Quail Egg Omelet

On Sunday I posted a photo of the quail eggs that I brought home from a recent barter.

They are so tiny and so beautiful. Each quail has its own distinct patter on the eggs that she lays – like a fingerprint. That is amazing, isn’t it?! Imagine my surprise when I started cracking them open and found some that were colored inside – a beautiful range of light blue/aqua. Nature is amazing!

Quail eggs

I had no idea how many quail eggs made an omelet, so my plan was to just keep adding eggs until it looked like the amount of two chicken eggs. Well, I got a little carried away. The first omelet had 18 eggs in it. That was just too many.

Quail egg Omelet

We are eating a lot of things out of the garden right now. Peppers from the garden, along with beautiful onions from my neighbor, and local mushrooms from Kitchen Pride.

As I think back to the barter and all the wonderful things that I come home with, I smile when I think of the variety of eggs: Quail, Chicken, Duck, Turkey. All the eggs are beautiful.

What kind of eggs are in your refrigerator?

Sincerely, Emily

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Bunching onions, sauerkraut, local lamb roast, and working in the garden

Bunching onions, sauerkraut, local lamb roast, and working in the garden….

Chopping up bunching onions to go in my neighbors freezer

What do all those things have in common? …. Just more “not dabbling in normal” normal.

Over at the neighbors getting things ready to plant.

Cleaning and clearing out the winter garden. the onions are starting to flower. I let a few turnips and some of the kale flower so I can collect seeds. The monster spinach is just starting to bolt, so will leave a few plants in the ground for seed saving also.

I was over at the neighbors yesterday to help clear out winter plants and get some spring things in the ground. He uses a hoe (made in the USA) that belonged to his grandmother. (my neighbor is 81 years old, so that is one old hoe that he is using.) we planted some cucumber and zucchini seeds and got a few bell pepper plants in the ground. My body is still playing catch up from being sick a year ago…. so that was all we got done. We will work out there again on Saturday. I plan to work in my garden today and hopefully get some plants in the ground. I still get out of breath, but it feels good to work out there and I need to keep pushing myself a bit to keep getting better. I have certainly come a long way, especially when i think back to march 2013 when I couldn’t even walk across the room!

chopping cabbage for sauerkraut

I have picked my cabbages and they are in the crock turning into fermented sauerkraut. I picked up some more local cabbage at the local swap that I go to and those are also fermenting in another second crock.

Dinner the other night was a roasted local lamb shoulder (picked it up at the swap/barter.) I had a second pan in the oven roasting sweet potatoes and onions that I also traded for.

Making a cough syrup

I am also taking an herbal medics class. Learning a lot, and So much more to learn. It is a lot of fun. I am harvesting some wild herbs and edibles as they are popping up this spring. The lambsquarter is popping up so I am potting some up to take to plant swaps and also the month swap/barter.

So, like I said…. Life. There is a lot going on. Spring is in the air (It was 87F yesterday – I think we skipped Spring!)

What are you up to this time of year?

Sincerely, Emily

 

 

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Ramping up for summer veggies (and making Tabouli)

I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, but the warmer days have me thinking about the Spring/Summer garden planting.

We have already hit 90F here in South Texas. That is just too hot, WAY too soon for me. Last week we had another cooler down that was right up my alley and it had me opening the bedroom windows at night to cool the me down!

Tabouli

I try hard to purchase veggies in season, but I had an itch (and an event to bring a dish to) to make Tabouli (click on the word “Tabouli” to link to the recipe that I posted back in July of 2013). I picked and used as much as I could from the gardens; parsley, mint, cilantro, onion. But I did have to purchase things like cucumber and tomato (oh I can’t wait to pick that first fresh tomato!)

I am behind in my seed starting, but my tomato seedlings are up and a few of the pepper seeds are starting to sprout. I did pick up some heirloom and non-GMO seedlings at The Natural Gardener a few weeks ago. They are already potted up into gallon containers. The Natural Gardener didn’t have their pepper plants in yet, so I will check back in with them, as well as check a few other local nurseries to find some organic ones.

