and....we have MAPLE SYRUP!

This, is our sap...or I should say... This is our first sap collection. It was about a third of our rain barrel, and it would seem that there is still more sap season left, so it won't be our last collection of sap. As you can see there is quite a bit of ice in the pail, which I understand to be a good thing because it means less time boiling off the water.....we'll see.

This is a small collections of things that we thought we'd need for the initial boil. A strainer covered in layered cheese cloth to keep out bits of things we found in our buckets, and of course, chunks of ice...a couple pots, both to boil off in and to dunk in our rain barrel as a scoop, and we also used a large roasting pan to speed things up a bit on the BBQ.

This is our make-shift Sugar Shack! 

We are such idiots sometimes, but life is, if nothing else, a riot! Basically, a couple tarps and an old door to keep the wind off the flame. I'm sure our neighbours must have been wondering, but when we dropped off a little bottle of syrup, they put it all together. Just a little peace offering for the endless noise of these tarps flapping in the wind, breaking the silence of the quiet country life they're all used to. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that it took us...uh...24 hours to boil off enough sap for 2 litres, and it cost us more than if we bought it from a local sugar bush. However, there is something to be said about the value of the experience, and I'm not discouraged. This was the first attempt, and I'm confident that the next boil will be much more efficient (because I'm doing it inside...with my roaring exhaust range hood). I am also convinced that the minus ten weather we were having when I went out to top up the sap at 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., was having a negative affect on the whole evaporation process (clearly!!).

But, at 11:00 a.m., when I brought the sap indoors, our results were improving dramatically!

My sap was becoming syrup! I could barely contain my excitement. This was such a rewarding experience. Next came the process of measuring the temperature. Our candy thermometer came with, as I'm sure most would, a guide for different forms of candy, and registered syrup at 220 degrees fahrenheit...I was able to get ours up to about that. I pulled this off the stove at 218-219. It's was a little hard to read with the hot conditions of keeping my hand over a 220 degree pot.

Please keep in mind that this is for home use...as having said that....

"Yes, I used a coffee filter to clarify my syrup!"

And, isn't it pretty! 

 I re-used some syrup bottles from previous syrup purchases, and a jar to see how lovely the colour is. We ended up with a light Maple Syrup. I usually purchase a medium syrup, but this is so much better. Probably because I can taste all the work that went into it. 

All you need now is a batch of your favourite pancakes, a few people around the table, and a hearty helping of warm, fresh maple syrup! 

Quiche for the WHOLE family...

If you are looking for a quiche recipe that will feed a family..this is it. This recipe fills out a 9x13, so it's great for lunch, and left overs...or if you are having the family over after church and need something that will feed a dozen people.

I made this because I looked at the clock and realized that I needed to have dinner ready in an hour, and thought that this would be a pretty complete meal in itself. The preparation is really straight forward, and the crust is incorporated into the mixture with a biscuit mix so there is no pastry making. I probably prefer the traditional quiche in a pastry crust and pie plate, but this is a great alternative.

Start by greasing your 9x13 and pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl

crack 6 eggs....add 3 cups of milk and 1 cup of (I used homemade) biscuit mix.

Next you're going to add your preferred ingredients....I used all veggies, but if you're using meat, make sure it's pre-cooked. Ham and Chicken are pretty popular choices. One of my favourite combinations is shredded chicken, feta, sun dried tomatoes, broccoli and pesto...make sure to throw in some grated mozzarella or Monterey jack would be nice also.

Here's what I used for this:

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

2 cups marble cheese, grated

5 green onions, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups of asparagus (cut into 1" pieces), steamed

1/8 cup sun dried tomatoes thinly sliced

2 tsp dried parsley flakes

fresh ground black pepper (to taste)

 So then, it is time to bake...and as you can see - this recipe filled my 9x13 no problem. After 20 minutes at 350 I turned my pan around in my oven, and baked for an additional 20 minutes. The quiche was firm, and when a knife was inserted, it came out clean, so I knew it was cooked. You may need to leave it in a little longer to get these results.

