Blueberry Apple Butter

I often make family members my taste testers when I try out new recipes and one of my favorite games to play is to pull out all of my fruit butters and jams and make them try one after another... while I watch... and analyse what they think by their expressions... and ask a million questions. It makes them a little uncomfortable. Weirded out yet? They are actually pretty good sports about it and I give them the goods to take with them so I like to think it's a win-win. My favorite is when I announce, "this one is blueberry apple" and almost every time I get the response, "I don't really care for blueberry." I persuade said person to try it and guess what- it's pretty much the favorite of everyone who has tried it!

I love smothering a fresh baked biscuit in this sweet butter, the girls want it on their pancakes (They win today!) The deep purple color is so pretty and the flavor is outstanding. I have to make sure to hide spoons when I pull it out because my girls eat it by the spoonful!

Ingredients

Makes approximately 7 cups

7 pounds of apples, cleaned and quartered
4 cups blueberries
Juice of one lemon
2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp allspice

Directions

In a large pan combine apples, blueberries and lemon juice. Heat covered over a med-low heat until juices start to appear in bottom of the pan. Turn heat up to medium and continue cooking until all fruit is soft and easily pierces with a spoon, stirring occasionally. Once fruit is tender remove heat and process through a food mill, discarding skin, seeds, and tough pulp from the core. Place processed fruit into crockpot and add remaining ingredients, stirring well. Heat on high uncovered until fruit has reduced by half. Stir occasionally to keep from burning along the top edge as it reduces. Fill 8 oz mason jars and process in a water bath for 5 minutes or allow to cool and store in the refrigerator. 

Note: For a smoother texture I run the finished butter through the blender.


Breakfast time!

 

Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen

There has been some stirring in the coop as of late. Two chickens lost to neighbor dogs and another due to casualties of stress from the ordeal has lead to some unforeseen developments. Our once timid (and sometimes seemingly banished) Cinnamon Queens have taken the opportunity to raise themselves in this chicken hierarchy. The past few days my husband and I have notice that with a few chickens out of the picture there is some new found confidence among these birds and they have become, well, quite bossy! The chickens who were last to eat and chased out of the coop to lay have now, as a group, taken first dibs at treats, chased others away from the water dish and I even found my beloved lap chicken laying in a different building! Oh how the times have changed! My once mighty Barred Rocks have become submissive to these Queens. As long as everyone understands their position there is no problems though sometimes hens whose pecking order has been disrupted can act out violently towards others in an attempt to establish themselves dominant.  It seems as though everyone is adapting to their new status and there hasn't been any issues. I'm particularly relived since cold weather is approaching and the hens will start to be in close quarters with each other in the next few months. Inside the coop we added another roosting bar and threw down some extra bedding in preparation for them spending more time in the coop rather than free ranging on our two acres and hopefully they will settle in nicely for the winter.

Here they were enjoying the nice weather while it lasts. The girls and the chickens were very excited about the freshly turned dirt to play in!

I had to make the husband climb up and collect the eggs the Barred rock had been laying, half dozen total! And inside pieces to the mower no less!

Putting the Garden to Bed

We spent a bit of the day yesterday and today putting our garden to bed for the winter. It was so nice to stand out in the sunshine and breathe in some fresh air before the weather turns colder. I had the chickens and the girls to keep me company as I got started turning it under yesterday and I had my handsome husband to help with the shoveling of our lovely compost and carrying of the hay bales today. I walked my garden behind my tiller (that I love more than one should probably love a piece of machinery) and I sang loudly along to my Pandora 90's Country station (with head phones on..I'm that girl. I don't mean to be, but I am. I'm sorry to anyone who has to hear me!) I walked and walked and found myself thinking of each thing that we grew as I went section by section. I was so pleased with how our first year garden grew and I went from reminiscing to planning for next year. I began to think of all the things I would grow, how they would look, taste and who I would share them with. One of my favorite parts of gardening with year was to have something I grew using my own hands to share with someone who would enjoy it. I think that sometimes when you find something you truly enjoy doing you want to show everyone how great it can be and convert them! Until next year garden...

