Meet (or is it meat?) The Meatrix....

Go ahead, I dare you to check out this funny video about modern day meat production....no blood or gore and it really gets the point across!

Join us Rebels, Tell the FDA to regulate GMO foods!

Good Morning Rebels!  Happy hump day; hope you are having a wonderful week; but even more importantly I hope you will join me in signing this all important petition.  It is high time we know exactly what we are eating; and that people who are not yet even aware of how deeply GMO foods are embedded into our everyday diets, become aware and knowledgeable about what they are putting into the mouths of their beloved families!

Waste not, want not....

My apologies folks, I left my camera at my parents house on Christmas!  I will post pics as soon as I get it back~ooops!!!  This just means you have to come back to see my amazing gifts.  J~

I've got to tell you, this is probably one of my favorite expressions in life...And my kids' least favorite!  But I mean it literally pains me to see things go to waste.  Hence, this years Christmas gifts.  What?  Yes, I took things that were going to go to waste, and I turned them into Christmas gifts for my family and friends.  Hold on with the hillbilly jokes for just a second, they turned out okay!

If you remember, pre-back injury, I worked at the food pantry.  Even at a food pantry there is waste.  Yes, it kills me to admit it, but it is true.  There are berries that get put in a fridge in the basement that get forgotten, or herbs that are just not picked up, or whatever; well, not on my watch.  I would take the stuff home and put it in the freezer, with my daughter/helper moaning all the while.

Well, as part of my post-back surgery physical therapy (boy am I smart) and to get some of my gifts made, I got myself moving by getting these things out of the freezer and seeing what I could make with them.  I had enough berries for six jars of triple berry jam and six jars of blueberry jam.  I made the herbs into a Tarragon vinegar.  But the really fun part about this was that I got to use some of my very special bottle collection...

The bottles under the stairs.... They were a mystery when we first moved in; there were hundreds of them.  Many of them beautiful, all of them old, and they at some point in time had been cleaned and very carefully collected.  Medicine bottles, liquor bottles, round bottles, square bottles...you get the idea; they were everywhere!  That is when we found out that old Charlie Royal had lost the original Royal Ranch to tax evasion for moonshining!  He built our home in 1955 after that and apparently never lost his urge to collect bottles for his hobby!

So, even ol' Charlie would be smiling down on this years gifts I think; although it may not be moonshine, it hopefully will be just as useful!  But one of the great things about it was that I received gifts like this too.  One of my sisters and her family made us a calendar with all of our important dates on it; chock full of family photos!  My other sisters family made us the yummiest green chile ever; and my parents brought tears to all of our eyes this year with extra touching gifts from the heart.  

We all got pictures of our grandparents from their high school years and then each of us got a touch of the past.  Mine was my birth card, the little girl card that they put on the bassinet in the hospital the day I was born!  And then I also got some beautiful antique Christmas figurines that I have loved since I was a little girl and used to put them out every year; they are from my Dads parents; very special indeed!

It was a wonderful Christmas, and a great way to start off our 2011, not wasting a thing, and really letting those we love know how much they mean to us.  I'd love to hear about your special gifts this year, or how you plan to not be wasteful next year!

Sweetened Condensed Milk (Homemade!)

Photo courtesy of ifood.tv

You know that ooey, gooey can of milk that you always have on your shelf for those extra rich baked goods...that is until you need it?  Well, I needed mine yesterday, and lo and behold, my son donated it to the canned food drive.  So what is a savvy baker to do?  Google it of course.  And I came up with a great second choice because I always have powdered milk on hand, doesn't everybody?

So here goes, it's easier than pie...

1/2 cup hot water

1 T. butter

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup sugar

Place all ingredients in blender and mix well.  I must admit, that I thought I could get away with saving myself from washing the blender and just mixing this by hand.  Big mistake.  I had lumps and an exhausted arm, so use the blender and then this can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge or freezer.  By the by, my lumps baked out perfectly in the toffee chip bars that I made, so it worked out fine, but it still would have been worth washing the darn blender!

