October Challenge Week 4: Oct 27-31

Yup it's a short week challenge. Why? Because I feel the November and December challenges are very important and need to be done. SO with that said, here is what I was thinking about.

It is getting down right cold outside! I woke up to 14 degrees at 6 am, and it only warmed to 26 degrees. This is not my favorite time of year. I loathe being cold, I despise the cold.

Hmm.. so what do you think this week's challenge is? Well it kind of goes with preparedness. Do you have a gas tank outside? Natural gas or propane? Is it full?  Don't have gas? Do you have a fireplace or wood stove? Do you have enough wood?

Do you have blankets in storage? Do you have blankets strewn about your living room making a fort? Do you have enough blankets when the power is out and you don't have an alternate heat source?

The challenge this week is to get your gas tanks filled if you have them AND to make sure you have enough warm blankets. This includes the tanks for your barbeque! Because when the power is out, you can still cook on your BBQ. And blankets, not baby blankets, I mean good sized ones that more than one person can be under, because combined heat is much warmer. I even throw my dogs into my blankets with humans so that everyone stays warm.

This current house does not have a real fireplace :(  It makes me sad, I love wood heat. But we do have a propane gas fireplace in the basement, so I am calling to get that big tank filled, along with my BBQ tanks, the tanks on my camper too.

As for blankets, I am picking up a few more. Honestly, you can't have too many, because winter is also cold and flu season, that means vomit, and if a blanket has that on it, you can bet it is in the washer and a replacement must be found immediately. So Yes, I am getting more blankets too.

So there you go, This week is short! Only 4 days.. but that should be enough time to get it done.

October Challenge Week 3: Oct 20 - 26

First... Did you work on your laundry area? I was able to get it all done, except for #17 cube. Out of 18 that isn't bad, I just haven't replaced the cardboard box with a plastic one yet. Otherwise, yes, I got my laundry room done.

This weeks challenge, should you choose to try. Do you have a new appliance you have never used? Instant pot (IP), crock pot (CP), stick blender??? Time to break them out and try them. It's not difficult.. AND to make 2 brand new, never been made by you in your kitchen recipes. If you have never made cinnamon rolls from scratch, make them. If you have never made something you get at a restaurant (maybe because it seems too difficult?), make it. Time to try out  your new device, which one is it?

We are going to try to make some butter chicken (Tikka Masala), sticky coconut rice, and chicken coconut curry. And then for canning, I am going to make some pear chutney, I have never made this before.


Here is an easy Instant Pot first run recipe.

Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

6 - 18 chicken Eggs
1 1/2 cups water
IP trivet
IP

Ok, after you wash your instant pot pan, because this is the first time you are pulling it out of the box, make sure it is completely dry on the outside of it. Place into the IP. Next add the water, then the trivet, then put the eggs on the trivet. Plug in.

Put the lid on, should make a nice electronic game noise. Make sure you have the pressure weight on the top, and have it pointing to seal.
Select STEAM, make the time say 3. After you leave it alone, it should beep to let you know the cycle is starting. Let it do it's thing. Meanwhile, get out a big mixing bowl, add water and a bunch of ice, then wait.

It will beep when it is done. Then when it says L00:10, which is 10 minutes after it is done (I have to set the timer on my stove because I can not hear the IP if I am doing chores). Turn the weight to vent or release, usually the pressure is gone, then open the lid away from you so you don't get steam on your skin (OUCH). Carefully remove eggs with tongs to ice water and plunge those hot eggs under the water. Let them take a long swim if you want to chill them completely, but if you want to eat now, give it a gentle crack when you put it in the ice water, then pull it out and peel and eat.

I store my eggs in a plastic bag or bin in fridge for about a week, if they last that long.


It seems to me that the only thing holding us back from doing things is ourselves. You have to embrace the challenge (fear) and let it power you, let it not hold you back but put you to do it. This is not easy, this is not always fun, but usually when you are done, you feel so good because you DID IT! I love cooking for people, I love the challenge, the flavors and the company.

