Just another Day on the Farm

When I asked my DH this morning for a subject to add to today’s post in regards to something that we always have in our pantry and that gets used lots, he replied Baking Powder.. Not a bad choice at all, we do use Baking Powder lots in this house, I perfer Magic brand personally, but I also keep the basic’s in the house to make my own.

How does Baking Powder work? Its used in cookies, Muffins, Quick Breads, to help create lift in the goods, it does this by having a chemical reaction between Baking Soda and an Acid which in turn creates carbon dioxide which is a fancy way of saying that it add’s air bubbles and there for lighten’s and lifts the baked goods to create a pleasing texture for us to enjoy. The heat cooks the structure to lock in the air pockets to create a crumb texture.

Its a quick way to mimic what yeast does in a much more slower way, both a good thing and bad, you have more flex with yeast then you do with Baking Powder, overmix, and you will remove the air and loss your lift, undermix and you won’t get a level effect, this is why when a recipe says Sift the Baking  Powder or Baking Soda into the flour before adding the Wet, it means that you are most likely going to be asked to barely mix and then get that batter in the oven to lock in that lift, otherwise, you are going to get a heavy product.

In many recipes they are asking for the same type of reaction, when they ask for Baking Soda to be mixed with a acid, like Vinager, lemon Juice or yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk.

Commercial Baking Powder has about a one year shelf life but the basic’s will last for years.

Basic Recipe for making your own Baking Powder, your Rato’s should be 1/2 Baking Soda, 1/2 Cream of Tartar if you are using it fresh as is, remember to get your baking in the oven quickly as it does not have the double action of the store bought, if you are making up some to keep for the next month or so, consider adding 1/4 corn starch in volume to the others to help keep it stable and keep a dry and close fitted container.

Check your altitude as it will  affect the amount of baking powder needed in a recipe. The higher you live, less baking powder is needed, as an example, I need to double the amount where I currently live compared to my grandma’s and mom’s recipes as they are living close to 2000 feet above sea level, I currently like just under 300, and it shows if I don’t adjust.

Self-Rising Flour is so simple to make, for each cup of all-purpose flour add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, mix well and follow the recipe that called for Self-Rising Flour. Don’t use this in a regular recipe that calls for All-Purpose flour without adjusting for the Baking Powder and salt.

Breakfast -DH -3 pancakes with Grape Compot FG-Red River Porridge with Sheep Milk with a touch of maple syrup.

Lunch DH- Leftover Pasta from supper, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf, Orange, Dried Fruit/Nuts

Supper-Oven Baked Chicken Legs/Thigh served with oven roasted Potato’s, Garlic, onion and a homemade (war bread) sage and Cranberry dressing with a side of colslaw.

Drinks-Water, Tea, Hot Chocolate

Extras-Dill Crackers, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf, Bread, Buns, and Herb Bread

As we are down to the last peice of Pumkin Loaf today, I made my Jam or Jelly Loaf/Cake and took the time to figure out measurements as this is typically a eyeball it process for me.

Jam or Jelly Loaf or Cake Recipe

• 8oz of any kind of fruit Jam or Jelly- In this case -Lemon/Watermelon
• 1/4 cup of oil or margine or butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of Baking Powder

Put 8 oz jar of your homemade jam or jelly in bowl and beat till smooth with whisk, then add in oil, eggs and beat again, then add milk, quick stir together, then put your 2 cups flour, then salt and baking powder, stir till mixed together, about 30 beats or so of wooden spoon. Pour into greased pan Makes a bread loaf pan or a full size 8 by 8 cake pan. Bake at 350 till knife comes out clean.

So do you have a favorite Baking Powder Brand? Do you make your own Baking Powder at home? Do you ever use the Baking Soda compined with Acid to create the same reaction? What is your favorite recipe made with Baking Powder, mine is my Baking Powder Biscuits

One week down on our Eat out of the Pantry March Challange..

DH’s Thoughts:

• Grocery Shopping was super quick, as we only got stuff for the critters this week, Thank goodness nothing was really on sale this week, less tempation.
• I’m not looking forward to running out of fresh fruit which is going to happen Soon..
• Perfectly fine when home, there is no tempation, no way to cheat, if one wanted to cheat, grocery stores are out of site and out of mind. Moral of the story, stay away from the stores.
• I’m being to prepare a menu for April 1st, planning a huge apple fritter for breakfast.

FG Thoughts

• Had mild panic when thought I was going to be out of corn starch, until I went digging in the pantry and found new containers full.
• Think that by the end of the month that those canned crisp pears are going to be as close as we get to fresh fruit
• I miss fresh Mushrooms already! I love my mushrooms and dried and canned are just not the same, sigh..
• I think we are going to end up with sprout salads because I am already craving a big bowl of fresh green salad, but cabbage will have to do for a while.

