Exciting Stuff Coming Up



Is he yawning or yelling?  And why are goats so damn funny?.

It's Friday!

Sorry about missing a couple of posts, but I've been really busy at work and sooooo tired.  1/3 of my department quit and I've been trying to get them replaced and picking up their work also (there are only 3 of us in the department - I guess I shouldn't be so dramatic.)  But there's some cool stuff a'happenin' in the coming week that I wanted to mention. 

Metropolitan Lawn and Garden Show (and Remodeling Show) is this weekend.  It's at the American Royal Center and friend Paula and I will be heading there tomorrow morning to check out Ahmed Hassan from HGTV the latest in plants, garden design, and home renovation products.  I  love this show because they always setup the most beautiful flower and garden displays - it makes me get spring fever big time.  If you're interested in going, tickets are $10 (additional $1 discount for up to 2 people if you have a Price Chopper card.)

CSA at Work.  Good Natured Farms is going to be sponsoring a CSA where I work.  There's an informational session on the 16th where I hope to find out more about it.  I've always been hesitant about joining a CSA because you don't have any control over what you get.  However, I've talked with several people who are also interested in joining and we have all agreed that we could do some food swaps.  Depending on the cost, I'll probably join.  We had a chance to sample some of the Good Natured products at the Hen House Holiday Celebration last fall.  Their milk and meat is to die for!  And it's all certified organic and local.  If you're local to the Kansas City region, you might want to checkout their website to learn more.

I happened to be in Topeka yesterday and found out that Hyvee's there double coupons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Oh, the humanity!  I tore that store up.  I'm not sure if I mentioned on here before that I am an extreme couponer - I used to have a blog where I posted all the great deals in the KC area.  The best deal was picking up bacon for $1.69.  It doesn't beat my best price of $1.38 a few weeks ago, but it's better than $4 to $6, which is what it usually costs.

Let's see...the other thing is that I sold another two dozen eggs to friends at work.  That's good, because at 6 or 7 eggs per day, they're starting to stack up.  J.'s going to try to sell some where he works also.  Maybe the girls can pay for themselves!

Have a fun Friday,

Update on Egg Totals

I just realized that it's been awhile since I've updated you on the girls and how they're laying.  As you know, I decided to NOT add any artificial light this winter, so I was afraid that laying would taper off significantly.  And it did at first.  At one point, I was down to a trickle of just 1 or 2 eggs a day for a couple of weeks in December\January. 

However, we're now consistently getting between 6 and 7 eggs per day from our 9 chooks:  5 Austrolorps and 4 Barred Rocks.  That's surprising, and I'm not sure if it's because all 9 are now laying (the Austrolorps were a little slow, I think), or because of the VERY mild winter we've had this year.  And gathering the eggs twice a day and making sure they had plenty of shavings in the nesting box seems to have eliminated my cannibalism issue.

Last weekend, J. and I stopped by Tractor Supply in Independence and picked up a Flock Block to keep the girls busy since they can't be out all the time.  Basically, it's a condensed block of molasses, oyster shell, grit, wheat, corn, milo and barley.  The idea is that the chickens will peck it and not each other.  We'll see if it works or not.  They were a little weirded out about it first and ignored it, but I checked this morning and the corners are rounded off, so they've definitely been pecking away at it.

January Egg Total:  89
February Eggs (so far):  40

We're halfway to the total number of eggs we got last month and it's only the 7th!  I need to get busy and sell some more eggs at work.

Got chickens?  I'd love to hear if you use artificial light during the winter and whether it affects their laying.

Have a glorious day,

Eye Spy: Ruminations on Growing Potatoes

So I've been thinking alot about potatoes because this will be the first year that I'm going to try my hand at growing them.  Since I only have 2 raised beds and limited space, I need to come up with another location for them and my first thought was to use some of the myriad of abandoned tires in the neighborhood.  At least they'd be put to some good, right?

But then I started doing some research and discovered that using tires isn't such a good idea.  I'm not as concerned about the chemicals leeching into the potatoes because the tires will be well worn, but I AM concerned about the spaces within the tire harboring insects and diseases.  Apparently, that can happen.  Not to mention I don't want our cute little farm to look like a hillbilly haven.

