Pre-packaged protein...

It was a long winter without these lovelies flowing in each day! We're back up to 4 eggs most days and our family is so thankful for the provision of such perfectly packaged protein. There is something just lovely and artful about eggs, don't you think?

Garden news!

Here's the newest gardener at OAH! I highly recommend enlisting the help of a bunny rabbit for your gardening efforts...they make fast work of composting your veggie scraps and offering up some wonderful garden fertilizer in return. This little gem has been named "Snowball," she is a Dwarf Newfoundland (sp?), so she should remain small and will hopefully show well in the County Fair for my girls.

Here are the potatoes, cut and curing the night before planting!

These beds contain spinach, onions, lettuce, and peas! They're still a little rough...this is a garden in progress, people! On the right, you'll see the potato plot...cock full of seed potatoes planted, in part, by this little person:


Take a look at the newly tilled space...this will soon be built into beds like the ones above.

Here's another pick of the bunny...nestled in a bed of lamb's wool. She is just adorable!

Wheat, Coop, and Local Foods

Check out this wheat pic! The one on the left is hard white winter wheat and the one on the right is hard red winter wheat. The white variety has less protein; however, it is not as heavy...so I purchased 25 pounds of it, and only a small bit of the red winter wheat.

Several of you asked about where I will be buying wheat berries for grinding. After much deliberation and gnashing of teeth over shipping costs...I decided to go in with a friend and join the Oklahoma Food Coop. All the food is made right here in Oklahoma and much of it is organic and is created with a whole foods philosophy. I can order once a month and don't have to pay any shipping (yippee!). Here's the label from my wheat:



I love knowing where our food is coming from and that is is relatively local. Can you believe I only paid $12 for 25# of organic wheat berries?

For my first order, I only got two items...the wheat and a divine little product called "Yogurt Cheese." It tastes a lot like cream cheese and the girls loved it mixed in with our home canned applesauce and sprinkled with some wheat germ.



This Saturday, WatSourced and I will be attending the annual Coop meeting and tasting lots of yummy local foods! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and report back. I'm so excited!

Amazing Pancakes!

This absolutely amazing pancake recipe is based on the one in the book Flour Power by Marleeta F. Basey. They were so good and so filling! I ate mine with homemade peach butter on top...oh, my...perhaps we should call it an "unbutton your pants" kind of recipe....you know what I mean? Here goes:

2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I used freshly milled hard white winter wheat)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. brown sugar
1 t. salt
2 eggs
2 to 3 c. buttermilk (I subbed regular milk with a dab of vinegar)
2 T. oil

Mix together everything but the buttermilk. Add the buttermilk last to reach desired consistency. The author suggests something like thick mud stating that thicker batter results in less "gummy" pancakes, but she also cautions that the batter will thicken slightly while waiting to be cooked as the bran absorbs moisture. In other words, feel free to experiment with the liquid measurements!

Use a 1/3 c. measuring cup to measure your batter out...the size of each pancake will be consistent this way. You may need to use a spoon to spread the batter out a bit into a circular shape. If you, like me, love pancakes so much that you cannot confine them to breakfast, you might consider investing in an electric griddle. I got one for Christmas two years ago and LOVE it! I can cook 6 pancakes at a time without any oil or butter (because of the non-stick coating on it).

If you achieved the liquid/dry ratio, your pancakes will fluff up immediately after flipping it. The result is a hearty pancake that won't disappoint...even if it is served without sausage or bacon. The flavor is unbelievably rich, deep, and nutty...it seems almost a shame to top them with anything at all!

Now, as you all know, I find it almost impossible to follow a recipe without a bit of tweaking. To enhance the texture and nutritional quality of these pancakes, I ground my wheat a bit course to get a nice texture and also maintain the integrity of the fiber and I also added two heaping serving spoons full of cottage cheese to boost the protein content of these pancakes. They were much fluffier than the first batch I made, so I think I'll stick with that addition. You can also add blueberries, bananas, etc. as they are available.

Flour Power is filled with many more recipes and info on why milling your own grains is far better than buying previously milled flour. I would recommend it for those of you interested in home milling. If you are thinking you've heard me mention it before, you are correct...it was one of the books I received for FREE with my SwagBucks. If you are not a member, click on the link on the right and get started today! I'm about to earn another $5 Amazon.com gift card myself!!

Bagels

I ventured into the world of bagel making last night! It was fun to try and they are really yummy! Homestead Man said they were definitely better than store bought bagels, and they were made with fresh ground locally grown winter white wheat! I'm reading Flour Power (a book I got for FREE with my SwagBucks) and am so inspired by how much healthier freshly ground whole wheat flour is for our family!

I found the recipe, complete with step-by-step photos over at Heavenly Homemakes...this is a fantastic blog that features lots of healthy, delicious, from scratch recipes. Do you follow a blog that features scratch cooking recipes or cooking with freshly milled grains? Do tell!!

Garden Gathering...

In preparation for the upcoming gardening bonanza, I've been gathering supplies, seeds, onion sets, etc. Here's the progress to date:

16 pounds of assorted seed potatoes (buying more when they get a new shipment)
320 onion sets (overkill?)
a million assorted packages of seed ;-)
soil test kit (I'm gettin' all scientific this year!)
innoculant for legumes (from a local coop)
several varieties of seed proven for our region from the coop

Last, but certainly not least...I always seem to need ties for training cucumber vines, taming tomatoes, etc, but haven't been happy with any previous materials. It seems that garden twine is too rough and scars the plant...also, it has no give when the wind comes sweeping down the plain. My new idea you ask? (Okay, you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway.) I found an old pair of tights that my girls had looong since outgrown. After carefully cutting them into strips, I ended up with a bag full of stretchy, soft ties for the garden and a headband (made from the waist) that my oldest likes to wear when she's practicing yoga poses on the Wii! I think these will work perfectly and they didn't cost a penny! :)

Waste Not Want Not...

I hate wasting things...anything...even the wax that is left over when a candle has burned itself out. I started saving those bits and pieces of wax to pour new candles awhile back & finally melted them down. These bits were even more special because they came from my beeswax candles that I LOVE to burn, but are so expensive. Here are some photos: