Parent Teacher Conference Supper

The past few days have been busy in the kitchen. G signed us up to serve a meal to the teachers at the school connected to our church for Parent Teacher Conference night, and we decided to use the opportunity to make a triple recipe of our favorite meal-train meal so we could provide a meal for a few other church families (new babies and a death in the family). 

It worked pretty slick. 

I had made another roaster of applesauce last week, so we had plenty of that on hand for all three groups. 

The night before we served, I mixed up a double batch of gingersnaps to bake the day of. They were very easy to scoop with a muffin scoop being chilled from the fridge. 

The day of serving, I made a double batch of my go-to fresh bread recipe. I used the oven with the light on to get it to rise in a timely manner, and it turned out the best it has in a long time, possibly ever! 

G came home early from work to make the goulash soup. He was disappointed in the flavor. Instead of fresh garlic, we used up some minced garlic I had frozen longer ago and I think that made all the difference. Oh well. The people we're serving it to haven't had it before, so they'd never know the difference. 

One of the teachers is dairy free, which wasn't an issue for most of the items (cheese in the soup can be served on the side). But I forgot about dessert until the last minute. G wanted to buy a bar of chocolate for her, but I was stubborn and said if the rest of the meal was from scratch, then her dessert should be too. And it would take time to buy a dairy free chocolate bar, probably more time than it would take to whip up a dessert. 

A Google search for "quick, one serving dairy free dessert" brings up a gigantic list of mug cakes- cakes you mix in a mug and microwave for a few minutes. A recipe for vegan pudding caught my eye: one avocado, 3T cocoa powder, 3T maple/agave syrup, 2T alternative milk, splash of vanilla. Blend together. Done. Well, that sounds easy enough. And I had just made that frosting out of avocados and cocoa powder, so I had a feeling it would turn out. 

G made it in the magic bullet blender, which is good for small quantities, but I thought there wouldn't be enough moisture to get it to blend smoothly. I was right. It did an okay job, but you could see green chunks of avocado amongst the chocolate. Not very appealing. So I used my immersion blender to fix it. And it did the job. I licked the spatula and thought it tasted lovely. 

The teachers appreciated the meal. They said the bread was the best, the soup was filling, and the kombucha wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. 😂 

Garden Update

There was a freeze warning the other night (maybe two weeks ago?) so we picked everything that could be picked in the garden and brought it into the garage/house. 

We encountered a few surprises! 

Like this watermelon among the thistles: 

Is it ripe? I haven't cut into it yet to tell...

G found two yuzu fruits ready for harvest from the container plants. 

I found a few squash I hadn't expected after our battle with the squash bugs and mildew. 

There were a few pumpkins, much to Jaron's delight! 

All three of these are from our garden:

Jaron placed the bottom two in the arrangement. Since then, some critter (chicken possibly?) has nibbled on the white pumpkin. 

Here's what else we hauled out of the garden. 

Some of it I can use, but a lot is going to the goats. They don't seem to mind. 

We had a ton of teeny green tomatoes. Worth saving? Probably not, but I did anyway. 🤪 Also a handful of teeny bell peppers. 

By the time I got around to processing the leafy greens, most of them had dried out. Problem or preservation hack? 😂 I think I'll let them continue to dry out or freeze dry them to make a powder for soups and such. 

Last of the Goat Milk

We haven't milked Sybil for days and I've been slowly chipping away at our milk supply. I finally used the last of it in this recipe: sausage tortellini soup from the Cozy Cook blog. 

Although in classic Emily form, I adapted the recipe to what I had on hand. 

Instead of sausage, I used leftover roast beef (and I added it at the end just to warm up, instead of cooking it in the beginning). 

I also used beef broth instead of chicken, since I had that leftover from the roast. And I used goat milk instead of cream obviously. 

The tortellini we had was dry as opposed to refrigerated or frozen as the recipe calls for it, which made me pause a moment before adding it to the soup. I almost cooked it separately so the noodles wouldn't balloon up in the leftovers. But by that point I had added a couple extra cups of water to the soup to account for the extra moisture the dry noodles would absorb, and I didn't want the soup to be watery. In the end, I cooked the noodles in the soup as the recipe says. 

