Tag: In the Kitchen With Runa

Meatless Monday & The Witch (11-6-23)

Posted on by runa

My family has been practicing Meatless Monday for as long as I can remember. My parents practiced it; their parents did; and so on. As a big history nerd I knew how it started, but over time it’s morphed into something I think the wider Witch community might revisit. 

When the United States finally entered into World War I, much of the European landscape that was once flourishing farms were battlefields, and many of its male, head-of-household farmers were either dead or serving as soldiers. Surviving elders, women, and children did what they could, but anyone can tell you that a freshly sown crop run down by military tanks isn’t going to sprout well. American soldiers were affected by the food crisis once they began arriving in Europe to fight. 

Under the direction of Herbert Hoover, the then U.S. Food Administration began its “Food Will Win The War – Produce It!” campaign. This was done in an effort to keep Americans from having to move to a ‘rations’ system as was necessary in Europe during the war as well as to support our soldiers overseas. Citizens from the Atlantic to the Pacific were asked to cut back on meat, fat, sugar, and wheat and participate in what was then termed ‘Meatless Tuesdays and Wheatless Wednesdays.” No meat on Tuesday, No wheat on Wednesday. 

In November of 1917 in New York City, the city’s hotels managed to save nearly 100 tons of meat. That November, also, more than 11 million American households signed a pledge to take part in this effort. They pledged to buy food with thought, to cook it with care, to serve just enough, to save what would keep, to eat what would spoil, and to know that home-grown is best. 

Rations eventually were necessary when it came to sugar, butter, and oils, but the country embraced eating fresh fruits and vegetables, since none of that could be shipped overseas. Liberty (and/or War) gardens, which would morph into Victory gardens, began to take hold. You could eat rye bread (no wheat, you see) with fresh tomatoes and sour cream and be helping the soldiers and citizens in Europe. 

These efforts were mimicked again during World War II quickly – the last war had not been that long before. Given the history of how producing food helped in WWI, American citizens quickly mobilized to turn every space around their homes into food production. 

Post World War II, Meatless Tuesday morphed into the more recognizable and alliterative form of Meatless Monday. At the turn of the century, it was not spurred by war, but rather by public health campaigns to embrace a more plant-based diet. For my family, it was all about the grocery budget. And even though my family was not Catholic, and outside of the season of Lent, we only ate fish on Fridays. Again, it was a budget thing (and honestly, likely helped the meal planner on the daily conundrum of ‘what’s for dinner, mom?”)

Today, it serves all the purposes that you could think of from meal planning ease, health, cost, and environmental impact. As a Witch, I want all these things in my life: a softer impact on Mama Earth, extra dollars in my wallet, a focus on healthier foods (especially home produced), and knowing what direction to plan a meal. If we incorporated such a practice into the way we walk in the Craft, we could help save 133 gallons of water with each meatless meal and reduce our carbon footprint by 8 pounds each time you participate. But the opportunity to make Magic on Meatless Monday cannot be discounted. I have found it a simple way to expand my own practice as a Witch. 

Combine all of the above with a little Magic? And you have a weekly touchstone, something mindful to focus on besides capitalism on Mondays. Does it mean you have to add Magic to every meatless meal you make? As I’ve written to you multiple times now, absolutely not. But, if you set a goal to do it once a month, I’m sure you’ll recognize the powerfulness of this simple ritual. Yes, Meatless Monday can be a ritual (Or Fish Fridays, if you prefer). That’s the wonderful thing about being a Witch. Many of our paths are very ‘choose your own adventure.’ You may choose this or not. I offer it only as an option and to show you how it’s blessed my own life. 

When I craft a Meatless Monday menu, (say that five items fast), I try to keep it very plant-forward. I try to avoid only doing things like pasta – especially with cheese – because dairy can be a crutch when it comes to eating more plant-based, e.g. meatless. This is where my seasonal focus also is easily highlighted. Don’t know what to cook? Visit your local food co-op or farmer’s market and buy what’s in season. Right now it’s squash, brassicas, and mushrooms. As always you can check the correspondences of the foods you love and what you want to bring into your life, as a way to decide what to make. Whether you use seasonal or magical energies to lead the way, it’s a powerful tool. 

Over on my Patreon is a Meatless Monday working to help bring health, wealth, and the wisdom to do what we can to help this ecosystem which we are all a part of, as well as, save a little emotional energy along the way. Monday = no meat. Open up your magical kitchen! You can easily do this once a month and then work up to once a week.

