Home Made Christmas Garland

I am big into home made christmas decorations, mainly because I love to do christmas crafts and I can't stand paying $12 a strand for plastic red berrys. So over the past few years I've come up with some easy craft ideas for the holidays.

One of my favorites is my hand made garland. I used stockings and stars on mine but you can really use any shapes that you like. So here's what you'll need, different colored felt squares, you can find them at any craft store, I used red, green, and off white. Then I find some big sequins, on this particular garland I stuck to red and green with coordinating seed beads. You'll also need some 1" wide christmas ribbon for the trim on the stockings (sheers won't work, you'll need something substantial). . How many shapes you will need depends on the space you are making it for and what length of garland you will need. I found the shapes simply by googling star pattern and stocking pattern. You'll find tons of options for whatever shapes you choose to make.

Start by cutting out your shapes. For the stocking I use two pieces of felt and sew them together so that they open up like a real stocking (totally optional, I just think its looks a little better). So first cut out the two sides of the stocking and choose your ribbon trim for the top. Sew the ribbon along the top of each side the stocking then sew the two stocking cut outs together using coordinating thread.

For the stars I do them double sided as well to hide the stitching. Here's how I did it...Cut out the star shapes and choose your desired color of sequin and seed bead. For those who don't know how to attach sequins...place a sequin in the desired location on the felt and place one seed bead on top, thread the needle through the sequin and bead, then come back through on the opposite side of the bead going back through the sequin hole, this will secure them in place. I do some of my stars with a border of sequins, on these I do the same sequin pattern on both sides. Others I cover entirely in sequins, these i leave one side plain felt. So sequin whatever pattern you choose on one, or both, sides of the stars and then sew the back and front together with coordinating thread.

Once the shapes are complete attach a thin ribbon to the top of each, on the point of the stars and on the top left corner of the stocking, so they hang right. Then slide each ornament along a coordinating ribbon of your choice, you will need to measure your space to determine the length needed. You can either tie a knot or put a stich through the ribbons to secure them in place on the garland ribbon.

And viola you are done and have a beautiful hand made garland for your home! I tack mine to the trim with clear thumb tacks. You can also use the felt ornaments to hang on your tree or sometimes I attach them to presents as well.

Happy Holidays!!

Break Through on the Pizza Front

My husband and I have been trying to come up with the perfect pizza sauce for what seems like forever now. The sauce is just never quite right, so I've been playing around with it and trying different things every time.

I've tried garlic and hot pepper flakes and different brands of canned tomatoes but nothing was getting me to the taste I was looking for. Finally last night I added just a pinch of sugar and viola! Great Sauce!!

So now that we have achieved sauce perfection I am going to move on to the dough. I still haven't found a recipe for that fluffy light crust that makes a pizza perfect. I will say that in a pinch Shaw's pizza dough is very good, although I really like to try and make my own dough when I have the time.

Here's what I used:

1 can of Hunts tomato sauce

a bunch of chopped fresh parsley and basil

3 garlic cloves minced

1 tbs. olive oil

pinch of sugar

red pepper flakes (use as many as you personally like, I like a little heat to my sauce)

Outdoor Kitty

This is Outdoor Kitty. He won't leave our yard. He scares our cats and beats them up. I like him because he's different and a little strange in his cat ways, but I wish that he would go home. He appears on the deck and just stares into the kitchen for hours until I give in and give him some food. I am torn, if he's homeless I don't want him to be hungry, if he has a home he should go eat there and leave my kitties alone!

My Favorite Chicken Soup

I love fall and all the foods that come along with it. I get so excited for fresh crisp apples, roasted squash, and all the other yummy comfort food dishes I crave once the weather turns chilly. There's nothing like a delicious bowl of warm soup after a long fall day. Yesterday I got home around 4 o'clock and put a chicken soup on to cook. Around 7:15 it was ready to eat and it was delicious!