So...more research and more research and I found out some VERY interesting things that I'd like to share with you, my dear reader, about growing potatoes.  That is, if you're still here.  Boy, you must be as fascinated with potatoes as I am.  *giggle*

First of all, there are over 100 varieties of potatoes that you can grow but how you choose to grow them is extremely important.  Early varieties, like Yukon Golds (my favorite) do much better in a bed rather than in a vertical situation like the tires mentioned above.  So, when deciding to plant or ordering planting potatoes, make sure you know whether they are early or late season.

I've found 6 ways to plant potatoes, and I'm sure there are even more than that if you're creative.  Here's the 6:

1. Plant them in a traditional garden bed.  Potatoes like rich fertile soil, so make sure you mix at least 1 part compost to 2 parts soil.  Dig straight, shallow trenches 2 to 3 apart.  Plant the seed potatoes 12 inches apart and cover with 3 inches of soil.  When the plants get to about a foot tall, start mounding the leftover soil on top to cover the greenery until only about 4 inches in showing.  Repeat as needed.  This is probably the simplest method and the easiest for large-scale potato growing. 

2. Plant on bare ground and cover with straw instead of dirt.  Plant as above, but cover with 3 to 4 inches of straw rather than dirt.  As the plant grows, add more straw.  The straw will conserve moisture in the soil and discourage weeds.  My grandfather used this method very successfully in his garden and the nice thing about it is that there's no digging to harvest the potatoes!  The cons?  Be careful about mice setting up household in the straw.

3.  Plant in a raised bed.  Plant the same as in a traditional garden bed.  This is a great way to garden in general if you have poor soil in your area.  The negatives are the cost of creating and filling the beds, if you don't already have them.

4.  Plant in a bag.  I had never heard of this method before until I started researching.  Apparently some folks have had wild success with just taking 3/4 empty compost bags, rolling down the lips, and planting their seed potatoes in there.  As the plant grows, roll up the bag a little more and add more dirt to cover 1/2 to 3/4 of the plant.  Repeat until the bag is full.  Harvest is simple because you just dump the bag out.  The nice thing about this method is that you can do it anywhere in your yard and you can move them around if you need to.   Don't try and use trash bags - they cause the dirt to heat up too quickly and will stunt the potato plant's growth.  You can buy specially designed grow bags, but they're expensive.  The ones I saw online were about $12.95, but they will last several growing seasons.

5.  Plant in a wood box.  Kind of similar to the raised bed idea, but in a smaller, more vertical way.  Generally, these are a 2' x 2' boxes like the one shown to the right. Start with the bottom layer and screw 4' stakes in the corners.  As the plant grows, add another layer to the box and more dirt (or straw) until you reach the top of the box.  Harvest is fairly easy - just remove the box layers and spread out the dirt (or straw).  Claims are that you can grow 100 lbs of potatoes with this method, but I couldn't find anyone that had that kind of success with it.    By the way, this is a great way to use up old pallets.

6. Plant in a wire cylinder.  Same idea as a wooden box, only the growing space is created by creating an 18" tube out of hardware cloth with 1/4" mesh.  The height should be about 24 to 36" tall.  As with the other methods, add more dirt as the plant grow. I would think this would be kind of a mess, as the dirt will fall through the mesh and getting the mesh out of there at harvest might be slightly difficult.

My plan is to build some potato bins out of some scrap pallets that we have lying around.  There's a great step-by-step tutorial here how to build one.  Just remember not to use treated lumber, but that goes for anywhere in your garden.

The bad thing is that I already ordered Yukon Golds, so I guess I'll also end up planting some in one of my beds somewhere.   I'm looking now for some late varieties like Yellow Fin or Binjte, as they will do better in a vertical growing situation.

Anybody growing potatoes out there?  If you have any tips on how to get large harvests, or have a creative method you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it!




Find out what other like-minded folks are doin' over at this week's Homestead Barn Hop.

Time to Rest

Sometimes you just got nothing.   No energy to plan a garden, do the laundry, finish organizing the basement or anything else.  Maybe it's the weather or all the shopping you did that day, or that exciting end to the Superbowl game.   But that's when you need to take a cue from the dogs because they know what's best in this situation.

