Smoked Turkey Thanksgiving #2

We have been packing and moving the last few weeks and are now settled in at the In-Laws(Tabs Side). Long story short it was a pain!

I have been wanting to cook a turkey since I never have and i figured there was no reason to only have the Thanksgiving meal once. We don't get any leftovers from thanksgiving since we go to someone elses house. I went to the store on Saturday and they had their large birds half off. So I bought a 24.5 lb bird for $9.68. Once I got home I realized that a bird that big cooked on the smoker would stay in the 40 - 140 danger zone too long. So I cut the bird up and smoked it that way. I was just so tired of getting dry baked turkeys all my life that I had to find a better way. It cooked quicker than I expected(I usually just smoke ribs and butts). The breast turned out pretty good. They were a little too smokey but with gravy on them were perfect. All very tender and moist. The legs were okay. I think i should have left them on a little longer. The skin felt crispy but was more like leather to chew. It was still way better than a baked turkey. Next time I will use less smoke and a little higher temperature. I left for church after I put it on so it didn't get as much attention as it might have needed while cooking.

House Update

Well nothing has really happened on the house building part. We are kinda stuck in the permit application phase. We are working with the builder to finalize the contract and that's not easy when you want as many things as we want yet have already maxed out the budget. We will find a way though. Hopefully everything except the building permit will get completed this week and we will just have that to wait on.

We have started packing since we have to be out of our house by the 28th of this month and it is not fun! We also have to find arrangements to keep the dogs and chickens in while we are living with Tab's parents. They are coming with us but I have to make sure whatever they stay in is temporary and yet still secure enough. With Thanksgiving coming up and hunting season being in full swing it should be a busy few weeks.

This is a veiw down the road that cuts through our property. It is an easement for the few people that live on this road. Our property is on the left side of this road.

We Sold our House!

Well we thought we sold our house in the spring and then after the bank drug the process out as long as possible they denied the buyers at the last minute. Then a few weeks later the same buyers found approval from a different lender and everything went through just fine. We have to be out by 11/28 and then we will live with family until our house is complete sometime in the spring. I meet with the lot clearer this past Saturday and we walked off the area that will be cleared as well as the driveway. I can't wait to see what it will look like after it is cleared. I doubt any of that will start for about a month.

Roostie Is GONE!

After many debates and weeks on Craigslist I finally found someone to take Roostie. He had gotten to the point that whenever I went around the coop he would puff up and try to attack me through the wire. The coop is much more peace full now and the hens don't really seem to care that he is gone. Maybe in the spring I will add a new rooster to the flock. We also plan on doing some meat birds next year!

Not sure why we haven't been posting. We will have to make some update post on our Apple orchard Trip, applesauce, apple cider and apple butter making.

Irene

It's been busy around here with all the earthquakes and the Hurricane. Last weekend we had Hurricane Irene come through. A lot of the local forecasters were forecasting that it would stay well east of us or that the wind would not be significant. There was even a local NBC forecaster who was saying we wouldn't even get any rain. They were way off. If you were around for Isabelle it was pretty much the same thing. There was a lot of rain and a LOT of wind with gust over 70 mph. There were tons of trees down all over the Richmond area. We actually got it worse in Richmond than they did in the Virginia Beach area.
There are about 9 oak trees in our back yard and 4 of them are close to the house and HUGE. I didn't expect anything to happen to them because they are close to each other and I figured the roots probably are intertwined. There are some dead branches though on some of the other trees and I was actually hoping they would blow down. Well absolutely nothing blew down in our yard. Nothing but little twigs and leaves. I guess we were lucky because some of our neighbors had it much worse. One house had a tree fall right through the middle of it. Tabs Grandfather down the street from us had a big oak fall on his house. At least he had moved his cars because that tree fell right across his driveway where he normally parks before it hit his house. Across the street from us there was another big tree that fell right across the power line and kept us without power for 5 days.

 Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done but water was running into his house so I went over in the middle of the storm and helped cut the tree.

 this is were his cars normally are

 This guy made a bad decision. I went around another way to get home.

I had hoped to make a little extra money after the storm by cutting up trees but the neighbors had so many trees down that I have spent the last week cutting their trees and hauling the wood to our future home site. We should have enough firewood now to easily get us though next winter. I haven't has a wood stove since I lived in my parents house and I have no idea how much wood we will need but I am very confident we have enough. I took 4 loads down from the storm and I already had a huge pile from clearing for the food plot.  That's not counting all the trees I will go around and cut up this winter that are down on our property from the storm. Now I just need to build one of those awesome wood sheds like they have over at Against the Grain ( http://againstthegrainhomestead.blogspot.com/2011/06/okay-wind-is-in-my-favor-today.html )

Earthquake in Virginia?!? WHAT!

