Cooking with Chicken of the Woods- Laetiporus sulphureus

Laetiporus sulphureus, are commonly known as sulphur shelf, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom, or the chicken fungus because many think they taste like chicken.  As a vegetarian, i can't say i really remember what chicken taste like, but it has a texture that is similar to chicken making it really versatile and easy to use as a replacement in any chicken recipe.

This year we've really been enjoying it. We have found 4 large chicken of the woods harvests so far, and are still watching a couple logs that usually fruit. We picked way more than we could eat at one time, so we froze a ton of it.  The easiest way to preserve chicken of the woods is to freeze it.  Some folks cook it first and others just clean it and put it right in the freezer.  i wasn't sure of which way would work the best, (having never froze it before) so i froze some raw and froze some cooked (cut up strips and sauteed in butter).  Once we have a chance to use it, i'll have a better idea of which method i prefer.

While we had fresh Chicken of the Woods on hand, we feasted on it every day!  Below are a few of my favorite ways to eat it.

'Chicken' fried Steak with mushroom gravy.  This is really just chicken of the woods breaded and fried and covered in gravy.  My kids prefers to dip it in ketchup like nuggets, but the husband and i enjoy it like this.  i served it with homegrown beans, potatoes and fresh picked berries.

Basic recipe-  Clean the chicken of the woods by brushing it off and lightly wash it if needed and cut off any bad/tough spots.  Dip in seasoned flour, then dip in egg wash (egg beaten with a little water) then dip in seasoned breadcrumbs.  Fry both sides until golden brown. Transfer to plates and top with mushroom gravy. 

Mushroom gravy-  

2 1/2 TBSP butter, 

1 cup fresh mushrooms  (i used a combination of oysters, black trumpets, chanterelles and shiitake)

 1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

2 tbsp Tamari 

pepper.

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and cook until soft. Add flour and mix about 30 seconds; then add broth slowly while whisking. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add tamari and pepper to taste. Cook until gravy achieves desired thickness

We enjoyed a lot of the Chicken of the woods breaded and fried, and then i had the idea to stuff it.

OMGoodness it is so good. i don't have an actual recipe for this, but it's easy enough to do. 

 i cooked some spinach, drained it well and mixed with mozzarella and feta.  Took two pieces of super fresh chicken of the woods that had been trimmed to similar sizes. put a scoop of the mix on one piece, add sliced tomato and then topped with the other piece.

Once i had a few of these sandwiched Chickens together, i breaded and fried them like above.  Dip each 'sandwich' in seasoned flour, then dip in egg wash (egg beaten with a little water) then dip in seasoned breadcrumbs.  Fry both sides until golden brown and transfer into a baking/casserole dish. Once the dish was filled up, i covered it with tin foil and baked it about 20 min. at 385f.  i did this to make sure the chicken of the woods cooked all the way through and the cheese was melty.  This is probably one of my favorite ways to eat it, but it is a bit time consuming to make.

For lunch, i made 'Chicken' salad sandwiches. i diced up the Chicken of the woods mushroom and simmered it in vegetable broth until it was super tender and had absorbed much of the broth.  From there you can use it  just like chicken in your favorite chicken salad recipe. Having never really made chicken salad before, i just added diced onion, diced swiss chard stems (i don't like celery), mayo a little mustard and salt and pepper. Served it on a bun with homegrown lettuce and tomato.  Fresh cucumber, carrots and peaches from the garden.

Another favorite  (and quick) way to prepare it is as BBQ sandwiches. If your Chicken of the woods is really fresh, it will shred just like chicken. If it's dry and crumbling you may want to cut it into slices and simmer it in some broth until it softens up.  i take my freshly shredded Chicken of the woods and add to a pan with a little olive oil, cook over medium heat until it starts browning a bit and then add your favorite BBQ sauce.  Serve on a toasted bun with caramelized onions and cheese. 

There are a ton of recipes out there for Chicken of the woods,it really is super versatile. It's a very firm mushroom and doesn't really get slimy like many other mushrooms do.  Besides the recipes above, i've used it to make 'chicken' pot pie, 'chicken' quesadillas, Fried 'chicken'  more! 

Do you have a favorite Chicken of the Woods recipe? i'd love to hear it! 

Help Grow the Rebellion with Rebel Gardens! Review and Giveaway!

