Sunday, April 29

Sunday Dose of Cute: Random Lamb Snaps #2

Random Lamb Snaps 12 - FarmgirlFare.com
Attack!

Lambing season started on February 24th, and in midst of all the excitement (and sleep deprivation), a lot of cute moments were downloaded from my camera and then forgotten in the files. Here are a few favorite photos of this year's 34 bouncing babies.

Just joining us? Random Lamb Snaps #1 includes a final lamb report, and you can catch up with all the lambing season cute here.

Seven more photos below. . .

Friday, April 27

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #7

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (1) - FarmgirlFare.com
Lokey and her 10 chicks (more chick pics here)

I've been under the weather this past week so I didn't think I'd have many photos for today's post, but I guess I was wrong; I found 21. Our three mama hens and their 14 chicks are still the main theme around here (probably because they're right up by the house), and Joe made the cutest little spur-of-the-moment feeder for Lokey and her 10 ravenous, rapidly growing babies using just an idea and some scraps of wood. That guy is hunky and handy.

Lots more photos below. . .

Thursday, April 26

Recipe: Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Coconut Cookies Made with Unsweetened Coconut

Old-fashioned, buttery, and full of coconut flavor, these are my new favorite oatmeal cookies.

A few months ago I came across an oatmeal coconut cookie recipe that sounded so good I immediately pushed it to the top of my Want To Make list. The cookies didn't live up to my expectations, so I decided to come up with a recipe that did.

These thin, chewy cookies are easy to make and hard to stop eating. As we munched on the first test batch, my hunky farmguy Joe and I talked about adding all sorts of things to the batter—chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, almonds—but decided we loved them plain. They taste even better the next day, and they freeze beautifully.

If you've never tasted natural, unsweetened shredded coconut, you're in for a real treat. The coconut flavor really comes through, and unlike the highly processed sweetened stuff, it doesn't contain preservatives like propylene glycol and sodium metabisulfite. If you can't find unsweetened coconut at your supermarket or natural foods store (check the bulk section), you can thankfully order it online.

I've been buying Bob's Red Mill brand, which is about $12 for four 12-ounce bags at amazon. It tastes great in baked goods (like this scrumptious Lemon Coconut Quick Bread), and you can also soak it in warm water and use it in place of fresh coconut. I even toss it in our morning smoothies. Unsweetened coconut keeps best in the refrigerator or freezer.

Recipe below. . .

Wednesday, April 25

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Doodlebug vs. Dog

Molly Doodlebug eyeing Bert's bed - FarmgirlFare.com
Getting ready for another hostile takeover

More Molly Doodlebug? Here.
More beagle Bert? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where the cats refuse to acknowledge the words dog bed. And 16½ year old, 3¼-pound Molly Doodlebug (aka The Doodle Monster), who was diagnosed with mouth cancer and given just a few months to live back in December 2008, is, thanks to a whole lot of TLC and chicken, still going strong (much to the dogs' dismay). Oh, and less than ten minutes after I snapped this photo, she was laying in that bed.

Tuesday, April 24

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Chicks Getting Organized, Version Two

Lokey's chicks getting comfy version 2 (1)  - FarmgirlFare.com
10:04 am

At three and a half weeks old, Lokey's rapidly growing (and constantly ravenous) ten chicks still want to sleep close to mom. When they were smaller they all tucked themselves completely up underneath her, hidden from view, but now it's getting a little crowded. Lokey keeps widening her wingspan, and I keep cracking up.

Click here to see version one, taken when the chicks were two weeks old.

More photos below. . .

Sunday, April 22

Sunday Dose of Cute: Random Lamb Snaps

Random lamb snaps 1 - FarmgirlFare.com
Clare Elizabeth and her triplets on March 31st

Lambing season started on February 24th this year, and in midst of all the excitement (and sleep deprivation), a lot of cute moments were downloaded from my camera and then forgotten in the files. These are some favorite photos of our 34 bouncing babies.

Just joining us? You can catch up with all the little lamb cute here.

Ten more photos and a final lamb report below. . .

