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Friday, May 16, 2014

Grilled Pork Steaks

I love anything char grilled--I pulled out pork steaks the other evening not really knowing what I was going to do with them. I ended up mixing up a marinade that was a hit! 

Season your meat (I use Cavenders) and in a bowl mix together 
1 Cup BBQ Sauce
1 Cup Italian Dressing 
1/2 Cup Worchestercier sauce

Coat your meat well with sauce and soak for 2-3 hours or overnight. Super Easy and oh so good! 



Friday, February 28, 2014

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I have always been raised around Cows, Pigs, and Chickens. So most of our life we have eaten our own beef  but not really pork or chicken. A couple years ago my dad sent one of our pigs to be processed and OH MY LANDS. It was great. Then we went to a different processing plant with our next hog to be butchered and it was 10x better than the last. So we are hooked on butchering our own.

My sister and I are really getting in deep with all the additives in our food and she ordered a video called FOOD INC. from Amazon. This video blew our minds and really made us think twice. It is so hard buying food in the grocery store now because we know how sickening this mess is that we are eating.Do I sound a bit extreme?? Maybe so, but you check out the video for yourself- you will have the same issues we do.


After watching this movie we decided to process a few of our own chickens. Here are some pictures we took during the process.


In fact, my goal for this spring is to raise 20-25 Ranger Reds and butcher after 10-12 weeks. I can store them in my freezer and have a hormone free chicken any time I want! These are a meatier bird and perfect for butchering.

Now I know buying an $8 3lb bag of boneless skinless chicken breast is super easy for fast meals but if you pre plan your meals and take just a few extra minutes you can save so much more by doing a little extra work. When I was growing up my mom always bought whole chickens because it saved money. She literally threw the chicken in a pot with seasonings and boiled away. After it cooled, the chicken meat was shredded off the bone and Mexican Chicken Casserole or Chicken n Dumplings were made in no time! 

Even buying chicken in bone but separated is so much cheaper than buying boneless. So if you want to save money on your groceries try buying in bone meats. 

With my in bone chicken I thaw out in the refrigerator and place each piece in a 9x13 baking pan and season with a lot of salt & pepper (or my favorite seasoning Cavendars ) and I add minced garlic along with a sprig or two of Rosemary. (My sister taught me this- she uses fresh herbs in just about everything! And I normally pick my own garlic BUT I waited to late and the ground was to hard, at the time I was 7/8 months pregnant and didn't want to tug on them to much but later I will do a post about harvesting garlic.)








Then fill the pan half way with water. You don't want to cover the chicken, just get the water half way to the top. This will keep the meat very moist. 


Place the chicken in the oven uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. The skin will brown nicely on the top. 




To know the chicken is finished cooking you can look at the meat and press down with the fork. If the liquid is clear, your meat is cooked thoroughly. 



Once your chicken is cooled shred all the meat off the bone. Save your scraps! You can make chicken stock out of those later...

With my shredded meat I made Chicken Fettucini Alfredo for dinner and Mexican Chicken Casserole (shown below) for another night. I even had enough chicken leftover for Chicken Salad Sandwiches for lunch the next day.


Mexican Chicken Casserole

1/2 or 1 onion choppped
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1/2-1 block of velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel
1 whole chicken

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray your 9x13 baking pan. In a sauce pan place 2 Tbsp. butter and half diced onion. Let the onion sweat. Then add half of a block of Velveeta cheese and 1 can of cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom, 1 can of Rotel. Stir until cheese is melted. Throw in shredded chicken and stir. Take a bag of tortilla chips or Doritos Chips and crush contents. Place half the bag of crushed chips on bottom of pan. Pour cheese and chicken mixture over chips and then add the rest if chips over the top. Place in oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.


Chicken Fettucini Alfredo 

This has to be one of my kids favorite dishes. It is so easy and fast to make too. If your buying your Alfredo sauce in the jar, Shame on you! This taste a million times better.


Alfredo Sauce: 

1 pint Heavy Cream
1 stick of Butter
2 Tbsp. Cream Cheese
1/2-3/4 C. Parmesan Cheese
1tsp. Garlic Powder. 