Royal Llama Adventures, LLC

 Royal Llama Adventure photo from 2005

I was worried that I needed to get right to work this morning and not post, but I realized that I could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.  I of course would never even kill one bird, but you probably have already gathered that by now-ha!  We have a family coming for a llama adventure tomorrow and so today is the day that I will prepare for said adventure.  Instead of making my lists on paper, I will share my prep work here with you, my dedicated readers, which gives you an insight into our adventures and will help me prepare for our big day.

Our guests are a family of four.  Two adults and two teen boys, the teen boys have me a tiny perplexed as I hope that our hike in interesting enough for them.  I am hoping that like most teens they will bring their ipods or whatever to tune out Tom and I droning on and on about the cool history of the area, and the B52 plane crash that ended with one of the flight crew hiking out to The Royal Ranch.  See, I have been telling you we are steeped in history, but is it enough for teens?

So, back to me preparations.  I need to go over all of the food.  Lunch will consist of Royal Chicken Salad, homemade potato salad, cut up fruit, chocolate covered strawberries (always a huge hit on the trail) and chocolate chip cookies Royale (notice a theme here?).  We will also provide multiple snacks throughout the hike, like fresh watermelon, pineapple and nuts.  And oh lord, don't forget the water, I even bought bottled water, which I hate to do, but guests don't like to use our old yucky reusable water bottles!

So, the day has passed by, before I was able to get this post published, but once my family and critters start rising, the day gets busy, but I still wanted to share the work of the day.  I started with the potato salad.  While the potatoes boiled I pulled anything I might need out of the freezer, including the banana bread I will serve at one of the snack stops.  

I then moved on to my cookies and discovered that I was out of brown sugar, which led me to our new favorite cookie, Chocolate Chip Royale.  It is really quite simple, just follow the directions for chocolate chip cookies on the Nestle Toll House package, except use all white sugar, add 2 Tablespoons cocoa and 1 teaspoon dried orange zest.

Chocolate covered strawberries are  a breeze, look fancy and make a big impression on guests.  I made those with leftover chocolate chips and just a touch of vegetable oil.  One of the fantastic things about hiking with llamas is being able to take this type of thing.  I will even pack real plates and silverware for our guests.  It makes for a fun picnic, we have plenty of room, and it is very green and environmentally friendly; and with the gentle gait of the llamas, you could take the fine china!

I used the BBQ for the chicken for the Royal chicken salad.  Keeps the kitchen a little cleaner, and I threw on a few extra and called it dinner as well.  My momma didn't raise a dummy, if I'm going to be in the kitchen all day, I;m going to have a meal for my family, and a container of each item for the kids for tomorrow while we are gone.

Tom worked on getting the packs and various bins that I will use to pack the food in together, and the llamas, well, they just ate and enjoyed a little bit of dryer weather.  They will do their part tomorrow, as for me, I will get to enjoy the feast I made along with my guests while sharing the wonder of this spectacular area.  I will try to take lots of pics and post them when we get back.  Have a great Sunday.

Have I lost my mind?

Photo form GreenIrene

I would like to start off saying that I would really like feedback from this post, actually I would like it to be interactive even, because this is something that I am really curious about.  I have been reading lately about how our food affects our carbon footprint.  I recently had the need to look up locavore is what brought this up I think, and a locavore is a person who tries to eat all of their food from local sources, to help reduce their carbon footprint.  They probably have other reasons too, I don't know, but that is the biggy.

In this research I found out that the best way to reduce your food CF (carbon footprint from here on out) is to not eat meat as it creates the most gases, etc when being produced.  Well, pshaw, is what my family would say to that!  There is absolutely no way you are getting my carnivorous crew to not eat meat!  So, how does a greenie like me, cut my food CF?  (Just a funny side note here, spell check doesn't like locavore and greenie, but accepts pshaw, what's up with that?)

We do our own hunting, but that meat really does not last as long as you'd think.  And the grocery store meat, well don't even get me started...I buy it when I absolutely have to, but I am very particular and only buy stuff that is on sale and that I know where it has come from, hopefully.

But on to how I have lost my mind.  Yesterday a truck drove in my driveway and I bought a crapload of meat off of it.  I know, I can't believe I did it either.  Tom just about killed me.  I have never done such a crazy thing. 

