New Peeps Are Here!

I have a young bantam Lavender Ameraucana in my chicken flock.  I had only had her for a few months when she went broody.  We decided to let her have a shot at it.  We saved up the eggs that the three bantam hens were laying and then gave them to her all on the same day when she started to sit.  I watch them VERY closely since I am at home a lot. So I was able to see that she was not down doing her usual grazing in the bottom of the chicken tractor and she was ready for the eggs.  This is a pic of her.  Her name is "Misty", so named by the kids because of her color.  She lays a lovely light blue colored egg.  She is a very docile and sweet hen.

 

This is the nest box where she started out sitting on the eggs we gave her.  The eggs were from the 3 hens that live in "The Egg Hut" with their hut-mate a Silkie Rooster named "Pouf"(his name really should be "Big Sexy" because of his sass and fancy pants attitude!  Lol!) So "Pouf" is the daddy to all the chicks!  All three hens are different breeds.  There is "Misty" the Lavender Am, "Frizz" a white Cochin Frizzle and "Pepper" a Blue Silkie.  So while we do have some mix bred chickens there are also pure bred Silkies.  Mix breeds are fine though for laying eggs for us to eat.  They can actually be very hardy from mixing the different kind of genetics.  Of course they would never be an award winning pure breed, but that isn't our purpose here anyway.  We love our chickens and we love our eggs. 

Since this was "Misty's" first time being a mom I was pretty concerned and watched her very closely.  I have read many stories about hens that just did not follow through on the job.  Hatching takes 21 days for chickens.  The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to move the new mom and nest to a new location for safety reasons.  For one the nesting area where they lay eggs is up on the second floor of the "Egg Hut".  I do NOT believe it would have been safe at all for her hatch babies up there.  Secondly I had no idea how the other hens and rooster would react to the babies.  I didn't want to take a chance on them hurting the chicks.  So late in the incubation we moved her one evening to the greenhouse.  I just gently placed my sweater over top of her, nest box and all. We took her to a large cage that was set up for her in the greenhouse.  We moved her at dusk to lessen any disturbance to the hen.  Hatching began to happen about 8 hrs after we expected it.  Hatching occurred over about a 48 hr period.  9 fuzzy butts in all by the end.  Here is "Misty" with her first 2 hatchlings.  She was still keeping the rest of the eggs nice and warm.

 

All 9 of the babies right after they all got warmed and fluffed up.  The 2 black chicks are Cochin/Silkie. 2 Lavender Am/Silkie and the other 5 are pure Silkie.  I would have not added the Cochin/Silkie eggs to the nest in the beginning if I would have been able to tell the difference between her eggs and the Silkie hens eggs.  But truly they look exactly the same color and shape!  I am glad that we have more pure Silkies than the mixed though. 

 

 

There is nothing like a nice feather pillow after all that hard work getting out of the egg! 

 

Eating 101, Class #1

 

"Cupcake" this is a favorite of my youngest.  She named this little Silkie right away.

 

Serious cuteness!!!!

 

Blue Silkie

 

Lavender Am/Silkie chick.  Beautiful colored feathers just like Mom, coming out already! 

 

Cochin/Silkie chick.  This little guy was last to hatch but made quick work of it once he got started.  I don't know why I am calling it a he......lol.  Only time will tell.

 

"Misty" makes a great heater for the babies to get snuggle up with.

 

 

 A couple days old and they are all doing great, eating and drinking great and are very active.

 

We can't wait to enjoy all these cute little personalities and see how they feather out.  Lots of fun around here.  And thankful for plenty of fresh eggs we get from our hens.  Having backyard chickens is a great tool for teaching kids many lessons about life, sustainable living, responsibility, good animal husbandry and tons of fun enjoying their funny antics and over the top cuteness!  We LOVE our backyard chickens!!! 

Everyone have a great weekend!

Saving Time & Money For Dinner Time!

