March was full of surprises! We had beautiful weather until an out of season freeze took out some gardening starts. We had our first experience hatching eggs, and they don't always follow the timeline! I purchased a couple things for the kitchen, was so busy outside that recipe development took a bit of a break. And I turned a year older....as we join Sherry for In My Kitchen!
March is always a bit fickle, weather wise, here in East Texas.
It can be very warm, hot even and then rain will come in for a few days and cool everything off! But our rain has been almost non-existent this year, so much so that we have been on a burn ban for the last moth or so. Most folks (just like us!) are waiting for the ban to lift, so we can burn off the yard debris etc. and get a good clean look to our yards and gardens. But there is another purpose of careful burning, to leave all the dry vegetation, if a fire was to start, the amount of fuel laying on the ground would make it harder to put the fire out! But instead of rain, we had a freeze. I lost quite a few garden vegetable starts, as our garden season starts very early. I have since replanted. The freeze was so cold it even froze a few things in my little greenhouse....
So what is new for our kitchen?
Last month I purchased a couple of soup plates for our Tiny House kitchen, this month, funny enough, my daughter was doing a bit of a clean out and she had two, just like ours. Instead of going into the donation pile, we now have four soup plates.
My hubby is on grill duty as often as possible. He has a reliable instant read thermometer for temping the meat before removing it from the grill. I decided the easiest way to have a meat thermometer in the kitchen was to buy a second one, instead of going out to the grill to borrow his! Now there is no reason to over cook a pork chop.
And it was time for a covered butter dish on our dining table!
But this is the most exciting thing to happen, and it will be ongoing.
We began hatching eggs for more laying hens! Last year we had a family of fox, coyote or something else that used our hen house as the grocery store. Sadly we lost nine of our hens during that time. Everyone around us also suffered the same fate. Notice after notice was posted on a local chat page about more hens being taken. One neighbor down the road even lost a full grown turkey...and needless to say, we have been buying eggs since then.
That same neighbor also offered us eggs and the use of her incubator to begin hatching chickens to rebuild our flock. So we took her up on the offer and I began learning a new skill. First off, the eggs know what to do, you simply provide a safe environment for them to complete their work. And yes it is on their timeline. So imagine his surprise when my husband found a hatched chicken in the incubator, a day or two off schedule, while doing a quick check one morning!
The remaining eggs went on to hatch as they are meant to do! And from this tray we got eight new baby chicks. This tray of eggs were "field run". In other words eggs simply laid in her yard with an active rooster that visits the hens daily. The success rate can be up to 50%. We won't know for a few weeks yet if they are hens or roosters...I learned more than a few things along the way. And we have decided to "hatch" whenever eggs are available for hatching and have now purchased our own incubator and warming platform (so much easier than a heat lamp). And my hubby made a topper for a water tank to use as a brooder box.
This lower right hand photo shows the water tank with a piece of wire mesh over the top and the tiny chicks being warmed by a heat lamp.
And this is the new topper for the water tank. A joint effort, with my ideas of what I would like to have (for easy access to the chicks) and his skill to turn it out with scrap wood on hand. The green half circle in the photo is the new heating platform, which the chicks simply get under when they need to warm up.
And I turned a year older! Seven decades, plus one...
Was there any time for recipe development? A little...
We did have dinner out one time this month. To celebrate our Wedding Anniversary. We never go out on our actual anniversary because the restaurants and cafes are too busy, with our anniversary being on Feb. 14...we chose a nice steak dinner, which we both enjoyed very much.
I do cook or I should say we cook dinner every night! And now with winter a memory, the grill plays an important part to keep heat out of the Tiny House! Our meals do tend to be routine, but healthy. And honestly some days we work so hard, a simple meal of meat and vegetables is as good as it gets!
But even with so much gardening, hatching and general maintenance on our little homestead I did manage to develop three new recipes!
It doesn't look spectacular, but this Easy Toasting Loaf has turned out to be quite enjoyable. Low histamine bread is a tough one, but boy oh boy did I miss toast! This has helped to fill the gap! Sliced thin and toasted it also makes a decent sandwich...
Braised Cabbage and Carrots is tender and mild. I have made this a couple of times now, and we enjoy it quite a bit. The cabbage sweetens naturally when braised. And cabbage and carrots are staples in my kitchen.
So what has been happening in your kitchen? Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate it.
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