Garlic, How do you eat yours?

I wonder from place to place how one eats garlic. I know that these pungent little cloves are more often than not used as a small addition to cooking, more like a seasoning. It adds great depth of flavor to most dishes, it is a super food!
Garlic is one of the most powerful medicines known to mankind but its strong flavor and odor put a lot of folk of using it fresh. In this household we chomp through clove after clove, raw! Yes you read right. Garlic is at its most powerful raw, and this does not need to be as daunting as it sounds, even my two year old will eat it. It is just awesome on a grated cheese sandwich or sprinkled over a meal. I can even it it as is, completely raw.
The more you eat it the more you like it and you may even find you crave it.
So folks, the question is - Garlic, How do you eat yours?

Speedy Soup

It has been a very busy house here this weekend, we have been painting painting and painting indoors. The weather definitely looks like it is on the up, and there is much to do. It is handy when meals can be made super fast, and of course super tasty.
I had some leftover peas and potatoes hanging about in the fridge so in a pan they went with a couple of cloves of garlic, an onion, the leftover water from the peas and potatoes, a splash of milk and some seasoning. This was cooked for 40 minutes and whizzed to create a lovely thick soup. Served with homemade wholemeal bread.

Pea and Potato Soup

Laura's Vanilla and Choc Cake

I am not the only one who enjoys all things baking, both my eldest children are not shy of the kitchen which is great. I have taught them well!
Laura recently treated us to this lovely cake which was a nice to eat as it was to look at :)

Pretty and Tasty

10oz of plain white flour
5oz of sugar
3 eggs
8oz unsalted butter
1tsp vanilla extract (not the flavored stuff)
1tsp baking powder
1oz cocoa powder
A splash of milk if needed

Add all the ingredients except the cocoa into a large mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated and creamy, you may need that splash of milk. Place half of the mixture into another bowl and mix in the cocoa to that half. Spoon a bit of mix from each bowl into a 8 inch cake tin until both mixes are used up. Bake on 350 degrees until cooked through. Enjoy with a nice hot drink of tea or coffee.
  

Easy Eggs

We have gone from a scarce supply of eggs to an over abundance of them, and the ducks have not even started to lay yet! Usually for lunch we will have bread, cheese and some pickles of different varieties that I canned over the Fall months. For a change and to use up a bunch of eggs I recentlly made this quick and easy egg recipe.

Super Food Eggs

To make this all I did was fry an onion until soft, add a load of whipped eggs, I used 8, and mixed in a bit of grated cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper. I cooked it on medium in a frying pan, carefully turning once until it was cooked through. This was a great nutritious lunch packed with protein.

The Lion Roars

The beginning of March here in Manitoba did not feel like Spring is in the air anytime soon! In with a lion seems more like it. We have had bitterly cold weather the past couple of days, actual temperatures down to minus 26 and with windchill minus 37. Brrr, roll on Spring!
The cold snap however does not seem to have deterred the chickens from laying a plentiful amount of eggs. For the first time in some months I have two eggs containers in my fridge and they come in all shapes, shades and sizes! Thank you hens!

Feeding the Poultry

Some folk often wonder what they can feed their poultry other than commercial stuff. I know first hand that over the colder months the cost of layer ration can go up considerably as the birds do not free range. This is a frustrating time of year, the poultry seem to eat their way through bags of feed whilst laying very few eggs.
It can help to add a few scraps into their diet. This gives them a bit of variety and can help cut cost slightly. I give my ducks, turkeys and chickens a few scraps each day. Usually plate scrapings, meat scraps we cannot eat (cut up with no bones in) tea dregs, and any other bits and bobs that may be past consumable for us. I find they will not eat citrus fruit or juice, chili, onion or garlic.
We also have Kefir grains that increase in size rapidly. When we have too many grains I give them to the poultry, they love it. It gives them a good dose of probiotics and it helps increase egg production. Make sure the food is small enough for them to eat easily, nobody want a choking chicken or a blocked crop.

Mini Meringues

I recently made a delicious French Lemon Tart. It used quite a few whole eggs but left me with two spare egg whites. Those lonely two little eggs whites did not go to waste. I made some mini meringues with them.

Tasty Little Treats

In a large mixing bowl whip the eggs whites up until slightly firmed, add one ounce of sugar for each egg white. Keep beating the egg whites until they reach the firm peak stage, when the bowl can be held over your head upside down without the meringue landed on you! Spoon dollops of the mix onto a baking tray lined with foil. Bake on 275 degrees until they are crisp, this can take a couple of hours and depends on the size of your meringues.

Serve as they are or with fresh fruit and cream

Sunshine Melt!

It is once again above the zero mark here, and once again the poultry are enjoying it very much. The ducks seemed to enjoy bathing in the muddy snow melt puddles that formed underneath where we park the car. Not sure what the turkey's made of it!

Snow free and muddy!

When to let the Poultry out

Over the Winter time all of our poultry is tucked away in sheds, it is just to cold here in Manitoba to let them run loose. We learned that lesson the first year of keeping ducks. We let them decide when they came in and out and sadly it soon became apparent that they did not make good choices, we lost most of them to cold exposure that first year. We felt terrible.
It can be tricky to gauge when it is too cold to let poultry out. It depends on breed, hardiness, is it windy, is it too snowy. There is lots to think about. My turkeys will go out up to about minus 10 actual temperature, chickens the same, ducks, no way!
The decision on whether they come out or not is now ours, and many owners differ on when it is fine for them to wander outside. Today all my turkeys, chickens and ducks are out (although not my Muscovy Ducks, who hate the slightest cold) We had fresh snow last night, it is currently minus 4 with a windchill of minus 9.
If it is way too cold for you, it will likely be way to cold for them. If it is cold but you can stay out comfortably the chances are they could to. Use your common sense as they lack it. Remember that your bad judgement can sadly be fatal to our feathered friends.

Soup Sievings Savoury Rolls

Soup sievings, you may ask? Simple really, whenever I make soup that has been whizzed I most often than not sieve it to remove all the stringy pulpy bits. These certainly do not go to waste. With a tomato based soup I usually use these sievings up as the tomato base for a pizza. However, on this occasion I tried a new recipe.

I made a simple bread dough -

400 ml water
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar
1 tbsp of traditional yeast
Enough flour to make a soft dough (I used a mix of white and wholewheat flours)

Once the bread had risen for about an hour I rolled it out to a long rectangle. I then spread the soup sievings over the entire rolled out dough and sprinkled it with some grated cheese.

Ready to roll

Roll carefully and as tight as you can so you have a large sausage shape. Proceed to cut them in to sections about an inch or so thick. Place on a baking sheet and let rise for about half an hour.

Ready to bake

Bake on 350 degrees until risen and slightly browned. Savoury leftover soup sievings rolls!

Scrummy!