Just another Day on the Farm

Heart Stew Recipe

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

How many of your have been tried Heart? Its a surprisingly good meat to consider adding in now an again to your meals. I would recommend that if you are considering having a larger animals heart for the first time, consider serving it as a stuffed baked heart..

If you are working with small hearts like chicken, then you can use them in place of stew meat or slice thin and use in many different ways, just remember that its a muscle meat and to cook as such. If you are new to it, start with it in tiny peices.

Heart Stew Recipe

1/2 Pd of Fresh Chicken Hearts
4 cups of canned tomato’s (or one large can of tomato’s)
1 Onion-Peeled and Diced
2 Cloves of Garlic -Peeled and Diced
6 cups of homemade lamb stock
2 sticks of Celery-Diced
2 Carrots -Peeled and Diced
1/2 head of califlower diced
1/2 cup of Barley
2 large potato’s -Peeled and Diced
2 cups greens-your choice, I did baby spinach for this one.
2 cups of water or tomato juice.
1 TBSP of Basil-Dried
Salt, Pepper to taste

Put a tiny bit of oil in your nice big steel soup pot and cook your onions/garlic and then add your hearts, brown them (just like stew meat) then add the rest of the above and simmer for one to two hours depending on how thick you like your stews. If you need to, it will be ready in 40 min but it will be so much better if you slow simmer it or you can crock pot it for 4 to 6 hours.

Posted in 100 mile diet, food, Food Production and Recipes, Soups and Stews | Tagged Food Production and Recipes, Soups and Stews | 1 Comment

Book Review and workouts

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I got the “You on a Diet” by Dr. Oz and Michael Roizen book, I found it written for the average person and little heavy on the jokes and or funnies for me. Having said that, it did have very good overviews and the book is worth it for a few chapters and for the questions and answers, I don’t like the diet part, but then I don’t “diet” by following anything that requires me to eat this or that.

One of the biggest reason’s that this sort of eat this or that does not work is because I make almost everything from scratch and raise/grow almost all my own food, and there is no way that I am going to throw out my homemade XXX made from or with my organic eithically raised critters to go buy “low-fat” YYY from a store.

When I started writing up my weekly weigh in, I thought only my friends and family would be checking in on me, but have since had at least one wonderful lady who checks in regular (you know who you are Miss C) and I find myself wanting to give a little more background while still being my typical private person on the big World Wide Web.

So for those that are new to me, I am heavy, as over a hundred pds overweight, Having said that, I am a very active overweight gal. I noticed that most of the ladies in the on-line support group gave a little background, so I will do the same, I do come from a family of tall, big framed folks, as an example, I am the shortest person in my family at 5’10, everyone else is over six foot, and the girls in my family can easily make 6’3 and the tallest gent is 6’8, we have alot of football and basketball/baseball players in the family.

I have always been medically what they would call heavy, having said that, I was a happy active child, with friends, horses, farm, moterbike/bike, sports, and belonged to groups, I was so active in high school, belonging to acting club, both on stage (including lead roles in both juinor and senior) as well as directing, I sat on committee’s and belongs to both sport groups and the list goes on, I don’t think I missed a single school dance.

Once I left school, I have traveled and lived in a number of place’s, held down many different jobs, moved across the country in sections, and during it all, made new friends, continued and added in new hobbies, learned new skills and hiked, or canoe’d many a trail and lake while doing so.

I kept my weight fairly stable overall until I lost my newborn daughter when she was five days old and then gained close to eighty pds, and slowly but surely took it off, then I lost my newborn son, and gained again and it was only last year that I decided that I was going to lose the weight, I lost 41 pds in 2010, and I will be working to lose around 50 pds for 2011.

Dr. Oz in the book above says that instead of going for a “ideal” weight goal listed by the gov, that I should look back to when I was 18 or 21 (or a time that you were active and overall where you were at a good weight and felt great as an adult) and look at where that weight was, for me that would mean that I need to lose 130-140ish pds to get me back to the weight I was when I was both 18 and 21. He recommends that you find a goal range that should be ten pds flexing.

