My twist on Summaborsht

I have been craving summaborsht. CRAVING. But what to do when it involves pork?

Make it with beef :)

Here's my version of Summaborsht:

~ Boil chopped potatoes in water. Add chopped onions. Add dill, salt and pepper, celery seed (fresh would've been better). Add chopped carrots (I did these really fine, more for nutrition than for flavour).

~ Let it simmer on the stove for a while.
~ Add cooked ground beef. I put mine through the processor first so that it was really fine, but if you like chunks than skip that step.

~ Let it simmer for as long as you like. Add cream and enjoy!

I LOVED it. It totally hit the spot and tasted great. If I hadn't grown up knowing that Summaborsht was a soup that was meant for ham or varsht, I never would have thought twice about this soup.

It's becoming a habit

So, after some good advice, I have been trying very hard. And it's quickly becoming a habit! I used to do it some, but now I am doing it way more often.

I am freezing.

Cooking extra in order to freeze.

Here's some examples:

~ Cook 1/2 a chicken. Whatever we don't eat I take off the bones and freeze, or plan to use in the next couple of days. Usually I just left the meat for leftovers, but taking it off the bones makes it so much easier to use and less gets wasted. We usually have enough for leftovers and a new meal.

~ Made meatloaf and formed a few hamburger patties to freeze.

~ Made twice as many perogies as I needed in order to freeze some.

~ Made twice as much chicken pot pie filling as I needed and froze it in a casserole dish. Added some mashed potatoes and threw it in the oven for a super quick potluck meal this week!

~ Make a big batch of waffles whenever I make them and throw the leftovers in the freezer. I freeze them on a cookie sheet and then throw them in a bag when they're frozen.

~ Made homemade cream of chicken soup the other day and froze what I didn't need for that recipe for later.

~ Cooked up 2 salmon instead of just one. Saved energy from using the oven only once instead of twice and now I have extra de-boned salmon in the freezer just waiting to be made into patties!

~ I save all my bread crusts now to be made into crumbs.

It is becoming second nature to me to think about how I can stretch everything so that less is wasted and my time is better used. It makes things way less stressful in the kitchen and I usually end up with a couple of quick simple meals a week just from cooking more on other days and preserving it. I LOVE IT!

Thanks Leanne for giving me a good swift nudge in the right direction!

How do you save time in the kitchen? When you make more and save for another meal do you try to make the new meal different?

Fried

So I fried the sweet potato. And it was a big hit! I cut it up like I was making fries and then put it on a well oiled cookie sheet in the oven. Turned it over a couple of times and when it was crispy and soft it was done. The kids and TR enjoyed dipping them in ketchup and the kids never even knew it was the same food that they had disliked only days before ;)

Sweet

Sweet potatoes. Do you like them? I can't say that I do. But that is what TR came home from the grocery store with. 1 sweet potato.

So like a good little wife, I cooked it up for supper. Actually I only cooked up half of it, 'cause those things are massive and I had no idea how it was going to go over. Benjamin tried it, spit it out. Chloe wouldn't try it and we didn't push it (you can criticize my parenting later). I only put three little pieces on my plate. TR took a big helping.

I finished mine. But that last bite was a chore. I just can't quite get past the mushy texture. The flavour is not that bad. But I think that it will be an acquired taste for me. But the nutrient content is superb and it's really not that expensive, so I think that we will be eating in our house a little more. TR really liked it and that's enough to make me want to make it for him.

So, do you like sweet potatoes? If you do, please give me suggestions as to have to make it more creatively! Maybe I could even grow to enjoy them :)

Answer to you questions

Hey Leanne, just thought I would answer your questions here so you would for sure see it.

~ I don't think that organic corn is GM. I will have to do some more research as to whether all other corn is. I'm not sure where I heard it (maybe Jordan Rubin's book??) but corn and soybeans are usually GM. I'll have to check into that again, 'cause I really can't remember the source.

~ I liked your suggestion for the stuffing. Today I made a chicken casserole (gravy, chicken, veggies all mixed together and put in a dish topped with mashed potatoes and then topped with stuffing) I used to just put stovetop stuffing on the top, but alas I can't do that anymore. Today I just cut up some bread and added it to a butter/broth/spices mixture and coated it. Then I added it single layer on top of the potatoes. It was AWESOME! Even better than stovetop. They were nice and crunchy and tasted a little like stuffing seasoned croutons. LOVED IT!

Hamburger Soup

I made the most AMAZING hamburger soup the other day for supper. As in AMAZING! But you might not think so, so if you don't think it's amazing don't blame me! But it really hit the spot for me and I just find my taste buds wanting more!

The recipe came from the Health and Hospitality book: It's simply called 'Hamburger Soup'. Here's my version:

~Cooked hamburger (I put it through the chopper 'cause I like it fine)
~Green lentils
~Pot barley
~Carrots
~Onions
~Tomato juice (I used some of my garden tomatoes. I just skinned them and cooked them, strained them and added the juice to the soup)
~Taco Seasoning
~Celery salt (real celery would have been good but we didn't have any)
~Salt and pepper

Now you'll notice that I didn't add any amounts and that is because I didn't measure! I just did it until it looked/tasted right. I thought it was perfect, but TR said it would have been better with some potatoes.

The lentils and barley take the longest to cook, so I cooked them for a while in water and then when they were mostly soft I drained most of the remaining water and added the other ingredients.

Served with whole wheat biscuits fresh from the oven.

We are out of ground beef, but I seriously want to make this again soon so I think I will try it with some of the moose steak I have in the freezer. I'll let you know if it as good :)

My new favourite lunch!

Okay so I just had to post my new favourite lunch!

Tuna, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, grated organic cheese, garlic powder.

I mix all that together and then eat it with Tostito chips.

YUM!!