Mmm, that iced cinnamon swirl bread sounds so good, Lady Haleth! Seems like a delicious alternative to cinnamon buns.

Making pies completely slipped my mind this past Pi(e) Day, but I did burn a cherry pie on Washington's birthday last month, so I guess that counts for something...?

That dinner sounds really tasty and healthy, Puddleglum! I've never eaten squirrel before, though. Is it reminiscent of any other kind of meat?

Lia, I remember thinking when I wrote that post that doing something like putting an egg in coffee is so quintessentially "Rose"-ish. Still being adventurous in the kitchen after all these years. That banh mi sounds SO good! I bet the pickled carrots and radishes really set it off. I hope you have a safe trip back to school! (And I hope that the cafeteria food improves. )

Any excuse is a good excuse for waffles, ValiantArcher. Your lamb cake sounds really cute—crumbs and all! I was curious about how to prevent that problem, though, and googling led me to this Wilton article. I've never done a lot of cake decorating in my life, but I'll have to try that trick the next time I'm icing anything.

Thanks for posting that graphic, fantasia! Putting cucumbers on a sandwich seems like such a good idea... very refreshing!

Well, I'm still on a major cultured dairy kick, so I'm off to make another batch of kefir so it will be ready to put in the refrigerator tomorrow night. I've also got some powdered kefir grains coming in the mail (Cutting Edge Cultures sells them, for the curious peeps), which will have a more diverse combination of healthy bacteria without the trouble of straining and maintaining whole kefir grains. After that, I'm hoping to try my hand at mesophilic yogurt-making... unlike thermophilic yogurt (the kind you usually buy in the store), mesophilic "yogurts" like filmjölk culture at room temperature. Super easy. (Plus, I've read that filmjölk tastes a lot like cream cheese... I've got to get me some of that. )

My dear Dryad; I would say that they taste like chicken, but I am not really familiar with wild chicken. The "gamyness" of the "tree rat" as they are often called here-abouts is truly a novel taste to my experience.
like most game, or any animal for that matter, I think a lot depends upon what they have been eating.
One rule to follow though is to always pick any hairs out if you do not like to floss while eating

Thanks for the tip, Puddleglum! I'm not sure when I'll have occasion to sample squirrel, but I'll keep that in mind if I ever do.

Lately I've been reading labels on leftover Easter candy (bad idea ), and all of the additives and unhealthy oils have inspired me to try making my own candies and chocolates the next time a holiday rolls around. There are so many cute chocolate molds available, too! Does anyone have any favorite homemade candy recipes?

Pi(e) Day has started to become a tradition in my house. Hey, it's a great excuse to make a pie! LOL
Yesterday we made Chicken Pot Pie and Blueberry Pie.

We had Beef Pot Pie and Chocolate Pudding Pie with Reddi Whip for Pi(e) Day this year. I agree an excuse to have pie.

My sisters and I are planning a When Calls The Heart meal for Sunday. Little sister picked Shepherd's Pie for lunch, inspired by Jack and Elizabeth's conversation in episode 5. We are having a hard time picking a dessert. We can't decide if it should be heart shaped or something from the show. I'm leaning forwards heart shaped.

Has anyone made Peanut Butter Whipped Cream? I found a recipe for it on Pinterest and I'm going to try making some later this month for a special day.

SnowAngel

Does anyone have any favorite homemade candy recipes.

I'm not much of a candy maker myself. I know I've made several candies for past holiday seasons, but the only one I remember is cinnamon candy.
Just make sure you have a good candy thermometer that you test prior to making stuff. Otherwise things can get really exciting in a hurry.

There is a new hydroponics place that has opened in my hometown that's selling exceptionally tasty leafy greens. So far I've only purchased the Butter Leaf Lettuce, which is one of my favorite kinds of lettuce ever, and used it to make a couple fairly healthy recipes, and i thought I'd share them.

The first was a lettuce wrap using the modified Chicken Waldorf Salad recipe from Food Network.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chic ... ecipe.html
I left out the walnuts because I just don't like them, and I used juice from a bottle instead of squeezing it out of fruit. I also used chicken from a precooked rotesserie chicken from the store. Wrapped the filling up in two layers of lettuce and ate it like a taco. Sooo yummy, and nice and fresh and springy too.
The other was a salad that my husband and I made up using leftover ingredients laying around the house. We threw together a lettuce, spinach, blueberry, and toasted pecan salad, and then I made a poppyseed-less dressing to go over it. (We were apparently out of poppyseeds.) It was a hit!

