Apr 282012
 

I’ve got tons of rhubarb around my house.
I dug up and divided 4 plants and the 3 remaining ones are still providing enough for a small country.

I love cooking with rhubarb. It’s very tart and has a unique flavor. It’s very rare to eat something with rhubarb that isn’t full of sugar or other fruits. It actually bakes with a texture similar to apples.

Some Rhubarb Tips:

*When picking, pull out and down to remove the stalks, don’t cut

*Pick stalks thicker than your thumb, leave the small ones to fuel the roots for next year

*Pull off the flower ‘balls’ when they appear, there is no need to let the plants make seed

*Don’t bother with a knife. Use scissors to cut the rhubarb into pieces

*DON’T EAT THE LEAVES

*Don’t discriminate – Green and Speckled varieties are just as good as red stalked types

*Do: Eat Rhubarb

 On to the failure:
Last year I made a delicious sour cream rhubarb cake.
It was amazing.

I decided to try a similar recipe for sour cream rhubarb muffins.
Only I tried to use yogurt instead of sour cream and replaced the white sugar with honey.

Giant Chunks of Rhubarby Goodness

Unfortunately my rhubarb muffins failed to… rise to my expectations.

I think they were too liquidy due to the substitutions, plus I over filled the muffin tin.
They were yummy though!

You can see all the thick slices of rhubarb after they baked.
Photobucket

Apr 262012
 
Here we go!
Starting up my own Linky Party.

Here are the rules:

Each week will have a theme, link up ANY* post that fits the theme, old or new.
The themes will generally be vague but please have some connection!
It can be a craft, photos, a recipe ect.
Don’t make me be the grinch!

*Please no giveaways or shops

Link up to a single post, not your blog

Pretty please link back with a text link or button!
It doesn’t have to be on the post, just have it somewhere on your blog

Check out at least 2 other entries for everything you enter.
It’s all about the love!

You don’t have to be a follower but I’d love it!

Chicken Scratch NY

Apr 252012
 
I love my kitty. It’s hard to ‘capture’ her on film. This picture was an accident.

But it screams her name

If you put your nose up to the screen that’s what I wake up to every morning

I’ll be starting my own link party tomorrow! 
It’ll have a weekly theme but for the first week it’s anything goes.
Please come back and link up!
Chicken Scratch NY

Apr 242012
 

It’s (mostly) official!

After being engaged since October 2011, I’ll be getting hitched in October 2012!

I imagine it’ll look something like this

Still working out the major details (like the date) but it’s gonna be a DIY festival of autumn craftyness.
We found a gorgeous barn for the reception and we’re going supper casual with the food, most likely catered by a local barbecue place.

Now I want to hear about your weddings!
If you’re interested in being featured here on Chicken Scratch drop me a line at:

ChickenScratchNY (at) gmail.com

I’m looking for anything wedding related, especially DIY.
If you didn’t blog about your wedding feel free to share something you think made your day special and unique!
If you haven’t had a wedding and still want to play along share something you’d like for your wedding.

I’d like to post one a week until my wedding in October and I’ll add all the features to a special Pinterest board.

Thanks! I hope to hear from you soon!

Apr 222012
 

I L-O-V-E having cut flowers in the house.
In the spring I’ve always got daffodils, tulips and lilacs in the house.
If  I don’t pick them, the ducks will eat them!
So I pick them.

 

But it doesn’t always work out for me:


Sometimes the stems break off too short and it’s not a good look.
I set out to solve my problem and I thought I’d share.

 All you need is a stick (I’d imagine a straw would work really well) and some string.

You can buy flower picks that are basically wire attached to sticks.
But I like the more-or-less free DIY versio.
Make sure you add enough water to reach the stem.

Like the new spring colors? The buffet is almost done and I’ll be sharing ASAP

Apr 192012
 

I love strawberry pots.
Something about plants tumbling out of a million holes appeals to my love of floral chaos.

I’ve had this pot for years, I bought it on clearance at Joann’s.
It has a subtle shift to light green at the tops of the pockets. Here are some tips for planting these jars:


To plant:
Soak your flowers well, if your plants are root bound break them up.
I’ve been known to rip off the bottom portion of a severely root bound annual
(Don’t do this to taprooted plants!)

