You Have Been Warned

This is my beautiful Rooster George Michael. George Michael loves me. He runs to greet me when he sees me outside. He trots after me happily when it is time to lock up the barn. I pick him up and tell him how wonderful he is and he puts up with me touching his tail feathers and wattle, and ruffling his hackle feathers. He makes an endearing growling noise whenever he eats. He's my bud.

But he hates my children.

Every time the kids step out the door he thinks he has something to prove and runs at them and pecks their legs. Repeatedly. On Sunday poor little Charlie came in the house with bleeding cuts on his ankles where he was pecked. George Michael had chased him across an acre and absolutely terrified him in the process. Keep in mind this rooster is BIG, especially to a four year old and it really does hurt to be pecked. Especially when it breaks skin, or leaves a bruise. And Charlie is short enough where his eyes could seriously be a target in one of these attacks.

Since Steve is also a target of my beautiful Rooster's hatred, the consensus of the (obviously non-alpha) males around here is that we have a crock-pot chicken dinner real soon.

Bird-you have been warned! Be nice, or be dinner!

Advent Reading-The Baker's Dozen, A saint Nicholas Tale

The Baker's Dozen retold by Aaron Sheperd is the final St. Nicholas book we will read this week, on the day before the feast of St. Nicholas.

The Baker's Dozen is beautifully illustrated and within this short tale is to be found a great lesson in generosity. The baker of this story is taught by the saint himself that giving "more" of one's self can lead to great rewards. It looks as though this book is out of print because it is outrageously expensive at Amazon. I own it, but know I didn't pay that much for it just last year. I cannot remember where I purchased it though....check you library for this one.

More baking today using our St. Nicholas cookie cutter available here (it looks just like the cookies from the book) or other styles here. The recipe we used for the cookies is a German spice cookie called Speculatius-I've included the recipe we used below, from the St. Nicolas center site. It makes a beautiful, spicy dough. Makes about 5 dozen cookies using a 31/2" tall cutter. Note to self:make half a recipe next year! We just used a basic icing recipe for decorating. ( Roughly 2/3 cup powdered sugar to 2 t. milk.)

I didn't snap any pictures today, but that just gave me an excuse to revisit these ridiculously cute ones from last year.......pink bishops robes and all!

And just for kicks, look at all the SNOW we had at this time last year!!! I'm getting kind of excited for snow right about now, but sadly it is just brown and cold.

Speculatius (German Spice Cookies)

Here is a recipe for a traditional Nicholas cookie that comes out of the Rhineland. The cookie is called "Speculatius" which means "image." In Europe, the "image" is the mirror-image of a Nicholas which had been pressed into a wooden mold and then turned out on a sheet to bake in the oven.

Mix in order:

1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs whole
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cloves

Turn out onto a floured board. Knead in about one cup additional flour or as much as you need until dough is no longer sticky and is easy to handle.

Put into a plastic bag and refrigerate until chilled and stiff. Then you are ready to roll out and cut the cookies. Cut off a manageable piece and keep the rest cool until you are ready for more.

For many little cut-out shapes, roll out the dough thinly. Thin cookies are tastiest.

For the larger, decorated St. Nicholas cookies, roll the dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookie around paper pattern. Place on greased baking sheet.Then get inspired. Use scrappy bits of dough to decorate your Nicholas. For a beard press a little dough through a sieve or a garlic press. Use little balls of dough for eyes or buttons.

The same dough lends itself to all sorts of shapes and symbols and is useful for making "St. Nicholas awards" to certain people on this special occasion.

Bake at 350º F. until golden-brown. These keep forever in tins in the freezer or for two–three weeks on the shelf.

Dairy Free Once Again

About 5 years ago, when Will was just 3, it was discovered that he had a dairy allergy. The night we rushed him to the ER scratching furiously and welted up from chest to eyes still lives nightmarishly on in my mind. After getting the diagnosis of dairy allergy from an excellent allergist the whole family went dairy free. The only thing we ever missed was cheese. There is no good substitute for dairy cheese! I used to drink several glasses of milk a day and now I cannot bear the taste of it. It became so easy to live without dairy, and everyone in the family-from sibs to grandparents- was supportive and went out of their way to accommodate Will.

Then, about a year ago we decided to try some dairy on Will to see if things had changed for him. Lo and behold, he had no reaction to it. No eczema, no itching, no allergic shiners. I started worrying less about a bit of dairy here and there. We even had ice cream on occasion! Zounds! He never had a single reaction.

Until this past Saturday.

I noticed he had a few red bumps around his mouth. Then a few more. Then I noticed the red rash peeking out from his shirt collar. His chest was a rashy mess! Then one eye got a big red "shiner". I was astounded. We hadn't seen this kind of thing in literally years because we had avoided dairy so well. There are pictures to document it, but I can't bear to post them.