I was running through the super market on my way back from the real estate office and as I was looking for spinach to add to the soup I came across Swiss Chard. I had never cooked with it before but it looked intriguing. It's a beautiful combination of emerald green leaves with deep pink stems. As vegetables go it's really quite attractive. I put it in my cart thinking I'd switch things up a bit, make the soup a little different this time. Then I came across a rutabaga as I was grabbing my carrots so I threw that in the cart as well. Both purchases turned out to be good decisions. The flavor that they infused into the broth was amazing, just a hint of tart from the greens with a sweetness from the rutabaga.

I put the chicken and veggies on to cook and let the pot simmer for about 3 hours while I worked away back in my office. There's a little more to it than that but not much, it's a great thing to make when you know you'll be home but you don't necessarily have the time to actually be in the kitchen. So next time you think to put on the soup to simmer grab some Swiss Chard and Rutabaga and try out this delicious Fall Chicken Soup!! Recipe below.

Fall Chicken Soup

1 whole chicken

(2) 32 oz. box's of chicken stock

32 oz. water (or however much will fit in your pot after stock is added)

1 chicken bullion cube

2 carrots cut into thirds

3 celery staulks cut into thirds

1 bunch of leaks (white part only) cut into thirds

2-3 whole garlic cloves

1 tbs pepper corns

1 bay leaf

4-5 stems fresh dill

4-5 stems fresh parsley

Add after soup has been strained:

1 rutabaga diced

1 bunch swiss chard roughly chopped

2 carrots chopped into 1/4" rounds

Add all the ingredients to a big stock pot (I always like to use my 6 quart Le Crueset, then you can store the soup right in the pot), leaving out the rutabaga, swiss chard, and the 2 additional carrots. Cook at a simmer for about 1 hour and 10 minutes until chicken if fully cooked. Remove the chicken and set aside until its cool enough to handle. Pull the chicken meat off the bone and set aside. Return the bones to the stock and simmer for another 2 hours. Strain broth using a fine mesh colander and dispose of all of the cooked vegetables and chicken bones. I like to run it through a second time pouring it back into the original pot and this time I line the colander with a paper towel to catch any small debris that might be left, I like a very clear clean broth. Bring the broth up to a boil and add in the chopped carrot, rutabega and swiss chard. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper as needed and enjoy!

Baby Quilt

A friend of mine is having her baby shower very soon and I was feeling crafty so I decided I would make her a small quilt. I have made a patchwork quilt before, which is really a lot of prep work, measuring and cutting blah blah blah. I am more of an instant gratification person, I don't like crafts with too much prep. So I decided I would make her a quilted baby quilt. I hope this makes sense, I'm not really down with quilting lingo...

I went to Joanne fabrics, a store which I really do love b/c you can always come up with somethign fun to make, and I spent a good hour going through their quilting fabrics. I was almost about to compromise on a pattern that I wasn't crazy about when in the last section of the very last row of the "nursery" fabrics I found the cutest pale yellow fabric with little animals all over it. Above each animal it has a little phrase on what the animal is doing ie: "the elephant washes his back" and the picture is a baby elephant spraying himself with this trunk. Really adorable, and I'm thinking it can double as a little story in a pinch! Although that's probably wishful thinking...

What I did not realize when I first set out for this project is that evidentally tiny babies can not use blankets or quilts. Who knew! Well, actually, I'm sure many people know this, I guess I'm just not very well versed in baby rules, not having any of my own. My friend, Christine, who seems to have endless information on children as she is a childrens librarian gave me this little piece of knowledge. So instead of throwing in the towel i decided to double up the batting on the inside and make it a thicker quilt. This way I figure maybe she can use it as a "tummy time" mat.