If you haven't heard it all over the news, Virginia experienced the largest earthquake since 1897 on Tuesday! Not only was it the first earthquake I have ever felt, but it had to be the scariest thing that's ever happened to me. I have to say it is a very uneasy feeling to have the ground you stand on be unsteady, not to mention unexpected.

I had the pleasure of being at work when it happened. I was talking to my mother on the phone and It was weird because at the same time we both told each other we had to go. ( Of course neither one of us knew we were going through the same thing at the time) The first thought that came to my mind was that my building was about to be hit by an airplane because of the rumbling sound and the fact that I work fairly close to an airport!

After struggling to stand on this now moving surface I made it outside clear of any potential hazards and it was seriously like the world had stopped. People filed out of there offices, everyone still confused and not really believing what was going on. Some people were even yelling to me wanting confirmation that we were having an earthquake. Finally after being shaken up for what seemed like an eternity it was over and because my husband and I work together I knew he was ok, so the first thing that came to my mind was my mom!

Of course when I went to call her I got a busy signal and then just silence. Since my computer was already up I saw were people were posting there phones were out, so it made me feel a little better knowing more of what was going on. Some phone companies were out, but a majority of the reason the phones weren't working was because everyone was trying to use there phones at the same time.

Thankfully after the longest ten minutes of my life I was able to get a hold of my mom and she was fine. In the end the magnitude of the earthquake was 5.8 and there have been a few aftershocks within the past couple of days. One even reached a magnitude of 4.2 , but thankfully we don't live that close to the epicenter to have been able to feel those. Now that the earthquake stuff is over we are preparing for the hurricane that's supposed to hit this weekend!!

It's time to hunt

I just realized that we haven't posted anything in a while so here is why. It's time to hunt! I have been busy putting the final touches on our first Food Plot. I have also been checking and resetting trail cameras. I havnt seen any bucks yet but I'm happy just know there are deer around.

Here is a look at our food plot.

We ran over it a few more times with the rake after this picture so it looks a little better than this. We have limed, fertilized and seeded. Now we just need some rain!

Smoking A Butt

About once a month I fire up the smoker and smoke something. Sometimes its a butt(Pork Shoulder), a whole chicken(I'm praying one day it will be roostie), ribs, jalapenos, fish, deer snack sticks or jerky. This past weekend it was a butt. It's usually a butt because it produces the most food with the least amount of work. It takes the longest but requires only that I check the temperature every few hours. This time of year when it is this hot I don't like smoking as much. I really enjoy BBQing in the winter more and that's when I do it the most. I have come a long way since I first got the smoker on Craigslist about 2 or 3 years ago. Nothing that comes out of the smoker is going to taste bad but it definitely needed some perfecting. The main thing I realized is you can't rush it. It's done when it's done, not necessarily when you are ready to eat. So this time I decided to let the smoker go all night while we slept and hopefully the BBQ would be ready when we got home from church the next afternoon.

I started off getting some charcoal nice and hot in the chimney starter. This is way better than using lighter fluid. A lot of people say they can taste the lighter fluid but I can't. I just find that it is a lot easier and faster doing it this way. Probably safer too.

After they get nice and hot I dump them in the smoker's fire box and add some wood. I usually use hickory but lately I have been using dogwood from a tree that died in my yard. I really like the flavor too.

Another new thing I have been doing the last dew times is soaking the butt in a brine. It consist of 2 Quarts of water, 2 cups of Pickling salt and about a cup of molasses. I let this soak for about 6-8 hours then pat dry and apply your dry rub. I have been using "Bone Sucking Sauce" Dry rub.

 Now that the fire is stoked and the meat is seasoned I wait. This time it ended up taking about 16 hours. That's probably a few hours longer than it should have but it's hard to keep an eye on the temperature when you are sleeping. It still beats cooking all day and then its still not ready by dinner time.

Finally it is done. I gave it about 30 minutes to cool down and then pulled it apart. The last time I made it we used the mixer with the dough attachment and shredded it really fine.

This time I just pulled it in chunks. Either way will work. I also made some Cole slaw to go with it.

(Notice the color of the meat in this picture and there is no sauce on it)

I have not perfected my own sauce yet but I am working on it. Every time I make it it taste awful. The last time I made it was the best yet but still not great. So since I spent 16 hours cooking I wasn't about to make my own sauce again and I don't really like any of the store brands that much I decided to go to a local BBQ place that was featured on the Food Network show "The best thing I ever Ate" and buy some of their homemade sauce. It was a good choice and the BBQ was great. I've really got the meat cooking part down I just need to practice more on the sauce.

