Fall Bounty

I love Fall!  The Autumnal season is definitely one of my favourites, and it sneaks up on me just how much enjoyment I get out of it.  Besides the beautiful change of the foliage, the bounty of nature is so abundant and everywhere!
 
We are collecting lots of leaves, pine cones, and acorns and acorn caps (I love them! they are so cute!) to be used in numerous crafts throughout the rest of the year.   Did you know you ought to bake them before you store them for use? It gets rid of the bugs, moisture, and excess sap that might ruin them.  It's really quick and easy to clean & dry acorns, and to bake your pine cones.  It's totally worth it, and it makes crafting with them easier, too.  

We also go to the u-pick farms near us and have a great time getting all kinds of yummy produce!  It makes me unbelievably happy to do this, and the kiddos live pulling wagons full of produce and siblings, and doing such a good job gathering apples, squash, pulling beets, and plucking chard. Being on the farm and picking our own nourishing food is not only good for the pocket-book, but it's also very healing to my spirit.  We are always covered in dirt when we're done, and it's a good kind of dirty.

I got one of those apple corer.peeler/slicer things.  Not only did it make it so much faster to prep & freeze my apples for later use, but the kiddos love eating their apple slices this way.  What a great investment (and I got it for 50% off). I saved the cores and peels and put them in a jar with water to be set aside to make apple cider vinegar. 

Making the Food Planning Easier

I spend most of my time in the kitchen,or thinking about what I need to be doing next in the kitchen.  We also have some pretty intense dietary restrictions and allergies (no gluten, soy, potato, starchy tubers, no fish or shellfish, no cactus family, no eating grains and fruit together, etc. and more), so I basically have to make everything from scratch, even our condiments and basic ingredients.  For a family of six the needs meals and snacks and for them to be well rotated and nutritionally wealthy this is no small task. In fact, it's an amazingly large task. We eat a Weston Price, primal/paleo style diet that is altered and tailored to our needs.


When I heard about the idea of someone else doing the meal planning, including the grocery list, I was sceptically excited. Could this possibly work for us? Could I alter it to meet our tastes and needs? Oh, yes! (conclusion at bottom)

I had to find out, so I tried three different ones:

 

Cooking Traditional Foods Menu Mailer 


















Grain Free Meal Plans 












Paleo Plan










I can honestly say I recommend them all, but for different reasons.
--The one from Cooking Traditional Foods is just awesome! and has a smart gal who runs it and is happy to help you out and help you figure out substitutions if you need them.  I learned a lot about cooking methods and techniques from that one that I use everyday like soaking grains, making bone broth, and good substitutions to use. 
--The Grain Free one had lots of yummy foods in it, but it didn't quite work with my family's preferences and eating style. Ah well, had to try another.
--The Paleo Plan is really working for us! Our food allergies are easy to avoid in this one, the shopping list is laid out with indications for which meal each item is for so it's easy to go through and know exactly what I am and am not getting, and it's laid out super easy to follow.  Of course, I still incorporate many things not in it like raw dairy, organ meats, and bone broths to keep up on our dietary needs.  The portions are generous, and buy buying 1.5 times the recommended amount in the shopping lists, I end up with plenty for everyone.  


Here's the awesome part:  I save a ridiculous amount of time and money doing this. I expect I have at least six more hours in my week, a lot less brain power and worrying about what is today's meal/s and what I need to do to prep for it, and now we spend almost $50 less on groceries, and what we do get is efficiently used up. That means it isn't taking up shelf or refrigerator space, and I'm not throwing out unused rotten stuff later.  Getting a menu mailer planner has really made my job as a homemaker easier.  A lot easier.  Sanity seems a less distant now.

"Wonderful Worchestershire!" or, "What did you just say, Mommy?.."

  Because of my family's dietary needs and our diet choices, there are many products that I cannot just buy pre-made.  Condiments certainly top that list.  I have been trying to stretch my cooking repertoire a bit, and quite a few of these new things and sauces call for a bit of Worcestershire sauce, so I figured it was time to give it a shot. 

  I used this recipe.  It turned out fabulous! and all the while it was cooking my house smelled fragrant.  For my own version I used coconut aminos instead of soy, and I left out the anchovy. I ground up the remaining spices that I strained out after it was done curing/blending (except for the cinnamon stick) to use as a kind of rub. 

"Cute & Yummy!" or "Eggies Match, Momma!"

In the midst of moving houses, it is easy to just eat convenience/junk food.  Although we've given in a little, we can't too much since we are allergic to gluten and corn and things derived therefrom.  So, basic easy comfort foods are a must right now. Today's big hit:  scrambled eggs.  Not only do they have yummy protein and great vitamins and fats, but the girls like to help cook them. 

Our eggs come from someone we know who grows food organically, and let's their chickens run around and eat bugs.  They have the most amazing deep orange yolks! We like to strive for a mix between a paleo diet and a Weston Price style diet, and these eggs sure fit the bill.  This time, we got our usual eggs, plus a bunch of cute little ones. Wittle, little, eggs are cute.  The girls enjoyed comparing and looking at them. 

Today's eggs were cooked with some sea salt, a splash of raw cream, and a bit of fat from local organic pastured bacon.  It was good, and the leftovers will be mixed with garden produce of ours for a salad later.