A Cooking Good Day

Good Saturday morning.  Today is supposed to be much warmer  than normal.   It is rare we in the Ozarks have 'normal' weather. 

I had great plans yesterday to go with the farm manager (DH) when he went to check the cows.  Of  course that didn't fit with his plans.....the old ATV needed gas, needed air in the tires, etc.  I told him to get it ready asap.  We will see this morning how impressed he was with that request.  I haven't been out on the farm in a  very long time. 

I went back to turn the chickens out and found my temporary fence was laying flat.....it looked like something had pushed it in toward the chicken pen.  I did not turn them loose.  I think  we may give them  free range  of the back gardens today.  I want to observe the Beagle to be sure she won't bother them first.

Kris was talking about comparing the fresh, free- range eggs with penned chickens and we could see the difference.  Mine have been confined to bare dirt since our "helpers" quit.  So they really haven't  been exposed  to grass for more  than 3 or 4 days  but I tested this morning and Max could pick out the grass ones over  the others!  I know the penned ones are absolutely fresh and free of drugs, but I feel sure the darker the yolk the better for you the egg will  be. 

OK,  since I couldn't survey the farm, I went back inside and  made chicken and rice soup with the last of the thawed broth and some other leftovers including rice from the evening before's stir fry.

It was very simple.  I diced a remaining chicken breast (from the evening before), tossed it into the soup pot with the broth and rice.  I diced a carrot and a potato and let all simmer until  done.  I am so proud of myself for using leftovers.  I did toss in a few peas right at the last.



While the soup was cooking  I made a small batch of Pear Honey.  I have a Kieffer pear tree and about  all it is good for is making pear honey!  It is a tart and very hard pear.  It is also supposed to be very blight resistant and it is not!

I picked 6 very large pears and let them ripen inside for several days.

Pear Honey

4 cups ground pears
1 cup crushed pineapple (not  drained)
l cup sugar for each cup of fruit.
I also added just a tad of the pineapple juice left in the can to get it started.

Put all in  a heavy bottomed pan and cook very slowly on low or simmer until clear and soft.  It will be thickened by this time.  It takes quite a while.  I used my smallest burner on the gas range with a  simmer plate and just stirred occasionally.

I don't remember it being as pink as this batch was but it turned out nicely and we had it for breakfast on frozen biscuits from yesterday morning.  I always freeze half the biscuits uncooked.

I used my maslin pan.  I don't know how I managed all those years without it.



Once cooking began: I see it is clear here, don't know when it turned pink......



 and finished product.  (Note: I have lost my jar lids so I
 didn't actually seal these but refrigerated them instead) Yes, one jar is half empty after testing yesterday and breakfast this morning.



It mounds nicely on the biscuit,


The only other thing I did was start another bottle of vanilla.  I bought my beans from a new source (Martha Stewart recommends them so they must be good, right?)Beanilla.  I just ordered two packages of 10 each.  The other bulk order didn't last the year  they were supposed to even sealed tightly in a jar.  I had to toss several that were very slimy and  soft!  At the price of the beans, you don't want  to do that often.
 

Daily Doings and Update on the Barn Babies

February 26, 2014

This was a long put off shopping day.  I am proud of us; I think we have gone almost a month without visiting Walmart!  That is my goal.  We also stopped  by our local market, Murfins, because I will not buy some  fresh things from Walmart (such as eggs).

February 27, 2014
 
Today is 'milk' day.  I am not out but since we will have company soon, I want to get some ahead.  .  All the grands, but especially our son's kids, absolutely love our whole, raw milk,  If they come when Willow is dry they  let me know  how disappointed  they are.  I have taught them a little farm animal biology about her having to be dry 60 days and then having to wait 3-5 days to use her milk.  They may start timing their visits accordingly!

I plan to be like the Administrator of the Family Cow Forum who is in her late 80's and still milks daily.  I don't even have to do that, only when we want and need milk.

Do you read food labels?  If not, please start doing it now!  I thought I was being very conscientious about that since becoming a nut about real  food (not processed, home cooked and grown if possible) but now and then something slips past me.  For instance since DH started eating a yogurt daily and I was too lazy to milk more often  to make  yogurt, I have just been buying him a week's worth with blueberries.  He likes Dannon's Orikos Greek brand. I finally read the label.....they use cornstarch to thicken it.  Now that is not horrible since cornstarch is a food product and not a chemical, but it annoys me  and seems  like cheating to thicken it that way.  It could possibly be even more nutritious since they aren't draining the whey to keep it thick.  I need to be open minded.  However, there are more things added.  Mine has only whole milk, and a  starter that is just a little natural yogurt.

Another product that jumped to my attention  was vanilla.  I have made my own for a couple of years now and even got my son and ex-DIL making it.  Gave my Sis l0 beans too.  She told me she thought it didn't have a vanilla taste!  Well she ordered two bottles of Mexican Vanilla and brought one to me the last time she was down.  It was a full quart so I thought I would just use mine up and then use hers.

Here are the ingredients:  Vanilla bean, Extract in Purified Water, Vanillin (Artificial Flavor), Alcohol, Corn Syrup, Natural Dark Color.

Mine would be:  Vanilla beans, alcohol.

You can't take pure, natural, or any of those other terms for granted.  You have to read the label!

BTW, the older my vanilla got, the sweeter it got.....and the smell was wonderful. 

UPDATE ON CALVES
These two are of  Willow's calf, a bull.  He will become a future herd sire in 2015 as a 2 year old.



This is the calf we  bought to put on Willow  so I wouldn't  have to milk daily,

That is Jewel's rear you can see.  This isn't a prime animal; he has too much Jersey in him and probably some Holstein. He comes from what is called a rainbow dairy herd. (I won't share my opinion of those dairies which are mostly grass based!)



and this is Jewel's first calf, a heifer.  I love her beautiful brown color



RANDOM  CAT PICTURE

There would have been several more cats enjoying the morning sun but my 'assistant' decided to drive
 Willow past the door into the field and the cats scattered.

Vanilla

We got a little shower during the early morning.  We sleep with the bedroom window partially open and there is a metal awning over it.  We love to listen to rain hitting it.  It reminds me of sleeping upstairs at Grandma's.  There was no insulation or attic over the bedrooms upstairs and you could hear the rain hitting the roof.  I love that sound.
Tonight is supposed to be down to 43°.  Fall is truly here.

Right after breakfast, scrambled eggs and toast and (for me only) salsa, I got my vanilla project going.  I have wanted to do this for a long time but finally ordered the vanilla beans and bought the vodka.  It is so simple.

All you need is:

1 750 ml bottle of good vodka
12-15 vanilla beans (I ordered mine through Amazon)

 You slice through the beans with either a knife or kitchen scissors up to within 1 inch of stem end.  Drop into the bottle, put on lid.  Simple wasn't it?  I will shake it a couple of times a day for a week or so and then store in the cabinet for a couple of months.  You can even replace the used vanilla with either more vodka or rum for a while.  I think rum would add another flavor.

and here is the bottle with all the beans added,

I have enough beans left for more vanilla.  I probably should just buy more vodka and get it started.  I know the beans have to be stored in a particular way, not frozen.  I tried to keep some once and they completely dried out. They are expensive so I don't want to loose any!

The vanilla is already getting a darker color and smells like vanilla.

It is now the next morning, September 26, the weatherman was right.  It will be 43° by sunrise.