Domino hugging his favorite sofa arm.

I think I'd pick a more comfy spot to fall asleep though.

Cranky Today

So I'll just be up front and tell you that I'm cranky today.  I mean REALLY cranky.  Who wouldn't be on a day that looks like this?

Especially after a week of 50's and 60's.  Right now, the temperature is a chilly 43 degrees and the weatherguessers think we're going to actually get s--w tonight.  I can't even bring myself to type it.

 J. and I spent the day at an Active Shooter training class, where we learned how to respond in the event that we're somewhere and some maniac whips out a gun and starts shooting.  Not unheard of in today's society, unfortunately.  Over lunch break, I hot-footed it home to let the dogs out and snapped this photo with my cell phone.  Our maple tree is really confused and thinks it's Spring.  See those red things in the foreground?  Those are opening leaf buds!

Oh, and by the way, the house on the left is the house that we've been renovating and will put on the market later this year.  It's an all-brick 4000 sq ft Victorian with a to-die-for wrap around porch that we completely rebuilt.  If anyone is looking for a cool old house in Kansas City for a really great price, email me at crankypuppy at gmail dot com.

The really weird nice weather we've had so far this winter has confused my Emperor Red tulips as well and they're already up about 2 inches.  I hope this cold stuff doesn't damage them.  I may rake those leaves over them tonight just in case.

I thought it was kind of interesting that they're coming up in the shape of a cross.  I certainly didn't plant them that way and it's almost like they self-divided.  *sigh*  More weirdness this year.

We're settling in now to watch the MU vs. KU basketball game after a nice dinner of chicken gizzards.  (Yum!  Does anyone else besides me like these?)  Maybe if Mizzou wins I won't be so crabby.

Feeling grey,

Let the Rain Kiss You

Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

-Langston Hughes

Woke today to a thunderstorm rolling through, which is something we don't usually see until late March or April.  Thunder was cracking and lightning was lighting up the dark outside the bedroom windows.  J. was already up - I could tell from the smell of his coffee wafting through down the hallway.

We needed this rain desperately, but I couldn't help but wish it would have held off a little longer.  I dressed hurriedly and headed out to let the chickens out before the deluge started.  My real reason for going out was that I hadn't gotten the cleanings from the chicken coop into the composter.  I put them into a huge trash can and they ended up too heavy for me to lift by myself (I probably could have, but I'm still a little nervous about just getting over that pulled back muscle.)  So I needed J.'s help with taking care of this and got lazy about asking.  My penalty for laziness was dodging raindrops while getting a cover over the top of the trashcan.  While out there, I threw some straw lightly over the onions and garlic that have just started emerging from their winter nap. The deluge began right as my Muckboots hit the back porch.

Then it was off to work early where I sold another two dozen eggs to some friends at work.  The money will go into the coffers to pay for the girls' food.

Today was a good day despite the rain.

Sam the Groundhog

Happy Groundhog Day! 

That pesky prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning.  As if that's a surprise, and as if we couldn't figure out all on our own by looking at the calendar that we have 6 more weeks of winter left.  Of course, I'll take another 6 weeks of this weather:  it's been 67, 63 and 58 the last couple of days.  The weatherguessers say that's coming to an end this weekend with rain and maybe even a glancing blow of snow!  We definitely need it.

But groundhogs aren't all bad.  A long, long time ago in a land far away (okay, in Columbia, Missouri 100 miles from here), I had a furry friend of the groundhog persusasion that lived right outside my apartment.  I had sliding glass doors that opened from my living room out onto this little patio and just beyond that was an earth berm that "Sam" called his home.  It wasn't unusual for my friends and I to be hanging out and see Sam waddle right up to the door, sit on his haunches and look inside.  Yep, I had my very own groundhog peeper.  And I didn't mind because he was absolutely adorable.

Garlic is Growing

I noticed today that, with all this nice weather, the garlic has sprouted!  Not all the bulbs are up yet, but it looks like our first try at growing it might be working.  My bulbs were a little old, so I was afraid that it wouldn't work.   Yippee!  Cheesy garlic bread is in our future.