The company is Pacific Prime and I don't know what the hell happened to my brain while the guy was here, but actually it all worked out okay.  I got a good deal, but Tom got us an even better deal.  See, I had asked and read and looked, but you know how the big bad biker is, if not every label says "Made IN America" he won't touch it.  He called the guy back and left a message for him to come and pick up his chinese tasting meat, since the guarantee was only good for taste.  God the man slays me!

During that time we made some calls and did more research.  It was exactly as I thought.  You pretty much never know where your meat is coming from.  If it is labeled, you best hope it is labeled correctly.  King Soopers gets most of their beef from US, Mexico and Canada the old man was horrified to find out, and pretty much every single package I have ever brought home is labeled US.  I don't think I get that lucky, even the butcher on the phone joked about the box in the back saying US but having a different product in it, it was being reused.

The meat from Pacific Prime on the other hand is all labeled correctly from each place, is very high quality meat and above all, is all natural with no extra crap in it like I would get at the stores.  The other thing is that it is simple stuff too, easy to defrost and prepare a very healthy meal for the family.  Especially now that Tom got all that money off I will be feeding the family for at least the same price.

So back to my food CF.  I am wondering if that is what was in the back of my mind when I lost it yesterday with this salesman, that I normally would have chased off the ranch.  Although some of these meats, specifically the seafood are imported, the majority of the food is US we found out after going rounds with the company.  So my question is this, does a company like this, one that brings things to your door, help you reduce your overall CF?  I have to keep in mind the packaging, and yes there is quite a bit of it, but none of those styrofoam trays and yucky pads; just recyclable boxes and the plastic the meat is flash frozen in.  

But, the big thing for me is that this will cut my trips to the store drastically.  With working at the food pantry, we will fill in with fruits and veggies and breads there; Lord knows there is plenty to go around.  Tom can pop into Costco for milk and cheese and we are pretty much good to go.  Therefore, you have taken one F350 truck off the road for at least one hour of driving for five trips let's say.  That's quite a little impact, I'd think.

Now not everybody lives as far away from the grocery store as I do, etc., but I am curious to know your thoughts.

So weigh in on this subject folks.  Have you chased these people off before?  What about your food CF?  Where do you get your all natural meat from?  Does anybody have a good Colorado source they'd love to share?

Summer Stir Fry

 (Not my photo, I of course was not thinking of blogging as I was rushing to get dinner on the table, but it gives you an idea, minus the pasta.)

I've got to tell you, this is one of the family's favorite new recipes, and I came upon it completely on accident.  And when I say I came upon it, it means that I just made it up...so please feel free to adjust it to your tastes.  As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the easiest things to make, because it is almost entirely made of leftovers, and only heats up your kitchen for just a few minutes, so is very temperature friendly on those very hot sticky days!  Here are the ingredients that I use:

~Leftover cooked meat; so far this has been diced pork that has been cooked in the crock pot or BBQ'd chicken.

~1 bag broccoli coleslaw mix (I get mine at the food pantry, but it is very inexpensive in the produce aisle)

~2 or 3 colorful peppers, I use 2 pretty non spicy peppers and one spicy

~veggies of your choice (I use whatever is good that week, squash, snap peas, the sky is the limit, or better yet, your kids are the limit!)

~cooked pasta or rice (we like our Chinese food lo mein style and I always have leftover pasta in the fridge that I can just toss in there so it saves me the time of cooking rice, but knock yourself out.)

~Soy sauce.  No kidding here, the first time I made this, I used leftover packets from when we had take out, and believe me, we can't afford take out very often, so it doesn't take much soy sauce!  We like this recipe so much I did break down and buy a bottle of soy sauce though and it is very cheap, look for it on the "Asian" food aisle.

Since everything is usually precooked, just start by heating your pan with just a tiny bit of olive oil in the bottom while you cut up your veggies.  Place all of the veggies, along with the slaw and brown for just a few minutes before you add your cooked meat and pasta.  Heat all the way through and add the soy sauce to taste and consistency.  I do want to remind you that soy sauce is very salty.  Tom got a little carried away with it the last time we had this and added some after I served dinner and had a stomachache in the night, so don't serve it on the side!  You'll hear about it later-ha!

