Other Things...

I've noticed several other blogs have posted pictures of their fresh eggs so I thought I would jump on the egg wagon. Here is a bowl full of my beautiful eggs. The bummer is the color doesn't come thru in the pic. The whitish looking ones are really a beautiful green.Here they are cartoned up and ready to sellAnd just for fun (and to show how much nicer they are than store eggs) here is a pic of the yolks. See how bright orange they are? No pale face eggs here!

I read an article in Mother Earth News where they analyzed the nutrient content of free range versus confined eggs. It was amazing. The free range eggs were so much healthier for you. I kept my hens penned for years (a big pen but still a pen) but now that they can roam where ever & when ever they want they are so much happier & we get so many more eggs. Even right now, with snow on the ground they are dark and tasty and plentiful.

Just makes you want an omelet doesn't it?

Cadbury Eggs

Cadbury eggs are one of our all time favorites candies. The entire family adores these. We have spent major money on these over the years. One year my husband bought an entire box. Not the little boxes they sell to customers but the BIG box that they come to the store in. It had like 50 eggs in it. That was a good year   Recently we made the discovery of the recipe for these fabulous candies. Oh happy day! So today we made homemade Cadbury Eggs. MMMMMgood. Shall I share it with you? Say pretty please......okay!

1/2 c light corn syrup

1/4 c butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

3 c powdered sugar

 1 12 oz bag milk choc chips

1. Combine corn syrup, butter, vanilla, &salt. Beat until smooth.

2. add powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Mix until creamy.

Now, is where in the recipe you are supposed to seperate out the filling & color some yellow to be the yolk & leave some white to be the whites but we skip this step. It tastes just as yummy without all the fuss.

4. Cover mixture & refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

5. When firm roll mixture into balls & shape like egg. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until firm.

6. Microwave chocolate chips on high for 1 minute, stir & microwave again for 30 sec.

7. Use a fork to dip each center into the chocolate, tap off excess, then place on wax paper. Chill.

8. After 1-2 hours dip each once more & chill until firm

Makes 2 doz candy eggs

Candy centers rolled & ready for dipping.

Dipping the centers.

The finished product.

Happy candy maker.

We found the recipe on TopSecretRecipes.com.

Enjoy!

Yogurt, Bread and Movies

Today is my sisters 44 th birthday. How did we get to be so old? It boggles my mind. I am 40 yrs old. I have a husband and 4 children. We own a farm. We own a vehicle. We pay taxes. When did all that happen? Some days I feel like such a fraud. I can't be responsible for all these kids. I can't run a farm. I'm just a kid myself. I don't know how to do any of this. I'm not an adult. There has been a mistake. Do any of y'all know what I mean? How DOES this happen? I have no idea.

We don't get any TV channels, we just have movies. A few months ago we discovered our library has a great selection of DVDs and videos. Last week we found a fabulous assortment. We tend toward the classics (anything with Cary Grant HAS to be good right?) No Cary Grants this week but we got Gone with the Wind, National Velvet, My Friend Flicka, Christy, The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Light in the Forest, and my daughter got an Arthur.

It has been fun watching them with the kids. We haven't watched Gone with the Wind yet. We are waiting for Daddy to get home so we can watch it together.  It's good timing for it as we are doing a study on the Civil War. "Frankly my dear, I don't give a d*mn."

Today I  made some zucchini-carrot bread. I posted the recipe a while back. It came out kind of dry but still yummy

I also made yogurt. I usually make strawberry but today I used some of the blackberries we picked & froze last summer. I used Xylitol to sweeten it. I've done some researching on Xylitol & it is supposed to be very good for your teeth. Strengthens them & prevents decay. So I have been incorporating it into a few things trying to build up the kids teeth. The yogurt came out especially yummy

I also started a batch of vanilla yogurt. I haven't made that before so we'll see what happens. I use a Yogotherm yogurt maker. It is non-electric. Essentially it is a plastic bucket which fits into a styrofoam canister. Pretty low tech. Like me. This is my method:

