Thanksgiving is For The Birds (too)

OK, I know I’ve been way off topic for this blog, which is SEO and Internet Marketing – but until I get my old posts restored, might as well post a few quick personal ones.

My Bird Suet Cake Recipe

The birds LOVE my homemade suet cakes! Yes, I have tried any number of commercially-prepared ones, but the birds seem to have an “ok if I HAVE to eat this, I will.” But they devour the ones I make, and it’s a lot cheaper. (I did calculate it out once, turns out to something like 50 cents a cake.)

This Batch will fill up an 8 x 12 aluminum baking pan. It needs to be “brownie-deep” to hold it all. You will end up with 8 suet cakes.

1. You need wax paper or parchment paper too. Cut a piece of wax paper big enough to line your baking pan with a little overlap, and just sort of press it in there. Doesn’t matter if it springs back out – when you pour the suet mix in, it will settle everything.

2. Ingredients: Exact amounts are definitely not critical

8 large tablespoons of lard. Yes, LARD. NOT veggie-oil based lubricants. Look near the other oils & stuff at the grocery store – most stores in our area carry lard, or a.k.a. Manteca.

4 large tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter.

1/2 of a 1-lb bag of plain yellow corn meal.

“About” 1 and 1/2 cups of sunflower CHIPS/HEARTS. Yes, you can get away with other cheaper stuff like whole (black oil) sunflower seeds, but even though the hulled chips are more expensive, you’re not actually paying more in the long run for “the goods.” And it makes a much better, and neater suet cake. And, no messy hulls on the ground which are suspected of being like Walnut – containing toxins to nearby plants.

OK, enough of the naturalist asides….

Melt the suet and peanut butter on LOW heat – do not burn. When all is melted, add the corn meal, stir to break up lumps, and add the bird seed. Then when it’s cooled a bit pour it into your baking pan lined with wax paper. Throw it in the fridge. Should be solid within a few hours – then you can plop the whole thing onto a cutting board and cut it up into 8 cakes. I wrap mine in wax paper and keep in the fridge.

Don’t be surprised if you need a cake a day!