So on to the weekend, got DH to weigh in and he is still within the same ten pd rato of when I meet him ten years ago, if he went by the books, he should be about 20 pds less, he is lean everywhere but his tummy, which as most know is the most dangerous place of all.

I measured his waist and we had a really indepth talk about the fact that I want him to understand that he does carry his weight in a danger zone, I was so happy to see him read the Dr. Oz book and then take the time to write out his day and ask me for impute on ways to tweek his meal plan etc

He decided to join me in my half hour core body workout, God I love my wii and my workout programs, and I had to laugh because by the end, he said “I finally understand why you are always talking back to the instructor” LOL

Got my 30 min walks with DH both days of the weekend, so overall just a great weekend in terms of learning and being together on the same page, it felt awesome to have DH right there with me.

I saw something interesting on some of the other girls sites in regards to “rewarding” yourself for losing weight and I really like the idea, I will start a list of rewards.

One of the idea’s I came up with on my list (which I am working on) was a trip up to a place that you need to hike into to get to a favorite rock to sit and soak in the amazing beauty of nature.

On the other hand, I am having a great deal of difficulty figuring out how to meet one of my weekly goals which is Do something new? I really should have worded that different, into something like.. Do something different then normal this week.. because I have hit the web, the phone book and am racking my brain for something to do that is local and reasonablely priced that I have “Never” done in my life and I am struggling on this.. but still have a few more days to get it done!

Photo taken by N Roy just outside of Rossport, I didn’t know she took this, it was a private moment for me, but I am glad she did take it and shared it with me.. When I drove across the country with my dear momma, we stopped at this little town of Rossport for lunch and had a great visit with the owner of the place we eat and she told us to stop at this little pull off, that it was amazing and the spot is shown above and she was right, there is something about it that seems magical when you are there. When we left I told my momma, that I would be back at least once more, and put it on my “bucket” list and so three years later, I was honored to be back again to enjoy that amazing view with the pounding baby waves.

Posted in Goals | Tagged Goals, Weight Loss | Leave a comment

Snow, Snow and More Snow

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

DH’s Ma sent these photos of her new foot an half of snow this weekend in her backyard.

Posted in Family | Tagged Family | Leave a comment

Spicy Carrot Salsa Recipe

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

. This is a different Salsa but o its good.. hubby says he thinks its more like carrot BBQ sauce, I think its great as a wonderful add in to meats to make sandwhich’s and or as dip for veggies or to make a amazing salad dressing when mix’s with a little yogurt or for those that are willing to do so, a little sour cream or mayo. It is also awesome on a cracker with cheese. As you can see its just a beautiful color.

6 cups of chopped cored peeled tomatoes
4 cups coursely chopped peeled carrots
3 tbsp of fresh ginger-peeled and coursely chopped in with the carrots in the food processer.
1 cup of cider vineger, 1/2 cup of white wine vineger
1 an 1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup of lime juice
1 tbsp of chili flakes
1 an 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper.

In a large steel pot, combine all the above and bring to a boil over med heat, at that point I took it off the stove and hit it with the blender stick then reduce to a steady simmer heat per your stove, and simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened, about an hour or two, depending on the size of your pot.

Process as normal for hot water bath’s (I am assuming that folks that read my recipes have some of the basic’s of how to can, if not, I would highly recommend the book above a good detailed guide to start with) and process for 15 min.

Posted in Canning, food, Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Canning, Food Production and Recipes | 3 Comments

Rabbit Spinach Fittata Recipe

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Rabbit Spinach Fittata

1 Piece of JADOTF’s Rabbit Side Bacon-Finely Diced -Equal to three peices of bacon.
1 Small Onion -Diced
6 Farm Fresh Eggs
1 cup of Fresh Spinach
1 tablespoon of St. Albert Butter
4 Shedded Tablespoons of Onion St. Albert Mozza Cheese
1/4 cup of Fresh Green Onion-Finely Diced
1/4 cup of diced Pepper-Green (but you can use any color)
Salt, Pepper, Hot Pepper Flakes, Turmac, Garlic

In a large cast iron frying pan, add your butter, melt, and then add your rabbit and onion, cook till rabbit is browned and onion is clear, then add your greens and peppers, till green’s wilt, and then in a other bowl, mix your eggs with the spices and pour over the pan, give one gentle stir to help lift them though the fittata.

