Awww these Goats!

Goats are very social animals and love to be with people, especially Peaches! She loves following me out to the garden and "talking" about her day :) She has a very precious little noise she makes that is different from her "I WANT FOOD" cry and I just love hearing it!

Poppy is also extremely social, but today was in the high 80s and it was a little too warm for Poppy to want to come out from under her shade...so she just said hi from there.

Homemade Salad Dressing

SALAD DRESSING: (this recipe idea came from Kael. Thank you Kael, I dont think I will ever buy store bought dressing again!!)

You can add whatever fresh herbs are in season to give your salad dressing that extra freshness. Each time I make this dressing it is a little different, but the basic recipe would be roughly:

 

• 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar (more if you like your dressing more vinegary and less if you dont like as much "zing")
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1+ cloves of fresh minced garlic...I like to use quite a bit but some people dont really like too much garlic (I usually use about 6-8 cloves, but we really like garlic. I mince the garlic with a Garlic Press and it makes it really quick and easy)
• 2+ tsp honey mustard/dijon mustard/sweet and sour mustard
• pinch salt
• pinch fresh cracked pepper
• add in whatever herbs you have on hand. (this time I added chives and basil)

Tip from JD & Kristy - They substituted the honey mustard for mustard and honey!! JD said the pure honey gave the dressing some amazing flavor!! Give that a try, I know I am sure looking forward to making "honey dressing!!".

The dressing will seperate due to the oil and vinegar so make sure to give it a good shake before you pour it on your salad. Ive found that refrigerating it an hour or so before eating really helps.

And of course, head our to the garden for a fresh salad and veggies!!

 Enjoy!

Scrambled Eggs and Arugula ... yum :)

This morning Bryan went out and picked some fresh arugula that I put in with our scrambled eggs. Very fresh and Very yummy! I highly recommend giving it a try :)

Beer Brew Continental Pilsner Phase 1!!

Beer Brew!!! (Phase 1 of Continental Pilsner!!)

We have loved making wine here at home and are about to take on our first attempt at beer brewing...

Yes, we got a kit for this first try, but we are looking forward to making another round of beer from scratch....just not this time. Some of our friends in California even grow their own hops in the back yard and make the most amazing beer!! But for now we are starting with this kit :)

It is a Continental Pilsner and the brewing instructions are:

BEFORE YOU START! Sterilize EVERYTHING!!

Thoroughly clean ALL equipment with "One Step Cleanser"(or similar product, follow instructions on package). Dissolve 1 TBSP of One Step in 1 gallon of warm water, Wash bottles and equipment with the solution. Rinsing in not necessary with One Step. Seriously this is probably the MOST important step in home brewing. If you don't sanitize your equipment...ALL your equipment... then bacteria will grow and it will destroy your work. What a bummer to wait several months and then have nasty tasting wine...so CLEAN ALL YOUR STUFF!!

STEP 1: Place the two cans in hot water for 5 minutes to soften contents.

STEP 2: Open the two cans and poor the contents into a clean and sterilized fermenter (Use a sterile spatula to Get it ALL!)

STEP 3: Boil 6 pints of water and add to the fermenter

STEP 4: Mix thoroughly to ensure that the malt extract is completely dissolved.

STEP 5: Add 29 pints of cold water to bring the volume up to 5 UK Gallons. Stir and let stand until the temp reaches 65-70 degrees F

STEP 6: Sprinkle in the yeast supplied and stir

STEP 7: Cover the fermenter, put your airlock in place and place in a warm area (65-70 degrees F) and leave to ferment (NOTE: Beer ferments much more aggressively than wine so make sure you put a towel around the base of your fermentor ...or put it somewhere that won't matter too much if it overflows)

STEP 8: Fermentation will be complete when bubbles cease to rise (7-8 days) or if you use a hydrometer, when the gravity remains constant at a figure below 1014.

CONTINUED WITH STEPS 9-12 in about a week!

STEP 9: Siphon the beer (avoid disturbing the yeast sediment) into the strong bottles or a pressure barrel. CAUTION: use only returnable beer bottles. One trip/non-returnable bottles are not adequate to withstand conditioning pressure.

STEP 10: Add 1/2 teaspoonful of light spraymalt per pint to each bottle or a max of 3 oz per 5 gallon pressure barrel. Sugar may be used instead.

STEP 11: Cap and seal the bottles securely and stand them in a warm place 65-70 degrees F for 2 days.

STEP 12: Finally, move the bottles to a cool place for at least 21 days or until the beer is clear, before drinking.