Breakfast can be simple and cheap. Most of us eat too much anyway, so why not save money and cut back on food? Best choice is to eat unadulterated, local, healthy in small portions.
Depending on how hungry i am:
1-2 okras
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1-2 eggs
Salt and pepper to tasted
On very low heat, saute 1 or 2 sliced okra in 1/2 teaspoon olive oil.
After okra softened, add 1 or 2 eggs, salt if you like, and mix it all together. Cover and let set to desired doneness.
Ready to eat or ready to flip – your call. Shut off the heat and cover – remember cast iron holds heat a long time and will continue to cook long time after the burner or oven is turned off.
While in this case, my first two attempts following a recipe with the Sunrise Flour Mill resulted in less than desirable loaves, they were still very tasty. Sometimes, however, baking experiments simply aren’t an enjoyable eating experience – in those cases, one can either throw them out to your pets or chooks, compost them, or whir them into excellent bread crumbs to be used in myriad of recipes.
Slices were a bit tough though very tasty.
Here’s what i did with the bread since it was a bit stiff. Soak those slices in fresh farm eggs and slowly cook in butter. Serve with local honey or maple syrup.
I found this recipe online and made a few modifications and voilá! hit it right. Have made this multiple times this summer. It freezes up beautifully. Typically, i cut it into small squares – like 36 pieces – separate them slightly onto a tray, then they are ready to just pop out one, put in your lunch pail and easily by lunch it is thawed. One note – i’ve not added the chocolate chips – it’s so sweet and chocolaty without, but one day i will try them.
ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
INGREDIENTS:
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups finely shredded zucchini
1 ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350˚ and prepare a 9×13-inch pan with butter or baking spray.
In a large bowl, combine applesauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla until fully mixed
Add flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined. Batter will be very dry
Fold in zucchini by hand. Allow batter to rest for 5 minutes
Add in chocolate chunks and stir again. Batter should appear more wet
Spread brownie mixture into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Brownies are done when inserted toothpick is removed with crumbs.
Daughter, Jessica, noticed a spider in the shower, so wanting to get ahead of the curve, i decided to move our Welsummer laying hens to around the house foundation. Thankfully, we finally received some rain, so it was at least doable, though difficult still, to pull the electric fence posts out of the ground.
I move them near dusk so the ladies don’t drift too far from their roosting home and scatter. I can take down the fence and move it, then about the time i’ve set up their new digs, they have filed inside according to their pecking order and i shut the solar electric pop door early and pull the wagon around.
Shabbat Shalom!
Setting up the electric poultry netting not only continues to protect the hens from predators, but keeps the hens right where i want them. In this case around the foundation to find bugs to eat.
The beauty of having chooks is they can turn over ripe cucumbers into delectable golden yoked eggs.
My first go at making Chai tea was a disaster for us, but a bonus for my layers. They loved it!!!
It has finally warmed up and i moved my laying hens out of their winter abode in the garden into their new safe haven of a fenced lot in the pasture. I then move them about once a week, depending on forage availability during the growing season. Now, warm weather, sunshine, lengthening daylight, and out on pasture make happy hens lay oodles of eggs.
To keep these Welsummers safe, i must use an electrified netting or every critter in the country will kill them. Even the hawks and eagles circle above, but chickens can be smart and they’ll spot an aerial predator immediately and take cover in their eggmobile.
Winter abode
When i posted these photos on Facebook, one fellow suggested, ‘ Eggs are hard to come by at some of the big city grocery stores these days… you might wanna put those up on Amazon (:’
Given the expense and logistics of shipping a very breakable commodity, it’s just not worth the cost, so i end up giving away extras to people who help me throughout the year and will never accept a payment. Plus, nobody is going to pay what it actually costs to produce them. Springtime provides a lot of eggs, but the supply will dwindle as the daylight hours are shortened and as hens get older. Prime laying is only through their third year of life (max!)
Please know, however, that i don’t just give them away willy nilly (i do like to give them to people who do things for me but will never take payment) because it harms those who are trying to make a living at it. In a similar fashion, when US Aid sends tons of grain as a ‘help’ to other countries, it drives down the market price for the local farmers scratching out a living. Much the same happens here when our markets are opened to meat that is produced overseas for far less than what we can produce it here. Free stuff is never free.
A recipe i learnt from my Grandma Falconer is Beef Salad. This mixture makes great take-to-the-field sandwiches, yet easily fits onto a bed of lettuce, use as a dip with crackers or chips, or eat by itself.
The starting point for the meat is about 1/2 lb of ground cooked roast, ground cooked chicken, or 1 6 oz can of tuna. I’ve tried this with lamb roast and turkey, and for whatever reason, it just doesn’t taste quite right. Personal taste – i love lamb.
6 hard cooked eggs
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon chopped pickles or pickle relish, optional
Peel and chop the eggs, either by hand or in a food processor. Place them in a medium sized bowl, then add the meat and other ingredients. Stir and mix thoroughly.
Voila! already ready to serve. This recipe if fully adjustable to your own tastes. Perhaps you prefer more meat to eggs or vice versa. Or a spicier mustard or more mayo.
