Too Many Eggs = Citrus Angel Food Cake! Harvesting of The Purple

Too Many Eggs = Angel Food Cake!
I had so many eggs today, about 3 dozen I got busy! First I hard boiled 12 eggs, then I made my favorite Citrus Angel Food Cake recipe-

Makes: 12 servings, Prep: 30 minutes, Bake: 40 minutes

Ingredients:   
I added 1 TSP teaspoon pure orange extract, since I like it like that. You could do lemon or lime as well. I have subbed honey when I was out of orange juice concentrate.

1 1/2  cups egg whites (10 to 12)
1 1/2  cups sifted powdered sugar
1  cup sifted cake flour or sifted all-purpose flour
1  teaspoon cream of tartar
3  tablespoons frozen Orange juice concentrate, thawed
3/4  cup granulated sugar

Directions- In a covered large bowl, let egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Sift the powdered sugar and flour together, set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F. Add cream of tartar to egg whites in bowl; beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Add juice concentrate. Gradually add granulated sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).

Sift about one-fourth of the flour mixture over beaten egg white mixture; fold in gently, DO NOT BEAT. (If the bowl is too full, transfer mixture to a larger bowl.) Repeat, folding in the remaining flour mixture by fourths. Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan; spread evenly. Bake on the lowest oven rack for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert cake (leave in pan); cool thoroughly. (If the cake has risen higher than the pan, invert it over a jar or bottle so the top of the cake does not touch the counter top.) To serve, loosen side and center from pan with a narrow spatula; remove cake. Using a serrated knife, cut into wedges. Great with fresh fruit!

Harvesting Purple-
As I've mentioned before we had a really wet April and May this year.  All of our perennials have done really well because of that. This lavender I planted in the backyard years ago just really exploded with blossoms this year! The bees have been loving it as well, so when I decided to harvest some I decided to leave some for them-

Little bee in the middle

I got a really nice bouquet of fresh English lavender, will dry it for inside while the rest stays outside. Gotta give the bees some food!

Dave harvested another one gallon of Service berries! They're going into the freezer for later projects. I planted Service berries because they're indigenous to Idaho, and the rain really helped them go to town this year. I think there may be about one more gallon left on the plant but we will see. One of the great things I love about Permaculture, and growing your own food, is it we hardly ever even fertilize the plants. We just work on having healthy soil, the rest seems to usually take care of itself! Except for the crappy clay soil, that is!

Two Free Chalk Paint Re-Dos, Kickin' Collard Greens & Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts, Hornet's Nest, Why I Love Costco (Mostly)

Two Chalk Paint  Re-Dos-
It has been HOT here! 100+ temps most days. We've been watering, weeding and just starting to harvest summer veggies! I asked Dave to trim our pear and peach tree this morning. It was that or have the branches snap off under the weight of the fruit. It was the best way to go with the space we had. Peaches are turning color, still hard, maybe 2 weeks or? I will try and take at least one day off work to process. We didn't want the each tree pushing up on the roof. Dave spotted out first tomatoes , Lemon Boy, Friday night. Just in time for dinner. We  were eating it still warm from the garden. Now that's organic! We just drizzled with some balsamic glaze ($3.00 at Trader Joe's!) and some roman cheese.

Our first Italian pepper!

yes, it is!

Green beans are about ready, more tomatoes coming, some hot peppers, and herbs doing great too. The hen's egg production is way down, not a surprising with the heat. Here they are waiting in line for some treats, they love rolled oats! I give them cool treats in the heat, love cuke chunks as well!

Gwynne on the left, Rosie in the middle, Ellie on the right

So... it's project time! I have put this off for three weeks, so today was the day! I bought this little thrifted mirror over a year ago when I was supposed to move into a large cubicle at work. We never moved. It was pretty gaudy silver/fake bamboo frame, but nice mirror- 

Cubicle move didn't happen, so I stashed it and recently thought chalk paint! I had some white leftover Reclaim Beyond Paint that I did a test/review on, and my old table came out great-

I also wanted to re-paint my little wood tote for papers on my desk. It was already spray painted off white, just wanted a minor refresh.

Before off white wood tote

 I also wanted to use a printed sheep graphic that I already had, free, from this website-  TheGraphicsFairy.com

After 1st coat chalk paint

Printed design applied with 1st coat Modge Podge

All done!

Mirror taped off, ready to paint

1st coat

All done! I may move to another location...

                                                   

All in all time well spent, and I find these small projects pretty relaxing! :)

Kickin' Collard Greens & Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts- 
Our collard greens are doing great! They love the heat and part shade of the raised bed. I didn't grow any last year, seeds never took. My last cooked batch (from 2 summer ago) was a bit bland so I found and tried this recipe Kickin'CollardGreens.  It was awesome! I think the chicken broth, garlic and red pepper flakes really helped-

Collard greens cooking

I was looking at the bacon that was still sitting out from the collards. I was going to cook chicken breasts for dinner that night. I thought bacon, chicken? Hmmm. I found recipe and I already had honey mustard dressing on hand. recipe here- Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts The thick sliced smoky bacon really made it!

