Breakfast in bed, a jar of happiness

Remember those glorious B.C. (before children, as we like to call it) days of lounging in bed, sleeping in very late with your partner for hours on a weekend morning? No? Well, me either. Not really.

One of the greatest cruxes of our marriage is that one adores and the other abhors sleeping in. This, as you have probably already discovered, along with other essentials like what temperature you are going to keep the thermostat, who is going to take out the recycling, whether you are going to have an alternative fuel vehicle, is probably the real stuff that should be in prenuptial agreements. Fortunately, one of us is also warm bodied so the other reptilian soul is usually coerced into lingering a little longer. And nothing makes that quite as sweet as breakfast in bed, pulled together really quickly in your jammies, before your feet get cold.

I had these kind of romantic moments in mind when thinking what to give an old friend as a wedding present. So I gave her breakfast in bed, in jars. Some mason jar scones, homemade jelly. If you want to do more you could add some summer sausage or a sweet cheese like almond cheddar or blackberry wine cheddar or directions on how to make clotted cream, or a gift certificate towards a membership with the Oklahoma Food Coop. And if you like wrap it in an antique handkerchief or a blue ribbon. 

Mason Jar Blueberry Oat Scones

• 1 tsp baking powder $0.05
• 1/2 baking soda $0.05
• 3/4 cup oat or wheat flour $0.23
• 3 tsp Energ Egg replacer (not local) $0.12 (or omit this and just add 2 real eggs when making the recipe).
• 3/4 cup finely ground corn meal $0.75
• 1/4 cup sugar $0.36
• 1/2 c. powdered milk (not local) $1.92
• 1/4 cup of dried blueberries $0.82

 1/4 cup of water

• 4 tsp Scrumptious strawberry spread $0.90

Mix the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and egg replacer. (Energ egg replacer is a great substitute for eggs in most baked goods and is useful when you have run out of eggs, are cooking for friends with allergies, or trying to make a dry mix). Use a funnel to put this in the bottom of your sterile mason jar. Pack tightly down with a spoon. Then layer the cornmeal, next the sugar, next the powdered milk then the dried fruit on top, remembering to pack tightly after each dry ingredient layer. Put in a quart mason jar.

To prepare mix with 1/4 cup of water then add 1 tsp of water at a time till it is moist enough the dough can be shaped into circles or triangles but is not goopy. (Or if you add too much water just make muffins)!

Bake at 375 for 12-15 min.

Makes 6 large scones.
Total: $4.90

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Serve with:
3/4 lb Turkey sausage $4.49

Clotted cream 
3 oz fresh cream  $0.94
pinch of salt

I think that this cream from the Oklahoma Food Coop will work best because it is not ultra pasteurized and this allows the cream to clot better.

The night before put sausages in a crock pot and cover with water.

Then set a shallow baking pan with a lid on top. Add water to go up the inner pan halfway. This creates a double broiler. Pour your cream in the inner pan and cover with inner and outter lids. Set your crock pot on low all night. When you wake up to put the scones in the oven you should be able to scoop the buttery cream off the top (save the remainder for another recipe) for your scones.

Total: $10.63 or $1.77 each

Meat shortages: The year of the rabbit, or go fish?

On the other side of adorable baby farm animals is usually someone's dinner.

Several places are discussing this week some grim prospects for farmers, animals, and food prices for next year. This year is considered to be the worst drought since the 1930s in much of the mid-west. The grain that was intended to be primarily livestock feed lies stunted, barren, and crisped. Extreme losses for farmers and the inability to get grain is leading to the beginning of a mass and premature slaughtering of animals to peak in early 2013. Prices are expected to soar 14% and there will undoubtedly be increases in global food insecurity.( See the articles in The Guardian and Grist). So, how to respond to such news?

Egg pasta with buffalo sausage and roasted vegetables. Candied oranges.

For the next few days we are doing a ten for $10 series. 10 recipes, service for 6 for $10. Also please check out how you can submit a guest post and be entered to win $20 of stuff from Oklahoma Food Coop (out of staters welcome too) in our submissions section! [Update: This contest has ended. Our winner choose to buy some great yarn from the Oklahoma Food Coop producer Shepherd's cross].

What could be more Oklahoman than a recipe featuring wavin’ wheat and buffalo summer sausage?

Egg pasta

 Every week when I get my package from my good friend it feels like I am opening a present from her family to mine. I know these chickens- my children go and feed them bugs out of their hands. These chickens are pretty pampered pompous bug-eatin', weed scratchin', farm trottin' helpers on my friend's farm. Each of these free-range eggs is an orb of goodness. The shells are so thick in a diverse palate of lovely pastels and the yolks a whole spectrum of bejewled oranges. All unique in size and some even slightly lopsized. Everyone competes to see who gets the green egg (it is really pale green) from the Easter egger ameraucana chickens (also, really it's name). After I wash them I love to hold them in my hand and run my fingers over their smoothness and marvel at their perfection, every time. They are also wonderfully inexpensive and great in oh so many things.        

Recently we decided to make our own pasta! This project is a delightful mess. We modified the recipe from the River Cottage Family Cookbook and had to add a substantial amount of water.