Chicken Woes: Broken Egg Inside Chicken

It has been a traumatic couple of weeks as a chicken mama. After losing a chicken to the neighbor's dog we woke the following morning to follow a trail of feathers into another neighbor's yard where another dog had gotten one. The first attack left one bird traumatized, as I found her pacing the yard and spinning circles right after it happened. I was afraid she had been the initial target and maybe had just been lucky enough to get away but after looking her over a couple of times I found no wounds on her. I brought her back into the yard and gave her space as she hid under the back porch. I went out that night to make sure she had returned to the coop with the others for the night and when she had I thought that she would be fine and that she was just shaken up.
The next morning I went out to find that she had assumed her position under the porch again and I lured her out with a grape to look her over again. Again I found nothing and I thought that maybe she needs a little longer to settle down. Shortly after looking her over I realized another chicken (the second one) was gone and i was distracted from her as I went in search of the other. Again that night I went to check on her and she had gone to the coop. The following morning I found her again under the porch and I noticed her comb was a bit droopy. I expressed my concern to the husband who responded by saying that he would be hiding under the porch too if everyone was getting eaten.
I tried to lure her out that day with no luck but later that evening she was out in the back yard with the other chickens. I literally jumped up and down, clapping with excitement because my chicken was okay! She was still moving slow, but she was out with the others and I was relieved. The next morning she was under the porch, but as the sun got higher in the sky she was out with the others. She was moving slowly and standing strangely and I started to wonder if she was egg bound. I wasn't sure who had and hadn't laid, as there are many chickens and they were all a bit shook with the dog incident. I text the husband to tell him I was going to bring the chicken in for a soak, just in case she was egg bound. He insisted I wait a day because 1) I'm not expert and I literally was just searching for a reason she was acting strangely and 2) he is not a fan of bringing chickens inside. I agreed I would wait and when I went back outside I found one of the girls holding her. I reminded them that the chicken was not feeling well and we needed to give her space. She sat the chicken down and when she did a bit of egg was pooped out. I shooed the girls out of the coop and thought that maybe the problem was solving itself. Maybe the stress had caused her to not fully develop the egg and it was going to be one of those messy soft-shelled eggs.

It turned out I was very wrong.

As I entered the coop the next morning I found the chicken laying sprawled out in a nesting box with her head hanging low and her eyes blinking slowly. I gently picked her up to bring her in and I realized I could feel her bones very pronounced under the feathers. I brought her into the kitchen and put her in the sink to soak and began googling her symptoms and that is when I first read about eggs breaking inside the hen. After forcing her to drink some water I wrapped her in a towel and laid her to rest in a box while I did more research. When I went in to check on her she had pooped and passed more egg but there was no trace of a shell. I knew then that it was a broken egg I was dealing with and did what the researching told me to and I reached inside her with a lubed up, gloved finger to feel for shell. I felt nothing. I continued to give her water and offer her food but I knew things weren't going to end well for chicken. She was too weak to hold her head up. I was surprised when I woke the next morning to find her sitting a little more up right but after passing more egg I again tried to search for shell pieces with no luck. We left the house to run an errand and when we returned she had passed. The girls were very sad to say goodbye to another chicken and I was sad that I wasn't able to help her. There is a lot to learn with our first flock and I hope that the hard lessons are over! Next time I will recognize the symptoms and hopefully be able to help before it progresses as it did with this hen.

After researching I think that what happened with this chicken was the stress from the dog attack led to her not eating or drinking. The not drinking led to dehydration which in turn led to the egg being unable to pass as normal. When the egg became uncomfortable I think she ate and drank less putting her into an even more weakened state. When she was picked up by the girls I think the egg was crushed and was then cutting into her. I believe the egg was still high inside her and that is why I couldn't feel shell and why she was still able to poop.

As a result of this we have started a collection of things to have on hand to help our chickens should we find ourselves in this situation again. The list includes; rubber gloves, baby aspirin, petroleum jelly, and Epsom salt.

How I found her in the coop.

Taking a soak in the sink.

She was too weak to hold her head up so she was resting on her beak.

Freshly blow-dryed after another soak. 

RIP "Elsa Chicken" #4

S'mores Pie

We celebrated the much-anticipated 5th birthday of my lovely Amelia with this pie/cake last night. She blew out the candle, made her wish and smashed her fingers into the gooey marshmallows, squealing with delight! I found this treat in Southern Living Magazine via Pintrest (I'm a skeptic of recipes found there, but searching down the original recipe from a legit source eased my worries.) Starting with the original recipe, I modified it a bit to omit nuts and I wanted the golden brown marshmallows to be the visual rather than the chocolate frosting.

