Birthday Pies

It was birthday week at our house!  3 out of our 4 children have birthdays all in the month of October on the 21st, 23rd and 25th.  And no we didn't plan it that way, they came when they came!  So we get together every year and splurge on cake and ice cream, but this year I talked the kids into doing pies and I think it may stick!  It's like Christmas in October!  Here are some of our favorite recipes!

Emma's Chocolate Pumpkin Tart (Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts Cookbook)

http://www.marthastewart.com/314415/pumpkin-chocolate-spiderweb-tart

William's Frozen Key Lime Pie (Barefoot Contessa)

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=74&S=0

Jackson's Apple Supreme Pie

For the Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup oil

2 tbls. milk

Combine flour sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Blend oil and milk with a wooden spoon, stir into flour mixture until well blended.  Pat into 9-inch pie plate.

For the Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbls. flour

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

4 cups peeled and sliced tart green apples

Combine the sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Add the apples and toss even distributing the sugar mixture to coat the apples.  Place into pie shell.  

For the Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cupsugar

1/2 cup butter

Mix flour and sugar together and cut butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse meal.  Sprinkle over apples.  Place pie into a large brown paper bag.  Staple bag to seal.  Bake at 350` for 90 minutes.  It is so good!  Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Fall Roasted Veggies with Organic Rosemary Chicken

This is a fast and delicious recipe to prepare, just give yourself an extra hour for baking!  I used all the vegetables from my garden except for the sweet potatoes.  You can use any winter squash or root vegetable for this recipe.  

1 butternut squash peeled and chopped

2 large sweet potatoes peeled and chopped

4 medium beets peeled and chopped

4 large carrots peeled and chopped

4-6 Yukon gold potatoes washed and chopped

2-4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary

Drizzle EVOO, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh chopped rosemary over the vegetables and chicken.  Bake at 400` for 45-60 minutes uncovered, stirring the veggies a few times during the cooking process.  Serve with a rustic loaf or cinnamon rolls and a big green salad.

Homemade Burn and Wound Salve

This is a great little recipe for cuts, scrapes, burns and more.  There are only 3 ingredients, equal parts Raw Honey, fresh Comfrey (I grow in my back yard) and Wheat Germ Oil.  Blend all ingredients well.  Apply and cover wound with gauze or band aid.  Check on would and add more when necessary when original application has absorbed.  Do not peel off damaged skin, continue to add to wound until it is healed.  Raw honey cools, removes pain and aids in fast healing without scarring and is also an antibiotic.  Comfrey helps to stop bleeding, heels fractures and mends broken bones faster.  Wheat germ oil is nourishing to the skin, is used as an anti-inflammatory and prevents scarring.  The shelf life of wheat germ oil is short so keep this ointment in the refrigerator for up to a month. 

Homemade Lip Balms

 Okay, so this was actually my second attempt.  I finally figured out that putting the lip balm containers into a muffin pan not only eliminated knocking them all over every 5 seconds, but also kept it cleaner too!  For this recipe I literally spent more on the containers www.aromatools.com than I did on the ingredients.  This recipe is good for 100 .15oz lip balms as you see here or 60 1/2 oz. containers. 

Here is the recipe: 

2 cups shredded beeswax

12 oz. coconut oil

4 oz. cocoa butter

4 oz. olive oil or avocado oil

5 tablespoons honey

4 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

20-30 drops of your favorite essential oil

Melt beeswax and the next 3 ingredients in a double broiler on low heat or in a large bowl over a pan with a few inches of water in the bottom.  Once the wax and oils have melted together, add the honey and vanilla and essential oil.  Blend together well with a stick blender.  At this point you will want to test the lip balm to see if it is to your liking.  Spoon a little up and place in the freezer.  If it is good and firm then it is ready to pour, if you want it firmer use more beeswax, less firm, use more oil.  Use a plastic syringe to pull up the mixture and fill each lip balm container.  Mix with the stick blender every 3 to 4 times you fill up keeping it consistently mixed.  Allow to cool for 24 hours.  Cap them and keep them in a cool dark place until ready to use. 

Extending The Growing Season... Red Neck Style!

This year we decided to extend the growing season by making hoop houses over 2 of our grow boxes.  I had a different idea in mind when we put these together.  I thought we would be able to fit the pipes into T fittings and it would hold.  However, they ended up snapping and breaking so we ended up doing it red neck style... we had to save the greens before it froze!  We used 8 1/2 inch PVC pipes, 12 small metal brackets with screws to anchor pipe to grow box (see picture below), and wire to wrap the pipes together for 2 boxes that are 8x4. 

Loosely secure 6 metal brackets onto the grow box, 3 on each side, measuring evenly between all 6. 

Slide the PVC pipes into place and secure the screws tightly.

Cut an additional pipe into 3 sections fitted and measured to be secured in between each hoop. 

