Honey Root Beer

I don't drink a lot of soda but I do like to have homemade root beer. This recipe is a simple one but I'm hoping it produces a good product..

Homemade Root Beer

You will need a 1 gallon carboy or jug with a tight fitting lid. 

2 cups warm water

1 3/4 cups honey

1 1/2 ounces root beer extract

1/4 teaspoon dry bakers yeast

1 vanilla bean (optional)

Fill carboy half full with warm water. Add honey, extract and yeast. Swirl jug until honey and yeast are completely blended. Add vanilla bean and fill carboy to 1/2 inch from the top. Cap tightly. Allow mixture to ferment for in warm place, about 70 degrees for 24 hours. Refrigerate until cold. I like to place carboy in a open cooler and cover with a towel in case of leaks or breakages.

Honey! More than just a topping for peanut butter Sandwiches.

What is honey?
  Flowers secrete a liquid called nectar. Honey bees collect this nectar and bring it back to their hive where in a complex process they turn it into what we call honey. I think it is important to note and quite interesting that a single honey bee will produce only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey it its lifetime.  The bees in the hive will have to fly over 55,000 miles and visit over 2 million flowers to produce one pound of honey. The  accumulated work of approximately 768 bees.
  Honey is 80% sugar and 20% water compared to the nectar it started out as was 80% water and 20% sugar.  Bees produce this sweet concoction for food. A single hive can produce up to 400 pounds of honey, luckily this is more than the hive needs to survive so we can remove some from the hive and consume it ourselves.

Using Honey
  Honey is so much more then just a sweet topping to drizzle over peanut butter sandwich. You can use it sweeten anything. Honey flavor varies from batch to batch depending on what type of flower the bees are harvesting.  Generally, the lighter the honey, the milder its flavor.
  When cooking or using honey in a recipe you it's good to remember that unlike sugar honey adds a flavor to you food, so remember this when choosing what honey to use.  Honey also absorbs moisture, which enables baked goods to stay fresher longer. Being a liquid there are a few techniques which are helpful to use when using honey vs sugar.
 * substitute one cup honey for 1 cup sugar , but reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup.
* If you find honey to be too sweet reduce the amount. Use 3/4 cup honey to 1 cup sugar and reduce                    liquid by 3 tablespoons.
* When using honey instead of sugar in a recipe, bake the food longer and at a lower temp. 25 degrees lower than the original recipe calls for.
*Liquid honey works best in most recipes but crystallized honey can be used cup for cup for liquid honey. But crystallized honey tends to make baked goods denser.
*Honey is acidic. Add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey used to receive for baked goods. (Except yeast breads, because the leavening thrives in a slightly acidic  environment. )

   Since I've have a supply of honey coming from my back yard I've been using honey more often in cooking and as a sweetener. Over the next little while I will share recipes here that I've been trying honey in. Feel free to try them yourself and don't be afraid to comment on you thoughts and results.

Wood fired black berry pie.

As a child my family would go to the Oregon coast every summer. One of my favorite memories was picking wild black berries. I still go to the coast but I have my own black berry plant in my yard. I love using black berries in ice cream, jams, jellies and of course pie. I love to make pies and I find that cooking them in my smoker adds that little something you just can't get from an oven. Wood smoke gives every thing that little flavor that makes people say wow.
Black berry pie
Crust:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs sugar
Stir together and then cut in with pasty knife until small crumbs
1 cup shortening
Slowly add 2/3 cup water and stir with fork until you have a soft flakey dough.
Devide dough in half an roll each have out to form crust for pie. Place into pie plate and trim sides. Makes two crust.

Filling:
6 cups black berries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
Mix ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.  Add filling to pie crust.

Topping:
2 cups flour.
1 cup sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
1 stick butter softened
Mix flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until small crumbs. Spread over pie filling.
Cook pie in smoker  at 450 degrees for 40 min or until thick, bubbling and golden brown.
Remove from smoker and let cool.

Pure Liquid Sunshine

                                                      Pure Liquid Sunshine

  I have fallen in love with a bug. The incredible honeybee. The last few years I have picked up a new hobby. Beekeeping. I never thought that a insect could be so fascinating. I started out with a single hive and now I have four in may back yard and three more down at my store.



