Yesterday we had our vet come out to the homestead to take a look at Brown Cow. Nothing was wrong but Rosie wanted to have her checked out to see how Cow is doing with her pregnancy.
For some reason Cow is in utter dread of the Vet, but she has only seen him twice now. Normally Cow is very docile, we bring her food and she just stands there while we milk her, check her for wounds and do a few other "cow maintenance" things. We never have problems with cow running way, shying from the milker, or any of the other problems we hear other cow owners have with their animals. We consider ourselves very lucky to have such a well behaved cow. But when the vet walks onto the property Cow flips out, a lot. When she sees the vet she starts to become very alarmed, to the point of running and kicking and jumping. And when you have a 850 lb cow trying to jump away from you and kick everything in site, you are going to have a bad day. I really don't understand where her dislike comes from, the Vet is a nice man and has always been gentile to Cow (He has only seen her twice!)but she has it in her head that he is some sort of Cow torturing monster. The First time the Vet came out Cow actually hurt herself while trying to get away from him, the second time I knew better and had her stoutly secured before he came outside.
In any case Cow is about 5 months pregnant (9-10 months gestation) and seems to be in very good health. So all is well. It looks like we can be expecting a calf sometime in the Spring. If the calf is a female we will most likely try and sell her, if the calf is a male we will see about fattening him for a year and then give him a "retirement party".
In case anyone in our neck of the woods needs a farm animal Vet we would recommend "The Large Animal Practice" based in Los Osos. A good Vet who is very reasonable priced, and does not mind dealing with the occasional neurotic cow.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Shortbread
I am a fan of stoneware. I use it all the time for baking and all my stoneware is black from use. With this in mind Jed and Ivan got me a shortbread stone pan for Christmas. I Squeed.
Here is the image of the pan shortly after curing.
It takes a half of a recipe so I'll include the honey version we tried out today.
Shortbread recipe:
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/4 cup honey (you can do a little less if you don't want it too sweet)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour sifted
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl mix your honey into the softened butter. Once completely incorporated add the vanilla and mix well. Once it is all mixed then start sifting flour into the butter mixture a half cup at a time. Mix well. Once it is done press firmly into your shortbread pan or roll out on a floured surface and use cookie cutters or molds.
Using a fork stab the shortbread. Bake for 35 minutes or until slightly golden. Once the shortbread is done remove your pan from the oven and let the shortbread rest in the mold/pan for 10 minutes. Flip your shortbread onto a surface you can cut on and cut our your shortbread while still warm. Let cool to get the maximum crumble. Enjoy!
Here is the image of the pan shortly after curing.
It takes a half of a recipe so I'll include the honey version we tried out today.
Shortbread recipe:
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/4 cup honey (you can do a little less if you don't want it too sweet)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour sifted
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl mix your honey into the softened butter. Once completely incorporated add the vanilla and mix well. Once it is all mixed then start sifting flour into the butter mixture a half cup at a time. Mix well. Once it is done press firmly into your shortbread pan or roll out on a floured surface and use cookie cutters or molds.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Recipes from the farm: Lentil Soup
To go along with Rosie's cooking at work posts I wanted to start posting about the food we eat on a regular basis here on the homestead. The "Recipes from the farm" will be food that we and our helpers eat here on a normal day; nothing too fancy or off beat, just the normal meals we make from what we produce and serve at our table.
Tonight's post will be Lentil Soup, a "lazy food" we just throw in a pot to feed a lot of people without much work.
1-3 lbs of pork (ham/belly/shank/bacon/stew meat, whatever you have)
3 carrots
1-2 onions
3+ cloves of garlic
8 or so cups of water
2 cups of lentils
2-4 potatoes
some balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
Olive oil or lard
Start by lightly brown the pork in the bottom of a cast iron pot (or other heavy bottomed pot) with some oil/lard. Once the meat it lightly browned, add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook over high heat for about 5 min. Pour in the water then add the lentils and potatoes (if you have some extra sausage from breakfast you can add that as well). Let it simmer for about 45 min then add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving pour about 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into the pot and stir. Then ladle into bowls and serve with some fresh bread (Holly frequently provides fresh bread for dinner on our "crafting" nights).
This is the kind of soup that you can add whatever you have on hand to and it will probably work out pretty well. Also we will adjust the amounts of everything depending on what we have on hand, some times no potatoes on ready so we skip them or maybe substitute turnips, maybe add some celery or some bell pepper, really you can add or remove just about any anything.
Tonight's post will be Lentil Soup, a "lazy food" we just throw in a pot to feed a lot of people without much work.
