Breakfast Recipe #2 Delicious & Healthy Zucchini Raisin Muffins & Asheville Girls Vanilla Giveaway

It's Breakfast Recipe Week at The Egg Basket with an amazing Giveaway from Asheville Girls Vanilla!  Today's recipe is Delicious & Healthy Zucchini Raisin Muffins! 

 

Welcome to Day 2 of our Breakfast Recipe Week with Asheville Girls Vanilla's Vanilla Giveaway!  Don't forget, there are four easy-peasy ways to enter at the bottom of this post!

Today's recipe is one of my "go-to" breakfast items.  It's not only great for breakfast but perfect for picnics, bento lunches, even the beach.  When everyone else was fighting sandwiches at the beach this past summer, I had our Zucchini Raisin Muffins, cheese sticks, and fruit. They're delicious and nutritious as well!  Don't be fooled by the healthy label~ it's one of my kids' favorite muffins!

Chance made the last batch of Zucchini Raisin Muffins himself and I have to admit, they were even fluffier than mine!  You can also put the batter from this recipe in a bread pan and make a warm, comforting loaf instead of muffins!  Without further ado, our recipe!

Zucchini Raisin Muffins

2 cups grated or pureed zucchini
3 eggs
2 cups honey (you may also substitute maple syrup.  We have also cut the honey in half with good results if you'd like to cut back but we find it best with the two cups)
1 cup oil
3 teaspoons Vanilla ~ We use Asheville Girls Organic Vanilla!
2 cups Wheat Flour
1 cup Unbleached All Purpose White Flour
1/2 cup Wheat Germ
3 TBL Ground Flax Seed
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
3 tsp Cinnamon
1/2- 3/4 cup Raisins (we like a LOT)

Now, there are two ways to start this.  I'm all about convenience with homeschooling 3 kids, a small farm, home, etc.  I put the peeled zucchini in my food processor, grate/puree it and then add all of my wet ingredients to the food processor and "mix" it right in there before adding it to my dry.  Conventionally, you'd grate the zucchini then add it to a bowl then mix in your wet ingredients.  Either way works.

 

In a mixing bowl, add grated zucchini, eggs, honey, oil, and vanilla.  Blend together.  In a separate bowl, add your flours, wheat germ, ground flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and mix.  Stir your wet ingredients into the dry and mix together until all of the dry ingredients are wet but don't over mix.  Fold in raisins. 

Bake in greased muffin tins (or bread pan, mini loaf pan) at 350 degrees until done, when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
For muffins I bake for 20-25 minutes
For bread it takes closer to 45-60 minutes.

This is a pretty generous recipe.  I normally will start with 12 muffins and while they cook I pour the rest of the batter into a bread pan.  This gives the kids fast muffins for breakfast and a bread loaf I can use for lunch the next day, dinner that night, or freeze for later use.  This recipe freezes VERY well.  Simply allow to cool and then freeze in freezer bags. Thaw it out in your refrigerator when you're ready for it.  I like to keep several loaves frozen. 

Now, another day, another chance to win that AMAZING Asheville Girls Vanilla!

Remember, to enter you only need to "Like" The Egg Basket on Facebook, "Like" Asheville Girls Vanilla on Facebook, Follow Our Blog (yep! The one you're reading right now!), and Leave comments on any of our Breakfast Week Recipes Posts this week!  That's it! Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love,

Breakfast Recipes Week & Asheville Girls Vanilla Giveaway

Welcome to The Egg Basket's Breakfast Recipes Week Featuring an Asheville Girls Vanilla Giveaway

 

Last week I mentioned how much I LOVE baking with the Asheville Girls Organic Vanilla so this week I'm going to share my favorite Breakfast Recipes each day that require (Farm) Fresh Eggs & (Asheville Girls) Vanilla!  Along with that, the generous and kind ladies of Asheville Girls Vanilla have offered my readers a couple FREE bottle of  their awesome, organic Vanilla for a sweet Giveaway!  Entering the Giveaway is Oh, So Simple!  Just "Like" The Egg Basket and Asheville Girls Vanilla on Facebook and you've earned yourself two entries!   Now, that was easy, right?  Want to earn MORE entries another easy way?  Okay then!  Follow THIS blog (yep, right here, the one you're already reading!) to earn more entries, then leave a comment (because I so love to hear from you'll!)  on any or all of the Breakfast Recipes this week, try them, let me know how you like (or don't like) them and earn yourself MORE entries!  The contest will run from today through NEXT Monday to give everyone the weekend to try out some of these amazing recipes! 