I love saving $$.  Not only is it a budget necessity for us to shop in a frugal, even tightwad manner......it is an art that can actually be fun.   Every week I look at the grocery sale papers that come in the mail.......for free ;)  I rarely ever spend money to buy a newspaper.  Sometimes there are good deals for me to stock up on, sometimes not.  If there isn't I just buy my basic necessities  and cook with what we have at home from previous shopping trips. 

Recently my local grocery store had onions on sale.  I use onions ALL the time!  So I bought about 12 pounds of onions.  By the time I got to prepping them for the freezer we had already used some so I had about 10lbs of onions that I could put up in the freezer.  This is a GREAT time saver when I am throwing together dinner or even an unexpected dish that needs to be cooking as soon as possible!!  (That actually happened last weekend and I was SO happy to not have to chop onions!)

So this is how I do it.  For starters, I pick a time, when there is TIME to get the job done, start to finish.  Second, if possible, I enlist help.  This last time it was the 2 kids, who were NOT thrilled but ended up being real troopers and pretty amusing in the process.  Then I set up my equipment.  Knives, bowls (1 for garbage, one for parts I save for using in stock and one or more for the chopped onion), cutting boards and my chopper. 

Onions are cleaned, sliced and the slices pressed through the chopper.  They collect in the bottom of the chopper and occasionally dumped into the bowl. 

 

Some people use onion goggles to keep from crying when cutting onions.  I don't have any and besides I wear glasses.  So if I wore onion goggles I wouldn't be able to see anything anyway, lol.  So needless to say as soon as we start this job we start crying.  I can handle it, but these kids.....lol.  They got a fan, opened the door, opened the kitchen window, turned on the exhaust fan over the oven and needed to take frequent breaks going to the door.  It was pretty comical.  Them calling out to one another letting each other know when the other had some of their "job" waiting for them.  We all had a good laugh for sure!!!

 

 

I make my own smaller vac-seal bags by cutting a large one in half and making sure it is sealed on the 3 sides before filling.

 

 

I fill, vac-seal, label with a sharpie then freeze.

 

 

Money saving & time saving.  I also do this with bell peppers as well.  I just pop the pack into the microwave if I am in a super big hurry.  30 seconds softens the package enough to pop them out into the pan. 

 

 

Here is wishing you tear free onion chopping!  And lots of sale prices at stores near you ;)  Happy cooking!

 

Where Is The Mushroom Fairy??!!!

     I have always been fascinated by mushrooms.  Especially as I reached adulthood, their mystic spirit would draw me in whenever I saw them.  They seem so mysterious.  Springing seemingly from nothingness.  Yes, I know about the spores and that they are fungi.  But I prefer to think of it this way.........in the soil or wood lies the magic fairy dust from which mushrooms must spring. 
     I began to go to them whenever I saw them.  Photograph them. Study them.  So much variety and different personalities, size, shape, structure, color, strength, delicacy and length of life.  Some pop up all by their lonesome, strong and solitary.  Some in clusters, some in playful fairy circles. I often wish that one day I would spot one of those fairies that live underneath the umbrella of one of my favorites. 

The delicate, intricate formation is dreamy.  Dew drops cling to the gills like jewels. 

I still am surprised at where they will pop up.  The above pictured tiny mushrooms were SO TINY!!!  They grew in a pot.  The size of the Pine Straw gives a great size comparison.  And even tinier are the small ones that are just erupting form the soil.

When I happen across a HUGE mushroom it is so fun.  A few years back I found this one. I didn't have my camera with me and I was so worried that by the time my schedule let me get back to it would somehow be gone.  Silly!  This was a very firm, big mushroom with nice color variation that the picture does not translate.  I just had to lay my phone on the top to give size comparison.  I seriously doubted anyone would believe how big it was if I told them.

Some are dressed in the softest fuzzy covering that feels like fabric.  Lined up like an audience, watching the paint peel.

Garden Snails adore this kind when they pop up!  Breakfast Buffet!!!

