Complete "Homegrown" Meals

Where can I read some all natural recipes to make dishes that are used by only items that can be grown only on one's own land? I'd like to make bread for example but what is a practical way to make yeast? Admittedly I didn't spend a lot of time researching it but from what I briefly read, it looks a little strange to me. I thought tortillas would be a nice alternative but then I see it has baking powder. I'm guessing I can't grow that! Seems like every meal requires a trip to the grocery store. It would be nice to have a "normal" dinner with only things that were produced on my land. Any advice?

Explore sour dough bread starter...that is, unless you aren't growing your own wheat flour and cannot use it due to your wanting to not use anything you haven't grown.

I make some bread from my own wheat. For yeast you can culture a wild airborne yeast or culture them off fruits you grow, the most common is grapes but I use the yeast on all kinds of fruits. To go with that bread, vegetables and some home raised meat. Herbs and spices are easy to grow and compliment the rest of the food.

When people ask me for help on what to grow I tell them to grow meals not ingredients. Monoculture farms grow ingredients for making food, polyculture systems grow meals on the same land.

It would help in your quest to learn a more traditional way of cooking and preparing meals. This was done more 'off the land' and not out of the store in days gone by, however there are still things such as salt, soda, etc. you won't get from your land. These were traded for so I wouldn't rule them out completely from your recipe list, just look at finding alternatives and cutting your dependance on them, thereby cutting your dependance on the local store.

Your in the right place, here at permies, to start your journey.... toward this end here is a recipe for torts w/o soda. This recipe could use just about any grain you decide to grown, with small tweaks in the moisture content.
Sourdough Torts - http://gnowfglins.com/2009/10/22/whole-wheat-sourdough-tortillas/#infform_id0_h498.33333400000004_w268.333334 - and of course these make great tortilla chips! Deep fried in tallow from your animals.

Here are classes in traditional cooking, just scroll down a bit to read about them - http://gnowfglins.com/ecourse/classes/sourdough

And there is the Nourishing Traditions: Cookbook - http://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politically-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346514118&sr=1-1&keywords=nourishing+traditions

Opening up your mind to traditional cooking methods will cause you to adjust your meals and ingredients list. In addition, do google recipe searches based on what you want & can grown on your land to find new inspiration.

And plan a year round-harvest (salad/soup) Garden - to the greens you grow you can add onions, carrots, leeks, garlic, potatoes and such for soups. Soup and Salad with sourdough english muffins, torts or flat bread makes wonderful meals.
Add some animals and your on your way......

Modern life has promoted meals based around grains - they are everywhere. However, most of the current health promoting diets going around either pre-process, limit or eliminate grains. This greatly supports your quest to feed off the land, without using machinery to grow lots of grains and cereals. So check out websites for the GAPS & Gluten-free diets, as well as others that help to reduce our modern diseases.

All the best!

Edit: for typo

Is this the type of thing you were looking for?
One Skillet Dinner:
Potatoes
Green Peppers
Onions
Tomatoes
Eggs
Cook sliced potatoes in skillet until browned. Add peppers and onions part way through to sauté lightly.
Add fresh diced tomatoes and break several eggs over the whole thing. Cover with a lid and cook on low temp until eggs set.
Sliced stewed apples on the side and some yarrow tea to drink.
That would be one of my dinners from my farmlette.

Brandon, I'd research pretty hard before trying to grow cereals in any quantity.
I don't eat much bread; potatoes are my on-property carbs.
While I'm totally with you on avoiding the shops, I consider trade and specialisation to be important realities of a healthy community, and some things just aint gonna happen at my place: olive oil, salt, grains, animal protein...
Speaking of protein, don't forget dried beans!
Food from my place tends to be along the lines of what Jeanine mentioned; I don't have livestock and do deals with friends for eggs, which are another important protein source for me.
A good meal is a sort of modified refried beans: cooked beans fried up with coriander seed, Egytpian walking onions, garlic, chilli, tomatoes, carrot and peppers, topped with fresh coriander.
For me, there has to be salt. I also think it's better with imports of cumin, cinnamon, lemon, egg and if I'm feeling fancy, avocado.

You don't need yeast to make bread. You can use sourdough starter. Here is a video that shows how to make your own sourdough starter:
Make Your Own Sourdough Starter

If you would like a sourdough starter, try this: Friends of Carl.

It is a sourdough starter that came west on the Oregon Trail in 1847. Carl has been sharing this starter (through "Friends") ever since. All it takes is a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope).

Keep the tradition alive.

Sorry for my delayed reply. It's been a very busy week. So glad to see the weekend! You guys have given some really great advice here! I'l definitely going to look into sour dough. And also look into getting yeast from fruits. I'll need to read through these posts again more thoroughly so I don't miss anything but definitely I see there is a wealth of info here.

Much gratitude!

Pasta is pretty simple: flour + eggs
Durum wheat is popular for the texture. I prefer whole wheat flour. Good flavor and texture, and I can mill the wheat myself.

Sauce can be made from whatever is growing. Hopefully there are lots of tomatoes growing! The fact that tomatoes can be canned without a pressure canner makes it a simple matter when putting up sauce in storage. If tomatoes are not available, you can always whip up a primavera.

Without yeast, flatbread, crackers, and tortillas are still possible. can always make v sandwich wrap or burrito.
If you have yeast, you can expand your repertoire into leaven bread, pizza dough, and, of course, beer.

A dairy cow brings milk, cream and butter. This gives you something to sautee with...ghee. If you get really into it, you can make cheese.

Pork gives you ham, bacon, pork chops, and lard.

Sunflower seeds or peanuts combined with an oil press gives you vegetable oil. That pasta primavera got a whole lot tastier, as do your salads-dressing!

Chickens give you meat and eggs. Combine the eggs with that sunflower oil, make mayonaisse for that ham sandwich.

Bees pollinate crops and give up honey. Ice cream!

With a grain, some sort of cooking grease, milk, eggs, sugar, a field of vegetables, and a bit of meat, you can eat like a king.

Herbs.
Don't forget the herbs. Can't make an awesome pizza without oregano. Thyme for those pork chops. Red pepper for hot sauce for the chicken wings. Rosemary for the red potatoes. Cilantro for the tortilla filling, and v must have for salsa. Mint goes with the honey for a sweet drink. Garlic for the tomato sauce. Basil adds love directly to a salad. Ginger turns the Italian primavera into a Chinese stir fry.

Ken, you, sir, are talking my language! That sounds super awesome and made me hungry just reading it. I'm copying this and everyone else's comments into a Word doc for when it's time to do some eatin!

Check out vegetarian and Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. They are pretty basic and all natural.

great thread, im tagging along!

Rion Mather wrote:Check out vegetarian and Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. They are pretty basic and all natural.

These Pennsylvania Dutch recipes are great! Thanks.