like,
2) I have not been crazy about beans in general, having grown up with overly sweet bean bakes, and
3) Beans are really healthy and need to be part of our regular diet.

So my challenge as always has been to find recipes using beans that I will want to eat.  I can rely on Deane eating any bean dish I make :-)

He would eat a pot of beans, unflavored with just salt and I would be like the kid in that old commercial trying to eat without tasting or swallowing.  You get the picture, I need beans to have flavors I like and generally not taste 'beany".

I have made winning recipes in the past.  And I love a good bean and cheese burrito or a really good bean dip made with cheese and salsa.

Probably my most favorite bean which I could eat all the time is edamame.  I added it to my bean chili recipe below.  The chili recipe came about because I wanted a traditional mid-Mexico version of chili which does NOT use tomatoes in any form, relying on the chili spices.

(I love tomatoes, tomato sauce etc. but I do not like that tomato sauce etc. is the go-to flavoring for people who do not experiment with the wonderful flavors of herbs and spices.)

My Black Bean Humus

Another Humus Recipe - Garbanzo Beans and Artichoke Hearts
 
Catherine's Potato, Pasta, Bean & Chicken Soup
 
My Bean Chili



But I really wanted to find a "bean burger" recipe which I could put together easily, did not crumble and had really good flavor for me, i.e., did not taste 'beany."

So to my recipe for burger/sausage.

I was thinking more sausage for this first attempt which means a light "meat" taste so I combined Cannellini Beans with poultry seasoning as the base.  Why?  Because this seasoning blend usually has some great herbs and spices in it, just perfect for pairing with mild beans.

Many of you may remember I developed my own line of salt-free herb/spice blends some years ago (not available now).  One of them was my Poultry Seasoning which contained Rosemary, Thyme, Greek Oregano, Marjoram, Rubbed Sage, Pepper & Ginger.

I went light with the garlic and onion just for a bit of extra flavor without overpowering the other flavors.

I have already started planning my next Bean Burger and I will go towards a robust burger flavor probably with black beans and rosemary as the base.  When I get around to trying it out I will post on the results.

My Bean Burger/Sausage Recipe

1  15 oz. can of Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed well
1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons of oat flour (old fashioned oats whirled in blender)
2 drops of liquid smoke
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Oil for frying - I used avocado oil

Pre-heat pan on stove.

In a food processor pulse beans to course texture with some smooth.  You want some beans left broken up not all pureed.  Transfer to a bowl.

In a separate bowl mix oat flour and seasonings. Sprinkle over beans, add egg and mix well.

Add oil to hot pan wait for it to heat up.

With your hands form patties.  Keep them about even in size.  Drop in hot pan and press lightly to reduce height to about 1/2 inch thickness.

Cook for about 3-4 minutes then flip and cook for another 3/4 minutes or until done to your liking.  


Notes:  Deane loved them!  My first bite I was not too sure, then added a bit more salt and then we proceeded to eat two each!

Using the oat flour and egg made for an excellent bind.  I knew the beans would mash nicely but needed binding and choosing oats was because I want to add more oats to our meals when possible.  I have recipes for "savory oatmeal" as a side dish in place of rice or pasta (search the blog here for savory oatmeal and see all the ideas from breakfast, to lunch to dinner).

I also went with only dry ingredients except the egg to keep the burger from being too wet to cook properly.  While I love my fresh herbs from the garden, they would not work as well in this form.  Better to pile on after cooking.

Because I was thinking sausage, we tried a couple of taste additions -  how would this be with eggs in the morning?

A tiny bit of maple syrup (nope), he tried a bit of Molasses (nope).  We both settled on a dab of Grey Poupon mustard (me more than he on that).  AND I would not let him put ketchup on them :-)

We did eat these with some avocado slices and cherry tomatoes on the side, a nice compliment.

So, one option the next time is a slice of nice tomato on a plate topped with this "bean sausage" patty and topped with a fried egg.  I also want to try it as a sandwich spread with mustard and a pile of greens and herbs from the garden.

I hope you find this recipe interesting enough to try.

Have a best day in the garden and kitchen,




-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Thursday, January 04, 2018

My Next Free Lecture - January 20th, Mark Your Calendars!

Dear Folks,

My next free lecture is coming up at Mesa Urban Garden, January 20th, at 1:30 p.m.

Come and bring your questions.

I will be talking about using or not using compost, mulch or rock (gravel) in your garden.  Got rock? Make Gabion!  The one benefit of soil sterilized by rock.  Patience Mulch.

I will also be answering your gardening questions and what to plant now.

SPECIAL EVENT addition to Lecture - a Book Swap!!

Have books on gardening or cooking you are finished with?  Bring them to swap for a new-to-you book(s).  All remaining books after the swap will be used in the MUG's "Little Library".  Bring ONLY books about gardening or cooking.

I am also bringing my seed bank for those looking for some seeds to get growing.  You do not need to bring seeds.


