Eggs

Our chickens started laying. Finally. I really thought they weren't going to pull through and earn their room and board. Then they started laying - on Easter. Awesome, I know.

Fresh brown eggs, 2 - 4 a day = a nice little bunch of eggs in the fridge.

Tonight for dinner?

Sausage and Cheese Bake. It's tradition to have this on Christmas morning, but we're getting crazy and pulling a Christmas in April. You can join us, if you'd like. Dinner's at 6.

SAUSAGE AND CHEESE BAKE

8 slices of bread, cubed

3 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 lb. sausage, browned and drained

6 eggs

2 1/4 cup milk

3/4 tsp. dry mustard

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/3 cup milk

Cube bread and spread in bottom of 9 x 13 in. baking dish. Cover with grated cheese and browned sausage. Mix eggs, 2 1/4 cup milk and dry mustard. Pour over bread. Mix can of soup with 1/3 cup milk and pour over top of dish. Refrigerate overnight (or 6-8 hours) and bake 1 hour at 350°.

My Refrigerator

I accept challenges, even though it may take me awhile to actually get around to doing it. Here is the stuff in my fridge. You can click on the picture to see it larger. I'll post my freezers another day. I've taken the pictures but taking the inventory is going to be time consuming. It will be a good thing though because it probably needs cleaned out.

So, from the top down on the main shelves I've got:
Homemade cake mix
Homemade Magic Mix
Ground wheat (no longer can I use the word "freshly")
Orange juice
Lemon-aid
Organic whipped butter

Dill pickle spears
Half a bag of Brown rice
Flax seed
Ground flax seed
Organic plain yogurt (to use as a starter.. one day)
French onion dip
Dry active yeast
Instant yeast
Organic applesauce
Reddi Whip
Strawberry cream cheese spread (for non existing bagels)
Cottage cheese
Honey butter tub

Organic sour cream (x2)
Hansens Ginger Ale (leftover from morning sickness days)
2 cartons of eggs - grain fed chickens
Leftover beans and rice
Leftover cilantro-lime rice (needs to be thrown out)
Homemade Apple Pie Jam (I should post that recipe)
Homemade salad dressing

Organic Yo Baby Yogurt for kids
Leftover Pizza
Sandwich for Clint's lunch
Corn tortillas (huge bag)
Lemon juice
Lime juice

In drawers I have:
2 blocks of cheese
4 bags pre-shredded cheese
2 blocks cream cheese
1 lonely Babybel cheese
1 half chewed lonely string cheese

Strawberries
Blackberries
Small watermelon
2 oranges
4 lemons
Green grapes

Celery
Button mushrooms
Cilantro (starting to get a little yucky)
2 purple onions
Organic Baby Carrots
2 lb bag organic regular carrots
1 1/2 Zucchinis
1 Sweet Texas yellow onion
Green onions
1 garlic (I didn't know was in there)

In door going from the bottom up I have:
Peach/Mango/Orange fruit spread (Costco size)
Italian dressing
Ranch dressing (expired.. oops)
Hamburger pickles
Realemon juice bottle
Thai Kitchen green curry paste
Light mayo
Mustard
Soy sauce
Parm cheese
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce
Worchestershire sauce
Remoulade (Boar's Head Cajun Mayo)
2 gallons whole organic milk
Taco sauce
Organic butter
Apricot Jam
1 bottle 1/4 full of acidophilus capsules
Big bottle ketchup
Big Hersheys chocolate syrup
Strawberry syrup
Cocktail sauce
Strawberry/Rhubarb Jam (from an amish store.. soo good)
Beef boullion paste
Chicken boullion paste
Jar of minced garlic
Packet of random stuff from fast food and other sources I save for Clint's lunch

That's it! The freezers could be scary...

Easter Eggs Reborn

I know most people don't use a recipe for deviled eggs, but this is really good and different.

