It seems Old Man Winter couldn’t wait to start dumping snow on us. I shouldn’t be surprised since we had snow on April 25 last spring. Well it’s not a lot, but enough for my boys (including the dog) to want to go out and play in it. If this is a sign of things to soon come I’d better finish getting all the yard and garden stuff put away!
We’re back from another camping trip; I thought the one three weeks ago might be our last for the season, but on a whim we went down to the Russian River campground with some friends for fishing, scouting for black bears, and berry picking. I only participated in the berry picking of course! Maybe next year I’ll get in on the fishing. To which dh would say “Ah-ha-ha, my plan is working!” He has a long term plan to turn me into a hunter/fisher woman. Me, I’d rather keep to the foraging part of hunting and foraging.
So, due to being gone all weekend and trying to get the camper cleaned up for winter, I haven’t had much time to really think about the menu until now. We have some salmon already cooked for dinner tonight (freshly caught this weekend of course!). Here is the rest of our menu for the week.
Monday Salmon (cooked with onion, garlic salt and butter), Corn Fritters (don’t forget the honey butter), Mac&Cheese
Tuesday Taco meat, refried beans, Homemade Tortillas, Fried Onions
Wednesday Korean Beef Stirfry
Thursday Sweet Hawaiin Mini Burgers
Friday leftovers
Saturday
Lunch- Ginger Beef Noodle Soup
Dinner- Cheesy Pork Chops with Spicy Apples (from last week’s menu, pork chops still in the freezer!)
Sunday
Lunch- leftovers
Dinner- Roast Turkey, Stovetop stuffing, cranberry sauce (hopefully homemade)
Next week I’ll post some recipes that I will be using for all the berries (and rhubarb) that I need to cook. I am planning strawberry/rhubarb and strawberry/raspberry pies, cranberry sauce, cranberry jelly, and maybe even cranberry vodka? I am also hoping to go over a friends this week to pick rosehips for rose syrup and for drying.
In the meantime, get more great recipes and menu ideas at I’m an Organizing Junkie! Have a great week!
Disclaimer: this post may not be for those of you who are rather squeamish… If you don’t want to hear about hunting you can click here to be directed back to my meal plan for the week…
Hunting success!! A whole moose has been added to my freezer! Well, not a whole moose, just the edible parts 🙂 Plus 4 small ducks that we’ll cook up this week. Here are pictures of the hunter and the moose.
We separated, cleaned and packaged up the meat yesterday afternoon. I roughly weighed the packages and here is what we’ve put in our freezer so far:
26 roasts- 64#
5 packages of steaks- 8#
2 tenderloin- 3#
7 backstrap- 12#
5 packages stew meat- 8#
Total: approx 95#
And we have at least another 100# of scraps to get processed into burger, sausage, brats, etc.
We have another 62 packages of stuff from last year’s moose (summer sausage, brats, kielbasa, burger, breakfast sausage, roasts) plus over 60 packages of salmon and halibut, a whole turkey, a huge package of pork ribs. I don’t think I need to buy meat for the next two years!
What a blessing it is to live in a place where we are able to fill our freezer like this. I myself am not one for doing the actual hunting or field dressing, but I will help cut up and package the meat and I am thankful to have it for my family to eat. I know a lot of people are put off by hunting or eating game, but to them I have to say- if you eat beef or chicken, then there’s no reason that you should look down on hunting, at least the kind I’m talking about here. The moose in our freezer lived a much better life and died an easier death than most cows do. The meat is leaner, and as organic as you can get. As far as taste, I haven’t tasted the meat from this one yet, but last year’s was not gamey at all, I could barely, if at all, tell the difference between it and beef.
So, there you have it… living in Alaska we may pay a fortune for our house, gas, a gallon of milk or fresh produce, but at least we don’t have to buy meat.
Well, last week’s meal plan was a bust. Monday we were invited last minute to a friends for dinner. So I made Monday’s meal on Tuesday. And we ended up eating that Wed and Thurs as well. Friday the kids were driving me bananas and the day just got away from us. It was yucky weather so we ended up just going to Arby’s to get out of the house. And so, I still have most of last weeks menu to make. However, hubby’s hunting trip was a success and so I’m pushing last week’s unmade meals to next week, and revising my plan for this week to include duck and moose. Yummy!
Monday: Teryaki Grilled Salmon, broccoli
Tuesday: Marinated Flank Steak (moose), corn on the cob
Wednesday: I can’t decide- either Honey Spice Duckling or Duck & Dumplings
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: Cheesy Pork Chops with Spicy Apples
Lunches are going to be leftovers and sandwiches. Breakfasts are going to be either pancakes or cereal and fruit for the week since we’re out of oatmeal. Except this weekend I might make cinnamon rolls.
