Roxanne - The Chicken with Superpowers

This is Roxanne.

She is always on the move. Hunting worms under the leaves or bugs from the grass, she thinks of food constantly. A girl after my own heart.

I think she's always ranging because she's enormous. She needs to eat constantly to maintain her giant girth. She dwarfs the other chickens.

Roxanne is not a curious, nor is she particularly friendly, but she is a very special chicken. She has a secret super power.

...this is Roxanne's super power...

She lays the MOST enormous eggs I have ever seen!!

They don't even fit into a JUMBO sized egg carton.

Roxanne's eggs are massive and speckly and a little nubbly to the touch. I LOVE her eggs, even more than the special green ones we get from our Americuanas.

Notice the whitish ring around the center of the egg? I wonder sometimes if Roxanne's egg gets stuck and she sits around in the nesting box, patiently waiting for the rest of it to come out, thereby developing the ring? None of our other eggs have a ring like that and not all of Roxanne's do. All I can think of is Pain, but I guess to her, laying eggs the size of a Clementines, is no big deal. It impresses the heck out of me!

That's why Roxanne is featured on my blog badge - she's a Super Chicken!

Hannakka Latkas - The Chickenville Way

I honor of Hanukkah going on right now, here is a recipe for potato "pancakes" from leftover mashed potatoes. Not exactly, latkas, but my version.

Potato Cakes
Makes about 8 cakes
2 c leftover mashed potatoes (the kind with milk, butter and garlic are best, but the instant flake kind can be substituted but you'll need to add salt and pepper)
2 eggs
1/8 c flour

Turn on a skillet on med high and add a little oil. Beat the eggs with a fork and add the potatoes and flour. Just like making pancakes, pour a little of the potato batter in the pan to form cakes. Let fry for a minute or so until sides seem to be browning, then flip to cook the other side. When cooked, cool on a paper towel like bacon to drain the extra oil off.

You can serve these the traditional way with sour cream and applesauce or cooked apples OR you can serve them with Parmesan cheese and bacon. What combos can you think of?

Easter Granola Bar Nests

These fun Easter nests are perfect for a snack. In our preschool, everything has to be healthy which I love, but it means no cute iced cookies for the Easter party. :(  I had to come up with something else. Hummmm, what to make? Ah-ha, we love granola bars! This recipe tastes like a Quaker oatmeal breakfast bar, so perfect for those who like a chewy taste. If you like a sweeter granola bar, pick this one. I usually bake a 9x13 pan or sometimes in muffin cups. Then I put plastic wrap on each one, throw them into a rubbermaid container and into the freezer. Whenever we need a to go snack or a lunch box filler, pop one in, already wrapped!

For the Easter celebration, I decied to make the granola "rounds" and make them into nests. If you want to make nests, you just depress the middle to create a dent before the "round" cools off. Since I couldn't fill it with jelly beans or my personal favorite Easter candy, Cadbury Mini Eggs, I filled them with yogurt covered raisins (strawberry and vanilla flavored). When we talked about eggs and where they come from we also got to talk about how close to perfect egg are and compared them to the how perfect Jesus is! We talked about new birth and Jesus' resurrection. It was a great snack for our Easter celebration.

Chewy Granola Bars

2c oats
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c wheat germ (in the cereal isle in a jar)
1/2 raisins, optional
2 eggs
1/3 c melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine oatmeal, sugar, wheat germ and raisins in a large bowl. Combine eggs, butter and vanilla in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.  Press into a greased muffin pan or for bars, press into a greased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. For nest, press the center down while still warm. For bars, cool 10 minutes and then cut while still warm. Store in airtight container.

When I served the nests to the preschoolers we added another cute idea: "sunny side up eggs".  This was something I saw as an April Fool's joke, but it works for Easter too. It's vanilla yogurt pooled on a plate with a dried apricot in the center...it tricked the kids and they got a giggle! I had to do something funny since we celebrated on April Fools Day!!

Fresh Eggs?? How do I Know?

I figured it was about time I answered once of the most popular questions I get. How long will eggs stay fresh?

Here's the thing...in Europe and Australia eggs are kept at room temperature on the grocery shelves. Here in America we always refrigerate our eggs. In fact, now you hear "don't put them in the egg keeper that sits in your fridge door keep them in the carton on a shelf". So what's a careful consumer to do?

When an egg comes out of the chicken's vent it is warm. In fact, it's the body temperature of the chicken, which pretty much makes sense when you think about it. Our bantam chickens, Goldilocks and Lovey lay small eggs, whereas our big girls lay large eggs. You can see the size difference in hens below. That's Goldilocks on the right side and Lovely in up above in my blog header photo.

