FROM SCRATCH CLUB

Stobhach Gaelach.. sounds fancy doesn’t it? It’s not.  In fact it’s one of the most common of peasant foods.  Stobhach Gaelach is quite simply “Irish Stew” in Gaelic. My ethnic heritage is Irish, French and German with a touch of Dutch and Welsh, but if you were to ask my fraternal grandmother,  I’m IRISH… end […]

“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living.  For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.” - 
Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949) From scratch chicken stock is so easy. It does takes some time to cook, but prep is simple […]

Have you ever wanted to process your own meats but didn’t know how to even begin? Below is a step by step guide of how my family explored this option for the first time and how it all turned out. (Editor’s Note: Please be aware that this post contains graphic pictures of a slaughtered pig. […]

As Erika will tell you, so many sweet things are given out this time of year.  Seems that she and I think a lot alike as we both wanted to write about our beef jerky recipes! (We do share a mutual love of bacon, so really this is no surprise.) I really do think jerky […]

Around the holidays I give and receive lots of sweets, which is fine, but sometimes you want a little something different. That’s why this year I’ve decided to make some spicy beef jerky for several of our friends. If you have a food dehydrator (I got mine a few years ago for $5 off Craigslist) […]

Editor’s Note: I am pleased to announce yet another fabulous ‘Community Voices’ Contributor to the FSC Roster! Swapper Jeni B, aka Pirate Jeni, is a popular food personality here in the Capital Region sharing her thoughts on her Blog, Twitter and Faceboook.. Her Tagline: Like Laura Ingalls…. with an attitude and an android device. PERFECTION!  We […]

As you might already know, we raise backyard chickens in order to have fresh eggs and because, quite frankly, I enjoy having chickens in the yard. Its also old news that most of the poultry we consume comes from birds we’ve raised ourselves, including chickens, turkeys and surplus roosters which are quite tasty when made […]

Raising animals for food. It’s a tricky subject, but we are tackling it with gusto in this month’s podcast. We’ve talked about growing vegetables, joining CSAs to pay someone else to grow vegetables and we’ve even talked a little bit about backyard chickens. Now we are bringing you an extended interview with a local meat […]

*Reader alert: The following story involves some general information on poultry processing (no gory details or photos, though). If you’d rather not hear more about how the meat my family eats came from real live animals, some of whom grew up in our backyard, stop here. If you do eat meat, however, I would encourage […]

Recently I’ve been trying to incorporate as many veggies as possible into our meals so that I don’t get too behind on all my CSA goodies. It’s amazing how much stuff I get each week so I really need to keep track and plan things out because I absolutely hate wasting food. This week I […]

Editor’s Note: We are taking a break from our St. Patrick’s Day theme week for our Dark Days Challenge entry. This is the 14th week of a 4 1/2 month challenge, Dark Days, a pledge taken by 88 blogs spanning the country, to eat one meal a week as sustainable, organic, local and ethical possible. […]

Editor’s Note: This is the seventh week of a 4 1/2 month challenge, Dark Days, a pledge taken by 88 blogs spanning the country, to eat one meal a week as local, sustainable, ethical and organic as possible.  – Christina The Dark Days Challenge, well, yes I have found this to be quite the challenge.  […]

Editor’s Note: This is our third installment of a 4 1/2 month challenge, Dark Days, taken up by 88 blogs spanning the country, to eat one meal a week as local, sustainable, ethical and organic as possible. Sarah discusses the process from phone call to table of a half pig they purchase from a farm […]