MY MONKEY BREAD!

My cousin posted on Face Book a recipe she found for Monkey Bread, after reading it I decided to re-blog my recipe. I state re-blog because I posted this once before on an old blog I use to have. The great thing about Monkey Bread is you can tweak this recipe so many different ways and each will taste great. So if you have never tried making Monkey Bread before or never tried it my way go for it. It's fast, it taste great, it's fun to make and no matter how you do it, you'll never do it wrong.  

MONKEY BREAD

Ingredients:

4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (these are optional, it's great with or without them)

If I use raisins I like to re-hydrate them first by placing them in a pan of boiling water till they plump. Drain from fluid let cool for just a few minutes.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan.

2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized plastic bag. Cut the biscuits into quarters and place six to eight biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Shake well.

3. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the greased pan. Continue layering until all the biscuit pieces are coated and in the pan. If you are using raisins, place them among the biscuit pieces as you are layering.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the layered biscuits.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate.

Black Bread... Staple living Shepherd Style!

... continuous from "Staple Living the Way of the Shepherd" . I love looking at who is reading my Blog. I  can't really see who is reading it, unless you post a comment (I so encourage you to do so).

But, I can see what country the people who have been reading my post are from. The USA, Germany, Canada, France, Ireland, the UK, Scotland, Russia, and some countries I have never even heard of.
IT IS SO COOL! 

I can also see how many times a certain post has been read, letting me know what interest you. Well the post mention above Staple Living the Way of the Shepherd was read the most this last month. Telling me like myself, many of you are trying to find ways to cut your food budget and/or live on what you have in the cupboard. As promised in that post here is my recipe for Black Bread. 

Like most of my recipes  they start out from someone else then because I just can not help myself and because I have to use what is on hand (staples). I change them to make them my own. This recipe started out to be a recipe for Russian Black Bread. I love Russian Black Bread but I am not Russian (not the real reason) and I did not have a lot of the ingredients but needed bread (real reason). This is what I came up with and it tasted GREAT!

Ingredients

4 cups uncooked oat meal
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
2 cups corn flakes cereal, crushed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, crushed
2 teaspoons instant coffee, caffeinated or decaf
2 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed very fine
2 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 large eggs, wiped
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup molasses
1 ounce semi sweet or unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 cup cold water

Directions

1. Combine in large bowl; flour, oat meal, sugar,salt,corn flakes, sesame seeds, coffee, onion powder, garlic powder, fennel seed, and undissolved yeast.

2. In sauce pan combine milk, vinegar, molasses, chocolate and butter. Heat liquid mixture over low heat until they are very warm (120-130 degrees F), butter and chocolate do not have to melt.

3.Gradually add heated liquid mixture to dry ingredients and beat (with electric mixer) for 2 minutes at medium speed, scarp bowl occasionally. Add wiped eggs, mix till well blended. If mixture is to dry add just enough water to it to form soft sticky dough. Turn dough on to a lightly floured board. Cover with clean towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

4. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes), dough may be sticky. Place dough in greased bowl, turning dough to grease top. Cover bowl with towel and place in a warm, draft free place to rise until double in bulk (about 1 hour).

5. Punch dough down, knead lightly, divide into two balls, place each in a greased bread pan, cover let rise in a warm place until doubles (about 1 hour). Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40-45 minutes, or until done.

6. If you would like, I do not always do this step. Combine cornstarch and cold water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to boil; continue to cook mixture 1 minute stirring constantly. As soon as the bread is baked, brush cornstarch mixture over the top of each loaf. Return the bread to the oven and bake 2-3 minutes longer, or until glaze is set. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire racks.

That last step, the one of cooling the bread usually does not happen at our home since everyone knows the best time to eat home made bread is hot out of the oven. YUM, YUM!

Because this bread is basically an all day project, don't think that is all I did. I am a Shepherd I was going back and forth checking sheep and doing chores. Remember I made it originally before lambing season. I would never attempt this recipe during lambing season, but that is OK because this bread freezes well.

Black Bread is a savory bread, great with hearty or light soups, salads, cheeses, with a cup of coffee or tea, or just by it's self. FYI, Instant coffee has been marketed in the USA since 1910. Just thought you would like to know that. Enjoy!  

Lambing has Officially Started at the Sheep Camp

... as most of you know, this post is a contentiousness of the last. But, just in case you were not paying attention let me up date you as to what was going on.

We step back in time, the date, February 1st 2013. OK, OK, it is a tiny step back. Just trying to set the scene people. As most of you remember I left off with finding this when I arrived at the barn.

This is Lily, Jacob's 4-H ewe.
Presenting with her first signs of giving birth.