"Rebel Gardens is about invoking the spirit of WW2 Victory Gardens. But this time we grow not to support a war but to support a Rebellion. The industrial food system is slowly destroying our health and we are not going to take it anymore. Plant a seed with us and grow the rebellion! "

On the surface Rebel Gardens is just a seed company. But under the surface they are actually something a little different.  Their real goal isn't just selling seeds, the real goal is undermining the industrial food system. In a nutshell they believe that our modern food system is not healthy for our bodies, for our planet, for anything really and they we want to be a part of the solution.

Yesterday, we had a Snow day!! What better day to go through my seeds and start planning out my gardens. This year i'm trying to put more of a focus on planting for pollinators. Our honey bees need more flowers! i'm turning one of my vegetable garden beds into a flower bed and am including more caterpillar host plants. Herbs like dill, parsley and fennel are great for the Black Swallowtails. The flowering herbs are all great for the bees!

Rebel Gardens offers a Culinary Variety pack that contains 10 packages of  organic herb seeds. Their seeds are certified organic, non-gmo, heirloom and USA grown and packed!

Rebel Gardens is growing company out of Canby, OR that offers organic, Non GMO, Heirloom Seeds. i got the herb collection, which has a really nice variety of different herbs. -They also offer several different collections.  The Survival pack is probably the best deal. It has 28 packs of seeds for $29.99, but there is a coupon code that drops it down to $19.99. That's less than $1 per pack for organic heirloom garden seeds! 

The Generous folks at Rebel Gardens have offered a Survival Garden-Organic Seed Bank collection to one of my readers!  This collection features 28 packs of organic, heirloom, non-gmo vegetable and flower seeds.   

Can't wait for the giveaway? You can purchase the Survival Garden Collection here.  Be sure to clip the coupon code to save 35% off you purchase! 

Now for the giveaway!

 One lucky reader will win the Survival Garden Collection.

Enter below using the rafflecopter form (it might take a minute to load). One entry per person/IP address. US only. The winner will have 48 hours to respond by email or another winner may be chosen

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disclaimer. i did not receive compensation for this post, however i did receive a free product to review in exchange for my opinion. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way. This post may contain affiliate links.

What's Growing? Garden News- First Week of May

Garden season has officially started. My last possible frost date was Mother's Day weekend. i have a lot of crops that were planted very early in the spring that are ready for harvest, and my summer crops have almost all been started in the green house so i haven't been in a huge hurry to get them into the ground.

At the end of April, first week of May my lettuce was really starting to come in. i have it planted both outside and in the greenhouse, so once the greenhouse lettuce is gone, the lettuce in the garden should be ready. 

i have many different varieties of lettuce. They grew really well in the greenhouse in the early spring, but it's starting to get a bit too hot for them now. They haven't bittered yet, but with the rising temperatures they will be soon.  i have the vents open, but really need to set the fan back up to keep the air circulated and temperatures below 100.

Blueberries are looking good this year. i have a couple bushes again this year, with no berries on them, but the majority of bushes are totally loaded. i ran out of blueberries (freezer) a few weeks ago and i'm eager to fill my freezer back up with them. We love having a freezer full of blueberries to use in muffins, pancakes and cakes. i don't think we could ever have too many blueberries.

i planted about a dozen broccoli this year, but may have planted it too early again. Several have buttoned and the rest look a bit stunted. i think this is from the temps being 80 degrees one week, then 16 degrees the next. Broccoli usually does better in the fall, but i always try it in the spring anyhow. 

Outside under row covers i have lots of spring mix leaf lettuce and spinach is coming in well.  Spinach really prefers the cool weather so i'm expecting it to start bolting soon. i have more planted in a more shaded area, so i'm hoping it keeps producing a while longer.  

So far it's been a good spring. Still getting asparagus and eggs, and lots of leafy greens.

This week i'll working on getting my garden planted. Almost everything was started in the greenhouse and had a good head start. i actually haven't done any garden planning so i really need to sit down and figure out where i'm going to put everything.  We moved the potatoes this year into a different garden, so i lost that garden space. We are trying corn in the old potato bed, and i'll be able to put some squash and beans in there as well, but that doesn't leave anywhere for tomatoes.  So i need to check last years garden plan so i know the best way to rotate things this year.

Looking forward to a good gardening season! i'm planting several new varieties i can't wait to check out! What's coming up in your garden?

Garden update- End of October

i guess we have had what is called an Indian summer.  80 degrees at the beginning of October.  We've had a couple light frosts, but no hard killing frost yet, even though the average killing frost usually comes much earlier. 

So i haven't pulled my garden yet.  i'm still getting tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and squash.  The peppers are suppose to be red, yellow and orange. They spent the first part of the summer stunted and then really took off when the weather began to cool off at night. Now the plants are loaded with big green peppers. They do this every year, i'm not sure why.

i love the variety of tomatoes i am still getting. Some from the greenhouse, and some from the garden.

This is my first time growing lemon squash, but it's a new favorite. It's very prolific and appears to be disease/insect resistant. The light frost damaged the upper leaves, but it's still producing these lemon shaped summer squash. Lemon squash is named for the shape, not the flavor. It can be used just like zucchini or yellow straight neck/ crooked neck squash. 

i've been eagerly waiting for my Striped Roman to ripen. Unfortunately before they had the chance they all started getting spots. i believe this is bacterial spot or speck. i think the tomatoes will still be edible once they ripen i'll just have to remove the skin. i don't know if the spots go deeper or are just surface. A bit of a bummer though, as these are really cool looking tomatoes. 

The tomatoes in mygreenhouse have been doing amazing. They are 10 feet tall and still loaded with tomatoes. However, i've started to notice brown mold on the backs of some of the leaves. This is tomato leaf mold, and it's primarily a greenhouse problem. i've been trying to remove the infected leaves, thin out my tomato plants to improve the circulation and running  fan. That's about all i can do right now. Hoping i'm able to sterilize the greenhouse at the end of the season, so it's not a problem next year.

i have a bunch of fall crops; lettuce, chard and kale started inthe greenhouse. i've been waiting for rain so i can plant it outside, but am starting to think i may keep it in the green house all winter to see how it does.  The greenhouse has been an experiment this year, and it has really gone well except for tomato mold and powdery mildew problems which are caused by the high humidity. i'm hoping next year i can figure out better ways to regulate the humidity.  i do have a humidity gauge set up, and i use the vents and fan when the humidity gets too high.  It's still a bit of a struggle though.

Still really pleased with the amount of food i was able grow in it this year, and am already planning out way to improve the gardens next year. i'm excited to get a head start with my seeds this spring. i can actually start them in February, and have the space to start everything which i've never been able to do before. i'm hoping to continue some cold crop gardening all winter long. My greenhouse is not heated though, so we'll see how it goes. i'm feeling really good about this years harvest though. My pantry is stocked full of home canned foods, sweet potatoes, potatoes and root veggies.

. 

Mystery plant

 i have this plant coming up in my green house and i have no idea what it is. Absolutely no clue.

i thought it was a cucumber, because i know i planted a few cucumbers in the raised bed. One of them came up and had a few small cucumbers on it, but they never pollinated in the greenhouse.  This one came up near it, and the plant looks like a cucumber.

The leaves look like cucumber, the flowers look like cucumber, it vines and tendrils like a cucumber.

But, that's NOT a cucumber. At least i don't think so. i do tend to grow a lot of unusual/rare seeds. i've gone through all of my seed catalogs and can't find anything that looks like this. The skin is covered in fuzz, and has a velvety feel.

One guess would be that it's a mutant that cross-pollinated. Like a cucumber-watermelon hybrid. i'm like  98% certain that i did not plant any seeds i had collected from my own garden. i only planted very specific plants from certified disease free seeds which i had purchased.  i was trying to keep my greenhouse disease free. So i guess it's possible that there was a few cross-breed seeds in my seed pack, but it's unlikely.

i guess to have to wait and see if it ever becomes anything recognizable.It's tough to know when to pick it though, when i don't know what it is. Anyone have a guess?

Garden update- August 16

A few photos from August. 

TYpically my gardens peek around the second week of July, but this year i planted a bit late and things really didn't get going until the first week of August.   My first planting of beans is done, but i have a second planting coming in strong.  Squash and peppers are producing well and more of my heirloom tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen. Some take longer than others, i still have several varieties that are green.

Some of the varieties in this photo are Hillbilly, Cherokee Purple, Violet Jasper, Black Cherry, Pink Brandywine, Yoder's German Yellow and Boxcar Willy.

My squash peeked out around the second week of August. We got quite a bit of rain around the end of July/begining of August and my plants statrted producing like crazy and then wilting and dying. i'm still getting plenty of squash although i had to pull most of my plants due to vine borers and mosaic virus. 

My hens have been on a bit of a break. Many of my girls have been broody all summer, and others were molting so i haven't been getting very many eggs. Just recently, they have begun to lay again.  So excited to be getting the maran eggs again. 

This week i've been super busy canning tomatoes, freezing beans and cooking up lots squash!  i'm trying to get my gardens cleaned up so i can put in some fall crops. The tomatoes in my greenhouse are still doing amazing! Next year i may not even bother with garden tomatoes and just grow them in the greenhouse.   

How is e everyone else's garden doing? Did you try any new varieties this year?

Greenhouse Update

i am absolutely loving my greenhouse! It's all still a bit of an experiment for me. i keep the tops vents open and door opened with my screen during the day to try and keep the temperatures from getting too hot. i may eventually have to put a fan in it though, i had a couple days last week where the temperatures reached 109.  

Kenan build a large raised bed along one of the walls. i planted a rainbow of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, carrots and lettuce so far. i also have some Malabar spinach planted and a couple cucumbers. Some of the veggies will have to be hand pollinated, but the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants i believe are self pollinating. i'm hoping that by spraying them with the hose, it shakes them around enough to pollinate.  The tomatoes have tomatoes on them, and i also have one eggplant so it does seem to be working so far.

So, i wasn't going to over plant tomatoes again...but somehow i did. :) Besides the tomatoes already planted in the garden, i also have over 100 seedlings and potted tomatoes in the greenhouse. i'm still finding places to put them all. i've been able to start so many things in the greenhouse, that i just didn't have room for before.  

Tomatoes and eggplants.  i'll be transferring them into larger pots soon. i plan to keep the eggplants in the greenhouse, they have never done well in the garden. The flea beetles just destroy them. So far they are doing great in the greenhouse! Flowering and producing eggplants! 

Wohoo! baby eggplant!!

So far my tomatoes are doing great in the greenhouse.  They are a little lanky, but overall they look good!

i have lots of seed trays started. i started all my lettuces, beans, flowers everything in the greenhouse, so i haven't been in a huge hurry to put them in the garden. We finally got some rain last night though, so i will be moving a tons of plants outside today.

i'm really hoping that the greenhouse will help expand my season and allow me to increase my production, by actually having a few disease free plants.  i was a bit worried the heat would cause my lettuce to bitter, but that hasn't been the case so far.

So despite my rather laid back approach to the garden this year, i really feel like it's doing fine.  i just need to get out there today while the soil is still damp and finish getting plants in the ground.

Garden Progress June 1st.

i can't believe it is already June!  i haven't started to completely panic about being behind, but i may start to pretty soon. i still don't have my garden completely in, but everything has been planted and is growing well in the greenhouse. So even though it's not in the garden, it's still planted and doing well. i just need to spend one day getting everything in the ground.

Kids are out of school for the summer, and we are starting off our summer vacation with one sick kid (fever and cough) and mama sick from the Doxy i'm taking for Lyme.  Good times!

Picked our first homegrown salad a few weeks ago. All of my cold crops are planted and doing great.   i've been picking lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale and asparagus for a few weeks now. Also a few small carrots and radishes.

Just this last week i started getting broccoli and garlic scapes too. i finally decided to use row covers this year and for the first time ever, i have beautiful worm-free organic broccoli! It's your trying to grow anything in the cabbage family, row covers are the way to go!! 

No worms, aphids or bugs of any kind! why did it take me so long to figure this out? lol.

i also have cabbage, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli and fractal broccoli all under row covers.  i also have one on some cucumber plants. i'm eager to see if i can actually grow cucumbers without getting sudden wilt from the cucumber beetles.

My peas took a beating when we had a hail storm back in April, so i had to replant most of them and they are finally starting to bloom. i planted regular sugar snaps, and also these Blush tendril snap peas from Baker's Creek. The blossoms are so pretty, and they climb like crazy. The pea pods are supposed to be blushed with pink as well.  i hope that they are as sweet and tasty as sugar snaps. 

Eggplants are doing fantastic in the greenhouse.  They never seem to do very well in the garden. Flea beetles tend to eat the leaves and then they end up somewhat stunted and never really recover.  The last couple years i've succesfully grown them in pots, so this year i planted a bunch in pots and plan to keep them safe in the greenhouse, moving them outside occasionally if it's too hot inside.