The smell of most of the mushrooms I find are usually not unlike what you may have in your refrigerator.  A rich and earthy scent that reminds me of many a delicious meal.  But taste them I will not! I'm not enticed by the idea of dying a painful, agonizing death by mushroom poison.  I know many are edible.  But I don't know another person who even cares about a mushroom in a field, to do anything but kick it over.  Much less someone who knows which ones are edible. I will stick to observing.

A bright yellow group like this, most certainly seems like it belongs in Wonderland with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

I rarely go "looking" for these beautiful fungi.  But it seems they call my eyes to see them.  My family waits patiently.  I stoop and look.  Snapping pictures this way and that, showing the character that the mushroom fairy has left for us to enjoy.  Some day.  Some day I will happen upon one of those little fairies under a big umbrella mushroom, maybe brushing her hair or mixing up more fairy mushroom dust.  I just hope that it isn't a fairy that makes the poisonous mushrooms.  I hear those little ladies are dangerously sly indeed.

 

Observing mushrooms when I can is a fun and fanciful hobby for me to enjoy.  Observing nature in general and having an imagination are great stress relievers for me.  We all need relief from the stresses of everyday life.  I think God has created a wonderful delightful escape all around us, that is there whenever we need it.  It is there for the taking.  Find yours.

Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

     Gluten Free breads can sometimes be lacking in personality.   Stiff.  Styrofoam.  Brittle.  Dry.   Most of them are light years away from the breads I used to make.  In my search for improvement in texture and flavor I decided to try a gluten free sourdough starter in some of my bread items.  So far I have baked breads, muffins and waffles with great success and much improvements in their "personality" department.
     So I thought I would share the way I got my starter going. 

Gluten Free Starter, fed and bubbling happily

   Sourdough Starter
1/2 teaspoon Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (unpasteurized & unfiltered)
1/2 teaspoon Molasses
1/2 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1 cup Filtered Water
3/4 cup Mom's Favorite Gluten Free Flour Blend
Mix all the ingredients in a glass container, being sure to combine well.  Place in a cupboard, uncovered.  Stir and feed every 12 hours. 

Feeding Starter (every 12 hrs)
1/2 cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
Filtered Water
Stir in GF Flour and just enough water to make a thin pancake batter consistency.

TIPS
1. Don't use regular tap water!  The chlorine will hinder the active dry yeast and the enzymes that are in the Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar.
2. Try to strictly adhere to the 12 hr schedule.  If you cannot, refrigerate your starter.
3.  If you keep your starter in a mason jar like me......don't over fill it thinking that you will "get back to it" before it bubbles over!!!  Pahaha!!!!

OPPS!!!!!! 

4. If you make the mistake in #3......well, just hope you at least remembered to put a plate under the jar :).
5. Use your starter in your recipes when its fed and active.

  Have fun with this starter!  Its easy to make and easy to maintain.  I just substitute part of the liquid in a recipe for the starter.  I have found that it makes a HUGE difference in the flexibility of sliced breads.  It has adds texture and flavor to the recipes I have tried it in. 


A much needed blessing in my GLUTEN FREE world.  Happy experimenting and Happy Baking!!!

A link for Mom's Favorite Gluten Free Flour Blend.......
http://livingthiswayblog.blogspot.com/

Mom's Favorite Gluten Free Flour Blend

    Before being told by my doctor that I should eat gluten free, I was a good baker.  Some would even say fantastic!  A maker of delicious pastries, breads, cinnamon rolls, cookies, cakes........I even made puff pastry and cream puffs.  Delicious!  I was rarely satisfied with just pulling a recipe out of a cook book.  For me that would just be a starting point.  Perfection was always the goal.  Soooo........back to that day with the doctor.  I was at a loss on where to start.  How on earth was I going to make all our favorite foods?!  I browsed through the skimpy assortment of gluten free options at the grocery stores closest to home.  Eh.  I didn't know what to think.  It was like looking at food in an alien grocery store.  (Pick up a package of flour) "What does this do? How does it taste?  How will it behave in cookies?"   Yes, I have a thing for cookies.
      I picked up a couple of kinds of pre-packaged flour blends.  They had bean flour in them, like fava and garbanzo.  BLECK!!!  I like beans, just not in my cookies or pancakes.  I went back to reading again. 

