Tag: food

Our Daily Bread

Season of Uncertainty: struggles over finances and worry for me. Learning to trust in daily provision.

September 14, 2018

Our Daily Bread

Have you ever thought about the line in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread?”

I always believed it meant to trust God for provision.

I never really lived the “daily” part.

Our life is broken into seasons and in this season, there is no weekly or monthly guaranteed income.  We work daily.  We get paid daily.  Of course, we understand that bills are monthly, so we have to save the money we make in order to pay for monthly provisions.  For the last few months, when we pray that prayer, I understand the “daily bread” part literally.

Our service work is different than a “regular job” in that we don’t have sick days or PTO to pull from when we’re sick.  When I got sick with the mold garbage was a huge cut on our family’s finances.  Our income has even changed from what we had a few years ago: From startup to two years ago our business had several streams of “weekly” or “monthly” income from operating, but times change.  We could take a day off then and it didn’t come with worrying if rent or electric would get behind over it.

God always provides, though.  God makes sure we get enough calls to keep our provisions met (we have been on time for rent & electric in this season).  We get blessed in unexpected ways too.  Unexpected ways are like this past Sunday when a sister from church gave us two boxes of fruit popsicles – the kids LOVE those things!

Radio preachers always say stuff like, “just give what your family would spend eating out.”  It makes me feel so sad.  (We do pay $200 a month to help another – plus anything God tells us to give.  But that is between God and us.) We don’t eat out.  We used to.  If I mention a restaurant we’ve tried “the other day,” it was likely over two years ago.  I don’t tell other people our financial situation.  I don’t like to “bother others” because God does always provide and as long as we have rent, I’m not going to ask anyone for help.  Outside of Louis buying a $20 box from the new Bojangles to try it out for a birthday lunch, we haven’t eaten out in ages.  We understand that good stewardship in our family right now means spending less than $8 for each dinner meal for all of us – and one item each from the dollar menu still breaks that budget.  Honestly, beans and rice (the most common) or spaghetti/zoodles with marinara (2nd most common) cost $2.80 and $3.30 each, respectively.  Most of our family dinners cost us less than $8 a meal.  Breakfast (thank you, God, for eggs!) is under $2 and lunch is usually about $4 since we save full meat and good veggies for dinners.  Since we make feed money off our chickens and eggs, eggs are practically “free.”  We go to a local produce market a mile from us and pick lots of veggies from the $0.50/lb “scratch and dent” box.  I like to think I’m pretty good at stretching money.

For us, this season has taught us to depend on God daily.  That was very hard for me at first.  I am a planner.  I am a saver.  I am very good at saying “no, that’s not on the list,” and not allowing money to be spent on something I consider unnecessary.  But I find it an extreme challenge to not have the full month’s bills sitting in the bank – we used to have six months of bills in the savings account and one in the checking!  I hate the uncertainty of depending on God to give us calls every day.  I look at our reservations and my stomach churns.  There’s usually nothing for me to plan on.  Fifty-three stories online and I made zero in August, so I can’t plan on that just yet.  I’m so unsure that I’m applying for every job that I can possibly pretend my skill sets fit only to be rejected by everything in the last two years.  (Obviously, God doesn’t want me there.)  If I get a job, it will be because God wants me there.  (Maybe God wants me in this season of uncertainty because He’s teaching me to depend on Him more and worry less?)

Do I love working from home?  YES!  (I drive when there are calls, wait at home in-between.) Do I love being able to homeschool, write more stories, tend my garden and tiny farm, and be present as my children grow?  YES!  YES!  YES!  YES!

What is hard for me is accepting uncertainty.

Frankly, though, life is totally uncertain!  A “steady job” is just as uncertain as the “daily bread” season we are in!  It only appears more secure.

Only God is truly certain.  Why would I want to trust in anything else?

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Watching Fish

Interesting colorful “feeder” goldfish in the girls’ community tank.

August 17, 2018

Watching Fish

Becky and Kimberly have a little tank in which they keep trying to grow fish.

Once, (after collecting fish slowly over about a year) they had about a dozen Platys (live-bearing freshwater fish) in four different varieties with two plecostomus (bottom-feeding suckermouth catfish) and two Siamese algae-eaters (bottom-dwelling freshwater fish).  It was a very colorful tank.  They had plants in the top and bottom levels for hiding places (needed for baby fish).

Lucas watched them feed the fish about three times a day.  One day, he dumped a mega can of fish food in the water.  Although they tried to save the fish, unfortunately, only a few recovered.  Lucas watched them “Save” the fish with the fishnet and thought he could replicate this with a milk cup.  We found the remaining three Platys floating in the milk cup.

