Since we moved here in May, I’ve been irritated at the 20 feet of vines growing along our front fence perimeter. The rest of the fence line was completely clear, so why did the previous owners allow this to grow so wild? About 3 months ago, we were about to pull onto the road when Tim said, ”Wait, are those grapes?” We stopped the car, got out to investigate, and sure enough – those vines were grape vines! Thanks to my handy plant identification app, I discovered that they were California Wild Grapes. Since then, we’ve left them alone until this past Monday, when it was officially harvest time.
Continue readingIn the kitchen
Fresh greens during quarantine
I’m avoiding going to stores. Given I’ve got an auto-immune disorder, I’m diabetic, and I’m on several medicines that reduce my immune system to barely anything, the thought of going into stores right now makes me itchy. Thanks to my food storage and weekly porch deliveries from Smith Brothers Farms, I don’t have to go to the store very often. But the one thing we often need is fresh greens. I use a lot of kale in soups, we eat salads, and fresh spinach is always great to have on hand. Avoiding stores means that when we run out, it’s not easy to get more. Thanks to Chelsea from the Little Mountain Ranch YouTube channel, I have found a solution that is working wonderfully.
Let’s talk RV food storage!
Our beautiful, peaceful campsite in the evergreen forests of western Washington.
In continuation of my previous post about home food storage, I’m going to now post about my RV pantry.
First of all, deciding what to keep in our RV pantry is challenging. We keep our RV on our site in a private campground, and it’s 30 minutes out through miles of working forest and along the curvy road following Hood Canal to the closest restaurants and/or grocery stores. Luckily, I have a huge pantry in my rear kitchen, so I have plenty of room with which to organize. But WHAT in the world do I keep in it?
Let’s talk food storage!
My husband and I are not preppers. We don’t prescribe to that way of life or the belief systems that are usually associated with it. (Let’s be honest here – I don’t know a lot of Jewish preppers.) That being said, we still believe in food storage. Along with the regular, off-the-shelf items we keep, we have a three(ish) month supply of meat in our freezers. We also keep six-month supply of emergency food from The Ready Store. Half of that is kept here at home, while the other half is in our travel trailer. Additionally, we keep a fair amount of emergency supplies in both places.
Why do we do this, even if we don’t prescribe to the prepper lifestyle?
Well, a few reasons, really. Continue reading
Shabbos Shakshuka!
I finally made Shashuka – the delicious, tomato-y, eggy dish originating from North Africa and eaten by Jews across the globe – for Shabbos morning breakfast and it was deee-lish!
After looking at a bunch of recipes online, I did what I do best – I threw something together, and I’m very happy with my first try.
Challah-lujah
When I started making challah nine months ago, I did so because it was one way that I could acknowledge and participate in this faith with which I was falling in love.
I wasn’t new to bread making. About eight years ago, I was very much on a homemaking kick and wanted to do as much as I could from scratch. I made bread every week and even made homemade dog biscuits for the dogs every Saturday. Over time I got away from it because, let’s face it, making bread can be a real pain in the tuchus. And I’m not a neat cook. Making bread usually meant flour everywhere – even places where it made no sense as to why flour ended up there at all.
So when it came time to start making challah, I cheated. I’d buy frozen yeast rolls, let them thaw and raise, and then I’d roll them out and make challah rolls. From there, I used those pre-made yeast rolls and started braiding a small challah loaf.
In the kitchen: Smoky Lemon Chicken Stew
This recipe is AIP (autoimmune protocol) friendly. All ingredients are rough-chopped, taking into account that many people on the AIP diet, as I am, suffer from joint-related illnesses, making it hard to spend time finely dicing veggies. An added bonus is that this recipe is also kosher if you follow Jewish dietary laws.
This was made utilizing leftover chicken that had been smoked/grilled the previous evening. We have a Char-Broil Tru-Infrared Grill/Smoker/Roaster and it has literally changed the way we eat. We grill out practically every day, have become wood chip connoisseurs (hickory is the way to go if you’re curious), and are always experimenting with grilling. If it can be put on a grate, wrapped in foil, or put on a skewer, we’re going to grill it!
My kitchen is complete – come check it out!
One of the reasons I fell in love with my new house was because the kitchen was so uniquely vintage and adorable. We’ve lived here for 3.5 weeks had have most of the rooms done, but my kitchen is the first to be 100% complete. I’m very proud of how it turned out!
Check out the photos below:
Life on Wild Hare Farm 