We had a lot of frozen kale in the freezer, so I probably put double the amount in the soup. It had smelled so delicious prior to adding the kale! After the kale, that was all I could smell. 

But the taste was still good even with all my adjustments. Sometime I'd like to make this recipe for real. 🤪 

It looked and smelled good enough to G that he broke his fast to eat some for supper! 

I forgot to take a picture of the fresh soup, but here's what it looked like leftover. More like a stew than a soup. The noodles didn't soak up as much as I thought they would. 

 

Rearranging

Just over a month before baby's due date, so we're doing a little rearranging to make things smoother after baby comes. 

First thing was rearranging our bedroom so Jaron is on G's side. We added a floor lamp and switched out bedside tables so there was room for Jaron's books. 

He had a great time running around the house with a tape measure measuring everything ("twenty inches!"). And then he had an even better time moving his books over to the new shelf. Lots of squeals of excitement. 

His old bedtime bookshelf is now home to his favorite tall books that don't fit on the other shelf. And he wanted Mr. Owl and the Octopus to sleep there too. 

While the guys did the heavy lifting, I gathered supplies I might need for birth. 

My pre-baby to-do list is getting shorter! 

Long-term Veggie Storage

Note to self- store apples in a drawer in the fridge so their off-gassing doesn't ripen the other produce in the fridge... 

The garage fridge had been packed with cabbage, so packed the bottom drawers had to be taken out to make room for it all. 

I thought it was perfect there was just enough room in the door shelves for the apples. But then we noticed the cabbage outer leaves turning a weird gray and drying out. 

I'm sure they're fine underneath those leaves, but that got me wondering why that happened. The loose apples were the only thing I could think of as a cause. 

And the Internet backed me up. 

So I shuffled the cabbages around and added the bins back to the fridge. 

Making sauerkraut is at the top of my list this week!!!

Birthday Boy Turns Two

Poor Jaron. He turns two today and his parents are still restricting sugar, even on his birthday. 🤪

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for a cake for him this year, but flipping through my recipe book I found my notes/recipes from last year. These two recipes jumped out at me: 

Seems easy enough. We had the ingredients on hand, including the sweet potatoes. 

The batter turned a lovely green color. 

I was going to make a small cake for Jaron and a different dessert for everyone else, but G thought others might enjoy trying Jaron's cake, so I made two 9" cakes. 

Very moist and solid. The flavor was pretty bland, although the lemon came through lightly. I had debated adding a little maple syrup to the batter and decided against it. Should've put some in. 

The frosting was easier to taste as you go, and I did end up adding a splash of maple syrup to the mix. It's also possible my ratios were off because of the size of the sweet potato I used. And I added more dates because I had them and I wanted the frosting sweeter. So did it even turn out like it was supposed to? I think so. 

The texture was smooth and creamy like typical frosting. 

And it had a pleasantly sweet taste. You'd never guess the base was sweet potato and avocado. 

We went down to my parents' farm to celebrate Jaron's birthday Thursday night since it's easier for the three of us to travel. We served goulash soup, homemade bread, applesauce, and roasted carrots. Jaron was too full from supper to want any cake. 

So we served everyone else and he got some on his actual birthday. 

My family loves sugar, so I knew it wasn't going to be a huge hit (hence the backup dessert- brownies). I was pleased with how many people wanted to try it! Not many actually finished their serving though. 🙃 

I thought it was okay. The cake would make a great muffin. 😉 As I suspected, the cake would've benefited from some honey or maple syrup. The frosting was good. G thought it would've been great with whipped cream on top. 

What did Jaron think when he finally got a piece? 

He ate a couple bites, seemed to like it, but then he handed what was left back to me and asked for applesauce. 😂 In the cake's defense, it is really good applesauce!

 

Goat Cheese Lasagna

Not sure why lasagna came to mind as a supper idea, but it did. My only memory of making lasagna is from my childhood making it with my mom. Mostly her complaining about how much work it was and the noodles sticking together. 

I looked up a recipe that uses uncooked noodles so I could skip that step. 😜 This recipe was easy to put together and fairly quick. 