Friday, April 20

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #6

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

4-20-12 Friday Farm Fix 1 - FarmgirlFare.com

It's been a pretty rough week, but there were some definite bright spots, like getting about an inch of much needed rain, seeing a bald eagle on the way to the dentist yesterday, finding out that the ache in my mouth I've been ignoring for months isn't my first ever cavity (though the dentist had no idea what actually is causing all the pain), baking some really good scones, working our way through the entire first season of Bones, laughing at little lambs, watching the garden grow.

Lots more photos below. . .

Wednesday, April 18

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Let's Roll

Let's roll donkeys 1 - FarmgirlFare.com

Donkeyland isn't so much a place as a state of mind (and donkeys), but the original Donkeyland is out in what we used to call the sand field (because of its sandy soil). Our seven donkeys spent the past winter in the big fenced front field (because they kept escaping from the badly fenced hayfield, which is where we wanted them to spend the winter), but on March 19th we decided that the grass had grown up enough for them to return to their beloved home base.

The first thing they did? Head straight to their favorite bare spot for a nice roll around in the dirt. First up was little Gnat. . .

More photos below. . .

Sunday, April 15

Sunday Dose of Cute: Getting Organized (Chicks and Paperwork)

Lokey's chicks getting comfy 1 - FarmgirlFare.com - Copy
Lokey and her two week old chicks

BlogHer, my publishing network, has asked me to answer another Getting Organized question as part of its year-long Life Well Lived program:

How do you organize paperwork both online and offline?

I'm guessing Not at well as I'd like probably isn't the answer they're looking for. I do try—and there is hope.

When baby chicks are hatched out and raised by a mama hen—as opposed to being purchased from the feed store or mail-ordered from a hatchery—they stay warm and safe by snuggling up underneath her, inside her feathers. I had no idea this was how it worked until Whitey had her chicks back in 2007. It's ingenious—and adorable.

More about both chicks and paperwork below. . .

Saturday, April 14

Saturday Dose of Cute: Farmgirl Fare on Pinterest and Facebook

Little lamb loving Bear - FarmgirlFare.com
Connect!

Farmgirl Fare on Facebook
Farmgirl Fare on Pinterest

See you there!

© FarmgirlFare.com, where if you're just joining us for lambing season, you can catch up with all the cute here. And you can get to know our Australian/English Shepherd stock dog, Lucky Buddy Bear, better here and here.

Friday, April 13

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #5

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

4-13-12 Friday Farm Fix 1 - FarmgirlFare.com

Lots more photos below. . .

Monday, April 9

Confetti Egg Salad Recipe: Colorful, Fun, and It Uses Up a Dozen Hardboiled Eggs

Egg salad gets pepped up with black olives, pimentos, salami, scallions, and parsley (recipe here).

A bowl of this protein packed Confetti Egg Salad is the perfect thing to have on hand in the fridge during lambing season, when meal times can be erratic and you never know how long a trip to the barn is going to take. It's a fun dish for a picnic or potluck and makes a great after school snack.

I've been mixing up batches of it since 2007, when I found the recipe in one of my favorite books, The Artist's Palate: Cooking with the World's Great Artists, which I raved about in Feeding My Addictions and a Simple Pasta Recipe Recipe: Linguine with Olive Oil, Garlic, Pecorino Romano, and Parsley. (Used copies of this beautiful, full color hardcover are currently available on amazon.com starting at just $7.31). I added scallions and parsley to the original version for even more confetti color and flavor.

The grated eggs give it a very nice, spread-like texture, and you can adjust the amount of mayonnaise to suit your taste. Put it on crackers, use it as a sandwich filling (perhaps on some freshly baked, easy to make Farmhouse White Bread?) or eat it straight out of a little dish with a spoon. It tastes even better if allowed to chill for a couple of hours before serving.

Still hungry—or already out of eggs? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

Saturday, April 7

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #4

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

4-6-12 Friday Farm Fix 1
The highlight of our week was a half inch of much needed rain.

Lots more photos below. . .