Anyways...so in the end I will be giving her more of a handmade floor mat it seems rather than a quilt. But I will just continue referring to it as a quilt as that makes me feel better. So having found the adorable patterned fabric for the front I went about choosing a coordinating fabric for the back, which was actually very easy. I found a cute pale yellow pinstripe cotton that works really well with the colors on the front fabric. Then I found a pale yellow plain cotton fabric for the binding. They have decided not to find out if they are having a boy or a girl, hence all the yellow.

So I purchased the fabric, the batting, quilting needles, and an 18" quilting hoop and set off for home to start the project. I actually took the time to do the suggested prep work, I washed all the fabrics and ironed them after. Then i squared them off.

Once everything was ready I laid out the back fabric (pinstripe) face down on my coffee table (yes I cleaned it off first), smoothed it out and placed the double layered batting on top of that. Make sure they are both flat and smoothed out, the batting should be slightly bigger than the fabric. Then I placed the top layer (the animal pattern) face up over the first two layers. Make sure these are all laying flat on top of each other and that they are lining up correctly. Once you've got it all lined up I placed the bottom part of the hoop under the center of the fabric pile, I figured starting in the center would be easiest b/c it would keep everything in the right place. Put the top of the ring around so it fits fairly snug and then lightly pull the fabric taught, making sure there are no ripples or loose spots, but don't pull the fabric too tight just enough to make sure it's smooth. I used pins to secure the three layers together so they wouldn't shift.

Now comes the time where you can actually start sewing! I chose a light green thread to coordinate. The pattern I chose was really an easy pattern to quilt around, which was great as I had never done this before. Around each animal there is a green dotted line creating a pattern so I chose to quilt along these dotted lines. It made a great fun pattern on the striped side and it looks really cute on the animal side. It works up fairly quickly, maybe two hours or so for each section that fits into the hoop, maybe less but I'm not sure I always loose track of time when I'm working on it. A lot of things you'll find on these types of quilts say you can do them in a day, yeah right. Maybe if you started at 6 AM and didn't stop until midnight. I worked on it a couple of hours a day for a couple of weeks.

I love working on something while I'm sitting around at night, I like to keep my hands busy. So if you're a crafty person and you have the time this is a great little project. It is a very affordable gift, and I think people appreciate the time that goes into it.

Spring Soup

One of my favorite things about Spring time is that asparagus is in season. I'm not sure when I started liking it so much but all of a sudden it seems to be one of my very favorite vegetables. We eat it as much as we can when it's in season, and if it looks good out of season we eat it then too!

It's great grilled, roasted, sauteed...just about any way you can imagine preparing it I'll eat it! Last night I made Cream of Asparagus Soup. I only make this when the asparagus is in season, otherwise its just not as good. I know it may not sound like it would be a very appetizing soup, I actually made it last year thinking I was making it just for my husband, he has always been a huge asparagus fan and as I said its only become a favorite of mine recently. But once I tried the soup I loved it! It has a smooth velvety texture and rich yet very fresh flavors. It also freezes nicely so you can divide the batch in half, then you have a meal ready for future use. I do usually try to stay away from cream soups but this recipe only calls for 1/3 of a cup which isn't so bad when you think about how many servings that is going into to (about 8).

This is a suprisingly delicious soup, and it makes a great light, healthy dinner or a yummy accompaniment to any sandwich. Try it this Spring, I promise you won't be dissapointed!!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

3 lbs. of asparagus roughly chopped (i cut mine in thirds)

5-6 large shallots chopped (@ 2 cups)

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup heavy cream

salt to tast

pepper to tast

Add butter to stock pot and heat over medium heat until melted. add shallots and until translucent (about 2 minutes). Add the asparagus and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer and cover, cook until just tender and bright green in color (about 3 minutes). Season heavily with salt. Add pepper to taste. Blend all ingredients in a blender, or use a stick blender if you have one i find this to be easier as you can do it right in the pot and you don't have to worry about the soup flying everywhere out of the blender. If you use a regular blender do it in batches and make sure to leave room for the steam to escape out of the top.

If serving right away add the cream and the lemon juice, if freezing you can add that right before you serve.

