Dark Chocolate Chevre Truffles

Super simple and super rich these are fast to make ahead of time. They can also be made sugar free or savory by using unsweetened chocolate.

1 cup of soft goat cheese
10 ounces dark chocolate pieces or unsweetened chocolate
2 teaspoons olive oil.
1-2 cups items to roll truffles in, like sprinkles, crushed nuts, instant coffee, candy bits, or if adventurous  ground chili pepper

Line a cookie sheet with foil and set aside. Place chocolate pieces in a medium bowl and microwave on high until melted, about 2 minutes, stirring after each minute. Stir in the olive oil to temper the chocolate and set aside. Place the goat cheese in a small bowl and microwave on high until very soft, about a minute, checking after 30 seconds. Stir cheese into chocolate, mixing until smooth. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the foil lined cookie sheet and refrigerate 20 minutes until more firm, but not completely solidified. Place sprinkles in a saucer, and roll each chocolate into a ball or other shapes, then roll to coat in the sprinkles. Set in mini-muffin papers or candy cups, then refrigerate until serving. Truffles will keep up to a week in the fridge. Makes 18

Five For Dinner

It's coming up on Thanksgiving, so I wanted to say how thankful I am for my goat Jezebel, or as we call her, Jelly. While she's always been a great goatie, this was the year she really stepped up.

Last year about this time we took Jelly and her sister Betty to a friend's nearby farm to be bred. We thought it was unusual they should be in season on the same day, but it turned out to be a good thing. And then five months later, since they were bred at the same time, they had babies on the same day.

Jelly went first at her usual 2am, surprising us with 4 kids. Sadly we lost one because we didn't get out to the barn in time to help, but two does and this cute little buck with hearts survived. Betty went later in the day, giving us two kids, a buck and doe.

Sadly we lost Betty two days later to milk fever. This is where Jelly stepped up. Luckily for everyone, she is a great producer, over 2 gallons per day at the peak, and she was able to feed all five of the baby goats herself.

Of course all this made Jelly very hungry!

Chevre Oatmeal Cookies

Before I had a cream separator and could make goat butter, I made lots of recipes with chevre, the soft goat cheese I make in place of butter. This recipe for oatmeal cookies came out really yummy, and since the cheese adds more protein and has less fat than butter, they are secretly healthier. I call them goat-meal cookies, and yes, the goats like them too!

3/4 cup fresh goats chevre soft cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups uncooked quick oats
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup fresh goats milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine cheese, oil and sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth, then add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Roll dough into 1-inch balls, and place 2 inches apart on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown at the bottom edge. This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies. For best results, double the recipe because these cookies will go fast!

Upcycled Dress and Jacket from Feed Bags

Feed for my goats and ducks comes in woven polypropylene bags with a cute photo label. During the summer, I sew them into tote bags to sell at the farmers' market. During the winter though they stack up a bit and I can try new things with the extras.

The first project was a party dress made from the Layena chicken chow bags. It took two bags for the full skirt and another bag for the top. Though we did line the top with soft cotton fabric, the seams were still a bit scratchy and the dress is so stiff it stands up by itself!

The next project was a simple zipper jacket made from Purina goat chow bags. It took three bags, though I think an adult jacket would take four. Those goaties better eat up, because I think my mom wants one! I wore this to a downtown art gallery walk and got lots of complements, especially from artists who like to use recycled materials.

It's kind of tricky sewing with these feed bags because once you sew a seam it makes holes in the cute photo label and so the piece is ruined if you make a mistake. Luckily my mom helped a lot, and the patterns were very simple. Another thing is when wearing these feed bag clothes I rattle when I move which attracts all my pets who think I have food for them.

Cranberry Sauce Vinaigrette

I love fresh cranberry sauce. It's fun to cook because the berries pop like popcorn, and the color is beautiful. I like to make a large batch and preserve it in canning jars so it's handy to add to recipes all through the winter. I was making a really nice salad dressing with my blackberry jelly this summer, and found that cranberry sauce tastes great in the recipe too. It is sweet, smokey, with just a small vinaigrette bite.

I've been making a crisp fall salad with apple, crumbled cooked bacon, and spinach. Turkey and pecans are good in there too. If you have trouble convincing kids to eat salad, this vinaigrette with either cranberry sauce or blackberry jelly will sneak up on them, especially if there are loads of apple pieces! It was the deal-maker for me!

1/2 cup jellied cranberry sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke flavoring
1 tsp onion salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp xanthan gum

Place sugar and vinegar in a small pot. Heat to a low boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. Place vinegar mixture and remaining ingredients except xanthan gum in a blender. Blend to mix, then add xanthan gum and continue to mix until dressing has thickened, about 1 minute. Makes approximately 2 cups of salad dressing. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Note:  I use xanthan gum for gluten-free baking, and find it also thickens and holds oil and vinegar together. If you want to leave it out, the dressing will taste the same, just shake before use.

Pumpkin Custard

It's definitely Fall when the pumpkins begin arriving at the grocery store. I love to get a big pumpkin and wedge it in the branches of the huckleberry bush for my goats to pick at and carve. They will nibble holes in the shell and reach in for the seeds. In past years, they would pick at the pumpkin until it fell out of the branches, and that would be the end, as goats don't usually eat things on the ground. Now that the ducks are sharing their pasture, once the pumpkins fall, the ducks are all over it. The ducks love it more, because once they're done with the pumpkin and the bugs come along, they come back for the second course of bugs.

Fall is also when the goats give the richest milk and we have the most butter and cream. The younger ducks that hatched in March are now producing eggs, and they are up to 10 per day. That's more than we can use, so I donate some to the food bank now the farmers market has closed for the year.
I've been making lots of this quick pumpkin custard with pecans to enjoy the eggs and cream.

For The Custard:
2 fresh duck eggs
1 cup goat's milk cream
1 15oz can pumpkin
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

For The Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup melted goat's milk butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together all the custard ingredients until smooth. Pour into a 2-quart baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the topping ingredients. After the custard has baked for the 30 minutes carefully place the topping on top of the custard, dropping it by little bits as the surface of the custard will still be runny. Let the custard bake for another 30 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving. Make 8 to 10 servings.

Duck Egg Mayonnaise

Duck eggs are not chicken eggs! Well, yeah. I had been substituting duck eggs for chicken eggs in recipes, which worked out great except for mayonnaise. It always seamed to break before I was done adding all the oil. Of course you know this means research!
I found a chart that compares lots of bird eggs. I found that duck eggs have more protein but also more fat that chicken eggs, because ducks are all about oil for life in water. Mayonnaise is the egg protein holding the added oil in what is called an emulsion. The duck eggs have more fat to start, so they can take in less oil. Mystery solved! 
So here is my recipe of mayonnaise adjusted for duck eggs. Mayonnaise usually calls for mustard, but since I am allergic to mustard and duck eggs are so flavorful, I left it out.

Duck Egg Mayonnaise

4 duck egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice or about the juice of half a lemon
2 teaspoons onion salt
3/4 cup light olive oil

Place egg yolks in a blender cup with lemon juice and onion salt. Begin blending on medium speed for one minute to break up proteins. Remove the center of the blender cap if possible and dribble the olive oil drip by tiny drip until the mixture lightens and thickens. Increase adding olive oil to a very thin stream until it is completely added. The mixture will be thick and smooth. Adding more oil to thin or mayonnaise may cause the emulsion to break, becoming runny.
This mayonnaise is really great with sweet pickled peppers in duck egg salad!
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