Tuesday, September 1, 2015
5 Reasons Why You Need Dairy Goats
5 Reasons Why You Need Dairy Goats
We often get asked why in the world we have dairy goats. I'm
going to give you the 5 main reasons why we have dairy goats and why you
should have them too!
1)
Lactose intolerance is a problem in our family. Goat’s milk is about 10%
lower in lactose (milk sugar) then cow’s milk. Well that doesn’t sound
like a significant amount it’s a big enough difference that lactose intolerant
people typically thrive on goat’s milk, which is the case for our family.
Although no one is really sure why, it’s possible that goat’s milk is digested
and absorbed more efficiently, so there’s not any lactose left undigested which
causes all those nasty reactions. Keep in mind that lactose intolerance
is different than a cow’s milk allergy (CMA). CMA is a protein
allergy, while lactose intolerance is sensitivity to a carbohydrate.
Anyhow, when my hubby used to have too much ice cream or cow’s milk he would
know it, immediately. All of the typical symptoms would appear and
quickly. Now that we have our own dairy goats and I make our own goat
milk ice cream and cheese he no longer has to worry about it.
2)
Goat milk has more nutrients and fatty acids. My girls are petite for
their age and don’t eat a lot, so I want to give them as nutrient rich foods as
possible. Goat’s milk has more essential fatty acids than cow’s milk,
such as linoleic and arachidonic acid. Goat’s milk also has more vitamin
B-6, vitamin A, Niacin and Potassium. Need I say more!
3) Goat’s Milk is
easier to digest than Cow’s Milk. How could that be? Goat’s
milk has smaller fat globules and higher levels of medium chain fatty acids.
This basically means that it’s much easier to digest and easier on your tum
tum! It also means that Goat’s milk is naturally homogenized.
Because the fat globules are smaller it doesn’t separate like cow’s milk, which
equates to less processing and a more natural product. Goat’s milk is also lacking an alpha casein
protein that cow’s milk has, which can also trigger digestion trouble for some
people.
4)
Buying Goat Milk Supports smaller family producers. We have our own Nubian
Dairy Goats, but there are times when we’ve had to buy Goat’s Milk.
It’s a great feeling to know when we buy our milk we’re supporting our
neighbors and community.
5)
The Goats are fun! Goats are the
most adorable creatures and fun to have around! Of course there are times
when they push our buttons or it’s in the middle of a spring blizzard and no
one wants to go to the barn. But all in all having goats is a great
experience!
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
GROWTH- A Prayer For Back To School
It's a new school year and it's a
big one for us, our oldest daughter began middle school. I've spent the
last two months asking myself, how did this happen so fast? Much to my
surprise having a daughter in 6th grade has brought back some vivid memories for
me, as if I was in middle school just yesterday. I remember the mean
girls, the popular girls, the smart girls, the athletic girls, the country girls and so on. I can still feel the internal tug-of-war and the
confusion of trying to figure out where I belonged, as if just being me wasn’t
okay. I have an anxious feeling within my soul, like my daughter's
experience will be as confusing as mine.
It really doesn't help that we
just moved to a new town and our children are entering new schools for the
second time in two years, that's an entire blog post in itself. Just
today during a particularly anxiety ridden time I was praying and contemplating
the complexities of our situation. During my daily run, I was listening
to one of my go to podcasts, Midday Connection. I was very excited to listen
because one of my favorite Midday guests, Dr. Jennifer Degler, was talking
about stress and the timing couldn't be more perfect. During the podcast,
God reveled to me many things, but what impressed on me the most was that I'm
in a period of grieving. Grieving because my daughters are growing up and
I’m not ready. Grieving for time and
relationships lost to moving numerous times. It's as if the past two
years we've been fighting one battle after another, never gaining, never
getting out of survival mode, never growing and at times losing vision and
hope. I'm sure we gained many positives during our time in the desert,
one always does, but the positives of difficult situations can be almost
impossible to see when you're in the midst of a battle. The word that
kept coming up during my run was growth; it's what we've been missing and what
we need so desperately. I realized that what I really truly want for
myself and my family during this next year is spiritual, emotional and
relational growth. This is my prayer for
the next school year. I hope it will
bless you as well.
.
Grace- for others and themselves.
Resilience- of spirit and mind, even when things are hard and
unfair.
Openness- to positive new experiences and people.