In a Busy World

My husband and I love pizza and we have been playing around all winter with different recipes trying to get the "perfect pizza". Yesterday, before I went into the office, I made the dough. I use a Martha Stewart recipe from her Favorite Comfort Foods cookbook, if you've never seen the book you should check it out the recipes are great. She has a recipe in there for the best chocolate chip cookies that I have ever had! Perfectly crunchy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside, yum!! I'm giving myself a craving for cookies now, great just what I need. But as always I am getting off track...

Back to the pizza. I decided to try roasting some tomatoes with garlic and olive oil to add to the basic pizza sauce. It worked out great, the roasted tomatoes gave it that hint of sweetness that we were missing. I like to use the Campari tomatoes, or something of similar size, they roast up quickly and are not as juicy and watery as the big vine ripe tomatoes, you don't want the dough getting soggy on you. What I ended up doing was using a very very thin layer of pizza sauce and adding the roasted tomatoes and garlic on top of that. Then I sprinkled some Italian seasoning, added the cheese, and topped it sparingly with some sliced mushrooms and red pepper. I served it with a small mixed green salad and voila, an easy weeknight meal! And the dough recipe makes enough for 2 thin crust pizzas so you can freeze the second one if you choose to.

Roasted Tomatoes:

10 tomatoes - leave them whole

3 cloves of garlic sliced very thin

olive oil

salt

Place tomatoes and garlic in a stainless steel pan (i use my stainless steel french skillet) drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Put pan into a 400 degree oven and cook for about 10-15 minutes, checking to make sure garlic doesn't burn. When the skin on the tomatoes bursts and they feel soft they are done. Take them out and once they are cooled enough to touch remove the skin, it should come right off, if it doesn't they are not done. I strained most of the oil out b/f adding the garlic and tomatoes to the pizza (I just did this with my hands, why dirty the strainer?). Crush the tomatoes a bit as you're putting them on the dough.

I just want to add that I know a lot of people will probably not want to make their own dough since its so readily available in stores, but I would definitely recommend at least trying it out. The recipe is so fast it really only takes about 5 minutes and its all in the food processor. It's just one more step that will allow you to control what you and your family are putting into your bodies, plus I think it usually tastes better.

The closer to scratch you can make each meal the better off you will be in the long run. I don't believe in excessive calorie cutting and crazy fad diets, I don't believe that is the answer to staying healthy, and God knows it wouldn't make me happy. But if you can keep on a "wholefoods diet" and control your portions I think that is the key to a healthy diet. Eating as close to the earth as you can, meaning starting with fresh veggies, and unprocessed foods is really the best thing you can do for your body.

I understand that today is a world in which everyone works, whether you're single, married, parents, single parents, whatever, everyone is busy. I get this, my husband and I both work and on really busy days sometimes the last thing I want to do is come home and cook. But I do find if you can even learn just a few basic quick meals you can come up with a fast healthy meal in about half an hour. And of course if you can plan ahead that makes all the difference in the world, although planning is not always my strong suit.

You are way better off grabbing something like chicken breasts or pork loin on your way home from work than stopping off for take out or even cutting corners and buying the pre-roasted chickens from the market. It's really as easy, from that point, as throwing the meat in a roasting pan, sprinklig it with salt and pepper, drizzling with olive oil and putting it in the oven. Then throw a sweet potato, carrots, or any root vegetable in there while you're at it and put together a quick salad. I find if you buy the baby mixed greens from the market, often organic varieties are available, it makes the salad that much easier to make. That whole thing couldn't take more than ten minutes of hands on work.

I have two really basic marinades that you can use on chicken pork or steak that I use when I'm in a rush.

