Oh Yeah!
Oh Man!
Oh Baby!
I’ve almost made it.
Only 10 days left.
101 days of eating “the Fruit of my Labor.”
I’ll tell you the HUGE Benefit that will come from doing this for 101 days.
It truly has become my life. It’s a way of eating. It isn’t hard or difficult to do (as long as you have plenty of food growing around your place).
I no longer think about it. Really, I don’t. I eat what I grow. I cook what I have. I don’t eat food from stores or restaurants or elsewhere. If I don’t have it, I don’t eat it. I make meals around whats going on in the garden, orchard and freezers.
If I want a cracker, I make them. If I want pasta, I make some. I have more meat & veggie options than any menu on earth. I even have plenty of fruit right now: peaches, cantaloupes, watermelon, strawberries (frozen from spring), and blackberries (also frozen).
And…… it works. I’m making some slammin’, cheesey, bacon-wrapped, jalapeno poppers right now and there is nothing restrictive or confining about eating a jalapeno that’s stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and baked to perfection. Not suffering a bit.
I thought it would be fun to keep a diary for a few days and record what I’m eating. I thought you may find it amusing. It gives a peek into what I make/ grow/ raise around here. It’s also a peek into how “diet-y” this “diet” actually is.
- Am I eating carbs? Yes.
- Am I counting calories? No.
- Am I eating whenever I want. Yes – all day.
- Am I hungry? No.
You may think I’m not eating much, I really don’t know if this is a lot of food or not. It feels like a lot to me. This is more than I typically eat in a day. Before this challenge, breakfast was coffee, lunches were filled with organic chips & fresh avocados, and there were multiple spoonfuls of Nutella daily.
Which, by the way, seem to be fattening.
Nutella & Avocados are fattening? Who knew.
Here’s the 5 day diary (in case you’re interested).
Day 1
Omelettes are one of my favorite, easy meals
- B: 3 Lattes with raw milk & maple syrup (OK, maybe it was 4 lattes), 3 egg omelette with ham, green pepper, onions, sausage and fresh tomatoes.
- L: 3 pieces of toast with butter & syrup, cantaloupe, tomatoes
- Snack: 1/2 small watermelon
- D: Roast beef, onions, mashed potatoes, homemade challah bread, sliced tomatoes, wine
Day 2
- B: 3 Lattes with raw milk & maple syrup, 3 pieces toast with butter & syrup (I was starving)
- L: Pizza: homemade crust, homemade sauce, sausage, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, fresh basil
- Snack: 1 peach, 2 green peppers
- D: (2) Benedictine BLT’s. Bacon, kale, Tomato, & homemade Benedictine Spread on homemade wheat bread, sliced cucumbers with sour cream dressing (sour cream, vinegar, salt & maple syrup)
Bird in a nest with homemade wheat bread
Day 3
- B: 3 Lattes with raw milk & maple syrup, 2 Bird in a nests (toast with over-easy egg in center)
- L: 2 scrambled eggs, ham steak, tomatoes
- Snack: homemade crackers, peach chutney, bacon, chives, fresh peaches & cream cheese
- D: Spaghetti with meat sauce (made with pork sausage, venison sausage & I threw a few brats in there for fun), served over homemade pasta, side of turnip greens & wine.
- Dessert: Homemade ice-cream (sweetened with Maple syrup), topped with a peach glaze (peaches, butter, maple syrup – simmered & poured on the ice cream)
Day 4
- B: 2 Lattes with raw milk & maple syrup (I ran out of milk), 2 slices french toast with maple syrup
- L: leftover spaghetti (see day 3)
- Snack: peaches, tomatoes
- D: Jalapeno poppers: cream cheese, bacon, jalapenos – thank you, PioneerWoman, for this recipe!
- Dessert: Peach slushie: Fresh peaches, syrup, water, ice – blended to slush
Day 5
- B: 3 Lattes with raw milk & maple syrup. Peaches & fresh whipped cream.
- L: Peaches, tomatoes, green peppers & a hunk of bread
- Snack: Homemade Crackers, homemade herbed cream cheese, tomatoes
- D: Yellow Squash, onions, multi-colored bell peppers, venison sandwiches on homemade slider buns – topped with sauteed onions – Oh Yum Baby!
Yes, I’m addicted to coffee.
Yes, I eat a ton of dairy – I have 2 milk cows.
Yes, we tap maple trees and make maple syrup.
What did you eat this week that you grew?
How long could you go without going to the store for groceries?
Is it crazy to raise your own food?
I don’t think so. I think it’s cool. It’s healthy. It’s fun. I think it’s good exercise.
Homemade challah bread
By the way, I have started a fruit fly farm in my house. We are infested.
I’ve been bringing in fruit and veggies by the bushel and the gnats have decided to stay and raise families. I have 5 7 fly traps set right now and am doing my best to bring the population down to ten thousand.
DH has decided he hates canning season.
- There’s water bath & pressure canners all over the counters
- There’s huge pots stacked in chairs
- There’s boxes of jars, lids and rings everywhere
- At any given moment there could be 200 tomatoes, 200 peppers, 50 onions or 2000 peaches on the counters, islands and flat surfaces of our kitchen
- It’s been 84 degrees in my main living area for 4 days straight – not exaggerating at all – 84 is the temp.
- And we’re sharing our home with 2 billion fruit flies.
DH has also decided I need a canning kitchen.
And who am I to argue?
OK. I’ll take a canning kitchen. Works for me.
Where would this imaginary kitchen go? How would it work? What will it entail?
No idea. Logistics are not my department. All I know is I’m being thrown outdoors. This could be good or very, very bad for me depending on what this “canning kitchen” looks like. Not sure yet.
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Happy Canning Season Everyone!
-Candi