1-3 lbs of pork (ham/belly/shank/bacon/stew meat, whatever you have)
3 carrots
1-2 onions
3+ cloves of garlic
8 or so cups of water
2 cups of lentils
2-4 potatoes
some balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
Olive oil or lard
Start by lightly brown the pork in the bottom of a cast iron pot (or other heavy bottomed pot) with some oil/lard. Once the meat it lightly browned, add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook over high heat for about 5 min. Pour in the water then add the lentils and potatoes (if you have some extra sausage from breakfast you can add that as well). Let it simmer for about 45 min then add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving pour about 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into the pot and stir. Then ladle into bowls and serve with some fresh bread (Holly frequently provides fresh bread for dinner on our "crafting" nights).
This is the kind of soup that you can add whatever you have on hand to and it will probably work out pretty well. Also we will adjust the amounts of everything depending on what we have on hand, some times no potatoes on ready so we skip them or maybe substitute turnips, maybe add some celery or some bell pepper, really you can add or remove just about any anything.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Frost!
Here are some images from my mornings. All I can say about my evenings is that if I'm not careful to place fabric between my hand and the metal handle of the wagon then my hand freezes to it. I'm glad none of the animals are showing any sign of frost bite and that they all seem to do well in the cold.
The top image is of a frozen puddle in the back yard, followed by an image of ZooZoo's back covered in frost, then an image of a rooster with frost on his back, and lastly what the windshield looked like after 10 minutes with the defroster on full blast.
The Lunch Hour - Elephant Ears
Today I debated making some main dishes in the toaster oven rather than just baked goods, but then I saw a recipe for elephant ears and decided to try that instead. (On a side note, I still plan on making some red enchilladas and maybe some rigatone in the toaster oven at work; they are both simple, fast recipes that can cook within the time limit of an hour including prep time.)
The recipe I saw was in a holiday book and it called for puff pastry so I decided to make my own. I'll include the recipe using puffed pastry for those who would like to take that route as well.
Book recipe (what I recall): Thaw out puffed pastry. Lay out in sheets. Sprinkle sheets with sugar and some butter. Roll up opposite sides so that they meet in the middle. Cut out into pieces. Place on sheet and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Let cool and then dip them in chocolate.
As some of you may recall, I don't do well with sugar or things containing sugar so I decided to make a Rosie version instead so that I would be able to eat the pastries as well.
Rosie version:
1 stick of cold butter (1/2 cup) cut into flakes
2 cups of flour
a pinch of baking powder
Some milk
Honey
Cinnamon
Pre-heat toaster oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cut butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives. Once it is all crumbly add a bit of cold milk to the flour and mix with a fork. Add milk until your crumbles are about the size of small marbles. Making sure that your hands aren't too warm, use the palm of your hand or your knuckles to press the dough down. Once it is all one mass, fold the mass in half keeping the side with unincorporated flour on the inside. Knuckle that down again and then fold using the same process. You will do this until all of the flour is incorporated, taking care to not let the dough get too warm of else you'll end up with a rock hard dough that crumbles.
Cut your dough in half and place the half you are not immediately using in the fridge until you are ready to use it. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough so that you end up with one side longer than the other, roughly the size of a sheet of paper. Drizzle honey onto your dough and then sprinkle with cinnamon. My suggestion for the quantity of honey is enough so that when you roll the sides it will all contain some and enough cinnamon to lightly dust the entire surface. Roll up the long sides until they meet at the center. Cut the rolled dough into 1/4 inch thick rolls. (I left a few pieces thicker and it turned into a flaky cinnamon roll.) Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are fluffy and slightly brown.
Once they are done let them cool and they will acquire an extra crunchiness that is associated with this treat. Enjoy!
I had extra dough left over from today's treats so I brought home to make for dessert. The pot in the background also has candied milk. =)
The recipe I saw was in a holiday book and it called for puff pastry so I decided to make my own. I'll include the recipe using puffed pastry for those who would like to take that route as well.
Book recipe (what I recall): Thaw out puffed pastry. Lay out in sheets. Sprinkle sheets with sugar and some butter. Roll up opposite sides so that they meet in the middle. Cut out into pieces. Place on sheet and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Let cool and then dip them in chocolate.
As some of you may recall, I don't do well with sugar or things containing sugar so I decided to make a Rosie version instead so that I would be able to eat the pastries as well.
