Suburban Homesteading – Frugal Living

WEEK 2:

PHOTO HERE

We had a bit of a rocky start to this day and ended it with a kitchen disaster. Such is life!

Brianne jetted out the door at the crack of dawn to a cattle showmanship workshop and I was right behind her an hour later on my way to a garden tour. Needless to say our morning of French toast and homemade sausage never materialized.

By 2pm though, we were back at the house and using last night’s lamb and leftover greens to make a delightful salad.

I was so inspired by the tour and our new commitment to eat local that I swung by the farm stand on my way home to pick up mushrooms for an onion, spinach & ‘shroom quiche. I’ll use the extra spinach and mushrooms to make a spinach salad and toss it in vinaigrette made with avocado oil, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and onions. I got the recipe from a friend years ago and it has been on our summer hit list ever since; perfect on a spinach salad. Oh – and the egg for the quiche and spinach salad? Our girls of course.

By the time the quiche was out of the oven, 35-minutes later, the dishes were washed and in the drying rack and the kitchen was pretty much cleaned of our cooking experiment. It’s time for dinner, putting my feet up after a long day and relaxing to our homemade meal.

Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll get my French toast.

Oh—great news on new finds in our county. Just over the hill is an organic honey tasting room; I’ve passed it for years, but never had a chance to stop…until now. I was able to taste about a dozen different kinds of honey, from citrus to sage to wild buckwheat. It was amazing the difference in strength and color seeing side-by-side. I bought a jar of citrus, which will taste great in tea and when used in some of my baked goods.

I also found a small farm business on the other side of the county that presses their own olive oil. The drive would be a bit far (almost 40 miles) to buy the occasional bottle, but happily they sell at the Thursday Farmer’s Market. So far I’ve sourced milk, honey and oil locally. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Onion-Dijon Spinach Salad Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp onion, grated

4 Tsp Dijon mustard

¼ Tsp pepper

1 Tsp salt

4 Tbsp white wine tarragon vinegar

1 cup avocado oil

9 Tsp lemon juice

After grating onions place all ingredients in a food processor and blend well. Chill before using.