You can read more great menu plans here at I’m an Organizing Junkie… Enjoy your week!
Well, hubby has picked a great week to be gone. Great for him, not for me!! For some reason, maybe it’s even because he’s not around, the kids are crazy this week. It’s taken me an hour every evening to get them to sleep (that’s not even including getting them ready and reading stories). And as soon as they are up in the morning the whining and crankiness starts. Maybe it’s teeth too?
So needless to say, I haven’t felt like being on the computer much. What little down time I have had was spent vegging out and trying to regain a little sanity. All I have to say is there better be a moose in the freezer next week!
I wanted to take a minute and post some pictures up of the Alaska State Fair from last Friday. We had a great time- good weather, good food, good music, fun rides (most of which we only watched but that was fun too, especially the ones people were screaming on!) and best of all, a 900 lb pumpkin 🙂
Someday I am going to enter a quilt in the fair. I figure when the kids are in school maybe I’ll actually have time to practice my sewing to be able to make one good enough!
I wonder how many pies this would make...
Dad, I can't hoola hoop with an audience!
What you don't see is Mom's face turning red as she holds up two wriggly kids
singing and dancing to the music
Future 4H Member
Too much excitement for this little one
I give up on trying to make the pictures fit nicely in these posts- when I publish the post it never looks like it does on the screen when I’m writing it. It’s taking up way too much of my time trying to correct it. Maybe someday, in addition to entering a quilt (and maybe a huge cabbage) I may learn a little html!!
Why does it always seem to take a week to recover from a weekend camping trip? The craziness of this past week and a few technical issues with my computer have kept me from posting much. But better late than never! I wanted to share a few pictures of our trip last weekend so everyone can see what we’re spoiled with and almost take for granted here in Alaska. I guess it makes up for the cold summer! (You can click on some of the pictures to enlarge if you need to.)
We went camping down in the Kenai Peninsula, staying at one of the three or four coveted river spots in the Cooper’s Creek Campground. It’s a little off season now, and getting down there early on Friday landed us one of these spots. Hearing the rushing water all day was very relaxing!
Friday night, we got the boys to bed at a decent hour and with no fuss so we sat out by the campfire and relaxed. Our view included not only the fire, but the river (Kenai River) and mountains.
Saturday morning a few friends met us and I got to float the river with one of the guys on his cataraft- sans kids! It was a very peaceful trip, floating down the river, the quiet majesty of being surrounded by mountains. Every bend in the river brought another new view that was just as beautiful as the last. When we stopped for a break and got some coffee, I thought I was in Heaven!
When we got back to camp I took over keeping the curious kids out of the fire and the river while daddy got in some fishing time. In short order he caught two nice silver salmon. We saved those but for dinner we ate a red and a dolly varden one of our friends caught.
Here is a picture of Guy with the second silver. He was so happy! I don’t blame him. Wow, what a fish!
Later that evening a brown bear sauntered through our campsite down by the river. Literally it was about 15 yards from us, just a reminder as to where we are! That made me a little nervous to be in the camp by myself the next morning while the big boys floated and fished. But there were other campers nearby and we had the dog with us.
On the way home we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center for a few minutes to see the moose and bears, and other animals they have there. We bought a pass for the season so it’s easy to stop in for a bit whenever we drive by. The moose were shedding their velvet so their antlers looked a little like something out of a scary movie!
Moose shedding velvet at the Alaska Wildlife Center
There are a few more pictures on our friend’s camera I might post if I ever get them. But I’m sure you can tell from these what a fun time we had!
It’s been a while since I posted a meal plan. Most of my efforts at planning a menu lately have been thwarted by last minute invites to barbeques and such. The weather here has been pretty nice lately, after a miserable July. So everyone is getting in their barbeques before the weather takes a turn to the worse. There is already fresh snow on some mountains nearby and the leaves are starting to show hints of yellow. Aaahhh!!! Not ready for winter yet!!!!
I spent some time while it was raining poring over some recipe books (pun intended) to find some new recipes. At our local library I found a great crockpot recipe [Fix-It and Forget-It by Dawn Ranck and Pyhllis Pellman Good] that I will be putting that to good use as I try to get myself back in the habit of regularly using the crockpot. I also dug out an old family favorite to use up the (fake) crab meat we have in the fridge. We might be going camping this weekend so I am not really planning those days. If we do we’ll just have leftovers and/or hotdogs and brats. If we don’t we’ll probably BBQ burgers on Saturday. Sunday I am planning on roasting a turkey we inherited from a neighbor who moved away recently so look for leftovers from that next week!
