Good Morning Turkeys!

Good Morning Turkeys!

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Novem, Nyne, 9

Nine days in, feeling pretty good. Having fruit yesterday was so nice.

I’ve got the day off from work today while Dean does snow removal, it’s work at home day for me! I’ve got lots of files to upload for the kids’ school. I need to catch up on housework, oy. And it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day. Clear blue skies right now.

I made the salad for lunch that I’ve been talking about, y’all, it was amazing! The picture doesn’t do it justice!

Grapefruit, Avocado & Fennel Salad

Here’s the recipe I actually used. I substituted a pomelo for the grapefruit. It takes a bit for the prep, peeling the pomelo segments. The girls also enjoyed it. I will definitely make this again. I feel like I have a better appreciation for the flavors in this salad after being off sugar for a week.

Dinner tonight will be instapot chili from scratch.

6 Days Old

I made it through Sabbath and oneg without too much trouble. Thankfully there weren’t too many temptations!

I’m looking forward to eating fruit again, of course I have to wait a little longer. I found this recipe for citrus & avocado salad that looks scrumptious. It’s on the menu for Monday! I’ll just omit the sugar in the dressing. It will be sweet enough with the oranges & grapefruit.

The Things We Do Without

Living in the far North is not only a beautiful and majestic experience but it’s a lesson in working with what you have, especially with food.

Our climate here in South Central is mild compared to other parts of Alaska. With our long daylight hours in summer we can grow a vast array of vegetables. Some of which can get quite large, huge cabbage anyone? Cruciferous vegetables do very well here as do potatoes, carrots, rhubarb and others. What doesn’t do well here are long season and heat loving growers like pumpkins, eggplant, tomatoes and okra.

We can grow tomatoes, in greenhouses, and I have friends who do successfully each year. Usually there’s a sample of tomatoes and cucumbers from our friends Jane & Marion each summer. The taste of those fresh veggies just does something magical to my soul. There’s just no comparison with grocery store veg.

The one thing I haven’t been able to grow, and I haven’t found anyone else who is either, is okra. I tried one year, got some blooms. But just as the blooms were falling off and baby okra buds were appearing we had a hard frost and I lost everything in the greenhouse. A real bummer.

Locally okra is available two ways: pickled and frozen. The pickled okra is $5 for a small jar which is reserved for special occasions and not regularly purchased. I do buy the frozen quite often though. I make do. Sometimes I bread it frozen and fry it but usually it just goes into a gumbo or my “good & plenty” southern casserole.

The price has gone up!

I once saw fresh okra at a local store about 7-8 years ago, and I got excited! But as soon as I got close enough to examine it all hope was lost. It was already too far gone to eat. Boo!

So I’ll continue to make do with my frozen okra and whenever I’m outside at the right season I’ll gorge myself on fresh okra and tomatoes!

Here’s a great resource about okra and some recipes to try. Not only is it tasty but it’s really good for you. And I’ll walk you through my hot dish recipe.

Good & Plenty Southern Casserole

You will need 2 cans of black eyed peas, or equivalent of home-cooked, 1 can Rotel or similar style tomatoes with chilies, I pkg frozen okra (or fresh if you’re so lucky), Cajun seasoning, 1 lb sausage, (I use chicken, turkey or homemade moose) and a batch of cornbread batter. You can use a box mix or make it from scratch.

Fry the sausage until cooked through. Add the cans of veg, Cajun seasoning to taste and frozen okra. Mix well. Pour into a large casserole dish (13×9) then top with the cornbread batter.

Mixture before the cornbread.

Bake in a 350° oven until the cornbread is golden and filling is bubbling hot.

To serve: cut into portions and serve it upside down, cornbread on bottom and filling piled on top. A little hot sauce on top and enjoy! It’s great as a main course or as a side.

Use pre-cooked sausage for a super fast and easy casserole.

After a busy day of craft showing and lots of high energy kids I need a super easy dish! Let me know if you try it!