Fill the pot with soil up to the bottom of the pockets

Stuff your plants in the holes, one at a time.
From the inside fill in around the plants using your fingers to poke the soil where you need it

Fill up all the pockets this way

You’ll end up with a deep hole in the middle.
Fill it with soil and plant the center.
Leave some room for mulch.
Voila!

So much easier than filling the whole thing with dirt and trying to stuff the plants in…
wait.. I’m the only one who did that?!

Turkey Eggs

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Apr 182012
 
It’s the second week of the Leap into Spring photo challenge!
I somehow forgot about it so this week there are two Wordless Wednesday posts.
You can find my Daffodil photos here
The topics for this week are Easter/Eggs.
Due to my sister being in the hospital I missed out on Easter (I do have 3/4 of a blessed butter lamb in the fridge though!) so I went with eggs. 
The light is best on the front lawn. So second day in a row I’ve been laying on my lawn with a camera. Thank goodness I don’t have close neighbors!
This is a Royal Palm Turkey Egg, now in the incubator
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Cabbage Strudel

 Uncategorized  5 Responses »
Apr 132012
 

I’m a big fan of cabbage. I love it cooked simply with onions, or boiled with corned beef.


Sometimes when I’m in to mood for something more involved I make a cabbage strudel.
It’s almost like a really big baked egg roll. 
Bonus points it reheats really well in a toaster oven.
This is an adaptation from 

 

This is where the Caramelized Balsamic Onions came from (I love this book!)

Ingredients: 

    • Olive oil
    • 1 lb bulk sweet sausage*
    • 1 small/medium green cabbage – shredded
    • 1 onion – sliced up small
    • 2 carrots – shredded
    • 1 t salt
    • 6 oz feta cheese
    • 1 t caraway seeds (I usually add 1T but I’m having an emotional affair with caraway flavor)
    • Black pepper
    • 3/4 C bread crumbs
    • Phyllo dough
    • 4T butter – melted
    • 3 T bread crumbs

Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 375
    2. Cook the sausage in a large and drain off any grease (mine didn’t have much). Place in a large heat safe bowl.
    3. Pour some olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add cabbage, carrot and onions. Saute briefly, not looking for melting deliciousness, just taking the raw edge off. The cabbage should be brighter green than when raw. Add this to the sausage.
    4. Add the feta, caraway, salt, pepper and bread crumbs. Mix up really well. 

You can eat it at this point, in fact I recommend trying it so see if you need more pepper/salt/carraway

The next part is where it gets involved. It’s pretty similar to making Baklava. 

    1. Spread out a layer of Phyllo dough (keep a damp paper towel on it, this stuff dries up quickly!)
    2. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. 
    3. Repeat. I usually do about 5-6 layers
    4. Spoon a ‘log’ of your cabbage/sausage mixture into the center.

Gently fold in the sides and ‘glue’ together using some melted butter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and crispy.
Allow to sit for at least 1/2 hour after removing it from the oven.

Keeping it real.
The amount of filling you get varies with the amount of cabbage and such.
You’ll get anywhere from 2-4 rolls.
This filling would also be yummy for stuffing squash or just eat it out of the bowl

I also made one in layers like a pan of baklava, it was good but for some reason it just wasn’t as good. Sad because it’s a lot faster!

*The original recipe is vegetarian. I added the sausage because I mixed up 2 recipes and I thawed the sausage and blah blah blah. We really liked it with the sausage so that’s how we make it now.


 Posted by at 11:48 pm  Tagged with:
Apr 112012
 
It’s been a long week.
Finally, after 6 days in the hospital, my sister is home.
Gallstone pancreatitis and a potential case of C. diff meant baby juggling (not literally) for the entire family. By the way, if you happen to take a baby to a restaurant and don’t immediately know how many days old he is people will assume you are the Worst Mother In The World. When you tell them it’s not your baby they will assume you stole him. It’s important to mention you’re related!

She’s only 21 but I had mine out when I was 22. My mom and dad both had theirs removed as well. Must be genetic….

Anyway! I haven’t had a whole lotta time for crafting this week so I’ll just be sharing some fun pictures instead.

If I still dyed my hair I would want Sophia’s color. Shes a little shit very, very pretty (should cut back on the white eyeshadow though)

I admit I over edited this one. But I like the ‘feel’ of it.
Do I sound like I’m in high school art class?

The eastern fence line
(yes, those were telephone poles at one point, no idea why they are a fence now)

Soon to be lilac

Leap Into Spring Photo Challenge