I'm back!

It's been a while, and I wasn't even sure if I'd return. I've had a bout dealing with (recovering from) Celiac Disease and figuring out how to work with my blood sugars (one doc said I'm diabetic, another said I'm not-- just depends on which symptoms to count). That is all still a work in progress, but I am feeling much, much better! We also moved over the summer to a fixer-upper of a house, so I've spent the last few months painting, hanging siding, replumbing my house, and worrying over whether a new roof and rain gutters would be on by winter (they just got done!). We're also in the middle of building a chicken coop, and will soon tear up a room that has a water damaged floor.

In the midst of all this busy, I've fallen back from baking and cooking. I just didn't have the time and energy to do it. However, my girls love to cook, so they keep leading me back to the kitchen.

The first real experimental (well, really, throw it together) cooking I've done in forever was sweet and sour meatballs for an extended family gathering. The meatballs were pretty basic-- grassfed beef burger mixed with salt and pepper, egg, and rice flour. They were actually a lot more bland than I had expected, but I didn't want the flavors to clash with my sweet and sour sauce, which was pretty basic as well-- my unsweetened plum jam I canned a few years ago (plum puree and pectin) sweetened with honey. I added molasses as well, but it was better with just the honey. The meatballs were baked seperately in the oven (and the juices poured off), then added to the plum sauce. It was all served over a bed of brown rice. It went over well with the family and we didn't have leftovers (always a good sign!).

A few days ago, I made a real foray into the kitchen with a chocolate cream pie and buckranth pancakes, both delicious! Posts on those to follow. :)

It's always fun when there are positive reactions to my cooking. Yesterday, I pulled a chicken carcass from the freezer to boil in the crockpot-- I've been buying whole freerange chicken from Natural Grocer, and cutting off the breast meat to use seperately. The rest goes into the freezer. Into the crockpot went my frozen chicken, covered with water. Salt, pepper and fresh oregano were added. Normally I use thyme, but the thyme didn't transplant well with the move. Still- oregano is good, too. When my girls got home from school, they devoured all the meat from the boiled chicken, remarking all the while how much they love it! I let them eat up all the flesh, and here I am, still drinking the broth. Win, win!

My brother shot an elk last week. He gave my parents the whole liver, as his family doesn't like it. I got a good size piece from them and cooked it up yesterday as well, mixing it with hamburger, onion, oregano and salt and pepper. Between the chicken and the liver, my house smelled heavenly yesterday! My girls each tried a little bite of the liver mixture, but it's hard to eat strong tasting foods. that's ok. I'll keep encouraging them, and eat it myself. I wish I could learn to make a true liver patee. Maybe I will one of these days.