Description:
One of the recipes posted on Self Sufficient Group. Original post on Examiner dot com.
By: Elizabeth Jones, Nashville Budget Meals Examiner
Eating out is one of the first things to go when cutting the budget, but you don’t have to sacrifice a decadent dessert just because you’re eating at home. Velvet Chocolate Cake is a simple little concoction that has a velvety texture and a delightfully full chocolate flavor that encompasses the senses and is in a word; simply perfect! The texture is smooth and silky; the flavor a robust chocolate without any bitterness and it is a snap to prepare!
Ingredients:
* ¾ cup milk chocolate chips (Ghirardelli preferably)
* ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli preferably)
* 6 tablespoons butter (no substitutes)
* 3 tablespoon flour
* 3 eggs separated
* 4 tablespoons sugar
* ¼ teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Melt chocolate chips and butter together either over a double boiler or in the microwave.
Stir until smooth.
Stir in flour and baking powder, stir well until sooth.
Blend in egg yolks one at a time, blending well after each.
Beat egg whites till foamy.
Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time being sure to beat well after each.
Beat egg whites till soft peaks form, do not over beat.
Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture and gently but completely combine.
Pour into an 8 inch cake pan that has been buttered and floured.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes check for doneness, a broom straw or cake tester should come out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. Most likely the cake will need to bake for about 5 more minutes but keep a very close eye on it, you do not want this cake to over bake!
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn over onto a cake rack and allow to cool upside down on cake rack till cool. You may need to tap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to gently dislodge the cake if it does not release on its own.
Glaze with Chocolate glaze recipe below.
Chocolate Glaze
* ¾ cup milk chocolate chips
* ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 to 2 tablespoons water
Melt chips and then add butter, blend until smooth.
Add one tablespoon of water and blend well, if glaze is thin enough to pour then glaze done. If glaze is still too thick to pour then add a little at a time of the remaining tablespoon of water till glaze is the consistency you desire.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ranch Log: Catching up on Ranch Chores and Projects.
It's been 3 days since I've done any ranch chores while I was a the Marianas Grazing and Livestock Academy Workshops at the university. After I did my morning checks this morning and pastured out the goats to the South Side. I looked over my chores and projects list. There's a lot. Work on the ranch never stops. I finished off the chores in the morning and after lunch, worked on some emergency projects.
I fixed my wind damaged canopy to my ranch shack. I didn't use bungees to stretch it out and resecure it to the poles. I just used some 1/4 inch plastic yellow rope to secure it to the poles. It looked good with the weaving going back and forth from the canopy to the poles. I'll have to get more yellow rope to finish off the arched ends.
I planted another Saba Banana tree on the South Side. I had pulled this sucker from it's mother on Tuesday. I meant to transplant it that same day but had other issues to deal with. So I placed it under the ranch shack for the mean time. Today, I planted it or else I may never get to it.
I cut some brown coconuts open for the free range poultry and the two ranch pups. It's amazing how fast the chickens, guineas, and duck come over when I start cutting open the coconuts with the axe. I opened about 8 and placed them at strategic locations on the ranch. So all of the poultry will get a chance to get their fill. I gave the two pups their coconut halves. Yes, my ranch pups eat coconuts. I don't know where they learned to eat, but they like eating it. So when ever I cut coconuts open, I make sure the pups get their share. Or, they'll be chasing the poultry away to get their coconuts. Strange dogs, I have.
I scouted out the South Side, looking for a place to plant my improved Tangantangan trees from Australia. I think their called, Lucena Tambara. A new develped species for livestock forage. The seeds I have are not going to be for forage. It's for me to collect seeds to plant. I'll have to protect these trees from the goats. I'll plant it tomorrow.
Keep Smiling
I fixed my wind damaged canopy to my ranch shack. I didn't use bungees to stretch it out and resecure it to the poles. I just used some 1/4 inch plastic yellow rope to secure it to the poles. It looked good with the weaving going back and forth from the canopy to the poles. I'll have to get more yellow rope to finish off the arched ends.
I planted another Saba Banana tree on the South Side. I had pulled this sucker from it's mother on Tuesday. I meant to transplant it that same day but had other issues to deal with. So I placed it under the ranch shack for the mean time. Today, I planted it or else I may never get to it.
