Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Summer Staycation
I had a lovely "staycation" from work last week, and we celebrated both children's birthdays. Caileigh is now 11 years old, and heading to sixth grade this fall! Jake is 8 years old, and as wild and crazy as ever. Speaking of birthday boys, check out Jake and his prize winning cucumbers at the Mercer County Fair! Our kitchen is currently overrun with cucumbers, and James has been canning pickles like a madman.
Our staycation included a birthday sleepover, two birthday cakes, a trip on the Dixie Belle at Shaker Landing, a visit to the Salato Wildlife Center, watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, and a party at Bounce U, among other things! Good times.
Our staycation included a birthday sleepover, two birthday cakes, a trip on the Dixie Belle at Shaker Landing, a visit to the Salato Wildlife Center, watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, and a party at Bounce U, among other things! Good times.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Meanwhile, in the garden...
James and the kids have been busy making tomato cages. Here's hoping we get a good harvest before all the critters eat them!
Best-In-Show!
James's "Bee Product Gift Box" won the Best-in-Show award at the Lion's Club Bluegrass Fair! James made the whole shebang himself - the Shaker box, the spiced honey, the beeswax soap, and the peppermint-beeswax lip balm. He's so crafty. Woot!
An Unexpected Harvest
James has one demonstration hive out at Bluegrass Community and Technical College's Peace Meal Garden off Leestown Road. The bees have been doing very well there, and we were lucky to get a few frames of honey from them.
We won't have enough honey to sell, but we did have enough for the Bluegrass Fair!
We won't have enough honey to sell, but we did have enough for the Bluegrass Fair!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Vegan Chopped!
I just competed in the Post Punk Kitchen Vegan Chopped! on-line dessert challenge. The basket ingredients were red bunch beets, fresh mangoes, unsweetened dried coconut, and crispy rice cereal. This is the second Vegan Chopped! challenge I've participated in, and they've been a blast! My entry? Spiced Beet Cake with Crispy-Coconut Frosting and Mango-Ginger-Lime ice cream. It was pretty tasty, although I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to make beet cake again.
Spiced Beet Cake
The final cake was really surprising! The batter was bright purple-y-red, but the baked cake was a lovely spice-cake brown. The cake was nice and moist, and you just got a hint of the earthy flavor of the beets.
Ingredients:
1 bunch red beets, oven roasted and pureed (I got a little over a cup of pureed beets out of my bunch)
Add enough applesauce to pureed beets to get to 1 and 1/2 cups of puree total
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla
1 T. grated fresh ginger
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. mace
1/8 tsp. cloves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease & flour your cake pans (I used two med-small ramekins and then baked the rest in a muffin tin). Mix the dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside. Whisk the wet ingredients together in another bowl and then add to the dry. Mix until well combined. Scoop/pour into prepared pans and bake. The cupcakes took about 18 minutes; the ramekins took about 22 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes in the pans, then remove to a rack to complete the cooling process.
Crispy-Coconut Frosting
1 cup canned coconut milk (shaken, not stirred)
1 cup sugar
2 T. Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 3 T. warm water
1 tsp. ground ginger
Combine above in small saucepan and cook over medium heat until boils, whisking regularly. Boil for one minute and then remove from heat. Then stir/whisk in:
3 T. Earth Balance
1/2 tsp. salt
Then stir in:
1 cup Crispy Rice Cereal
1 1/3 cups toasted unsweetened coconut
Set aside to cool. Frost cakes!
Mango-Ginger-Lime Ice Cream
2 ripe mangoes
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 T. grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. molasses
pinch of salt
1 can coconut milk
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
Peel and chop mangoes and put in blender. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. Refrigerate for at least several hours until well-chilled. Put in ice cream machine and let it churn! When ice cream maker is finished, I like to put the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours to set up.
Spiced Beet Cake
The final cake was really surprising! The batter was bright purple-y-red, but the baked cake was a lovely spice-cake brown. The cake was nice and moist, and you just got a hint of the earthy flavor of the beets.
Ingredients:
1 bunch red beets, oven roasted and pureed (I got a little over a cup of pureed beets out of my bunch)
Add enough applesauce to pureed beets to get to 1 and 1/2 cups of puree total
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla
1 T. grated fresh ginger
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. mace
1/8 tsp. cloves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease & flour your cake pans (I used two med-small ramekins and then baked the rest in a muffin tin). Mix the dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside. Whisk the wet ingredients together in another bowl and then add to the dry. Mix until well combined. Scoop/pour into prepared pans and bake. The cupcakes took about 18 minutes; the ramekins took about 22 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes in the pans, then remove to a rack to complete the cooling process.
Crispy-Coconut Frosting
1 cup canned coconut milk (shaken, not stirred)
1 cup sugar
2 T. Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 3 T. warm water
1 tsp. ground ginger
Combine above in small saucepan and cook over medium heat until boils, whisking regularly. Boil for one minute and then remove from heat. Then stir/whisk in:
3 T. Earth Balance
1/2 tsp. salt
Then stir in:
1 cup Crispy Rice Cereal
1 1/3 cups toasted unsweetened coconut
Set aside to cool. Frost cakes!
Mango-Ginger-Lime Ice Cream
2 ripe mangoes
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 T. grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. molasses
pinch of salt
1 can coconut milk
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
Peel and chop mangoes and put in blender. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. Refrigerate for at least several hours until well-chilled. Put in ice cream machine and let it churn! When ice cream maker is finished, I like to put the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours to set up.
Welcome!
Welcome to the 20 Acre Wood blog! We are a small farm in Burgin, Kentucky. We are currently rebuilding our beehive population and hope to have honey available next summer (2013). We sell honey and bee products at the Mercer County Farmer's Market. In the meantime, please enjoy these posts about our family and our other hobbies!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)