Bastille - Oblivion (Studio Version)

I heard this song last night for the first time and have had it on repeat ever since.

The white faced black spanish chicken

 

 

These days we have chicks running everywhere!

All ages and sizes,

I just love all their little personalities!

We recently got an order of white faced black Spanish.

 

Have you seen these guys?

Such an unusual and beautiful breed.

 

 

Did you know they are great egg layers?

They do especially well if you live in a

warmer climate (like Texas for example)

They are an ancient Mediterranean breed

that was brought to the U.S. in the early 1800''s.

They were very popular

 from 1825 to around 1895 because of

their large egg size and great egg production.

Unfortunately breeders became focused on breeding

them to enlarge the size of their white face and

earlobes, which caused them to become a less hardy breed.

 Eventually new designer breeds

became more popular for their hardiness and egg production

and soon the white faced black Spanish breed began to

die out.

It's the same story with many of our Heritage breeds.

I would like to see them all make a comeback.

Here at Field+Feathers we are going to be specializing

in this wonderful breed of bird.

We hope to strengthen the hardiness of

the breed and have it more available to the region, as well

as educate people on the importance of preserving

all of our heritage breeds.

 

winter skies

I keep hearing people on the news

complaining about below zero temps,

 makes me so thankful for the

 balmy 50 degree temps we have today.

 

 There is a bit of romance in grey skies,

 it brings out the deep burgundy

 and golds in the grasses.

 It is very quiet out here today,

 almost eerily quiet.

 Still.

 So beautiful.

 

New year, new start

Happy New Year everyone! I wish all of you the best for the year to come. This year will be full of new and exciting changes to come. We will officially be opening our organic farm to the public, selling at farmers markets and selling our herbs online. I'll admit I'm completely freaked out, but in a good way! I feel like we finally figured out what grows best in our area and picked up a few tricks along the way, so wish us luck, we'll need all we can get!

 

 

 

 

Bourbon Bacon Jalapeno chocolate chip cookies = savory sweet goodness

I think I have just made the Frankenstein of cookies, but damn they are good!
I love the taste of fresh jalapenos and when u pair that with bourbon and bacon its like cookie heaven...
Here's what you need:

3/4 pound center cut thick bacon, 1/2-inch diced
2 1/2 cups Gold Medal® All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup reserved bacon fat, chilled
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tablespoons Bourbon (I used Bird Dog brand)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 bag of nestle choc chips (12oz)
1 c. Chopped pecans
2 lrg jalapenos finely chopped

1. In a large skillet, cook the bacon until the bacon pieces are golden brown and crisp. Remove the bacon from the skillet and onto a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Reserve the bacon fat in the pan. You'll need 1/2 cup of the bacon fat- spoon it into a 1/2 cup measuring cup and refrigerate it until it has solidified.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter, bacon fat, sugars, bourbon and vanilla. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Then stir in the bacon and chocolate.  Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Top each dough blob with about a tsp of the fresh chopped jalapenos. Bake 9-11 minutes. store in the fridge for up to a week and in the freezer up to 6 wks.

TIP: If you notice your cookies are coming out a little flat, try chilling your dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes, I figured out it helps a ton!

Peanut Butter Heaven...

Here is a super easy, no cook recipe, that's great for holiday parties or a thursday...

 



Peanut Butter Balls:

6 c. rice krispies cereal
1c creamy peanut butter
1 jar marshmallow cream
1 12 oz pk semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1T. shortening ( optional, just makes the chocolate look shiny and beautiful )


In a large bowl, mix marshmallow cream and peanut butter, add cereal. Mix well but try not to crush the cereal too much. Form this mixture into 1" or so sized balls.
In a separate microwave safe bowl melt chocolate morsels and shortening together using 45 second intervals. Stir well every 45 seconds. Do this until chocolate is melted and creamy. DO NOT over cook, it will burn! Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate. Cool on a wax paper lined tray. I usually put mine in the fridge, they cool faster and taste really good cold!
Once the chocolate has hardened serve them up on your pretty holiday platters or just shove them in your mouth and enjoy all that creamy peanut butter goodness... either way ;)

Easiest fudge ever



Thought I would share with you guys the easiest and creamiest fudge recipe there is. You can make all sorts of variations to this recipe. Here are the basics. Just three ingredients!

• One 12 oz bag of nestle chocolate morsels. I personally use semi-sweet chocolate because I am not a fan of anything milk chocolate

• one 9oz bag of Nestle winter dark chocolate and mint morsels

• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk I use nestle brand

• 1Tbls of shortening (optional, just makes the fudge look shiny and adds a bit of creaminess)

STOVE TOP DIRECTIONS:
pour all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan and heat over medium low heat STIRRING CONSTANTLY until the chocolate is completely smooth. about 5-10 minutes depending on your stove top. Caution: chocolate can scorch, keep your stove top at a low setting and keep stirring to keep your chocolate from burning. Once all the ingredients are melted and smooth pour into an 8x8 pan that is lined with wax paper. I also butter my wax paper just to make sure the fudge does not stick. Allow the chocolate to cool and harden, about 15 or so you can put it in the freezer to cool faster. Once the fudge has hardened remove it from the pan and wax paper, cut into 1" squares can be served immediately or stored in an airtight container.

MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:
Place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 45 SECONDS. stir thoroughly. Microwave another 45 seconds and stir again. Repeat this process until chocolate is completely melted. The reason i use 45 second intervals is to be sure the chocolate does not scorch. It is really easy to burn chocolate in the microwave! follow instructions above for pouring into pan.

VARIATIONS:
You can change this recipe up many different ways, just remember you need a total of 22 oz of morsels. It could be white chocolate and peanut butter, you could even stir in one cup peanuts or pecans. Maybe some dried cranberries. The possibilities are endless my friends, have fun experimenting!

 ♥ from the farm

Oh, one of my faves is to use 22 oz of semisweet morsels and 1 cup of coarsely chopped pecans, it's really yummy!