I cut some brown coconuts open for the free range poultry and the two ranch pups. It's amazing how fast the chickens, guineas, and duck come over when I start cutting open the coconuts with the axe. I opened about 8 and placed them at strategic locations on the ranch. So all of the poultry will get a chance to get their fill. I gave the two pups their coconut halves. Yes, my ranch pups eat coconuts. I don't know where they learned to eat, but they like eating it. So when ever I cut coconuts open, I make sure the pups get their share. Or, they'll be chasing the poultry away to get their coconuts. Strange dogs, I have.
I scouted out the South Side, looking for a place to plant my improved Tangantangan trees from Australia. I think their called, Lucena Tambara. A new develped species for livestock forage. The seeds I have are not going to be for forage. It's for me to collect seeds to plant. I'll have to protect these trees from the goats. I'll plant it tomorrow.
Keep Smiling
Friday, January 29, 2010
Now my back is hurting really bad from the base of my neck to my lower back. Feels tight with lots of pressure on my spine. have a slight fever too. The cold AC the last couple of days, with the hard breeze today, just chilled me to the bone. Took both my back pain meds, but still hurting. I can't have this...I'm fighting back...mentally and spiritually.
Marianas Grazing and Livestock Management Academy: Day 3
The class spent the day at the San Agustin Ranch in Dededo going over most of what we were taught in the classroom into practice. We were shown the proper techniques on how to correctly obtain soil samples on the pasture or paddock. How to get grass samples, which is similar to getting soil samples.
It started raining right after we arrived at the ranch demo site. We had an impromptu information session at the ranch house, while the rain squall passed. I was able to see the per for the Muscovy ducks and the goat herd. Later one, we were able to see the cattle.
We saw the different types of grasses on pasture, what an actual forb looked like, and compared the different typed of grasses in the pasture. We calculated stocking rates for certain pastures and did a pasture walk to see the cattle herd at the far end. There is a lot of things to take into consideration when raising livestock.
At the demo site, we watched as the team demonstrated proper techniques when using the 3 gallon backpack for spraying herbicides, the different types of herbicides in their respective containers and safety gear. What was neat was seeking the parasite egg under the microscope at 1000x, that was taken from goat manure sample.
There was some snacks and drinks brought down by the host rancher. Later a whole spread for lunch was brought down. That was something. Really good chow. We took some group pictures and received our certificates. At the end of the day.
It was a great workshop. I'm looking forward to the next one, in August. I'm going to looking closely at what the ranchers in the U.S. Virgin Islands are doing. .
It started raining right after we arrived at the ranch demo site. We had an impromptu information session at the ranch house, while the rain squall passed. I was able to see the per for the Muscovy ducks and the goat herd. Later one, we were able to see the cattle.
We saw the different types of grasses on pasture, what an actual forb looked like, and compared the different typed of grasses in the pasture. We calculated stocking rates for certain pastures and did a pasture walk to see the cattle herd at the far end. There is a lot of things to take into consideration when raising livestock.
At the demo site, we watched as the team demonstrated proper techniques when using the 3 gallon backpack for spraying herbicides, the different types of herbicides in their respective containers and safety gear. What was neat was seeking the parasite egg under the microscope at 1000x, that was taken from goat manure sample.
There was some snacks and drinks brought down by the host rancher. Later a whole spread for lunch was brought down. That was something. Really good chow. We took some group pictures and received our certificates. At the end of the day.
It was a great workshop. I'm looking forward to the next one, in August. I'm going to looking closely at what the ranchers in the U.S. Virgin Islands are doing. .
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Marianas Grazing and Livestock Management Academy: Day 2
Today, the AC was just as cold as yesterday in the classroom. I was wearing jeans, long sleeve, and boots. Yet, the AC still chilled me. Stood in the sun in the courtyard of the CALS building to get warm during breaks and lunch.
The information decimated today was on above of what I had expected. I enjoyed listening to each workshop topic. This morning the presentations included: Basic Principals of Weed Management; Livestock Health-Pinkeye, Bloat, and Foot Rot; and Field Fecal Examination for Diagnosis of Parasitic Infections.
We received a little history on the use of herbicides and how it has come full circle since the early days of herbicidal use. Where animals were used for weed control, then potent chemicals, to safer chemicals, and then back to animals using multi-species grazing to control weeds. Most of the health care issues taught this morning also related to small ruminants which I am familiar with. Most of the fecal exams, I already knew. What was interesting to me was the new field microscope and centrifugal machine that the presenter showed us. I'll have to invest in one a set of those. But it was still great to hear a different perspective to what I already knew.
