Tag Archives: Sausage

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

All is Well!

It seems that I only write when it rains! It is raining and it has been raining all weekend. The last few weeks have been awful…hot, hot, hot and dry and insufferable…during these times, it is best to get out on the farm and work instead of complaining incessantly about the weather. I don’t seem to be writing so much because we are always busy (on the farm, processing food, seeing patients and making products) and there is not enough energy and inspiration left to write a blog post.

So, I will try to do some catch up this time. We have had a terrible drought this year and our November corn crop failed as a result of this dryness. We did however have some voluntary sorghum grow beautifully in this climate and we think that we might be switching over to sorghum during the dry times. Anyway, water has been a major issue because we need it for crop irrigation, animals and our personal consumption. We have been recycling all our grey water for plants and have been conserving water as much as possible. This still wasn’t enough because we were down to about 2 and a half full tanks of rain water to last us through dry season. Because of this, we decided to re-visit the well situation. Last year, we accidentally got a 20 foot piece of plastic pipe stuck down the bottom of our 50 foot well. Gnome tried all kinds of ingenious ways to get the pipe back up but to no avail. We finally abandoned the whole project because we just had too many other things to do on the farm. This year, it became a priority to find an extra water source because of the lack of rain. Guess what Gnome made…this funny grabbing contraption:

Pipe Grabbing Thingy

This weird looking thing took Gnome a few hours to make…he used sandpaper to slope the edge of the pipe and then he drove nails into it like so. You wouldn’t believe that this would work, would you??? Anyway, with hope and prayers, Gnome lowered the contraption down with about 40 feet of thin bamboo attached to it and…CLUNK…it worked!! He managed to grab and lock onto the lost pipe and hoisted everything up. I wasn’t there to witness but I heard a VERY LOUD YAY!!! Gnome had not asked me to come over because he was doing a test run, thinking to himself that it would need adjustment and modification…he was totally amazed when it worked first time round. Well done Gnome!!

Gnome Working.

Alls well that ends well!! We have a slow filling shallow well but it helps to have a secondary source of water. Anyway, that is the major thing that happened on our farm. The rest is the usual Munchkin and Gnome stuff. We had a good harvest of Habanero peppers which I have been drying in the sun:

Drying Habanero Peppers

We went through a sausage making frenzy for about three months. Here are a few pictures; below are sausages made of vegan friendly collagen (the rest of the sausage is not vegan friendly):

More Sausages

We found the collagen hard to manipulate and it was hard to twist the links:

Sausage Making

Since the twisting didn’t work well, we also canned the sausage meat into cylinders…they can then be sliced and eaten..

Sliced Sausage Meat

Oh and last but not least, our lovely goosies are laying beautiful, yummy eggs!! Thank-you Goosies!!

Goosie Eggs!

Belize, Farming, Food

Sausage with Exotic Fruits and Bamboo Shoots.

Munchkin.Another.Eating.ShotHello Everyone!!  We are getting such wonderful harvests on our farm, we feel blessed everyday.  We are still chomping through the jackfruit and we now it is bamboo shoot season, so I have made a dish with all these goodies.

Sausage with Exotic Fruits and Fresh Bamboo Shoots.
Sausage with Exotic Fruits and Fresh Bamboo Shoots.

This recipe incorporates pork sausage, fresh pineapple, ripe jackfruit and fresh bamboo shoots.

Fresh juicy pineapples of Belize:

Fresh Pineapple.
Fresh Pineapple.

Our own harvested jackfruit:

Jackfruit Arils.
Jackfruit Arils.

Our fresh bamboo shoots from the farm:

Bamboo Shoot.

Check out the full recipe for Sausage with Exotic Fruits and Fresh Bamboo Shoots in Belize Wild Recipes.  Yum…what a treat!!

Belize, Food

Cassava Cake, Spicy Sausage and Pineapple Kebabs.

Munchkin.Eating.Bun.SmileCassava cake is a local sweet made in Belize which is made from grated cassava, sugar and spices which may include cinnamon and nutmeg.  It is mostly made in the Garifuna households in Belize and everyone has their own special recipe.  Fortunately for people like me, who don’t have a secret recipe, I have found a wonderful shop-bought version of the cassava cake in Belize.  This cake is baked at the cassava factory in Dangriga.  I don’t tend to buy much shop-bought food but I actually find this cake very palatable and the smooth, non-grainy texture of this cooked root is very pleasant.  I can not taste any spices in this cake but nevertheless, I think it is still very tasty.

I always like to convert sweet things into savoury and this recipe is a fine example of this:

Cassava Cake, Sausage and Pineapple Kebabs.

Cassava, Sausage and Pineapple Kebabs.
Cassava, Sausage and Pineapple Kebabs.

These kebabs are made from fried cassava cake pieces, fried pieces of spicy sausage and bits of fresh pineapple.  They are so yummy; the sweetness of the cake contrasts with the spicy sausage and compliments the pineapple.

Enjoy!!

Belize, Farming, Food

Cooking with Cashew Fruit.

Munchkin.More.EatingI have discovered the wonders of cooking cashew fruit and Ioving it!  I have managed to get most of the tannic properties out of the fruit by peeling them.  At first, I thought that I would peel them llike tomatoes (boil them, take them off the heat quickly and then peel) but when I actually got down to peeling the raw fruit, it wasn’t that difficult.  So, here is a picture of the peeled fruit:

Peeled Cashew Fruit.
Peeled Cashew Fruit.

Here is a picture of the chopped fruit:

Cubed Cashew Fruit.
Cubed Cashew Fruit.

For all you vegetarians out there, this fruit has the texture of chicken breast so you could use the following recipe but omit the sausage.  It has a good enough texture to give a satisfying bite.

My recipe is: Pork Sausage and Cashew Fruit Casserole.

Pork Sausage and Cashew Fruit Casserole.
Pork Sausage and Cashew Fruit Casserole.

I used some curry leaf in the recipe.  The Curry plant actually grows very well here in Belize:

Curry Plant.
Curry Plant.

We were both very pleased with the cooked cashew fruit!  The only problem is that that every single fruit is getting gobbled up by the paca (gibnut) community and as soon as one drops from the tree, it disappears.  Gnome says that this is fair exchange for eating two gibnuts a year.

Belize, Food, Our Products

Coconut and Rice Flour Pizza with Sausage Topping.

Munchkin.Another.Eating.ShotHi Everyone, since we are selling our farm-fresh Coconut Flour and Rice Flour in The Apothecary, I thought I would post up a recipe for pizza made with these ingredients.  There is no wheat flour added so it can be eaten as part of a gluten-free diet.  The eggs and the xanthan gum act to bind the flours giving elasticity to the dough.  You will find this pizza slightly more crusty and biscuit-like in texture…which gives a delicious nutty “bite” to the eating experience.  For the topping, I have put sliced sausage, onions, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  Oh, and some rosemary and thyme too.

Coconut and Rice Flour Pizza.
Coconut and Rice Flour Pizza.

Enjoy…this is what we had for lunch today.

Slice of Coconut and Rice Flour Pizza.
Slice of Coconut and Rice Flour Pizza.

For the full recipe, check out this link for Coconut and Rice Flour Pizza.