Bob's Red Mill Flours and Starches

     Most of the flour blend recipes that I read had multiple ingredients, including starches.  The wheat flour that I had been using before had a LOT of starch in it!!!  So starches had to be part of the party.  BUT, being the penny pincher that I am I had difficulty getting past the idea that I would have to buy so many ingredients just to make one item for my pantry.  A 5lb bag of regular all purpose wheat flour could be had for $2 bucks if I hit a sale, and then I would buy a couple of bags.  As I priced out the different ingredients for making a gluten free blend the least expensive was $4 for a 20 ounce bag of Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Flour.   I finally had to get past the $$ issue and just go for it.  By the time I crossed that milestone it had been months and months.  I was dying for a good bread that didn't have the texture of syrofoam.
      There were so many options and questions.......and what ingredient would lend what attribute to the blend?  White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Sorghum Flour, Whole Grain Oat Flour, Almond Flour, Corn Flour, Coconut Flour.  I tried making a couple of blends that did not "Wow" me.   They just were not as absorbent as all purpose wheat flour.


Gluten Free Supplies Ready to be Weighed and Mixed.

     My intent with creating a gluten free flour blend was to have a product that I could use in baking, substituting cup for cup.  My aim was minimal tweaking to attain the highest percentage of success if I just switched out the wheat flour for my gluten free alternative.
     I had been avoiding buying the more expensive flours like coconut and almond.  I still have not purchased any almond flour.  But coconut has made itself invaluable to me.  Because of its incredible moisture absorbing capability I became intrigued with the possibility that it could fix all my problems with the blend that I had been using. 


     I looked over my recipe and reworked the numbers.  I liked it.  It just wasn't quite absorbent enough.  So I hoped that adding a small amount of the coconut flour would fix the problem.
      To get the same results every time I mix the recipe time and time again I use a digital kitchen scale.   If I used a measuring cup to measure the different types of flours and starches the results would never be consistent from batch to batch.  I originally used a little inexpensive digital kitchen scale.  BUT since I also use the scale for my soaping I needed to get one that plugs in.  I found this fantastic scale at www.oldwillknottscales.com   The KD 7000 is an awesome scale!  I love it already.  And the service from this company was super fast!  If I ever have to buy another scale or recommend somewhere to get one, that's where its at! 
     So, some things to think about and have ready if you are going to put together a recipe like this.

1. A container to store your mixed flour blend in. 
2. A bowl or container to weigh your flours and starches in.
3. A clean plate, large spoon and wide mouth funnel.
4. Containers to store small extra amounts of flours or starches (Don't forget to label the container).
5. A digital kitchen scale.
6. Scissors to open any new bags of flour and starch.
7. You may want to mix the weighed out flours and starches in a bowl with a whisk.

 

Old Mason Jars for storing extras.

Now for my favorite Recipe........  
Mom's Favorite Gluten Free Flour Blend
600 grams Brown Rice Flour
600 grams White Rice Flour
300 grams Tapioca Flour
200 grams Potato Starch
200 grams Corn Starch
100 grams Coconut Flour


Ingredients Layer into the Jar.

When weighing out your ingredients be sure to tare your scale so you do not include the weight of the container.  Weigh out each ingredient and pour into a very large bowl.  Whisk all the ingredients together to combine thoroughly. 




I sometimes layer the ingredients into my storage jar and shake the jar like crazy.  Not the most efficient way for sure.  A better way is to mix it all in a large bowl with a whisk. 

 I love storing this GF Flour Blend in this old glass jar.  I think it had pickles in it ages ago.  I just love the way it looks on the shelf, filled with a flour that will easily give us cookies, brownies, corn bread, sourdough bread..........................:) You get the idea.    Happy cooking and eating.  Be good to the ones you love, and the ones that love you.  Do something nice for them that they didn't ask you to do.  That is sure to make someone feel special.  Blessings