Stretching in the Pantry

We have been away on a lovely but money guzzling holiday for ten days. Now that we are home again, it’s time to cut back. What is an Elastic Mom to do?

KITCHEN CUTBACKS

The most flexible part of any budget is the food bill. There are many ways to save money here. Cooking everything from scratch is a start. Forget about buying any pre-made sauces, condiments or ready meals. I try to buy pure basic ingredients and make everything from scratch. From bread to dips and pasta sauces, cakes and all my meals. Frozen and canned vegetables are very expensive and it is far better to pick or buy whatever is in season and going for a song and freeze or preserve it at home. It also helps that I have a vegetable patch, chickens, a beekeeping husband, a cow and we live on a farm. I know that living in suburbia makes it harder, but USE WHAT YOU HAVE still stands.

Elastic Moms plan their meals from what they have in the house before rushing out to buy anything. For example, take my menu for this week. First I peeked into garden, freezer and pantry, then I planned our meals.

BREAKFASTS

I have eggs from our chickens, some mieliemeel (corn meal), flour, sugar, farm honey, bags of picked and frozen apricots, a bag of oats that I was able to buy for an excellent price and milk from the farm. The milk and cream will be turned into butter, yoghurt, cream cheese, buttermilk and also used fresh.

So I plan to make scrambled eggs on toast, apricot honey and mint smoothies, muffins, mieliemeel porridge, flapjacks with yoghurt, honey and fresh grapes, poached eggs, and some homemade muesli with the oats.

LUNCHES

We have half a loaf of frozen bread, plenty of eggs, a half block of cheese, vegetables in the garden and fridge, two cans of tuna fish, some pasta supper leftovers, farm milk, lentils in the pantry as well as quite a few jars of jams, preserves and pickles.

I will bake bread, and some lunches I will serve are leftover pasta with salad followed by jam on toast, tuna salad, summer vegetable quiche, lentil burgers with roasted vegetables, homemade cream cheese and pickles on bread, garden brinjal dip, and maybe a curried spinach and egg salad or a homemade soup.

SUPPERS

 In the freezer, I have, amongst other things, a meal of boston baked beans, some kudu mince from my kind brother-in-law,  and lots of tomatoes and tomato sauces from the summer. Then there is everything else that I have mentioned already.

I will make some lovely dinners: reheated boston beans on mashed potatoes with green beans and gem squash from the garden; eggs and leftover beans on hot fresh bread; chilled cucumber soup with homemade bread and an apricot crumble; Babotie (South African curried mince dish) with rice, lentil dhal, chutney, cucumber and tomato; Spinach and homemade cream cheese on my made-from-scratch pizza or pasta; Defrosted tomato sauce and tuna on rice with vegetables on the side. My husband will provide supper on Friday night as that is our Special Night tradition. 

SNACKS

There is a packet of popcorn in the pantry just waiting to be popped. There are plenty of grapes on our verandah vine. The prickly pears are fruiting, the walnuts are falling and there are pomegranates for the picking. Once I have baked bread there are jams, honey and marmite for toast, and if my children feel so inclined, they are welcome to bake anytime.

So there you have it, delicious meals, healthy, home grown and homemade and my shopping list for the week consists of two lightbulbs, a jar of peanut butter, some cleaning products, and that’s it. I might even make some of the cleaning products from scratch too, but that’s another blog.

Marrow Matters - Marrow Muffins

MARROW MUFFINS

1 c wholewheat flour

1 c white flour

1 c grated marrow (mine were sliced, but grated is better)

1 t baking powder

1 t mixed herbs

1/4 c melted butter

1 1/2 c milk

1 egg

Mix together and bake in muffin pans at 180˚ for about 1/2 hour until golden.

 Slice some yummy homemade cheese and a tomato from the garden.

Enjoy!

Marrow Matters - Marvelous Marinated Marrows

Another Thursday, another marrow recipe - my favourite one so far.

MARVELOUS MARINATED MARROWS

Take 5-8 baby marrows. Wash them well.

 Slice them lengthways into long strips. Coat them with olive oil and roast them in a hot oven (200'C) until they are tender, stirring every now and then.

While the marrows are softening in the oven, crush a clove of garlic into a casserole dish. Add a handful of freshly chopped mint leaves.

 Heat half a cup of vinegar until bubbling merrily.

Toss the softly roasted courgettes with the hot vinegar, garlic and mint in the casserole dish. Grind salt and pepper over the dish.

Cover and refrigerate overnight to mellow the flavours. 

Voila, an absolutely delicious accompaniment to any meal that is perfect for a hot Summer's day. 

Now to think of some ideas for the rest of the marrows that grew enormous while we were away. 

Marrow Matters - Garden Risotto

It looks as if Thursdays will be my Marrow Matters days. I hope to post a few more ELASTIC TIPS on some of the days in between but, for now, this is all that I can muster being so busy with processing the fruit of our harvests. 

