The 'Ferment-O'

Lookie what I got! :)

It's a 'Ferment-O'!! And it was a birthday gift from my parents!

This will allow me to make fermented foods without having the slime & scum & mold build up on the top.

Secretly, I think this was my gift because no one is willing to try my fermented foods when they know mold grew on the top of them :) When I attempted pickles, they smelled good, but hubby was grossed out after he saw the nasty film on top. When I did the Sauerkraut, everyone gaged when I told them mold has to be skimmed off the top!

Oh baby - look out. I am just thinking of all the krauts and pickles and kimchis I can make now! And no one has an excuse not to try them this time :)

TGIF!

Pruning in the Orchard

Believe it or not, it is already time to start the pruning in the orchard.

Allen started this past weekend and has been trying to do a few each day when he gets home from work.



Gesh - look at all those suckers - it is amazing those are from one season! To think we pruned all those off last year too! (Pic Above)

 This tree is finished!

 So is this one!

 This one...not so much! That one will be a bear!!

Fresh cuts!

We are sure hoping this goofy, warmer winter we are having doesn't throw our trees into an early bloom. Working with Mother Nature can be quite the challenge!

The Chicken Decision

Okay, folks. Hubby and I have come to a decsion - I think - on the breed(s) of chickens we are going to get and how many. Remember, we are first timers in the backyard poultry neck of the woods and I have a slight fear of anything with feathers.

My husband has some prior experience as he had an aunt that raised poultry when he was younger. And I guess he has the advanatge of not having any fear either :)

We have decided on the Golden Buff ...

and the Plymouth Barred Rock.

The Golden Buff, I am told, is a good beginner hen because of their docile nature. It seems the Barred Rock is very similar. And for whatever reason, we feel the need to have two different breeds rather than just one! I have some concerns though; like the Barred Rock hens being almost double the size of the Golden Buff - will this be an issue? Will they gang up on the Golden Buffs?

We've also decided that we'll start with 8 hens (dear god please let them all end up being hens!!). We'll do four of each breed.

So, for those of you experienced with egg layers, do these sounds like wise breed choices for us? Does 8 sound like a nice # to start with? What kind of feed do you recommend?

And the final question still stumping us, taking into consideration the weather in our area, when is a good time to bring these chicks home? April?

The Pizza Cook-Off

This past weekend my family held our 2nd 'sorta' annual Pizza Cook-Off!

Last year my mom was sick, so we canceled. And never got around to rescheduling.

So, hence the 'sorta' annual!

The rules are simple: each family has to bring a pizza. It cannot be store bought, however we do allow premade crusts if the cook chooses!

Hubby and I chose to each make our own :) I did make the homemade crust for both of our pies though. And I swear yeast and I have a love/hate relationship - emphasis on hate!

Above is hubby's original 'Hawaiian Pizza' - which he did from scratch, no recipe.

Below is my 'Chix Spinach Alfredo Pizza' - which I did from scratch, with a recipe :)



Each pizza had a chance to snab 15 points -- up to 5 for presentation and 10 for taste! Below is one of my sister and her family's 'Pica De Meheco' Pizza! They definitely were going for the gold in presentation!!



And....the winner of the 2nd Sorta Annual Pizza Cook-Off was.....

Allen!! God.Bless.America. for all the whining he did about how everyone was going to have a recipe to go off of...then the hours he spent making the dang thing. Like he was Picasso creating a work of art.

Here is my sister Kellie, the first years winner, handing off the trophy!



We had all kinds of pies, and of course because I forgot to change the setting on my camera, most of the pictures did not turn out good! We had a Sweet Pepper Pizza, another Mexican pizza and this lovely one below. It was called 'Under the Tuscan Sun' and then, after it cooked, it's name changed to 'Under the Tuscan Sun...too long'! HA! And yes, it was my Dad's pie :) Two doozy's two contests in a row - step up the A-game Dad!! Isn't your last name MILANO?!

Anyways, my niece was petrified of the piece of burnt pie and my brother-in-law was having a field day with it!

Cheers to another wonderful Pizza Cook-Off :)

Homemade Creamsicles!

Here is my newest favorite thing to make in the kitchen :)

Homemade Creamsicles!!

Since we are moving over to this traditional/real/whole foods diet [I can't decide what the proper term is], popsicles and creamsicles are just one more thing to make from scratch. They take hardly any effort and taste much better than the boxed ones. I purchased the Tovolo molds, which are BPA free.

So for my first go-round, I did Banana Mango Creamsicles.

After I peeled the fruit, I threw it into my mini food processor and added about 1 tbsp of honey and probably 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream - I just eyeballed it.



Then I blended it all together...

...poured it into the molds...



...and waited for them to freeze up!

I made these in the morning and we tried them in the afternoon. If I had to guess, they were in the freezer for 5-ish hours?

And they were delish!

The babe especially enjoyed as he is pushing through a top tooth at the moment!





Next up, Peaches 'n Cream creamsicles with canned peaches for the summer :)

This post is linked up at Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist

Whole Foods Transition: Coffee Creamer

I wanted to talk for a minute about one thing I have made a 100% leap on during this transition to eating whole, real foods. BTW, again, what do I call this? A 'diet', a new way of life? Lunacy? ;)

Anyways, I was a total flavored coffee creamer junkie. Especially during the holidays when, starting in fall, the stores would stock their shelves with flavors like Pumpkin Spice and then move into White Chocolate Raspberry :)

Throughout a lot of the reading I have been doing, it was pretty much a no brainer that these creamers really aren't really 'cream' - get me? So I figured it was probably to my overall benefit, especially my teeth, if I try to cut out these 'creamers' loaded full of sugar and things produced in a scientific lab. I had already started dabbling in my obsession of making things from scratch, and I stumbled upon Carrie Vitt's recipes for homemade coffee creamers. I made them a few times and they weren't bad. They weren't what I was used to, but in a good way. They weren't knock my teeth out sweet. So I kept up with them for a few weeks. Occasionally, I would be somewhere and use a flavored creamer. They started to taste terrible, like I was drinking something metallic, every time. The longer I went without drinking them in my daily coffee, the worse they tasted when I did.

Then, the inevitable happened. I ran out of my homemade stuff and didn't have time to think/remember/just make another batch. Coffee without cream for me is like taking a shower in cold water...like trying to drive your car with no gas. Follow me? So, because I can't drink my coffee black, or couldn't, I should say, I just used some cream I had in the fridge. After all, it was half of the ingredients I used to make the homemade stuff. Certainly it tasted different - again. But again, it tasted different in a good way. It tasted healthy - normal - what it probably should taste like! And I also noticed I needed less and less; from the transition to the fake flavored creamers, to the homemade creamers, to just the cream. Now, if I must, I really can just drink the coffee black, but I do prefer a little slurp of cream in there.

And do you know the most amazing thing I noticed. (I know, I am weird). The drops that form at the top of your drink, after your 5th cup of the morning sits on your desk for a few hours, look buttery! Not like some synthetic oil forming on a puddle. That is when you know it has to be good!

Can you see the 'droplets' that look like the color of butter? :)

Link Loitering

Here is a short list of things this week.

All I have to say is TGIF...no, seriously, THANK.GOD.IT'S.FRIDAY! This has been the longest week ever!!!

Seed Savers Exchange is offering 2012 Webinar Series on saving your own seeds. The first one was this past week, but I am sure you could get caught up!

Have you checked the new USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for your area? It is the first time it has been updated since 1990! (Global Warming, anyone?)

Good quick read on Michael Pollan's Least Favorite Foods! (Psstt...look what he says about yogurt! I told you!)