Garlic & Herb Marinade:

Olive Oil

1 tablesppon Chopped parsley (if you don't have this in the house just leave it out, you can add any dried herb in it's place)

2-3 cloves minced garlic

salt and pepper

Asian Marinade:

3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

a few drops of sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated ginger (if you don't have this on hand you can leave it out)

2-3 garlice cloves minced

These marinades are super easy and really versatile. You can make them in bigger batches and keep them in the fridge so you can have them on hand when you need them. I also think the more you cook the easier it gets. I always find the first time I try a recipe it takes me much longer b/c I am spending time reading and measuring. After that initial trial run it usually goes much more smoothly and much faster.

Happy Eating!!!

Suprise Suprise!

So I haven't written in quite a while, not sure what happened there I guess I just got caught up in other things! Anyways, something exciting happened last weekend. I went to let the ducks out of their little house, and after they came out of their house frantically flapping and yelling (this is how they greet me on a daily basis, as if I am someone who has come to violently assault them instead of feed them and fill up their bathing pool), I looked in the house and noticed a big blue egg. An egg! Finally! They laid one egg when we first got them last Spring and then they just stopped. We figured that the female was passed laying age but we were wrong. I think maybe they just needed privacy, last Spring they shared the coup with the chickens and didn't have their own enclosed private shelter. Evidentally they are modest creatures, who knew!

Since then we've gotten 5 eggs in total. My husband ate one for breakfast, they are really big eggs with a huge bright orange yoke. He said it tasted exactly the same as the chicken egg just bigger. For some reason the size freaks me out a little, I could definitely bake with them but eating them as is probably won't happen for me. We decided to try and hatch the other four, now down to three b/c one broke, the heating lamp fell directly on it the first day we had set it up. So we've got the temperature just right and hopefully the humidity is ok for the little duckies growing inside the eggs. This is a new thing for us so we're are interested to see if we'll be able to hatch them without purchasing an incubator, b/c that is not something I really want to get into.

I am so excited that Spring is finally here, asparagus season! yum!! We've been slowly cleaning up the yard and gardens getting ready for planting. Jon says he's going to get the compost this Saturday and prep the veggie garden, our soil was absolute crap last year and we really need to improve it. We asked the guys over at Hart Farm in Dennis Port, which is my very favorite place to buy anything and everything for our gardens, flowers and veggies. We also got all of our shrubs there last year. They are really great and if you've never gone you have to go check it out. They have great produce in the spring and summer also. They're about to open the brand new building also, I think they should have it up and running by Easter. Anyways as I was saying b/f my tangent we asked the guys over at Hart Farm how best to improve our soil and they said definitely go for the compost, so that's what we're going to do! I'll let you know the results this summer.

We will be composting the chicken poop from our coop as well to mix into the flower beds but that will take a little while to compost. We haven't even dug it out yet so that probably won't be ready until June or so. It should be great for the beds though once it's ready.

I am so excited to be able to get out into the yard and start digging and planting!! It's my favorite time of year. I really love working in the yard and getting to see the great results from all the hard work. Fabulous fresh veggies and gorgeous bright flowers to pick for the house, or just admire in the yard. I'm going to plant a ton of cosmos this year, pink variations along the deck and the orange shades out near the veggie garden. They grow just about anywhere and bloom well into the fall. They are so bright and cheery I just love them.

I'll be back soon with some last minute Easter ideas!!

