Month: November 2019

Lower carb gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

On By CarynIn Recipe

That is a mouthful. My youngest wanted to make cookies again. In an effort to make the cookies slightly less of a carb load, I made some substitutions to my recipe. It turned out really well, so I am sharing. Sorry I didn’t run the calorie or nutrition info, I really don’t want to know. These were GOOD.

Almond pecan chocolate chip cookies

1 cup butter flavored Crisco
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1 1/4 cup King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together Crisco and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs, mix until fluffy. Combine dry ingredients, slowly add to butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Hand roll 1 Tablespoon balls of dough and place 2″ apart on parchment paper on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Peas!

On By CarynIn Garden
Peas from garden (yes, just two pods)

I have one pea vine that not only survived whatever killed off (or ate) the other vines, but also survived our heavy frost. And it provided two pods! We of course ate the peas out straight away. They were well received by my offspring. I will try planting more again in the spring.

Egg color part four

On By CarynIn eggs

I have been lucky this week and have been collecting eggs in the coop when a hen was just finishing up laying. I have a high rate of certainty of who laid the egg when I reach under the hen and the egg is still clinging to the feathers! However, my hypothesis on egg color corresponding to the chicken is shot.

Two of Seashell’s eggs laid about 27 hours apart

Seashell (who is very easily identified because she is the only hen with a black beard) laid two different colored eggs about 27 hours apart. Now here is an interesting part: I have heard both that eggs will darken over the hen’s lifetime, and that eggs start out dark and will lighten over time cyclically with the seasons. So I will keep collecting data and see which category my hens fall into. Or if they have their own category entirely. How interesting.

Spinner winner

On By CarynIn Craft

It is official, spinning is a lifetime “go”. My criteria for lifetime crafts is if I can craft in the car on long trips. I tested spinning and plying on a recent trip and I can spin in the truck! Hurray!

Plying wool in the truck

It took a little creative problem solving, and I have to wrap the yarn around the spindle more often, but I can spin and A: not get sick and B:be productive. Nälbinding and crochet are also good car crafts. Knitting not so much; I drop too many stitches when we go over bumps. Wire work makes a mess of tiny bits of wire. Similar problem with carving (not to mention using sharp knives in a moving vehicle is not recommended). Leather work also uses sharp implements. Drawing, reading, embroidery, sewing, and cross stitch make me ill in the car. Yay for spinning!

Mealworm harvest

On By CarynIn mealworms

Here are the results of our current rotating 2 week mealworm harvest.

Mealworms (about 16 weeks old)

It is better this time, I had enough to divide it in half and put one half in the fridge for later. However, I think I will be just using cornmeal instead of an oatmeal and cornmeal mix. My strainer that will let the oatmeal pass through also lets mealworms pass through, and the strainer that keeps in the mealworms also keeps in the oatmeal. So, we’ll try omitting the oatmeal.

As it was it was easier to pick the mealworms out of the substrate with my fingers than to use the strainers. Yes, with my fingers. The mealworms aren’t slimy or cold, and only slightly wiggly.

I did find more pupa and transferred them to the pupa drawer, and I cleaned the dead beetles out of the beetle drawer. It is a good thing that some of the mealworms reach pupal stage, since I had about as many dead beetles as freshly emerged beetles. This is certainly an interesting experiment.