Angie: February 2009 Archives

My Silver Appleyard ducks are starting to lay eggs.

Lots of eggs! They are fabulous to cook with.

Saturday for supper we had Duck Egg Belgian Waffles.

3 duck eggs

Separated. Look at those rich orangey yolks.

1 1/2 cups milk
5 tbsp butter
3 duck eggs yolks

Beat well.

2 cups of flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Sifted.

Add sifted ingredients to the wet mix

Put the duck egg whites into a clean bowl.

Beat until stiff.

Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter mix.

Take your time. You want to keep the air in the batter.

Using a 1/4 cup measure I pour the batter on to a hot waffle iron. Close the lid gentley.

A few minutes later I open the lid.

Add butter and syrup while piping hot.

Supper anyone?

The third ewe due to lamb this month has done her duty. Yesterday I was out filling the goose pool and kept watching her at the barn. I saw something moving but honestly it looked like a guinea behind her. I got closer and closer and then started shouting to Colby who was forking hay over for the goats and sheep.

I saw the white one just plop out. It got up to its feet almost instantly. Both were slick and wet and warm but cooling quickly.

Colby got busy with the jug (making a new bedding stall for mom and babies) and then we put them in.

There is something about the miracle of life that leaves me in tears every single time.

 A Question from a Reader:

Laurie has asked:

Do you know why my home grown eggs are difficult to peel once they are hard boiled?

 

Yes, Laurie, I can help you with that.

Fresh eggs are very difficult to peel. It's because they are fresh. It's because backyard flocks get better nutrition and makes the shells tougher and the membranes thicker.

There several tricks people use to peel them. I use salt and vinegar in my water. Sometimes people let the eggs age in the fridge before using. Some even poke a hole in the large end before covering with water.

Here is a video of the coolest way I know to peel eggs perfectly every time.

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Does anyone design blogs for MT? I am in the market for something to make over several areas of my blog and website. Email me if you can help.

Thanks for the great response to the bread recipe. It really is a quick, versatile, foolproof bread anyone can make with out much effort and no skill.

I have tried another twist to the recipe that I think you will find a wonderful change.

Costco sells a "Rustic Tuscan Seasoning" that is really quite good. It is a blend of garlic, sea salt, rosemary, basil, black pepper, oregano, hot red peper flakes, red and greed bell pepper, lemon zest, onion and who knows what else. It is recommended for meats seasoning but it smells so good I was thinking yesterday about a bread that tasted as good as the seasoning smelled.

I whipped up a batch of bread but as the dough mixer was slowing bringing it to a ball I dumped in about 2 - 3 tbsp of the tuscan seasoning.

If nothing else the dough looked fabulous.

I set it to rise then formed the loaves for the second rise. When I rolled out the dough before rolling into a loaf I loaded it down with a heavy dowsing of parmesain cheese.

Well, long story short - it was so good I don't have a photo of the bread. It's all gone. Momma took the 2nd loaf to go home with her. I think she and her husband have plans for a spaghetti dinner with the bread as a feature player on the table.

We are paying close attention to the ewes. We had another ewe lamb yesterday at dark. One baby froze it was so cold. I am heartbroken over it. I don't think we could have saved it if hwe had been given a chance to try.

Have you any wool?

Yes, Sir! Yes, Sir!

2 lambs full!

Dorcas lambed this morning sometime around daylight. She gave birth to one white and one black.  

I was standing at the kitchen window and kept seeing something and sort of shook it off as guineas. I saw something again and did a double take and there was a lamb in the field. I gave another scan across the feild and then saw the movement of something black behind Dorcus. Another lamb.

This has been an amazing morning for me and Colby.

Can you imagine?