Introducing my new blog ~ The Kitchen Expedition!

Yesterday I started up a new blog called The Kitchen Expedition.  I'm going to be posting my recipe's on that blog from now on, as well as putting my recipes from Klew Nu Farms over there so that they are all easy to find in one easy place.

I'm very excited to be starting this new blog.  It's been bothering me about what to do about Klew Nu Farms for a while since I am no longer there.  I was still wanting to share recipes.  Then it came to me, why not start a new blog about what goes on in my kitchen.  I will be posting recipes as well as other happenings.  I hope you enjoy it!

http://thekitchenexpedition.blogspot.ca/

Bismark Doughnut ~Boston Cream Included~

Bismarks

This doughnut recipe is excellent.  The texture is wonderful and chewy.  It's everything you could want in your homemade doughnut experience.  

You can use any filling in it that you want.  I have used various homemade jams in mine.  Also you can stuff them with whipping cream, or do Boston Cream style donuts. Pie fillings would also be excellent in them.   Put a glaze on them, or roll them in granulated sugar or icing sugar.  These donuts will have you reaching out for more.

1 cup milk, scalded

1/3 cup shortening (Or oil)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 - 3 cups of flour  (I used 3 1/2 cups)

1 pkg or 2 1/4 tsp yeast

2 eggs

In a medium bowl combine shortening, sugar salt.  Stir in hot milk until shortening is melted.  Add eggs one at a time.  Beat well.  In a large bowl, combine flour (2 cups) and yeast.  Add milk mixture and beat until smooth.  Ad rest of flour to make soft dough.  Turn out on to a floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Put in greased bowl and cover and let rise until doubled (1 1/2 hours).  Punch down and roll out 1/2" thick.  Cut with 3" round cookie cutter.  Place on cookie sheet and cover.  Let rise for 1/2 hour.  

Deep fry 2 min or until golden brown.  Turn several times during deep frying.  Drain on paper towel.  When cool enough to handle (while still pretty hot) cut a small slit in one end of the doughnut and slip a teaspoon of your favorite jam inside (Mine is homemade raspberry).  Pinch the slit shut and immediately roll in sugar.  (Either granulated or icing sugar (I've also done glazed).  Granulated sugar is our family favorite.

~*~*~*~*  Ok, I cheat and load all the ingredients into my bread machine on dough setting.  It does all the hard work, and the dough comes out in such an amazing state.  I use oil instead of shortening in the bread machine.  Also if I use the bread machine, I don't bother scalding the milk, I just warm it a bit.  If the dough is too sticky when you go to work with it, add a little more flour until it is workable.  The doughnuts are best the first day.  ~*~*~*~*~*

To Make Boston Cream Donuts, 

Vanilla Cream Filling:

2/3 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Whole Milk
1/2 Vanilla Bean split lengthwise or 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Corn Starch
5 Large Egg Yokes
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

Directions: 

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, 1 1/2 cups of the milk, and the vanilla bean. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sugar is dissolved. Raise the heat and scald the mixture.

Meanwhile, place the cornstarch in a medium bowl. Using a wire whisk, gradually whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup milk until smooth. Add the egg yolks and whisk until well blended.

Slowly pour 1/3 cup of the hot milk mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in the rest of the hot milk. Return the milk-yolk mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil gently for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface, and refrigerate until chilled.

Or

You could do what I do and use Vanilla Pudding made according to the package instructions.  This way is a time saver.

Chocolate Glaze Recipe:

I make this glaze after I have fried the doughnuts.

4 oz (4 Squares) Semi Sweet Chocolate
2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
4 Tbsp Whipping Cream
1 Cup Icing Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Coarsely chop chocolate.  In a small sauce pan, melt chocolate, butter and whipping cream  stirring with whisk until chocolate is melted and it is all blended.

Whisk in icing sugar until well blended and smooth looking.  Whisk in Vanilla.

This glaze is really yummy.  Not overly sweet with a really nice texture.  I usually am not big on chocolate glazes, but I really do love this one!  

To Make Doughnuts:

Place Vanilla Cream Filling into piping tube.

After you have fried your donuts and they are pretty cool, make a small slit at one end of the doughnut.  Insert the end of the pipping tube and squeeze in some filling.  After the filling is in all the donuts, then you can spread on your Chocolate Glaze.  I store these in the fridge.

