midweek no grocery shopping

I have not been to the grocery store for anything except milk or cream since Friday.trying to only use what is in the house. Running low on bread and English muffins. Bread making is not as much fun when you have to, as it is when you do it on spur of the moment and your in the mood. I made homemade whole wheat bread and Boston brown bread. The brown bread is good for breakfast and will also go with the baked beans I made the other day. Tonight we will have garlic soup from the nourishing traditions cook book. This will use up my potatoes that are starting to sprout and some garlic since we have so much,and some summer squash I canned. We do not seem to be using as much garlic as last year. The soup sounds really good. I checked on the cranberries in the garage attic and I will need to freeze some soon the are starting to get soft. We store them in a cranberry crate covered in blankets. I ran out of wheat thins so I wanted to make crackers today but I guess it will be Ritz if I want a snack. I planted some lettuce seeds in a big pot today to see how they would do. I also bought some seeds for pea sprouts.

Only from the pantry

I spent a good part of last summer canning and freezing local food for the winter. But I still seem to be doing a lot of food shopping,you know you need that certain herb or a particular vegtable to make the dish you want. For the next week and maybe more I will be limiting my grocery shopping to milk and cream. I will try to only use what we have in the house as of today. So dinner tonight will be homemade bread, shaker bean chowder, this will use shell beans from the freezer, chicken broth from the freezer and tomatoes I canned,a little bacon and onion fresh thyme from the garden that is still fresh and growing at the end of February.My thyme and sage plants produce all winter some times you have to wait for the snow to melt to be able to get at the thyme.I still have fresh fruit and vegetables bought last week. There will be no buying of snack food, We have Lot's of popcorn kernels which can be flavored many different ways. My favorite being the Food Network's hot and spicy kettle corn. I am assuming this may lead to weight loss since I will not be tempted in the grocery store. I have so much stored I really do not think this will be that difficult.

Fresh food in the dead of winter

I cannot believe how cold this winter has been,so how was I able to get my hands on fresh local produce in this weather? The Rhode Island Winters farmers market. This market is held in Pawtucket in an old factory.There were about 30 vendors. Bakers with outstanding breads and pastries. There were indian samosas,Jamaican meat pies,pizza and gourmet sandwiches.Grass fed beef, pork and pastured chicken,oysters,clams,apples,lettuce,micro greens,pea shoots,
beets,carrots,Narragansett creamery cheese.Also local made soda with cane sugar, yacht club was the brand and the also had a juice using purple corn high in antioxidants and very tasty. Also Rhode Island grown cornmeal,this is great since local grains are hard to come buy.Information on composting and other gardening classes. We arrived before they opened,(11-2 on Saturdays) We were able to check out the merchandise before the crowds came.It was very busy showing how local healthy food is becoming important to many. This market was about an hour away so I wouldn't go every week but a few times in the winter will be great. I am sure I missed some vendors but it was definitely worth the trip.For more information here is the link http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farmersmarkets_details.php?market=29