Ready to go in the oven

Hornet's Nest-

Last week our neighbor's grandchild, on a second story deck, asked Dave what the ball was growing in our tree? With the bugs going in and out? And it's getting bigger every day? Dave looked up to find a BASKETBALL sized hornet's nest, right above our desk. Oh s**t. He showed me when I got home and we both decided for safety reasons to call an exterminator. The Internet said you can leave them, but it was right over our deck and we could have all gotten stung multiple times. Since I was at work, I had asked Dave ahead of time to ask the exterminator not to douse our back year with poison. Since they do spray the nest, killing them, I didn't want any contamination if possible. He nicely covered our herb box with a dome contraption. he sprayed onto the roof, which contained things more. After seeing some couch sized nests online (I kid you not!) he said it was small. He nuked it and Dave removed it off the roof a while later. The bug guy said they wouldn't come back. $95.00 later all gone. sigh of relief. If the high winds had knocked it down it would have been a nightmare!

Why I Love Costco (Mostly)-
You know how sometimes you run of of certain things all at once? For me it was- shampoo, face wash, body wash (no more soap scum!), antihistamines (terrible allergy season), cat litter, and TP. Add a few other odd things, we decided it was time for Costco. I usually buy face wash and shampoo at a local drug/grocery store. We ditched bar soap after reading how it is the cause of soap scum in showers/tubs. Last winter when I had terribly dry skin I spotted two huge bottles of naturally moisturizing Kirkland Citrus Body wash for $10.00, SOLD!  Here's a little tidbit about why it's much more "natural" than other brands as well! Costcocouple.com  Great stuff, very mild, not too scented for me. I also found a BIG two pack of Cetaphil skin cleaner with a bonus travel size too. Again a great steal, $20.00. One for the shower, one for my little bathroom. That will probably last me thru the end of the year or more. Kirkland Allegra generic was $33.00, for 180 tablets. I have been paying $15.00 for 20 tablets I think. Do the math. Costco is .18 cents per pill, pharmacy was .75 cents. That a about a 75% savings. I probably won't use it up this year, since I'm only taking it while the pollen count is so high. I got a monster sized chunk of Asiago cheese, $7.00. The rest I won't bore you with. On the MOSTLY comment- not everything in Costco is a good deal. One shampoo was about the same size that I usually I get, same price. Some foods there are not a great deal. Steer clear of the junk food too. Way to easy to eat too much since it's so CHEAP. I looked at their luscious peach pie, $15.00! Separate from the fact my peaches are almost ripe (2 weeks?) $15.00 for a pie? Really??? I mean it's good sized, but.... I did get 2 big loafs of their rustic french bread for $6.00 fresh out of the oven-

So, in general buyer beware, crunch some #'s, do the math and shop wisely! And skip the samples, your waist will thank us!

Goodbye Fiona/I Mean Fred, Homemade Non-Toxic Ant Spray, Tons Of Blackberries!!! Not So Much Chokecherries

What a nice couple

Goodbye Fiona- I Mean Fred-
Well you know how it goes- the hatchery gave me two pullets, and one's a roo. When I saw the larger comb and wattles developing I knew I was in trouble. Sad thing is he's a really sweet little guy, loved to cuddle, easy to handle and loves treats. I REALLY want to keep him, but no roos in the city. He also tried mounting one of the girls, Gwyn, last night. Ew, I'm done. I've already cried over this, but it's the way it is. I placed a posting in Backyard Chickens, but no one would take him. So last night he went on Craigslist. I hate to do it, but I don't have much recourse. He's just starting to get some amber and light brown in his feathers, and should be quite handsome! I'd really like him to go into a small flock, and for someone to keep him. Here's hoping... Lesson learned, no more "feather sexed" birds for me :(  Glad I bought four total, 3 different breeds. I was hoping to get my flock up to six laying eggs, but I'll wait until next spring...

Homemade Non-Toxic Ant Spray-

After seeing a small line of ants coming in near my back sliding glass door near my kitchen I panicked. I do NOT want ants in the house! I did some research and made a quick batch of homemade spray. I used the following, and put in a 1 Qt. empty spray bottle-
mix 1/2 water to 1/2 vinegar,
add 2 squirts of dish washing soap
Shake well. Spray well on all visible ants. Kills 'em good, drowning the guys, not too much odor. I also put out some indoor traps, but I was able to get the majority of the with this spray. Cheap and effective....

Tons Of Blackberries!!!-
The last 2 years we had a light harvest on our organic blackberries. This year, score! I picked 1 Qt. last night and they were dead ripe. All gone today :) Superb with good vanilla ice cream and on cereal. We can get quite a lot from a small area. We have 2 rows, about 4' high and 4' long, about 2 ' apart. There's another good Qt. there now, so I'll pick more tomorrow. I love to bake with them, and freeze some for winter baking. They are SO sweet! Worth all the scratches. I did minimize the scratches by trimming off any empty canes, with zero fruit. Makes it much easier... Yum, yum...

Not So Much Chokecherries-

This year I got a pretty small batch of chokecherries. I picked about 2 cups, which yielded about 4 1/2 of my small, mini jars. These jars are great for really small batches. I just water can them on the stove top. The flavor is the best jelly I've ever had and it's a very unique flavor. Everyone who's tried it, and most have never had it, love it. It's tart and citrusy. As sour as the cherries are, you still add lemon juice to the recipe. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works. Luckily I have several jars from last year! Dave and I did a major trim of it this weekend, hopefully that will boost production. Also trimmed the lilac that was creating too much shade for it. I never know what creates a "good" year or "bad", ah well....