Here is what the quiche looked like baked.... you'll want to let it rest for 10-15 minutes or so before serving so that it can set (don't worry, it will still be warm).  You don't have quiche falling off the sides of your spatula when you're serving this and trying to make a "good house wife" impression with your in-laws. 

This recipe can easily be cut in half and used in a 9x9 pan, just remember that you'll have to adjust your bake time accordingly. There are lots of options for ingredients too...just look online...ham, cheese and broccoli is a great and traditional combination, or maybe you want to try and make a pizza quiche to appeal to some younger members of your family (or adults who don't want to eat broccoli)...

This will freeze well if you make up a large recipe in advance and bake it off in smaller pans for another time. 

Good Luck! and get creative!

Have TREES...Will TAP!

So...I have a few maple trees...and I'm a big fan of Maple Syrup, on just about everything...waffles, pancakes, ice cream, in my Chai Tea, and of course, lets not leave out - on a spoon (or in a cup with a straw). Ok...you get the point. Clearly, a great opportunity for us is to tap these vessels of sweet sap to feed my very high calorie habit.

We borrowed some pails and taps from a friend, in return for some finished product I'd expect...and we washed them up, along with the cleaning a of a rain barrel and a few large ice cream tubs from the local dairy that we'll be using to store the sap until we get to the boiling stage.

I just thought I'd give you a little glimpse into our little operation, and keep you posted as to our progress. I hesitate to give you any real instruction because this is new to us...so I recommend YouTube for detailed steps or getting in touch with a local Sugar Bush operations, whom I'm sure would be more than happy to help. We have some elevation here and could have used lines that feed into pails, but we were trying to keep our costs at a minimum this year. Perhaps we'll keep that in mind for next year depending on how this goes.

We set up 7 pails and I think we'll manage a couple more in the next couple days, once I identify a couple more maple trees. We drilled the holes, used a hammer to put in the taps then we set the pails on the hooks and voila! In no time we became a small scale, home use only, maple syrup producer. I am, to say the least, very excited and pretty pumped about our progress. 

 We started to see a couple of the trees run right away, which was very encouraging for the kids. This should be a pretty interesting time for us. It will be very fun to go on the tour of our local sugar bushes this year, and have a better appreciation for what they do.

Indoor Window Box

I'm starting to think spring...well, partly true. I've been pretty excited, because in our small section of the world, it's Maple Syrup Season!!! And for the first time, we will be tapping our trees in an effort to produce enough syrup to support our waffle habit, along with sharing a new experience with our kids, and hopefully providing some "authentic first time syrup producer" blogging!

As it is though, my lovely and adoring husband brought me home these beautiful, Gerbera daisies the other day...which is when I started thinking of spring, and at that point, and now every time I look in my front window and seem to get a little more anxious to see some buds on my trees (but not before I get all my sap!)

I thought that a little indoor window box would be the ideal place to showcase these daisies, and although it's very strait forward, I thought perhaps I could inspire someone else to welcome spring into their home too. 

This little piece is so easy because it doesn't require any transplanting....but you still won't see those terribly functional looking plastic pails they come from the store in.

I own this rather fantastic little packing box with some original stencilling on it, that I have had for probably 10 years, and really like it. It's a very nice size and I have used it for various things over the years. It is part of my very humble collection of ammunition boxes, and food crates that I've held onto for times like this. I also had on hand some styrofoam sundae bowls from the local dairy. I'll use those to put the flower pots in so they don't do any damage to my wooden box. Mine are a little dirty in the picture because I tried them first to make sure that my pots would fit correctly.

That's it....finish up...give them a good water. I put these in a north facing window, and I have to make sure to water mine everyday as we have wood heat and it get pretty dry in here. I'm not usually a very good gardener, I've had pretty bad experiences when it come to plants, but my recent success with some Yuccas (which I understand to be fool proof, so that seemed like a good place to start), has made me a little more confident. Hopefully I can keep these alive long enough to transplant them outside this spring.