Hey It's Time For A Free Giveaway!

It's Time For A Giveaway!

I received the neatest card in the mail over the holidays from one of my customers, Nicole McArthur and on the front of the card was the most beautiful Lavender Orgington in a pretty pink sweater. Nicole has started an Etsy shop, with some really cute stuff for chicken lovers.  I personally like the note cards and calendars.

Well today Nicole has very generously offered a framed print of her Chicken Scratch Poultry hen in a sweater, to give away as a free gift.  I think it looks great hanging on my barn wood entry way! The frame measures 12x10 inches, with a very pretty rustic look. 

Follow the directions below to get your name in the drawing.

Complete the steps to sign for the giveaway:

1. You need to be a follower of the Chicken Scratch Poultry Blog.

2. Check out Nicole's Etsy shop ChickensinSweaters and put her in your Favorites, go ahead and like her Facebook page while your there.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChickensinSweaters?ref=search_shop_redirect

3. Leave us a comment below telling us you would like to win the print.

A winner will be announced on January 30 here on the Blog, so don't forget to check back with us.

Blue Berry Oatmeal Cake And Wonderful Memories

Last night we had our son and grand daughters out for dinner, their mama was having some ladies over and they needed a place to eat.  What better place to come than to grandma's house.  As I planned the meal I decided to make a dessert before they arrived.  As I thought about what to make I began to think back to our trip this past winter to Alaska and a cake my sister in law made while we were there.  It was a delicious Blue Berry Cake.  I know you all must have some blue berries stashed away in the freezer like I do.  As I began to mix up the cake it brought back such good memories of our visit with family and how much fun we had.  As I pulled out the pan that I wanted to bake the cake in I chose one that belonged to my great aunt Freda, it's an old metal Ovenex pan, made in the USA, you don't see that much anymore.  Baking in aunt Freda's old pan brought back more great memories.

This is a simple recipe and you will more than likely have everything in your house that you will need to make it.  You can serve this as a coffee cake or just as a dessert.  You can probably substitute the blueberries for black berry, raspberry, or cranberry and it would be just fine.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup oats

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 egg

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1 cup blueberries

Mix ingredients together and pour into an 8x8 pan and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  You can double recipe to fill a 9x13 pan and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Glaze recipe

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 t. almond extract

3 t. milk

Mix together and pour over warm cake.  This is the most awesome glaze ever!  You might want to make a little extra and make it extra glazy, yum!

After I gave everyone a piece of cake last night and they began to eat, the conversation between my 3 year old grand daughter and her grandpa was like this.  Grandpa, want to play hide in sink after we are done eating, grandpa says, I don't think I'll fit in the sink, no grandpa you can hide under the table if you want too.  More wonderful memories made.  

Make some great memories tonight, I hope you have a blessed day!

Angie

  

Homemade Bulk Pancake Mix - Guest blogger Andrea McEwen

Hello again, from North Pole, AK, where we are having a relatively warm and easy winter. We haven’t even seen -20 yet!  We only have about a foot of snow so far, and the northern lights have been very active this winter.  God is good all the time, even when it is -50, but it sure is easier to milk goats and keep chickens happy at these balmy temperatures!
The last time I posted, I shared my recipe for instant oatmeal.  Sticking with the breakfast theme, I am going to share my pancake recipe today.  I’ll give you a small recipe that you can try out, and then at the end I will give you my bulk equivalent recipe if you decide, like me, that this needs to be a regular staple in your kitchen!  Here is what you will need:

1 C flour

1 T baking powder

½ t salt

1 egg

1 C milk

3 T oil

*If you add another egg and a little oil, this works for waffles also.

Place your milk, egg, and oil in a mixing bowl and whisk together lightly.  Add the flour in 1 cup at a time, whisking slightly between cups.  

Then add the baking powder and salt and mix well.  Let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes, it will get bubbly and rise slightly.  If your batter seems a little thick, add a little milk.  I like mine thinner, but some people like theirs thick to soak up the syrup! 

 Heat your griddle to 350* or your skillet on your stovetop.  I like to butter my griddle before beginning for buttery pancakes, but it isn’t necessary.  Pour your batter onto the griddle in small circles, 3-4” diameter.   

When they start to bubble on top or dry around the edges, flip them over carefully.  When the middle seems like it should be done, put those ones on a plate and do it again!  Homemade pancakes are delicious, and really simple to make!  For my family of 5, a 2 cup batch will mix up enough pancakes if I am serving some eggs or meat with them.  If it is strictly pancakes, then I make a 3 cup batch.  Serve them with butter and maple syrup, and I guarantee they will lick their plates when you aren’t looking!