Reality check: last wee our temps are back in the “Texas Winter” range. We have been 25F at night with a few days that didn’t get about 45F (I know that is a heat wave for some of you out there.) so my seedlings are living in the garage and in the house for while.

What type of seeds will you be starting to prepare for the upcoming gardening season?

Sincerely, Emily

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DDC memories from the EAST

South Region

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A few favorites from the participants in the Ohio Vally Region:

What was your favorite Dark Days meal?

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Dark Days Week 19: Breakfast Challenge for the EAST

Last week we had had a chance to see what the WEST cooked up for the Dark Days Challenge. This week, the final week for the Dark Days Challenge, we get to see what the EAST brought to the table. Breakfast…

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South Region (MD, VA, NC, SC, GA) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily

Annie (MD) from AnnieRie Unplugged is turning into her father, but she’s blaming it on Mark Bitman (you’re going to have to read her post) She made a local version of scrapple for her breakfast challenge. Using cornmeal, local sausage and fresh sage from her garden her scrapple took shape. She made it the day/night before and then cut it into slices and fried it along with her local eggs the next morning. She has some advice about the recipe, so head over to her blog to read more and see her local resources.

Annie (MD) from AnnieRie Unplugged has also put together a post summarizing her Dark Days Challenge experience. It is really fun to read about what she learned and about the new resources she found in their area. She also touched on her highlights throughout the challenge and about learning to work with some vegetables in a different way and being more creative. Hear over to her post to read more! It is worth your time.

Victoria (MD) from The Soffritto has spring fever and decided to bring as many fresh herbs into her Breakfast Challenge as she could! She snipped the dill, chervil, and chives, and her husband prepped and cooked the beautiful herbed omelets. It wasn’t complete without the toast with homemade tomato and basil jam. Victoria said it tastes like spring. Stop by her blog to read more and see her local ingredients. She also talks about her experience throughout the DDC and how it has changed their approach to eating and cooking with local foods

Susan (VA) from Backyard Grocery made some fantastic baked eggs. But not just any baked eggs, she made cups out of bacon and filled them with sautéed radish greens and mushrooms and then topped them with eggs and baked! Her baked eggs look wonderful; love that little twist with the bacon cup. Susan also talks a bit about how the DDC affected her. Going in, thinking this would be a hard challenge and coming out realizing that she is fortunate to live in an area that produces a variety of whole foods – year round. She has learned a lot about what grows seasonally in VA. Visit her blog to read more!

Rebecca (VA) from Eating Floyd is cooking breakfast Appalachian Mountina-style and biscuits are a must! To go along with the biscuits she made a milk gravy loaded with local flavors. She used wild garlic paste, serrano peppers from the garden last year and  a bit of bacon fat. On top of her biscuits she put some salty country ham and poached eggs, topping it all off with the flavorful gravy. Stop by her blog to read about it all and see her local resources.

Even though Liz (VA) from Family Foodie Survival Guide cooked up a nice breakfast last week she still cooked up breakfast for this weeks challenge. She had some blueberries in the freezer and used those to create a luscious blueberry pudding cake.  She adapted the recipe to use more local ingredients – she used local honey and flour. The beautiful breakfast  was served with some local bacon and apple cider. Head over to her blog to read more.

Jessica (SC) from Eat.Drink.Nourish. is not much of a breakfast person, so this “breakfast” was more of a brunch that really turned into dinner. She is excited her local spring CSA is starting up again and many small farm stands are starting to open up in her area. She made roasted egg stuffed tomatoes garnished with fresh dill, spring onions and served with strawberry, pecan and blue cheese salad. That sounds good from Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner to me! Head over to her blog and read more about her meal and local resources.

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Eat Local 365 made a fabulous looking Dark Days breakfast for the challenge, who doesn’t love poached eggs over greens?