A couple of the women ranchers brought snacks and lunch for the attendees and presenters. That was really nice and cool of them. The breads were homemade Sun Flower Seed and Sweet Onion Bread. The Sun Flower Bread tasted really good. The Sweet Onion Bread...well, it was a blessing and I ate it...that's all I'm going to say.
The afternoon we touched on topics: Beef Quality and Marketing; Breed Characteristics of Beef Cattle, Animal Science 101, and End of Seminar Survey. It was great to see the standard that Hawaii is using for it's Grass Fed Beef Industry. Most of the work was done by the cattle association in Hawaii. All we have to do on the Marianas Islands is to follow their approach and tweak it to our advantage.
The next topic surprised me. I thought I was well versed on the different cattle breeds, especially the Continental or Western Breeds the Bos Taurus and the Asian Breed the Bos Indicus. Like you, I knew of Angus Charolais, Hereford, Simmental from the Bos Taurus. Then the Brahma, Beefmaster, Brangus, and Santa Gertrudis. I was surprised to learn of a breed that was developed in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the early 1900's called the Senepol. The traits for the Senepol is exactly what the Marianas Islands needs for our growing cattle industry.
Animals Science 101 was basically definitions. That's a needed workshop to get all the producers and presenters on the same page when talking about cattle or livestock. They should have really put that topic at the beginning of the seminar.
The last topic was just our end of summary questions rating what we would like to see in future workshops. The Academy Team will be back this Fall for another series of workshops. This is a two year project, and their trying to extend it for a couple of more years.
In the meantime between workshops, I'm going to help get the Guahan Livestock Association get started on Guam. The Northern Marianas Islands are already ahead of us in getting started. We need an organization to help the local ranchers with new information and techniques that are working on similar climates and geography. I was also invited to be on the Advisory team for the MGL Academy.
We have one more day of class. Tomorrow, we'll be doing some field work at a ranch in Dededo Village.
Keep Smiling
The information decimated today was on above of what I had expected. I enjoyed listening to each workshop topic. This morning the presentations included: Basic Principals of Weed Management; Livestock Health-Pinkeye, Bloat, and Foot Rot; and Field Fecal Examination for Diagnosis of Parasitic Infections.
We received a little history on the use of herbicides and how it has come full circle since the early days of herbicidal use. Where animals were used for weed control, then potent chemicals, to safer chemicals, and then back to animals using multi-species grazing to control weeds. Most of the health care issues taught this morning also related to small ruminants which I am familiar with. Most of the fecal exams, I already knew. What was interesting to me was the new field microscope and centrifugal machine that the presenter showed us. I'll have to invest in one a set of those. But it was still great to hear a different perspective to what I already knew.
A couple of the women ranchers brought snacks and lunch for the attendees and presenters. That was really nice and cool of them. The breads were homemade Sun Flower Seed and Sweet Onion Bread. The Sun Flower Bread tasted really good. The Sweet Onion Bread...well, it was a blessing and I ate it...that's all I'm going to say.
The afternoon we touched on topics: Beef Quality and Marketing; Breed Characteristics of Beef Cattle, Animal Science 101, and End of Seminar Survey. It was great to see the standard that Hawaii is using for it's Grass Fed Beef Industry. Most of the work was done by the cattle association in Hawaii. All we have to do on the Marianas Islands is to follow their approach and tweak it to our advantage.
The next topic surprised me. I thought I was well versed on the different cattle breeds, especially the Continental or Western Breeds the Bos Taurus and the Asian Breed the Bos Indicus. Like you, I knew of Angus Charolais, Hereford, Simmental from the Bos Taurus. Then the Brahma, Beefmaster, Brangus, and Santa Gertrudis. I was surprised to learn of a breed that was developed in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the early 1900's called the Senepol. The traits for the Senepol is exactly what the Marianas Islands needs for our growing cattle industry.
Animals Science 101 was basically definitions. That's a needed workshop to get all the producers and presenters on the same page when talking about cattle or livestock. They should have really put that topic at the beginning of the seminar.
The last topic was just our end of summary questions rating what we would like to see in future workshops. The Academy Team will be back this Fall for another series of workshops. This is a two year project, and their trying to extend it for a couple of more years.
In the meantime between workshops, I'm going to help get the Guahan Livestock Association get started on Guam. The Northern Marianas Islands are already ahead of us in getting started. We need an organization to help the local ranchers with new information and techniques that are working on similar climates and geography. I was also invited to be on the Advisory team for the MGL Academy.
We have one more day of class. Tomorrow, we'll be doing some field work at a ranch in Dededo Village.
Keep Smiling
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