This is a great dinner because all of your veggies, carbs and protein are all in one helping; I simply get my fancy bowls out and serve it up!  The family thinks they're getting a fancy schmancy dinner and it probably only takes me about fifteen minutes from start to finish, I haven't heated up my kitchen too much, it hardly cost me a dime and I cleaned out my fridge...let alone how many veggies I just snuck into their unsuspecting little bodies!

Deviled Eggs

When I was growing up my Grandma was always in charge of bringing the deviled eggs to all of the family parties, and they were the best deviled eggs you have ever tasted!  One of the things that she used to do to prepare for this big egg making event was to buy her eggs well in advance, her belief was that the fresher the eggs, the harder they would be to peel.  Now, whether this is a wives tale or not, I do not know; but it has had me quaking in my shoes since I have what I would consider the world's freshest eggs.  Directly out of the chicken.

Up until Easter Sunday, it really hadn't mattered how the eggs had peeled, it was just my family eating them, and if quite a bit of the white came off, no biggy, just feed it right back to the chickens for a strong healthy egg the next go 'round.  But for deviled eggs, for company no less, I really wanted them to peel nicely.  So, I hard boiled them, cooled them, and then cracked them all in the pan of water and then let them soak over night so as to let the water seep in between the egg and the shell.  If your pan has any aluminum showing, please use a different container to store the eggs in the fridge (in water) overnight, we don't want aluminum to leak into your wonderful eggs!

 Notice I'm using my non paper towels from my friend Tiffanys Etsy shop

In the morning I was really quite pleased, I still had quite a few eggs, probably the majority, that did not come out perfectly, but it went much more smoothly than I had anticipated!  You have to keep in mind when you get frustrated that the whites are the bottom of your deviled eggs, and that no one really sees that part after you decorate them anyway.  I had two trays that I planned on serving at the party and one for "Yucky's" as Isabella and I called them and it really took the pressure off when peeling and cutting them in half to have that extra tray to put the not so perfect ones; and believe me, they got eaten just as quickly!  

Okay, enough of the peeling secrets and on to the recipe, which as usual is not really a recipe because it depends on how many eggs you're making and what your tastes are.  But here is a list of my ingredients:

Eggs (duh)

relish (Grandma always used vinegar in hers, I think relish takes the place of that)

yellow mustard

spicy mustard

mayonnaise

salt and pepper

chili pepper for garnishing top

We just put all of the yolks into a bowl as we were halving the eggs and the whites into the trays.  Mix all of the devilish ingredients to the right consistency and taste, meaning that you have to snitch here and there of course, and put it all into a baggy.  A funny side note here, Isabella, shocked, looked at me and said "We get to use a new bag, Mommy?"  Poor girl, traumatized by a cheap, tree hugging, mother!

Anywho, snip the corner off of your brand new baggy and fill your awaiting vessels, top with a sprinkle of the chili pepper, it's okay to get a little on your beautiful serving tray, no one will notice!  Grandma used to go to all of the trouble to make them all and then transfer each and every one of them, but not me, takes too much time!  Share with your loved ones and enjoy the fruits of your labor, and hopefully not so much labor!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

No, this is not the post I had planned for today either!  That's what I get for planning-ha!  I realized that tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and that I wanted to share my recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage with you, but if you are going to have it ready for the big day, you must start it tonight; therefore, another change in plans.  I have already started my brisket in the crockpot, and I will take pics throughout the next stages and add them to this post as I go, so check back for updates if you'd like.  For those of you that get this via e-mail, I'm sorry that you won't get all of the pictures, but click on the link by St. Patrick's Day and they'll be there!

This recipe is actually my Grandma's, passed down through the generations, and it is the only way I like corned beef because it is not stringy!  It is absolutely worth the time in preparation, and your slow cooker does all of the work for you!  So, tonight before you go to bed, place your corned beef in the crockpot on low and cover with water.  In the morning you will know it is St. Patrick's Day and you will not forget to wear green and be pinched once, unless of course you want to be!