Mesa Urban Garden
Saturday, January 20, 2018
1:30 p.m.


212 E 1st Ave (Northeast Corner of Hibbert and 1st Avenue)
Mesa, AZ 85210
(602) 370-4459


https://www.facebook.com/events/161962874561033/

 

 -- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Tuesday, January 02, 2018

Potatoes Out - Potatoes In - Tomatoes!

Dear Folks,

On my annual potato planting day (January 1st) I also harvested some Sweet Potatoes (Molokai).

They are now in our outdoor shed near the water heater to "cure."

>>MY CALENDAR << in the top sidebar contains all my recommended planting/sowing dates plus monthly maintenance tips and some recipes.

I could have been harvesting sweet potatoes since Halloween, but with other foods harvestable AND the tomato vine sharing the same bed as the Sweets, I just left them in their own natural storage locker, i.e., the ground :-)

I have 3 types of Sweet Potatoes I planted last summer but the Molokai are the ones I could reach as I still don't want to disturb the tomato - I mean why should I interrupt this regular harvest of nice cherry tomatoes, right?

I saved some organic Idaho Potatoes from Christmas dinner to cut and plant for harvesting late spring.  My method for potatoes has always been to:  loosen the soil, set the potato piece on the soil, maybe nestle a bit, then cover with leaf mulch and continue to add leaf mulch as the plants grow up.  This keeps the sun off the growing tubers AND makes it easier to harvest later.  In the picture you can see I've already covered half of this bed of potatoes with the leaf mulch.

For those of you new to growing Idaho-type potatoes in the valley, you won't get the huge thick-skined ones you purchase in the store.  Because of our summer heat, the potatoes won't go past the "new potato" stage and are delicious and productive in the right conditions.

I may actually have some potato plants coming up in the Sweet Potato/Tomato bed as I had teeny/tiny potatoes at the end of the harvest last spring and I just tossed them back in that bed.

I NEED to figure out a different arrangement this year though as the plants are so happy I can't control them properly.  We will see what I come up with :-)

I had suggested a while back that you'all try growing something new each year, and I said I want to try something new, also.  I have two purple tree collards rooting (hopefully) in pots right now and they are hanging in there.  Always hard to tell when rooting in pots with a new-to-the-garden plant because you don't want to start "tugging" too soon.  I am really hopeful on this unique type of green as I would love to have another green to add to my dinner table mix all year.

I leave you with a nice positive message for this new year.  And Don't Forget To Garden!





-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

You can find me on Facebook and easily send me your questions via the private message option.

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Monday, January 01, 2018

In the Garden Turmeric plus, and some Recipe ideas - Happy New Year!

Fresh Turmeric Root
Dear Folks,

Happy New Year!

May your new year be filled with abundance of garden rewards, peaceful days and loving ways.

A friend shared this wonderful picture made by a friend of hers on facebook and it so captured my hope for a positive way of viewing the new year, that I have to share it with you. 

So back to the Tuermeric.

On July 6, 2016 I planted a turmeric root I got from Whole Foods - it popped up August 5, 2016, and I have been letting it grow for the last year and a half, waiting for the leaves to start dying back.

The weather this fall and now early winter has been weird to say the least.  The lingering warm fall has left many of the plants confused.  Just in this last week - literally - everything that was still lush, green and looking like it was not winter - decided it WAS and so the turmeric died back, the fig tree finally shed most of its leaves, the asparagus finally turned umber (ready for cutting to the ground), the citrus ripened early and on and on . . .

The point about growing tropical roots like turmeric and its relative ginger (I've grown ginger for many years) is they can take several years to develop a root system big enough to harvest for use AND have some for replanting.

So yesterday I dug up the turmeric.  The collage shows the plant withered, the whole root mass, the fresh pieces I am keeping for use and the bed replanted and covered with leaf mulch.  I put the biggest of the original root back in and also popped about 4 or 5 other (forgot how many :-)  back in for a new crop.  The pieces I saved measure about 1 to 1 and a half inches.  Good for a start.  OH, and the darkish pieces on the left in the picture is actually part of the old root, so I tossed that back into bed as well.

I mentioned the weird warm fall.  I have been watching the last of my roselle seed pods waiting for them to finish drying and splitting.  Seriously they just kept looking nice and plump and shiny with no drying and then boom - just in the last week, they went from shiny to dry.  Now to harvest for my seed bank. 

Today I will be following my annual tradition of planting potatoes on New Year's day.  I will update on that in another post, as well as more garden happenings.

IN THE Kitchen.

These are more useful tips than using fresh from the garden.

My wonderful guy had some oral surgery, which created a challenge for him to eat anything really solid and for me to find ways of getting nutritious food into him.  Oh sure there are a lot of liquid and smoothie options but that is neither satisfying for him or really enough to keep his spirits up.

Soooo, I went back to a neat grind-your-own-meat tip I discovered and used a couple of years ago.