My mom used cottage cheese in her lasagna. I used my goat cottage cheese which is kind of like a ricotta, so it worked with the recipe. 

I also threw in more noodles. Three noodles across didn't seem like enough. Four were too many for my pan, so I broke them up to fit. 

It was a little difficult to spread the cheese layer, but I figured it didn't have to be perfect since it would all blend together anyway. 

And since I added more noodles, I topped the pan with additional marinara sauce... I had used a store bought jar for the main recipe (a few oz less than the recipe called for) and supplemented with a pint of homemade sauce. I haven't enjoyed eating the sauce on its own, so this was the perfect way to use it. 

And the lasagna turned out perfect. 

A Tale of Two Brownies

Now that the muffin quest is over, time to focus on one of my other recipe quests. 🤪 Boxed brownies from scratch ...

One of the cookbooks I checked out from the library had two brownie recipes that caught my eye: a box mix brownie recipe from scratch and a better-than-supernatural brownie recipe. The other perk- this cookbook is all about weeknight baking, so the recipes are quick to make. 

I wanted another option of things to serve for snack after church, so it was the perfect time to try both recipes! 

The pan on the left is the top recipe and the pan on the right is the second recipe. 

The box mix recipe drew my eye right away since that is the purpose of my quest. The downside to the recipe is that it only makes an 8*8 pan. But it is very easy and quick. 

The supernatural brownies took longer to put together since the chocolate needs to melt and I don't have a microwave... Double boiler on the stove doesn't take that much longer, but it results in more pans in and out. 

Overall taste wise, they were both great straight out of the oven (then again, what baked good isn't???). The box mix recipe was verrrry chewy and seemed underdone. I actually liked the supernatural brownies better, although the texture was a bit cake like. But when we served them Sunday, my preference might have swapped. The supernatural brownies had a mild caramel flavor and more of a crust on top. The box mix copycat had solidified more and was a nice gooey texture. Again, with a slight crust on top (I'm not a fan of top crust in my brownies, I guess 😅). 

Because they're so different, it's hard to pick a favorite! I would make both again depending on the situation. But I will continue my quest for best brownie recipe...

Zucchini Muffins

We served snack after church this past Sunday and one of the items I served was mini zucchini muffins. 

I got this recipe from a former co-worker, and they always turn out great. 

Of course I've messed with the recipe over the years to try to cut down on sugar. See my notes above. 😅 

This time I tried using dehydrated shredded zucchini since I didn't have any fresh. 

I soaked the zucchini in whey as I mixed up the rest of the recipe. Since the batter is typically quite wet, I added the zucchini and the leftover liquid. 

They turned out pretty good! 

This is the second batch I made... The first batch used applesauce instead of sugar and they tasted savory. I decided people at church probably wouldn't be thrilled with a not-sweet muffin and I made a batch with the regular amount of sugar to serve the public. We'll keep the not-sweet ones for us. 🤪

Sweet Potatoes

It seems our sweet potato bin was prolific this year! G noticed them first... He saw some sticking up out of the dirt when he walked past the bin. 

I needed a couple for a recipe, so I stuck my hands in the dirt to grab a few. Much bigger than last year! I picked these from the top of the container just an inch down. 

I wonder how deep they go...

Chicken Preferences

We're testing out a new chicken feed with our birds. The company has a pelleted version (top pail) and a crumble (bottom pail). 

We're doing the experiment with the two indoor feeders. So far it seems like they like the crumble better, but that's been in the feeder closer to the door which tends to get eaten down quicker. 

I'd like to switch which feeder the feed is in to see if they continue to eat the crumble the quickest. 

Update on the nesting boxes... They haven't loved any of them. 😂 Instead, they lay their eggs under the hay tray I added to the goat hay feeder. 

A few of them have been laying in the lower level nesting boxes. None have used the nesting boxes in the haymow. Although, a couple keep laying on top of open hay bales... We've found a couple when we pull flakes of hay down for the goats and the eggs fall with the hay. 😑

One final piece of excitement... Jip battled a raccoon in the marsh close to our house and he won! He carried it all the way home and wouldn't let G take his prize, so it's still in the pasture. Hopefully it's a warning to other raccoons to stay away! 

