School Talk

I recently visited a local preschool to talk about bee life cycles and how we get various products from bees. This was an awesome experience - the kids were actually really engaged. I was really surprised at some of the questions that they asked, they must have been briefed :) They were asking how bees communicated and what they do in the winter to keep warm.

I'm glad I brought so much of my equipment because that seemed to be their favorite part. They really liked squishing up beeswax, and of course they loved tasting the honey at the end.

Recipe: Honey Whipped Cream

Mom loved the honey cook-off idea, so she whipped up a few recipes of her own. Here is our favorite so far:

Honey Whipped Cream

Photo Credit: Kendal Sager
Recipe Credit: Paula Sager

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whip cream until peaks form.
2. Whip in honey (sugar is typically used instead). If you use a flavorful honey, the taste should come across nicely.
3. Serve with fresh fruit (shown above in a puff pastry bowl)

Free standing comb

After the last honey harvest, I threw all of the honey supers back onto the hives. I wanted to pull them back off for winter to reduce the hive size, but when I went to check on the bees today, they were already refilling all of the comb. There were way too many bees to take away the supers, so I just left them there.

Another surprise when I peaked in, I had forgotten to replace the foundation on one of the frames, but the bees just started filling it right up with comb:

I'd like to do more of my frames this way next year, rather than starting the bees off with plastic foundation. This way I might be able to harvest some honey comb next year. I ended up pulling this frame out of the hive temporarily so that I could show it to the class that I am teaching next week. This will be a great way to show kids how bees naturally draw comb.

Honey Cook-Off

A few friends and I decided to do a honey cook-off with some of my latest harvest. We did it Iron Chef style with the theme ingredient of HONEY!

Below are some of the dishes I came up with. If you find any amazing honey recipes, please comment with a link :)
  
Sweet and Salty Bruschetta

Photo Credit and Recipe Credit: Kendal Sager

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 baguette
• goat cheese (firm is better, I used Drunken Goat Cheese)
• 1 granny smith apple
• 1 pack pancetta
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Thinly slice your baguette, it looks best when you slice on a diagonal (rather than cutting perpendicular to the length of the bread, cut at a 45 degree angle to increase the surface area)
2. Lay out all of your bread slices on a baking sheet
3. Place a small slice of cheese on each slice of bread.
4. Slice up your apple into small flat slices (not wedges), place one on each slice of bread.
5. Crumple up a slice of Pancetta and balance it on top of your bread/cheese/apple
6. Balance some chopped walnuts on top.
7. Put the baking sheet in the oven and set the oven to broil. Keep the pan under the broiler until you start to see the bread turn a nice golden brown color, this will happen in only a few minutes. Keep your eyes on the bread as it is cooking, there is a very small window of time between "perfect" and "everything is ruined and my kitchen is filled with smoke".
8. Place a piece of bruschetta on a plate and drizzle honey on top (about 1 tsp, anything less and you barely taste the honey).

Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken

Photo Credit: Kendal Sager
Recipe Credit: Food.com recipe modified by Kendal Sager

Ingredients:

Honey Garlic Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Flour Coating Mixture:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons powdered ginger
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper 

The Rest:

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons cold water
• 10 chicken legs
• vegetable oil

Directions:

1.  Put about 2 inches of vegetable oil into a large flat frying pan. Turn the heat on to medium-low. Don't overheat the oil, I usually run my hand under water and shake a few drops into the frying pan at this point. When the water starts to sizzle, the oil is the right temperature. If the water just sits still, it's too cold, if the water causes the oil to pop and spatter everywhere, it's too hot. A splatter screen is very useful for this.
2. While the oil is heating up, mix together the 'coating mixture'; set aside. 
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the slightly beaten eggs and cold water. 
4. Wash and pat the chicken legs dry. 
5. When the oil is up to temperature, dip the legs into the egg wash and then toss into the flour mixture to evenly coat. Place as many legs as you can into the pan. Let the legs cook for 3-5 minutes or until that side starts to brown, then turn 1/4 turn. Turn and cook until all sides are browned.
6. While you're cooking the chicken legs, you can prepare the sauce: In a medium sauce pan, cook over medium heat the olive oil and garlic to slightly soften; do not let it brown. Add the honey, soya sauce and black pepper. Continue to cook over medium heat and simmer sauce for 5-10 minutes, watching carefully as it simmers because it can foam up and overflow. Remove from heat. You can also do this part in the microwave - but watch it carefully, you really only want to warm it up.
7. When the legs are done cooking, place them on a plate and then liberally pour the sauce over them. I suggest serving this with a salty vegetable.

Mini Baklava

Photo Credit: Kendal Sager
Recipe Credit: Idea from Giada (Cooking Channel) recipe created by Kendal Sager
 

Ingredients:

The Paste:

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
  
• 3 tablespoons honey

The Sauce:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

The Rest:

• About 1 stick of butter melted (you can use 1 stick minus the 2 tablespoons you needed for the paste)
  
• 12 sheets phyllo dough (I usually find this frozen, defrost in the fridge for 24 hours)
• 2 mini muffin tins (enough for 24 mini muffins)
  

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine all of the ingredients for the paste. Pulse until everything is blended, you can leave the nuts a little chunky for texture.
3. Lay out a sheet of phyllo dough on a clean surface (a cutting board would be best) and brush it with melted butter. Layer another sheet on top of it and brush it with butter again. Do this until you have 6 sheets of phyllo dough stacked up. Cut the dough into 12 pieces (4 pieces by 3 pieces works well) and carefully push the square into a mini muffin well.
4. Spoon about a tablespoon of the paste into the dough, then bring the corners of the dough into the middle and twist to seal the dessert. It doesn't need to be sealed tightly just bring the corners out of the way of the other mini baklava.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While the baklava is cooking, combine the sauce and heat it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just enough to warm it up a little. Don't let it foam up.
7. When you take the mini baklava out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes then place them on serving plates. Liberally drizzle the honey lemon sauce over the baklava.