Long Walk Warm Food

Despite the pelting rain and cold damp air yesterday Jon and I ventured out onto the beach for a walk along the shore. We started out out down by Little Beach (also known as Harbor Beach) and made our way along the shoreline in the direction of Howe's Beach. We walked along the ice shelf picking our way along the naturally made trail for a half an hour or so. It was a great walk, so refreshing and peaceful. There's something about a deserted winter beach and cold salt air that can really clear your head. I was starting to go a little stir crazy and after the walk I felt totally refreshed.
The walk pretty succesful too, we found 3 lobster buoys and about 20 yards or so of rope. My husband puts out lobster traps every year so he was happy to find perfectly usable stuff just washed up on the beach.
By the time we got home I had that cold to the bone, almost achey feeling. I don't consider this a bad thing, I actually love the feeling you get after being out in the cold wet weather because then you can come inside take a hot shower and just totally relax. And that's just what I did, and it was awesome. Ten minutes in a steamy hot shower, then changed into cozy clothes and settled in with the book I've been reading. Which is a good book by the way, worth reading. It's titled Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, she also wrote The Glass Castle.
So after a little bit of reading I got my totally relaxed but off the couch to make dinner. I tried something that I have eaten many times but never actually made at home, Quesadillas. They were so good and super easy. Low prep, low clean up, and you really can't screw them up. They made an awesome comforting dinner, I served them with Zatarians Red Beans & Rice, but they'd be great for an app or snack as well. I had a leftover triangle for lunch today and it was really good cold too, all the flavors had blended togther and the jalapenos had kind of blended into the cheese and gave it a really nice bite. If you're interested the recipe is below. You could play around with this too, add corn, peppers, avocado or whatever you're in the mood for. For those of you are looking to keep to a food budget, like myself, its a super affordable meal as well. We are actually going to make burritos tonight with the leftovers!!

Chicken Quesadillas
serves 2
3/4 lb boneless chicken breast
2 plum tomatoes chopped
red onion diced - use as much or as little of this as you want
canned jalapenos chopped - optional
1 cup shredded mexican blend of cheeses
1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
season chicken with lemon juice, salt, and pepper
place on grill pan and cook through
once cooked shred the chicken or dice into small pieces
place a layer of chicken on top of one tortilla, sprinkle with desired amount of tomato, red onion, jalapenos, and cheese (keep in mind that you do need a fair amount of cheese to make it good and gooey)
top with a second tortilla and place the whole thing on the grill. grill on each side for about 3 minutes or until tortilla is crispy and golden in color. Remove from grill and place on a sheet pan, repeat with second quesadilla. Once they are both toasted place them in the preheated oven for abotu 10-15 minutes until the cheese is completely meleted. Remove from oven, cut into quarters and serve.

Cold Feet

Well we got more snow last night! Not too much but just enough to cover the bare spots created by the rain in a thin white blanket. I actually was happy for the rain, despite the damp cold that it brings with it. I was just glad it was melting the snow as it pelted the ground.
Our cats were not so excited about the rain, I don't know if I've mentioned that we have four cats, yes that's right four. It's a bit much in our small house but we love them and I wouldn't trade them for the world. We had two until Fleezly our big orange guy, who by the way is really an awesome big fluffy cuddle bug, disappeared last spring. My husband found him when he was just weeks old with a litter of strays in a parking lot. He looked like a miniature lion with big blue eyes, honestly the cutest thing I think I have ever seen. So anyways, he was gone for about a week and a half and my usually well composed husband was a mess, he was so upset about the fact that we thought the cat had been eaten by coyotes and was gone for good. My friend Christine and I saw and add one day for two orange kittens, brother and sister, that needed a home together b/c they were such good buddies. We had lunch at the Lost Dog and had a long convo back and forth about whether or not we should go look at them. So we drove to Brewster, just to look of course at least this is what we told ourselves, needless to say once we got a hold of those two tiny furry balls of cuteness neither one of us could walk out without them. So 10 minutes later Christine's sitting in the passenger seat with a basket of kittens on her lap as I'm driving back towards Dennis. And of course two days later as I'm walking out the door to work who shows up on the back porch but Fleezly! So that is the story on how we ended up crazy cat people.
I did have a point as I started writing this, and it was this. I think even the animals are very ready for spring. The chickens and ducks have been yelling at me ever since the last snow. The cats barely go out and when they do they walk along gingerly lifting their paws trying to avoid the snow as best as possible, shaking off the wet icy mess every few feet. Two days ago the ducks yelled just about from morning until night. They had food, water, hay ect... really everything that they needed to be comfortable but they were just plain pissed off. It seems that they hate walking in the snow and they have just about had it with being couped up in the pen, where at least the snow melts immediately from the constant movement of chicken toes.
I think next winter we are going to invest in a pond heater so that no matter the weather the ducks have a place to take a dip. Hopefully that will solve their winter blues.