Remove your brisket and let it cool while you finish getting ready for the day.  Chop your cabbage (I add some potatoes and carrots sometimes) and put it in the liquid and add more water if necessary; leave the slow cooker on low.  Don't forget to cover your beautiful roast and place it in the fridge for later or the dog will eat it while you are gone, at least that is what would happen at my house.

Okay, now the very important part, how to cut the meat.  When you get home, all ready for that delicious Irish dinner, turn your slow cooker up to high.  Cut your roast against the grain, again, very important!  This is what keeps it from getting stringy; you will know if you are doing it right because the meat will look sort of compressed instead of pulling apart in pieces.  When your meat is cut and trimmed of the yucky fat, dump it back into the crockpot with the hot veggies while you make the mashed potatoes to put it all on!  Since the pieces of meat are not too big they will heat through in no time flat and you will have your traditional Irish dinner ready for your family in a shake of a lamb's tail.  Did somebody mention lambs?

Sometimes I just crack myself up!

PS  In case you are wondering why I am doing our St. Patrick's Day meal a day early; yes, I am doing it for this post, but also it is to have dinner all ready for the big Caucus tonight!  I love to use my slow cooker on a night when we have a lot going, and politics is big in a small town.

Schnitzel; Royal Ranch Style

Once again, I forgot to take pictures while I was making dinner (Ha! thank goodness for clipart), but my family enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd share my recipe with you all real quick.  Plus, I know I have been a bad girl about my blog over the weekend, so this may make up for it.  Actually if you try this, it will more than make up for it!

Schnitzel has quite a history, and when I went to do a little research for this post I was shocked at how worldly it is!  Wikipedia has an entire page dedicated to schnitzel and it's various origins and ways to be made.  I was actually quite relieved to read that many heritages have a claim to fame on this great food source, and that hopefully I will not be corrected by my German exchange sister on this one (just kidding, Irina).  We of course, are closer related to the German one, because that is what Tom was raised with and loves.
What I have learned is that you can "schnitzelize" (my spell check is having a heck of a time with this word, so it must be a Judy original!) just about anything, which is partially why I love it so much.  The fantastic part is that you can take an inexpensive cut (like cube steak) of meat, tenderize it and turn it into a wonderful meal for your family.  It is also great to take boneless skinless breasts and fillet them (cut them in half sideways to double the amount of breasts you have) and then tenderize them and you have twice the amount of food for the same amount of money.  Last night I used this recipe on elk steak, so it is even good on game meat!

To prepare the meat I lay it out on a cutting board (no plastic or wood to hold in meat bacteria remember!) and let the kids go to town with the meat hammer, they absolutely love this job!  If it gets too messy you can cover it with plastic wrap, which I never do because I prefer to clean up the mess than use plastic, but it is a good tip for those of you who can't handle the juices.  Turn the meat over and do the same to the other side and clean all surfaces of your children, cutting board, counters and kitchen with an antibacterial cleaner of some kind, preferably eco-friendly!
Mix bread crumbs, flour, seasoned salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper in a shallow dish.  Amounts are a little tricky on this one as it depends on how much you are making and your tastes.  I am guessing that for 6-8 pieces (I always make a much bigger batch and never measure, so I am guessing here) you will need a total of 1 cup dry ingredients with about 1tsp. each of the spices.  Then you can adjust to your own tastes from there.  In another shallow dish scramble two eggs and add a dash of milk and really mix well.  Dredge meat pieces in egg/milk mixture and then in crumb mixture, place in a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil in the bottom on medium high heat.  I use olive oil because it is much healthier.  Leave the burner pretty hot until the pieces are browned on the first side and ready to turn over.  After turning, turn down the heat, and let the meat cook through and the second side continue browning.

As I mentioned, this is a very versatile main course, it can be served with just about any side dish.  You can also mix Parmesan cheese and Italian spices into the dry ingredients and you have "Parmigiana" to serve over pasta with sauce.  Get creative, and if you do, don't forget to come back here and tell us all about it!