Combine butter heavy cream & butter in a sauce pot. Simmer until all is melted and mixed well. Add Parmesan cheese and Garlic Powder. Simmer for 15-20 minutes on low. Season with Salt & Pepper.  Add Chicken and noodles.



(I almost never use the cream cheese, and I use Garlic Salt instead if powder and also season with a little Paprika. - you can add some fresh or dried parsley to fancy it up) 


Chicken Stock from Scraps! 

In a large pot throw all your chicken scraps in with an onion quartered, celery, carrots, peppercorns, garlic clove, and add water to cover all ingredients. Heat until it comes to a boil then simmer for 3-4 hours. Once cooled, strain liquids and freeze for use later. 




Monday, February 24, 2014

Blue Berry Muffins

We have been getting together with a group of friends to play cards (mostly phase 10) it seems like every other weekend. For the record, I don't play cards...Marc can't live a day without playing phase 10 on his cell phone so anytime any one invites us over to play a game he is ALL IN. I just sit and listen to conversation. I know, I'm boring. Anyway, at one of the game nights there were two bowls of mini blueberry muffins and chocolate chip muffins. I didn't think I cared for blueberry muffins that much but after eating almost the whole bowl myself... I knew I'd be eating more in the future! So I found a recipe and  bought a box of blueberries! And once again...I have just about devoured half of them. This recipe makes 15 so I set out 7 and placed 7 in the freezer for something sweet later!
 
 
First prepare your muffin pans and set your oven temperature to 400 degrees. 

Set out all your dry ingredients and mix together in a Medium sized bowl.
 
 
I do want to point out to always make sure your dry ingredients are the exact amount the recipe calls for. So take a knife and level out your top of measuring cups.

 
In a separate smaller bowl beat an egg and add your wet ingredients. And stir into your dry ingredients. You can just use a wooden spoon- mixer isn't really needed for Muffin mix.

 
Then fold in 1 cup of blueberries.
 

Fill each muffin 3/4 full and sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400'.
 
Very yummy warm with a big dollop of butter! (Freshly made salted butter in fact!)
 
 
Buttermilk Blue Berry Muffins
 
2 Cups flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
 
1 Cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 Cup oil
1 Cup blueberries
Sugar to sprinkle



Wednesday, February 19, 2014

From Scratch Biscuits



I had decided no matter what I am going to start making things from Scratch. And biscuits were first on my list! However, every recipe I tried was awful. I vented my frustration with my biscuit making on Facebook and added these photos of each batch. 

One was just nasty, 2nd batch was so hard and heavy I thought my pan weighed 5 lbs. pulling it out of the oven and the third batch tasted great but they were flat!! Not to mention...they looked horrible!!!  So I was determined to try again the next morning! My sister sent me a recipe for biscuits & pancakes which by the way, the pancakes are soooo good. I actually crave the pancakes all the time and we eat them every week just about. But we aren't talking about those awesome pancakes... Back to the biscuits-I finally found redemption in my biscuit making! They turned out beautiful and taste great too. So to help you all out, here's how I make From Scratch Biscuits. 


Basically every recipe you follow you always separate your dry ingredients from your wet ingredients. So begin by first heating your oven to 475 degrees and lay out a sheet pan for baking. This recipe makes 9 biscuits so I'm using a half sheet pan. I like to coat my pans with butter instead of oil for hot rolls & biscuits. Biscuits need help with adding flavor (or so I think) and the more butter the better! 

In a bowl mix together your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, & baking soda. Add 3 Tbsp. of shortening or butter. Now here is where it's really opinion.... Usually biscuits are made with shortening. And any old biscuit recipe calls for shortening but I like the butter flavoring so I use butter. Use whatever you have on hand or whatever you like.



Take your fingers and squeeze the butter into the dry mix really well. 

It's okay if it's lumpy and creates pea size balls. 


Next add your buttermilk and mix well. After you have mixed in all the ingredients let it sit 2-3 minutes. 

While your waiting you can throw down some flour on your counter top to get ready to cut your dough. Make sure your hands are good and floured as well. 

Place the dough in the flour and roll it a couple times to coat in the flour but don't knead. You want light and fluffy biscuits so the less kneading is better.


