Morning Reading

I am thoroughly enjoying my leisurely Saturday morning.....something that's pretty hard to come by on the farm. My husband is home from work (and even has an extra week off this time!). He has been such a tremendous help. We've tired ourselves out, day after day. So today, we are taking a little break. He's at a local swap meet with his dad and I'm still in my pajamas, drinking coffee at the kitchen table, enjoying my beautiful view of the pond, watching the ducks swimming around, and starting a new book. I'm so excited about this book! It grabbed my attention while I was browsing at Mardel a few weeks ago. It's been sitting on my nightstand ever since. I simply didn't have time to read it until this morning. It's called, "The Made from Scratch Life....Simple Ways to Create a Natural Home," by Melissa K. Norris. http://melissaknorris.com/
I'm sure there will be more blogs about this book in the days to come. But for now, I'm going to start reading......

Oh My Goodness, This Stuff is Good!

I made my first ever trip to Trader Joe's yesterday. I was very impressed with the variety of organic foods and with the prices. But this stuff......well I bought it on a whim, and it's definitely not organic, and at 90 calories a tablespoon it might get me into trouble. But it is DELICIOUS!!
http://traderjoes.com/

Scrap Iron....and the Story of the Farm

Strange title huh? Well, it started off as just being, "Scrap Iron". But, to tell the story of the scrap iron, I really need to tell the story of the farm.  My parents purchased our farm in 1984. There's an old two story house on the property that they remodeled (I'll write the story of the house another time). The farm is around 200 acres with barns and sheds and a creek and three ponds and good bottom land. It has oak and pecan trees on it and beautiful views. My parents raised cattle, hay, corn, oats, etc.... 

The farm was beautiful. Not a blade of grass out of place. All the fences were painted. Flowers bloomed all around the house. The garden was amazing. There was an orchard too. My mother canned and preserved all the wonderful foods they grew. It was like something out of a magazine. 

But in December of 1995, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. Fourteen months later, she passed away. And the farm began to slowly decline. My dad still had a garden. But most of the produce was given away to his friends. He let the orchard die. A few shrubs around the house survived, but there were no more flowers. Of course, he took excellent care of the cattle and hay fields. But the fence rows became grown up with briars. The barn roof started to leak. The house became cluttered. 

My dad wouldn't ask for help. And he wouldn't take any help that was offered. He took pride in doing things himself. And he was the best grandpaw that two girls could ever ask for. He worked hard all day, every day. And he NEVER threw ANYTHING away. Something that we didn't really notice until after he passed away. 

My dad was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and only lived for a few months. My husband and I inherited the farm (I'm an only child) in December of 2011. And here we are, four years later, still cleaning it up. So there's where the scrap iron part comes in. I felt like I needed to give a little background story before I wrote about how we've been hauling off scrap iron for the last few years.....but we've really put the most effort into it over the past few days. We actually rented a dumpster, and we've filled it up....twice. Along with multiple loads hauled on our trailer. And we still aren't finished. But we can sure see the light at the end of the tunnel now!! 

So the last few days on the farm have been spent throwing things like rusted fence posts, old plow discs, rolls of rusty barbed wire, rusted out cans and buckets, and other various odds and ends, into a huge dumpster. Ahhh.....life on the farm.....

Integrity Beef Alliance

My husband and I had the great privilege of attending an Integrity Beef Alliance meeting last night. This is a program offered through the Noble Foundation and we are extremely excited about incorporating our angus herd into this high quality beef program! We are in the process of purchasing a new bull to put with our herd of cows. We feel like, with this program, we are moving our farm and ranch in a positive, better producing, direction. We are excited about these changes!!
http://integritybeef.org/

http://www.noble.org/ag/

Cowboy Coffee.....and Breakfast Cooked in the Great Outdoors

This morning my husband and I cooked breakfast outside.....from the coffee to the biscuits......we cooked outside and we ate outside. Let me tell you, there's nothing better than breakfast cooked over an open fire. The only thing was, it's February. And it was too darn warm here. Normally we have snow this time of year. But, other than that, it was wonderful!

