New career!

A couple days ago we finally took my parent's advice and went to Cash and Carry. For those who've never been it's a wholesale store where you can buy in bulk, kinda like Costco but fewer products, larger bulk sizes and no membership. We came out with a 10 pound case of chicken breasts, a 20 pound hunk of beef, and 11 pounds of pork loins. I easily could have come out with boxes of cookies, the prices were so low, but since we are trying to lose weight I didn't think having 400 Oreos around would be helpful.

Once home I scrubbed down the big freezer and then sharpened the awesome knives Dad and Mom got us when Miss M was born. After watching a couple YouTube videos on carving steaks (it's been 10+ years since I've done any butchering and I didn't want to ruin anything) I got to cutting. Made a bit of a mess of the kitchen since it's really not set up for cutting up huge slabs of beef but it was so much fun!! I want to be a butcher now, there is something wonderful about taking a huge leg of cow and with a few slashes of a knife turn it into thick, juicy, perfectly marbled steaks ready for the grill.

From that 20 pound hunk we got 2 pounds of stew meat and about 10 one-inch steaks, all for under $30. Hubby BBQ'd some last night on his brand new grill and while they were a little more done than we like (still getting used to the new grill) the meat was tender and delirious. I doubt we'll buy pre-cut steaks again, you just can't beat the savings. I can't wait till we have the ranch and raise our own beef.

I did the same to the hunks of pork loin to get thick, boneless pork chops that we are going to cook tonight. They look wonderful, better than what we've been getting pre-cut in the store. For $17 we got about 25 chops with about 2 pounds of bits and pieces to use in stews. I've never made stew using pork but I found an interesting recipe using pork and sweet potatoes with lots of spices and peppers that looks very tasty-will let you know how it works out. 

Disappointed...

This summer has started out very cold and it seems to have wrecked the peppers-only one has sprouted. Same with the pumpkins and the melons, and none of the crookneck or spaghetti squashes have germinated. I've decided to not try replanting and just go with what did come up-it's the first year so I wasn't expecting a huge crop anyway. Thankfully most of the corn and all the tomatoes have made an appearance, I can't wait for fresh corn on the cob!

Since we don't really have the space for berries we have decided not to put in any canes, we just don't think they will do well. Instead this week-end we will take Miss M and hit up one of the U-Pick farms and get our year's supply. Right now strawberries are ripe, I haven't made jam in years but I'm thinking of picking enough to put up a couple jars. Should be fun.

Finally, sunshine!!

The temp hit 85 degrees, yay!! All the seedlings are exploding out of the earth, it looks like nearly ever seed germinated. The transplanted strawberries have tiny berries forming and the rose bushes are covered with flowers. Summer may finally be here!

Classes have finished and now I can focus more on the farm and Miss M. The house needs a thorough scrubbing after being neglected because of finals and Kay, our horse, has not been worked in months. She is getting fat on the fresh green grass and I need to burn off the rest of the preggie weight.

I've been trying new cooking experiments. For example, my first from scratch apple pie:

 Tastes wonderful but doesn't help in losing weight. I'm looking for more healthy dishes what with all the veggies that will be coming ripe soon, any suggestions?

And the winner is...

Lettuce! The lettuce are sprouting and man have they gone nuts. The entire tray is a mini-sea of green. Nothing else seems to be up yet but the weather has been cool. The rest shouldn't be too far behind.

All day it has been drizzling, a soft cool summer rain that gets everything wet and makes me wish I was a kid again so I could go jump in the mud puddles. The air smells clean and refreshed, though the rain has played havoc with the remaining snowball blooms-they are beginning to melt and scatter their petals all over. As much as I am enjoying the rain I can't wait for the summer heat and the taste of sweet, fresh, just picked corn on the cob.