Brought To You By The Letter P

Today we picked up our pork.  I wrote up a post all about our insane adventure to figure out what size freezer was right for us, but really I can condense it to: we chose a 13.7 cubic ft. freezer on sale (10% off) from Lowes and also got another 10% for G being military making it almost $100 less than it usually is.  Turns out, our pig half was pretty small this go around (83 lbs), so it, along with the 1/4 cow and possibly 1/2 lamb this winter, will all fit in this smaller freezer with room to spare for baked goods, frozen veggies, and casseroles for once Little Miss is here (in 65 days). 

We still have to go early next month to pick up anything smoked/cured, such as our ham and bacon and British bacon, and scrapple too we think (if you don't know what scrapple is, don't look it up, just know it's surprisingly delicious as a breakfast meat).  Today we picked up 4 packages of pork chops (4 in each), 2 packages of spare ribs, 5 packages of sausage, and 2 large pork loin roasts (about 4 - 4.5 lbs. each).  Also included with our order was pig's feet, a package of pork neck bones (great for soup!), and a package of pork fat.  Normally they give you lard, but we requested the fat to render ourselves, so we'll have cracklings and lard for pies! 

We also made homemade chocolate pudding last night.  I whipped up some vanilla bean whipped cream for the top, and it is delicious!  Made a double batch, so we still have plenty for the next day or two.  Next time I'm freezing for pudding pops!

And also P's: potato leek soup, putting things together, and productivity.  We've been super busy cleaning and organizing and smooching!  G got his new play thing: a shop vac which he put together and went to town in our basement (brick walls that are 100 years old leads to brick dust...we're looking at ways to seal it).

Overall I've just been super happy lately, we haven't fought, and instead seem to really be recognizing that together is better than apart by far!