Fit the 1/2 inch pipe into a T and secure to hoop with heavy duty wire. Pipe must be cut to fit into the 3 T's.

She's secured down red neck style!

You will need the heaviest plastic you can find.  This is 6 ply.  If you can find 8 ply, that is even better.  Cut to fit the box so it hangs past the ground.

Secure with rocks or extra squash...   Be sure to check the weather and give the plants air to breath especially if it gets over 40`, they can cook!

For additional protection you can use a fabric row cover.  I place this over my crops and then put the plastic over the hoops.  I purchase mine at Steve Reagan. 

First Year's Honey Harvest!

My friend and mentor Robin and I are dressed and ready to go with the smoker and our bee brushes! 

 No openings anywhere!

We first smoked the girls really well (keeps them calm and distracted from what we are doing).  Then opened the hive up and started brushing the bees off the frames. We put the frames into another empty box and then covered it with a sheet keeping the bees off.

 The 3rd super was harvested in just a few minutes and we closed it back up again ready to extract!

We collected 7 frames full of honey in a separate box and took it into the workshop closed off tightly so the bees wouldn't smell it and come looking for the thieves! ; )  Ps. The bees have enough honey to get through the winter in the 2cd deep we left for them.  I prefer not to supplement my girls with sugar water if I don't have too, avoiding potential problems in the future like mites...

 Here is the extractor!  3 frames can fit into this baby at a time.  It is hand cranked and spins pulling the honey out to the sides, later draining down through the bottom.  It comes with a hot knife to help cut off the wax capping on each frame.

Here I am cutting the wax capping onto a pan.  I have plans for that wax!

Frames are ready to spin!

 One of my dear friends and her husband came to help!  We couldn't have done it with out them!

 Here is another close up shot of honey comb!  Isn't it beautiful!  You can see off to the right of the frame some darker spots.  That is propolis, pollen protein for the bees.

 

 Once the honey was extracted we poured it through a  mesh screen, into another bucket with a spout.  It was ready to go into the jars!

 Another shot of the screened bucket.

 Getting the last of the "gold"!

We did really well considering it was our first year.  Usually in the first year you are told not to expect anything.  We got about 12 pounds.  Really good years can produce up to 100 pounds of honey per hive with healthy established colonies!  It takes 12 bees their entire life to make 1 teaspoon of honey!  What dedication!  They are such amazing creatures!  I love my bees!

No one was stung during the harvesting process! :)

Elderberry Syrup for what ales you!

 This elderberry syrup is not only delicious but it will certainly keep any cold or flu bug away!  If you are already sick, it will shorten the duration of the illness.  Many herbs require a break from taking on a regular basis, however elderberries can be taken consistently without the body acclimating to it or lessening the effects.  Here is the recipe:

3 cups water

1/2 cup dried elderberries or 1 cup fresh

Bring the water and berries to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. 

 Smash the berries.  Then strain through a mesh strainer into a bowl. 

 Add 1 cup raw honey.  Stir well and keep refrigerated in an airtight container.

Give 1/2 to 1 teaspoon every hour to two hours at the first onset of cold or flu.  You can take 1 teaspoon everyday as an immune booster and preventative.

Homemade Laundry Detergent (great for all machines!)

 This recipe is simple and very inexpensive!  You will need:

1 box Borax

1 box Washing Soda

2 cups Baking Soda

1 container of (perfume,chlorine,dye free) Oxi-clean

3 bars grated Fals-Naptha or Ivory soap

 Grate all 3 bars of your soap

In a large bucket mix all ingredients together and seal with a tight lid to keep away from animals and children.  All you need is 2 T. per load, that's less than $20 a year for laundry detergent!

Pumpkin, Rice and Bean Enchiladas

These enchiladas have a nice mild flavor and is a great way to use up the rest of that large 32 oz. can of pumpkin puree leftover from making chocolate pumpkin bread!  I like spicy foods so I left a few more seeds when chopping the jalapenos!

Preheat oven to 400` and coat a 2 quart rectagular baking dish with cooking spray.  

In a large dutch oven heat a few teaspoons of olive oil.  Add 1 onion chopped and 1 jalapeno chopped. Season with a little salt.  Cook until softened.  

Stir in a 15oz. can of pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 cups water. 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Cook and stir until heated through.  Add an additional 1/4 cup of water if the consistancy is to thick.  

In a large bowl coarsely mash drained beans with a fork.  Stir in half of the pumpkin mixture and 1 1/2 cups cooked rice.  Add 1/4 cup of shredded pepper jack cheese.  

Spoon a generous 1/3 cup bean mixture onto a 6-inch corn tortilla and roll up placing the seem side down in the baking dish.  Continue the process until you have done 8 all together.  Pour the remaining pumpkin sauce over the top.  

Bake covered for 15 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle with 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and scallions.