A Powerful Organic Message

This cute video packs a powerful message about the healthiness of vegetables in our supermarkets today.  It's exactly why we started a garden last year and started visiting the local farmer's market.  It's definitely worth the 2 and a half minutes.  Enjoy!



This was originally shared by Rhonda over at Down to Earth, but I found it via the Barnyard Blog Hop over at Hoping For a Homestead. 

Planting Onions? Now's the Time!

Onions are one of the easiest plants to grow in your garden. 

They're generally hardy to temperatures as low as 20 degrees F and they're not super picky about the soil.  And onions that are properly harvested and stored can last as long as 6 months.

But timing is everything.  There are some folks who claim that onions should be planted in the fall before cool weather.  There's certainly nothing wrong with doing that, but it won't give you the biggest onion bulbs.  To get the biggest onions, all you need to do is plant in early spring and add compost.  That's it!

You can grow onions from seed, but it can be tricky to get them started or transplant them and the seeds may require a longer growing season than you have in your area, which is why most folks (including moi) plant onion sets.  Onion sets are just tiny bulbs and they're usually available from seed or garden stores, but just note that sets will be more expensive than starting from seed.    Once you have your sets, you're ready to plant.  Here are some things to make your onion growing project a success:

• The best time to plant onion sets is early Spring about 4 to 6 weeks BEFORE the last freeze.  In Missouri, that's right now!  Don't worry....if it frosts, it won't hurt the bulbs.
• Pick a planting location that has at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.  Onions will grow in shadier areas, but the size of the bulbs depends on the level of direct sunlight.  More sun = bigger onions.
• Raised beds are perfect for growing onions because they love the better drainage and less soil compaction.  You can plant onions in the same location every year, but just be aware that you run the risk of disease affecting the plants.  It's a good idea to rotate every once in awhile.
• Onions love nitrogen-rich soil and will do well with regular fertilizer applications.  Prep the beds by adding well-rotted manure or compost and then tilling the soil to a depth of 8 inches. Then rake the soil smooth.
• Make a small hole about an inch deep in the soil with your finger and insert the bulb.  Make sure the stem is pointing up (you can see which end is the stem in the picture above.)  Cover the top of the set and then push down firmly with your hands.  Onions should be planted 4 inches apart in rows that are 1 foot apart.
• Water thoroughly and keep the soil evenly moist to encourage new growth.  Unless you live in a really dry climate (like Missouri this winter), you shouldn't need to water much in the Spring.  Onions actually prefer a slightly dry environment, so don't water too much.  It could cause them to rot.
• Keep the area weeded so they sets aren't competing with weeds for nutrients.  It doesn't hurt to mulch around them to help suppress the weeds.
• Apply a water-soluble 5-10-5 or 10-10-10 fertilizer once a month. I'm planning on using coffee grounds on mine, as they're high in nitrogen. And some fellow gardeners shared that the grounds will repel onion maggots as well.  They actually put a little bit of grounds in the bottom of the hole before they plan the onion set.  I didn't do that myself, but I may try it next year to see if it makes any difference.
• You can interplant onions with other veggies, such as lettuce, tomatoes or even strawberries.  Since I had some extra space until the strawberry plants fill in, I planted mine on one end of the strawberry bed.
• Now you wait.  The onion tops will start to turn yellow and fall over in mid-summer and then the onion plants will be ready for harvest.

I plantied my sets today as the sun was setting and the chickens were heading in for bed.  It's the end of January and the thermometer should be reading 25 degrees, but it says I was out in shorts and a t-shirt.  The days are already getting longer.  Feels like Spring!

Find out what other folks like me are doing over at the HomeStead Barn Hop and the FarmGirl Friday Blog Hop.

Cranky Gets a New Look

If you've never been here before, then welcome! If you have, then you probably noticed something different. A lot different! I'm still nursing my bad back so I'm stuck in my office chair and can't do anything I want to be doing, like cleaning the coop or finishing up the basement organization, or vacuuming the stairs. It's actually driving me crazy.

But I decided to take advantage of the situation and do what I've been wanting to do for a long time but could never find the time to do so - give Cranky Puppy a new bloggie look.

