Stir Crazy!!!

It's that time of year...we're past the coldest days of winter, yet not into spring. We've had a few previews of warm sunny weather, just long enough to make it that much worse when the cold front sweeps back in. Here in Georgia, there has been record amounts of rainfall. While we are in desperate need of rain, it would be nice if it didn't all come back to back, for a month straight! Our pond in the back pasture may have hope yet.

The hen house is completed, with all of our chickens secure in a "run". I hated to gather up our free range hens, and confine them. Even with a large run, it's still not the same. After loosing several hens and my prized Aruacana Rooster to a Red Shouldered Hawk, I was left with no other option. We still have 4 Golden Sex Links, each laying a nice large brown egg per day. Still waiting on our 2 Rhode Island Red and 2 Black Orpingtons to start laying.....any day now.

By May/June, we'll have 5 Aruacanas laying, along with 4 more Black Orpingtons, 4 Lavendar Orpingtons, 4 French Black Copper Marans. I plan on having close to 2 dozen eggs per day. This should provide enough to sell 8-10 dozen per week, and make enough to pay for the cost of keeping chickens, while providing enough eggs for our family.

Still no definate signs from either of our Nubian nannies that a baby is on the way. If nothing shows by the end of Feb, we'll try breeding them both to our billy. A few babies in the fall will be good, but we're really ready for some milk..Looks like I'll be shopping for a nanny in milk, or one that is ready to kid soon.  

With all this cold wet weather, I've started to get back into cooking. I absolutely love to cook, but being married to a amateur chef who completely eclipses my skills, my time in the kitchen is usually limited. Lately, the tide has been turning, and she's more than happy to let me prepare dinner. Pinterest has been my "not so secret" weapon. It's really provided alot of inspiration and desire to try new recipes.

I will admit, I have a distinct advantage to most men in the kitchen...I had a mom, who taught me alot of the basics of "from scratch" cooking, and have had 10 years of watching Nicole do her magic, pairing up entrees with side dishes, flavor combinations that most wouldn't think would blend so perfectly. I've picked up a few trade secrets during that time. I'm not going to turn this into a cooking blog, but I will share a few of my favorite tried and true recipes.

I found this website Kayotic Kitchen a few months ago, and have been dying to try a few.  Kay is a Dutch homemaker, who has alot of great comfort food recipes (calorie counters beware).

The Cherry Coke & Jalapeno Meatballs has been on the top of my list, and last night I gave it a shot.
Now, I may be biased, but this gets a 10 out of 10..I used lean beef, and baked them at 400* the meatball itself had a great flavor, but the glaze is what takes it to the seventh heavens! She presents them as an appetizer, but I served them with veg/fruit kabobs, consisting of sweet potatoes, orange bell peppers, apples, zucchini, and pineapple. Set aside some of the "glaze" before it gets too thick and apply a smooth coat on the kabobs right before they are ready to remove from the grill.



Say a few prayers for Nicole, she has root canal this afternoon...nothing fun about that, although the eventual relief from pain that she's been in for the last few days will be a welcome reprieve. While I hate to see her "down" it appears I'll have the kitchen for a few more days.. I'd better be careful, she may "allow" me to cook more often! :)