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As the Dark Days Challenge comes to a close, it is incredible to look back to the beginning in November and think about all the “dark days” ahead of us all. To think about the nourishing winter foods that store well and get us through the winters. Many participants had access to year-round farmers markets; buying seasonal vegetables that were grown in their area. Other participants relied on what they produced in their gardens and canned and froze to use throughout the winter. Other participants had beautiful winter gardens of their own.

Did you cook a local breakfast this week? Tell us about it and share a link.

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Dark Days Week 18: WEST Breakfast Challenge

This week the Dark Days Challenge participants to a Breakfast Challenge. It is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Let’s see what the WEST is making for breakfast this week. Join us next week to see what the EAST participants brings to the table for the Breakfast Challenge!

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West Region (CA, CO, TX, UT) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily

Julie and Eric (CO) from d.i.wine and dine prefer savory breakfast treats, but decided to go the sweet route for this weeks breakfast challenge meal. They made a beet and carrot cake (heavy on the local beets) and used egg replacer and soy yogurt to make the recipe vegan.  The recipe went together well using 100% local whole wheat flour too. Stop by their blog to read more about the breakfast challenge cake and see the recipe.

Teresa (CA) from Not from a Box made up two breakfast options for this weeks challenge.  She prefers a savory breakfast over a sweet one any day. First up is a “wallet egg.”  What the heck is a “wallet egg?” Well, it looks wonderful, sounds wonderful and is easy to make. I won’t give away all the secrets, but basically take eggs, rice and some green onions….now head over to her blog to read more.

For Teresa’s second breakfast option she has made mushrooms on toast. I am a big fan of things “on toast” so this one is right up my alley. She starts by sauteing up some local shitake, oyster and cremini mushrooms (in local olive oil). You can use a splash of local beer or wine if you have it. Sprinkle in some fresh chopped parsley – don’t forget the toast. Stop by her blog to read about her local resources and more.

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Northwest Region with Miranda from Pocket Pause

wow! The breakfast challenge for the PacNW was tackled by only one: Methylgrace. Frankly, I (the recapper) have been remiss in reminding my blogging neighbors about our challenges, and have been experiencing some major challenges of my own – including being kicked out of WordPress with no explanation or chance to query or appeal to the ‘staff.’ Methylgrace captures so much of what myself and several other bloggers have been feeling during this challenge in her breakfast post. This post was just so great. I wish everyone would go and read it. Right now! I can’t really blurblet it, as it deserves complete reading.

So please head over to her blog, drool over her breakfast crepes and share with her and with us your feelings on choosing foods in your grocery store, providing meals and money for your family, grappling life as a homesteader, housewife or working mom, and help us answer the questions we’ve been grappling during this challenge.

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Upper(ish) Midwest with Xan from House of the Blue Lights

We got a treat and and a breakfast from the errant MNLocavore, and Woohoo got turned around by the calendar, partly because we’re all completely thrown by this strange warm weather, and partly because she was trying to time a St. Patrick’s Day meal with the Challenge. And it’s a good one–a traditional Irish Colcannon, and a homemade, local Shamrock Shake. And I totally don’t see why you couldn’t have that for breakfast. MN Locavore made a shortbread with strawberries (which also sounds like breakfast to me), and wraps up the Challenge with breakfast–whole grain pancakes served as a breakfast sandwich with eggs and sausage. She also includes a wonderful wrap-up list of all her challenge posts.

What did you make for breakfast this week? Tell us about it!

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Dark Days Week 18: EAST recapper individual meals – Breakfast Challenge

Earlier today,  in our companion post, you can see what the WEST cooked up for the Breakfast Challenge.  To add to that, here are what the EAST recappers cooked this week for the Dark Days Challenge.

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I (Emily from Sincerely, Emily) kept my breakfast Challenge meal pretty simple this week.   Eggs are what I usually eat for breakfast, so this is a true glimpse at a normal breakfast, for me, in our house.

I have a new local egg source that is a lot closer to me. The other eggs I was getting were also good (and local) but I am happy to find an individual a lot closer to me. That puts a big smile on my face.

