Making our own Sea Salt

The thought struck Paul recently that we live near the ocean and can therefore make our own salt out of seawater. We searched a bit online and found that it was quite easy, so yesterday we tried it out.
On Saturday, we took a couple of empty 2L pop bottles to the beach (side note: Tons of whales! Maybe even a Fin Whale!) and filled them with sea water.

We then put that water in a big pot and boiled it away to almost nothing. Towards the end it started popping and sputtering like popcorn.

So, when it was more like wet salt then water, we spread the salt on a pan and dried it in the oven:

It came out looking kinda like snow:

We got just over a shaker's worth from 4L of sea water. Plenty to last us awhile, and we may never have to buy salt again!

Genuine Newfoundland Sea Salt.

Vegetarian, sort of

So, we've decided to go vegetarian for the foreseeable future. Well, not entirely vegetarian, we'll probably still eat fish and seafood. This isn't a huge leap, since we've been eating many meat-free meals in the past, but it's a leap, nonetheless.

Our reasons are threefold:
- I have issues with how factory farming works. I went to a Farm Exhibition last year and was pretty saddened by how they kept the chickens - and that was what they felt free to SHOW me! I read recently that every dollar we spend on factory-farmed meat is a vote for that meat, so I want to reduce my consumption of something I don't agree with.
-Grocery store meat is expensive and not that great for what you pay for. Grain-fed free range meat actually tastes better. So if we stop eating meat all the time, we'll be able to afford the expensive, more delicious stuff on occasion.
-Eating vegetables=more healthy. We have been trying to live by Michael Pollan's 7-word mantra "Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants." , and so going vegetarian for awhile will help us make healthy food choices. One of my favourite meats is bacon and I know that's terrible for me, so it's probably good for me not to eat that for awhile.

We're not going to worry about forcing our choices on anyone else, so we'll still eat meat at friends houses if they offer, or possibly if we go out to eat.


There was a small hitch in our plan, however. When we made this choice, we said we'd start when we'd eaten all the meat in our house. Somehow, we had a chicken, bacon, meatballs, a whole ham and sausages in our fridge/freezer. So, we've had some very meaty meals leading up to this.  But now we have purged our fridge, so it's meat-free from here on out.

Our mantra, on our fridge. 

Lobster Time

One of the things that excited me about moving out east is the possibility of cheap lobster. Well, yesterday we drove past a sign that said $5.99/lb. I knew that in the grocery store it had been anywhere from $9-12, so this was a deal! They were also selling seal flippers, but I passed (I'd like to try them someday, but I think I'd like someone else to cook them for me first). 

So we brought home 3 lobsters. Our first challenge was at the truck. Would we like males or females? Uhhh.... "We're not going to be breeding them..." says Paul. We were informed that the difference is the size and the possibility of roe inside the females. Alright, so with that decision done (we got 1 female and 2 males), we set to cook these suckers.

I tried not to be squeamish. I really wanted to be okay with dropping them in the pot. But man, it was harder then I thought. They MOVED around and kinda freaked out when they got close to the steam. I had to wear oven mitts to grab mine. And I only had the courage to do one. 

There is a video of the first lobster going in, but the amount of freaking out by both of us is an indignity I'm not quite willing to share. 

Paul went mittless for the other two.

Then, there they were. All red and cooked. Much happier (to us, not to them) , much easier to deal with.

Then came the trouble of eating them. The tails weren't too bad, but the claws were a tough crack. We don't own any of the tools of the trade, so we had to improvise with pliers and a hammer from our toolbox. By the end there were shells and bits of lobster everywhere. I can see why people wear bibs for this kind of thing.

They were tasty. 

And we decimated them.

Yum.

The Talking Stove

For Christmas, we got this great Little Tikes Kitchen from my mom and dad for G and M. It has everything. In fact, since it has 

-an iron

-a microwave

-a washer and dryer

-a dishwasher

it is much more well-equipped then our kitchen! 

It also takes 8 batteries. The washer and dryer go splish-splash and BUZZ, the phone makes (quite realistic) beeping phone sounds, the iron makes an iron-y hiss sound and the stove, well... the stove. It talks. 

We didn't realize when we first tried it out how many things the stove says. When we turned the knob, it seemed to only say "Hi, let's get cooking!" and "It's time to eat!" 

What we didn't realize is that it KNOWS things. What the voice says changes depending on what's on the element. We first noticed this when there was a pot on the stove and it started to make sizzle sounds. But it wasn't until this week when G put the toy food that came with the stove onto the element that we realized how complex this thing really is. Suddenly, the stove said "Ooh, a chocolate chip cookie!". 