 

First Loaves

I baked my first loaves of bread made from home milled flour. They turned out okay. I used my favorite bread recipe, the one that's nearly impossible to mess up. I made two batches - one with hard white wheat and one with hard red wheat. I also used whey as the liquid instead of plain water.

As I expected, the dough was pretty dry. I added a little extra whey until the dough was a similar consistency to what the recipe is with normal flour. 

Red wheat:

White wheat: 

Can you tell which dough is which on the pan?

 Flat loaves, but they taste great! 

You can definitely see the color difference between the red and white wheat: 

Both loaves have a tang because of the whey. The red wheat has a nuttier flavor that covers up some of the whey flavor. The white wheat doesn't hide it as much and has more sour flavor. 

G said he would die a happy man if I served him this bread every day for the rest of his life. 😂 

Big Batches

I've been on a mission to use up goat milk so it doesn't go to waste. First recipe was to make two batches of a quadruple recipe of cream of mushroom soup for freeze drying. That used 8 cups of milk. 

It worked much better this time. I sauteed the mushrooms in a little bit of butter, scooped them out of the pot and then melted the rest of the butter for the roux. After the flour mixed in, I added the mushrooms back to the pan. I ended up with a gallon of soup. 

Next was to make a double recipe of lemon raspberry cottage cheese pancakes. Each recipe uses one cup of cottage cheese and just under 2 cups of milk. 

This time I used lemon infused oil to boost the lemon flavor. I also added a bit more goat milk since my raspberries were freeze-dried and would soak up moisture. 

These cooked better than last time and the batter was thicker too. We ended up with about 35 five inch pancakes for the freezer. 

I still had goat milk left in the fridge... More ice cream! I redid the first recipe we tried, the one with honey and arrowroot powder, but I cut the honey in half. Double recipe again, so that's another 8 cups used. To activate the arrowroot powder, it needs to heat on the stove. Then it has to cool before churning. So, it's mixed up in the fridge to churn sometime. It tastes great unfrozen! 

Quest: Banana Muffin #7 (and #8)

G is getting muffined-out. When he found out I made another recipe, he said I should quit looking and settle on one of the ones I've made before. Good thing this is the last recipe I had on deck to try. 😂 

Pros- it's gluten free, hearty because of the almond flour and oats, uses maple syrup and bananas as sweetners. 

Cons- I've been putting off making it because it seems putsy. I had to grind oats to make flour for the recipe, melt coconut oil, and a number of ingredients need to be room temp. Also, it says it only makes 10 muffins. Lots of work for a few muffins. 

The oats ground up fine once I got the mill out. I did a bunch to speed up the process for future recipes. 

I didn't feel like dealing with coconut oil, so I substituted grapeseed oil. And since the oil doesn't solidify when cold, I didn't worry about having room temp ingredients. 😅😜

It didn't make any difference in the recipe. 

They turned out great. I baked them without muffin liners in my copper muffin pan. That probably accounts for the low height. There was enough batter for 12 muffins plus a mini cake. 

I enjoyed the flavor and thought they were nice and moist. G didn't like the gritty texture, but I think that's from the home ground oats and the brand of almond flour I used. I could sift both and get a much smoother texture. 

So this recipe is a keeper for sure. 

I have three keeper banana recipes, each with a slightly different purpose. This is a good gluten free recipe. The one with hemp hearts is G's favorite. And then the one I made twice without realizing it can be our normal standard. 

But... 

What if I don't have any ripe bananas?? The way Jaron ears them, it's pretty tricky to have any around. Maybe I could sub applesauce for bananas? Chat gpt thought so. 

So I whipped up a batch using a 1:1 substitution of homemade applesauce for bananas. 

Very liquidy. 

I debated adding more oats or almond flour and decided against it. Another factor I threw in the mix was baking it in the toaster oven instead of the regular oven. The way the pan fits inside brings the batter close to the heating element, which could impact the bake. I also filled the muffin wells fuller and still had a good amount of batter leftover for my little cake pan. 

As you can see, they ended up with dips in the middle. Too much moisture. 

Still, they taste good. Extremely moist, so I should tweak that next time.  

And bake them in a regular oven to see if that makes a difference. 🙃