Day 9 of 2011, Buying Barley

My mom and I finished the Individualized Home Instruction Plan for New York State, the hardest state to homeschool in, on Friday.  What a good feeling!  We have some more paperwork for homeschooling to catch up still, but nothing with the urgency of the IHIP.  This means that we have more time for food again!

For breakfast, I made peach smoothies (peaches from Thorpes fruit share, yogurt made from friend's goats' milk).  For lunch, I made mashed potatoes (garden potatoes, Upstate Farms butter, friend's goats milk), my mom chopped up carrot sticks (garden carrots), and we also ate the rest of the Waldorf salad and some of the bread I'd made the night before.

In late afternoon,my mom and I went food shopping as soon as the IHIP was done.  Our big goal was barley, which we'd decided we'd try as a substitute for oatmeal.  We couldn't remember whether we'd seen it at the Lexington Food Co-op or just Farmers and Artisans, but we decided we'd head to Buffalo.  

First, we went to Five Points Bakery, where we bought the bakery's last package of pasta from Flour City.  We also purchased the butter at Five Points that we usually buy at Farmers and Artisans, in case we found didn't need to go there because we found the barley at Lexington.  

Alas, a shortened shopping trip was not meant to be, as Lexington Food Co-op did not carry local barley.  We were able to replenish our stock of beans, since they did offer Cayuga Organics products.  We chose black beans and Jacobs cattle beans, though there were also pinto beans and some kind of red bean.

We proceeded to Farmers and Artisans, where we scooped up the only bag of barley they had on the shelf.  It was tiny and only looked like it would last us a couple of days, but I guess we'll think of it as a barley breakfast trial period.  We also bought all of the walnuts they had in the store, which only amounted to about one and a half pounds.  Figuring that about five-eights of that weight is shell, the nuts won't last too long, either.  I do love Farmers and Artisans, but the small quantities they stock of the few products they offer can make it hard to justify the gasoline and time consumed going there.

As we checked out at Farmers and Artisans, my stomach was growling in hunger.  Sitting at the counter was a beautiful pear vanilla muffin.  Though Farmers and Artisans is a local foods store, I knew that the vanilla could not be local.  Still, it was past six in the evening, and my mom had been complaining about hunger longer than me.  We caved to temptation and bought the muffin, which we shared as we sat outside Farmers and Artisans before going  home.  Like most muffins sold in America, I thought the muffin had way too much sweetener, but there was so much going on with the flavor that I could forgive the sweetness.  The muffin turned out to be delicious and was just what my mom and I needed to make it home.

My dad had had salsa (garden tomatoes, farmers' market bell pepper, farmers' market hot pepper, farm stand onion, Wild Card Item lime) and chips (Wild Card Item) waiting for my mom and I when we got home.  My dad had finally listened to what I'd been telling him all summer and put less pepper in the salsa.  Because of the reduced pepper and super ripe tomatoes, the salsa was the best made dad had made since tomato season started.

After eating salsa, I made Greek salad (farmers' market lettuce, farm stand onions, cheese made from friend's goats' milk) and one of my parents made corn on the cob (farm stand).  This, along with the salsa and chips, was our dinner.  In my mind, it was a perfect late summer meal.

Before I went to bed, I made zucchini bread (Thorpes soft white and hard red whole wheat flour, Upstate Farms butter, homemade maple syrup, Marco Polo exceptions [baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves]).  So we didn't eat loads of unhealthy zucchini bread all at once, I froze one of the two loaves for consumption this winter.  It will be a nice treat on some cold night when we're all craving something sweet.

~*~

Zucchini Bread


10 oz zucchini
3 cups flour (I like 2 cups hard red whole wheat, 1 cup soft white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking power
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
1 cup melted butter or oil
1 cup maple syrup

Grate zucchini.  In small mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In large mixing bowl, beat three eggs, then beat in butter and maple syrup.  Gradually stir in dry ingredients.  Pour into two greased 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for fifty minutes.