Okay~ so, without anymore chit chat from me, here's today's first Breakfast Recipe!

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

I mentioned this breakfast coffee cake on Facebook last week and received a very positive response and requests for the recipe.  Since I'm delayed in getting it typed up and posted for my lovely readers, I think I owe you more than one!  With that thought in mind, I'm also going to be posting yet ANOTHER deliciously warm, sweet, and comforting coffee cake later this week for your baking pleasures!  It's started out as a snowy, cold Spring here in Virginia- perfect weather for these morning delights!

 

I'm very pleased to say the kids gave this Buttermilk Blueberry Coffee Cake a solid thumbs up on the taste test and I'm pleased I was able to add whole wheat, blueberries, flax seed, and wheat germ to their morning meal to start their day off right!

 

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

 

1/2 cup butter or margarine

Zest from 1 Lemon

7/8 Cup Sugar + 1 T sugar

1 Egg (of course we use our Farm Fresh Eggs for the extra healthy, fluffy cakes)

1 tsp. Vanilla (we prefer Organic Vanilla and I LOVE the Asheville Girls Vanilla)

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup All Purpose Unbleached Flour
1/3 cup Wheat Germ
3 Tbl ground Flax Seed
2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

3/4 cup of buttermilk

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.  Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of the all purpose flour.
4. Whisk the remaining flours, wheat germ, flax seed, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.
5. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time alternating with the buttermilk.  Fold in the blueberries.
4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or similar pan) with non-stick spray (we use organic).  Spread the batter into the pan.  Sprinkle the batter with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.  Bake for 35 -45 minutes.  Ours took the entire 45 minutes but definitely check with a toothpick for doneness at 35 minutes.  You don't want to burn your delicious breakfast!

Step 5 ? Enter the contest of course! 
a Rafflecopter giveaway  



Breakfast Recipes Week & an Asheville Girls Vanilla Giveaway!

 

That's right, you read it correctly!  If you follow us on Facebook, you saw our delicious coffee cake photos last week and the French bread we baked yesterday morning.  So many Facebook readers requested the coffee cake recipes, we decided to make a week of it!  Each day next week (Monday-Friday) we will post a YUMMY breakfast recipe!  All of the breakfast recipes will include eggs (preferably Farm Fresh if you have them for the best taste!) and Vanilla.  Our new favorite cooking product is the Asheville Girls Vanilla!  It's organic, pure, and from a small business like ourselves which is so important to us!  The ladies are sweethearts to boot!  They're SO sweet, in fact, they're offering some of our lucky readers a FREE bottle of this tasty baking staple!  I kid you not folks, my baking has tasted better since I began using this Vanilla. 

 

How can you enter this great giveaway?  Starting Monday, I'll set up the contest and you can earn entries by doing the following:

Like Us on Facebook,

Like Asheville Girls Vanilla on Facebook,

Follow Our Blog,

Try some of the Breakfast recipes I post next week and leave comments about them.  Good or bad, it's okay, just give them a try and let me know how you like them.  I'm leaving the contest open through next weekend to give everyone an opportunity to get the most entries in they can.  Trust me, you're going to LOVE this Vanilla.  I can't bake with anything else now!  My son, Chance said to me, "Mom, you've been on a roll since you got that new Vanilla!" Out of the mouth of babes, right?

 

 

First up on Monday is this crazy good Buttermilk Blueberry Coffee Cake!  You've got to try this one, Chance called it, "AMAZING!"  What can I say, my boy loves to eat!

