30-Day Challenge

Homesteading is an adventure. You are constantly learning and adapting to nature, circumstances, life, abilities...the list goes on! But that's part of what makes this journey so fun and unique. With every sunrise and sunset, we are presented with new opportunities and challenges.

 And that is where I find myself tonight: thankful and overwhelmed! 

I have been blessed in so many ways! I have employment outside the home, helping provide for my family. I have the passion, drive, and health to work on my homestead; taking care of it so it will continue to provide for us. And, thus far, provide it has! We've been blessed with fresh meat (thanks to Cam's hunting and fishing skills, and killer sales) and an abundant surplus of summer fruits and veggies we diligently preserved.  

With all of this bounty I would think our grocery bill would be drastically cut. Unfortunately, we fall victim to the sweets craving, the convenient meals, the unique find, or the "great deal" far too often and alas, we still have a decent grocery bill at the end of the month. 

So I have decided we need a new challenge in our lives. I have challenged us to go 30 days strictly eating from our well stocked pantry and freezer (with the exception of things we need fresh that we cannot supply: milk, cheese, eggs, and some fresh fruits) and utilizing what we have in our garden!
This will not only force us to use up what we have and save a little money, but I hope it also brings us a new appreciation for what we truly have.

Tonight marks the first night of the challenge...

Day 1:

My daily schedule is running amuck these days. Going to one job in the morning and going to the second job in the afternoon, has proved to be quite the challenge for me when it comes to household chores, gardening, and cooking. Tonight was no different. The only change was that Cam was invited to go out do dinner with some of his friends, so I found myself at home alone for supper. Sticking to my challenge rules, I raided the pantry, fridge, and garden, and came up with this not-so-pretty-but-extremely-tasty concoction!

I cooked some lentils until they were just tender and roasted a small piece of my fresh broccoli. I then mixed in some soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic chili sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and a bit of agave into the lentils and chopped up the roasted broccoli and threw that in too. With a bit of spice, salt, and sweetness, these Asian influenced lentils were delicious!

To go along side, I made a kale salad. I used kale, carrots, and onion from our garden and then dressed it with some of my rhubarb vinaigrette!

It  was nothing special or fancy but it was delicious...and it stuck with my challenge rules!

One day down, 29 to go. I'm looking forward to the creativity I hope will emerge from this experiment! :)

Would you care to join us on this journey? If you do, please share with us how you are finding new uses for what you have! It's so exciting to read what others can do...and can inspire us to try it for ourselves!

Let the challenge begin!

 

Enjoy!