Come join my Patreon and learn all kinds of magical ways to be, know and do, and meet some fellow kindred witchy souls. Saving some money, upping your veggie intake, and feeling good when Monday ends is just a bonus.  

Kitchen Witchery meets Permaculture For The Fur Babies

Posted on by runa

In honor of National Pet Rescue Day – DIY Magic Pet Food

Ms.SnickleFritz & Granny Shadow have bespoke food. Lucky Familiars.

May 20 is National Pet Rescue Day. My current ‘Puppers,’ as The Viking and I call them, are rescues. I’ve always preferred to adopt rescues than purchase my pet because I find they are just so loyal and loving. The added benefit that an animal in need is being cared for is a bonus. I’m not about to get into puppy mills and all that nonsense, or the fact that there are likely just as many feral cats in your neighborhood as there are people. Rescues are a kinder way for the animals and our planet. This Witch is all about kinder to animals and the planet.

Enter Kitchen Witchery and Permaculture to solve a problem. In Permaculture, you Design from Patterns to Details and the pattern was non sustainable food for my familiars. The details of what would make it sustainable begin to emerge.

These Witch’s Familiars, our canine yin and yang, are getting up there in age and now have special dietary requirements. Currently they both have medicated kibble. On top of the kibble we put a wet food, because they’ve made it clear the kibble alone is not very satisfying. Kind of how we have to put cinnamon and fruit on our oatmeal to actually eat it. Also much of the nonmedicated kibble is mostly water and does not have the protein that most canines need.

After finding that most of the softer foods out there are so full of things that my puppers do not need, are horribly expensive, and produce so much waste in its packaging, I needed something more economical, sustainable, and that the furkids would enjoy. About this time last year I started experimenting with making my own canned dog food. The idea to even explore that came to me because I often will make a big batch of stew or soup and I either need to preserve the leftovers, or was finding at least one pint would be used to augment Ms. Snicklefritz and Granny Shadow’s dinner. Much like how I approach the food that The Viking and I consume, I really wanted to know what my dogs were eating. I recognized that the best way to do that was to make it myself. The additional opportunity to make the food a ritual and infuse it with Magic, well, I couldn’t resist that.

Lamb, kale, carrots, and a small bit of sweet potato made this batch of dog food for my pups.

The intentions I put into each batch are all about protection, health, and, of course, love. I’m sharing this, as mentioned in the title, in honor of National Pet Rescue Day and in hopes that it might inspire you to look a little closer into your own food as well as that of your own familiar. As a Permie Witch, doing this follows the permaculture principle of Producing No Waste. Every part of our resources gets used. It is to a lesser degree aligning with two other of the permaculture principles: Obtain A Yield, and Creatively Use & Respond to Change. A weaker argument could be made for the tenet of Use & Value Renewables. As we begin the growing, hatching, and birthing season here at Villa Westwyk, we eat with the seasons here as much as possible. It’s a slow change, which also is within the permaculture lifestyle: Choose Small, Slow Solutions. Needless to say, we’re all in here at the covenstead with this “chore,” which is really a ritual and spell. This is about the moment when my youngest, Dragon Son, would say, “you feel me?”

I basically take a left over chicken carcass, stew bone, or even the remnants of a whole fish, bring it to a boil, then simmer several hours. You just need enough water to cover the carcass…don’t go crazy unless you plan to make soup or such soon, or can the broth (that’s what I do). I make broth in a pasta maker, that way the carcass and the meat still on it is easily drained, cooled, and picked through. Sometimes I will refrigerate the broth overnight before continuing with the pet food batch, so I can skim the fat off and use an appropriate proportion with it to cook the veggies in. But you could use oil, butter, bacon drippings, whatever you have on hand.

This is where my protein to make the pet food comes in, so you could buy store bought, but the bone broth provides so many nutrients and is a superbly economical way to acquire pet food. If you want to go full-on Midgardening Witchery, you’ll can the extra broth for the human pets in your life. 😉 My 9 half-pint batches start normally with about 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of protein. y last batch the protein portion was about 2 cups; I let the protein amount drive the rest of the recipe. If you homeschool, this is a great exercise in fractions and parts of the whole. 😉

I cook up the bite-size veggies with a little bit of fat, add the meat plucked from the bones, make a roux, add the broth, let it cook down a bit and can it up. Alternatively, you may freeze it at this point, or if you can use your batch up within a week’s time, you can keep it in the refrigerator.

