Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Britt is saying, " Do I smell ham?"

I tried your custard recipe awhile back & really liked it but thought for my taste it needed a bit more sugar.

LOL - could be. The original recipe that I started with had a lot more sugar and both DH and I found it to be way too sweet so I kept cutting the sugar with each batch until we got it to where we liked it. However neither of us likes stuff as sweet as most people. I am actually not much of a sweet or dessert eater, preferring savory snacks to candy. I cut the sugar in almost everything I bake as any time I use the amount suggested we don't like it because it is too sweet. So - anyone making this recipe - if you like things sweet, you could easily increase the sugar in it to your liking.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Sorry about your rough flight. Glad you made the trip back home safely. Try to rest up.

@lizzyGSR You can freeze those egg noodles for use later. They are great like chicken and noodles or in soups and stuff as well. I always sliced mine thin so they were able to be used in more things. Keep them in mind for pot luck at church as well. Nothing like home grown chicken with homemade noodles for a crowd.
I tend to make angel food and at the same time sponge cake when I am over run with eggs. It can also be frozen for later. I also love quiche and it can be made with so many variations and eaten any time of day. Not just in the morning.

When do you freeze the egg noodles? Do you have to dry them or cook them first or just freeze them right after they're mixed up? I've started using egg noodles instead of store bought pasta, and I've still got eggs running out my ears! I think I'm gonna have to start trying to sell some. Anyone know what the going price is for farm fresh eggs these days? I've got a variety of colors and would not sort by color.

Would you be willing to share your spogne cake recipe?

Sorry the auction was a bust Danz....

Lizzy, in addition to the quiche mentioned above, I like to make custard. Here is a link to my recipe: https://selfsufficiencyandotherassortedhijinks.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/baked-custard/ I adapted it from another I found online because the original only used 4 eggs. I needed to use up both eggs and milk so I doubled the number of eggs and it turned out much better than the original recipe, which would have been a lot thinner and runnier. Of course you're not trying to use up milk like I was but I bet you'll enjoy the custard anyway and probably your little boy as well.

It is another gorgeous day here. I still have a lot to do to get caught up from being gone for a week, especially indoors, as yesterday was so nice I spent a good portion of the day outdoors.

Thank you! We actually get milk for a pretty decent price out here (usually around $2/gal on sale so I just buy a bunch when it's on sale and freeze it). I'll have to try to make that. Is custard considered a desert?

Does anyone have any pasta dish recipes they'd like to share? I am gonna make some spaghetti, and I want to make lasagna soup soon, but otherwise I'm plum out of pasta recipes. Can anyone help me out?

 

[HEChicken]

Is custard considered a desert?

Does anyone have any pasta dish recipes they'd like to share? I am gonna make some spaghetti, and I want to make lasagna soup soon, but otherwise I'm plum out of pasta recipes. Can anyone help me out?

I consider the baked custard like that to be a dessert.

There is always mac and cheese. I have never cared for the boxed "instant" varieties but instead make it from scratch. That way I can use whatever type of cheese I want to and make the dish more "adult" by using cheeses with strong flavors. I am also fond of using my cooked chicken in pasta dishes. Just cook the pasta, the chicken is already cooked because I do them in the crockpot the day I butcher, and then freeze in ½ pound portions. Make a roux sauce (butter, flour, milk, cheese) and combine the roux sauce, chicken and pasta. To that you can add anything else that appeals, for example grated cheese or veggies of your choice. Top with breadcrumbs mixed with a little melted butter and bake 30 minutes or so until heated through and the topping is golden and crisp.

 

[Trish44]

When do you freeze the egg noodles? Do you have to dry them or cook them first or just freeze them right after they're mixed up? I've started using egg noodles instead of store bought pasta, and I've still got eggs running out my ears! I think I'm gonna have to start trying to sell some. Anyone know what the going price is for farm fresh eggs these days? I've got a variety of colors and would not sort by color.

Would you be willing to share your spogne cake recipe?

Thank you! We actually get milk for a pretty decent price out here (usually around $2/gal on sale so I just buy a bunch when it's on sale and freeze it). I'll have to try to make that. Is custard considered a desert?

Does anyone have any pasta dish recipes they'd like to share? I am gonna make some spaghetti, and I want to make lasagna soup soon, but otherwise I'm plum out of pasta recipes. Can anyone help me out?

I sell eggs here for $3 a dozen & my customers pay that willingly. It just depends on what fresh eggs go for in your area. When the eggs got so high in the stores I raised my prices too & nobody griped at all about it & in fact one of my customers told me he thought I had been selling way too cheap. The people who buy from me though know the value of fresh farm eggs & they don't like to buy in the store.

There are gobs of pasta recipes on All Recipes: http://allrecipes.com/. There are just so many ways you can make pasta. I haven't been cooking as much since my knee surgery & I don't as much when it's hot but I will start cooking more things when it gets colder. Yeah that custard is like a dessert but it's addictive & once I make it I can't stay out of it. I've been on a diet with restricted calories so I don't need to be making that right now, lol.