This year i totally over planted tomatoes again. i have a bunch in the greenhouse, and a bunch in the garden...plus tons of starts just waiting to be repotted and planted.  Having a place to actually start seeds has been so wonderful.  Everytime i move plants out of the greenhouse i start more seeds. :) 

Growing in the greenhouse is a bit of an experiment this year. i'm not sire if it will get too warm for the plants to pollinate or if some will have to be hand pollinated...or if they won't work out at all. My husband built a larg raised bed inside the greenhouse and i have tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, carrots and lettuce planted in it. So far everything is doing great.  i'm able to vent the greenhouse, and with the magnetic screen door i can keep the doors open.  i already have lots of green tomatoes. My only challenge is keeping everything watered. The plants tend to dry out quickly, and i feel i'm constantly watering them.

We have the rainwater collection cistern set up for irrigation, but it really hasn't rained much this spring so i worry that i'm going to drain it by the amount of water i've been using.  

So far it all going well, and i'm trying to make a point of documenting it all so that next year i know what works and what doesn't.  i'm really hoping for a productive year though and feel like the greenhouse is really a benefit for my garden and homesteading path. 

Garden Season- May 2016

This year my garden season is having a bit of a slow start.  Typically i would have all of my summer garden seeds in the ground by now, however with my green house i have so much already started that i'm not in a real hurry to put my plants out.  My beans are already a foot tall, and cucumbers and squash are way ahead of schedule. So when i do finally plant the garden, i'm expecting it to like an instant garden that just popped up over night.  :)  

My spring garden was doing great, then we had some crazy hail come down a couple weeks ago. We were not even home at the time, but it did a lot of damage in the garden. Much of the lettuce/spinach was shredded and smashed. My sugar snap peas were all broken and all the new broccoli and cauliflower plants i had just put in were destroyed. i did have a few broccoli plants under a cover that were undamaged, but most of them had to be pulled.   

 So i had to replant much of the spring plants.  The damaged lettuce leaves died off, but new leaves sprouted and it's finally starting to fill back in a bit.  This is my spring salad garden. i have leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, onions, garlic and purple orach planted here. i also have asparagus, carrots, radishes and beets planted in the raised beds.  Sugar snaps and cucumbers coming up on the fences, and broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower all the way to the right. 

My packman broccoli is under the row cover and is doing fabulous. i also had planted Fractal broccoli, purple broccoli, purple cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli.  These are plants that were damaged. i do have more in the green house to put out, but they are smaller and i'm not sure we'll have enough coooler days for them to be happy. Once it starts getting warm, the cold crops tend to start bolting. 

i love growing a spring mix of lettuces. This year i planted, Ruby Red, Red Salad bowl, Oak leaf, Spotted Aleppo (harvested from Monticello),

One of the few green oak leaf that wasn't damaged by the hail. i had to reseed this row, so most of the plants are just coming up. The bed should have been full of plants ready for harvest. 

The broccoli plants are looking good.  They are forming nice sized heads this year instead of buttoning again like they did last year. i have a row cover on them, and so far they are worm free!!

Purple orach in a new favorite i planted for the first time last year. It's sometimes called purple spinach, as it tastes similar and can be used in the same way.   It's a beautiful plant and adds a  lovely splash of purple to any salad.  We eat a lot of spinach, but spinach prefer the cool temps and tends to bolt if it gets too warm so i started looking for spinach alternatives. Orach and Red Malabar spinach can both be used in the same ways that spinach can, and they can tolerate heat much better.  The red malabar spinach actually thrives in hot conditions.  

i haven't been in a huge hurry to get my garden in this year. i have almost everything already started in the greenhouse, so i feel like my garden is planted, just not in the ground. Tonight we have a low of 36, and today is our average frost free day. So this week i'll think about getting my plants actually planted in the ground. The greenhouse has been fantastic. It's been such a help having place to start my seeds and they grow so quickly in there.  

We did soil tests this year, and added quite a few amendments to the soil. So i'm really feeling very optimistic about it this year. With the added nutrients, i hoping to see healthier plants and less disease.   i'm planning to keep a few tomatoes in the greenhouse all summer to see if i avoid early blight and Septoria lead spot, which was especially bad last year. i just need to learn to regulate the temperature a little better so my tomatoes are able to pollinate. This year the greenhouse tomatoes will be a bit of an experiment, so if they fail to produce tomatoes i'm not going to be that bummed. 

So far i've been harvesting salad greens and asparagus.  Broccoli will be ready to harvest soon. My radishes bolted again, but i replanted and am hoping they'll do better this time around. i think i left them in the greenhouse too long.  It's all going to be a learning experience for sure.  i'm excited about it though, and very optimistic.