Archives for March 2011

Wabbit Season

Tonight I cooked and ate rabbit for the very first time. It really did taste like chicken! Only it was tougher, but it’s possible that I may have overcooked it a little bit. I had a hard time finding a recipe to try. First of all, I don’t ever come across any rabbit recipes in my cooking magazines and it took me a while to find one online that didn’t have ingredients that I couldn’t have. I finally found one for sweet and sour rabbit that had simple ingredients but was quite vague on instruction.

Combine rabbit, a can of pineapple, a can of tomatoes, chopped onion, and chopped green pepper on the stove top for about one hour. It cooked much faster than one hour. I stirred occasionally and it was already over temperature when I went to flip it over around 35 or 40 minutes. When I called Jesse for help cutting up the rabbit, he seemed surprised that I didn’t chop it up before cooking it… that wasn’t in the instructions. Should I have cut it up before cooking?

Cooking rabbit

I think it tasted alright, but it sure was a lot of work to get at just a little meat. I’m glad I tried it though. I used to be afraid to try new things. I’d even try it again with a better recipe and if it was cooked by someone who knew what they were doing.

Rabbit

No More Puzzle

I think the fact that we are excited about our freezer purchase officially makes us an old married couple. Jesse is especially enthusiastic about larger, long-term purchases. We’ve been talking about getting a second freezer for a long time now and we finally decided that now was the perfect time.

Jesse opening freezer

Our freezer/fridge in the kitchen was packed so full that it was like a giant puzzle to get out what you were looking for. It’s so frustrating to come home from the store and struggle to make everything fit. I’ve been known to shove everything in and close the door fast before anything falls out.

New freezer

Having the extra freezer space will definitely save us money by allowing me to buy extra when stuff is on sale. I’m now very price conscious on everything I buy and I hope that this storage space will allow me to never spend over my set price on an item. Every so often Sweetbay will have whole chickens for $0.79/pound, so I’d like to only buy them at that price. I just need to learn how long things will keep so that I don’t overbuy. The other things I’d like to stock up on are the steam-in-the-bag veggies when they are $1.00, and the frozen lasagnas for Jesse’s lunches when they go on sale.

Inside freezer

Right now there is lots of room to spare as we slowly stock up as sales come, but I love that I can easily see everything without digging and freezing my fingers off. I love my new freezer!

Filled freezer

Strawberry Heaven

I was invited to go strawberry picking with a couple of friends yesterday.  I’ve never been strawberry picking before so I was definitely up for the experience.  I tried to get Jesse to come along with me, but he was not-so-much interested.  He grew up near farmland so he had lots of practice picking all types of produce.  However I did not and find the fact that I can eat food that I picked myself fascinating and exciting.

Strawberry baskets

We had fun and came home with lots and lots and LOTS of strawberries.  The first thing I did when I got home was to eat a nice big bowl of fresh cut strawberries.  When I buy them from the store they cost a lot more and there is a small amount so I usually try to make them last for a couple of breakfasts.  Both yesterday and today there was no limit.  I ate strawberries until I was full.  I think I might turn in to a strawberry.

I also froze a bunch of them to make strawberry sherbet, which I’ve never made before so I can’t wait to see how that turns out.

Strawberries frozen

Then I mashed some and added some sugar and water to make strawberry popsicles.  We haven’t tried one yet, but I did try a spoonful of my popsicle mix before I froze it and it tasted really yummy.

Strawberry popsicles

I gave some of them away, and we still have lots left to eat.  They are huge and super juicy and there are no bad ones hiding like the packages that come from the store.  I will definitely be doing this again. Next month will be time for blueberry picking.  I’ve never been blueberry picking either so I will be looking forward to that for sure!