 

[chicken danz]

@LizzyGSR I'll have to find the time to look it up and copy down the sponge cake recipe. There are several sponge cake recipes but I try to use one that uses the most egg yolks.If you make angelfood and have lots of yolks left you can also mix up the yolks. Don't try to freeze them whole. Portion them in package sizes you think you would use at one time. These can be added to scrambled eggs or omelets or breakfast burritos when you don't have as many eggs in the winter. Or in place of eggs in some recipes. Probably won't work in recipes where the egg is used to raise the flour mixture.
I have been selling my eggs for $2 a dozen. It was $3 when there was such an egg shortage. When store prices went down so did I. I had so many eggs today that I sent 22 and half dozen to the Chinese restaurant and told DH to tell him if he wanted them he could have them for $1 a dozen. I had to make some room. Laying is picking up right now and I'm not hatching per say so I have beaucoup eggs. I figure if someone wants some it won't take me but a day or two to get them gathered. I hate to sell eggs that cheap but I don't have time to do a lot of baking and freezing right now.
I've been out moving birds. It's going slow cause I am still having such a problem with my allergies and stuff. But I did get the larger birds moved out of the brooder and have started gathering some pullets that I'm putting in the layer pen until I can get some sold. I am pulling a few of the cockerels I feel are big enough to survive in the cockerel pen and moving them there as well.
I am so overrun by birds. It's pretty insane.
If the rain will hold off I'm hoping to start moving some dirt to behind the breeder building. It is still awfully muddy out.
I have to clean the brooder house which is going to once again be a nasty job. Hopefully that will last until I start hatching for spring.

 

[Trish44]

@chicken danz you have the opposite problem right now that I have, my laying hens are going into molt so I'm getting fewer eggs now. My breeding birds are either stopped or not laying much because they don't have added lighting out there. I do have a few little pullets starting to lay so hopefully they'll get up to speed & fill in for the ones in molt. I can see selling eggs cheaper when you have a glut of them, but at that price you don't even begin to cover feed costs. That's how I feel about my price is that I have to feed all of those birds to be able to sell those eggs & feed as you all know is not cheap.

I've been working like crazy trying to get things done outside with my pens & for my animals before the weather turns bad. I started digging out around the sheep shelter yesterday & about killed myself. Geez I took 4 big wheelbarrow loads out of there & I just gave out. That stuff is heavy with all of the poop & old hay layered in there. It's still wet underneath there too. I'm trying to get it so the ground is below the door to the shelter so the water will drain away instead of into the shelter like it did when it rained a bunch. It was an awful mess.

 

[chicken danz]

@Trish44 , I know I don't make any money on eggs. I never have except maybe when the price was so high. I decided I wasn't into chickens for the egg business. That is just a sideline to provide food for my family and acquaintances. But when I have excess eggs I will sell them cheap. It sure beats throwing them all out which I have done numerous times. If I weren't so busy I would be filling the freezers with stuff using eggs but I just don't have the time right now.
I got a lot done yesterday. But then it rained this morning like crazy so things are back on hold. I am so sick of the rain. I can't make progress if I have to deal with mud all the time.
The little sussex I was trying to rescue is back on it's feet and doing well. He's going back to the pen today. I sure hope its a pullet and not a cockerel after taking the time to save him. He did make a pretty quick turn around after I dosed him and propped him up so he could use his legs without falling.
I'm trying to catch the wilder cats around here. I had all but one kitten caught and caged and they managed to escape the cage. Then after I reset the traps it started raining ...so I have to do it again. I have two older almost adult wild cats to catch yet as well. Both of them have avoided the traps. I hope to get these extra cats moved to their new home today.

 

[Trish44]

Yeah nobody really makes money on eggs due to the cost of feed, but I at least like to offset some of the cost of feeding the hens. I have way more than we need for ourselves & I have people who have come to rely on me for eggs. I have been freezing some though along the way this summer in case we run short later on.

I'm glad to hear your little SS is doing better, it's always hard to see them struggling.

I got my project done yesterday cleaning out manure & old hay from around the front & end of the sheep shelter. It took 11 wheelbarrow loads to get it cleaned out, whew! I was exhausted last night from that & I'm so glad to have that done. I have all of it now in my compost area so it will be breaking down to use in the garden next year. One of my egg customers wants to come get some for her garden as well.

 

[HEChicken]

How is everybody faring with the weather this week? I was woken to a flash of lightning yesterday morning and had to wait to go and milk because it was raining but once it quit, it quit for good and it hasn't rained since. They are saying for my area, tonight and tomorrow night are the highest severe storm chances. Fortunately the sheep and goats will be in the barn so no one will be unhappy about the rain.

I've been busy cleaning. I know you're supposed to clean in spring but I was too busy then so now is the time I'm doing the deep clean in several rooms. It feels good to pare down and get rid of things we no longer need that were just taking up space.

I've sold a few birds this week. I also got back three of my goats that were eating weeds at a friend's place. One of them is a kid who keeps getting his head stuck in the fence. In future years all kids will be disbudded for this reason alone. This kid is slated for butcher and I was thinking November for that but if he keeps this up, it will be this weekend!

My sneaky broody hen who laid 8 eggs in the brooder in the 3-season room started hatching. As of this morning she had one chick under her and another was pipped. I'm leaving her alone but she had got off the nest for a second to tend to the hatched chick so I got a glimpse of the other eggs and only saw the one other pip. I don't really care how few hatch as I don't need more birds, but it is kind of cool to watch a mama take it from start to finish on her own. One thing she didn't think through though was how she is going to get them out of the that brooder. It is an old stock tank with metal sides that are about 30" tall. So she is going to need my help to lift those chicks out of there when the time comes - a factor she clearly didn't consider when choosing her brooding location

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Giggles that will teach her to be a sneaking Broody rather then just being upfront and telling you from the get go -Dani