"Oh" did I forget to mention I also have a new Beekeeping business. My Friend Nate Hall and my father Mike Bachman and myself have opened a new beekeeping business for hobbyist. Deseret Hive Supply. (my wife Annessa is also an invaluable asset to the business. I get into these things and she is right there with me.) (Thank you for all you do I love you more than you will ever know)
The store
I guess I let my Hobie run away. We sale everything a hobbyist beekeeper needs to raise bees and harvest the wonderful liquid sunshine that they produce. Honey

I will have to post recipes using honey.

Smoked Pheasant stuffed baby bella's

2 Pheasant breast
favorite seasoning salt

10 baby Bella mushrooms
small onion
garlic
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Cajun spices
bread crumbs
butter

Season the Pheasant breast and place in smoker and smoke until done.

Remove stems from mushrooms and set aside. Rub mushrooms caps with butter and place on grilling pan or cookie sheet. Chop mushroom stems and place into bowl. Chop pheasant breast into tiny pieces. Place pheasant into the bowl with stems and mix with chopped onion and minced garlic. Mix in shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Season with Cajun spices and mix well.
Make small ball with pheasant mixture and push into each mushroom cap. Dip cap into bread crumbs seasoned with Cajun spices.
Place mushrooms in grill and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.

Grilled Steak and Lobster

I recently went Lobster hunting in the Florida Keys. I was able to bring home some fresh lobster tails and have some Friends over for Steak and Lobster.

The steak is up to you but here is how I prepared the Lobster.

Lobster Tails
1/4 cup of Butter
2 cloves of minced garlic
salt and pepper
Melt butter and mix in garlic, salt and pepper to taste.



Take the Lobster Tails and insert a skewer through the center from the base of the tail through the center of the meat. This will keep the tails from curling up when cooked. Take a pair of kitchen sheers and trim out the belly of the tail exposing the meat. Baste the meat with the prepared butter. Place the lobster tails on the grill and cook for 8 to 10 minutes per side.



Remove from grill and and serve.

Steak and Lobster Served with baked potatoes french bread and smoked pheasant stuffed baby Bella's

White Chocolate Cheesecake

This receipe is one of my favorites. They say good food takes time and this cake is no exception. It takes about 4 hours in prep and cooking time and then you have to refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Its worth every second.

First things First.
The Crust

1 1/2 cups vanilla waffers crumbs
4 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped
5 TB unsalted butter, melted

In a blender or food processor combine the vanilla waffers and white chocolate and process until well blended. Mix in butter. Wrap the oustside of a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil. Press the the crust into the bottom and up the sides of the pan then chill the crust in the refridgerator.

Filling
18 oz white chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese
1/2 cup vanilla sugar or sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
1 TB pure vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. set a shallow baking pan filled with water on the bottom rack of the oven.
Prepare the filling: In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream. Set aside to cool slightly.

In large bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time waiting until mixture is smoothe between eggs. Beat in the white chocolate cream and pour into the prepared pan.
Set the cheesecake on the center rack and bake for 1 hour. Reduce the heat to 250 degrees and bake for 1 hour longer. Without opening the oven, turn off the heat but leave cake in the oven for 1 hour. 3 hours total cooking time. Remove the cake and cool on a wire rack for 30 min.

White chocolate Ganache
8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 TB unsalted butter
In a small sauce pan bring the cream and butter to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the white chocolate, cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth let cool to room temperature and pour the ganache over the cheesecake. Tipping the cheese cake to cover entire top. refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 8 hours.Garnish the cheesecake with fresh rapberries and serve with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce
12 oz frozen raspberries thawed
1/4 cup sugar
1 TB orange juice concentrate
In small pan drain berries through a seive. Pressing gently remove as much juice as possible. Simmer juice until reduced. Add sugar and orange juice concentrate. With a wooden spoon press teh raspberries through the stainer into the bowl. Stir to combine. Cool. Drizzel sauce over cheesecake and serve