Anyway, here is the plan for the rest of the week. Also, check out Colleen’s menu for this week and I’m an Organizing Junkie for more great recipe and meal plan ideas.
Monday: Pork Roast (bought already marinated), mashed potatoes, carrots
Tuesday: Crab Pasta, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: crockpot- haven’t decided on the recipe to use yet, but it will be chicken. Probably Orange Chicken Leg Quarters or Sweet and Sour Chicken (page 175 and 177 of the book I mentioned above)
Thursday: Greek style pizza- homemade pizza dough, grilled onions, feta cheese, and random other ingredients that I find lurking in the fridge that day.
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: brats or burgers
Sunday: roast turkey, stuffing, green beans
After two weeks straight of rain, and a four day camping trip, my garden has been showing signs of neglect. So I took advantage of the baby’s long nap and my toddler’s good behavior mood and spent some time picking weeds, and doing other outside chores. Overgrown weeds and almost blooming broccoli weren’t the only things to greet me today. I found a dead bird smack in the middle of my flower patch. Yucky, but my other thought was ‘poor thing’. I think it might have been the bird we saw hopping around with a broken wing last week but I’m not sure. I’m just glad I was able to move it out of there before my boy saw it and wanted to play with it!
Then when moving some border stones around I stumbled upon a colony of slugs. YUCK YUCK AND TRIPLE YUCK. One is bad enough, but 30 or more… ugh, I am sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Being married to a hunter and having been through pregnancy and childbirth twice, not much grosses me out anymore. But slimy, disgusting, althchkk (can’t even come up with a word for that sound!) slugs are GROSS! I probably used half a box of Borax on the ones I found, and hope we have some cheap beer to set out some traps later. I don’t want to waste the Killians on those things!
Well, back to good things. Some of the tomato plants have blossomed. The broccoli is looking about ready to be picked. It actually looks a bit beyond ready, but I’ve never grown broccoli so how can you tell? I was expecting larger heads, but I guess I got a mini variety? The lettuce I thought was leaf lettuce is forming heads, so I guess that’s it for picking salads. The herbs (dill, parsley, chives, tarragon) I planted are coming up nicely. I think I may pot a few in a couple of weeks to bring inside for the winter. Especially the dill to go with all the salmon we’ll be eating. So despite this looking like the coldest summer on record (can you believe there have only been 35 days it’s hit 60 or above?), I have had some success with gardening. I’ve already started looking toward next year and things I can do to prepare so that next year I will have more luck!
Here in Anchorage the topic on everyone’s mind lately has been the crummy weather. It’s been raining and cloudy a lot lately. I think there have been only two days this summer that the temperature hit 70. Mainly, it’s been in the low 60’s, high 50’s. I guess I should have known that it would be a cold summer when it snowed more than a foot on April 25. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I would take 60’s over 90’s any day. I’m just a little bummed that I can’t have the garden I always envisioned. And there’s something inherently wrong with seeing your breath in the middle of July.
The fireweed is blooming already- usually a sure sign that summer is coming to an end. And not much except the broccoli and cabbage has grown any significant amount yet. Oh, I take that back, the potatoes have grown, but I’ve run out of loose dirt and extra tires to pile on them. I’m thinking of buying a few tires from the Salvation Army ($4.25 with our military discount) and maybe digging up part of our yard so I won’t have to buy dirt at $7 a bag. I imagine I would need at least four. Planting potatoes in tires is such an ingenious idea, I just had more seed potatoes to plant than tires collected.
Ah, well, that’s what garden journals are for- so you remember next year what did or didn’t work!
Wishing you better weather!
It has been an awfully cold spring/summer here. It’s July already, and I don’t think the temperature is ever much over the low 60s. And the nights are still in the mid-upper 40s. (I guess I should expect that from Alaska and be thankful I’m not somewhere else frying my tail off.) But there are green things in my garden bed. And flowers in my yard! My son picked and enjoyed the first strawberry of the season. We have been eating some lettuce and herbs here and there. The broccoli, cabbage, snow peas, onions and potatoes seem to be doing quite well. Actually, the potatoes grew about 2 inches overnight. Even two tomato plant have a few blooms on them. So I remain optimistic! Here are a few photos for you to see…
The pretty pansies I didn’t plant 🙂
Broccoli and lettuce …
My little helper “watering” the cabbage.
Hopefully the warmer temperatures will last enough for me to get at least something out of this garden! But at least I am definitely learning a lot about cold weather gardening.
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