Rosie version:
1 stick of cold butter (1/2 cup) cut into flakes
2 cups of flour
a pinch of baking powder
Some milk
Honey
Cinnamon
Pre-heat toaster oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cut butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives. Once it is all crumbly add a bit of cold milk to the flour and mix with a fork. Add milk until your crumbles are about the size of small marbles. Making sure that your hands aren't too warm, use the palm of your hand or your knuckles to press the dough down. Once it is all one mass, fold the mass in half keeping the side with unincorporated flour on the inside. Knuckle that down again and then fold using the same process. You will do this until all of the flour is incorporated, taking care to not let the dough get too warm of else you'll end up with a rock hard dough that crumbles.
Cut your dough in half and place the half you are not immediately using in the fridge until you are ready to use it. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough so that you end up with one side longer than the other, roughly the size of a sheet of paper. Drizzle honey onto your dough and then sprinkle with cinnamon. My suggestion for the quantity of honey is enough so that when you roll the sides it will all contain some and enough cinnamon to lightly dust the entire surface. Roll up the long sides until they meet at the center. Cut the rolled dough into 1/4 inch thick rolls. (I left a few pieces thicker and it turned into a flaky cinnamon roll.) Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are fluffy and slightly brown.
Once they are done let them cool and they will acquire an extra crunchiness that is associated with this treat. Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The Lunch Hour: Apple Crisp
This is one of those treats that you can do during your break and have the smell fill up the whole office. Our little toaster oven has a pan so I just fill up the pan.
Preheat toaster oven to 350 degrees F
Ingredients:
Preheat toaster oven to 350 degrees F
Ingredients:
4-5 apples peeled, cored, and sliced somewhat thinly
1/2 cup honey
dash of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg
For the crisp part on top:
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup cold butter sliced thinly
1 1/2 cup of flour for a crumbly crumble
To modify it to your baking needs:
Place apples in your dish, sprinkle with spices, and cover with enough honey that you can see a little bit of honey at the bottom. Make sure honey covers all slices by moving pieces around with a fork. Make sure that your apples fill about 3/4 of your pan so that there is enough space for your crisp part on top.
For the crisp part on top, place the honey on the thinly sliced cold butter, and cover both with flour. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour. Make sure the crumble part is actually crumbly. If needed add more flour to give it that desired texture. Once crumbly place on top of your apples in your dish. Make sure all apples are covered.
Put into toaster oven for about 20-25 minutes. Check on it every once in a while. Our toaster in the office has a tendency to slightly burn the center part of the crisp. It will be done when some of the apple/honey juices are bubbling on the sides of the crisp.
One of these days I'll actually bring a camera to take pictures of the items I bake at work.
Once done bring out and let cool. You'll have a long line of people waiting to eat the cobbler/crisp, just remind them to bring their own plates.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Soap Recipes - Basic
I couldn't find my recipes the other day and I told myself that it would be nice if I had them on the blog to refer to in the future or if I lost my papers with my recipes and experiment notes.
Basic Soap Recipe
Equipment you'll need:
Non reactive bowls such as plastic or stainless steel (any metal will get hot so be careful)
Scale to weigh out ingredients
Whisk (or electric hand blender)
Mold
Instant Read Thermometer
These fats are either lard, tallow, or olive oil. If using other oils please refer to a soap calculator to determine the water/lye quantity that you will need.
16 oz fat
2 oz lye (sodium hydroxide)
5 oz water
Most recipes I've found also include coconut oil, palm oil, and other oils or scents... None of that is necessary. A good soap can be made with really simple ingredients. If you wish to spice it up you can infuse your oils with herbs to get some of the smells and natural oils present in the soap, especially if you super fatten your soap (add up to an additional 5% fat to smoothen the soap and the add the qualities of the plant oils to your soap).
Steps for cold process soap:
1) Heat oil to about 130 degrees F.
2) Using gloves and goggles, pour the lye into the water (make sure that you are in a well ventilated area and the the water container can withstand high heat and does not interact with the material of the container. Do not use aluminum, use plastic if possible as your glass containers will break with the heat and then you'll have lye water all over your floor... with shards of glass.) Leave until it reaches 130 degrees F.
3) Pour lye solution into the fats and stir.
4) Sponification is happening. Stir until you can lift your whisk and it leaves a trail (trace).
5) Pour into mold.
6) Leave for 24-48 hours.
7) Cut bars or pop from mold.
8) Place somewhere dark and well ventilated.
9) Let cure for 4-8 weeks (or more)
10) Use your awesome soap.
Note: If you use a hand blender your stirring/whisking time will be cut down to seconds instead of whisking for hours.
Basic Soap Recipe
Equipment you'll need:
Non reactive bowls such as plastic or stainless steel (any metal will get hot so be careful)
Scale to weigh out ingredients
Whisk (or electric hand blender)
Mold
Instant Read Thermometer
These fats are either lard, tallow, or olive oil. If using other oils please refer to a soap calculator to determine the water/lye quantity that you will need.
