Brownies

All of our chickens are now laying.  So that means we are getting 6-8 eggs a day!  Now is the time to use up eggs and/or give/sell some to family and friends.  There is no school today and I have a budding baker on my hands who wants to bake something besides cookies. She decided on brownies.  I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, a new obsession of mine, and they look amazing and call for 4 eggs (and a lot of butter!).  We better get crackin!

 

Jumbo Fudge Brownies with Perfect Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:



• FOR THE BROWNIES:
• 19 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• ¾ cups Dark Cocoa Powder
• 4  Eggs
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1-½ cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• FOR THE FROSTING:
• 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 2-⅔ cups Powdered Sugar
• ½ cups Dark Baking Cocoa
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ¼ cups Milk

Preparation Instructions

To make brownies, preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.



Cool slightly and stir in cocoa powder until combined.



In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until combined.



Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the egg mixture and stir gradually to combine. Pour in the vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture and stir until combined.



Spread into a greased pan and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

To make the frosting, in a clean mixing bowl combine butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla and cream until smooth.



Add milk a little at a time until desired spreading consistency is reached.



Spread over cooled brownies, cut and enjoy.

Ouch!

This whopper of an egg is nearly 3 inches long and weighs 3 ounces!  I'm betting that there are 2 yolks inside there.  I'll wait til breakfast to find out.............

Meanwhile here is a brief explanation of how this happens...

Double-yolk eggs occur when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk becomes joined with another yolk. These eggs may be the result of a young hen's productive cycle not yet being synchronized.  Some hybrid breeds of hens also produce double yolk eggs by default.  Although heredity causes some hens to have a higher propensity to lay double-yolked eggs.  Usually a double-yolked egg will be longer and thinner than an ordinary single-yolk egg.

Sure enough!  Our first double yolker.  I wonder who laid it?  I can certainly relate to her because I'm also a mother of twins. 



3 Pepper Zucchini Quiche

If you know me at all then you know I LOVE to cook and bake.  Now is the time of the year that you will find me in the kitchen more than usual.  We have a bumper crop of everything from the garden.   Now that we have a good supply of eggs, that will only increase in the next few weeks, I'll have even more opportunities to be here.

My Dad turned me on to quiche when I was about 14.  His were in the form of a frozen crust and the quiche mix came frozen in a paper milk carton. Thaw, pour, bake, and serve.  They were ok but I always think I can do better. Which made me a self-taught cook.  I've made many quiches over the years and not one has been the same.  I always think of my Dad when making them and wish he could taste my creations. Especially cookies. Tonight it was a 3 Pepper Zucchini Quiche.

I started with a crust I found on Tasty Kitchen/The Pioneer Woman. It makes 3 crusts. Prepare one crust in a pie dish and freeze the other two balls of dough.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a pan saute together for about 10-12 minutes:

1 TBSP olive oil

1/2 an onion thinly sliced

1 cup total of diced peppers (any color combo, I used red, yellow and purple)

1 cup of shredded zucchini

Then add 5 pieces of pre-cooked crumbled bacon and turn the heat off.

In a bowl whisk together:

5 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of sour cream

1/4 tsp of garlic powder

Fresh ground pepper

 A generous pinch of dried parsley

Place the veggie/bacon mixture in the bottom of the prepared pie crust and sprinkle 1 cup of shredded cheese (whatever you may have on hand - I used a combo of feta, mozzarella, and cheddar) on top of that and then pour on the egg mixture.  Place the pie dish on a pan and loosely cover the top of the quiche with foil and bake for an hour (or a bit longer til the eggs are set) at 400 degrees.  Let it cool about 10 minutes before cutting.







Homegrown vs. Store Bought

Can you spot the homegrown egg?
Which would you rather eat? 

After this batch of zucchini bread I'm officially done buying store bought eggs.

Noisy Chickens Part 2

This is the result of all the noise....

Noisy Chickens

We've got really noisy chickens this morning.  Here's hoping for lots of eggs today.  To my neighbors...I'm sorry.  At least they are quiet at night....

All the nesting boxes are full.

And Georgia and Amelia are even sharing nicely.

We have gotten a couple brown eggs and I believe they are coming from our Rhode Island Red Riley.

I am the Eggwoman...

I am the rooster...goo goo g'joob

I think its safe to say that all 3 of our Easter Eggers are now laying eggs.  We've been getting 2 every day for the past 4 days.  Amelia is now laying consistenly every morning and either Henrietta or George gives us another one in the afternoon.  In about a week all 3 will be laying consistently.  In the meantime we are waiting for the other girls to start laying.  The Buff Orpingtons aren't giving us any signals that they will be laying soon.  They only like to practice the egg song.  It can be rather annoying, but it doesn't last long and a handful of corn or oats distracts them and they quiet down.  I've read that they are slow to mature but once they start to lay they will be very good egg layers.  The Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks are showing signs of maturity and are squatting.  Especially when I'm out there.  They all gather around me and when I pet them they sqaut and then shake themselves when I'm done.  I've become the rooster and they are being submissive to me.  In a way it's a little creepy but I just tell them they are good girls and remind them that I want eggs.  The Reds have been more and more friendly and don't go and hide from the camera anymore.  Now it'll be a guessing game at which one will lay the first brown egg.  It will be impossible to tell what eggs are coming from what chicken but so far they have all been VERY tasty.



Riley



Penny

Everyone likes to explore the nesting boxes since we've made them more cozy with a nice blanket of straw.  With the aid of a golf ball, egg shaped rock and a plastic Easter egg they are learning to use them quite nicely.  We've only found 2 eggs outside of the boxes.

In the meantime we keep trying new treats.  They LOVE plain yogurt.  It gets messy tho so I put down the bowl and move away quickly.

Buffy taking a breather from the yogurt.

And weeds from the yard and garden make a nice green salad.