I really like the old one since it had a rooster on it, but these colors suit me better. I also like the picture portfolio at the bottom, which will allow me to showcase some cool stuff that's been happening lately on the "farm".

What do you think about the new look? I hope you like it as much as I do! And if there's anything you'd like to see added, or topics you'd like to me to talk about, leave me a comment. I love to hear from you!

I Want My Two Dollars

Word seems to be spreading like wildfire at work that we've got chickens and I've been deluged with questions like "Do you have to have a rooster to get eggs?" and "Are they mean?" Not sure why that person thought chickens would be mean, but I'm also discovering that lots of people are s.c.a.r.e.d of chickens! Mainly because they've never been around them. I guess it's human nature to fear what you don't know.

But one of the other questions I've been getting is "Oh! Do you sell your eggs?" In fact, I've had an overwhelming number of people ask if I would sell them some. Today, the girls made their first sale to Karen, a friend at work, for $2.00 a dozen.  She asked me if I was sure I wanted to sell at that price and I said yes.  Maybe I need to rethink that.  :-)   I'm not going to get rich at chicken farming, I  know.  But, truth be told, I'd be happy if I could sell enough to pay for their feed every month.

Here's the dog's reaction to my asking when I could expect them to start earning their keep:

I think that's called the "I are cute" defense. 

Coffee Grounds in the Garden

If there's one good thing that has come out of being stuck on the sofa with this bad back, it's that I've been surfing away on various gardening and homesteading blogs.  One of the things that I've been thinking about alot is the stuff that we throw away every day.  In particular, the food scraps and other things that can be going into our new composters.

One interesting post that I ran across is over on Craving Fresh and covers how to use coffee grounds in the garden to improve your soil.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but J. is and every morning he throws out his grounds and a paper filter.  Apparently, coffee grounds make a great fertilizer because they're really rich in nitrogen!  So, instead of buying commercial fertilizer, I've got a ready supply already.  Just add 2 cups of grounds to a 5-gallon bucket of water, let it steep for a few hours and then pour it onto the plants.  And here are a couple more uses for coffee grounds that I found on the Interwebs:

• They supposedly deter slugs and snails but I haven't had a problem with those yet.  I guess slugs don't like caffeine.
• Grounds are naturally acidic, so they will help balance the pH of your soil if it's on the alkaline side.
• They're lightweight, porous, and high in organic matter, so they are a great amendment to potting soil.   
• You can use them like mulch around plants that love acidity (blueberries, roses or azaleas, anyone?)  Just don't pile them more than an inch deep or you may end up with mold.
• Worm farms love coffee grounds.
• Starbucks introduced a grounds recycling program in 2001.  You can read more about it here.

Now I just have to find a container for J. to put the grounds in rather than in the trash.  (It sounds like a big deal, but his coffee maker is on our 2nd floor near the bedroom so that he doesn't have to go all the way down to the kitchen on the 1st floor every morning.)  Maybe I need to save up for this cute little thing.

If you've used coffee grounds in your garden, I'd love to hear about it.  Did you see a noticeable difference in plant growth?  Do you have any other uses for coffee grounds?

Nothing's Worse Than a Bad Back

I'm going to ask you in advance to forgive my brevity in today's post.  Right now, I'm lying on the sofa chillin' with my buddy the heating pad.  How fun!  Apparently, I pulled a muscle sometime in between the time I rolled out of bed and went to work.  It was all I could do waddle through the day.  A friend at work helpfully suggested that I try Dr. Jack Daniels if the Advil and heat don't help.  I'm not a drinker, but I will say that it does cure a cold.  My grandmother swore by it.

Anyway, hopefully, I will be up and running around like my usual rambunctious self by Saturday.  I have to....I've got projects to work on this weekend!  (And I'm sure J. is getting tired of taking care of the critters by himself.)

Cannibalism is a Nasty Habit

Uh-oh.  I guess I've always dreaded this day would come and it's finally here.   Somebody broke an egg and then ate it.  Oh the horror in the hen house!  And no one was fessing up.  So I cleaned up what was left of the evidence in hope that it won't happen again.  My naughty secret is that I've gotten a little lazy this winter - I've only been checking the coop in the  morning and collecting the eggs.  I guess I'll have to do that twice a day to make sure the eggs aren't sitting there and creating a temptation.  It also probably hasn't helped that it's been in the 20's and the girls have been cooped up.  I suspect they're getting bored.