By the way, I love to use fresh ground soft white wheat flour in my recipe, but any flour will do.  However, fresh ground flour loses nutrition quickly, so when I make up large batches of this mix I stick it in my freezer (also known as the great outdoors this time of year!)  I also use fresh goat’s milk and eggs from my Chicken Scratch Poultry layers.

All right, I also promised you a bulk recipe, so here it is:
24 C flour
1 ½ C baking powder
4 T salt

Mix it up thoroughly, and put it in an airtight container for future enjoyment.  For every cup of mix, add in 1 C milk, 1 egg, and 3 T oil.  Sometimes, if I am taking this mix camping or fishing, I will add in some powdered milk to make it even easier.  I would add about 3 C of milk powder to the full batch, then all you need is water and eggs for your pancakes!
Well, I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine does!  I would love to hear from you when you try it out!   - Andrea

Homemade Ricotta Goat Cheese

I shared with you last week about how I learned to milk a goat while visiting our family in North Pole Alaska.  It was such a neat experience, goats are such sweet animals and from what I could tell just by being with them a few days, goats seem to be fairly easy to care for and don't require a large amount of room to keep them.  That being said I don't have goats myself, so I could be totally wrong. One thing I do know is that if you plan on getting goats for milking, this is not a job you can take a break from, you milk twice a day on a goats schedule not your own schedule.
After we had milked the goats I was interested in tasting the milk for the first time and Andrea, my sister in law also suggested we make a quick and easy Ricotta cheese.  Larry and I poured a small glass and swirled and sniffed it as if we were wine tasting and then took our first sips of goat milk.  It was surprisingly very good.  Larry and I had both been disappointed in the past at tasting goat cheese for the first time, so we were a bit gun shy at tasting the milk.

Ricotta Cheese

This recipe can be halved or doubled and can also be made using whole cows milk form the store if you don't have a goat.

Heat 1 gallon milk to 206 degrees

Add 1/4 cup white vinegar, stir in 1 Tablespoon at a time until the whey is a clear green.

Stirring gently, the curds will begin to form.

Notice how the whey has turned a light green.  This process only takes a few minuets.

Gently ladle the curds into a cheesecloth lined colander and drain for 1 minute.

Place the curds in a bowl and mix in 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.  Refrigerate and enjoy.  I must say it was delicious! 

Now your ready to make a delicious lasagna or baked spaghetti.
Leave us a comment, we would love to hear of your experience with goats, let us know if you find them easy to work with and care for.  Do you find them useful?  How many products can you produce with a goat?  Come on goat lovers share with us.
     Have a Blessed day!
Angie

Milking A Goat

During our visit in North Pole Alaska a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of milking a goat for the first time ever.  I was a little nervous at first but the goats are so sweet and didn't seem to mind a stranger at the milk stand.  My hands where pretty cold at first and I apologized to her, she seemed to say, "that's ok I'm use to it."  I found that milking was a little harder than I imagined it would be.  I guess with practice I would get better, I never really got much of a rhythm down.

Before we began milking, Andrea cleaned the teats very well, gave the goat a scoop of food, and gave me instruction to watch so that the goat did not step in the milk pail.  I think that's what made me a bit nervous, I didn't want to be the newbie that allowed the goat to ruin the milk. 

I was a very slow milker, I guess practice makes perfect.  By the time I had finished trying, the goat was out of food and looking over her shoulder like what's taking so long back there.

 When Andrea took over, she had the rhythm down very well and two goats milked within just a couple of minutes.
The following day our nephew Brody thought he would teach Larry how to milk.  Within the first couple of minutes the goat had stepped in the milk pail and Larry was fired.  I guess he'll stick to chicken farming.
Check back with us real soon and we'll make Ricotta cheese with the goat milk.
A big thank you to our family in Alaska for a great time and new experiences.

Have a great day.

Angie

North To Alaska

North To Alaska

We just returned from a great visit with our family in North Pole Alaska and thought I would take this time to share some of the things we did, each day was a new adventure.   The Temperatures stayed around 20 degrees during the day, which wasn't bad at all and they have about 2 to 3 inches of snow on the ground.

