What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

Only once have I seen 2 chickens in a box, but it's big enough they were next to each other, I keep expecting to see someone sitting on another but I haven't come across that yet! The older one that is no longer laying will use the other box if she absolutely has to, but no one else will - they just also do the pee pee dance. It's so dramatic to be a chicken sometimes.

Top 3 boxes are very popular. Here, two on the left, side by side.

But, on another day - one on top of another. Another day, there was a 3rd chicken stuffed in there too, but half hanging out. Of course, no phone with me that time...but guess there was some pecking order conflicts that day.

 

[Compost King]

@Compost King I've decided to grow a bunch of hot peppers next year so I can make a good hot sauce. DH loves it & can't find much hot enough unless I special order on the web so I'm gonna give it a shot. Do you have any favorites I should grow for a good hot sauce?

For extremely hot peppers using Carolina Reapers and Ghost Peppers worked out great for me but there are others that might be better. I know many people use Habaneros but I didn't like cooking with them so I never grew them again. They are probably fine for a hot sauce.
My favorite which are a step or 2 down from the above mentioned are Cayenne Peppers, they do well when soaked in Vinegar, they Ferment fine but not as hot as previously mentioned peppers. I like to mix the Fruit/high heat pepper ferments with apple cider Vinegar that was used to soak Cayenne Peppers together and blend them.

There are many other hot peppers I have not tried yet, next year I will be trying more of them. I have grown the Fatili pepper before but never used it to make hot sauce when I did use them it was to make Curry.

 

[Sueby]

@Acre4Me that is hilarious!

@Compost King I absolutely love cayenne peppers, the flavor & the heat are perfect for me. I wonder if I could mix them with a carolina reaper for good flavor & good heat. I've never looked into making a hot sauce so I'll have to start googling it as I have no idea how it's done. But I'm excited to have a new project for next years garden!

 

[Acre4Me]

homemade marshmallows!

OK, @Sueby @NewBoots @NightingaleJen and anyone else interested, here are Homemade Marshmallow pics:

Today's batch with instructions:

Finished. Green because they are mint. Daughter wanted mint for adding to hot chocolate.

In the past I have made flavored ones: The drink mix powder envelopes contain citric acid, so they have a nice tang to go with the flavor and sweetness.

Or, add a flavor, but no citric acid and these are good in hot chocolate, or for a more mild taste experience.

And, Always the Favorite... VANILLA! Everyone that likes marshmallows really love vanilla.

All Vanilla, but added school colors. These were especially fluffy! I topped them with sugar crystals, because nothing goes with sugar, like more sugar

The only picture missing is my chocolate marshmallows. I added cocoa powder (dutched) and they were good, but not quite as fluffy.


Marshmallows can be made with egg whites. So, you can look up those recipes. I've made egg white marshmallows before, but I'd rather make french macarons with my egg whites than marshmallows.

The recipe I always use is from Alton Brown, just google "Alton Brown Marshmallow recipe" and you should get the one I use. It uses gelatin, sugar, and corn syrup. After all, its not like marshmallow were ever going to be healthy.

But, if you want a vegan recipe, there are several and when I looked them up, I did find one or two vegan recipes that looked like they would work out ok, but I never made them - my only caution with the vegan recipes is to look up several bc they seemed to vary a lot.

 

[Sueby]

We just got a chip drop, he said he'd be back with another. Glad DH took the day off today! I'm going to turn the wasted little area behind the big coop into a wildflower/bee garden so I'm going to pile the chips deep for now to kill the weeds/grass & plant in the spring.

 

[Sueby]

@Acre4Me they are beautiful! I especially love the green of the mint! I'm a huge mint fan & the color is so pretty. I bet those will be sooo good in hot chocolate. Yum.

 

[Compost King]

@Acre4Me that is hilarious!

@Compost King I absolutely love cayenne peppers, the flavor & the heat are perfect for me. I wonder if I could mix them with a carolina reaper for good flavor & good heat. I've never looked into making a hot sauce so I'll have to start googling it as I have no idea how it's done. But I'm excited to have a new project for next years garden!

It can be as simple as putting Hot Peppers in vinegar but most are made through fermenting. I personally like hot peppers in vinegar and add that to a Ferment to get the best of both worlds. I am new to this hobby and I want to make something I can use like Ketchup is used because I hate ketchup. Although if I fermented Tomatoes to make my own ketchup I might like it. And I would of course throw in Cayenne Peppers to make hot ketchup because I love Cayenne Peppers so much.
I also like Serrano peppers almost as much as Cayenne Peppers, in winter when I did have access to Cayenne Peppers I would buy Serrano peppers. Sometimes I do not have access to either and cook with Jalapeños which are good but not very hot. What I like best about Jalapeños is that they are thick and a little bit goes a long way when it comes to being used as filler. I use them when a recipe calls for Bell Pepper.

 

[WthrLady]

OK, @Sueby @NewBoots @NightingaleJen and anyone else interested, here are Homemade Marshmallow pics:

Today's batch with instructions:
View attachment 2333291
Finished. Green because they are mint. Daughter wanted mint for adding to hot chocolate.
View attachment 2333292


In the past I have made flavored ones: The drink mix powder envelopes contain citric acid, so they have a nice tang to go with the flavor and sweetness.
View attachment 2333293


Or, add a flavor, but no citric acid and these are good in hot chocolate, or for a more mild taste experience.
View attachment 2333294


And, Always the Favorite... VANILLA! Everyone that likes marshmallows really love vanilla.
View attachment 2333295



All Vanilla, but added school colors. These were especially fluffy! I topped them with sugar crystals, because nothing goes with sugar, like more sugar
View attachment 2333296


The only picture missing is my chocolate marshmallows. I added cocoa powder (dutched) and they were good, but not quite as fluffy.


Marshmallows can be made with egg whites. So, you can look up those recipes. I've made egg white marshmallows before, but I'd rather make french macarons with my egg whites than marshmallows.

The recipe I always use is from Alton Brown, just google "Alton Brown Marshmallow recipe" and you should get the one I use. It uses gelatin, sugar, and corn syrup. After all, its not like marshmallow were ever going to be healthy.

But, if you want a vegan recipe, there are several and when I looked them up, I did find one or two vegan recipes that looked like they would work out ok, but I never made them - my only caution with the vegan recipes is to look up several bc they seemed to vary a lot.

I started making marshmallows back in the early 90s when I did catering on the side. People LOVE them. I found that some brands of gelatin taste better than the other. Some taste/smell like the animal bones they come from. My favorite is the Kroger/Baker store brand.

Orange flavor is another good one in hot cocoa!

 

[Sueby]

@Compost King you sound just like us. DH uses Sriracha on everything like one would use ketchup, but he adds hot sauce to it because it's not hot enough. We both despise ketchup. We also like bbq sauce that has a good kick to it so I make our own but add cayenne. I love jalapenos but they are no longer hot to me.

 

[Acre4Me]

I started making marshmallows back in the early 90s when I did catering on the side. People LOVE them. I found that some brands of gelatin taste better than the other. Some taste/smell like the animal bones they come from. My favorite is the Kroger/Baker store brand.

Orange flavor is another good one in hot cocoa!

True! Ingredients make an impact. I use Kroger or Knox gelatin, and haven't noticed any issues with either. The Orange flavor for hot chocolate sounds good!