This idea was from many folks who would like to choose the quality of their ground meat, not just rely on the butcher's choices.  Essentially you can grind any meat into a good "ground consistency" using your freezer and a food processor.  Keep in mind your are looking for something that looks like ground meat but not pate.

My poor guy struggled through our Christmas Roast Beef dinner (we had a couple of family over too) with the roasted meat.

I decided the next day this would not do.  So using the same principle (explained below) I cut up some of the roasted beef into small chunks.

Grinding Your Own Meat

Get a tray or large dish.
Get your food processor out and whatever container you will store the meat in.
 
Cut the meat up into small cubes - 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch and place, separated, in a single layer, on the tray, put the food processor blade on the tray as well.  Put the tray in the freezer and start your timer. 

It should take between 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the chunks.  At 10 minutes feel a cube of meat.  It should feel firm but not frozen - no "give".

When firm enough, put the blade in the processor, work quickly using a spatula (so you don't warm up the mat) to move the meat to the processor and begin pulsing.  DO NOT over process or you will get pate instead of ground.

In the picture you will see the meat looks like tiny chopped pieces - this is because the meat was already cooked.  Your raw meat will look like, should look like, what you buy in the store.  P.S.  We like our roasts medium rare.

So what did I make with this ground roasted beef?

I used it with left over mashed potatoes and beef gravy, to make a nice comfort meal - mashed potatoes, ground roasted beef, covered with gravy.

Next day, I ground up barley to make a "flour/meal" then made a batter dumpling mix (eggs, barley flour, & salt), brought some beef broth to a rolling boil, dropped spoonfuls of the barley batter into the broth, waited until they rose to the surface then added the ground roasted beef.  A nice hardy meal of beef and barley dumpling soup.

Both my guy could eat and enjoy

Poor Man's Lobster

While watching a youtube cooking video last week, one of the suggested videos on the side bar was for "Poor Man's Lobster."  Well that caught my eye.  Here is the original video.   The gentleman has a nice way about showing a recipe (I subscribed and also saved his "Poor Man's Sausage" for a later meal.)

As I do when I find a recipe I want to try, I look for other ideas of the same type and in doing so I found several variations on the amount of sugar, salt (salt or no salt), and choice of fish.

I chose to change out the proportions of my version.  I will give you some of our after taste thoughts.  Basically we were VERY pleased with the result.  And this was a treat both my guy with his healing mouth, and I could enjoy for New Year's Eve.

My Version of Poor Man's Lobster
 
Fresh Wild Caught Cod (choose how much you want to make - recipes range from 1/2 a pound all the way up to 2+ pounds. (I used 1 1/3 pounds)
1/2 cup organic sugar
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
Lemon, quartered
Melted butter
Seafood cocktail sauce

You will need a LARGE pot.  There is a chance while cooking that it may want to boil over and you have to keep the heat adjusted to keep it boiling but to keep from boiling over.  This is truly a watched pot recipe - do not leave the stove while you are cooking this.

You will need a tray or plate.  I covered with paper towel to absorb any excess water.  You will need a slotted spoon or spider to life the fish when done.

IMPORTANT tip. after you add the fish DO NOT STIR.  The sugar, salt and lemon create a chemical reaction firming the fish up so if you stir you will break the pieces up.

Fill the pot to 1/2 to 3/4 full
Bring to a full rolling boil and add salt and sugar, stir to make sure it is dissolved.
Add half of the lemon (2 quarters).

Cut fish into 1 inch or so cubes.  Begin dropping in the fish a little at a time so you don't drop the temperature too much.  Once all the fish is in watch but DO NOT STIR.  All of the pieces will drop to the bottom of the pot.

You can skim foam, just do not stir.  After a few minutes you will see the fish pieces bobbing to the surface.  You can start to remove them a few at a time, still not stirring, just skim them up and drop on your prepared tray.  Once a few start to rise the rest follow quickly.

Use the other half of the lemon to squeeze a bit of juice over all the fish.  Then serve with melted butter, cocktail sauce, and/or other seasonings (dill, parsley, paprika etc.)

TASTING NOTES:

We first tasted the fish with just the lemon.  Very nice taste.  Then we tried both butter and cocktail sauce alternating.  We actually wound up eating half of the pan!!  (Since it was just us we just took the pan to the table with our respective drinks and dug in.)

1)  I waited a bit too long to start taking the fish out, so it was a bit more flaky than intended.  Next time I will make sure to remove as soon as they start floating to the surface.
2) The salt and sugar provide multiple levels of flavor and this first try we agreed I could have used more of each.  I went for the lessor proportions of both (the video gentleman did not mention salt - other recipes did) figuring I should try less this first time.  Next time I will use about a heaping quarter cup of salt and about 3/4 cup of sugar.
3) This is a keeper of a dish.  We have some left over and I am thinking of making a "lobster roll' type sandwich.  OR we can just use the cocktail sauce and finish them up as a light lunch :-)
 
Happy New Year.  I leave you with another fun graphic.




-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

Check out the two versions of my new perpetual gardening calendar.

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