Come on.....just one bite?? Please????

Meanwhile....On the Farm

I realized that recently I've mainly been posting recipes, and very little about the heart of this operation, our farm. So, yesterday evening when I checked cows, I snapped a few photos. My husband gets home today from working out of state for two weeks! This farm wife is ready to have her better half home (and ready for his help on the farm!).

It was extremely windy yesterday. This little heifer is no dummy.....she used her mamma as a wind block!

This cute little bull was very curious about what I was doing.

And this little heifer is ready for winter! She has a very thick coat :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Check out my latest YouTube video for an easy and delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5HA3Pd9ukY

Fireside Seed Shopping

Last night I thoroughly enjoyed myself......I sat in my rocking chair by my cozy fire and browsed one of my favorite catalogs, Rare Seeds. The seeds are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, which is a family owned operation. Their seeds are WONDERFUL! I love the idea of planting quality, heirloom seeds. I believe that it is important to grow as much of your own food as possible. We are planning to incorporate a much larger garden at our farm in the future. But until that project is ready (it will need enclosing due to deer and raccoons) I will grow as much as I can in my container gardens. I do not want to use genetically altered seeds. And I prefer to grow my garden completely organic....no pesticides and using my homemade compost. You'll be seeing a lot more info about how I do this in my blog this summer. But, in the meantime, I'll sit by the fire and plan my order! You can also view their website at http://www.rareseeds.com/

Nice and Easy Meatloaf

Check out  my latest YouTube video for Nice and Easy Meatloaf! Perfect comfort food! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEek8-MOydk

Here's the finished meatloaf

Also, I'm wearing another new apron from Stitch Thru Time. Love their aprons!!

https://www.stitchthrutime.com/

Chicken Cacciatore

Check out my latest YouTube video on how to make a super quick and easy Chicken Cacciatore!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Llh3QH-Po

Killing Two Birds with One Stone...or Homemade Chicken Broth

Whole chickens were on sale at Brookshires!! (Insert happy dance)
This is a big deal at my house. Because I use chicken in a lot of my recipes, and I use chicken broth in a lot of my recipes. So here's where the "two birds with one stone" comes in.....or one bird with two stones....however you want to look at it.
When whole chickens are on sale, I stock up. I then roast a whole chicken, debone it, freeze the meat or refrigerate it to use over the next few days, and make chicken stock with the carcass in my crock pot!
Here's how I do it:
First of all, prepare your chicken for roasting. I clean the liver and "things" out of the cavity and place it in my roasting pan (or you could always just roast it in the crock pot).
                                                    Brush the breast with olive oil.

Give it a few grinds of black pepper.

Put a little unsalted butter in the cavity. 

Pour a little water in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle some peppercorns around.

Then cover and roast in the oven at 350 degrees until the juices run clear and there's no pink near the bone.

When it's done, it'll look like a hot mess.

Next, let it cool and then pull the meat from the bone to refrigerate or freeze.  I always leave a little meat on the bone.

Now, to make the broth.....

I use a slow-cooker liner (makes clean up so much easier). Place your carcass and all the juices in the crock pot, along with: a couple of carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 onion, 4 garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf, a few more peppercorns, 2 tablespoons of white vinegar (this helps extract nutrients from the bones) and 8 to 10 cups of water.

Cover and cook on low for 24 hours. Your kitchen will smell heavenly. 

After the time is up, allow the mixture to cool a little, then strain it and discard the solids.

I strain mine into a large pitcher. I place the lid on and refrigerate it overnight to allow the broth to cool completely. You can keep it in the fridge if your'e going to use it within 2 to 3 days. I always freeze mine in gallon size baggies. I pour 2 cups in each bag, seal, and lay flat on a baking sheet to freeze. 

You'll never go back to store bought broth again!

(Stay tuned.....I'll be making beef broth soon!!)