TEXAS DEVILED EGGS
•1 dozen extra large eggs, boiled
•1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
•2 Tbs. dill pickle relish
•1/3 c. mayo
•2 Tbs mustard
•3 Tbs. finely minced celery
•3 Tbs. finely minced onion
•1 Tbs. Texas Pete Hot Sauce (this brand is not that hot, kid approved)
•1 Tbs. honey
•Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Peel eggs and cut in half length wise.
Put yolks in bowl with all other ingredients and mix until well blended.
Put yolk mixture in a gallon size zip lock bag and squeeze contents into corner to use as a pastry bag (unless you actually have a pastry bag, then you may proceed fancy style)
Cut a small hole in corner and fill each egg white half overflowing.
Chill for 30 minutes and serve.

I usually don't add the pickle relish, celery or onion (I do prefer green when I use it though). You can of course also adjust your hot sauce level by adding more or less. You might want to also adjust your honey though as well.
I'll post a picture next time I make them.

Meatloaf 'n Biscuits - You know Southern Comfort Food

You know I love me some good home cookin'. Nothing says comfort and home like meatloaf. As long as you don't really think about the name meat loaf. Meat. Loaf. Bleck, sorry.

My kids even love meatloaf. Seriously. LOVE it.

Plus meatloaf goes really well with mashed potatoes and biscuits. Homemade buttermilk drop biscuits. Mmmm.

So, I tried these new recipes from here. They're awesome and so is her blog.

SAUCY MEATLOAF

2 lbs. lean ground beef

1 egg - beaten

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used whole wheat, increases the fiber)

2 oz. tomato sauce

1 medium onion - minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1.4 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

---Sauce---

4 oz. tomato sauce

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp. vinegar

2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. dijon mustard

1 tbsp. worchestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375°. In a bowl combine beef, egg, bread crumbs, tomato sauce, onion and spices. Mix just enough to incorporate the ingredients, don't over mix. Mound into a loaf shape and place into a high sided baking dish, just larger than the loaf.

In the same bowl combine the sauce ingredients: tomato sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, mustard and worchestershire sauce. Mix to blend in brown sugar, then gently pour over the loaf. Bake 60 - 75 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then slice and serve with more sauce on each side.

Serve with mashed potatoes (the sauce is really good as gravy for potatoes).

BUTTERMILK DROP BISCUITS

2 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk - COLD

8 tbsp. unsalted butter - melted and cooled slightly

2 tbsp. unsalted butter - melted for brushing tops

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

In a medium bowl combine the cold buttermilk and the melted and slightly cooled butter. Stir until buttermilk forms clumps.

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from side of the bowl.

Using a greased 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop level amounts and batter and drop onto greased baking sheet. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, approximately 12 - 14 minutes.

Brush biscuit tops with remaining butter. Transfer to wire rack or serve.

Thai Dessert

I will get around to posting my pictures of the fridge one day. Until then, enjoy one of my favorite desserts that my husband introduced me too. Mangoes are so good right now so try this soon. This recipe has been adapted to just use jasmine rice instead of the hard to find true sticky rice. During a morning sickness couple of months I ate this quite a bit... for a meal. That's healthy, right? This serves six people that are not eating this for a meal. =)
Thai Sticky Rice with Mango (Kow Neuw Mamuang)
1 cup uncooked Jasmine Rice
1-13.5 oz can Coconut Milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ripe mangoes

In a medium saucepan bring 1 3/4 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice and briefly stir. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer 15 minutes or until water is just absorbed.
Meanwhile in a small saucepan, combine Coconut Milk, sugar and salt. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
Add the hot Coconut Milk sauce to the cooked rice. Stir until mixed.
Lightly press plastic wrap onto mixture in saucepan to cover. Let rest 30 minutes at room temperature.
Peel and slice the mangoes.
With large spoon or ice cream scoop, spoon the sticky rice onto plates and garnish with mango slices.
If desired, you can top with coconut syrup which is also excellent with banana pancakes the next day.