If anyone wants a simple homemade candy recipe that doesn't involve heating anything on a stovetop, try cream cheese mints. They're just cream cheese mixed with peppermint flavoring and powdered sugar, and rolled in granulated sugar before being flattened out with a fork and put in the fridge to chill. You can add a couple drops of food coloring--red or green--to make pink or green mints, but it gets all over your fingers. Just don't try to mix together red and blue food coloring, because that turns them gray.

My sisters and I are planning a When Calls The Heart meal for Sunday. Little sister picked Shepherd's Pie for lunch, inspired by Jack and Elizabeth's conversation in episode 5.

Did you add lard?

My only attempt at making something like candy was making Turkish Delight. It was edible but not amazing. I actually saw some Turkish Delight in a local grocery store. I didn't buy any though because it was pistachio and I have a nut allergy.

My sisters and I are planning a When Calls The Heart meal for Sunday. Little sister picked Shepherd's Pie for lunch, inspired by Jack and Elizabeth's conversation in episode 5.

Did you add lard?

Haha! No lard here. But the Shepherd's Pie was a hit with the whole family. We altered Alton Brown's recipe and cooked the meat/veggies in the crockpot. We served the mash potatoes separately. We used beef roast in place of lamb, beef broth in place of chicken, and added carrots. We have family coming to visit this summer, Shepherd's Pie is definitely going to be on the menu during their visit.

(Off topic, but, Twigs, are you a Heartie? )

I couldn't find a heart shaped dessert that I wanted to make, so I tried a new cookie recipe instead. I made Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies, I had pink food coloring that needed to use and halved the cocoa in the recipe because we only had special dark cocoa. I loved the texture, but since I wanted to use up the food coloring I added too much and it gave the cookies a funny after taste. Next time I plan to use less food coloring and regular cocoa.

I tried the Peanut Butter Whipped Cream...it's was so good! Big brother said "it was too rich", but everyone else enjoyed it. I am definitely going to make it again when big brother isn't home, more for me. We topped Chocolate Pudding Pie with cream, it was Reese's candy inspired for my Dad.

SnowAngel

Thanks for the candy recipe suggestions, guys!

fk, I'll make a note about calibrating the thermometer. I love lettuce wraps! They're so crunchy and fresh. I saw butter leaf lettuce the other day in the store; I'll have to make a point to pick up some soon!

Those no-cook cream cheese mints sound really good, Lady Haleth. I actually have a couple of bricks of cream cheese in the refrigerator that are going out of date next month and I was thinking about making a cheesecake, but I may have to try out that recipe instead!

Ooh, Turkish Delight! That's a good suggestion, Twigs. I feel like it's the duty to every Narnia fan to try to sample some at least once in their life. There's a similar American confection called aplets and cotlets that I've always wanted to try as well. (Love those names!)

That peanut butter whipped cream sounds so tasty, SA! Especially combined with chocolate. I wonder if you could cut down on the richness by using something like PB2 (essentially defatted powdered peanuts, popular with dieting peanut butter addicts) instead. I did see a recipe the other day for greek yogurt whipped cream, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.

Speaking of yogurt, I've been eating so much cultured dairy lately that I've been trying to make more and more of it at home to cut down on costs and plastic recyclables. On Sunday I made my first batch of homemade yogurt using this method, which uses a small cooler and hot water to keep the yogurt warm during the incubation period. I had to add hot water a couple of times because the water I put in originally wasn't hot enough, but the yogurt turned out fine. Much better than having to spend forty bucks on an electric yogurt maker that might go on the fritz, and now I can make yogurt for half the price of what I'd pay for it at the store! Woot.

Does anyone else like browsing The Impulsive Buy? I like looking at their "spotted on the shelves" section. I know I'll probably never buy 95% of what is featured there, but it's neat to see what the market is producing and sometimes I get ideas for homemade stuff as well.

That peanut butter whipped cream sounds so tasty, SA! Especially combined with chocolate. I wonder if you could cut down on the richness by using something like PB2 (essentially defatted powdered peanuts, popular with dieting peanut butter addicts) instead. I did see a recipe the other day for greek yogurt whipped cream, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.

I did use an off brand PB2, my mom has it for her healthy recipes. My brother has the strangest taste buds, he can eat several candy bars a day, but our homemade sweets are too sweet.

It was a chocolate/peanut butter mix, so next time I think I should use just plain peanut butter powder and maybe add peanut butter to the pie for a stronger flavor.

I haven't been baking much lately, but my siblings and I have been making strawberry jam. We have made 15 batches for a total of 7.5 gallons. The jam shelves are full. We made one batch of mix berry and one of strawberry/rhubarb with fresh rhubarb (not our own though). My younger brother was so excited to help make the jam, he loves homemade jam and he really enjoys helping cut and crush the strawberries. I had a blast balancing helping make the jam and photographing my siblings working together in the kitchen.

