by Jeff on September 29, 2009
This post takes self-reliance in a different direction than a previous post on self reliance and sustainability. This is dealing with a few more of my favorite things, self reliance, and of course, food!
During our jaunts to the store, we have the option of buying basically whatever we could need, with varying degrees of processing done to our product. We can buy chicken whole, or broken down into different parts, such as breasts, thighs and drumsticks. This happens not only with chicken, but with just about everything else in the super market. You can find goods going from a minimal amount of processing done by others, to a maximum, like salad dressing. These goods are typically loaded with things you cant pronounce, that emulsify, disperse, preserve Today, I’m going to talk about how you can ditch all the add-ons and preservatives left in processed goods and make the stuff yourself. Today I will be making salad dressing.
Ingredients required:
- Olive Oil – You can use any type of oil, but this is what I typically use.
- Vinegar/Lemon Juice
- Salt & Pepper
- Added herb(s) for taste.
Optional Ingredients
- Shallots/Onions/Scallions
- Dijon Mustard
- Soy Sauce
- Garlic -Easy on this champ, especially if you want to talk to people at dinner
I also keep an empty dressing bottle on hand for serving and storing the dressing.
This is just for your basic vinaigrette, but once you master the basics, you can start adding fruits or other spices. Ill go over where and how to add fruit later in the post.
Now that we know what we know what we need, how do we use it? It is much easier than you imagined.
- Find medium sized bowl, mix in 3 parts oil and 1 part vinegar or lemon juice
- Add in salt, pepper, and whatever herb you pick (tarragon works great)
- Whisk away.
That is all you need to do to have your home-made dressing ready for dinner in no time!
If you are looking to add some optional items listed in above, add in the liquids (dijon/soy) with the oil and vinegar, and if you use onions/scallions/shallots and/or garlic, add those in the second step. Keep in mind that you wont need much of any of the optional ingredients to bring out their flavor.
If you would like to add fruit to the mix, just take the ingredients in the blender, and toss in your choice of fruit. Any type of berries work great, as do apricots.
Enjoy your first foray into the home-made foods world, and I hope you will come back for more!
by Jeff on August 24, 2009
Over the weekend, I took a hunters safety course. Despite my fears of being locked in a room with ~40 twelve year olds for the better part of two days, it wasnt full of twelve year olds, and the course overall wasnt bad at all. (For those of you wondering, I passed, and am cleared to go for this hunting season)
I did notice a few things that I thought were interesting, and I decided to develop them into a post.
The first thing I noticed was that the hunters are very concerned with thier public image. There were words that we were instructed to stay away from that made hunting sound slightly barbaric. We were told not to use the word “weapon” (because that’s what police departments and the miliatry use) and not to use the word “kill”, instead you were to ‘harvest’ your game. I thought this was interesting, but it became clear that they are trying to educate the younger generation to ensure that hunting will stay in favor (or at least ambivilent light by the public) for the future.
Along with the public image, they are very concerned about conservation of resources, and made sure to get that across in the course. They say that there are limits on what you can hunt for reasons, and they were clearly explained in the class, that they were not some arbitrariy number, but the amount of liscenses or “tags” were based on scientific fact, and was vital for the health of the population in years to come, as well as the health of the ecosystem that the animal lived in. It was made very clear that if you followed the guidelines that were set by the scientists, then there would be plenty of game to go around.
I think this is great! I know that it kinda seems self-serving for the hunters, but whatever your reason, if you are conserving natural resources, you are doing a good job. Not only will this go for animals, but the people in the class will realize that conservation isnt only applicable for the animals, but for other natural resources as well. Maybe there will be a generation of children that can take the principle of diminishing resources that need to be kept at a certain level to be renewed, and apply it to many other resources over the course of thier lifetime.
Also, for the meat you get, hunting is a cheap way to get food, and a good way to make sure it’s healthy (no one’s putting a growth hormone in an elk like they are with some cows, but more on that tomorrow)
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