Boredom? Accident? Dietary issue?  Could be lots of reasons.  But let's take a look at how you can keep your chickens from eating their own eggs:

• Collect eggs promptly. The faster your collect eggs from the nesting boxes, the less chance they will get accidentally broken or pecked.  My 9 hens all want to lay in the same nesting box, despite the fact that there are 4 nesting boxes in the coop.  I've actually seen 2 hens stacked one on top of the other in there fighting over the box. 


• Watch their diet.  One of the reasons chickens might start eating their eggs is to make up for a lack of  protein in their diet. Make sure that you are feeding your chickens a complete feed that contains all necessary vitamins and minerals, and not giving them too many starchy treats.  I don't think this is my issue because I don't see any other pecking and I'm feeding them a balanced diet of Layena and table scraps.


• Pad the nest.  Use plenty of soft bedding in the nesting boxes so the eggs don't rattle around once they're laid.  In the interest of recycling as much as possible, I've been using shredded bills and junk mail.  It works great and it's free!


• Provide some entertainment. When chickens are shut in together (as usually happens in the winter months), they get bored.  Providing a treat ball, Flock Block, or something to entertain them can keep them from pecking at eggs and each other.


• Stop bad behavior quickly.  If your chickens have started eating their eggs, replace the eggs with something inedible like a golf ball or a wooden egg.  Hopefully, they will realize they can't eat the fake egg and will stop eating their own.  I have one wooden egg that I leave in the nest at all times. 


• Use negative reinforcement.  Some folks have had good results by empting out the contents of an egg through a small hole and then replacing the inside with something spicy like hot mustard, jalapeno relish or habanero sauce.  The hope is that your chickens should learn to associate this experience with their own eggs and stop pecking them. 


• Alter your nesting box.  Angle your nesting box so that fresh eggs roll down a ramp to a safe distance. 

Do you have any other suggestions for how to keep your chickens from eating their own eggs?  I'd love to hear them!

Find out what other folks like me are doing on the Homestead Barn Hop.

More Crazy Weather

It was a busy day, but we were working at our own pace and had nowhere we had to be today.  J. and I did some more work on the basement organization this afternoon and made some good progress.   All the shelving is put together and I dove into trying to sort out all our Christmas stuff.   (I don't think either of us realized that we have enough lights to cover the Empire State Building! Are we the only ones that have this problem?)

Earlier in the day, we snagged a roast at Hyvee for just $5.00 and popped it into the slow cooker with some potatoes.  Yum!  We got interrupted when J.'s brother stopped by to help us move our old mattress out to the curb so the city can pick it up.  Looking at the tag, it's only 5 years old but J. says it makes his back hurt.   Just as we wrestled the thing down the two flights of stairs and out on the curb and were standing there talking, it started to rain.  So we retired to the parlor where J. and I worked on getting some nasty viruses off of his niece's laptop, and then we all enjoyed some tasty roast.   Outside, we could hear a *tap tap* on the windows and quickly realized that it was hailing!   It hit 56 degrees today, which is crazy for late January, so I guess it's not surprising that a surprise thunderstorm blew up.  The bad news?  The wind was so high that it blew that heavy mattress halfway down the block!

Speaking of the new mattress....J.  wanted a Tempur-Pedic.  But who can afford thousands for a mattress?  After doing some searching, we found the Sleep Innovations mattress that Amazon sells for just $399 and has great reviews.  Using coupons and rewards points, we got it for "free" (no money out of pocket) and free shipping.  The poor UPS guy had to drag that 80 pound behemoth up the stairs to our front door.  So far, J. says it definitely feels better on his back. 

Say Cheese! It's National Cheese Lover's Day

As connosieurs of all thing cheese, CrankyPuppy and my other fuzzy companions are absolutely delighted that today is National Cheese Lovers Day. They're looking at me expectantly right now, wondering what kind of cheese we're going to eat first. Well, some of us didn't get this great day off (what's up with that!?) so I'm going to have to dash their hopes about sitting around and eating cheese all day.

