Cooking Floyd: Red Curry and Sweet Potatoes

Christmas has come and gone with a whimper around here.  Michael fought off what seemed to be a heavy cold right before the holiday.  Christmas Eve afternoon I had the "ohno" moment and proceeded to usher in Christmas Day with 102 degree fever and respiratory infection that would last nearly three days.

Michael did get to enjoy a sumptuous feast at Bob and Carol's of a beautiful standing rib roast from their own well-raised steer.  Carol is an awesome cook and loves to declare "I'm not Italian but I cook like one!"  That's the PC version anyway.  Her version is more colorful.  Thank you Carol for the plate sent home with Michael.

I was grateful for the soups I put up this past growing season.  They certainly helped nurse me through but when the fever broke and hunger pangs returned I wanted something with spices and heat that would break up my congestion.  I wanted a curry!

Cooking Floyd: My Annual Obsession

Finally, it's that time of year when for 3 days running we have to have dinner out.  Why?  Because nothing can get in the way of painting Christmas cookies.  I do them other times during the year but not with the singlemindedness I have when it comes to painting snowmen, holly, and Santa Clauses.

 

Preserving Floyd: Processing Venison

In preparation for this year's deer another project this past month involved grinding what was left of last year's venison into burger to make way for this year's deer.  I do a mix of 4 lbs of ground venison and 1 pound of ground pork for a nice lean to fat ratio that makes for juicy burgers, sausages, and loaves.  This year I made venison bologna using LEM's prepackaged spice mix a friend gave me to try.  This stuff tastes just like I remember my grandfather's venison bologna tasting.  I have no idea if this is what he was using way back then but I really like it.  Could be the nostalgia thing.  I also made a bunch of spicy teriyaki jerky for Michael to carry on his bicycle journeys.

I ended up with 5 lbs worth of the bologna in one pound sticks, 3 pounds of jerky and 15 pounds of ground burger in one pound packages.  Michael got his deer so in addition to the above we now have a new supply of roasts and steaks and enough trimmings to make a batch of link sausage.  Santa's bringing me a smoker for Christmas so I think I'm going to wait until it arrives to make my first batch of smoked venison sausage!

Preserving Floyd: Root Cellaring Root Crops

Somehow between Thanksgiving and Christmas the month slipped away from me.  I feel horribly guilty to have gone so long without posting but here in a series of mini posts is what I've been doing.  First up - cellaring root crops!

Cooking Floyd: Flavored Tofu

I always thought the only way to get flavor into tofu was to marinate it.  But I was wrong.  You can make tofu in a rainbow of flavors when you make it yourself!

Cooking Floyd: You can make Tofu!

Making tofu is another one of my adventures into alternative non-animal protein sources.  Like seitan, I'm happy to report that tofu making is easy and the results are far superior to the tofu I've bought from the store.  Store-bought tofu isn't outrageously expensive but I just made a pound of it for a little less than 40 cents.  Add up .40/lb protein, better taste than store-bought, and I-did-it-myself satisfaction and the result is a win!

Start making your own tofu by following the instructions for making soy milk in the previous post.  The yield from that recipe (about 8 cups) will provide enough soy milk for today's tofu recipe.

Cooking Floyd: Making Soy Milk

Michael has always had a bit of a problem digesting cow's milk.  He's a 1% or skim milk man.  Me, I'm a poster girl for the dairy association.  I want my milk full fat and straight from the cow whenever possible.  Then Michael tried soy milk.  Then almond milk.  And quite frankly, until we discovered Silk unsweetened organic soy milk  I found the stuff to be not-milk.  Icky.  The Silk unsweetened was a compromise but the label still reads like a chem lab: Organic Soymilk (Filtered Water, Whole Organic Soybeans), Calcium Carbonate, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2, Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin B12.  Added calcium and added vitamins to compete nutritionally with cow's milk and added "natural flavors" and carrageenan (a seaweed used as a thickener) to approximate the taste and mouth-feel of cow's milk.  Average cost around here for a half gallon: $3.50

Michael and I decided to try making soy milk.

Ingredients: 1 cup (6 oz.) soy beans, water.

Cost of a half gallon: $.38 and a little time.