Unraveling the Mystery of Eggs (Recipe 2.a) – Kid Scrambled

I’m going to give you two options for making scrambled eggs, the first I’m ashamed I even know and I’m not going to guess if there are any nutrients left afterward. It’s MICROWAVE! Seriously sad that eggs can be scrambled in the microwave but that little diddy is a necessary evil in our household.  I spent an entire winter in a camp trailer and I learned to bake everything either in the microwave or on top of a wood stove. 

Except the time I burned my eyelashes off trying to bake gluten free brownies (pregnancy craving) but that’s another story all together!  You will all have to pray that I remember my brownie recipe and then I’ll have to tell that story.  I lost that recipe somewhere between the fog of baby number 4 (a girl-hence the fog-lol) and finding out that Wal Mart, another necessary evil, stopped carrying my favorite yogurt.  I don’t even LIKE yogurt - it was well disguised!

I hear you!

“Weren’t we on the subject of eggs Goof?”

And yes, you are right on with the eggs.

Often I have those sort of days when the butter dish gets broken and my husband thinks a plate will do just fine until one of the barn cats gets in the house and I am in the middle of bathing my darling Thinglets so I don’t notice when a whole stick of butter gets licked to smithereens. When I realize what happened I plop down another stick of butter, after shooing the cat outside and scramble (see I’m getting there) to get everyone dressed but realize there are no clean pants for any of the kids so I quickly toss in a load of laundry while The Bubba slips on a pair of over sized boots and lets himself out onto the front deck (I had no idea he could reach the handle yet) in just a pair of boots and a diaper (in 35 degree weather and a sciff of fresh snow) when the dog rushes in, straight for the kitchen (I swear the cat started the search and destroy mission) and lops up a second stick of butter before you can say “Boys, where’s your BROTHER?”

Sooo, after all that Thing 1, Thing 2 and The Bubba are back inside but still half dressed and everyone is getting hungry. I finally sit down with a cup of coffee and wonder, how many moms across the country have gone fetal (like I’m about to do) on their living room floors at this very moment.  Feeling sorry for myself I stare into the swirl of cream and breathe in the steamy goodness and am just about to sink back in the chair for a couple sips when my stomach growls and I realize all we had this morning is cereal; nothing with protein, no hearty, stick to your stomach, feed your brain protein!  This is the kind of day that screams for microwave eggs!  I don’t even get time to drink the coffee and Pee-wee is crying so I pick her up slump back in my rocker and commission the oldest, Thing 1, to make us all eggs.

Scrambled Eggs in the Microwave – Kid friendly

1. 1-2 eggs cracked into a microwave safe coffee mug
2. a splash (approx 2 Tablespoons) of milk or water
3. whisk with a fork
4. Microwave for 2 min. (if you have a small mug the eggs may try to escape over the top)

It seems to be that 1 min. per egg is the ticket but I’ve never tried more than 2 at a time.

If you are not horified by my suggesting it, you may try these in a pinch.  If the thought wierds you out I hope you got a good laugh!

Sourdough Pancake Success(gluten free of course)

I’ve been painstakingly attempting to create good, easy bread with my bubbly sourdough starter and it has definitely not been without pain!  Attempt number three went to the dogs and after feeding “Mother” again I decided to take a different approach for now. 

Some of the ladies on Mary Jane’s Farm who get the pleasure of using wheat flour in their starter, had a little trouble getting started as well so there was a pancake recipe that I modified and made this morning for the gluten free folks!  I think it turned out quite well. This may sound strange but I assure you it is quite good, almost like a buttermilk pancake and quite mild in taste.  Here is what I did…

BEGIN THE NIGHT BEFORE!

Sourdough Pancake Success GF:

Do I really have to go there? (Shopping List):

Hopefully you have a well stocked pantry of essentials and then you will not have to drag all the kids out, or if you have no kids, put the dogs in their kennels and hope they don’t bust out while you are gone and wreak havoc in your laundry room!  You will not have to trudge through late February snow and into the store where you probably won’t find what you need and you will be starving when you get there so on the way home you will have to stop at McDonald’s for a yogurt parfait (practically the only gluten free option on their menu that the kids will eat) and the whole day will be a waste! 

Sooo… here is what you need to have on hand to save yourself all that trouble!

1. gf flour ( I used tapioca starch and brown rice flour)
2. water
3. sugar or honey
4. salt
5. baking powder
6. baking soda
7. cooking oil
8. eggs

If I can do it you can do it! (The Recipe)

PART 1 – the night before

• 1 cup rice flour
• 1cup tapioca starch (corn starch often works the same)
• 2 cups warm water
• 1/2 c starter

Remove the starter from your sourdough mother by pouring or spooning out but do not use metal!  Beat the flours warm water and starter together in a new bowl (not metal- I keep forgetting so this is for me!) and let it sit overnight with a light towel covering it.