Here are my girls enjoying Jam Filled Doughnuts.

Sticky Sweet and Spicy BBQ Ribs

We really should shorten the name of this recipe to Triple S Ribs.  It has all three of these wonderful things all rolled into one wonderful dish.  These Ribs are really, really yummy!

Sauce

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soya sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup rum (I used apple cider vinegar)

1/2 cup Chili Sauce (I only used half the amount and found it spicy enough for us)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1tsp dry mustard

1 dash pepper

a few dashes of liquid smoke to taste.

Put in Medium sized pot, mix well and bring to boil.  Turn off and put aside.

Slice some onions and brown them a bit in a frying pan with some butter.

Prepare your ribs by removing the tough 'skin' layer, and cut them into what ever sizes you want.  I like to boil my ribs for a bit, then I put them in to a crock pot with the sauce and saute slices of onion.  Every once in a while while they are cooking flip the pieces around to coat with sauce.  Cook on high for about 4 hours, or until they look tender enough.  Or on Low for 8 hours.

To finish off Ribs, you can put them on the BBQ or under the Broiler to 'brown' them up some, so that the sauce gets good and sticky.  While they are on the BBQ (Broiler) brush them with sauce from the crock pot, or excess sauce you have saved.  

I like to make this sauce up and keep some in the fridge to use on other things as well when I BBQ.  It's that yummy.

Adventures In My Trusty Boots ~ My New Blog

I have started up another blog.  My new blog will be about adventures that I have in my Trusty Boots.  It's all pretty new, so there is only a couple posts right now, but I hope to get out and have a few adventures, and take some pictures along the way.

My new blog will be called "Adventures In My Trusty Boots"

http://adventuresinmytrustyboots.blogspot.ca/

A quick update...

Oh, so much has happened since my last post on here.  Not a lot of hit has been good.  Just to quickly update you all, I am going through a separation  and our farm is listed for sale.  No longer am I living in my favorite place in the world, Usk.  

Very recently, my girls and I have moved into an apartment in town.  What a change this is.  It is the complete opposite of what we had.  I'm not even sure I can describe how I feel about it.  I miss the rural life very bad.

I'm not exactly sure what to do about my blog.  I see that all the pictures have disappeared.  We didn't have internet for several months so I have been unable to fix it all.  It will take me time as I must sort though my photos and upload them again.  This will take some time, if I can find them all. 

The question is, shall I continue on to blog?  I just don't know what to do at this point, since I no longer live on a farm.  Any input would be so much appreciated.

My apologies to everyone for the missing pictures...

Haida Gwaii Adventure ~ 2009

I finally got around to typing out my journal I kept on my Ipod from my trip to the Haida Gwaii back in 2009.  What an adventure that trip was.  

My camera wasn't working that great while I was there, and I had a spot of sand that somehow got on the inside of the lens.  So if you see spots in the pictures, that would be why.

August 28, 2009

Last night we got into Skidegate off of the ferry then onto the Kwona to Sandspit. We stayed the night at Jasons place. We had a great dinner at Dicks Wok In. Good Food.

This morning we had breakfast at the Sandspit Inn. On the way out of the door we noticed a missing persons poster about a 38 year old man, last seen in his green dodge. I commented that the last thing I wanted would be to find him in our travels.

After breakfast we headed out to Gray Bay for some camping and beach combing.

We decided to walk up the deactivated road to the other point. It was on 1.4 hour walk (some beach combing.

Along the way, we kept finding pieces of truck. A new hub cap, a tail light, a ground shroud.. We joked about how it could be the missing man, goofed around playing CSI and Mantracker. 

When we got to the end of the road, low and behold, there we were, face to face with the Missing Man! His green Truck was all dented up. We figured he was either drunk when he drove in or I thought in a big hurry. He had set up a nice little camp. He asked if we were mushroom picking, and told us not to pick the ones along the trail. Rob said "Hey Man, people are looking for you!"   The man said "How do you know me?"  And Rob replied, "There are pictures of you up all over." Rob asked how long he had been there and was told a month. The Guy asked us not tell anyone where he was and said he didn't want to be found. He asked us not to tell a few times before we left (really stressing it), and telling us he didn't want to get into why he didn't want to be found. 

