In the kitchen this week....

This week we have been left with no doubt that there is snow coming to the mountains that circle the Bay...there is ice in the air which calls for fires in the evening, warm puddings, more soup and blankets on our laps. This week I have had some fun in the kitchen in between running errands and my children's social lives :) to do some things that were on my to do list.

This months recipe for our next batch of soap was cinnamon, clove and nutmeg added to the basic soap recipe that I follow from Down To Earth.

I took 20litres of milk this time from our free range farmer as versus the normal 12 and tried my hand at making mozarella cheese. The above picture are the curds...all was going so well until I tried to stretch the curds and the consistency just wasn't right. I am a bit frustrated at the waste but the chickens gobbled up the curds. I used 12 litres to make vanilla flavoured yoghurt and plain cream cheese...so good.

Talking about chickens, our 10 girls are enjoying scratching over the fallow beds. These are the beds that get no sun in winter and they are allowed in there for a while each day.

They are giving us 3 eggs and 5 eggs on alternate days so we enjoy eggs in one form or another for breakfast in the morning.

No, this is not one of my girls, but it is my son's chickens we bring in from a farmer each week. They are beautiful plump birds and last night I taught him how to joint one. You can see the tutorial on his blog.

Littlest one needed a snack in a hurry and pancakes it was...such a nice treat for a chilly afternoon.

Our citrus cleaner is working well and we use it now throughout the house for kitchen, bathroom, sealed wood floors, windows and more. The bonus is that oranges are cheap and prolific in winter and we get lovely fresh orange juice daily.

We had lasagne with friends this week and how can one eat lasagne without a nice Italian bread to go with it? That just wouldn't be right!!! We make a simple white bread dough and after the first proof period I roll it out like a long flat sausage and add a row of pitted chopped olives, rosemary and garlic down the centre then roll it up and allow to rise again before baking. Always yummy and never enough.

So how has your week been?