The result was a rich, moist, brownie-like filling inside a buttery, crunchy graham cracker crust topped with chewy, toasted marshmallow. The flavors are so good! The only down side was in order to get the filling fully cooked the graham cracker crust gets very browned. I think if I were to make this again I would use half the amount of filling to keep it from over browning as well as to cut down portion sizes. It is a tasty pie, but the richness makes a small piece sufficient!

Ingredients:

Graham cracker crust
 
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about half a box)
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
4 oz semi sweet chocolate bar

Topping

3 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions:

Heat oven to 350
Mix crust ingredients together until combined and press firmly into the bottom of a 9" spring form pan, taking them about 1 1/2-2" up the side. Set aside.
In a double boiler melt butter and chocolate until smooth. Remove to heat and allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile combine sugar, flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl. Whisk in eggs, vanilla and chocolate mixture. ( I added a small amount of chocolate at a time to help temper the eggs and keep the warm chocolate from cooking them.)
Pour into prepared crust and bake for 60-75 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan. Just before serving move oven rack to lowest position and set broiler to low setting. Top the cooled pie with marshmallows and place in broiler until preferred browning is achieved. Remove outer ring and serve immediately.

After cooling the marshmallows become hard and chewy, making leftovers less appealing. I served the leftovers the next day and opted to remove the marshmallows and start with fresh, toasting them in the broiler as before.

I came across this recipe while planning a shared party for birthdays. What cake would be more appropriate for a bonfire party than a s'mores cake? That, coupled with the fact that my children are marshmallow fiends, made this cake a no-brainer for me. I knew I wanted to make a layered cake that looked a little rustic so I thought that maybe I could pull off using it for the party. It turns out this wasn't the best choice in cake for the party because it is best eaten immediately and the cool temperatures outside turned the marshmallows tough. It was very pretty though (I placed marshmallows closer to the edge so they would spill over) and the kids were impressed regardless! We made round two on Amelia's actual birthday and enjoyed it fresh from the oven in all its toasty, gooey glory!

Happy 5th Birthday, Amelia Ann!

It's hard to believe that my baby is 5 today! Time is just going to fast, I'm not ready for 5. I'm so proud of this little person who brings so much joy to our lives. She has always had a strong sense of independence and is a very social being. The older she gets the more her personality shines through. I stand in awe as I watch her walk into a room of strangers, a smile beaming across her face, and walk right up to someone and strike up a conversation.  She will try anything at least once, she knows no fear. She has a grand imagination and demands attention for her performances, be it story telling, singing or dancing. She is an emotional girl who has a contagious laugh that can turn to tears a drop of a hat, then right back to laughter. She has a patience about her as she takes her sister by the hand and shows her the ropes. She is never as silly as when she is dancing around the house, making up words to songs with her daddy. She is such a hard worker whether it be doing chores, practicing writing or dancing. I am so proud that I get to be her mom and watch her grow and discover the world. Happy birthday, Amelia. May all your wishes come true!

Because I think my kid is super cute, I love photo/video documentation of the happenings in our world and I found a free app courtesy of a blog I follow I made a couple of videos to mark the occasion. Enjoy!

Italian Dressing

Before I was married or had children I worked as a server at a local Italian restaurant. It was there that I was introduced to this version of Italian dressing; a red wine version with a sweetness to it. A craving for it served warm over a spinach salad lead to an attempt to recreate the recipe at home. Although I'll admit it has been a while since I've had the original version, I think I may have come pretty close with this tasty recipe!

Ingredients: (makes one quart)

2 cups corn syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup burgundy wine
2 tbs Italian seasoning
2 tbs dried onions
2 tsp seasoned salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix well using a whisk. Once combined pour into a 1-quart jar with tight fitting lid. Store in fridge for at least one hour to let ingredients combine and dried seasonings soften. Shake well before serving.

Shared at

Halloween Costume: Garden Gnome

A read a little history on gnomes and was quite intrigued by these tiny under-dwellers who hold great powers, helping plants grow. It was said that they only came out at night and if they were caught out in daylight they turned to stone, thus the statues.  They are known for their willingness to help in the garden which seemed quite fitting for my little farm hands. With a little inspiration courtesy of my sister via Pintrest we set out to make their costumes.