Pop into a pre-heated oven at 400 for about five to six min, it will puff up, don’t worry, it will come back down.. then add shedded cheese and green onion, pop back in for one to two min till cheese melts and let sit for a min or two before lifting out of the pan.

Serve hot or cold, the leftover’s are just as good as the first serving, goes as fancy breakfast or at lunch or dinner with a large salad or if you are really hungry, some oven roasted veggies. This can be cut into eight for company or if for a full meal, into four, which gives each piece about a egg an half portion.

Posted in food, Food Production and Recipes, rabbits | Tagged Food Production and Recipes, Rabbits | 1 Comment

Rabbit Side Bacon or Jerky Recipe

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Ok, I know this is going to seem a bit of a strange one. So as most of us know Bacon is not cheap, and that if used in a recipes a little can go a long way. I like side pork, and it got me to thinking why could I not make Rabbit Side Bacon, it fits right into my belief to find a way to make sure that every part is used.

So these saddles have not been pounded out, nor had their extra fat removed yet.

So take your fresh Rabbit belly saddles, peel off the white silver skin and extra fat if they have it, give them a little pounding, and place in baggy or if you don’t use them, in a glass bowl, mix up

1 tsp canning salt
1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar
Spices – I went the easy way and use montreal steak spice on them
1 tsp Soy Sauce, or White or Red or Balstmic Vinagers (your Choice)

Mix well till the salt and sugar melt and pour over the rabbit belly flaps. Personally I like to keep them in the fridge for at least a day. Mix them well with the marinade and take out as much air as possable, if in a glass bowl, mix well, cover with wrap and weight it down, you want that marinade to meld over the whole peice.

Now you can use them in place of bacon, just dice them up and go, or you can take them out and make them into rabbit Jerky.

So here is a pounded out and prepared Jerky peice. Frugal Tip #1, think you don’t have the equipment to make your own Jerky? Grab your steel baking cooling rack, throw it on a cookie sheet and place your meat on it and place in your oven on the lowest setting. There is wiggle room on how to do this, if you are going to eat it quickly, then most folks just dehydrate it, but if you are doing a big batch, some folks recommend cooking it first, getting it up to about 170 degree’s (the lowest setting on your oven) and then taking it directly from there into your dehrdrator, and then let it finish that way.

So here is the finished Jerky, this is so! good, I don’t know that I have ever seen Rabbit Jerky in the stores but if you ever get the chance to try it or if you can make it at home. Give it a try, its well worth it!

Posted in food, Food Production and Recipes, frugal, local food, rabbits | 13 Comments

Rabbit Liver Pate Recipe

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

1 Fresh Rabbit Liver-Chopped into small pieces
2 Tbsp of Local St. Alberta Butter
1 Small Onion, Peeled and Fine Diced
1 Clove Garlic, Peeled and Fine Dinced
Salt, Pepper, Hot Red Pepper Flakes to taste. Basil
2 Tbsp of good Sherry or Cognac (optional)

As I want the Rabbit Liver Pate to be part of a Dark Day’s Meal, I put the sherry on the side 😉 So add your butter and melt, then add your onions/garlic till clear, then add chopped liver and spices cook till liver is just done. Then pour mixture into the correct container to be able to stick blend it till smooth.

Place in container and allow to chill and for the flavors to blend for at least six hours, serve on crackers with cheese/peppers or in any way you would for store bought pate, one of my fravorites is spread on hot well toasted rye bread.

Now good Pate in the stores, costs about six to eight dollars, and its the most basic you can get, and who knows where that pork/beef liver is coming from. This recipe makes a bit more then half a cup of very flavorful rich Pate ( A little goes a long way) for around a dollar, and that is mainly because I pay dearly for my locally made St. Albert butter. If I was willing to use my regular non-local butter, I could have dropped the cost to about 50 cents or so for off the farm parts of this recipe.

