Fig Season

It's fig season around here so I decided to find a really good fig muffin recipe for our breakfast the other morning. They were delicious! Recipe at the bottom!

FIG BUTTERMILK MUFFINS

Muffins:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar, I used Sucanat

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cups chopped dried figs, I used my fresh figs cooked down in an extra light syrup

TOPPING:

1/4 cup sugar (I used Sucanat)

1/4 cup quick oats

1 tablespoon butter

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12-cup muffin tin with baking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg until combined. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, folding to combine. Fold in figs. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Prepare topping, sprinkle over batter. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. 

Garden - Day 22

Well, our garden this year wasn't to spectacular. I killed everything except the cucumbers. I usually put hay around all the plants and this year, I decided to use some store bought wood mulch. It killed all my plants. I used hay around my cucumbers and they flourished! Here are some things we have been enjoying.

These squash and zucchini were the only nice ones we got this year.

Blueberries, I think we put up about 25 quarts of these beautiful things.

Lots of corn!

Cucumbers! Canned into sweet pickles and sweet pickle relish.

Okra

Figs!

What have you been growing in your garden?

Garden - Day 22

Well, our garden this year wasn't to spectacular. I killed everything except the cucumbers. I usually put hay around all the plants and this year, I decided to use some store bought wood mulch. It killed all my plants. I used hay around my cucumbers and they flourished! Here are some things we have been enjoying.

These squash and zucchini were the only nice ones we got this year.

Blueberries, I think we put up about 25 quarts of these beautiful things.

Lots of corn!

Cucumbers! Canned into sweet pickles and sweet pickle relish.

Okra

Figs!

What have you been growing in your garden?

Fridge - Day 11

Lots of good things in the frig right now. Fresh, sweet figs, beautiful blueberries, crunchy cucumbers and homegrown tomatoes. Lots of yummy things growing on the homestead.

We also have about 4 gallons of fresh, raw cows milk and half a gallon of raw cream to make butter. Organic plain yogurt to make homemade vanilla yogurt with and farm fresh eggs!

I almost forgot this delicious blackberry jelly I made a few months ago! It's great on homemade buttermilk biscuits!

I am planning my menu plan for next week and I am looking forward to using all of these yummy, whole foods we have been blessed with!

What's in you frig?

God Bless!

When chickens give you eggs....,

Our chickens have been blessing us for weeks with lots of eggs. So I decided to pickle some. I have pickled eggs before but used a different recipe. I came across this recipe and decided to try something different.

 

 

First boil a dozen eggs, I am using smaller eggs that our sweet little Silkies are laying.

 

 

While your eggs are boiling, mix together your vinegar, salt, sugar and pickling spice.

 

When this pickling liquid comes to a boil, add 1 large onion, sliced. Let your liquid and onions sit for 5 minutes.

 

Once your eggs are boiled, peel and stuff them into your jars. Ladle your hot pickling liquid and onions into your jars. I used pints.

 

Boil your jarred eggs in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes.

 

 

 

Pickled Eggs

 

12 boiled and peeled eggs

4 cups vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 large onion, sliced

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pickling spice

 

Boil your eggs and while they are boiling combine your vinegar, salt, sugar and pickling spice and bring it to boil. Turn you liquid off and add your sliced onion. Once you have peeled your eggs, pack them into your jars. Ladle the hot liquid and onions over your eggs. Boil in your boiling water canner for 5 minutes.

Processing and working together.......

 

 

As you can see, our Macy bug killed her first deer last Friday, December 26th. Here are a few pictures of all the bugs and their dad processing it.

We ended up with 12 pounds of ground meat and 8 pounds of breakfast sausage.

 

 

Happy Happy Bugs!!!!!

How to "roast" your pumpkin in your crockpot....

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch and all the bugs bring home a pumpkin to paint and eventually cook.

 

 

We have always liked to roast our pumpkins in the oven for using in pies, pastries, chocolate chip pumpkin bread (which happen to be my families favorite!) and other yummy recipes calling for pureed pumpkin. After seeing numerous posts about roasting a pumpkin in a crock pot, I decided to try it. It works great!

 

Here's the full instructions below!

 

 

1) 1 pumpkin (if wanting to roast whole, use a pie pumpkin) ours was too big, so I cut it into a few large pieces.

 

 

2) I took the seeds out of mine, but you don't have to.

 

3) Put the pieces into your crock pot with 1 cup of water and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until soft.

 

4) Here you go, beautifully cooked pumpkin! Now, scoop out the  cooked pulp and puree in the food processor until completely smooth.

 

 

5) It should look like this right out of your processor. Enjoy!

 

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar.......

This past week I went and picked up my Jonathan apples I ordered through my food co-op. Last year I made lots of apple sauce and apple butter for Betty Grace who turned a year this past August. She took care of all I made and we have been out for a while. This year I am putting up ape pie filling in jars. I usually freeze a lot but decided to tackle canning lots of everything I can get my hands on. For now it's 80 lbs of Jonathan apples. In the next few weeks I will be canning sweet potatoes and pumpkin. I love this time of year!

The possibilities are endless with apples! You can freeze them, make homemade applesauce, apple butter, apple jelly or apple pie filling.

I started this process today and doubled a recipe I found on www.mommyskitchen.net.

This apple filling turned out beautiful! I am so excited to use this for pies, cobblers, crisps and anything else that uses apple pie filling in the recipe.

I started with these beautiful Jonathan apples we are able to get from an Amish community in Illinois.

I started peeling, coring and slicing apples until I reached roughly 12 pounds. The recipe calls for 6 pounds but I have so many apples I decided to double it.

In a large pot I blended the water, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt and apple pie spice.

I cooked this mixture until it was thick and bubbly.

I removed the thick filling from the heat and packed my sliced apples into my jars like this

and then ladled the hot, thick filling into the jars over the sliced apples.

After I did this, I put my sterile flats and lids on and processed my quarts in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Here is how they turned put, Beautiful! Can't wait to make a pie!

APPLE PIE FILLING IN A JAR

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cornstarch

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons apple pie spice

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

10 cups water

6 pounds of washed, peeled, cored and sliced apples

In a large pot, blend all the ingredients and being to a boil and cook until it is thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat.

Pack your apples in clean, hot canning jars leaving an inch of space from the top.

Fill with the hot syrup and close with hot, sterile flats and lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.

Remove the jars from the canner and let cool.

Rat Killing.......

RAT KILLING! Just another fun day around our homestead. When our summer garden is done, we always bush hog our gardens down. Well as you know, these little rodents we call RATS, like living in tall grass. So, a couple of our bugs got their "weapons" and got ready! Here are few pics I snapped during this scary time! Just ask the little bugs! 

Even these guys enjoyed it. The bugs that is! They were jumping sky high!