Hey ho, another change

This blog has become pretty erratic. I blame the acquisition of a life. This cottage farming bizzo dramatically lessens the allotment of sitting-on-arse-blogging time, who knew?

Anyway, latest news on the farm front is that we have a house cow. The two pigs we acquired a couple of months ago are not immediately contributing to the food supply, but the cow is another matter! So in the immediate future, this blog will probably move towards chronicling my attempt to find more lower-carb vegetarian dairy recipes. Lower-carb meaning not containing pasta, potatoes, rice or flour, which is a big ask in itself, and vegetarian because the point is to replace other sources of protein with our own produce. Meeting both of these requirements is actually quite tricky, especially since it will be a while until we can start incorporating any cheeses which require ageing. But since we can now provide pretty much all of our own yoghurt, butter, cream, sour cream and milk as well as paneer, haloumi, mozzarella and ricotta, there are still quite a few options out there. I just need to find them (and remember to write them down here).

Housemate Dylan is the dairy queen, so I'm not going to be sharing much of the actual basic recipes for any of the above, more what I then do with them. And hopefully, it will be really cool to watch this blog become more of a chronicle of how much of our own produce we can live off, as the garden becomes more productive and we add more animals. I, for one, am really really looking forward to the day when our Saturday morning ritual of Eggs Benedict is made with our own butter, eggs and ham!

Crockpot Baked Beans, refinements

About 500g (dry weight) navy beans, soaked and pre-cooked (for about half an hour), or any combination of cooked legumes (brown lentils and black beans in addition to navy beans is good!)
2 tins of tomatoes
3 tbsp each Worcestershire sauce*, golden syrup or honey, and apple cider vinegar
2 very large onions, finely diced
handful of diced bacon (use more if you have it, or leave it out)
3 heaping teaspoons (none of these anaemic measuring spoons, just splodge it in) of wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp paprika
water

I used to saute the onions and bacon, but now I can't be arsed, especially since I'm usually putting this in the crockpot at 11pm after forgetting about it until bedtime. It doesn't make a noticeable difference, but by all means saute away if you want to. Also, I used to only put in one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, but last time accidentally put in three and it was superb, so that's what I've included.

So, easy-as method: half fill the crockpot with beans or mixed legumes, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Add water until about an inch below the top of the crockpot (the top of the ingredients should be about two inches below, otherwise add more beans). Leave on Auto overnight. Provides breakfast for everyone on Sundays, and a couple of people most of the rest of the week.

* If like me you start making this at 11pm and realise you've run out, I've had success replacing the Worcestershire sauce with a mixture of Vegemite, fish sauce and Balsamic vinegar. 

Crockpot Baked Beans

A different recipe this time; I've never used Worcestershire sauce before. I made this last night and so far the verdict from all the kids in the house (plus a ring-in) is that it's at least edible. So here's the recipe, so I don't forget what I changed. Adapted from here. (ETA: I've adjusted my original recipe again to reflect my standardised quantities. I now put this in the crockpot every Saturday night).

About 500g (dry weight) navy beans, soaked and pre-cooked (for about half an hour)
2 tins of tomatoes
1 tub of tomato paste (optional)
3 tbsp each Worcestershire sauce and golden syrup or honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 very large onions, finely diced
handful of diced bacon (use more if you have it, or leave it out)
2 heaping teaspoons (none of these anaemic measuring spoons, just splodge it in) of wholegrain mustard
3 heaping teaspoons or 4-5 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 tsp each cumin and coriander
1 tbsp paprika
4-5 bay leaves
water

Combine beans, tomatoes and paste, and liquid ingredients in the crockpot. Saute onions in butter and olive oil until soft, then add the other measured ingredients and stir over heat until fragrant. Add to bean mixture and stir thoroughly, deglaze the pan with some water and add to the crockpot. Finally, add enough water to cover the beans by about 2cms. I put my crockpot onto Auto (in case I forgot to turn it down) until I went to bed, when I turned it down to Low, and we woke up to an extremely fragrant kitchen. Nom.

The Couldn't Be Arseds

I had an attack tonight. I think it's the first one since we got here, and given how much I've been cooking, it was probably overdue. And we ate all the leftovers for lunch, and I've stopped buying Things In Jars for these moments, so there was only one solution: breakfast for dinner!

Since we don't have a microwave down here, it resulted in a lot of washing up, but it was very delicious. We had scrambled eggs (just eggs scrambled in butter, since I had no cream), fried onion rings, fried tomatoes, a scattering of bacon pieces, and baked beans, on toast. And now that we've digested a while, Mr Bat is making pancakes (the big fat fluffy American hotcakes), to be served with maple syrup or lemon juice and sugar. Nom.

What do you do if you're having an attack of the Couldn't Be Arseds? Does someone else cook, or do you have simple standbys?

Fruity Crockpot Oatmeal

I'm also trying this recipe out in the crockpot overnight. I used a tin of pie apples instead of a fresh apple, and dates instead of raisins. I also added an extra 2 cups of water because the quantities given didn't go very far in my crockpot and I don't want it to boil dry. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.