With your hands spread the dough out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter starting at edge and then continue to cut out really close together. Most likely the last two biscuits will be made by the "extra" dough from the cookie cutter. 

Place each biscuit close together on your sheet pan. 



Bake at 475 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Once pulled from the oven, don't be afraid to smear on the butter! 


I had to have honey on mine since I was just snacking around! 


But you can't have breakfast with out Biscuits & Chocolate Gravy!!! 


I know- I could eat it everyday! I'ts so good!!!

Here's the recipes for both- Now fix your husbands breakfast for supper one cold day and a side of Chocolate Gravy...and maybe he will do the dishes!


From Scratch Biscuits

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking soda
3 Tbsp butter or shortening

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup flour for shaping your biscuits

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, & baking soda. Cut in butter or shortening and add milk. Mix well and let sit 2-3 minutes. Cut and shape out 9 biscuits and lay on a well buttered sheet pan. Bake at 475 degrees for 16-18 minutes. 

Chocolate Gravy

4 Tbsp. cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour

1 cup milk
1 stick of butter 
Dash of salt 

Mix cocoa, sugar, & flour in a bowl and set to the side. 

In a sauce pan over medium heat add milk, butter, salt and stir until butter is melted. Add dry ingredients and stir. Let boil to thicken. Once thickened remove from heat and pour over warm biscuits. 


Thursday, February 6, 2014

Butter Butter Butter!



For the longest time I have wanted a Jersey Cow or even a goat to milk. I fully understand the responsibility this is and how inconvenient milking could be BUT the positives of doing the hard labor would be so worth it in the end!

Although I am not a milk drinker, Marc and Maddie are! I absolutely hate it that milk is almost $5 a gallon and the cheaper off brands have hormones and additives that are ruining our health. With milk you also have cream and butter. And we buy a ton of butter and quit a bit of cream too! 

One of our good friends had posted on fb she was making butter and cheese from some raw milk she had bought in Ft. Smith so I met up with her a few weeks later to get some of my own. I am currently buying my milk in Belleville which is an hour in a half away but the pantry I buy from has a few more items I like to purchase at great prices so the drive isn't to awful. This last trip I bought 6 gallons worth. I brought back three for other families and then we will use three in 2 weeks for sure. 

Here is how I make my butter off the milk I buy. 

When we bring home the milk I transfer it over to a gallon size clear pitcher. I let it stand in the refrigerator for atleast 4 hours to allow the cream to rise and make an obvious cream line to skim. 

If I had a stand mixer, I would simply laddle it into the mixer and turn it on to do its own thing but until then, I use a wide mouth Mason Jar with a lid. I laddle ONLY the cream into the jar. It's very important to not get any milk into your mix. So I end up leaving a very small line of cream in the milk and that's fine too... Just adds some more flavor to our milk. 


Next, we put a lid on it and I or Marc or both of us take turns and shake it for about 30-45 minutes until it all the sudden forms curds of yellow butter!

Strain the milk off the butter into another Mason jar and set to the side because this is your non cultured buttermilk! You definitely want to save this! (And hopefully I will do another post about how to culture your buttermilk-Super Easy!) In the mean time use your buttermilk in all recipes like pancakes, biscuits, & ranch dressing, etc. 

Once your butter has been strained place it in a bowl of cold water and knead the butter in the water and rinse a few times until the butter is free from milk. This extra milk on your butter can sour it so clean it really well.


I then pat my butter dry with a napkin and place in a plastic tub or wax paper and then in a ziplock bag. You can add 1/4 tsp of salt to your butter if you like salted butter and I do this if I'm going to eat it on cornbread, hot rolls, or toast but if I'm using it to cook with, I normally don't salt my butter. 

And that my friends is non cultured homemade butter with no additives or hormones!! So easy and so worth it. For $4 I have butter, buttermilk, & almost a gallon of milk! 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

"Healthy" Granola Bars with Flax Seed

On my raw milk run at Stutzarts Pantry in Belleville, I ran across this 1 lb. sack of flax seed for .79! I thought it was a bargain and even though I didn't know how I would use it, I bought it anyway! 

My family is not very good with eating granola in our cereal or yogurt but maybe granola bars would be appetizing for them??? And if not... You know who gets to eat it! Yep, me. At least with this recipe I can use the excuse its a healthier choice! 