Fabulous Food!

Jon and I went to a great restaurant last Saturday night. We went with my sister, my parents, and their two friends that were down for the weekend. My parents picked the restaurant and they decided on The Peddler. Tucked in on a side street off 6A over by the Brewster Bookstore, it's a true hidden gem.
The food is to die for! The place is run by the chef, who is also the owner, and his wife. She single handedly waits on all of the tables, there's only about 10 but still its a feat on a saturday night, while he turns out mouth watering dishes such as duck a l'orange and a bolognese that will make you think you're dining in Rome rather than Cape Cod.
With just two people they manage to turn out unbelievabley delectable dishes. Most of the fare is inspired by French and Italian cuisine. The sauces are amazing, and the French Onion Soup, ordered by 5 out of 7 of us, is out of this world. My husband, who had never been there before Saturday, said that the duck was hands down the best he had ever had. He can't wait to go back. I would say we're a group of fairly picky eaters and there was nothing but compliments as we savored every last bite of our meals!
This would be the perfect Valentines Day spot for any couple looking for a quiet romantic setting and great food. The only thing I would say is try to get there on the earlier side as it does fill up around 7:30 or so and there are not many tables to go around.
Happy Eating!!

Fresh Eggs

Late last winter my husband and I decided to get chickens. His parents had them when he was younger and he was really into the idea of having fresh eggs. At first I was totally against the idea, I thought it would be a ton of work and that the coup would smell. But after I did a little research I started to come around. The idea of fresh eggs ultimately is what persuaded me, I had never had one before our chickens started laying, and I have to say they are totally worth it. The yolks are this bright sunny orange, not the pale dull yellow you get with store bought eggs. They are also really firm, for instance if you're cooking a sunny side up egg and you pierce the yolk it doesn't run all over the place you really have to work to make it go anywhere. We make eggs all the time now, omlets, egg sandwich's, scrambled, over easy, you name it and we've been making it. I was never a big egg eater before this but the fresh eggs are absolutely delicious. I also love the fact that we know the chickens are healthy and chemical free. A couple of months ago we had to buy a dozen store eggs, I think it was around Christmas and because I was doing a lot of baking I needed more than our chickens were laying. Well, every single egg we cracked in that dozen had a double yoke. Why I have no idea, but it definitely creeped me out a little bit.

The other aspect that brought me around was the variety of eggs that you can get. We got 9 chickens (we're down to 7 now b/c 2 turned out to be roosters and the town doesn't allow you to have roosters in a residential neighborhood) and we get brown eggs, pink eggs, and blue eggs. The blue are my favorite, they come in different shades of a beautiful antique blue/green that I really love. I have saved my favorite shells for paint color swatches for our front door. We get about 4 eggs a day so we have plenty for ourselves and some to give away.

The chickens, although not really pets, do have some personality. They are funny to watch. They run and jump and flutter through the air. They are not graceful in any way but they are pretty animals. I love to see them laying in piles in the sun. In the warm weather they will all come out of their coup and rummage around in the dirt pecking at whatever they may find until they all collapse in a heap to bask in the summer sun for a while.

As it turns out they really are not all that much work to take care of. I go out every morning and re-fill their water and check on their food supply. We got them a heated water bowl for the winter to keep it from freezing. I fill up a bucket from the kitchen sink and lug it out for them in the morning, it's even easier in the warm weather when the hose we had set up near their coup is turned on. We gather the eggs every afternoon, wash them off, date them and put them away. I thought it was really intersting that you can keep fresh eggs out for up to a week before refrigerating them. Other than that the only real maintenance is cleaning out the coup once a week. And the big bonus is that come spring we are going to have awesome compost for our gardens! Chicken manure is really good for the soil.