Then there is Roxanne, she lays the monster ones! I'm in pain just thinking about it. She's the black and white Barred Rock above headed towards me in the photo above. She's always looking for treats. Roxanne is huge, but those eggs are a feat! I just imagine her sitting there thinking - get this thing out of me!! Kinda like childbirth.

We recently added four hens to the flock thanks to our friends Pete and Lisa. Those youngsters have just started laying. One of them is Autumn seen above (she's named in honor of our departed gender mis-identified rooster). She is an Ameraucana and lays green eggs! Some people call the breed easter-eggers cause who needs to dye those beauties.

Check out our egg selection below. Notice the huge dark brown one, that's Roxanne. And see the little light brown one on the right side - that's either Lovey or Goldi. I'm not quite sure who's laying the brown speckled eggs, but I have a hunch it's one of our Buff Orphingtons - the older one Penny.

The kids collect the eggs everyday and when we bring them in, they do not get washed. We might have to wipe off some hay, but that's about it. This is the biggest difference between egg handling in the US and other countries. When you wash the eggs in water you wash off their "bloom" which is a protective barrier. This barrier keeps the germs from invading the porous shell making them more tolerant to room temperature storage. However, this doesn't mean that eggs kept in the pantry will last longer. Eggs deteriorate as much in one day at room temp as they would in a week in the fridge. I'm guessing those other countries sell their eggs at a faster rate, rotating their stock more often. Of course, we Americans like to shop in bulk, so we go the store less often. Typically your eggs that you store in the fridge will stay fresh for two weeks at room temp and four to five weeks in the fridge. It's best to keep them in their original container and store in the main part of the fridge, but if you must use the egg keeper in the door, be aware they will not last as long.

If you want to hard boil eggs, they need to be your eggs need to be a few weeks old (you can hard-boil fresh ones, but they are a pain to peel and most of the white will stick to the shell). The simplest method for sure-fire hard boil eggs is like this:

Hard Boiled Eggs

Put eggs in a pot covered with cold water. Bring the pot to a full boil and then turn down the heat so the boil continues but not causing massive splatter everywhere. Set a timer for 10 minutes and let the eggs softly boil. When the timer goes off at the end of 10 minutes, drain the hot water into the sink and fill with cold water. Add ice cubes to the pot to really cool it off quickly (this is what keeps the eggs from getting that green ring). Swish it all around, adding more ice cubes, until the eggs are cooled off. Store the hard boiled eggs in the fridge (labeled of course!) and peel when needed.

I'd like to share some thing I've learned while raising chickens:

• what you feed the hens will change the color of the yolk from dull pale yellow to bright orange, but the difference does not affect taste
• brown, white, or green shells the eggs will taste the same and have the same nutritional value
• a fresh egg's yolk will sit up high when cracked making for beautiful sunny side up eggs
• a standard large grade A egg measures 1/4 cup, which is handy to know when your eggs are all different sizes
• when baking, bring eggs up to room temp before using
• egg shells will range from pointy to smooth on the ends
• if you are unsure how old some eggs are, put one in a bowl of water and if it floats or tilts upwards, it's too old and most likely is rotten
• most hens are pretty happy to "share" their eggs, they don't put up any fight when you take the eggs out, even if they are sitting on them - roosters however, are another story!
• hens lay more often (daily) in the spring and fall - they don't love the freezing cold or the steaming hot weather - I can't say I blame them on this one
• chickens love to brag about their egg laying feats - they have a special squawk after they lay to announce the egg to the world
• the hens will sit on each other's eggs all the time, which means several hens can use one nesting box and you never know how many eggs you'll find under a sitting hen
• my children won't eat plain eggs - what's up with that?? I have to create egg dishes or serve scrambled with cheese and lots of grits. Here's one they all like...

Eggs in a Basket

4 eggs

1/4 c milk

salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

optional add ins: shredded cheddar cheese, sliced green onions, diced cooked ham, crumbled cooked bacon, diced cooked veggies, fresh diced mushrooms or tomatoes, etc

4 King's Hawaiian rolls, tops cut off and a little of the inside pulled out to make a cavity

Whisk together, eggs, milk, and seasonings. Pour into a hot oiled or buttered pan. Turn heat down to med-low. Let set for a minute and then scrape the bottom of the pan to turn the eggs. Sprinkle in optional add-in's. Cook till desired doneness (do you like them soft or firm?). Spoon 1/4 portion into each hollowed roll. Serve with top on.

Photo of the Garden Bounty

 

We are getting zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, tons of cucumbers, and of course fresh eggs everyday now. I'm just waiting (not so patiently) for the tomatoes. What are you getting out of your victory garden?