I heat 2 quarts of milk to between 95 & 115 degrees. Then I stir in the starter. Cows milk takes more starter than goats milk. Cows milk takes 4 tbsp. Goat takes 2 tsp. I use yogurt from the last batch as starter if I remember to keep it. If not or if it is old, I use organic store bought yogurt as starter. Thin the starter with a little milk & mix it well. Somehow or other, incubate the yogurt for 6-12 hours. You can use it plain like this in a number of ways but what we like is to put it in the blender and add a little sweetener---honey, sugar, xylitol etc---vanilla, fruit and blend it into a yummy drinkable yogurt. I pour it into pint jars and it is soooo good and  good for you. It makes a healthy, quick , grab & go breakfast this way. When my husband worked locally and packed a lunch he always took a pint everyday. He would accuse me of neglecting him if I didn't pack it.

Well I've rambled on enough. I will leave you with a pic of my little man enjoying the melting snow. Have a blessed day.

Eclipse

Did you all watch the eclipse last week? We did and it was awesome. The kids and I looked up what an eclipse was and how they happen and what they look like. That was our science for the day. That night my husband was in town and he could see the moon before we could. He called to ask if we could see it yet but it hadn't risen over the hill in front of us. He said you could already see the eclipse starting so we were pretty anxious. I kept bundling up the baby and taking him out to look. The kids were finishing up the chores and watching anxiously. Finally we could see the glow behind the hill and slowly, slowly, slowly the moon came up with the bottom already blacked out. It was pretty cold out, maybe in the teens, so we kept going in and out to watch. We could see from the window but not as clearly. I tried to take some pictures but the zoom on my camera wasn't strong enough. The moon was just a tiny dot! I did get some footage with the video camera. I went out maybe every 15 minutes and filmed the progress. The kids were so excited and we had so much fun watching as a family. And what a wonderful opportunity to talk about the glories of our creator. It was just such an awesome chance to learn.

Cookie Recipe

Someone requested that I post the recipe for the oatmeal cookies we made the other day. Happy to oblige! I think this is the recipe that comes on the box of Quaker Oats or at least it did 25 years ago .

Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. shortening (or veg. oil)

1c. brown sugar

1/2c. sugar

1 egg

1/4c. water

1tsp. vanilla

1c. flour

1tsp.salt

1/2tsp baking soda

3c. oats

Beat shortening, sugars, egg, water & vanilla until creamy. Add dry ingredients & blend well. Stir in oats.

Bake 350 for 12-15 min.

Garden Musings

I got a Gurneys Catalog in the mail this weekend. We topped out in the low 30's today and we still have almost 2 feet of snow on the ground but Boy! those catalogs get you thinking. I went through with my black sharpie circling my hearts desires. I do this every year and tell myself this is the year I'm really going to order. But then it seems I can never quite justify spending the money. Maybe this year will be the one. I circled a peach tree, an apricot tree, a Fuji apple tree, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and asparagus. I even asked my husband for permission to order and he said "Yes". So we'll see. As soon as we can work in the garden we (and by "we" I mean "me") are going to build raised beds. I want to go totally raised beds this year. I have drawn up several diagrams of how I want it laid out, what I want to plant and where. I am excited about the raised beds. They will cut down on the weeds and allow me to make them into mini hoop-houses. I'm hoping that will extend our very short (90 days if we're lucky) growing season. I also have plans for a small greenhouse. I'm hoping to put the tomatoes and peppers in the green house and really improve our yields. We'll see how it goes . Since gardening is on my mind I think I will share some pics of last years garden.

Pumpkins in the foreground and tomatoes in the back.

Sunflowers

Big pumpkin.

Green beans trellis and artichoke in foreground.

I  can't wait until I have pictures of this years garden!

DVD Contest

Chas is having a giveaway on her blog. She is giving away 2 of the Love Comes Softly DVDs. Check it out at her Blog:

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/profiles/Chas/

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day. My daughter baked and decorated sugar cookies today. (with a little help) She is becoming quite the baker. My husband is gone and my 18 mth old started out the day by throwing up all over me. Not my best Valentines!    Hope yours is better!

How to cook more with less

I was looking at the contest urbanhome  has on her blog. She is looking for examples of how we can cook more meals using less food. I haven't entered the contest but it got me thinking. The easiest way I know to do this is to get at least 3 meals from every large cut of meat you cook.  And no this does not mean endless nights of left-overs. Here is a sample of what we do at our house.