I do not presume to pretend that I am a master chef and this so-called risotto is probably not at all like a real risotto, but delicious and, in Elastic Mom style, quick and easy. Best of all, it only uses one pan.

GARDEN RISOTTO

Sizzle some butter or oil in a large pan. Slice up and fry one onion, some marrows, a green pepper and a few slices of bacon. My bacon was shaved off a hunk of frozen bacon generously given to us by my father-in-law. I used a rather large yellow summer squash.

Once the onions start to soften, add some frozen beans, carrots and sweetcorn to the pan, or use vegetables that you have on hand. Fry them until defrosted.

The beans were my own, blanched and frozen and needing clearing from the freezer. I have memories of my long-suffering children helping me to slice crates of sweetcorn off the cob with my electric carving knife before freezing them last Summer. Now that the new harvest is coming, it's time to clear the last of them from the freezer too.

Shake up the remains of an almost empty jar of apricot jam with a half jar of hot water and pour it in. You could shake up any tasty almost empty jar - mayonnaise, jam, chutney or mustard. No suitable jars? Then just add a dollop of your favourite flavor and some water, or just use stock. 

All the while gently stir the mixture in the pan. Add some fresh cream, about half a cup. Liquid quantities are not important, as you will adjust them as you go.  

Sprinkle some risotto rice over the pan. My mother-in-law taught me to use a handful of rice per person and one extra for the pan. 

Keep stirring the risotto as it simmers. You will soon see if you need to add more liquid for the rice to absorb.

If it looks a little dry still, slosh in some wine and chicken or vegetable stock.  

Season with salt and pepper and add your favourite herbs or spices. I used some smoked paprika because its smoky flavor is great with bacon.

Keep simmering, stirring, and adjusting the liquid if you need to, until the rice is cooked through, but still with a bit of a bite to it. 

Tuck in to a tasty family meal. 

This recipe is truly ELASTIC and you can adjust it to whatever you are clearing from your garden. pantry, fridge or freezer. Avoid unwanted science experiments in your fridge. Plan your meals according to what needs using the most.

 USE IT, DON"T LOSE IT. 

I always try to choose flavours that compliment each other. Apricot jam and bacon sing together. 

ELASTIC GARDEN RISOTTO:

Be creative with flavor families. Use your basic garden vegetables, making sure to throw in heaps of marrows, but vary the spices, herbs and meat according to what you have and need to use.... 

Go THAI with coconut milk, green curry, asian greens and strips of chicken,

or ITALIAN with garlic, parmesan, tomato, peppers, oregano and bits of salami.

How about FRENCH with brinjal, peppers, tomato, mixed herbs, bacon and garlic.

For a VEGETARIAN version use cooked chickpeas or beans for protein. 

Mmm, I am thinking lentils and CURRY spices, but then that would need a different rice, basmati maybe....

The variations are as abundant as your imagination. In fact, the flexibility of this recipe makes it perfect to add to my list of BACK TO BASICS recipes. 

Marrow Matters - Summer Tart

As promised, here is another summer squash recipe. It is my personal variation on Grandma's Tart, a recipe that I found in a Waldorf School Recipe Book and a firm family favourite.  Our garden marrows keep on coming. I like to pick them small and tender. We seem to have a lot of yellow ones at the moment. This recipe is a winner, fast and easy, but delicious. 

SUMMER TART

Pick and wash a handful each of baby marrows and cherry tomatoes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. I use a pastry brush to oil my baking tray, then roll out some ready puff pastry to fit the pan. 

 Slice an onion and about six baby marrows lengthways. I use a vegetable peeler to make the slices really thin.

Wash and halve the baby tomatoes. Send a helpful family member, like my daughter, into the garden to pick some fresh rosemary.

Smear a large dollop of dijon mustard over the pastry. Be sure to take it all the way to the edge of the pastry. 

 Saute the onion and ribbons of squash in some olive oil. You could add garlic here if you like. After the marrows have softened, add the tomato halves and stir gently. 

Spoon the vegetables over the pastry. Crumble feta cheese over and sprinkle with blades of rosemary. Season with ground salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven until the pastry is golden, the vegetables are starting to brown slightly, and your family starts commenting on the wonderful aromas wafting from the kitchen.

 Summer Tart is scrumptious served hot or at room temperature with a little salad on the side.

It is most enjoyable to eat this meal outdoors on a warm evening and it would be complimented by a chilled glass of light white wine. 

Marrow Matters - Creamy Courgettes

Barbara Kingsolver, in her wonderful book, Animal Vegetable Miracle, shares the woes of an overabundant zucchini harvest where one dare not venture out, as on returning home one will invariably find a bag of marrows on the doorstep, a doubtedly generous gift from a similarly overrun neighbour.

Yet again this summer, I am challenged to include these prolific green, yellow and stripy marrows into as many meals as possible without offense to my darling family.

