The Pauley Principle: Reinventing the Potato Patch

Welcome to The Pauley Principle!

The Pauli Principle, named for Wolfgang Pauli, deals with atoms and electron-sharing that results in new, stronger bonds. Think 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, a shared delectable (!) electron and VOILA! Water!

Similarly, when you prepare whole food to share with family and friends, especially foods you've grown, something amazing happens. Meals become tastier and healthier. Your soul, not just your stomach, becomes fulfilled. You live life more abundantly as a result. During a shared meal, the bonds that people create grow stronger and become something new: GREATER than the sum of the parts! I give you The Pauley Principle.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Reinventing the Potato Patch

Thinking you don't have room for potatoes? Think again! Look around. Shopping malls are beginning to use Oriental sweet potatoes in their landscaping and in their potted flowers at street corners. The vine is very pretty and spreads rapidly. Underneath that beautiful, soft, light-green foliage is a collection of tubers that have white flesh, sweet, smooth and succulent when cooked, making it great for baking or boiling. I enjoy the addition of maple syrup to this potato.

The Pauley potato patch generally contains four kinds of potatoes: Russet, Kinnebec, Pontiac red, and one or more varieties of sweet potato. Each type of potato seems to excel at some preparation and the Kinnebec seems to be suitable for all. Red potatoes, especially when very young, are great mixed in with peas or green beans or roasted. The Russet holds its shape well and won't fall apart so easily in soup. Yukon Gold is said to be a terrific French Fry potato. All have great flavor.

Consider where you might plant potatoes: garden, flowerbeds, an upset wheelbarrow, large hanging baskets and patio pots. Potatoes need good drainage and direct sunlight. Mixed with marigolds, you can cut down on insect invasion. Water them regularly. One vine can yield several pounds of fresh-tasting organic potatoes for minimal investment.

When to plant? The farmers of long ago would say to plant potatoes on Good Friday. Apparently the moon is right for root vegetables at that time.

Enjoy your own potato patch in whatever form you choose to give it. This is just one more way to live your life abundantly!

2 comments:

Allies Creative DesignsMarch 14, 2011 at 8:28 PM
Oh my , this reminds of Dad's parents. My dad would plant so many potatoes and put them in a cellar. I'm such a potato fan esp Sweet Potatoes. My doctor said sweet potatoes are so good for you. Dad would plant on Good Friday also. I'm hoping to plant some this year. So jut plant in large flower pots. What a great idea. I can remember cutting the end of the sweet potato and putting it in water so it would vine. My Mom likes the vines and put on her kitchen sink. Thanks
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UnknownMarch 15, 2011 at 1:12 AM
Allie, the pretty plants that I've been seeing in the flower beds are delicious! I grew some last year. With white flesh, they look odd but they are a true sweet potato and, because we have become so used to the yellow yams, it's hard to accept them for being both ornamental and edible!
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Give Yourself the Fast Food Alternative: 1, 2, 3 makes 4 and More

For many people, late night ballgames, church, work and other events make fast food too convenient to resist, but what's in that stuff? I can't begin to answer. Big franchises such as Taco Bell say the 63% or so that isn't beef is made up of "the secret ingredient". If we consume their food, don't we have a right to know what that secret is? And more importantly, what's it doing to our bodies? My plan is worth the effort since meals eaten at home with the family benefit our physical and mental health.

Here's an alternative and my answer to Rachael Ray's A Week in a Day. I call it 1,2, 3 Makes 4 and More. On the fifth day, Friday, make a quick and easy pizza.
In one day, you can make a roast, a hearty soup, and a one-dish casserole to get you through most of the work week.
Meal 1: the roast with salad and a veggie.
Meal 2: the soup served with warm bread or in a bread bowl.
Meal 3: the casserole with a salad.
Meal 4: soup from Meal 2 served with sandwiches using the roast, Meal 1.
Meal 5: homemade pizza.

Plan meals and shop for it. Then take a few hours to prepare the entrees ahead. Start with a roast seasoned to taste. I'm talking real meat. While that's slow cooking, start chopping veggies and meat for a good, hearty soup, one that will be a meal in itself. Get it started and simmering away and then begin a one-pot meal that takes a little more attention.

This week my plan is Day 1, a slow roasted ham with salad and mashed potatoes; Day 2, minestrone; and Day 3, shepherd's pie. I'm making mashed potatoes for two days (meals 1 and 3) at one time on my cooking day. The fourth meal will be ham sandwiches with minestrone. Salads and breads round out the meals for the week. Fruits with cheese make a quick and good-for-you dessert. A truly delicious recipe for shepherd's pie is in my blog.

Be good to you. Be good to others. On days 6 and 7, change it up by going out, having a pot luck with friends and family or grilling out. Remember, live your life abundantly.

About Venison

Venison should taste really delicious! No kidding. It is my favorite meat, except for crab.

Some things to consider though:
*If you wouldn't think of eating a bull, then don't eat a deer that had huge antlers or was in rut. I don't. It affects the flavor and tenderness of the meat.
*Replace the deer fat with beef fat for your ground meat for an 80/20 ratio. Deer fat tends to be slightly bitter and leaves that thick coating in your mouth that, although edible, is not palatable.
*For roasts, sear with butter and olive oil. These impart a wonderful flavor.
*For sausage, use pork shoulder, at a ration of about 3 parts ground venison with 1 part ground pork shoulder.
*Venison by nature is a lean red meat. A good young deer processed properly will give you many delicious meals.
*Anything you would do with beef, except ribs, you can do with venison. Look for my recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Use either beef or venison. Enjoy, share, and live abundantly.

Plan Now for Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is cooked down from sap that you gather from sugar maple trees. There are no other ingredients, not even water. And it's incredibly good. On the market, maple syrups will often have corn syrup, gluten, color and other additives which can stretch profitability and decrease the steaming time required. Since it takes 35-45 gallons of the thin slightly sweet sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, doing it the old-fashioned way takes time but the result is pure YUM!

If you have the opportunity to tap into maple trees and decide you'd like to give this a try, plan ahead. If you steam off the sap inside your kitchen, it can strip your wall-paper! Been there, done that, at our old farmhouse. If you cook it down outside with a gas turkey fryer, the cost can end up being around $8 a pint. We began cooking over a wood fire a few years ago, using a tripod and kettle. Oh, and a large firewood supply. Whatever method you choose, proceed slowly and with caution.

Gather your supplies. We use food safe plastic jugs, buckets, and little water line spouts. Maple syrup production houses will collect into stainless steel vats using long water lines but we simply gather the jugs, pour into buckets and bring it to the kettle twice daily. I buy little pint jugs to store it in. Very fresh, very pure. Start tapping the trees when daytime temperatures are going to be above freezing but nights are still very cold. In Ohio, the sap will be running fast sometime in February.

Try my cousin Stephanie Krupla's recipe for Sticky Bun Tea Ring and you'll want to search for maple trees you can tap into yourself!