NOTE* This mix will be very thin almost like milk. If you have a thicker “Mother” to begin with don’t make adjustments until the morning, if yours is very thin like mine, you may need to pour off the hooch (that clear liquid on the top) before mixing and removing the 1/2 cup.

Part 2 - the morning of (T= Tablespoon, t= teaspoon)

• 2 T sugar (honey can work as well)
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 3 T oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t. baking soda, dissolved in 1 T water (save this step for last, just get out the baking soda and set in next to your sink so you don’t mistakenly pour it in when it calls for baking power – classic Goof move!)

To feed your mother this morning just pour 1/2 cup of the new mix backinto her (no “scoopy” no using metal-sorry to be redundant but I keep trying to stick my metal measuring cup into the bowl) then you may continuewith the recipe as follows. We have to first give back what we took from the sourdough mamma!  Isn’t that wonderful? “If Mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”

Carrying on…

Heat a skillet on medium (275-300 degrees on an elec griddle)

Whisk into the overnight creation; sugar, salt, baking powder, oil and eggs (this mix still looked quite thin to me even more than the usual “gluten free thin”) you will then need to dissolve the baking soda (waiting by the sink) into 1 T warmwater (always use warm water with mamma) then gently stir this into the pancake mix but not too much. 

Here is the fun part, your mix should begin to bubble and foam up a little and thicken slightly, you will pour this onto a hot griddle and watch it go!  My first couple were very, very thin (I think that is because my mother is thin to begin with).  When I poured them onto the griddle they spread out immediately and had bubbles throughout from the start.

 I made a slight adjustment by adding approx 1/4 c more gf flour.  My second batch was perfect and I could tell it was time to flip when bubbles began to show through the top (approx 5min) flip and cook another 2-5min (depending on your stove or griddle)

I got overzealous and thought, “I bet more flour would be even better” (they were not “big and fat” like I had envisioned) so I added too much flour and in the last version I never did see the bubbles through the pancake they just cooked  with a smooth top and became a bit more dense.  By no means were they bad but I tell you this because it is a good gague of whether or not your mix is too thick.  You should begin to see bubbles on the surface, if not your mix is too thick and you can carefully add warm water 1 T at a time.  Make one pancake and do it again until you get those bubbles after cooking about 5min.

I hope you are able to try these, it was fun to have some sort of sourdough success.  I’m excited about the benefits of the healthy bacteria that you get when eating true sourdough and hope to come up with many more good recipes.  A special thank you to the ladies at the Farmgirl Connection for sharing their sourdough experiences, even if they can eat wheat!

A fun idea!

A fellow blogger came up with this idea, it is a gluten-free blog carnival where we can share recipe ideas, and visit other blogs.  I have added a link to her site in my sidebar so that you can easily visit her blog to get regular updates and hopefully participate in this fun exchange!  Click here or link in my blogroll www.glutenfreehomemaker.com

Crusty Popovers – Delight Gluten-Free Recipe

All that is left of my brand new “Delight Gluten Free” magazine is a few shreds of soggy paper.

Unraveling the mystery of eggs! (Recipe 1)

I don’t know about you but cooking eggs has always been somewhat of a mystery to me.  Once or twice I have been succesful but mostly they are only mediocre.  Yet, I am extremely picky about how I eat my eggs.  Darn!  That could be a problem especially since the farm fresh eggs my girls produce for us on a daily basis are one of the few healthy (supposedly easy) protein options for breakfast on a gluten free diet! With four of us eating gluten free a $6 box of gluten free cereal gets polished off in one morning!  If we did that every weekday that’s $100 a month, ifI hold out and get it on sale for an average of $5.  Thanks to Post, Rice Chex (update- and Corn Chex) are now gluten free so less expensive options are out there but it still leaves the problem of protein.

Since eggs are low in saturated fat yet high in protein, minerals and vitamins they are actually quite healthy especially if you can purchase free range farm fresh varieties.  At the same time you will be supporting your local economy. 

The moral of this story is that I have decided to perfect the art of creating delicious, more than edible eggs. I think for the goof that I am, more than edible should be an attainable goal. Forget that bit about perfect!

 It seems that there are approximately 20 different ways to have eggs for breakfast, snacks and even heartier meals.  I will attempt to try most of them and report back to you on my successes (hopefully) and goof ups, so you can learn from them.

My boys keep insisting they don’t like eggs the “easy” way so I devised a plan, “if they don’t look like eggs over easy maybe they will eat them!”  It was a success.  I actually think these are sunny side up but the point is they are easy and I didn’t have to do any magic tricks to get the kids to eat them, unless you consider a stainless steel cookie cutter magic.  Ok, so maybe I am a brilliant magician.

Fried Egg Recipe:

Melt a small amount of butter or marg. in a skillet over medium heat. (300 degrees in an electric skillet)

I like to crack the eggs into my stainless steel 1 cup measuring cup (if not I inevitably get shells in the pan).  Then if using a “form” place it in the pan and pour the eggs directly into it, or right into the pan if you have no need to disguise your “easy” eggs.