This recipe can be made using any of the available livers at the stores or though your local farm gate sales. It will give a slightly different flavor depending on what liver is used, as well as what spices/herbs an or sherry you use.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes, frugal, local food, rabbits, Real Life | Tagged 100 mile food challange, Farm Life, Food Production and Recipes, Frugal, Rabbits | 7 Comments

Most Modern Cookbooks so don’t work for this farm gal

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

One of our Christmas Desserts, No recipe use, its a Cranberry Pecan Maple Tartlet with vanilla icecream. It was tiny and tasty and just yum!

So I often get cookbooks from my momma, which I am totally grateful for, but today, decided to look in a new one that was about making your recipes with no trans-fats, which is something that I already do, but I wanted to just flip though it and see if anything jumped out for a new meal idea..

Well a few things jumped but none of them good.. My god, did these recipes call for sugar, I mean a ton of sugar.. I know that I have been weaning my recipes in regards to sugar for the past year really hard and even a few years before that.. example replacing fruit butters for X amount of fat, reducing sugars by half, switching the sugar amounts out by half in place of local raw honey. Grinding Dates/soaked in warm water as a sugar replacement.

Having reduced the basic sugars in so many of our main dishes, and given that I so rarely use a recipe, I have cooked most of my main dishes to the point that I go by look, feel and taste, raither then by measurements. I was shocked to see a cake recipe call for two cups of sugar, I made a cake the same size as this one, and use about half a cup of sugar given the amount of fruit jam I used in the cake, I often make fruit cakes or muffins or loaves, by starting with 1/4 cup of oil, one half pint jar of jam or jelly, one large duck egg (two chicken eggs) and depending on if its a cake, either water, Whey, yogurt, buttermilk or milk.. and then add the dry to suit what I am making..

The other one that suprised me was given that this was a “healthy” cookbook was the amount of crap pre-made food that they wanted in the recipes.. Please peaple, throwing together three cans of processed food, three processed sauces and a little meat is not a homecooked meal!

Now, I am going to fully admit that I can, and I can alot, I also dry food, freeze it and I am so NOT knocking good qaulity canned food, but that was not what these recipes called for, and so many of them had NO fresh food in the meal, I can see opening a can of this or using 1/3 a cup of this combined with fresh food to make a meal, do it all the time, granted I know what is in that sauce, I grew it, processed and can tell you everything in it.

I can’t really remember the last meal I put together that had nothing fresh in it, and I think that it should be that hard for me to remember.

I am sending out a challange.. for those of you who buy food in box’s, packages and as frozen dinners, give fresh whole food a try and when you sit down, know that it really did all come from scratch, that means you took the basic food and did all your own prep, mixing, cooking, seasoning, I think you will be quite suprised at how simple it is to do and just how much better the food can taste if you just let your taste buds reset themselves for non-processed food.

Ok, getting of my little soap-box.. but that new cookbook is so heading out the door as I know darn well that there is no way I will be making anything from it, on the other hand, I am giving a shout out in regards to a different new cookbook from momma, called Recipes from the root cellar! Now that is a good! cookbook, tons of amazing recipes, all using good whole foods and in some very interesting combo’s, watch for recipes to be put up on the blog in the future.. It has 270 fresh ways to enjoy winter vegetables.. so far, I have made about half a dozen recipes and have gotten thumbs up from both DH an myself on all of them..

Posted in farm, Food Production and Recipes, frugal | Tagged Food Production and Recipes, Frugal | 2 Comments

What’cha think?

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Carmel says.. What’cha think Farmer Ma, do I have Single, Twins or Triplets??

Posted in Critters, sheep | Tagged sheep | 2 Comments

Weigh in Week 1/11

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well it was weigh in today, and I am pleased to be down 3.4 pds, which means that I lost the 3 pds that I gained over xmas and a bonus of .4, so I am back up to a 44 pd weight loss total.

Goals for the last week

Make one meal per day Dr. Oz’s Blended Green Drink-YUP, Link One, Link Two, Link Three for more info in regards to this.
No Eating after eight- 4 out of 7- clear area of improvement!
Work to downsize me meals-Yes, went back to my small bowls/plates
Food Journal-Yes
Walk X 3 – Yes-Two long walks and two short walks
Weights X 2-Yes, but in fact did 4 sessions total
Deep Breathing Workouts X 2 -Yes, but not for as long as I would have liked.

Goals for the coming week