The tank became a water plant tank for a month or so.  (They slowly saved up money for new fish.)

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A few weeks ago, Becky and Jillian bought some colorful feeder goldfish and feeder minnows to join Ooh (the remaining Plecostomus who had hidden in the shark decoration for over a week so they were super surprised when he was seen in the “plant tank!”).

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The tank has Nemo and the big shark in it, along with some other Nemo stuff, a unicorn laying against the wall like she’s sleeping, a snail, and beach shells (I do not know why the unicorn lives underwater).

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The little goldfish have animal names like “Tiger” and “Gazelle.”

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They have beautiful coloring!

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Aren’t animals amazing?  The girls love watching the interaction between the fish (and, they are so funny sometimes!) and play-talking what they are saying.  These conversations go something like this:

“Tiger: Food! Food! That tall giant is feeding us that flat stuff that looks like dead leaves but tastes gourmet!”

“Gazelle: You actually eat that?”

“Tiger: (while chomping away) Yummy yummy yummy!”

“Ooh: Why don’t you hide from the giant things?”

“Gazelle: Only the hyper one.”

“Tiger: The hyper one?  It isn’t as scary as the smudgy black one.”

At this point I laughed at Becky’s monologue.  “Becky, what is the smudgy black one?  I get Lucas is the hyper giant.”

“Mom,” Becky laughs and points at the fishtank.  Prim (Christina’s 4-year-old Aussie Mix) is standing in her new favorite spot between the fishtank and the couch.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Yummy Harvest

Yummy harvest for us, fried treats for our doggies!

August 4, 2018

Yummy Harvest

Primrose (Christina’s 4-year-old Aussie mix) is waiting by the stove while we walk in and out.  Nothing is cooking there yet, but she knows this is harvest day, and she knows Rebeccah’s special treat is to fry up livers in butter.  Mom likes them, but it started as a treat for the doggies.

Funny how they know.   Sheba (our family’s 11-year-old Aussie mix) pretends she’s too old to move and half-wags her tail from her favorite spot in the house – curled up on top of the air vent in the den.  She strategically puts herself in the room where most people congregate, next to the shoe shelf so as they are leaving she can shoot them with sad eyes to see if she can guilt anyone into talking her outside.  Sheba perks up each time one of the kids comes in the back door, but since no one is carrying the big canning pot yet, she knows it’s still sleeping time.

In I come with the canning pot – Louis has decided to barbecue the chickens, but only three fit on the grill, so the fourth and all the trimmings are in that pot.  Usually, all the chickens are in the pot to be dissected, wrapped, and put away.   The gizzards and hearts are wrapped and frozen (I’ll fry them next time we have fried chicken).  Today’s harvest was tender young chickens and the preferred method of cooking is grilling or baking, whole.  So the fourth is wrapped and frozen.  This leaves the trimmed skins and livers.  The skins are saved for broth (I’ll add the bones and whatever trimmings from the birds being barbecued and simmer with some seasonings, this round should net about 2 to 3 quarts of “concentrated” broth.)

Rebeccah takes control of the livers.  Now Sheba and Prim are sitting by the stove, wagging their tails and almost begging.  They know that stuff is going in their bowl.  Livers don’t freeze well.  They are best fresh.  The only one in the household who likes liver is Mom (me), but I don’t like to eat a ton of them.  So I’ll take a few ounces and leave the rest for the pups.

Finally!  Rebeccah is done (it really only takes about three minutes, but looking at the dogs, you’d think they were waiting for years).  She rinses the pan in just enough water to make sure all the yummy goop is washed into the dog bowls and splits the contents of the pan between the two dogs.  They’ll get all the skins and other meat bits off the bones after I’ve boiled and strained the broth the next day too, but fried livers are their every-two-month treat, and they LOVE it.

Our theory is that Prim realizes the chickens are the liver treat source and therefore protects them jealously from any other animal – but she’s never hurt a chicken because she likes the finished product.

Yummy barbecue for us, yummy treat for our canine protectors.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Grill Smell

How excited I get when I smell the grill – aka Louis cooking!

July 14, 2018

Grill Smell

Oh. My. Goodness!

I smell… I smell… (no, it’s not Ducky) I smell charcoal and lighter fluid!

This means Louis is on the grill.  AKA we are getting the most awesome lunch/dinner today!

Louis’ Dad cooked for a restaurant as a young man, his Grandma taught his mom who taught the boys how to make amazing Florida foods, and he cooked for a busy buffet and a 4-star restaurant.  His food is good.

It’s like when Becky (my 12 year old) says, “Mom, I’m doing lunch,” and everyone is like “awesome, so how can I help?” or we just get out of the way and let her magic happen.  She throws junk together without a recipe and comes up with delectable food.