So girls how are you doing on your first week, drop me a note and let me know what you are missing already?

If there was a list of top ten things that I would not want to be without in regards to storage in the house, without a doubt Salt would be on that list. I have been amazed at the current goverment studies and ad’s that are trying to make everyone aware that they are eating to much salt.. I do understand that if you eat a modern processed diet out of packages and cans that your intake of salt is out of this world, combine that with the fact that most folks can go though their day without breaking a sweat (and therefor losing salt) and I get the point that the goverment is trying to make.. be aware of how much salt you are putting in your body and its effects.

However from a cooking stand point, from a farmer standpoint, from a history stand point, and from a preservation stand point, Salt ROCKS 🙂 I mean really its the only rock that we eat as peaple, so forgive the pun.

I’m currently in the process of making Corn Beef, without salt, this would not be possable, If you think about how folks were able to dry/salt food for keeping it helped allow us to move and live in area’s that otherwise the winters would have killed us-slowly by hunger.

Ask anyone who watches wildlife or hunts about how important a natural salt lick is to the local wildlife, or how much the farm animals need their salt blocks, The goverment uses table salt as a way to make sure that the general population gets enough iodide, I have been surprised and very unhappy when talking to folks that “cut” out all salt as much as possable from their diets that they don’t think about the fact that they need to find another way to make sure they get their Iodide in their diet, the area we live in currently is known for being a naturally deficient, and so no amount of eating healthy fresh veggies grown locally is going to help you in this matter, if its not in the soil for the veggies to take up, its not on your dinner plate.. Lack of Iodide in your diet is the leading preventable cause of  mental retardation.  also causes thyroid gland problems, including endemic goiter 

So what is the last thing you made that had salt called for in the recipe? well if it was homemade from scratch that would be pretty much everything!

Breakfast- FG-2 Pancakes with Dippy Egg on Top DH- 3 pancakes with Green Grape Compot with sprinckle of Cinnamon.

Lunch-DH-2 Slices Toast with orange Jam, plus 2 scrabbled eggs, with hot chocolate, FG- Hot Cherry Jelly Tea, Dill Crackers with Tomato Soup.

Supper-Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Diced Onion, Carrot, Mushrooms and Celery

Snacks-Cookies, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf.

Extras-One Batch of Dill Herb Crackers.

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4th cup Butter, or some kind of Fat.
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• FG- Added 2 TBSP of Dried Dill and Stringing Nettle to the flour for this batch.

Put your flour, B.P. and Salt into bowl, mix together, then add your cold fat and with clean hands, or a pastry cutter or two knifes cut the butter into the flour till crumbly, then make a well in the middle. Stir the milk and egg together and pour into the flour. The dough should be a soft mass that will clear the sides of the bowl, you can lift to your floured work surface, kneed NO more then four min max, just as much as required.. Split into two balls, covering the one while working with the second.. lightly flour your cookie sheet and roll out your dough till very thin, then cut lines with pizza cutter or a regular knife, you can score it for breaking later or you can use right into it.. for even more crispy, you can prick it all over with a forks, and give it a light sprinkle of salt. Cook 10 to 20 min in a hot 400 oven.

Remove when golden brown and crispy, cool on a rack and will store in a closed container for several weeks also freeze very well.

So, What kind of salt or salts do you have in the house? Do you keep a backup supply?  How much salt do you use in a year in regards to canning or food preservation?

Goats are wonderful smart sweet, smaller farm animals, goats come in different breeds which range in size from Tiny to Large, fitting most small farms needs. There are Dairy Goats and Meat Goat breeds or Dual Purpose breeds, There is a thriving market with regards to showing goats starting at the local fairs and working their way up to the nationals yearly.

 The most common breed currently for meat purpose would have to be Boar goats while my personally favorite dairy breeds are Saanen and LaMancha or a cross breed between these two breeds with Nubian Sire. The Saanen has lots of milk, the Nubian has the highest fat content of the breeds, so their cross’s make wonderful family milk goats, lots of milk, with lots of Butterfat for cheese making. Plus the Nubian add’s in some very pretty colors and patterns.

Goat Milk flavor appear to me to be directly related to the breed of goat and the feed that the goats are on. I have been surprised at how different each goats milk can taste, some are very strong and some are as sweet and light as cows milk, if you are looking for a family goat, I would recommend if possable that you start with a older freshened girl, who’s milk you can try to see if you like it.

The side effect of breeding those girls for milk, is offspring, and as most of the world knows, Goat meat is a excellent, if you have not tried it before, I would recommend it, which leads me to my main recipe of the day.. Goat Meatballs with a elderberry glaze.

