Green leafies are hard to come by

Boats typically don’t have great refrigerators. So even if you can get your hands on green leafy vegetables, and you store them in the Misses Debbie green bags which extend life, you just run out. So what do you do? First, you read the classic “Sailing the Farm: A Survival Guide to Homesteading on the Ocean”. Then you go to work.

Quite some time ago, I turned to microgreens in either coconut coir or dirt, thanks to foodie Karen on Life in the Boat (S/V Snowcat 2). Then, I was given this wonderful Kitchen Crop sprouter thanks to a recent Shelter Bay Marina sailor swap meet. Finally, I planted local herbs plants. When herbs are in abundance, we grind them up, pack them in olive oil, and freeze them in ice cube trays. Same for beets, garlic, lemons (who’d of thought they were hard to find in Panama), and ginger.

Lesson learned though: sprouting with old seeds makes smelly, moldy mess. I sourced new ones from The Sprout House, and voila, look how nice our two day old mix is doing.

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Good fresh bread is hard to come by

Recently, we acquired a used bread machine from Dan and Lori (sv Bebe). Who would think that we would find a 220 volt, 50 hertz machine in Panama where that follow the US standard.

Last year, Don made bread both rising in the refrigerator per Dana (sv Corsair) and outside refrigeration John (sv Floater). Check out his sourdough bread made from mother starter given to us from Gemma (sv Moira), and then a simple loaf from Tracy’s recipe on (sv Leilani).

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Homemade yogurt and kefir

Some of the same culprits started us on homemade yogurt (sv Bebe) and kefir (sv Moira). as a result, I finally broke down and inquired some glass jars for the boat. Prior to that we had and no glass rule, but then somehow Pyrex, and s year later, Correlle, snuck their way onto the boat. Unfortunately you can’t make good yogurt out of boxed almond milk, so I have to go find some goats to milk.

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We are official beans and rice sailors

It is so much easier to make beans in a pressure cooker after you soaked them overnight with baking soda to help stop the gas, thanks to our very own Chef Tali @tastytalitreats. Sometimes all it takes is 3 to max 30 minutes and you’re done.

Creative popcorn make little friends at Sunday potlucks

With Sunday potlucks, bringing pressure cooker popcorn with multiple flavors (we’ve done chocolate and peanut butter, Indian turmeric, nuts and raisins, caramel, and cheese), and savory bean dishes, we made a name for ourselves with the kids.

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