At this point and time I made a quick call home for my husband to bring me my lambing supplies. Jacob was already at school so he would not be available to help with his lambing. After Don's arrival at the barn we waited and waited and waited some more. He decided to go home, I decided to fuss around the barn doing chores and odd and end things while the birthing continued slowly moving forward.

...ah chores were done, so I decided to, Take PICTURES.

Me, "Lily what is taking so long?"

Lily,"Would you care to take my place Shepherd, if you are in such a hurry?"

"OK, lady get the camera out of my face before 

I go all "Crazy Llama Mamma  on your butt!"

OK, she was getting tired of me watching her and I was getting cold and hungry, Beside I had company coming and needed to put clean sheets on all the beds. So off to home I went knowing I would only be 30 - 40 minutes at the most. Apparently that is all it took. I arrived back at the barn just in time to see her first lamb deliver but it had been born breech and was not a live. Working quickly I prepared to pull the next lamb. If one is born breech there is a strong possibly the second lamb will be breech too. Up on exam my assumption was correct. With all my might and Lily's too, I pulled the second lamb. We delivered a 13 pound bouncing baby ram lamb.

Welcome to the SHEEP CAMP little one, your the first of many to arrive.

Sorry this one is a little blurry. My arms were still shaking from all the pulling, what a work out.

All ready on his feet. That's what we like to see.

Isn't he cute with those ears?

OH, who;s the cute baby lamb? You are, aren't you?

I just love baby lambs, if you couldn't tell. I am so excited and am waiting on pins and needles for the rest to start arriving and join this little guy in the field romping and playing.

The skills of Observation

Observation is a skill that is a must with shepherds...better yet having great! skills of observation is a must to do this job.

This time of year that skill is needed more then ever. A shepherd must observe each and every ewe a few times a day to tell if she has had any changes in her physical state, her personality, her daily habit, her eating pattern, and even her bedding habit. Changes in any of these and what kind of change, can tell a shepherd if the ewe is close to lambing or sick.

We will focus on the skill to tell how close a ewe is to lambing since this is the month when all our ewes are due to lamb.

I am always watching the back end of the ewes whether it is for lambing or to see if they are in heat to breed. It is the business end of this job.

As the ewe starts to progress towards lambing her back end will pink up in color. It will start to get more bulbous.

Look at all those pink bottoms 

 Her udder will start to fill out, we call this bagging up. With first time ewes this may not happen till either right before they lamb or right after. Older ewes can bag up several days to weeks before lambing. So this is not always the best indicator. You really have to know the ewe and what her habit is. This is hard with large flocks so good book keeping and barn records are important.

 I watch to see if the ewe is eating, most ewes will stop eating about a day before lambing. They also start nesting, nesting is where they paw at the ground and walk circles to form what looks like a large nest out of the straw. This is where they are planning to have their lambs. If they are out in the open field or in large barns they will separate them selves from the other sheep.

They also get very sunken in just below their hip area. This is when the lambs have moved down getting ready to enter the birth canal. This sign can happen several weeks before, to a few days of lambing. Again barn records must be kept and referred back on.

Jasmine has had a sunken in area for weeks now

Some ewes will get very vocal .... baaing over and over. This doesn't work with our sheep. They baa every time I go towards the grain bags.

Then of course there is the obvious signs.... like a water sack hanging out the back side. YES! The lamb is coming, she did not swallow to much bubble gum here people.

This is what I came in to find on the 1st of February
Lily in labor
The first lambs of the 2013 season are about to arrive.

At this point in time the shepherd does not leave the area in which the ewe is lambing, in case their help is needed. You hope that the ewe does it all on her own. The less help she needs from the shepherd the better it is for all.  Well people this is where I stop blogging and start shepherding. You have to see the next blog to find out the out come....ahahah.

Life outside the Sheep

I love the sheep but I do have a life out side of them....
I think, well maybe, some times. Well yesterday I did for part of the day at least. 

That is after feeding and watering and checking every ones birthing progress and turning them out in the field for exercise and snapping a few photos of course.

Enough with the camera already!
When are we getting fed?

So, yesterday after all that, and after it turned out to be such a beautiful day here on the coast. 

We decided to do some recycling. Recycling pop cans into shrapnel that is! 

We went shooting. That great American family outing where you take deadly pop cans that maybe harmful to the environment and shoot the he**  out of them. 

Don't worry peoples we are green we picked up all our shrapnel and empty shells to disguard of them properly. GREEN but DEADLY!!

We went up on top of one of the mountains above where we live.
Isn't a beautiful day?
I wished it looked like this every day.

This is my baby boy.
He is a great shot but better with a shot gun then a riffle.

SHshshsh! He's camoed they can't see him.
Wait ah,...Jake. I think you forgot the bottom  half?

You show them how it's done Dad!
You take that you raskley can!

