homesteading

Homemade Frozen Hash Browns

~ Grace ~ 41 Comments

I attempted making hash browns several times after I got married, but they didn’t turn out so good.  Gray, mushy, and gross would describe them very well.  I gave up and started buying frozen hash browns.  Then I read that you should bake the potatoes first and then grate them up and fry them.  Why didn’t I think of that??

So now when we have baked potatoes for dinner I bake way more than we need and put the left overs in the fridge over night.  In the morning I peel them, grate them, and fry them in olive oil or butter.  Yummm! no more grey, mushy, hash browns!!

DSCN5856 (640x480)-1Last week I bought a 50 pound box of huge baker potatoes for 10 dollars. 🙂

DSCN5835 (640x480)-1I don’t think we can eat all these before they go bad so I decided to freeze my own hash browns.  I figured this would be good practice for this fall when my garden gives me tons and tons of potatoes!! (hopefully)

After a little trial and error (and some potato therapy) I ended up with perfect frozen hash browns. 🙂

Here’s what to do:

Start with potatoes that are roughly the same size so they take the same amount of time to cook.

Wash them, poke them with a knife a couple times, (to avoid explosions) then place them directly on the rack in an oven that is preheated to 350 degrees.

These HUGE baker potatoes took 1 hour and 20 minutes to cook completely.  Regular size potatoes will take from 45 to 60 minutes to cook.  I found out by my third batch that if you under cook them a little they will grate MUCH easier, and ultimately found that cooking these big guys 55 minutes was about right.

When they are done, set them on the counter to cool.  When they’re cool enough to handle put them in the refrigerator until cold. (over night works well)  We tried to grate the first batch when they were still a little warm and ended up with mush.   🙁

Now that you have cold, slightly under cooked baked potatoes, it’s time to peel.

DSCN5850 (640x480)-1We grate them with a cheese grater.

DSCN5851 (640x480)-1Now take your nicely grated potatoes and sprinkle them on a greased cookie sheet.
If you skip this step and put them directly into freezer bags you will end up with a solid brick of smashed potatoes.  Don’t put to many on the tray or they will stick together as they freeze, and you want to be able to easily break them apart.

Note: If you’re having a bad day or feeling a little frustrated, then go ahead and pack them on the cookie sheet.  When they’re frozen solid take them out of the freezer, get a big metal spatula, (hammer, pickaxe, or splitting maul are all acceptable) and goggles, then start hacking and hacking at the potatoes to break them up.  After the hash browns are evenly dispersed in your hair and around the kitchen, take a deep breath…..potato therapy! (Disclosure – I am not a doctor or a therapist of any kind, I only share tips that work for me.)DSCN5866 (640x480)-1Place them in the freezer until frozen through.  This takes about an hour and a half.

Break them apart, scoop them into a labeled freezer bag, and store in the freezer.

DSCN5869 (640x480)-1There you have it!  Homemade frozen hash browns ready for breakfast or any recipe that calls for frozen hash browns! It sounds time consuming, but it’s mostly time spent doing other things (there’s always plenty to do) while the spuds are cooking/cooling/freezing etc…

Signs of Spring

~ Grace ~ 2 Comments

I can’t say that spring has arrived, but I can see signs that it’s just around the corner!!  Here are 6 Signs of Spring that I’ve seen so far:

1) Cranky Girls

Yep this is my #1 sign that spring is coming.  Well maybe it’s just my hopeful thinking that the reason the 8 year old, the 10 year old, and the mom that live in this house are at each others throats because WE NEED SOME OUTSIDE TIME!!!!!!!  The winter has to end soooooon RIGHT??

Okay, it’s really not that bad, but cabin fever has taken its toll. 🙂

2) Robins

DSCN5254 (640x480)-1Yes, my little chef looked out the window yesterday and there where several robins perched in the tree outside our window.  A sure sign that things are warming up a little.

3) Garden Clean up

DSCN5267 (640x480)-1We have recently had a couple of days that where just warm enough for us to bundle up and head to the garden for some clean up.  It felt really good to play in the dirt again. 😀 As you can see the chickens enjoyed playing in the dirt too…well,.. they enjoyed all the worms.

4) Wind

DSCN5251 (640x290)-1In our neck of the woods, spring equals wind, or maybe that’s, wind equals spring??         I’m not talking about a little breeze, I’m talken about, batten down the hatches, hold your hat on, and don’t even think about taking an umbrella outside (even if it’s pouring rain) unless you want to Mary Poppins into the next county, kinda wind!  So I’m not necessarily glad to see the wind, but I am happy to see the signs of spring that come with it.