So here's the problem with that. We have other things in our house, other toy food. Food that doesn't have the microchip or whatever it is that lets the stove know what to say. This can make G a wee bit upset. She talks back to the stove. 

Stove: "Hi! Let's get get cooking!" G: " Say plum! Say plum, Lady!" 

Stove: "Don't forget to clean up!" G: "No! I don't want to clean up!"

Stove: "Let's cook your favourite!" G: "That's not my favourite."

Then, the stove said "Woof! Woof! Oh no, the dog got in the groceries!" 

G really wanted the stove to say that again. "Say dog groceries! Say dog groceries!" But it wouldn't say it. 

So she tried to use logic on it:

Yup. 

Thanksgiving

I love thanksgiving food. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pumpkin pie, stuffing...and did I mention the stuffing? 

So, this year, even though it is just the three of us, I decided it would be good for my mental health to have thanksgiving dinner anyway. We usually have some sort of big meal, but often it's been chicken, since a turkey is pretty big for two people, plus we've always seemed to get turkey from some other source (church, friends houses, etc). This year I knew there would be no turkey for me if I didn't make it myself! 

Anyway, not to go on and on about the food, I took all of Monday to cook. I made a schedule beforehand so I could relax between making things and I wouldn't get overwhelmed. 

It worked out really, really well. 

G was my little "helper" for a little while:

You also get a sense of my 32-week baby bump. Oh, you can't see it? Yeah. I have tiny babies. It was the same way with G. I just don't get big. I know it's actually a blessing and that lots of women would like to be in my shoes, but... dangit! Nobody realizes that I'm... pretty darn close to giving birth. No sympathy for me. 

But I digress. 

Thanksgiving was great. We went for three family walks in the brisk fall weather and stuffed ourselves full of yummy food. G is a big turkey fan. She ate more turkey then I did! We told her that Thanksgiving was a time to say thank-you to God as well as to the people we love and about halfway through the meal, she spontaneously said "Thank you Mommy for making the food." 

That makes everything worthwhile. 

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

So, as we are waiting for some income to start flowing in from various sources for the upcoming year, we are living on a bit of a shoestring for a couple of weeks.
BUT! It is good for us. We tend to make bad habits of going out to eat ("Why, hello Extreme Pita just a block away! Yes, please."), but with a tight budget this month, there's no room for eating out on a whim.

So, we went to the farmer's market and stocked up on yummy veggies and I made a meal plan (which I try to do even in the best of times). Some highlights were a pot of fresh herbs to grow (parsley, thyme, rosemary and oregano), and multi-coloured tomatoes (which we made into salsa yesterday) Today I made a fantastic and very delicious meal that I totally invented, so I thought I'd share it.
I don't know how often I'll post recipes on here (a la The Mama), but I may post a few that I'm particularly proud of.

Summer Squash, stuffed with Split Peas 


I picked up some small round yellow summer squashes at the farmer's market, I'm still not sure what kind they are, but they're pretty similar to a yellow zucchini.

3 Summer Squashes
1/4 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup split peas (I used yellow, but I don't think green would make a difference)
2 tsp chicken bouillon
Bay Leaf
dash of oregano
sprigs of rosemary and thyme
2 Tbsp Sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp crumbs (bread or cracker)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut the squashes in half scoop out the seeds  and discard and then scoop out the majority of the flesh and set aside, leaving barely a quarter-inch thick walls.  Lob off the bottom bit of each half so it sits flat.

Boil the peas in about 2 cups of water, add boullion and all other spices. Cook until the peas are fairly mushy and have absorbed most of the water. You may need to add more water if the peas get dry while boiling them.
Meanwhile, boil the flesh of the squash in some salted water until soft.

When everything is cooked, mix together rice, peas, squash flesh, sunflower seeds and some more salt and pepper - maybe a bit more spices as well. Scoop the filling into the squash shells and sprinkle on the crumbs.

(this is also a view of our tiny kitchen)
Bake at 350 for about 10-15 min, changing the oven to broil for a couple minutes at the end so the crumbs get toasted.


Serve and enjoy!


G loved it, she kept saying "Yummy!" and ended up eating two of the littlest ones (an entire squash!). She has gotten pickier lately, so it was great to have her love something so much that she ate every morsel.


I also cooked up some beet greens and made a peanut sauce to go on them. I don't think I've eaten the greens on beets before, but they were similar to chard, but maybe a bit more bitter. The peanut sauce really helped with the bitterness. We got a HUGE bunch of beets at the farmer's market for only $2. The greens were this meal, and I think the beets themselves might last at least two more meals. Pretty sweet deal!