Then mommy guilt kicked in. We have had a ton of dairy lately. I remembered the chocolate cheesecake we had on Thursday... The cheese sticks I tossed to the kids in the car on Wednesday. The Mac and cheese twice the week before... Then there was the cheese in the bean and rice burrito.... Carmel corn.. buttered popcorn...Parmesan cheese crackers...heavy cream in a soup....cheese on a sandwich...chocolates snitched from Nana's candy dish.... and who knows what else.

I could just cry. Daily intake of dairy was obviously too much for him, especially at this time of year with pollens and molds flying rampant through the air. Can you say allergen overload?

I am sooooooooo guilt ridden right now. The rash is finally subsiding and the itching is "Not so itchy" as Will puts it. He has been dosed with Benedryl every 4 hours the past few days. Poor kid.

So, needless to say, we are back to dairy free. It's really not a problem to make substitutions, just a matter of being diligent about reading labels.

Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa.

Rich And Creamy Eggplant Soup-Part 1 of the 2008 Eggplant Extravaganza

After bringing home so many things from the farm earlier this week, I needed to find some good recipes to use them up. Namely some eggplant recipes. I think we came home with about 10 of them-different varieties and sizes. I have never really known what to do with the eggplant (aside from perhaps eggplant parmigiana which I have never even tried), and Steve has always expressed a dislike for it anyway so we have shied away. The recipe I found for last night's dinner however, may change the way we feel about said vegetable forever! Rich and Creamy Eggplant Soup was a real Wow! kind of recipe. Can't say the kids thought as much about it (I had chicken dogs and potato fries waiting in the wings), but the roasted garlicky flavor was like sweet nectar for me and Steve. I served the soup with a side dish of Swiss chard and white beans over a mixture of brown and wild rice. I also added pine nuts and raisins to the rice. Oh, it was all so good!

Rich and Creamy Eggplant Soup

• 3 tomatoes, halved
• 1 eggplant, halved lengthwise
• 1 small onion, halved
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 1/2 ounces crumbled goat cheese **
  
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on a baking sheet and brush with oil.
2. Roast in preheated oven until very tender and brown in spots, 45 minutes.
3. Scoop out eggplant pulp and discard skin. Place eggplant pulp, tomatoes, onion and garlic in a large heavy saucepan with thyme and chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until onion is very tender, 45 minutes.
4. Puree in batches in a food processor or blender, or using an immersion blender. Return to low heat and stir in cream. Bring to a simmer, thinning with more broth, if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with goat cheese. ** Our goat was fresh out of cheese today so I did not use it. The soup is rich enough without it anyway.
   

Swiss Chard Recipe

Swiss Chard with White Beans and Brown Rice

5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
6 or 7 leaves of chard
1 can white beans (navy, northern, etc.), rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
cooked brown rice (I used a combo of brown and wild rice)

First, wash and trim the chard. Roll the leaves into a cigar-shape and slice every 1 inch. Make another cut lengthwise to shorten the strands. Set aside.

In a large skillet, saute garlic in about half the olive oil. When the garlic becomes fragrant and golden, add the chard. Saute the chard while it cooks down a bit, then add the beans, and if desired, the rest of the olive oil and the salt and pepper. (Note: I found the oil content sufficient without adding the second half) Simmer over low heat until warmed through.

Serve over rice, or alternately, a nice penne pasta.

I See A New Use For My Fondue Pot

Ben finished up his time at Ultimate Survival day camp on Friday, and had a great experience. The Nature Center has always provided worthwhile programs when we've gone there on field trips, and this extended visit for Ben was no exception. They had the kids learning some very important and very useful wilderness survival skills. On their own, the kids had a chance to build shelters, start fires, navigate with compasses and forage for wild edibles. All very cool stuff. On the last day, one of the highlights was trying out some of those wild edibles. The tastiest of these was chocolate covered crickets.

Mmm..Mmmmm crickets! Finger lickin' good!

Of course if you don't have the comfort of chocolate with you in your survival situation you'll just have to eat your crickets the way God intended...lightly toasted and totally naked.

Here is the recipe Ben came home with scrawled on his course book:

Ben also brought home some "extra" crickets for us to dip in chocolate and enjoy as a family snack. They reminded me of a Nestles Crunch Bar. Not bad at all.

Here is a movie Ben made about how to prepare crickets:

By Request-A Ridiculously Simple Green Bean Recipe

Most of the time we are a family who enjoys our vegetables in a very undressed state. That is to say, lightly steamed, maybe salted. Usually nothing more. We like to taste the vegetable. However, when garlic enters the equation, the vegetable must step aside, and simply becomes a transport system. Tonight with dinner we will be enjoying the tasty treat that is Garlic Green Beans.

GARLIC GREEN BEANS
1 lb. fresh green beans 1-2 oz. olive oil 4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced 1/4 t salt 1/8 t. pepper Steam green beans, leave whole. Saute garlic in olive oil. Add salt and pepper. Pour over beans and toss. Makes 4 servings.