Wisdom- to know which friends to keep at arm’s length and
which ones hold close.
Thankfulness- for one thing each day, even if the day has
been difficult.
Humility and Hope-
Humility to realize the world doesn't revolve around them and hope for the
future, this time in their lives will be but a blink.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Wonderfully Delicious Brisket
Wonderfully Delicious Brisket
It's a good thing my hubby's a hunter, because my family loves a good chunk of meat! The latest dish I created was the "Wonderfully Delicious Brisket", it's a combination of recipes I found on Pinterest. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so I created my own, I love to do that, don't you? I used a brisket from a buffalo my husband hunted a few winters ago, even though I used buffalo you could use any type of meat that's available. I have to say it turned out great! This is what I did:
3 or 4 lb Brisket
1 1/2 Cup Water
1 Tbl Spoon Beef Bullion
1 Packet Ranch Seasoning
2 Oz Liquid Smoke
3 Tbl Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Pepper
1 Tsp Salt
1 Onion
1/2 Cup Butter
1)Spray the crock with cooking spray and place brisket in the bottom.
2)Pour water, Liquid Smoke and Worcestershire Sauce over top.
3)Dissolve the beef bullion into the water mixture and sprinkle Ranch seasoning packet over top. Sprinkle garlic powder, pepper and salt over top.
4)Gently pull the edges of the brisket up and let the liquid underneath.
5)If you wish, put the brisket in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. If not you may go on to the next step. I didn't marinate the meat overnight and it still turned out delicious!
6)Cut the onion into slices and place over top of the brisket, place stick of butter on top.
7)Cook on low for 8 hours.
8)Let the brisket rest for 15 minutes then slide the brisket against the grain and serve with your favorite BBQ Sauce. (I added some ketchup to the leftover juices from the brisket and served it as the sauce, it was delicious!)
There you have it! A Simply Country Living brisket recipe. Do you need dinnerware to serve this tasty dish on? If so, check out my dinnerware section on Simply Country Living. I'm having a free shipping special just to say "thanks"!
Until next time, Live Simply and Live Country!
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Fantastic Red Velvet Cupcakes
If you know me at all you know I have an obsession with baking, like a serious need to go to BA (Baker's Anonymous). My little baking problem started
about 10 years ago when my girls were babies.
Over the years I’ve tested and tweaked a lot of different recipes in
order to find what I like to call "Baketastic Perfection". The
hands down winner of all time is this recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes. It’s by far my most requested flavor from friends and family. Why is it so good? I'm not 100% sure but I think it's because of a little tweak I made to the recipe after watching an old rerun of DC Cupcakes. I started using raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar instead of plain old white vinegar.
I think this little tweak makes a HUGE difference, maybe you should try the recipe and let me know what you think!
¾ cup butter
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon salt
2 ¼ cups sugar
1 1-ounce bottle of red food coloring
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar
Let the butter and eggs stand
and come to room temperature, for about 1 hour.
Line your muffin tin with the cupcake papers. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa
powder and salt, set aside.
Preheat oven to 350⁰F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium
speed for 30 seconds and gradually add sugar, continue beating until light and
fluffy, scraping down sides if needed.
Add eggs, red food coloring, vanilla, and milk beating after each
addition. Alternately add flour mixture
and buttermilk beating until just combined, don’t over beat! In a separate bowl mix baking soda and apple
cider vinegar, then grab the kiddos and have an impromptu science lesson. After the science lesson fold the vinegar
mixture into the batter.
Spoon the batter into your
muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes.
Let the cupcakes cool completely then frost with Cream
Cheese Icing.
Then you can proudly display your masterpiece on this cool rustic cupcake stand from Simply Country Living! That's "Baketastic Perfection"!
Then you can proudly display your masterpiece on this cool rustic cupcake stand from Simply Country Living! That's "Baketastic Perfection"!
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About Me
- simplycountryliving
- Welcome to the Simply Country Living Blog! My name is Amanda and I'm passionate about living the simply country life. I live in Cody, Wyoming, the rodeo capitol of the world! If that's not country I don't what is. I live on a small place with 20 irrigated acres with four horses, one pony, 15 chickens, 11 Nubian milking goats, one dog and one cat. I'm the owner of Simplycountryliving.com, a on-line country home boutique full of high quality, unique products you will love!
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