5) Longer Days and Happy Chickens

DSCN5248 (640x480)-1The days are now getting noticeably longer!  I even had to change the timer for the light in the chicken coop the other day.  Chickens need at least 14 hours of light to keep laying eggs in the winter, the longer the days get the less artificial light they need. Longer, warmer days make for happy chickens.

6) Sun Bathing Cats

DSCN5290 (603x640)-1I love all the very distinct seasons that God has given us here in the Gorge.  But I have to say that Spring is my favorite and these little signs of spring have made me so thankful and excited for what lies ahead.

Homemade Whole Wheat Biscuits

~ Grace ~ 19 Comments

Our family has been a “biscuit from a can” kinda family for 11 years.  They are pretty good….well,  If you don’t think about what a home made biscuit tastes like, and if you don’t read the ingredients on the can.  Yep, I looked…..then, I said “yuck!”  Then I started experimenting.

This is what I came up with:

DSCN5130 (640x480)-1Light, Fluffy, Healthy, Yumminess!!

Start by stirring together the flour, baking powder, cream of tarter, and salt.

Then cut in the butter until crumbly. Here’s a little tip…instead of standing at the counter (forever) with a fork to cut in the butter.  I put mine in my kitchen aid and let it mix for a minute (I cubed the butter first).  It worked l great, but be careful not to over mix!  Over mixing equals tough biscuits.

DSCN5117 (640x480)-1Combine the egg and milk; stir it into crumb mixture until moist.  Turn onto a floured surface and knead about 10 times.  Then roll out to 1/2 inch thickness and cut biscuits out with a cup or cookie cutter.

This is the fun part!

DSCN5121 (480x640)-1Bake at 450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

This made about 16 biscuits.

No more biscuits from a can for us!!

5.0 from 1 reviews
Homemade Whole Wheat Biscuits
 
Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 4½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon cream of tarter
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¾ cup cold butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
Instructions
  1. Mix together first four ingredients then cut in butter until crumbly.
  2. Combine the egg and milk; stir into crumb mixture until moistened.
  3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead about 10 times then roll out to ½ inch thickness.
  4. Cut out biscuits with a cup or a round cookie cutter and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

 

Hoar Frost

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

For several weeks we have been under a THICK blanket of freezing fog with temperatures hovering around 20 degrees.  Ordinarily we have a beautiful view from our living room windows, but I’ve been considering it a good day if I can look out and see my car parked in the driveway!  In the last three weeks we have had two days that the sun has shone and illuminated our winter wonder land!!  The freezing weather and fog left behind  “hoar frost” that is absolutely beautiful when the sun shines on it!!

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DSCN4795 (480x640)-1DSCN4760 (640x480)-1Isn’t it wonderful how God can use some not so pleasant weather conditions to produce something so beautiful!!

DSCN4875 (640x480)-1DSCN4791 (640x345)-2                                            Told you we (usually) have a nice view!

DSCN4886 (640x480)-1          This is not snow, it’s all frost!  Some of the branches got so heavy they broke.

DSCN4894 (480x640)-1It is amazing how we take so many things for granted until they’re gone…..like sunshine, blue skies, and a view!!  Today I am very thankful for all these things. (including the beautiful frost!)

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”                     – Fredrick Koeing

Spring in January

~ Grace ~ 2 Comments

On New Years Day we managed to slip and slide our way out for a shopping trip.  We had a foot of snow and were trying to stay off the roads, but the necessity for dog, cat and chicken feed forced us to venture out.  We got to the feed store and to my pleasant surprise they were having a sale!  Don’t you just love it when you go to the store for a specific item and it just happens to be on SALE!! (BONUS)  With all those red sale signs I COULDN’T just get what I needed and head for the door, so I started to brows.  😀  I soon spotted one of those lovely signs above several racks of newly stalked garden seeds!  Oh man!  I wanted to start dancing and spinning and giggling and throwing packets of seeds into my cart!!!  Pumpkins and cucumbers and beans OH MY!

I purposefully kept my hands on my cart as I ogled the rows and rows of beautiful seeds.  Constantly repeating to myself “January, winter time, snow, January, winter time, snow……”  That seemed to help, I slowly lost the urge to break into song and dance.  Then I spotted the sprout seeds…YEEHAW!!  It doesn’t mater if there’s snow outside, we can grow sprouts inside. 🙂

Here’s how to grow nutritious, yummy sprouts ANY time of the year!

What you need:

1 quart size mason jar

Cheese cloth and a rubber band or sprouting lids (pictured below)

Sprout seeds and water

My girls had been given these sprout grower lids as a gift from their  Aunt Kate so we used those.DSCN4646 (480x640)Put 2 tablespoons of sprout seeds into a clean quart size jar.  Fill the jar about half way up with water then place the cheese cloth over the top of the jar and secure it with a rubber band or just screw on the sprouting lid with the smallest holes.  I do this in the evening so they can soak over night.  8 hours is about right.