Coconut Syrup
1-13.5 oz can Coconut Milk
1/2 cup confectioners sugar, firmly packed

In a medium saucepan, mix Coconut Milk with sugar. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently until reduced to 1 1/2 cups of syrup (about 10 to 15 minutes).
Cool to lukewarm and serve, or refrigerate for later. Coconut syrup will keep in refrigerator for one week.
My favorite Thai Recipe website is: Thai Table. Give some recipes a try!

Yogurt Update

I did try this recipe with 2% milk on the last batch. It was a bit runnier than the batches I've made with whole milk; I tried adding some unflavored gelatin (without reading the instructions) and it didn't really work well. I think I'll try this again, but use powdered milk to thicken it up instead of the unflavored gelatin. (or I'll try using the gelatin correctly...)

I'll update again after my next batch, which may be awhile - soccer season just started and I'm crazy busy!

New Project For You

I spent last week stocking up on great deals on meat (a staple at our house, sorry vegetarians...I bought vegetables too). Saturday I spent packaging and preparing a fridge and freezer full of food. Seriously, you'll see the pictures below.

While I was packaging ground beef, roasting turkey, soaking beans and culturing yogurt I thought of a fun little project for all of us. (Yes, that means me, Karen and you, the four readers that we have)

One of the blogs I enjoy reading features a look inside someone's pantry each Saturday. And, since we've purchased our shelving for our new pantry and I can actually see the end of the pantry-less tunnel, we're going to do something similar. Now, since I don't yet have my pantry (unless you count the shelves pushed against the wall in my dining room...I don't) we're doing fridges instead.

I took pictures of my fridge and freezer...UNEDITED...and made a complete inventory of what was in my fridge Saturday night at 10 p.m.

I want you to do the same and send it to me. C'mon, it'll be fun, plus you might find some random thing in the back left corner that you'd forgotten about. Right?

So, send all pictures and lists to me at the email listed on my profile. I can't wait to see what you keep in there!

Here's my list...(sorry it's long)

Fridge

2 gallons 1% milk

2 gallons 2% milk

1/2 gallon buttermilk

24 oz. sour cream

24 oz. cottage cheese

8lb. 10 oz. container Pace picante sauce (medium)

lemon juice

apple juice

quart homemade buttermilk syrup

1 container cool whip

1 pint heavy whipping cream

homemade cream cheese frosting (blue)

homemade cranberry mustard

chopped green onions

container full of roasted turkey

6 cool whip containers of homemade plain yogurt

1 big long venison summer sausage

baking soda

18 oz. sliced mushrooms

4 lbs. medium cheddar cheese

30 ct. package corn tortillas

2 pkg. bologne

8 string cheese

1 pkg. hot dog

1 1/2 lbs. mozzarella cheese

1 lb. sliced ham (sandwich)

1 1/2 cubes margarine

26 store bought yogurts

32 oz. velveeta

2 pkg. refrigerator buttermilk biscuits

grape jelly

dill pickles

homemade hot fudge sauce

leftover fried rice

leftover breakfast (pancakes, poached eggs, ham)

64 oz. applesauce

2 dozen eggs

cauliflower

broccoli

zucchini

cabbage

carrots

asparagus

limes

green onions

sliced ham (for St. Patrick's day "green eggs & ham)

2 cubes butter

7 pkgs. cream cheese

oyster sauce

wasabi horseradish

soy sauce

spicy brown mustard

worchestershire sauce

honey mustard

parmesan cheese

Stubb's BBQ sauce

caramel sauce

yellow mustard

Miracle Whip

Masterpiece BBQ sauce

Catalina dressing

ranch dressing

thousand island dressing

italian dressing

sweet pickle relish

Freezer:

ice

2 half gallon containers vanilla ice cream

2 lbs. butter

2 lbs. monterey jack cheese

2 lbs. colby jack cheese

2 containers limeade

vanilla and chocolate almond bark

otter pops

3 ice packs

ham hock

1 loaf banana bread

1 package tabasco chocolates

20 lbs. ground beef

1 pkg. mahi mahi

2 pkg. tilapia

1 frozen pie crust

1 container homemade split pea soup

1 bag tator tots

1 huge container yeast

1 (18 pk.) pancake and sausage on a stick

2 pkgs. frozen whole strawberries

1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach

2 pkg. frozen chopped broccoli

6 lbs. chicken breast

6 cool whip containers cooked black beans

2 beef roasts

2 pkgs. boneless pork ribs

5 lbs. frozen shrimp

1 pkg. smoked sausage

72 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

6 pkgs. hot dogs

1 turkey breast

1 pkg. ground italian sausage

2 pkg. backstrap venison

1 venison summer sausage

1 pkg. frozen mini bagels

Sunny with a Chance of Delicious Meatballs

Want a delicious meal your kids will beg you for again and again? Don't mind getting your hands a little dirty in the process? Great!

SWEET & SOUR MEATBALLS

1 pound lean ground beef

1 cup crushed crackers (I used a combination of saltine and Townhouse)

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons onion, minced

2 tablespoons milk

salt

pepper

1 tablespoon oil (I used extra-virgin olive oil)

2/3 cup chili sauce

2/3 cup grape jelly

Mix ground beef with crackers, egg, garlic, onion, milk, salt and pepper. Form mixture into meatballs, approximately 40. Heat oil in frying pan and brown meatballs on all sides. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Combine jelly and chili sauce; pour over meatballs.

Heat, stirring occasionally until jelly is melted. Simmer 10 - 12 minutes until sauce has thickened up, basting occasionally.

I decided to take another route with this and put the meatballs in the crockpot after browning. I covered them with the sauce and turned the crockpot on low. I'll serve tonight with seasoned brown rice, a side of steamed broccoli and garlic bread. Mmm!

Tortillas

I really need to work on my taking food picture skills. FLOUR TORTILLAS
3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add vegetable shortening or lard. Or use a combination of half lard, half shortening.
Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned
way and use your hands. I actually just used my paddle in the Kitchen Aid.

Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do
not need very hot water. You'll need to switch to your bread hook if using a Kitchen Aid.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.

Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them
rest covered for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.

Now you can roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Cook each side just a few seconds on a hot griddle or a skillet.

Crockpot Yogurt, because you asked...

Take this:

Put it in this:

To make this:

Yummy, creamy homemade plain yogurt made in your crockpot!

I know Karen posted a great yogurt recipe here, but I'm an absolute chicken when it comes to measuring temperatures with a thermometer. I go for easy. Seriously easy.

Here's the secret recipe, which I adapted from the one found here. You can easily 1/2 this recipe for a smaller family, or one that doesn't eat as much yogurt as we do.

Homemade Crockpot Yogurt

1 gallon whole milk (I've only used whole, but this week I'll be trying it with 1%, I'll let you know)

1 cup store bought plain yogurt with live cultures (or if you've made it before keep a starter)

frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

crockpot

blanket or large towel

I typically start this process mid-afternoon. This allows me to do all the steps before I go to bed and I wake up to a crockpot full of nice creamy yogurt. Trust me, it's the best way - unless you want to get up really early.

Turn crockpot to low.

Pour milk into crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.

Leaving the crockpot lid on, unplug crockpot and let sit for 3 hours.

After 3 hours scoop out 4 cups of the milk and stir in one cup of yogurt starter/store-bought plain yogurt.

Pour mixture back into the crockpot and stir.

Put lid back on crockpot, leave it unplugged, and wrap the entire crockpot with a heavy towel or blanket to insulate.

This is where you can go to bed for 8 hours...or you can just wait.

After 8 hours you'll have yogurt. Easy, eh? It is thinner than store-bought yogurt, but it has all the same nutrients with less of the bad stuff, like sugar. If you want, you can add a packet of unflavored gelatin after you add the starter to thicken it up more. You can also try adding some powdered milk to thicken it.

You can blend fruit into the yogurt after it sets up. I keep mine plain and add flavorings upon serving it.

The yogurt will store in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. Remember to keep 1 cup for a starter.