Eat as if your life depends on it, because it does!

A healthy diet not only can boost your immune system and avoid diseases, it apparently also make you feel good, more energetic and smarter. Food is an important part of our lives. When you think about it, food has two distinct and related functions. First food keeps us from being hungry. Secondly, our bodies use the food we eat to power the many functions that keep us alive, and to break down the food we eat to fund the growth and rebuilding of cells in our bodies. It is from the second perspective that we MUST eat quality food, food that the body needs. This process is very much like the computing world, GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out). If the food you eat does not provide the nutrients your body needs, something will go haywire. You won't see it after one big mac, but you will feel it after a while. So eat healthy foods, eat fruit and vegetables, eat organic food as much as you can, eat healthy fat. Your body will thank you!
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Fine Caramel (Pine nuts Caramel)

Making your own candy allows you to add special flavors that you do not normally get. This recipe uses a traditional caramel recipe, incorporates with nuts of your choice. The key to make caramel is the temperature control. An infrared thermometer with digital display comes in handy for this application.

Caramel is basically made with sugar, cream and butter. The key to make the caramel with the right consistency is to control the temperatures. There are two key temperatures for this process: (1) When melting the sugar, allow the sugar to melt completely, and then continue to heat it until it reaches 310 F. (2) After adding cream, the temperature should drop to around 210 F. Let the moisture to bubbles out, and continue to cook until it reaches 340-345 F., this is the soft candy stage. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of cane sugar;

1 cup of light corn syrup;

1.5 cups of heavy cream;

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract;

1/2 cup of butter, cut into small cubes;

1/4 teaspoon of salt;

1 cup roasted pine nuts, or other nuts of your choice.

Method:

Step1: Combine sugar and syrup, cook on medium heat until sugar melt. This process can take over 10 minutes. Check the temperature frequently with the digital infrared thermometer until it registers 310F. Reduce the heat to low.

[Did you know? The temperature of the mixture will not rise until all the sugar crystal is melted. This is because the sugar is going through a phase change-from solid to liquid. This process takes heat, therefore the heat inputted will go to melting the sugar crystals instead of raising the temperature of the mixture.]

Step2: Heat the cream with vanilla extract in the microwave until hot (not boiling), gradually add the cream to the molten syrup. Stir (careful keeping the bubbling down, remove from heat if necessary). This will reduce the temperature to around 210F. Keep cooking the mixture until most moisture is boiled out. Once that happens, the temperature will tart to rise again. Keep cooking until the temperature reaches 240-245F.

Step3: Remove the mixture from the heat. Add the butter cubes, salt and nuts, stir to distribute them evenly in the mixture. Pour the mixture in a flat baking sheet. Allow to cool, then cut into small pieces. Wrap with wax paper. Enjoy!

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Just Don't Know When to Quit!

At the end of August, I pulled all my cucumber vines out of the garden, cleared the spot. The beans and corns are still going strong, weather was still decent. Staring at the bare spot, I thought to myself: if I leave it like it is, weeds are going to take over. I still have some Sweetbell Turnip left from the spring, what could I loose? I scattered the seeds in the newly cleared spot, without adding any fertilizers to the soil. Since I have never done this before, I sowed the turnips densely, thinking, the weather here in  the Pacific Northwest could turn any time, the extra seeds would give me some wiggle room in case not all of them will make it.  One week later, I spotted densely packed turnip seedlings everywhere. The turnips were not big enough to eat, and they grew way too close together. So I started thinning by eating the "micro greens" (they were delicious in salads). By October, I got golf ball sized turnips, I pickled, made roasted turnips, turnip au gratin, gave them away, looked for all sorts of ways to dispose of them.... This continued until Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, the weather was getting cooled and cooler. The night time temperature was going toward freezing.

I picked as big of a batch of turnips as I could. Washed and removed the greens, bagged the turnips. I was ready to give up the rest of it. December rolled along, we had several days with night time temperature down to the 20th. I did not go check the turnips for several days, I was certain they were goners. Well, well, well, what do I know?! I went to check my turnip patch today, they are still going strong!!!! Looks like the outer leaves may have been frozen and thawed, but the turnips were as sweet as ever! I am now convinced there must be anti-freeze in the turnips! That may well be the case, the starch in the turnips could be keeping them from freezing. Whatever the case, I am going to have to do this every year. The lesson is: Plant Silverbell Sweet Turnip in the fall, you will be richly rewarded!

Barred Rocks: One of my favorite breed

Barred rocks are full of characters. They are inquisitive, friendly and easy to manage. They are somewhat early maturing, start laying after about 6 month. They are not very big in size making them ideal for backyard flock.

Leghorn-The egg laying machine

 At 4 lb. full grown Leghorns may not be as good looking as some of the other hens, but don't under estimate their egg laying abilities. Leghorns are bread for their egg laying abilities, most white eggs produced commercially are produced by leghorns. Our leghorns lay one egg a day for almost two years. They are not broody, and do not molt as frequent as the other hens. Since they are small in size, they do not consume a lot of feed, giving you excellent feed to egg conversion ratio.

Ameraucana Laying Hens

Ameraucana hens are fine laying hens, they are calm, non-aggressive and easy to manage. They love to graze, eating weeds and grass clippings or any vegetable scraps. They lay dark yellow yolked eggs. They lay eggs about every other day during their production period.

Sweet and Sour Eggplant

Learn to make the sweet and sour eggplant is well worth the efforts. The basic recipe for a sweet and sour sauce is: 3:2:1, that is 3 Tablespoons of sugar to 2 Tablespoons of vinegar to 1 Tablespoon of light soy sauce. Use a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce. You can add other stuff to suit your taste, I have added sesame seed oil, chopped scallion and crushed garlic to flavor the eggplant.

Ingredients:

1 large Eggplant
A pinch of hot pepper flakes
1 thin slice of ginger
Oil for frying

Light and Crunchy Batter:
3 T. rice flour (use all-purpose flour if unavailable)
2 T. cornstarch
1 egg yoke
3 T. rice wine vinegar or dry sherry wine

Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3 T. sugar
2 T. Balsamic vinegar
1 T. light soy sauce
1 t. sesame seed oil
1 t. cornstarch
2 T. water
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 scallion, white part, chopped

Slice the eggplant into 1-1/2" x 1/4" slices. Sprinkle salt and toss. Let the eggplant set for 15 minutes. Squeeze to remove the moisture from the eggplant. Place the eggplant pieces in the batter. Toss to coat. Heat a large frying pan with 2" oil until hot. Fry the eggplant slices until golden, 2-3 minutes. Removed the fried eggplant and place them in a paper towel to drain.

Heat 1 T. oil in the frying pan, add hot pepper flakes and ginger. Cook until fragrance begin to come out. Add the sweet and sour sauce. Stir, cook until thickened. Add the fried eggplant, toss to coat. Slice the green portion of the scallion and sprinkle on top. Serve with rice.