Since flax is the new wonder grain with sooo many health benefits I found out through reading that the seeds must be broken or milled for their nutrients to actually be nourishing. So I ran them through my Ninja food processor to beat them up a bit. Then messed around with some available ingredients I had in my pantry. 

1/2 butter- melted on stove top in medium sized pot and set to the side.

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup flax seed

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 cup raisins (I would have preferred dried cherries but didn't have any) 

Heat the oven to 350•F. Coat a 9x13 pan with non stick cooking spray and set to the side. 

Melt butter and remove from heat. Whisk in the flour, sugar, honey vanilla extract and cinnamon. Add the raining ingredients and mix well. 

Transfer the ingredients to your pan. 

And using a sheet of wax paper, press down firmly to pack in all the goodies! Here Maddies hands doing the hard work of packing together and evening it all out. 



Remove the paper and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown at 350•. Allow the granola to cool for one hour in the pan, then transfer  to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 16-24 rectangle bars. 


I think the next time I make granola bars... I'm going to substitute some things with peanut butter & chocolate chips- Junk It Up a bit! :)

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock Cake

After seeing this recipe float around on fb a few days I decided to make it! I love anything with cream cheese icing and the pineapples were a huge bonus!! I made a 9x13 sized cake and shared with my parents half of it because I knew my kids and Marc wouldn't touch it. After it sat in the refrigerator overnight the pineapple soaked into the cake and it was even better!! Yum! And it was so stinkn' easy! 


Here is what you need:

1 box white cake
8 oz. pineapples crushed with juice
1 cup Sugar

Cream Cheese Icing: 
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
 3 cups Powdered Sugar 
2/3 cups crushed pecans 

Bake your white cake by following directions on box. Once cooked poke holes through cake. On stovetop combine sugar and pineapples and stir until sugar is melted. Pour over cake. Let the cake cool completely before adding icing.

Icing: combine butter and cream cheese until well mixed (make sure both are softened before mixing) add vanilla and powdered sugar. Sprinkle pecans over cake after iced. Super Easy and oh so yummy!! 

Homemade Tortillas

It seems we are in a major rut routine when it comes to Supper. We HAVE to eat Tacos every week...this is not something I prefer, however when 3 people will clean their plates and it only takes 10 minutes to cook... I give in! I have to be in the most bland family ever! Marc will throw away any food if it has a small piece of onion or pepper. Mason drives me bonkers with his meals...he won't eat soups, chillis, casseroles, anything topped with cheese and hardly any condiments! BTW, I'm the condiment queen...Maddie eats like a mouse...tid bits here and there every 30 minutes (I know, it's my responsibility to teach them to sit down and eat a full meal 3 times a day so they will eat all of their meal, however... I would have to listen to her persistent squeaky voice begging for food all day long!! And I just can't!)This is horrible but this is how we do Tacos...I cook our ground beef and make my own seasoning. WAY better than the store packets and no extra junk is added! Here's the recipe: We MUST have corn on the side and cheese dip...otherwise I better not even think about making tacos. And we have to have hard taco shells and tortilla chips. Mason eats 3 hard shell tacos with meat & picante sauce only with corn on the side, Maddie has a deconstructed plate with meat, cheese, sour cream, and corn...and maybe a shell or chips but she never puts it all together! Weird I know! Marc throws on his chips Meat, cheese dip & corn....yuck. Now the way to do it is like me... Make a huge taco salad with EVERYTHING but no corn! I'm the queen of condiments so I like to have cheese dip, lettuce, cheese, jalapeƱos, tomatoes, onion, beans, verde salsa & sour cream!  Well now that Mister Marshall has arrived I have had to stop my awesome eating habits! No Dr. Pepper, Mt. Dew, onions, peppers, rotel (that means no cheese dip), broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and I'm thinking garlic is causing gas pains too. (This is where a really sad face should be added!!) So when it comes to Tacos, I really dread it! This last week I decided to change things up a bit and make from scratch some Tortillas that I saw on Pioneer Woman. They are very time consuming but very worth it! Here's how:



  • 2-1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 2-1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 cup Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
  • 2 Tablespoons (additional) Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
  • 1 cup Hot Water