Life frequently intrudes on my blogging intentions, but maybe a series of marrow solving recipes is in order. This recipe raises the humble marrow's status from sublime to sought after. It cost me no more than a trip to the garden and a little cream-begging from our dear sweet jersey cow, Rose.

CREAMY COURGETTES

 Melt a generous dollop of Rosie's butter in a large pan. Wash courgettes well and slice thinly. Keep them in rings or else they will break up during cooking.

 Add the courgettes to your bubbling butter and sauté until they are beginning to soften slightly and smell golden.

 Quickly run into your garden and pick some thyme and rosemary which you will need to rinse and finely chop.

 I use cream freshly skimmed, but bought cream is just as good, well almost.

 Sprinkle the herbs and pour the cream over the sizzling slices of marrow. Grind over some salt and pepper.

 Use enough cream to cover the bottom of the pan, but not to drown the courgettes.

 Bubble and simmer this mixture, stirring gently when you remember, until the cream has reduced right down and the marrows are very tender.

This dish is delicious served warm as a side dish for a main meal. It tastes so much better than my photograph looks. Even my marrow unfriendly son enjoys it.

Greening my Fingers

A vegetable garden is an essential item on the Elastic Mom lifestyle list, no matter whether it consists of a few pots of produce, or a cultivated field.

A vegetable garden provides:

Therapy for  overstretched emotions.
Something to feed those ever hungry mouths for barely there pantries.
Healthy vitamins to nourish our human treasures.
A hiding place for peace.
Encouraging rewards, reaping relative to sowing.

When life is stretching your capacity as a mom, a quiet visit to your vegetables can feed your soul. The process of touching soil, digging fingers into cool, moist sand is soothing. Many summers ago, I assisted with a toddler enrichment program. Each week we provided tactile stimulation in the form of baths of seeds, sand, cotton wool, and more. Each week the toddlers' mommies would sit around the baths, unconsciously running their hands backwards and forwards through the calming yet stimulating textures as they chatted. My gardening gloves usually end up in a little heap somewhere as I relish that bare handed contact with my garden.

The repetition of weed pulling, trimming, digging or picking calms any frazzled nerves. My precious  mum once advised me, her busy buzzy daughter, to make time for reflection on a daily basis. Slowing down to gardening pace always sends my thoughts into helpful rhythms of reflection. While my hands create order in the garden, my jumbled thoughts settle and anchor into gentle perspective.

A stormy conflict, when taken to that green place, subsides into thoughts of forgiveness and reconciliation as the accepting soil absorbs the angry adrenaline. Judgement evaporates in my garden. Sorrows weep into the soil and feed my plants. Comfort comes in the form of blushing tomatoes, abundant beans, those delicate spears of asparagus that surprise me with their sudden arrival. The predictability of plants is safe when life is painfully unpredictable.

In times past I have opened the pantry door with dismay, racking my brain for inspiration. The three relentlessly grumbling bellies that appear in my house three times a day stretch my creativity and resourcefulness on a daily basis. Whether I am low on flour, eggs, energy or enthusiasm, my garden never fails to inspire and equip me for the next heaped up set of plates on the table. This week my energy levels were low, so low that I had skipped my religious Wednesday trip to town, resulting in a rather pathetic store of basic ingredients. A pleasant walk through the vegetable patch resulted in an almost gourmet pasta dish...  with thyme scented creamy zucchini sauce sprinkled with halved baby tomatoes and chunks of feta, eaten on the patio,  accompanied by cocktails. Who would have known the cupboard resembled Mother Hubbard's.

The enzymes and vitamins contained in food that was growing twenty minutes before eating, is incomparable to days old produce that has travelled home in a hot car and sat in the fridge for a while. You can taste the crisp, fresh life in it. A nurtured tomato is so much sweeter than one out of a plastic bag. Sweetcorn picked and eaten raw within minutes is indescribable. I love knowing that my family are being nourished with the best quality food that I can give them,

 I love people, and some people dearly. My family is so precious to me. Yet occasionally the voices and the music and the busyness, and the demands, and the life of being a wife and mom starts to suffocate me. An introvert is refreshed by spending time alone. An extrovert is refreshed by spending time with people. My vegetable garden sometimes serves as a hideaway for much needed solitude and prayer. Sometimes it is also a place for quiet connecting and communicating with my man, away from two sets of inquisitive ears. We weed and trim and chat and pick and crouch side by side, just two again for a brief interlude. Being just one, or just two, is good in the garden.

Sometimes, to my dismay, the sowing into my children, their home education, my marriage, or my friendships, produces unexpected results. In the world of people sowing does not necessarily produce equivalent reaping. But my vegetable garden is comfortingly predictable. That predictable outcome suits my mathematical brain. Vigilance, sustained effort, diligence and sowing results in joyful reaping of delicious rewards. A little care results in a generous response. My garden is forgiving and gracious and good for my soul.

So however you are stretching your resources, I believe that every elastic mom requires a vegetable garden to feed her family and her soul.