Breakfast-FG- Red River Porridge with a bit of sheep milk/touch of maple Syrup

Lunch: FG-Supper Leftovers,

DH-Breakfast:  2 scrambled eggs w/ steak spice; 2 slices bread w/ peanut butter
DH-Lunch:  Supper Leftovers
DH-Snacks:  two cookies; one peice of the loaf, one orange, plus trail mix and the last segment of Rhubarb cake.

Supper- Goat Meatballs with Elderberry Glaze, Oven Roasted Carrots, Potato’s, Onion, an Cabbage.

Goat Meatballs.

• One pd of Ground Chevon
• One small onion, peeled and Finely Diced
• 1 Clove Garlic peeled and Finely Diced
• 1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tstp Salt, Pepper, Turminic, Pinch of Nutmeg or all spice.

Put everything in a bowl and mix together with clean hands, then make tiny meatballs and place on tray, bake in the oven at 350 till done about 15 min, these little tasty meatballs can be used in many ways, but today we are going to take half of them and put them into a lovely Elderberry Jelly Glaze to finish them off..

Drinks-Water, Tea.

Snacks: Snap Cookies- 2 Dozen Small Cookies

• 1/4 cup oil or fat of some kind
•  3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• Pinch of Salt
•  1 tsp ground Ginger
•  1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 an half cups flour

 Cream the oil/sugar, then add the egg and mix it in, then add the dry an mix, take tiny balls then flatten with a fork twice in a criss-cross pattern, bake for 8 to 10 min at 350 oven. Makes 2 dozen tiny crispy crunch cookies.

Extras: One Batch of Sheep Milk White Bread (Replace the buttermilk with sheep milk) out of which I made one regular loaf of sandwhich or toast bread, eight small dinner buns, one 8 by 8 pan of herb bread, and one set of eight Poppy Seed Dessert Buns.

Today’s choice food was picked because I needed to make loaf for breakfast/snacks, and I just happened to have some pumkin that are on their last legs from the garden that need to be used up. I have been able to order Sweet Meat Squash seeds this year and have heard that they are amazing keepers so I am quite looking forward to seeing if they will last as long here as I have heard. Did a fresh food update on the March Challange page so that you can see what was in the house fresh on March 1st and what all is coming from my pantry/freezers or cold storage or fresh from the farm. Its at the bottom of the page listed under update.

Hubby used the last of the homemade waffles, so will need to make a batch of pancakes for his breakfasts for the rest of the week, (note) Didn’t get the pancakes made on Day 2

Breakfast- FG- Red River Porridge with a bit of sheep milk on top

DH-Rubarb Cake, Scrambled Eggs, Potato Bread for toast/Jam, Orange

Lunch -FG-Leftover Potato Soup with Potato bun.

DH-Leftovers from Supper Last night, Dried Fruit/Nuts, Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf

Dinner- Easy Cabbage Rolls with Goat, Meat, Onion, Garlic, Diced Cabbage, Leftover Rice two tbsp of cooked Pumpkin mashed in, with the last of a homemade BBQ sauce added with large Shell pasta cooked, drained, then layered with fresh cottage cheese and some beet greens from the freezer, topped with a pint jar of homemade pasta sauce and into the oven to heat though, will be served with buns . Thought I had pulled Lamb, but it was goat instead and so a change of plan was in order to deal with a much stronger flavored meat.

Extras- Homegrown Pinto Beans, I don’t have many left that I have grown myself but have a cup soaking overnight, and ready to be cooked today.

Snacks:

Desserts in the house-Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

Pumpkin Loaf Recipe

• 1/4 cup Oil or Butter
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Pumpkin
• 1 cup Sheep Milk (whole)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp of Baking Powder
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of dark chocolate Chips

Bake at 350 till knife comes out clean.

Drinks-Water, Chokeberry Cold Tea, Tea

1/2 Pint of Chokeberry syrup mixed with one cup of boiling water to melt and mix, then add to 1 liter of cold water, stirred together, chill in the fridge for juice.

Where do you even start with squash, there is summer and winter kinds to grow, they have so many different sizes and colors and flavors, some really have no flavor and others are so distinct, think pumpkin pie and like it or hate it, you know the taste.

I eat alot of summer squash in summer/fall, I grate and keep some for winter use, I can some in different ways and really enjoy it that way but during fall/winter and early spring, I mainly eat winter storage squash only..  I am always trying new kinds to grow and to see how it keeps and what its uses are..

So what is your favorite squash? How do you like to cook it? What’s your best recipe? Do you eat summer squash  in winter or do you eat in season?