We were glad that Rob took his rifle with him when we decided to go for the hike (we had seen sow and cub tracks in the sand on the beach). Needless to say, but after that, we were really creeped out, so we didn't really beach comb as we had planded, but came back down the beach and back up onto the road. Rob handed me the car's keys and told me if I heard a shot, not to look, just run.  Also told me to run in zig zags,   Yeah. That made me feel great!

We did find a cute little bright green tree frog. The slugs here are unbelievable! They are Huge!

Relaxing in the sun at Gray Bay.  It doesn't get much better.

Pacific Tree Frog.  These are an introduced invasive species.  But they are pretty darn cute!

The road that we walked down that we found the missing guy down.  We walked down the road and also cut back inforth in between the beach and the road.

Standing in front of our camping spot at Grey Bay looking towards the point where we discovered the missing guy.

This is close to where we  came out onto the beach after we left the missing guy.  As we walked away, I looked back and took a picture of the point.

August 29, 2009

This morning we awoke to the most beautiful of sunrises. The sky was a gorgeous orange and then the sun came up a beautiful red ball shining over the ocean. We had hot coffee and a breakfast over the camp fire.  

At about 9:30am beaver plane flew over circling as it went obviously looking for someone.  Rob went out on the beach and pointed up towards the point where we seen the man.  It worked it's way up the beach.  When it got about where the missing man was camped out it circled about half a dozen times and then took off straight for Sandspit.  

We're thinking that maybe they found the guy that was hiding out.  I guess that solves the question of to tell or not to tell.  He will probably think we told.  Now we'll have to see if and how he comes out.  If he comes out he will have to go right by or through our camp.  Could be interesting.  At 12:30 pm, the police drove by our camp site and at 2:20 pm they headed back to town.

Pretty Moon Shells.

I don't know what this is, but I was told that next time I see one that I should keep it, dry it out and it would turn a pretty turquoise color.  (found out it was called a Chiton)

August 30, 2009

We had a great nights sleep and woke up to another beautiful sunrise.  Coffee and breakfast in the sun.  By the time we left at 11:00am it was starting to cloud over.  

As we drove past Mosquito Lake, a large bear galloped down the road.  Tonight we will camp near here by Moresby Camp.  The Pallant Creek fish hatchery is close by where we seen 2 lovely big bears fishing.  I can hardly wait to go fishing there tonight!  Ha ha ha!  Which is what Rob plans for us to do.  Maybe I'll get some nice bear Pictures.

Well we got back from fising.  The fish were really running.  We caught 8 beauties.  I caught my first Coho casting.

Big Bear at the Fish Hatchery at Pallant Creek

Going fishing near Morseby

It's a very pretty place to fish.  We could see swarms of fish swimming up the creek.

Yay!  Here I am catching my first Coho!

August 31, 2009

Another nice red sunrise, We haven't had rain since the day we got here.  Woke up to the sound of a raccoon growling.  Rob seen it leaving.

We had coffee to the sound of fish boiling in the bay and struggling up Pallent Creek.  You could see them churning the water right  in front of where we were having our coffee.  I guess they were grouping before heading up stream.  There was also a lot of ducks, seals snorting and a king fisher.  Rob was hooking them right off shore while I had coffee.

We said goodbye to Jasin and took off for North Beach.  We found a place where we could get up through all the driftwood off the beach to camp for the night.  A short road went into a native food gather house.  It was near a ship wreck which we checked out.  It was pretty neat.  I bet it was a cute boat in it's day.  Rob checked with his knife to see what sort of wood it was and figured it was red cedar.  Someone had attached a kite to it and it was really high.  North Beach was lovely and sunny, but cold and windy.  The sunset was amazing.  

We ended up boiling water for a good wash and felt much better.

Incoming Waves.

Leaving behind foam.

Rob brought a kite with us.  The wind made it perfect for flying it.

We tried to catch some crabs, but there was too much Tanin in the water to see them.

The Sunken Boat

Tow Hill and the Sunken Boat

Where we pulled off the beach to camp.

Sunset North Beach

Sept 1, 2009

This morning wen I got up I went for a walk along the beach.  I walked down by the old ship wreck.  The kite was down.  It had a branch across the line.  As soon as I took it off, the kite took off all on it's own.  It was still windy this morning.

By the time we were ready to go, there were at least 16 boats that we could see coming in close to shore.  It must have been really blowing out there.  