Turn down the heat and cover the pan approx 5min.  If Salmonella is a concern, be sure to cook until the yolk is done, breaking the yolk will usually ensure thorough cooking.  I’m a weird one, I like my egg yolk runny.  You will have to practice to get it “perfect” but once you get the hang of them they are a quick and healthy naturally gluten free breakfast. 

If you are making eggs for a herd, simply crack the eggs into several coffee mugs and loop the handles onto your fingers then pour into the pan at the same time.  This too, requires a bit of practice but it sure beats the guesswork and/or having to make them one at a time.

Soup Base & Casserole Un-Recipe

You don’t really want to know what was on the menu for dinner this evening. It was the dreaded “housewife casserole”.

On the topic of being frugal

What things have you done to save $$

Basics

It occurred to me this morning as I trudged through the mud and the snow to throw hay (deliriously expensive dry blades of grass in a big heavy block) to my three horses, that I really need to dig deeper into the basics of life.  I love my horses and whenever my husband and I begin to have that talk about budget I always find a way to “justify” keeping them.  Lately it’s more about the inability to sell them to some other poor soul who can’t afford thosebig heavy blocks of grass called hay, than it is unwillingness.  I don’t want to put my family in jeopardy for a hobby no matter how dear the horses are to me.

I tossed them their hay and feeling a bit chilled I climbed onto Oliver’s neck (my big black “tractor” of a draft horse) letting him lift me onto his back then I turned around and lay sprawled out on his wide back to keep warm and to think.  What a dilemma it is feeding a family let alone the animals we need and love.  Horses, as you probably know, are one of the least productive animals on most US family farms. We don’t eat them, we rarely reproduce them and if you make money with them it is by running them silly till they make lots of money for you, or showing them in the big circuits while you spend lots of money on them.

Oliver’s thick neck twitched as he munched and my mind continued to re-play my years of owning and caring for these friendly beasts.  My thoughts came one after the other none of them staying long enough to dwell on but all of them leaving an impression:

Horses… hay…the economy… sweat… mud…$$ dilemma… a harness… a chicken coop on wooden runners I saw in a book…hens…farm eggs…$$-in the black or in the red… HEY!!!  I’ve got it!

Oliver IS a tractor. While listening to his breathing, steady, strong, faithful I realized, “this has potential, he already knows how to pull, I already know how to drive I can put most anything on runners and he can work too.”  I’ve got plowing to do, leveling, ditching, firewood to move, rocks to move, I’m going to get back to the basics and scratch “tractor” off the list of things we are saving $$ for.

Speaking of basics, my  next attempt at the gluten free sourdough is about to go into the oven, stay tuned for results and hopefully I can post a successful recipe!

Bee kind to bees!

I made this little bee at www.helpthehoneybee.com in order to help spread the news that the bee population is in danger. 

Bee’s are natural pollinators. It is estimated that 1/3 of our diet is from insect pollinated plants, 80% of that pollinating is done by the friendly honeybee but sadly something is causing it’s demise.  Scientists still do not know why but pesticide use and genetically modified crops are suspected to be part, or all of the problem.

So, why am I sharing this news? I’m hoping 9 out of 10 readers will go out tomorrow and start bee colonies-NO I’m kidding- I am hoping that we will be able to help by supporting local farmer’s markets, grow gardens of our own (if you can) even a potted cucumber (the bush variety) can grow on an apartment balcony or make your own little bee character and spread the word!  Another idea is to make the honey spiced chicken in my blog, Gluten Free Valentine.  God made these little creatures and they are absolutely remarkable.  Without them we would be eating fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Nothing against fish, I like fish so don’t get crazy on me!

Did you know that each colony has it’s own unique flavor of honey and that storebought honey is blended from several different sources? Buy local honey and you will notice a difference, who knows maybe it will even help with hay fever!  If the bees pollinate all sorts of local plants and you eat the honey masterfully created from those local sources, it’s not a stretch to believe maybe this honey was “made” for you, why not!  Support your local growers, farmers, small store owners….

Support a great new gluten free magazine!

This new magazine looks absolutely delicious, I hope you will try it out!  I can’t wait to get my first issue! Go to www.delightgfmagazine.com

“Delight gluten free is a fun food & lifestyle magazine for people with Celi ac Disease, gluten intolerance and food allergies. It hosts delicious gourmet recipes and easy semihomemade as well. Don’t miss the Gluten-Free Meals on a Budget either. Whatever your food allergy you should be able to find something that fits your household, in their February issue they offer gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, soy-free and even some rice-free recipes. Not only that, this magazine has a travel section coming in May that will host lots of fun ideas and good advice for when you venture out on the road. Personal stories, inspiring articles on Autism, Q & A with the Doc are among the other features of this magazine.”