Poached Eggs for Father's Day

 

We always have eggs around here and I like to try to find different ways of using them. We celebrated Father's Day this morning because we have to be at church very early tomorrow (cereal anyone?). I wanted to make a hearty, but fresh breakfast for the wonderful father of my children. He loves scrambled eggs, grits and toast like his mom used to make, but I wanted something a little fancier. I decide to poach eggs and set them on veggies and toast. They were delicious! We make poached eggs on toast with cheese occasionally, but these were much better.

Fresh Veggie Poached Eggs
eggs
roma tomatoes
avocado
fresh herbs like dill, basil, oregano, parsley
toast
butter
salt, pepper and granulated garlic

Chop tomatoes and avocado and put in a bowl. Add herbs, salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Mix well and let sit off to the side.

To poach an egg you can buy one of those egg poacher inserts that sit in your pan. They also make poachers for the microwave, but we had trouble with ours exploding the lid open. So I've given up on beautiful looking eggs and we settle for a more rustic look. Bring about 3 inches of water to a low boil in a shallow pan or skillet. Carefully crack the eggshell in half and cradle the egg in one half of the shell. Slide the egg into the pan ever so gently to keep it together. Don't cook more than can fit in your pan without touching. Cook for about 3 mins unless you like your yolk firmer, than maybe a minute longer.

While the eggs are poaching, toast your bread and then butter it. Set toast on plate and top with tomato mix. When eggs are done, carefully lift them out of the water using a slotted spatula so the excess water drains off. Set egg on prepared toast and top with salt, pepper, more herbs, a slice of tomato or avocado, whatever you like. Serve immediately with knife and fork. Your man will love you for it!

Citrus Meringue Pie

This post is for my new friend Karyn. I recently took this pie to a book swap at her house and she asked that I share the recipe. I never expected anyone to be that thrilled about the pie I brought, I myself was more impressed with my appetizer (which I promise to share also) but noooo, it was the Citrus Pie that garnered rave reviews.

Meringues are not hard (in fact I have a Pavlova in the oven as I type) they just require a little patience, but nothing complicated. For my family, it is a great way to use up all of our chicken eggs because they use so many eggs in one recipe. Some hints to keep in mind when making meringues: First you want to make sure your egg whites are pristine, no bits of yolk in them and the metal bowl must be clean too, no traces of grease. Next, be sure to let the egg whites sit out and get to room temp (about 30 mins).  As you beat the egg whites, they will get a little foamy, this is time to add your sugar. Then you need to beat them on high for few minutes until they are spiky and hold those spikes even when you stop the mixer. Don't be tempted to beat them more than this, more is not better in this case. You will end up with over beaten, breaking apart white tips in your meringue.

Citrus Meringue Pie

1 Prebaked pie shell (make your own or purchase one and bake it according the package directions)

(Lemon Filling)

1 c sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 c milk

4 eggs, separated (put yolks in a small bowl and whites in a big mixing bowl)

1 tsp grated citrus rind (you can be traditional and use lemon, but I like to use orange or grapefruit)

1/3 c lemon juice

3 tbsp butter

(Meringue)

1/2 tsp cream of tarter

1/4 c and 2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degree.

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring until blended. Cook on med heat. Keep stirring and mix will thicken and comes to a boil (stand back or you may get splattered on). Boil 1 min (don't stop that stirring) and then remove from heat.  In small bowl, beat the egg yolks with whisk until they are thick and pale yellow. Add a little of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks to temper them. This is a fancy way of saying you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs in your lemon pudding. You add a little hot milk mix to warm the egg yolks slowly. So stir a little in and then add a little more hot milk mix to the egg yolks until your small bowl feels pretty hot in there. Then it is safe to add the egg yolks directly to the hot milk mixture. Put back on med heat and stir, stir, stir about 2-3 mins. (Yes there is a LOT of stirring in this recipe, but it's worth it.) Remove mixture from heat and add citrus rind, lemon juice and butter. Stir again until it's all incorporated. Congratulations, you have just made homemade pudding! Pour this yummy glop into the pie shell.

Then in your large mixing bowl beat the egg whites and cream of tarter on med high until they are foamy (about a min). Turn down the mixer to med and gradually add the 1/4 c and 2 tbsp sugar. Then turn the mixer back up to high and let her rip. Creating the perfect spiky peaked egg white foam takes about 2-4 minutes. This is where I love having a KitchenAid stand mixer because I can walk away and do something else while the mixer does the work. It's also nice because every time I use the mixer I get an upper body workout - the thing is so darn heavy! After you have stiff peaks, beat in the vanilla. Then carefully pour the egg whites onto the pie filling. Seal the egg whites all the way to the edges of the pie crust so it doesn't pull away when baking. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes and the top will be a golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack and then you can put in the fridge for a couple of hours if you like it cold. Don't worry if the meringue "sweats" it won't change the taste.

Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes with Homemade Butter

Yea!!!! It's snowing. I love the snow and we don't really get any here in the south, so we are thrilled with the rare treat. When it's cold outside it's perfect inside for a breakfast (or dinner) treat of Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes with homemade butter, maple syrup, juicy grapefruit, fresh scrambled eggs and cheese, crisp turkey bacon, and a pot of steaming Abuelita Hot Chocolate on the stove with marshmallows. Sourdough pancakes are a great way to use your starter when you don't feel like baking. These pancakes are really tasty, nothing like that Bisquick bland stuff. I'm not a huge fan of pancakes because I do think they are pretty blah, but these are delicious.

Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c sugar
1 1/3 c buttermilk
1 c sourdough starter
2 Tbsp oil
1 egg


Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl with whisk. Add buttermilk, starter, oil and egg to the dry mixture. Whisk until combined. Can be thinned with milk or water if the batter is too thick to easily pour. When griddle or pan is hot, pour batter on. At this step you can add fruit (we had some frozen blueberries left over), granola, or chocolate chips. Cook until bubbles form and then flip.

You can cook your pancakes in the traditional circle shape or you can cook them in "sticks" like we sometimes do. These are the perfect shape for dipping in syrup, which means you don't hear the "mom, can you cut these?" whine. This recipe makes a ton of pancakes, so I usually make some with fruit and then freeze the plain sticks for another day. You can separate them with wax paper and just pop them into the toaster oven to heat them up.

Since it's Valentine's Day weekend, you could color the batter pink like I did and pour them in the shape of hearts. Or sometimes we do "x's" and "o's" and the kids love that. Having a batter bowl makes this much easier, but you could pour the batter out of a liquid measuring cup.

This weekend we topped our pancakes with homemade butter. It was a science experiment for the kids and it was REALLY easy.

Homemade Butter

1 quart heavy cream

a little salt to taste (optional)

Pour cream into large mixing bowl and let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours to warm up. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, beat the cream on medium or as high as you can without spraying it everywhere. As the cream beats it will slowly get stiffer and more like whipped cream (yes this is how you make fresh whipped cream, you just add some powdered sugar). Now you can jack the power up on the mixer to high and really get things going. Don't walk away from the mixer because butter is about to appear before your eyes. As you keep beating, you'll notice the cream gets chunkier and stiffer. It will start to ball around your whisk with a yellow color. You...have...made...BUTTER! 
At this stage, you can add some salt. Scrape it off the whisk into your container just sprinkle some salt on the butter as you mash it into a container. When you are smashing, you will get more liquid out of it. Don't throw that liquid away. This liquid byproduct of making butter is better know as BUTTERMILK! You are totally cool now, you've made butter and buttermilk!

Now this is what I call a cool kitchen experiment with yummy results. You can use your buttermilk in the pancake recipe above. This recipe will make about 2 c of butter and 2 1/4 c of buttermilk. I keep the buttermilk in a glass jar in the fridge until we need it. The butter will continue to weep buttermilk so you can just pour it into your jar. It's hard to believe butter can taste so creamy and delicious, but this stuff is phenomenal.

Enjoy your snowy morning with a yummy breakfast, I'm off to make snow angels!

Beautiful Easter Eggs

Aren't these lovely? They are my imitation of a Martha Stewart layout. I just used one color to dye them and left some natural. The hues came from using different amounts of green in two cups and the streaking/ blotching came from not stirring the dye to mix it well - a happy accident.

Breakfast Found - Eggs from the Backyard

This is where we find the eggs, inside the nesting boxes. It's obvious the Girls take their time making the nests from the swirled pattern of the pinestraw. Sometimes I forget they are actually birds, duh!

I usually ask one of the kids to go check for eggs. They really love doing this, although I'm not sure why a fancy dog carrier purse is required for the job.

One of the most common questions we get about the chickens has to do with roosters. So here's the answer, no you don't need a rooster to get eggs. Hens lay eggs no matter what. If you have a rooster around, you will get some fertilized eggs and maybe some baby chicks. Personally I have nooo desire to have a rooster, because there is enough noise in our house at the crack of dawn for me!

Free Range??

Our chickens have free roam of our yard when someone is around (we have to watch our for the Cooper's Hawk).  They love getting attention and will eat cracked corn right out of your hand. The kids love playing with them. And what's the by-product of this relationship?...eggs! Our eggs are different colors depending on the chicken that laid them. On average a chicken will lay one egg a day and eggs will keep for a month, so we are going to be rolling in them soon!

Notice the yolk is much oranger than what you get from the store.  The shells are much harder to crack too (which is good when the 3 year old brings them in.)

The Eggs have Arrived!

These are our very first eggs from the "Girls". They are really small compared to grade large from the store, but the Girls are young still. This would be the reason to have chickens. Fresh eggs daily, now this is something I could get used to.