Yes I want to know everyone's opinions on the meal that day. Why? Because if they didn't like it, I never want to make it again. Hubby has stated he does not like pear butter, until I served it to him with cream cheese, he said it cut the sweetness. He had no idea that you could do that. I made a soup once, Cream of Onion, and my kids devoured it, in fact I had to make another pot because I didn't double the recipe, afraid everyone would hate it. That was the first soup I made that my 2nd DS ever liked!

I made a chicken stock once that was so bland. I saved it and had to doctor it to get the soup where I wanted it, but I didn't give up. If you need help, just ask.  Usually a nice mix of mire poix and garlic can save quite a few meals, oh and SALT.. Seasoning people!! I wrote about food storage and seasonings a few years ago, Spices. It talks about food storage and appetite fatigue, but to also think about your food storage in another way.

UPDATE: So our first never ever been made in my kitchen recipe was Coconut Chicken Curry. We served this over jasmine rice, with salad on the side. My family rated this 10 out of 5 stars! And some of us added a little sriracha sauce to add some heat. This was such a yummy dinner. And the leftovers will be fantastic.
Now the changes. I doubled this. I did not finish this in the pan. I got to step 3, but I did not add all the chicken, I just added half the coconut milk, and some of the chicken. Then I poured that into my warming crock pot. Next I added more chicken to the pan and rubbed the spices into the chicken, then poured into the crock pot. I did this 2 times, then a third time I added the rest of the coconut milk to make sure I got every last bit of goodness out of the pan. Then poured it all into crock pot, set it on HIGH for about 2 hours, then down to low for 2 hours.
We served this with the hot jasmine rice. Some of the kids added some sriracha to theirs after they tasted it. It was yummy! I added just a little sriracha to mine as well. I am not afraid of heat, but I wanted to be able to taste all of the spices. This was delicious, and we had enough for leftovers. DD4 took some for lunch today. Right there is testament to how yummy it was.
I would describe it as flavorful, warm, and homey. It is pure comfort food.

October Challenge Week 2: Oct 13 - 19

I don't know about you, but I can not concentrate or focus in messes or clutter. So this week. We are tackling a very used area of the home.

YUCK, the laundry room! Did you know this room gets super linty and dusty, and why are there empty boxes of OxyClean in here! UGH.

I do not know how big or small your laundry area is. Ours is long, and has storage, although the storage areas have not been used well, and that door goes to the dog run.

I am going to work on organizing the reptile/snake items into plastic totes, go through my laundry soap container, throw away empties, figure out what is still in cardboard boxes (yes, I have not finished unpacking yet) and either donate the stuff or use it.

What you see is one of my washing machines (the top loading one), the orange pail is the diaper pail, the red bucket is for mopping but we put dirty kitchen towels in it, that oxyclean box is new, I found all of my kid's old glasses, the black pail has dirty diaper rags in it from cleaning up puppy pee. I have no idea what is in the giant storage cube, except the top right (oxyclean and laundry pods). And on top of that storage area you can see a spic and span bottle (filled with water, these are great spray bottles to reuse), dryer balls, a pink tie, poop baggies are in that box at the far end to clean up the dog run, some food storage buckets that are holding up a wedding bouquet for my cousin (it's drying, I will give it to her on her anniversary, or close to it, or maybe now). Not sure what else is up there,I am short, I will have to get the step ladder.

We have an entire week to clean the laundry room/area. Don't procrastinate, get it done.

October Challenge Week 1 : Oct 6 - 12

Now that fall has arrived. It's time for a different challenge.

This week's challenge is to use something from your garden. What did you have to mad dash harvest so the frost wouldn't ruin it? zucchini? onions? kale? berries?

We harvested the ripe strawberries, some kale and moved our tomato plant into the garage, under a grow light. I think it needs some heat too, so we might set up a small heat lamp as well.

What did you harvest and use? How did you use it or preserve it?