Day 1: Bake a ham. Have ham, potatoes and veggies for dinner.

Day 2: Make omelet with chopped ham, cheese and veggies.

Day 3: Boil down ham bone, soak dried beans to make ham & bean soup.

With us we usually have plenty of ham for sandwiches as well. By using the bone you make a healthy delicious meal out of something that is usually thrown away. You can do this with almost any meat. Chicken bones can be boiled down to make stock which can be used in any number of recipes. I like to cook roasts in the crockpot. After I remove the roast I add water to the drippings and whatever meat scraps are left from the roast. Add some spices and veggies and you have easy, yummy soup. Again from what you would normally throw away. I think in this country we have so much we don't think about how to use less. My husband and I have learned how to be very frugal over the years so that we could eat well without spending a lot. Which is good because we don't usually have a lot to spend. So how do you cook more with less?

Oatmeal Cookies

I made oatmeal cookies today, at the request of my 11 year old. I hated these cookies when I was growing up. My mother used to bake them. They were the only cookies she made. She would drop these huge clumps all over the pan and burn the bottoms black. Black. They were yucky.

One day when I was a teen, I made these cookies as a treat for my mom. Being the obsessive/compulsive, anal neatnik that I am, I dropped them in small round spoonfuls in straight, even rows on the cookie sheet. I baked them at the proper temperature for the prescribed amount of time. They came out soft, chewy, golden brown and GOOD. Go figure.

Plowing the driveway

After our big storm we had to hire someone to plow our driveway. We couldn't get our cars out and eventually we knew we would have to

I thought I would share a few more pics. Here is one of our little man watching the backhoe from the window

And here is the backhoeIn this pic the backhoe is right over where I found the first piece of my cell phone

I'm such a dork.

Cross country skiing

We rented cross country skis last week. It was a great deal, $45 for skis, boots, and poles for the whole family. We have so much snow we were able to just go into the fields surrounding our house. Just walk out the door and ski. How cool is that? My husband is the only one who had skied before but we all picked it up really fast.  It was SO much fun. The kids liked it much better than snow shoeing but I like them both. Here is a pic of our skis lined up outside:Here are the kids:And here is me:We had so much fun. The kids and I skied all the way to the tree line in the background. Once there we skied along and found 4 sets of coyote tracks, 2 sets of raccoon, deer and mouse tracks. We are so blessed to live here. It is amazing to me how beautiful this world is, even in it's fallen state. What must it have been like when it was perfect?

Zucchini & Carrots

Last summer I froze several bags of grated zucchini and carrots. I initially did it for bread but I have since discovered that it is fabulous in soups and stews. I put it up in 2 cup batches in quart size freezer bags. The really nice thing about this is how easy it is to put up. Just wash, peel(zucchini) grate and freeze. No slicing or blanching necessary. My 10 yr old put up bunches by himself.

The great thing about this is, in August everyone is "zucchinied" out. But by Christmas time it's sounding pretty good again. You just reach into the freezer, pull out a bag, thaw, drain and pull out your favorite recipe. My bread calls for 2 cups so I freeze 2 cups to a bag. I like to mix the carrot and zucchini. My big discovery this winter is how good this is in soup. Just dump a bag in when you are making you soup or stew and it adds great flavor. This is a wonderful way to sneak more veggies into a recipe. Especially if you have family members who are not big on squash (me! me!). Here is a nice soup recipe & my Zucchini Bread recipe.

Chicken Soup

Boil down 1 chicken in large stock pot(this can be a whole chicken or the carcass leftover from a baked or broiled bird) I usually boil it all day, sometimes overnight. Let cool, strain broth into a large bowl or pot, pick through meat removing all bones and any gristle, skin or yucky stuff. Add good meat back into broth. Transfer back to large stock pot.

Add grated, sliced or chopped veggies:

carrots

zucchini

potatoes

green  beans

broccoli

Celery

Any veggie you have on hand & your family will eat.

1 chopped onion

Sea salt, pepper, garlic to taste

You can also add dried peas, barley or lentils

Add it all into the broth and simmer several hours until everything is cooked .