You noticed there is no pictures of me shooting? That's because the guys did not want any physical proof that I can out shot them. Guys are like that you know. Yes, that's the reason, it has to be, not that I had the camera in my pocket or anything like that. No way, they just didn't want showed up. Yes, that's it..... lala-lala. 

Staple Living the Way of the Shepherd

Sheep Herders, Shepherds, or Flock Managers what ever the name they went by, all had the same traits and skills they honed in on and became good at, to be able to do the jobs at hand and in some cases survive.

One such skill is being able to live off staples.

For those of you who do not know what I mean by staples, staples are (according to the New Webster’s Expanded Dictionary, which I got free when I was in college, many, many, many years ago. I am sure the meaning hasn't change).

“Staple: n. An emporium; a principle commodity; raw materials.”

Too much? I’m sorry, staples are what ever you have around to live off of; food is what we are talking about here.

A shepherd buys supplies forever how long they are going to be in the fields tending the flocks. Since they just can’t leave and go to the store when they are out of peanut butter, they have to do with what they have till the job is done or someone brings them more food.  

Inside of my dream shepherd's wagon
that I did not find under the Christmas tree

Now mind I don’t live out of a Shepherd’s Wagon roaming rolling green hillsides with the flock, I wish. But, things have been a little tight after the holidays and I decided I was not going to the store a dozen times in the next two weeks. This decision was two weeks ago, so we are clear on the time line and all. Every time you go to the store you spend money you don’t need to and buy things you did not go there in the first place to buy.

NO! We will live off our staples; we can do it after all shepherds all over the world had been doing this for thousands of years. This is the point knowing that I had not done any serious grocery shopping for awhile, where my husband and sons melted to the floor with visions of standing at the Food Bank for free food or worse digging in the dumpster behind Pizza Hut for scraps. But I had faith after all I am a Shepherdess.

…Week 1, doing OK, some creative dinners but all in all not bad.

…Week 2, getting down to slim pickings, hot dog buns divided and dipped in an egg and vanilla mixture became French toast dippers for breakfast. I thought this was a great idea.  Kids are starting to have junk food withdraws but one mention of going to the Food bank cured those (not that I would really go unless we truly needed to and never for junk food).

Home made Black Bread
Yummy!!
Will post the recipe for this at later date.

So, you ask did I ever go to the store this last two weeks? I have to admit it, yes. But, it was only once and I took back pop cans, bought only what I needed, butter, lettuce (for Yuri, Tanner’s tortoise), and a beef sausage that I had a free coupon for. Came out of the store with a dollar and some change more then I went in with.

Could I make it on staples while traveling those rolling green hills with my flock? Well the lettuce would have been wild greens found on the way and eaten along side Tortoise soup, sorry Yuri. Sheep milk doesn't have the right fats to make butter so I would have done with out but over all, YES. Best of all my sons have an even greater respect on those who have less then we do and appreciate even more the things we do have even if it is just hot dog buns.  

Let's get Lambing!

My Internet server and I are having a Love-Hate relationship. They Love to foul up every time I try to post anything and I am hating them more and more! Sorry for posting my frustrations.....bad, shepherd, bad shepherd.

Lets Try This Again...

Hi everyone :) ,
Sorry that I seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth. Between computer troubles, moving our house hold, holidays, sheep, children, and all life's activities I got lost, but I am back and so excited!


Why you ask? Because it is getting close to lambing season, I know in other parts of the country that has already began. In our county we try to have lambs born so they weigh between 100 and 160 pounds at our August fair. To do so they need to be born by the beginning of January to the end of March.  The lambs at the Sheep Camp should be born around February 15th and I can't wait! As in all species birthing patterns it comes down to - they will be born when they are ready…some really, some late and maybe some on time.

I have already moved the ewes to the barn. Pulled the rams (McRamsy & McStuddly) off and penned them up. A whole other post for another day there. Males, that's all I have to say for now.

McStuddly our Spring Ram

McRamsy our Fall Ram

Jasmine on the left and Lily on the right

We have moved the boy's (Jacob & Tanner's) two ewes over to the barn to be put in with the Dorset ewes. Lily is a black Suffolk ewe and Jasmine is a Hampshire/Suffolk cross ewe. These two have names because they are the boy’s 4-H & FFA breeding projects. The boys have had the ewes for several years in fact this will be Lily and Jasmine’s last year with us since they are getting up there in age. It is time to bring in new breeding stock. Awe.... I know this sounds sad but it is part of farming. They will be sold at the action after their lambs are big enough to pull off them, as culled ewes, (meaning they don't breed any more).

I will try and keep everyone up to date on the lambing. Maybe I can figure out the whole video part of this and post clips of actual births. This is the time I call in Jacob to assist because Mom’s not to technically savvy. Good thing sheep are not robotic or I’d be out of a job.