Have a blessed weekend!  See you'll Monday!

Welcome Spring with a New Chick!

Welcome Spring!  We welcomed Spring here at The Egg Basket with some new arrivals yesterday!  We're still staggering hatches indoors using our incubators and hatchers but we also had a great Spring surprise outdoors! 

Amy and Autumn have been brooding (sitting) on eggs in their nest box together for just about 3 weeks.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect for a new Spring baby chick!  As you can see from the photo to the left, we spotted a pipped egg on Tuesday morning when Autumn hopped up for her morning food and water.  The hens rarely leave the nests and Autumn and Amy take turns with their once a day meals.  I hopped in quickly to check on them since I knew I wouldn't have long to peek and managed to snap this photo.  We were excited and worried because these two ladies were our first broody pair of hens to successfully sit so long.  The fact that they were sitting together added to me nervousness for the safety and health of the chick.

 

As you can see from THIS photo, we had nothing to worry about.  Little Ver (Latin for Spring) hatched just fine with his mamas and was moving around and on them in their nest box yesterday.  Once again, I timed it to hop in their run and peek while Autumn was out and found the little guy (after trying several times throughout the day and not being able to see him between BOTH hens).  When they're both in the nest box and we try to look they somehow move him between them and back behind Amy's right wing so we can't see him.  With Autumn out of the box I could just spot him, I gently lifted Amy's wing and his curious little head popped right up!  He's just beautiful!

As Ver ran around the front of Amy she gave me a nice warning growl that let me know I had overstayed my welcome.  I noticed that Autumn started heading back towards the coop at the sound of Amy's growl also and I wanted to ensure she ate and drank all she needed so I quickly shut the nesting box and left their run.  I don't want to disturb or upset the hens too much, we still have 6-7 other eggs under them.  I'm trying to time it perfect today to head out during the afternoon snack time when hopefully one or the other of the ladies will be off the nest again.  I need to see if any of the other eggs have pipped or hatched by now.  It's always excited to hatch eggs but there's something special about watching these hens do it all themselves with no intervention or help from us, just the way God intended.  I think Ver might be our prettiest chick yet...but don't tell the others!

Many Blessings,

The Egg Basket is published, as a contributor in "Must Love Chickens"

 

The Egg Basket is published in Erin Kelly's book, "Must Love Chickens" available at Amazon.com!

It's official! We're published!  The Egg Basket is pleased to announce Erin Kelly's book, "Must Love Chickens" has been released.  We're a contributing author and photographer to the book and very excited about it!  It's inexpensive ($2.99) and full of ideas and information from us and other knowledgeable chicken keepers from different perspectives.  Go download yours today!

Incubating & Hatching Eggs Part 2- Candling Eggs

Hatching & Incubating Eggs Part 2

Candling Your Eggs

 

In my first incubating post I talked about setting up your incubator properly and starting your eggs.  Around Day 7 for white or light eggs and Day 10 for brown and darker eggs you'll want to candle the eggs to check for fertility. 

 

There are many quality candlers on the market in a wide price range.

 

Many breeders and backyard hatchers, including us, also build their own egg candlers.  There are several great plans online for building simple candlers.  Here are a few I've found.

Mother Earth News (one of my favorite sites by the way) has a great post on building a candler from a coffee can here.

Instructables has a simple candler you can build from a small light, paper towel tube, and some electrical tape here.  

Urban Chicken Coops has a video on how to make a wooden box candler (a bit more on the handyman side but really nice) here.

Candling your eggs early from the 7-10 day mark can help you determine growth and fertility in your eggs.  It's also important so that you can make more room in your incubator or hatcher if you're incubating staggered hatches (post on how to stagger hatches next week), ensuring you keep bacteria down and protect the developing eggs, and to check on how well you're incubator is set up and running for proper conditions. 