If you want to add rice or noodles wait unitl the last 20 minutes or it will be mushy.

 

Zucchini  Bread

3 eggs                                                                                         

3 tsp Vanilla

Veg. oil        

2c sugar   

2c. grated zucchini(or 1c zucchini & 1c carrots)                                                            

 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

 3 tsp. cinnamon

 1 tsp. sea salt

3 1/2 c flour( 1/2 whole wheat 1/2 white works well)       

  1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Mix all ingredients in one bowl. Pour into 2 greased & floured bread pans. Bake @ 375 for 1 hour 10 min.

This is a simple way to preserve your (over abundant) zucchini crop.

Man of the Year

Okay, my husband is officially the best husband in the world. Why you ask? Listen to this:

I hadn't seen my cell phone for several days. This is a fairly common occurance and we weren't too concerned. We thought it was in the car or at the bottom of the diaper bag or somewhere. Yesterday I had to get something out of the car. As I turned to shut the door I noticed something metallic in the ice next to the tire. I proceeded to chip half of my cell phone out of the ice. My crushed, mangled, barely recognizable cell phone. Oh boy. It must have fallen out of the car and been run over by the backhoe when we had our driveway plowed. Here is where I should say this was not the cheapo "free" phone that comes with your contract. This was a fairly expensive, flip phone with a camera(I don't know why he ever bought it for me) that I have had less than a year. I walked into the house, held out my hand and closed my eyes. My husband took what was left of my phone out of my hand,  looked it over, handed it back to me and shrugged.

"Oh well," he said.

Now I ask you, is he the best husband in the world ? That's what I thought.

P.S. I found another piece in the ice out by the gate. 150 feet from where I found the first one. Maybe I'll find the rest come spring.

After the Storm

I thought I would post some shots of our snow. We added about a foot of snow in the last few days. With the wind we had it has blown and drifted all over. Some drifts are over the top of our 4 foot fence. We are completely snowed in. (and perfectly happy about it )

Here is my suburban.

This is my husbands truck.In the center of the picture, under that big drift of snow is a full size wheelbarrow. It is completely buried.

Notice the drifts are almost as high the pony.Happy cows have barns.

Winter

This is the snowiest winter we've had. We have lived here for 6 years and this is by far the most snow. It has snowed almost non-stop for the past 3 days. I love it. It is perfect weather for hiding inside and reading or watching a movie (or catching up on your blog).

The frost-free faucet was left on in the cow barn and it froze(bad children). My brilliant husband used a propane torch to thaw the pipe and we now have water in the barn again. Yay!

We are weaning our huge calf and I will have to milk twice a day until Tuesday. The auction is on Tuesdays and hopefully we can buy a day-old calf to put on her. My husband will be home most of the week so this is a good time to do it. My cow is pretty good about taking  foster babies. It takes 3 days of the calf drinking her milk to take on her scent.  For those first 3 days we pen her and bring the calf to nurse several times a day. After the third day, the calf has her scent and she will accept it without our help. From that point I can go back to milking once a day.

I had to laugh at our ordeal in trying to move the big calf. We wanted to put her in the pen with the other calf we are raising to butcher. Well, we have 2 feet of snow on the ground and the fence panels are frozen to the ground underneath that snow. We tugged and pulled, and pulled and tugged to no avail. The wind was blowing the hard little snow flakes into our face and we were frozen. My husband disappears and comes back  with his chain saw! He chain sawed through 1 of the wooden panels making an instant gate. I was not happy at the destruction of my panel but now I can only laugh. Does that make us rednecks, oakies or just plain strange? Oh well, at least the calves can get into the barn now.

We had planned to go into town and check out the Bull Sale today but the weather is just too nasty. We didn't even go to Bible study this week. (which could be pretty bad since my husband leads it  but they were showing a video so we were safe.)  I hope it mellows out some for church tomorrow. Going out to feed in my insulated cover-alls is one thing but going to church in a dress  through the snowy blowy semi-blizzard does NOT sound fun.

If we get a sunny day we are planning to rent cross-country skis and give that a whirl. I let you know how it goes.