The sun begins to peek up over the horizon at about 9:30 in the morning but this happens a little later with each passing day as winter sets in and the days begin to shorten.  It gets dark in the evening around 5:00.  The sun never makes it up over the tree tops during the day before it is heading back down.

Larry and I headed out on an adventure to the Chena Hot Springs.  It was a beautiful drive and we made many stops along the way just to look around.  This is the Chena river, it only has a thin layer of ice at this time but very soon it will be think enough to drive on.

We took a short hike down this winding path in the woods.  Since we didn't know where we were going and not dressed for cold weather we didn't go far.

Lots of beaver sign in the area.

It was about a one hour drive out to the Chena Hot Springs from North Pole.  It was worth the drive.  As we approached you can see the steam hanging in the air and all the trees are flocked in white.
It seemed very strange to be putting on bathing suites and heading outside into the snow to swim.  The water was extremely warm and just down right hot in some areas of the pool.  At one point we needed to get out of the water to cool off, by the time you feel your swimming suit begin to freeze it's time to get back in.  It was absolutely beautiful, we were surrounded by snow covered hills and mountains as we wade around in the steaming hot water.
We had a great time in Alaska, tune in next week and I'll share learning to milk a goat while in Alaska.
Have a Great Weekend!
Angie

Strawberry Oatmeal Mix - Guest Blogger Andrea McEwen

This week we're blogging to you from Alaska.  We're here visiting with family and having a great time.  One morning this week while standing in my sister in laws kitchen watching her mix up what seemed like enough oatmeal to feed an army, I asked her what are you doing?  She replied, oh just making some strawberry oatmeal mix.  So I grabbed the camera and thought it would be great to share with you all.  With 3 kids still at home, she has some great money and time saving tips that I hope she will begin to share with us from time to time. Now I'll turn the blogging over to Andrea and she will share her strawberry oatmeal mix with you all.

Hi!  I don't know about all of you, but a common question at my house is, "What's for breakfast?"  Or lunch, or dinner, or snack, or .... You get the idea.  I am always on the lookout for recipes that are healthier than store bought alternatives, inexpensive, and most important-something that my kids will like!  I can't get them to like oatmeal for the life of me if I cook it from scratch, no matter what toppings I offer with it, but they will eat packaged oatmeal by the box.  One package is not enough for my hungry teens though, and I wanted something with ingredients I could pronounce.  So, I have come up with this recipe, and I will give you some hints for ways to sneak in some healthy ingredients as well.

The basic recipe looks like this:
9 C quick oats
1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C powdered milk
1 1/2 teas. salt
3 C freeze dried fruit
1/2 C ground chia seeds or flax (opt.)
Mix up your oats, sugar, powdered milk and salt.  Stir in your dried fruit (cut it up if they are large pieces like strawberries) and your optional ground seeds, and you are done!  Pour it into a jar for storage and breakfast is ready!  When it comes time for breakfast, younger kids might want 1/2 cup, while older kids might want up to a cup.  Pour boiling hot water over the top just like you would for instant oatmeal packages, and let it sit for a few minutes.  You can also microwave it for about a minute, depending on your microwave.  You can adjust the thickness to your preference by adding more or less water.  If your kids are old enough to run a microwave or boil water, they can make their own breakfast, and that is a beautiful thing!  I also often tell them to make a small bowl of oatmeal to tide them over until breakfast (or dinner!) is done.  Between this oatmeal and eggs from our Chicken Scratch Poultry hens, breakfast is easy and healthy every day.
One last thought, I am always trying to sneak some flax into various recipes for its great Omega-3 benefits, so I started throwing a little of that into my mix as well.  Then I started hearing about the benefits of chia seeds, so I throw some of them in.  If your family isn't used to that, add a little at a time and they won't notice!  You can also use sugar substitutes, or reduce the sugar in the recipe.  When I adjust a recipe, I slightly reduce the sugar (maybe 2 T less) every time I make a batch until I start getting complaints, and then I bump it up a bit and that's the new recipe.  I buy the Augason Farms freeze dried fruit, but you can use any dried fruit or freeze dried fruit available in your area or on Amazon.  My kids prefer the strawberry, but I have done it with Craisins and dried apricots as well.  I also have a recipe for maple and brown sugar oatmeal mix that I will try to share at a later date if you all are interested.
I would love to hear from you if you think of some new ideas to add to this recipe!  Cooking healthy meals for a family can be a challenge, but when we share our ideas it can make our lives easier.

From North Pole, Alaska, Andrea McEwen