January Bird Count

Black Capped Chickadee
Hairy Woodpecker
Tufted Titmouse
Cedar Waxwing
Downy Woodpecker
Common Red Poll
White Breasted Nuthatch


Black-capped Chickadee


White-breasted Nuthatch

A Look Back at 2010

Oh, the Comfort of Soup

If you love mushrooms as much as we do, then try this delicious alternative to cream of mushroom soup. The recipe comes from Molly Katzen's book The New Moosewood Cookbook. You might want to double the recipe since one bowl is never enough!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

2 tbs. butter
2 c. chopped onion
1-1/2 to 2 c. sliced mushrooms
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. dried dill
1 tbs. mild paprika
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
3 tbs. flour
2 c. water
1 c. milk
black pepper, to taste
1/2 c. sour cream
minced parsley for garnish

Saute onions in butter for 5. min. Add mushrooms, salt, dill, and paprika. Cover, and cook for 15 min. stirring occasionally. Stir in lemon juice. Sprinkle in flour; cook 5 min. Add water; cook for 10 min. Stir in milk and pepper. Whisk in sour cream, and heat very gently. Don't boil. Serve hot garnished with parsley. Serves 4.

Peanut Butter Cake

This is a favorite in our family. Papa has it every birthday. It makes a great dessert for pot luck suppers too. Over the years I've experimented by adding chopped peanuts to the reserved crumbs, used dark chocolate chips, and added a glaze. Mix things up a bit and have fun!

Peanut Butter Cake

2-1/4 c. flour
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter

1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs

1 c. chocolate chips

Grease and flour a 9x13 in. pan or bundt pan. Blend first four ingredients until crumbly; reserve 1 cup. Add remaining ingredients to mixture and blend at low speed. Beat for 3 min. at medium speed. Pour into prepared pan; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle 1 c. chocolate chips over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 min. Cool. Pour peanut butter glaze over top of cooled cake. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Glaze

4 tsp. water
1 tbs. peanut butter
2/3 c. confectioner's sugar

Green Pumpkin Pie

This is for my cousin, Monica, who also hates to see anything go to waste.

I came across this recipe in The Little House Cookbook years ago when the girls were very young. I had always wanted to try it, but never got to the pumpkins until they were too ripe. It wasn't until this year, however, that Edmund's gentle pleas and Will's reading the recipe over and over at the kitchen table motivated me to stop canning for an afternoon and turn to the few green pumpkins we had left. I made a few modifications in the spices, but the results were a delightful surprise. I found that the leftover pie was even better since the flavors had a chance to meld. Enjoy!

Green Pumpkin Pie

1 pastry crust recipe
Green pumpkin, about 4 lbs., or enough to fill a pie shell
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1/3 c. cider, the harder, the better
1 tsp. butter

Pare and seed pumpkin. Slice thinly, and put in bottom of pie shell. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. (You may want to add a tablespoon or two of flour if you want the syrup thicker.) Cover the pumpkin with the sugar mixture. Pour the cider over everything, add the butter, and cover with the top crust. Bake at 425 for 15 min. and then at 350 for 45 min.

Sustitutions

Yesterday I made barbecue sauce to add to leftover rice and chicken. I found I was missing brown sugar, and so I made my own by adding a tablespoon of molasses to one cup of sugar. No one knew the difference except the cook.

Easy and good in a pinch, substitutions are the emergency backup plan in every busy kitchen. And thanks to the internet, substitutions are listed everywhere. No more the mad dash to the grocery store for a missing ingredient. (And let's face it, for those of us who live well outside of town, those trips are not in the true Yankee spirit of thrift.)

Many good cookbooks have sections full of substitutions. My Joy of Cooking has a nice section, but this requires pulling out and thumbing through the cookbook with food covered fingers, which as Joey might say, is not cool. Since I am inherently lazy, the small list I bought from Current years ago and taped to my baking cupboard door works well in a pinch, but unfortunately it is not a complete list. Here is a nice site for those who might need to have a more complete list for your cupboard. http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Food/ingred_subs.html. Some of the dry substitution mixes, such as Italian seasoning and pie spice, I make up in large amounts and store in a tightly covered jar for use. I am a Yankee with my time, too.

Enjoy cooking!

A Foul Fowl Affair

This evening, I sat out on the front step cleaning, trimming, and sorting the shallots with a cat purring on my lap and the ever curious geese and ducks for companions. After the heat and humidity of the day, the cool evening air was a delight.

Dusk had already settled in when I realized that the new chicks were still outside. Now here is where having strong, wiry sons would come in handy. But unfortunately they were all out in town with Papa. So I went to the pen and looked at the 18 chicks. This can't be too hard. All but three were eager to be "caught", and this I did, placing them into the old rabbit cage for transport to the barn. What I didn't count on was how HEAVY 18 1-month old chicks would be. Not only were they heavy, but somehow the birds sensed that they were in the wrong hands, and so they started to shift back and forth inside the cage.

I was very proud of myself when I reached the the ladder to the loft. I looked at the ladder, and I looked at the cage. I looked at the ladder again...It was an old apple tree ladder, not the kind that gives one a sense of security. I placed the cage onto the table near the ladder and stepped gingerly on the first "rung". Next one (Oh, Dear Lord, don't let it break!), and the next. Then I hauled up the birds in the cage. What a racket they made! I managed to push the cage through the opening in the loft and opened the cage door. Not a chick moved. I shook the cage. Then I tipped it. The chicks hung on inside the cage for dear life. All right they can stay in there if they like. I would just have to get their food and water.

Again I realized that this was a job for those made of sterner stuff, and steadier legs and arms. But it was hot in that loft, and the chicks needed water. Carefully I climbed the rickety ladder while trying to keep the waterer level. I only succeeded in spilling half of the water...down the front of me. I raised the waterer to the level of the loft floor only to find that the weight of the ladder had pressed against the screen covering the opening. So back down the ladder I went spilling more water down my shirt. Remove the screen, climb the ladder again, spill more water. I was really breathing hard at this point. Finally, victory as I lifted the waterer above my shoulders and onto the loft floor. And there it sat, water spilling over the rim, out the opening, and yes, down the front of me. (I won't write here what I said at this point. Just know that it didn't have to do with water dams.)

What I didn't realize was that I had an audience the whole time. There below the ladder, looking up at me with the most astonished (I really don't know how else to describe it)looks on their faces were the geese and ducks. I can only imagine what they must have been thinking. I was covered in chicken poop from my shoulders down to my knees, and I know I didn't smell very good either. When I got to the ground I said in my brightest voice, "Hi, guys!" And with that they promptly turned tail and ran from the barn. Oh well.

On the bright side, when I went out to get the chick food, I startled a young deer that had wandered under the old apple tree. With a snort he began to bound away, but then stopped. I began to sing very softly and he took a few steps toward me. He was beautiful and stately in stature, and I realized I had been given a gift. Suddenly he sniffed the air and turning he walked back into the woods. Did I detect a slight air of disgust as he walked away? I think he must have smelled the chicken poop.