Crank, Glass, and Fallout...Ellen Hopkins Series

Throughout the past couple of months I have been reading a series of books from my favorite novelist Ellen Hopkins. The three books in the series are Crank, Glass, and Fallout which are loosely based on Hopkins' daughter's story and her addiction to crystal meth. The first two books are in the perspective of the main character Kristina and the third takes place 19 years later in the perspective of Kristina's children.

Overall I enjoyed the first two books the most only because you've had the perspective of this one character the whole time then it gets switched up on you, but the third on is still good. All of Ellen's books are written in poems, but very understandable and still follow a storyline. They are also all based on teenage struggles therefore appeal mainly to teens and young adults.

Some other books I have read by her are Burned and Impulse which are also really good!

What we are Reading

I just finished "Heaven is for Real." It was great I liked that is was short and too the point. He also backed up all the "events" with scripture.

Now I am reading "Through my Eyes" By Tim Tebow. It is really good and gives the inside perspective from the best college football player ever.

Most nights we are both also reading a chapter of "Praying the New Testament" By Elmer Towns. It is good for dumbing down the stories of the bible and making them easier to remember then following with actual scripture(although it is from an unknown version of the bible, not NKJV.)

Squash and Ricotta Pie

A few months ago I saw on another blog a recipe for a Squash and Ricotta Galette. I'm not french and I certainly don't cook like I am so I wont call this a Galette(the french word for a stuffed pie crust.) Plus I had to look up what Galette meant so I knew what I was trying to cook. It sounded really good and not too hard so I tried it. Well I'm not a baker and I really didn't enjoy trying to make a homemade pie crust. The main reason was it called for a pastry cutter. I had no idea what that was so after I looked it up i realized I didn't have one I just used a fork and the end of a whisk. I thought it worked ok. In my opinion it was just too messy and too much work to make the pie crust so next time I will just by one. The filling was really easy. It was just ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan. A little olive oil and garlic too. You just add the filling to the pie dough, top with squash and fold the edge over. He are some pictures of mine.

The Filling

Pie dough with Filling

Wrapped with egg wash brushed on

Finished

Eaten!

It was very good though. By not using the pastry cutter i don't think the butter in the crust was in small enough pieces. The crust was flaky but only in places. A lot of the butter cooked out and made the whole thing a little too buttery for me. That's why next time I will use the store bought crust. I think in would be good to do everything the same and then top it with a little more parm and mozzarella.

 

Here is the recipe copied from http://theforkandknife.com/2011/06/27/summer-squash-and-ricotta-galette/

 For the crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled in the fridge

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/3 – 1/2 cup ice water

Filling:

1 large summer squash, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup (1 oz) grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup (1 oz) shredded mozzarella

1 tablespoon basil, torn or cut into ribbons


Glaze:

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Dough:

Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl, then stick into the freezer until well-chilled. Cut a single stick of butter into small cubes and refrigerate to ensure they are not softened. When the flour mixture and the butter are both chilled, pull them out and combine in a single large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the butter pieces are the size of small peas.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Lightly pat the lumps into a ball, being careful not to overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Filling:

Lay the squash out over several layers of paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and let drain for 30 minutes. Gently blot the tops of the squash with a paper towel. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and the garlic together and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, and 1 tablespoon of the garlic and oil together. If your mozzarella or parmesan are salty, you can skip any additional seasoning. If they’re not, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Preparing your tart:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round (using a rolling pin or a clean, empty wine bottle). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the dough onto the baking sheet. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Starting from the outer edge, tile the squash rounds just on top of one another in concentric circles until the ricotta mixture is covered. Drizzle the remaining teaspoon of the garlic and olive oil mixture over the zucchini. Fold the dough’s edge just over the filling (the center of the tart will be exposed). Brush your crust with your egg yolk glaze.
Bake until your crust is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with basil, and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Double Yolk

So yesterday I was bringing in the eggs and I noticed one was rather large. So far they have been in the small to medium range but this one was more like the extra large ones you get at the store. I had a feeling that it was a double yolker but wasn't sure. I think this is actually my second one because a while back I was making something and couldn't tell if it was two yolks or if I messed it up cracking the egg. Anyway I cracked this one onto a glass so I would be sure.