SnowAngel

My brother has the strangest taste buds, he can eat several candy bars a day, but our homemade sweets are too sweet.

I don't know what kind of homemade sweets you make, but there is something about the combination of chocolate + sugar that is irresistible to me vs just plain sugary candy which I almost never eat unless it's offered to me.

Mmmm... strawberry jam. One of these years I may try to make a jelly or jam. Seems difficult for this lazy person but the results are oh-so-tasty!

So I recently tried making my very own kissel as opposed to buying the instant mix. (Kissel is a dessert or drink that is made from fruit and potato starch, you can read more about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissel )I made apple because it was the only fruit we had at home at the time. It didn't come out to bad actually. Though I do need more practice before I can boast of being able to make it good enough for somene other than me drinking it . I'm going to try my hand at it again once the cherries and red currant come around. I didn't take a picture of the apple kissel, but I'll post pictures when I get around to the cherry one. (the season is starting soon, so it shouldn't be a long wait). I had a Polish friend who made it for me once and he served it thick and hot, but in Russia we always serve it liquid and cold

Either way it's super yummy.

Interesting, wrose!

Snow Angel, for years when our kids were younger, I made dozens upon dozens of jars of freezer strawberry jam—lots for us; lots to give away. In fact, when cleaning out our big chest freezer when we moved, I found, tucked away, an entire box of Mason jars of jam, of which I still have a few left. Great stuff! Strawberry season here would be just as the school year was concluding (end of June), so we'd get right out to the pick-your-own patches and pick-pick-pick! Then, of course, because strawberries don't keep long, the next few days were filled with jam-making. 'Twas a fun family activity, although, I must admit, mid-way through I wondered if we were ever going to be done. So worth it, though!

EDIT: I meant to respond to this ages ago ...

They have an annual wild game feed, and the Offspring, and I will be donating some squirrel. I need to boil, and de-bone them in advance, but it will be worth it.

Are you serious?! Wow, I have never tried squirrel. I forget if you said in your post what it takes like, but ... what does it taste like? And what is its texture? Hmmm, we have lots of squirrels here in Ontario.

It sounds like your brother is filling up on storebought sweets and not saving enough room for good homemade cooking, SnowAngel! Sigh. Brothers.

That kissel sounds so intriguing, Wrose! It's the first time I've ever heard of it. Cranberry seems like it could be refreshing served cold in summer, but apple seems like it would be tasty as a hot drink in winter. I'll have to try to make it sometime!

Mmm, strawberry jam. I've never tried my hand at making homemade jam before; I think I need to put it on my culinary bucket list!

I've been building up quite a collection of liquid whey in the refrigerator from making my own greek yogurt, and yesterday I used some of it to make mysost, a Scandinavian delicacy. You boil down whey, stirring every so often to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot, and add cream (or in my case, butter) when most of the water has evaporated. At the last stage of cooking, the lactose in the whey starts to caramelize, resulting in a caramel-colored cheese. You really have to watch it at this point, though, or else it will burn when you're not looking, just like caramel.

It's a really unique flavor and very delicious to a cheese lover like myself! Since the amount of lactose in whey can vary due to the length of fermentation time, the mysost can range from being almost like a cheese-flavored candy to a sharp, intensely umami flavor. It's also quite nutritious, being a great source of potassium and calcium. It takes about a quart of whey to make a quarter cup of mysost.

Switching gears, a YouTube channel that I've really been enjoying the past few months is Jas. Townsend and Son. It's about life in the 18th century and many of their videos are about the recipes, cooking styles and food preservation techniques from that era. It's really fascinating to see how people put food on the table before modern conveniences like refrigerators came into play! I thought some of you guys might find it interesting as well.

My brother has the strangest taste buds, he can eat several candy bars a day, but our homemade sweets are too sweet.

I don't know what kind of homemade sweets you make, but there is something about the combination of chocolate + sugar that is irresistible to me vs just plain sugary candy which I almost never eat unless it's offered to me.

We often bake cookies twice a week. Our favorites are chocolate chip, double chocolate, peanut butter oatmeal, and angel sugar cookies. If we are in hurry to bake something and forgot to soften the butter, we have a couple of brownie recipes that the whole family loves. I love chocolate cookies and brownies too, I can't understand my brother's candy bar "addiction".

It sounds like your brother is filling up on storebought sweets and not saving enough room for good homemade cooking, SnowAngel! Sigh. Brothers.

Yep, brothers.

A recent first time culinary endeavor at our house was Fireweed Jelly. It didn't look very pleasant when my sister was making the tea for the jelly, but the finished product is delicious and very pretty. It tastes similar to wildflower honey.

SnowAngel