But, in honor of such a momentous occasion, let's look at a recipe that is oh so yummy, easy and cheesy to boot. I give you Cheese Hand Pies!

Cheese Hand Pies

Pastry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbs butter cut into blocks
1/2 tsp salt
1 small egg, lightly beaten
3 1/2 tbs milk
2 tsp white vinegar

Filling Ingredients (**you can fill these with anything, like apples and butter!)
3/4 cup cottage cheese (drained)
1/2 cup smooth ricotta cheese
2 tsp finely grated Romano cheese
pinch salt & pepper
2 small eggs
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp milk

Directions

1. To make the pastry, combine flour, butter and salt.
2. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it is crumbly.
3. Add the eggs, milk, and then vinegar. Mix well until the dough forms a loose ball. Flatten it slightly.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. To make the pastry filling, mash the cheeses together.
7. Mix in salt, pepper, paprika, and 1 egg.
8. In a separate bowl, whip the remaining egg and 1 tsp of milk together to make a glaze.
9. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8" thick.
10. Cut 4 inch rounds with a cookie cutter or a glass, cutting them as closely together as you can. Re-roll the scraps if you needed.
11. Brush around the edges of the pastry circles with the glaze.
12. Place about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of filling in the middle of each round, spreading it out lightly into an oval.
13. Flip one half of the pastry over the filling to create a half circle.
14. Press the edges together to seal them and then fold them up and over to make a lip.  This will keep the cheese filling from leakingout.  You may need to stretch the ends slightly to make them  match up.
15. Place the pies on the baking sheet and brush the tops with glaze.
16. Bake for 20 minutes or until they are nicely browned on top and bottom. Let them cool slightly before eating, as they will be piping hot on the inside.
17. Enjoy!

No More Chicken Nuggets for Me



Photo by Pam Marshall via FeatherSite.com


As a society, I'm amazed by who so very far removed we are from where our food comes from.  My move to raise chickens, start visiting local farmers markets, and growing food in our own garden just felt right.  And that feeling of being on the right track is underscored as I learn more and more about the food industry.

Let's talk tonight about those chickens that we buy in the store.   Believe me, I've bought and eaten plenty of them and, all the while, I thought I was eating healthy.  In fact, I'm not alone because the average American eats 91 pounds of chicken per year.  That's a 300% increase in chicken consumption and it is being placed squarely on McDonald's doorstep for their introduction of Chicken McNuggets on their menu.  Have you had a McNugget lately?  It tastes like cardboard.

Does that chicken in the picture look healthy to you?  It's Cornish Cross, which is one of the breeds that the commercial poultry industry loves.  They are specifically bred to maximize profits and satisfy our enormous appetite for chicken.  They're genetically altered to eat constantly and to grow an enormous amount of white breast meat.  To illustrate the point, consider this:  a normal chicken takes about 12 to 16 weeks to reach full maturity and will weight about 7 to 8 pounds.  The Cornish will weigh 5 pounds at only 5 weeks!  They grow so quickly that their legs literally cannot carry their weight any longer where, propped up by antibiotics and growth hormones, they end up sitting by the food bowl eating until they die.  If they're not slaughtered for consumers, they die of a heart attack.  They never live long enough to lay an egg and usually live out their short lives in a commercial chicken farm with  thousands just like them.  At least one-third of them have respiratory or digestive failures by the time they are killed.  And then they end up on your dinner plate.

Courtesy of  Food Inc.  If you haven't yet watched this movie,
you need to.  It's an eye opener.

Knowing this information makes me sick.  How is this a sane and humane industry?  Efficient, yes - sane, no.  My little chicks are lucky in that they will live out their lives as pampered pets eating grass and enjoying the sunshine.  They'll never be mistreated as these birds are. 

Buy local.  Eat local.  We can make a change through the choices we make.  We can do better.

Recipe Secrets: Recreating Houlihan's Baked Potato Soup

Soup's on! On tap for dinner today, that is. Have you had Houlihan's Baked Potato soup? If not, you're in for a real treat. I'm in love with this soup and have to have it at least once a week (friend Paula and I usually go for lunch at work). This is the first time I've tried to recreate it here at home, so let's see how it stacks up to the original.

