Using sound judgment to be more self-reliant.
In recent years we've been blessed with an abundance of walnuts from a neighbor each fall, so I enjoy trying out new walnut recipes. This recipe for Maple Candied Walnuts from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen is lovely and couldn't be easier. They make a tasty and unique gift, but are easy enough to be a special treat any time of year.
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Harvesting walnuts is a part of our fall routine most years. We don't have walnut trees yet, but our neighbors have black walnuts and English walnuts. I normally use the black walnuts for their hulls to make black walnut tincture, and use the English walnuts for their nut meats.
Both types of walnuts have a tough green outer hull, but the hulls on English walnuts usually split open and are easy to slip off. Black walnuts require more effort to hull, and their shells are thicker and nut meats smaller. English walnuts have thinner husks and shells, and are easily cracked with a lever style nut cracker. In this post I'll talk about harvesting English walnuts, picking the fresh nuts and drying them for storage in the shell. We'll also cover the best way to store nuts out of the shell.
Note: The maple candied walnut recipe has moved here.
The biggest problem with these pumpkin oatmeal cookies is that I want to eat the entire batch. I use homemade pumpkin puree, but canned is fine, too. (See note below about “pumpkin” recipes. When I make up puree, I use some of right away and freeze the rest in recipe sized portions to use for other pumpkin recipes. These cookies were even a hit with the boys, who normally aren't big on oatmeal cookies. They definitely go on the “keeper” list.
I recently had the pleasure of reading “The Small-Scale Poultry Flock – An all natural approach to raising chickens and other fowl for home and market growers” by Harvey Ussery. This book is overflowing with detailed information on every aspect of natural poultry care. It's a worthwhile investment for new poultry people and experienced growers alike. This is not a “pet chicken” book, but a practical manual grounded in decades of experience. [Read more…]
We buy maple syrup in bulk from a local maple syrup producer, so I enjoy trying out new maple syrup recipes. These maple leaf cookies are a maple twist on traditional sugar cookies. They start with making a butter and sugar blend that reminds me of the caramel sauce from my mom's favorite cinnamon roll recipe, and add a dash of spice and light maple glaze for a simple but tasty cookie. [Read more…]