In the morning dump the water out through the cheese cloth or sprouting lid. Then pour some water back into the jar, swirl around and dump water out through the sprouting lid again to rinse the seeds.  Prop the jar up sideways in a bowl with the lid side down.  Like this:DSCN4690 (640x480)-1This is so remaining water can drain yet allowing the air to circulate through the jar.  Keep them on the counter out of direct sunlight.

Rinse seeds 2 to 3 times a day, always propping the jar lid side down in the bowl. It will take 4 to 5 days for them the reach the desired length.  We ate most of ours on day 4 (on sandwiches, wraps, and salads) but if you have any left overs just store them in the fridge.  These sprouts were sooooo yummy!!  We have our next batch started and now I’m looking forward to growing…red clover, broccoli, mung bean, radish…..and so on.  I had no idea there were so many different kinds of sprouts.

Even though we have a while to wait before we see signs of spring outside, it’s wonderful to have a little taste of spring in January!!

Avocado Scramble

~ Grace ~ Leave a comment

This recipe is simple, VERY attractive and tastes every bit as good as it looks!!

Start by whisking together eggs and water.

Pour into a pan drizzled with olive oil on medium-low heat.

                           Stir with spatula until eggs are set up. Add salt and pepper.

Top with salsa, avocado and sour cream!!DSCN4676 (640x385)-1I told you it was attractive!!  Don’t you just love those colors??

Here’s a close up…..DSCN4682 (640x480)Oh yeah!!  That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!! Yummmmmmmmm!

Here’s the printable version of the recipe:

Avocado Scramble
 
Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons of your favorite salsa or Pico de Gallo would be yummy too
  • ¼ of a large avocado
  • A dollop of sour cream
Instructions
  1. Whisk together the eggs and water
  2. Pour egg mixture into a pan drizzled with olive oil on medium-low heat
  3. Use a spatula to stir eggs until done
  4. Place eggs on a plate and add salt and pepper
  5. Top with salsa, avocado, and sour cream

 

“Chicken People”

~ Grace ~ 3 Comments

I have a confession to make, I used to think “chicken people” were weird.  What’s all the fuss about?  Aren’t chickens dirty, stinky, noisy and dumb?  Who has the time or money to mess with chickens when you can easily buy all the chicken and poop free eggs in a quick trip to the store?  And all chicken people seem to do is talk and brag about their chickens…

Oooooops!!

I now find myself driving my husband nuts running in and out of his shop showing him eggs and telling him stories about my wonderful, funny hens.  Then I text my family and friends pictures and brag about all the nice big brown eggs they are laying.  Oh, and by the way,  MY hens aren’t dirty, stinky, noisy or dumb; and there is no comparing a farm fresh egg (even with a little poop) to a store bought egg!!

So maybe “chicken people” ARE weird, but what’s wrong with being a little weird if you are having a good time and supplying your family with good wholesome food….Right?

As long as I’m admitting that I’m a “weird chicken person” and my family is sick of hearing about my hens, I guess I have to do all my bragging on my blog.  So here are a few pictures of my girls…and my other girls (wow, I have a lot of girls).  I guess weird chicken people also take TONS of pictures of their chickens (and their kids). 😉

 

9 day old Golden Buff chick.

Look how fast their feathers grow!

 

 

 

 

1 month old chick

 

 

 

 

 

15 weeks old

 

 

 

 

Here they are being very cautious on their first trip into the harvested garden.

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Thanks for letting me share.

 

Chickens in the Snow

~ Grace ~ 2 Comments

When I go out to the chicken coop first thing in the morning I open up their little door and they all rush out.  Usually walking and jumping on each other, trying to cram through the door two or three at a time.

IMGP4301 (1132x1280)-1But the other day when it snowed a couple inches, it took them a few hours to wander out and most of them headed strait for the barn so they could take dust baths, dig around in the fire wood for bugs and harass the barn cats.  That night we had to carry a few back to the coop, they didn’t want to walk back through the snow!

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On Christmas day we received a foot of snow (we blame this on our 9 year old, she was praying for a white Christmas 😉 ) and it’s not melting off very fast.  The chickens now refuse to come out of the coop.  They will step out, look around, fluff up their feathers and jump right back in the door.  You can’t blame them, that white stuff is cold and deep.