CrankyPuppy's Baked Potato Soup ala Houlihan's

Ingredients

(makes 4 to 6 servings, or 2 if you're a hog like me)

2 cups russet potatoes , diced but unpeeled
1/4 lb butter
1 cups yellow onions , finely diced
1/2 cup flour
1 quart warm water
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup instant potato flakes
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper, garlic powder and dried basil (to taste) 
Grated cheese, bacon and\or scallions (optional, for topping)

Directions

1. Prick washed potatoes and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until a fork pierces the center easily.  Remove potatoes from oven and allow to fully cool.  Remove skin and cut potatoes into 1/2" to 3/4" cubes.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Add onions and saute over low heat for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Don't let them burn! 
3. Add flour to onions and butter and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring until the flour is absorbed.
4. In a separate container, combine water, chicken stock, potato flakes, and seasonings. Stir until thoroughly mixed and no lumps remain.
5. Add slowly to onion mixture, stirring constantly so no lumps form.  Increase to medium heat and continue cooking until the soup begins to gently simmer.
6. Add milk and cream, stirring until smooth and lightly thickened. Lightly simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Combine the potatoes with the soup to complete.
8. Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic as needed.
9. Serve topped with cheese, crumbled bacon and chopped scallions (optional).

Busy Organizing

Yet another beautiful weekend with temps in the 50's and 60's in mid-January!  And what are we doing?  Are we out riding our bikes or playing with the chickens? Nope.  We're in the basement organizing. 

But it's one of those things that needs to be done and is a long time coming.  We took advantage of a Groupon several months ago for "College Hunks Hauling Junk" and two really nice young men (neither were college students, but one was the local franchise owner) came and helped us move all the trash and broken stuff left over from our 10+ year renovation of this old house.

It really was amazing how much stuff we had down there.  The biggest pile was old wood trim and house parts - some of it over 12 feet long!  We've found that it's impossible to find trim to match what's 112 years old, so it would be a sin to get rid of any of it.  It must stay with the house.  So J. and I's first order of business was to build a  place tucked under the stairs to store all of it.

Next up on the list was to put together 6 large heavy duty shelving kits from Lowe's.  My stockpile is spilling over from my pantry upstairs, so we setup space to store long-term food items, J.'s 500 gallons of grapefruit and cranberry juice that I got for free from couponing (there may be a little exaggeration there), and other household items.  That area will be complete once J. has wired in an outlet so that we can move the chest freezer over to that location as well.  It will be really nice to have it closer to the stairs rather than all the way across the basement.

Once that was done, we had cleared the middle of the basement and the next project was one that I had been dreaming about for a long time.  I'm in love with stained glass and learned how to do it several years ago but I don't really have a dedicated space for a glass project or my tools.  Ideally, you really need a large flat working surface and a place to cut glass.  Obviously, the dining room isn't a good choice, as you wouldn't want to find little glass chips in your food.

A little over a year ago, I was in Lowe's to pick up something for our reno and they had 4 white kitchen cabinets on closeout for just $20 a piece.  I guess they had just put them out and marked them down, because I barely snagged them before 3 other people.  My vision was to put 2 of them side-by-side and then backed up to the other 2 to create a square, then put a thick plywood top on as a work surface.  The more I thought about it lately, though, it would be nice to be able to move that thing around if we have to do wiring or plumbing work on the house and it will be heavy once it's all put together.  So J. and I built a platform for the cabinets to sit on and bolted 6" casters to the bottom.  Two of the casters have brakes so I can stop the cabinet from moving.  And an added bonus is that the casters and platform raise the working surface about 9", which makes it much easier on someone like me who is 6 feet tall.  I wish, in fact, that we had raised our kitchen cabinets when we did our last renovation because I sometimes get a backache from bending over when I'm cooking.

No pics for you today (sorry!) because I was too lazy to go up 2 flights of stairs and grab the camera. We're still putting the cabinets together and will hopefully have that done later this week.  And I promise to have some pics for you then.  But for now....J. and I are off to let the chickies out to enjoy the nice weather too.