So in the end I love having chickens, we are going to be getting a few more to add to our flock this spring. We also have two ducks in the group, they don't lay anymore but they are great pets. They have great personalities and are so funny when they splash around in their baby pool. Now my husband is on to pigs....

Being a native New Englander I should be used to these long, grey, cold winters by now having lived through 29 of them. But somehow come February I start wishing the warm sun would hurry up and get here. This is my second winter living full time on Cape Cod, and I am really enjoying it. Its a slower pace, and can be really quiet at times but it gives me a lot of time do things that I probably wouldn't be doing if I still lived in the Boston area.

For instance I just baked my first loaf of bread from scratch the other day. My friend lent me a great book of no knead bread recipes and I'm planning on working my way slowly through the book until I get the hang of it. The book is called "My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method" by Jim Lahey. It was really quite fullfilling when it came out of the oven and I discovered that it came out perfectly, well maybe not perfectly but it was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. So after waiting 18 hours for it to rise, it only took about half an hour to come out of the oven smelling heavenly and delicious. Between my husband and I we ate 3 small baguettes in two days! So, I'm thinking next time I will be giving some away or I'll have to start giving my pants away instead.

We dont' go out that much this time of year so I've been trying to get a little more creative, and wallet friendly, in the kitchen. Last night I made a lemon buerre blanc sauce (first time making anything like it) and poured it over a piece of grilled haddock. I served it with grilled asparagus and cous cous. It was great, I based the sauce on a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking but made a few changes to try and make it a little healthier, although not by much. If you interested check out the recipe below.

I know cooking is not huge in a lot of peoples daily lives and sometimes it seems so time consuming. There are definitely days when I come home and the last thing I want to do is stand in front of the stove. To be fair though I have to say that typically I really do enjoy cooking quite a bit. It's almost therapuetic for me. I love food, cooking, and eating! I could get lost in a good grocery store for hours looking at all the great cheeses, veggies, and treats. Last nights dinner was minimal prep and really once everything is on the stove you don't have to do much at all. So it was pretty simple over all but very tasty. It would be an impressive meal to serve for friends, and they wouldn't have to know you barely did any work!

It's nice to have a few go to easy yet delicious recipes in your repetoire. Especially in a time when a lot of people are cutting back and the restaurant dinners are getting fewer and further between. I think it's really rewarding to serve your friends a good meal that you've created in your kitchen.

You should note that most of my recipes are pretty non structured. Meaning if you want more garlic add more garlic, if you want to use chives instead of capers go ahead. Add veggies to the cous cous, whatever you prefer. You can really be creative with this stuff, thats what makes it easy and keeps it intersting.

Grilled Haddock
1-2 lbs of haddock (you could really use any fish the sauce is versatile)
salt and pepper the fish and coat with a light drizzle of olive oil
Place the haddock on a hot grill pan, cook about 7 minutes on each side (time will vary depending on thickness of filet)

Lemon Buerre Blanc with Capers
2 garlic cloves minced
zest of one small lemon
1/3 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3/4 stick of butter
2 tablespoons capers

Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic, saute for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the wine, lemon zest, and rice wine vinegar. Cook over medium heat until reduced by half. Add the remaining butter to the pan. Cook until combined. Add the capers.
Drizzle over the grilled fish.

Cous Cous
1 14 ounce can of reduced sodium chicken stock
1 1/4 cups cous cous
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup white onion diced

Coat a sauce pan with olive oil and add the onion and garlic to the pan. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the cous cous, remove from heat and cover. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Stir and serve.

Grilled Asparagus
1 bunch of asparagus
olive oil
salt and pepper

Place asparagus on a hot grill pan and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll the asparagus around a bit to get them coated with the oil. Cook about 7-10 minutes until they are softened a bit and have nice dark grill marks.