If you know how to make biscuits and gravy, or any kind of a roux, this recipe will likely be easy for you. The below recipe makes about 9 half-pint mason jars. If you want to make pint or quart, do the appropriate math. 😉

Equipment:

Broth pot (stew pot with a colander in it, like a pasta cooker)

Cauldron (Dutch oven pot)

Pressure Canner with Jars/Rings/Lids or Freezer containers

Ingredients:

1 part Protein (leftover chicken carcass, ham bone, lamb leg bone, etc.)

1/4 part Fat (bacon drippings, schmaltz)

1 part Veggies (cats and dogs need their veggies, too)

1 part Something to help meld it together (sweet potato, beans, potato, brown rice, etc.)

~ 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup Flour

~ 2 cups Broth (double if making quart batches)

Salt (optional)

This batch includes rabbit, chicken, broccoli, and garbanzo beans.

Instructions:

  1. Make your broth. Put soup bones, poultry carcass, etc. in a pot covered with water. You’re only going to need about 2 cups tops to make a batch of pet food (I do 7-9 half pints at a time). But make as much as you like. If what you’re making broth with was unseasoned (not often on my covenstead) feel free to add a pinch or two of salt. Salt is good for your animals, too. But just like us, too much is not good either to taste or for their bodies.
  2. Once broth is made, remove the bones and separate any meat/skin/giblets out to include in the pet food. As you do this, put the intention of keeping the sick away from your beloved familiars. You are separating the good stuff versus the discard. Set the meat aside and discard the bones. If you’re going to can your pet food, this is where you’ll need to sanitize your jars, lids, and rings and inspect your pressure canner.
  3. Into your cauldron, add a bit of fat (butter, schmaltz, bacon drippings, oil) and heat on medium heat. Sauté the chopped up vegetables until tender. I put the veggies in saying, “Here’s to my familiar’s health.” Simple, but effective. Each time I stir the veggies I say it again, “Here’s to my familiar’s health.”
  4. Once the veggies are tender, add back in the meat you plucked from the bone(s), and sauté with the veggies until warmed (about one to two minutes). If you have things like potatoes or beans in your batch, give them a squish with your cooking spoon to help thicken things up in the next step. Mashing the ingredients in is optional, but my somewhat toothless wonders love it this way (just like aging people, pets sometimes lose teeth as they age). I do a simple stir three times clockwise (aka sunwise), putting a whole lotta love for these furkids into the cauldron’s contents.
  5. Depending on how full your pot is, you’re going to need between 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of flour. You are making a roux with the veggies and meat. Sprinkle the flour on the protein and veggies envisioning the flour as extra protection and mix it all in and let it cook for about two minutes.
  6. Add in your broth, and simmer until reduced somewhat. You know what wet pet food consistency looks like. You’re looking to get the same. Depending on the size of your batch, this can take five to 20 minutes. My 9 half-pint-jar-batch takes about seven minutes. If you’re filling a canner or freezing quart size containers, then it will go closer to 20 minutes.
  7. At this point you can package up your food and freeze, but if you’re going to pressure can, I always use half-pint (aka jelly) jars and can get up to 9 jars in my canner. Follow the manufacturers instructions for your personal pressure canner. Can the pet food at 11 pounds pressure for 15 minutes for half pint; 25 minutes for pint; 35 minutes for quart (for you folx with more pets or large pets, quart size might work best).
  8. Label your food with the ingredients & date and watch your pets gobble it up. Honestly, this is food that humans could eat, too. So, if you don’t label it, no one will be harmed. LOL. Regardless, you know whether man or beast, they are going to dig it. If I’m feeling particularly Witchy, I might put an appropriate sigil on the jar.
  9. When there’s only one jar left, be sure to make another batch. I also set aside one jar to always have in the pantry to bring abundance for my familiars: food, water, shelter, and love. If you do this “cupboard Magic” be sure to rotate the abundance anchor (your extra jar) so that the food doesn’t go bad. That’s some negative energy there. These will last in your cupboard easily for up to six months.

I hope that this helps you amp up your self sufficiency and self reliance, as well as brings a little Magic for your familiars/pets. Also, please join me in the Adopt Don’t Shop philosophy. And please give to your favorite animal advocate nonprofit. The Viking and I support the ASPCA regularly and have been known to gift animal rescue donations in honor of our loved ones.

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments. May this recipe bless you and your pets. Now go snuggle your familiar. 😉