We had breakfast a t the See Breeze because our favorite place, the Island Sunrise was toatly packed out.  Note to self... Get there early!

After Breakfast, we headed out to Agate Beach where we set up camp.  I really enjoyed looking for agates.  I think I found a couple.  But mostly I found really pretty rocks.

We met a guy named Toby form Sweden.  He had a few beer with us.  The sunset was truly beautiful!

Morning on North Beach.

The Ships are coming in.

Our camping spot at Agate Beach.

Pretty beach rocks and agates.

Sunset at Agate Beach.

More Sunset.

Sept 2, 2009

We left Agate Beach and headed up to Masset for Breakfast at the Island Sunset Cafe, only to find again it was packed out..  So we headed out to the Bird Sanctuary to set up camp.

I found a few agates and we seen some Cranes.

Sept 3, 2009

Well, we left Masset after a wicked breakfast at the Island Sunrise.  

We came back to Skidegate.  A drive up a back road only produced a few doe deer.

We ran in to Larry and Barb (friends of ours from Terrace) and a decision was made to go and find some Oysters and dig some clams with them.  We found some in South Bay.  The oysters were really tricky to find.   Barb told us to soak them in water and oatmeal overnight to get the sand out.  We spent the night at Jasins.

A view from up high while we were looking for deer.

Oysters on the beach.  We later found out that we probably weren't supposed to be eating the shell fish.  Oops!

Sept 4, 2009

We spent the day in Sandspit, I lost my purse and kind of freaked out, but later we found it under the duffle bag at Jasins.  We went back out and got a few more oysters and clams.

Another drive only produced a few does and fawns.

Rob helped Jasin shovel sawdust at the mill and assemble a nice picnic table.  

We had a nice quiet evening and ordered more Dicks Wok In.

We found some Sunfish

And Starfish.

Working on Picnic tables.

Sept 5, 2009

We got up to some rain and spent the morning at Jasins visiting.

Around lunch we started cooking seafood.  We had Halibut, fries, breaded clams and oysters.  We finished eating just in time to catch the ferry to get across to Skidegate.  

We had some time to kill so headed out to hunt.  Rob got a doe.

While waiting for the ferry we ran into Toby again and some ladies that I had talked to at Agate Beach.  The were from Terrace.   With them was a funny gentleman who's flooring Rob had recently installed.  It passed the time quickly.  The Crossing back to Prince Rupert was a calm one.

We did a little driving around while killing time for the Ferry.

I loved this old fire truck.

Flowers, Bugs and Rain ~ Photos

It seems like there just aren't as many bee's as there used to be.  I headed out to my comfery patch to take some bee shots but the bees have been few and far in between.  Usually the patch is swarming with bumble bee's.

However, a little patience and listening and I followed my ears to the sound of a bumblebee trying to fight it's way into a flower.

This bumblebee had if figured out that instead of trying to crawl into the flower it was easier to chew a hole in the base of the flower and get the nectar that way.

They fly about with their loads of pollen.

This strange looking hornet (or I think it is a hornet) was perched on the tips of some taller plants about face level with me.  It was giving me the eye watching me.

Finally it got tired of my camera in it's face and flew over and landed on some flowers.  It wasn't after then nectar. The pictures don't do justice to the size of this thing.  I've seen them a few times now.  This wasn't wasn't quite as big as the one I seen last year, but was still pretty creepy and wicked looking.

We have quite a bit of Cow Parsnip (or Hog Weed, not sure which it is) that grows around our place.  It grows really really tall, averaging between 6 1/2 to 9 1/2 feet tall.  Even though I really dislike the plant, the flowers are pretty.

This was a tiny, little bee that was busy collecting pollen from the flowers.

Today there was a lady bug crawling around that caught my eye.

Lady bug, Lady bug.  Fly away home!

Rhubarb flowers.

There is something about Columbine flowers that makes me think of Fairy crowns...

Jacobs Ladder.

There is something so cheery about Buttercups.

I'm not a huge spider fan, but I do enjoy seeing a Crab Spider.  They blend in so well... most of the time.

This one, I spotted just as I went to smell the flower!

This one I spotted today was really tiny and white.  It had caught a fly.

I was standing in some dandelions taking pictures and I started noticing all these spiders on them.

See the spider?

Meadow Lilies

Raindrops on Day Lilly leaves.