 

The picture above is of an infertile egg.  You can tell because it will shine like a lightbulb, clear throughout.  I was so worried and nervous about throwing ANY eggs out in the beginning that I wouldn't throw them out at the 7 day mark but would wait and candle them again in another week.  This proved to be fine for us- no exploding eggs in the incubator that early.  I've heard others say they will but our PERSONAL experience is they haven't.  Once you get the hang of it and have fertile eggs, it becomes much easier to throw out these that are infertile because there's a significant different in them after you've practiced.  The egg above was infertile and we did throw it out.  Sometimes on the darker eggs - our blues and dark browns it can be harder to tell, especially if this is your first hatch so you can wait for your next candling.

This picture shows what's called a "blood ring" unfortunately.  A blood ring forms after an embryo has begun to grow, so the egg WAS fertile, but for some reason it dies.  Oftentimes, a bacteria has somehow entered the egg, or it could be caused from rough handling or a defect in the embryo.  It's a sign that the embryo is no longer alive and best to remove these from the incubator to prevent any contamination to the other eggs. 

 

Here is an example of a "good" egg.  It's a typical fertile, living embryo with normal development.  If you look closely you can see the veins appearing on the large part of the egg.  You can also see the dark space at the small end of the egg.  Hopefully, this is what you will mostly see at this point. 

Be gentle with your eggs.  You do not want to shake them or keep them out of the incubator too long.  You also do not want to keep your incubator open very long or continue to open and shut it.  The most successful eggs are those that are left alone!  Candle them carefully and quickly and place them back into your incubator.  Keep in mind what we discussed in the first post about losing humidity and reducing your temperature from opening the incubator.  If any water needs to be added for low humidity, now is the time to do it while you have the incubator already opened.  I like to gather everything together before I even touch the incubator.  I get warm water (if needed), my candler, and a washcloth (in case I spill because I'm a klutz!) all set on my table by my incubator before I lift the lid.

Place your fertile eggs and those you're unsure of and want to keep incubating back into your incubator and once again, leave it alone.  Keep an eye on your temperature and humidity as before.  For circulated air incubators keep a constant temperature of 99.5 and 102 for still air incubators.  For the first 1-17 days, remember, you'll want to keep your humidity between 40-55%. 

 

Many breeders will candle their eggs again around Day 14.  This is a good idea, especially for those eggs you were uncertain of.  It will also reveal any eggs that "quit" some time between Day 7 and then.  It's a good measure for beginners to assess thier incubator conditions also.  If you lose several eggs between Day 7-14 then you'll know you need to make adjustments on your incubator.  As with Day 7, gather your materials ahead of time and be certain to replace the eggs pointed or small end down so as not to have your chicks pipping at the wrong end of the egg. 

We use an incubator for days 1-17 and then transfer our eggs to a hatcher.  I gently and quickly candle my eggs again at this point because of my limited hatcher space.  Generally, this is not necessary if you are hatching and incubating in the same incubator.   The egg you see above is a fertile egg on Day 17 right before I moved it into our hatcher. 

On Day 18, remove your eggs from the egg turner if you're using one.  If you're manually turning, stop turning them.  Add water as needed to increase your humidity to 65-70% for hatching.  You've now entered the Lockdown phase.  Check out our next post, Incubating & Hatching Eggs Part 3 for more information and tips on humidity and hatching.  Happy incubating!

Blessings,

 

 

**Urgent** Lost Silkie from Nationals in Newnan

*MISSING* Judy Lee's Paint Hen; wearing pink leg band #13. She went missing during the poultry show at Newnan, GA.

 

 

 

Friends I could really use your help!! My dear friend, Judy Lee, who is THE CREATOR of the American Paint Silkie has lost her BEST Paint Silkie at the Newnan Show. She is the best she's every had after 10+ years of breeding the paints to make them better and better so we can all enjoy them, some jerk has stolen her beloved Penelope right from her trailer at the show. If you are near N...ewnan or anywhere between there and TN please keep your eyes open. The chicken community is a small world and we need to help this beautiful, compassionate, giving Chicken Mama try to get her baby back! She is an amazing, generous person and for someone to do this to her of all people just ticks me off! No questions asked if Penelope is returend safely, she just wants her baby back! Please help!!

Love ♥ ~