With no free ranging going on they have been going through a LOT of feed and water!!  I highly recommend  that if there is any possibility that your chickens can be let out to forage around….let them!!  I’m guessing it cuts the feed costs by half, if not more. (I am keeping track and will let you know exact numbers later). Not to mention it makes for very healthy, happy chickens and more nutritious eggs.   Anyway, I got worried about the hungry little buggers getting bored all cooped up.  Bored chickens are not a good thing, they will start pecking at each other and if it gets to bad the results could be deadly. 🙁  So I cut open an acorn squash and gave that to them, and they spent hours picking at it; the only part left is a thin layer of peel.  The next day we hung up half of a large cabbage in the coop.  They seemed disinterested at first, but when I went out that night to shut the door most of the cabbage was gone.  We hung up the second half of the cabbage the next day.  This one didn’t last long!!  Hanging them up is purely for the entertainment value, (for the chickens, not us….well maybe for us too).  Watching chickens chase a spinning, bouncing cabbage around the coop WAS very entertaining.

IMGP4316-1These little treats seem to be keeping them happy and occupied during these snow bound days.  To my surprise, being stuck indoors has not affected their egg production at all.

This spring I intend to plant tons of cabbage, pumpkins, and squash just for the chickens to have next winter (and maybe enough for us to have some too).

Egg Laying Machines

~ Grace ~ 1 Comment

I was going to title this post “Waiting for Eggs” but in all honesty, we didn’t have to wait!  Everything I’ve read says most chickens will start laying between 5 and 6 months old.  So I was hoping to have some eggs by Christmas, that would be right at 5 months old (and what a great Christmas present).  It was November, cold out and day light hours were getting shorter and shorter.  Hens need 14 to 16 hours of light a day to lay eggs.  So after Thanksgiving I bought a timer so we could plug in a light to increase their hours of light.  I also bought layer feed for them.  Before I could get the light plugged in or change their feed, they started laying!!

Our first 2 eggs!!  A little splotchy, but we were so proud 😉

We quickly got the light put up in the coop and set it to come on at 3am.  I mixed the layer in with the remaining grower feed and HOLEY COW!!  They turned into egg laying machines.  It is now 5 days before Christmas and we are getting 15 or 16 eggs a day from our 17 hens!!  They don’t seem to mind the freezing weather at all.  They have been laying all these eggs by 7:30am and then they get turned out to free range for the rest of the day.

The only problem we had was when they first started laying.  Some of them would peck their egg, (one little hole or even just a crack)….kind of like they were curious.  Then one hen started eating an egg every day.  I would go out to the coop at about 8:30am and find wet straw and little pieces of shell in a nesting box.  I had NO idea which hen was doing it!  This went on for several days and the only thing I could think to do was just get out to the coop earlier before she had a chance to snatch that egg.  So when it was just barely light enough to see I headed out to the coop.  It worked!  No more broken eggs,…not even any cracks!  On most days we even get a double yolker or two.  Now my only problem is what to do with all these eggs!….I love problems like this. 😀

                          Meet Ginger one of our super egg laying machines!

Beware of Barn Cats

~ Grace ~ 1 Comment

I love barn cats!!  We have an old barn that is home to several skittish, fat barn cats.  We feed them some dry cat food everyday but that’s not why they are fat.  They are SUPER mousers!!  I hate mice….I mean really, really, really hate mice.  I would rather be stuck in a hole with a snake than a mouse…I don’t know why?  They just send me into a cold sweat.  So having barn cats is a necessity (as far as I’m concerned).  That being said, little peeps and barn cats are not a good mix.  We knew this could be a problem so we made every precaution (we thought) to make sure the cats couldn’t get to the peeps.

This is not a barn cat, this is “Pumpkin Pie” one of Jo’s pets.  But you get the picture. If this tame, well fed kitten is this interested in little peeps you can imagine the temptation for a large hungry barn cat.

I know; faces that only a mother could love!!  Well, a mother and a barn cat! 🙁  These awkward, month old peeps have little heads that can fit through chicken wire, and they are very curious critters.  So when someone comes up to the screen door made of chicken wire they run over and stick there heads through the wire to check things out.  I thought it was so cute that they would run to greet me when I walked up to the door.  I had no idea they would do the same when a barn cat walked up!!  I went out one night to put them to bed and found a headless peep! 😮 I could only see three others in the coop and I totally freaked!!  Went running to the house and told Digger about the horror show in the chicken coop. He came out and  found the rest of the frightened  peeps  hiding behind the nesting boxes.  The next morning Digger put extra small wire on the bottom of the screen door.  This solved our problem, no more peeking peeps.  A couple months later (after the peeps had done some serious growing!) I decided it was time to let them free range. I was nervous not only about the barn cats but the dogs as well.   I opened the gate and kept my eyes peeled.  To my surprise and delight the cats and the dogs ignored them.  In fact, the only chasing  going on in our barn yard is an occasional chicken chasing a cat or kid!!  The moral of this story is…barn cats + peeps = deadly results.  Barn cats + grown chickens = frightened barn cats.  So keep those peeps in a well protected coop until they can fend for themselves.

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