Louis does this on the grill.

So, I’m like, beans, potatoes?  What sides do you want?

Louis doesn’t care; it’s all about the meat for him.  (Is that just a guy thing?  Nope, Becky doesn’t care too much about sides either, she focuses on the meat and lets creativity flow when it comes to “the sauce.”)

So, baked sweet potatoes, potato salad, and peas make up today’s yummy sides. (Canned peas were only 2.12 for a 6lb can from Sams, Aldi had sweet potatoes 6lbs for $2.00, and Currie’s local Sebago potatoes were $0.50/lb – I cook based on what’s on sale.)

Lighter fluid smell is extinguished – by looking at the coals you’d think they are dead.  Nope.  Just right to start.

T minus 10 minutes!  My stomach is aching!  I practically live outside now because of the mold/breathing issue, so I make up sides, set them out (peas on the stove, salad in the fridge, and sweeties hang out in the microwave), and go outside to wait on the best part.  I’m pretending to trim my elephant ears but this smell is exciting my palate!

I think every dog in the county can smell the meat cooking – do I care what it is?  Nope.  It will be yummy.

Is there any kitchen smell that is better than the grill?  Nope.  Okay, maybe a wood-fire camp circle with egg casserole cooked on a cold morning in a cast iron skillet with the hot chocolate tureen on the side – Yes, that might top grilled everyday meat, but just maybe…

Thanks for reading!  (Hope you have good eating!)

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Bulk Canning

June 16, 2017

Bulk Canning

Four hours of simmering marinara and the house smells like Italian spices!  Oregano, sweet basil, flowery parsley, smooth garlic, marjoram, sage, thyme, onion, and rosemary flavors blend together with a yummy tomato base to make five gallons of nearly meatless red sauce (nearly, because we use one pound of finely ground meat for flavor).  This is a family cupboard staple.  We use our marinara for lasagna, in soup, for rice dishes, and our favorite way – as spaghetti sauce!

One pound of any noodle + one quart of marinara + a handful of meatballs = yummy spaghetti!

This cooks in the time it takes to boil noodles (usually 15 minutes) so it’s a fast meal.

We started making our healthy bulk marinara about 15 years ago.  First we experimented with small batches for taste.  When we got taste down, we started making full canning-pot batches. (Our canning pot holds 5.5 gallons, but we leave space for stirring, so each “batch” is 5 gallons.)

We spend about 4 or 5 hours canning and processing for one batch of chili or marinara.  But after one batch, we have jars for 10 to 20 meals.  They are perfect for any busy day.  (Like when I’m trying to finish writing but everyone, including my tummy, is hungry!)

This helps on time and on budget!

Each 32 ounce jar of marinara costs us approximately $0.80 to make.  Our chili is about $2.40 per quart jar.  It is easy on the budget, it’s a taste we love, and we know what’s in it!

Now we bulk cook and process (can) many things: chili (our fully organic, vegetable packed, vitamin-loaded spicy soup), broths from our chickens, grapefruit juice, garden vegetables, and soups.  This gives us healthier options with fast cook times!  Since we can adjust the recipe to our liking, we develop bulk recipes that we love.  (There are a few ratio rules to research and remember when attempting to process soups with heavy starches like rice, corn, and other grains – I keep a booklet with notes.)

Canning can sometimes create funny stories.  For example: once, a little helper scooped out 4 tablespoons of crushed red pepper instead of 4 teaspoons and accidentally created “Dragon-Fire Chili,” which she and Louis loved (however, that has not been duplicated on purpose!).

Canned food is also easy to share!  We once had truckloads of fresh grapefruit.  It took us days to juice the excesses we couldn’t eat.  We canned the juice and had fresh grapefruit juice for almost two years. (And so did most of our family!)  We love to buy mountain apples by the bushel when they are in season and anything not immediately eaten turns into homemade applesauce – one of our favorites!  Overly ripe peaches in the soup-stuff box at the local produce market?  This becomes awesome peach preserves!  Any overage of garden vegetables (like 12 bushels of beets) becomes canned away for a rainy day. (Actually, it was separated into beet greens and beet roots, processed, and opened as a side dish with at least three weekly meals until we ran out!)

Canning also saves us freezer space (we buy whole local beef & pork and save freezer space for Unca ChaCha’s occasional gift of venison).

As with any type of cooking, all the instruments must be clean, food fresh, and preparer(s) maintain a clean working environment.  If you take these precautions and take it slow (plan an entire afternoon or whole day) the first few times, you just may discover that you enjoy this “old way” of processing and storing food.   I love it!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

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