I also used some chard from the garden and some caramelized onions from the freezer that came from the garden last spring.  Using some left over pork and some local cheese,  this omelet was a perfect breakfast.  I am methodically trying to use things out of the freezer to make space for things that we will be harvesting in the next few months. I want to make sure there is adequate space and I always have a tendency to “save” things when I really need to be defrosting and eating them.

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What is your “normal” breakfast?

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Dark Days Week 17: EAST Recap

We are all experiencing more light with longer days and the “Dark Days” seem, almost, like a distant memory. Winter truly isn’t over, although for many of us it sure seems that way. The participants who live in the northern parts know all too well that even though Spring is in the air and days are warming, that it can be a a false sense of security. Snow can make an appearance at anytime, even in May! (Sorry about that) The “dark” from the Dark Days is fading fast, and technically it is Spring now, it is nice to see some participants are still finding local foods in their areas and supporting local farmers.

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South Region (MD, VA, NC, SC) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily

Susan (VA) from Backyard Grocery celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a classic – venison con queso and chips. Ok, maybe not! Susan did a cooking demonstration this week based on foods found at the market where she did the demonstration. The challenge was coming up with a dish that she could make in one pot. The store carries a lot of local foods and she tweaked hrer recipe based on what was in stock at the store, along with locally made tortilla chips. This recipe can be found in Susan’s published cooked book. You can find out details on her demo along with other information on her blog.

AnnieRei (MD) from AnnieRei Unplugged went hiking at the Conservancy trails near her home and guided a group. She planned ahead and started her meal in the crockpot before she left home. She used center cut pork chops in the crockpot with collard greens, sweet potatoes and a sauce made from local ingredients. She used homemade turkey broth in the crockpot also. All local. All good. Head over to Annie’s blog to see all the great places she found her local ingredients.

Victoria (MD) from The Soffritto was inspired by an Epicurious recipe she saw. She had all the local ingredients on hand and made a beautiful egg noodle torte.  She used oyster mushrooms, chard, basil egg noodles, eggs, milk and dill cheddar cheese all from local resources and her torte is beautiful.  This recipe is perfect, because you can switch out many ingredients and make it your own, using what ever is in season in your backyard or at the farmers market. Stop by Victoria’s blog to see the recipes and her resources.

Rebecca (VA) from Eating Floyd is in the same situation as many of us with warm weather and the itch to plant. She is busy working outside and looked to her preserved items from last year to make up a quick meal. She used a jar of home-canned asparagus soup and also made up a bed of spinach to hold scoops of roasted red pepper hummus and chicken salad. To finish the meal with a nice sweet treat, she opened a jar of canned peach halves in earl grey tea syrup. Visit her blog for recipes and local ingredient information.

Jessica (SC) from Eat.Drink.Nourish. has her spring garden already planted and is looking forward to what it will bring. This week she talks about her experiences with the challenge and how it has changed their family (in a good way.) They fired up the grill this week and made grilled fillets over natural (wood) charcoal and served it with a kale salad. Jessica has eaten kale many times, but this is her first raw kale experience and she loved it. Head over to her blog to read more about her DDC experience and her local ingredients.

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LOWER NEW ENGLAND/MID-ADLANTIC (NY, CT, DC, NJ and Eastern Canada)
with The Other Emily, from Tanglewood Farms

Once again, I find myself incredibly inspired by the beautifully written posts from Karen (NJ) over at Prospect: The Pantry . I also find myself jealous that she can get local saltwater fish over on the coast. Her first post was a birthday dinner of Monkfish on Braised Cabbage that looks delicious; I love the way she garnishes things!

Her second post, Oxtail stock with Borscht, is a great account of her exploration of oxtail stocks and oxtail stew! She has been a fantastic Dark Days participant and I fully intend to keep an eye on her blog from this point on, as it always stirs me with it’s beautiful photos and unique recipes.

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Week 16: East recapper meals

We are on the home stretch for the Dark Days Challenge with just a few weeks to go. March seems to signify Spring with longer days and the weather warming. Be sure to take a look at the meals from the WEST in our companion post today.