Friday, April 6

Two Easy Dessert Recipe Ideas for Easter

A little last minute holiday inspiration from the Farmgirl Fare recipe archives. These are two of my favorite dessert recipes, and they both taste even better the next day. Happy Easter!

Easy Raspberry Almond Bars 1

People get so excited over these Quick and Easy Raspberry Almond Streusel Jam Bars it's almost embarrassing to admit how easy they are to make. Perfect for a casual Easter dessert, afternoon snack, or sweet brunch treat (okay, I also like them for breakfast), they travel well and can be eaten out of hand.

My California foodie mom brought them to an Easter celebration last year, and they were a big hit. Don't like raspberry? Just substitute your favorite flavor of jam instead. You can even make them with whole wheat flour.


I created this moist Easy Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake specifically to enjoy with the beautiful ripe strawberries that were in my kitchen garden a few years ago, and then discovered it's even better with blueberries, but it also tastes great on its own.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where the Friday Farm Fix should be up later today!

Thursday, April 5

Recipe: Slow Roasted Greek Style Leg of Lamb with Lemony Potatoes and Braised Swiss Chard: an Easy Yet Elegant One Pan Easter Dinner

Less Fuss, More Flavor—and lots of garlic and fresh Greek oregano (recipe here).

"I tried your recipe for the slow roasted lamb and it is fantastic. I'll be making it again soon!"

"Absolutely delicious, I would cook it again and again. Coming from Australia, where roasts are a weekly meal for most families, we were still blown away by it. Thanks for the great recipe!"

You don't need a holiday to serve this healthy, flavorful, lemon- and oregano-infused leg of lamb dinner, but it's definitely worthy of a celebration. The recipe is here, and you can read more about it below.

I'm often asked if we eat any of the animals we raise here on the farm, and the answer is yes. We produce all natural, grass-fed lamb and beef for ourselves and others. To us, there is no better meat than that which comes from an animal you know enjoyed a happy, healthy, natural, dare I say spoiled? life.

Sadly, this is not how most of the meat animals in this country are raised. Giant, inhumane factory farms and horrid conditions abound. Local Harvest is an excellent resource for finding naturally and sustainably produced meat, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and other foods in your area.

In the wonderful book, Cooking With Shelburne Farms: Food and Stories from Vermont (which is currently available used from amazon.com for as little as $1.68) there's a chapter called Caring for the Flock, which perfectly expresses how I feel about raising animals for meat:

More below. . .

Wednesday, April 4

Five Recipe Ideas for Homemade Easter Breads

Here's some freshly baked inspiration for your holiday table from the Farmgirl Fare recipe archives—and they all freeze beautifully. Just click on each name to go to the recipe.

Savory Cheese and Scallion Scones
Made with softened cream cheese in place of the butter and one of my most sought after recipes, these Savory Cheese and Scallion Scones mix up quickly and always garner rave reviews. I've been baking them for 20 years and love them split in half and toasted for cream cheese and ham or turkey sandwiches.

Four more breads below. . .

Monday, April 2

Recipe: Easy Lemon Coconut Quick Bread Made with Unsweetened Coconut

Moist and flavorful, this hearty lemon coconut bread is perfect for breakfast, brunch, snack time, or dessert. (Recipe here).

I baked up a loaf of this Lemon Coconut Quick Bread today, and it smelled so good when it came out of the oven that I found myself reaching for a knife while it was still warm. I devoured the heel, slathered with butter. I may have moaned a little. After three years of baking this easy recipe (no mixer required!), I love it just as much as the first time I tasted it.

While I find that most quick breads are really cake in disguise, this one is more like bread, which means you can eat a slice or two for breakfast with nary a twinge of guilt—not that I've ever had a problem eating cake for breakfast.

It's sweet but not too sweet, heavy and dense but not too dense (this is not a light and fluffy cake!), nicely moist, and altogether scrumptious any time of day. It also freezes beautifully. And while it tastes very nice plain, something heavenly happens when you toast a slice and then butter it. If you've never tasted natural, unsweetened coconut, you're in for a real treat.

Can't live on bread (or cake) alone? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, in love with lemons and crazy for coconut.