My First Bundt Cake...EVER

Due to my lack of interest and mainly my lack of experience in the kitchen it is really hard for me to get motivated to cook or bake, Thankfully Scott is a natural cook so I don't have to worry about living off of chicken nuggets or canned foods for the rest of my life (It's sad, I know). So in an attempt to gain experience and motivation to maybe want to cook in the future I decided to make a cake from some Lemon cake mix I had bought a while back. This would be the first cake I had ever baked by myself and only the second cake I had ever made in my whole 21 years of living. (Sad again, I know) So since my Grandma gave my this cool bundt pan I decided I'd make it a bundt cake.

Since there wasn't much to the whole cake in a box, I decided to actually make the icing myself from a combination of recipes I had found online. After tasting and adding a little more of this and a little more of that. I have to say it wasn't bad for my first time ever making something without step to step instructions! Here's the my lemon Icing recipe:

• 2 cups of confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 stick or 1/2 cup of butter
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of milk (or to preferred consistency)

Unfortunately I was to impatient to wait for the cake to fully cool off before trying to remove it from the pan resulting in a split cake. Thankfully the icing hid most of the imperfections and also helped glue it back together. In the end I learned my lesson and the Cake was delicious!

Bacon and Eggs

One of the blogs I follow called Bacon and Eggs is having a giveaway and all you have to do is post a comment on the giveaway post. Here is a link to the post.

Bacon and Eggs: MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Speaking of eggs we are now officially knee deep in 'em. We gave away 1 doz. on Tuesday and another dozen yesterday and I hard boiled 6 yesterday and we still have a half dozen in the fridge not counting the 4 we will get today. Oh and I also used 2 for the batter when I deep fried some squash yesterday.  I love checking for the eggs and they taste great. They are a little small but It doesn't matter to me as long as they keep laying them.

Our Dogs

It's time to introduce our 2 babies.

Drake. He is 8 years old.

and Bristol who is 1.

And no they are not spoiled at all!

Keeping the Chickens Cool

The last few days have been around 100 degrees with a heat index around 115. I've been taking Drake my black lab with me to work to keep cool and Bristol the chocolate has been staying home inside in her crate. The chicken have pretty much suffering though it on their own. I have been doing what I can but there is only so much you can do when it is this hot. I have been freezing tomatoes and giving them those to help them cool off. They love them too! I have also been freezing water bottles and putting them in the waterer. They seem to melt so fast I don't know if they are really helping at all. I have been thinking about putting a misting system in the run for days like this but just haven't had time lately between work and Vacation Bible School this past week. So this morning we went to Lowe's and picked up some supplies from the garden watering section and built a little temporary mister. It actually works really good. They don't like the water at all but I'm sure they hate the heat more. I noticed they are panting a lot less when the mister is on so it seems to help some. I need to get a timer so I can have it run during the day when I am not here. I'll only use it on the really hot days so I don't waste too much water. I have a pressure fitting connected to the hose that connects to a small hose that runs to the mister fitting. It said on the package that the system should run at 10 gph.

Blackberries Plus Cobbler Equals Yummm

While at church one sunday we made a great discovery and found Blackberry bushes out by the woods! At first we thought there were only a couple of bushes, but before long we realized they were everywhere! So of course we made plans to make a trip back up to church later in the week to start picking some!

After about 20 minutes of finger pricking and the scorching hot sun beating down on us, we decided we had enough. Not to mention I had to look out for my own safety with my husband acting like Rambo with him machete taking down every bush that didn't have Blackberries.

We used the blackberries to make a cobbler for a celebration lunch after church the following sunday and everyone really enjoyed the cobbler. Ultimately we were just glad to be share the berries we had found at the church with the church.

Our First Egg

I have been checking the coop everyday for the last 3 weeks looking for eggs. From what I have ready the earliest you could see one is 12 weeks but 16 to 24 weeks is usually the norm. My chickens are 15 weeks today and we finally got an egg.

I had also read that you can tell when a hen is getting ready to lay because her comb will turn from pink to red. One of our chicks "Benelli" had been acting a little weird and her comb was bright red so I new something was going to happen. She laid this egg on 7/6. There is another chicken named thumbalina(can you guys who named this one?) who I think laid our second egg the next day. Her comb was also red and this second egg was in the left nesting box and "nelli's" eggs have been on the right. I am just guessing that they prefer one nesting box over the other. As of today we are up to 5 eggs over the last 7 days and I would say that is pretty good considering I think 4 of them are nelli's and 1 for 'lina. The eggs are pretty small and I am hoping that as the chickens continue to grow and they gain experience as egg layers the eggs will get bigger! These 5 eggs still may not be enough for a breakfast for 2.

Our Chicken Coop