16 oz fat
2 oz lye (sodium hydroxide)
5 oz water
Most recipes I've found also include coconut oil, palm oil, and other oils or scents... None of that is necessary. A good soap can be made with really simple ingredients. If you wish to spice it up you can infuse your oils with herbs to get some of the smells and natural oils present in the soap, especially if you super fatten your soap (add up to an additional 5% fat to smoothen the soap and the add the qualities of the plant oils to your soap).
Steps for cold process soap:
1) Heat oil to about 130 degrees F.
2) Using gloves and goggles, pour the lye into the water (make sure that you are in a well ventilated area and the the water container can withstand high heat and does not interact with the material of the container. Do not use aluminum, use plastic if possible as your glass containers will break with the heat and then you'll have lye water all over your floor... with shards of glass.) Leave until it reaches 130 degrees F.
3) Pour lye solution into the fats and stir.
4) Sponification is happening. Stir until you can lift your whisk and it leaves a trail (trace).
5) Pour into mold.
6) Leave for 24-48 hours.
7) Cut bars or pop from mold.
8) Place somewhere dark and well ventilated.
9) Let cure for 4-8 weeks (or more)
10) Use your awesome soap.
Note: If you use a hand blender your stirring/whisking time will be cut down to seconds instead of whisking for hours.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The Lunch Hour - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
There is nothing easier to make in a toaster oven than grilled cheese sandwiches. I was spoiled today as I was able to use Farmer Bill sourdough bread and some home cheese. The result was an awesome grilled cheese sandwich that I ate with home canned tomato soup. Just the perfect thing to eat for a fast lunch with minimal prep and cook time.
I've also tried to change things up a bit. Wheat with Dubliner, or rye with a Manchego, both were delicious but I'll keep trying different combinations to see what works best and what gives me that perfect goey deliciousness that offsets the sweetness of the tomato soup. If you have any good combinations please let me know so that I can try it out at work.
And for the feeling of a recipe:
Ingredients:
A few slices of bread
A few slices of cheese
Place the cheese between the slices of bread. Toast in the toaster oven for five minutes on Toast or until the bread is slightly toasted and the cheese has melted. Ta-da!
I've also tried to change things up a bit. Wheat with Dubliner, or rye with a Manchego, both were delicious but I'll keep trying different combinations to see what works best and what gives me that perfect goey deliciousness that offsets the sweetness of the tomato soup. If you have any good combinations please let me know so that I can try it out at work.
And for the feeling of a recipe:
Ingredients:
A few slices of bread
A few slices of cheese
Place the cheese between the slices of bread. Toast in the toaster oven for five minutes on Toast or until the bread is slightly toasted and the cheese has melted. Ta-da!
Monday, December 10, 2012
The Lunch Hour - Coconut chocolates
I've recently acquired a job, which you can probably surmise from the lack of posts. One thing I discovered is that you can bake almost anything in one of those little toaster ovens. Not to mention all the things you can do with an hour of your time and the right ingredients. And as such I'm starting a new series: The Lunch Hour - in which I'll post all the recipes from things I've made at work in the office. If you only have a half hour, just prepare some of the batches at home and bake at work. You'll find it amazing.
For the first installment I'll add what I made at work today, which coincidentally does not include baking at all. To gear up for the holidays I thought I'd create a few chocolates for Jed. Today's choice: Chocolate covered coconut balls (like the chocolate bars called Mounds)
Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter - softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 cups sweetened coconut
1 bag semi-sweet chocolates (Ghirardelli's)
In a large bowl mix the butter, vanilla, sugar, and coconut. Roll out little balls onto parchment paper. Once all the balls are done let cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Melt your chocolate in a bowl (it took about 1 1/2 min for about 1 1/2 cup of chocolate chips - the chips don't look melted but they will once you start stirring with a fork). Drop the balls in and place them back on the parchment paper. I ended up with close to 50 chocolates from this recipe. Place back into the fridge for 5 minutes to help the chocolate harden.
Try experimenting with coconut types and with chocolate types. I made the batter and balls, then ate my lunch, melted the chocolate and dipped them , and finished off by washing my dishes while the chocolates cooled. And just like that you can make your co-workers hate you for making their run time obsolete. Enjoy!!