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I (Emily from Sincerely, Emily) decided to dig into the freezer and pull out some the Southern-type peas (zipper peas, cow peas, crowder peas) that I have from the garden last summer. Those peas grew really well considering how dry and hot it was last summer. I will plant more this spring!

This is the first time I have eaten these Southern peas as a side dish. Up until now, I have always thrown them in a soup or a stew and they have been great that way. Even though I froze them fresh, raw and uncooked, they were still quite firm after I sauteed them. Next time I will cook them in some water or steam them to see if they will soften up prior to sauteing them. The sausage came from a local heritage pork ranch and they called it a Mexican-style sausage. It have lots of flavor and I will buy it again. My neighbor has so many bunching onions growing right now. They are lush and full and beautiful this year and a great addition to almost any meal we have. Many of his bunching onions will be kept to dry and plant next year.

We are eating a lot of salads this time of year. I planted more lettuce than we needed, but it is nice to be able to give some to neighbors and friends as well as enjoy it too. My carrots aren’t ready yet, so I used some carrots from another local farm that I got at the farmers market. They are so sweet and incredible and added so much flavor to the salad.

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Here at Chiot’s Run things are a bit busy with planning for a possible move, fixing up the house to put in on the market, trying to find a nice little farm 4-5 states away, getting the spring/summer garden going. Add to that two weeks on the road traveling for work and you’ve got a recipe for not much time and needing quick & easy meals. When I get busy like I am I have a tendency to make up a big batch of something which we eat on for a few nights, then another big pot of something gets made up. This past week we enjoyed nachos in the evenings made with venison that Mr Chiot’s got for the freezer, topped with local cabbage braised in butter, home canned tomatoes and jalapeños mixed up into a salsa, local raw milk cheese melted on top, and enjoyed with some local tortilla chip (which are even fried in local sunflower oil).

I’m really happy that there are farmer’s around here that have been getting into winter harvesting. I was able to score a few bags of sweet overwintered carrots (since mine are long gone from the pantry). There were cooked up with a venison roast, homegrown potatoes, onions, and garlic. We invited some friends over to enjoy this meal with us, which always makes a meal taste even better!

How are your homestretch Dark Days meals coming along?

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Dark Days Week 16: WEST recap

Spring fever is spreading fast across much of the country. Many places have been teased by some warm spring temperatures. New vegetables, like asparagus, are starting to show up in some of the farmers markets. A sure sign of spring. Many participants are itching to get outside and start planting their spring gardens, but there is snow in some parts of the country. The days aren’t as dark as they used to be.

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West Region (CA, CO, UT, TX) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily

Teresa (CA) from Not from a Box made beautiful French “peasant” beets with bucherondin cheese and a big hunk of ciabatta. This meal was both delicious and filling. Beets are winding down for the season in her area, but they still have greens and root veggies available. New things are starting to pop up at the farmers markets, like asparagus and plenty of citrus (she’s in CA after all!) Stop by her blog to learn about her local resources.

Teresa (CA) from Not from a Box also made what she called “dinner in a flash.” It is a challenge getting home late in the evening and coming up with a quick and good dinner. Teresa found a quick and easy meal when she made Welsh rarebit with spinach, creamy butternut squash soup and a side of roasted asparagus using mostly local ingredients around her area. She is right, rarebit is insanely easy. Head over to her blog to learn about her local resources and more.

Julie (CO) from d.i.wine and dine made a nice dilly bean potato salad with garlic miso aioli this week. Not being a big fan of mayo, (that’s putting it mildy) she decided to tweak a recipe she found and make a miso aioli and use it in place of mayo helping to rank this the best potato salad she has ever had. She also used their own canned dilly beans and some locally grown potatoes. Visit her blog to see the receipt and more.

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I think the Upper Midwesterners are all outside enjoying this strange summer weather I think! Hard to take “Dark Days’ at face value with all this bright warm sunshine around! If you pop in here, put your recipe links in the comments!

Did you cook a Dark Days meal this week?

We would love to hear about what you made.

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