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir together. Add spoonfuls of lard or shortening (use 1/2 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons), then use a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. Cut mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly pour in hot water, stirring to bring mixture together. Lightly knead dough 30 to 40 times, or until it becomes a cohesive ball of dough and is less sticky. Cover with a tea towel and allow dough to rest for at least an hour. Roll into ping pong size balls, place on a tray, cover with a tea towel, and allow to rest for another 20 to 30 minutes. I ended up using two ball size per tortilla. I didn't feel like tgey were large enough. When you're ready to make the tortillas, heat griddle or cast iron pan. One by one, roll out balls of dough until very, VERY thin. Throw tortillas (one by one) onto the griddle. Cook on each side for 20 to 30 seconds, removing while tortillas are still soft but slightly brown in spots. Remove and stack tortillas, and cover with a towel to keep warm. Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing tortillas in a container. To warm, nuke tortillas in the microwave, or wrap in foil and warm in the oven. Your tortillas will shrink up while cooking each side so make sure you thin it out as much as possible! 

So yea, after an hour in a half of waiting for this dough and pressing out 16 tortillas.... We sit down to eat and NO ONE but me grabs one! Did I mention my family doesn't "Do" change!?!? So in all my efforts to make a change, it didn't go over to well. However, Marshall had a tummy ache free night and I guess that is all that matters! 
I wish I would have kept the left overs because they would have made great Quesadillas or even Sopapillas!! Next time...oh well! 








Wednesday, January 22, 2014

My New Love- Coconut Oil

I've been reading a lot about ways to naturally take care of my body and ran across Coconut oil and all the health benefits of using it. While shopping in my favorite store TJ MAXX,  I saw a jar of Virgin Coconut oil for $5.99. I HAD to have it of course and am so happy I did. There's more than 100 uses for coconut oil but here's how I've been using it lately:




* I use it as one of the ingredients in my lotion bars and Chapstick but can simply be spread on lips as lip balm. 
* Since its cold & windy outside my face has been extremely dry and flaky so before bed I use it on my face like lotion.  
* Coconut has a high heat content when frying foods with which will make everything crispier.
* eye makeup remover
* Marshall's dry scalp (cradle cap)
* burns/scrapes/wounds- coconut oil helps speed up the healing process & numbs the pain.
* Anytime I have a cold sore or sore throat I'll spread some on the area and it numbs the pain & speeds up healing time.
* 1 tbsp in hot teas help speed up the recovery time of sickness/flu. 
* Marshalls diaper cream
* Maddies frizzy/static hair

Many Many More!!

I did purchase another jar of coconut oil at Walmart for frying foods with or anything I didn't want the coconut flavor in. The Virgin Coconut oil is sweet and taste like coconut which is great for lip balm or cold sore/sore throats since I am basically ingesting it. This bottle from Walmart Supercenter was $3.89. Even though this is 100% Pure, Virgin is always best in everything of course. 


Here is a recipe I made with the virgin coconut oil for coughs or sore throats and it taste good too.











Friday, January 17, 2014

Rustic Pickns'


I LOVE Antiques!! I love to buy them or even just go to different Antique stores to look! BUT my Favorite thing to do is dig through people's Barns and Old Houses to find their junk but someone else's treasures! 

It all began when I started collecting several things here and there and decided I had too much junk so I started using online yard sales through fb to get rid of my items. I soon found out that people were looking for items I had and wanted more! One thing led to another and I ended up creating a name and fb page, Rustic Pickns'. 



I have been buying items I find here and there or I'll consign items to sell. If someone has a "honey hole" to pick, I'll go and pull out items I know I can sell for them. Most of the time I bring the items home with me and sell the item and return 70% in cash to the previous owner. It's a great way for someone to earn extra cash but get rid of their unwanted goods. 

Today, I'm opening a booth for the first time at the Ft. Smith Flea Market. It has turned out great! I have a few consigners I'll be selling for and getting rid of a few of my own things. 



I love the atmosphere of a flea market or auction! Everyone is so nice (98% of these people are in their retirement years-- I've always said I'm an 80 year old in a 28 year olds body!) I want to buy and hoard a million things I see too!!