For the first installment I'll add what I made at work today, which coincidentally does not include baking at all. To gear up for the holidays I thought I'd create a few chocolates for Jed. Today's choice: Chocolate covered coconut balls (like the chocolate bars called Mounds)
Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter - softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 cups sweetened coconut
1 bag semi-sweet chocolates (Ghirardelli's)
In a large bowl mix the butter, vanilla, sugar, and coconut. Roll out little balls onto parchment paper. Once all the balls are done let cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Melt your chocolate in a bowl (it took about 1 1/2 min for about 1 1/2 cup of chocolate chips - the chips don't look melted but they will once you start stirring with a fork). Drop the balls in and place them back on the parchment paper. I ended up with close to 50 chocolates from this recipe. Place back into the fridge for 5 minutes to help the chocolate harden.
Try experimenting with coconut types and with chocolate types. I made the batter and balls, then ate my lunch, melted the chocolate and dipped them , and finished off by washing my dishes while the chocolates cooled. And just like that you can make your co-workers hate you for making their run time obsolete. Enjoy!!
Garlic
We've recently planted our garlic for the year. Last year we had Spanish Roja and Purple Glazer. Both turned out amazing so we thought we'd add to our varieties this year so that we can keep a large selection of garlic seed stock. This year we have: Spanish Roja, Purple Glazer, Late Pink, Russian Red, German Red, Purple Italian (All we need is a Japanese type to have an Axis Garlic group), and Bogatyr. We have French Red Shallots as well and we'll be experimenting with different types of onions. So far, we planted at least 100 cloves of each garlic, which will (with luck) produce 700+ heads of garlic. The ratio that is given is that 1lb of garlic can produce 10 lbs of garlic. If we're lucky, we can end up with 70 lbs of garlic. Jed says it's a good start.
Which brings me to my next part of garlic. When I was asked what I did for the weekend I told people about planting garlic, at which point every single person I met mentioned that they did not know that there were different types of garlic. Yes, yes there are many different types of garlic. Many wonderful, exotic tasting garlics. Some that can set your mouth on fire and others that will provide a subtle taste to your food. I'm including some pages that provide garlic (in particular heirloom garlic) for you all to drool over and enjoy. If you get a chance this year, try garlic. It is one of the easiest crops to grow although it does require a bit of time in the ground.
Sites for garlic:
http://www.groworganic.com/seasonal-items/seed-garlic.html
http://www.landrethseeds.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=29_969
You can also try your local Feed/Tractor store to see if they carry any.
I once heard an adage of planting on the shortest day and harvesting on the longest day, don't follow it. Garlic needs the dark days to encourage bulb growth. I had really good turn out planting Halloween and harvesting in May. The end of October is usually when we get the first frost so that works. Pay attention to your climate to determine when it would be best to grow yours. Good Luck and enjoy!!
Which brings me to my next part of garlic. When I was asked what I did for the weekend I told people about planting garlic, at which point every single person I met mentioned that they did not know that there were different types of garlic. Yes, yes there are many different types of garlic. Many wonderful, exotic tasting garlics. Some that can set your mouth on fire and others that will provide a subtle taste to your food. I'm including some pages that provide garlic (in particular heirloom garlic) for you all to drool over and enjoy. If you get a chance this year, try garlic. It is one of the easiest crops to grow although it does require a bit of time in the ground.
Sites for garlic:
http://www.groworganic.com/seasonal-items/seed-garlic.html
http://www.landrethseeds.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=29_969
You can also try your local Feed/Tractor store to see if they carry any.
I once heard an adage of planting on the shortest day and harvesting on the longest day, don't follow it. Garlic needs the dark days to encourage bulb growth. I had really good turn out planting Halloween and harvesting in May. The end of October is usually when we get the first frost so that works. Pay attention to your climate to determine when it would be best to grow yours. Good Luck and enjoy!!
Carrot cake/bread
As many of you know, I greatly dislike the taste of carrot, especially cooked carrot. Except, that is, when it is in cake or bread form. In that case I love tons of carrot because I cannot stand carrot bread with a measly 1/4 cup of carrots. Here is a recipe I've developed for carrot bread that turns out moist and nummy. Play around with the ingredients to make your perfect carrot bread.
Ingredients:
3 cups shredded carrots
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
Mix ingredients in a large bowl in order. Scoop into a greased bread or cake pan.
For a standard bread pan it is about 30-40 minutes or until done. Stick a sharp knife/skewer in the center, once it comes out clean it is done. Let it sit until cool.
I would have taken a picture but it has a tendency to go very quickly. Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
3 cups shredded carrots
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
Mix ingredients in a large bowl in order. Scoop into a greased bread or cake pan.
For a standard bread pan it is about 30-40 minutes or until done. Stick a sharp knife/skewer in the center, once it comes out clean it is done. Let it sit until cool.
I would have taken a picture but it has a tendency to go very quickly. Enjoy!!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
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